初中英语写作常用句型【优秀20篇】

English is widely used throughout the world.

So many people speak it as a second language. Online, youll find lots of

information in English. If you dont understand English, how can you know more

about the world, how can you get more knowledge. At international conferences,

English is also used as the official language. Without good English, you cannot

express your ideas well at such conferences, neither can you introduce China to

the outside world.

When I come to the middle school, I feel so excited, because I want to

learn more knowledge and prepare for my future. Some of my friends are afraid of

the coming challenges, they think they can’t handle, but for me, life will be

wonderful with all kinds of challenges. It is the challenges that makes me

stronger. If everything comes to me without hard working, then I won’t cherish

it. I am so eager to meet the coming difficulties, I won’t give up no matter how

hard they will be. Some day when I look back on these days, I will not be

regretful of what I have done.

My school life is very common. I get up at six o’clock every morningfrom Monday to Friday. And the I would go running with my classmates, as our head teacher says health is themost important thing. After running I have to do morning exercises on theplayground. Then I can have breakfast. Having breakfast, I need to have morningreading. Oh, I almost forget that all of the students have to do some cleaningbefore breakfast. There come the various classes. Then noon comes. Havinglunch, I will go to sleep. I often read twenty minutes before I fall asleep. I haveclass in the afternoon. And I still have classes at night. It’s boring, right? ButI have got used to it and enjoy myself at school.

Recently, we have little time to keep close contact with nature. We spend

too much time on study or working. We almost forget that how green the grass is,

how beautiful the flowers are, and how sweetly the birds are singing outside our

windows. A saying goes, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". It means

that we need to relax ourselves and go out to breathe more fresh air. We can

also climb a hill in the suburbs.Its good for our health.

Lets go outing.

In the biology class, my teacher likes to assign tasks to us. As a result,

we always need a partner to finish homework. It is hard to find a suitable

partner. I have changed many partners until I met Lucy. Lucy was a new student

here. She just came to this class this semester because her parents changed

their jobs. She asked me to be a team with her and I said yes. I found Lucy and

I had a lot of things in common, like both of us liked to examine books many

times and we were very carefully about experiments. I enjoyed doing homework

with her. She was the best partner.

Look , I have a nice room . Come and have a look . It’s small and nice .

There is a big bed , a small desk , a shelf and a closet . The bed is near the

desk . There is a shelf near the closet too . Many good books are in the shelf .

I like the books very much . Oh , yes , There is a big board on the wall . I

often write and draw pictures on the board .Oh , My bedroom is too beautiful . I

like it very much . Do you like my bedroom? Can you tell me about your beroom ,

please ?

The parents love between heaven and earth is the greatest love, born since

we came to this world, parents began to love us forever. The parents love their

children is a natural love, love of nature. Like a heavy rain, however, Pei Mo

to the Royal. This will safeguard the lives of the largest, oldest, most

primitive, the greatest and most wonderful parents to us is the power of

love.

As an ancient saying goes: "lines in the hands of a loving mother, found

wandering clothing. Departure thick seam, Italy has the fear. Who made the

heart-inch grass, was reported three Chunhui." Mothers love, as if in the

spring sunshine, I bring Warm, I bring to light; mothers love, as if in the

wind in a stable and calm umbrella, I Zhefengdangyu; mothers love, I always

difficult to give time to help me and give me power. Silky as a continuous sense

of love, I become a strong backing, I will not always have the feeling of

emptiness.

Habits, whether good or bad, are gradually formed. When a person doesa certain thing again and again, he‘ll be obliged to do it in the same way by some unseen force. Thus habit is formed. Once a habit is formed, it is difficult and sometimes almost impossible to get rid of it. It is.therefore very important that we should take care in the formation of habits. Good habits have many advantages. Going to bed early and getting up early makes us healthy. Diligence helps to succeed. Honesty helps:: win the respeet and trust of others.

If we form bad habits, such as rudeness, laziness, lying and stealing, we might be mined by them. We ought to keep away from bad habits and try to acquire habits good for ourselves and others.

[初中英语作文：谈谈习惯

Xiamen is Chinas first four special economic zones,it is

Taiwanese,southern Jiangxi,southern Hunan to the east to the sea,the Pacific Rim

will be developed into an international harbor.

"City at sea,the sea in the city," Xiamen is a graceful charm of the "Sea

Garden." Island,reef,rock,temple,flowers,wood backed each other,the hometown of

overseas Chinese customs,practices Fujian and Taiwan,coastal cuisine,exotic

blend of construction,year-round spring weather is more of the charm of the sea

icing on the cake.Beautiful scenery and pleasant weather,it can be said here is

the best environment for cities.Surrounded by sea water,broad sandy beaches,warm

sunshine,as a good ecological environment,Xiamens clean air,a habitat for

hundreds of thousands of egrets,Xiamen has formed a unique natural

landscape,since ancient times,Xiamen Egret is one of the major habitats,so

Xiamen Also known as "Lu Dao"; in addition to the beautiful natural

scenery,Xiamens urban environment is also very clean,is well-known tourist

city.

Among all means of transportation, I like bicycle most. It’s cheap as well

as popular.

There are many advantages to ride the bicycle. In the first place, riding

bicycle makes me feel independent. I can go anywhere by bicycle. Especially

during rush hours, I can still move freely. Secondly, using a bicycle is good

for environment protection, because it wont emit any waste gas. Moreover,

bicycle riding is also a good sport. While riding a bicycle, I can exercise

myself, which is healthful to me.

In my free time, I often ride my bicycle to get around in the downtown area

or in the countryside, so as to relax myself. Its really a nice outdoor

activity for me, I think.

2005年英语考纲有重大变化，其中之一就是作文考查的变化。新增加一篇小作文，使作文考查由一篇变为两篇，而原来的大作文的字数也由“不少于200字”调整为“150至200字”，满分20分。新增的作文是一篇100字左右的应用性短文，文体包括有信件、便笺、备忘录等，满分10分。既然是新增题型，就不会太难，但不好预测文体，这就要求考生复习时力求面面俱到，掌握写作规律及注意事项，尤其是对常见的应用文体如书信等

大作文的写作一般会给考生写作提纲，或图表，图画，或图文并茂。命题方式虽然多样，但题目涉及面往往是考生比较熟悉的内容，目的是测定考生语言的实际应用能力。要求表达清楚，文字连贯，中心突出，内容丰富，句式多变，句子结构和用词正确。

语言的应用能力不可能一蹴而就，必须厚积薄发，必须经过长期的实践锻炼。在提高英语写作能力方面，我觉得：一是要背大量的优秀范文，整段整篇地背，并转换为自己的语言，写作时自己能随心所欲支配。考试时避免套用以前死记硬背的几个范文，把一些不达意的词堆积在一起，没有统一性，无法很好地表现主题；二是要多动手。包括对背过的文章进行词语替换，句式转换，句子重组等，以及对某一主题展开写作。多动手才能提高笔下功夫，才能保证在考场上顺利写作。可以说背诵范文是培养语感，积累素材，掌握写作方法，动手写作是实践，是最终目的，这两者结合起来，就是“理论联系了实际”。另外，背诵范文应有针对性，写作训练也是一样，在训练中要掌握每一类型作文的写作规律，根据其每一类作文的写作特点——如提纲式作文就要求考生根据提纲提示的思路和规定的要点展开段落——全面训练，但不要带有押题的心理，靠背几篇范文就能应付考试的心态是不可取的。

下面说一下英语写作过程中的注意事项

一、认真审题

作文第一步是仔细审题，考生要仔细阅读试题要求及相关信息，如图表，图画，数字等，准确把握出题者意图。考研作文忌信手掂来，提笔就写，根本不审题，想到哪儿就写到哪儿，或完全凭自己想象编故事，置考试要求于不顾， “下笔千言，离题万里”。比如1998是一幅卡通画，老母鸡申明外加一首打油诗，讽刺一些企业把该尽职之事作为推销产品的承诺。如果考生说老母鸡很可爱，但爱自夸，然后说自己某个同学也爱自夸，这就偏离主题。2000年的作文“A Brief Histiry of World Commercial Fishing ”.它给出了两张图，从1900年的渔船和鱼量之比到1995年的渔船和鱼量之比的变化谈如何保护渔业资源，应从商业性滥捕鱼这一主题展开话题，有的考生却大谈环境污染。这就偏离了主题，因为题中自始自终都没有谈到环境污染问题。

