哈佛大学前校长开学日演讲：教育的目标，是确保学生能辨别“有人在胡说八道”（附视频&演讲稿）
每年开学际，各大学校长都会在新生开学典礼上发表开学致辞，阐释大学精神、解说教育理念、弘扬本校传统、激励学子奋斗。一般来说，大学都有自己的“血统”。每所大学的基因都会由新学生代代相传，形成一所大学的特有文化。大学校长都是各国精英中的精英，他们的致辞更直白地表现一国知识分子的思想，也更能体现一国的发展趋势。
2017年8月28日下午，哈佛大学举办了一年一度的开学典礼，而时任校长Drew Gilpin Faust（德鲁·吉平·福斯特）也为其在任的最后一届新生致辞。
在纪念教堂（Memorial Church）台阶上，校长Faust说道：“今天是新一学年的开始。欢迎各位来到哈佛。大家都是来自不同国家和地区，成长背景与生活环境也各有不同。在此，我想重申哈佛的办学理念和目标。大学是关于知识和对真理的追寻，我们信仰事实以及人类探知事实的能力。高等教育最重要的目标是确保学生能辨别“有人在胡说八道”。
First, universities are about knowledge and the pursuit of truth. We believe in facts and in the power of the human mind to ascertain them. We are committed to education and learning as vehicles for human betterment and as essential foundations for democratic government. Harvard is a research university, which means that its faculty is engaged in pushing the boundaries of knowledge in their wide-ranging fields of endeavor. And as you learn, you are invited to be part of this adventure of discovery — in and beyond classrooms, laboratories, libraries, and museums. You may eventually write a senior thesis — about 40 percent of last year’s graduates did — a project in which you pursue an interest, a problem of your own independent research — or perhaps you will spend a summer as part of our undergraduate research village, living on campus together with other student researchers while you work closely with faculty in pursuit of new knowledge in fields of science and engineering, or social sciences, or markets and organizations, community engagement, global health, or humanities and arts.We believe that the pursuit of truth requires a continuing process of testing and reassessment, of argument, and challenge and debate. We are never so complacent as to believe we have unerringly attained it. Veritas is both aspiration and inspiration. We recognize there is always more to know, so we must be open to new ideas and new perspectives, to the possibility — even the probability — of being wrong. This requires all of us to work with courage and generosity and humility — to be willing to engage in the great debate that is an intellectual community, open to others’ ideas and willing to change our views based on reason and evidence. But these are not just important intellectual skills that we hope to nurture in each of you. These are critical human capacities as well — the ability to make judgments, to evaluate facts, and the willingness to be open to learning and growth as new truths unfold.It was on this annual occasion of welcoming the incoming College class that a former dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the late Jeremy Knowles, described what he saw as the most important goal of higher education: it was, he said, to ensure that graduates can recognize when “someone is talking rot.” You learn this through challenging and being challenged, through being confronted by disagreement and difference and amidst it all finding your way.Which brings me to the second essential characteristic of universities that I want to emphasize to you today. Many of the most important ideas you will encounter over the next four years will not come from a professor or a lab or a book or an online assignment. They will come from those sitting next to you right now. Many of the questions you come to ask, the challenges you learn to parry, the new perspectives you come to embrace will be the result of your interactions with one another. This is why it is imperative that your class collectively represent the widest possible range of backgrounds, and experiences, and interests, the broadest diversity of geographic origins, socioeconomic circumstances, ethnicity, race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, political perspective. It is possible, in 2017, to accumulate enough information and pass enough tests through online learning to get a college degree. But we have asked all of you to uproot your lives, move to Massachusetts with carloads filled with paraphernalia and teary-eyed families forced to bid you good-bye. Why do we do this? We do it because we believe in the power of community as an essential educational force. But that community must be constituted so that it does not simply present you with what you already know or with people whose life experiences and outlooks are just like yours. It is its diversity, its elements of unfamiliarity, its elements of difference that render Harvard College the extraordinary experience that I know you will find it to be. We are excited to welcome you, Class of 2021, because you are in yourselves a great educational machine — destined to teach one another — and, of course, teach us as well — because of the variety of who you are and what you bring. When the admissions office decided on you, it was because they wanted your voice, your contribution as part of this creative cacophony. So don’t be silent. (And please don’t live your life online as if you weren’t here at all!) Engage with one another. Talk a lot so others can learn from you. Listen even more so that you can learn from them. Don’t be afraid to take the risk of being wrong. Don’t be afraid to admit you arewrong. It is the best way to learn and grow. And listen generously to others so that they may take risks too. Use the community of your fellow students as one of the greatest gifts and opportunities of your time here. Help us to build at Harvard a model of how people can be enriched rather than divided by their differences.
