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要么付费，要么消亡 Pay or Decay

http://www.sina.com.cn 2004/07/15 10:54 英语文摘

　　If universities are to be truly free and sustainable most students will have to pay fees.

　　大学若要获得真正自由并持续发展，多数学生就必须交付学费。

　　译者点评：这是选自英国《经济学家》杂志的一篇社论。文章从英国布莱尔政府去年12月份提出的允许大学提高学费的改革方案说起，对英国大学的管理模式，特别是收费制度提出了看法和建议。此文发表后不久，大学学费改革方案在议会众议院以微弱优势通过。

　　文章首先指出，政府为了挽救经济拮据的英国大学，允许其自主办学，提高学费，采取美国高等教育管理模式，摈弃平均主义，这是值得称道的。文章进一步指出政府还应该改变大学就是生产力和财富的错误的教育观念。作者最后建议政府不应该采取全国统一体制，而要建立多元化并且独立的可持续发展的高等教育机制，即要创办不同类型的院校，收取不同数额的学费，充分发挥各个学校的特长。与以往的社论一样，该文仍然坚持自由主义。

　　文章言简意赅，如“要么付费,要么消亡”pay or decay；“根深蒂固”have deep roots；“有严重缺陷”be deeply flawed；“力求建立的模式是创办不同类型的院校，收取不同数额的学费” The model to strive for is varied institutions charging varied fees等。这种语言读过一遍,恐怕就很难忘记。

　　Universities the world over love symbols from medieval scholastic garb at degree ceremonies to the owls martletschevrons and scrolls of scholastic heraldry. But for many universities especially in Britain and elsewhere in Europea more accurate emblem would include slummy buildings dog eared books and demoralised dons. That’s why Britain’s government is next week risking defeat in the House of Commons to bring more private money into the country’s universities—and why European and developing countries now busy expanding higher education need to think hard about how much government involvement is good for universities.

　　There are broadly two models for running universities. They can be autonomous institutions mainly dependent on private incomesuch as fees donations and investments or they can be statefinanced and as a result state run. America’s flourishing universities exemplify the former Europe’s the latter. Britain’s government wants to move towards the American model. The subject of next week’s rebellion is a bill that would allow English universities Scotland and Wales are different to charge up to 3000 pounds(5460 dollars) in tuition fees instead of the current flat rate 1125. Students will borrow the money through a state run loan scheme and pay it back once they are earning enough.

　　It is a very limited start laced with sweeteners for students from poor backgrounds. The best universities worry that the maximum fee should be many times higher. But it reflects an important shift in thinking. First that the new money universities need should come from graduates rather than the general taxpayer. Second and most cruciallyit abandons the egalitarian assumption that all universities are equally deserving.

　　That is commendable. Just because a course is cheap does not mean it is worthless the existence of costly ones is not in itself a sign of iniquitous social division. Yet old thinking has deep roots. Bandying phrases such as “excellence for all” and “education for the many not the few”, politicians especially left wing ones want to slap the university educated label on ever more people regardless of merit cost or practicality.

　　The aspirin theory of university finance

　　Universities can indeed give the disadvantaged a leg up—but they will do it much better if the state stands back. Micromanaging university admissions as the British government has been trying to do on grounds of class with targets quotas fines and strictures risks the same consequences as similar American experiments based on racial preference. It humiliates the talented but disadvantaged whose success is then devalued it infuriates the talented who are not deemed underprivileged enough and who feel their merits ignored and it makes universities do a job they are bound to be bad at.

　　A good university will need little encouragement to hunt the best talent regardless of class or race or gender　 wherever it can find it. The government may want to subsidise that search or subsidise loans and bursaries or provide remedial teaching for borderline candidates. But by far the best route to fairness is not fiddling with the universities but improving the state school system. When only half the British school population gains five decent exam passes at 16 and only a quarter gain two decent Alevels at 18 it is hardly surprising that the best universities recruit largely from the best schools—those public and private　 attended by the middle class.

