What Are You Going to Do With That?

教育為何客峭？

By William Deresiewicz

The question my title poses, of course, is the one that is classically aimed at humanities majors. What practical value could there possibly be in studying literature or art or philosophy? So you must be wondering why I'm bothering to raise it here, at Stanford, this renowned citadel of science and technology. What doubt can there be that the world will offer you many opportunities to use your degree?

我的題目提出的問題危纫，當(dāng)然，是一個傳統(tǒng)地面向人文科學(xué)的專業(yè)所提出的問題：學(xué)習(xí)文學(xué)和悦、藝術(shù)或哲學(xué)能有什么實效價值（practical value）赞哗？你肯定納悶牌里，我為什么在以科技堡壘而聞名的斯坦福提出這個問題呢融柬？大學(xué)學(xué)位給人帶來眾多機會死嗦，這還有什么需要質(zhì)疑的嗎？

But that's not the question I'm asking. By "do" I don't mean a job, and by "that" I don't mean your major. We are more than our jobs, and education is more than a major. Education is more than college, more even than the totality of your formal schooling, from kindergarten through graduate school. By "What are you going to do," I mean, what kind of life are you going to lead? And by "that," I mean everything in your training, formal and informal, that has brought you to be sitting here today, and everything you're going to be doing for the rest of the time that you're in school.

但那不是我提出的問題粒氧。這里的“做（do）”并不是指工作越除，“那（that）”并不是指你的專業(yè)。我們不僅僅是我們的工作外盯，教育的全部也不僅僅是一門主修專業(yè)摘盆。教育也不僅僅是上大學(xué)，甚至也不僅是從幼兒園到研究生院的正規(guī)學(xué)校教育饱苟。我說的“你要做什么”的意思是你要過什么樣的生活孩擂。我所說的“那”指的是你得到的正規(guī)或非正規(guī)的任何訓(xùn)練，那些把你送到這里來的東西箱熬，你在學(xué)校的剩余時間里將要做的任何事类垦。

We should start by talking about how you did, in fact, get here.

我們不妨先來討論你是如何考入斯坦福的吧。

You got here by getting very good at a certain set of skills. Your parents pushed you to excel from the time you were very young. They sent you to good schools, where the encouragement of your teachers and the example of your peers helped push you even harder. Your natural aptitudes were nurtured so that, in addition to excelling in all your subjects, you developed a number of specific interests that you cultivated with particular vigor. You did extracurricular activities, went to afterschool programs, took private lessons. You spent summers doing advanced courses at a local college or attending skill-specific camps and workshops. You worked hard, you paid attention, and you tried your very best. And so you got very good at math, or piano, or lacrosse, or, indeed, several things at once.

你能進(jìn)入這所大學(xué)說明你在某些技能上非常出色坦弟。你的父母在你很小的時候就鼓勵你追求卓越。他們送你到好學(xué)校官地，老師的鼓勵和同伴的榜樣激勵你更努力地學(xué)習(xí)酿傍。除了在所有課程上都出類拔萃之外，你還注重修養(yǎng)的提高驱入，充滿熱情地培養(yǎng)了一些特殊興趣赤炒。你用幾個暑假在本地大學(xué)里預(yù)習(xí)大學(xué)課程，或參加專門技能的夏令營或訓(xùn)練營亏较。你學(xué)習(xí)刻苦莺褒、精力集中、全力以赴雪情。所以遵岩，你在數(shù)學(xué)、鋼琴巡通、曲棍球等眾多方面都很出色尘执。

Now there's nothing wrong with mastering skills, with wanting to do your best and to be the best. What's wrong is what the system leaves out: which is to say, everything else. I don't mean that by choosing to excel in math, say, you are failing to develop your verbal abilities to their fullest extent, or that in addition to focusing on geology, you should also focus on political science, or that while you're learning the piano, you should also be working on the flute. It is the nature of specialization, after all, to be specialized. No, the problem with specialization is that it narrows your attention to the point where all you know about and all you want to know about, and, indeed, all you can know about, is your specialty.

