What's an education for?

看到一篇TOEFLl Listening的script，居然也會覺得這個script讓我思考了很多層面。

For many people today, going to school is simply an unpleasant duty. It's something you have to do so you can get a job. 或許學校只是一個被強迫的義務教育，文憑掛帥的社會上，弱肉強食的競爭下，縱使有百般的不願意，為了將來能夠餬口飯吃，還是必須被迫去學校上課。

 Actually, the term "education" means the whole process of growing up and training and developing a person's mind, knowledge, and character, so it includes the whole process, I mean from your home environment to the social environment. 許多父母望子成龍的心態，希望他的小孩從小就能跟Mozart是個天才，不只是在學校的教育，這些也都是教育的一環，是長大成人的「過程」。然而，過程中的真義為何？

 An education is supposed to develop good citizens for the country, and to teach you how to think. 教育真的能培養出健全的人格，讓孩子能夠去思考嗎？

 Education is a process, not a goal. The progess of learning these things sharpens your mind, it trains your mind, you learn how to think, when you meet a problem. 多少人遇到問題時，會去想到「過程」嗎？思考的過程精彩豐富，可是出來的答案卻答錯，最後還是錯掉。教育是教人如何答對答案為目標嗎？

 Only a disciplined mind can meet the challenges of human life. 多少人面對挑戰實是望而生畏的？

 It's a sad fact of human nature that people learn better under pressure and pain. However, learning should be joyful.… So, learning is a joyful process, but it doesn't mean it should be all fun and games. Students have to learn how to deal with stress and pressure, because once you get out of school, boy let me tell you, sometimes it seems that's all you got. 人是不是在面對壓力和痛苦才能顯出超人一飛沖天或是狗急跳牆的潛能？那學習又怎麼會快樂？若不能思考，走出學校之後，沒有老師的話，是不是完全變成了一個廢物？

So education should be more than just, you know, just job training. I mean, how many people like their job? There's got to be more to life than earning your paycheck. 說到最後，講到了重點。我想到了幾個孩子的例子：A生是個乖學生，老師講的決不敢說不，認真逐自照作，但是他的過程全部都是老師指定，他不會思考，最後出來的答案是對的，只是暫時性的滿足，但讓他獨自面對挑戰卻變成一種殘酷的事實； B生填指考的志願，是爸媽或老師的意思，這個科系畢業後的工作超搶手，所有志願非得把這些炙手可熱的科系填進去，B生也不懂得思考，變成任憑使喚全然無所謂的心態。

究竟有多少人是喜歡他們現在的工作呢？Life and paycheck跟魚跟熊掌沒有兩樣，是一個dilemma situation，如果教育教不出一個會思考的學生，他就只能坐在那裡，拿著釣竿，永遠釣不起life，或許還不錯，可以釣到paycheck，不過可以肯定的是，he is not pleasant and joyful at all.