耶鲁校长开学演讲：你想做狐狸还是刺猬？(双语视频)

第一篇：耶鲁校长开学演讲：你想做狐狸还是刺猬？(双语视频)

耶鲁校长开学演讲：你想做狐狸还是刺猬？（双语视频）

8月26日，耶鲁大学发布校长彼得·沙洛维（Peter Salovey）致新生的演讲。在这个技术创新呼啸着奔向未来的时代，我们应该成为什么样的学习者？公元前七世纪，希腊诗人讲述了一个关于狐狸和刺猬的故事，自此之后，狐狸和刺猬成为两种对称出现的学习者代表，“狐狸观天下之事，刺猬以一事观天下”，狐狸寻求广泛的知识，刺猬向内追寻世界的根本原则。我们要如何寻求自己的求知之路？耶鲁校长讲给新生的这番话，可能启迪所有人的思考。原声视频（无字幕 练听力咯）1双语文稿：

Thinking Like a Fox– Yale College Opening Assembly Address, Class of 2021Peter Salovey, President of Yale UniversitySaturday, August 26, 2017 Good morning and welcome – to my colleagues here on stage, to the family members who are here with us today, and most of all, to the Class of 2021!I want to give a special shout-out to Marvin Chun, who’s beginning his first year as the new dean of Yale College.And I know you all enjoyed his remarks just as much as I did.To Marvin Chun…大家早上好，欢迎各位同事、各位家长，尤其是2021届的本科新生们！也特别欢迎马文（Marvin Chun），我们今年新上任的本科生院院长。A few years ago, I helped a friend – a member of the Yale College Class of 1982, in fact – I helped him teach a Yale College seminar called “Great Big Ideas.” Each week, students in the seminar considered a “big idea” from a different field of study.For homework, they watched video lectures delivered by various experts and read primary sources.Then they came to [the] class ready to debate each week’s “big idea.” By the end of the course, they had become conversant in major debates and questions in art history, political philosophy, evolutionary biology, and other fields as well.My friend described the educational impact of the course as “a mile wide and an inch deep.”几年前，我帮一位朋友上过一门耶鲁本科生的讨论课，名字叫做“伟大的思想”——这位朋友其实是耶鲁本科1982届的校友。每周，上讨论课的学生都会思考不同研究领域的一个“伟大思想”。课后作业是观看各领域专家的视频讲座，并阅读一手文献，做好发言的准备。然后来上这一周的课，课上就本周的“伟大思想”进行辩论。到课程结束时，他们对许多领域的重大问题和思想便有所掌握，诸如艺术史、政治哲学、进化生物学等。我的朋友将这门课的教学效果描述为，“宽达一里，深仅一寸”，也就是“涉猎广泛、浅尝辄止”。I was thinking about Great Big Ideas over the summer.Reflecting on the goal for the course reminded me of the story of the fox and the hedgehog.Now, this is a distinction attributed to Archilochus, the seventh century B.C.Greek poet and warrior, who said, “a fox knows many things, but a hedgehog, one important thing.” When threatened, the fox remains flexible, coming up with a clever way to deal with the particular matter at hand.The hedgehog, however, responds the same way to every threat: it rolls up into a ball.The fox is wily and resilient.The hedgehog, consistent but inflexible.这门课今年夏天一直在我脑海萦绕，回想这门课的目标，让我想起“狐狸与刺猬”的故事。这二者的区别，据说最早是公元前七世纪的古希腊诗人阿尔奇洛克斯(Archilochus)提出来的，他说“狐狸知道很多的事，刺猬则只知道一桩大事。”当受到威胁时，狐狸会随机应变，想出一个聪明的办法来应对。然而，刺猬总是用同一种方法来对应对威胁：就是把自己卷成一个球。这两种动物，一个聪明狡猾，灵活善变，另一个恪守成式，以不变应万变。