有的同学没有审题习惯，或担心时间不够草草审题，最后发现文不对题，草草收场，这就影响了英语成绩，同时也会影响后两门考试的考试心情。

二、列出提纲

考试规定的时间是很有限的，所以不能花太多时间准备一个详细的提纲，但关键词提纲或粗略提纲还是非常有必要的。对原始材料分析归纳后要形成一个基本的框架。文章打算分几段写，每段大概怎样写，自数控制在多少，开头段落是道破主题，点名要旨，引人入胜还是先给出主题一般的背景情况和对主题进行浓缩的陈述呢，中间段落和结尾有怎样写呢。这些都要心中有数。有的考生习惯用汉语构思文章，逐句翻译提纲，当碰到某个词卡住时就翻译不下去，僵在那里。要注意列提纲是为了更好更全面的表达主题。主题的表达可有多种形式，不一定非要寻找一个特定的词或句子。考试时考生要充分调动大脑，灵活运用以前所学知识。

三、开始写作

一篇文章往往由四部分组成，标题(title)，首段(opening paragraph),主体(body paragraph),结尾段( concluding paragraph)。标题要新颖，能引起读者兴趣，首段的内容根据文章的体裁而变化，比如议论文可以从一种现象，一种观点出发引出作者的观点。记叙文往往交代人物和故事背景。主体是文章的主要部分，通过合适的语篇模式表达一定的观点，考生要围绕中心按一定顺序分层次有重点的展开叙述，描写，议论。结尾段是对全文的总结，论点上要与前面的叙述一致和统一。写作时要注意以下几点。

1、要统一，连贯。

选择那些最能体现中心思想最具代表性的材料，这些材料要共同表达一致的信息。选材时切忌胡子眉毛一把抓。词语堆积，不伦不类。前后及段落之间在逻辑关系上要紧密衔接，不能把没有任何逻辑关系的词放在一起。可以用恰当的关联词把思想连贯的表达出来。

2、用词准确，语法正确

考试时要特别注意语法，此语，语气，标点符号等，为了避免太多单词拼写错误，语法错误，不要为了追求词语的华丽而堆积一些自己也没把握的单词，不要刻意追求长句而写一些自己不知对错的有多个从句组成的长句。考试时最好选择自己最有把握的词汇，短语，句式。

3、足够字数，卷面整洁

绝对不能字数不够，即使一句话颠来倒去说也要凑够字数。字数不够，即使写的非常精彩，也不能拿高分。

四、修改

英语写作时考生由于仓促，紧张等原因，很容易犯一些简单的，一眼就能发现的错误。所以考生一定要留出几分钟时间用于修改。不要大幅度进行修改，更不要因为修改破坏卷面整洁，影响阅卷老师心情。修改时可以从以下几点进行

1、语法

包括时态是否一致，主谓是否一致，名词单复数是否对应，被动主动语态是否错用等

2、词汇

包括连接上下句或段落的关联词，习惯用语，固定搭配，词类混淆，误用及物不及物动词等。

3、拼写和标点符号

As is known to all, China is popular for its emperor of bicycles. This is

because our country is still a developing country and few people can afford

private cars. The demand for a means of transport is met by making millions of

bicycles available. Riding a bicycle has a lot of advantages over driving a car.

First, it is a physical exercise to ride a bicycle. In contrast, sitting in the

car, one tends to gain weight. Besides, it is nmch more economical to ride a

bike than drive a car. On the one hand,the only fee a bike-rider has to pay is

the annual tax. However, the annual fees for a car are costly. On the other

hand, a bike neednt be equipped with a parking lot, but a car must. Most

important of all, it is beneficial to the environment to ride a bicycle because

the bike doesnt consume petrol; it is a pollution-free transport. In contrast,

the exhaust released by the car is harmful to the environment. Since China is a

developing country with a large population, bicycles will still be the most

popular means of transport in China for quite a long time. Most people will

still ride bicycles to go to work or to school. The emperor country of bicycles

will remain for at least dozens of years.

初中英语作文 《祖国的变化》

Great changes have taken place in China. Many new buildings have been built in cities, towns and villages.

The more cars we have, the more crowed the roads are. So the roads become wider and wider. Many overpasses (立交桥) have been built in big cities. Chinese people’s life is much better than ever before. We have Tv sets, washing machines, fridges, even computers, cars etc.

We’ll study harder and make our countrry stronger and more beautiful.

一.开头用语：

良好的开端等于成功的一半.在写作文时，通常以最简单也最常用的方式---开门见山法。也就是说, 直截了当地提出你对这个问题的看法或要求，点出文章的中心思想。

1.议论论文：

A. Just as every coin has two sides, cars have both advantages and disadvantages.

B. Compared to/ In comparison with letters, e-mails are more convenient.

C. When it comes to computers, some people think they have brought us a lot of convenience. However,...

D. Opinions are divided on the advantages and disadvantages of living in the city and in the countryside.

E. As is known to all/ As we all know, computers have played an important role/part in our daily life.

F. Why do you go to university? Different people have different points of view.

2. 书信：

A. I am writing to you to apply for admission to your university as a visiting scholar.

B. I read an advertisement in today’s China Daily and I apply for the job...

C. Thank you for your letter of May 5.D. How happy I am to receive your letter of January 9.

E. How nice to hear from you again.

3. 口头通知或介绍情况：

A. Ladies and gentlemen, May I have your attention, please. I have an announcement to make.

B. Attention, please. I have something important to tell you.

C. Mr. Green, Welcome to our school. To begin with, let me introduce Mr. Wang to you.

4. 演讲稿：

A. Ladies and gentlemen, I feel very much honored to have a chance here to make a speech on the subject -- A Balance Diet and Health.

B. Good morning everyone! Allow me, first of all, on behalf of all present here, to extend our warm welcome and cordial greeting to our distinguished guest.

二.并列用语：

as well as, not only…but (also), including,

A. Not only do computers play an important part in science and technology, but also play an informative role in our daily life.

B. All of us, including the teachers / the teachers included, will attend the lecture.

C. He speaks French as well as English.=He speaks English, and French as well.=He speaks not only English but also French.

D. E-mail, as well as telephones, is playing an important part in daily communication.

三.对比用语：

on one hand ,on the other hand, on the contrary/contrary to ..., though, for one thing ;for another, nevertheless

A. I know the Internet can only be used at home or in the office, but on the other hand, it is becoming more and more popular for much information as well as clear and vivid pictures.

B. It is hard work; I enjoy it though.

C. Contrary to what I had originally thought, the trip turned out to be fun.

四. 递进用语：

even, besides, what’s more, as for, so…that…, worse still, moreover, furthermore; but for, in addition, to make matters worse

A. The house is too small for a family of four, and furthermore/besides/what’s more/moreover /in addition/worse still , it is in a bad location.

五. 例证用语：

in one’s opinion, that is to say, for example, for instance, as a matter of fact, in fact, namely

A. As a matter of fact, advertisement plays an informative role in our daily life.

B. There is one more topic to discuss, namely/that is ( to say ), the question of education.

六. 时序用语：

first/firstly, meanwhile, before long, ever since, while, at the same time

in the meantime, shortly after, nowadays,

A. They will be here soon. Meanwhile, let’s have coffee.

B. Firstly, let me deal with the most important difficulty.

七. 强调用语：

especially, indeed, at least, at the most, What in the world/on earth.. , not at all ,

A. Noise is unpleasant, especially when you are trying to sleep.

B What in the world/on earth are you doing?

八. 因果用语：

thanks to, because, as a result, because of/as a result of , without, with the help of..., owe ...to...

