评论
打印
Confessions of a Miseducated Man
一个错误教育受害者的自白
Norman Cousins
诺曼·卡曾斯
These notes are in the nature of a confession. It is the confession of a miseducated man.
下面这篇文字实际上是一篇自白书，是一个错误教育受害者的自白。
I have become most aware of my lack of a proper education whenever I have had the chance to put it to the test. The test is a simple one: Am I prepared to live in and comprehend a world in which there are 3 billion people? Not the world as it was in 1850 or 1900, for which my education might have been adequate, but the world today. And the best place to apply that test is outside the country—especially Asia or Africa.
每当我有机会检验我所受到的教育时，我都会异常清醒地认识到我缺乏正确的教育。这种检验很简单：要在这个有30多亿人口的世界上生存并理解这个世界，我准备好了吗？我是指当今的这个世界，而不是1850年或1900年的那个世界；我受到的教育在那时可能还是足够的。进行这项检验的最佳地点是在国外——尤其是在亚洲或非洲。
Not that my education was a complete failure. It prepared me very well for a bird's-eye view of the world. It taught me how to recognize easily and instantly the things that make one place or one people different from another. Geography had instructed me in differences of terrain, resources, and productivity. Comparative culture had instructed me in the differences of background and group interests. Anthropology had instructed me in the differences of facial bone structure, skin color and general physical aspect. In short, my education protected me against surprise. I was not surprised at the fact that some people lived in mud huts and others in bamboo cottages; or that some used wood for fuel and others dung; or that some enjoyed music with a five-note scale and others with twelve; or that some people were vegetarian by religion and others by preference.
我并不是说我所受的教育彻底地失败了。它让我对这个世界总体上有了不错的了解，它教会我如何简捷地找出地区之间和人们之间的差异：地理学教给我地形、资源和生产力方面的差异；比较文化学教给我背景和群体利益方面的差异；人类学教给我面部骨骼结构、肤色和人体方面的差异。总之，我接受的教育让我（在看到不同事物的时候）不会感到惊奇。有人住茅草棚，有人住竹制房；有人用木头当燃料，有人烧动物粪便；有人喜欢五音阶的音乐，有人喜欢十二音阶的；有人因为宗教信仰而食素，有人因为个人偏好而食素——这些都不让我感到讶异。
