国际学校资深教务长送给毕业生的六条建议
题图来自香港告士打道。
Photo by Hermioe MIAO at HK.
序 言 Preface
经过Tim授权，在之前的《就读国际学校之前最容易忽视这六个真相》基础上又增加了一篇他今天在毕业典礼上的演讲，这篇演讲的对象对上实剑桥A2毕业生。我私以为也适用于从G2升入A1的学生，同样适用于所有在国际学校就读的学生思考，所以将他的原文和经过Sherry老师与我协商翻译的内容刊登于此。
This article is adapted from Tim Hawkins' speech at 2017 Commencement ceremony for the A2 graduates. From my perspective, this also works for anyone who is studying in international schools. With Tim's permission, GEO posted this article for anyone interested. Sherry and I tried our best to translate, but we may still misunderstand some idea, feel free to point out.
演 讲 稿 Speech draft
1/ Introduction, think independently, style, active learning.
1/ 引言：独立思考、学校风格、主动学习
1.1/I am sure we have made a start in helping you, our graduates, to think independently. And I thank the parents, for supporting us in that endeavour, it is sometimes unusual in China. Of course students here are fortunate to have parents who recognise the value of that.
1.1/毕业生们，学校所能给予你们最好的礼物就是帮助你们开始独立思考。我想这要感谢各位家长长期以来的鼎力支持。这并不是所有中国家长都能做到的，你们有一些不同寻常。感谢您们给予孩子们最珍贵的财富——意识到独立思考的价值。
1.2.1/When choosing teachers for here, not only do we look for teaching skills and subject masterybut also judge whether the candidate is a team player and a hard worker. That teacher choice is to support our style, which has always been to treat students as individuals.
1.2.1/我们在思考录用老师时，也秉持着这一原则，我们的候选人不仅要具备教学技能、有学科专长，而且要是一个能够在团队中做出贡献的努力工作的人。这样的教师才会成为我们学校风格的捍卫者，他们对待学生时将学生看作是独立的个体。
1.2.2 We try not to be over-prescriptive. For example our course setting structure starts with studentrequests, unlike most schools who give students limited combination choices. We choose our balance between learning specifically for exams and encouragement of individual initiative and enquiry.
1.2.2/我们不想要让学生觉得自己被束缚住了。所以，不同于大多数学校只给学生有限的学科组合，我们在选课的时候，会先考虑学生的需求。我们在帮助学生通过考试和鼓励学生主动探究之间寻求平衡。
1.3/Regrettably, and actuallywell predicted by some authors early in the last century, there has been a progressive tendency overthe last forty years or so in the West, particularly the US, to use educationas part of government propaganda.
1.3/有一件事令人扼腕叹息，实际上正如二十世纪一些研究者和作家所预言的那样，在过去的四十年间欧美地区（尤其是美国）出现了这样一种趋势，在逐渐地把教育与政府的官方“宣传”绑定在一起，混为一谈。
1.4.1/I recall as an example of the style at Cambridge, while I was an undergraduate, asking my tutor to clarify an inconsistency between what a professor and a lecturer were telling us. One said that the Cooling towers in power stations were empty, the other that they contained a wooden structure to aid condensation.
1.4.1/我到现在记得自己在剑桥读书的时候发生的一件小事。那时我还是一个本科生，我问我的指导老师怎么这个教授和那个讲师上课说的不一样呢。一个说冷却塔内部是空的，另外一个却说里面有帮助冷却的木质结构。
1.4.2/He said, “I don’t know, I am control engineer - this is a university, not a technical college, those teaching you are learning the subjects themselves as they go along. Go with the professor if you have to a make a choice now.”
1.4.2/他给我的回答是：“我不知道啊，我只是一个控制工程师——而且这里是大学，不是技术学院。我们上课教给你的科目内容也是我们自己在学习的内容。如果你已经有了疑问，那就当面去问他们吧。”
1.5/The point is, learning by doing, observing, enquiring and thinking for yourself will prepare you better than being told how to do everything and how to behave. There is a return to some appreciation of the point now, with use of the term-- Active Learning. The style of an education institution is about the whole life of that institution, not just the classroom teaching.
