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What If COLLEGE Isn’t For Everyone? 每个人都适合念大学吗？

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Debating the pros and cons of a college education  有关大学教育优缺点的争辩

Debbie Crave once assumed that all of her children would go to college. Then she had kids. Son Patrick is a junior at Debbie’s alma mater, and plans to one day help manage the family’s 1,700-acre, 1,000-cow dairy farm.

黛比．克雷夫曾经以为自己的孩子全都会上大学。后来，她生了孩子。儿子帕特里克就读黛比的母校，目前大三，他计划有朝一日要协助经营家里占地一千七百英亩、豢养一千头母牛的酪农场。

But Brian, 17, would rather sit atop a tractor than behind a desk. “He’s been afraid we might push him” to go to college, his mother said. But her eyes have been opened: “Kids learn differently, and some just aren’t college material.”

不过，十七岁的布莱恩却宁可驾驶牵引机也不想坐办公桌。「他怕我们会强迫他」上大学，他母亲说。不过，她的眼界已比先前开阔得多：「每个孩子的学习方式都不一样，有些孩子就不是上大学的料。」

A compelling case  深具说服力的理由

Long before President Barack Obama vowed last year that America will “have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world” by 2020, the premium placed on going to college was firmly embedded in the American psyche.

欧巴马总统在去年宣誓指出，美国「在二０二０年之前，大学毕业生的比例将领先全世界」；但早在他说出这句话之前，大学非读不可就早已是美国民众根深蒂固的观念了。

The case iscompelling: with good jobs increasingly requiring more education, college is widely seen as the ticket to personal economic security and to global competitiveness. And the message has gotten through: The percentage of students who went on to college or trade school within a year of high school climbed from 47 percent in 1973 to 67 percent in 2007.

大学非读不可的理由深具说服力：好工作愈来愈要求更高的教育程度，因此大学也就广被视为取得个人财务保障与全球竞争力的门票。这样的观念也已经相当普及：（美国）学生在高中毕业后一年内进入大学或职业学校就读的比例，已从一九七三年的百分之四十七提高到二００七年的百分之六十七。

The other half  被遗忘的半数

And yet, there’s an undercurrent of concern about a group of students – sometimes called “the forgotten half,” a phrase coined 22 years ago by social scientists studying at-risk young people – who, for whatever reason, do not think college is for them. It’s expressed by soul-searching parents such as Crave, whose son doesn’t thrive in the classroom. It’s also expressed increasingly by educators, economists and policy analysts, who question whether it’s realistic and responsible to push students into college even if the odds of academic success seem low.

然而，许多人私底下也对一群认为自己不适合读大学的学生深感担忧──研究高风险青少年的社会学家在二十二年前为他们冠上了「被遗忘的半数」这个名称。像克雷夫这样的父母，看到自己儿子的学业表现不佳，而开始反躬自省，就是这种担忧的表现。愈来愈多教育家、经济学家与政策分析家也都对目前的主流做法提出质疑，认为学生如果在学术方面获致成功的机会似乎不高，那么硬把他们送进大学算得上是务实且负责任的行为吗？

They’re swimming against a powerful tide. A small but growing number of states now require all high-schoolers to take a college entrance exam.

这些人所抗拒的乃是一股强大的潮流。目前有少数几州要求所有高中生都必须参加大学入学考，而且采取这种做法的州有愈来愈多的趋势。

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the pros and cons 赞成和反对的理由 the various arguments in favour of and against a motion, course of action, etc

junior [ˋdʒunjɚ] n.【美】（四年制大学或中学中）三年级（生）

alma mater 母校 the school, college or university where you studied

tractor [ˋtræktɚ] n. 牵引机；拖拉机

compelling [kəmˋpɛlɪŋ] adj. 令人信服的

premium [ˋprimɪəm] n. 高度重视 an unusual or high value

get through  (讲话等)(被)理解, (被)接受 to reach the awareness and understanding

soul-searching [ˋsolˋsɝtʃɪŋ] n. 真挚的自己反省,深思

thrive [θraɪv] v.  (尤指在别人觉得困难的时候)以…为乐，可以出色应对

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Some concerns about the focus on a college education are being acknowledged. What’s still getting lost, some argue, is that too many students are going to college not because they want to, but because they think they have to.

