美國(guó)大學(xué)的本科教育應(yīng)該教給學(xué)生什么?是實(shí)用的職業(yè)技能,還是更為全面和廣泛的基礎(chǔ)技能?考慮到當(dāng)下學(xué)生面對(duì)未來漫長(zhǎng)的人類發(fā)展漫長(zhǎng),如何才能在不斷變化的市場(chǎng)環(huán)境中,保持自己未來的職場(chǎng)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力?耶魯大學(xué)的網(wǎng)紅經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)教授——羅伯特·希勒(Robert J. Shiller)對(duì)此提出了自己的看法。 作者介紹: 本文作者羅伯特·希勒(Robert J. Shiller),麻省理工學(xué)院(MIT)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)博士學(xué)位。如今是耶魯大學(xué)經(jīng)濟(jì)系著名教授之一,也是耶魯管理學(xué)院國(guó)際金融中心的金融學(xué)教授和研究員。2013年他因“資產(chǎn)價(jià)格實(shí)證分析方面的貢獻(xiàn)”獲得諾貝爾經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)獎(jiǎng)。耶魯最著名的網(wǎng)課之一Financial Market即由Shiller教授主講。 在2015年《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》的"What to Learn in College to Stay One Step Ahead of Computers"(在大學(xué)里學(xué)習(xí)什么才能領(lǐng)先于計(jì)算機(jī))一文中,羅伯特·希勒(Robert J. Shiller)發(fā)表了自己對(duì)于大學(xué)教育的觀點(diǎn)。隨著時(shí)代發(fā)展,計(jì)算機(jī)和機(jī)器人已經(jīng)取代了許多工人。年輕人現(xiàn)在能學(xué)到什么,學(xué)到些將不會(huì)在他們的一生中被取代的技能,并能在未來的20年,30年或50年內(nèi)確保他們獲得良好的工作和穩(wěn)定的收入?在大學(xué)里,我們正在努力回答這個(gè)問題。Computers and robots are already replacing many workers. What can young people learn now that won’t be superseded within their lifetimes by these devices and that will secure them good jobs and solid income over the next 20, 30 or 50 years? In the universities, we are struggling to answer that question.大部分人在20歲出頭時(shí)就完成了大部分的正規(guī)教育,并期望在今后一個(gè)世紀(jì)的大部分時(shí)間里利用起這些教育。但是,一臺(tái)計(jì)算機(jī)卻可以在幾秒鐘內(nèi),就學(xué)會(huì)人們?cè)诟咧泻痛髮W(xué)里學(xué)到的大部分事實(shí)信息,并且在人類一輩子的壽命過去之前,將會(huì)有成千上萬的新一代計(jì)算機(jī)和機(jī)器人以指數(shù)級(jí)的速度發(fā)展。Most people complete the majority of their formal education by their early 20s and expect to draw on it for the better part of a century. But a computer can learn in seconds most of the factual information that people get in high school and college, and there will be a great many generations of new computers and robots, improving at an exponential rate, before one long human lifetime has passed.解決人類與計(jì)算機(jī)的問題似乎有2種思路。首先是我們的老師應(yīng)該定義并向?qū)W生提供某種普遍的、靈活的、具有洞察力的人類學(xué)習(xí)方式,我們希望這種學(xué)習(xí)方式是計(jì)算機(jī)所不能取代的。第二,我們需要讓教育更加以商業(yè)為導(dǎo)向,教授有關(guān)真實(shí)世界的知識(shí),并實(shí)現(xiàn)一個(gè)創(chuàng)造性的過程,且這個(gè)過程應(yīng)該是電腦無法復(fù)制的。而這兩種想法不一定沖突。Two strains of thought seem to dominate the effort to deal with this problem. The first is that we teachers should define and provide to our students a certain kind of general, flexible, insight-bearing human learning that, we hope, cannot be replaced by computers. The second is that we need to make education more business-oriented, teaching about the real world and enabling a creative entrepreneurial process that, presumably, computers cannot duplicate. These two ideas are not necessarily in conflict.對(duì)此,一些學(xué)者正在試圖辨別哪些類型的學(xué)習(xí)比其他類型更能經(jīng)受住技術(shù)更新的考驗(yàn)。理查德·穆納內(nèi)(Richard J. Murnane)和弗蘭克·列維(Frank Levy)在他們《新勞動(dòng)分工》(普林斯頓大學(xué),2004年)的一書中,研究了在最近的信息革命中擴(kuò)張的職業(yè)。其中包括汽車經(jīng)銷商的服務(wù)經(jīng)理等職位,而不是電話接線員等職位。