　　Along with mistaken egalitarian assumptions governments should also ditch another misconception the utilitarian notion that universities’ main merit is their economic usefulness. Amid much blather about the “knowledge economy” the core of this belief is that more higher education means higher productivity and more wealth. This lies behind the British government’s desire unmatched by the necessary money　 to have 50% of the 18-30 age group in university by 2010 and behind much German anxiety about that country’s crowded but increasingly secondrate universities.

　　Alison Wolf a British economist terms this the “two aspirin good five aspirin better” approach to university finance. It is deeply flawed. In reality there is no proven connection between spending on universities and prosperity nor can there be. Those rich countries that spend a lot on higher education may do so for the same reasons they subsidise opera because they like it rather than because it makes them richer.

　　This sounds heretical but should not be very surprising. Just as people differ so do their educational needs. An intensive threeyear academic course may be just the ticket for one person but a tedious waste of time for another. Indeed faced with aging populations Britain and most European countries arguably should be encouraging their young people to start earning earlier in their lives rather than later.

　　Graduated differences

　　Public funding is addictive and the withdrawal symptoms are painful. But as British dons and politicians struggle with these issues and their European counterparts ponder whether one day they might just have to do something similar the message for emerging economies like China and India who are investing heavily in their own systems of higher education is clear avoid a nationalised and uniform system and go for one that is diverse and independent. America’s universities have their problems. Inflated tuition fees are a big worry alumni preference looks unfair. But overall America’s system looks sustainable in a way that the Old World’s does not.

　　In short the model to strive for is varied institutions charging varied fees. Not all courses need last three years or bring a full honours degree. Some will be longer and deeper others shorter and shallower. Some universities may specialise as teachingonly institutions like America’s liberal arts colleges. Others may want to concentrate mainly on research. All must have the right to select their intake.

　　It is better to do some things well rather than everything indifferently. It is because politicians have forgotten this that some of the world’s oldest universities risk a future that is a lot less glorious than their past.

要么付费，要么消亡 Pay or Decay

　　各国的大学都喜欢标志，如学位授予仪式上的中世纪学位服以及猫头鹰、无足鸟、人字形图记和各色各样的学院纹章卷轴。但是对许多大学来说，尤其是英国和欧洲其他国家的大学，一件更加贴切的徽标应该包括破旧的楼房、破损的书本和士气低落的教师。这就是为什么英国政府下周要冒着在众议院被击败的危险争取更多的私人资金投入到大学中，这也是为什么那些正在忙于扩展高等教育的欧洲以及发展中国家需要认真思考政府干预到什么程度才有利于大学发展这个问题。

　　总的来说，有两种大学管理模式。它们可以是自主经办的机构，主要依靠各校自己的收入，如学费、捐款和投资，或者可以由政府资助，因而也由政府经办。美国那些成功的大学是前者的典范，欧洲一些大学则属于后者。英国政府想往美国模式靠拢。下周要争论的主题是关于一项法案，该法案允许英格兰的大学(苏格兰和威尔士的情况不同)最高可收取3000英镑(5460美元)的学费，以取代目前的1125英镑的统一标准。学生将通过国家贷款计划借钱，一旦他们挣到足够的钱后再偿还。

　　这是一个非常有限的开端，能让来自贫困家庭的学生尝到一点甜头。一流大学担心最高的学费应该涨高好几倍。然而学费改革反映了思想上的重大转变。首先，大学所需的新增加部分的费用应该来自毕业生，而不是普通纳税人。第二也是最关键的，此项改革摈弃了所有大学都应得到同等待遇的平均主义思想。

