环球新动态：《经济学人》双语：学生该如何远离劣质学位？

原文标题：UniversitiesHigher expectationsStudents are veering away from dodgy degrees. Governments should help them大学 更高的期望

(相关资料图)

政府应该帮助学生远离劣质学位

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IT IS FASHIONABLE to be gloomyabout the costs and benefits of a degree.

现在，对于大学学位的成本和收益持悲观态度似乎是一种时尚。

In America a majority of people now tell pollsters that they think going to university is not worth it.

如今在美国，大多数人告诉民意调查员，他们认为大学不值得上。

For the average undergraduate that is far from the truth. In rich countries people who hold a bachelor’s degree earn over 40% more than those who do not.

对于普通本科生来说，这不真实。在发达国家，拥有学士学位的人比没有学士学位的人收入高40%以上。

This premium has remained lofty, even as the number of university-goers has soared: some 33m people are studying undergraduate degrees across the rich world today.

即使大学生人数激增，这种学历溢价仍然很高：如今，约有3300万人正在发达地区攻读本科学位。

[Paragraph 2]Yet those average figures hide queasily large differences. For a shocking share of students, the returns from attending university are puny. 然而，这些平均数字掩盖了巨大的差异，事实令人不安。对于一部分学生来说，上大学的回报微不足道，这令人震惊。About 25% of men and 15% of women graduates in England would have been better off financially had they not bothered. 在英格兰，约25%的男性和15%的女性毕业生如果没有上大学，他们的经济状况会更好。In total, student debt has reached $1.6trn in America, 60% more than is owed on credit cards. 总体而言，美国的学生贷款已达1.6万亿美元，比信用卡欠款多60%。Low earnings help explain why about a fifth of America’s student borrowers were in defaultbefore the pandemic. 收入低是美国约1/5的学生借款人在疫情前贷款违约的原因之一。[Paragraph 3]Those who do worst out of higher education attend shoddy institutions, are badly prepared, give up, or choose subjects that lead to low wages. 那些在高等教育中学习差的学生上了垃圾学校，由于准备不足辍学，或选择了就业工资低的学科。Many who do complete their courses are loaded with debt and equipped with a degree of peripheralrelevance that has been taught badly. They are being ripped off, not prepared for a better life. 许多完成学业的人债台高筑，获得却是一种边缘学位，且教学质量差。他们被欺骗了，没有为美好生活做好准备。[Paragraph 4]The good news is that young people are voting with their feet. A dramatic shift is taking place as students switch to subjects that are linked to better earnings. 好消息是年轻人正在用脚投票。随着越来越多的学生选择更高收入相关的学科，一场巨大变革正在发生。In America, for example, the numbers enrolled in computer science have more than doubled in a decade. 例如，在美国，计算机科学专业的入学人数在十年内增加了一倍多。Those studying English and history, subjects that are less likely to raise wages, have fallen by about a quarter. Some universities have begun to cullcourses.而英语和历史等就业工资不高的学科的学生人数下降了约1/4。一些大学已经开始裁减课程。[Paragraph 5]Governments should seek to accelerate this adjustment in the higher-education marketplace. But all too often their instinct is to throw money at the problem. 政府应该努力加速高等教育市场的调整。但往往他们的本能反应是向教育相关问题投钱。President Joe Biden wants America’s Supreme Court to approve his plan to forgive a large chunk of the country’s student debts, as a one-off. 乔·拜登总统希望美国最高法院批准他的计划，一次性豁免美国大部分学生贷款。He also hopes to tweak the rules on repayment, which will make the federal loan system a bit more generous. Together these changes could cost hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade. 他还希望调整还款规则，这将使联邦贷款系统失血更多。这些变革加起来可能会在未来十年花费数千亿美元。The danger is that they will make America’s students less discerning about how much they borrow and what they use the money for. 危险在于，这会让美国学生对他们的借钱数量以及借钱用途不够敏锐。Without a disciplining mechanism, pricey universities will be even more inclined to raise their fees.没有约束机制，昂贵的大学将更倾向于提高学费。[Paragraph 6]A better alternative would be for governments to invest in giving students the information they need to make sensible choices. 更好的选择是，政府应该投资于为学生提供他们需要做出明智选择的信息。Britain has pulled together detailed data about how much graduates from thousands of courses at hundreds of institutions go on to earn, but it does a poor job of supplying this to all applicants. 英国已经汇总了关于数千个课程、数百个学校的毕业生收入情况的详细数据，但它在向所有申请人提供这些数据方面做得很差。America has been working on something similar, but laws that limit federal data-crunching are getting in the way. 美国一直在研究类似的事情，但限制联邦数据分析的法律阻碍了这一进程。Some youngsters, often the better-off ones, are already making good use of data. 一些年轻人，通常是富裕阶层，已经充分利用了这些数据。Supplying it to everyone else should be a priority. 向其他所有人提供这些数据应该是政府要做的首要事项。Modest spending on career counselling in secondary schools could help reduce the billions spent on writing off student loans down the line.在中学职业咨询方面进行适度的支出可以帮助减少未来数十亿美元的学生贷款。[Paragraph 7]Governments should also be fussier about which courses their cash helps pay for. 政府还应该对资金用途更加吹毛求疵，如选择哪些课程可以获得他们的资金支持。Programmes at all levels that wish to benefit from state funds should have to clear a basic quality hurdle—for example, that a majority of the students who enroll in them eventually end up earning more than high-school graduates. 希望获得国家资金的各个课程都应该通过一个基本的质量关卡——例如，报名参加这些课程的大多数大学毕业生收入最终都能比高中毕业生多。Mr Biden would like a limited rule of this kind to come to America. But a decade has passed since such talk began.拜登希望这种限制规则能够在美国实现。但是这类话题已经讨论了十多年，依然没有结果。[Paragraph 8]Some universities and colleges resist these kinds of safeguards. 一些大学和学院抵制这些措施。They argue that trying toweed out poor-value courses and to focus government lending will compromise the pursuit of knowledge and penalise poor families and minorities by limiting what they can study. 他们认为，试图淘汰低价值的课程并专注于政府资助的课程将损害学生的求知乐趣，限制他们的学习内容对贫困家庭和少数族裔不利。However, the real problem is that the status quo is leading too many people to pursue shoddy but expensive degrees. 然而，真正的问题是目前的现状导致太多人追求劣质但昂贵的学位。The goal should be an education system that steadily adapts to the shifting preferences of society and the demands of the labour market—and one that has a low tolerance for degree courses that fail young people. 目标是拥有一个更完善的教育体系，它应该不断适应社会不断变化的偏好和劳动力市场需求，它应该不容许有祸害年轻人的学位课程出现。（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量727左右）原文出自：2023年4月8日《The Economist》Leaders版块。

