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Because I'm a college professor, I'm going to start with a pop quiz.
因为我是大学教授，我要从一个小考开始。
I want you to think of the best college in the country, one that you would absolutely love to get into.
请各位想着全国最好的大学，你绝对会想要去就读的大学，
One that would change your life completely.
能完全改变你人生的大学。
OK, do you have it?
想好了吗？
I'm guessing if I went to the audience right now and asked 100 different people which college they chose, I'd hear the same names over and over and over again.
我猜如果我现在走到观众席上，询问一百个不同的人他们选了哪所大学，我会不断重复听到同样的名称。
And that's because we have a huge problem in higher education.
这是因为我们的高等教育有个很大的问题。
We say we want colleges to be more equitable, more transformational, more accessible.
我们说我们希望大学更公平、更能带来转变、更容易进入。
But we tend to obsess over a tiny group of colleges most of us could never get into.
但我们却倾向过度迷恋一小部分大学，多数人永远无法进入的大学。
And it's not because we aren't smart enough.
并不是因为我们不够聪明，
It's because there isn't enough space for all of us.
而是因为没有足够的空间给所有人。
These schools intentionally cap the number of students that they accept.
这些学校会刻意限制它们录取的学生数目。
It's why Akil Bello, an advocate for fairness in college admissions, calls them something else.
这就是为什么阿奇尔?贝罗，大学入学公平性的推动者，用其他的名称称呼它们。
They're not prestigious universities.
它们不是有名望的大学，
They're highly rejective colleges.
它们是高拒绝性大学。
Places like Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, MIT.
比如哈佛、史丹佛、耶鲁、普林斯顿、麻省理工学院。
And I'm not saying these schools are bad.
我不是说这些学校不好。
They're obviously major research institutions.
很显然它们都是重要的研究机构。
But our cultural obsession with a limited group of highly rejective colleges has major consequences.
但我们的文化是迷恋一小部分高拒绝性大学，这现象带来重大的后果。
I'm the first person in my immediate family to graduate from college.
我是我家中第一个从大学毕业的人。
And Portland State University, a regional public university in Portland, Oregon, truly changed my life.
波特兰州立大学，位在奥勒岗州波特兰的区域性公立大学，真的改变了我的人生。
But for a long time, when someone at a networking event asked me where I went to college, I worried that they'd judge my intellect and my aspirations when I answered.
但，有很长一段时间，当有人在社交聚会上问我读什么大学时，我会担心他们会根据我的答案来评断我的智力和我的抱负。
Now I research higher education to understand how our perceptions of which colleges are good shape important decisions we make about which schools to fund, donate to, attend, and send our children to.
现在我研究的是高等教育，我想了解我们对于哪些大学比较好的观感如何形塑我们的重要决策，比如要资助哪些学校、要捐款给哪些学校、要就读或送我们的孩子去哪些学校。
Regional public universities, or RPUs for short, are the exact opposite of highly rejective colleges.
区域性公立大学，简称RPU,它们和高拒绝性大学恰恰相反。
You can spot them because their name tells you which communities they serve.
从它们的名字就可以看出它们服务哪个社区。
Western Colorado University, Northern Kentucky University, Eastern Washington University.
西科罗拉多大学、北肯塔基大学、东华盛顿大学。
In New York, they're the SUNY and the CUNY schools.
在纽约则是纽约州立大学和纽约市立大学。
In California, they're the 23 CSU campuses.
在加州则是二十三个加州州立大学校区。
They’re called “normal schools” in China, “Fachschule” in Germany and “provincial colleges” in Canada and Italy.
在中国叫做「师范大学」，在德国称为「专业学校」，在加拿大和意大利则是「省级学院」。
These are the universities that train the nurses who take care of you when you go to the hospital, the school teachers who educate your children and the small business leaders that create jobs in your home town.
是这些学校训练出护理师，在你去医院时照顾你；训练出教育你孩子的学校老师；以及在你家乡创造工作机会的小型企业领导者。
Regional public universities, or RPUs, pride themselves on accepting everyone or almost everyone who applies.
区域性公立大学（RPU）以接受每个申请者为荣，或几乎只要申请就能录取。
