2007年12月23日 星期日

政大的「願景」2006 ??

偶爾讀到2006年李興文先生Bruce Lee給我的email
還是有貨的 所以轉貼之




這些教育界的人.....




雖然自己不是政大的優秀校友,可是對於新校長的「願景」,倒是有幾點不同的看法。吳思華先為政大規劃的願景,是做為亞洲的哈佛大學。這讓我想起劉邦當年被項羽圍在滎陽,韓信得了齊地之後,要劉邦封他「假齊王」,老劉壓住一肚子火,說「大丈夫要幹就幹真齊王,幹什麼假齊王!」我覺得政大的credit和本質都可以,老吳要幹就幹真政大,幹什麼假哈佛?雖然此最大的願望,就是指頭上掛個Harvard ring,可對於政大,仍舊有深厚濃郁的感情,如果想在四年把政大的招牌擦亮,就該當有丈夫的氣魄,搞一個全世界的政大,幹嘛永遠借著人家的招牌給自己鍍金?此其一

另外一件我覺得最重要的事情就是,挑戰現行台灣的學術評等機制。老吳沒有提到,而這一點是政大在市場上的致命傷。既然要大幹一場,就得效法孫文的大破大立。完全不理台灣的排名KPI(好熟的item),自己搞一套,又跟國際接軌,又能另闢蹊徑。目前各大學的補助與排名,很大一部份都來自於教授發表論文的能力。一個題目一做再做,小題大作,做到鑽牛角尖,拿沒什麼營養的題目自以為是創見,搞一堆艱澀可具有國際論文格式的研究,說實話,個人覺得用處不大。也不曾聽過Adam Smith或Graham Allison寫完國富論或決策本質後,有什麼更驚天動地的著作出來。要我說,只要政大出一個Huntinton或Lucian Pye,可以比得過十個宋楚瑜。這個機會政大曾經有過,可惜把人給趕走了,那個人就是金庸。現在抬面上的政大人,都是以事務能力見長,少有開疆拓土的本事,說不定在商場上的政大人還能力強一點。

最後一個是我內心的疑問,四年就搞出一個「亞洲的哈佛」,老吳不是太天真就是太厲害。哈佛搞了一百多年才有今日的credit,梅貽琪的名言,有大師才叫大學。先想辦法培養社會科學界的大師,虛名,不是那麼重要。

2007年12月19日 星期三

Traveler IQ Challenge in Second Life

小遊戲挑戰你我地理IQ

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2007年12月18日14:07
今在互聯網上最火的一款遊戲﹐其技術含量卻與高中生的社會學科測試相差無幾。

這 是一款名為《旅行者IQ大挑戰》(Traveler IQ Challenge)的免費遊戲。遊玩家在一張二維地圖上尋找金沙薩、莫斯科或其他城市及景點的所在位置﹐然後根據答題的速度和準確度來評分。怎麼看這都 不像是款會大受歡迎的遊戲。但Expedia Inc.旗下的旅遊網站TravelPod出於營銷目的在6月份推出這款小遊戲以來﹐其每個月的在線玩家人數已經突破400萬﹐其中甚至包括 Facebook之類流行社交網站的用戶。

《旅 行者IQ大挑戰》在業內被稱作“休閑”遊戲﹐像卡片遊戲和謎題遊戲也屬於這種類型﹐其特點是開發成本低﹐易於上手﹐畫面也不像為Xbox 360等遊戲機開發的新遊戲那般絢爛華麗。而另一方面﹐隨著全球衛星定位系統(GPS)導航設備及Google Earth等新技術的應用﹐人們對地理知識又開始感興趣起來﹐於是便有了《旅行者IQ大挑戰》的成功。Google Earth是谷歌公司(Google Inc.)推出的一款電腦軟件﹐用戶可以在地球的三維模型上進行地理搜索。

美國遊戲發行商電子藝界 (Electronic Arts Inc.)的首席執行長約翰•里奇泰洛(John Riccitiello)稱﹐我已經沉溺於這款遊戲難以自拔。他表示﹐自己的全球排名一度到過第11位﹐而隨著越來越多的人開始玩這款遊戲﹐他的排名已經 掉至第204,184位。這位每年行程達17.5萬公里的高管稱﹐一旦某樣東西真正流行起來﹐你才知道自己有多麼弱智。

