“真的是这样，”我和吉米的老师建议道，“吉米得分很低的课程就没有必要再读下去。”

"Not at all," the teacher insisted, and then named a string of universities I'd barely heard of, claiming they'd be perfect for Jim.

“这是不对的，”老师坚持说，然后拿出一系列我几乎都没有听过的大学的列表给我看，说这些学校都适合吉米。

It was at this point I realized how completely out of touch I was with the current educational thought.

此时此刻我感觉自己完全不了解现在的教育理念。

In the early 1980s when I was at school, a student with such poor grades as Jim's would never be considered university material.

20世纪80年代早期，我还是学生的时候，像吉米这样成绩差的学生会被视为不适合读大学。

Since then the percentage of eligible population in Britain has risen from 14% to an astonishing 44%. The educational system is cramming even the most mediocre students into a degree curse.

从那时起，英国符合上大学的学生比例从14%上升到了44%。填鸭式的教育系统使得普通学生都可以继续读大学。

It affects the sort of the courses that universities offer: undemanding ones such as film studies and surfing; it affects the way universities advertise themselves—with student bar sizes and local clubs given priority over the quality of the courses.

这影响了大学教授的课程：要求不高的电影研究和冲浪；影响大学推销自己的方式——学生酒吧大小和当地社团的重要性高于课程质量。

Another fact is that when I went to university, a degree still counted for something.

还有一个事实，我上大学时，学位还是有价值的。

These days, the degree is so devalued that you are far better off going straight into the job market than spending three years treading water, running up big debts.

而现在，学位已经贬值，你还不如直接参加工作，而不是冒险浪费三年的时间，积累巨额债务。

Maybe it would be worth it if, as a result of his or her degree, your child would have a well-paid career.

上大学也许是值得的，因为他或者她的学历，你的孩子能有一份高薪的职业。

But there are now too many graduates running after too few graduate obs, and employers are becoming suspicious of the value of degrees.

但是太多的毕业生没有达到毕业的要求，雇主们开始怀疑学位的价值。