谷歌大学：民营企业与高等教育的未来
The University of Google: Private Enterprise and the Future of Higher Education
AF Education
专属博客 Liam Carrigan
现在看来没什么是今天的网络做不到的事情。过去在九十年代，很多人都觉得网络只是适合网上购物、传播下流的八卦消息，以及满足大家各种不敢在公共场合公然讨论、得以在网络上宣泄的各种原始欲望的地方。
It seems there is nothing that the internet cannot do these days. Gone are the days of the late 1990s when it seemed the internet was good for simply online shopping, salacious gossip and satisfying the various primeval urges that one doesn’t dare discuss in public!
然而互联网已经超越了社会性不足的“野蛮”境界，进入到我们的主流意识了。
However the internet has long since moved beyond the realm of the socially-inadequate “geek” and into the mainstream consciousness.
我最初只是一名报业记者，而我始终都没有忘记自己作为记者的这个身份。但是，近年来在我的大部分工作之中，超过90%都不会见到一本杂志或者一张报纸。
I started out as a print journalist, and I still consider myself to be one. However, these days the vast majority of my own work, probably more than 90%, will never see a magazine or a newspaper.
然而，我亲爱的读者们，我依然有幸能与你在这个网络上相遇。
Instead, I am fortunate to have an audience with you, dear readers, here on the internet.
因此，如果写作和新闻出版行业都过渡到只依赖互联网，那么教育行业跟随着它们的脚步而变得网络化也指日可待了。
So, if writing and journalism has now largely transitioned to an online only source, it stands to reason that it shouldn’t be too long before the world of education follows.
远程教育已经不是什么新鲜事物了，毕竟，函授课程在数十年以来一直是许多大学的固定课程，而万维网只是蒂姆·伯纳斯·李的灵机一动。（译者注：万维网World Wide Web是英国计算机科学家在偶然的情况下构想并创造的技术。）
Distance learning is hardly anything new. After all, correspondence courses have been a staple of many universities revenue streams for decades, back when the World Wide Web was but a glint in Tim Berners-Lee’s eye.
然而，近年来许多高校不仅仅是对远程网络教育产生浓厚的兴趣，而且是整个学校的建设、运营、融资等过程都在网络上进行。
However, in the last few years there has been a surge in interest in making not just online degree courses for distance learning, but entire institutions of learning which are built, maintained and financed entirely online.
值得一提的是谷歌引领了这一转变，它是一家永远都走在时代前沿的公司。
Leading the charge is Google, a company which, to pay them their due, always seems to somehow be ahead of the curve on these things.
今年早些时候，谷歌就已经获得颁发学历证书的授权。谷歌从本质上已经从一个企业变成一个学术机构了。
Earlier this year, Google set about beginning the process of securing the necessary permissions and authorizations to become capable of issuing academic credentials. In essence, a private company has now sought to become an academic institution.
虽然许多头条新闻都摆放了这个公告，但这真的不是什么新鲜事物。毕竟，世上的任何私人院校都其实是一个名副其实的私人企业啊。我在日本这里的私立女子学校以及大专工作，每个月收到的工资支票上写的付款人也都不是那些学校的名字，而是这些学校所属企业的名字。
Though various sensational headlines accompanied this announcement, this really isn’t anything new. After all, every private university or college in the world is essentially a private company. I work for a private girls school and junior college here in Japan, and it isn’t the name of the school that appears on my paycheck every month, it’s the name of the school’s parent company.
那么，这个谷歌学校有什么好说的呢？
So, why all the kerfuffle about Google?
嗯，简单来说，没有任何一家公司有调查、财务影响力和潜在的学生能和谷歌匹敌。这种举动足以撼动整个教育界了。
Well, in short, no-one company with the reach, financial clout and potential global student base of Google has ever tried this before. This is the kind of thing which, without straying too far into hyperbolae, could shake up the entire global education industry.
早在2012年，我就写过关于美国总统选举的文章。在那个时候，有很多油嘴滑舌的、政府机会主义者以及很多有钱的笨蛋以为他们真的有机会获得这份世界上最令人垂涎的工作。
Back in 2012, I remember writing an article about the US presidential election. Back then, as is the case now, there were numerous smooth talkers, political opportunists and rich idiots who fancied their chances at securing the world’s most coveted job.
其中一个候选人（请看官自行判断他到底是一个机会主义者还是只是一个有钱的笨蛋）是德克萨斯州州长里克·佩里。在他所有的保守派言论当中，其实在高等教育方面有着一个相当自由主义的想法。
One of the candidates (I’ll let you decide if he was an opportunist or just a rich idiot) was Texas Governor Rick Perry. For all his conservative rhetoric, he actually had quite a liberal idea when it came to higher education.
佩里州长承诺，如果当选美国总统，将尽快大幅降低全国的学费。他设想在不久的将来，只要2000美金就可以完成官方认可的高校学业，这笔学费还不到现时学费的十分之一。
Governor Perry pledged, if elected President of the United States, to implement as quickly as possible reforms to education to bring the price down dramatically. He envisioned a not too distant future where an accredited university or college degree could be completed for 2,000 US dollars, less than 10% of the current going rate.
最终在那一年佩里败给了罗姆尼，连和奥巴马竞争的机会都没有，但是他在教育方面的理念赢得了许多关注，或许也影响了谷歌在这方面的重大举措。
Ultimately Mr Perry was never really a serious contender for the job of losing to President Obama later that year, that dubious honor went to Mitt Romney, but his ideas on education gained some traction, and perhaps the bigwigs at Google were listening too.
现在，一个2000美元的大学学位仍然遥不可及，简单的经济学定律决定了只要市场有需求，价格就不会下降。然而，谷歌确实有基础设施、技术和知识的基础，比全球任何机构都能提供更具竞争力的价格。
Now, a 2,000 US Dollar university degree is still a long way off, the simple laws of economics dictate that so long as demand remains high such a price-drop is highly unlikely. However, Google does have the infrastructure, the technology and the knowledge base to deliver far more competitively priced courses than pretty much any other institution of learning on this planet.
然而，有能力是一回事，实际执行又是另一回事。
However, having the capability and actually carrying it out is another thing altogether.
我之前也提及过一些势利的知识分子、许多世界顶级雇主对于求职者还抱持原有的态度：比起他们的网络文凭，更偏好于他们在校园内获得的文凭。看来谷歌需要花费很大的力气才能扭转这些人的观念。
I have spoken previously about the intellectual snobbery that many of the world’s top employers still retain in their obvious preference for candidates who studied in person as opposed to online, and it will take a gargantuan campaign from the likes of Google to win over the hearts and minds of such people.
到底谷歌将如何有别于那些持续在世界各地污染教育领域的臭名昭著的“文凭工厂”，特别是在发展中国家，还需我们拭目以待。
Quite how Google will set themselves aside from the infamous “diploma mills” which continue to pollute the educational landscape across the world, particularly in developing nations, remains to be seen.
但如果说有谁能做到这一点，我相信也非谷歌莫属了。
But if anyone can do it, then Google probably have the best shot.
想象一下在不久的将来，你不是上网搜索合适的课程，取而代之的是在同一个午后，你在网上完成在线课程之后，就直接去公司上班。这就是谷歌对未来的展望。然而，路漫漫其修远兮，他们还需要克服许多既得利益者的阻挠才能到达彼岸了。
Imagine a time in the near future when rather than just search online for a suitable course, you could instead search directly for your course and get to work on it that same afternoon. This is the future that Google envisions. However, they will need to overcome a number of vested interests to get there.