1.5/我说这个故事是想表达——比起被动地按照别人说的做，在做中学、观察、探究，进而独立思考，能够让你准备得更加充分。目前教育界的潮流其实也在逐渐回到这一点上来，我们经常会用这个术语——主动学习。一所学校的风格关乎到这所学校的存续与整体发展，学校存在的意义可不只是在课堂里教书。
1.6.1/Maybe you can best think of this matter as like a mathematical optimisation. Even if the way you are told toapproach problems or to behave happens to be right now, just always doing that won’t help much when you are faced with new circumstances.
1.6.1/或许你会由此想到数学中的优化。即使你现在被告知这个解决方法是应对的最好方式，然后就一直沿用这种方法。当你遇到新的问题或者挑战的时候，你还用这种方式去解决是没什么帮助的。
1.6.2/or the opportunity to make the wrongmove at the right time, or the professional foul if you prefer to call it that. Active Evil is better than Passive Good, to quote William Blake, and is much of the reason why both Trump and Brexit happened.
1.6.2/又比如当你遇到一个机遇时，你在正确的时候做了错误的行为破坏了规则，就像是竞技运动中的蓄意犯规。William Blake所说的主动做恶事比被动成为好人也大致是这样的意思，这或许也就是为什么特朗普会上台，为什么英国会脱欧。
2/ Self awareness, be analytical.
2/ 学会分析，有自知之明
2.1/Self awareness is very important. It took me too long to understand my strengths and weaknesses. Andfind out that some of my main characteristics,can sometimes be great strengths and sometimes decisive weaknesses. The quicker you can get a good self awareness the better, tough you have to keep it up date – it isrelative, and everything changes.
2.1/有自知之明是非常重要的一件事。我自己也花了很长时间来了解自己的优点和缺点。我找到自己的主要特征，其中有一些是巨大的优势，有些则是致命的弱点。对于个体而言，越早意识到自己的优缺点是越好的，因为这样你才可以不断更新对自己的认知。当然每个人其实也都是在各种经历中不断发展完善自我的，所以一些个人特质相对来说也是在变化的。
2.2/I am sure all of our graduates have made a good start in developing selfawareness and finding their best approach to learning. And also what they call EQ now, essential to leadership, knowledge of others specific capabilities and emotions. Lead everyone the same way and you are almost certain to fail.
2.2/毕业生们，学校给你们的第二个礼物是自知之明。在这所学校里，你们有了一个良好的开端。老师们帮助你们拓展了对自己的认知，并且寻找到对自己而言最好的学习方法。当然我们现在也把这一部分称为情商，这种对领导力而言至关重要的能力指的是对不同人的能力和情感的感知力。因为我们都知道，试图用同一种方式去领导所有人是注定失败的。
2.3.1/Your mathematical ability and pragmatism are great strengths. When you are making choices, quantify – guess when you have to, keep guessing and you will get good at it –don’t just use woolly, general arguments.
2.3.1/如果你的数学足够好，也奉行实用主义，那么当你在做选择的时候，你不免会试图量化各类指标。你会猜测你是否必须要做这件事，再继续猜测你能否能这件事中获利。这种时候，别用一些常见的论点。
2.3.2/ Think of all the choice options you can make – not justthe conventional or routine ones. Use a “professional foul” when it is right to do so. I have on several occasions.Sometimes it worked really well, occasionally it went very badly wrong.
2.3.2/多想想看你所能做的一切选择，不要只是那些传统的、循规蹈矩的做法。这种时候就是你可以“蓄意犯规”的时刻。我有过好几次这种经历，有那么几回效果很好，当然偶尔也会结局很糟糕。
2.4/Don’t take a simplistic view based on what someone told you, or what a book or the internet says is right. “Who said” is a common way of establishing an argument, but you are all intelligent enough to do much better.