掌握這些技能當(dāng)然沒有錯，全力以赴成為最優(yōu)秀的人也沒有錯宴凉。錯誤之處在于這個體系遺漏的地方：即任何別的東西誊锭。我并不是說因為選擇鉆研數(shù)學(xué)，所以你的語文能力沒得到充分發(fā)展弥锄；也不是說除了集中精力學(xué)習(xí)地質(zhì)學(xué)之外丧靡，你還應(yīng)該研究政治學(xué)蟆沫；也不是說你在學(xué)習(xí)鋼琴時還應(yīng)該學(xué)吹笛子。畢竟温治，專業(yè)化的本質(zhì)就是要專業(yè)性饭庞。可是罐盔，專業(yè)化的問題在于它把你的注意力限制在一個點上但绕，你所已知的和你想探知的東西都限界于此。真的惶看，你能知道的一切就只是你的專業(yè)了捏顺。

The problem with specialization is that it makes you into a specialist. It cuts you off, not only from everything else in the world, but also from everything else in yourself. And of course, as college freshmen, your specialization is only just beginning. In the journey toward the success that you all hope to achieve, you have completed, by getting into Stanford, only the first of many legs. Three more years of college, three or four or five years of law school or medical school or a Ph.D. program, then residencies or postdocs or years as a junior associate. In short, an ever-narrowing funnel of specialization. You go from being a political-science major to being a lawyer to being a corporate attorney to being a corporate attorney focusing on taxation issues in the consumer-products industry. You go from being a biochemistry major to being a doctor to being a cardiologist to being a cardiac surgeon who performs heart-valve replacements.

專業(yè)化的問題是它讓你成為專家，切斷你與世界上其他任何東西的聯(lián)系纬黎，不僅如此幅骄，還切斷你與自身其他潛能的聯(lián)系。當(dāng)然本今，作為大一新生拆座，你的專業(yè)才剛剛開始。在你走向所渴望的成功之路的過程中冠息，進(jìn)入斯坦福是你踏上的眾多階梯中的一個挪凑。再讀三年大學(xué)，三五年法學(xué)院或醫(yī)學(xué)院或博士逛艰，然后再干若干年住院實習(xí)生或博士后或助理教授躏碳。總而言之散怖，進(jìn)入越來越狹窄的專業(yè)化軌道菇绵。你可能從政治學(xué)專業(yè)的學(xué)生變成了律師或者公司代理人，再變成專門研究消費品領(lǐng)域的稅收問題的公司代理人镇眷。你從生物化學(xué)專業(yè)的學(xué)生變成了博士咬最，再變成心臟病學(xué)家，再變成專門做心臟瓣膜移植的心臟病醫(yī)生欠动。

Again, there's nothing wrong with being those things. It's just that, as you get deeper and deeper into the funnel, into the tunnel, it becomes increasingly difficult to remember who you once were. You start to wonder what happened to that person who played piano and lacrosse and sat around with her friends having intense conversations about life and politics and all the things she was learning in her classes. The 19-year-old who could do so many things, and was interested in so many things, has become a 40-year-old who thinks about only one thing. That's why older people are so boring. "Hey, my dad's a smart guy, but all he talks about is money and livers."

再次永乌，做這些事沒有任何錯。只不過具伍，在你越來越深入地進(jìn)入這個軌道后铆遭，再記得你最初的樣子就益發(fā)困難了。你開始懷念那個曾經(jīng)談鋼琴和打曲棍球的人沿猜，思考那個曾經(jīng)和朋友熱烈討論人生和政治以及在課堂內(nèi)容的人在做什么枚荣。那個活潑能干的19歲年輕人已經(jīng)變成了只想一件事的40歲中年人。難怪年長的人這么乏味無趣啼肩￠献保“哎衙伶，我爸爸曾經(jīng)是非常聰明的人，但他現(xiàn)在除了談?wù)撳X和肝臟外再無其他害碾∈妇ⅲ”

