QA问答：为什么与亚洲的大学生相比，美国的大学生似乎更倾向于获得更没有价值的社会正义类学位？是因为美国已经很富有了，他们负担得起，但亚洲人需要赚钱吗？

Brandon Ross
Is it because America is already rich and they can afford it.
Oh no. Absolutely not.
Quite a lot of the student who sext these “worthless social justice” degrees:
are not rich
will never be rich
and, by virtue of choosing their degree, will be in significant debt for much of their adult life.

“是因为美国已经很富有了，他们负担得起吗？”
哦，不。绝对不是。
很多选择这些“毫无价值的社会正义”学位的学生：
1、并不富裕
2、永远不会富有
3、而且，由于选择了这个学位，他们成年后的大部分时间都将负债累累。

But no one stops them from doing so. Instead, we encourage it. In the U.S., the federal government offers nearly everyone a chance to go to college and pay much-much later. As a consequence, many (but not all) students don’t think about the long-term financial consequences of their choices.
And the U.S. is still in a demographic shift. For example, when I was growing up, parents did not need a college degree to provide a good life for their children. They could own a home. Medical insurance was affordable. And the message has long been to the middle class that a college degree is a ticket to something better.

但没有人阻止他们这样做。相反，我们鼓励这样的做法。
在美国，联邦政府几乎为每个人都提供了上大学的机会，并可以在很久以后支付学费。因此，许多（但不是所有）学生，都没有考虑过他们的选择会带来的长期经济后果。
美国的人口结构仍在发生变化。例如，在我成长的过程中，父母不需要大学学历就能为孩子提供美好的生活。他们可以拥有一个家。 医疗保险是负担得起的。长期以来，人们一直在向中产阶级传达这样一个信息：大学学位是通往更好事业的门票。

But things have changed significantly, but I think that’s a bit beyond the question.
In short, many students still believe that a college—any college degree is necessary to be successful. Consequently, many students will take any ‘ole college degree. Very, very little public emphasis is placed on the economic consequences of that choice.

但现在情况已经发生了重大变化，但我认为这已经超出了你提的问题的范畴。
简言之，许多学生仍然相信大学——任何大学学位都能成为成功的必要条件。因此，许多学生将跑去获得任何一个类别的大学学位。公众很少强调这种选择的经济后果。

Mike Azeka
From a very young age, US children are encouraged to pursue their desires and what they like, rather than what is best for them, so they don't seriously consider the question of what to study AND to try hard to succeed. I know several people with expensive useless masters degrees (cultural anthropology, gender studies, mycology, European history from 1675 to 1730) and they never thought they were harming their lives. Their choices probably contributed to: long bouts of unemployment, student debt, divorce, semi-poverty, family estrangement, having to settle for unfulfilling jobs that paid low wages, etc. Of course, their professors didn't try very hard to discourage them from pursuing these useless degrees. Why invalidate your own life?
My advice is to study what you LOVE as a side interest, but focus on what you LIKE and that you see yourself doing, and that has a career, for at least 5-

从很小的时候起，美国儿童就被鼓励去追求自己的欲望和喜欢的东西，而不是对他们最有利的东西，所以，他们不会认真考虑需要学习什么，和需要努力去取得什么样的成功。
我认识几个拥有昂贵无用硕士学位的人（文化人类学、性别研究、真菌学、1675年至1730年的欧洲历史），他们从未想过这会伤害到自己的生命。他们的选择可能导致：长期失业、学生债务、离婚、半贫困、家庭疏远、不得不接受低工资、没有成就感的工作等。
当然，他们的教授并没有极力阻止他们攻读这些无用的学位。为什么要去证明自己是错误的呢？
我的建议是，把你喜欢的东西作为副业来研究，但要专注于你喜欢的和你认为自己值得做的事情，至少有5年这样的职业生涯。

David Parker
Many non-science degrees are relatively easy to achieve.
Facts are slighted
Feelings and prejudice are encouraged and rewarded with accolades
Math is discouraged and discounted
Science programs tend (not always) to be rigorous and math-centric
What is an often passionate, impetuous, academically unambitious young person to do?