　　那是值得称道的。一门课程收费低廉并不意味着它没有价值。那些昂贵课程的存在也不是邪恶的社会分化的迹象。然而，旧思想根深蒂固。政治家，特别是左翼政治家，虚张声势地到处引用像“人人都成才”以及“教育面向大众，而不是少数人”这样的口号，希望把受过大学教育这个标签迅速贴到更多人的身上，而对那样做的优缺点、费用以及可行性则全然不顾。

　　大学经费问题上的阿斯匹林理论

　　大学确实能助弱势学生一臂之力，但是，如果国家不干预的话，它们会做得更好。像英国政府一直力图推行的以阶层为基础、以指标、配额、惩罚和限制为配套的微观管理大学招生体制与美国根据种族招生的尝试效果相似，冒有同样的风险。这种做法不仅羞辱了有才能但经济条件差的学生，他们觉得自己的成功贬值了；它也同样激怒了优等生，因为学校认为他们还不够困难，因而他们觉得自己的优点被人忽视了。结果，它迫使学校做了件并不擅长的事情。

　　一所优秀的大学不需什么鼓励就会去寻找最杰出的学生，不管该学生来自哪个阶层(或者种族或性别)。政府也许想资助大学招录英才，或者为分数线边缘的考生提供贷款、助学金或补救性教学。但是获得公平的最好途径是不要干预大学的事务，而是改善公立学校的体制。当只有一半的英国中学生能在16岁时获得5个合格的及格成绩，只有1／4的中学生能在18岁时获得两个合格的A级优秀成绩时，那么最好的大学生源基本上来自中产阶级子弟就学的最好的公立和私立中学就不足为奇了。

　　政府在抛弃错误的公平主义设想的同时，也应该摈弃另一个错误的实用主义观念，即大学的主要功绩是它们对发展经济有用。人们喋喋不休地谈论“知识经济”，其核心信念是更多的高等教育意味着更高的生产力和更多的财富。这种观念促使英国政府期望在2010年前让18至30岁年龄段中的人有50%进入高等院校(这与所需经费难以匹配)，也使德国人对该国大学拥挤不堪并正逐渐沦为二流大学的现象忧虑不安。

　　英国经济学家艾莉森·沃尔夫称此为“两片阿斯匹林好，五片阿斯匹林更好”的大学财务政策。它有严重的缺陷。实际上，不能证明大学花费多少与其繁荣程度之间有何关系，也不可能有任何关系。那些大力投资高等教育的富裕国家这样做与他们资助戏剧出于同样动机：因为他们喜欢那样，而不是因为那样做会使他们更加富裕。

　　这听起来像是异端邪说，但不应令人十分惊讶。就像人与人之间有区别一样，人们对教育的需求也因人而异。集中学习的三个学年对某人来说也许是他需要的一张证书，但对另一人来说可能是无聊地浪费时间。确实，面临人口的老龄化，英国和大多数欧洲国家有理由鼓励年轻人早一点而不是晚一点开始赚钱。

　　分级分类区别对待

　　对政府资助会上瘾，撤回资助引起的症状是痛苦的。然而当英国教员和政治家们争论这些话题，而他们的欧洲同行们思考着是否有一天他们也许会不得不如法炮制时，传达给正大力投资高等教育的新兴经济大国如中国和印度的信息是十分明确的：要避免全国统一的体制，要建立一个多元化和独立的体制。美国的大学有自身的问题。膨胀的学费是一大担忧；给予校友优惠待遇看起来不公平。但是，总的来说，美国的体制看来是可持续发展的，而旧大陆的体制则不然。

　　简而言之，我们力求建立的模式是创办不同类型的院校，收取不同数额的学费。不是所有的课程都需要延续三年时间，或者提供一个完整的荣誉学位。有些课程可以长一些、深一些，有些则可以短一些，浅一些。有些大学可以专门从事教学，如美国的人文学院。有些则可能想侧重于研究。所有大学都必须有选择学生的权利。

