onsdag 31 mars 2010

从美国看欧洲文化

俗话说:旁观者清。

人在处于当局者这个角色是,往往看不清事实。有时是因为利益所在,逼得你千方百计地思考如何能收回最大成本;有时是一种wishful thinking,让你不想去接受和面对眼前的事实。总之,每每当一个人离开了江湖或官场后,暮然回首的一刹那才会大彻大悟。

我也是一样。十年前到瑞典,在瑞典社会混了这么久,对这个国家的理解还是很肤浅。瑞典人口稀少,社会稳定,用国际政治上比较低调的“老好人”位置换来了一片和平国土。瑞典媒体的新闻从来没有很强的轰动效应。大部分时间那些政客讨论的话题无非就是改动最低工资的数额,税收的百分比。这跟中国很不一样。在国内,一个煤矿爆炸的大场面就够瑞典媒体转播十年了。本人曾经讥笑过瑞典人的小家子气:做一个小小的决定都很费力,惹得全国上下政客平民知识分子人人都在讨论,到最后还是不了了之。他们干吗不把力气花在更加宏伟的事业上呢?比如说“推进具有瑞典特色社会主义民主政治的伟大进程”。

我在2009年夏季来到美国康奈尔大学做为时一年的交换学习。在离开瑞典这个文化氛围之后,我才看清楚了瑞典,以及欧洲文化的亮点。

美国的文化,其实与中国当代文化极其相似,与欧洲文化却不相同。美国人的经典概念是美国梦:只要你流够了汗,出够了力,那你方可以成为人上人。MC 歌手 Jay-Z 描述纽约生活的歌曲,Empire State of Mind 也唱过:if I can make it here I can make it anywhere,如果我能在纽约市得到成功,那我在哪里都是成功人士。纽约文化是一种优胜劣汰的演变产物。这种氛围充满了对强者的崇拜与对弱者的不屑。康奈尔在上个月有三个工程院学生跳崖自杀。抛开一切外界因素,在我看来根本原因就是课业太重。而校领导唯一所做的就是在校园桥梁上安装铁丝网,呼吁学生们见心理师。这种治表不治里的方法管不管用还需要我们拭目以待。那一周本人在fb上发过一帖,大意就是询问康奈尔工学院要死几个人才能迫使校领导减负。此言一出,立即遭到众人讨伐。身边的好友们责怪我偏激,不该认为校长及教授们要对学生的死负责。本人一向争强好胜,调过头来针锋相对地反驳回去,并问道:如果康奈尔校长要你帮忙避免学生自杀,你会怎么办?有没有比减负更好更根本的解决办法?对方哑口无言。有人接受了我的观点,但同时提出:康奈尔现有的课业负担是必要的。此说法间接地来讲就是,如果现有的课业逼得学生自杀,那康奈尔为了保证学生质量,每年靠高度压力整死几个人也是必要的。这种为了成功而经历非人的折磨,以精神健康和生命换来事业的范式,就是美国梦最露骨的表现。

心灵的转折点在2010年春假。美国大学在三月底四月初通常给学生一星期的休息时间。学生们利用这段时间,要么抓紧补课迎接下一轮的考试,要么抓紧时间外出旅游积攒阅历。作为国际交换生,我按常规选择了后者。在这次假期之前,本人也曾多次外出旅游。秋季曾去过尼亚加拉瀑布,波士顿和纽约市。冬假期间又飞往加州,游览了旧金山,洛杉矶,在当地朋友带领下游玩了硅谷,又与他家人一起共进圣诞晚宴。不过值得说明的是,前几次外出的伙伴都属于“亚洲游客”那一类:争取在短时间内跑过n个景点,在每一处地点停下抓紧时间拍照(大部分是自拍),然后匆匆忙忙前往下一个目的地再如法炮制。如此之游,更不如说是赶集。拍照的性质无非就是为了能向亲朋好友炫耀一番,证明自己去过了某国某城某地。这次春假我跟一帮欧洲交换生们去了新奥尔良,他们的玩法与之前相比简直有天壤之别。玩的过程,让我领略到了欧洲文化的另一面。

