MILAN — Most students look forward in life; too many teachers look back. A tad depressing as sentiments go, perhaps, but it sums up Italian universities.

米兰——大多数学生展望未来；太多教师却在回顾过去。这么说或许有点伤感，但这却是意大利大学的真实写照。

Take Milan Polytechnic¹. With around 40,000 students, the Politecnico di Milano is the largest and most prestigious² technical university in Italy, offering undergraduate, graduate and other advanced courses in engineering, architecture and design. Founded in 1863, just two years after Italy was united, Milan Polytechnic ranks well internationally; many of its graduates now grace the faculties³ of schools like M.I.T., Caltech and Oxbridge. Among the Politecnico’s distinguished⁴ alumni are the Nobel Prize-winning chemist Giulio Natta and the architects Aldo Rossi and Renzo Piano, the latter of whom designed the New York Times building in Manhattan.

就拿米兰理工大学(Milan Polytechnic)为例吧。这所学校的意大利文名称为Politecnico di Milano，有4万学生，是意大利规模最大、最负盛名的理工大学，提供工程、建筑和设计领域的本科、研究生和其他高等教育课程。1863年，意大利统一短短两年之后，米兰理工大学即已建校。它在国际上排名出众，很多毕业生现在麻省理工、加州理工和牛津剑桥这样的名校任教。杰出校友中包括诺贝尔化学奖得主居里奥·纳塔(Giulio Natta)，建筑师阿尔多·罗西(Aldo Rossi)和伦佐·皮亚诺(Renzo Piano)。曼哈顿的纽约时报大楼就是皮亚诺设计的。

Yet the Politecnico has a problem. As you know, here in Italy we speak Italian. Beautiful though our language may be, it is not the medium of choice for engineers when they’re building a beltway in Norway or designing a dam in Vietnam. For better or worse, the global tongue of engineers is English. Hoping to attract more international students, the Politecnico decided⁵ in 2011 to run its master’s courses and doctorates⁶ in English only.

不过，米兰理工也有一个问题。你知道的，在意大利，我们讲的是意大利语。这门语言虽然美丽，但对于那些要修建挪威绕城公路，或者设计越南水坝的工程师来说，却并非上上之选。无论好歹，工程师的全球通用语言就是英语。米兰理工2011年决定用全英文进行硕士课程教学和博士培养工作，希望能吸引更多国际学生。

And then all academic hell broke loose.

然后，学术圈就全乱套了。

Over 100 faculty⁷ members went to court to block the plan, citing a 1933 royal decree that makes Italian the official language of academia. Who cares if the decree was issued under fascism and driven by Benito Mussolini’s obsession⁸ with banning words like “cocktail⁹” and “sandwich”? So what if Italian Politecnico students speak good English already, and use only English-language textbooks? So what if their future job applications, interviews and business meetings will all be in English?

逾百名教师联名诉至法庭，要求阻止这个计划，理由是1933年的一项王室法令把意大利语定为学术界的官方语言。他们才不管这项法令是在法西斯统治下颁发的，由痴迷于取缔“鸡尾酒”和“三明治”等词语的贝尼托·墨索里尼(Benito Mussolini)推动。如果米兰理工的意大利学生已经能说一口流利的英语，使用全英文的课本了，如果他们未来的求职申请、面试和商务会议都是用英语进行的，又怎么样呢？

And requiring English-language teaching was obviously a good move for the university: The Politecnico’s international enrollment¹⁰ shot up. But for some faculty members, all that matters is their cozy¹¹ routine. They don’t feel comfortable teaching in English. Period. And in 2013, the regional administrative¹² court said they were right. Teaching in English was out.

对于这所大学而言，要求用英语教学显然是明智之举：米兰理工的国际学生人数直线上升。但对于一些教员而言，重要的只是他们习以为常的小日子。用英语授课让他们感觉不舒服，就是这样。2013年，该地区的行政法院说他们说得对，不能用英语授课。

But there was more to come. The recalcitrant¹³ academics then went on a nationwide campaign against their university’s decision. Unwisely, the guardian¹⁴ of the Italian language — the Accademia della Crusca, based in Florence — backed them, saying, “We note with regret and intense concern the creeping marginalization and abandonment of Italian in the upper tiers of university education.” Never mind that the English-language requirement applied¹⁵ only to master’s degrees and doctorates at a technical school where students learn how to build bridges and don’t deconstruct Dante. The defenders¹⁶ of Italian were on the warpath.