1、许多非科学学位相对容易获得。
2、事实被轻视了。
3、自我的感受和偏见被鼓励了，并被授予了荣耀。
4、数学让人气馁，并被认为是不重要的。
5、科学项目往往（并不总是）非常严格且以数学为中心。
一个经常充满激情、冲动、并在学术上没有野心的年轻人该怎么办？

Yegor Plam
Exactly. STEM is hard, period. The average STEM’er has to WORK to absorb that STEM education. Who wants to work in college these days? Luckily, the higher-principled social justice path is also easier. Higher principle and easy-peasy… that’s hard to resist.

确实。STEM很难的。强调一次：STEM很难的。典型的学习STEM的人，必须努力的吸收STEM的教育。在大学的时候，谁会想工作的事情？幸运的是，是非观念更强的社会正义道路却更容易学。更高的是非观念、更简单的技巧……这很难抗拒。

Steve Taylor
No. They aren’t rich. And while I don’t want to mock these students, the unbelievable irony is that the no-questions asked attitude of the Federal government re: handing out large student loans actually creates the need for more “social justice” because it increases financial hardship.
In the government’s well-intentioned effort to bring “equal opportunity” to education, it shackles kids with debt that realistically a “social justice degree” is never going to be able to pay off.

不，他们并不富有。
虽然我不想嘲笑这些学生，但令人难以置信的讽刺是，联邦政府对发放大额学生贷款采取了不多过问的态度，这产生了对更多“社会正义”学位的需求，也增加了经济困难。
在政府为教育带来“平等机会”的善意努力中，它给孩子们戴上了债务的枷锁，而实际上学习“社会正义学位”的人永远无法偿还掉贷款。

I’m not in favor of preventing anyone from studying what they want to study — I have a Master’s degree in Folklore and half of an MFA in studio art that I quit, so who am I to preach? — but I do think it would be in the interest of social justice itself if the Federal government, before handing out a loan, simply required you to get a double major or a dual Master’s degree. You can get your so-called “social justice type degree,” but you have to get something else with it. One half of that degree has to be in a field more likely to get you a decent-paying job.
“Social justice type students” want people to have decent-paying jobs… while curiously screwing themselves out of them.
You can still pursue social justice while not being excessively beholden to the Feds who are now collecting interest on your education, crushing your ability ever to own a home, etc.

我不赞成阻止任何人学习他们想学习的东西——我有民俗学硕士学位和半个工作室艺术硕士学位，后面那个我半途放弃了，这样的我没有什么可以对想学这些的人说教的——但我确实认为，如果联邦政府在发放贷款之前，对于学习社会正义类学位的人，要求你必须获得双专业或双硕士学位，这将符合社会正义学位人士本身的利益。
你可以获得所谓的“社会正义型学位”，但你必须获得其他学位。其中的另外一个学位，可以帮助你获得一份高薪的工作。
“社会正义型学生”希望人们有体面的工作……同时却奇怪的把自己的事情搞砸了。
你仍然可以追求社会正义，同时不必过度感激联邦政府，他们现在正在对你的教育收取利息，摧毁你拥有房子的能力，等等。

I’m not sure about Asia. Most of the Chinese who come to the United States for school are the elite of Chinese society and they’re only going to study “top shelf” subjects that will earn them top dollar back in so-called “communist” China. (China is very capitalist.)
Most Indians are lucky to get a visa, so they’re not going to squander that opportunity on anything but hardcore sciences with a clear job trajectory. This IS social justice, in its own way. A relatively poor Indian who comes here to get a degree and ends up working for Microsoft is stepping out of poverty in ways that an American who takes an impractical degree is just stepping into it.
I’m not saying social justice isn’t important.