A. The company has a successful year, thanks mainly to the improvement in export sales.

B. As a result, many of us succeeded in passing the College Entrance Examinations.

九. 总结用语：

in short; briefly/ in brief ; generally speaking, in a word, as you know, as is known to all

A. Generally speaking, sending an e-mail is more convenient than sending letters.

B. In short, measures must be taken to prevent the environment being polluted.

常用句型

(一)段首句

1. 关于……人们有不同的观点。一些人认为……

There are different opinions among people as to……Some people suggest that ……

2. 俗话说(常言道)……，它是我们前辈的经历，但是，即使在今天，它在许多场合仍然适用。

There is an old saying……Its the experience of our forefathers，however，it is correct in many cases even today.

3. 现在，……，它们给我们的日常生活带来了许多危害。首先，……;其次，……。更为糟糕的是……。

Today, …… which have brought a lot of harms in our daily life. First, ……Second,……What makes things worse is that…….

4. 现在，……很普遍，许多人喜欢……，因为……，另外(而且)……。

Nowadays，it is common to ……. Many people like …… because …… Besides，……

5. 任何事物都是有两面性，……也不例外。它既有有利的一面，也有不利的一面。

Everything has two sides and …… is not an exception，it has both advantages

and disadvantages.

6. 关于……人们的观点各不相同，一些人认为(说)……，在他们看来，……

People’s opinions about …… vary from person to person. Some people say that ……To them,……

7. 人类正面临着一个严重的问题……，这个问题变得越来越严重。

Man is now facing a big problem …… which is becoming more and more serious.

8. ……已成为人的关注的热门话题，特别是在年青人当中，将引发激烈的辩论。

……has become a hot topic among people，especially among the young and heated debates are right on their way.

9. ……在我们的日常生活中起着越来越重要的作用，它给我们带来了许多好处，但同时也引发一些严重的问题。

……has been playing an increasingly important role in our day-to-day life.it has brought us a lot of benefits but has created some serious problems as well.

10. 根据图表/数字/统计数字/表格中的百分比/图表/条形图/成形图可以看出……。很显然……，但是为什么呢?

According to the figure/number/statistics/percentages in the /chart/bar graph/line/graph，it can be seen that……while. Obviously，……but why?

(二)中间段落句

1. 相反，有一些人赞成……，他们相信……，而且，他们认为……。

On the contrary，there are some people in favor of……t the same time，they say……

2. 但是，我认为这不是解决……的好方法，比如……。最糟糕的是……。

But I dont think it is a very good way to solve …….For example，……Worst of all，…….

3. ……对我们国家的发展和建设是必不可少的，(也是)非常重要的。首先，……。而且……，最重要的是……

……is necessary and important to our countrys development and construction. First，……Whats more, ……Most important of all,……

4. 有几个可供我们采纳的方法。首先，我们可以……。

There are several measures for us to adopt. First, we can……

5. 面临……，我们应该采取一系列行之有效的方法来……。一方面……，另一方面，

Confronted with……we should take a series of effective measures to…….

For one thing，For another，

6. 早就应该拿出行动了。比如说……，另外……。所有这些方法肯定会……。

It is high time that something was done about it. For example. ……In addition.……All these measures will certainly…….

7. 为什么……?第一个原因是……;第二个原因是……;第三个原因是……。总的来说，……的主要原因是由于……

Why…… The first reason is that ……The second reason is ……The third is…….For all this, the main cause of ……use to …….

8. 然而，正如任何事物都有好坏两个方面一样，……也有它的不利的一面，象……。

However, just like everything has both its good and bad sides, ……also has its own disadvantages, such as ……

9. 尽管如此，我相信……更有利。

Nonetheless, I believe that ……is more advantageous.

10. 完全同意……这种观点(陈述)，主要理由如下：

I fully agree with the statement that ……because…….

(三)结尾句

1. 至于我，在某种程度上我同意后面的观点，我认为……

As far as I am concerned, I agree with the latter opinion to some extent. I think that ……

2. 总而言之，整个社会应该密切关注……这个问题。只有这样，我们才能在将来……。

In a word, the whole society should pay close attention to the problem of ……Only in this way can ……in the future.

3. 但是，……和……都有它们各自的优势(好处)。例如，……，而……。然而，把这两者相比较，我更倾向于(喜欢)……

But ……and……have heir own advantages. For example, …… while……

Comparing this with that, however, I prefer to……

4. 就我个人而言，我相信……，因此，我坚信美好的未来正等着我们。因为……

Personally, I believe that…… Consequently, I’m confident that a bright future is awaiting us because……

5. 随着社会的发展，……。因此，迫切需要……。如果每个人都愿为社会贡献自己的一份力量，这个社会将要变得越来越好。

With the development of society, ……So its urgent and necessary to ……If every member is willing to contribute himself to the society, it will be better and better.

6. 至于我(对我来说，就我而言)，我认为……更合理。只有这样，我们才能……

For my part, I think it reasonable to…… Only in this way can you……

7. 对我来说，我认为有必要……。原因如下：第一，……; 第二，……;最后……但同样重要的是……

In my opinion, I think it necessary to……The reasons are as follows. First ……second …… Last but not least,……

8. 在总体上很难说……是好还是坏，因为它在很大程度上取决于……的形势。然而，就我个人而言，我发现……。

It is difficult to say whether ……is good or not in general as it depends very much on the situation of…….however, from a personal point of view find……

9. 综上所述，我们可以清楚地得出结论……

From what has been discussed above, we may reasonably arrive at the conclusion that……

10. 如果我们不采取有效的方法，就可能控制不了这种趋势，就会出现一些意想不到的不良后果，所以，我们应该做的是……

If we can not take useful means, we may not control this trend, and some undesirable result may come out unexpectedly, so what we should do is

常用句型：

开头：

When it comes to ..., some think ...

There is a public debate today that ...

A is a commen way of ..., but is it a wise one?

Recentaly the problem has been brought into focus.

提出观点：

Now there is a growing awareness that...

It is time we explore the truth of ...

Nowhere in history has the issue been more visible.

进一步提出观点：

... but that is only part of the history.

Another equally important aspect is ...

A is but one of the many effects. Another is ... Besides, other reasons are...

提出假想例子的方式：

Suppose that...

Just imagine what would be like if...

It is reasonable to expect...

It is not surprising that...

举普通例子：

For example(instance),...

... such as A,B,C and so on (so forth)

A good case in point is...

A particular example for this is...

引用：

One of the greatest early writers said ...

"Knowledge is power", such is the remard of ...

"......". That is how sb comment ( criticize/ praise...).

"......". How often we hear such words like there.

讲故事

(先说故事主体)，this story is not rare.

..., such delimma we often meet in daily life.

..., the story still has a realistic significance.

提出原因：

There are many reasons for ...

Why .... , for one thing,...

The answer to this problem involves many factors.

Any discussion about this problem would inevitably involves ...

The first reason can be obiviously seen.

Most people would agree that...

Some people may neglect that in fact ...

Others suggest that...

Part of the explanation is ...

进行对比：

The advantages for A for outweigh the disadvantages of...

Although A enjoys a distinct advantage ...

Indeed , A carries much weight than B when sth is concerned.

A maybe ... , but it suffers from the disadvantage that...

承上启下：

To understand the truth of ..., it is also important to see...

A study of ... will make this point clear

让步：

Certainly, B has its own advantages, such as...

I do not deny that A has its own merits.

结尾：

From what has been discussed above, we may safely draw

the conclusion that ...

In summary, it is wiser ...

In short...

Water is the source of life.We cant live without water.However,with the

increasing population and industrial development,water pollution has become a

serious problem.Large amounts of wastewater go into rivers and seas directly

without being treated,which can be dangerous to people.Also lots of people pay

no attention to saving water in daily life,while in some place water is badly

needed.

Its time for us to take some measures to improve the situation.Factories

should treat the wastewater before letting it go into rivers.We can play a

positive role in saving water.For example we can reuse the water for wishing

rice to wash vegetables and then clean a mop.