这次旅行一个月前,所有的欧系国际交换生们会聚一堂,讨论春假计划。考虑过的地点有美国的加州,迈阿密,新奥尔良,Panama City,还有加勒比海的Bahamas,Dominican Republic 与古巴。最后有十一人决定去新奥尔良,三人去墨西哥,其他几个散户各走各的。去新奥尔良的有一半人买了一周的往返机票,剩下的买了四天往返。可是所有人只订了四晚的旅馆。也就是说,离开纽约之前,这些人不知道四天后住哪里。我们一行人没有参观多少景点。新奥尔良有个著名的法国区,这个区的 Bourbon Street 是人们娱乐的场所。沿街所处放眼望去,酒吧,夜总会,餐馆,以及色情场馆应有尽有。我们没有一晚不去法国区,没有一晚不喝醉。第一天出去时两个男生在酒吧勾搭上一对当地的姐妹。两个女孩是典型的路易斯安那白人,有法国血统。这哥俩那一晚上就给人家当情人去了。那晚还有三个哥们去看脱衣舞,一个喝醉了的给舞女塞了钞票之后竟然要她找零钱。舞女当然不给。我在此之前从来没有玩得这么开心过。这个春假之行有很多疯狂的故事可讲。

我们周六到达新奥尔良,周三晚上就没处可住了。众人一商量,决定:租辆车来个road trip, 至于往东走还是往西走,以投币决定。东边可以穿过 Mississippi 和 Alabama 两个州,去佛罗里达的Panama City;西边穿越路易斯安那,进入德州。投币结果:往西走。我们最远走到了德州的休斯敦。后来我仔细一想,如果我事先知道要去休斯敦,那在看到休斯敦城市的一瞬间就不会如此兴奋了。事先不知,反而赐予了人们探险者的感官以及发现“宝藏”的快感。在丰田中心前与奥拉朱旺的雕塑合影留念时,我说我做梦都没有想到会有这一天。回到 Ithaca 的寒舍,照片没几张,见识倒是长了。

我后来想,为什么这次旅行玩得额外high呢?总结下来无非有这几点。

欧洲人敢花钱。他们不会在花了200美元买了机票后认为60美元的公园票价支付不起。之前有朋友,在葡萄牙的里斯本认为水族馆的15欧元比较贵而放弃。我们为了去这个水族馆,半个城市都穿越了,偏偏在门口打了退堂鼓。欧洲人到一个新的国家,会把钱投在饭馆里用来品尝当地特色食物和美酒,体验当地文化。中国人呢?很多时候买快餐,吃方便面。欧洲学生们年纪比较大,有几年的工作经历,所以腰包里有钱。最近康奈尔的一项研究表明,花钱买良好的感觉和经历是能给人带来持久快乐的。国内的朋友们花钱还是大方一点吧。

欧洲人社会阅历比较丰富。欧洲国家较小,语言文化各有特色。这种多样性环境造就了见多识广的年轻一代。很多欧洲人在其他国家工作过,会说多门语言,会开车。他们对人际关系的发展也很重视。我们在街头可以随便找个路人聊天,一聊就是半个小时。这是很多中国孩子从来不会试图去做的。持有驾照也很关键。欧盟的驾照在很多国家都有效,有能力开车给人一种新的自由,那就是行动自由。通常人的一天行程局限在十公里内。有车那就要以几百公里来算了。