And there's another problem. Maybe you never really wanted to be a cardiac surgeon in the first place. It just kind of happened. It's easy, the way the system works, to simply go with the flow. I don't mean the work is easy, but the choices are easy. Or rather, the choices sort of make themselves. You go to a place like Stanford because that's what smart kids do. You go to medical school because it's prestigious. You specialize in cardiology because it's lucrative. You do the things that reap the rewards, that make your parents proud, and your teachers pleased, and your friends impressed. From the time you started high school and maybe even junior high, your whole goal was to get into the best college you could, and so now you naturally think about your life in terms of "getting into" whatever's next. "Getting into" is validation; "getting into" is victory. Stanford, then Johns Hopkins medical school, then a residency at the University of San Francisco, and so forth. Or Michigan Law School, or Goldman Sachs, or Mc-Kinsey, or whatever. You take it one step at a time, and the next step always seems to be inevitable.

還有另外一個問題』潘妫或許你從來沒有想過當(dāng)心臟病醫(yī)生芬沉，只是碰巧發(fā)生了而已。隨大流最容易阁猜，這就是體制的力量丸逸。我不是說這個工作容易，而是說做出這種選擇很容易剃袍』聘眨或者，這些根本就不是自己做出的選擇民效。你來到斯坦福這樣的名牌大學(xué)是因為聰明的孩子都這樣憔维。你考入醫(yī)學(xué)院是因為它的地位高，人人都羨慕畏邢。你選擇心臟病學(xué)是因為當(dāng)心臟病醫(yī)生的待遇很好业扒。你做那些事能給你帶來好處，讓你的父母感到驕傲舒萎，令你的老師感到高興程储，也讓朋友們羨慕。從你上高中開始逆甜，甚至初中開始虱肄，你的唯一目標(biāo)就是進(jìn)入最好的大學(xué)致板，所以現(xiàn)在你會很自然地從“進(jìn)入下個階段”的角度看待人生交煞。“進(jìn)入”就是能力的證明斟或，“進(jìn)入”就是勝利素征。先進(jìn)入斯坦福，然后是約翰霍普金斯醫(yī)學(xué)院萝挤，再進(jìn)入舊金山大學(xué)做實習(xí)醫(yī)生等御毅。或者進(jìn)入密歇根法學(xué)院怜珍，或高盛集團(tuán)或麥肯錫公司或別的什么地方端蛆。你邁出了這一步，下一步似乎就必然在等著你酥泛。

Or maybe you did always want to be a cardiac surgeon. You dreamed about it from the time you were 10 years old, even though you had no idea what it really meant, and you stayed on course for the entire time you were in school. You refused to be enticed from your path by that great experience you had in AP history, or that trip you took to Costa Rica the summer after your junior year in college, or that terrific feeling you got taking care of kids when you did your rotation in pediatrics during your fourth year in medical school.

也許你確實想當(dāng)心臟病學(xué)家今豆。十歲時就夢想成為醫(yī)生嫌拣，即使你根本不知道醫(yī)生意味著什么。你在上學(xué)期間全身心都在朝著這個目標(biāo)前進(jìn)呆躲。你拒絕了上大學(xué)預(yù)修歷史課時的美妙體驗的誘惑异逐，也無視你在醫(yī)學(xué)院第四年的兒科學(xué)輪流值班時照看孩子的可怕感受。

But either way, either because you went with the flow or because you set your course very early, you wake up one day, maybe 20 years later, and you wonder what happened: how you got there, what it all means. Not what it means in the "big picture," whatever that is, but what it means to you. Why you're doing it, what it's all for. It sounds like a cliché, this "waking up one day," but it's called having a midlife crisis, and it happens to people all the time.

