斯坦福大学校长谈大学教育

    目前，真正的问题存在于我们的公共教育机构。它们处境艰难，预算被再三削减。

    很难说它们的教育质量如何，往好了说是持平，往坏了说是有点下滑，尤其是考虑到可能需要4年多时间才能获得学位。

    亚当•拉辛斯基：这将产生什么后果呢？如果教育费用超过了学生的支付能力，甚至超过了他们背负沉重债务后所具有的支付能力，那么这会被视为全国性的危机。我们怎么做、什么时候才能实现教育费用和学生支付能力的平衡呢？

    约翰•汉尼斯：我认为我们遇到了两个部分的危机。最大的那部分危机是那些来到学校、花了很多钱、借了很多钱、利用了联邦助学金、但没能完成学位的学生。之所以这么说，是因为他们没有太多的东西来证明那种投资的价值，对吧？

    危机的另一个部分是那些花了很多钱、借了很多钱、完成了学位、但没有做出任何成绩的学生。

    对于完成了学位的绝大部分学生，投资回报是相当可观的。近期的分析显示，这种回报率每年超过10%。因此，这是相当高的回报，非常令人满意。

    我认为，问题在于我们必须解决其余的学生。也就是说，我们必须解决学生为什么不能毕业的问题。我认为最大的问题是学生们准备不足。我们把太多的孩子送进了大学，但他们并没有真正准备好。我们在大学里按照大学收费的标准来给他们补习，这真是荒唐可笑。

    亚当•拉辛斯基：对此我们究竟应该怎么做？

    约翰•汉尼斯：我认为我们应该利用——我认为我们不得不利用科技来解决这个问题。

    亚当•拉辛斯基：为什么我们不能从政策角度来解决问题，让更少的学生去读大学？

    约翰•汉尼斯：或许可以。或许可以。我们应该让更少的学生去读四年制大学，让更多的学生去读社区大学。随便说一句，我们应该确保他们完成两年制学位。我想说的是，社区大学也很难使学生完成学业，很多学生都没有做好准备。有数据显示，财务压力，支付给大学的费用是学生辍学的主要原因之一。因此，我们需要解决这个问题，我希望科技会是解决方法的一部分。

    The real struggle that exists right now is for our public institutions. They're in a really tough situation and their budgets are being cut and cut and cut and cut.

    And so it may be hard to say that the quality of their education, at best it's leveled out and at worse, particularly if you consider the fact that it may take more than four years to get a degree now, it's actually gone down somewhat.

    ADAM LASHINSKY: And so what will give here? If the education costs more than students are paying, and even what they're paying they're going deeply into debt, and this is seen as something of a national crisis, how and where and when do we reach equilibrium on this?

    JOHN HENNESSY: So, I think we have a two-part crisis. The biggest piece of it is students who go to school, spend a lot of money, borrow a lot of money, use federal grants, and then don't complete their degree, because they don't have a lot to show for that investment, right?

    We've also got the problem of students who spend a lot, who borrow a lot, complete a degree but then can't make anything useful with that.

    For the vast majority of students who actually finish their degree the return on investment is pretty good. A recent analysis shows that it exceeds 10 percent a year. So, that's a pretty good return, I mean, be very happy with that return.

    I think the problem is we've got to attack the rest of that. That means dealing with why don't students graduate, which I think the biggest problem is inadequate preparation. We send too many kids to college who are not really ready to be in college. And teaching them remedial material at college, at college costs, that's a ridiculous thing to do.

    ADAM LASHINSKY: What are going to do exactly about that?

    JOHN HENNESSY: I think we're going to use -- I think we're going to have to use technology to attack that problem.

    ADAM LASHINSKY: Instead why don't we come together from a policy perspective and send fewer students to college?

    JOHN HENNESSY: We might. We might. Maybe we should be sending fewer students at least to four-year colleges. We should be sending more students to community colleges. And by the way, we should make sure they finish their two-year degree. I mean, the community colleges struggle with getting students through, too, many unprepared students, and there's data out there that shows that financial stress, the cost of paying for college is one of the major reasons students drop out. So, we need to address this issue, and I'm hopeful technology can be part of that.