The philosopher Isaiah Berlin popularized this distinction in a 1953 essay.Berlin described the hedgehog as a thinker who sees the world through a single, grand idea – a focused lens.Someone like Karl Marx or Ayn Rand might be considered a hedgehog.The fox, on the other hand, becomes knowledgeable about many different things.It draws on a multitude of ideas and experiences, depending on the situation at hand.Perhaps Confucius and Aristotle are best described as foxes.哲学家以赛亚· 柏林(Isaiah Berlin)在1953年发表的一篇论文中推介了这一区别。柏林将刺猬描述为一个思想家，他的方式是透过一个巨大的思想，好比一个聚焦的镜头，观察思考这个世界；马克思与安·兰德(Ayn Rand)大概算是这一类。而狐狸可谓是一部百科全书，知道许多事情，会根据眼前状况参考大量的想法和经验；孔子与亚里士多德可能是最好的代表。As Berlin says, “there exists a great chasm between those, on one side, who relate everything to a single vision…a single, universal organizing principle” – the hedgehogs – and “those who pursue many ends, often unrelated and even contradictory, connected, if at all, in some de facto way.” These are the foxes.正如柏林所说，这两者之间存在着显著的差异，刺猬坚持一种普遍原则，万事万物都用一种理念来解释；而狐狸则从多个维度出发，抓住那些常常看似不相干甚至矛盾的线索，发现实际是有关联的。

This dichotomy is obviously an over-simplification, as Berlin himself recognized.I am actually reminded of an old joke about there being two kinds of psychologists: those who believe that humanity can be divided into two types of people, and those who do not.In any case, the story of the fox and the hedgehog may help you today, right now, as you consider how to approach your time at Yale.柏林自己也意识到，这种二分法过于简单化了。这让我想起一个笑话，说有两种心理学家，一种认为人可以被分成两类，另一种认为不可以。不管怎样，希望狐狸与刺猬的故事，能够让每一个在耶鲁学习的人有所思考：要以何种方式度过在耶鲁的这段时光。

Your education in Yale College will expose you to some grand ideas that may seem compelling as unifying life philosophies.You will learn about and from some brilliant hedgehogs and brilliant foxes.But at this stage of your education, I want to urge you to emulate the fox.As inspired as you might be by a single idea or way of looking at the world, I suggest that you entertain many different ways of thinking and consider various points of view.Try them all on;see what fits you best.在耶鲁的本科学习过程中，你们会接触到一些伟大的思想，堪称很好的人生哲学。也会了解并且师从一些“伟大的刺猬”与“伟大的狐狸”。但是在这个阶段，我想鼓励大家多效仿狐狸。你可能会对某一种思想或世界观产生强烈的共鸣，但是我建议你们，多学习不同的思想、多考虑不同的观点。尽量都去尝试一下，最后再决定什么是最适合自己的。

The beauty of a liberal education – the education that Yale College offers – is that it liberates you from having to pursue a narrow, vocationally-oriented program of study.I hope you will take advantage of – and enjoy – this intellectual freedom.You will be able to choose from a wide variety of courses, learning about how people in many different fields think and understand the world.Your professors will introduce you to a panoply of ideas and ask you to think critically about all of them.You will be expected to question conventional orthodoxies rather than subscribe to a single view of the world.This work will be challenging – have no doubt – but it will also be exhilarating and, yes, liberating.人文教育之美在于将你从狭隘的、以职业为导向的学习计划中解放出来——这也正是耶鲁本科学院所提供的教育。我希望你们能够好好利用并享受这种思想自由。你们可以选择各种课程，了解不同领域的人是如何思考并理解这个世界的。你们的教授会给你们介绍很多丰富有趣的观点，并且要求你们进行思辨。教授会要求你们对那些正统观念提出质疑，而不是对某一观点深信不疑地接受。这样的学习，毫无疑问，将充满挑战，但也是思想解放、振奋人心的一次经历。

There will be plenty of time later to hone your focus, to specialize and develop your expertise.Perhaps you’ll decide to pursue a doctorate or attend professional school.And there may even be times here at Yale College when you will delve deeply into a certain topic for a paper or a project.When I received my graduate education here at Yale, for example, there were times when I had to be a hedgehog.Hedgehogs, too, have many fine qualities.之后，你们会有很多时间寻找自己要专攻的方向，培养自己的专长。也许你将继续深造，攻读博士学位，也许会进入某个专业学院学习。甚至在这里学习期间，有时会为了一篇论文或是一个课题深入研究某个问题。比如，当我在耶鲁读研究生时，有时候不得不像一个刺猬。刺猬也有许多优良的品质。

