CSS Forums - My First Précis, Please Check

[B]Dear all, please check and comment![/B]

There is one salient difference between education as understood by the Greeks and the popular idea of education in our own day. To the Greeks education was primarily a training of faculty that should fit men for the exercise of thought and the duties of citizenship. The modern world looks rather to the acquisition of some skill or knowledge that is needed for a career: it thinks more of the product than of the process. Acquaintance with facts counts more with the modern: mental completeness and grasp are primary with the Greek. But that mental completeness was not to be won through intellectual discipline alone: it meant also a discipline and moulding of character, a training in public spirit, a suppression of the individual, a devotion to civic ends. The Greek [I]Paideia[/I] in its full sense involves the union of intellectual and moral qualities. It is on the one hand mental illumination, an enlarged outlook on life; but it also implies a refinement and delicacy of feeling, a deepening Of the sympathetic emotions, a scorn of what is self-seeking, ignoble, dishonorable—a scorn bred of loving familiarity with poets And philosophers, with all that is fortifying in thought or elevating in imagination. Our nearest equivalent, for this generous and many sided training, is Culture; but unfortunately the word has acquired a tinge of meaning that is alien to the Greek [I]Paideia[/I]. Culture to many minds suggests a kind, of polish, a superficial refinement. Besides, it has about it an air of exclusiveness: it is thought of as the privilege of a favoured few. The man of learning in modern times is too apt to remain in seclusion: he seems to be shut up within a charmed circle, in possession of a secret hidden from the many and the impression not unfrequently left on outsiders by the life of learned isolation is conveyed in the remark of a French writer, that " every man of learning is more or less of corpse." Now Greek culture in its ideal form is a connecting link between learning and citizenship: it is a meeting-point of virtue and knowledge, an outcome of character, an attitude of the whole mind towards life. The intellectual elite are not estranged from the life of the community. Learning is thus humanized: instead of a dead weight of erudition it becomes a living force, a civilising and liberating power. We have here the spirit of a University in its true conception. One chief function of academic training should be to foster this broad view of learning.

[B]Précis[/B]

The aim of acquiring education varies in between Greeks and the modern world. In short, modern learner acquire knowledge and skills for a bright career alone, whereas Greeks persuaded moral values in humanity. Besides, Greeks learned to mould their character to form a civilized society, this practice stimulated sympathetic emotions and widened their vision of life. Moreover, Greeks loathed egotism, the hatred led them persuade the familiarity of philosophers and poets. In contrast, the new learners love aloofness, concealing their ideas and experiences due to jealousy. But, Greek’s culture beauty includes learning for mankind. A French writer comments that intellectual elite do not remain isolated form the community, they themselves engineer communities. Moreover, such communities are liberal, force full and living nations. Summing up, our modern education system is abound with facilities, there should be a great focus over moral values.

[B]Title = The beauty of Greek’s Culture
or Greeks, the pioneers of morality[/B]

[B]Counts[/B]
Total Words 425
Target 141
My Precis 141