最重要的一点,那就是欧洲人的世界观。西欧和北欧国家比较富裕,社会体系保障很好。年轻人们不光有人生第一次机会,还有第二次,第三次,甚至是第四次。对于欧洲人来说,Life is a web of endless opportunities,生命是无限的机会所编织成的网络。年轻时不懂事,走了歪路,社会不嫌弃你而允许你改过自新。瑞典大学如果因为疏忽而录取一名服刑满役的杀人犯,也不能以此人是杀人犯做借口开除此人。在美国及亚洲,那些仅有的第一次机会还不能够满足所有人的需求,那也不需要考虑不存在的第二次机会了。你可以说这就是为什么死刑在这类国家比较容易被人接受的原因:白养一个囚犯不如赏他一颗子弹。欧洲人在众多选择余地面前,往往不会着急。很多年轻人在高中毕业后不局限自己的专业,而是先工作一两年,旅游一两年,等到感觉自己足够了解自己了,明白自己是谁,想要什么之后再进入象牙塔深造。欧洲人工作是为了活着,上学是为了能找到好一点的工作从而更好地活着。这跟我们投币决定旅行路线是一个道理:因为选择多所以有些无所谓。既然怎么走都行,那干脆让巧合来决定。在欧洲外的某些国家,人们活着是为了工作。我在康奈尔的一个丹麦朋友过着花花公子一般的生活。他高中毕业后打了一年工,暑假甚至是一天两班,在短时间内聚积了一笔可观的数目。他用这笔钱去45个国家旅游。按他的说法,从欧洲去泰国越南这类地方,虽然机票不便宜,但只要一落地,生活开销就比欧洲小很多。每天5美元便可活得像个土皇帝。他白天参观景点,晚上进入娱乐场所喝酒或是找个伙伴过夜。凭他“北欧版布拉德皮特”的相貌,此人在哪里都可屡屡得手。我第一次见到他时他给我的印象是:此人潇洒,自信程度高得绝无仅有,他也才22岁。此人大学本科专业是自然资源管理,因为他那时候比较理想化,很想毕业后拯救热带雨林。现在他已经是个不折不扣的实用主义者,本科后,他跟我说,要去考商学院。作为一个现代男人,如果事业有成并且还能顾及到儿女情长,这样的人生已经让很多人羡慕了。在欧洲人眼里,这并不是难事。活着是一个事实,既然人活着,那干脆让自己活得舒服点。人工作是为了挣钱从而可以消费。上学是为了以后能找到好一点的工作从而促进消费能力,以及快乐程度。美国人和亚洲人走得远到与这条准则背道而驰的程度了:拼命找到好工作,拼命上好学校,倾家荡产地给孩子提供学费,然后把挣来的钱积攒起来,没有任何时间和精力去享受自己的劳动成果。等到人老了,退休了才发现:钱是随时可以挣的,青春和健康却一去不返了。到那时已经来不及吃后悔药。

这次旅行后,我看自己是一个亚洲裔欧洲人,我有选择的权利。我可以选择想亚洲人那样兢兢业业地创造生活,也可以选择一个欧洲人的道路,轰轰烈烈地享受生活。回到家的这几天,我从来没有像现在这样感觉自己如此欧洲化。既然亚洲学生的终极本领是学习和应付考试,他们需要的是学会怎么玩。在这方面,薄瓜瓜是个英雄人物。我接下来要走的第一步就是:回到康奈尔,开始玩!Ithaca 的酒吧夜总会,你们等着我的大驾光临吧。

söndag 28 mars 2010

A few thoughts on the recent Cornell suicides.

Last month, three Cornellian died. Three guys, all of them engineering students and all of them jumped from a bridge into Ithaca's gorges. When I came back home from my Spring Break, I saw the newly built fences around the bridges. They looked so ugly. What they tell you is the indisputable fact that with the 6 deaths this year, Cornell has been branded as a suicide school for years to come.

I don't know what you think about it, I myself have a few opinions regarding Cornell's suicides. I'm from Sweden. For that reason, my suggestions may sound radical to some of you. Then again if they don't appease you, please take them as jokes.

In Swedish universities, the students decide. The relation between the officials of an university and the students are like salesmen and customers. Everything can be purchased for a price, even education. This is especially true since private schools like Cornell demand a high tuition fee. However, in Sweden, if your sellers are doing bad, you have the right to complain, sue them and put them out of their business. The latter part is more or less unheard of in US. If a Swedish professor mistreats the students (e.g. by making the exams impossible), he/she better start looking for a new job, cause it won't take long before the "customers" rebel and put the "salesperson" out of business. Ultimately, since the professors are the ones giving out the grades, the Swedish system has devised strategies to prevent the professors from abusing their power. There are rules limiting the number of exams you can take per week. If students fail an exam, the professors are obliged to write make-up exams, at least in one year since the first exam taken. In each major program the student body help deciding the outline of the major curriculum, suggesting which classes should be taught first, which extracurricular classes are good to take, etc. What you get is a liberal and democratic academic environment. In Cornell, I've only heard Student Assembly struggling to place more trash cans and vending machines on campus. In my opinion, this is not what they should be doing.

Since I'm from Sweden, I have never been "imprinted" to worship the professors like the kids in US and Asia. A few weeks ago I posted a comment on facebook, implying that Cornell president and the professors are partially responsible for the incidents. Moments later, a few of my good friends challenged my opinion. Most of them used hypothetical arguments, e.g. it's wrong to blame a person's suicide on another person, or accusing the college officials is out of line. One of them even said the weather was to blame. When I asked them to come up with suggestions of how you can prevent the suicides, their vivid defense arguments fall short and all of them said "oh god I don't know/oh god I never thought about it". The guy who blamed the weather was smart enough to not say that we should build a weather control in Ithaca.

