How college loans exploit students for profit | Sajay Samuel

228,955 views ・ 2016-07-02

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

Translator: Clement Cheung Reviewer: Wink Wong
00:12
Today 40 million Americans are indebted for their passage to the new economy.
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今時今日,有四千萬個美國人
孭住一筆讀書債投身社會
佢哋屋企窮,要借錢讀大學
00:20
Too poor to pay their way through college,
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00:22
they now owe lenders more than one trillion US dollars.
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而家夾埋嘅債務有成一兆美金咁多
00:27
They do find what jobs they can get
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呢班畢業生乜嘢工都要試
00:29
to pay off a debt that is secured on their person.
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為求還得清自己筆債
00:33
In America,
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喺美國
00:35
even a bankrupt gambler gets a second chance.
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連一個破咗產嘅爛賭二都翻身有望
00:42
But it is nearly impossible
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但完全唔使指意
一個畢業生可以還清筆債
00:45
for an American to get discharged their student loan debts.
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00:52
Once upon a time in America,
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以前响美國
讀大學唔等於要負債纍纍咁畢業
00:55
going to college did not mean graduating with debt.
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我朋友阿 Paul
00:59
My friend Paul's father graduated from Colorado State University
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佢爸爸喺科羅拉多州立大學畢業
當年有退伍軍人法保障
01:04
on the GI Bill.
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01:07
For his generation,
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嗰個年代
01:09
higher education was free or almost free,
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大學學費全免,又或者近乎零
因為政府覺得大專學歷對社會有益
01:12
because it was thought of as a public good.
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01:15
Not anymore.
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但好景不常
01:18
When Paul also graduated from Colorado State University,
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輪到阿 Paul 喺同一間大學畢業嗰陣
01:22
he paid for his English degree by working part-time.
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英文系畢業嘅佢,要做住兼職嚟還債
卅年前
01:26
30 years ago,
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01:27
higher education tuition was affordable, reasonable,
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多數人都畀得起大學學費
01:30
and what debts you accumulated, you paid off by graduation date.
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你爭落嘅錢,畢業之前就可以還晒
01:33
Not anymore.
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但好景不常
01:35
Paul's daughter followed in his footsteps,
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輪到阿 Paul 個囡同樣步佢後塵
01:39
but with one difference:
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唯一唔同嘅係
01:40
when she graduated five years ago,
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五年前佢畢業嗰陣
01:43
it was with a whopping debt.
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孭住成身債
01:45
Students like Kate have to take on a loan
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阿 Kate 同埋其他大學生都要借錢
01:48
because the cost of higher education has become unaffordable
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因為大學學費經已貴到
01:51
for many if not most American families.
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好多美國家庭都負擔唔起
01:56
But so what?
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咁又點啫?
借筆錢嚟投資一個貴價學位
01:58
Getting into debt to buy an expensive education
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02:00
is not all bad if you could pay it off
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只要第日還到錢,就唔成問題啦
02:03
with the increased income that you earned from it.
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有大學學歷,起碼有得賺多啲嘛
02:07
But that's where the rubber meets the road.
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但問題嘅癥結就响呢度
02:11
Even a college grad earned 10 percent more in 2001
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連一個 2001 年畢業嘅人所賺嘅錢
比起 2013 年畢業嘅 Kate
02:17
than she did in 2013.
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仲要多出 10%
02:19
So ...
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所以…
02:21
tuition costs up,
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學費飆升
02:23
public funding down,
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津貼少咗
家庭收入又縮咗水
02:25
family incomes diminished,
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02:27
personal incomes weak.
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個人收入微薄
02:30
Is it any wonder that more than a quarter of those who must
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唔怪得有多過四分一嘅畢業生
連要還債都還唔到
02:34
cannot make their student loan payments?
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02:38
The worst of times can be the best of times,
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不過,最壞嘅時刻亦係最好嘅時刻
02:41
because certain truths flash up in ways that you can't ignore.
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因為啲事實就攞喺响你面前,唔理唔得
02:46
I want to speak of three of them today.
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今日我想講其中三個事實
02:49
1.2 trillion dollars of debts for diplomas
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1.2 兆美金嘅學債
02:53
make it abundantly obvious
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明顯反映咗
02:55
that higher education is a consumer product you can buy.
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大學教育經已淪為一種消費品
03:00
All of us talk about education just as the economists do now,
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我哋講起教育就好似班資本家咁
03:05
as an investment that you make to improve the human stock
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將教育當係投資,愛嚟增強人力資本
03:09
by training them for work.
