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.
Yesterday’s answers are inadequate for today’s 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 tomorrow’s 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 man’s 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.道德观,道德规范

eternal a.1.永久的,永世的 2.无休止的,没完没了的 3.永恒的,永不改变的
[联想词]               immortal a.1.长生的,不死的 2.不朽的,流芳百世的 n.不朽人物               transient a.1.短暂的 2.临时的,暂住的
               perpetual a.1.永久的,永恒的 2.无休止的
               finite a.1.有限的,有限制的 2.限定的
               mortal a.1.终有一死的 2.致命的 3.不共戴天的

mutable a.1.会变的,可变的 2.不定的,常变的,反复无常的
immutable a.不可改变的,永远不变的,永恒的

continuity n.连续(性),持续(性)

withdraw vt.收回,撤销,撤退
[联想词]               evacuate vt.转移,撤离

ivory n.1.象牙 2.象牙色,乳白色

proclaim vt.1.宣告,宣布,声明 2.显示
[联想词]               assert vt.1.肯定地说,断言 2.维护,坚持
               affirm vt.1.断言,坚持声称 2.证实,确认
               suppress vt.1.压制,镇压 2.禁止发表,查禁 3.抑制(感情等),忍住 4.阻止…的生长
               repression n.压抑,压制,镇压

subdue vt.1.制服,使顺从,征服 2.抑制,克制

agony n.(极度的)痛苦,创痛

avert vt.1.防止,避免 2.转移
[联想词]               preclude vt.阻止,排除,妨碍

repose n.1.憩息2.安静 vi.1.躺,靠,休息 2.长眠,安息