評論
打印
Although there is widespread public faith in the value of higher education, the progress of massifcation has been slow and uneven.
雖然公眾普遍相信高等教育的價值，但大眾化的進程一直是緩慢而不均衡的。
And why is it slow and uneven?
為什么大眾化的進程是緩慢而不均衡的?
Well, one, higher education did not admit significant numbers of racial and ethnic minorities until after the civil rights of the 1960s forced change.
首先，高等教育并沒有接納大量的種族和少數民族，直到20世紀60年代的民權迫使改變。
Second, despite significant expenditures on financial aid, minority and low income individuals are still less likely to attend college than whites or students from middle-and upper-income families.
其次，盡管在經濟援助上有大量支出，但少數族裔和低收入個人上大學的可能性仍低于白人或來自中高收入家庭的學生。
Although access gaps have nowadays narrowed somewhat, large gaps remain between completion rates.
雖然現在入學差距有所縮小，但在學業完成率方面仍然存在很大的差距。
Low-income students come to college less prepared, and must balance academic demands with work and family responsibilities.
低收入家庭的學生上大學時準備不足，必須在學業需求與工作和家庭責任之間取得平衡。
Finding ways to increase the enrollment rates of low-income students and encourage their success once enrolled are two of the most important problems facing American higher education.
如何提高低收入家庭學生的入學率，鼓勵他們在入學后取得成功，是美國高等教育面臨的兩個最重要的問題。
One of the challenges to meet these goals is that they can conflict with the other central tenets of American higher education.
實現這些目標的挑戰之一是，它們可能與美國高等教育的其他核心原則相沖突。
That is market competition and resistance to government control, as I said before.
這就是市場競爭和對政府控制的抵制，就像我之前說的。
For example, institutional competition for the most academically talented students is likely to encourage increased use of tuition discounting for students who have no financial need,
例如，為爭奪最有學術天賦的學生而進行的機構競爭，可能會鼓勵更多地為沒有經濟需要的學生提供學費折扣，
and this could divert resources away from low-income students who need financial aid.
而這可能會把資源從需要經濟援助的低收入學生身上轉移出去。
Similarly, institutions may seek to distinguish themselves in the academic marketplace by becoming more selective in admissions decisions, thus reducing the number of low-income students admitted.
同樣，大學可能會通過在錄取決定上更加挑剔來尋求在學術市場中脫穎而出，從而減少低收入家庭學生的錄取數量。
However, a primary role of government is to mediate the potentially negative effects of competition by insisting that institutions adhere to their missions and that institutions provide need-based financial assistance to students.
然而，政府的主要作用是調解競爭可能帶來的負面影響，它要求各院校堅持自己的使命，并為學生提供基于需求的經濟援助。
So a constant preoccupation of American higher education is this tension between the competitive, ambitious nature of institutions and the interests of government in promoting important public goals, primary among them broad access and widespread success for all students.
因此，美國高等教育一直關注的是學院競爭天性和野心與政府在促進重要公共目標方面的利益之間的緊張關系，這些公共目標最主要的是為所有學生提供廣泛的機會和廣泛的成功。
Okay. For today's lecture, we have briefly discussed some of the major challenges facing U.S. higher education,
好吧。 在今天的講座中，我們簡要討論了美國高等教育面臨的一些主要挑戰，
such as the impact of the marketplace on institutions and the tension between competition and promoting public goals.
如市場對大學機構的影響，競爭和促進公共目標之間的緊張關系。