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訓練啲人出嚟做嘢
03:11
As an investment you make to sort and classify people
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愛嚟將啲學生按等級分類
03:16
so that employers can hire them more easily.
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等啲僱主請人嗰陣容易啲
03:20
The U.S. News & World Report ranks colleges
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《美國新聞與世界報導》 公布大學排名嘅方式
03:23
just as the consumer report rates washing machines.
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十足啲消費報告評估啲洗衣機咁款
03:27
The language is peppered with barbarisms.
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份報告用詞粗暴到極
03:30
Teachers are called "service providers,"
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叫啲老師做「服務提供者」
03:34
students are called "consumers."
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叫啲學生做「消費者」
03:37
Sociology and Shakespeare and soccer and science,
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社會學呀,莎士比亞呀 足球同埋科學呀
03:41
all of these are "content."
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呢啲冚唪唥叫做「服務內容」
學業借貸好好賺
03:45
Student debt is profitable.
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03:46
Only not on you.
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不過賺嗰個唔會係你
03:49
Your debt fattens the profit of the student loan industry.
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你嘅債務甚至養肥咗 成個學生借貸行業
03:54
The two 800-pound gorillas of which --
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呢個行頭其中兩條巨龍
03:56
Sallie Mae and Navient --
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Sallie Mae 同埋 Navient
03:58
posted last year a combined profit of 1.2 billion dollars.
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公布上年總盈利一共有 12 億美金
04:04
And just like home mortgages,
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學生貸款正正同樓宇按揭一樣
04:07
student loans can be bundled and packaged and sliced and diced,
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可以係捆綁式、套餐式同拆件式
04:10
and sold on Wall Street.
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响華爾街出售
04:12
And colleges and universities
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啲大專院校
04:13
that invest in these securitized loans
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投資呢啲證券貸款嘅時候
04:18
profit twice.
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頭尾賺兩轉
04:19
Once from your tuition,
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首先賺你筆學費
04:21
and then again from the interest on debt.
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跟住賺你啲息口
睇見盤生意咁好賺
04:25
With all that money to be made,
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大家仲會奇怪嗰啲高等教育辦學團體
04:27
are we surprised that some in the higher education business
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點解會用啲失實嘅宣傳手段
04:33
have begun to engage in false advertising,
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04:35
in bait and switch ...
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嚟推銷利誘
04:38
in exploiting the very ignorance that they pretend to educate?
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藉教育嚟剝削緊乜都唔知嘅學生嗎?
04:44
Third:
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第三:
04:45
diplomas are a brand.
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學位經已淪為品牌
04:47
Many years ago my teacher wrote,
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當年我有個老師寫話:
04:50
"When students are treated as consumers,
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「當學生變成一班消費者,
04:52
they're made prisoners of addiction and envy."
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佢哋就會喺度盲追學位,鬥生鬥死。」
04:59
Just as consumers can be sold and resold upgraded versions of an iPhone,
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正如蘋果不斷向人推銷新款 iPhone
做教育嘅亦可以不斷向人推銷學位
05:04
so also people can be sold more and more education.
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05:08
College is the new high school,
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昨日嘅中學,變成今日嘅大學
05:10
we already say that.
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一早有人咁講過
05:13
But why stop there?
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但點解要停喺呢一步?
05:14
People can be upsold on certifications and recertifications,
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大學可以不斷招攬人讀文憑,讀完再讀
05:18
master's degrees, doctoral degrees.
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再讀碩士學位、博士學位
05:23
Higher education is also marketed as a status object.
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佢哋仲推銷專上教育係地位嘅象徵
05:28
Buy a degree,
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買學位
05:29
much like you do a Lexus of a Louis Vuitton bag,
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同你買架凌志、買個 LV 一樣
係買嚟抬高身價
05:33
to distinguish yourself from others.
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05:34
So you can be the object of envy of others.
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靠佢,你可以招人妒忌
05:38
Diplomas are a brand.
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學位已經淪為品牌
但係呢啲真相成日畀一片叫賣聲掩埋
05:41
But these truths are often times hidden by a very noisy sales pitch.
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05:48
There is not a day that goes by
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日日硬係有班政客
05:50
without some policy guy on television telling us,
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喺個公仔箱度同我哋講:
05:55
"A college degree is absolutely essential
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「大學學位好重要,
05:57
to get on that up escalator to a middle-class life."
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有佢先可以扶搖直上、做到中產。」
06:00
And the usual evidence offered is the college premium:
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通常理據就係專上學歷競爭力高:
06:04
a college grad who makes on average 56 percent more than a high school grad.
