issue52 欢迎批评！

adorablecatUID: 210584

52、"Education encourages students to question and criticize, and therefore does little to promote social harmony."
52． 教育鼓励学生们提问和批评，这样不利于社会的和谐。


Will education do little to promote social harmony if it motivates students to question and criticize, as the speaker claims? Although different people might have different points about this issue from various angles and for their distinct experiences, as far as I am concerned, however, I think that stimulating students to question and criticize is most important for education only through which can the students make the society advance by a long way. Moreover, questioning and criticizing ability is not necessarily exclusive with the social harmony, and even can boost it if we use the ability appropriately.

By galvanizing the students into questioning and criticizing their peers as well as the authorities, education can inculcate the students possessing the ability of skepticism which is the fundamental element of critical thinking. Critical thinking is known to be very important to the progress of almost any field of science and the society. From the ancient times to the current era, there are so many eminent people who are contributed greatly to the progress of human kind. Take Copernicus, for instance, whose heliocentric theory disrupting the Ptolemaic system of astronomy which is the theory for granted by the church and utterly most people of his time. Consider another example, Einstein, whose special and general theories of relativity revolutionized modern thought on the nature of space and time and formed a theoretical base for the exploitation of atomic energy. Suppose that these peoples didn’t challenge the scientific authorities of their times and just accepted the knowledge they were taught, how could they made such contributions to science as well as to society?

Today’s educators, especially in democratic societies, have recognized the importance of critical thinking to students themselves as well as to the whole society, so they spur the students to question and criticize from many aspects. For example, they provide students with more challenging courses, the teaching materials as well as the thoughts of criticism inculcated by the teachers. They often divide students into several groups letting them to compete each other between the groups. But someone might question that too much emphasis on questioning and criticizing, would harm the social harmony as a result. Admittedly, the students might be leaded into paranoia if we unduly underscore the ability of questioning and criticizing, however, this is the extreme case, after all. If educators reasonably pilot their students this case will seldom occur.

Another problem must be pointed out is that the ability of questioning and criticizing does not necessarily exclusive with the social harmony since that absolutely obedience does not mean social harmony. Many examples can illustrate this point. In many nations, China, for instance, education often discourage the students to question the authority especially in political and historical sciences; students just need to recite many standard answers by rote; as a result, the students actually haven’t the ability to challenge the authority to a great degree. However, are these societies truly harmonic? Life experiences inform me that this is not the case, if not the opposite. Consider another example, America, which is always zealous in encouraging the students to question and criticize, however, does its society lack of harmony? Certainly not. In fact, the society of America is very stable and harmonic than that of China. In this sense, critical thinking is beneficial, not harmful, to social harmony.

In sum, I think stimulating students to question and criticize is useful, not detrimental, to students themselves and as well as to the society. Moreover, critical thinking is not necessarily exclusive with the social harmony, even more beneficial to the social harmony, as discussed above.

[ Last edited by staralways on 2005-8-4 at 13:32 ]

硬柿子UID: 204138

WillIs that true 是不是好些? education do little to promote social harmony if it motivates students to question and criticize, as the speaker claims? Although different people might have different points about this issue from various angles and for their distinct experiences, as far as I am concerned, however, I think that stimulating students to question and criticize is most important for education only through which can the students make the society advance by a long way. Moreover, questioning and criticizing ability is not necessarily exclusive with the social harmony, and even can boost it if we use the ability appropriately.
观点鲜明，很好的开头~~

By galvanizing the students into questioning and criticizing their peers as well as the authorities, education can inculcate the students possessing the ability of skepticism which is the fundamental element of critical thinking. Critical thinking is known to be very important to the progress of almost any field of science and the society. From the ancient times to the current era, there are so many eminent people who are contributed greatlymade great contribution to to the progress of human kind. Take Copernicus, for instance, whose heliocentric theory disrupting the Ptolemaic system of astronomy which is the theory for granted by the church and utterly most people of his time. Consider another example, Einstein, whose special and general theories of relativity revolutionized modern thought on the nature of space and time and formed a theoretical base for the exploitation of atomic energy. Suppose that these peoples didn’t challenge the scientific authorities of their times and just accepted the knowledge they were taught, how could they made such contributions to science as well as to society?
呵呵，哥伦布的例子像狗皮膏药，哪贴都行，不过我也想不出什么更好的例子~~

Today’s educators, especially in democratic societies, have recognized the importance of critical thinking to students themselves as well as to the whole society, so they spur the students to question and criticize from many aspects. For example, they provide students with more challenging courses, the teaching materials as well as the thoughts of criticism inculcated by the teachers. They often divide students into several groups letting them to compete with each other between the groups. But someone might question that too much emphasis on questioning and criticizing, would harm the social harmony as a result. Admittedly, the students might be leaded into paranoia if we unduly underscore the ability of questioning and criticizing, however, this is the extreme case, after all. If educators reasonably pilot their students this case will seldom occur.

Another problem must be pointed out is that the ability of questioning and criticizing does not necessarily exclusive with the social harmony since that absolutely obedience does not mean social harmony. Many examples can illustrate this point. In many nations, China, for instance, education often discourage the students to question the authority especially in political and historical sciences; students just need to recite many standard answers by rote; as a result, the students actually haven’t the ability to challenge the authority to a great degree. However, are these societies truly harmonic? Life experiences inform me that this is not the case, if not the opposite. Consider another example, America, which is always zealous in encouraging the students to question and criticize, however, does its society lack of harmony? Certainly not. In fact, the society of America is very stable and harmonic than that of China. 这个和谐要看你怎么看了，如果说民主说科技，或许美国会更强一些，但是中国毕竟是社会主义国家，正如某些政客所说~~一家之言~~ In this sense, critical thinking is beneficial, not harmful, to social harmony.

In sum, I think stimulating students to question and criticize is useful, not detrimental, to students themselves and as well as to the society. Moreover, critical thinking is not necessarily exclusive with the social harmony, even more beneficial to the social harmony, as discussed above.

adorablecatUID: 210584

Originally posted by 硬柿子 at 2005-8-4 12:16
WillIs that true 是不是好些? education do little to promote social harmony if it motivates students to question and criticize, as the speaker claims? Although different people m ...

thank you for your advice. In fact, political issue is always controversial, which depends on one's political stance.