But over the years, I have loved seeing generations of Yale College students embrace the opportunity to think broadly and study widely.You’ll also develop as flexible thinkers and clear communicators.These foxlike attributes will serve you well no matter what you do after graduation.多年来，我很高兴看到一代又一代的耶鲁本科学生抓住机会，广泛地思考与学习。你们也将锻炼你们灵活思考和清楚交流的能力。无论你们毕业后从事什么样的工作，这些长项都能够对你们有所帮助。In fact, there are good reasons to believe that learning to think like a fox may pay important dividends.As many of you know, I am a psychologist.And my research and teaching have focused in the field of social psychology.And there is a social psychologist named Philip Tetlock at the University of Pennsylvania who has studied the ability of foxes versus hedgehogs – the human kind – to predict and prepare for the future.(Tetlock completed his doctoral work here at Yale in our Department of Psychology, by the way.)实际上，我们有理由相信像狐狸一样思考有很多好处。你们可能知道，我是一个心理学家。我的研究范围和教学领域都集中在社会心理学方面。在宾夕法尼亚大学，有一位名叫菲利普·泰特洛克(Philip Tetlock)的社会心理学家，他研究了人类中的“狐狸”与“刺猬”的能力，来推测和筹备未来。（对了，泰特洛克的博士研究也是在耶鲁心理学系完成的。）推荐：“教师节”必看的四部经典电影

Tetlock’s research is focused on political judgment – the accuracy with which politicians, experts, pundits, and others predict outcomes in the world and how various actions might affect these outcomes.So, for example, would a hardline foreign policy by the United States with respect to North Korea weaken Chairman Kim’s iron-clad grip on that country? Yes or no? How likely? Will President Assad’s regime in Syria fall in the next year? Yes or no? How likely?泰特洛克的研究重点是政治判断，就是评估政治家、专家和其他人对世界大势的预测准确性，以及各种行为会如何影响世界大势。比方说，美国对朝鲜的强硬外交政策是否会削弱金正恩对朝鲜的控制？明年，阿萨德政权在叙利亚是否会垮台？

Tetlock studied 284 prognosticators, experts who are paid to offer answers to questions in which they must predict the future about various world events.He analyzed 82,361 probability estimates made by these individuals in response to 27,450 forecasting questions, studying as well how they came to these judgments, and how they reacted when they were wrong, whether they revised their forecasts in response to new evidence.泰特洛克选取了284名预测者进行有偿调研，调研中他们必须对未来的全球事件作出预测。泰特洛克分析了针对27,450个预测问题做出的82,361个概率估计，并研究了他们是如何做出这些判断、在发现错误时做出何种反应以及他们是否会根据新的证据修改预测结果。

He found that specialists in making predictions about such situations are about as accurate as you or I would be.Consider that: highly-trained, well-paid experts are no more likely to be correct when predicting future events than ordinary people.Well-established talking heads are worst of all.They often stubbornly and overconfidently adhere to their original theories – the ideas most associated with them – even in the face of overwhelming evidence that they are wrong.Like hedgehogs, they stick with the point of view that made them famous and are dismissive of new information that contradicts their beliefs.They roll up into a ball.他发现，这些预测者在这种情况下做出的判断与你我做出的结果一致。请大家注意这一点：在预测未来事件时，这些训练有素且高薪的专家，也并不能作出比普通人更准确的预测。那些经常发表空开言论的人则更固执。他们常常对自己之前的理论和观点过于自信和执拗，即使面对压倒性的证据，他们也不愿意相信自己是错误的。如同刺猬一样，他们坚持自己的观点，不屑于了解与自己观点相悖的新信息。推荐：dog—ear 真的是“狗耳朵”吗？However, Tetlock did find some individuals who were better at predicting the future.As he describes them, these are “thinkers who know many small things(tricks of the trade).” They “are skeptical of grand schemes,” and they are willing to “stitch…together diverse sources of information.” Perhaps most important, they are not overly confident in “their own forecasting prowess….” In other words, they are humble, critical, well-informed, and flexible thinkers;in short, they are foxes.Foxes are the best prognosticators.但是同时，泰特洛克确实发现了一些能够很好预测未来的人。泰特洛克将他们称为“了解很多小事情的思想家”。他们对一些宏观计划保持怀疑态度，并且愿意将各种信息拼凑在一起。或许更重要的是他们对自己的预测能力不够自信。换句话说，他们是谦虚、批判、消息灵通且思维灵活的思想家。简单地说，他们就是狐狸。狐狸就是最好的预言家。