Some scholars are trying to discern what kinds of learning have survived technological replacement better than others. Richard J. Murnane and Frank Levy in their book “The New Division of Labor” (Princeton, 2004) studied occupations that expanded during the information revolution of the recent past. They included jobs like service manager at an auto dealership, as opposed to jobs that have declined, like telephone operator.隨著當(dāng)前經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退的結(jié)束,許多工人將不再重返曾經(jīng)擔(dān)任的工作,甚至有些工作崗位已經(jīng)消失了。在《新勞動(dòng)分工》(The New Division of Labor)中,弗蘭克·利維和理查德·默納內(nèi)展示了計(jì)算機(jī)如何改變就業(yè)形勢(shì),以及正確的教育方式如何幫助人們順利過渡到全新的就業(yè)市場(chǎng)。 按照這種(人工不可被機(jī)器替代)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)衡量,成功的職業(yè)具有某些共同特征:從事這些職業(yè)的人需要復(fù)雜的溝通技巧和專業(yè)知識(shí)。這些技能包括傳達(dá)“不僅是信息,而且是對(duì)信息的特定解讀”的能力。他們說,專家知識(shí)是廣泛,深入和實(shí)用的,可以解決“未知的問題”。The successful occupations, by this measure, shared certain characteristics: People who practiced them needed complex communication skills and expert knowledge. Such skills included an ability to convey “not just information but a particular interpretation of information.” They said that expert knowledge was broad, deep and practical, allowing the solution of “uncharted problems.”這些特性在未來可能不會(huì)那么有用。但這項(xiàng)研究無疑表明,大學(xué)教育應(yīng)該是廣泛而全面的,而不是由教授組成的獨(dú)立院系的傳統(tǒng)結(jié)構(gòu)來定義,尤其是許多教授都只希望在自己狹窄的學(xué)科領(lǐng)域處于最前沿。但是這種舊的院系結(jié)構(gòu)仍然是大學(xué)的基礎(chǔ),目前很難改變。These attributes may not be as beneficial in the future. But the study certainly suggests that a college education needs to be broad and general, and not defined primarily by the traditional structure of separate departments staffed by professors who want, most of all, to be at the forefront of their own narrow disciplines. But this old departmental structure is still fundamental at universities, and it is hard to change.想想哈佛大學(xué)關(guān)于通識(shí)教育項(xiàng)目(General Education)的爭(zhēng)議,其前身可追溯到1946年。通識(shí)教育的課程要求哈佛大學(xué)的本科生修讀旨在使他們為大學(xué)畢業(yè)后的各種生活做好準(zhǔn)備的課程。但批評(píng)人士說,這個(gè)項(xiàng)目沒有取得成功,很多參與這個(gè)項(xiàng)目的教授只教授本系的學(xué)術(shù)材料,而沒有關(guān)注更廣泛的目標(biāo)。至今為止,哈佛大學(xué)都會(huì)在本科招生網(wǎng)中強(qiáng)調(diào):通識(shí)教育是哈佛大學(xué)課程的基石。Consider the controversy at Harvard College over the Program in General Education, whose antecedents date to 1946. The program requires Harvard undergraduates to take courses devised to prepare them for a broad range of issues in life after college. But critics have said that the program is not succeeding, and that many professors who participate in it teach only their own department’s scholarly material, without attention to wider aims.哈佛大學(xué)的路易斯·梅南德(Louis Menand)教授在2015年5月5日的一份聲明中指出,專注于狹窄學(xué)科的教育是不夠的:“只有不到20%的學(xué)生會(huì)繼續(xù)學(xué)習(xí)并獲得博士學(xué)位,”他說。許多學(xué)生最終進(jìn)入了商業(yè)界或工業(yè)界,而不是學(xué)術(shù)界。Prof. Louis Menand of Harvard, in a May 5 statement, argued that an education focused on narrow academic disciplines was inadequate: “Less than 20 percent of our students go on to get Ph.D.s,” he said. Many students end up in the business world, broadly construed, not in academia.普通教育審查委員會(huì)主席肖恩·凱利(Sean D. Kelly)教授在5月5日的另一份聲明中說,哈佛教育應(yīng)該給學(xué)生“一種在這個(gè)世界生活的藝術(shù)”。In a separate May 5 statement, Prof. Sean D. Kelly, chairman of the General Education Review Committee, said a Harvard education should give students “an art of living in the world.”但是教授應(yīng)該怎么做呢?