TED英語演講：條件不好的學生該如何逆襲

比起少數條件特別好的同學，多數學生在學校裏所面對的不只是學業上的問題，還有家庭條件問題等，這些問題該如何解決?社會學家指出，光有毅力和專注力是不夠的，更要有抗壓能力和突破障礙的能力。下面是小編為大家收集關於TED英語演講：條件不好的學生該如何逆襲，歡迎借鑑參考。

The boost students need to overcome obstacles

演講者：Anindya Kundu

/ 中英對照演講稿 /

So, I teach college students about inequality and race in education, and I like to leave my office open to any of my students who might just want to see me to chat. And a few semesters ago, one of my more cheerful students, Mahari, actually came to see me and mentioned that he was feeling a bit like an outcast because he's black. He had just transferred to NYU from a community college on a merit scholarship, and turns out, only about five percent of students at NYU are black. And so I started to remember that I know that feeling of being an outsider in your own 's partially what drew me to my work.

我教導大學生關於教育中的不平等以及種族議題，我會把我的辦公室開放給我任何一個學生，就算只是想來找我聊聊都很歡迎。幾學期之前，我最快活的學生之一，馬哈里，竟然來找我，他提到，他覺得因為他是黑人而被排擠。他剛從小區大學轉學到紐約大學，他靠的是榮譽獎學金，結果，在紐約大學中只有5%的學生是黑人。於是，我開始想起，我知道在自己的小區中身為外人的感覺。這是導致我做這份工作的部份原因。

At my university, I'm one of the few faculty members of color, and growing up, I experienced my family's social mobility, moving out of apartments into a nice house, but in an overwhelmingly white neighborhood. I was 12, and kids would say that were surprised that I didn't smell like curry.

在我的大學中，我是少數的有色人種教職員之一，在成長過程中，我經歷了我家庭的社會地位變動，搬出公寓，搬進好房子，但卻是在一個非常白人的鄰里中。我當時十二歲，孩子們會説他們很意外我聞起來竟然不像咖哩。

That's because school is in the morning,and I had Eggo waffles for breakfast. Curry is for dinner.

那是因為上學時間是早上，而我早餐吃的是Eggo鬆餅。咖哩要到晚餐才吃。

So when Mahari was leaving, I asked him how he was coping with feeling isolated. And he said that despite feeling lonely,he just threw himself at his work, that he built strategies around his grit and his desire to be successful. A mentor of mine is actually Dr. Angela Duckworth,the psychologist at UPenn who has defined this stick-to-itiveness of grit as being "the perseverance and passion for long-term goals."

所以當馬哈里要離開時，我問他，他如何處理被隔離的感受。他説，儘管感到孤獨，他就讓自己埋頭工作，為他的毅力和想要成功的慾望建立起策略。我的導師之一是安傑拉達克沃斯博士，賓州大學的心理學家，她將堅忍不拔的毅力定義為「對長期目標的堅持不懈及熱情。」

Angela's book has become a best seller, and schools across the country, particularly charter schools, have become interested in citing "grit" as a core value. But sometimes grit isn't enough, especially in education. So when Mahariwas leaving my office, I worried that he might need something more specific to combat the challenges that he mentioned to me.

安傑拉的書暢銷熱賣，全國的學校、特別是公立學校，都變得很想要引用「毅力」作為一個核心價值。但有時，光有毅力並不夠，特別是在教育中。所以當馬哈里離開我的辦公室，我擔心他可能需要更明確的東西，來對抗那些他跟我提及的挑戰。

As a sociologist, I also study achievement,but from a slightly different perspective. I research students who have overcome immense obstacles related to their background. Students from low-income, often single-parent households, students who have been homeless,incarcerated or perhaps undocumented, or some who have struggled with substance abuse or lived through violent or sexual trauma.

身為社會學家，我也研究成就，但會從稍微不同的觀點切入。我研究的學生，是克服了與他們背景相關的巨大障礙的學生。有些來自低收入户，通常都是單親家庭，有些曾經無家可歸、被監禁過、或也許是沒有身份證明文件的，有些因為曾經濫用藥物而在掙扎，或是經歷過暴力或性創傷。

So let me tell you about two of the grittiest people I've met. Tyrique was raised by a single mother, and then after high school, he fell in with the wrong crowd. He got arrested for armed robbery. But in prison, he started to work hard. He took college credit courses, so when he got out, he was able to get a master's, and today he's a manager at a nonprofit.

讓我告訴各位關於兩位我見過最有毅力的人。泰瑞克是被單親媽媽扶養長大的，高中之後，他遇到了不好的朋輩。他因為武裝搶劫而被捕。但在監獄中，他開始努力。他上大學的學分課程，所以出獄時，他拿到了碩士學位，現在他是一間非營利機構的經理。

Vanessa had to move around a lot as a kid, from the Lower East Side to Staten Island to the Bronx. She was raised primarily by her extended family, because her own mother had a heroin addiction. Yet at 15,Vanessa had to drop out of school, and she had a son of her own. But eventually, she was able to go to community college, get her associate's, then go to an elite college to finish her bachelor's.

凡妮莎小時候常常搬家，從紐約下東城，搬到史泰登島，再搬到布朗克斯區。她主要是由她的親戚養大的，因為她的母親有海洛因毒癮。但在十五歲時，因為她有了孩子，凡妮莎休學了。但最終，她得以進入小區大學，取得副學士學位，接着進入一所菁英大學，取得她的學士學位。

So some people might hear these stories and say, "Yes, those two definitely have grit. They basically pulled themselves up by the bootstraps." But that's an incomplete picture,because what's more important is that they had factors in their lives that helped to influence their agency, or their specific capacity to actually overcome the obstacles that they were facing and navigate the system given their circumstances.

