马克思主义研究网

　　Wednesday November 2, 2011

　　2011年11月2日

　　Dear Professor Mankiw—

　　亲爱的曼昆教授

　　Today, we are walking out of your class, Economics 10, in order to express our discontent with the bias inherent in this introductory economics course. We are deeply concerned about the way that this bias affects students, the University, and our greater society.

　　今天，我们走出经济学10级你的教室，以表达对这门经济学概论课程固有的偏见的不满。我们深切地关注这些偏见对学生，大学以及我们伟大社会的影响。

　　As Harvard undergraduates, we enrolled in Economics 10 hoping to gain a broad and introductory foundation of economic theory that would assist us in our various intellectual pursuits and diverse disciplines, which range from Economics, to Government, to Environmental Sciences and Public Policy, and beyond. Instead, we found a course that espouses a specific—and limited—view of economics that we believe perpetuates problematic and inefficient systems of economic inequality in our society today.

　　作为注册为10级经济学专业的哈佛大学的本科生，我们希望获得宽广的经济学的基础知识，作为我们继续学习经济学、政府管理、环境科学、公共政策以及更多的各门学科的基础。然而，我们发现这门我们深信的持有一种特殊的和有限观点的课程，持久地为我们今天这个社会里问题多多、效率极低的经济不公平制度辩护。

　　A legitimate academic study of economics must include a critical discussion of both the benefits and flaws of different economic simplifying models. As your class does not include primary sources and rarely features articles from academic journals, we have very little access to alternative approaches to economics. There is no justification for presenting Adam Smith’s economic theories as more fundamental or basic than, for example, Keynesian theory.

　　一种合理的经济学的科学研究应该包括对不同经济范式的有利和瑕疵方面的批判性讨论。因为你的课程没有来自学术杂志文章中的基本的素材和稀有的特征，我们也几乎没有机会接触到经济学的多个方面的理论，因为把亚当斯密的经济学理论置于如凯恩斯理论等更基础的地位，是不公平的。

　　Care in presenting an unbiased perspective on economics is particularly important for an introductory course of 700 students that nominally provides a sound foundation for further study in economics. Many Harvard students do not have the ability to opt out of Economics 10. This class is required for Economics and Environmental Science and Public Policy concentrators, while Social Studies concentrators must take an introductory economics course—and the only other eligible class, Professor Steven Margolin’s class Critical Perspectives on Economics, is only offered every other year (and not this year). Many other students simply desire an analytic understanding of economics as part of a quality liberal arts education. Furthermore, Economics 10 makes it difficult for subsequent economics courses to teach effectively as it offers only one heavily skewed perspective rather than a solid grounding on which other courses can expand. Students should not be expected to avoid this class—or the whole discipline of economics—as a method of expressing discontent.

　　关注于给700名学生在经济学理论无偏见的基本观点对其名义上提供进一步经济学研究的坚实基础是相当重要的。许多哈佛学生不能决定退出经济学10级。这个班学习要求是经济学、环境科学和公共政策的交叉集合，而社会研究专业的学生必须学习的《经济学概论》则由斯蒂文-马高林教授隔年开设的《经济学批判》这门课唯一合理的课程。作为合格的人文知识教育的一部分，许多学生只是简单地希望对经济学有一个分析性的理解。因为给予的不是相当基础而是相当偏狭无法拓展到其他课程的知识，这种教授过程对更多的其他的经济学课程学习是无效的。作为一种表达不满的方法，不要希望学生们避免这些课程或整个经济学的总体规范。

　　Harvard graduates play major roles in the financial institutions and in shaping public policy around the world. If Harvard fails to equip its students with a broad and critical understanding of economics, their actions are likely to harm the global financial system. The last five years of economic turmoil have been proof enough of this.

　　哈佛研究生在世界上的财政研究机构和公共政策制定过程中扮演着重要角色。如果哈佛不能给这些学生装备宽泛和批判性的经济学观点，他们的行动就有可能伤害世界财政体系。近五年的世界经济骚乱就充分证明了这一点。

　　We are walking out today to join a Boston-wide march protesting the corporatization of higher education as part of the global Occupy movement. Since the biased nature of Economics 10 contributes to and symbolizes the increasing economic inequality in America, we are walking out of your class today both to protest your inadequate discussion of basic economic theory and to lend our support to a movement that is changing American discourse on economic injustice. Professor Mankiw, we ask that you take our concerns and our walk-out seriously.

　　我们今天走出去参加作为世界占领运动一部分的高教组织在波士顿的示威游行。经济学10级具有的偏见的特征，也作为对不断增长的美国经济不公现象的注释和象征，我们今天走出你的课堂，既是反对你对其他经济学基本理论未给以足够讨论，也借此表达我们对改变主流美国经济学表述的不公平的支持。曼昆教授，我们希望你对我们的这种“关心”和“走出去活动给予足够重视。

　　Sincerely,

　　诚挚地

　　Concerned students of Economics 10

　　关心的经济学10级学生

　　（英文见http://hpronline.org/harvard/an-open-letter-to-greg-mankiw/?mid=51）

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