學年之始談學以致用 / Studying for Application’s Sake

學年之始談學以致用 椅子	Studying for Application’s Sake Yizi
香港的實業界翹楚如陳瑞球、田家炳、蔣震等先生，與人相見時常謙遜說自己沒讀過甚麼書。我覺得這說法很有意思，也值得探討。這幾位前輩賢達，在各自的事業領域都十分成功，而且對社會貢獻很大，絕非「沒讀過甚麼書」的不學無知者所能達到。他們或許未曾在高等院校修讀過學位課程，但絕對不是沒讀過書。究其實情，他們不但讀了書，而且善於將讀書所得運用於實務，其真正的學識才能乃至專業認識，都已達到極高的境界。	QUITE OFTEN at social gatherings, one would hear Hong Kong’s prominent industrialists such as Messrs Chan Sui Kau, Tin Ka Ping, and Chiang Chen say they have had little school education. I find the modest statement very interesting and worth discussion. Not only are these respectable persons highly successful in their own fields, but they have also contributed greatly to the community. People with “little education” and hence ignorant couldn’t have succeeded as they have. They may not have studied on degree programmes at a university, but certainly they are not uneducated. In reality, they have not only acquired education in their own way but have been good at applying what they’ve studied to practical work. Their actual knowledge and abilities, and even professional understanding, have reached advanced levels.
與此類似，較年輕的一輩，如內地的劉永好，台灣的郭台銘、旺旺的蔡衍明、美國微軟的Bill Gates 和戴爾電腦的 Michael Dell 等人，也沒有甚麼高級學位，有的甚至沒念完大學，他們硏究、從事的卻是精深的高科技，其成就皆有目共睹。	Likewise, their younger counterparts such as Liu Yonghao in mainland China, Terry Guo (of Hon Hai Group) and Tsai Eng-meng (of Want Want Group) in Taiwan, and Bill Gates (of Microsoft) and Michael Dell (of Dell Computer) in the US, do not hold higher degrees – some even without a first degree. Yet they are engaged in hi-tech researches or businesses, with well-documented achievements.
至於再年輕的一輩，如Google的創辦人Larry Page及Sergey Brin, Yahoo的楊致遠和David Filo等，都沒有完成他們的博士學位；Facebook創辦人Mark Zuckerberg甚至連本科學位課程亦沒有完成。	Those even younger, like the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and the founders of Yahoo!, Jerry Yang and David Filo, didn’t complete their doctoral programmes. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, didn’t even finish his undergraduate studies.
Xxx 學位不等同於學識	xxx Degrees not the same as knowledge
這類事例，再次印証了學位絕不等同於學識才能。最近有報道稱，中國內地培養的博士人數已超越美國，成為全球博士最多的國家。然則中國內地的科學技術實力、人文社科硏究等，是否因此即可居於世界前列？博士人數短期內躍居世界之冠，或許只是為華人社會（不僅是內地）崇尚頭銜之風氣再次提供一個例証而已。	Degrees are not the same as one’s knowledge and abilities, as shown by these instances. Recent reports say that mainland China has now turned out more doctoral degree holders than the US, thus claiming the world’s largest army of doctors. Can this alone, one may doubt, place China in the world’s forefront of development in science and technology or studies on humanities and social sciences? The rapid growth into the world’s top producer of doctors, if anything, serves to illustrate how eagerly Chinese people (not only mainlanders in China) hanker after titles of honour.
博士頭銜是否絕對重要？當然不是。看到東西方科技界許多大有成就的人，並無博士學位，但他們從事的硏究是許多博士、教授正在共同努力的課題。香港也有同樣的實例。香港城市大學剛聘請到一位專家Jeffrey Shaw來領導創意媒體學院。他沒有博士學位，但在學術界貢獻巨大，專業成就卓著。可見博士學位不是絕對必要。	Is “Dr” a title of absolute importance? Certainly not. As far as I know, many people with great achievements in science and technology, in the East as well as the West, are non-doctors and yet they are researchers in fields where legions of doctors and professors are working hard in their concerted efforts. A good case in point is offered by Hong Kong, where the City University recently chose a new head for its School of Creative Media. The appointee, Mr Jeffrey Shaw, holds no doctorate but yet has contributed immensely to his discipline, both as an academic and a professional in the field. Clearly, the doctoral degree is not a necessity.
博士頭銜旣不絕對重要，名校效應也只是表面和暫時的。在美國科技界大有成就的華人學者專家，有許多並非出身於知名學府。許多人竭力追求而終於獲得的「名牌大學」學位，其實際效用，僅在於介紹之際的片刻間感覺舒坦，或事業起步時的一塊敲門磚，只可惜效力有限。試想假若有人工作多年，但除了名校學位外，事業成就卻乏善可陳，無論如何都不算是一個有用之材。換言之，此等人表面上有學位為證，但他們所學未能致用。	Neither does the prestigious-school halo last long or carry real weight. In the US, among the ethnic Chinese who have made great successes in science and technology, many come from less-than-famous colleges. The actual effect of degrees awarded by a “brand-name” university, which many people have devoted much of their lifetime to obtain, can only make them feel flattered for a moment when being introduced, or serve them as the first admission ticket when embarking on their careers. Such effects are limited, though. Suppose a person has nothing worth reporting for the long years he has spent working, except for a degree earned earlier in life from a well-known university, then he can hardly be counted as a useful talent. In other words, people like this are educated, as evidenced by their nice degrees, but they have failed to apply what they have studied for practical purposes.
