When people ask your children to “get an education”, they tell you only half the truth. What they really mean is to get just enough education to give manpower for your society.
Get a high school diploma, at least. Without that, you are occupationally dead, unless your name happens to be George Washington or Thomas Edison and you can successfully stop study in primary schools.
Get a college degree, if possible. With a BA, you should start to find a job. You have to put on the brakes now. If you do go for a master’s degree, make sure it is an MBA and only from a first – class university. Otherwise, the famous law of diminishing (报酬递减率) begins to work.
Do you know, for example, that long – distance truck drivers make more money a year than full professors? Yes, each driver was paid $28,000 in 1997 while a full professor managed to get $27,930.
A PhD is the highest degree you can get, but except in a few specialized fields such as physics or chemistry, where the degree can quickly be turned to industrial or commercial aim, you are facing a not very bright future. There are more PhDs unemployed in this country than in any other part of the world by far.
If you became a PhD in English or history or political science or languages or – worst of all – in philosophy（哲学）, you take the risk of becoming over – educated for our national demands.
Thousands of PhDs are selling shoes, driving taxis, waiting on tables and filling out applications month after month, and then may be taking a job in some high school or college with the pay much less than a door–keeper makes.
1. According to the writer, society expects education to turn out people who will .
A. raise their payment B. get employed
C. become specialized in some field D. meet the demands as a source of manpower
2. Long–distance truck drivers make more money a year than full professors because .
A. the famous law of diminishing functions
B. long – distance truck drivers only get a high school diploma
C. full professors are PhDs in English or history
D. long – distance truck drivers work harder than full professors
3. If you don’t want to be occupationally dead, you .
A. should look for a job in a primary school
B. must at least get a high school diploma
C. have to get as high an education as possible
D. should try to avoid being overeducated in philosophy
4. The underlined phrase “put on the brakes” in the 3 rd paragraph means “ ”.
A. stop learning for a high degree B. take up a master’s degree at once
C. go on studying in a first – class university D. find any interesting job
5. What can we know from the passage?
A. The higher education you get, the more money you will earn.
B. There are more PhDs than the society demands.
C. Neither George Washington nor Edison received formal education.
D. If you are specialized in physics, you can’t get a good job easily.