Issue128 请大家帮忙看看，谢谢了

sisiwenwenUID: 194986

Issue128  大家新年好!今年第一篇习作, 望大家多多提意见
It is often asserted that the purpose of education is to free the mind and the spirit. In reality, however, formal education tends to restrain our minds and spirits rather than set them free.

The speaker asserts that although the purpose of education is usually said to be setting free the minds and spirits, yet formal education tends to restrain our minds and spirits. I admit that nowadays formal education tends to restrain our minds and spirits, however, I find the assertion about the purpose of education is problematic.

The reason why I agree that formal education is to restrain minds and spirits lies in that formal education, as it is called, is to generally shape the value system of the young, and to constitute the basic frame of thinking and expression for the young, who have not yet gained the intellectual capacity and real-experience to move to higher, more complex level of thinking. In my opinion, grade schools and even high school are of the kind of formal education. Before having the so-called formal education, students are a piece of vague paper waiting to be properly written on, or a disk that needs formatting. Thus we can see that formal education in fact plays a role to instill in the young fundamental skills, facilitating them to be further educated and to study by themselves in the future. In this sense, formal education is to restrain the minds and spirits.

However, the degree to which formal education restrains our minds and spirits should not be overstated. It is setting free the minds and spirits that formal education takes as its ultimate purpose. How can this be? Consider, for example, facing a group of innocent boys and girls, how to expect them to think critically and do a series of complex analysis without teaching them some basic steps to imitate and follow when thinking? Or consider, how to expect a child to draw creatively without teaching them necessary technique for drawing? In the first sight, one may hastily draw a conclusion that formal education is nothing but a frame to restrain our minds and spirits. Yet it is not the case, for the examples I cites above appropriately illustrate that formal education, or primary education in some sense, dose not tend to restrain the minds and spirits, but to the contrary, the seeming restrain is just for free minds and spirits later. Therefore, no one would deny that, in a long-sight seeing, formal education should not be described solely as a kind of restrain, but just a preparation for the future.

At last, I find it erroneous when it comes to the purpose of education. In my observation, the purpose of education varies according to times and places. It is true that setting free the minds and spirits is one of the purposes of education, in some sense the most ideal one. But when times are different, the prime purpose varies. On this point of view, the discussion of formal education I mentioned above serves as a good example. Or, in different places, which have the distinctive value systems, religious believes and cultures, the purposes of education are quite likely to be different. Thus, the purpose of education dose not have a clear definition, and what is the purpose of education depends largely on the society and what it values in a certain historical time.

In the final analysis, formal education is to restrain the minds and spirits in some sense, however, it is important to know that present restrain is to enable the young to perform to their own taste in the future. And the purpose of education, in my opinion, is changeable according to the needs of the society and it is difficult to give an actual definition to it.

onlyfishUID: 192741

It is often asserted that the purpose of education is to free the mind and the spirit. In reality, however, formal education tends to restrain our minds and spirits rather than set them free.

The speaker asserts that although the purpose of education is usually said to be setting free the minds and spirits, yet formal education tends to restrain our minds and spirits. I admit that nowadays formal education tends to restrain our minds and spirits, however, I find the assertion about the purpose of education is problematic.

The reason why I agree that formal education is to restrain minds and spirits lies in that formal education, as it is called, is to generally shape the value system of the young, and to constitute the basic frame of thinking and expression for the young, who have not yet gained the intellectual capacity and real-experience to move to （the) higher, more complex level of thinking. In my opinion, grade schools and even high school are of the kind of formal education. Before having the so-called formal education, students are a piece of vague paper waiting to be properly written on, or a disk that needs formatting. Thus we can see that formal education in fact plays a role to instill in the young fundamental skills, facilitating them to be further educated and to study by themselves in the future. In this sense, formal education is to restrain the minds and spirits.(我怎么看了半天作者是说学生没知识，学校教了，所以就阻止了minds and spirits，这个 是不是不和逻辑阿？不过也可能是我没理解阿 我觉得阻止可以说学校制度，或者只情调知识记忆，或者过分重视分数等）

妈妈叫吃饭了，后面没仔细看，不过感觉点还是抓住了
是套用模办的吧，能看出来的

sisiwenwenUID: 194986

谢谢onlyfish，你说得很有道理，我先就假定了formal education 必然压抑心志，没有一点分析，非常突然，我再改改。

hoveringUID: 194783

我觉得第三段应该强调片面追求分数的正规教育在忽视了对学生个性和创新精神的培养,第四段强调正规教育有助为学生打下良好的基础,从而能使学生的创新构想能够得以实现,甚至具有更大的创造性.否则有再强的创新精神也只能是空中楼格,甚至是空想.这样逻辑上我感觉更紧密些.如果说正规教育是在束缚人的思想和精神的基础上来为学生将来的学习大基础的话,是不是有点不恰当.一点个人看法,不一定对哈,请多指教:)