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大專畢業比起高中畢業平均賺多 56%
06:10
Let's look at that number more carefully,
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我哋再細心啲解讀個數字
06:12
because on the face of it,
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因為驟眼睇
06:13
it seems to belie the stories we all hear
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個數字好似喺度推翻緊嗰啲
06:17
about college grads working as baristas and cashiers.
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「大學畢業做收銀沖咖啡」 之類嘅新聞咁
06:22
Of 100 people who enroll in any form of post-secondary education,
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响 100 個有專上學歷嘅人裏面
06:27
45 do not complete it in a timely fashion,
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45 個冇順利畢業
06:30
for a number of reasons, including financial.
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原因好多,財政困難係其一
06:34
Of the 55 that do graduate,
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嗰 55 個順利畢業嘅人
06:36
two will remain unemployed,
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有兩個冇嘢做
06:38
and another 18 are underemployed.
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有 18 個搵唔到長工
06:42
So, college grads earn more than high school grads,
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雖然大學畢業生搵得多過中學畢業生
06:45
but does it pay for the exorbitant tuition
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但究竟佢哋夠唔夠填嗰筆巨債
06:48
and the lost wages while at college?
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同埋你讀書嗰陣冇咗嘅搵錢機會呢?
06:51
Now even economists admit
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依家連經濟學家都承認
06:54
going to college pays off for only those who complete it.
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只有順利畢到業嘅大學生先還得哂
07:00
But that's only because high school wages have been cut to the bone,
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而純粹係因為中學畢業生嘅薪水
07:04
for decades now.
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幾廿年嚟大幅縮水
07:07
For decades,
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咁多年嚟
07:09
workers with a high school degree
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有高中學歷嘅人
07:11
have been denied a fair share of what they have produced.
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付出同收入唔成正比
07:16
And had they received as they should have,
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若果佢哋可以賺返佢哋應得嘅水平
07:19
then going to college would have been a bad investment for many.
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咁讀大學對好多人嚟講肯定係蝕大本
07:23
College premium?
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大學畢業生薪水嘅溢價
07:25
I think it's a high school discount.
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我睇都係靠高中畢業生倒貼而嚟
07:28
Two out of three people who enroll are not going to find an adequate job.
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有三份二嘅大學畢業生發現 工作未如理想
07:33
And the future, for them, doesn't look particularly promising --
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佢哋唔睇好前景
07:36
in fact, it's downright bleak.
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或者直情覺得前途暗淡
07:38
And it is they who are going to suffer
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而正正係佢哋要去承受
07:42
the most punishing forms of student debt.
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學債帶嚟嘅沉重負擔
最心悒嘅係,正正係佢哋
07:46
And it is they,
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07:47
curiously and sadly,
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07:48
who are marketed most loudly about this college premium thing.
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畀人最落力用學位升值呢個理由氹落搭
07:53
That's not just cynical marketing,
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咁嘅銷售伎倆,自私自利不特止
07:56
that's cruel.
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仲係麻木不仁
咁我哋做啲乜嘢好?
07:59
So what do we do?
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08:01
What if students and parents treated higher education as a consumer product?
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如果學生同家長都當學位係商品呢?
個個似乎都咁睇
08:08
Everybody else seems to.
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08:10
Then, like any other consumer product,
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買任何商品嗰陣
08:12
you would demand to know what you're paying for.
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你會要人哋清楚交代件貨嘅詳情
08:15
When you buy medicines,
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你去買藥
08:16
you get a list of side effects.
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佢會寫明有咩副作用
08:18
When you buy a higher educational product,
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你買件大學商品嗰陣
08:20
you should have a warning label
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佢需要有張警告標籤
08:22
that allows consumers to choose,
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畀消費者有權揀
08:24
make informed choices.
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知情下做決定
08:26
When you buy a car,
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你去買車
佢會話你知每加侖預計跑到幾多里
08:28
it tells you how many miles per gallon to expect.
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但冇人會預計到讀完大學
08:31
Who knows what to expect
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08:32
from a degree say, in Canadian Studies.
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譬如讀完科「加拿大研究」前景會係點
08:36
There is such a thing, by the way.
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真係有呢個學系㗎
08:40
What if there was an app for that?
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假如有個應用程式可以話個前景我哋知?
08:46
One that linked up the cost of a major to the expected income.
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計吓個學費同預期人工係咪成正比
暫且叫個應用程式做 Income-Based Tuition 或者 IBT 啦
08:52
Let's call it Income-Based Tuition or IBT.
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08:54
One of you make this.
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係你哋其中一個人設計而嚟
08:56
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
08:57
Discover your reality.
