Why Go to College at All.doc

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. Heres 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 isnt 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 an