耄耋老人獲得5個學位的隨想

Earlier this spring I attended my mother-in-law’s graduation ceremony at the University of Buckingham, where she was being awarded an MA in history of art.

今年春天早些時候，我參加了我的岳母在英國白金漢大學(University of Buckingham)的畢業典禮，她被授予了藝術史碩士學位。

The individual chosen to address his fellow graduands was the retired British judge Sir Oliver Popplewell, who chaired the inquiry into the Bradford City stadium fire and presided over the libel case that led to the former UK minister Jonathan Aitken going to prison for perjury.

被選中向同期畢業生髮表演講的是退休的英國法官奧利弗•波普爾韋爾爵士(Sir Oliver Popplewell)，他曾領導對布拉福德城(Bradford City)球場大火的調查，並曾審理導致前部長級官員喬納森•艾特肯(Jonathan Aitken)因作僞證而入獄的誹謗案。

The 88-year-old was collecting nothing less than his fifth degree, a masters in military history. His speech began with a joke, recounting how, when embarking on his philosophy, politics and economics degree at Oxford, he was given a lecture on it being merely a prelude to a larger obligation — the solemn duty of giving back to the community. The punchline: he was in his mid-seventies at the time and had rather felt that he was all done on the giving-back front.

現年88歲的奧利弗爵士竟然是在領取他的第5個學位——軍事史博士學位。他的演講以一個笑話開頭，他講述了他在牛津大學(University of Oxford)攻讀哲學、政治學和經濟學學位的經歷之初，他聽了一堂講座，主題是學業不過是履行一項更大的義務的序曲——回饋社會的莊嚴責任。笑點：他當時都七十多歲了，他感覺自己已經在回饋社會方面盡到了責任。

It was hard not to be inspired. Sir Oliver started accumulating degrees in 1950 with a BA in law at Cambridge, which was followed by an LLB at the same university (his other degree is a masters in the history of international relations from the London School of Economics).

很難不被這樣的事例鼓舞。奧利弗爵士在1950年開始收集學位，那一年他獲得了劍橋大學(University of Cambridge)的法學文學士學位，後來又在劍橋獲得了LLB法學學士學位（他的另一個學位是從倫敦政治經濟學院(LSE)獲得的國際關係史博士學位）。

Likewise, the energy of the twentysomethings picking up their first degrees was stirring, especially the Bosnians who had come over as part of a partnership between Buckingham and the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology. Yet the relative lack of fortysomethings and fiftysomethings in gowns and mortar boards meant that there was also something slightly depressing about the occasion.

同樣的，那些拿到平生第一個學位的二十多歲的年輕人的活力也讓人感動，尤其是那些藉助白金漢大學和薩拉熱窩科技學院(Sarajevo School of Science and Technology)合作辦學來學習的波斯尼亞人。然而穿着學士袍，帶着學士帽的人中，四、五十歲的人相對較少，這意味着這個場面中也有一些讓人略感沮喪的事情。

Perhaps it was self-interest on my part as I am a member of the forty-something group myself, but it strongly suggested that education now straddles two age groups — young adults and the retired. For the former, it is a means to advancement; for the latter, it is a noble leisure pursuit.

作爲40多歲的人羣中的一員，這可能是出於我自利的一種考慮，但這也鮮明地體現出，教育跨立於兩個年齡羣體中——剛進入成年期的年輕人和退休人士。對前者，這是事業進步的手段；對後者，這是一種高尚的休閒追求。

For the dream of life-long learning to be realised fully, those in the 35-60 age group must also be given the opportunity to refine and revise their skills throughout their careers, which could well stretch into their seventies.

如果要完全實現終身學習的夢想，那些35-60歲的人應該得到在職業生涯中改善和更新他們的技能的機會，他們的職業生涯很可能延伸到他們70多歲的時候。

This is not happening enough. Executive education has traditionally been one niche in which the middle aged have been able to polish their skills. But the supercharged intensity of the modern office makes it hard to get away from daily duties.

