TED英語演講:條件不好的學(xué)生該如何逆襲
比起少數(shù)條件特別好的同學(xué),多數(shù)學(xué)生在學(xué)校里所面對的不只是學(xué)業(yè)上的問題,還有家庭條件問題等,這些問題該如何解決?社會學(xué)家指出,光有毅力和專注力是不夠的,更要有抗壓能力和突破障礙的能力。下面是小編為大家收集關(guān)于TED英語演講:條件不好的學(xué)生該如何逆襲,歡迎借鑒參考。
The boost students need to overcome obstacles
演講者:Anindya Kundu
/ 中英對照演講稿 /
So, I teach college students about inequality and race in education, and I like to leave my office open to any of my students who might just want to see me to chat. And a few semesters ago, one of my more cheerful students, Mahari, actually came to see me and mentioned that he was feeling a bit like an outcast because he's black. He had just transferred to NYU from a community college on a merit scholarship, and turns out, only about five percent of students at NYU are black. And so I started to remember that I know that feeling of being an outsider in your own community.It's partially what drew me to my work.
我教導(dǎo)大學(xué)生關(guān)于教育中的不平等以及種族議題,我會把我的辦公室開放給我任何一個學(xué)生,就算只是想來找我聊聊都很歡迎。幾學(xué)期之前,我最快活的學(xué)生之一,馬哈里,竟然來找我,他提到,他覺得因為他是黑人而被排擠。他剛從小區(qū)大學(xué)轉(zhuǎn)學(xué)到紐約大學(xué),他靠的是榮譽獎學(xué)金,結(jié)果,在紐約大學(xué)中只有5%的學(xué)生是黑人。于是,我開始想起,我知道在自己的小區(qū)中身為外人的感覺。這是導(dǎo)致我做這份工作的部份原因。
At my university, I'm one of the few faculty members of color, and growing up, I experienced my family's social mobility, moving out of apartments into a nice house, but in an overwhelmingly white neighborhood. I was 12, and kids would say that were surprised that I didn't smell like curry.
在我的大學(xué)中,我是少數(shù)的有色人種教職員之一,在成長過程中,我經(jīng)歷了我家庭的社會地位變動,搬出公寓,搬進好房子,但卻是在一個非常白人的鄰里中。我當(dāng)時十二歲,孩子們會說他們很意外我聞起來竟然不像咖哩。
That's because school is in the morning,and I had Eggo waffles for breakfast. Curry is for dinner.
那是因為上學(xué)時間是早上,而我早餐吃的是Eggo松餅??Яㄒ酵聿筒懦?。
So when Mahari was leaving, I asked him how he was coping with feeling isolated. And he said that despite feeling lonely,he just threw himself at his work, that he built strategies around his grit and his desire to be successful. A mentor of mine is actually Dr. Angela Duckworth,the psychologist at UPenn who has defined this stick-to-itiveness of grit as being "the perseverance and passion for long-term goals."
所以當(dāng)馬哈里要離開時,我問他,他如何處理被隔離的感受。他說,盡管感到孤獨,他就讓自己埋頭工作,為他的毅力和想要成功的欲望建立起策略。我的導(dǎo)師之一是安杰拉達克沃斯博士,賓州大學(xué)的心理學(xué)家,她將堅忍不拔的毅力定義為「對長期目標(biāo)的堅持不懈及熱情?!?/p>
Angela's book has become a best seller, and schools across the country, particularly charter schools, have become interested in citing "grit" as a core value. But sometimes grit isn't enough, especially in education. So when Mahariwas leaving my office, I worried that he might need something more specific to combat the challenges that he mentioned to me.
安杰拉的書暢銷熱賣,全國的學(xué)校、特別是公立學(xué)校,都變得很想要引用「毅力」作為一個核心價值。但有時,光有毅力并不夠,特別是在教育中。所以當(dāng)馬哈里離開我的辦公室,我擔(dān)心他可能需要更明確的東西,來對抗那些他跟我提及的挑戰(zhàn)。
As a sociologist, I also study achievement,but from a slightly different perspective. I research students who have overcome immense obstacles related to their background. Students from low-income, often single-parent households, students who have been homeless,incarcerated or perhaps undocumented, or some who have struggled with substance abuse or lived through violent or sexual trauma.