So, what does the fox say?(So you’re going to explain to your parents what that’s all about, right? That’s always between us, and 680 million people who have viewed that YouTube video.)The fox says,(fox doesn’t say ‘hide in a hole’, what it says on the video,)what the fox says is “I want to listen carefully, engage, explore, use my natural curiosity, and perhaps – in the end – outwit the others!” Foxes don’t get information only from sources with which they agree.When confronted by contrary ideas, the fox says, “bring it on.” Foxes are resilient.And they not only respond better to challenges – they may even be able to predict what challenges they will face down the road better than their hedgehog friends.那么，狐狸说什么呢？（这个问题，你们可以用现代话语解释给你们的父母）狐狸说：“我想去仔细倾听，去参与、去探索，充分利用我的好奇心，最终超越别人！”狐狸不仅从他们认同的观点中获取知识和信息，对于一些他们不同意的观点，狐狸也会说“来吧，没问题。”狐狸是灵活的，他们不仅可以在面对挑战时做出更好地反应，甚至可以预测到将来可能会遇到的困难。

All around us, we are surrounded by foxes who have shaped our lives and our world.In the last few days, some of you moved into one of Yale’s two new residential colleges, Pauli Murray or Benjamin Franklin.I am thrilled that we can offer a Yale College education to 15 percent more students in each cohort, starting with you – the Class of 2021.And it’s amazing how lovely and “Yale-like” the new colleges are;and yes, you can still create Gothic architecture in 2017.Others of you are the first to live as freshmen in Grace Hopper College;you are also part of something new and exciting.Benjamin Franklin, Pauli Murray, Grace Hopper – our three new college namesakes – they share some common attributes.All three were curious individuals who never stopped learning new things.And all of them were exemplary foxes.我们的周围充满了“狐狸”，他们塑造了我们的生活和世界。前几天，你们中的一些人搬进了耶鲁今年新设立的两所寄宿学院——保利·默里(Pauli Murray)学院和本杰明·富兰克林(Benjamin Franklin)学院（耶鲁大学针对本科生实施学院住宿制，耶鲁大学的住宿学院系以其著名校友命名，目前共有15所住宿学院）。我很高兴两所学院的设立让更多学生来到耶鲁，成为2021届学生们的一员。新学院充满“耶鲁”风，而且在2017年，你们同样可以入住哥特式建筑中。你们当中有人成为入住格雷斯学院(Grace Hopper College)的第一批新生。本杰明·富兰克林(Benjamin Franklin)、保利·默里(Pauli Murray)和格蕾丝·霍珀(Grace Hoppe)——我们的新学院以他们命名，他们三个人有着共同的特质——充满好奇心，从未停止学习新事物。他们都是典型的狐狸。

It’s probably obvious to you that Ben Franklin had a foxlike intellect, which he drew upon as an inventor, a statesman, a writer.His response to seemingly insurmountable challenges? Invent something.And so Franklin, witnessing the destructive power of electricity, develops the lightening rod;has difficulty seeing both near and far in middle age and so invents bifocals;needs a source of indoor heating less smoky than a fireplace and therefore builds what we now call the Franklin stove.And I don’t even want to know what problem he was trying to solve when he invented the flexible catheter!显而易见，作为一名发明家、政治家兼作家，本杰明·富兰克林(Ben Franklin)有着狐狸般的才智。面对看似无法克服的挑战，他总是通过发明东西来应对。富兰克林意识到电的破坏力，因此发明了避雷针；到中年视力受阻，于是发明了双光眼镜；当人们需要一种比壁炉更少烟味的室内采暖工具时，富兰克林发明了所谓的“富兰克林炉”。我甚至不想知道他在发明软导管时想要解决什么问题！

As a diplomat, Franklin’s contributions to international relations were characterized less by ideology(the hedgehog’s approach)and more by flexible statesmanship(a foxlike strategy).He gained the support of France for the cause of American independence by articulating Enlightenment ideas to an appreciative audience, endearing himself and his insights to his French counterparts.Moreover, Franklin was perfectly willing to change his mind, as evidenced by his embrace of the abolitionist cause later in his life.作为一名外交官，富兰克林对于国际关系的贡献在意识形态方面（刺猬的方法）较少，而更多表现为一个灵活的政治家（狐狸般的策略）。在美国独立战争期间，他通过向群众传播启蒙思想，通过表达自己的深刻见解，赢得了法国政府的支持。此外，富兰克林非常愿意改变他的想法，比如晚年他接受废奴主义。

