哈佛倡议美国大学招生改革

2016年04月07日 美国留学精英联盟



今年1月底,哈佛大学教育学院发布了一份名为《扭转趋势(Turning the Tide)》的报告,提议改变美国大学对申请党的评估方式和衡量标准。这份报告得到了包括藤校在内的80多所院校支持。

  这个报告主要发出了以下几个改革信号:

  弱化标化成绩(SAT/ACT),成绩之外,还要看学生的社会责任感

  IB/AP课程的选择,质量重于数量

  课外活动『质』优于『量』,社区服务长时间的投入,优于一长串课外活动的流水账

  扩大招生审核标准,鼓励坚持为集体做好事的公共服务,不提倡用参加两个礼拜的义工服务来“晒优越”的行为

  学生对家庭和社区所承担的责任,会成为招生官考虑因素;此举为低收入家庭、工薪阶层家庭子女提供过多机会。

  扩大学生的择校视野,强调让每个学生进入适合自己的学校,走出“名校结”、“爬藤”等狭隘的择校观。

  下面是原文摘要:

  Admissions offices should send a clear message that numerous extracurricular activities or long “brag sheets” do not increase students’ chances of admission. 招生官们应该传递一个清晰的信息,即非常多项课外活动或冗长的“自我吹嘘”不会增加申请者的录取机会。

  Applications should state plainly that students should feel no pressure to report more than two or three substantive extracurricular activities and should discourage students from reporting activities that have not been meaningful to them. 申请系统应该清楚的说明学生不需要觉得必需填写多项课外活动 - 两三项重要的足矣,并且申请系统应该不要鼓励学生填报那些对他们来说并没有多大意义的课外活动。

  Applications should provide room to list perhaps no more than four activities or should simply ask students to describe two or three meaningful activities narratively. 申请系统应该提供不超过4项课外活动的可填写空间,或是直接让学生以叙事方法描述2或3个有意义的课外互动。

  Admissions offices should warn students and parents that applications that are “overcoached” can jeopardize desired admission outcomes. Admissions officers, guidance counselors and other stakeholders should remind parents and students that authenticity, confidence, and honesty are best reflected in the student’s original voice. 招生官应该警告学生和家长,过度包装的申请会适得其反。招生官,升学指导顾问和其他相关人士应该提示学生和家长真实度、自信、诚恳由学生自己的声音来表达才最好。

  We also recommend that students undertake at least a year of sustained service or community engagement (see below for deion of “community engagement”). This service can take the form of substantial and sustained contributions to one’s family, such as working outside the home to provideneeded income. 我们推荐学生参加至少持续一年以上的社区服务。社区服务的形式多样,包括对自己家庭的贡献。

  Some students seek to “game” service by taking up high-profile or exotic forms of community service, sometimes in faraway places, that have little meaningto them but appear to demonstrate their entrepreneurial spirit and leadership. 有些学生寻求所谓“高大上”或”异域“的社区服务类型,经常在遥远的地方,对学生没有什么深刻意义,只是看起来显得具有开拓精神和领导力。

  The admissions process should clearly convey that what counts is not whether service occurred locally or in some distant place or whether students were leaders, but whether students immersed themselves in an experience and the emotional and ethical awareness and skills generated by that experience. 招生过程应该清晰的说明社区服务是在本地还是外地、或者学生是否是领导角色并不重要;重要的是学生是否真正融入这段经历并且在情感,道德,和技能方面有所收获。

  We encourage students to undertake community service and engagement that deepens their appreciation of diversity.Rather than students “doing for” students from different backgrounds, for example, we encourage students to “do with”—to work in diverse groups for sustained periods of time on school and community challenges, groups in which students learn from one another. 我们鼓励学生在社区服务的过程中加深对多元化的认识。除了“为”与自己不同背景的其他学生做事情,我们鼓励学生“和”与自己不同背景的其他学生一同做事情,这在过程当中不同背景的学生可以相互学习。

  这份报告字里行间透露了顶尖大学招生办的审核人才的趋势:寻找有真才实学的人,寻找愿意全身心投入自己热爱领域的人,寻找善良的人,有社会责任感的人。

文章摘自网络



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