2.4/所以，不要轻易地持有一个观点，只是因为有人告诉了你，或者某本书里这么写了，又或者你在网上看到了支持这个论点的内容。“有人说过”是一种建立论点的方式，但你们应该都足够聪明，能够意识到自己其实可以做得更好。
2.5.1/Also, I can say it is not accurate to claim you never regret bold,positive actions you take. Once or twice when I’ve done it, in retrospect it would have been better to be passive. Equally if you need to change something, keep in mind it usually won’t change favourably if you do nothing!
2.5.1/在这里，我也要补充说明一句。我可以说在我看来任何声称自己从来没有后悔采取过一些积极的行为是不准确的。的确有那么一两次我回首看自己做过的事情，也会觉得早知道这样还不如被动一点。同样的是，如果你需要做出一些改变，记住如果你什么都不做的话，它不会朝着你想要看到的局面发展。
2.5.2/Time management is important. It always helps to work well ahead and efficiently. Don’t leave things until the lastminute. Don’t even wait until you have all the information, just adjust when you get it.
2.5.2/时间管理是非常重要的一件事，因为它能够帮助你高效地提前安排好要做的事情，不要总把事情拖延到最后一刻。不要等到你手里已经有了所的信息之后才开始行动，你开始得到信息之后就应该逐步作出调整适应新的环境。
2.5.3/Your sub-conciousness will do much more ofthe work for you if you start things early. If you don’t know what to do in difficult circumsatnces,it isn’t usually right to do nothing.
2.5.3/这样一来你的潜意识就会在你早期开始做这件事的时候就启动。如果你不清楚自己前方面临着多少艰险与困难，有谁会选择什么都不去做听天由命呢？
2.6/One of my favourite management stories is how a group of soldiers found their way off a verydifficult and dangerous mountain using a map they came across. And only later did they discover that it was a map of somewhere else completely.
2.6/我很喜欢一个关于管理的小故事。它说的是在深山老林里一群士兵用地图找到了一条脱离险境的山路。事后，他们才发现拿错了地图，这根本就是另一座山的图。
3/ Choices, career
3/ 选择与职业
3.1.1/You’ve got a lot of opportunities. If you find out the university course you have chosen isn’t right for you once you start studying, what are going to do about it? The answer probably shouldn’t be “nothing”. For nearly all business or finance careers, science orengineering are just as good, or often better, than management and finance courses and certainly better than a very focused sort of course such Media Studies or Environmental Studies.
3.1.1/毕业生们，你们的未来充满机遇。如果你发现大学里自己选的课程并不适合自己，而你已经开始学习了，那么你该怎么办呢？在这种时候，你的回答可不能是“什么都不做”。几乎在所有的商业领域和金融领域中，学科学或工程出身的候选人都比学管理或金融课程的候选人一样受欢迎，甚至有时要更受青睐。当然后者在就业时又比学媒体研究和环境研究的候选人更受欢迎。
3.1.2/University status is important. Engineering at Oxford is almost as good as Economicsat Cambridge for most careers. And Engineering at Oxford is better than saymanagement at Warwick, though that is good as well. Generally, if you find youare doing the wrong course, change if you lose no time, put up with it and make it work if you can’t change without losing a year or two.
3.1.2/大学的地位也很关键。牛津的工程与剑桥的经济几乎是不分伯仲的。而毕业于牛津的工程学专业显然比毕业于华威的管理学专业要好一些，尽管后者也还蛮不错的。总体而言，如果你发现自己选错了课，还有选择余地和时间的话那就赶紧换掉，如果你因为不想耽搁一两年不能换的话，那就在忍着的时候，试图让自己努力适应它。
3.2.1/For your long termchoices, take your views on what the world will be like over the next forty years, not what it has been like in the last ten. What’s going to happen in Africa? We all know the Chinese style, unlike India, is totake advantage of opportunities, to be pragmatic and flexible.
