Is college worth it? High school seniors anxiously awaiting admissions decisions might find that question bizarre, but recently some strenuous arguments have been leveled against the value of a college degree.
上大学有意义吗？那些在焦急等待着大学录取通知书的高三学生可能会觉得这问题很怪，不过最近坊间针对大学文凭的价值，出现了种种热议。
For more insight into those arguments, we turned to Dale J. Stephens, 20, the founder of UnCollege, which urges students to "hack their education" by finding their own pathways to success. Mr. Stephens, 20, is a Thiel fellow who spent his middle and high school years "unschooling," and then left college after a brief time there.
为了令争论更富洞见，我们请到了20岁的戴尔·J.斯蒂芬斯，这位UnCollege（旨在改变上大学是取得成功的唯一途径的社会运动——译注）的创始人呼吁大学生们通过找到通往个人成功的路径，来“冲击教育”。斯蒂芬斯是蒂尔奖学金（Thiel fellow，硅谷投资人彼得·蒂尔创立的奖学金项目）获得者，在初中和高中未接受正规教育，大学只上了很短时间就退学了。
Mr. Stephens envisions "a world where people make their own decisions," where college is not a foregone conclusion and young people forge their own paths to fulfillment.
斯蒂芬斯想象在未来，“人们会自行做出决定”，读大学不再是理所当然的选择，年轻人将走出一条自己的路，实现个人价值。
We asked Mr. Stephens for his responses to the five main arguments most often given for going to college. Here's what he had to say.
我们请斯蒂芬斯针对人们通常给出的上大学的五点理由来作出回应。以下就是他的回答。
Reason 1: Learning in a rigorous, supported educational environment
原因一：在严格、能获得支持的学术环境中学习
"If you want to learn, college is the last place you should go," Mr. Stephens said. "A lot of learning isn't happening on college campuses."
“假如想学习，大学是你最不应该去的地方，”斯蒂芬斯说：“在我们的大学校园里，多数时候人们并不在学习。”
That may sound surprising, given that college is virtually defined as an institution devoted to nourishing learning and intellectualism.
这听来似乎有点让人意外，毕竟大学的定义就是专注于哺育学习与智识的机构。
Not true, Mr. Stephens said. "What you learn in college is generally the same skill set that you learn in a traditional school environment," he said. "You learn how to follow directions, meet deadlines and memorize facts."
这一点并不尽然，斯蒂芬斯说：“你在大学能学到的知识组合，大体上跟在传统学校环境里学到的东西是一样的。你学习的无外乎是遵从指令、在截止日期前交作业以及死记硬背而已。”
Although college provides structure and resources for learning, "I don't know that structure is a good thing," he said. "When you go out into the world, there's no structure like that. A job doesn't give you a syllabus." He added, "Learners should be able to access resources on their own terms." He described initiatives that provide laboratory, research and other facilities to the general public. Although these are not yet widely available, he said, they seem to be growing.
就算大学能提供学习的基础框架和资源，情况仍然如此。斯蒂芬斯说：“我觉得这个基础框架并非好事，在你走进社会时，会发现并没有这种所谓的框架。做一份工作时，你根本没有教学大纲可以参考。”他补充说：“想要学习的人应该有能力使用需要的资源。”这具体指的是应主动向公众开放实验室、研究中心和其他设施。他说，目前这类资源的开放程度还不高，不过看来发展趋势不错。
And he criticized the education system - and standardized testing in particular - for being "efficient but not effective." His ideal is self-directed education forged on the principles of project-based learning, perhaps with the guidance of mentors.
他还批评教育体制——尤其是标准化的测试——“高效率却没有实际作用”。他提议建立自我导向型教育模式，原则上推行以项目为基础的学习方式，同时向学生提供导师的辅导。
Reason 2: Socializing and developing a network of friends and contacts
原因二：建立和发展朋友圈与人脉
Mr. Stephens said that many have advised him that he's missing out by not going to college, where, the rationale goes, he could be meeting women and drinking beer. His retort: "I like guys and Champagne."
斯蒂芬说，有不少人都对他说从大学辍学会让他失去不少机会，他原本可以借读大学之机认识女生、大喝啤酒，他对此反唇相讥：“我更喜欢男生和香槟。”
Underlying this flip yet frank answer is his conviction that the social world of college is a self-selecting, largely homogenous "bubble."
他的回答无礼却坦诚，言下之意是想说大学的社交圈是一个“泡沫”，它强调的是自我选择，同质化倾向严重。
"You might end up limiting yourself if you only socialize with people on your dorm floor and in your classes," he said. Campus demographics might be diverse, he said, but "people are still there for the same reason." In contrast, he said, unschooling has allowed him to actively seek opportunities to meet people who travel different walks in life.
“如果你只结交同一幢宿舍楼或同班同学，会把你的圈子限定得非常狭窄，”他说。他认为大学生虽然来自五海四海，但“人们来到这里是基于相同的原因。”相比之下，脱离正规教育的经历，令他可以主动寻找机会结交兴趣迥异的朋友。
As for the value of making connections in college to nurture a professional network, people are increasingly using social media resources like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to make connections, Mr. Stephens said.
有人认为，读大学有助于建立职业关系网，他反驳说，现在有越来越多的人是通过像LinkedIn、Twitter和Facebook这类社交媒体来搭建人脉的。