身為社會學(xué)家,我也研究成就,但會從稍微不同的觀點切入。我研究的學(xué)生,是克服了與他們背景相關(guān)的巨大障礙的學(xué)生。有些來自低收入戶,通常都是單親家庭,有些曾經(jīng)無家可歸、被監(jiān)禁過、或也許是沒有身份證明文件的,有些因為曾經(jīng)濫用藥物而在掙扎,或是經(jīng)歷過暴力或性創(chuàng)傷。
So let me tell you about two of the grittiest people I've met. Tyrique was raised by a single mother, and then after high school, he fell in with the wrong crowd. He got arrested for armed robbery. But in prison, he started to work hard. He took college credit courses, so when he got out, he was able to get a master's, and today he's a manager at a nonprofit.
讓我告訴各位關(guān)于兩位我見過最有毅力的人。泰瑞克是被單親媽媽扶養(yǎng)長大的,高中之后,他遇到了不好的朋輩。他因為武裝搶劫而被捕。但在監(jiān)獄中,他開始努力。他上大學(xué)的學(xué)分課程,所以出獄時,他拿到了碩士學(xué)位,現(xiàn)在他是一間非營利機構(gòu)的經(jīng)理。
Vanessa had to move around a lot as a kid, from the Lower East Side to Staten Island to the Bronx. She was raised primarily by her extended family, because her own mother had a heroin addiction. Yet at 15,Vanessa had to drop out of school, and she had a son of her own. But eventually, she was able to go to community college, get her associate's, then go to an elite college to finish her bachelor's.
凡妮莎小時候常常搬家,從紐約下東城,搬到史泰登島,再搬到布朗克斯區(qū)。她主要是由她的親戚養(yǎng)大的,因為她的母親有海洛因毒癮。但在十五歲時,因為她有了孩子,凡妮莎休學(xué)了。但最終,她得以進入小區(qū)大學(xué),取得副學(xué)士學(xué)位,接著進入一所菁英大學(xué),取得她的學(xué)士學(xué)位。
So some people might hear these stories and say, "Yes, those two definitely have grit. They basically pulled themselves up by the bootstraps." But that's an incomplete picture,because what's more important is that they had factors in their lives that helped to influence their agency, or their specific capacity to actually overcome the obstacles that they were facing and navigate the system given their circumstances.
有些人聽到這些故事可能會說:「是,這兩個人的確有毅力。他們基本上靠自己的努力改善了處境?!沟遣⒎菍嶋H完整的狀況。因為更重要的是,他們的人生中有些因子,協(xié)助影響了他們的動力、或他們的特定的能力,讓他們能真的克服他們面對的障礙,并以他們的情況在體制中力爭上游。
So, allow me to elaborate. In prison,Tyrique was actually aimless at first, as a 22-year-old on Rikers Island. This is until an older detainee took him aside and asked him to help with the youth program. And in mentoring youth, he started to see his own mistakes and possibilities in the teens. This is what got him interested in taking college-credit courses.
讓我進一步解釋。泰瑞克,這位囚居賴克斯島監(jiān)獄的22歲青年,一開始其實毫無目標(biāo)。直到一位老囚犯把他拉到一旁,請他協(xié)助一個青年項目。在指導(dǎo)青年的過程,他開始看見他自己在十多歲時犯的錯誤以及可能性。這讓他開始想要去上大學(xué)的學(xué)分課程。
And when he got out, he got a job with Fortune Society,where many executives are people who have been formerly incarcerated. So then he was able to get a master's in social work, and today, he even lectures at Columbia about prison reform. And Vanessa ... well, after the birth of her son,she happened to find a program called Vocational Foundation that gave her 20 dollars biweekly, a MetroCard and her first experiences with a computer.
他出獄后,在FortuneSociety得到一份工作,(譯注:非營利組織名稱)在那里,許多主管以前都有坐過牢。所以他得以取得社工的碩士學(xué)位,現(xiàn)在,他甚至在哥倫比亞大學(xué)教授關(guān)于監(jiān)獄改革的課。至于凡妮莎……在她的兒子出生后,她剛好找到一個職訓(xùn)項目,叫VocationalFoundation,給了她每兩周$20、一張地鐵卡、以及她用計算機的初體驗。
These simple resources are what helped her get her GED, but then she suffered from a very serious kidney failure, which was particularly problem atic because she was only born with one kidney. She spent 10 years on dialysis waiting for a successful transplant.