下面的材料旨在丰富学生在是非问题写作方面的思想和语言，考生在复习时可以先分类阅读这些篇章，然后尝试写相关方面的作文题。

对于素材中用黑体字的部分，特别建议你熟读，背诵，因为它们在语言和观点上都值得吸收。学习语言的人应该明白，表达能力和思想深度都靠日积月累，潜移默化。从某种意义上说，提高英语写作能力无捷径可走，你必须大段背诵英语文章才能逐渐形成语感和用英语进行表达的能力。这一关，没有任何人能代替你过。

因此，建议你下点苦功夫，把背单词的精神拿出来背诵文章。何况，并不是要求你背了之后永远牢记在心：你可以这个星期背，下个星期忘。这没有关系，相信你的大脑具有神奇的能力。背了工具箱里的文章后，你会惊讶的发现：I can think in English now！

1.?????? Proverbs

1. A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that individuality is the key to success.

2. The primary purpose of a liberal education is to make one’s mind a pleasant place in which to spend one’s time.

3. Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.

4. The classroom--not the trench--is the frontier of freedom now and forevermore.

5. Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.

6. It is the purpose of education to help us become autonomous, creative, inquiring people who have the will and intelligence to create our own destiny.

7. You see, real ongoing, lifelong education doesn’t answer questions; it provokes them.

8. People will pay more to be entertained than educated.

9.the most important function of education at any level is to develop the personality of the individual and the significance of his life to himself and to others. This is the basic architecture of a life; the rest is ornamentation and decoration of the structure.

10. The essence of our efforts to see that every child has a chance must be to assure each as equal opportunity, not to become equal, but to become different-to realize whatever unique potential of body, mind, and spirit he or she possesses.

11. A great teacher never strives to explain his vision-he simply invites you to stand beside him and see for yourself.

12. If you can read and don’, you are an illiterate by choice.

2. Damaging Research

A study by National Parent-Teacher Organization revealed that in the average American school, eighteen negatives are identified for every positive that is pointed out. The Wisconsin study revealed that when children enter the first grade, 80 percent of them feel pretty good themselves, but by the time they get to the sixth grade, only 10 percent of them have good self-images.

3. Education and Citizenship

An important aspect of education in the United States is the relationship between education and citizenship. Throughout its history this nation has emphasized public education as a means of transmitting democratic values, creating equality of opportunity, and preparing new generations of citizens to function in society. In addition, the schools have been expected to help shape society itself. During the 1950s, for example, efforts to combat racial segregation focused on the schools. Later, when the Soviet Union launched the first orbiting satellite, American schools and colleges came under intense pressure and were offered many incentives to improve their science and mathematics programs so that the nations would not fall behind the Soviet Union in scientific and technological capabilities.

Education is often viewed as a tool for solving social problems, especially social inequality. The schools, t is thought, can transform young people from vastly different backgrounds into competent, upwardly mobile adults. Yet these goals seem almost impossible to attain. In recent years, in fact, public education has been at the center of numerous controversies arising from the gap between the ideal and the reality. Part of the problem is that different groups in society have different have different expectations. Some feel that children should be taught basic job-related skills; still others believe education should not only prepare children to compete in society but also help them maintain their cultural identity (and, in the case of Hispanic children, their language). On the other hand, policymakers concerned with education emphasize the need to increase the level of student achievement and to improve parents in their children’s education.

Some reformers and critics have called attention to the need to link formal schooling with programs designed to address social problems. Sociologist Charles Moscos, for example, is a leader in the movement to expand programs like the Peace Corps, Vista, and Outward Bound into a system of voluntary national service. National service, as Moscos defines it, would entail “the full-time undertaking of public duties by young people whether as citizen soldiers or civilian servers-who are paid subsistence wages” and serve for at least one year. In return for this period of service, the volunteers would receive assistance in paying for college or other educational expenses.

Advocates of national service and school-to-work programs believe that education does not have to be confined to formal schooling. In devising strategies to provide opportunities for young people to serve their society, they emphasize the educational value of citizenship experiences gained outside the classroom. At this writing there is little indication that national service will become a new educational institution in the United States, although the concept is steadily gaining support among educators and social critics.

4. The Teacher’s Role

Given the undeniable importance of classroom experience, sociologists have done a considerable amount of research on what goes on in the classroom. Often they start from the premise that, along with the influence of peers, students’ experiences in the classroom are of central importance to their later development. One study examined the impact of a single first-grade teacher on her students’ subsequent adult status. The surprising results of this study have important implications. It is evident that good teachers can make a big difference in children’s lives, a fact that gives increased urgency to the need to improve the quality of primary-school teaching. The reforms carried out by educational leaders like James Comer suggest that when good teaching is combined with high levels of parental involvement the results can be even more dramatic.

Because the role of the teacher is to change the learner in some way, the teacher-student relationship is an important part of education. Sociologists have pointed out that this relationship is asymmetrical or unbalanced, with the teacher being in a position of authority and the student having little choice but to passively absorb the information provided by the teacher. In other words, in conventional classrooms there is little opportunity for the students to become actively involved in the learning process. On the other hand, students often develop strategies for undercutting the teacher’s authority: mentally withdrawing, interrupting, and the like. Hence, much current research assumes that students and teachers influence each other instead of assuming that the influence is always in a single direction.

5. Education Philosophy

For the past fifty years our schools have operated on the theories of John Dewey (1859-1953), an American educator and writer. Dewey believed hat the school’s job was to enhance the natural development of the growing child, rather than to pour information, for which the child had no context, into him or her. In the Dewey system, the child becomes the active agent in his own education, rather than a passive receptacle for facts.

Consequently, American schools are very enthusiastic about teaching “life skills” –logical thinking, analysis, creative problem--solving. The actual content of the lessons is secondary to the process, which is supposed to train the child to be able to handle whatever life may present, including all the unknowns of the future. Students and teachers both regard pure memorization as an uncreative and somewhat vulgar.

In addition to “life skills”, schools are assigned to solve the ever growing stoke of social problems. Racism, teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, drug use, reckless driving, and are just a few of the modern problems that have appeared on the school curriculum.

This all contributes to a high degree of social awareness in American youngsters.

6. Student Life

To the students, the most notable difference between elementary school and the higher levels is that in junior high they start “changing classes”. This means that rather than spending the day in one classroom, they switch classrooms to meet their different teachers. This gives them three or four minutes between classes in the hallways, where a great deal of the important social action of high school traditionally takes place. Students have lockers in these hallways, around which thy congregate.

Society in general does not take the business of studying very seriously. Schoolchildren have a great deal of free time, which they are encouraged to fill with extracurricular activities—sports, clubs, cheerleading, scouts—supposed to inculcate such qualities as leadership, sportsmanship, ability to organize, etc. those who don’t become engaged in such activities or have afterschool jobs have plenty of opportunity to “hang out”, listen to teenager music, and watch television.

Compared to other nations, American students do not have much homework. Studies also show that American parents have lower expectations for their children’s success in school than other nationalities do. (Historically, there has not been much correlation between American school success and success in later life.) “He’s just not a scholar”, the American parents might say, content that their son is on the swim team and doesn’t take drugs. (Some of the young do choose to study hard, for reason of their own, such as determining that the road to riches lies through Harvard Business School.)

What American schools do effectively teach is the competitive method. In innumerable ways children are pitted against each other—whether in classroom discussion, spelling bees, reading groups, or tests. Every classroom is expected to produce a scattering of A’s and F’s (teachers often grade A=excellent; B=good; C=average; D=poor; and F=failed). A teacher who gives all A’s looks too soft—so students are aware that they are competing for the limited number of top marks.

Foreign students sometimes don’t understand that copying from other people’s papers or from books is considered wrong and taken seriously. Here, it is important to show that you have done your own work and are displaying your own knowledge. It is more important than helping your friends to pass, whom we think do not deserve to pass unless they can provide their own answers. Group effort goes against the competitive grain, and American students do not study together as many Asians do. Many Asians in this country consider their group study habits a large contributor to their school success.

7. Adult Education

After complaining about many aspects of American life, a 40-year-old woman from Hong Kong concluded, “But where else could someone my age go back to school and get a degree in social work? Here you can change your whole life, start a new business, do what you really want to do.”

So at least to this person, school requirements weren’t inhibiting. And to millions of others, adult education is the path to a new career, or if not to a new career, to a new outlook. Schools generally encourage the older person who wants to start anew, and besides regular classes, schedule evening classes in special programs. Today there are so many people of retirement age in college that it is no longer remarkable.

8. Moral Relativism in American

Improving American education requires not doing new things but doing (and remembering) some good old things. At the time of our nation’s founding, Thomas Jefferson listed the requirements for a sound education in the Report of the Commissioners for the University of Virginia. In this landmark statement on American education, Jefferson wrote of the importance of education and writing, and of reading history, and geography. But he also emphasized the need “to instruct the mass of our citizens in these, their rights, interests, and duties, as men and citizens.” Jefferson believed education should aim at the improvement of both one’s “morals” and “faculties”. That has been the dominant view of the aims of American education for over two centuries. But a number of changes, most of them unsound, have diverted schools from these great pursuits. And the story of the loss of the school’s original moral mission explains a great deal.

Starting in the early seventies, “values clarification” programs started turning up in schools all over America. According to this philosophy, the schools were not to take part in their time-honored task of transmitting sound moral values; rather, they were to allow the child to “clarify” his own values (which adults, including parents, had no “rights” to criticize). The “values clarification” movement didn’t clarify values; it clarified wants and desires. This form of moral relativism said, in effect, that no set of values was right or wrong; everybody had an equal right to his own values; and all values were subjective, relative, and personal. This destructive view took hold with a vengeance.

In 1985 The York Times published an article quoting New York area educators, in slavish devotion to this new view, proclaiming, “They deliberately avoid trying to tell students what is ethically right and wrong.” The article told of one counseling session involving fifteen high school juniors and seniors. In the course of that session a student concluded that a fellow student had been foolish to return one thousand dollars she found in a purse at school. According to the article, when the youngsters asked the counselor’s opinion, “He told them he believed the girl had done the right thing, but that, of course, he would not try to force his values on them. ‘If I come from the position of what is wrong,’ he explained, ‘then I’m not their counselor.’”

Once upon a time, a counselor offered counselor, and he knew that an adult does not form character in the young by taking a stance of neutrality toward questions of right and wrong or by merely offering “choices” or “options”.

In response to the belief that adults and educators should teach children sound morals, one can expect from some quarters indignant objections (I’ve heard one version of it expressed countless times over the years): “Who are you to say what’s important?” or “Whose standards and judgments do we use?”

The correct response, it seems to me, is, is we ready to do away with standards and judgments? Is anyone going to argue seriously that a life of cheating and swindling is as worthy as a life of honest, hard work? Is anyone (with the exception of some literature professors at our elite universities) going to argue seriously the intellectual corollary, that a Marvel comic book is as good as Macbeth? Unless we are willing to embrace some pretty silly position, we’ve got to admit the need for moral and intellectual standards. The problem is that some people tend to regard anyone who would pronounce a definitive judgment as an unsophisticated Philistine or a closed-minded “elitist” trying to impose his view on everybody else.

The truth of the real world is that without standards and judgments, there can be no progress. Unless we are prepared to say irrational things—that nothing can be proven more valuable than anything else or that everything is equally worthless—we must ask the normative question. It may come, as a surprise to those who fell that to be “progressive” is to be value-neutral. But as Matthew Amold said, “the world is forwarded by having its attention fixed on the best things” and if the world can’t decide what the best things are, at least to some degree, then it follows that progress, and character, is in trouble. We shouldn’t be reluctant to declare that some things, some lives, books, ideas, and values are better than others. It is the responsibility of the schools to teach these better things.

At one time, we weren’t so reluctant to teach them. In the mid-nineteenth century, a diverse, widespread group of crusaders began to work for the public support of what was then called the “common school”, the forerunner of the public school. They were to be charged with the mission of school felt that the nation could fulfill its destiny only if every new generation was taught these values together in a common institution.

The leaders of the common school movement were mainly citizens who were prominent in their communities—businessmen, ministers, local civic and government officials. These people saw the schools as upholders of standards of individual morality and small incubators of civic and personal virtue; the founders of the public schools had faith that public education could teach good moral and civic character from a common ground of American values.

But in the past quarter century or so, some of the so-called experts became experts of value neutrality, and moral education was increasingly left in their hands. The commonsense view of parents and the publicthat schools should reinforce rather than undermine the values of home, family, and country, was increasingly rejected.

There are those today still that claim we are now too diverse a nation, that we consist of too many competing convictions and interests to instill common values. They are wrong. Of course we are a diverse people. We have always been a diverse people. And as Madison wrote in FederalistNo.10, the competing, balancing interests of a diverse people can help ensure the survival of liberty. But there are values that all American citizens share and that we should want all American students to know and to make their own: honesty, fairness, self-discipline, fidelity to task, friends, and family, personal responsibility, love of country, and belief in the principles of liberty, equality, and the freedom to practice one’s faith. The explicit teaching of these values is the legacy of the common schools, and it is a legacy to which we must return.

9. Schools Should Teach Values

People often said, “Yes, we should teach these values, but how do we teach them?” this question deserves a candid response, one that isn’t given often enough. It is by exposing our children to good character and inviting its imitation that we will transmit to them a moral foundation. This happens when teachers and principals, by their words and actions, embody sound convictions. As Oxford’s Mary Warnock has written, “You cannot teach morality without being committed to morality yourself; and you cannot be committed to morality yourself without holding that some things are right and others wrong.” The theologian Martin Buber wrote that the educator is distinguished from all other influences “by his will to take part in the stamping of character and by his consciousness that he represents in the eyes of the growing person a certain selection of what is, the selection of what is ‘right’, of what should be.” It is in this will, Buber says, in this clear standing for something, that the “vocation as an educator finds its fundamental expression.”

There is no escaping the fact that young people need as example principals and teachers who know the difference between right and wrong, good and bad, and who themselves exemplify high moral purpose.

As Education Secretary, I visited a class at Waterbury Elementary School in Waterbury, Vermont, and asked the students, “Is this a good school?” They answered, “Yes, this is a good school.” I asked them, “Why?” Among other things, one eight-year-old said, “The principal Mr. Riegel, makes good rules and everybody obeys them.” So I said, “Give me an example.” And another answered, “You can’t climb on the pipes in the bathroom. We don’t climb on the pipes and the principal doesn’t either.”

This example is probably too simple to please a lot of people who want to make the topic of moral education difficult, but there is something profound in the answer of those children, something education should pay more attention to. You can’t expect children to take messages about rules or morality seriously unless they see adults taking those rules seriously in their day-to-day affairs. Certain must be said, certain limits lay down, and certain examples set. There is no other way.

We should also do a better job at curriculum selection. The research shows that most “values education” exercises and separate courses in “moral reasoning” tend not to affect children’s behavior; if anything, they may leave children morally adrift. Where to turn? I believe our literature and our history are a rich quarry of moral literacy. We should mine that quarry. Children should have at their disposal a stock of examples illustrating what we believe to be right and wrong, good and bad—examples illustrating what are morally right and wrong can indeed be known and that there is a difference.

What kind of stories, historical events, and famous lives am I talking about? If we want our children to know about honesty, we should teach them about Abe Lincoln walking three miles to return six cents and conversely, about Aesop’s shepherd boy who cried wolf if we want them to know about courage, we should teach them about Joan of Arc, Horatius at the bridge, and Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. If we want them to know about persistence in the face of adversity, they should know about the voyages of Columbus and the character of Washington during the Civil War. And our youngest should be told about the Little Engine That Could. If we want them to know about respect for the law, they should understand why Socrates told Crito: “No, I must submit to the decree of Athens.” If we want our children to respect the rights of others, they should read the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Gettysburg Address, and Martin Luther King, Jr.’ “Letter from Birmingham jail.” From the Bible they should know about Ruth’s loyalty to Naomi, Joseph’s forgiveness of his brothers, Jonathan’s friendship with David, the Good Samaritan’s kindness toward a stranger, and David’s cleverness and courage in facing Goliath.

