What is taught in up-to-date schools is often worth knowing on its own account but is usually taught in such a way that the pupils do not know it at the end. The consequence is that adults have slipshod habits of mind and cease to notice distortions of fact which have a sinister motive.
Source: The decay of intellectual standards, by Bertrand Russell
More info.: https://russell-j.com/DECAY-IS.HTM
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The TBS television program "Hatsumimi Gaku" hosted by Susumu Hayashi, which aired last night at 10 p.m., featured the catchphrase:"Even Mr. Hayashi approves! Passionate Lessons at Toshin High School--English Lectures by a World-Class Instructor." The guest was Kazuya Muto, reportedly the most popular teacher at Toshin High School. Mr. Muto is said to have a perfect TOEIC score of 990, and in addition, he holds a "PASS A" in the Cambridge CELTA--an extremely demanding qualification for teaching English in English-- placing him in the top 5% of all successful candidates. After receiving this kind of authoritative introduction, Mr. Muto went on to present his views at length.
【 For reference: This program is available for streaming until July 12 at the following page: https://tver.jp/episodes/ep8lwa5bot?p=0】
What often comes to my mind when I watch programs like this is that, while the lecturer's passionate arguments may be beneficial to a select group of people who use English as a business tool, they are unlikely to be of much help to the vast majority of general viewers. It seems that television producers care mainly about appealing to the audience, and are not particularly concerned if many viewers are left with the mistaken impression: "If I make the effort, I could acquire the same skills -- but I don't want to go that far."
There is something contradictory in the lecturer's claim that "English is just a tool," while at the same time insisting that we must spend so much time and energy on it. In order to develop our thinking skills, we also need to study math and Japanese (or other native language) to a considerable extent, and, of course, we cannot spend all our time just studying.
A long time ago, in one department of the university I attended, students were said to be well-educated but somewhat lacking in language skills. So, the number of hours allocated to language classes was doubled. Then came the opposite complaint: "Now students are good at languages, but lacking in general education."
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