3.2.1/在为你的未来做长期打算的时候，你需要考虑到这个世界在接下来的四十年里会发生什么变化，而不是在过去十年里世界是什么模样的。非洲会发生什么？我们都知道中国与印度不同，中国人的风格是抓住机遇、务实又灵活。
3.2.2/Those are major reasons for growth andsuccess, as actually they were six hundred years ago in Birmingham, the city Icome from. (which unlike other manufacturing cities in England was not controlled by trade guilds) China will continue to grow inmany capabilities - scientific, commercial, and diplomatic, giving you lots of opportunities to get the best fit for your individual skills and knowledge.
3.2.2/这些是促进发展和成功的主要原因，在600年前的伯明翰也得到了应证。我的故乡不像英国其他的制造业城市那样由贸易行会控制。中国将继续在科学、商业、外交等许多方面有长足进步，这将给你带来许多机遇，让你的个人技能和知识有用武之地。
3.3/I think Banking must decline – governments will not be able to defend it against people’s loathing for much longer and by the time you graduate it obviously won’t be a sensible choice. As for start-ups and entrepreneurial activity, just remember the stories are only hear about the success stories and not about the far greater number of people who did exactly the same as successful people andweren’t lucky.
3.3/在我看来，银行业注定走向衰落-政府将再难与公众对于银行业的不满长期对抗。所以在你毕业的时候选择去银行可显然不是一个明智的选择。而如果你想选择创业，那么你应该记住那些筚路蓝缕的创业者怎样砥砺前行最终取得成功的故事背后，有非常非常多的人也和他们做了一样的事，却并没有运气复制这些成功。
3.4.1/It is human nature everywhere to assume one particular path for the future and then makingchoices specifically according to that path, as if wishing for something can make it come true. Of course you have to set targets. Choose what you believe is the best you can do and then do everything youcan to achieve it. That is also important life experience.
3.4.1/生而为人，有一个本性就是要给自己的未来设定一条道路，然后沿着这条道路前进，仿佛只要期许某件事情发生就会让这件事情发生一样。当然你还需要设定目标，坚定地选择你笃信的，尽最大的努力去做，直到自己实现目标。那种做法固然也是宝贵的人生经历。
3.4.2/But it is also essential to add some wisdom into the activity. Is the choice really the best for thepermanentlyuncertain and changing world?And if things don't turn out exactly as expected, which could be for many reasons, what sensibleoptions will remain available.
3.4.2/但这一过程中必须加入一些智慧。你之前所做的选择对于这个永远处于变化中的不确定的世界真的是最好的吗？如果事情没有完全按照你的预想发展，这其中可能存在很多原因，你还有什么可以做出的明智抉择吗？
3.5/When people give you career advice, it is a bitlike the question those of us reading the subject that I chose at Cambridge gotasked the most “Are you an Engineer?” “Yes”, you say imagining someone has a genuine interest, and then they say “Could you please repair my bike?”
3.5/当人们在给你提供职业建议时，这就有点像我们当中许多人修读某个专业时经常会被问到这样一个问题：“你是工程师吗？”你说是的，开始很期待提问者或许很感兴趣这个专业，然后他们说“诶，那你能帮我修自行车吗？”
3.6.1/One thing it is worth finding out, by interning or visitingor asking your parents and their friends how things really happen. Take anexample, debating skills. These are useful as basic building blocks, ways ofincreasing your self confidence. But do not imagine that anything like a formaldebate regularly takes place in most organisations.
3.6.1/有一件事值得我们注意，那就是通过实习、参观、向父母亲友咨询才让我们真正认识到某件事情运作的真相。举例来说，辩论技巧。这其中有一些非常基础的要素，就是提高你的自信心。但不要误以为在大多数的机构中会有正式地定期举办辩论。
3.6.2/In most businesses,choices are made by a combination of good analysis, one to one persuasion often based on self-interest, and low cunning – the holidayschedule is one of the most important documents in any business – find out whenpeople holding opposite views aren’t in the office!
