生命的一课：大学教会了我什么?

AF Education  专属博客 

Liam Carrigan 本文原创

坦白说，尽管我有幸在AF教育咨询的网站/微信给你们写博客，然而我并没有很特别的学术背景。我来自苏格兰格拉斯哥的工人阶级家庭，当我还小的时候生活很艰难，我的父亲是一位厨师，母亲也在餐饮及酒店行业担当各种各样的职务。无论如何，就像香港和中国内地很多父母一样，我的父母也把未来寄望在我和弟弟的身上，他们对我们的考虑超过了所有其他的考虑，包括他们自己的健康和幸福。

所以，我非常幸运地成为了我们家族当中第一个考上大学的成员。

我上大学的地点有很多选择，然而，我的大学之路并不如AF的学生这般简单直接。

在完成了我的“高考”（在苏格兰相当于A-Level的考试）之后，我的UCAS成绩相当不俗。（译者注：UCAS是在线申请英国大学和专科院校的应用门户。）不论怎样，当时我16岁，我已经在学校学习了差不多12年，而且那个时候我也有点厌倦学校了。所以，为了满足我对写作以及新闻工作的热情，我在一家苏格兰的国家报纸《先驱报》开始了为期一年的全职行政助理（行业术语称为“影帝”，译者注：意指负责复印的男孩。）的生涯。这也导致了我在进入大学之前先在地方大学攻读了2年的新闻专业文凭。

虽然现在苏格兰能提供多样化的关于新闻媒体的课程，但回溯到2004年，当时唯一能提供像样的新闻学学士学位课程的大学只有爱丁堡龙比亚大学。

所以尽管开始有点不情愿，在得到家人的大力支持之后，我决定搬到爱丁堡，开始了我的大学生涯。

幸运的是，由于我已经完成了一个两年的文凭，我可以直接进入三年级的课程，并在两年之内完成我的学士学位课程，而非常规要求的四年。

所以，我在20岁那一年经历了我人生中的第一次搬家，搬去一个全新的城市。

那么，究竟大学教会了我什么呢？她是如何改善和提高我的个人素质，让我准备好在毕业之后面对恶劣工作环境中的重重磨难和考验呢？

我想，大学教给我的第一件事应该是我们生活的这个地球村是多么地小。在我搬去爱丁堡之前，我95%的朋友不仅是苏格兰人，而且是与我来自同一个小镇的。除了我和家人夏天到西班牙的常规旅行之外，我几乎没有过任何国际交流经验。当然作为一个爱国者，我更愿意把自己生活在英格兰的6年当做是一个生活在“国外”的经历！（译者注：英国是一个联合王国，由英格兰、苏格兰和爱尔兰组成。苏格兰一直想从英国独立出去，作者作为一个苏格兰人，他认为英格兰是“国外”。）

撇开玩笑话不说，这是我作为一个普通人第一次能够和外国人近距离地进行互动和交流。我最好的朋友来自俄罗斯、韩国和日本。我跟中国人、美国人、法国人以及其他来自不同民族、信仰和文化背景的人一同进餐。

这是精彩绝伦的几年，我不仅开拓了视野，还被点燃了关于旅行、写作和探索世界的热情。我因而得以依次去到日本，然后是香港，继而又回到日本。

至于大学的学习本身，我所获得的自律也许是最为宝贵的一课了。

作为一个在相对年轻时便有幸获得一定写作能力的人，最爱做的事情莫过于像我现在所做的事情了——坐在电脑前敲出几千字来。

然而，我的工作缺乏自律和自我批评。我的写作有时会离题，我的观点有时并不条理分明，也没有来源可靠的论据支持。

去大学也许并没有把我变成一个更好的作家，但确实是、毋庸置疑地，把我塑造成了一个更高效的记者和新闻工作者！

这是所有大学的共同特征：他们把没有加工过的人才、未被提炼的技能和能力加工成世界上最有才的年轻人。中间加了一些文化知识、社交能力、沟通能力和逻辑推理去创造一个更强大、更全面进步的人，有能力为社会作出更完整及具决定性的贡献。

社交网络也是很重要的一点。一些顶尖高校的毕业生，自然而然会成为社会高级的管理层，而他们也会在时机成熟的时候，提拔自己的同校后辈作为自己的人才储备也已不是什么秘密了。现时英国政府便是一个鲜活的例子，首相和他所有的内阁成员、高级顾问都来自牛津、剑桥大学，以及伊顿公学。

