普林斯頓大學(xué)校長2018畢業(yè)演講（中英文對照）

1、普林斯頓大學(xué)校長 2018 畢業(yè)演講（中英文對照）In a few minutes, all of you will march through FitzRandolph Gate as newly minted graduates ofthis University. Before you do, it is my privilege to say a few words about the path that lies ahead.It is indeed a privilege, and also a joy, to address you, for all of you who gra

2、duate today haveaccomplished something genuinely important and worth celebrating. You have completed ademanding course of study. It will transform your life in many ways. It will expand the range ofvocations you can pursue, increase your knowledge of the world, deepen your capacity toappreciate soci

3、eties and cultures, and provide a foundation for lifelong learning.So we celebrate here on the lawn in front of Nassau Hall, as do other college communities incourtyards, auditoria, arenas, and stadia around the country. Graduates toss caps in the air andprofessors applaud. Families cheer and holler

4、 enthusiastically. Yet, even as we do so, we see astrange trend from columnists, bloggers, think tanks, and politicians. In essays, books, andspeeches, some of them suggest that too many students are earning college degrees.Too many college graduates: that is a very odd claim, because the economic e

5、vidence for thevalue of a college degree is overwhelming. For example, in 2014, economists Jaison Abel andRichard Deitz of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York estimated the average annual return oninvestment from a college degree, net of tuition paid and lost earnings, at between 9 percent and16 pe

6、rcent per year for a lifetime (1). For the last two decades, the return on investment hashovered at the high end of that range, around 15 percent per year.By comparison, the historical average return on investments in the American stock market isaround 7 percent per year. That is why my friend Morto

7、n Shapiro, the president of NorthwesternUniversity and a leading educational economist, says that for most people, the decision to investin a college degree will be “the single best financial decision they make in a lifetime,” even ifjudged purely in terms of financial return on investment.A degree

8、conveys many other benefits as well. For example, college graduates report higherlevels of happiness and job satisfaction, even after controlling for income. College graduates arehealthier than non-graduates. They are more likely to exercise, more likely to vote, and havehigher levels of civic engag

9、ement. To these pragmatic considerations we should add the joys thatcome with an increased capacity to appreciate culture, the arts, the worlds diversity, and theinherent beauty of extraordinary ideas.The numbers I have quoted are not specific to Princeton. On the contrary, they are averages overall

10、 four-year degrees, in all fields, from all colleges in the United States. Think about that for amoment: on average, all degrees in all fields from all colleges generate an annual return between9 percent and 16 percent, and this return is supplemented by additional benefits to health,happiness, and

11、quality of life. How could anyone think we need fewer college graduates?Some people answer that you can learn a trade without getting a college degree. Welders, theyobserve, can make more money than many college graduates. Thats true. There are, of course,reasons why you might want to get a college

12、degree even if you plan to become a welder. Youmight worry, for example, about what happens if technology renders your trade obsolete, orarthritis leaves you unable to practice it, or you want to move into management or explore otherinterests. A college degree equips you to respond to the changes to

13、 yourself, and to the world that inevitably occur over a lifetime.Still, if pundits and politicians were saying only that America needs better vocational training, Icould agree wholeheartedly. It would be terrific if more people could get the training they needto practice a trade. But at the same ti

14、me it would also be great if more people, not fewer, couldreceive the extraordinary benefits that come with a college degree.So I ask again: why would anyone think we need fewer college graduates? I think there is a simpleanswer. Education requires high-quality teaching. Teaching, in turn, depends u

15、pon skilled labor,which is expensive. As a result, the up-front cost for education is real, large, and easy to measure.The returns are equally real and even larger, but they accrue over a lifetime, are hard to measure,and vary from person to person. It is tempting to wish that you could get more cer

16、tainty at lowercost.The people who call for fewer degrees yield to that temptation. They emphasize the short-term.They focus almost entirely on the price of college and on the salaries students might earn in theirfirst jobs. That is a mistake.A college education is a long-term investment. It enables

17、 graduates to develop and adapt, and itpays off spectacularly in the long run. The idea that we would be better off with fewer collegegraduates is a short-term swindle, a swindle that will cheat Americas young people, weaken thenations economy, and undermine our future. We need to have the confidenc

18、e to invest inour young people and to ensure that a college education is accessible and affordable for studentsfrom all backgrounds and financial circumstances.I hope that all of you who graduate today, and who experience the power of education in yourown lives, will become advocates for the value o

