Unit Twenty-four

　　The Function of Education

　　Benjamin Rankling, to whom this University owes so much, realized too that while basic principles of natural science, of morality and of the science of society were eternal and immutable, the application of these principles necessarily changes with the patterns of living conditions from generation to generation. I am certain that he would insist, were he with us today, that it is the whole duty of the philosopher and the educator to apply the eternal ideals of truth and goodness and justice in terms of the present and not terms of the past. Growth and change are the law of all life.

　　Yesterdays answers are inadequate for todays problems just as the solutions of today will not fill the needs of tomorrow.

　　Eternal truths will be neither true nor eternal unless They have fresh meaning for every new social　situation.

　　It is the function of education, the function of all of the great institutions of learning in the United States, to provide continuity for our national life to transmit to youth the best of our culture that has been tested in the fire of history. It is equally the obligation of education to train the minds and talents of our youth: to improve, through creative citizenship, our American institutions in accord with the requirements of the future.

　　We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.

　　It is in great universities like this that the ideas which can assure our national safety and make tomorrows history, are being forged and shaped. Civilization owes most to the men and women, known and unknown, whose free, inquiring minds and restless intellects could not be subdued by the power of tyranny.

　　This is no time for any man to withdraw into some ivory tower and proclaim the right to hold himself aloof from the problems and the agonies of his society. The times call for bold belief that the world can be changed by mans endeavor, and that this endeavor can lead to something new and better. No man can sever the bonds that unite him to his society simply by averting his eyes. He must ever be receptive and sensitive to the new; and have sufficient courage and skill to face novel facts and to deal with them.

　　We may find in that sense of prupose, the personal peace, not of repose, but of effort, the keen satisfaction of doing, the deep feeling of achievement for something far beyond ourselves, the knowledge that we build more gloriously than we know.

　　morality n.1.道德 2.德行,品行 3.道德觀,道德規范

　　eternal a.1.永久的,永世的 2.無休止的,沒完沒了的 3.永恒的,永不改變的

　　immortal a.1.長生的,不死的 2.不朽的,流芳百世的 n.不朽人物 transient a.1.短暫的 2.臨時的,暫住的

　　perpetual a.1.永久的,永恒的 2.無休止的

　　finite a.1.有限的,有限制的 2.限定的

　　mortal a.1.終有一死的 2.致命的 3.不共戴天的

　　mutable a.1.會變的,可變的 2.不定的,常變的,反復無常的

　　immutable a.不可改變的,永遠不變的,永恒的

　　continuity n.連續,持續

　　withdraw vt.收回,撤銷,撤退

　　evacuate vt.轉移,撤離

　　ivory n.1.象牙 2.象牙色,乳白色

　　proclaim vt.1.宣告,宣布,聲明 2.顯示

　　assert vt.1.肯定地說,斷言 2.維護,堅持

　　affirm vt.1.斷言,堅持聲稱 2.證實,確認

　　suppress vt.1.壓制,鎮壓 2.禁止發表,查禁 3.抑制,忍住 4.阻止的生長

　　repression n.壓抑,壓制,鎮壓

　　subdue vt.1.制服,使順從,征服 2.抑制,克制

　　agony n.痛苦,創痛

　　avert vt.1.防止,避免 2.轉移

　　preclude vt.阻止,排除,妨礙

　　repose n.1.憩息2.安靜 vi.1.躺,靠,休息 2.長眠,安息

　　Unit Twenty-four

　　The Function of Education

　　Benjamin Rankling, to whom this University owes so much, realized too that while basic principles of natural science, of morality and of the science of society were eternal and immutable, the application of these principles necessarily changes with the patterns of living conditions from generation to generation. I am certain that he would insist, were he with us today, that it is the whole duty of the philosopher and the educator to apply the eternal ideals of truth and goodness and justice in terms of the present and not terms of the past. Growth and change are the law of all life.

　　Yesterdays answers are inadequate for todays problems just as the solutions of today will not fill the needs of tomorrow.

　　Eternal truths will be neither true nor eternal unless They have fresh meaning for every new social　situation.

　　It is the function of education, the function of all of the great institutions of learning in the United States, to provide continuity for our national life to transmit to youth the best of our culture that has been tested in the fire of history. It is equally the obligation of education to train the minds and talents of our youth: to improve, through creative citizenship, our American institutions in accord with the requirements of the future.

　　We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.

　　It is in great universities like this that the ideas which can assure our national safety and make tomorrows history, are being forged and shaped. Civilization owes most to the men and women, known and unknown, whose free, inquiring minds and restless intellects could not be subdued by the power of tyranny.

　　This is no time for any man to withdraw into some ivory tower and proclaim the right to hold himself aloof from the problems and the agonies of his society. The times call for bold belief that the world can be changed by mans endeavor, and that this endeavor can lead to something new and better. No man can sever the bonds that unite him to his society simply by averting his eyes. He must ever be receptive and sensitive to the new; and have sufficient courage and skill to face novel facts and to deal with them.

　　We may find in that sense of prupose, the personal peace, not of repose, but of effort, the keen satisfaction of doing, the deep feeling of achievement for something far beyond ourselves, the knowledge that we build more gloriously than we know.

　　morality n.1.道德 2.德行,品行 3.道德觀,道德規范

　　eternal a.1.永久的,永世的 2.無休止的,沒完沒了的 3.永恒的,永不改變的

　　immortal a.1.長生的,不死的 2.不朽的,流芳百世的 n.不朽人物 transient a.1.短暫的 2.臨時的,暫住的

　　perpetual a.1.永久的,永恒的 2.無休止的

　　finite a.1.有限的,有限制的 2.限定的

　　mortal a.1.終有一死的 2.致命的 3.不共戴天的

　　mutable a.1.會變的,可變的 2.不定的,常變的,反復無常的

　　immutable a.不可改變的,永遠不變的,永恒的

　　continuity n.連續,持續

　　withdraw vt.收回,撤銷,撤退

　　evacuate vt.轉移,撤離

　　ivory n.1.象牙 2.象牙色,乳白色

　　proclaim vt.1.宣告,宣布,聲明 2.顯示

　　assert vt.1.肯定地說,斷言 2.維護,堅持

　　affirm vt.1.斷言,堅持聲稱 2.證實,確認

　　suppress vt.1.壓制,鎮壓 2.禁止發表,查禁 3.抑制,忍住 4.阻止的生長

　　repression n.壓抑,壓制,鎮壓

　　subdue vt.1.制服,使順從,征服 2.抑制,克制

　　agony n.痛苦,創痛

　　avert vt.1.防止,避免 2.轉移

　　preclude vt.阻止,排除,妨礙

　　repose n.1.憩息2.安靜 vi.1.躺,靠,休息 2.長眠,安息