不管是什么插掂，要么因為你隨大流灰瞻，要么因為你早就選定了道路，20年后某天醒來辅甥，你或許會納悶到底發(fā)生了什么：你怎么變成現(xiàn)在這個樣子酝润，這一切意味著什么。不是它是什么肆氓，不在于它是否是“大藍(lán)圖”而是它對你意味著什么袍祖。你為什么做它？到底為了什么谢揪？這聽起來像老生常談蕉陋，但這個被稱為中年危機的“有一天醒來”一直就發(fā)生在每個人身上。

There is an alternative, however, and it may be one that hasn't occurred to you. Let me try to explain it by telling you a story about one of your peers, and the alternative that hadn't occurred to her. A couple of years ago, I participated in a panel discussion at Harvard that dealt with some of these same matters, and afterward I was contacted by one of the students who had come to the event, a young woman who was writing her senior thesis about Harvard itself, how it instills in its students what she called self-efficacy, the sense that you can do anything you want. Self-efficacy, or, in more familiar terms, self-esteem. There are some kids, she said, who get an A on a test and say, "I got it because it was easy." And there are other kids, the kind with self-efficacy or self-esteem, who get an A on a test and say, "I got it because I'm smart."

不過拨扶，還有另外一種情況凳鬓，或許中年危機并不會發(fā)生在你身上。讓我告訴你們一個同伴的故事來解釋我的意思吧患民，還有一個她沒有遇到過的可能缩举。幾年前，我在哈佛參加了一次小組討論會匹颤，談到這些問題仅孩。后來參加這次討論的一個學(xué)生給我聯(lián)系，這個哈佛學(xué)生正在寫有關(guān)哈佛的畢業(yè)論文印蓖，討論哈佛是如何給學(xué)生灌輸她所說的“自我效能”辽慕，一種相信自己能做一切的意識。自我效能或更熟悉的說法“自我尊重”赦肃。她說有些在考試中得了優(yōu)秀的有些學(xué)生會說“我得優(yōu)秀是因為試題很簡單溅蛉。” 但另外一些學(xué)生他宛，那種具有自我效能感或自我尊重的學(xué)生船侧，考試得了優(yōu)秀會說“我得優(yōu)秀是因為我聰明√鳎”

Again, there's nothing wrong with thinking that you got an A because you're smart. But what that Harvard student didn't realize—and it was really quite a shock to her when I suggested it—is that there is a third alternative. True self-esteem, I proposed, means not caring whether you get an A in the first place. True self-esteem means recognizing, despite everything that your upbringing has trained you to believe about yourself, that the grades you get—and the awards, and the test scores, and the trophies, and the acceptance letters—are not what defines who you are.

再說一遍镜撩，認(rèn)為得了優(yōu)秀是因為自己聰明的想法并沒有任何錯，不過队塘，哈佛學(xué)生沒有認(rèn)識到的是他們沒有第三種選擇袁梗。當(dāng)我指出這一點時卫旱， 她十分震驚。我指出围段，真正的自尊意味著最初根本就不在乎成績是否優(yōu)秀顾翼。真正的自尊意味著對此問題的足夠認(rèn)識：盡管你在成長過程中的一切都在教導(dǎo)你要相信自 己，但你所等獲得的成績奈泪，還有那些獎勵适贸、成績、獎品涝桅、錄取通知書等所有這一切拜姿，都不能來定義你是誰。

She also claimed, this young woman, that Harvard students take their sense of self-efficacy out into the world and become, as she put it, "innovative." But when I asked her what she meant by innovative, the only example she could come up with was "being CEO of a Fortune 500." That's not innovative, I told her, that's just successful, and successful according to a very narrow definition of success. True innovation means using your imagination, exercising the capacity to envision new possibilities.

她還說冯遂，這個年輕的女孩子說哈佛學(xué)生把他們的自我效能帶到了世界上蕊肥，如她所說的“創(chuàng)新”。但當(dāng)我問她“創(chuàng)新”意味著什么時蛤肌，她能夠想到的唯一例子不過是“世界大公司五百強的首席執(zhí)行官”壁却。我告訴她這不是創(chuàng)新，這只是成功裸准，而且是狹義的成功而已展东。真正的創(chuàng)新意味著運用你的想象力，發(fā)揮你的潛力炒俱，創(chuàng)造新的可能性盐肃。

But I'm not here to talk about technological innovation, I'm here to talk about a different kind. It's not about inventing a new machine or a new drug. It's about inventing your own life. Not following a path, but making your own path. The kind of imagination I'm talking about is moral imagination. "Moral" meaning not right or wrong, but having to do with making choices. Moral imagination means the capacity to envision new ways to live your life.

