Why students more 為什么留學(xué)女生多

在向我咨詢美國(guó)留學(xué)事宜的學(xué)生中，女生的比例大大超過(guò)男生。近年來(lái)，中國(guó)學(xué)生被美國(guó)大學(xué)錄取的，似乎女生的比例也高于男生，被美國(guó)名校錄取者尤是。前幾天讀了《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》的一篇文章，感觸良多，把它翻譯在此，希望有益于大眾。這是一個(gè)沉重的話題，我女兒把這篇文章轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)給我時(shí)，在郵件的主題上留下的是“sad article”(傷感的文章)。 ——高燕定
◎ By Jennifer Delahunty Britz1)
譯/高燕定2)
A few days ago I watched my daughter Madalyn open a thin envelope from one of the five colleges to which she had applied. “Why?” was what she was obviously asking herself as she handed me the letter saying she was waitlisted3)。
Why， indeed? She had taken the toughest courses in her high school and had done well， sat through4) several Saturday mornings taking SAT's and the like， participated in the requisite number of extracurricular5) activities， written a heartfelt and well-phrased essay and even taken the extra step of touring the campus.
She had not， however， been named a National Merit finalist6)， dug a well for a village in Africa， or climbed to the top of Mount Rainier. She is a smart， well-meaning， hard-working girl， but in this day and age of swollen7) applicant pools that are decidedly female， that wasn't enough. The fat acceptance envelope is simply more elusive8) for today's accomplished young women.
I know this well. At my own college these days， we have three applicants for every one we can admit. Just three years ago， it was two to one. Though Kenyon was a men's college until 1969， more than 55 per cent of our applicants are female， a proportion that is steadily increasing. My staff and I carefully read these young women's essays about their passion for poetry， their desire to discover vaccines9) and their conviction10) that they can make the world a better place.
I was once one of those girls applying to college， but that was 30 years ago， when applying to college was only a tad11) more difficult than signing up for a membership at the YMCA12)。 Today， it's a complicated and prolonged run that begins early， and for young women， there is little margin for error： A grade of C in Algebra II/Trig13)? Off to the waitlist you go.
Rest assured14) that admissions officers are not cavalier15) in making their decisions. Last week， the 10 officers at my college sat around a table， 12 hours every day， deliberating16) the applications of hundreds of talented young men and women. While gulping17) down coffee and poring over18) statistics， we heard about a young woman from Kentucky we were not yet ready to admit outright. She was the leader/president/editor/captain/lead actress in every activity in her school. She had taken six advanced placement courses and had been selected for a prestigious state leadership program. In her free time， this whirlwind19) of achievement had accumulated more than 300 hours of community service in four different organizations.
Few of us sitting around the table were as talented and as directed at age 17 as this young woman. Unfortunately， her test scores and grade point average placed her in the middle of our pool. We had to have a debate before we decided to swallow the middling scores and write “admit” next to her name.
Had she been a male applicant， there would have been little， if any， hesitation to admit. The reality is that because young men are rarer， they're more valued applicants. Today， two-thirds of colleges and universities report that they get more female than male applicants， and more than 56 percent of undergraduates nationwide are women. Demographers20) predict that by 2009， only 42 per cent of all baccalaureate21) degrees awarded in the United States will be given to men.
We have told today's young women that the world is their oyster; the problem is， so many of them believed us that the standards for admission to today's most selective colleges are stiffer for women than men. How's that for an un in tended con sequence of the women's liberation movement?
The elephant that looms large in the middle of the room is the importance of gender balance. Should it trump the qualifications of talented young female applicants? At those colleges that have reached what the experts call a “tipping point，” where 60 percent or more of their en rolled students are female， you'll hear a hint of desperation in the voices of admissions officers.
Beyond the availability of dance partners for the winter formal， gender balance matters in ways both large and small on a residential college campus. Once you become decidedly female in enrollment， fewer males and， as it turns out， fewer females find your campus attractive.
What are the consequences of young men discovering that even if they do less， they have more options? And what messages are we sending young women that they must， nearly 25 years after the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment， be even more accomplished than men to gain admission to the nation's top colleges?
In the meantime， I'm sending out waitlist and rejection letters for nearly 3，000 students. Unfortunately， a majority of them will be female， young women just like my daughter. I will linger over letters， remembering individual students I've met， essays I loved， accomplishments I've admired. I know all too well that parents will ache when their talented daughters read the letters and will feel a bolt of anger at the college admissions officers who didn't recognize how special their daughters are.
Yes， of course， these talented young women will all find fine places to attend college—Maddie has four acceptance letters in hand—but it doesn't dilute22) the disappointment they will feel when they receive a rejection or waitlist offer.
I admire the brilliant successes of our daughters. To parents and the students getting thin envelopes， I apologize for the demographic realities.
