耄耋老人獲得5個(gè)學(xué)位的隨想

Earlier this spring I attended my mother-in-law’sgraduation ceremony at the University ofBuckingham, where she was being awarded an MA inhistory of art.

今年春天早些時(shí)候，我參加了我的岳母在英國白金漢大學(xué)(University of Buckingham)的畢業(yè)典禮，她被授予了藝術(shù)史碩士學(xué)位。

The individual chosen to address his fellowgraduands was the retired British judge Sir OliverPopplewell, who chaired the inquiry into theBradford City stadium fire and presided over the libel case that led to the former UK ministerJonathan Aitken going to prison for perjury.

被選中向同期畢業(yè)生發(fā)表演講的是退休的英國法官奧利弗•波普爾韋爾爵士(Sir Oliver Popplewell)，他曾領(lǐng)導(dǎo)對(duì)布拉福德城(Bradford City)球場大火的調(diào)查，并曾審理導(dǎo)致前部長級(jí)官員喬納森•艾特肯(JonathanAitken)因作偽證而入獄的誹謗案。

The 88-year-old was collecting nothing less than his fifth degree, a masters in military history.His speech began with a joke, recounting how, when embarking on his philosophy, politics andeconomics degree at Oxford, he was given a lecture on it being merely a prelude to a largerobligation — the solemn duty of giving back to the community. The punchline: he was in hismid-seventies at the time and had rather felt that he was all done on the giving-back front.

現(xiàn)年88歲的奧利弗爵士竟然是在領(lǐng)取他的第5個(gè)學(xué)位——軍事史博士學(xué)位。他的演講以一個(gè)笑話開頭，他講述了他在牛津大學(xué)(University of Oxford)攻讀哲學(xué)、政治學(xué)和經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)學(xué)位的經(jīng)歷之初，他聽了一堂講座，主題是學(xué)業(yè)不過是履行一項(xiàng)更大的義務(wù)的序曲——回饋社會(huì)的莊嚴(yán)責(zé)任。笑點(diǎn)：他當(dāng)時(shí)都七十多歲了，他感覺自己已經(jīng)在回饋社會(huì)方面盡到了責(zé)任。

It was hard not to be inspired. Sir Oliver started accumulating degrees in 1950 with a BA inlaw at Cambridge, which was followed by an LLB at the same university (his other degree is amasters in the history of international relations from the London School of Economics).

很難不被這樣的事例鼓舞。奧利弗爵士在1950年開始收集學(xué)位，那一年他獲得了劍橋大學(xué)(University ofCambridge)的法學(xué)文學(xué)士學(xué)位，后來又在劍橋獲得了LLB法學(xué)學(xué)士學(xué)位(他的另一個(gè)學(xué)位是從倫敦政治經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)院(LSE)獲得的國際關(guān)系史博士學(xué)位)。

Likewise, the energy of the twentysomethings picking up their first degrees was stirring,especially the Bosnians who had come over as part of a partnership between Buckingham andthe Sarajevo School of Science and Technology. Yet the relative lack of fortysomethings andfiftysomethings in gowns and mortar boards meant that there was also something slightlydepressing about the occasion.

同樣的，那些拿到平生第一個(gè)學(xué)位的二十多歲的年輕人的活力也讓人感動(dòng)，尤其是那些借助白金漢大學(xué)和薩拉熱窩科技學(xué)院(Sarajevo School of Science and Technology)合作辦學(xué)來學(xué)習(xí)的波斯尼亞人。然而穿著學(xué)士袍，帶著學(xué)士帽的人中，四、五十歲的人相對(duì)較少，這意味著這個(gè)場面中也有一些讓人略感沮喪的事情。

Perhaps it was self-interest on my part as I am a member of the forty-something group myself,but it strongly suggested that education now straddles two age groups — young adults and theretired. For the former, it is a means to advancement; for the latter, it is a noble leisure pursuit.

作為40多歲的人群中的一員，這可能是出于我自利的一種考慮，但這也鮮明地體現(xiàn)出，教育跨立于兩個(gè)年齡群體中——剛進(jìn)入成年期的年輕人和退休人士。對(duì)前者，這是事業(yè)進(jìn)步的手段;對(duì)后者，這是一種高尚的休閑追求。

For the dream of life-long learning to be realised fully, those in the 35-60 age group must alsobe given the opportunity to refine and revise their skills throughout their careers, whichcould well stretch into their seventies.

如果要完全實(shí)現(xiàn)終身學(xué)習(xí)的夢(mèng)想，那些35-60歲的人應(yīng)該得到在職業(yè)生涯中改善和更新他們的技能的機(jī)會(huì)，他們的職業(yè)生涯很可能延伸到他們70多歲的時(shí)候。

This is not happening enough. Executive education has traditionally been one niche in which themiddle aged have been able to polish their skills. But the supercharged intensity of themodern office makes it hard to get away from daily duties.

