研究生英语第十单元.docVIP

The role of the academy in times of crisis Today the academy holds a highly privileged place in American society because of a long-standing national consensus about the value of education. One of my predecessors, President Harold Dodds, said in his inaugural address in 1933 that “No country spends money for education, public or private, so lavishly as does the Unites States. Americans have an almost childlike faith in what formal education can do for them.” That faith is base on a conviction that the vitality of the United States, its creative and diverse cultural life, its staggeringly inventive economy, its national security and the robustness of its democratic institutions owe much to the quality of institutions of higher education. Our society’s confidence in its institutions of higher education is expressed through the generous investments of the federal and state governments in basic and applied research, investments that wisely couple support for research with support for graduate education. It is also expressed through federal and state investments that subsidize the cost of higher education for those who cannot afford to pay, investments by private foundations and charities who see colleges and universities as the best routes for achieving their strategic goals, and investments by individuals and by the private sector, who see universities as the incubators of future health and prosperity. In return for this broad support, society rightfully expects certain things from us. It expects the generation of new ideas and the discovery of new knowledge, the exploration of complex issues in an open and collegial manner and the preparation of the next generation of citizens and leaders. In times of trouble, it is especially important that we live up to these expectations. The medieval image of the university as an ivory tower, with scholars turned inward in solitary contemplation, immunized from the cares of the day, is an image that has been superseded by the moder