有些人聽到這些故事可能會説：「是，這兩個人的確有毅力。他們基本上靠自己的努力改善了處境。」但那並非實際完整的狀況。因為更重要的是，他們的人生中有些因子，協助影響了他們的動力、或他們的特定的能力，讓他們能真的克服他們面對的障礙，並以他們的情況在體制中力爭上游。

So, allow me to elaborate. In prison,Tyrique was actually aimless at first, as a 22-year-old on Rikers Island. This is until an older detainee took him aside and asked him to help with the youth program. And in mentoring youth, he started to see his own mistakes and possibilities in the teens. This is what got him interested in taking college-credit courses.

讓我進一步解釋。泰瑞克，這位囚居賴克斯島監獄的22歲青年，一開始其實毫無目標。直到一位老囚犯把他拉到一旁，請他協助一個青年項目。在指導青年的過程，他開始看見他自己在十多歲時犯的錯誤以及可能性。這讓他開始想要去上大學的學分課程。

And when he got out, he got a job with Fortune Society,where many executives are people who have been formerly incarcerated. So then he was able to get a master's in social work, and today, he even lectures at Columbia about prison reform. And Vanessa ... well, after the birth of her son,she happened to find a program called Vocational Foundation that gave her 20 dollars biweekly, a MetroCard and her first experiences with a computer.

他出獄後，在FortuneSociety得到一份工作，(譯註：非營利組織名稱)在那裏，許多主管以前都有坐過牢。所以他得以取得社工的碩士學位，現在，他甚至在哥倫比亞大學教授關於監獄改革的課。至於凡妮莎……在她的兒子出生後，她剛好找到一個職訓項目，叫VocationalFoundation，給了她每兩週$20、一張地鐵卡、以及她用計算機的初體驗。

These simple resources are what helped her get her GED, but then she suffered from a very serious kidney failure, which was particularly problem atic because she was only born with one kidney. She spent 10 years on dialysis waiting for a successful transplant.

這些簡單的資源協助她取得高中等級學歷證明(GED)，但接着她遭受到很嚴重的腎衰竭，她出生時只有一個腎，因此這對她來説特別麻煩。她花了十年洗腎，等待成功的移植。

After that, her mentors at community college had kept in touch with her, and so she was able to go, and they put her in an honors that's the pathway that allowed her to become accepted to one of the most elite colleges for women in the country, and she received her bachelor's at 36,setting an incredible example for her young son.

那之後，她在小區大學的導師一直和她保持聯絡，所以她得以進學校，他們將她安排到榮譽課程中。那是在一所全國數一數二的菁英女子大學錄取她之前，她所走過的路，她在36歲時取得學士學位，為她的兒子做了一個好榜樣。

What these stories primarily indicate is that teaching is social and benefits from social scaffolding. There were factors pushing these two in one direction, but through tailored mentorship and opportunities, they were able to reflect on their circumstances and resist negative influences. They also learned simple skills like developing a network,or asking for help -- things many of us in this room can forget that we have needed from time to time, or can take for granted.

這些故事主要點出的重點是，教學是社會性的，受惠於社會框架支持。的確有些因子將這兩個人推向一個方向，但透過量身訂作的引導和機會，他們才得以反省他們的處境，並抗拒負面的影響。他們也學會了簡單的技能，像是開發網絡、或是尋求協助。在座各位可能已經忘記，我們偶爾都會需要幫助，或已把它視為理所當然。

And when we think of people like this, we should only think of them as exceptional, but not as exceptions. Thinking of them as exceptions absolves us of the collective responsibility to help students in similar situations. When Presidents Bush, Obama and now even Trump,have called education "the civil rights issue of our time," perhaps we should treat it that way. If schools were able to think about the agency that their students have and bring to the table when they push them, what students learn can become more relevant to their lives, and then they can tapinto those internal reservoirs of grit and character.

當我們想想象這樣的人，我們只該將他們想成是特殊的，而非例外。將他們視為例外，是讓我們卸責，免除協助類似學生的集體責任。總統布什、歐巴馬、甚至現在的川普，都把教育稱為是「我們時代的公民權利議題」，也許我們該這樣看待它。如果學校能想想他們的學生有什麼動力，並在推他們一把時提供意見，那麼學生所學的就能對其生活更有重要性，那麼他們就能將內在儲藏的毅力和品格拿出來用。

So this here -- My student Mahari got accepted to law school with scholarships, and not to brag, but I did write oneof his letters of recommendation.

這裏的這位是──我的學生馬哈里，他得到獎學金，被法學院錄取，不是要誇耀，但他的推薦信之一是我寫的。

And even though I know hard work is what got him this achievement, I've seen him find his voice along the way, which as someone who's grown up a little bit shy and awkward, I know it takes time and support. So even though he will rely a lot on his grit to get him through that first-year law school grind, I'll be there as a mentor for him, check in with him from time to time, maybe take him out to get some curry that he can keep growing his agency to succeed even more.

雖然我知道是努力讓他有這樣的成就，我看到他在這條路上找到自己的聲音，但他在成長過程中是個有點害羞且笨拙的人，我知道這的確需要時間和支持。雖然他將要很仰賴他的毅力，來幫他渡過法學院苦學的第一年，我會在這裏，扮演他的導師，偶爾看看他的狀況，也許帶他出去吃點咖哩……讓他能夠持續進一步發展朝成功前進的動力。

Thank you.(Applause)

謝謝。(掌聲)