你还会去鼓励孩子最求真理吗？你是否会觉得追求真理、追求理性与深度，这样的理想与社会脱节了？在我们批评某某人是”精致的利己主义者“的时候，是否也发现自己，其实也是这利己主义大军中的一员？
这样的思考，在这个毕业季，由于几个学生在毕业典礼上的发言，又一次涌上了我们的心头，也把尖锐的问题摆到了我们的眼前。
5月22日，中国学生李轩林（音译）在麦考利中学2017届毕业典礼上作为学生代表致辞。我们来分享一下他的发言内容，同时来思考一下，我们让孩子受教育、培养孩子进入世界顶级学府，这背后，到底是怀着怎样的期望？我们想要培养的，究竟是什么样的孩子？
Openyour heart to the outside world and step forward
敞开心扉，接纳世界，勇敢前行
各位早上好！
我很荣幸在此代表2017届致辞。我很感谢老师们，校友们和亲朋好友们在此见证。
今天是毕业之日，很合适再次回顾麦考利中学的校训：荣誉，真理，责任。我最觉突出的使命是真理。
印度民权运动领袖甘地曾说：“现实中唯真理存在.....有真理之处，必有真知......无真理的地方也不会有真知.”
我们呱呱坠地之时，对我们生存的世界一无所知。因此，我们很有必要穷尽一生去追寻收集知识来形成我们的价值观。我知道你们大家都有强烈的追寻真理之心，但我依然想和大家分享我这十八年对这个问题的体会和理解。
我深信，追求真知最大的一个障碍是恐惧。我们会羞于在人前承认我们自己的错误，因为我们在意我们的自尊。我们害怕承认自己错了，所以转而去抗拒别人的观点，说服自己说，我们了解了其实我们并不了解的东西。
我们更愿意认为我们自己是没有错误的。但没有人是生而完美的，每个人都有可能在一生当中的某个时期犯错误。在比我们更有知识的人面前谦逊，也是一个好机会让我们打开心扉拥抱外在世界，勇敢继续前行。
第二种恐惧来源于缺乏质疑的勇气。我们会害怕去问看起来很愚蠢的问题而让自己尴尬。但追求真知必不可免地会遭遇到暂时的难受，这些问题对于我们理解知识又至关重要。杨伯翰大学的宗教学教授米歇尔.古德曼说：质疑永不会结束。
我们需要避免的一个陷阱是，只要他人于我们持有不同观点，我们就心生疑窦。
诚然，在一个有着如此多不同哲学流派和观点的世界里，在接受涌来的观点前先判断是非常重要的。然而，对于质疑存在两种截然不同的态度。要么我们热忱追求真相，因而去质疑支持观点的证据和理由是否可信；要么我们因为害怕放下自尊承认我们的错误，而自动拒绝不同的观点。显然，前者会引领我们走向真知，而后者会让我们误入歧途。
要详细地说明质疑的更重要方面的话，我认为
智慧的根源在于我们内在的思考能力和理性
。当我们允许本能压倒理性的时候，我们就很容易被错误信息误导。这世界确实存在有意而为制造恐慌和冲突的虚假信息，也有专门针对个人的犯罪欺骗，更有互联网上意图扭曲我们的世界观的错误思想。
裹着真理外衣的谎言就像是披着羊皮的狼，煽情动人，但却缺乏有力的证据和逻辑。因此，质疑和仔细审核是极其重要的手段来帮助我们过滤接收到的信息。当我们验证信息的可信度的时候，我们会发现证据显示，真理有时候会和大多数人的看法相左。传播这个发现，是我们在共同进步之路上不可或缺的。
在我结束时，我谨以美国作家和哲学家苏齐.卡西姆的话和大家共勉：
通过问正确的问题，我们清醒；
当看到与我们的个人体验相左的知识传播时，我们清醒；
当看到流行的错误观点被我们当做正确的东西接受，
正确的被曲解成错误的东西时，我们清醒；
从不寻常的角度追求真相，我们清醒；
当外面的一切都感觉黑暗，我们打开内在的光，而保持清醒。
我希望我的同学们，还有在座的所有人，在生活中努力唤醒自我。
谢谢大家。
译者：黄涛，广州公立高中英语老师，家有公子美国求学，坚信教育应该是一棵树摇动另一棵树，一朵云推动另一朵云，一个灵魂唤醒另一个灵魂。
作为一名教师，也作为一个父亲，译者的教育感言是：
每个学生都是一件值得欣赏的艺术品。学生想成为什么样的人，完全取决于学生自己的选择，我们无法改变他们，只有学生自己能改变自己。我们要做的是用言行触动学生渴求知识的灵魂，用渊博学识激发学生渴求知识的欲望，用真心风险弥恒学生求知成才的意志，用高尚人格感染学生健康向善的品质。鼓励学生积极面对人生，对自己负责，做自己命运的雕刻家。
本文获译者授权转载。
英文原文在此：
Good Morning! I am very grateful to stand here on behalf of the class of 2017, and Iam very grateful to see many faculty members, alumni, families and friends whoare here today.
