“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 Sadly, the spirit of inquiry once at home on campus has been replaced by the use of the humanities and social sciences as vehicles for publicizing “progressive,” or left-liberal propaganda.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 3, the report suggests _____.
细节题。第三段主要评述《问题的核心》这一报告所制定的目标的可取之处。第①句是段落中心句，指出报告中提出的目标大致上是值得肯定的。该报告支持实现全民识字率、强调对美国历史和政府的研究、鼓励使用新的数码技术；同时该报告呼吁增加科研投资、制定一体化的课程帮助学生提高解决问题的能力、给教师提供资金和鼓励学者学以致用；还提倡学习外语、国际事务以及扩大留学项目。C项的“运用新兴的技术”与文中提倡使用新技术对应，故为正确答案。A项的exclusive（排他的，专门的）是对原文中的particularly（尤其是）的曲解，文章是对美国历史和政府的研究的强调，但不是只研究这一方面；原文中的improve students’ability to solve problems表明要提高学生解决问题的能力并非强调学习理论性学科（theoretical subjects）；对于语言学习，文中只是advocate（提倡），并没有说资助（funding），所以D项也要排除。
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