To me and my fellow European exchange students, the answer is simple: when president David Skorton is urging people to seek help at counseling, he's solving the problem from the wrong end. Making people seek help is never as good as removing the necessity of seeking help. In Sweden we have universities located in desolate places like Ithaca. In Sweden the weather is even worse than in upstate New York. The Swedish universities are no Ivy League. But at least our students never kill themselves. There is a correlation between workload-related stress level and suicides. MIT has long had a higher suicide rate than the national average. Cornell's suicides come from the Engineering School. Do you notice something there?

What surprised me was that so many of my friends see the high workload and stress level at Cornell as justified, despite the deaths. This paradigm is more like "unless Cornell has a lethal amount of workload, or it will never keep up its reputation". It's true that other factors do play a role. Relationship issues and family issues all come into the picture somehow. I have to argue that. Cornell is known as the Ivy League school that is easiest to get in, but hardest to get out. The freshmen kids who left their home for the first time are hardly prepared to live with both isolation and academic stress. I once tried to help a friend in civil engineering with his MATLAB project. To my surprise, the difficulty of that homework is comparable to my final project in Java-programming. This guy had no prior experience in programming, so he was toast. The only thing that could help him was making him understand the overall concepts of programming. He needed to take a break, let his brain process the overwhelming amount of information, and finally "click", like how it worked for me. But in this situation, my friend was too stressed to let it happen. I thought, even if I get such a program as homework, I probably can't finish it on time. The compiling and debugging is just too time-consuming. At one point, I look into his eyes. God, I could read angst, stress and anxiety in his eyes. He looked like a rabbit chased by wolves. If you have to deal with this kind of stress everyday, how can it not make you crazy?

This chart is how I see it happening:

high tuition + too many difficult classes
--> low grades + bad career prospect + little time for other things
--> life issues (relationship, lack of social competence, payback of loans, finding good job)
--> more issues
--> nervous breakdown
-->......


Practically, there are many things you can do. Most of them involve more professor participation in student consideration.

Make the final week into two or more weeks, opening up alternative time slots for final exams to increase the time gap between each exam, thus spreading out the high stress level at the end of each semester.

Systematically remove the hardest problem on any exam, extend the exam hours. Make sure that at least half of the students can actually finish answering all the questions. It happened to me in BEE 3500 that nobody finished the second prelim despite some extra 30 minutes.

Put up at least a sample prelim, final and/or midterm online for every course, so the students are more confident in what they study and more confident in their ability of dealing with the exams. Ideally, if you've studied enough you should handle any exam. In reality, it's hardly the case.

Make sure the professors actually try to solve the problems before giving them out on an exam. If the professor has to correct errors in an exam paper during the exam, then he/she obviously didn't do the job.

It's true that Ithaca is desolate and the weather crappy. What the college official should be doing is compensate for that by making everybody happier. If there is anybody capable of saving the lives of innocent students, it's the president and the professors. They should use and not abuse their power.

lördag 27 mars 2010

Spring Break!

I just came back from my coolest trip ever! This Spring Break I went with a group of European exchange students to New Orleans. We had such a blast partying on Bourbon Street. Later, five of us rented a car to go on a road trip. We drove as far as to Houston in Texas. The pictures are on facebook now, you can go check them out.

Now that I think about it, how did my companions make this trip so enjoyable? The answer is simple.

The European exchange students do not hold back on spending money. If you have traveled far enough to another city by flight or whatever, the most stupid thing you can do is not paying the money for getting into parks, going out at night, and tasting the local cuisines. I have seen people thinking that 20 euro is too expensive to get into an Aquarium in Lisbon, after paying the 200 euro flight ticket. Other people save money on buying cheap fast food all the time. Seriously, get real.

The European exchange students are all older compared the Asian and American friends I have here. With age comes life experience. My travel companions all know how to drive, how to party and have fun as if there is no tomorrow. They have all traveled the world so all of them can talk about interesting topics and stories from their trips. They got good people skill, speak a few languages, can chat up any random stranger and hold an interesting conversation for at least half a hour.