Today is the day of graduation, and it is fitting to once again hear the mission ofMcCallie: Honor, Truth, and Duty. The word that particularly stands out to meis Truth.
Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the Indian Civil Rights movement, once said, “Nothing isor exists in reality except truth … And where there is truth, there is alsoknowledge which is true … Where there is no truth, there can be no trueknowledge.”
When we were born, we had no prior knowledge of this world we live in. Thus, it isnecessary that we spend our entire life seeking and collecting knowledge toassemble our world view. Desiring to seek truth as do many of you, I would liketo share several aspects of my understanding on this issue based on my eighteenyears of life experience.
I believe that a great obstacle that might restrict us in our current strivingfor knowledge is fear. We sometimes feel ashamed to acknowledge our mistakes infront of others, as we tend to value our self-esteem too much. We fear to admitwe are wrong, thus turning to resist other opinions and persuade ourselves weknow what we actually do not know. We are more comfortable assuming ourselvesinfallible; but, no one is ever created perfect, and everyone makes mistakes atcertain points in life. We are usually humbled by people who are moreknowledgeable than are we, which is usually our opportunity to open our heartto the outside world and step forward.
The second form of fear originates from our lack of courage to question. We mightoften fear to be embarrassed about asking questions that appear silly, but ourseeking of truth often involves certain inevitable but temporary forms ofsuffering, and these questions are often essential to our understanding ofknowledge. Dr. Michael Goodman, a religious professor at Brigham YoungUniversity, said, ‘questioning must never itself be an end.’
One pitfall we need to avoid is to doubt other opinions whenever they differ fromours. Granted, in a world with so many distinct philosophies and views, it iscritical for us to judge the incoming information before accepting. However,there are two contrasting attitudes of questioning. Either we put our honesteffort to seek truth, and thus we inquire about the credibility of evidence andreasoning that support other opinions, or alternatively we simply fear to putdown our self-regard and acknowledge our fallibility, so we automatically rejectthe differing views. Clearly, the former leads us to true knowledge, while thelatter leads us astray.
To elaborate on the more essential aspect of questioning, the source of wisdomlargely depends on our innate ability to think and to reason. When we allow ourintuition to overwhelm rationality, we are easily susceptible to misleadinginformation. There are fake news intentionally designed to create panic orconflicts, there are criminal deceptions specifically targeted at individuals,and there are false beliefs easily accessible on the internet that intend tocontort our world views.
Words in the skin of truth, just as wolves in sheep’s clothing, might be emotionallyappealing, but lack evidence or solid logical reasoning. Thus, questioning andclose examination are important tools to filter the information we receive. Aswe work to verify the credibility of information, we might discover evidencethat the truth is contrary to the belief of many. The spread of such discoveryis indeed an important component on our path to progress collectively.
As I close, I find particularly relevant the words of Suzy Kassem, an Americanwriter and philosopher:
“We awaken by asking the right questions. We awaken when we seeknowledge being spread that goes against our own personal experiences. Weawaken when we see popular opinion being wrong but accepted as being right, andwhat is right being pushed as being wrong. We awaken by seeking answers incorners that are not popular. And we awaken by turning on the light inside wheneverything outside feels dark.”
My hope for my fellow students and for all here is that we strive to awakenourselves in our lives.
Thank you.
---每日读诗---