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正視返你嘅前途問題
08:59
(Laughter)
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(笑聲)
09:01
There are three advantages,
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IBT 呢個應用程式有三個好處
09:03
three benefits to Income-Based Tuition.
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09:07
Any user can figure out
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用戶可以知道
09:09
how much money he or she will make from a given college and major.
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讀完某某大學同埋學系,人工會係幾多
09:13
Such informed users
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用家有咗呢啲資訊
09:14
are unlikely to fall victim to the huckster's ploy,
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就冇咁易
畀啲無良推銷員氹得掂
09:18
to the sales pitch.
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09:19
But also to choose wisely.
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同時可以揀得明智啲
09:21
Why would anybody pay more for college
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到時仲邊有人會交一筆
09:24
than let's say, 15 percent of the additional income they earn?
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高過預期人工 15% 嘅學費出嚟呢?
09:29
There's a second benefit to Income-Based Tuition.
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IBT 有第二個好處
09:31
By tying the cost to the income,
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透過顯示學費同薪金嘅關係
09:34
college administrators would be forced to manage costs better,
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大學管理層必須要運用新思維
09:39
to find innovative ways to do so.
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去妥善釐訂學費
09:41
For instance,
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譬如
09:42
all of you students here pay roughly the same tuition for every major.
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大部份嘅學生不論學系,學費劃一
09:47
That is manifestly unfair, and should change.
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呢個制度明顯好唔公平,需要改革
09:52
An engineering student uses more resources
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工程系嘅學生通常用到嘅資源
09:56
and facilities and labs and faculty
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譬如設施、實驗室、教職員呢啲
09:58
than a philosophy student.
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會多過哲學系嘅學生
10:01
But the philosophy student, as a consequence,
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但呢班哲學生
變相資助緊班工程系學生
10:03
is subsidizing the engineering student.
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第時人工高一截嘅工程系學生
10:06
Who then, by the way, goes on and earns more money.
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10:09
Why should two people buy the same product,
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點解要兩個人買嘅貨一樣
10:12
pay the same,
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畀嘅錢一樣
10:13
but one person receive half or a third of the service.
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但其中一個淨係享用到 一半甚或三份一呢?
10:18
In fact, college grads, some majors,
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事實上,某啲學系嘅畢業生
10:22
pay 25 percent of their income servicing their student debt,
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拎緊人工嘅 25% 嚟還債
但另一啲拎 5% 就得
10:26
while others pay five percent.
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10:29
That kind if inequity would end when majors are priced more correctly.
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咁學科收費合理啲就會消除呢啲不公平
10:35
Now of course, all this data --
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當然啦,而家呢堆資料…
10:37
and one of you is going to do this, right?
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我諗在座會有人走去搞㗎可?
10:39
All this data has to be well designed,
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呢堆資料要有人整理好
10:41
maybe audited by public accounting firms
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譬如交畀會計公司做審計
10:43
to avoid statistical lies.
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避免畀啲統計數字呃
10:45
We know about statistics, right?
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統計大家都識㗎可?
10:48
But be that as it may,
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除咗正話兩個好處
10:50
the third and biggest benefit of Income-Based Tuition,
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第三個,而且係 IBT 最大嘅好處
10:54
is it would free Americans from the fear and the fact of financial ruin
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就係令美國人唔使驚再陷入財困
10:59
because they bought a defective product.
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唔使再驚買咗件爛貨返嚟
11:02
Perhaps, in time,
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或者某個時刻
新舊兩代嘅美國人重新發現
11:05
young and old Americans may rediscover,
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11:07
as the gentleman said earlier,
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正如頭先嗰位講者所講
11:09
their curiosity, their love of learning --
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對知識嘅追求同熱愛
11:11
begin to study what they love,
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開始學啲想學嘅嘢
11:13
love what they study,
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鍾意自己學緊嘅嘢,隨心而行
11:14
follow their passion ...
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11:16
getting stimulated by their intelligence,
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深受知識所啟發
11:19
follow paths of inquiry that they really want to.
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去探索自己渴望探索嘅事物
11:22
After all, it was Eric and Kevin,
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望返轉頭,其實係阿 Eric 同 Kevin
11:27
two years ago,
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兩年前
11:29
just exactly these kinds of young men,
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正正係呢一班後生仔
11:32
who prompted me and worked with me,
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佢哋鼓勵我,同我共事
11:35
and still do,
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到到而家
11:36
in the study of indebted students in America.
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依然落力研究緊美國呢個學生貸款問題
11:41
Thank you for your attention.
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好多謝大家!
11:42
(Applause)
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(鼓掌)
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