Thirty spokes, a total of one hub, when not, there is a car. Think of it as a device. When it is not there, it is useful. Carve the family into a room, and when it has nothing, it has a room. Therefore, thinking is beneficial, but thinking is not. -"Laozi" 6 1 Chapter 11 "Guangxi is edible, so it is cut; Paint can be used, so cut it. Everyone knows what is useful, but not what is useless. -The Life of Zhuangzi 6 1 Reread Daniel 6 1 Why Education Is Useless. To tell the truth, the impression left by this book is always confusing. The strange confusing and provocative titles he pieced together with various written materials overshadowed his discussion on the nature of education, which is the strength of this book, but it is also its limitation. Perhaps, we should not be so demanding of an author with a literary background. Why is education useless? This rhetorical question may be the best gift that this book and the author have brought us. Yes, when education can't cultivate humanity, love and beauty, and can't bring about the confirmation of identity and the improvement of survival ability, then such education really disappoints us. However, when education can only cultivate humanity, love and beauty, it can only bring about the confirmation of identity and the improvement of survival ability. Can such education really satisfy us? The purpose of my rhetorical question is not to condemn the one-sidedness of these goals, but to ask: Are these seemingly great and inspiring goals really certain? This is also the question that the author Daniel 6 1 Cottom spent more than 200,000 words to really try to explore and answer. In the intimate insider of Heidegger and Nazism, in the impotence of scholars, in the jokes of black professors and in the feminine examples of intellectuals, we constantly see the irony and contradiction behind these seemingly great words: humanity, love, beauty, identity and existence. Behind these great goals are amazing power distribution and cultural composition. Therefore, they are not unquestionable ideals of pure goodness, but the control, distribution and balance of various interests. The chief culprit in controlling all this is what people call "utilitarian" idols. It liberates people from complex metaphysical problems with simple logic and reasoning, and brings people into a fool's happiness with the procedural rules that X brings more or less happiness than Y, even this happiness is not, because fools don't know how to refuse knowledge. Utilitarianism brings only an absolute abstract pleasure against epistemology. But it is so easy to destroy us, because it is not based on direct experience of physical feelings, nor on any compromise of uncertainty. It's so confident that it's a bit like hiding inferiority. It laughs at the futility of education, because it is actually their ideal, and they destroy the ivory tower, because that is where they really want to enter. Cowardice and retreat make them unable to get real happiness and happiness. Of course, education is not guaranteed. But as Daniel said, "whatever we want, education will be useful." Definitely, because education must combine choice, evaluation and political consequences. ..... The key to the problem is not whether education is useful, but in what way it is useful, useful to those people, and how to play its role. " (p245) However, "in order to clarify the answers to these questions, we should admit that education is fundamentally useless. Its uselessness is the inestimable value of education itself ... Useless is different from emphasizing vocational education, and it is also different from humanists' contempt for professionalism or actual results. By admitting this uselessness, we also admit that maybe we are taking unrequited risks, meaningless sacrifices, undiscovered exploration and useless communication. Of course, this uselessness is not unique to humanities; It also exists in so-called "pure theory" mathematics, science, art and any learning. But it is especially obvious in the humanities field, and it is not perfect at all. Perfection shows a gain that pleases you, and this uselessness will not produce any such gain. " (246) "Therefore, what educators need to strive for is a sense of responsibility that can explain useless standards. This sense of responsibility is cultural, social, historical and political. Can't it use words such as' Will X bring more or less happiness to everyone than Y? Such procedural rules are summed up. It just tells us that if we don't try our best to make our customers dissatisfied, then maybe our service to our customers is effective, but we certainly haven't fulfilled our duties. (249) At this point, Daniel completed his criticism of various forms of boycott education in the United States in the past 30 years, especially the boycott of higher education in the humanities. The focus of these criticisms lies in the deconstruction of "utilitarianism", a newly rising all-round idol. But at the same time, this deconstruction process also gives us a new understanding of the uselessness of education. In this sense, Daniel's statement about the uselessness of education is more like a critical strategy and an inner complaint. And his research has more or less the basic color of pedagogy research, which is gratifying to me as an educator. He critically constructed the independent value of education for human development. Although this structure is not perfect, it provides a possibility. He let us know that our doubts about the efficacy and value of education are obvious compared with the fact that education can make us have a bright future completely different from the present. Such doubts are driven by some realistic or deep-seated reasons, and should not be regarded as importunate or unreasonable. We can avoid and eliminate them by turning a blind eye and turning a deaf ear. This is also an opportunity for us to pay attention to another existing form of education. This is the beginning, but not the end. In addition, many cases provided in this book are also very interesting, and the problems caused by them deserve further consideration. For example, when talking about the theme of human nature on the third page of this book, Daniel borrowed the story told by Argentine writer Alberto Mangur in 1998' s In Memories-the story of a high school teacher who changed Mangol's life. From his initial enlightenment to his life, he was exiled and persecuted by his classmates because of the teacher's report. This inconsistent image makes Mangol fall into a difficult choice of human nature. The history of Heidegger and Nazism also makes us think about the complexity of human nature and the contradiction between human nature and works. In addition, he also provided a case of a boring and lewd pedant professor, and the cynicism of a social butterfly-"I know nothing about books, wisdom and philosophy. But those people come to me as often as others and others "-this also makes us think more about the profound complexity of the role of scholars and professors." "Also, his quotation that" going to college makes people feel cheated and betrayed "also makes us think a lot. Indeed, many times, receiving education means migrating, betraying one's original homeland and culture and becoming a survivor after ruthless competition. Those who enter the higher education system from the edge or the bottom will always have an inferiority complex that runs counter to the confidence of the upper class, not only because of other people's remarks or eyes, but also because they feel that they are liars and nouveau riche from the bottom of their hearts, and they have to try their best to prove that they are not. This deep betrayal and inferiority complex still exists even when this person has obtained a high academic degree or a professional title. Kafka 19 19 The story "Report to the University" written by Peter the Great Ape is an ironic footnote. This is worth pondering. In addition, Daniel's quotations and statements that "scores almost always indicate the failure of teaching" and "humanities is broccoli on the side of the main course, not even broccoli" are also quite enlightening. Signed in Chongqing on Tuesday, August 2nd, 2065.