Ever since the appearance of convenient printing method and huge libraries, modern education became possible. Since then, the process of accumulation of knowledge was greatly accelerated, for mankind's knowledge storation can be developed in a systematic way. Education's function is to prepare our youth for the future by lending them the ability to discover mysteries of the world themselves or from books. The history of the human race gives us the impression that the major benefit we get from the academic training is the ability to perceive the world in different ways.
The most primitive form of education, which helped our ancestors, the cavemen, to survive in the harsh conditions during the pioneering period of human history, already possessed the power to change people's perspective. When a child learnt how to make a fire, he was brought to a brand new world, in which he was no longer the game of wild animals and the weakest creature facing the mightiness of nature. He could better understand and conquer the surroundings; the long winter, might have been one of the dangerous enemies in his eyes, seemed weaker since the fire he made could ensure him the victory. Once we have the ability to harness more power, we regard the nature in new ways; we used to have to adapt to the nature absolutely, however,today we could transform it to certain extends.
It is the coming of science and many other realms that truly and profoundly changed our view of the world. We can see further and deeper, thanks to the inventions of macroscope and microscope. But that is hardly the whole thing the science has presented in front of us. Science, widely taught in every secondary school around the world, not only allows us to see what we couldn't see before, but also allows us to get new information and knowledge from that we could see before. Only when a student finishes his course in basic physics, could he understand why some things are hot while others are cooler, and could he know what happens during the cooling down of a cup of hot water. What we observe does not change; nevertheless, the knowledge we learn from changes because of the new power science gives us. The study of science enables us to learn the truths behind the complex phenomena and to use the truths learnt to serve the mankind.
The study of diverse disciplines not only provides us with the ability to learn more, but also the intentions to think more and seek for the general principles. The study of philosophy, histories, classics, and other disciplines deepens our thoughts rather than broadening our scopes. Let's take philosophy for example, which inspires us to dig more deeply in our thoughts and hones our ability to form a correct judgment of our situations and our worlds. We may encounter the death of others, however, we won't understand the life and the death, were it not for the study of philosophy. We will also get more from the reading of all the good books, which is just like a conversation with the finest men of past centuries. We may not see more, but we inspect more; we may not hear more, but we listen to more. This best demonstrates the power of these disciplines and the value of studying them.
Human, the most intelligent, and rational beings on the Earth, stands in the dominant position of our world for thousands of years. We cannot make the wildest guess at what our world would like without the different realms of our thoughts and the education imparting these treasures to our descendants. Different fields of study give us different perspectives of this world, only when we properly and usefully assimilate the various discoveries in myriad disciplines, could we form a most brilliant picture of our today and of our tomorrow.
