Real Story真故事21-上大学的故事

Is college worth it?读大学值得吗？

Life is full of surprises, passion, beliefs and all the down time we experience. It seems we’re tested by the society all the time. It’s becoming more important to find a moment for ourselves. This is Real Story, we’re on! 生活充满我们经历着的惊奇，热情，信仰与所有低迷的时期。似乎社会总在考验我们。找寻属于自己的那一时刻变得愈加重要。这里是真故事，我们准备好了！

**主要词汇****

higher education高等教育

investment投资

college degree大学学位

diploma学历，文凭

pathway to life生活路径（从小到成年的生活历程）

future career未来的职业

    ***故事提要***：

故事从作者好友老李讲起，老李从小成了孤儿，高中毕业后就去酒店打拼，现在北京担任某酒店的总经理。老李有着出色的管理技能和行业经验，他未读过大学，但却不妨碍他成为成功的经理人。随着大学收费的不断增长，很多美国家庭鸭梨山大，人们开始怀疑读大学的价值，在在中国亦然。然而普遍来看，有着大学学历的工作着收入明显高于只有高中学历或更低的人。传统上的生活路径是年轻人上大学，毕业找份好工作。但是大学并不适合所有人，例如Lynette,并没有去读传统高中或者大学，选择了技校Olympic，如今是位成功的软件工程师与开发者。这个月起，中美的高中毕业生会考虑选择读哪所高校，他们的家人却在不断寻找读大学的理由。高校的就业率统计一直很高，却不能说明大学生就业的困境。老师的观点是，如果你不能拼爹，家庭也不富裕，可以的话还是读大学吧，你还有什么别的选择吗？当然因人而异，那些富二代不也在读大学吗？毕竟不是每个人都是比尔盖茨。本文音频部分引自2015年乔布斯唯一授权的自传改编的电影，及一位专家的忠告。英文全文文本请查阅老师weibo。

Bill Gates, Jackie Chan, Steve Jobs and more, didn’t even finish college or didn’t attend college at all, and everybody knows them all over the world. You might think they became famous just because they hadn’t got a full college experience. If they had finished college, they wouldn’t have been successful. Well, maybe it’s possible, but who knows? And one thing is for sure: not everybody is Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. Hey I’m Frank X for Real Story. I will ask you one question today: Is college worth it? 比尔盖茨，成龙，乔布斯及更多，都没大学毕业（成龙没读过大学），但他们享誉世界。如果他们有大学毕业，他们可能不会这样成功，也许是可能的，谁知道呢？但有一件事是肯定的：不是每个人都能成为比尔盖茨或者乔布斯。这里是真故事，我是Frank老师。今天我们讨论一个问题：上大学值得吗？Speaking of Steve Jobs, the movie in 2015 about his life seems different .Listen to some parts of it:(Steve Job movie)

   Anyway we are not talking about movies today. One of my best friends Mr. Li works as a general manager of a restaurant in Beijing. Before that, he was a general manager in a big hotel. He has that special kind of skills of managing his people, professionally. He learned everything from doing the very basic work in a hotel, everything on the job in hotel business. He never went to college, because his parents were killed in a house fire when he was little. His sister raised him till high school, but couldn’t send him to college, they were not rich at all. Maybe he would not be what he is today if he went to college, anyway, who knows?

   As the cost of higher education gets higher and higher in the US, new research finds that students and families start to question its value. According to the research, 75% Americans think a college education has become too expensive for most families, and the universities and government should share some parts of the costs. Even so, 86% American graduates say college was a good investment for them, and prepares them for a job, maybe some graduates fail to find a job right after college, but sooner or later, they will.

  About the salaries, from 25 to 34- year- old full-time workers, people with a college degree earn much more than the ones with only a high school diploma. There have been many students who borrow money from banks to finish their education, in China and world over.48 % Americans say paying back student loans can affect their job and life, as they get a little salary, have to pay the bills and buy a home later. Anyway, they borrow money, they have to pay it back. Listen to a business school graduate’s opinion next:(graduate’s voice)

   It has been a tradition: people go to college, get a degree and get a job. It’s a pathway to life. But college isn’t for everyone, and the cost isn’t possible for many young people-people like Lynette who says: “Being honest about where I am in life, I couldn’t say that college is the right choice, because it was not.”Lynette graduated from Olympic High School and is very successful in her business now. She couldn’t afford college so, instead learnt real life skills in a training program. Today, she’s a software engineer and developer, earning money she would have spent on four years of college. Mike Realon runs the program at Olympic High School. He gives these kids real life experiences by working with many companies. With him, it’s OK to say and think: “college may not be for me.”

  Mike says: ‘There’s nothing wrong with a four-year college study, but you’d better choose wisely and pick a degree that has a market.” Which means your degree should be helpful for your future career.

The proof might be: many college graduates are jobless now in the world, what they learn in college gives them problems in finding jobs. There are still many jobs, but not for them.

   From this month, students in China and the US have to think about which university they will attend in the autumn, and families increasingly want more proof that high cost of a college degree is worth it, and the fact is, the world economy is still that bad, and hard to get any enough proof for them these days. So some parents might think about: is his kid going to get a job or move back home right after college? When can he earn enough money to support himself? I know parents don’t necessarily want their kids to move back home. If you look at the report from universities, they will tell you most of the college graduates have found jobs within 6 months of graduation, based on the students’ answers. But it’s just a number, six months after graduation doesn’t say much about where they will be in 5 or 10 years, so maybe all the engineers are employed but none of the hotel majors are. CNN did a survey on two different women in London. It’s interesting to see their different career paths (CNN report)

  If you ask me if college is worth the money, I have to say it’s hard to say yes for everyone. It depends on different people. If you are from a rich family and your parents are sure to get you a job, maybe you don’t need the college study, but of course if the rich kid wants to, he can also try. I’ve met many successful factory owners in the south of China. Many of them didn’t even went to high school. They started to work in their business when they were around 18 years old. They learned everything on the job. At the same time, if you don’t have a rich daddy, and you are not another Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, then your choices in life are very limited, maybe it’s a better idea to study in college then. Why not? It might be worth it.

  Also don’t take college study as a business to do. ‘Am I going to get the money back someday?’ might sound a bit silly to ask, because you won’t get the money back in a short time, but your college experience will help you more than the money some day. For example, a taxi driver’s friend circle won’t be full of college professors or business people, and a company manager might have many other business people in his network. And don’t forget these friends might help you much some day, they make who you are, more or less.

After college, you will find more life opportunities, you will be more mature and confident in what you do. It gives you a way to live fuller, not only to make a living, but also give you a whole new world , full of different people and new ideas. Your future will be brighter, which is not what money can buy. Maybe you don’t know yet, but I’m sure you will. You are listening to Real Story, I’m Frank, a professional English teacher. Let me know about your ideas.You can leave your comments and questions here if you like my show, and you can subscribe for more updates, my class information and answers to your questions. That’s for today’s show, see you soon.

#Written and edited文字作者：Frank X老师，转载请注明出处;

#voice and tech-work:语音录制：Frank X;

 #Background music背景音乐: Bonfire John - My Name Is Bill

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##有关节目：“真故事”系列节目每个文字都是Frank老师自己辛苦撰写的一些列原创文章，节目题材取决于生活中那些最平凡但却最打动人心弦的真实故事，这些故事可以很鸡汤，也可以很令人思考，感谢那些与老师分享故事的朋友们。同时，如果你有这样的故事，可以私信老师哦，如果适合节目，老师会制作成新的一期节目与大家分享哦****