College will be the most important years in your life. It is in college that you will truly discover what learning is about. You often question “what good is this course”. I encourage you to be inquisitive, but I also want to tell you :“education is what you have left after all that is taught is forgotten”. What I mean by that is the materials taught isn’t as important as you gaining the ability to learn a new subject, and the ability to analyze a new problem. That is really what learning in college is about – this will be the period where you go from teacher-taught to master-inspired, after which you must become self-learner. So do take each subject seriously, and even if what you learn isn’t critical for your life, the skills of learning will be something you cherish forever。

　　大學(xué)將是你人生最重要的時(shí)光，在大學(xué)里你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)學(xué)習(xí)的真諦。你以前經(jīng)常會(huì)問到 “這個(gè)課程有什么用”，這是個(gè)好問題，但是我希望你理解：“教育的真諦就是當(dāng)你忘記一切所學(xué)到的東西之后所剩下的東西。”我的意思是，最重要的不是你學(xué)到的具體的知識(shí)，而是你學(xué)習(xí)新事物和解決新問題的能力。這才是大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)的真正意義——這將是你從被動(dòng)學(xué)習(xí)轉(zhuǎn)向自主學(xué)習(xí)的階段，之后你會(huì)變成一個(gè)很好的自學(xué)者。所以，即便你所學(xué)的不是生活里所急需的，也要認(rèn)真看待大學(xué)里的每一門功課，就算學(xué)習(xí)的技能你會(huì)忘記，學(xué)習(xí)的能力是你將受用終身的。

　　Do not fall into the trap of dogma. There is no single simple answer to any question.Remember during your high school debate class, I always asked you to take on the side that you don’t believe in? I did that for a reason -- things rarely“black and white”， and there are always many ways to look at a problem. You will become a better problem solver if you recognized that. This is called “critical thinking”， and it is the most important thinking skill you need for your life. This also means you need to become tolerant and supportive of others. I will always remember when I went to my Ph.D. advisor and proposed a new thesis topic. He said “I don’t agree with you, but I’ll support you。” After the years, I have learned this isn’t just flexibility, it is encouragement of critical thinking, and an empowering style of leadership, and it has become a part of me. I hope it will become a part of you too。

　　不要被教條所束縛，任何問題都沒有一個(gè)唯一的簡(jiǎn)單的答案。還記得當(dāng)我?guī)椭愀咧械霓q論課程時(shí)，我總是讓你站在你不認(rèn)可的那一方來辯論嗎?我這么做的理由就是希望你能夠理解：看待一個(gè)問題不應(yīng)該非黑即白，而是有很多方法和角度。當(dāng)你意識(shí)到這點(diǎn)的時(shí)候，你就會(huì)成為一個(gè)很好的解決問題者。這就是“批判的思維”——你的一生都會(huì)需要的最重要的思考方式，這也意味著你還需要包容和支持不同于你的其他觀點(diǎn)。我永遠(yuǎn)記得我去找我的博士導(dǎo)師提出了一個(gè)新論題，他告訴我：“我不同意你，但我支持你。”多年后，我認(rèn)識(shí)到這不僅僅是包容，而是一種批判式思考，更是令人折服的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)風(fēng)格，現(xiàn)在這也變成了我的一部分。我希望這也能成為你的一部分。

　　Follow your passion in college. Take courses you think you will enjoy. Don’t be trapped in what others think or say. Steve Jobs says when you are in college, your passion will create many dots, and later in your life you will connect them. In his great speech given at Stanford commencement , he gave the great example where he took calligraphy, and a decade later, it became the basis of the beautiful Macintosh fonts, which later ignited desktop publishing, and brought wonderful tools like Microsoft Word to our lives. His expedition into calligraphy was a dot, and the Macintosh became the connecting line. So don’t worry too much about what job you will have, and don’t be too utilitarian, and if you like Japanese or Korean, go for it, even if your dad thinks “it’s not useful。” ：) Enjoy picking your dots, and be assured one day you will find your calling, and connect a beautiful curve through the dots。

　　在大學(xué)里你要追隨自己的激情和興趣，選你感興趣的課程，不要困擾于別人怎么說或怎么想。史蒂夫•喬布斯曾經(jīng)說過，在大學(xué)里你的熱情會(huì)創(chuàng)造出很多點(diǎn)，在你隨后的生命中你會(huì)把這些點(diǎn)串聯(lián)起來。在他著名的斯坦福畢業(yè)典禮演講中，他舉了一個(gè)很好的例子：他在大學(xué)里修了看似毫無用處的書法，而十年后，這成了蘋果Macintosh里漂亮字庫的基礎(chǔ)，而因?yàn)镸acintosh有這么好的字庫，才帶來了桌面出版和今天的辦公軟件(例如微軟Office)。他對(duì)書法的探索就是一個(gè)點(diǎn)，而蘋果Macintosh把多個(gè)點(diǎn)聯(lián)結(jié)成了一條線。所以不要太擔(dān)心將來你要做什么樣的工作，也不要太急功近利。假如你喜歡日語或韓語，就去學(xué)吧，盡管你的爸爸曾說過那沒什么用：)盡興地選擇你的點(diǎn)吧，要有信念有一天機(jī)緣來臨時(shí)，你會(huì)找到自己的人生使命，畫出一條美麗的曲線。

　　【(公眾號(hào)：GDUTCEO)】

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