High school seniors across the US have just concluded3 a tiring test—the college entrance exam. For many, victory means getting accepted to a famous college.
This system of separating students into the higher and lower is set up by parents and people of similar inclination4, by US News and World Report's ranking of top schools, and by high school and other advisors eager to have a few Ivy League5 acceptances on their record6.
Defeat means a mailbox stuffed with7 refusals and a forced march to a lower-ranking8 school.
But how much exactly is the victory worth? And what is the cost of defeat?
It's hard to say that the contest has many meaning at all.
There are no studies showing a relation between the ranking or fame of a college and an undergraduate's success in later life, in financial, emotional or spiritual terms.
Hype9 or reality?
In some ways, the focus on a few top schools seems a throwback10 to an earlier age when major US colleges were all on the East Coast and in the hands of an elite11 with proper credentials12.
But that is certainly no longer the case. And yet, every year tens of thousands of high school seniors compete feverishly13 for a few precious spaces at schools said to be at the top of the heap14.
Morton Schapiro, an economist who studies higher education and is president of Williams College, one of those top-of-the-heap schools, says that the country's top students are going to an ever smaller number of schools.
But, there is also a lot of hype involved, according to Martha O'Connell, dean of admissions15 at Western Maryland College.
It's not unlike the way Americans approach anything else; they set up a great cry16 about going toward the brand17 names people recognize.
“It's not the most positive18 thing for higher education. Students are choosing schools that might not be the best fit for them so their parents can drop their name19 at a cocktail party20. That's not the way to choose colleges.”
Freeman Hrabowski Jr knows that the school he is president of— the University of Maryland, Baltimore county (UMBC)—will probably never appear on the US News and World Report's top 10 list.
What else works?
Hrabowski says students and their parents should focus on21 outcome, that is: what does your degree get you , and at what cost? He believes that many top high school students get pressed in the highly competitive atmosphere of noted schools and never reach their potential22.
He points to the fact that almost all students who accept UMBC's Meyerhoff scholarships23 remain in their science-orientated24 majors while only half of those who turn down25 the scholarship, usually for a bigger-name26 school, stay in those difficult fields.
“People get focused on going to the biggest name regardless of27 whether the institution meets the needs of that child,” Hrabowski says. “What we are doing is showing where students go when they leave here—Stanford, Oxford, Harvard.” David W. Breneman, dean of the school of education at the university of Virginia, says Hrabowski has a point28. “Unless you are totally self-directed29 at 17or 18 years of age, know exactly what you want and are very aggressive30, you can get lost,” he says of some of the large famous research universities.
Manard Mack, heads the honors program at the university of Maryland, college Park. He says that when he was in the English department at Harvard University, he read all of the applications for graduate school31. “There were about 600 of them, and we would accept 30 every year, 10 of those would be from schools you had never heard of,” he said.
But Ira Berlin , who has spent most of his career32 as a historian at the university of Maryland, College Park, says there might be something to33 the fame game. “What people are buying for their children is a group of people from whom they will learn and they will grow,” Berlin says. “I mean, Al Gore's roommate at Harvard was the actor Tommy Lee Jones. In some ways, that's not accidental34. These are bright and ambitious people who have convinced themselves it is right for them to do great thing, so they end up35 going out36 and doing great things.”
But Berlin says that if a place like Maryland can attract a similar group of people with its honors program, then it has an advantage over an expensive private college.
The American model
“There is great diversity37,” he says, “you look out in the classroom and see every possible type of persons: whites, blacks, Hispanics38, Muslims39. They have a chance to confront40 a central fact of the modern world, dealing with people who are different from themselves.”
One of the things that everyone agrees is a strength of US higher education is that there is such a wide range of schools for all sorts of students. And this is not like most of the rest of the world where your fate is decided by an exam taken at age of 16 that decides your education path.
“The American presumption41 is that there is a spark of genius in everybody and that if you massage it right, it will somehow come to life,” Says Berlin. “We all know you can do a lot of massaging before anything starts to appear, and that sometimes it never does, but we believe this.”
Breneman fears that the focus on a few top schools drives America in the direction of other countries. “I think it's better for the country when the bright kids are spread out,” he says, “This has all the wonders of a stratifying class system. What's very clear to me is that people who go to all kinds of places do very well and plenty of Harvard graduates have not succeeded.”