但這里我并不是在談?wù)摷夹g(shù)創(chuàng)新，不是發(fā)明新機器或者制造一種新藥权悟，我談?wù)摰氖橇硗庖环N創(chuàng)新砸王，是創(chuàng)造你自己的生活。不是走現(xiàn)成的道路峦阁，而是創(chuàng)造一條屬于自己的道路谦铃。我談?wù)摰南胂罅κ堑赖孪胂罅Γ╩oral imagination：心理學(xué)專業(yè)名詞）∧磁桑“道德”在這里無關(guān)對錯荷辕，而是與選擇有關(guān)凿跳。道德想象力意味著創(chuàng)造自己新生的能力件豌。

It means not just going with the flow. It means not just "getting into" whatever school or program comes next. It means figuring out what you want for yourself, not what your parents want, or your peers want, or your school wants, or your society wants. Originating your own values. Thinking your way toward your own definition of success. Not simply accepting the life that you've been handed. Not simply accepting the choices you've been handed. When you walk into Starbucks, you're offered a choice among a latte and a macchiato and an espresso and a few other things, but you can also make another choice. You can turn around and walk out. When you walk into college, you are offered a choice among law and medicine and investment banking and consulting and a few other things, but again, you can also do something else, something that no one has thought of before.

它意味著不隨波逐流，不是下一步要“進(jìn)入”什么名牌大學(xué)或研究生院控嗜。而是要弄清楚自己到底想要什么茧彤，而不是父母、同伴疆栏、 學(xué)校曾掂、或社會想要什么惫谤。即確認(rèn)你自己的價值觀，思考邁向自己所定義的成功的道路珠洗，而不僅僅是接受別人給你的生活溜歪，不僅僅是接受別人給你的選擇。當(dāng)今走進(jìn)星巴克咖啡館许蓖，服務(wù)員可能讓你在牛奶咖啡蝴猪、加糖咖啡、特制咖啡等幾樣?xùn)|西之間做出選擇膊爪。但你可以做出另外的選擇自阱，你可以轉(zhuǎn)身走出去。當(dāng)你進(jìn)入大學(xué)米酬，人家給你眾多選擇沛豌，或法律或醫(yī)學(xué)或投資銀行和咨詢以及其他，但你同樣也可以做其他事赃额，做從前根本沒有人想過的事加派。

Let me give you another counterexample. I wrote an essay a couple of years ago that touched on some of these same points. I said, among other things, that kids at places like Yale or Stanford tend to play it safe and go for the conventional rewards. And one of the most common criticisms I got went like this: What about Teach for America? Lots of kids from elite colleges go and do TFA after they graduate, so therefore I was wrong. TFA, TFA—I heard that over and over again. And Teach for America is undoubtedly a very good thing. But to cite TFA in response to my argument is precisely to miss the point, and to miss it in a way that actually confirms what I'm saying. The problem with TFA—or rather, the problem with the way that TFA has become incorporated into the system—is that it's just become another thing to get into.

讓我再舉一個反面的例子。幾年前我寫過一篇涉及同類問題的文章跳芳。我說哼丈，那些在耶魯和斯坦福這類名校的孩子往往比較謹(jǐn)慎，去追求一些穩(wěn)妥的獎勵筛严。我得到的最常見的批評是：教育項目“為美國而教”如何醉旦？從名校出來的很多學(xué)生畢業(yè)后很多參與這個教育項目，因此我的觀點是錯誤的桨啃。我一再聽到TFA這個術(shù)語车胡。“為美國而教”當(dāng)然是好東西照瘾，但引用這個項目來反駁我的觀點恰恰是不得要領(lǐng)匈棘，實際上正好證明了我想說的東西∥雒“為美國而教”的問題 或者“為美國而教”已經(jīng)成為體系一部分的問題主卫，是它已經(jīng)成為另外一個需要“進(jìn)入”的門檻。

