“The Heart of the Matter,” the just-released report by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences(AAAS), deserves praise for affirming the importance of the humanities and social sciences to the prosperity and security of liberal democracy in America. Regrettably, however, the report’s failure to address the true nature of the crisis facing liberal education may cause more harm than good.
In 2010, leading congressional Democrats and Republicans sent letters to the AAAS asking that it identify actions that could be taken by “federal, state and local governments, universities, foundations, educators, individual benefactors and others” to “maintain national excellence in humanities and social scientific scholarship and education.” In response, the American Academy formed the Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences. Among the commission’s 51 members are top-tier-university presidents, scholars, lawyers, judges, and business executives, as well as prominent figures from diplomacy, filmmaking, music and journalism.
The goals identified in the report are generally admirable. Because representative government presupposes an informed citizenry, the report supports full literacy, stresses the study of history and government, particularly American history and American government; and encourages the use of new digital technologies. To encourage innovation and competition, the report calls for increased investment in research, the crafting of coherent curricula that improve students’ ability to solve problems and communicate effectively in the 21st century, increased funding for teachers and the encouragement of scholars to bring their learning to bear on the great challenges of the day. The report also advocates greater study of foreign languages, international affairs and the expansion of study abroad programs.
Unfortunately, despite 2.5 years in the making, “The Heart of the Matter” never gets to the heart of the matter, the illiberal nature of liberal education at our leading colleges and universities. The commission ignores that for several decades America’s colleges and universities have produced graduates who don’t know the content and character of liberal education and are thus deprived of its benefits. Sadly, the spirit of inquiry once at home on campus has been replaced by the use of the humanities and social sciences as vehicles for publicizing “progressive,” or left-liberal propaganda.
Today, professors routinely treat the progressive interpretation of history and progressive public policy as the proper subject of study while portraying conservative or classical liberal ideas—such as free markets and self-reliance—as falling outside the boundaries of routine, and sometimes legitimate, intellectual investigation.
The AAAS displays great enthusiasm for liberal education. Yet its report may well set back reform by obscuring the depth and breadth of the challenge that Congress asked it to illuminate.
According to Paragraph 1, what is the author’s attitude toward the AAAS’s report?
细节题。第一段第①句指出报告《问题的核心》值得表扬（deserve praise），因为它肯定了人文与社会科学对美国自由民主的繁荣和稳定的重要性；第②句利用regrettably however（但是遗憾的是）转折，指出该报告未能解决美国教育面临危机的本质问题，可能弊大于利。重点在于第②句的转折部分，句中的regrettably， failure，cause more harm than good都可以看出作者对于该报告是持批评态度，所以A项是正确选项。B项“欣赏的”是第①句的内容，但这只是铺垫，不是要表达的重点；C项“轻蔑的”和D项“宽容的”在该段中找不到依据，故排除。解答作者观点态度题时，考生一定要注意，作者在给出自己否定性观点态度时。通常都会比较迂回。先会给出肯定性观点态度，作为铺垫，然后再给出批评或否定，也可能正话反说带有讽刺，往往转折后面的内容才是重点。
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