Two centuries hence, Pauli Murray arrived at Yale to complete a doctorate in law.By this point, she was already an accomplished attorney and a civil rights pioneer.While Murray was at Yale, her friend Eleanor Roosevelt tapped her to serve on the President’s Commission on the Status of Women.It was during this time that Murray developed the novel approach of using the 14th Amendment to combat sex discrimination, doing the research to support her ideas right here in Sterling Library.Legal scholars up until that time had viewed this amendment as providing due process and equal protection under the law regardless of race, religion, or heritage, but Murray saw in it another path…she saw in it another path for the advancement of civil rights.A short time later, while working on her thesis in New Haven, Murray wrote a memorandum that helped ensure the inclusion of protections on the basis of sex in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.两个世纪后，保利·默里(Pauli Murray)来到耶鲁大学完成法学博士学位。当时她已经是一位很有成就的律师和民权先锋了。默里就读耶鲁期间，她的朋友埃莉诺·罗斯福(Eleanor Roosevelt)鼓励她到总统妇女地位委员会(the President’s Commission on the Status of Women)任职。正是在那段时间，默里提出了使用第十四修正案来反对性别歧视的新方法，并广泛的进行研究以支持她的观点。当时法律学者认为这项修正案是在法律框架下提供正当程序说明和平等保护，但在默里看来，这恰恰是促进公民权利的另一条道路。不久之后，默里撰写了一份备忘录，确保在1964年《民权法》中纳入基于性别的保护。

Pauli Murray was many things: a poet, a writer, an attorney, a legal scholar, an advocate for racial justice, and one of the founders of the National Organization for Women.She never stopped learning or trying new things.At the age of 62, she entered General Theological Seminary in New York and three years later, became the first African American woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest.Throughout her life, she listened, learned, and adapted to new challenges with astonishing success.默里有多重身份：诗人、作家、律师、法律学者、种族平等的倡导者以及国家妇女组织(the National Organization for Women)的创始人之一。她从未停止学习，一直在不断尝试新事物。在她62岁时，她进入纽约圣公会总会神学院(General Theological Seminary)，三年后成为第一位非裔女性圣公会牧师。在她的一生中，她善于倾听、学习、适应新的挑战，最终取得了惊人的成功。

Finally, Admiral Grace Hopper.She epitomizes the fox’s flexible intellect.She received her Ph.D.in mathematics from Yale, and after Pearl Harbor, she enlisted in the Navy, where she was assigned to work on one of the world’s first computers.Although her preparation in mathematics was important, Hopper had to think beyond what she had learned in school.Yale had not taught her to be a computer scientist – in fact, the profession didn’t even exist yet – but she had learned to think and solve problems.Hopper loved to say, “The most damaging words in the English language are, ‘It’s always been done that way.’” So, a lifelong maverick, Grace Hopper relied on her curiosity and her willingness to take risks, and in the process, she transformed the way we use computers, influencing all our lives.最后，我们讲的是有着狐狸般智慧的格雷斯·霍珀少将(Grace Hopper)。她在耶鲁大学获得数学博士学位，珍珠港事件后加入了海军，被分配参加了世界上第一台计算机的发明工作。在数学方面的知识储备固然重要，但霍珀不得不超越课堂知识进行思考。耶鲁没有教她如何成为一名计算机科学家，这个职业在那时甚至不存在，但她已经学会了思考如何解决问题。霍珀常说，“英语中最具破坏性的一句话就是，‘它就是这样。’”因此，作为一个终身特立独行的人，格蕾丝·霍珀(Grace Hopper)凭借她的好奇心和冒险精神，最终改变了人类使用电脑的方式，影响了我们的生活。