這方面的進展還不夠。高管教育傳統上是中年人改善自身技能的小衆市場。但現代職場高負荷高強度的工作讓人們很難從日常工作中抽身。

Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia Business School, ruefully observes that its MBA graduates have a lifetime entitlement to come back and sit in on any class — but they almost never find the time. “People don’t take me up on it because they are busy,” he says.

哥倫比亞大學商學院(Columbia Business School)院長格倫•哈伯德(Glenn Hubbard)有點感傷地表示，該校的MBA畢業生終身享有回到學校，進入任何一個課堂聽課的權利——但他們幾乎永遠都抽不出時間。“人們不接受我的這個邀請，因爲他們太忙了，”他說。

Likewise, Harvard Business School’s venerable Advanced Management Program for executives used to last 13 weeks but needed to be condensed to a more manageable eight weeks (at a cost of about $80,000 a course nowadays).

同樣的，哈佛商學院(Harvard Business School)針對高管的負有盛名的高級管理課程過去持續13周，但需要濃縮到更易於安排的8周（課程費用現在達到8萬美元左右）。

Meanwhile, a report by the UK’s Institute of Directors in April illustrated how patchy the provision of education to mid-career staff is across the workforce, rather than just at the top of the hierarchy. It pointed out that UK company spending on in-work training had declined by between a quarter and a half since the 1990s, albeit with a bit of an uptick recently.

同時，英國董事學會(Institute of Directors) 4月發佈的一份報告顯示，和職業體系頂端的情況不同，在整個勞動力大軍中，對職業生涯中期的員工所提供的教育參差不齊。該報告指出，英國公司在在職培訓上的支出自上世紀90年代以來下降了四分之一到二分之一，儘管近來有所回升。

Would-be mature students are turned off by the sheer difficulty of fitting formal study into their busy lives, the report observed, adding that businesses were understandably keen to reduce spending on education.

該報告指出，想要學習的成年人因爲無法從忙碌的生活中安排出時間進行正式學習而放棄。報告又稱，企業希望減少教育支出也是可以理解的。

The IoD recommended tax breaks to encourage companies to allow staff to keep learning — with even bigger incentives dangled in front of smaller employers that can find it especially difficult to let workers take time out to study for even the odd day or two.

董事學會推薦通過稅收減免來鼓勵企業允許員工不斷學習——並用更大的激勵措施來吸引那些尤其難以讓員工抽出時間，哪怕是偶爾的一兩天來學習的規模較小的僱主。

That might help. But technology, another preoccupation of the IoD report, is likely to help more. The internet is allowing new and old educational providers to experiment with ways of teaching that are better attuned to today’s working patterns.

這可能有所幫助，但董事學會報告中的另一項考慮因素——技術，有可能提供更大的幫助。互聯網讓新舊教育提供商試驗能夠更好適應當今工作模式的種種教學方式。

The changes it will fashion could be evolutionary or they could blow the whole system apart and replace it with something radically different. Sir Anthony Seldon, the University of Buckingham’s reformist vice-chancellor, feels that significant change is necessary.

由此帶來的變化可能是逐進的，或者也可能徹底摧毀整個系統，然後用一些截然不同的東西取而代之。身爲改革派的白金漢大學校長安東尼•塞爾頓爵士(Sir Anthony Seldon)感到，有必要進行重大改變。

While we wait to see how the trend plays out, I can only hope that his institution keeps offering its masters in garden history. On the graduation day I attended, it was one of the courses where participation was most skewed towards the over-60s.

在我們對這股潮流的未來發展拭目以待的時候，我只希望他的學校能夠繼續提供園藝史碩士課程。在我參加的那個畢業日上，這是畢業生中逾60歲的人比例最高的課程之一。

Good for them — my wife would love to follow suit when she retires from the stresses of executive life.

這對他們很好——我的妻子在從充滿壓力的高管生活退休之後，也會想要效仿他們。