幾天前，我看到我女兒瑪?shù)铝沾蜷_一個(gè)薄薄的信封，那是她申請(qǐng)的五所大學(xué)中的一所大學(xué)的來(lái)信。當(dāng)她把這封將她的名字放在錄取候補(bǔ)名單上的信遞給我時(shí)，她明顯在自問(wèn)“為什么?”
到底是為什么?她選修了她所就讀的高中里開設(shè)的最難的課程，并且取得很好的成績(jī);她連續(xù)幾個(gè)星期六早晨參加SAT等考試;參加了好幾項(xiàng)課外活動(dòng);寫出了動(dòng)人心弦、修辭生動(dòng)的申請(qǐng)論文;甚至還到幾所學(xué)校去看過(guò)。
誠(chéng)然，她沒(méi)有當(dāng)選為國(guó)家榮譽(yù)學(xué)者決勝者，沒(méi)有為非洲的農(nóng)村挖過(guò)井，也沒(méi)有攀登過(guò)瑞尼火山。她確實(shí)是個(gè)聰明的、懂事的、刻苦的女孩。但是，在這個(gè)申請(qǐng)者蜂擁而至的年代，以上的條件無(wú)疑地對(duì)于女孩來(lái)說(shuō)是絕對(duì)不夠的。厚厚的錄取信封對(duì)于今天有成就的年輕女性來(lái)說(shuō)更加難以獲得。
我對(duì)這一點(diǎn)是太了解了。最近，在我自己的學(xué)校里，每 3個(gè)申請(qǐng)人中，我們只能錄取一個(gè)，而在3年以前，是2：1.雖然凱尼恩學(xué)院在1969年以前還是一個(gè)男子學(xué)校，現(xiàn)在卻有超過(guò)55%的申請(qǐng)者是女性，這個(gè)比例還在持續(xù)增長(zhǎng)。我和我的職員們仔細(xì)地閱讀這些年輕女性的申請(qǐng)論文：感受到她們對(duì)詩(shī)歌的激情，對(duì)找到疫苗的渴望，以及她們能夠?qū)⑹澜缱兊酶�加美好的信念�?br /> 我也曾經(jīng)是個(gè)像她們一樣的女孩，我也申請(qǐng)過(guò)大學(xué)，不過(guò)，那是30年前的事情。那時(shí)候申請(qǐng)大學(xué)只比登記成為一個(gè)基督教青年會(huì)會(huì)員稍稍難一點(diǎn)。如今，申請(qǐng)大學(xué)是一件非常復(fù)雜的、很早就開始的長(zhǎng)跑。對(duì)女孩來(lái)說(shuō)，不允許有一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)的差錯(cuò)：你在代數(shù)II及三角函數(shù)課上拿了一個(gè)C意味著什么呢?意味著你只能排到候補(bǔ)名單上了。
請(qǐng)放心，招生人員絕不是隨隨便便地就做出決定的。上個(gè)星期，我們學(xué)校的10位招生人員，每天12個(gè)小時(shí)，齊齊地圍坐在桌子前，從數(shù)百位優(yōu)秀的申請(qǐng)者中小心翼翼地進(jìn)行篩選。一邊大口地喝著咖啡，一邊認(rèn)真研究各種統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)。這會(huì)兒，正說(shuō)到一個(gè)來(lái)自肯塔基州的女生，我們還沒(méi)有痛痛快快地做出錄取的決定。她參加學(xué)校的各項(xiàng)活動(dòng)，身兼領(lǐng)導(dǎo)、主席、編輯、球隊(duì)隊(duì)長(zhǎng)、戲劇主演等等。她選修了6門AP (大學(xué)課程，譯者注)，并且被選拔參加州里著名的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)才能培訓(xùn)項(xiàng)目。在她的課余時(shí)間里，她在4個(gè)不同的組織里做了超過(guò)300個(gè)小時(shí)的社區(qū)服務(wù)，使她獲得旋風(fēng)式的成就。
坐在桌子前面的我們，沒(méi)有幾個(gè)人在17歲的時(shí)候像這位女生那么優(yōu)秀和那么有定向性的。遺憾的是，她的考試成績(jī)和平均學(xué)分績(jī)點(diǎn)處于所有申請(qǐng)人的中間段。我們不得不進(jìn)行一場(chǎng)辯論，然后才決定，忍受這個(gè)中等的分?jǐn)?shù)，在她的名字旁邊寫下“錄取”。
如果她是一位男生，我們即使猶豫過(guò)——如果有的話——也不會(huì)那么難決定錄取她�，F(xiàn)實(shí)的狀況是，男生比較稀罕，他們成了更有價(jià)值的申請(qǐng)者。如今，2/3的大學(xué)統(tǒng)計(jì)報(bào)告指出，他們收到的女性申請(qǐng)者多于男性，全美國(guó)大學(xué)里的女生(本科)超過(guò)了56%.人口統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)家預(yù)測(cè)，到了2009年，美國(guó)的學(xué)士學(xué)位將只有42%是授予男生的。
我們?cè)��?jīng)告訴今天的青年女性，世界是你們的，問(wèn)題是，她們中有那么多人相信我們，然而，今天大多數(shù)錄取難度大的大學(xué)對(duì)于女生來(lái)說(shuō)，錄取難度要大于男生。這難道就是婦女解放運(yùn)動(dòng)預(yù)期不到的結(jié)果嗎?
