Reading & Digesting
How to Live Wisely
Richard J. Light
1 Imagine you are Dean for a day. What is one actionable change you would implement to enhance the college experience on campus?
2 I have asked students this question for years. The answers can be eyeopening. A few years ago, the responses began to move away from “improve the history course” or “change the ways labs are structured.” A di fferent commentary, about learning to live wisely, has emerged.
3 What does it mean to live a good life? What about a productive life? How about
a happy life? How might I think about these ideas if the answers conflict with one another? And how do I use my time here at college to build on the answers to these tough questions?
4 A number of campuses have recently started to offer an opportunity for students to grapple with these questions. On my campus, Harvard, a small group of faculty members and deans created a non-credit seminar called “Reflecting on Your Life.” Here are three exercises that students find particularly engaging. Each is designed to help freshmen identify their goals and reflect systematically about various aspects of their personal lives, and to connect what they discover to what they actually do at college.
5 For the first exercise, we ask students to make a list of how they want to spend their time at college. What matters to you? This might be going to class, studying, spending time with close friends, perhaps volunteering in the off-campus community or reading books not on any course’s required reading list. Then students make a list of how they actually spent their time, on average, each day over the past week and match the two lists.
6 Finally, we pose the question: How well do your commitments actually match your goals?
7 A few students find a strong overlap between the lists. Te majority don’t. T hey are stunned and dismayed to discover they are spending much of their precious time on activities they don’t value highly. Te challenge is how to align your time commitments to reflect your personal convictions.
8 In the core values exercise, students are presented with a sheet of paper with about 25 words on it. The words include “dignity,” “love,”“fame,” “family,” “excellence,” “wealth,” and “wisdom.” They are told to circle the five words that best describe their core values. Now, we ask, how might you deal with a situation where your core values come into conflict with one another? Students find this question particularly difficult. One student brought up his own personal dilemma: He wants to be a surgeon,and he also wants to have a large family. So his core values include the words “useful” and “family.” He said he worries a lot whether he could be a successful surgeon while also being a devoted father. Students couldn’t stop talking about his example, as many saw themselves facing a similar challenge.
9 The third exercise presents the parable of a happy fisherman living a simple life on
a small island. Te fellow goes fishing for a few hours every day. He catches a few fish,
sells them to his friends, and enjoys spending the rest of the day with his wife and children, and napping. He couldn’t imagine changing a thing in his relaxed and easy life.
10 Let’s tweak the parable: A recent M.B.A. visits this island and quickly sees how this fisherman could become rich. He could catch more fish, start up a business, market the fish, open a cannery, maybe even issue an I.P.O.Ultimately he would become truly successful. He could donate some of his fish to hungry children worldwide and might even save lives.
11 “And then what?” asks the f isherman.
12 “Then you could spend lots of time with your family,” replies the visitor. “Yet you would make a difference in the world. You would have used your talents, and fed some poor children, instead of just lying around all day.”
13 We ask students to apply this parable to their own lives. Is it more important to you to have little, be less traditionally successful, yet be relaxed and happy and spend time with your family? Or is it more important to you to work hard, perhaps start a business, or even make the world a better place along the way?
14 Typically, this simple parable leads to substantial disagreement. These discussions encourage first-year undergraduates to think about what really matters to them, and what each of us feels we might owe, or not owe,to the broader community — ideas that our students can capitalize on throughout their time at college.
15 At the end of our sessions, I say to my grou p: “Tell me one thing you have changed your mind about this year,” and many responses reflect a remarkable level of introspection. Three years later, when we ask them again, nearly all report that the discussions had been valuable, a step toward turning college into the transformational experience it is meant to be.