有學位沒學識者，令人扼腕，卻隨地可拾。	With degrees but without applicable education or learning, such people can be found everywhere – a really pitiful lot.
xxx 學以致用古今皆然	xxx A shining example from the past
令人嘆為觀止的成都都江堰就是一個最佳實例。這項水利工程為李冰父子建成於公元前256年，其理論依據非常堅實精確，兩千餘年來灌溉四川平原的千里沃野，至今澤被大眾。這項偉大工程成於古早年代，但即使現代工程技術專家仍深為折服。李冰父子未曾修讀過近代物理學，但他們必有所學，而且學以致用。	A perfect model of knowledge well applied is the famous Dujiangyan Irrigation System in Chengdu, west China. The project was completed in 256 BC, but its theoretical basis is still found to be sound and accurate even by modern standards. For more than 2,000 years, thousands of miles of rolling plain in Sichuan Province has been made fertile by the irrigation, which benefits millions of people. Built in ancient times, the project still commands the admiration of engineers and technologists of today. Its designers-cum-engineers, Li Bing and his son, did not take courses in modern physics. Yet they must have studied some relevant subjects and, more importantly, applied what they had learnt to that timeless irrigation project.
李冰父子的功業，常人難以企及。然而我們平凡人做平凡事，即使再微小也同樣應當成為社會進步的助力，而非阻力；必須不忘學以致用的原則，秉此精神去求學和做事。致用，也即力求實際效用有助於社會、民生，而致用所依的媒介或曰工具等因素，倒是相對次要的。茲舉一例說明如下。	Ordinary people can hardly expect to emulate Li Bing and his son with their unusual success, yet even on our ordinary jobs we still can and should exert a force of assistance – rather than resistance – to society, however insignificant it can be. For that reason, we should always bear in mind the principle of studying for application’s sake, and keep on learning and working in that spirit. By application I mean we should ensure that the actual effect of our work will benefit the community and improve people’s lives. As to the means or medium by which we apply knowledge and learning, it is of secondary importance. Here’s an example.
論及二十世紀的科技成就，有兩個偉大人物，一是愛因斯坦，另一個就是日本著名的品管專家田口玄一(Genichi Taguchi)。愛因斯坦的貢獻暫時不表。至於田口從工程、技術、經濟、服務的視角對品質管理作出革命性硏究，創立了田口式品質管理理論與方法，對橫跨眾多領域的品質提升貢獻在當世首屈一指。田口講的英語非常糟糕，然而無損於其理論與方法的真正效用，因此舉世眾業跟隨師法，其影響無遠弗屆。	In 20th-century science and technology, two giants have stood out above all others – Albert Einstein and Genichi Taguchi, the latter being the famous Japanese who established the theory and methods of Taguchi quality control system. We may leave Einstein aside – he is too well-known. Now, Taguchi made his revolutionary studies on quality control from the perspectives of engineering, technology, economics, and service. Taguchi’s theory and methods have since made the greatest ever contribution to improving the quality of products and services in a wide range of industries. Mr Taguchi speaks very poor English, but that does not hinder his theory and methods from being adopted and practised for really great effects. People all over the world follow his ways, spreading his influence far and wide.
如今吾人談起國際化，就強調必須學好英文，似乎英文就是通往全球化的不二法門。有人能用華麗的辭藻寫出漂亮文章，然而別人讀了不知所云。修得深厚的語文功力，但言之無物或言不及義，失之於捨本逐末。田口先生英文欠佳，但大家並不計較，因為他言之有理。在美國大學任教多年，看到有些英語講得流暢甚至典雅的教師，教學卻最差。這些事例，說明應當以效用為先，而語文媒介為次，正所謂文以載道。	Today, there are people who can’t mention globalisation without emphasising the use of English, as though the language itself paves the one and only path for us to go global. There are people who write beautiful articles couched in flowery diction, which yet lead the reader to nowhere at all. Their linguistic talent merely results in verbal forms of no substance, or talks of no real sense – by attending to the trivial they have missed the essential. Despite his poor English, Mr Taguchi has been welcomed for his sound and arresting reasoning. On the contrary, in my decades of tertiary teaching in the US, I have seen lecturers who speak perfect English but yet teach miserably. All this shows that the actual effect of words and deeds must be valued more than the means or medium. Words work to convey the message, as the saying goes.
xxx 農夫的贈言，勉勵年青學子	xxx A farmer daddy’s advice
不久前在古城西安應邀餐敘，有一位同桌，講到有個朋友家住鄉下，務農為業，兒子剛從大學畢業，要去美國留學。農家子弟能如此出色，前程似錦，令眾人讚嘆稱羨；然而做父親的幾句教子贈言，更令我心生敬佩。	Not long ago, at a dinner gathering in Xi’an, China, I heard a guest at the table talk of a friend of his, a farmer in the countryside whose son, a fresh graduate, was about to leave for the US for further studies. That farm boy with his success and bright future ahead drew praise and admiration from those present, yet it was his daddy’s wise advice to the son that really impressed me.
他對兒子說，出國去留學，要緊的不在乎讀多少書、得甚麼學位，那些東西在國內絕對可以學到，也可以得着。到了外國，要緊的是實地學習人家做事的方法，看看人家的制度社會有甚麼長處。這些都不是任何學位所可以概括的。	What really counts in studying abroad, the father told him, as was related at the table, is not how much you’ll learn at school out there or what degrees you’ll earn – those things you could do or get within China as well. What’s important, once you’re abroad, is to learn on the spot the way other people handle and manage things, and observe the strengths of their society – not any degree can substitute for these.
新學年之始，謹以學以致用勉勵年青學子。	In a similar vein, as the new academic year starts, allow me to advise that our young students all study for application’s sake. (Translated by Allen Zhuang )
[本文據作者2009年8月3日在東方論壇年會的演講而寫，發表於《明報》2009年9月2日。/ The source text, based on the author’s speech at East Forum annual meeting on August 3,2009, was published in Ming Pao Daily News on September 2, 2009.]