Why is education democratic in bookless, tribal societies?
Education is one of the key words of our time. A man without an education, many of us believe, is an unfortunate victim of adverse circumstances, deprived of one of the greatest twentieth-century opportunities. Convinced of the importance of education, modern states 'invest' in institutions of learning to get back 'interest' in the form of a large group of enlightened young men and women who are potential leaders. Education, with its cycles of instruction so carefully worked out, punctuated by textbooks -- those purchasable wells of wisdom-what would civilization be like without its benefits?
So much is certain: that we would have doctors and preachers, lawyers and defendants, marriages and births -- but our spiritual outlook would be different. We would lay less stress on 'facts and figures' and more on a good memory, on applied psychology, and on the capacity of a man to get along with his fellow-citizens. If our educational system were fashioned after its bookless past we would have the most democratic form of 'college' imaginable. Among tribal people all knowledge inherited by tradition is shared by all; it is taught to every member of the tribe so that in this respect everybody is equally equipped for life.
It is the ideal condition of the 'equal start' which only our most progressive forms of modern education try to regain. In primitive cultures the obligation to seek and to receive the traditional instruction is binding to all. There are no 'illiterates' -- if the term can be applied to peoples without a script -- while our own compulsory school attendance became law in Germany in 1642, in France in 1806, and in England in 1876, and is still non-existent in a number of 'civilized' nations. This shows how long it was before we deemed it necessary to make sure that all our children could share in the knowledge accumulated by the 'happy few' during the past centuries.
Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means. All are entitled to an equal start. There is none of the hurry which, in our society, often hampers the full development of a growing personality. There, a child grows up under the ever-present attention of his parent; therefore the jungles and the savannahs know of no 'juvenile delinquency'. No necessity of making a living away from home results in neglect of children, and no father is confronted with his inability to 'buy' an education for his child.
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教育是我們這個時代的關鍵詞之一。我們許多人都相信，一個沒有受過教育的人，是逆境的犧牲品，被剝奪了20世紀的最優越的機會之一。現代國家深深懂得教育的重要性，對教育機構投資，收回的‘利息’便是培養出大批有知識的男女青年，這些人可能成爲未來的棟樑。教育，以其教學週期如此精心地安排，並以教科書 -- 那些可以買到的智慧源泉 -- 予以強化，如果不受其惠，文明將會是個什麼樣子呢？
至少，這些是可以肯定的：雖然我們還會有醫生和牧師、律師和被告、婚姻和生育，但人們的精神面貌將是另一個樣子。人們不會重視‘資料和數據’，而靠好記性、實用心理學與同伴相處的能力。如果我們的教育制度仿效沒有書籍的古代教育，我們的學院將具有可以想象得出的最民主的形式了。在部落中，通過傳統繼承的知識爲所有人共享，並傳授給部落中的每一個成員。從這個意義上講，人人受到的有關生活本領的教育是相等的。
這就是我們最進步的現代教育試圖恢復的“平等起步”的理想狀況。在原始文化中，尋求和接受傳統教育的義務對全民都有約束力。因而沒有“文盲”（如果這個字眼兒可以用於沒有文字的民族的話）。而我們的義務教育成爲法律在德國是在1642年，在法國是在1806年，在英國是在1876年。今天，在許多“文明”國家裏，義務教育迄今尚未實行。這說明，經過了多麼漫長的時間之後，我們才認識到，有必要確保我們的孩子享有多少個世紀以來由‘少數幸運者’所積累起來的知識。
荒涼地區的教育不是錢的問題，所有的人都享有平等起步的'權利。那裏沒有我們今天社會中的匆忙生活，而匆忙的生活常常妨礙個性的全面發展。荒涼地區的孩子無時無刻不在父母關懷下成長。因此，叢林和荒涼地區不知道什麼叫“青少年犯罪”。人們沒有必要離家謀生，所以不會產生孩子無人管的問題，也不存在父親無力爲孩子支付教育費用而犯難的問題。
rse
adj.不利的, 有害的
例句：Dirt and disease are adverse to the best growth of children.
骯髒與疾病對兒童健康成長不利。
hasable
adj.可買到的
例句：Steel plate purchasable if so purchase price and delivery time expect?
能否購得鋼板？若可能，約何時發貨，價格如何？
cher
n. 傳教士
ndant
n. 被告
例句：This defendant is charged with murder.
這名被告被控犯有謀殺罪。
ook
n. 視野
例句：He has a broad outlook on life.
他的人生觀十分豁達。
city
n. 能力
cratic
adj. 民主的
al
n. 部落的
e
n. 部落
terate
n. 文盲
例句：An illiterate,later he received some schooling.
他原先大字不識一個,後來接受一些學校教育。
ulsory
adj. 義務的
例句：Attendance at the meeting is compulsory.
會議是必須參加的。
v. 認爲
例句：Don't you deem that it is your duty to help?
你不認爲助人是你的責任嗎?
s
n. 方法，手段，財產，資力
er
v. 妨礙
例句：Prejudice sometimes hampers a person from doing the right thing.
有時候, 偏見會妨礙人正確行事。
nnah
n. 大草原
nile
adj. 青少年
nquency
n. 犯罪
