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　　Wednesday November 2, 2011

　　2011年11月2日

　　Dear Professor Mankiw—

　　尊敬的曼昆教授：

　　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（课程编号10）”的课堂，以表达对这门经济学导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.

　　作为哈佛大学“经济学（10）”课程的注册本科生，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、公共政策以及更多学科的基础。然而，我们发现这门我们深信课程持有某种特别的、有局限性的观点，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.

　　合理的经济学研究应该包括对不同经济范式的优点和缺点方面的批判性讨论。因为你的课程没有原始文献来源，也不像学术杂志中的学术论文，我们几乎没有机会接触到经济学的多个方面的理论。把亚当.斯密的经济学理论置于比凯恩斯理论等更为根本或基础的地位，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.

　　为700名哈佛学子开设的经济学导论课程，通常应该为他们进一步学习经济学打下坚实的基础，因此，不带偏见的经济学观点尤为重要。许多哈佛学生只能选择“经济学10”课程，因为这门课程是进一步学习经济学、环境科学和公共政策的基础课程。而对社会科学的学生来说，唯一可替代这门课程的是斯蒂文-麦高林教授隔年开设的《经济学批判》这门课程。其他许多学生则希望对经济学的分析性的理解，可以成为优质的社会科学教育的一部分。可是，“经济学10”却给以后的经济学课程教学带来了麻烦，因为它给其他课程不是打下坚实的基础，而是提出了一些被扭曲的观点。我们不应该寄希望于通过学生罢这门课或者整个经济科学的课来表达他们的不满。

　　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.

　　哈佛毕业生在全世界的金融机构和公共政策制定过程中发挥着重要作用。如果哈佛不能给其学子提供广泛的、批判性的经济学观点，他们的行动就有可能危及世界金融体系。近五年的世界经济危机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.

　　我们今天走出课堂，去参加作为全球占领运动一部分的全波士顿反对高等教育公司化的示威游行。曼昆教授，因为“经济学10”的偏见性导致了并标志着美国日益严重的经济不平等，我们今天走出你的课堂，既是对您缺乏对经济学基本理论的充分讨论的抗议，也是对旨在改变美国经济不公的运动的支持。我们希望您能重视我们的这种担忧和这次罢课行为。

　　Sincerely,

　　Concerned students of Economics 10

　　忧心忡忡的“经济学10”课程的学生

　　（ 贾江华译，丁晓钦校）

　　网络编辑：阳光

　　

　　在 2011-11-21 11:23:53，"程恩富" <65344718@vip.163.com> 写道：

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