Education is not an end, but a means to an end. In other words, we do not educate children only for the purpose of educating them. Our purpose is to fit them for life.
In some modern countries it has for some time been fashionable to think that by free education for all — one can solve all the problems of society and build a perfect nation. But we can already see that free education for all is not enough; we find in such countries a far larger number of people with university degree; they refuse to do what they think “low” work; and, in fact, work with hands is thought to be dirty and shameful in such countries. But we have only to think a moment to understand that the work of a completely uneducated farmer is far more important than that of a professor; we can live without education, but we die if we have no food. If no one cleaned our streets and took the rubbish away from our houses, we should get terrible diseases in our towns…
In fact, when we say that all of us must be educated to fit us for life, it means that we must be educated in such a way that, firstly, each of us can do whatever work suited to his brains and ability and, secondly, that we can realize that all jobs are necessary to society, and that is very bad to be ashamed of one’s work. Only such a type of education can be considered valuable to society.
小题1:The writer of the passage thinks that _______.
A．education can settle most of the world’s problems
B．free education for all probably leads to a perfect world
C．free education won’t help to solve problems
D．all the social problems can’t be solved by education小题2:The writer wants to prove that _______.
A．our society needs all kinds of jobs
B．our society needs free education for all
C．a farmer is more important than a professor
D．work with hands is the most important小题3:The purpose of education is _______.
A．to choose officials for the country
B．to prepare children mainly for their future work
C．to let everyone receive education fit for him
D．to build a perfect world小题4:The passage tells us about _______ of the education.
A．the means
B．the system
C．the value
D．the type