These are only a few of the hundreds of examples we can call on. And we need not get into issues like nuclear war, abortion, creationism, or euthanasia. This may come as a disappointment to some people, but the fact is that the formation of character in young people is educationally a task different from, and prior to, the discussion of the great, difficult controversies of the day. First things come first. We should teach values the same way we teach other things: one step at a time. We should not use the fact that there are many difficult and controversial moral questions as an argument against basic instruction in the subject.

After all, we do not argue against teaching physics because laser physics is difficult, against teaching American history because there are heated disputes about the Founders’ intent. Every field has its complexities and its controversies. And every field has its basics, its fundamentals. So they are too with forming character and achieving moral literacy. As any parent knows, teaching character is a difficult task. But it is a crucial task, because we want our children to be healthy, happy, and successful but decent, strong, and good. None of this happens automatically; there is no genetic transmission of virtue. It takes the conscious, committed efforts of adults. It takes careful attention.

10. College Pressures

Mainly I try to remind that the road ahead is a long one and that it will have more unexpected turns than they think. There will be plenty of time to change jobs, change careers, change whole attitudes and approaches. They don not want to hear such liberating news. They want a map—right now – that they can follow unswervingly to career security, financial security, Social Security and, presumably, a prepaid grave.

What I wish for all students is some release from the clammy grip of the future. I wish them a chance to savor each segment of their education as an experience in itself and not as a grim preparation for the next step. I wish them the right to experiment, to trip and fall, to learn that defeat is as instructive as victory and is not the end of the world.

My wish, of course, is na?ve. One of the national gods venerated in our media—the million-dollar athlete, the wealthy executive—and glorified in our praise of possessions. In the presence of such a potent state religion, the young are growing up old.

I see four kinds of pressure working on college students today: economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure, and self-induced pressure. It is easy to look around for villains—to blame the colleges for charging too much money, the professors for assigning too much work, the parents for pushing their children too far, and the students for driving themselves too hard. But there are no villains: only victims.

“In the late 1960s.” one dean told me. “The typical question that I got from students was ‘Why is there so much suffering in the world’ or ‘how I can make a contribution?’ Today it’s ‘Do you think it would look better for getting into law school if I did a double major in history and political science, or just majored in one of them?’” many other deans confirmed this pattern. One said: “They are trying to find an edge—the intangible something that will look better on paper if two students are about equal.”

Note the emphasis on looking better. The transcript has become a sacred document, the passport to security. How one appears on paper is more important than how one appears in person. A is for Admirable and B is for Borderline, even though, in Yale’s official system of grading, A means “excellent” and B means “very good.” Today, looking very good is no longer good enough, especially for students who hope to go on to law school or medical school. They know that entrance into the better schools will be an entrance into the better law firms and better medical practices where they will make a lot of money. They also know that the odds are harsh. Yale Law School, for instance, matriculates 170students from an applicant pool of 3,700; Harvard enrolls 550 from a pool of 7,000.

It’s all very well for those of us who write letters of recommendation for our students to stress the qualities of humanity that will make them good lawyers or doctors. And it’s nice to think that admission officers are ready reading our letters and looking for the extra dimension of commitment or concern. Still, it would be hard for a student not to visualize these officers shuffling so many transcripts studded with As that they regard a B as positively shameful.

The pressure is almost as heavy on students who just want to graduate and get a job. Long gone are the days of the “gentleman’s C.” when students journeyed through college with a certain relaxation, sampling a wide variety of courses-music, art, philosophy, classics, anthropology, poetry, religion—that would send them out as liberally educated men and women. If I were an employer I would rather employ graduates who have this range and curiosity than those who narrowly pursued safe subjects and high grades. I know countless students whose inquiring minds exhilarate me. I like to hear the play of their ideas. I do not know if they are getting As or Cs, and I do not care. I also like them as people. The country needs them, and they will find satisfying jobs. I tell them to relax. They cannot.

Nor can I blame them. They live in a brutal economy. Tuition, room, and board at most private colleges now come to at least $7,000, not counting books and fees. This might seem to suggest that the colleges are getting rich. But they are equally battered by inflation. Tuition covers only 60 percent of what it costs to educate a student, and ordinarily the remainder comes from what college receives in endowments, grants, and gifts. Now, the remainder keeps being swallowed by the cruel costs—higher every year—of just opening the doors. Heating oil is up. Insurance is up. Postage is up. Health-premium costs are up. Everything is up. Deficits are up. We are witnessing in American the creation of a brotherhood of paupers—colleges, parents, and students, joined by the common bond of debt.

Today it is not unusual for a student, even if he works part time at college and full time during the summer, to accrue $5,000 in loans after four years—loans that he must start to repay within one year after graduation. Exhorted at commencement to go forth into the world, he is already behind as he goes forth. How could he not feel under pressure throughout college to prepare for this day of reckoning? I have used “he,” incidentally, only for brevity. Women at Yale are under no less pressure to justify their expensive education to themselves, their parents, and society. In fact, they are probably under more pressure. For although they leave college superbly equipped to bring fresh leadership to traditionally male jobs, society has not yet caught up with this fact.

Along with economic pressure goes parental pressure. Inevitably, the two are deeply intertwined.

I see many students taking pre-medical courses with joyless tenacity. They go off to their labs as if they were going to the dentist. It saddens me because I know tem in other corners of their life as cheerful people.

“Do you want to medical school?” I asked them.

“I guess so,” they say, without conviction, or “Not really.”

“Then why are you going?”

“Well, my parents want me to be a doctor. They are paying all this money and …”

Poor students, poor parents, they are caught in one of the oldest webs of love and duty and guilt. The parents mean will; they are trying to steer their sons and draughts toward a secure future. But the sons and daughter want to major in history or classics or philosophy—subjects with no “practical” value. Where’s the payoff on the humanities? It’s not easy to persuade such loving parents that the humanities do indeed pay off. The intellectual faculties developed by studying subjects like history and classics—an ability to synthesize and relate, to weigh cause and effect, to see events in perspective—are just the faculties that make creative leaders in business or almost any general field. Still, many fathers would rather put their money on courses that point toward specific profession—courses that are pre-law, pre-medical, pre-business, or, as I sometimes heard it put, “pre-rich.”

But the pressure on students is severe. They are truly torn. One part of them feels obliged to fulfill their parents’ expectations; after all, their parents are older and presumably wiser. Another part tells them that the expectations that are right for their parents are not right for them.

I know a student who wants to be an artist. She is very obviously an artist and will be a good one—she has already had several modest local exhibits. Meanwhile she is growing as a well-round person and taking humanistic subjects that will enrich the inner resources out of which her art will grow. But her father is strongly opposed. He thinks that an artist is a “dumb” thing to be. The student vacillates and tries to please everybody. She keeps up with her art somewhat furtively and takes some of the “dumb” courses her father wants her to take—at least they are dumb courses for her. She is a free spirit on a campus of tense students—no small achievement in it—and she deserves to follow her muse.

Peer pressure and self-induced pressure are also intertwined, and they begin almost at the beginning of freshman year.

“I had a freshman student I’ll call Linda,” one dean told me, “who came in and said she was under terrible pressure because her roommate, Barbara, was much brighter and studied all the time. I could not tell her that Barbara had come in two hours earlier to say the same thing about Linda.”

The story is almost funny—except that it is not. It is symptomatic of all the pressure put together. When every student thinks every other student is working harder and doing better, the only solution is to study harder still. I see students going off to the library every night after dinner and coming back when it closes at midnight. I wish they would sometimes forget about their peers and go to a movie. I hear the clacking of typewriters in the hours before dawn. I see the tension in their eyes when exams are approaching and papers are due: “Will I get everything done?”

Probably they won’t. They will get blocked. They will sleep. They will oversleep. They will bug out.

Part of the problem is that they are expected to do. A professor will assign five page papers. Several students will start writing ten page papers to impress him. Then more students will write ten page papers, and a few will raise the ante to fifteen. Pity the poor student who is still just doing the assignment.

