Why Go to College at All?
上大学有意义吗？

Is college worth it? High school seniors anxiously awaiting admissions decisions might find that question bizarre, but recently some strenuous arguments have been leveled against the value of a college degree.

上大学有意义吗？那些在焦急等待着大学录取通知书的高三学生可能会觉得这问题很怪，不过最近坊间针对大学文凭的价值，出现了种种热议。

For more insight into those arguments, we turned to Dale J. Stephens, 20, the founder of UnCollege, which urges students to "hack their education" by finding their own pathways to success. Mr. Stephens, 20, is a Thiel fellow who spent his middle and high school years "unschooling," and then left college after a brief time there.

为了令争论更富洞见，我们请到了20岁的戴尔·J.斯蒂芬斯，这位UnCollege（旨在改变上大学是取得成功的唯一途径的社会运动——译注）的创始人呼吁大学生们通过找到通往个人成功的路径，来“冲击教育”。斯蒂芬斯是蒂尔奖学金（Thiel fellow，硅谷投资人彼得·蒂尔创立的奖学金项目）获得者，在初中和高中未接受正规教育，大学只上了很短时间就退学了。

Mr. Stephens envisions "a world where people make their own decisions," where college is not a foregone conclusion and young people forge their own paths to fulfillment.

斯蒂芬斯想象在未来，“人们会自行做出决定”，读大学不再是理所当然的选择，年轻人将走出一条自己的路，实现个人价值。

We asked Mr. Stephens for his responses to the five main arguments most often given for going to college. Here's what he had to say.

我们请斯蒂芬斯针对人们通常给出的上大学的五点理由来作出回应。以下就是他的回答。

Reason 1: Learning in a rigorous, supported educational environment

原因一：在严格、能获得支持的学术环境中学习

"If you want to learn, college is the last place you should go," Mr. Stephens said. "A lot of learning isn't happening on college campuses."

 “假如想学习，大学是你最不应该去的地方，”斯蒂芬斯说：“在我们的大学校园里，多数时候人们并不在学习。”

That may sound surprising, given that college is virtually defined as an institution devoted to nourishing learning and intellectualism.

这听来似乎有点让人意外，毕竟大学的定义就是专注于哺育学习与智识的机构。

Not true, Mr. Stephens said. "What you learn in college is generally the same skill set that you learn in a traditional school environment," he said. "You learn how to follow directions, meet deadlines and memorize facts."

这一点并不尽然，斯蒂芬斯说：“你在大学能学到的知识组合，大体上跟在传统学校环境里学到的东西是一样的。你学习的无外乎是遵从指令、在截止日期前交作业以及死记硬背而已。”

Although college provides structure and resources for learning, "I don't know that structure is a good thing," he said. "When you go out into the world, there's no structure like that. A job doesn't give you a syllabus." He added, "Learners should be able to access resources on their own terms." He described initiatives that provide laboratory, research and other facilities to the general public. Although these are not yet widely available, he said, they seem to be growing.

就算大学能提供学习的基础框架和资源，情况仍然如此。斯蒂芬斯说：“我觉得这个基础框架并非好事，在你走进社会时，会发现并没有这种所谓的框架。做一份工作时，你根本没有教学大纲可以参考。”他补充说：“想要学习的人应该有能力使用需要的资源。”这具体指的是应主动向公众开放实验室、研究中心和其他设施。他说，目前这类资源的开放程度还不高，不过看来发展趋势不错。

And he criticized the education system - and standardized testing in particular - for being "efficient but not effective." His ideal is self-directed education forged on the principles of project-based learning, perhaps with the guidance of mentors.

他还批评教育体制——尤其是标准化的测试——“高效率却没有实际作用”。他提议建立自我导向型教育模式，原则上推行以项目为基础的学习方式，同时向学生提供导师的辅导。

Reason 2: Socializing and developing a network of friends and contacts

原因二：建立和发展朋友圈与人脉

Mr. Stephens said that many have advised him that he's missing out by not going to college, where, the rationale goes, he could be meeting women and drinking beer. His retort: "I like guys and Champagne."

斯蒂芬说，有不少人都对他说从大学辍学会让他失去不少机会，他原本可以借读大学之机认识女生、大喝啤酒，他对此反唇相讥：“我更喜欢男生和香槟。”

Underlying this flip yet frank answer is his conviction that the social world of college is a self-selecting, largely homogenous "bubble."

他的回答无礼却坦诚，言下之意是想说大学的社交圈是一个“泡沫”，它强调的是自我选择，同质化倾向严重。

"You might end up limiting yourself if you only socialize with people on your dorm floor and in your classes," he said. Campus demographics might be diverse, he said, but "people are still there for the same reason." In contrast, he said, unschooling has allowed him to actively seek opportunities to meet people who travel different walks in life.

“如果你只结交同一幢宿舍楼或同班同学，会把你的圈子限定得非常狭窄，”他说。他认为大学生虽然来自五海四海，但“人们来到这里是基于相同的原因。”相比之下，脱离正规教育的经历，令他可以主动寻找机会结交兴趣迥异的朋友。

As for the value of making connections in college to nurture a professional network, people are increasingly using social media resources like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to make connections, Mr. Stephens said.

