The world is going to university

全世界都在上大学

More and more money is being spent on higher education .

越来越多的钱被花在高等教育上

Too little is known about whether it is worth it.

至于是否值得却不得而知。

“After God had carried us safe to New England,

在上帝把我们平安地带到了新英格兰之后

and we had build our houses, provided necessaries for our livelihood，

我们建造了自己地房屋，提供了生活的必需品

reared convenient places for God’s worship

为了敬拜上帝建立了便利之所

and settled Civil Government,

设立了公民政府

One of the next things we longed for and looked for was to

Advance learning and perpetuate（使永存） it to posterity.

下一步我们所期望的时期之一就是发展教育并延泽子孙万代

So ran the first university fundraising brochure, sent from Harvard College to England in 1643 to drum up cash.

1634年从哈佛学院发送给英国筹措资金的第一本大学筹款宣传册如是说

America’s early and lasting enthusiasm for higher education has given it the biggest and best-funded system in the world. Hardly surprising, then,

美国对于高等教育的热情产生时间早，且持续时间久，已经拥有世界上规模最大的且资金最为雄厚的大学体系。

that other countries are emulating its model

其他国家纷纷效仿美国模式，

as they send ever more of their school-leavers to get a university education.

输送越来越多的高中毕业生去接受大学教育也就毫不奇怪了。

But, as our special report argues,

但是，正如我们的特别报道所述，

Just as America’s system is spreading,

随着美国教育体系的广泛传播

there are growing concerns about whether it is really worth the vast sums spent on it.

越来越多的人担忧如此巨额的资金投入是否真的值得

The American way

美国之道

The modern research university, a marriage of the Oxbridge college and the German research institute, was invented in America,

由美国创造的现代研究型大学是牛津大学、剑桥大学和德国研究机构的合体，

And has become the gold standard for the world.

已经被世界奉为金标准

Mass higher education started in America in the 19^th

century,

大规模的高等教育始于19世纪的美国

spread to Europe and East Asia in the 20^th

20世纪传播到欧洲和动呀，

and is now happening pretty much everywhere except sub-Saharan Africa.

现在几乎遍布除了撒哈拉以南非洲地区的各个角落