考研时文阅读（24）(2009-06-01 10:55:11)转载标签： 黄涛考研时文阅读教育 分类： 阅读篇
In the college-admission wars, we parents are the true fighters. We’re pushing our kids to get good grades, take SAT preparatory courses and build resumes so they can get into the college of our first choice. We’ve twice been to the wars, and as I survey the battlefield, something different is happening. We see our kids’ college background as a prize demonstrating how well we’ve raised them. But we can’t acknowledge that our obsession is more about us than them. So we’ve contrived various justifications that turn out to be half-truths, prejudices or myths. It actually doesn’t matter much whether Aaron and Nicole go to Stanford.
在考大学这场战争中，我们这些做父母的真是名符其实的战士。我们强迫自己的孩子考出好成绩，参加SAT预备课程，写简历，以便让他们能够进入到我们首选的大学。我经历过两次这样的战争，当我回顾战场时，总会有不同的想法，我们将孩子的大学教育背景视为一个奖品，证明我们在教育子女上做得有多好。但是我们却不肯承认我们更关心的是我们自己，而不是在关心他们。因此，我们要做的各种辩解都是片面的、带有偏见或是虚构的。Aaron 和Nicole能否进入斯坦福大学实际上无关紧要。
We have a full-blown prestige panic; we worry that there won’t be enough prizes to go around. Fearful parents urge their children to apply to more schools than ever. Underlying the hysteria(歇斯底里)is the belief that scarce elite degrees must be highly valuable. Their graduates must enjoy more success because they get a better education and develop better contacts. All that is plausible---and mostly wrong. We haven’t found any convincing evidence that selectivity or prestige matters. Selective schools don’t systematically employ better instructional approaches than less selective schools. On two measures---professors’ feedback and the number of essay exams----selective schools do slightly worse.
我们充满了对名誉的恐惧；我们担心没有足够分发的奖品。战战兢兢的父母督促自己的孩子去申请比以往更多的学校。在这种歇斯底里的情绪下隐藏着一种信念，即稀缺的精英学位必然是极为可贵的。拥有该学位的毕业生必定可以享受到更多的成功，因为他们接受了更好的教育，积累了更好的人脉。所有的这些似乎都是合理的-----然而通常都是错的。我们没有找到任何有力的证据证明出类拔萃或名誉起着重要的作用。比起非精英学校，精英学校并没有系统地采用更好的教育方法。在两项标准上-----教授的反馈以及论文考试的数量上----精英学校要稍逊一筹。
By some studies, selective schools do enhance their graduates’ lifetime earnings. The gain i
s reckoned at 2—4% for every 100-point increase in a school’s average SAT scores. But even this advantage is probably a statistical fluke(偶然). A well-known study examined students who got into highly selective schools and then went elsewhere. They earned just as much as graduates form higher-status schools.
一些研究表明，精英学校确实能提高他们毕业生的终生所得。一所学校中的SAT平均分每高出100分，获得的收入大约高出2--4%。但是即使这样的优势也可能是由统计上的偶然性造成的。一项知名研究对进入精英学校，随后转入其他学校的学生进行了调查。这些学生与来自精英学校毕业生获得的收入一样多。
Kids count more than their colleges. Getting into Yale may signify intelligence, talent and ambition. But it’s not the only indicator and, paradoxically, its significance is declining. The reason: so many similar people go elsewhere. Getting into college isn’t life’s only competition. In the next competition---the job market and graduate school----the results may change. Old-boy networks are breaking down. Princeton economist Alan Krueger studied admissions to one top Ph.D. program. High scores on the GRE helped explain who got in; degrees of prestigious universities didn’t.
孩子们不一定要上大学才有出息。进入耶鲁大学也许意味着聪明、才干和抱负。但这不是惟一的指标。相反的是，它的重要性正在下降，原因就是：很多条件相似的人没有上大学。上大学并不只是人生唯一的竞赛。而在另一场竞赛中----职场和研究生院中----结果也许会发生变化。老校友的关系网正在瓦解。普拉斯顿大学的经济学家Alan Krueger对一项顶级博士培养计划的录取进行了研究。研究表明，获取GRE高分能解释谁能被上大学；而享有声望的大学学位却不能。
So, parents, lighten up. The stakes have been vastly exaggerated. Up to a point, we can rationalize our pushiness. America is a competitive society; our kids need to adjust to that. But too much pushiness can be destructive. The very ambition we impose on our children may get some into Harvard but may also set them up for disappointment. One study found that, other things being equal, graduates of highly selective schools experienced more job dissatisfaction. They may have been so conditioned to being on top that anything less disappoints.
因此，父母们放轻松些吧。这一利害关系被极大地扩大了。在一定程度上，我们能够为自己的催逼辩解。美国是一个竞争的社会。我们的孩子需要适应它。但是太多的催逼也会对孩子有着破坏性的影响。我们在孩子身上寄予的雄心壮志也许能促使他们中的一些人进入哈佛大学，但也会让他们失望。一项研究发现，在其他条件均等的情况下，精英学校的毕业生会经历更多的工作
不满。他们也许习惯了不会带来一丝失望的优势地位。