A question often asked is:“What are the marks of an educated man?”It is that one may gain no inconsiderable body learning in some special field of knowledge without at the same time acquiring those habits and traits which are the marks of an educated gentlem.A reasonable amount of learning must of course accompany an education,but,after all,that amount need not be so very great in any one field. An education will make its mark and find its evidences in certain traits,characteristics,and capacities which have to be acquired by patient endeavor, by following g ood exam- ple,and by receiving wise discipline and sound instruction.
These traits or characteristics may be variously described and classified,but among them are five that should always stand out clearly enoug h to be seen by all men..
The first of these is correctness and precision in the use of the mother tong ue.The quite shocking slovenliness and vulgarity of much of the spoke n English,as well as a little of the written English, which one hears and sees,proves beyond per adventure that years of attendance upon schools and colleges that are thought to be respectable have produced no impression.When one hears English well spoken,w ith pure diction,correct pronunciation,and an almost unconscious choice of the right word,he recognizes it at once .How much easier he finds it to imitate English of the other sort!
A second and indispensable trait of the educated man is refined and gentle manners,which are them selves the expression of fixed habits of thought and action.“Manners make the man,” wrote William of Wykeham over his gates at Winchester and at Oxford.He pointed to a great truth.When manners are superficial,artifi-cial, and forced,no matter what their form ,they are bad man-ners.When,however,they are the natural expression of fixed habits of thoug ht and action,and when they reveala refined and cultivated nature,they are g ood manners.There are certain thing s that gentlemen do not do,and they do not do them simply because they are bad manners. The gentlem an instinctively knows the difference between those things which he may and should do and those thing s which he may not and should notdo.
A third trait of the educated man is the power and habit of reflection.Human beings for the most part live wholly on the surface or far beyond the present moment and that part of the fu- ture which is quickly to follow it.They do not read those works of prose and poetry which have become classic because they reveal the powerful habit of reflection and induce that power and habit in others.When one reflects long enoug h to ask the question how,he is on the way to knowing som ething about science.When one reflects long enough to ask the question why,he may,if he persists, even become a philosopher.
A fourth trait of the educated man is the power of g rowth.He continues to grow and develop from birth to his dying day.His interests expand,his contacts multiply,his knowledg e increases,and his reflection becomes deeper and wider.It would appear to be true that not many human beings, even those who have had a college education, continue to g row after they are twenty-four or twenty-five years of age.By that time it is usual to settle down to life on a level of more or less contented intellectual interest and activity.The whole present-day movem ent for adult education is a system atic and definite attempt to keep human beings growing long after they have left schooland college, and ,therefore,to help educate them.
A fifth trait of the educated man is his possession of efficiency,or the power to do.The mere visionary dreamer,however charming or however wise,lacks something which an education re- quires.The power to do may be exercised in any one of a thousand ways,but when it clearly shows itself,that is evidence that the period of discipline, of study,and of companionship with parents and teachers has not been in vain.
Given these five characteristics,one has the outline of an educated man .That outline may be filled in by scholarship,by literary power ,by mechanical skills,by professional zeal and capacity, by busine ss competence ,or by social and political leadership.So long as the frame work or outline is there ,the content may be pretty much what you will,assuming,of course ,that the fundamental elements of the great tradition which is civilization, and its outstanding records and achievements in hum- an personality,in letters,in scie nce,in the fine arts,and in human institutions,are all present.
As the professional manufacturer of complete sets of mining machinery, such as cone crusher, Mobile impact crusher,Primary jaw crusher,Mineral sand washer, Henan Hongxing is always doing the best in products and service.
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