然而，事情并未就此了结。顽固的学者们随后又在全国范围内掀起了反对米兰理工决定的活动。意大利语的守护者、位于佛罗伦萨的“秕糠学会”(Accademia della Crusca)不明智地采取了支持他们的立场，出面表示，“我们遗憾地注意到，最高学府中正在逐步边缘化和遗弃意大利语，我们对此强烈关注。”他们完全无视这个计划涉及的是一所让学生研习如何修建桥梁、而非解构但丁的理工学校，针对的只是它的硕士和博士学位教育。意大利语的捍卫者们来势汹汹。

Administrators¹⁷ at the Politecnico refused to be intimidated¹⁸, and appealed the ruling. Last month the Council of State, which vets¹⁹ the legality of Italian administrative policies, ruled that it was up to the Constitutional Court, the country’s highest legal body, to decide whether English-only university teaching violates Article 33 of the Italian Constitution: “Art and science are free, and teaching them is free.” The question is whether teaching in English hampers²⁰ students’ free access to knowledge. But one could put it differently, and ask whether universities should be free to teach in whatever manner they think best serves their students.

米兰理工大学的管理层没有被吓退，他们对这个裁决进行了抗诉。上个月，负责审核意大利行政政策合法性的国务委员会(Council of State)裁定，应由本国最高法律机构宪法法院(Constitutional Court)来决定，在大学里进行全英语教学是否违反了意大利宪法第33条：“艺术与科学是自由的，其教育也是自由的。”现在的问题是，英语授课是否阻碍了学生对知识的自由获取。但你也可以换个问法：大学是否可以用他们认为最适合学生的方式，不受约束地自由教学?

Interestingly, the people one might expect to be most up in arms over English-only teaching, the students themselves, have taken it in stride. The Politecnico’s rector, Giovanni Azzone, told me: “Students write to me about everything from the lack of parking spaces to washrooms that don’t work. Not one has ever complained about the courses in English.”

你可能以为最反对英语授课的是学生本身，有趣的是，他们却对此泰然处之。米兰理工大学校长乔瓦尼·阿佐内(Giovanni Azzone)对我说：“学生写给我的投诉信里，从缺少停车位到洗手间故障，各种各样的问题都有，但从来没有人抱怨过用英语授课。”

I had an early taste of this mood in 2011, soon after the university adopted English for graduate degree courses. In a speech to students on the Politecnico’s main campus in Milan, I introduced myself in Latin — still a cool, international language — and then spoke²¹ in English.

2011年，米兰理工的研究生课程采用英语教学之后不久，我对这个现象就早早有过体验。当时我在该校的米兰主校区对学生发表演讲，先用拉丁语——仍然是一门很酷的国际语言——自我介绍，然后用英语发言。

The students didn’t miss a single word. They took notes. They laughed at my jokes. They asked intelligent questions. Some faculty members failed to laugh or, I suspect, follow what I was saying.

学生们完全跟上了我的发言。他们做笔记，被我的笑话逗乐，还问了一些睿智的问题。有些教师则没有笑，我还怀疑他们没有听懂我的意思。

But they did ask questions in Italian, like: “I’m past 50. What would you say if I told you that I don’t feel comfortable teaching in English?” My answer: “I’d wonder where you worked, which academic journals you wrote for and what international conferences you attended. What kind of a teacher are you?”

但他们当中，确实有人用意大利语提了问，比如：“我已经年过50，如果告诉你，用英语授课让我感觉不舒服，你又怎么看呢？”我回答：“我会很好奇，想知道你曾在哪里工作，为哪些学术刊物撰写文章，参加过哪些国际会议。你是哪门子老师？”

There was one question I didn’t ask at the time, but would like to ask now. Why is Italian academia so slow to change? Could the reason perhaps be that none of the country’s 13,279 tenured professors is younger than 35? Only 15 are under 40; the average age is 60. Time to face the future, signori professori, in any language you like. Just look in the right direction.

当时有一个问题我没有说出口，但现在我想问问。为什么意大利学术界对变化如此抗拒？会不会是因为：全国有13279名终身教授，但没有一名年龄在35岁以下，只有15名未满40岁，平均年龄却高达60岁？是时候面对未来了，教授先生们，不管你喜欢哪门语言。请把目光投向正确的方向。