也許我們應(yīng)該讓學(xué)生為自己學(xué)科所建議的創(chuàng)業(yè)機(jī)會(huì)做好準(zhǔn)備。即使是與商業(yè)完全分離的學(xué)術(shù)部門也可以通過建議企業(yè)、非營(yíng)利組織和活動(dòng)來做到這一點(diǎn),這樣學(xué)生以后可以在這些活動(dòng)中運(yùn)用他們的專業(yè)知識(shí)。But how should professors do this? Perhaps we should prepare students for entrepreneurial opportunities suggested by our own disciplines. Even departments entirely divorced from business could do this by suggesting enterprises, nonprofits and activities in which students can later use their specialized knowledge.這些問題中有許多是在我自己的學(xué)術(shù)生活中出現(xiàn)的。幾十年來,我的教學(xué)方法發(fā)生了變化。我試圖讓它在面對(duì)工作世界中的創(chuàng)造力和道德問題時(shí)更加有用。Many of these issues have arisen in my own academic life. My teaching has changed over the decades. I try to make it more useful in confronting issues of creativity and morality in the work world.當(dāng)我于1982年到達(dá)耶魯大學(xué)時(shí),還沒有金融方面的本科課程。我在1985年秋天開了一門金融課,至今仍在繼續(xù)。我越來越多地嘗試將數(shù)學(xué)理論與金融中的實(shí)際應(yīng)用聯(lián)系起來。When I arrived at Yale in 1982, there were no undergraduate courses in finance. I started one in the fall of 1985, and it continues today. Increasingly, I’ve tried to connect mathematical theory to actual applications in finance.自開始以來,這門課程就變得越來越自動(dòng)化:它就像一個(gè)真實(shí)的、動(dòng)態(tài)的教學(xué)體驗(yàn),但是在執(zhí)行過程中,大部分課程內(nèi)容都是預(yù)先錄制的,并且練習(xí)和考試都是通過計(jì)算機(jī)進(jìn)行的。學(xué)生們可以不需要我的在場(chǎng)就可以學(xué)習(xí)。耶魯大學(xué)在免費(fèi)的在線網(wǎng)站上向公眾開放了我的課程:2002年的AllLearn ,2008年和2011 年的Open Yale,以及現(xiàn)在的Coursera。Since its beginnings, the course has gradually become more robotic: It resembles a real, dynamic, teaching experience, but in execution, much of it is prerecorded, and exercises and examinations are computerized. Students can take it without need of my physical presence. Yale made my course available to the broader public on free online sites: AllLearn in 2002, Open Yale in 2008 and 2011, and now on Coursera.調(diào)整和改進(jìn)課程以使其更好地適應(yīng)數(shù)字框架的過程使我有時(shí)間來反思我為學(xué)生們做了什么。我現(xiàn)在可以退休了,讓他們看我的講座,并用剩下的電子資料。但是我發(fā)現(xiàn),我應(yīng)該為他們做更多的事情。The process of tweaking and improving the course to fit better in a digital framework has given me time to reflect about what I am doing for my students. I could just retire now and let them watch my lectures and use the rest of the digitized material. But I find myself thinking that I should be doing something more for them.所以,我繼續(xù)更新課程,思考如何將課程融入到“在這個(gè)世界生活的藝術(shù)”中。我試圖讓我的學(xué)生增強(qiáng)這樣的意識(shí),即金融應(yīng)該是一種為重要人類活動(dòng)提供資金的藝術(shù),讓人們(在某天和機(jī)器人)一起工作,共同完成我們真正想做的事情。So I continue to update the course, thinking about how I can integrate its lessons into an “art of living in the world.” I have tried to enhance my students’ sense that finance should be the art of financing important human activities, of getting people (and robots someday) working together to accomplish things that we really want done.像哈佛和其他高等院校一樣,耶魯大學(xué)在很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間內(nèi)一直在努力解決廣泛的問題。它曾嘗試開設(shè)一個(gè)商業(yè)本科課程,為學(xué)生大學(xué)畢業(yè)后的生活做準(zhǔn)備,但在1954年關(guān)閉了該課程。在1960年代越南戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)期間,人們對(duì)商業(yè)機(jī)構(gòu)的反感增加了。根據(jù)耶魯大學(xué)前研究生院院長(zhǎng)約翰·佩里·米勒(John Perry Miller)在自己的著作《創(chuàng)建學(xué)術(shù)環(huán)境》(J. Simeon Press,1991)中表示,耶魯大學(xué)公開“反對(duì)”以商業(yè)為導(dǎo)向的教育理念。