knowledge is an end

The core point of Newman's article is that "knowledge is an end in itself". In his opinion, as an educational place, a university should provide students with a platform for free learning and communication, expand the scope of university discipline teaching, and foster a pure and clear ideological atmosphere among knowledgeable scholars. Students receive "liberal education" and form "philosophical habits". From Newman's point of view, the problem of Chinese higher education is obvious. First of all, subject teaching in universities in China focuses on the acquisition of specialized subjects. After entering universities, most students only need to focus on the courses of this major, and lack of strong humanistic and general education as the foundation. In the first and second years, in addition to the basic majors, there are elective courses for interdisciplinary knowledge, but those who have attended these courses all know that these courses in most schools are just "water courses" for students to get through, and do not play a role in constructing their own extensive disciplinary knowledge system. All branches of knowledge are interrelated and integrated, so no matter what major you are studying, you should have a wide range of knowledge in various disciplines, especially books on humanities and social sciences. Even if they seem unrelated, they can give us more wisdom, broader vision to better think, study and life, and can give themselves more subtle influence. Second, education within our system is too far away from the word "freedom", and political interference in school education is seriously excessive. We often say that intellectuals should pursue the spirit of independence, for individual learning knowledge, education thinking is also the same truth. These are supposed to be free, pure and independent. As the inscription of Mr. Wang guowei of tsinghua university campus: "the spirit of independence, the thought of freedom, through thousands of years of worship, with the earth and the long, a total of three light and eternal light." However, under the Chinese system, knowledge itself is difficult to seek for its pure purpose, and often becomes some means and tools, which greatly restricts teachers and students. In this case, where does "liberal education" come from? Third, utilitarianism is rampant in Chinese colleges and universities. After being influenced by the exam-oriented education of college entrance examination and the social environment, many students enter the university with a strong purpose to learn knowledge. Of course, this purpose is not knowledge itself, but rather rather utilitarian material and practical needs, such as walking, good jobs, buying a car or a house, living a good life and so on. Learning a course, not to focus on the knowledge it contains, not with the search for truth, not as a search for self-discovery, but to focus on how to pass, how to get high marks, how to brush GPA. Knowledge becomes a useful tool, a bridge to certification, a means to get ahead. "Knowledge itself is an end", which emphasizes the free enjoyment in the process of learning knowledge more than other purposes and results. It should be added, of course, that I am speaking in favor of Newman's view of the purity of knowledge. However, utilitarianism is also a kind of self-selected attitude and way of life. Any theorist has its own meaning of existence, and there is no clear distinction between wrong and right. By implication, I'm against utilitarianism, but I respect everyone's choice. Therefore, there is a considerable gap between the domestic university education and Newman's ideal university concept. (mainly reflecting on the domestic education through the words of Newman, temporarily ignoring the inevitable personal limitations of The Times in Newman's article) Still, we should not be overly pessimistic. In recent years, we should see the rise of emerging folk forces such as national universities, one-man universities and youth Spaces in major cities. All of them have seen the lack of some education in the domestic campus, and try to make up for it from outside the system, the pursuit of free education and the search for university spirit. As an individual, I want to say: the brave save themselves, the great man to save others.