有个朋友今天告诉我，他很郁闷，因为和我一样身为“洋博士”的他，虽然拥有满腹学识，但在专业不对口的单位却找不到自己的位置，人家只把他当一个好用的翻译，先让他做交传，又让他做笔译，据说不久就该让他做同声传译了。他们公司是咨询业，所以常跟企业打交道。英语很好的这位朋友，就免不了经常要为企业翻译各种文档，人家还不按翻译的稿费标准给他发钱。今天，他又接到一个活，帮一个企业修改他们的英文项目计划书。他看到人家的英语可能放回初中都考不及格，而自己堂堂博士竟然要为企业做这种毫无技术含量的无偿低水平劳动，再想到自己当年两千多分的 GRE 和洋洋数万言的学位论文，不由悲从中来。他不断地问我：“你说，我一海归博士，有必要天天这么擦他们弱智的屁股吗？”
我听了也很为他感到郁闷，不过想不出能有什么解决问题的好办法。作为一个博士，我也愿意相信造成这一切的是社会没有给知识其应有的位置。但是，知识有那么多门类，如果每一种都获得了其应有的位置，社会上大概就没有贩夫走卒和中低水平的技术人员的位置了，而这些人才是维持社会的存续所不可缺少的。
从个人的待遇来说，一个十年寒窗的博士到头来要为可能只有本科甚至中专文化程度的老板打工总是有些落差的。可是，真正在毕业后走学术道路，也未必见得心理落差就会小。既然不走学术道路，就要接受这个现实：知识是跟着资本的指挥棒走的。当初你打破头要挤进这间待遇不错的公司的时候，可曾想过你也是要和其他人一样干这种捧人臭脚的活的么？
虽然说学科不分贵贱，但有些学科就是不能直接创造资本，选择学习它们的人就是经常不得不委身于学历不如自己，但掌握了会赚钱的技能的人手下，这是残酷的现实。到了21世纪，读有些书仍然“无用”，但既然我们选了这些学科，又选择读到博士来推迟就业压力的到来，那也怨不得会被掌握了“有用”知识的人领导。或者，我们中还能有一些人能够继续探寻这“无用”的知识，成为学养超群的大家，推动人类知识的增加，但这种人总是极少数。我们这些其他人，大概唯一的道路是利用学习“无用”知识的过程中掌握的能力多学一些“有用”的东西。
另外，我们现在有这种处境和心理落差也可说是一半自找，一半大势所迫。如果这个社会不是如此唯学历论，我们在学校里不是对社会如此无知，像我们这样资质一般的人便根本不用读博士，早一点接受职业训练走入社会，把大学、研究所里的位置让给真正有才能的人不是更好吗？写道这里，不由又要感叹英国人在这件事上的精明：大部分硕士就是职业培训，研究型学位留给那些真正的 nerd 和 geek。
2010年10月16日星期六
Are you not Wanted?
I went to a friend's wedding today. The bride and the bridegroom fell in love when they were both undergraduates, and it has been 8 years since then. Needless to say, many of their classmates, including me, participated the event as guests. We were supposed to be the selected few and the future elite of China when we got the admission from our university. But nothing particular happened afterwards, we all become faceless clerks in some organizations that have remote relation to what we learn, and all have to work 10 hours a day just to pay our credit card bills.
What went wrong? I could not help thinking about those people who dropped out of school due to poor academic performance in the university. Have they find a better way to spend their life than we do? After all, they probably learned not to listen to everything the education system told them. And that gives them more possibilities in life, probably?
Now I think I am beginning to understand Wanted, the graphic novel by Mark Millar. The institutionalized individuals are surrounding us, trying to tell us what to do and what is right. Sometimes these advices can be helpful, but in many cases, they just make you hesitate, doubt, and fail. One does not need to possess super power to control their life. The important thing is to know what one wants, and ignore the distractions in the guise of "for your own good" that prevent you from achieving your goal. In this way, you can one day pretty much fuck anyone you want, or die trying.
In the novel, the point where Wesley proved that he know what he wanted was not when he walked out of his miserable clerk life, but the moment after his most beloved and respected father told him to become the best gunslinger in the world, he still can seriously consider defying Fox and his father and return to the old life. The strongest super power is the ability to make decision for oneself and bear the consequences, and it is free will at its best. And you do not need to be special to have that power.
What went wrong? I could not help thinking about those people who dropped out of school due to poor academic performance in the university. Have they find a better way to spend their life than we do? After all, they probably learned not to listen to everything the education system told them. And that gives them more possibilities in life, probably?
Now I think I am beginning to understand Wanted, the graphic novel by Mark Millar. The institutionalized individuals are surrounding us, trying to tell us what to do and what is right. Sometimes these advices can be helpful, but in many cases, they just make you hesitate, doubt, and fail. One does not need to possess super power to control their life. The important thing is to know what one wants, and ignore the distractions in the guise of "for your own good" that prevent you from achieving your goal. In this way, you can one day pretty much fuck anyone you want, or die trying.
In the novel, the point where Wesley proved that he know what he wanted was not when he walked out of his miserable clerk life, but the moment after his most beloved and respected father told him to become the best gunslinger in the world, he still can seriously consider defying Fox and his father and return to the old life. The strongest super power is the ability to make decision for oneself and bear the consequences, and it is free will at its best. And you do not need to be special to have that power.
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