American higher education stands on the brink of chaos.
Never have so many spent so long learning so little. The present
crisis stems from the increasing widespread acceptance among62．______
faculty and administrators of the fatal educational principle
which a student should not be required to do any academic work 63．______
that displeases him. If a student prefers not to study science or history
or literature, he has allowed to attain his degree without studying any 64．______
science, history, or literature.
In America the attempt is being made to provide students
with what is advised as a liberal education without requiring by them 65．______
the necessary self-discipline and hard work. Students have been led to
believe they can achieve without effort, that all they need to do is skip
light-heartedly down the merry road to learning. Fortunately, that road 66．______
is no more than a detour (弯路) to the dead end of ignorance.
we must realize that becoming an educated person is a
difficult, demanded enterprise. Just as anyone who regards intense 67．______
physical training as a source of delight would be thought a fool, for
we all know how much pain such training involves, but anyone who68．______
speaks intense mental exertion as a source of joy ought to be thought 69．______
equally foolish, for such effort also involves pain. It is painful to have
one’s ignorance exposing and frustrating to be baffled by intellectual 70．______
subtleties. Of course, there can be joy in learning as there can be in sport.
But in both cases a joy is the result of overcoming challenges and can’t71．______
be experienced without toil.