When you know your own needs, if the three circles of what you want to do, what you can do and what social relatives and friends "think you should do" are highly compatible, this is of course a near-perfect state, which may be the closest to a perfect life.
If these three circles only partially intersect, then you need to make a choice; Is to strive to improve themselves to pursue the meaning and value of their lives, endure possible material suffering, as well as the incomprehension and even criticism of society, relatives and friends; Or just be a good sheep and give up your dreams?
Although society is also a more responsible "university", when we miss the stage where we can try all kinds of possibilities and make mistakes at a lower cost, even if we rediscover ourselves, the cost of pursuing the meaning of life may be unbearable.
But in any case, it is very important to know yourself, to know the life you will pursue and the price you will pay, and to face it more calmly when you encounter a trough. Or pursue yourself and forge ahead; Or just be an excellent sheep, but even if you betray yourself, please sell it at a good price.
Education is a way for society to express its values and also a way for society to transmit them.
Since primary school, most people have been "designed" by society. Besides normal study, what kind of training courses do you need to attend, what kind of artistic skills do you need to learn, what kind of social practice do you need to participate in, and so on. It all depends on the screening conditions of the entrance examination. This "qualification first" mentality limits people's understanding of education and makes people measure the value of education with short-term rate of return or practical narrow vision. On the surface, we call for diversification, but actually it is vanilla flavor, just picking out 32 different flavors of vanilla.
When graduating from high school, universities and society have given students the right and freedom to make their own decisions. This sudden freedom requires strong self-care, self-reliance and self-control, but most students are not fully prepared. Therefore, most people can only continue to adapt to this trend and let society continue to "design" their own lives.
Even if a few people find themselves, they will suffocate in such an environment, and suffocation comes from the strong contrast with the people around them.
From Anglo-Saxon aristocratic education to elite education.
The general public does have good reason to worry about their children's future. Social mobility is stagnant, competition has been globalized, the middle class is struggling to survive, and the capital class is becoming more and more out of reach. In such a "winner takes all" social environment, the only reliable way is to make your child one of the winners.
Psychological problems that families and children may have under the great pressure of this educational model.
In short, we are not for education, but for life.
The courage, selflessness and team spirit (sports competition), cultural essence (art) and sense of leadership and service (service-oriented social practice) pursued before elite education began to be formalized in the evolution, just like the Indian rain-praying dance, which was passed down from generation to generation, but it was just a set of rituals.
Decentralization and specialization dominate undergraduate education.
The most serious impact of the commercialization of university operation is the repositioning of students. Students are "consumers" and schools become "suppliers". Schools sacrifice students' long-term interests for their short-term needs.
The school acquiesced in the social value orientation: material success equals character, dignity and happiness.
Education is the part that survives when you forget everything you have learned; Most of what we learned in college is bound to disappear, and the rest is actually yourself.
"Input and return" directly summarizes people's cognition and attitude towards university education. But the return should not only be the money that may be earned in the future.
It is true that everyone needs a job, but everyone needs to know more about life. Since we calculate the rewards of college from a pragmatic perspective, why can't we calculate the rewards of being a parent, spending time with close friends, enjoying music and reading books? Anything worth doing is because it is meaningful.
The responsibility of the university is to teach students how to think first. The essence of thinking is to cultivate the habit of thinking and apply this habit to real life. Simply put, learning to think is to look at everything around you critically, not to be self-righteous and not to jump to conclusions.
The primary responsibility of liberal arts education is to teach human beings to save themselves from misinformed common sense. We should know it first, then question it, and finally think about it from a new angle, instead of being dragged away by the blindfolded wild horse of "common sense".
What everyone really needs to cultivate during college is the habit of reflection, that is, the ability to grow in change.
A person is interesting because he reads a lot, is used to thinking, slows down, has a deep dialogue, and creates a full inner world for himself.
Of course, it is necessary to develop personal career and realize personal value, but career development is not the whole reason that drives "self-value".
When a person doesn't know what he is fighting for, he is confused and will not be satisfied.
True self-confidence is that no matter what ideas others try to instill in you, you always believe that the value of "I" far exceeds your achievements. True self-confidence is that you decide what success is.
"We believe that it is incredible for a person to concentrate on writing poetry all his life. But we will think that it is natural for a person to spend a lifetime promoting Pepsi and seize the market with rival Coca-Cola. "
How can we find our mission?
The author suggests: choose to do something spontaneous and pure, just like when I was a child; Choose to do something you would choose to do even without external rewards; Choose something you can focus on; Doing what you like best is not what you think you like or should like, but your true love.
Modern society gives individuals the freedom to think and choose, which is both a gift and a burden. Freedom may bring panic and loss, so it is easier for us to give up and let others tell us what to do.
The reason why we try to go our own way is because it will be our own life, our own choices and our own mistakes.
Although we emphasize creating our own way of life, we should also emphasize the price paid for it. While "seeking your love", you should know that "you have to make sacrifices for it".
Whether discussing the purpose of universities, the importance of self-establishment, the value of independent spirit or the attitude towards risks, we can't ignore a major premise-reality. The first factor is money.
The world should be fair, but the reality is not satisfactory. Human genes are also unfair and will never be fair. What this book advocates does not apply to everyone. However, the key question is: does it apply to you?
Creating your own life doesn't mean you can achieve anything. As long as we work hard enough, we can make the impossible possible, which is a wrong idea. People's different talents determine the differences in reality and know what they have.
The purpose of university education can't just stay at the personal level.
Improving the world is our common goal, but everyone or every generation needs to find their own way.
Liberal arts education explores the production process of knowledge and the source of knowledge, rather than accepting existing knowledge; Is to speculate on old and new knowledge; In the face of any information, we must judge its authenticity and think about the problems behind it; Whether studying biochemistry, politics or literature, we should understand their respective hypothetical frameworks and know how to make further analysis. More precisely, the fundamental purpose of our research is not to collect information, but to demonstrate.
Building ourselves is not groundless, and an effective way is to learn from the wisdom of our predecessors. Humanistic art includes history, philosophy, religion, literature and other art forms, which records the deepest understanding of human nature by predecessors.
Scientific knowledge expresses the world outside the heart and helps us to observe things objectively. Humanistic knowledge expresses our feelings and experiences about the world.
Books make us think about our lives.
The ultimate goal of liberal arts education is to combine into one, and the wisdom gained in liberal arts education will run through any major or field in the future. We no longer deliberately distinguish between work on the left and life on the right; General education is above, and majors are below. They are integrated and infiltrated with each other. Of course, what we do in the workplace must be specific and professional, but our way of thinking can make it beyond the scope of the field.
The "scientific research orientation" of university professors has reduced the quality of undergraduate education, and the university ranking has aggravated this decline.
Author's recommendation: the second echelon college of arts and sciences, a non-famous comprehensive university.
Elite education is expanding social inequality, hindering social mobility and fixing class privileges.
Statistics show that in recent decades, graduates from top universities in the United States are increasingly concentrated in high-income families.
All leaders will develop an ideology to prove the legitimacy of their power.
The author believes that the elite education, like the previous aristocratic education, has become the shackles of social development and needs new breakthroughs.