19、f higher education in our society. There is anational conversation taking place right now about the value of higher education, and we needyour voice in that conversation. We need you, in other words, to help others to achieve in thefuture what you achieve today.How can you help more students earn co

20、llege degrees? Here are three suggestions. First, becomeadvocates for the importance of completion rates. A college education produces a tremendousreturnif you get the degree. Returns are much lower if you start college but do not get thedegree. The highest default rates on student loans do not invo

21、lve college graduates with bigdebts. They instead involve students with small debts who never finish college and so never getthe earnings boost that comes with a degree.A few moments ago, we awarded an honorary degree to President Barbara Gitenstein. Over hernearly two decades leading The College of

22、 New Jersey, she raised the Colleges four-yeargraduation rate from 58 percent to 75 percent, a number that puts TCNJs on-time completionrate among the top ten in the nation for public colleges and universities. By raising TCNJsgraduation rate, President Gitenstein has improved the lives of thousands

23、 of students who mighthave left school with debt but no degree. Be an advocate for higher education leaders like BobbyGitenstein, and for colleges like TCNJ that commit to improving completion rates.Second, support Americas public institutions of higher education. State subsidies for publiccolleges

24、and universities have declined precipitously, and state funding represents an increasinglysmall share of the budget at public research universities. At the University of Michigan, forexample, state funding now accounts for only about 9 percent of total revenues. In the 1950s, bycontrast, that number

25、 was 80 percent. Tuition at state universities has risen not because theyhave increased their expenditures per student, but because state legislatures have hollowed outtheir other sources of support.America depends on its public colleges and universities. They are engines of social mobility andinnov

26、ation. Princeton and other private universities make essential contributions to the nationand the world but there is no way that we could ever replace Americas great publicinstitutions. They are a national treasure, and I urge you to support them.Third, stand up for the importance of enabling more s

27、tudents from low-income families to earncollege degrees. Princetons Great Class of 2018 graduates today as the most socioeconomicallydiverse class in the 272-year history of this University. You will not hold that record for long.Other classes already at Princeton will break your record. Our graduat

28、e programs are likewisedrawing upon new sources of talent: this spring we admitted the most socioeconomically diverseclass of doctoral students in Princeton Universitys history.At Princeton we believe in socioeconomic diversity because we know that to achieve excellenceas a University and as a natio

29、n we must draw talent from every sector of society. We know, too,that a Princeton degree is a rocket-booster for students seeking socioeconomic mobility. If wewant to heal the divisions that inequality has produced in this country, we must ensure thatstudents from low-income backgrounds receive the

30、educations they need to develop theirabilities and contribute to our society.As I look out at our extraordinary class of undergraduate, masters, and doctoral degree recipients,I take pride in your excellence and your diversity, and I am excited about the contributions youwill make in the years ahead

31、. The world needs more college degrees, not fewer. We need morecelebrations like the one we hold today, with more proud families and happy graduates ready togo out and make a positive difference in the world. All of us on this platform are thrilled to be apart of your celebration. We applaud your ac

32、hievements. We send our best wishes as you beginthe adventures that lie ahead, and we look forward to welcoming you back to this campus onfuture visits. To the Great Class of 2018 and all of our graduates, congratulations!2018 畢業(yè)典禮致辭Christopher L. Eisgruber 總統(tǒng)2018 年 6 月 5 日再過幾分鐘，你們所有人都會在菲茨蘭多夫門前游行，成為

33、這所大學(xué)新畢業(yè)的畢業(yè)生。在你這樣做之前，我有幸對未來的道路說幾句話。對你們來說，這的確是一種特權(quán)，也是一種喜悅，因?yàn)槟銈兘裉飚厴I(yè)的所有人都已經(jīng)完成了一些真正重要的事情，值得慶祝。你已經(jīng)完成了一門要求很高的課程。它將在很多方面改變你的生活。它將擴(kuò)大你可以從事的職業(yè)范圍，增加你對世界的了解，加深你對社會和文化的欣賞能力，并為終生學(xué)習(xí)提供基礎(chǔ)。所以我們在拿騷大廳前面的草坪上慶祝，就像在全國各地的庭院、禮堂、體育場和體育場等大學(xué)社區(qū)一樣。畢業(yè)生們在空中拋帽子，教授們鼓掌。家庭熱烈鼓掌。然而，即使我們這樣做，我們也會從專欄作家、博客作者、智囊團(tuán)和政治家那里看到一種奇怪的趨勢。在散文、書籍和演講中，有些人認(rèn)為太多的學(xué)生獲得大學(xué)學(xué)