In terms of its content, Teach for America is completely different from Goldman Sachs or McKinsey or Harvard Medical School or Berkeley Law, but in terms of its place within the structure of elite expectations, of elite choices, it is exactly the same. It's prestigious, it's hard to get into, it's something that you and your parents can brag about, it looks good on your résumé, and most important, it represents a clearly marked path. You don't have to make it up yourself, you don't have to do anything but apply and do the work-—just like college or law school or McKinsey or whatever. It's the Stanford or Harvard of social engagement. It's another hurdle, another badge. It requires aptitude and diligence, but it does not require a single ounce of moral imagination.

從其內(nèi)容來看鹃愤，“為美國而教”完全不同于高盛或者麥肯錫公司或哈佛醫(yī)學(xué)院或者伯克利法學(xué)院簇搅，但從它在未來精英體系中的地位來說，完全是一樣的软吐。它享有盛名瘩将，很難進(jìn)入，是值得你和父母夸耀的東西，如果寫在簡歷上會很好看姿现，最重要的是肠仪，它代表了清晰標(biāo)記的道路。你根本不用自己創(chuàng)造备典，什么都不用做异旧，只需申請然后按要求做就行了，就像上大學(xué)或法學(xué)院或麥肯錫公司或別的什么提佣。它是社會參與方面的斯坦冈笏遥或哈佛，是另一個柵欄镐依，另一枚獎?wù)缕ヤ獭Ｔ擁椖啃枰芰颓趭^，但不需要一丁點兒的道德想象力槐壳。

Moral imagination is hard, and it's hard in a completely different way than the hard things you're used to doing. And not only that, it's not enough. If you're going to invent your own life, if you're going to be truly autonomous, you also need courage: moral courage. The courage to act on your values in the face of what everyone's going to say and do to try to make you change your mind. Because they're not going to like it. Morally courageous individuals tend to make the people around them very uncomfortable. They don't fit in with everybody else's ideas about the way the world is supposed to work, and still worse, they make them feel insecure about the choices that they themselves have made—or failed to make. People don't mind being in prison as long as no one else is free. But stage a jailbreak, and everybody else freaks out.

道德想象力是困難的然低，這種困難與你已經(jīng)習(xí)慣的困難完全不同。不僅如此务唐，光有道德想象力還不夠雳攘。如果你要創(chuàng)造自己的生活，如果你 想成為真正的獨立思想者枫笛，你還需要勇氣：道德勇氣吨灭。不管別人說什么，有按自己的價值觀行動的勇氣刑巧，不會因為別人不喜歡而試圖改變自己的想法喧兄。具有道德勇氣的個人往往讓周圍的人感到不舒服。他們和其他人對世界的看法格格不入啊楚，更糟糕的是吠冤，讓別人對自己已經(jīng)做出的選擇感到不安全或無法做出選擇。只要別人也不享受自由恭理，人們就不在乎自己被關(guān)進(jìn)監(jiān)獄拯辙。可一旦有人越獄颜价，其他人都會跟著跑出去涯保。

In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce has Stephen Dedalus famously say, about growing up in Ireland in the late 19th century, "When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets."

在《青年藝術(shù)家的肖像》中，詹姆斯·喬伊斯讓主人公斯蒂芬·迪達(dá)勒斯就19世紀(jì)末期的愛爾蘭的成長環(huán)境說出了如下名言： “當(dāng)一個人的靈魂誕生在這個國家時周伦，有一張大網(wǎng)把它罩住夕春，防止它飛翔。你跟我談?wù)撁褡逍院崃尽⒄Z言和宗教撇他。我想沖出這些牢籠”吩椋”

Today there are other nets. One of those nets is a term that I've heard again and again as I've talked with students about these things. That term is "self-indulgent." "Isn't it self-indulgent to try to live the life of the mind when there are so many other things I could be doing with my degree?" "Wouldn't it be self-indulgent to pursue painting after I graduate instead of getting a real job?"