有的人说这是不公平的优势，但这就是现实，不仅在英国如此，在全世界也如此。入读最优秀的学校，你会有最佳的机会站在任何你想投身的行业的最高起点。

对于我来说，尽管我在毕业后最终没有选择进入苏格兰的主流媒体，这并不是因为我没有机会，而是我更愿意充分利用大学生活灌输给我的独立思想和激情，来寻求新的挑战，开拓属于自己的道路。

原英文版

It’s fair to say that, despite having the privilege of writing for you here on the AF Education website, I am not from an especially academic background. Coming from the predominantly working class city of Glasgow, in Scotland, life was hard when we were growing up. My father worked as a chef, my mother in a variety of roles also in the catering and hospitality sector. However, like a great many parents in Hong Kong and China also do, my parents put the future aspirations of myself and my younger brother ahead of all other considerations, even their own health and happiness.

So, I was extremely lucky to become the first and to date only member of my immediate family to go to university.

I had a number of options for my choice of study venue, however, my path to university wasn’t quite as direct as most of the students at AF will find in their progress.

Upon completing my “Higher” exams (the Scottish equivalent of the A-Level) my UCAS scores were pretty good. However, I was 16, I had been studying in school for nearly 12 years by that point and frankly I felt a bit jaded by the whole thing. So, looking to indulge my passion for writing and journalism, I embarked on a year of work as a full-time admin assistant (the industry term would be “copy boy”) at The Herald, a Scottish national newspaper. This then led to my pursuing a 2 year diploma in Journalism from a local college, before finally moving on to university.

Although there are several journalistic courses now being offered in Scotland, at that time, back in 2004, the only journalism school with any kind of half-decent reputation was the Bachelors degree course offered by Edinburgh Napier University.

So, with some initial reluctance, and a great deal of family support I made the decision to move to Edinburgh and start my degree.

Luckily, due to my having already completed a 2 year diploma, I was able to enter year 3 of the course directly, ensuring that I completed my degree in 2 years instead of the usual pre-requisite of 4.

So there I was, 20 years old and preparing to move to a completely new city for the first time in my life.

So, what did university teach me? How did it improve and enhance me as a person and prepare me to face the trials and tribulations of the big bad working world that awaited me upon graduation?

I guess the first thing university taught me was just how small this world in which we live really is. Prior to moving to Edinburgh, I think it’s fair to say that 95% of my friends were not only Scottish, but actually from the same town as me. I had almost zero international experience beyond my family’s regular summer trips to Spain. Unless of course, as a patriotic Scot, I choose to count my 6 years living in England as a “foreign” experience!

Joking aside though, this was the first time in my life that I was able to interact and converse with people from outside my country of origin on a regular and personal basis. My best friends were from the likes of Russia, Korea and Japan. I found myself going for dinner with Chinese, Americans, French and a host of other nations, creeds and cultural backgrounds.

It was an amazing couple of years that not only opened my eyes to the wider world but also ignited my passion for travel, writing and exploration. This in turn took me first to Japan, then to Hong Kong and now back to Japan again.

As for the university studies themselves, the self-discipline I acquired was perhaps the most valuable lesson.

As someone who has been fortunate enough to be gifted with the ability to write fairly well from a relatively young age, I love nothing better than to sit down at my computer and bash out a few thousand words. As indeed, I am doing now.

However, my work lacked discipline, self-critique. My writing would often go off on tangents; my opinions would descend into rants rather than coherent, well-argued points, supported by attributable sources.

Going to university didn’t, perhaps, make me a better writer, but it did, undoubtedly, make me a more effective reporter and journalist.

This is a common trait across all university courses. They take the raw talent, the unrefined skills and abilities that the world’s most talented young people possess and they add a veneer of knowledge, soft skills, communication abilities and logical reasoning to create stronger, more rounded and overall better people, able to go on to make a full and decisive contribution to society.

Networking is also a major plus point. It’s no secret that the graduates of the top schools do, in the fullness of time look to the next generation of graduates from these same schools to augment their talent pools when they, inevitably ascend into senior management roles. One need only look at the current UK government as an example. The Prime Minister and most of his front bench and senior advisers all attended the same Oxbridge Colleges and Eton.

Some may say this is an unfair advantage, but it is the reality, not just in the UK, but around the world. Going to the best universities gives you the best chance of assailing the highest points in whatever industry you choose to work for in the future.

For me, although I ultimately chose not to pursue a career in the mainstream media in Scotland after graduation, it was not for the lack of offers. Rather I chose to forge my own path, making full use of the independent mind and passion for seeking out new challenges that my university days instilled in me.