学霸的“凡尔赛”：成功人生模板不要也罢？

2022.08.26
覃晔
难度：CSE6
课程导读

又到了开学季，无数学生即将重返校园。很多人为新学期做好了积极准备，毕竟，在学校有多努力，就决定了毕业后起点有多高。但是，这就是教育的全部意义吗？今天这篇《纽约时报》的文章提出了不一样的看法。学校究竟应该给学生带来什么？对于学生来说，真的是机会越多越好吗？一起来听今天的讲解。

本文封面图片来自NYT，如有版权问题，请联系删除。

本篇课程首发于2022年8月26日

英文原文

The Art of Choosing What to Do With Your Life

By Benjamin Storey and Jenna Silber Storey

Our star student walks up to the lunch table. The fellowship is now hers. But she is not sure she wants the prize. What is the point of a life that is nothing more than an endless series of opportunities?

Our educational system focuses obsessively on helping students take the next step. But it does not give them adequate assistance in thinking about the substance of the lives toward which they are advancing.

Why do liberal arts institutions rarely teach it? Most fundamentally, the reigning model of liberal education — opening doors without helping us think about what lies beyond them — prevails because it reprises a successful modern formula.

Modern liberty and modern anxiety are, however, two fruits of the same tree. As Alexis de Tocqueville noted long ago, people who have freedom and plenty but lack the art of choosing will be “restless in the midst of their prosperity.”

Colleges should self-consciously prioritize initiating students into a culture of rational reflection on how to live. For that art of choosing is what their students most need — and what liberal education, rightly understood, was meant to impart.

【内容拓展】

老师讲解中提到TED演讲：《选择的艺术》The Art of Choosing

生词好句

1.what to do with something

该拿……怎么办
拓展:
I don’t know what to do with the bonus.
我不知道如何使用这笔奖金。

2.fellowship

英 [ˈfeləʊʃɪp] 美 [ˈfeloʊʃɪp]
n. （本文）（高等院校的）研究员；奖学金

3.What is the point of a life that …

……，生活的意义是什么？
拓展:
What is the point of a life that is nothing more than just fulfilling others’ expectations.
除了不断满足别人的期待以外别无他物，那生活的意义是什么？
What is the point of a life that is spent without loved and trusted ones.
没有至信至爱之人，那生活的意义是什么？