加州，Pay more taxes？

Pay more taxes？ -- 柏克莱文化

邱鸿安

September 02, 2010 09:00 AM | 2011 观看次数 | 21 21 评论推荐: | 电邮给朋友 | 打印

柏克莱加大开课，今年大一新生4200人，转学新生2200人，研究院新生2800人，全部新生加起来差不多达到一万人，为了向新生提供指导，校方提供不 少资讯，包括校长写给全校师生、有如施政报告的长篇信件。不过，校方资讯无论如何详尽和开诚布公，始终是官样文章，离不开建制的调子，反而一些有心师生所 写的非官方资讯，更为精采，更能反映出柏克莱的文化。

例如由不署名师生所写的一份「反新生指导」(disorientation guide)，就非常吸引。这份派给全部新生的文件，一开头就说，校方新生指导不会说的话，例如性与种族歧视、经费被削与学生抗议、以及柏大与BP(在墨 西哥湾造成世纪灾难的石油公司)的暧昩关系等，这份文件都会一一揭露，让学生知道柏大的真实情况。这份文件还呼吁学生就柏大的问题采取行动，并且列出整个 学期的抗议活动和举行日期，包括10月7日在校园举行的大规模学生抗议教育经费被削的行动。

不过，最具爆炸性的资讯，应是公共政策学院麦可·奥哈亚教授所写的一封「给学生的公开信」。这封公开信引起了巨大回响，不仅在校园引起讨论，还被湾区报界评为「为加州现状画龙点睛的一篇精采文章」。

公开信一开始就说，学生堕入了一个骗局，成为受害人，而欺骗他们的，就是学生的「父母」那一代，亦即奥哈亚教授所属的婴儿潮一代。

奥哈亚教授解释说，柏大新生的「祖父母」那一代的加州人，很有理想和远见，投入加州的基础建设，他们建成的公路网、南北输水道、社会服务和教育制度(公校和三级制大学)，成为全国和全球向往的建设。

但 是到了约30年前，亦即柏大新生的父母那一代的加州人，开始兴起反税之心，他们说∶「我的子女已完成学业，还要我缴税，那不是白缴，於我何益？」於是，从 那时起，加州税收大减，祖父母那一代的承诺变成了诅咒，教育经费不断削减，公校拨款排名跌至全国垫底，校舍教室破烂失修，公立大学不断涨学费，大学生连必 修科都选不到。「柏大可能仍是全球最佳公立大学，但已经开始衰落。」

以上是描述加州从「金州」变为「荒原」的洞见，但奥哈亚教授的公开信还有更精采的一笔∶他传承了柏大自1960年代初发起言论自由运动以来的社会改革精神，呼吁学生投入改革。

他说，柏大新生有很多事可做，但总的来说，就是要恢复祖父母一代对加州的承诺，如果学生不行动，不但保不住自己的利益，更保不住自己子女的利益，让下一代承受更大损失。学生应说服父母，恢复对加州的承诺；学生之间更要互相提醒，同心协力挽救加州。


Michael O\'Hara, addresses his students in an Open Letter to them in the Berkeley Blog; the UC Berkeley Professor of Public Policy tells the UC Berkeley students they\'ve been cheated out of a good education by the state\'s bureaucratic system that has denied appropriate funding to colleges and universities.

http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2010/08/24/a-letter-to-my-students/



O\'Hara blasts the effects of Proposition 13 thirty years ago when Californians decided by their votes to not worry about the future education of other people\'s children. Thus, teachers were paid less and less, trained less and less well and school programs have been reduced ever since gradiently and now most significantly.

责骂之一：做父母的不管孩子的公共教育，把麻烦甩给老师，不付钱。
But it\'s the parents also that get some of the heat. parents who took a hike are referred to by O\'Hara and he seems to be referring to the fact that with both parents working, life being very difficult for all, the schools are left with the training and education of children, rather than the parents being partners with the teachers in the process. Volunteering and supporting what the teachers alone cannot provide, like discipline in studies and development of attitudes that serve the student in their participation in a public education.

责骂之二：那些毕业了的校友，赚了大钱，不思回报，不给学校捐款，是白眼狼。
Another group that gets O\'Hara\'s attention, those who have come through the University of California Berkeley who have succeeded as a result of the education that is possible at the University of California, Berkeley and yet they have not taken on the pay it forward attitude of previous generations. These people who have benefited from the premium education have not looked to how they can contribute as others have contributed to the education they found available now suffering under budget crisis after budget crisis.