這款遊戲的創意來 自TravelPod網站創始人、加拿大程序員盧克•萊維克(Luc Levesque)玩的一種遊戲。當32歲的萊維克坐火車橫越土耳其﹐或驅車去玻利維亞偏遠的鹽沼旅遊時﹐會時不時與同伴玩一種單詞接龍遊戲﹐規則是用頭 一個國家或城市地名的第三個字母作為下一個地名的開頭字母。

今年5月份Facebook開放其網站﹐允許數量龐大的用戶在個人網頁上公佈 獨立軟件開發者製作的遊戲、音樂和其他簡單的應用軟件。於是萊維克便有了製作一款在線地理知識遊戲的想法。他聘請了兩名軟件開發人員用三週時間製作了這款 遊戲。雖然他沒有透露成本幾何﹐但一般情況下的報酬應該不到3萬美元。

萊維克製作這款遊戲的初衷是想引導用戶登錄他的網站TravelPod.com。 這個網站是靠廣告收入維持運營﹐旅遊愛好者可以在網站建立博客來記錄自己的旅行。萊維克稱﹐網站的註冊人數和點擊量大幅增長。他表示﹐最終有可能通過遊戲 直接投放廣告。目前已有超過160萬人在Facebook的網頁上安裝了這款遊戲﹐不過大部分玩家都是從其他網站上下載的﹐就連哥倫比亞廣播公司(CBS Corp.)的“驚險大挑戰”(The Amazing Race)節目網頁也提供這款遊戲的下載。

《旅行者IQ大挑戰》按照由易到難的 順序﹐一開始會讓玩家用10秒鐘左右在地圖上找出倫敦之類的比較知名的城市或景點﹐很快接下來的提問會越來越難﹐例如找出土庫曼斯坦的首都阿什哈巴德 (Ashkabat)。然後遊戲會告訴玩家自己的答案離城市的實際地點偏離了多少﹐並給予相應的評分﹐偏差越小則得分越高。


經常週遊世界各地的舊金山律師安德魯•布里奇斯(Andrew Bridges)表示﹐這款遊戲和其他的幾種新技術手段調動起了他對千里之外地點的好奇。他表示﹐想看看自己在Google Earth上能用多快的時間找到雅典衛城之類的某處名勝﹐這是件好玩的事情。

堪 薩斯城大學(University of Kansas)地理學者傑羅姆•多布森(Jerome Dobson)雖然沒玩這款遊戲。但他認為﹐數十年來地理課在美國學校教育中的份量不斷下滑﹐而包括這款遊戲在內的新科技手段有助於推動地理學科的復興。 像氣候變暖、全球化和伊拉克戰爭之類的事件﹐也在喚起人們對遙遠地區的興趣。身為美國地理學會(American Geographical Society)主席的多布森引用美國知名作家安布魯斯•畢爾斯(Ambrose•Bierce)在第一次世界大戰的話稱﹐戰爭就是上帝讓美國用來學會地 理的。美國地理學會是一個由地理學者和地理愛好者組成的團體。

但研究表明﹐讓美國普通大眾提高地理知識還很有長的路要走。美國國家地理學會(National Geographic Society)去年初組織的一項調查顯示﹐美國18歲至24歲的青年成人只有一半能在地圖上找出紐約所在﹐60%的人在中東地圖上找不到伊拉克。

《旅 行者IQ大挑戰》還會定期公佈關於地理知識的各類成績排行榜。至少本週更新之前﹐在Facebook上玩此遊戲的人中﹐平均地理IQ最低的單位是印度高科 技行業咨詢公司──塔塔咨詢服務公司(Tata Consultancy Services)。該公司駐美國發言人邁克•麥克白(Mike McCabe)在一封電郵中稱﹐這項統計很“有趣”。他表示﹐公司會在培訓員工時考慮這點。但他稱﹐相對於地理知識﹐公司更重視工程技能﹐以及對公司及客 戶文化的總體理解。

測測你的地理IQ

Nick Wingfield
本文涉及主題


New Game Puts Geography On The Map

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2007年12月18日14:07
One of the most popular videogames on the Internet right now is about as low-tech as a high-school social studies quiz.