我们认为，追寻真理需要持续的验证和重新评估，需要不断的论证、挑战和辩论。我们非常自信地认为，我们已经取得了一定的成功。真理既是愿望，也是灵感。我们知道对知识的探索永无止境，所以我们必须对新的想法、新的观点以及犯错的可能性持开放态度。这就要求我们具备勇敢、宽容和谦逊的品质，愿意参与到知识社群的辩论，愿意包容他人的想法，并愿意基于理性和证据改变自己的观点。不过，这些不仅仅是我们希望在你们每个人身上培养的重要智力技能，它们还是至关重要的基本能力——即做出判断和评估事实的能力，以及在新事实面前虚心学习和自我成长的意愿。也是在欢迎本科新生的年度典礼上，哈佛艺术与科学学院已故的前任院长杰里米·诺尔斯（Jeremy Knowles）曾描述过他所认为的高等教育最重要目标：
他说，那就是确保毕业生能够辨别“有人在胡说八道”。你们会通过挑战和被挑战，通过直面异议和分歧，来学习这种能力，并在这当中找到自己的道路。这引出了我今天想对你们强调的大学第二个基本特征。在接下来的四年里，你们遇到的最重要想法中有很多不会来自教授、实验室、书籍或在线作业，它们会来自此刻坐在你们身边的人。你们提出的很多问题，学习解决的挑战，以及接受的新视角，都将是你们跟其他人进行互动的结果。这就是为什么你们的班级集体必须代表最广泛的背景、经历和兴趣，覆盖最多样化的地理起源、社会环境、民族、种族、宗教、性别认同、性取向和政治立场。在2017年，一个人有可能通过在线学习积累足够多的知识和通过足够多的测验，以此获得大学学位。但是，我们却要求你们所有人离开自己原来的生活圈子，满载着行李，跟家人挥泪告别，搬到马萨诸塞州来，我们为什么要这样做？我们这样做是因为我们相信社群的功能，社群是一种必不可少的教育力量。不过，我们必须好好构建这个社群，这样它才不会仅仅呈现你们已经知道的东西，或者只能让你们结交跟自身经历和观点相近的人。正是这种多样性，这种陌生化和差异化元素，让哈佛拥有了非同凡响的大学体验，我知道你们终有一天会发现这个事实。2021届的新生，我们很高兴地欢迎你们，因为你们自己就是非常了不起的教育机器。你们注定会教导彼此，当然你们也会教给我们一些东西，而这正是因为你们身份和经历的多样性。当哈佛招生办公室决定录取你们时，是因为我们希望听到你们的声音，希望你们为这种创造性的不和谐音调做出贡献。所以，请不要沉默无声。（还有，请不要在网络虚掷光阴，仿佛你不曾来过这里！）你们要跟其他人接触，多多发言，这样其他人才能从你们身上学到东西。你们还要更多地倾听，这样你们才能从其他人那里学到东西。不要害怕承担犯错的风险，不要害怕承认自己是错的，这是学习和成长的最佳方式。同时，宽容地倾听其他人的声音，这样他们也有可能进行这样的冒险。你们要把自己的同学社群当作大学生涯最重要的礼物和机会之一，你们要帮助我们在哈佛建立一个人们能够兼收并蓄的模式，而非因各自差异发生分化。现在，让我简要介绍一下从我刚刚阐述的原则中发展出来的两个问题。在未来的一年里，你们会听到很多关于我所描述的多样性的承诺，因为它已经在一宗备受瞩目的诉讼案中受到了直接挑战。引起争议的正是把你们录取到哈佛以及创造出2021届新生显著多样性的招生流程，我们将继续坚定地捍卫这个招生流程以及多样性的重要意义，它们既是我们教育理念的重要组成部分，也是让学生超越熟悉事物、向新理解和新可能性敞开怀抱的重要机会。此外，在今年秋天，你们也有可能听到很多关于哈佛最后俱乐部（final clubs）、兄弟会和姐妹会的消息，以及一项即将在你们这一届首次生效的政策。事实上，在新生参观日的问答环节，你们当中曾有一人向我问过这件事，所以我知道有一些人已经在思考这个问题。这项新政策的动机源于我们相同的承诺，即提供一种肯定哈佛每个学生重要性以及敦促学生向差异化同学学习的教育体验。在四年大学生涯中，我们希望你们能够超越刚刚入学时的自己；我们希望你们探索自己认为是理所当然的东西，培养出在多元化环境中健康成长的能力——在未来几年，你们将在哈佛发现这样的环境。这些目标让哈佛院舍系统（House system）的生活学习环境充满了活力，你们将在明年3月被随机分配到不同的院舍，在那里生活和学习三年时间。此外，这些目标也明确表明，那些规模和影响日益扩大的歧视性、排他性和同质性组织，他们跟我们的价值观和教育目标是背道而驰的。在这样一个对美国和世界至关重要的时刻，你们来到了哈佛。现在，你们已经成为哈佛近400年大学实验的重要组成部分。确保哈佛继续严谨和理性地追寻真理，这取决于我们。确保社群每个成员的才华在此过程中得到充分鼓舞和施展，这也取决于我们。让我们都尽己所能，努力使哈佛成为一个人人相互尊重的地方，从而让我们所有人都能做最好的自己。面对着全美各地不断涌现出的仇恨和暴力事件，我们需要坚持一种不同的共处方式。在这样一个破裂和分化的时刻，让我们成为团结的榜样。我们从未像现在这样需要哈佛的承诺。欢迎你们来到哈佛。
https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?width=500&height=375&auto=0&vid=e05528mid43
Good morning. Before I begin my prepared remarks, I would like to ask all of us to take a moment to think about the people in Texas and now Louisiana. To take a moment to pray for them, silently, and to also think of how each of us can do something to help in the days and weeks and months that come as those communities face what will be a long and difficult and trying process of bringing their lives back in order. So if we could just take a moment to think about that and send our strongest good wishes to everyone there. Thank you.
* * *
Each year since 2007, I have joined you here on the first day of classes to seize a moment of contemplation and community before the hectic work of the new year begins. I have relished this invitation and opportunity because it has enabled me to step back, to lift my sights for a few minutes from the demands of the pressing array of issues of a brand-new year in order to reflect on the important and the meaningful. It is an opportunity to think not just about what we do and how, but to ask the more fundamental question of why. What is the compass that we steer by? Where is our North Star? What are the values that motivate all we do and bind us together as a community?
