来源：《时代周刊》
原文见刊日期：2023年4月10日
In 2019, Americans ranked “preparing for college” 10th on a survey conducted by Populace, a nonpartisan think tank, which asks respondents every year to rank answers to the question “What is the purpose of education?” In 2022, respondents ranked it 47th out of 57 items.
2019年，在无党派智库Populace进行的一项调查中，美国人将“为上大学做准备”排在第10位。Populace每年都会让受访者对“教育的目的是什么”这个问题的答案进行排名。2022年，在57个答案中，受访者将“为上大学做准备”排在第47位。
“The value proposition of college may not be what it once was,” says Todd Rose, co-founder of Populace. He’s clear that the data say not that it’s not valuable, but rather that a prioritization of careers, and the pursuit of meaningful work, has surpassed it. People want it to be on the menu, but not to be the menu.
“大学的价值主张可能不再像以前那样了，”Populace的联合创始人托德?罗斯说。他很清楚，数据并不是说大学文凭不值钱，而是说对职业的优先考虑，以及对有意义工作的追求，已经超过了它。人们希望它出现在菜单上，但不是菜单本身。
In 2009, 70% of recent high school graduates enrolled in college. In 2021, that figure was 61.8%, about where it was in 1994. What happened?
2009年，70%的应届高中毕业生进入了大学。2021，这一数字为61.8%，与1994年持平。怎么搞的？
In the Populace study, the No. 1 purpose for the fourth year in a row was that “students develop practical tangible skills” such as managing one’s finances and preparing meals. Other highly ranked measures included thinking critically to solve problems and make decisions, and demonstrating character. Being prepared for a career ranked sixth, up from 27th before the pandemic.
在Populace调查中，连续四年排名第一的目的是“让学生培养实用的有形技能”，比如理财和做饭。其他排名靠前的指标包括解决问题和做决定的批判性思维，以及展示个性。为职业生涯做好准备排名第六，高于疫情前的第27位。
College is a necessary and valuable pathway for many careers; it can help learners expand their worlds and try out different identities. It can be transformative for individuals and families, especially first-generation college students. And it should be a foregone conclusion that primary and secondary education prepares all students for going to college.
对于许多职业来说，大学是一条必要而有价值的道路；它可以帮助学习者拓展自己的世界，尝试不同的身份。对于个人和家庭，尤其是第一代大学生来说，这可能是一种变革。中小学教育为所有学生上大学做准备，这应该是预料中的必然结局。
But just as not everyone is cut out to be a pilot or a plumber, not everyone needs to spend two or four years studying. Students’ interests vary widely, and their flourishing will require more recognition by all of us that human variation is a feature and not a bug. We got to 70% by way of social engineering, not choice. Campaigns praising higher education as a way to work “smart” rather than “hard,” with images of a dirty plumber next to a shiny college graduate, did not factor in the price of tuition.
但就像不是每个人都适合当飞行员或水管工一样，也不是每个人都需要花两年或四年的时间学习。学生们的兴趣爱好千差万别，他们的成长需要我们所有人更多地认识到，人类的差异是一种特征，而不是缺陷。我们通过社会工程而不是选择使大学入学率达到了70%。赞扬高等教育是一种“聪明”而非“努力”的工作方式的运动，一个肮脏的水管工旁边是一个光鲜的大学毕业生，但没有考虑到学费的价格。
There are also structural reasons underpinning our nation’s newfound hunger for skills. An unusually tight labor market means employers are less inclined to require degrees. What started with tech has now spread to even the public sector, with Pennsylvania being the latest state to drop the college-degree requirement for most state jobs. The Harvard Business Review and the Burning Glass Institute estimated last year that 1.4 million jobs would be available to workers without college degrees in the next five years. Over two-thirds of Americans do not have a bachelor’s degree, and many careers don’t require it.
美国新出现的对技能的渴求也有结构性的原因。异常紧张的劳动力市场意味着雇主不太倾向于要求学历。从科技行业开始的这种做法现在甚至蔓延到了公共部门，宾夕法尼亚州是最新一个取消大多数政府工作对大学学位要求的州。《哈佛商业评论》和燃烧玻璃研究所去年估计，未来5年将有140万个工作机会提供给没有大学学位的工人。超过三分之二的美国人没有学士学位，许多职业也不需要。