The free game, Traveler IQ Challenge, has become an unlikely hit by getting players to locate Kinshasa, Moscow and other cities and attractions by clicking on a crude, two-dimensional world map, and scoring them based on the speed and accuracy of their responses. Created as a marketing gimmick in June by TravelPod, a travel Web site owned by Expedia, Traveler IQ now has more than four million people a month who play it on sites across the Internet, including Facebook's popular social network.

Traveler IQ is part of a wave of what's known in the industry as 'casual' games -- low budget, easy-to-play titles like card games and puzzles -- that lack the visual flare of slick new products for the Xbox 360 and other game consoles. Traveler IQ is also tapping into a renewed interest in geography, stimulated by new technologies like GPS satellite-based navigation devices and Google Earth, a program from Google that lets users browse a three-dimensional model of the planet.

'I'm addicted,' says John Riccitiello, chief executive of videogame publisher Electronic Arts of Redwood City, Calif. Mr. Riccitiello says his overall Traveler IQ ranking got as high as 11th in the world at one time, but his standing dropped as more people began playing the game, sinking to 204,184th. 'Once something gets really popular, you realize what a dolt you are,' says Mr. Riccitiello, who travels about 175,000 miles a year.

Traveler IQ Challenge was inspired by games played by Luc Levesque, a Canadian programmer and traveler who founded TravelPod. When he was on train trips across Turkey and driving for days to reach remote salt flats in Bolivia, Mr. Levesque, 32 years old, would randomly name a country and one of his travel companions would attempt to name another country or capital city that starts with the third letter of the previous country's name.

The idea for an online geography game occurred to Mr. Levesque in May when Facebook of Palo Alto, Calif., opened its site so independent software developers could create games, music and other simple applications that its huge audience could post on their personal Web pages. Two programmers created the game for TravelPod in just under three weeks for an amount Mr. Levesque won't disclose, but which is likely less than $30,000 at standard salaries for engineers.

The game was designed to funnel users to TravelPod.com, an ad-supported Web site that lets travelers set up blogs chronicling their trips. 'We've seen huge increases in registrations and traffic,' says Mr. Levesque, who adds that the Ottawa, Ontario, company could eventually put ads directly inside the game. More than 1.6 million people have installed the game on their Web pages on Facebook. Most of the players of the game now come through other sites that have the program on their pages, including the CBS show 'The Amazing Race.'

Traveler IQ starts out asking users to locate some of the better known cities and attractions in the world, like London, giving users a limit of about 10 seconds to pinpoint them on a map. The locations quickly get harder with cities like Ashkabat, Turkmenistan. The game tells users how close, in kilometers, they got to the actual locations and scores them accordingly, with more points awarded for shorter distances.

Andrew Bridges, an attorney at a San Francisco law firm who has traveled extensively around the world, the game is one of a number of new technologies that help stimulate his interest in distant locales. For fun, he says he'll see how fast he can manually zoom in to find a monument like the Acropolis in Athens using Google Earth.

Jerome Dobson, a geographer at the University of Kansas in Lawrence who doesn't play the game, says new technological applications like Traveler IQ are helping to revive geography after a decades-long decline in the teaching the subject in U.S. schools. Issues like climate change, globalization and the war in Iraq are also encouraging interest in far flung places. Mr. Dobson, also the president of the American Geographical Society, an association of geographers and geography enthusiasts, says writer Ambrose Bierce said around the time of World War I that ''War is God's way of teaching Americans geography.' '

Still, studies suggest there's a ways to go before the public improves its grasp of geography. A survey from early last year sponsored by the National Geographic Society found that only half of young American adults, ages 18 to 24, could locate New York state on a map. Six out of 10 couldn't find Iraq on a map of the Middle East.

Travel IQ provides its own report card, of sorts, on geographical skills. Among those who use the game on Facebook, Tata Consultancy Services, a technology consulting firm based in India, had the lowest average Traveler IQ among workplaces, at least until the rankings were updated during the middle of this week. Mike McCabe, a spokesman for Tata Consultancy Services in the U.S., in an email called the findings 'interesting' and said the company will consider them when training its staff, though he said, 'Engineering skills and an overall cultural understanding of the company and its customers' are higher priorities at Tata than geography.

