Repost: 2007 French Baccalaureate (BAC) Essay Questions

发信人: Eagle (Kuma), 区: Philo
标 题: 2007 French Baccalaureate (BAC) Essay Questions
发信站: Peking University Unnamed BBS (2007年06月13日11:30:34 Wednesday) , site message

June 11, 2007 Time: 4 hours

Graduates in the literary, economics and social sciences, and science tracks may each choose one of the following three topics:

Questions for literary-track candidates

1) Is any realization of insight also a liberation from the shackles of thought?
（Toute prise de conscience est-elle libératrice? ）

2) Are works of art realities like any others?
（Les oeuvres d’art sont-elles des réalités comme les autres? ）

3) Explain Aristotle’s discussion of “responsibility” in Ethique à Nicomaque
（Expliquer un extrait de “Ethique à Nicomaque” d’Aristote sur le thème de
la responsabilité）

Questions for science-track candidates

1) Can desire be satisfied by reality?
（Le désir peut-il se satisfaire de la réalité? ）

2) What is the significance of the opposition between manual labor and intellectual labor?
（Que vaut l’opposition du travail manuel et du travail intellectuel? ）

3) Explain Hume’s discussion of “justice” in Enquête sur les principes de la morale
（Expliquer un texte de Hume extrait d’”Enquête sur les principes de la mora
le” sur le thème de la justice）

Questions for economics and social-sciences-track candidates

1) Can people get rid of prejudices?
（Peut-on en finir avec les préjugés? ）

2) What do we gain from work?
（Que gagnons-nous à travailler? ）

3) Explain Nietzsche’s discussion of “morality” in Humain, trop humain
（Expliquer un texte de Nietzsche extrait de “Humain, trop humain” sur la mor
ale）

Additional optional questions

《Can philosophy be independent of the natural sciences?》
《Is freedom limited by the necessity of labor?》
《Can we persuade others to accept that a work of art is beautiful?》

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※ Source:·Peking University Unnamed BBS bbs.pku.edu.cn·[FROM: 162.105.22.190]

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I have always been extremely dissatisfied with the so-called slogans of “quality education” and “reducing students’ burdens” in Chinese primary and secondary education. It’s not that I think primary and secondary school students ought to suffer so much; a carefree childhood is important. However, the crux of Chinese education does not lie in the problem of burden. The key is that the entire educational philosophy is completely wrong. If one ultimately thinks education is nothing but the inculcation of knowledge, then there is no point talking about quality education.

Chinese people actually set “quality education” in opposition to exam-oriented education, as if having a few fewer exams and a few more extracurricular activities would count as quality education. But at most this can only be called exam-oriented education + quality education: it is still exam-oriented, and the final hurdle, the college entrance examination, still stands there. Who has the time to care about any quality education?

We often say that primary and secondary school students in the West have lighter burdens and focus on stimulating creativity, and so on. I read a comment some time ago saying that this is not true: Western primary and secondary school students have to read a large number of classic humanistic works, so their burden is by no means light. Today I saw this set of college entrance examination questions, and it confirms that statement. Many of the classic works involved in those questions are books that I fear even liberal arts university students here would rarely read, let alone primary and secondary school students. Compared with that, when we look at Chinese college entrance examination essay topics, should we not feel ashamed? In China, the understanding of the Chinese language course is simply learning “reading comprehension + word counting”; Chinese is just Chinese, nothing more. But in fact, the Chinese language course ought to be more about the “humanities”: it should not only teach composition, but also teach how to be a human being.

Chinese primary and secondary school students are basically unrivaled in the world when it comes to mathematics ability, yet when they go on to university and come out as scientists, there is a huge gap. Why? Those people say it is because mathematics is taught too painfully and too gruelingly, suppressing creativity, and so on; then they want to abolish Olympiad mathematics, lower the difficulty of mathematics, and lower it again, and again… But this is fundamentally off target. The reason Chinese research in mathematics and the natural sciences lags behind lies in the university and research system; the key is not primary and secondary education, or at least the key does not lie in primary and secondary mathematics education. In primary and secondary mathematics, one could say this is the field in which Chinese education has achieved the most. As for Olympiad competitions, as for the excavation and cultivation of math prodigies, China has already explored many good methods. But now the people in charge of education in China want precisely to chop off this only successful part and make it the scapegoat. That is truly disappointing.

The biggest problem with Chinese primary and secondary education, put simply, is the weakness of humanistic education. Or to put it bluntly, the absence of humanistic education. The lack of so-called creativity in the sciences is also related to this, because Western natural science is, in the final analysis, inseparable from the cultural soil from which it grows; so-called creativity is nothing but a free spirit, and that is precisely the most important thing in the Western humanistic tradition. China merely teaches those formulaic, superficial scientific knowledges of the West, while not emphasizing a humanistic education of freedom and love of wisdom; this is the greatest malady of science education in primary and secondary schools. And not only is Western humanistic learning neglected, China’s own humanities are neglected even more. The ancient poems and classical prose we study are merely used as exercises in reading ability, while their humanistic content is severed from them. Yet the Chinese humanistic tradition cannot be separated from ethics and ritual; and traditional ethics and ritual are precisely what are denounced as dross and discarded. Thus, even in Chinese humanities, primary and secondary education has only the “writing” and no “human being.”

Latest comments

• mist

  2007-06-14 14:01:57 anonymous 124.17.16.66

  The background music now is pretty good~~

• Gǔ Chì

  2007-06-14 14:38:56 

  I have the complete set of Bandari, all 11 albums here. Do you want me to copy them for you?

Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.