有人认为，读大学有助于建立职业关系网，他反驳说，现在有越来越多的人是通过像LinkedIn、Twitter和Facebook这类社交媒体来搭建人脉的。

Reason 3: Status

原因三：地位

"I think that's the most valid reason to go to college," Mr. Stephens allowed. "If you can go to a top school, by all means, go. It doesn't mean that you need to finish." A semester or two may be all you need, he said, to gain the advantages associated with the school's name brand.

“我认为这是最站得住脚的原因，”斯蒂芬说：“如果你被一家好学校录取了，那么不管怎么着，你都应该去上。”不过他说，即使这样也只需要读一两个学期，只要能让自己的名字和学校熠熠生辉的招牌联系在一起就足矣。

Reason 4: Self-discovery

原因四：发现自我

Many college graduates believe that they discovered themselves in their years on campus. But Mr. Stephens said the typical student's lack of real responsibility, coupled with an emphasis on rote memorization and test taking, hampers true personal growth.

不少大学毕业生认为，正是在大学时光让他们发现了自我。但斯蒂芬斯认为，大学生现在普遍缺乏真正的责任感，加之大学教育强调的是记忆能力和考试技巧，这严重阻碍了个人成长。

"College is a sandbox that gives you a false sense of reality," he said. "It's much more beneficial to learn what it means to direct your own life." Learners are better off spending early adulthood developing self-reliance, he said.

“大学是一个沙盒模型，它让你对现实产生了幻觉，”他说：“如果能了解怎样才能主宰自己的生活，这会更加有用。”他认为，人们最好能在刚迈入成年时，就开始学习自力更生。

Self-discovery might best be achieved doing something constructive, he argued, like creating a start-up.

他还认为，想要发现自我，更有用的办法是做些创造性的工作，比如建立一个初创公司。

The idea of taking a gap year off from school to explore the world and find yourself raised his hackles. "Why does it have to be a year off? Why can't it be a year on? Why should you have to take time out of the system to engage?" he asked.

他特别反感有人要在读大学期间进行为期一年的“空档年”(gap year)，用来探索世界。“干嘛非得花一年时间做这件事？一年以后为什么就停下来了？为什么只有跳出大学这个框架，才能真正了解社会？”他问。

Reason 5: Attaining a marketable degree and developing earning potential

原因五：获得拿得出手的学位，取得高薪潜力

Statistics show that college graduation correlates positively with economic factors like lower rates of unemployment and higher earnings.

数据显示，大学学历对低失业率和高收入这类经济因素有正面作用。

The key factor may be not the degree itself but the degree earner, Mr. Stephens contended. "It's not that college creates success," he said. "It's that smart and motivated people in our society tend to go to college. I bet if you took those smart and motivated people and put them out into the work force, they would earn more than other people."

不过斯蒂芬斯认为，最关键的因素也许不是学历本身，而在于获得学历的人。他说：“并不是大学为人们带来了成功，而是在我们这个社会里，聪明而上进的人通常会去读大学。我敢打赌，如果你让这些聪明上进的人别去念书，直接进入职场，他们挣的钱也比其他人要多。”

He believes that typical college coursework is largely divorced from reality: "Taking a psychology course doesn't mean you know what it's like to work as a psychologist." Better to observe, shadow and perhaps intern with professionals, he said, noting that coursework or a degree may be required to enter a profession or gain licensing.

他还认为，大学的课程普遍与现实脱钩：“学习心理学课程并不代表你知道心理医生如何工作。”他觉得更好的方式是观察、效仿或者在从业人员的手下实习，不过在从事专业工作或获得执业资格前，需要完成课业或取得学位。

He also took issue with some of the data, noting, "The lower unemployment rates are only for college graduates over 25." (Indeed, as The Times reported last spring, only slightly more than 55 percent of young college graduates are working in jobs that require a college degree.) He thought one reason might be that young graduates simply aren't developing useful skills in college.

他对一些数据提出了意见，指出“失业率较低，仅仅指的是25岁以上的大学毕业生。”（确实如此，据《纽约时报》去年春季的报道，只有55%多一点的年轻大学毕业生在从事需要大学文凭的工作。）他认为年轻大学毕业生就业不理想，其中一个原因可能在于读大学时并未获取有用的工作技能。

Rising levels of college debt, he said, further complicate the financial picture for college graduates. Young people might look at the time and money they would invest in a college education and determine a better way to use those resources.

他说，大学生所负债务越来越高，这也使得大学毕业生的经济前景更为复杂。年轻人在考虑到为了获得大学文凭需要投入的时间和金钱后，有可能决定寻找更好的方法来运用这些资源。

In the end, perhaps the point that Mr. Stephens most wanted to make is that even those who opt for college should reflect on their goals and make good, clear-eyed decisions. "Understand why you're going so you can make the most of your experience. Be honest about it," he said.

说到底，斯蒂芬斯想明确表达这样一个观点，那就是即使是决定上大学的年轻人也需要审慎地考虑自己的目标，并做出有洞察力的正确决定。“你得想明白自己为什么要上大学，这样就能最大程度地利用好这段经历。你需要对自己诚实点，”他说。

来源：好英语网