3.6.2/在大多数行业中，这一系列选择是与良好的分析能力，基于对方的自身利益投其所好进行劝服，甚至会用到一些卑劣狡诈的技巧去查证自己的对手是不是在办公室。这也就是为什么公司里假期日程安排是最重要的文件之一的原因。
3.7.1/Some modern trendsare regrettable. Won’t make businessas much fun as it used to be. These days there is much more detailed control fromtop managers in commercial organisations than there was 30 years ago. Scope for delegated decision making hasbeen reduced significantly. A result,of course of the enourmous improvement in communication technology.
3.7.1/现代商业中有一些趋势之所以会让人觉得惋惜，就是因为它们让商业不再那么有趣了。当今的商业组织中，顶层管理者有更多的细致的繁文缛节来管理公司，比起30年前的前辈们，他们管得更多更细了。而授权决策这件事却地位下降了很多。这就带来了一个巨大的变化——通讯技术大大提升。
3.7.2/One example is the now often quoted response “that question is far above my pay grade” – suggesting thatbroader understanding and thinking is only for senior managers. I feel more comfortable with earlier ideas about the intelligence capacity of the wholeorganisation – perhaps even the old military exaggeration of the point “everyfoot soldier carries a general’s baton in his pack.”
3.7.2/我们经常会听到这样的回答“这个问题超出了我的职责范围”。这就意味着只有高级经理才需要有更大的格局去思考。我个人是觉得以前整个机构都是一个智慧集合体的观念让人更舒服，就先以前军队里会有这样一句话“每个士兵的背包里都装着一只元帅的权杖”（源自拿破仑，也常被意译为不想当元帅的士兵不是好士兵）。
3.8/My advice about how todeal with being much more controlled in detail by senior managers? You have get even cleverer, better at being situational, be flexible, learn the culture, but go against it when you should.
3.8/那么你该如何应对那些事无巨细都要管的高级经理呢？我的建议是你要变得更聪明，更能够审时度势，灵活应变，在学习企业文化的同时别忘记独立思考。如果你认为自己不能同流合污，那么就起来反抗。
3.9/Prejudice is useful whenyou are making choices – it’s got a bad name. I remember as a young marketing manager I had to travel to various European countries frequently. When I started, I thought, I won’t expect the national stereo-types to be true, I will treat everyone equally – how niaive – within a month I found out that all the national stereo-types were right – at least to 85%. Decisions based on prejudice are quick, cheap and right most of the time.
3.9/还有一件事，在你做决定的时候，头脑中的偏见往往会很有用（尽管它听起来有点不太好）。我至今都记得自己还是一个年轻的市场经理的时候，需要到欧洲各国出差。一开始我想着，要平等对待每一个人，不要带太多对这个国家的刻板印象，可没到一个月我就发现对某个国家的刻板印象竟然至少85%是准确的。所以有些时候基于一定的偏见去作出决策反而是比较省时省力的。
3.10/And don’t overestimate howmuch time you have, it only seems like only a few months ago, I won’t say 5 minutes,when I was where you are.
3.10/此外，永远不要高估自己还有多少时间，许多事情感觉就像是几个月前发生的一样，可我不会说上五分钟我在你们这个年纪的时候是什么样子。
4/ Don’t stick together
4/ 大学里别只和同胞黏在一起
4.1.1/When you are at university, do try to make non-Chinese friends. Force yourself a bit, if you are lacking self confidence. All universities are worried about this point. It might not be easy.
4.1.1/毕业生们，当你到了大学，会遇到来自世界各地的同学，一定要试着交上几个来自其他国家的新朋友。我是说，不要只和中国人交朋友。如果你缺乏自信，那么稍微给你自己一点点压力，向前跨出一步。所有的大学都很担心这一点。我也知道这并不容易。
4.1.2/After a term studying Maths in PeterhouseCambridge, one student (Gloria) visited us and I asked whether she had madenon-Chinese friends. She said no, I advised her to try, and I got an update aterm later. She said she had done it, had an Italian boy friend, but had beenreprimanded by other Chinese in Peterhouse of letting the Chinese group down bymaking friends outside! As in all things, you have choice!