Members of the Class of 2021: I am proud and delighted that you’ll be able to pursue an education here at Yale.Like Franklin, Murray, Hopper, and a host of other foxes, you will develop your intellect in broad and flexible ways.You will learn to be careful thinkers, suspicious of easy answers and received wisdom.You will hone these skills so that you may work effectively with others – in the words of Yale’s mission statement – you’ll work with others to “…improve the world today and for future generations….” I know that you will experience great pleasure in becoming foxes yourselves.2021届的学生们：我为你们能在耶鲁大学接受教育而感到自豪和高兴。像富兰克林、莫里、霍珀和许多其他的狐狸一样，你们将以广泛而灵活的方式开拓思维，将学会成为谨慎的思考者，具备批判的思维并获得知识。你们将接受磨练，学会有效地与他人合作。正如耶鲁的愿景：“改善当今世界和未来。”我相信，在变成狐狸的过程中你们会收获巨大的幸福和成就。

第二篇：哈佛校长2017开学演讲：教育的目标是确保你能辨别“有人在胡说八道”

哈佛校长2017开学演讲：教育的目标是确保你能辨别“有

人在胡说八道”

小编：德鲁·吉尔平·福斯特，美国历史学家，现任哈佛大学校长（2007年至今），之前担任哈佛拉德克里夫高等研究院院长。福斯特是哈佛大学历史上第一位女校长，也是自1672年以来第一位没有哈佛学习经历的哈佛校长。以下为2017年8月29日哈佛大学新生开学典礼上，校长福斯特对新生的致辞。

欢迎，2021届的新生。我很高兴在新生参观日跟你们很多人打过照面，我也很欣喜有1,702人选择在这里度过自己未来四年的时光。你们代表着哈佛的现在和未来，欢迎你们。你们现在开启了人生的新篇章，这个时刻不仅对你们自己意义重大，对美国和世界来说同样如此。最近几周，我们感受到了全球核战争的威胁，我们目睹了极端天气的可怕，我们看到了发生在西班牙、芬兰、比利时和阿富汗的毁灭性恐怖主义行为，我们也听闻了美国一所大学城里令人心寒的仇恨、种族主义、反犹太主义和暴力事件，那个地方跟我们这里并无多大区别。

在这样的时刻，大学教育应该是什么样子？应该意味着什么？大学究竟是什么？在美国和世界进入如此充满挑战和不安定的时刻，我们如何看待大学的责任，也就是我们肩负的责任？我不是什么哈佛的女校长，我就是哈佛的校长 01 首先，大学是关于知识和对真理的追寻我们信仰事实以及人类探知事实的能力。我们坚信教育和学习是人类进步的手段，是民主政制的重要基础。哈佛是一所研究型大学，这意味着哈佛的全体教员致力于在其广泛研究领域中积极拓展知识的边界。当你们开始学习，你们也被邀请成为这趟探索之旅的一员，在教室和实验室，在图书馆和博物馆，还有在除此之外的广阔天地里。

你们最终可能会写出一篇毕业论文，就像去年大约四成毕业生所做的那样。你们可能对一个项目产生兴趣，对一个问题展开独立研究。或者，你们也许会在夏天的时候加入本科生研究项目，跟其他学生研究员一起住在校园，同时跟教员密切合作，在科学和工程学领域，在社会科学领域，在市场、组织、社群参与和全球健康领域，在人文和艺术领域，一起探索新知。我们认为，追寻真理需要持续的验证和重新评估，需要不断的论证、挑战和辩论。我们非常自信地认为，我们已经取得了一定的成功。真理既是愿望，也是灵感。我们知道对知识的探索永无止境，所以我们必须对新的想法、新的观点以及犯错的可能性持开放态度。这就要求我们具备勇敢、宽容和谦逊的品质，愿意参与到知识社群的辩论，愿意包容他人的想法，并愿意基于理性和证据改变自己的观点。不过，这些不仅仅是我们希望在你们每个人身上培养的重要智力技能，它们还是至关重要的基本能力——即做出判断和评估事实的能力，以及在新事实面前虚心学习和自我成长的意愿。

也是在欢迎本科新生的典礼上，哈佛艺术与科学学院已故的前任院长杰里米·诺尔斯（Jeremy Knowles）曾描述过他所认为的高等教育最重要目标：

他说：那就是确保毕业生能够辨别“有人在胡说八道”。你们会通过挑战和被挑战，通过直面异议和分歧，来学习这种能力，并在这当中找到自己的道路。02 这引出了我今天想对你们强调的大学第二个基本特征

