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从1967年起,我就在斯坦福大学任教。常有人问我,这些年学生有什么变化。我通常回答道:他们更注重实际了。十年前,主修历史的学生最多,现在是学经济的最多……。过去上大学是为了接受人文学科的教育,现在则是为了就业前的技能训练。但是,在斯坦福、哈佛、勃兰蒂斯和其它一些大学中,过去几年里却出现了一种相反的倾向,就是把西方文化史这门最没用的课程列为必修课。现在每个斯坦福的本科生,必须学习古希腊至今的西方传统,为期一年。尽管现在来判断其成败还为时尚早,但我可以直言
From 1967, I taught at Stanford University. People often ask me what has happened to students in these years. I usually reply: They pay more attention to reality. Ten years ago, the largest number of students majoring in history, is now the largest economy ... .... It used to go to college for humanities education but now it is for pre-employment skills training. However, at Stanford, Harvard, Brantis and some other universities, the opposite trend has emerged in the past few years in making the most useless course of Western cultural history a compulsory course. Now every Stanford undergraduate must study the ancient Greek tradition so far for a year. Although it is still too early to judge its success, I can make it plain