参考译文
如何智慧地生活
理查德·J·莱特
想象一下你要当一天的院长。
你会采取什么切实可行的措施来提升大学生的校园体验呢？
有好些年我都问学生这个问题，他们的回答会让你大开眼界。
近几年，类似“改进历史课程”或“改变实验室的结构”的回答逐渐减少，一个不同的主题开始出现，与学习智慧地生活有关。
度过一个美好人生的含义是什么？是富有创造性的人生？还是快乐的人生？假如我的答案相互冲突，我该如何思考这些问题呢？我该如何利用在这里的大学时光，来逐步解答这些棘手的问题呢？
最近，一些高校开始给学生提供机会，来理清这些问题的答案。
在我的学校——哈佛大学——几位院长和教员开设了一门没有学分的研讨课，叫“反思你的人生”。
其中三个练习特别吸引学生。
每个练习旨在帮助新生确定个人目标，系统地反思个人生活的诸多方面，并把他们的发现与在学校里实际所做的联系起来。
在第一个练习中，我们先让学生们列个清单，写出他们打算如何度过大学时光。
什么是你认为重要的事情？答案可能是去上课、学习、和好朋友共度时光，也可能是校外社区的志愿者服务，或者阅读任何课程必读书单以外的书籍。
接着，学生们再列一个清单，写出他们上周平均每天花时间的实际情况，并对比这两个清单。
最后，我们问了这个问题：你们平时的投入和付出与目标的契合度如何？
一些学生发现他们列出的两个清单高度吻合，但大多数学生的情况并非如此。
他们感到既震惊又懊悔，因为他们发现大把的宝贵时间都花在了自己认为并不重要的事情上。
这个练习带给学生的挑战是，该如何让你的
时间投入与人生目标的实现相吻合。
在“核心价值观练习”中，学生们先拿到一张写有大约25个词汇的纸条，词汇包括“尊严”、“爱”、“名声”、“家庭”、“优异”、“财富”和“智慧”等。
学生们被要求圈出五个最能代表他们核心价值观的
词语。
现在，我们问：假如你的核心价值观之间发生冲突，你会如何应对这种情况？学生们发现这个问题特别难。
有一个学生就提到了自己的两难处境：他想做一个外科医生，但他又想有很多孩子。
所以他的核心价值观包括“有用”和“家庭”这两个词语。
他说他非常担心自己能否在成为一名成功的外科医生的同时，还能当一个十分顾家的父亲。
学生们不停地讨论着这个例子，因为许多学生发现自己同样面临类似的挑战。
最后一个练习围绕着一个渔夫的寓言故事展开：一个快乐的渔夫在一个小岛上过着简单的生活。
他每天花几个小时捕鱼，捕到一些鱼，卖给朋友，然后享受这一天余下的时光，陪陪妻儿，睡睡午觉。
他可不想让自己舒适安逸的生活有丝毫的改变。
现在我们把这个寓言改编一下：一个刚刚毕业的工商管理学硕士造访这个小岛，很快发现了能让这个渔夫致富的办法。
他可以多抓些鱼，开个公司，推销自己的鱼，开一个罐头厂，甚至还可以新股上市。
最终，他会变成一个名副其实的成功人士。
他可以捐出一些鱼去救助世界上饥饿的孩子，甚至还能挽救一些生命。
“然后呢？”渔夫问道。
“然后你就能花很多时间陪家人了，”这位客人答道。
“而同时你可以为这个世界带来变化。
你能运用自己的智慧帮助贫困儿童，而不是整天躺在那里无所事事。
”
我们让学生将这个寓言运用到自己的身上。
对于你来说，哪一个更重要：是拥有得少一点，在传统意义上不那么成功，但更加轻松快乐，有更多的时间陪伴家人？还是努力工作，去创业，甚至继续努力，让这个世界变得更加美好？
通常，这个简单的寓言能引发学生激烈的辩论。
这些讨论激发大一新生去思考，什么事情对于他们来说才是真正重要的，以及我们每一个人觉得应该为这个社会做些什么。
这些想法对我们学生的整个大学生涯都会大有裨益。
在这个课程结束之时，我对本小组的学生说：“告诉我今年你改变想法的一件事”，学生们提供的许多答案都反映出他们深层次的反思。
三年后，我们再次询问参与这个课程的学生，几乎所有人表示，那些讨论让他们受益匪浅，将他们的大学生活变成了名副其实的转变人生的经历。