Like Harvard and other colleges and universities, Yale has been struggling with the broad issues for a very long time. It once experimented with an undergraduate business program, to prepare students for life beyond college, but shut down that program in 1954. In the 1960s, during the Vietnam War, antipathy to the business establishment increased. According to the former Yale Graduate School dean John Perry Miller, in his book “Creating Academic Settings” (J. Simeon Press, 1991), there was open “hostility” to the idea of business-oriented education at Yale.盡管如此,耶魯大學(xué)還是培養(yǎng)出了許多優(yōu)秀的商人。但是由于這種敵對(duì)情緒,耶魯大學(xué)直到1976年才開辦商學(xué)院,甚至后來否認(rèn)它只是一所商學(xué)院:它最初只授予聽起來更理想的公共和私人管理碩士學(xué)位(Master of Public and Private Management),而不是工商管理碩士學(xué)位(Master of Business Administration)。1976年以前,這所大學(xué)有一個(gè)偉大的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)系,充滿了純粹的理論和數(shù)學(xué)的崇高意識(shí),但它并不專注于實(shí)用的商業(yè)教育。Nonetheless, Yale produced many fine businesspeople. But because of this hostility, Yale did not start a business school until 1976, and even then denied that it was just a business school: Instead of offering a Master of Business Administration, it initially conferred only the more idealistic-sounding Master of Public and Private Management. Before 1976, the university had a great economics department, imbued with a lofty sense of pure theory and mathematics, but it was not focused on practical business education.對(duì)高等教育的不斷重新定義應(yīng)帶來持續(xù)幾十年的好處。隨著信息技術(shù)的進(jìn)步,我們將不得不做出調(diào)整。與此同時(shí),我們必須不斷地重新評(píng)估人類學(xué)習(xí)和計(jì)算機(jī)學(xué)習(xí)之間的內(nèi)在差異,以及從長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)來看什么對(duì)學(xué)生是實(shí)用和有用的。我們將不得不面對(duì)這樣的現(xiàn)實(shí):“生活在這個(gè)世界的藝術(shù)”至少需要一些商業(yè)教育的元素。The developing redefinition of higher education should provide benefits that will continue for decades into the future. We will have to adapt as information technology advances. At the same time, we must continually re-evaluate what is inherently different between human and computer learning, and what is practical and useful to students for the long haul. And we will have to face the reality that the “art of living in the world” requires at least some elements of a business education.隨著科技的不斷發(fā)展,相比看上去更為實(shí)用的計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)來說,人文學(xué)科在近幾年來逐步被看做“無用”的學(xué)科。這也引發(fā)了大家在職業(yè)教育和博雅教育的選擇上的討論。而在耶魯教授羅伯特·希勒(Robert J. Shiller)看來,教育從來就不是簡(jiǎn)單地把知識(shí)組裝起來,對(duì)于任何一個(gè)真正想要追求知識(shí)的人來說,教育首先應(yīng)該教會(huì)一個(gè)人如何思考,而不只是為了求職做準(zhǔn)備。對(duì)于絕大部分的美國(guó)頂尖院校來說,通識(shí)教育都是本科生必修的課程。課程包括了歷史、哲學(xué)、美學(xué)藝術(shù)、社會(huì)科學(xué)等廣泛的領(lǐng)域。學(xué)生們需要涉獵廣泛學(xué)科知識(shí),逐漸起自己對(duì)世界更為全面的認(rèn)知,以不斷鍛煉自己的批判思維能力。而這樣的教育,是電腦永遠(yuǎn)不能取代你在課堂上學(xué)到,比如:如何清晰地溝通,如何批判性地思考,以及如何欣賞他人的美學(xué)和智力成就等等。所以從長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)來看,大家應(yīng)該通過平衡的教育、培養(yǎng)受益終身的技能、激發(fā)對(duì)科技更深層次的思考,你才能保持未來職場(chǎng)的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力,不會(huì)成為一個(gè)會(huì)輕易被機(jī)器所替代的“工具人”。參考來源: https://www./2015/05/24/upshot/what-to-learn-in-college-to-stay-one-step-ahead-of-computers.html
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