性別平衡的重要就像把大象放在一間屋子中央那樣不可忽視。難道優(yōu)秀的女性申請(qǐng)者的素質(zhì)要屈從于性別平衡?在那些入學(xué)女生達(dá)到被專家們稱之為“臨界點(diǎn)”的60%的大學(xué)里，你從招生官員的談吐中，能夠感覺出絕望。
除了冬季大型舞會(huì)的舞伴匱缺外，性別不平衡在住宿大學(xué)里有很多大大小小各方面的問(wèn)題。一旦你的學(xué)校女生絕對(duì)的多于男生時(shí)，不但男生不愿意來(lái)，女生也會(huì)覺得這個(gè)學(xué)校沒(méi)有吸引力。
當(dāng)男生們發(fā)現(xiàn)，盡管他們付出較少，卻仍有較多的選擇時(shí)，將會(huì)造成什么樣的后果?在權(quán)利平等修正案夭折將近25年以后，難道我們給青年女性發(fā)出的信息是，她們必須比男生更有成就，才能與男生一樣，獲得著名大學(xué)的錄取?
其間，我正給將近3000位學(xué)生發(fā)出候補(bǔ)通知和拒絕信。很不幸的是，其中多數(shù)是女生，正是像我女兒一樣的年輕女性。我流連在一封封信中，在這些信里，我回憶著我所見過(guò)的一個(gè)個(gè)學(xué)生，一份份我喜愛的申請(qǐng)論文，一項(xiàng)項(xiàng)我所欽佩的成就。我非常清楚地知道，在優(yōu)秀的女兒們讀著這些信的時(shí)候，他們的家長(zhǎng)將是多么心痛，他們將對(duì)招生官員沒(méi)有認(rèn)識(shí)到他們女兒們的不平凡而暴怒。
當(dāng)然，這些優(yōu)秀的女生最終都將找到不錯(cuò)的學(xué)校入學(xué)——瑪?shù)铝帐稚弦惨呀?jīng)有了4份錄取通知——不過(guò)，這并不能沖淡她們接到拒絕信和候補(bǔ)通知時(shí)失望的感覺。
我很欽佩我們的女兒們所取得的輝煌成功。對(duì)于接到薄薄的信封的家長(zhǎng)和學(xué)生們，我為這個(gè)人口統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)上的現(xiàn)實(shí)向他們道歉。
1. Jennifer Delahunty Britz：本文作者，為美國(guó)著名文理學(xué)院凱尼恩學(xué)院(Kenyon College)的招生院長(zhǎng)。
2. 高燕定：1986年旅美，在美國(guó)得克薩斯A&M大學(xué)任研究?jī)x器專家至今，為獨(dú)立升學(xué)顧問(wèn)。熱衷教育研究和考察，深入了解美國(guó)教育。20年來(lái)，以獨(dú)特的視角潛心探究美國(guó)教育文化，融合中西方教育思維之優(yōu)勢(shì)，形成自己對(duì)精英人才綜合素質(zhì)培養(yǎng)的獨(dú)到見解，本文即摘自他的個(gè)人博客 (http://blog.sina.com.cn/m/gaoyanding)。
3. waitlist v. 把……登入申請(qǐng)人名單
4. sit through：一直挺到結(jié)束，耐著性子看完(或聽完)
5. extracurricular adj. 課外的，業(yè)余的
6. finalist n. 參加決賽的選手
7. swollen adj. 腫脹的
8. elusive adj. 難以捉摸的
9. vaccine n. 疫苗
10. conviction n. 信念
11. tad n. 微量，少量
12. YMCA：Young Men's Christian Association，即基督教青年會(huì)
13. Trig：即Trigonometry，[數(shù)]三角學(xué)，尤其研究三角函數(shù)
14. rest assured：放心
15. cavalier adj. 自由自在的，傲慢的
16. deliberate v. 慢慢地考慮，權(quán)衡
17. gulp v. 吞，一口吞下
18. pore over：注視，鉆研
19. whirlwind n. 旋風(fēng)
20. demographer n. 人口統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)家
21. baccalaureate n. <美>學(xué)士學(xué)位
21. oyster n. [動(dòng)]牡蠣，蠔