斯坦福大學(xué)演講：別在不斷優(yōu)秀中淪落平庸

　　William Deresiewicz，威廉 · 德萊塞維茨，美國(guó)作家和文學(xué)評(píng)論家，美國(guó)《國(guó)家》雜志撰稿人和《新共和》雜志編輯。本文是他2010年在斯坦福大學(xué)的演講的下半部分。接下來(lái)由學(xué)習(xí)啦小編為大家推薦斯坦福大學(xué)演講：別在不斷優(yōu)秀中淪落平庸，希望對(duì)你有所幫助!

　　斯坦福大學(xué)演講：別在不斷優(yōu)秀中淪落平庸

　　There is an alternative, however, and it may be one that hasn't occurred to you. Let me try to explain it by telling you a story about one of your peers, and the alternative that hadn't occurred to her. A couple of years ago, I participated in a panel discussion at Harvard that dealt with some of these same matters, and afterward I was contacted by one of the students who had come to the event, a young woman who was writing her senior thesis about Harvard itself, how it instills in its students what she called self-efficacy, the sense that you can do anything you want. Self-efficacy, or, in more familiar terms, self-esteem. There are some kids, she said, who get an A on a test and say, "I got it because it was easy." And there are other kids, the kind with self-efficacy or self-esteem, who get an A on a test and say, "I got it because I'm smart."

　　Again, there's nothing wrong with thinking that you got an A because you're smart. But what that Harvard student didn't realize—and it was really quite a shock to her when I suggested it—is that there is a third alternative. True self-esteem, I proposed, means not caring whether you get an A in the first place. True self-esteem means recognizing, despite everything that your upbringing has trained you to believe about yourself, that the grades you get—and the awards, and the test scores, and the trophies, and the acceptance letters—are not what defines who you are.

　　不過(guò)，還有另外一種情況，或許中年危機(jī)并不會(huì)發(fā)生在你身上。讓我告訴你們一個(gè)同伴的故事來(lái)解釋我的意思吧，還有一個(gè)她沒(méi)有遇到過(guò)的可能。幾年前，我在哈佛參加了一次小組討論會(huì)，談到這些問(wèn)題。后來(lái)參加這次討論的一個(gè)學(xué)生給我聯(lián)系，這個(gè)哈佛學(xué)生正在寫(xiě)有關(guān)哈佛的畢業(yè)論文，討論哈佛是如何給學(xué)生灌輸她所說(shuō)的“自我效能”，一種相信自己能做一切的意識(shí)。自我效能或更熟悉的說(shuō)法“自我尊重”。她說(shuō)有些在考試中得了優(yōu)秀的有些學(xué)生會(huì)說(shuō)“我得優(yōu)秀是因?yàn)樵囶}很簡(jiǎn)單。” 但另外一些學(xué)生，那種具有自我效能感或自我尊重的學(xué)生，考試得了優(yōu)秀會(huì)說(shuō)“我得優(yōu)秀是因?yàn)槲衣斆鳌?rdquo;

　　再說(shuō)一遍，認(rèn)為得了優(yōu)秀是因?yàn)樽约郝斆鞯南敕ú](méi)有任何錯(cuò)，不過(guò)，哈佛學(xué)生沒(méi)有認(rèn)識(shí)到的是他們沒(méi)有第三種選擇。當(dāng)我指出這一點(diǎn)時(shí)， 她十分震驚。我指出，真正的自尊意味著最初根本就不在乎成績(jī)是否優(yōu)秀。真正的自尊意味著對(duì)此問(wèn)題的足夠認(rèn)識(shí)：盡管你在成長(zhǎng)過(guò)程中的一切都在教導(dǎo)你要相信自 己，但你所等獲得的成績(jī)，還有那些獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)、成績(jī)、獎(jiǎng)品、錄取通知書(shū)等所有這一切，都不能來(lái)定義你是誰(shuí)。

　　She also claimed, this young woman, that Harvard students take their sense of self-efficacy out into the world and become, as she put it, "innovative." But when I asked her what she meant by innovative, the only example she could come up with was "being CEO of a Fortune 500." That's not innovative, I told her, that's just successful, and successful according to a very narrow definition of success. True innovation means using your imagination, exercising the capacity to envision new possibilities.

　　But I'm not here to talk about technological innovation, I'm here to talk about a different kind. It's not about inventing a new machine or a new drug. It's about inventing your own life. Not following a path, but making your own path. The kind of imagination I'm talking about is moral imagination. "Moral" meaning not right or wrong, but having to do with making choices. Moral imagination means the capacity to envision new ways to live your life.