Nick Wingfield



BBC
虚拟世界中的性教育
“第二人生”
虚构世界中的“人物”也有互相交往的机会
近年来电脑互联网络发展日新月异,越来越多的所谓“虚拟世界”出现。这些都是虚幻境界,有兴趣者可透过网络进行互动,其中最为有名的可能就是“第二人生”(Second Life)。

很多时候,人们都批评这种虚构世界容易让年轻人沉迷,而且也可能会让他们最终脱离现实,陷于不务正业之境。

可是,英国一位大学讲师并不赞同这种说法。她认为这种虚拟世界不单有其存在价值,而且也可以予以利用,达致教育的目的。她自己就即将以此作为“根据地”推广她的性教育课。

作此奇想的是英国曼彻斯特地区的索尔福德大学(University of Salford)的护理学高级讲师芭芭拉·黑斯廷斯-阿萨图利安(Babara Hastings-Asatourian)。

改善情况

黑斯廷斯-阿萨图利安从前是护士,她对于目前英国年轻人的性教育水平感到不满,因此,她想尽种种办法,希望可以推广安全性行为的信息。

就在本周,一个称为“英国年轻人议会”(UK Youth Parliament)的青少年组织发表调查报告说,英国学校为年轻人提供的性教育的水平低落,而很多年轻人多部知道如何得到性方面的知识。

在过去12个月内,黑斯廷斯-阿萨图利安花了不少时间去了解互联网上的社会网络网站(social networking sites),希望找出办法跟年轻人沟通。

她得出的结论是,这种网站不单为年轻人提供娱乐,而且也是一同提供性教育信息的好渠道。

芭芭拉·黑斯廷斯-阿萨图利安
黑斯廷斯-阿萨图利安是经过长期研究才选择“第二人生”的
庞大空间

她选择的是“第二人生”这个庞大的虚拟世界。

这个“世界”在2003年成立,但是,在短短四年期间吸引到数以万计来自世界各地的读者。

“生 活”在这个虚拟世界中的是称为avatars的虚构人物,它们都是个别用户创造出来的“人物”。这些“人物”可以在“第二人生”的虚拟空间之中“生活”, 过他们的“社交生活”,而且,他们也可以购物、做生意、置业、投资等;由于这个虚拟空间模仿现实世界,因此,它也出现了“罪案”。

黑斯廷斯-阿萨图利安认为这是一个很好的提供教育的场所。她已经决定在12月13日英国时间晚上8时开设“直播”性健康教育研讨会。

首创之举

黑斯廷斯-阿萨图利安说,据她所知,这是“第二人生”创立以来首次举办同类的性健康研讨会。

在这个虚拟世界的研讨会之中,黑斯廷斯-阿萨图利安将利用声音与文字、图像推广她的信息。在研讨会之后,有关材料也将以多种文字发布,便利那些有需要的人。

黑斯廷斯-阿萨图利安承认,她对此却是感到非常紧张。

不过,如果要真正达到在虚拟世界全面推广性教育,黑斯廷斯-阿萨图利安仍需要通过另一个难关:如果让更多的年轻人可以有适当途径进入这个世界。

这个项目得到英国普利茅斯大学(University of Plymouth)的支持。


美國教育兩則

今天紐約時報說哥倫比亞大學的校園擴展案已獲准

另外一篇對於著名私立高等學府將學費補助方式作諸多改革
使其可以和公立學校比較 足可借鏡



Editorial

Too Costly for Even the Well-to-Do

Published: December 19, 2007

Harvard’s new financial aid policy is the boldest move yet to mitigate the soaring costs of a college education. Most previous efforts to make higher education affordable have focused, as they should, on helping low-income students. Now Harvard will also provide generous aid to students whose annual family incomes reach as high as $180,000. It is a welcome move, but also a disturbing admission that the priciest colleges are now beyond the reach of even many upper-middle-class families.

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The cost of attending college has been rising faster than inflation and faster than family incomes, prompting anguished outcries from consumers and calls in Congress for colleges to rein in their costs or disgorge more of their endowments. Some of the most expensive schools have responded with new aid programs. Princeton, in a move emulated by others, shifted to grants from loans, easing the debt burden on students, and removed home equity from financial aid calculations. Harvard’s new policy also includes these provisions.