“Once you have twenty or thirty percent of the student population deliberately overexerting,” one dean points out, “It’s bad for everybody. When a teacher gets more and more effort from his class, the student who is doing normal work can be perceived as not doing well. The tactic work, psychologically.”

Why cannot the professor just cut back and not accept longer papers? He can, and he probably will. But by then the term will be half over and the damage done. Grade fever is highly contagious and not easily reversed. Besides, the professor’s main concern is with his course. He knows his students only in relation to the course and does not know that they are also overexerting in their other courses. Nor is it really his business. He did not sign up for dealing with the student as a whole person and with all the emotional baggage the student brought along from home. That’s what deans, masters, chaplains, and psychiatrists are for.

To some extent this is nothing new: a certain number of professors have always been self-contained islands of scholarship and shyness, more comfortable with books than with people. But the new pauperism has widened the gap still further, for professors who actually like to spend time with students do not have as much time to spend. They are also overexerting. If they are young, they are busy trying to publish in order not to perish, hanging by their figure nails onto a shrinking profession.

If they are old and tenured, they are buried under the duties of administering departments—as departmental chairmen or members of committees—that have been thinned out by the budgetary axe.

Ultimately it will be the students’ own business to break the circles in which they are trapped. They are too young to be prisoners of their parents’ dreams and their classmates’ fears. They must be jolted into believing into themselves as unique men and women who have the power to shape their own future.

“Violence is being done to the undergraduate experience,” says Carlos Hortas. “College should be open-ended: at the end it should open many, many roads. Instead, students are choosing their goal in advance, and their choices narrow as they go along. It’s almost as if they think that the country has been codified in the type of jobs that exist-that they’ve got to fit into certain slots. Therefore, fit into the best paying slot.”

“They ought to take chances. Not taking chances will lead to life of colorless mediocrity. They’ll be comfortable. But something in the spirit will be missing.”

I have painted too drab a portrait of today’s students, making them seem a solemn lot. That is only half of their story; if they were so dreary I wouldn’t so thoroughly enjoy their company. The other half is that they are easy to like. They are quick to laugh and to offer friendship. They are not introverts. They are usually kind and are more considerate of one another than any student generation I have known.

Nor are they so obsessed with their studies that they avoid sports and extracurricular activities. On the contrary, they juggle their crowded hours to play on a variety of teams, perform with musical and dramatic groups, and write for campus publications. But this in turn is one more cause of anxiety. There are too many choices. Academically, they have 1,300 courses to select from; outside class they have to decide how much spare time they can spare and how to spend it.

This means that they engage in fewer extracurricular pursuits than their predecessors did. If they want to row on the crew and play in the symphony they will eliminate one; in the ‘60s they would have done both. They also tend to choose activities that are self-limiting. Drama, for instance, is flourishing in all twelve of Yale’s residential colleges, as it never has before. Students hurl themselves into these productions—as actors, directors, carpenters, and technicians—with a dedication to create the best possible play, knowing that the day will come when the run will end and they can get back to their studies.

They also cannot afford to be the willing slave of organizations like the Yale Daily News. Last spring at the one-hundredth anniversary banquet of that paper—who’s past chairmen include such once and future kings as Potter Stewart, Kingman Brewster, and William F. Buckley, Jr.—much was made of the fact that the editorial staff used to be small and totally committed and that “newsies” routinely worked fifty hours a week. In effect they belonged to a club; Newsies is how they defined themselves at Yale. Today’s students will one or two articles a week, when he can, and he defines himself as a student. I’ve never heard the word Newsie except at the banquet.

If I have described the modern undergraduate primarily as a driven creature who is largely ignoring the blithe spirit inside who keeps trying to come out and play, it’s because that’s where the crunch is, not only at Yale but throughout American education. It’s why I think we should all be worried about the values that are nurturing a generation so fearful of risk and so goal-obsessed at such an early age.

I tell students that there is no one “right” way to get ahead—that each of them is a different person, starting from a different point and bound for a different destination. I tell neither them that change is a tonic and that all the slots are not codified nor the frontiers closed. One of my ways of telling them is to invite men and women who have achieved success outside the academic world to come and talk informally with my students during the year. They are heads of companies or ad agencies, editors of magazines, politicians, public officials, television magnates, labor leaders, business executives, Broadway products, artists, writers, economists, photographers, scientists, historians—a mixed bag of achievers.

I asked them to say a few words about how they got started. The students assume that they started in their present profession and knew all along that it was what they wanted to do. Luckily for me, most of them got into their field by a circuitous route, to their surprise, after many detours. The students are startled. They can hardly conceive of a career that was not pre-planned. They can hardly imagine allowing the hand of God or chance to nudge them down some unforeseen trail.

11. To Err Is Wrong

In the summer of 1979, Boston Red Sox first baseman Carl Yastrzemski became the fifteenth player in baseball history to reach the three thousand hit plateaus. This event drew a lot of media attention, and for about a week prior to the attainment of this goal, hundreds of reports covered Yaz’s every more. Finally, one reporter asked, “Hey Yaz, aren’t you afraid all of this attention will go to your head?” Yastrzemski replied, “I look at this way: in my career I’ve been up to bat over ten thousand times. That means I’ve been unsuccessful at the plate over seven thousand times. That fact alone keeps me from getting a swollen head.”?

Most people consider success and failure as opposites, but they are actually both products of the same process. As Yaz suggest, an activity that produces a hit may also produce a miss. It is the same with creative thinking; the same energy that generates good creative ideas also produces errors.

Many people, however, are not comfortable with errors. Our educational system, based on “the right answer” belief, cultivates our thinking in another, more conservative way. From an early age, we are taught that right answers are good and incorrect answers are bad. This value is deeply embedded in the incentive system used in most schools:

Right over 90% of the time = “A”

Right over 80% of the time = “B~”

Right over 70% of the time = “C~” Right over 60% of the time = “D~” Less than 60% correct, you fail.

From this we learn to be right as often as possible and to keep our mistakes to a minimum. We learn, in other words, that “to err is wrong.

Playing It Safe

With this kind of attitude, you aren’t going to be taking too many chances. If you learn that failing even a litter penalizes you (e.g., being wrong only 15% of the time garners you only a “B” performance), you learn not to make mistakes. And more important, you learn not to put yourself to situation where you might fall. This leads to conservative thought pattern designed to avoid the stigma our society puts on “failure”.

I have a friend who recently graduated from college with a Master’s degree in Journalism. For the last six month, she has been trying to find a job, but to no avail. I talked with her about situation, and realized that her problem is that she doesn’t know how to fail. She went through eighteen years of schooling to try any approaches where she might fail. She has been conditioned to believe that failure is bad in and of itself, rather than a potential stepping-stone to new ideas.

Look around. How many middle managers, housewives, administrators, teachers, and other people do you see who are to try anything new because of this failure? Most of us have learned not to make mistakes in public. As a result, we remove ourselves from many learning experience except for those occurring in the most private of circumstances.

Different Logic

From a practical point of view, “to err is wrong” makes sense. Our survival in the everyday world requires us to perform thousand of small tasks without failure. Think about it: you wouldn’t last very long if you were to step out in front of traffic or stick your hand a pot of boiling water. In addition, engineers whose bridges collapse, stock brokers who lose money for their clients, and copywriters whose ad campaigns decrease sales won’t keep their jobs very long.

Nevertheless, too great an adherence to the belief “to err is wrong” can greatly undermine your attempts to generate new ideas. If you are more concerned with producing right answers than generating original ideas, you’ll probably make uncritical use of the rules, formulae, and procedures used to obtain these right answers. By doing this, you’ll by-pass the germinal phase of the creative process, and thus spend litter time testing assumptions, challenging the rules, asking what-if questions, or just playing around with the problem. All of these techniques will produce some incorrect answers, but in the germinal phase errors are viewed as a necessary by-product of creative thinking. As Yaz would put it, “if you want the hits, be prepared for the misses.” That’s the way the game of life goes.

