从1月22日开始，我们将播出关于大学教育价值的节目。这是我们10月份在加州里士满的迪安扎高中的一群高中生面前表演和录制的节目。那所学校的学生在种族和经济上都非常多元化——我们的听众反映了这一现实。Beside the episode, which will be broadcast next week and available online starting the following week, you can hear the extended audio of audience questions that didn’t make the broadcasthere.但我们认为，在节目准备播出前就开始对话是件好事。因此我写了这个博客!我们想知道你对大学教育价值的看法。

When most people think of the value of college, these days, they tend to think in terms of dollars and cents. How much will it cost me? How much will I have to take out in loans to pay for it? Will my future earnings make college worth the cost? Stuff like that. Those are certainly good questions. And if you want answers to those questions, one place to turn is to the work of my Stanford CollegeCaroline Hoxby, who is one of the foremost economist of education in the entire world.

Economics certainly gives us one way to measure the value of a college education. But it’s not the only way to measure. Indeed, I think it’s not even the best way. College is about so much more than the size of your future paycheck. I’m with W.E.B. Dubois. He said, “The true college curriculum is the riddle of existence.” And its goal “is not to earn meat” -- i.e. money -- “but to know the end and aim of that life which meat nourishes.”

现在我听到一些刻薄的读者说，“说得像一个哲学专业的学生……”但关于这一点有两点。首先，我很自豪地说，我碰巧靠哲学谋生。Probably more than your average plumber makes –I’m talking to you Marco Rubio. Actually, philosophy wasn’t my major in college. I started out as an engineer, dabbled in psychology, then mathematics, and finally ended up majoring in this cool Great Books program. Which goes to show, in my mind that you should go with the major you love in college and let the economic future take care of itself. It turns out that your undergraduate major doesn’t have all that much direct bearing on what your end up doing for living. Indeed, the aforementionedCaroline Hoxbyhassome pretty interesting insightson the connection between undergraduate major and lifetime future earnings, and the results might surprise you.

当然，如果你试着把这些告诉紧张的父母，他们担心孩子在哲学方面的花哨学位是通向贫穷、失业和住在地下室的快速车票，你根本不太可能让他们搬家。我不否认父母可能是个问题。但我一直告诉学生们，总有一天你必须听从自己内心的声音，屏蔽掉父母的声音。但如果你担心你的父母会对你选择哲学专业发表意见，我有一个小建议。只是谎言。你可能认为我在开玩笑，但我实际上是一个死连续剧。你先是撒谎说"我要主修舞蹈"你等一会儿，让恐慌来袭。然后你突然告诉他们真相。“开个玩笑。 I’m really going to major in philosophy.” They’ll be too relieved to give you grief.

Now if your parents are the more reasonable type, there’s no reason to lie. Philosophy majors have one of the lowest post-graduation unemployment rates. Lower than certain stem majors like chemical engineering, math, biology, or physics. Lower than more vocational and applied majors like graphic design, industrial engineering, or architecture. And the point isn’t that philosophy won’t ruin your life, after all. The point is that philosophy – and other fields of the humanities and social sciences – helps prepare you for life. They do so by enhancing student’s powers of mind, expanding their horizons, deepening their sympathies. That’s why Du Bois loved the Liberal Arts so much.

Of course, I grant that most people see college quite that way these days. Way too many people see college -- especially elite colleges like Stanford or Harvard or Yale -- as the brass ring at the end of some frantic race. That’s why parents and students often allow their college choices to be influenced by those pointless colleges ratings put out by the likes of US News and World Report. And why they sometimes spend tens of thousands of dollars on private college counselors. Speaking only for myself, I would love to put a complete stop to the whole multibillion dollar private counselor industry. Unfortunately, that genie is not going back into its bottle anytime soon. But I do hope that our episode this week gives both parents and students and different way to think about the true value of a college education.