Monday, September 10, 2012

What Started at School Should not Stop Here

New York Times, 9/8/2012, "New Rules" by Thomas L. Friedman

Thomas L. Friedman 是暢銷書作者,這篇專欄文章可能不需要多久就會有中文翻譯出來,甚至有可能是在台灣的主流媒體上面。

我並不特別喜歡他的 New York Times 專欄,平常也沒有看他的文章的習慣。不過在開學前把這篇文章拿出來分享倒是挺合適的。

簡單的說,他認為要成為中產階級的條件改變了,在 Clinton 時代大家只需要 "work hard and play by the rules",作為一個美國人就可以完成所謂的美國夢。不過現在已經不是那個時代了。在現在這個時代裡,資訊並不只來自學校,甚至大多數的知識並不需要透過學校來傳遞。Internet 改變的不只是資訊流通、傳遞的方式,也改變了人的學習模式。
 
這篇文章的第一段提到 Estonia 開始培養 7-16 的學童學習程式寫作,Friedman 在寫這篇文章的時候正在上海訪問,他問『中國人是否要開始教學齡前的學童電腦程式寫作?』

他沒有直接給個答案,從他後面的文字來看,我想他也認為是沒有必要的。電腦程式寫作是一種重要技能,不過這不是越早學越好。如果沒有足夠的邏輯思考能力,怎麼用功也學不出個名堂來的。程式寫作也必須要有個 目的,如果只是為了學習指令來學習程式寫作,完全沒有要達成的目標,這個學習的過程也不只是枯燥二字足以形容。

我在唸大一的時候上課所用的程式語言是 BASIC 和 Pascal,我不會說這些課完全沒有用,可是當年學的指令在現在已經幫助不大。我根本不用這兩種程式語言了,而且當初學的也不夠深入。唯一到現在對我還有一點影響的只有演算法,以及如何思考適當的演算法的方式。這是我個人的經驗,不過想來有類似問題的學門應該所在多有。真正有價值的不是我們當下所學到的知識,而是我們學習那些知識的過程。有了這一個 "know how" 之後,將來一輩子都可以持續學習下去。

學校所提供的是一個開始,一個有系統性的傳達知識的過程。由於世界改變的速度太快,也許我們已經拿到的學位夠用一輩子,但是在拿到那個學位的過程中所累積的知識絕對不夠。

幾個月前在一個大學同學聚餐的時候,我問在座其他幾個同學有沒有人在大學裡學到的東西後來能夠直接派上用場的。答案是完全沒有。我們已經算是大學裡面比較『實用』的科系了,除了醫學系之外,比電機系還『實用』的應該一隻手可以數完吧?所有的人都需要在畢業後仍然持續的學習,有一個同學說她認為大學的訓練是讓我們習慣去學習一些很困難、不易搞懂的東西,誠哉斯言。

台灣的家長常有自己的子女可能『輸在起跑線』上的憂慮,不過比賽早在廿、卅年前就從短跑變成馬拉松了。在未來的世界裡,貧富差距並不會因為政客注意到了而會縮小,因為生產力的差距也在逐漸擴大。如何維持學習的習慣,除了在學校裡,離開學校後也持續的 "reinvent" 自己,是維持自己的收入及社會地位很重要的一環。

3 comments:

Ben said...

CC, another excellent post. Your students are very fortunate to have a teacher like you.

I saw an interview with Bill Gates about a year ago, and the conversation went something like this:

Interviewer: Mr. Gates, why are you spending so much of your own money to encourage kids to go to college when yourself dropped out of Harvard and subsequently became the richest man in the world?
Gates: I was able to learn on my own, but for most people, they need a structured environment to foster their learning habits.

Having worked with Microsoft and the Gates Foundation, I thought this exchange was quite telling. Gates has always prized raw intelligence more than anything else. He was once quoted saying, "Hiring smart people has been the single most important thing we’ve done as a company from the very beginning."

And how does Gates define intelligence? I believe that, more than IQ, SAT, and GPA, Gates looks for people who can learn on their own and never stop learning.

CC, have a great semester and great learning to all your students.

KOH+ said...

As a student majoring in EE, I can't agree with you more. :p

CCLu said...

It seems there are quite a few EE graduates floating around here.

Ben, thanks for your kind words. I just hope my students can get this message. Some people in the U.S. know they have to reinvent themselves constantly long ago, more people have to follow suit in the future. I believe higher proportion of workers in Taiwan tend to leave their school days behind them. That's a pity.