When you are traveling with the European gang, there is much room for improvisation. Before flying to New Orleans, we booked the return tickets for a week. Since nobody knew how the city would be like, we just booked the hostel for 4 nights. After the 4 nights, we felt we saw most of the Bourbon Street. And since the hostel was full so the reservation couldn't be extended, we decided to go on a road trip. After renting the car, there was a small debate of either going west or east from New Orleans. The decision was made by a coin-flip: west we go. After eating lunch in the wilderness of Louisiana next to a wild alligator and walking on the beach of Mexican gulf, another coin-flip decided that we drive to Texas. Eventually Houston. If I knew before that we'd end up in Houston anyway, I'd be less excited when seeing Houston on the horizon.

Most crucial of all, the European students have a good worldview. Living your life isn't about money, family, or power. Since being alive is a fact, what you should be doing is maximizing your joy. Life doesn't have to be enjoyed through huge successes, these things are naturally hard to come by. Life can be enjoyed through small pleasures such as taking a beer and talking about controversial topics like drinks, drugs or sex. The Europeans here know what they want, and they don't hesitate or be afraid of anything. If you know what you are doing, taking years off working as a bartender is not wrong. The money you make can be saved for travel expenses. A Danish friend here took a year off after high school. He used his saving to visit 45 countries. Whenever he gets to a place, he spends the day exploring the tourist attractions, and night to get into clubs to hook up with some local. His confidence is overwhelming. Not to say his sexual-confidence. After experiencing all the crazy things during this trip, I finally perceived the European's way of life. As an Asian-European, I will pick the best of both worlds.

lördag 13 mars 2010

zt: 韩寒关于烟草部门韩锋局长的一点文字

最近广西烟草部门韩峰局长的日记很热门,我认为在和谐和视频充满网络的年代里,突然来一些真人纯文学的描写,如沐春风。这应该是 2010年最具文学价值和社会价值的文学作品了。我看了局长日记以后,觉得我们不应该讨伐这位局长。我们假设局长日记日记是真的,我敢说这其实是一位好干 部。

1, 这位干部在半年的时间内仅仅受贿6万元,这是我近几年第一次看见受贿两次后面跟的是一个5位数,现在哪里去找这么清廉的局长。

2, 在他已玩,正玩,稳定的玩和待玩的那些床伴中,无一人属于包养性质。

3, 这位局长不赌博,不嫖娼。在公共场合办手机卡的时候按顺序排队,一排就是两个小时。

4, 在他的日记里,我们看到了一个以最小的成本在泡妞的国家干部,在其他干部都送二奶房子车子的时候,他送给自己的女人最贵重的礼品仅仅是一个手机或者一个 MP4。

5, 他应酬喝酒仅89次,我知道的大部分的村干部一年喝酒应酬都要超过365次。但是他多次喝醉,酒量一般,这点没有达到一个国家干部的要求。

6, 虽然他玩女人多次,但是陪老婆也有25次,给父亲购买手机,其中也没有发现利用职务之便给自己亲戚走过后门。

7, 他会自己安装电脑软件,爱好数码,爱好摄影,爱好体育,用微博体写日记,属于一个比较与时俱进的领导。

8, 在他的日记里,完全没有看到一个国家干部对于豪华汽车,房产奢侈品,书画古董收藏所表现出来的应有追求,甚至连个念想都没有,只是默默的玩着他的手机和电 脑。在日记里,他甚至写道,今天买了一个160元的XX耳机,真好!多么知足常乐的干部。

9, 至于工作方面……虽然尚且没有看出这位领导进行了任何的工作,但是所谓干部干部,只要干了自己的部下,也就完成了这个这个名词赋予的意义。

综 上所诉,在现有的国情下,他绝对是一个标准线以上好干部,这样的干部属于自娱自乐容易满足型,对国家和人民造成的危害是最小的。我们看到了一个仅 仅几个千把块钱就能让他乐不思蜀的国家干部,当他买了一部手机后,连续三天的日记内容都是“在家玩手机”,连女人都不玩了。在他这个位置上,比他罪大恶极 的干部多的是。我强烈的建议网名们放过这位干部,让他继续在他的工作岗位上研究他的数码产品,如果他下台了,接替他的人很可能比他对社会的危害要大很多, 唯一的区别就是人家不写日记。

我是认真的。

-- by 韩寒