Harvard currently provides a free undergraduate education to students from families earning up to $60,000 a year. Under its new plan, families earning between $120,000 and $180,000 a year would pay only 10 percent of their incomes for tuition and fees on an education that is currently priced at more than $45,000 a year. More than 90 percent of American families would be eligible for aid, Harvard officials estimate.

The new standards will make the cost of a Harvard education comparable to the charges at the nation’s leading public universities. The new approach should allow more students to engage in unpaid research, unpaid summer internships and study abroad. Students who graduate with little or no debt could more readily pursue low-paying careers in public service.

Although Harvard is often a trendsetter, it is not clear that many other schools can afford to follow. Its endowment of $35 billion is the largest of any university. Most other colleges rely heavily on tuition and fees and can’t readily give up that income. There are more than 60 colleges that have endowments that exceed $1 billion that ought to move at least partially in the same direction.

Students attending public colleges have also faced steep cost increases, in part because state governments have become stingier in providing support. Governors and legislators ought to be ashamed if their flagship public universities charge more than a high-priced private school like Harvard.

2007年12月17日 星期一

巴黎Montpellier大學的罷課公投

(自由時報2007/12/18) 巴黎的罷課公投

■ 陳冠妤

自從法國新總統上任以來,各項改革案,讓法國人民頻頻跳腳,當然跳腳的人有,支持的也大有人在,對立也因而形成。諸多法案中包括目前大學生在激烈抗議的大學自治法。

簡 單來說,大學自治法就是法國政府開始要求大學要對自己的一切負責,包括人事管理、財務來源等;最直接的衝擊就是學費問題!如果學費不再由政府負擔,那麼勢 必大學之間就必須要有評比,好的學校收取較高費用、吸引更優秀的學生成為必然的趨勢,因此有學者認為這項政策其實就是「把法國英國化」。

不光是收取學費問題,這法案的背後挑戰的其實是法國長久以來一直標榜的社會主義價值,認為人人都該有受教育的權利,外國學生也一視同仁,這樣的「烏托邦」實行幾十年下來,果真也面臨了困境。

支 持以罷課來表達抗議的學生,在本校雖只有六、七百人,但卻因投票方式係採取舉手投票,整個大禮堂早已被這群學生霸占,且充滿暴戾之氣,投票的秘密性與安全 保障不足,使得多半希望復課的學生因此不敢參與投票;再加上校長並沒有針對這現象提出有效的解決辦法,而是直接將學校關閉,造成這次罷課一罷就是五星期。

終 於,在反罷課的學生要求下,十二月十四日學校舉行了公投(不記名公開投票)。當天一早,校門口又是兩方人馬,支持繼續罷課的學生企圖阻止公投的進行,因為 他們深知自己是少數,有些學生甚至拿出棍棒毆打要參與投票的學生,幸好靠警察出動維持秩序,投票順利完成。三千多人參與投票,反罷課的學生以兩千三百票獲 得勝利,五週以來的僵局也終於化解。

某些教授認為,法國媒體和權力核心相當密切,因此言論幾乎完全的「右」傾,人民不同的聲音無法完整表 達,但是激烈的手段又無法達到目的,造成進退兩難的局面。支持復課,並不見得等於支持大學自治法,但民主社會就該理性就事論事,如何堅持自己的權益而不影 響到大眾的利益,是今日每個民主社會遇到的難題。

此次罷課事件,讓我看到另一面向的法國,號稱幾百年的「民主老店」卻連學生的罷課與否 都搞不定,校園內部的輿論與民主,甚至公投,也出現落差。嘆為觀止之餘,也回頭看看台灣的民主,更是百感交集。與法國相反的是,台灣的媒體與舊權力核心仍 相當密切,造成社會空轉;民主新生兒如我們,能否借用民主的力量跳出目前的困境,是對當權者智慧的最大考驗吧。

(作者為法國Montpellier大學法國文學研究生)


University of Montpellier,

at Montpellier, France; founded 1220 by Cardinal Conrad and confirmed by papal bull. The university was suppressed during the French Revolution and replaced by faculties of medicine, pharmacy, science, and letters of the Univ. of France. It was reestablished as a university in 1896. In 1970 it was divided into three units: Univ. of Montpellier I (where the medical school is located), Univ. of Montpellier II (also known as Univ. of Technical Sciences, with faculties of engineering, sciences, and business management), and Univ. of Montpellier III (Paul Valéry Univ., with faculties of arts, letters, philosophy and linguistics, languages, literature, human and environmental sciences, economics, mathematics, and social sciences).

