Education is not to impart knowledge and skills, but to enable people to be competent in any subject and occupation. Richard levin is a world-famous educator. 1993 to 20 13 years as president of Yale university. The last president of Yale in 20 years was Arthur T. Wen Ning Hadley, who took office from 1899.
Richard levin once said: If a student actually has some professional knowledge and skills after graduating from Yale University, it is the biggest failure of Yale education. Because he believes that professional knowledge and skills are what students need to learn and master according to their own wishes after graduating from college, and that is not the task of Yale University education.
What's the use of college education?
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Richard levin mentioned in his lecture collection "The Work of Universities" that Yale is committed to cultivating leaders. In Levin's view, the core of undergraduate education is general education, which is to cultivate students' critical and independent thinking ability and lay the foundation for lifelong learning.
Free education, that is, free education, nourishes the soul for free, and its core is free spirit, civic responsibility and lofty aspirations.
Free to play their potential, free to choose their own learning direction, not tired of utilitarianism, determine the direction for the growth of life, and make contributions to the progress of society and mankind. This is the purpose of Yale education in Levin's mind.
As johnny newman, the author of The Concept of University, said, "Only education can make a person have a clear and conscious understanding of his own views and judgments. Only education can make him make sense when he expounds his views, persuasive when he expresses them, and powerful when he encourages them. Education made him see the true colors of the world clearly, cut to the chase, solved the confusion of thoughts, saw through specious sophistry, and put aside unimportant details. Education can be convincingly qualified for any position and proficient in any subject. "
Education will not change the living environment, but it can change people's way of thinking.
In 2005, the late American novelist David FosterWallace gave a speech at the graduation ceremony of Kenyon University.
At the beginning of the speech, he told a short story: two small fish met an old fish. "Good morning, children," said the old fish. How about this water? "The two little fish continued to swim for a while. Finally, one of them couldn't help asking the other, "What is water? "
It was mentioned in the speech that an adult's life needs to get up early, get to the office, deal with 8- 10 hours of challenging work, then go to the supermarket to cook, relax and go to bed early. Because, the next day, I have to do it again.
It is easy for people to form unconscious inertia in such a life: unconsciously turning over their mobile phones, speeding up the pace of life, falling into trivial necessities, turning a blind eye to people and things around them, being indifferent, angry and complaining without knowing it. Just like the story at the beginning, I have lived in "water" for so long that I don't know what water is.
Wallace said in his speech that the purpose of education is not to acquire knowledge, but to acquire a way of thinking. In the monotonous life, I have always maintained a clear sense of self. It's not that I was dragged away by a messy unconscious life, but that my life was under my control. Learn to think, learn to choose, learn to have faith and learn to be free. This is the purpose of education and the ability to get happiness.
Education can make you live a happy life, and happiness depends on a conscious way of thinking.
Harvard University's Happy Course is popular all over the world. Professor Tal Ben Shahar who teaches this course believes that happiness depends on your conscious way of thinking. Keep asking yourself questions. Every question will open the door to self-exploration, and then something worthy of your belief will appear in your real life.
Believe in yourself, how to do it? By solving problems every time, accepting challenges and telling myself through visual imagination, I can do it and trust others.
Accept that you are not perfect. Life is not a rising straight line, but a rising curve. Allow yourself to have normal feelings, including positive and negative feelings.
Think positively about all the problems encountered and learn to be grateful. Gratitude can bring the purest happiness to mankind. The first element of happiness is intimacy, which is the demand of human nature, so we should work hard for a happy and long-term intimacy.
What parents and children lack most is critical thinking. Parents must attach importance to the importance of critical thinking to their children. This kind of thinking can't guarantee that you will be admitted to a good school after finishing school, that you will be promoted and raised, and that your life will reach its peak, but it can help you and your children gradually get rid of being influenced by others and learn to master their own lives, thus improving their quality of life. Work, career, mission, find your mission in this world. Only when you are happy can you make others happy. The best way to educate children is to be honest parents.