Issue28 【天下无G askme习作】第6次作业 比较流畅

askmeUID: 2264776

TOPIC: ISSUE28 - "Students should memorize facts only after they have studied the ideas, trends, and concepts that help explain those facts. Students who have learned only facts have learned very little."
WORDS: 630          TIME: 0:46:00          DATE: 2007-2-5

Ever since human came into civilization, education has played an important role in maintenance and transmission of social culture and values. It, hence, causes some controversies and most of them are over the issue of education method: whether teacher should not impart facts to students until having taught relevant ideas. I agree that in most cases, we should learn ideas first, insofar as ideas provide an insight into true knowledge. However, we should also learn facts first sometimes; otherwise, we might find impossible to understand ideas.

To begin with, as a general rule, ideas prepare us to have a better appreciation on facts. And I will follow the reasoning that ideas are representative of general characteristics of the world. With their help, students are able to learn about facts of the world as quickly and easily as possible. For supporting examples, one needs look no further than calculation. Ideas of calculation tell us the principles of calculating, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. After learning it, we are able to calculate any number, no matter how great it is. Contrarily, if we had not learned such ideas, we would have to memory thousands of calculating results (e.g. 1+1=2), which is obviously impossible. What is more important is about physics, from which we can understand how the world goes in essence, and even change the world at will. For example, with the help of the theory of gravity, we are able to understand not only how an apple falls to the ground, but also how can we send a rocket into the universe.  As a result, the modern world, greatly changed by science and technology, attributes its prosperity to such ideas. Undoubtedly, we have benefited a lot from learning ideas, which, in turn, facilitates the process of learning of facts.

On the contrary, those who only learn facts might eventually learn little. If we cast a look back at the education in ancient history of China, we have found that most of teachers compelled students to purely memorize facts without interpreting any. Yet, many scholars still came out under such education method. This illusion leads our minds astray. One question must be asked, therefore, is that whether this method can prepare students to apply such knowledge to practice and compete enough in society. If students were busy memorizing facts without enough time to contemplate and make these facts their own, how could they put them in practice and how the society could benefit from education? Let these pedants answer this question.

However, some abstract subjects force us to learn fact first. The statement brings immediately to minds such subject as history and economy. As a general rule, knowledge about history includes some ideas on trends and rules of history, and most of these ideas are difficult to truly understand without memorizing enough facts. For example, if a student has heard neither the Age of Great Discover nor the first industrial revolution, how could he or she understand the shift from feudalism towards capitalism? Deep down, these ideas are abstract from thousands of facts, and learning facts first is in accordance with the natural process of studying history. In a not dissimilar way, economy bears the same characteristics. As Karl Marx once said, he got the concept of rules of economy after observing a multitude of transactions of commodity. Therefore, to better understand this concept, a student majoring in economy, would better seek adequate information about the actual transaction just as Marx did for the purpose of an sophisticated perceptive of economy. In a word, these examples above are used to point out that facts help us establish ideas in mind and thus we have to learn them first in many cases.

To sum up, in most cases, students should learn ideas first, while more than not learning facts first could bring more benefits. We should choose proper education method under certain circumstance.


[ 本帖最后由 askme 于 2007-2-5 19:37 编辑 ]

yan-dorisUID: 2261928

总体感觉跟不错，自己的观点很明确，很有自己的看法，要向你学习！加油，组长！下面有些地方是个人的意见，请参考：
Ever since human came into civilization, education has played an important role in maintenance and transmission of social culture and values. It, hence, causes some [many relevant] controversies and most[one] of them are over the issue of education method: whether teacher should not[not似乎可以往前，whether or not…] impart facts to students until having taught relevant ideas. I agree that in most cases, we should learn ideas first, insofar as ideas provide an insight into true knowledge. However, we should also learn facts first sometimes; otherwise, we might find impossible to understand ideas.

To begin with, as a general rule, ideas prepare us to have a better appreciation on facts.[发现简单句有时很见解明了，我自己的老喜欢用复杂句，汗！] And I will follow the reasoning that ideas are representative of general characteristics of the world. With their help, students are able to learn about facts of the world as quickly and easily as possible. [过渡并展开，不错]For supporting examples, one needs look no further than calculation. Ideas of calculation tell us the principles of calculating, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. After learning it, we are able to calculate any number, no matter how great it is. Contrarily, if we had not learned such ideas, we would have to memory[remember] thousands of calculating results (e.g. 1+1=2), which is obviously impossible. What is more important is about physics, from which we can understand how the world goes in essence, and even change the world at will. For example, with the help of the theory of gravity, we are able to understand not only how an apple falls to the ground, but also how can we send a rocket into the universe.  As a result, the modern world, greatly changed by science and technology, attributes its prosperity to such ideas. Undoubtedly, we have benefited a lot from learning ideas, which, in turn, facilitates the process of learning of facts.

On the contrary, those who only learn facts might eventually learn little. If we cast a look back at the education in ancient history of China, we have found that most of teachers compelled students to purely memorize facts without interpreting any. Yet, many scholars still came out under such education method. This illusion leads our minds astray. One question must be asked, therefore, is that whether this method can prepare students to apply such knowledge to practice and compete enough in society. If students were busy memorizing facts without enough time to contemplate and make these facts their own , how could they put them in[into] practice and how the society could benefit from education? Let these pedants answer this[these] question.

However, some abstract subjects force us to learn fact first. The statement brings immediately to minds such subject as history and economy. As a general rule, knowledge about history includes some ideas on trends and rules of history, and most of these ideas are difficult to truly understand without memorizing enough facts. For example, if a student has heard neither the Age of Great Discover nor the first industrial revolution, how could he or she understand the shift from feudalism towards capitalism? [看到这里有点模糊了，觉得facts and ideas只是你个人把它定义了，我也可以说the Age of Great Discover nor the first industrial revolution 是ideas or concepts吧？] Deep down[这个没见过，很新颖], these ideas are abstract from thousands of facts, and learning facts first is in accordance with the natural process of studying history. In a not dissimilar way, economy bears the same characteristics. As Karl Marx once said, he got the concept of rules of economy after observing a multitude of transactions of commodity. Therefore, to better understand this concept, a student majoring in economy, would better seek adequate information about the actual transaction just as Marx did for the purpose of an sophisticated perceptive of economy. In a word, these examples above are used to point out that facts help us establish ideas in mind and thus we have to learn them first in many cases.

To sum up, in most cases, students should learn ideas first, while more than not learning facts first could bring more benefits. We should choose proper education method under certain circumstance.