College just isn27t special any more

1、College just isn27t special any moreCollege just isnt special any moreIf you can remember anything about the 1960s, you werent really there, so the saying goes. It may be true for those who spent their college years in a haze of marijuana smoke. But there is one thing everyone remembers about the 19

2、60s: Going to college was the most exciting and stimulating experience of your life. In the 1960s, Californias colleges and universities had transformed the state into the worlds seventh largest economy. However, Berkeley, the University of Californias main campus, was also well-known for its studen

3、t demonstrations and strikes, and its atmosphere of political radicalism. When Ronald Reagan ran for office as governor of California in 1966, he asked if Californians would allow a great university to be brought to its knees by a noisy, dissident minority. The liberals replied that it was the abili

4、ty to tolerate noisy, dissident minorities which made universities great. On university campuses in Europe, mass socialist or communist movements gave rise to increasingly violent clashes between the establishment and the college students, with their new and passionate commitment to freedom and just

5、ice. Much of the protest was about the Vietnam War. But in France, the students of the Sorbonne in Paris managed to form an alliance with the trade unions and to launch a general strike, which ultimately brought about the resignation of President de Gaulle. It wasnt just the activism that characteri

6、zed student life in the 1960s. Everywhere, going to college meant your first taste of real freedom, of late nights in the dorm or in the Junior Common Room, discussing the meaning of life. You used to have to go to college to read your first forbidden book, see your first indie film, or find someone

7、 who shared your passion for Jimi Hendrix or Lenny Bruce. It was a moment of unimaginable freedom, the most liberating in your life. But wheres the passion today? Whats the matter with college? These days political, social and creative awakening seems to happen not because of college, but in spite o

8、f it. Of course, its true that higher education is still important. For example, in the UK, Prime Minister Blair was close to achieving his aim of getting 50 per cent of all under thirties into college by 2010 (even though a cynic would say that this was to keep them off the unemployment statistics)

9、. Yet college education is no longer a topic of great national importance. Today, college is seen as a kind of small town from which people are keen to escape. Some people drop out, but the most apathetic stay the course because its too much effort to leave. Instead of the heady atmosphere of freedo

10、m which students in the 1960s discovered, students today are much more serious. The British Council has recently done research into the factors which help international students decide where to study. In descending order these are: quality of courses, employability prospects, affordability, personal

11、 security issues, lifestyle, and accessibility. College has become a means to an end, an opportunity to increase ones chances on the employment market, and not an end in itself, which gives you the chance to imagine, just for a short while, that you can change the world. The gap between childhood an

12、d college has shrunk, and so has the gap between college and the real world. One of the reasons may be financial. In an uncertain world, many children rely on their parents support much longer than they used to. Students leaving university in the 21st century simply cannot afford to set up their own

13、 home because its too expensive. Another possible reason is the communications revolution. Gone are the days when a son or daughter rang home once or twice a term. Today students are umbilically linked to their parents by their cell phones. And as for finding like-minded friends to share a passion f

14、or obscure literature or music, well, we have the Internet and chat rooms to help us do that. Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven! Wordsworth may have written these lines about the French Revolution, but they were also true for the students of the 1960s. So why are

15、nt they true for the students of today?大學已經(jīng)不再特別了 有這么一種說法：“要是你能記得20世紀60年代的任何事情，你就沒有真正經(jīng)歷過那段歲月?！?對于在大麻煙霧中度過大學時光的那些人，這話可能是真的。 但是，20世紀60年代有一件事人人都記得，那就是：上大學是你一生中最激動人心、最刺激的經(jīng)歷。 20世紀60年代，加州的高校把本州變成了世界第七大經(jīng)濟實體。 然而，加州大學的主校園伯克利分校也以學生示威、罷課以及激進的政治氛圍而著名。 1966年，羅納德里根競選加州州長，他問加州是否允許“一所偉大的大學被喧鬧的、唱反調(diào)的少數(shù)人征服。” 自由派人士回答說，大

16、學之所以偉大正是因為它們有能力容忍喧鬧的、唱反調(diào)的少數(shù)人。 在歐洲的大學校園里，大學生以新的姿態(tài)和激情投入到爭取自由和正義的事業(yè)中去，大規(guī)模的社會主義或共產(chǎn)主義運動引發(fā)了他們與當權(quán)者之間日益升級的暴力沖突。 許多抗議是針對越南戰(zhàn)爭的。 可是在法國，巴黎大學的學生與工會聯(lián)盟，發(fā)動了一場大罷工，最終導致戴高樂總統(tǒng)辭職。 20世紀60年代大學生活的特點并不僅僅是激進的行動。 不論在什么地方，上大學都意味著你初次品嘗真正自由的滋味，初次品嘗深更半夜在宿舍或?qū)W生活動室里討論人生意義的滋味。 你往往得上了大學才能閱讀你的第一本禁書，看你的第一部獨立影人電影，或者找到和你一樣癡迷吉米亨德里克斯或蘭尼布魯斯的

17、志同道合者。 那是一段難以想象的自由時光，你一生中最無拘無束的時光。 可如今那份激情哪兒去了？大學怎么了？現(xiàn)在，政治、社會和創(chuàng)造意識的覺醒似乎不是憑借大學的助力，而是沖破其阻力才發(fā)生的。 當然，一點不假，高等教育仍然重要。 例如，在英國，布萊爾首相幾乎實現(xiàn)了到2010年讓50的30歲以下的人上大學的目標（即使憤世嫉俗的人會說，這是要把他們排除在失業(yè)統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)之外）。 不過，大學教育已不再是全民重視的話題了。 如今，大學被視為人們急于逃離的一種小城鎮(zhèn)。 有些人輟學，但大多數(shù)已經(jīng)有些麻木，還是堅持混到畢業(yè)，因為離開學校實在是太費事了。 沒有了20世紀60年代大學生所發(fā)現(xiàn)的令人頭腦發(fā)熱的自由氣氛，如今的大學生要嚴肅得多。 英國文化協(xié)會最近做了一項調(diào)查，研究外國留學生在決定上哪所大學時所考慮的因素。 這些因素從高到低依次是：課程質(zhì)量、就業(yè)前景、學費負擔、人身安全問題、生活方式，以及各種便利。 大學已變成實現(xiàn)目的的手段，是在就業(yè)市場上增加就業(yè)幾率的一個機會，上大學本身不再是目的，不再是給你提供一個機會，讓你暫時想象一下：你能夠改變世界。 童年與大學之間的距離已縮小了，大學與現(xiàn)實世界之間的距離也縮小了。 其中的一個原因可能和經(jīng)濟有關(guān)。 在一個沒有保障的世界