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene

本文编辑校对: Irene仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）约束机制Disciplining mechanism是指用于规范和约束行为的一种机制，以确保其符合特定的标准或规则。这种机制可以在不同的领域中使用，例如教育、法律、文学等等。在教育领域，学校可以使用“纪律机制”来惩罚违反规定的学生，以确保学生遵守规则和纪律。在法律领域，司法机构可以使用“约束机制”来惩罚违反法律的人，以确保公民遵守法律。在文学领域，作家可以使用“权力的约束机制”来探讨权力如何影响人们的行为和思想。限制联邦数据分析的法律有：1974年的《隐私法》，这是一项适用于联邦政府及其机构处理美国公民数据的方式。隐私法允许公民访问和更正政府维护的有关自己的记录。《数据法案》，它代表了首次尝试统一联邦支出报告要求的三个广泛类别。《开放数据法》要求联邦政府首先将标准数据元素和政府范围的数据格式（或模式）应用于所有联邦支出，其次将这些标准化数据作为统一开放数据发布 。【重点句子】（3 个）The good news is that young people are voting with their feet. A dramatic shift is taking place as students switch to subjects that are linked to better earnings. 好消息是年轻人正在用脚投票。随着越来越多的学生选择更高收入相关的学科，一场巨大变革正在发生。A better alternative would be for governments to invest in giving students the information they need to make sensible choices. 更好的选择是，政府应该投资于为学生提供他们需要做出明智选择的信息。However, the real problem is that the status quo is leading too many people to pursue shoddy but expensive degrees. 然而，真正的问题是目前的现状导致太多人追求劣质但昂贵的学位。