這些簡單的資源協(xié)助她取得高中等級學(xué)歷證明(GED),但接著她遭受到很嚴(yán)重的腎衰竭,她出生時只有一個腎,因此這對她來說特別麻煩。她花了十年洗腎,等待成功的移植。
After that, her mentors at community college had kept in touch with her, and so she was able to go, and they put her in an honors program.And that's the pathway that allowed her to become accepted to one of the most elite colleges for women in the country, and she received her bachelor's at 36,setting an incredible example for her young son.
那之后,她在小區(qū)大學(xué)的導(dǎo)師一直和她保持聯(lián)絡(luò),所以她得以進學(xué)校,他們將她安排到榮譽課程中。那是在一所全國數(shù)一數(shù)二的菁英女子大學(xué)錄取她之前,她所走過的路,她在36歲時取得學(xué)士學(xué)位,為她的兒子做了一個好榜樣。
What these stories primarily indicate is that teaching is social and benefits from social scaffolding. There were factors pushing these two in one direction, but through tailored mentorship and opportunities, they were able to reflect on their circumstances and resist negative influences. They also learned simple skills like developing a network,or asking for help -- things many of us in this room can forget that we have needed from time to time, or can take for granted.
這些故事主要點出的重點是,教學(xué)是社會性的,受惠于社會框架支持。的確有些因子將這兩個人推向一個方向,但透過量身訂作的引導(dǎo)和機會,他們才得以反省他們的處境,并抗拒負(fù)面的影響。他們也學(xué)會了簡單的技能,像是開發(fā)網(wǎng)絡(luò)、或是尋求協(xié)助。在座各位可能已經(jīng)忘記,我們偶爾都會需要幫助,或已把它視為理所當(dāng)然。
And when we think of people like this, we should only think of them as exceptional, but not as exceptions. Thinking of them as exceptions absolves us of the collective responsibility to help students in similar situations. When Presidents Bush, Obama and now even Trump,have called education "the civil rights issue of our time," perhaps we should treat it that way. If schools were able to think about the agency that their students have and bring to the table when they push them, what students learn can become more relevant to their lives, and then they can tapinto those internal reservoirs of grit and character.
當(dāng)我們想想象這樣的人,我們只該將他們想成是特殊的,而非例外。將他們視為例外,是讓我們卸責(zé),免除協(xié)助類似學(xué)生的集體責(zé)任??偨y(tǒng)布什、歐巴馬、甚至現(xiàn)在的川普,都把教育稱為是「我們時代的公民權(quán)利議題」,也許我們該這樣看待它。如果學(xué)校能想想他們的學(xué)生有什么動力,并在推他們一把時提供意見,那么學(xué)生所學(xué)的就能對其生活更有重要性,那么他們就能將內(nèi)在儲藏的毅力和品格拿出來用。
So this here -- My student Mahari got accepted to law school with scholarships, and not to brag, but I did write oneof his letters of recommendation.
這里的這位是──我的學(xué)生馬哈里,他得到獎學(xué)金,被法學(xué)院錄取,不是要夸耀,但他的推薦信之一是我寫的。
And even though I know hard work is what got him this achievement, I've seen him find his voice along the way, which as someone who's grown up a little bit shy and awkward, I know it takes time and support. So even though he will rely a lot on his grit to get him through that first-year law school grind, I'll be there as a mentor for him, check in with him from time to time, maybe take him out to get some curry ...so that he can keep growing his agency to succeed even more.
雖然我知道是努力讓他有這樣的成就,我看到他在這條路上找到自己的聲音,但他在成長過程中是個有點害羞且笨拙的人,我知道這的確需要時間和支持。雖然他將要很仰賴他的毅力,來幫他渡過法學(xué)院苦學(xué)的第一年,我會在這里,扮演他的導(dǎo)師,偶爾看看他的狀況,也許帶他出去吃點咖哩……讓他能夠持續(xù)進一步發(fā)展朝成功前進的動力。
Thank you.(Applause)
謝謝。(掌聲)
相關(guān)文章: