《乌合之众·第二编·群体的意见与信念·群体意见与信念的间接因素》第18节
The professional instruction which all enlightened minds are now demanding was the instruction received in the past by our forefathers. It is still in vigour at the present day among the nations who rule the world by their force of will, their initiative, and their spirit of enterprise. In a series of remarkable pages, whose principal passages I reproduce further on, a great thinker, M. Taine, has clearly shown that our former system of education was approximately that in vogue to-day in England and America, and in a remarkable parallel between the Latin and Anglo-Saxon systems he has plainly pointed out the consequences of the two methods. One might consent, perhaps, at a pinch, to continue to accept all the disadvantages of our classical education, although it produced nothing but discontented men, and men unfitted for their station in life, did the superficial acquisition of so much knowledge, the faultless repeating by heart of so many text-books, raise the level of intelligence. But does it really raise this level? Alas, no! The conditions of success in life are the possession of judgment, experience, initiative, and character--qualities which are not bestowed by books. Books are dictionaries, which it is useful to consult, but of which it is perfectly useless to have lengthy portions in one's head.
注释摘要
勒庞在这一段里要证明的是一个直接得令人吃惊的主张：不是书本，不是古典教育，而是那种发生在作坊、矿井、律所里的“职业传授”，才是真正能够塑造判断力、经验、主动性与品格的途径。他援引同时代的大思想家丹纳，将法国式的“拉丁教育”与英国、美国的教育方式并置对比，试图让读者相信，他所极力赞许的“专业教育”曾经是法兰西先辈们的常态，如今却只在盎格鲁-撒克逊民族中保持着…