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(bull, papal:教宗詔書;教宗訓諭:為教宗所頒發的最隆重之文告;通常以「某某主教,天主眾僕之僕」字句開始;如任命主教的文告即是。拉丁語原文為Bulla,指鉛封而言。教宗使用的公文程式均為拉丁文,共分五種:(1)詔書 Bulla。(2)自動詔書 Motu Proprio。(3)通諭 Littera Encyclica。(4)宗座簡函 Brevis。(5)牧函 Littera Pastoralis。)回到天主教字典


hc評:這篇可能被"編輯過--第一段

"自從法國新總統上任以來,各項改革案,讓法國人民頻頻跳腳,當然跳腳的人有,支持的也大有人在,對立也因而形成....."

標點建議: "自從法國新總統上任以來,各項改革案,讓法國人民頻頻跳腳。當然跳腳的人有,支持的也大有人在,對立也因而形成......"



德国人到南非开办“儿童大学”

教育 | 2007.12.16

德国人到南非开办“儿童大学”

为什么恐龙早已灭绝,为什么船只不会沉入海底,为什么香蕉是弯的?在所谓的儿童大学里,教师们会对诸如此类的问题作出详细解答,既为孩子们传授知识,又不 会让孩子们觉得无聊。另外,这样的课程是由一所儿童大学开办的,授课教师大多是大学里的教授。在德国深受孩子们喜爱的“儿童大学”被搬到了南非。

德国于2002年在蒂宾根创办了第一所儿童大学。这一创意来自一位与蒂宾根大学进行合作的报社女记者。现在,世界许多地区和国家都组织了类似的活动,比如非洲就是其中之一。

南非德班夸祖鲁-那他大学的大教室里挤满了孩子。德国学术交流中心信息部负责人心里的一快石头终于落了地。三辆学校大巴都开了过来,其中一辆甚至来 自70公里外的一个小镇上。非洲第一所儿童大学可以正式开学了-尽管这些年龄在8至13岁之间的孩子们还得熟悉这里的陌生环境。

来自奥尔登堡大学的神经生物学家克里斯蒂娜-里希特-兰德贝格是这里的客座教授。她的授课内容是告诉孩子们与大脑有关的一切,当然这会涉及到一些复 杂的概念-比如神经腱、树突等,当然,里希特-兰德贝格会详细地讲解这些概念,并进行直观的图象展示。授课内容尽管复杂,但里希特-兰德贝格尝试的教学方 式却获得了成功。孩子们听得津津有味。这样的项目对德国学术交流中心的组织者来说的确是不无风险的,但南非的项目经受了考验。

讲堂里大约一百名儿童兴致勃勃,他们不时地鼓掌,提出各种问题,课堂上还不时传出孩子们的欢笑声-尤其是当6个孩子扮演神经传感器,这些负责神经细胞间信息传递生化物质时,扮演神经细胞末梢角色的布里安故意“哎呦”地尖叫起来,装出疼痛的样子。

孩子们都很守纪律,很听话,尽管也有孩子们认为,一小时的讲座有些枯燥和无聊,但所有的孩子们都学到了新的知识。当然,授课内容不仅仅停留在表面 上,有时题目的处理也较为深入,尽管如此,教授里希特-兰德贝格依旧深受南非儿童大学孩子们的喜爱:“南非的儿童大学的确不错,孩子们穿着校服,规规矩矩 地座在那里。与我们那儿完全不同。我认为,这里远不如德国,无法更多地满足孩子们的愿望。”

对德国学术交流中心来说,儿童大学专门聘请一系列德国的优秀科研人员负责做报告,其目的在于为作为科研所在地的德国进行广泛的宣传活动。德国学术交流中心的该 项目组织者安德列亚斯-黑蒂格说:
“让孩子们对科学产生浓厚兴趣的做法在整个非洲大陆还从未有过。这样的活动也许会有助于引导孩子们日后走上科研之路。”

明年,开普敦将继续组织这样的活动。

2007年12月9日 星期日

資訊氾濫傷害好奇心?