Errors as Stepping Stones

Whenever an error pops up, the usual response is “Jeez, another screw up, what went wrong this time?” the creative thinker, on the other hand, will realize the potential value of errors, and perhaps say something like, “Would you look at that! Where can it lead our thinking?” and then he or she will go on to use the error as a stepping stone to a new idea. As a matter of fact, the whole history of discovery is filed with people who used erroneous assumptions and failed ideas as stepping-stones to new ideas. Columbus thought he was finding a shorter route to India. Johannes Kepler stumbled on to the idea of interplanetary gravity because of assumptions that were right for the wrong reasons. And, Thomas Edison knew 1800 ways not to build a light bulb.

The following story about the automotive genius Charles Kettering exemplifies the spirit of working through erroneous assumptions to good ideas. In 1912, when the automobile industry was just beginning to grow, Kettering was interested in improving gasoline engine efficiency. The problem he faced was“knockthe phenomenon in which gasoline takes too long to burn in the cylinder-thereby reducing efficiency.

Kettering began searching for ways to eliminate the “knock.” He thought to him, “How can I get the gasoline to combust in the cylinder at an earlier time?” the key concept here is “early”. Searching for analogous situations, he looked around for models of “things that happen early.” He thought of historical models, physical models, and biological models. Finally, he remembered a particular plant, the trailing arbutus, which “happens early,” i.e., it blooms in the snow (“earlier” than other plants). One of this plant’s chief characteristics is its’ red leaves, which help the plant retain light at certain wavelengths. Kettering figured that it must be the red color, which made the trailing arbutus bloom earlier.

Now came the critical step in Kettering’s chain of thought. He asked himself, “How can I make the gasoline red?” perhaps I’ll put red dye in the gasoline—maybe that’ll make it combust earlier.” He looked around his workshop, and found that he didn’t have any red dye. But he did happen to have some iodine—perhaps that would do. He added the iodine to the gasoline and, lo and behold, the engine didn’t “knock”.

[英语作文写作的需要背诵的部分

1、I"d like ...to come to dinner

非常希望...共进晚餐

2、request the pleasure of

恭请...

3、The favor of a reply is requested

敬赐复函

4、May I have the honour of your company at dinner?

敬备菲酌，恭请光临

5、Thank you for inviting us to dinner

谢谢您邀请我们共进晚餐

6、I hope you"re not too busy to come.

我期望您会在百忙中光临

7、The reception will be held in ...,on ...

招待会定于...在...举行

8、We sincerely hope you can attend

我们期待您的光临

9、We are looking forward to ...

我们期待着....

点击查看：英语写作指导

10、We have decided to have a party in honor of the occasion

为此我们决定举办一次晚会

11、Please confirm your participation at your earliest convenience

是否参加，请早日告之

People always say that we are lacking of the eyes of realizing the beauty

in life. I can’t agree with it anymore. Last week, I woke up very early in the

morning, so I decided to take a walk. The street was very quiet and there were

many old people dancing in the square. Without many cars, I realized the city

looked so clean and beautiful. Some coffee shops decorates so well, which

attrated my eyes. The city was coverd by the green trees, which made it a green

city. I liked this feeling so much. At this moment, I found the city was so

lovely, I just ingored its beauty usually.

Dear Mike,

How are you? Im really glad that you are interested in traditional Chinese

festivals. There are many traditional festivals in China, such as Spring

Festival, Mid-Autumn Day and so on. Id like to introduce the Spring Festival to

you. Spring Festival is the most important traditional holiday in China. It

usually lasts for 15 days.

Days before the festival, people clean their houses. They think cleaning

sweeps any bad luck. They decorate their houses with paper cuts. On the eve of

the festival, family members get together and have big meals. Then they watch

the Spring Festival Gala on TV. At midnight, they set off fireworks to welcome

the New Year. During the festival, kids get lucky money from old people. People

visit their relatives and friends. They wish each a happy year and good luck.

How happy we are.

Best wishes!

Yours,

Liu Wei

时光飞逝，短暂而又愉快的假期生活已经结束了。接下来我所面临的是紧张而又愉快的新学期的教育教学生活。为把新学期的教育教学工作做好，特此作如下教学计划：

一、指导思想。

坚持马列主义，毛泽东思想。高举邓小平理论伟大旗帜，认真学习教育理论，贯彻“三个代表”重要指导思想，积极响应和贯彻素质教育钻研素质教育的实质。“减负”的内在，并以此指导自己的教育教学工作，遵循教育教学规律，紧扣大纲，把我教学层次，不断提高自己的业务水平。

二、基本情况。

这一学期，我继续担任初一(1，2)班的英语教学工作。这两个班级，每班各有学生三十五人左右，但是，基础却不尽人意。初一.1班的学生基础还可以，但是2班的基础却相差很远，学生基础参差不齐，两极分化严重，没有学习的兴趣。因此，教学工作开展的相当困难。

三、教材特点。

初中英语第一册(下)主要介绍了日常生活的交际用语以及一些西方国家的文化背景和风俗习惯，教材通俗易懂，旨在使初一级学生基本能用英语进行简单的交流。

四、教学目标。

力争在期末考试中优秀率打到30%左右，及格率达到60%左右。缩小学生间的差距。为下一学期的英语教育教学工作打下以良好的基础。

五、具体措施。

1、每天背诵课文中的对话。目的：要求学生背诵并默写，培养语感。

2、每天记5个生词，2个常用句子或习语。实施：利用“互测及教师抽查”及时检查，保证效果并坚持下去。

3、认真贯彻晨读制度：规定晨读内容，加强监督，保证晨读效果。

4、坚持日测、周测、月测的形成性评价制度：对英语学习实行量化制度，每日、每周、每月都要给学生检验自己努力成果的机会，让进步的同学体会到成就感，让落后的同学找出差距，感受压力。由此在班里形成浓厚的学习氛围，培养学生健康向上的人格和竞争意识。

5、对后进生进行专门辅导，布置单独的作业，让他们在小进步、小转变中体味学习的快乐，树立学习的自信，尽快成长起来。

6、关注学生的情感，营造宽松、民主、和谐的教学氛围。

7、实施"任务型"的教学途径，培养学生综合语言运用能力。

8、在教学中根据目标并结合教学内容，创造性地设计贴近学生实际的教学活动，吸引和组织他们积极参与。学生通过思考、调查、讨论、交流和合作等方式，学习和使用英语，完成学习任务。

9、加强对学生学习策略的指导，为他们终身学习奠定基础。

10、认真钻研教材，备好，上好每一节课，向45分钟要质量。

总之，新的学期已经开始了，我要以上一学期的基础为起点，树立信心，全身心的投入到新学期的教育教学工作中去。争取在新的一年里，把教育教学工作推向一新的层次。

Father is the mountain, the fathers love is great, solid and extensive, the mother is the sea, the mothers love to give us warm, honest and delicate. They give us flesh and blood, raise us up, let us know ourselves, know the world, let us become useful to the motherland. Parents love for me among the number of my mothers love for me more like a trickle into my heart.

Last years winter vacation day, under the goose feather snow, a vast expanse of white, crystal white snow from the clouds in the clouds have been hailed down. I cough from time to time, my mother came to hear the sound. Mother, hurry to carry me straight to the hospital. Snowflakes continue to fly in the cold wind.

My mother wrapped me tightly, for fear that I was cold again. Suddenly, I think my mother breathes more and more rapid, feet every step is very difficult. I let my mother rest for a while, but my mother refused. Gradually, my mother on the forehead off the line of pearls like sweat constantly rolling down. Hospital ah hospital, you usually so close from my home, how today - a scream to interrupt my thoughts - my mother fell. I feel bad to let my mother rest for a while, but my mother pretend nothing.

My mother went back to the hospital. To the hospital, my mother keep next to me, move away! Mom always care about me, I am also very concerned about my mother. Once, my mother is sick, I take the initiative to take housework, feeding mother to take medicine.

These things I vividly, I can not help but think of a poem: mother hand line, wandering body coat - my mother gave me the most meticulous, the most eternal, the last words, the most pure and sincere love! I love my mother, we are happy and happy one!