“The Heart of the Matter,”the just-released report by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences（AAAS）,deserves praise for affirming the importance of the humanities and social sciences to the prosperity and security of liberal democracy in America.Regrettably,however,the report’s failure to address the true nature of the crisis facing liberal education may cause more harm than good.In 2010,leading congressional Democrats and Republicans sent letters to the AAAS asking that it identify actions that could be taken by“federal,state and local governments,universities,foundations,educators,individual benefactors and others”to“maintain national excellence in humanities and social scientific scholarship and education.”In response,the American Academy formed the Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences.Among the commission’s 51 members are top-tier-university presidents,scholars,lawyers,judges,and business executives,as well as prominent figures from diplomacy,filmmaking,music and journalism.The goals identified in the report are generally admirable.Because representative government presupposes an informed citizenry,the report supports full literacy;stresses the study of history and government,particularly American history and American government;and encourages the use of new digital technologies.To encourage innovation and competition,the report calls for increased investment in research,the crafting of coherent curricula that improve students’ability to solve problems and communicate effectively in the 21st century,increased funding for teachers and the encouragement of scholars to bring their learning to bear on the great challenges of the day.The report also advocates greater study of foreign languages,international affairs and the expansion of study abroad programs.Unfortunately,despite 2?years in the making,"The Heart of the Matter"never gets to the heart of the matter:the illiberal nature of liberal education at our leading colleges and universities.The commission ignores that for several decades America's colleges and universities have produced graduates who don’t know the content and character of liberal education and are thus deprived of its benefits.Sadly,the spirit of inquiry once at home on campus has been replaced by the use of the humanities and social sciences as vehicles for publicizing“progressive,”or left-liberal propaganda.Today,professors routinely treat the progressive interpretation of history and progressive public policy as the proper subject of study while portraying conservative or classical liberal ideas—such as free markets and self-reliance—as falling outside the boundaries of routine,and sometimes legitimate,intellectual investigation.The AAAS displays great enthusiasm for liberal education.Yet its report may well set back reform by obscuring the depth and breadth of the challenge that Congress asked it to illuminate.
Influential figures in the Congress required that the AAAS report on how to
事实细节根据题干关键词，可定位到第二段第一句。题干中的“Influential figures in the Congress”对应原文的“leading congressional Democrats and Republicans”，题干中的“required”对应原文的“asking”，依据题干问题答案出自于“…maintain national excellence in humanities and social scientific scholarship and education.”比对四个选项，D项中的“leading”对应原文的“excellence”，“liberal”对应原文的“humanities”，由此可见D项是对原文意思的同义置换为正确答案。选项A“保护个人的教育权利”，文中并未提及有关教育权利的信息，故排除；选项B“定义政府在教育中的角色”，很明显原文中是“联邦政府、州政府、地方政府、大学、基金会、教育工作者、个人资助者以及其他人”，所以政府只是其中一类人，这属于典型的缩小范围；选项C“保持人们对自由教育的兴趣”，而原文对应提到的是“维护国家教育优势”，这里属于偷换概念，故排除。
