Should the goal of college education be to ensure that the students find a good job or should it aim at cultivating the students’ overall abilities?

大学教育的目的究竟应该是怎样的呢?毫无疑问，人们肯定会有不同的看法，甚至各个大学之间也会观点相左。我个人倾向于培养学生的综合能力。

What should be the purpose of college education? No doubt, different people, or even different universities, may see it quite differently. As to me, I tend to support the view that it should aim at cultivating the students’ overall abilities.

首先，只有全面发展的学生才是从长远角度讲社会发展所真正需要的人才。我们可以问问自己：社会发展需要什么样的大学毕业生呢?简单想想就会得到答案：有良好的专业知识、有健康的体魄、有健康的心态、有较好的沟通能力、有团队精神、有创新能力或执行能力。当然，如果一个人能够更加多才多艺，那不但对其本人的生活，而且对于一个团队生活的多彩性都会有很大帮助的。这一切的一切归纳起来是什么呢?答案很明了：综合能力。

First of all, social progress needs overall-developed college graduates in the long run. When we ask ourselves the question: “What kind of college graduates does the society need?” the answer is just too obvious: ones with a good command of the knowledge in their own fields of study, ones with a healthy body, ones with a healthy mentality, ones with good communication skills, ones with team-work spirit, ones with creative, innovative ability or the ability for implementation. What are all these things are? Again, the answer is just simple: overall abilities.

其次，全面发展的学生必然更容易找到好工作。随便问一个企业的雇主：你希望雇佣什么样的员工?如果这个问题有些不明确，那就把问题更具体化一些：请您选择：A:一个全面发展的大学毕业生;B:一个不是全面发展的大学毕业生。在其它条件都相同的情况下，我们有充足的理由深信这位雇主肯定会选择A的。

Second, an overall developed graduate would find a job more easily. You can ask around an employer of a certain enterprise: What type of employees do you wish to employ? If this question is a little unclear, we can make it more specific by letting him make a choice: A. an overall developed college graduate; B. a none-overall developed college graduate. Supposing everything other things remain equal, we have sound reasons to believe that he will definitely select A.

诚然，大学关心自己毕业生的工作问题是值得称颂的，因为任何人都首先需要谋生，然后才能谈进一步的发展。有一份自己喜欢的、收入好、工作前景好的工作也是大学毕业生们所期盼的。但是，谁也不能否认，培养全面发展的学生与好工作之间永远都是密切相关的，绝对不是相冲突、相矛盾的。