4.1.2/我曾经有一个学生，她在剑桥数学系读书，回国的时候来和我交流。我问她有没有认识一些来自其他国家的新朋友。她说没有，我建议她不妨试一试。一个学期之后我收到了她的回复，她说自己交往了一个意大利的男朋友，但被自己周围的中国学生排挤谴责，只是因为她竟然私自在外面交朋友。我对这件事情觉得很气愤，因为你有权力在任何事上作出任何选择。
4.2/How you present yourself to faculty members is asimilar issue. There remains the long standing worry that a rote learning approach has been followed in China and that does not prepare students well for the Oxford, Cambridge andother top university courses. Which courses are actually sometimes about what is not stated, as well as what is.
4.2/当然除了交友，大学里我也希望你们能够学会向老师表达自己。这个问题和前面类似。中国国内有一些学习方法其实是非常让人担忧的，那就是死记硬背的机械式学习不会让学生在牛津剑桥这类顶级大学如鱼得水。在这些学校的课程中，有许多内容其实是没有明示的，你需要自己主动去主动学习、向老师发问。
5/ Culture,Euphemism. Don’t worry about losing face.
5/ 文化很不同？别担心丢脸
5.1/It might mean you sometimes lose face. Try to laugh about it. If weare very concerned about losing face, about making a mistake – and in China a lot of us are – we will be reluctant to move outside our own comfort zone.
5.1/有些时候你可能听不懂一些委婉用词，所以会丢脸。那就一笑而过吧。如果我们非常担心会丢脸，担心犯错误，就像许多中国学生会抗拒任何让走出自己舒适区的事情一样，我们就无法成长。
5.1.2/ In order to try to do more than is expected, try something new, make a suggestion, or argue over a difficult question. Losing face and dealing with it well will help you develop more options and help your relationships with the faculty and non-Chinese students.
5.1.2/因为当我们想要实现更多，收获比预期更大的成果，那我们就必须去尝试一些新东西，给出自己的建议，甚至不惜和别人争论某个难题。处理好丢脸这件事，能够帮助你做出更多的选择，帮助你和老师以及来自不同国家的同学之间建立更加友善的关系。
5.2/But, be careful with a few specific questions which are ok in China, but not the West.Don’t ask old men their ages or anybody what they earn!
5.2/但有一点可能和中国不同，那就是在西方不要问一些具体的隐私问题。千万别去打听老人他们的年纪或者他们一年赚多少钱。
5.3/Get aware of how strong the general attitude and behavior conditioning is in many Western countries. And it is different between the US and UK, mainly coming from the fact that the US was formed from a mixture of mostly European cultures, not just British. Watch out for euphemisms in Britain “tired and emotional” means drunk.
5.3/同时你还要意识到许多西方国家的整体态度和行为习惯是怎么样的。比如英国和美国其实很不一样，美国作为一个移民国家，文化中有许多欧洲文化的影子，不只是英国而已。说到委婉用语，有一个经典的例子，“很累很情绪化”听起来是”tired and emotional”的意思，但其实这是喝醉了的委婉用语。
6/ Finish
6/结语
6.1/Show respect for everyone, listen, politely and critically to everyone, don’t tell people what they think or why they dothings, you don’t know that. But believe nobody, including me if you like.
6.1/毕业生们，我想说的差不多已经说完了，独立思考、有自知之明、善于做出选择、别只和同胞黏在一起、别害怕丢脸。最后一点就是希望你们都能够尊重每一个人，有礼貌地、理性地倾听别人说的话，不要试图去解读别人他们是怎么想的或者为什么这么做，因为你不是对方，也无法知道对方到底在想什么。最后的最后，不要轻信任何人，包括我在内。
6.2/And the very best of luckto all of you, a bit of luck usually can’t hurt.
6.2/最后祝福你们拥有最好的运气，运气多一点总是好的。