I Have a Dream




Three hundred years ago, an English poet,
Alexander Pope, wrote the lines



Nature, and Nature＇s laws



lay hid in sight;



God said, let Newton be! And



all was light.



This momentous epitaph came as an encouraging torch to mankind who had long wandered in the valley of ignorance. It came as an exciting aurora leading to the "Age of Reason."



But three centuries later, even the "Mansion of Reason" has been furnished and stabilized (and partly reconstructed, we admit) by more "Newtons".
We have to face the tragic fact that came as an exciting aurora leading to the "Age of Reason. "



But three centuries later, even the "Mansion of Reason" has been furnished and stabilized (and partly reconstructed, we admit) by more "Newtons".
We have to face the tragic fact that mankind, to some extent, is still ignorant.



Pm not dramatizing the appalling conditions by citing the following examples, but being serious.



It once struck me as odd to hear that some physics majors (fortunately not from Fudan) were discouraged from studying the fine structure of equipments during the experimental classes because their laboratory work would be graded according to the time length they spent.



It did make me feel indignant at the fact that some biology majors were still encouraged to draw what they should theoretitally observe instead of what they had actually seen with their



It sounds like medieval education but it is true now in some universities in this world.



It has been three hundred years since the "Age of Reason"began; however, some essential reasons are now still blowing in the wind, rather than taking root in all men＇s hearts.
Among them is the crucial idea
the importance of scientific curiosity.



Without curiosity, students were forced to swallow innumerable
facts,
confess their validity and forget
them after exams. Without curiosity, learners were bereft of the freedom to imagine, the ability to ask questions and the chances to modify the old theories. Without curiosity, how could our civilization,the Age of Reason, make progress?



I wrote here today to my readers, that in spite of the conditions of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream of waking up the rational curiosity which in

habits a