Part Ⅳ Writing1.
Directions: In this part, you are required to write an essay of no less than 200 words on The Basic Purpose of College Education. The essay should be based on the outline below:
1. Some people believe that colleges and universities are primarily vehicles for the preservation, development and transmission of our intellectual culture;
2. Others argue that colleges and universities should give students what they need to find well-paid jobs;
3. Your opinions.
The Purpose of Higher Education
What is the purpose of higher education? This is undoubtedly a debatable issue, so people have a mixed response to it.
Recently, the educational community in China has launched a heated discussion concerning the purpose of higher education. According to a recent questionnaire conducted by an educational organization, 45 percent of teachers and students believe that colleges and universities are primarily vehicles for the preservation, development and transmission of our intellectual culture. They hold that the cultural heritages of mankind, whether they are tangible or intangible, should be passed on from generation to generation. So teachers and students have their responsibilities and obligations to preserve, develop and transmit our intellectual culture. They should be devoted to achieving this goal on a long-term basis.
On the contrary, 55 percent of teachers and students argue that colleges and universities should give students what they need to find well-paid jobs. They maintain that institutions of higher learning should cultivate students' creativity and working skills while giving them knowledge. With practical skills, they can earn their living in a highly competitive world. In other words, if the knowledge students have acquired is not conducive to their job hunting, what's the use of acquiring knowledge?
In my opinion, if we laid too much emphasis on the preservation, development and transmission of our intellectual culture, our students would lose their opportunities to cultivate working skills and thus run the risk of becoming bookworms. If colleges and universities stressed the cultivation of working skills too much, students would be short of intellectual culture. What really counts is keeping a balance between the former and the latter. It's ideal for our students to develop in an all-round way.
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