认为目前太过着重大学教育的若干担忧也已经获得外界的认可，但有些人认为，还有一个重点仍未受到注意，那就是有太多学生上大学不是因为自己想要升学，而是以为自己不能不读大学。

“We’re force-feeding them” the idea that “you must go to college or you’ll be a second-class citizen,” said Marty Nemko, a California career counselor.

「我们强迫灌输了他们」这种观念──「一定要上大学，否则就会沦为二等公民，」加州职业顾问马帝．南高说。

Economic benefits and more  财务效益及其他优点

The debate over college is not new, but today’s economic climate has raised the stakes. Since 2000, the percentage of Americans who believe college is essential to success in today’s world has gone from 31 percent to 55 percent.

有关大学教育的争辩已经不是新鲜事了，但当今的经济情势提高了不接受大学教育的风险。自二０００年以来，美国民众认为读了大学才能在社会上获得成功的比例已从百分之三十一上升到了百分之五十五。

A four-year degree is no guarantee of wealth, of course. About 25 percent of those with bachelor’s degrees earn less than those with two-year degrees, studies by Georgetown University have found. But research consistently has shown that, on average, those at the top of higher education’s pecking order reap the most benefits, both economically and beyond.

当然，花费四年换来的这张文凭并不保证一定能为人带来财富。乔治敦大学的研究发现，约有百分之二十五的大学毕业生收入逊于二年制的专科毕业生。不过，许多研究也一再显示，平均而言，受过高等教育人士当中的菁英分子，通常获益最大，包括经济及其他层面。

Falling through the cracks  被忽视的一群

Some argue that college dropout rates alone suggest many students are wasting their time – and money.

有些人指出，单由大学生比率来看，就可发现许多学生上大学根本只是浪费时间与金钱。

Federal data show that fewer than 60 percent of new students graduate from four-year colleges in six years, and just one in three community college students earn a degree. More than 350,000 students who borrowed for college in 1995 had no degree six years later, according to a 2005 study for the National center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

联邦政府的数据显示，四年制大学的新生只有不到百分之六十能在六年内毕业，而小区大学的学生取得学位的比例更是只有三分之一。美国公共政策及高等教育研究中心在二００五年委托举办的一项研究发现，一九九五年贷款念大学的学生，六年后没有取得学位的人数超过三十五万。

“It’s fine for most kids to go to college, of course, [but] it is not obvious to me that that is the best option for the majority,” said Mike Gould, founder of New Futures, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that provides scholarships for low-income students. “Some education may be good thing or it may just be a lot of debt.”

「对于大部分孩子来说，上大学当然是好事，但我不认为上大学对绝大多数人来说都是最佳选择，」新未来机构创办人麦克．古德说。这家位于华府的机构，专为低收入户学生提供奖学金，「有些教育也许是好事，但有些教育也可能只会为你带来大笔债务。」

−by Mary Beth Marklein

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pecking order【口】啄序(禽类中占优势的可以啄地位低的); 长幼尊卑制度, 权势等级 the order of importance of the people in a group or an organization

reap [rip] v. 获得，得到

dropout [`drɑpˏaʋt] n. 中途辍学的学生

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psyche [ˋsaɪkɪ] n. 【术语或正式】心灵; 灵魂﹐精神 the deepest thoughts, feelings or beliefs of a person or group

undercurrent [ˋʌndɚ͵kɝənt] n. 潜伏的情绪〔尤指愤怒﹑不满〕an emotion, belief, or characteristic of a situation that is hidden and usually negative or dangerous but that has some effect

swim against a tide 抗拒潮流 to do the opposite of what most other people are doing

force-feed [ˋforsˋfid] v. 强使..接受 to force someone to learn something or to take in information

raise the stakes 提高了… 的风险 to make a situation more urgent or more difficult to ignore

fall through the cracks 被忽视；未加注意 to get lost or be forgotten, especially within a system