老生之言
對那一國都適用
不過這種論點和先前的"教育改變多 上課等"是相衝突的



Information overload erodes youth's curiosity

12/07/2007

When I was in primary school, the science room in the old wooden school building was one place I didn't want to go near. In the eerie gloom, by a shade curtain, there were rows of jars containing specimens in formaldehyde. And of all things, there was an anatomical model of the human body. I even heard rumors that the room was haunted.

I do not know how scenes of science rooms affected the scientific curiosity of people at the same age.

Nowadays, science rooms are said to be bright and well-equipped. Unfortunately, however, the dismal reality today is that Japan's 15-year-olds are the least interested in science among their peers around the world.

According to the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment conducted on 15-year-olds in 57 countries and regions by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Japanese teenagers did worse than the previous survey three years ago in three tests--scientific literacy, mathematical literacy and reading ability. Japan is now far behind the world's smartest group.

The Japanese youngsters not only scored poorly in scientific literacy, but revealed an even more disturbing lack of interest and eagerness in science itself. They placed last in the world in their level of interest in reading books about science, as well as in their frequency of watching science programs on television or reading newspaper and magazine articles on science.

A high academic performance can be expected only if the student is highly interested in the subject.

Japan is said to have progressed rapidly in the study of physics since World War II. Asked why by a non-Japanese person, Nobel laureate physicist Shinichiro Tomonaga (1906-1979)朝永振一郎 reportedly answered, "It was because we Japanese tried to compensate for our intellectual starvation during the war."

It appears that intellectual curiosity is numbed by a surfeit of information that can be obtained without any effort. Inundated with information as we are today, we can readily find an answer to any question we have. And as our ability to wonder about the unknown becomes dull, we apparently become increasingly less inclined to wonder about anything.

As if Tomonaga foresaw our present age, he once said that the job of a teacher is to make sure his or her students did not become surfeited with knowledge.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 6(IHT/Asahi: December 7,2007)

2007年12月4日 星期二

考試與偶然

Hermann Hesse{在車輪下}一段

昔日作:Maulbronn Monastery and Concerts (2007106 星期六)

毛爾布龍修道院原為西妥教團修道院(Zisterzienserabtei)前身,位於德國巴登-符騰堡邦,接近普福爾茨海姆。毛爾布龍的外圍,雷山西北方,為黑森林與歐登森林的交界處。修道院是阿爾卑斯山北面所存留保存最好的中世紀修道院群,皆是從羅馬式到後歌德式建築的形式潮流與發展過程代表。

整個修道院群由封閉的城牆包圍,其中包括毛爾布龍市政廳,警局,餐廳,九到十年級的福音派大學預校(文理中學)與其他公家機關等。從1993年十二月起為聯合國教科文組織列為世界文化遺產

其中說 The monastery, which features prominently in Hermann Hesse's novel Beneath the Wheel, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1993.

我知道這本漢譯從30年前就有幾本。譬如說,台北的道聲出版社等等。不過現在取得一翻譯,文句和注解都不夠好:

“…..一 邊漫不經心地聽這位虔誠的虔信派教徒講話。弗萊格談到了考試,祝男孩運氣好,並且對他說了些勉勵的話,但他談話的最終目的是咬指出,考試不過是表面的而且 有偶然性東西。考不上並不丟臉,即使成績最好的人也有名落孫山可能。萬一他榜上無名,就想想上帝對每個人都自有安排,會指引他們走自己的道路的。

注:虔信派是十七世紀末興起的一個基督新教教派。

--{在車輪下},張佑中譯, 上海譯文出版社,2007p.10”

Unterm Rad by Hermann Hesse, 1906

我們看看天主教字典的說明多恰當:「pietism:虔敬主義;虔信派:是十七、十八世紀基督教發起的一種運動,主張將實踐與神秘合而為一,以取代過度系統化、僵硬化的教義教條。