对于亚洲的情况，我不太确定。
大多数来美国上学的中国人，都是中国社会的精英，他们只会学习那些能在所谓的“gczy”中国赚大钱的“顶级”科目。（中国非常资本主义。）
大多数印度人都需要很幸运才能获得签证，所以他们不会把这个机会浪费在任何事情上，除非是有明确工作轨迹的核心科学。这才是社会正义。一个相对贫穷的印度人来到这里获得学位，最终为微软工作，他正在摆脱贫困。而与此同时，一个美国人正在获得不切实际的学位。
我并不是说社会正义不重要。

But after going into some debt myself and living with the consequences, I can’t fathom why on earth you need to PAY for a degree like that. You can work for social justice without getting a degree. You can learn about society’s problems without getting a huge bill.
The even bigger tragedy is that easy loans encourage a lot of students to start school when they probably should have found another path. Many will start school under social pressure to not look like a “failure,” which is how American society treats a lot of people who don’t go to college. Then they’ll quit without a degree, but you can’t quit a student loan.

但在我自己背负了一些债务并承受了后果之后，我无法理解你到底为什么需要为这样的学位买单。你可以在没有学位的情况下，为社会正义而工作。你可以了解社会问题，而不必支付巨额账单。
更大的悲剧是，宽松的贷款鼓励了很多学生在本应该找到另一条路的时候跑去上学。许多人在背负社会压力的情况下跑去上学，就是为了不要被看成是个“失败者”，“失败者”就是美国社会对待许多没有上过大学的人的看法。然后，他们在没有获得一个有用学位的情况下离开了学校，却不能清偿学生贷款。

This is not social justice. Social justice would be being honest with people about the reality of colleges and universities, which are often a massive waste of time. Social justice would be telling them: “You should pursue a trade, and there’s nothing dishonorable about that.” It costs nothing to tell people to stick their socially judgmental attitudes up their ass. Why add a $100,000 loan into this mess?

这不是社会正义。真正的社会正义，是诚实的告诉人们大学和学院的现实，“社会正义学位”通常是对时间的巨大浪费。
社会正义会告诉他们：“你应该做赚钱的买卖，这没有什么不光彩的。”
让人们保持对社会的批判态度，完全不需要花费任何代价。为什么要在这场混乱中增加10万美元的贷款呢？

Paul
Do you know why people do Liberal Arts degrees? Because it gives them a well rounded and balanced education. If you didnt have liberal arts there would be no art, movies, music, novels or literature. No appreciation of culture or design. Not everything at college is about getting a degree so I can become a doctor or lawyer. My undergraduate degree was in English lliterature and History, I did a Masters in Education and went on to study for a PhD,. Maybe not paid as much as lawyer but Ive had a rich and fulfilling teaching career. When I went to college it was relatively cheap to go to college and I graduated with no debt. If you want to go to law school or medical school in the US you have to do a four year undergraduate degree anyway, so most will do those soft subjects like History and Sociology that you look down upon.

你知道人们为什么要攻读文科学位吗？因为它为他们提供了全面而均衡的教育。
如果你没有文科，就没有艺术、电影、音乐、小说或文学。不会欣赏文化或设计。
在大学里，并不是所有的事情都是为了获得学位，为了可以成为一名医生或律师。
我的本科学位是英语文学和历史，我获得了教育硕士学位，然后攻读了博士学位。
也许我的薪水不如律师，但我有一个丰富而充实的教学生涯。
当我上大学的时候，上大学相对便宜，而且我毕业时没有负债。
如果你想在美国读法学院或医学院，你无论如何都必须获得四年制的本科学位，所以大多数人都会学习那些你看不起的软性科目，比如历史和社会学。

In countries like China and Korea there is a lot of social pressure by parents etc to send their kids to college to get a vocational or business degree so they can become doctors and lawyers or business people. All they care about is money and status and success and having a kid study Medicine or law at a US college is as much about bragging rights and status as it is about getting a worthwhile education, I can bet you half of those kids would probably prefer to become actors or artists or musicians but their fee-paying parents probably like to think thats a waste of time. Right, just ask Tom Cruise or John Travolta about what a bad career choice they took.