　　把几件事情做得出色要比把什么事情都做得平庸强得多。正因为政治家们已经忘记了这一点，致使世界上某些最古老的大学正在面临一种危险：它们的未来将远不如过去那样辉煌。(章晓英摘译自 The Economist Jan. 24 2004)

　　1. scholastic p.1　 形容词,文中指“学院的;学术的”｡美国高等院校入学前的预测考试(相当于我们的高考)叫做:Scholastic Aptitude Test (学习能力倾向测验,简称SAT)｡该考试试题由美国大学入学考试委员会编｡

　　2. bill p.2　 议案､法案｡这里指英国布莱尔政府提出的关于大学学费改革的议案,根据议案,从2006年起,将目前每年1125英镑的统一学费标准大幅提高,各大学可根据自身情况确定涨幅,最高学费可达每年3000英镑;新法案还废除了现行的“先行缴费制度”,大部分大学生可以不付学费就进校学习,学费先由政府垫付,学生毕业后找到一份年薪不少于1.5万英镑的工作后,须开始偿还债务,年偿付金额为超过1.5万英镑的那部分薪水的9%｡按布莱尔的说法,这项举措是为了保证更多的年轻人接受高等教育,使英国年轻人上大学的比例从目前的43%提高到50%｡然而,这项被布莱尔称为工党的一个“旗舰改革”式议案在英国国内激起轩然大波,不仅遭到反对党的强烈反对,就连工党党内也有150余名议员联名签署反对动议｡此外,数千名英国青年学生和教师也在各地举行了抗议游行｡尽管如此,议案还是于今年1月28日在议会下院以微弱优势通过｡

　　3. give sb a leg up p.5　 在攀登､上马或跨越障碍时　给予...帮助｡如:The wall is very low I can give you a leg up. 这墙很低,我可以帮你一把翻越过去｡

　　4. bursary p.6　 助学金｡与此相关的还有 scholarship(奖学金), subsidy(补助金)｡它们都可作可数名词｡如:I hope to win a scholarship to Harvard. 我希望获得哈佛大学的奖学金｡

　　5. not fiddling with the universitiesp.6　 不要干预大学事务｡to fiddle with原意是“无目的地用手拨弄,或盲目摆弄”,如: Bored he began to fiddle with a pencil. 他感到无聊,便开始用手拨弄铅笔｡从此处可以看出作者认为政府干预大学似乎是盲目的,是无聊的表现｡在下文中,作者进一步说明有些国家将大笔资金投入教育只是出于喜好,并不是真正想帮助国家富裕起来｡

　　6. ditch p.7　 非正式用语,“(因不喜欢或不需要而)抛弃”的意思｡该段中的blather (蠢话,废话)也是非正式用语｡有时,在严肃的议论文中用一些非正式用语会使文章显得更加生动活泼,增强可读性｡

　　expand higher education p.1　扩大高等教育

　　dogeared books p.1　破损的书

　　degree ceremony p.1　大学授予学位仪式

　　scholastic garb p.1　学位服

　　scholastic heraldry p.1　学院纹章､标识

　　autonomous institution p.2　自主教育机构

　　statefinanced or state run universities　 p.2　国家资助或国家经办的(大学)

　　flourishing universities p.2　欣欣向荣的或成功的大学

　　demoralised dons p.2　士气低落的教师(don尤指牛津､剑桥的教员)

　　staterun loan scheme p.2　国家贷款计划

　　flatrate p.2　统一的收费标准

　　students from poor backgrounds p.3　来自贫困家庭的学生

　　university admissions p.5　大学招生

　　hunt the best talent p.6　寻找顶尖人才

　　borderline candidates p.6　分数线边缘的考生 (从上下文看,似乎指差一点就可以考上大学的学生)

　　bursary p.6　助学金

　　invest heavily in higher education p.10　大力投资高等教育

　　public funding p.10　公共资金

　　inflated tuition fee p.10　膨胀的学费

　　liberal arts college p.11　文科学院

　　intake p.11　招收的学生;新生

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