這方面的進(jìn)展還不夠。高管教育傳統(tǒng)上是中年人改善自身技能的小眾市場。但現(xiàn)代職場高負(fù)荷高強(qiáng)度的工作讓人們很難從日常工作中抽身。

Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia Business School, ruefully observes that its MBA graduateshave a lifetime entitlement to come back and sit in on any class — but they almost never findthe time. “People don’t take me up on it because they are busy,” he says.

哥倫比亞大學(xué)商學(xué)院(Columbia Business School)院長格倫•哈伯德(Glenn Hubbard)有點(diǎn)感傷地表示，該校的MBA畢業(yè)生終身享有回到學(xué)校，進(jìn)入任何一個(gè)課堂聽課的權(quán)利——但他們幾乎永遠(yuǎn)都抽不出時(shí)間。“人們不接受我的這個(gè)邀請(qǐng)，因?yàn)樗麄兲α耍?rdquo;他說。

Likewise, Harvard Business School’s venerable Advanced Management Program for executivesused to last 13 weeks but needed to be condensed to a more manageable eight weeks (at acost of about $80,000 a course nowadays).

同樣的，哈佛商學(xué)院(Harvard Business School)針對(duì)高管的負(fù)有盛名的高級(jí)管理課程過去持續(xù)13周，但需要濃縮到更易于安排的8周(課程費(fèi)用現(xiàn)在達(dá)到8萬美元左右)。

Meanwhile, a report by the UK’s Institute of Directors in April illustrated how patchy theprovision of education to mid-career staff is across the workforce, rather than just at the top ofthe hierarchy. It pointed out that UK company spending on in-work training had declined bybetween a quarter and a half since the 1990s, albeit with a bit of an uptick recently.

同時(shí)，英國董事學(xué)會(huì)(Institute of Directors) 4月發(fā)布的一份報(bào)告顯示，和職業(yè)體系頂端的情況不同，在整個(gè)勞動(dòng)力大軍中，對(duì)職業(yè)生涯中期的員工所提供的教育參差不齊。該報(bào)告指出，英國公司在在職培訓(xùn)上的支出自上世紀(jì)90年代以來下降了四分之一到二分之一，盡管近來有所回升。

Would-be mature students are turned off by the sheer difficulty of fitting formal study intotheir busy lives, the report observed, adding that businesses were understandably keen toreduce spending on education.

該報(bào)告指出，想要學(xué)習(xí)的成年人因?yàn)闊o法從忙碌的生活中安排出時(shí)間進(jìn)行正式學(xué)習(xí)而放棄。報(bào)告又稱，企業(yè)希望減少教育支出也是可以理解的。

The IoD recommended tax breaks to encourage companies to allow staff to keep learning —with even bigger incentives dangled in front of smaller employers that can find it especiallydifficult to let workers take time out to study for even the odd day or two.

董事學(xué)會(huì)推薦通過稅收減免來鼓勵(lì)企業(yè)允許員工不斷學(xué)習(xí)——并用更大的激勵(lì)措施來吸引那些尤其難以讓員工抽出時(shí)間，哪怕是偶爾的一兩天來學(xué)習(xí)的規(guī)模較小的雇主。

That might help. But technology, another preoccupation of the IoD report, is likely to helpmore. The internet is allowing new and old educational providers to experiment with ways ofteaching that are better attuned to today’s working patterns.

這可能有所幫助，但董事學(xué)會(huì)報(bào)告中的另一項(xiàng)考慮因素——技術(shù)，有可能提供更大的幫助。互聯(lián)網(wǎng)讓新舊教育提供商試驗(yàn)?zāi)軌蚋眠m應(yīng)當(dāng)今工作模式的種種教學(xué)方式。

The changes it will fashion could be evolutionary or they could blow the whole system apartand replace it with something radically different. Sir Anthony Seldon, the University ofBuckingham’s reformist vice-chancellor, feels that significant change is necessary.

由此帶來的變化可能是逐進(jìn)的，或者也可能徹底摧毀整個(gè)系統(tǒng)，然后用一些截然不同的東西取而代之。身為改革派的白金漢大學(xué)校長安東尼•塞爾頓爵士(Sir Anthony Seldon)感到，有必要進(jìn)行重大改變。

While we wait to see how the trend plays out, I can only hope that his institution keepsoffering its masters in garden history. On the graduation day I attended, it was one of thecourses where participation was most skewed towards the over-60s.

在我們對(duì)這股潮流的未來發(fā)展拭目以待的時(shí)候，我只希望他的學(xué)校能夠繼續(xù)提供園藝史碩士課程。在我參加的那個(gè)畢業(yè)日上，這是畢業(yè)生中逾60歲的人比例最高的課程之一。

Good for them — my wife would love to follow suit when she retires from the stresses ofexecutive life.

這對(duì)他們很好——我的妻子在從充滿壓力的高管生活退休之后，也會(huì)想要效仿他們。