今天困肩，我們面臨的是其它的網(wǎng)。其中之一是我在就這些問題與學(xué)生交流時經(jīng)常聽到的一個術(shù)語“自我放任”脆侮⌒炕“在攻讀學(xué)位過程中有 這么多事要做的時候，試圖按照自己的感覺生活難道不是自我放任嗎靖避？”“畢業(yè)后不去找個真正的工作而去畫畫難道不是自我放任嗎潭枣？”

These are the kinds of questions that young people find themselves being asked today if they even think about doing something a little bit different. Even worse, the kinds of questions they are made to feel compelled to ask themselves. Many students have spoken to me, as they navigated their senior years, about the pressure they felt from their peers—from their peers—to justify a creative or intellectual life. You're made to feel like you're crazy: crazy to forsake the sure thing, crazy to think it could work, crazy to imagine that you even have a right to try.

這些是年輕人只要思考一下稍稍出格的事就不由自主地質(zhì)問自己的問題。更糟糕的是幻捏，他們覺得提出這些問題是理所應(yīng)當(dāng)?shù)呐枥纭ＴS多學(xué)生在畢業(yè)前夕的未來探索中跟我說，他們感受到來自同伴那里的壓力篡九，需要為創(chuàng)造性的生活或思想生活辯護(hù)谐岁。好像自己已經(jīng)走火入魔了似的：瘋了般地拋棄確定無疑的東西，瘋了般地認(rèn)為思想生活可行榛臼，瘋了般地想象你有嘗試的權(quán)利伊佃。

Think of what we've come to. It is one of the great testaments to the intellectual—and moral, and spiritual—poverty of American society that it makes its most intelligent young people feel like they're being self-indulgent if they pursue their curiosity. You are all told that you're supposed to go to college, but you're also told that you're being "self-indulgent" if you actually want to get an education. Or even worse, give yourself one. As opposed to what? Going into consulting isn't self-indulgent? Going into finance isn't self-indulgent? Going into law, like most of the people who do, in order to make yourself rich, isn't self-indulgent? It's not OK to play music, or write essays, because what good does that really do anyone, but it is OK to work for a hedge fund. It's selfish to pursue your passion, unless it's also going to make you a lot of money, in which case it's not selfish at all.

想象我們現(xiàn)在面臨的局面。這是美國社會的貧困——思想禽翼、道德和精神貧困的最明顯癥狀礁苗，美國最聰明的年輕人竟然認(rèn)為聽從自己的好奇心行動就是自我放任惰爬。你們得到的教導(dǎo)是應(yīng)該上大學(xué)，但你們同時也被告知如果真的想得到教育帅涂，那就是“自我放任”。如果你自我教育的話尤蛮，更糟糕漠秋。這是什么 道理？進(jìn)入證券咨詢業(yè)是不是自我放任抵屿？進(jìn)入金融業(yè)是不是自我放任庆锦？像許多人那樣進(jìn)入律師界發(fā)財是不是自我放任？搞音樂轧葛，寫文章就不行搂抒，因為它不能給人帶來 利益。但為風(fēng)險投資公司工作就可以尿扯。追求自己的理想和激情是自私的求晶，除非它能讓你賺很多錢。那樣的話衷笋，就一點兒也不自私了芳杏。

Do you see how absurd this is? But these are the nets that are flung at you, and this is what I mean by the need for courage. And it's a never-ending proc-ess. At that Harvard event two years ago, one person said, about my assertion that college students needed to keep rethinking the decisions they've made about their lives, "We already made our decisions, back in middle school, when we decided to be the kind of high achievers who get into Harvard." And I thought, who wants to live with the decisions that they made when they were 12? Let me put that another way. Who wants to let a 12-year-old decide what they're going to do for the rest of their lives? Or a 19-year-old, for that matter?

