An Important Aspect of College Life
It is perfectly possible to organize the life of our colleges in such a way that students and teachers alike will take part in it; in such a way that a perfectly natural daily intercourse will be established between them and it is only by such an organization that they can be given real vitality as places of serious training, be made communities in which youngsters will come fully to realize how interesting intellectual work is, how vital, how important, how closely associated with all modern achievement — only by such an organization that study can be made to seem part of life itself. Lectures often seem very formal and empty things; recitations generally prove very dull and unrewarding. It is in conversation and natural intercourse with scholars chiefly that you find how lively knowledge is, how it ties into everything that is interesting and important, how intimate a part it is of everything that is interesting and important, how intimate a part it is of everything that is "practical" and connected with the world. Men are not always made thoughtful by books; but they are generally made thoughtful by association with men who think.
大學(xué)生活的一個(gè)重要方面
完全有可能把我們的大學(xué)生活組織得使學(xué)生和教師都參與其中, 使師生間產(chǎn)生完全自然的日常交流; 只有通過這樣的組織, 才能使大學(xué)這種嚴(yán)格地培養(yǎng)人的地方真正充滿朝氣, 才能使他們成為共同生活的團(tuán)體, 年輕人在其中會(huì)充分認(rèn)識到腦力勞動(dòng)是多么有趣味, 多么充滿活力, 多么重要, 并且與一切現(xiàn)代成就有著多么緊密的聯(lián)系——只有通過這樣的組織,才能使學(xué)習(xí)成為生活的一部分。課堂講授常常顯得很一本正經(jīng)而空洞無物;背誦往往非??菰锒招跷?。主要是在與學(xué)者們的談話和自然的交往中,你才能懂得知識是多么生氣蓬勃,知識與一切有趣和重要的事物是多么緊密相連,它是這些事物的不可分割的一部分,是一切“實(shí)用的”以及與當(dāng)今世界有關(guān)的事物密切聯(lián)系的一部分。讀書并不一定能使人變得善于思考;但是,一般說來,與善于思考的人們交往能使人好學(xué)善思。