（From The Baltimore Sun）
全美高中毕业生刚刚结束了一场令人筋疲力尽的考试——大学入学考试。对许多人而言，胜利意味着被某所久负盛名的大学录取。
这种决定高低胜负制度的确立，源于家长及有类似倾向的人，源于美国《新闻与世界报道》杂志对全美名校的排序， 也源于美国中学及其他（教育）顾问们渴望有几所常青藤大学的录取通知书载入史册。
失败则意味着邮箱里堆满了拒绝录取的信函和被迫转而求其次进一所排名靠后的学校。
但是，胜利究竟有多大的价值？而失败又会有何种代价？
很难说清这场竞争究竟有何意义。
没有研究表明大学排序或威望与大学生毕业后经济、感情及精神生活的成功之间有何联系。
是炒作还是现实？
从某些方面来说，人们对少数几所名牌大学的关注似乎是倒退到了早年，当时美国的主要大学全部集中在东部海岸， 集中在具有相当学历的所谓精英手中。
但是，此番情景当然不再。然而，为了据称是名校排行榜学校中的那么几个宝贵的席位，每年数十万名高中生竞争得心急如焚。莫顿·恰皮诺，身为研究高等教育的经济学家兼名牌大学之一的威廉姆斯学院院长，认为现今可供全美尖子学生就读的学校比任何时候都少。
但是，根据玛莎·奥可内尔，西马里兰大学招生办主任的观点，这其中也涉嫌大量的炒作。“正如处理其他任何事情一样，美国人大肆叫嚷要上人们公认的名牌学校。这对高等教育来说是极为不利的。学生们往往选择一些不是最适合自己的学校，这样他们的家长就可以在鸡尾酒会上说出掷地有声的校名了。这可不是选择学校的恰当方式。”
弗里曼·小拉博斯基深知他出任院长的学校——巴尔的摩县马里兰大学（UMCB）很可能永远无缘《新闻与世界报道》名校排行榜前十强的名单。
有无他法可循？
拉博斯基说学生及家长应该关注结果，也就是说关注学位给你带来了什么以及为此付出的代价。
他相信许多中学的尖子生在竞争名校达到白热化的氛围中高度紧张，因而永远不能发挥潜能。
他还指出这一真相：几乎所有接受UMBC（巴尔的摩县马里兰大学）梅耶霍夫奖学金的学生仍然以理科为主攻方向，而那些为了跻身大名鼎鼎的院校拒绝该校奖学金的学生，仅有一半留在那些高难度领域。
“人们只关注进入名牌学府但不考虑这些院校是否符合孩子的需要，” 拉博斯基说，“我们眼下从事的工作是要表明学生有朝一日离开这些名校——如斯坦福、牛津或哈佛后会有多大的造化。”
大卫·W·布雷内曼，佛吉尼亚大学教育学院的院长认为拉博斯基言之有理。“处于十七、八岁的（学生），除非有完全的自主，确切知道自己想要什么且极具进取心，（否则）可能迷失方向。”他在谈及一些规模宏大的著名科研院校时说。
主持马里兰大学帕克学院荣誉项目的梅纳德·迈克说当年他在哈佛大学英文系期间，遍阅所有的哈佛大学研究院的求职信。“（求职信）大约有600份之多，但我们只录取30名。其中每年有10名来自于名不见经传的普通院校。”
但是，大部分时间以历史学家身份供职于马里兰大学帕克学院的艾拉·伯林说（大学）按声望排名或许有其道理。“家长为子女购买的是这样一群（名流导师），仰仗他们可以学有所成并利于成长。我的意思是说，戈尔副总统在哈佛大学曾经有一个室友是（著名的）演员汤姆·李·琼斯。从某些方面说，这并非出于偶然。那都是些聪明、有抱负的人物，他们自信成就一番伟业是恰当不过的事情。结果他们参加（各种社交）选拔且都有所建树。
但伯林又说，如果像马里兰大学这样的地方也能以他的荣誉项目吸引一批这样的名流导师的话，相对于昂贵的私立大学他就具有优势了。
美国的办学模式
“（学生当中）有令人难以置信的差异。”伯林说，“在教室里放眼望去，你会看到各色人种：白人、黑人、西班牙人和葡萄牙人、还有伊斯兰教徒。他们有机会面对现代世界的主要现实并能与各种不同的人打交道。”
人们一致认同的一件事是：美国高等教育的实力在于他能为各种学生提供范围广泛的学校加以选择。这一点不像世界其他地区，你的命运取决于16岁时参加的一场决定你的教育方式的考试。
“美国人认定人人皆有天才的火花，只要摩擦得当，它就会以某种方式迸发出来。”伯林如是说。“我们都知道在火花出现之前要砺志修行，有时火花永远也不会出现，但我们还是相信这一点。”
布雷内曼担心关注少数几所一流大学会使美国步上其他国家的后尘（高中生上大学没有广泛选择）。“我认为聪明的孩子遍布各校更有利于国家，他兼有分级制度（具有的）所有奇迹。在我看来有一点很清楚：那些就读于各类大学的人都干得不错，而许多哈佛的毕业生并没有成功。”
1. spark n． 火花, 火星
2． massage v． 按摩
3． conclude v． 结束, 终止
4． inclination n． 倾斜, 倾向
5． Ivy League 常青藤联合会
6． have ．．．on the record 记录在案
7． be stuffed with 充塞
8． lower－ranking adj． 排名靠后的
9． hype [haip] n． 天花乱坠的广告宣传
10． throwback n． 掷回, 挫折
11． elite n． (法语) 精华, 精锐
12． credential n． 学历
13． feverishly adv． 兴奋地
14． at the top of the heap 列入排行榜首
15． admission n． 招生处
16． set up a cry 叫喊，叫嚣
17． brand n． 商标, 牌子
18． positive adj． 肯定的, 积极的
19． drop the name．．． （此处为）炫耀名校的校名
20． cocktail party 鸡尾酒会
21． focus on 集中注意力于
22． potential n． 潜能, 潜力
23． scholarship n． 奖学金, 学问
24． science－orientated adj． 理科方向的
25． turn down 拒绝
26． bigger name 大名鼎鼎的
27． regardless of 不管，不顾
28． have a point 有道理
29． self－directed adj． 自主的
30． aggressive adj． 好斗的, 敢作敢为的
31． graduate school 研究生院
32． career n． 事业, 生涯
33． there is something to．．． 有理由／道理去……
34． accidental adj． 意外的, 非主要的
35． end up 结束
36． go out 参加选拔
37． diversity n． 差异, 多样性
38． Hispanic n． 西班牙人
39． Muslim n． 穆斯林
40． confront v． 使面临, 对抗
41． presumption n． 假定