在接下来的四年里，你们遇到的最重要想法中有很多不会来自教授、实验室、书籍或在线作业，它们会来自此刻坐在你们身边的人。你们提出的很多问题，学习解决的挑战，以及接受的新视角，都将是你们跟其他人进行互动的结果。这就是为什么你们的班级集体必须代表最广泛的背景、经历和兴趣，覆盖最多样化的地理起源、社会环境、民族、种族、宗教、性别认同、性取向和政治立场。

在2017年，一个人有可能通过在线学习积累足够多的知识和通过足够多的测验，以此获得大学学位。但是，我们却要求你们所有人离开自己原来的生活圈子，满载着行李，跟家人挥泪告别，搬到马萨诸塞州来，我们为什么要这样做？我们这样做是因为我们相信社群的功能，社群是一种必不可少的教育力量。不过，我们必须好好构建这个社群，这样它才不会仅仅呈现你们已经知道的东西，或者只能让你们结交跟自身经历和观点相近的人。

正是这种多样性，这种陌生化和差异化元素，让哈佛拥有了非同凡响的大学体验，我知道你们终有一天会发现这个事实。

2021届的新生，我们很高兴地欢迎你们，因为你们自己就是非常了不起的教育机器。你们注定会教导彼此，当然你们也会教给我们一些东西，而这正是因为你们身份和经历的多样性。当哈佛招生办公室决定录取你们时，是因为我们希望听到你们的声音，希望你们为这种创造性的不和谐音调做出贡献。

所以，请不要沉默无声。（还有，请不要在网络虚掷光阴，仿佛你不曾来过这里！）你们要跟其他人接触，多多发言，这样其他人才能从你们身上学到东西。你们还要更多地倾听，这样你们才能从其他人那里学到东西。不要害怕承担犯错的风险，不要害怕承认自己是错的，这是学习和成长的最佳方式。同时，宽容地倾听其他人的声音，这样他们也有可能进行这样的冒险。

你们要把自己的同学社群当作大学生涯最重要的礼物和机会之一，你们要帮助我们在哈佛建立一个人们能够兼收并蓄的模式，而非因各自差异发生分化。03 让我介绍一下从我刚阐述的原则中发展出来的两个问题

在未来的一年里，你们会听到很多关于我所描述的多样性的承诺，因为它已经在一宗备受瞩目的诉讼案中受到了直接挑战。引起争议的正是把你们录取到哈佛以及创造出2021届新生显著多样性的招生流程，我们将继续坚定地捍卫这个招生流程以及多样性的重要意义，它们既是我们教育理念的重要组成部分，也是让学生超越熟悉事物、向新理解和新可能性敞开怀抱的重要机会。

此外，在今年秋天，你们也有可能听到很多关于哈佛最后俱乐部（final clubs）、兄弟会和姐妹会的消息，以及一项即将在你们这一届首次生效的政策。事实上，在新生参观日的问答环节，你们当中曾有一人向我问过这件事，所以我知道有一些人已经在思考这个问题。这项新政策的动机源于我们相同的承诺，即提供一种肯定哈佛每个学生重要性以及敦促学生向差异化同学学习的教育体验。在四年大学生涯中，我们希望你们能够超越刚刚入学时的自己；我们希望你们探索自己认为是理所当然的东西，培养出在多元化环境中健康成长的能力——在未来几年，你们将在哈佛发现这样的环境。这些目标让哈佛院舍系统（House system）的生活学习环境充满了活力，你们将在明年3月被随机分配到不同的院舍，在那里生活和学习三年时间。此外，这些目标也明确表明，那些规模和影响日益扩大的歧视性、排他性和同质性组织，他们跟我们的价值观和教育目标是背道而驰的。在这样一个对美国和世界至关重要的时刻，你们来到了哈佛。

现在，你们已经成为哈佛近400年大学实验的重要组成部分。确保哈佛继续严谨和理性地追寻真理，这取决于我们。确保社群每个成员的才华在此过程中得到充分鼓舞和施展，这也取决于我们。让我们都尽己所能，努力使哈佛成为一个人人相互尊重的地方，从而让我们所有人都能做最好的自己。面对着全美各地不断涌现出的仇恨和暴力事件，我们需要坚持一种不同的共处方式。在这样一个破裂和分化的时刻，让我们成为团结的榜样。

我们从未像现在这样需要哈佛的承诺。欢迎你们来到哈佛。