2018年英语四级美文：Education and Schooling

 

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　　Education and Schooling

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　　It is commonly believed in the United States

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　　that school is where people go to get an education.

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　　Nevertheless,

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　　it has been said

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　　that today children interrupt their education to go to school.

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　　The distinction between schooling and education

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　　implied by this remark is important.

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　　Education is much more open-ended and all-inclusive than schooling.

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　　Education knows no bounds.

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　　It can take place anywhere,

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　　whether in the shower or on the job;

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　　whether in a kitchen or on a tractor.

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　　It includes both the formal learning that takes place in schools

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　　and the whole universe of informal learning.

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　　The agents of education can range from a revered grandparent

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　　to the people debating politics on the radio,

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　　from a child to a distinguished scientist.

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　　Whereas schooling has a certain predictability,

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　　education quite often produces surprises.

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　　A chance conversation with a stranger may lead a person to discover

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　　how little he knows of other religions.

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　　People are engaged in education from infancy on.

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　　Education, then, is a very broad, inclusive term.

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　　It is a lifelong process,

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　　a process that starts long before the start of school,

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　　and one that should be an integral part of one’s entire life.

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　　Schooling, on the other hand, is a specific, formalized process,

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　　whose general pattern varies little from one setting to the next.

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　　Throughout a country,

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　　children arrive at school at approximately the same time,

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　　take assigned seats, are taught by an adult,

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　　use similar textbooks, do homework, take exams, and so on.

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　　The slices of reality that are to be learned,

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　　whether they are the alphabet

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　　or an understanding of the workings of government,

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　　have usually been limited by the boundaries of the subject being taught.

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　　For example,

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　　high school students know

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　　that they are not likely to find out in their classes

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　　the truth about political problems in their communities

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　　or what the newest filmmakers are experimenting with.

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　　There are definite conditions

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　　surrounding the formalized process of schooling.