　　她還說(shuō)，這個(gè)年輕的女孩子說(shuō)哈佛學(xué)生把他們的自我效能帶到了世界上，如她所說(shuō)的“創(chuàng)新”。但當(dāng)我問(wèn)她“創(chuàng)新”意味著什么時(shí)，她能夠想到的唯一例子不過(guò)是“世界大公司五百?gòu)?qiáng)的首席執(zhí)行官”。我告訴她這不是創(chuàng)新，這只是成功，而且是狹義的成功而已。真正的創(chuàng)新意味著運(yùn)用你的想象力，發(fā)揮你的潛力，創(chuàng)造新的可能性。

　　但這里我并不是在談?wù)摷夹g(shù)創(chuàng)新，不是發(fā)明新機(jī)器或者制造一種新藥，我談?wù)摰氖橇硗庖环N創(chuàng)新，是創(chuàng)造你自己的生活。不是走現(xiàn)成的道路，而是創(chuàng)造一條屬于自己的道路。我談?wù)摰南胂罅κ堑赖孪胂罅?moral imagination：心理學(xué)專(zhuān)業(yè)名詞)。“道德”在這里無(wú)關(guān)對(duì)錯(cuò)，而是與選擇有關(guān)。道德想象力意味著創(chuàng)造自己新生的能力。

　　It means not just going with the flow. It means not just "getting into" whatever school or program comes next. It means figuring out what you want for yourself, not what your parents want, or your peers want, or your school wants, or your society wants. Originating your own values. Thinking your way toward your own definition of success. Not simply accepting the life that you've been handed. Not simply accepting the choices you've been handed. When you walk into Starbucks, you're offered a choice among a latte and a macchiato and an espresso and a few other things, but you can also make another choice. You can turn around and walk out. When you walk into college, you are offered a choice among law and medicine and investment banking and consulting and a few other things, but again, you can also do something else, something that no one has thought of before.

　　Let me give you another counterexample. I wrote an essay a couple of years ago that touched on some of these same points. I said, among other things, that kids at places like Yale or Stanford tend to play it safe and go for the conventional rewards. And one of the most common criticisms I got went like this: What about Teach for America? Lots of kids from elite colleges go and do TFA after they graduate, so therefore I was wrong. TFA, TFA—I heard that over and over again. And Teach for America is undoubtedly a very good thing. But to cite TFA in response to my argument is precisely to miss the point, and to miss it in a way that actually confirms what I'm saying. The problem with TFA—or rather, the problem with the way that TFA has become incorporated into the system—is that it's just become another thing to get into.

　　它意味著不隨波逐流，不是下一步要“進(jìn)入”什么名牌大學(xué)或研究生院。而是要弄清楚自己到底想要什么，而不是父母、同伴、 學(xué)校、或社會(huì)想要什么。即確認(rèn)你自己的價(jià)值觀，思考邁向自己所定義的成功的道路，而不僅僅是接受別人給你的生活，不僅僅是接受別人給你的選擇。當(dāng)今走進(jìn)星巴克咖啡館，服務(wù)員可能讓你在牛奶咖啡、加糖咖啡、特制咖啡等幾樣?xùn)|西之間做出選擇。但你可以做出另外的選擇，你可以轉(zhuǎn)身走出去。當(dāng)你進(jìn)入大學(xué)，人家給你眾多選擇，或法律或醫(yī)學(xué)或投資銀行和咨詢以及其他，但你同樣也可以做其他事，做從前根本沒(méi)有人想過(guò)的事。

　　讓我再舉一個(gè)反面的例子。幾年前我寫(xiě)過(guò)一篇涉及同類(lèi)問(wèn)題的文章。我說(shuō)，那些在耶魯和斯坦福這類(lèi)名校的孩子往往比較謹(jǐn)慎，去追求一些穩(wěn)妥的獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)。我得到的最常見(jiàn)的批評(píng)是：教育項(xiàng)目“為美國(guó)而教”如何?從名校出來(lái)的很多學(xué)生畢業(yè)后很多參與這個(gè)教育項(xiàng)目，因此我的觀點(diǎn)是錯(cuò)誤的。我一再聽(tīng)到TFA這個(gè)術(shù)語(yǔ)。“為美國(guó)而教”當(dāng)然是好東西，但引用這個(gè)項(xiàng)目來(lái)反駁我的觀點(diǎn)恰恰是不得要領(lǐng)，實(shí)際上正好證明了我想說(shuō)的東西。“為美國(guó)而教”的問(wèn)題 或者“為美國(guó)而教”已經(jīng)成為體系一部分的問(wèn)題，是它已經(jīng)成為另外一個(gè)需要“進(jìn)入”的門(mén)檻。