穿着棉袄去洗澡，从表面上看洗澡应该是自由的，但是穿着棉袄意味着把自己给套住了。这句话形容了中国的一个教育制度的问题。它的意思是现在的教育完全是以一个固定的模式化操作来教育人，完全给人套上思想枷锁了，教育应该是自由的，坦诚的。中国的高考就好像是穿着棉袄，大多数人认为高考是改变命运的唯一出路，这个大学生只是因为个别成绩不好而只能的去打工，正是说明了中国教育的问题。 this sentence in china react a problem of education system. it means that the education is totally constant mode.at present in china, it has controled many people's mind. in fact, the education should be free and creative. however, in china college entrance examination just like wearing the quilted jacket,most of people think that college entrance examination is only the way to change their destiny. therefore this university student can acquire low-level employment because he is not good at some subjects.this is educational problem in china

To go take a bath with cotton-padded clothes on.

穿着棉袄去洗澡 means "to wear clothes to shower". Here, 棉袄 is simply a kind of clothing. This paragraph is basically discussing about specializing in a subject versus studying a variety of subjects. The writer uses "going to the public bath naked" (去公共浴室洗澡而出门就一丝不挂) and "wearing clothes to shower" (穿着棉袄去洗澡) as analogies to describe studying a specialized field and studying many different subjects respectively, which in my opinion, is a shitty analogy xp

i'm sorry, above is wrong 一丝不挂去洗澡=things like “从小学一年级就专门学什么” and "数学物理全部满分，而语文英语不及格" 穿着棉袄在洗澡= contrary of 一丝不挂去洗澡

according to the context, 一丝不挂去洗澡=things like “从小学一年级就专门学什么” 穿着棉袄在洗澡=things like“数学物理全部满分，而语文英语不及格”