在中国和韩国等国家，父母等被施加了很大的社会压力，要求他们送孩子上大学，获得职业或商业学位，这样他们就可以成为医生、律师或商人。
他们关心的只是金钱、地位和成功，让孩子在美国大学学习医学或法律，既是为了获得有价值的教育，也是为了炫耀自己的权利和地位。
我敢打赌，这些孩子中有一半可能更喜欢成为演员、艺术家或音乐家，但为他们付费的父母可能会认为这是在浪费时间。好吧，问问汤姆·克鲁斯或约翰·特拉沃尔塔，他们的职业选择有多糟糕。

As an aside my mother brother and sister graduated from Law school in the 80s’. Brother quit his job six months after graduation with a double Commerce Law degree. Bummed around was homeless for a while and ended up on welfare as he was Bipolar. The guy was brilliant, could hold his own with architects and engineers with no formal professional training but he looked like a bum.
Sister worked as a lawyer for 20 years but her first love was horses. Ended up getting disbarred, moved to Australia and now lives on a farm training race horses,.

顺便说一句，我母亲的哥哥和姐姐，80年代从法学院毕业。我母亲的哥哥在获得商法双学位六个月后辞职了。流浪了一段时间，无家可归，最后因患有双相情感障碍而享受福利。这家伙很聪明，可以在没有受过正式专业培训的建筑师和工程师行业站稳脚跟，但他看起来像个流浪汉。
我母亲的姐姐做了20年的律师，但她最爱的事情是赛马。最后被取消了律师资格，搬到了澳大利亚，现在住在一个训练赛马的农场里。

My late dad was an architect, is a household name in my country and his work is well known through the church designing chapels and schools. Brilliant architect but a tortured soul, an alcoholic and was like an 8 year old in an adult body.
Mother was a lawyer had to defend gang members, petty criminals, dealing with messy marriage breakups and divorces. worked as a rookie lawyer from age 50 until she opened her own office from home 10 years later. Hated law but had to pay the bill and huge mortgage debt left by my father.

我已故的父亲是一名建筑师，在我的国家家喻户晓，他设计的小教堂和学校广为人知。才华横溢的建筑师，但却是一个饱受折磨的灵魂，一个酒鬼，就像一个8岁的人住在成年人的身体里。
我的母亲是一名律师，必须为帮派成员、小罪犯辩护，处理混乱的婚姻破裂和离婚官司。50岁之前，她一直像一名菜鸟律师一样工作，直到10年后她在家里开了自己的办公室。她讨厌法律，但为了支付我父亲留下的账单和巨额抵押贷款债务，却不得不继续努力工作。

Yes you can make a lot of money doing IT or being an engineer or running a company but such people often tend to live in their own little bubbles, are often socially awkward people and often dont really know much about anything outside their jobs and careers. Boring steady types but not really artistic or creative in any meaningful way. I guess it all depends on whats important to you,
BTW I have a long term friend at home who was on a high 6 figure salary, now lives in a renovated house worth about 3 million dollars, we are life-long friends but in recent days the impression I get from him is that all that is important to him now is status and money and bling. How much one earns or has or what they own. It often gets a bit tiring because outside work and career he doesnt have a lot of outside interests and they seem a bit shallow.

是的，你可以通过做IT、当工程师或经营公司赚很多钱，但这些人往往生活在自己的小泡沫中，往往是社交尴尬的人，而且往往对工作和职业之外的任何事情都不太了解。无聊的稳定工作，在任何有意义的方面都不是真正的艺术或创意。我想这一切都取决于什么对你来说最重要。
顺便说一句，我有一位交往了很长时间的朋友，他的薪水高达6位数，现在住在一栋价值约300万美元的翻修过的房子里，我们是终身的朋友。但最近几天，我从他那里得到的印象是，现在对他来说最重要的就是地位、金钱和珠宝。一个人挣多少、拥有多少或拥有什么，这经常会让人有点累，因为在工作和事业之外，他没有太多的外部兴趣，这样的人看起来有点肤浅。