Let me endeavor to state it flat-out: We believe in the pursuit of truth as our common purpose. We believe in the power of learning and discovery to enhance human capacity and in our responsibility to develop that capacity to serve the world. We believe in the value of every member of this community and in each person’s potential to contribute to the common good. We believe that our diversity offers us the strongest possible foundation for our strength because it enables us to enrich, to educate, and to challenge one another. We believe in the obligations that each of us bears toward one another and toward something greater than ourselves.
Over the past several months, and most recently in Charlottesville, Virginia, we have seen loathsome demonstrations of hatred and violence, reviving the most shameful episodes of the past and foregrounding the very worst of what we have been and regrettably still are as a nation. I grew up in the 1950s in segregated, racist Virginia, in a state that endeavored to close its public schools rather than comply with the mandate for integration in the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board decision of 1954. But over the past half-century I watched the state slowly but significantly change — integrate its schools and universities, elect an African-American governor, then even vote for a black president. But on Aug. 12, I saw white supremacy resurgent, setting its sights on a university town with values like our own to mount its challenge and to advance its evil and its cruelty.
There is much we can and should do in our academic work to understand and combat bigotry. We study implicit bias, we explore connections between intolerance and burgeoning economic inequality, we investigate how education can mitigate the cruelties of racism, and we prepare students to serve as agents of the rule of law.
But as we undertake this work with all the scholarly rigor and openness to debate that is necessary for its legitimacy and its success, we must at the same time articulate clearly and forcefully the values that inspire it. We must condemn the racism that feels free to speak in a way it hasn’t for nearly half a century. We must denounce the Nazism and anti-Semitism that my father and so many others of his generation risked their lives to defeat. We must affirm the full citizenship of LGBTQ Americans, including their right to qualify for military service. We must use the illumination of education to mitigate hatred and violence. Prejudice is taught and nurtured and modelled. Tolerance and inclusion can be as well. Education serves as the arteries of a just society.
But universities cannot accomplish their purposes in a world of bigotry and hatred, in a world where people are categorically excluded and degraded, where minds are closed or overtly hostile to differences of perspective, or experience, or identity, where violence and threats replace rational discourse and exchange.
These values are fundamental to all we do. We have been reminded that we cannot take them for granted. We cannot assume that our progress toward realizing them cannot be reversed. Let us rededicate ourselves to their defense.
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