“All officers ‘should have degrees’,” was the BBC headline. An adviser¹ to the College of Policing, which sets standards for police training in England and Wales, said: “We are looking to have degree-level qualifications for constable² and masters for superintendent³.”

“所有警员都‘应拥有学位’，”英国广播公司(BBC)的新闻标题写道。负责设定英格兰及威尔士警察培训标准的警务学院(College of Policing)的一名顾问称：“我们正在酝酿要求警员拥有学位级别的学历，而警司拥有硕士学位。”

The college said that France and Spain already demanded that new-entry police officers have degrees and that inspectors⁴ have masters degrees.

警务学院表示，法国与西班牙早已要求新入职警员拥有学位，督察拥有硕士学位。

The college said professions such as medicine, nursing, law and social work all required university qualifications. The high level at which police officers operated today meant UK forces needed to consider degrees too.

该学院称，医生、护士、法律及社工等职业均要求有大学文凭。如今的高水平警务工作意味着英国的警察队伍也需要考虑学位。

It is easy to understand what the college is talking about. Dealing⁵ with cross-border terrorism, cyber crime and financial fraud needs sophisticated skills. Police forces that can attract graduates will probably benefit. But the idea that every officer needs to be a graduate seems wrong-headed.

不难理解该学院的意思。应对跨境恐怖主义、网络犯罪及金融欺诈需要高超的技能。如果能吸引到大学毕业生，警队很可能会从中受益。但是，要求所有警员都是大学毕业生的想法似乎是错误的。

I am fortunate to have gone to university: fortunate to have had the experience and fortunate to have had the skills that get you through school and into higher education.

我很幸运读过大学：有幸拥有读大学的体验、有幸拥有读完中学然后接受高等教育的技能。

There are plenty of skills I do not have — skills more valuable than turning out newspaper columns. They include fixing leaking roofs, replacing car brake pads, inserting catheters and disarming⁶ knife-wielding muggers.

还有很多比撰写报纸专栏更有价值的技能是我不具备的。这些技能包括修补漏水的屋顶、更换汽车刹车片、给病人插入导管以及制服持刀的劫犯。

These require training, practice and experience. I doubt that three or four years of attending (or skipping) lectures, trying out and discarding political philosophies, socialising and partying teach you any of these. The idea that university is the pinnacle⁷ of educational achievement denigrates⁸ valuable non-academic skills. This view is particularly strong in the UK which, as a consequence⁹, has a poor record on apprenticeships.

这些技能需要培训、实践和经验。我不相信用三、四年的课堂教育（或逃课）、听完即忘的政治哲学、社交和聚会能够传授其中任何技能。把大学看作教育成就顶峰的观念，贬低了宝贵的非学术类技能。而这种观念在英国尤为强烈，其结果是英国的学徒教育乏善可陈。

Although the British government has made boosting the apprenticeship¹⁰ system a priority, a report last month from Ofsted, the education inspection¹¹ service, said that a third of the apprenticeship providers they visited offered substandard training.

虽然英国政府已将振兴学徒制度列为一项政策重点，但教育检查服务机构——教育标准局(Ofsted) 10月发布的一份报告称，他们走访的培养学徒的机构中，有三分之一提供的培训不合格。

“Inspectors observed...愠瀀瀀爀攀渀琀椀挀攀猀 in the food production, retail¹² and care sectors¹³ who were simply completing their apprenticeship by having existing low-level skills, such as making coffee, serving sandwiches or cleaning floors, accredited,” Ofsted said. There were some high-quality apprenticeships, particularly in the construction and engineering and vehicle industries.

“检查人员观察到……食品生产、零售及护理行业的学徒只是依靠已有的低级技能（比如泡咖啡、端上三明治或者清洁地板等）获得认证，进而完成自己的学徒培训，”Ofsted表示。还有一些是高质量的学徒工作，特别是在建筑、工程及汽车行业。

These can be valuable. A recent report by the Sutton Trust showed that those who had been through well-run apprenticeships out-earned graduates of middle-ranking UK universities.

这些行业的学徒培训才是有价值的。萨顿信托(Sutton Trust)最近发布的一份报告显示，那些经历过良好学徒培训的人，收入超过了中等水平英国高校的毕业生。

Even those professions that indubitably require a degree — law, medicine, teaching — are essentially¹⁴ apprenticeships. Learning from and practising under the supervision¹⁵ of experienced professionals are far more important than anything learnt in the classroom.

即使那些明确要求拥有学位的职业——法律、医疗、授课——在本质上也有学徒培训。向经验丰富的专业人士学习、并在他们的监督下实践，比在课堂上学到的任何知识都更加重要。

In fairness to the College of Policing, it seems to be considering something like this. Its proposal, which, it says, still requires discussion, envisages¹⁶ students dividing their time between practical policing and academic work.

应该承认，警务学院似乎考虑到了这些方面。按照该学院的提议（它称仍需讨论），学员将把一半时间投入警务实践，另一半时间投入学术性的学习。

The UK’s Chartered Management Institute has also started a combined workplace and university management course with companies such as Nestlé, Barclays and Serco.

英国特许管理学会(Chartered Management Institute)也与雀巢(Nestlé)、巴克莱(Barclays)以及Serco共同开设了把工作场所与大学结合起来的管理课程。

Nursing in the UK has followed this path too, with disputed results. Some say that demanding a degree has led to nurses treating the caring and cleaning sides of the job with disdain¹⁷. There have been dreadful instances of nursing neglect, such as at the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

在英国，护士职业也在走这条路，但带来了引发争议的结果。有人说，要求护士拥有学位，导致护士们瞧不起自己的工作中护理、清洁病人的职责。在疏于护理方面曾有可怕的事例，如斯塔福德郡中部NHS信托基金会(Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust)属下医院所发生的。

Others put these problems down to not having enough nurses. A study of 300 hospitals in nine European countries found that a rise in nurses’ workloads¹⁸ increased the chances of patients dying, while more nurses with degrees led to the number of patient deaths falling.

也有人将这些问题归咎于护士人数不足。一项对九个欧洲国家300所医院的研究发现，护士工作负担的加重提高了患者死亡的机率，而拥有学位护士的增多带来了患者死亡人数的下降。

But not everyone learns in the same way. Some thrive in a classroom; others learn by doing. Many find academic study works best for them once they have had experience and can reflect on the value of what they are learning.

但并非所有人都靠同样的方式学习。有人在课堂上表现突出；有人擅长从实践中学习。许多人发现，只有在他们有了经验、并且可以反思所学知识的价值时，学术性的学习才能发挥最大效用。

Parents, dropping their children off at university, often remark how much more they would get out of a degree knowing what they know now. That is what people mean when they say education is wasted on the young.

把子女送到大学校园的父母常常会说，早知现在的话，他们会在上学时好好学习。这就是为什么有人说教育浪费青春。

Everyone’s skills need testing, but not everyone needs to acquire those skills at university — and not everyone needs to go to university before they start working.

每个人的技能都需经过检验，但并非所有人都需要在大学里获得这些技能，也不是所有人在开始工作前都需要上大学。