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    While there can be no question of considering education in isolation from science, technology, culture and information, as a social practice that may involve all the members of society in one way or another, education has its own characteristics which call for specific forms and actions, the establishment and development of special structures and institutions, the constant improvement and renewal of its content, methods and forms, the enrichment and updating of its concepts, and indeed, the elaboration of new concepts.   

    毫无疑问，教育可以被作为独立于科学、技术、文化和信息的事物加以考虑，作为一种以这样或那样的方式，涉及了所有社会成员的社会实践，教育有它自己的特性：它要求特殊的形式和行动，特殊的结构和机构来建立和发展，不断地提高和革新它的内容、方法和形式，充实和更新它的概念，并且确实详细阐述新的概念。   

    While education is determined by society, it none the less exerts a great influence itself on the way in which society evolves. The lines of force and the scope of that influence depend upon the role which a given society attributes to education, on the percentage of the population which enjoys its benefits, and on its objectives, content and methods.

    虽然教育为社会所决定，但它在社会发展的进程中也发挥了巨大的影响。这种影响的界限和范围，依赖于一个给定的社会赋予教育的职责，一定比例的人口正是通过教育的目标、内容和方法，享受了它的益处。

    ——from Unesco Medium-Term Plan (1977—1982)