你看到這些觀點是多么荒謬了嗎？這就是罩在你們身上的網(wǎng)，就是我說的需要勇氣的意思爵赵。這是永不停息的過程吝秕。在兩年前的哈 佛事件中，有個學(xué)生談到我說的大學(xué)生需要重新思考人生決定的觀點空幻，他說“我們已經(jīng)做出了決定烁峭，我們早在中學(xué)時就已經(jīng)決定成為能夠進(jìn)入哈佛的高材生★躅酰”我在 想约郁，誰會打算按照他在12歲時做出的決定生活呢？讓我換一種說法但两，誰愿意讓一個12歲的孩子決定他們未來一輩子要做什么呢鬓梅？或者一個19歲的小毛孩兒？

All you can decide is what you think now, and you need to be prepared to keep making revisions. Because let me be clear. I'm not trying to persuade you all to become writers or musicians. Being a doctor or a lawyer, a scientist or an engineer or an economist—these are all valid and admirable choices. All I'm saying is that you need to think about it, and think about it hard. All I'm asking is that you make your choices for the right reasons. All I'm urging is that you recognize and embrace your moral freedom.

你能做出的決定是你現(xiàn)在想什么谨湘，你需要準(zhǔn)備好不斷修改自己的決定己肮。讓我說得更明白一些。我不是在試圖說服你們都成為音樂家或者作家悲关。成為醫(yī)生谎僻、律師、科學(xué)家寓辱、工程師或者經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家沒有什么不好艘绍，這些都是可靠的、可敬的選擇秫筏。我想說的是你需要思考它诱鞠，認(rèn)真地思考。我請求你們 做的这敬，是根據(jù)正確的理由做出你的選擇航夺。我在敦促你們的，是認(rèn)識到你的道德自由并熱情擁抱它崔涂。

And most of all, don't play it safe. Resist the seductions of the cowardly values our society has come to prize so highly: comfort, convenience, security, predictability, control. These, too, are nets. Above all, resist the fear of failure. Yes, you will make mistakes. But they will be your mistakes, not someone else's. And you will survive them, and you will know yourself better for having made them, and you will be a fuller and a stronger person.

最重要的是阳掐，不要太過小心翼翼。去拒絕或否定我們社會給予了過高獎賞的那些卑怯的價值觀的誘惑：舒服冷蚂、方便缭保、安全、可預(yù)測 的蝙茶、可控制的艺骂。這些，同樣是羅網(wǎng)隆夯。最重要的是钳恕，去拒否失敗的恐懼感别伏。是的，你會犯錯誤忧额±灏梗可那是你的錯誤，不是別人的宙址。你將從錯誤中緩過來轴脐，而且调卑，正是因為 這些錯誤抡砂，你更好地認(rèn)識你自己。由此恬涧，你成為更完整和強大的人注益。

It's been said—and I'm not sure I agree with this, but it's an idea that's worth taking seriously—that you guys belong to a "postemotional" generation. That you prefer to avoid messy and turbulent and powerful feelings. But I say, don't shy away from the challenging parts of yourself. Don't deny the desires and curiosities, the doubts and dissatisfactions, the joy and the darkness, that might knock you off the path that you have set for yourself. College is just beginning for you, adulthood is just beginning. Open yourself to the possibilities they represent. The world is much larger than you can imagine right now. Which means, you are much larger than you can imagine.

人們常說你們年輕人屬于“后情感”一代，我想我未必贊同這個說法溯捆，但這個說法值得嚴(yán)肅對待丑搔。你們更愿意規(guī)避混亂、動蕩 和強烈的感情提揍，但我想說啤月，不要回避挑戰(zhàn)自我，不要否認(rèn)欲望和好奇心劳跃、懷疑和不滿谎仲、快樂和陰郁，它們可能改變你預(yù)設(shè)的人生軌跡刨仑。大學(xué)剛開始郑诺，成年時代也才剛 開始。打開自己杉武，直面各種可能性吧辙诞。這個世界的深廣遠(yuǎn)超你現(xiàn)在想象的邊際。這意味著轻抱，你自身的深廣也將遠(yuǎn)超你現(xiàn)在的想象飞涂。