寫給凱拉韋和其他想轉(zhuǎn)行教書的人的話

Hurrah, she has finally done it. Ten years ago, Lucy Kellaway told me — in hushed tones as though it were a guilty secret — that she dreamt of being a maths teacher. The occasion was my decision to leave the Financial Times to teach English. I am delighted that now she too has decided to take the plunge. I made my career change earlier — in my 40s — but I do not regret it, and I have every confidence that Lucy won’t either.

好哇，她終于這么做了。10年前，露西•凱拉韋(Lucy Kellaway)告訴我——她壓低了聲音，好像這是個(gè)罪惡的秘密——她的夢(mèng)想是當(dāng)一名數(shù)學(xué)老師。當(dāng)時(shí)，我決定離開英國(guó)《金融時(shí)報(bào)》去教英語(yǔ)。我很高興，現(xiàn)在她也決定果斷行動(dòng)了。我改行的時(shí)候比她早——在40多歲的時(shí)候——但我不后悔，而且我很有信心，露西也不會(huì)后悔。

Lucy was not the only one to confess such yearnings: quite a few journalists, I discovered, hankered after a life in front of an interactive white board and wished they could be as “brave” as me. But Lucy was particularly sincere and thoughtful. Her mother, Deborah Kellaway, had been an inspirational head of English at Camden School for Girls — the actor Emma Thompson named her My Best Teacher in a column for the Times Educational Supplement. Lucy gave me some advice about what made her mother so adored: “She was open to the girls’ ideas. She made them feel clever and original.”

露西并非唯一坦承心存這種渴望的人：我發(fā)現(xiàn)，在度過一段整天對(duì)著交互式電子白板的職業(yè)生涯之后，許多記者有這種渴望，并希望自己可以像我一樣“勇敢”。但露西的渴望特別熱烈，并且考慮周到。她母親黛博拉•凱拉韋(Deborah Kellaway)曾是卡姆登女子學(xué)校(Camden School for Girls)富有啟發(fā)力的英語(yǔ)教學(xué)主管——演員艾瑪•湯普森(Emma Thompson)在給《泰晤士報(bào)》教育副刊(Times Educational Supplement)寫的一篇專欄文章中稱她為“我最好的老師”。露西給我指點(diǎn)了一下她母親那么受崇拜的原因：“她對(duì)女孩們的想法持開放態(tài)度。她讓她們感到自己聰明、與眾不同。”

It was advice I took to heart and it turned out to be easy to follow. One of the most rewarding things about teaching is that teenagers really do make original and thought-provoking observations. Mind you, this might be more of a phenomenon when you are teaching Charlotte Brontë rather than Lucy’s beloved trigonometry.

我把她的話記在了心里，后來發(fā)現(xiàn)做到這些并不難。教書的最大回報(bào)之一，是青少年真的會(huì)提出與眾不同、發(fā)人深思的觀點(diǎn)。請(qǐng)注意，如果你教的是夏洛特•勃朗特(Charlotte Brontë)而不是露西喜歡的三角函數(shù)，就更可能如此。

I had been at the FT for 10 years — not a patch on Lucy’s 31 — when I decided to move into teaching. I had enjoyed myself thoroughly at the paper: my roles had included deputy UK news editor, arts editor and, at the time I left, co-Editor of what was then the Weekend section — now Life & Arts.

當(dāng)決定改行去教書時(shí)，我已在英國(guó)《金融時(shí)報(bào)》工作了10年——比露西的31年短多了。我在報(bào)社時(shí)非常享受我的工作：我擔(dān)任過的職位包括英國(guó)新聞副主編、藝術(shù)版主編，離職時(shí)我是當(dāng)時(shí)的周末版——如今的生活與藝術(shù)(Life & Arts)——的聯(lián)合主編。

But my fascination with education grew. I became a governor at my children’s primary school and a pupil mentor at a comprehensive, but it was not enough.

但我對(duì)教育越來越著迷。我成了我孩子小學(xué)的董事和一所綜合性中學(xué)的學(xué)生導(dǎo)師，但那還不夠。

I was mad, I told myself. Those teacher recruitment advertisements, full of pupils gazing in open-mouthed wonderment at an enthusiastic (young and good-looking) teacher, were peddling a fantasy, I said, sternly. Teaching could not really be like that: just read the headlines and listen to the politicians. In the end, I went to watch some teachers in action — and it turned out that the cheesy fantasy was not so far from the truth after all. You really do get “golden moments” when pupils turn to you agog that “Shakespeare was really clever”. These are deeply touching.

我自言自語(yǔ)說，我瘋了。我嚴(yán)肅告誡自己，那些教師招聘廣告——上面都是張大嘴巴、好奇地注視著熱情洋溢(且年輕貌美)的老師的學(xué)生——在兜售一種幻想。教書的真實(shí)情況不可能是那樣的：只要讀一讀頭條、聽一聽政客們的話，就知道了。最后，我去觀察了一些老師的工作情況，然后發(fā)現(xiàn)，那美妙的幻想與現(xiàn)實(shí)的距離根本不遠(yuǎn)。當(dāng)學(xué)生興高采烈地過來對(duì)你說“莎士比亞真聰明”，那真是你的黃金時(shí)刻。這些深深地打動(dòng)了我。

So I wish Lucy — and everyone else who joins her through Now Teach — the best of luck. It won’t all be Dead Poets Society and School of Rock, but I work with several colleagues who after careers in the City, as investment bankers, consultants, insurance brokers and lawyers, have come into teaching. They, like me, enjoy the variety and challenge of the job. As one said to me, just the other day, over dodgy staffroom coffee (no more delectable cappuccinos from around the corner, Lucy): “I have never worked so hard. And I have never been so happy.”

所以，我希望露西——還有所有通過Now Teach(現(xiàn)在教書吧)跟她走相同道路的人——一路好運(yùn)。不會(huì)都像《死亡詩(shī)社》(Dead Poets Society)和《搖滾校園》(School of Rock)中的那個(gè)樣子，但我現(xiàn)在有幾位同事，都是在倫敦金融城(the City)當(dāng)過投行家、顧問、保險(xiǎn)經(jīng)紀(jì)人和律師之后，轉(zhuǎn)行教書。他們像我一樣，喜歡這份工作的多元性和挑戰(zhàn)。正如其中一人幾天前在喝著教員休息室質(zhì)量一般的咖啡(露西，不再有隨手可取的美味卡布奇諾了)時(shí)跟我所說：“我從沒工作得這么辛苦過。可我也從沒這樣開心過。”

However, there are a few surprises to look out for. Never mind former colleagues thinking you are mad: staffroom colleagues will think you are crazy for giving up a glamorous media career. And pupils will think you are utterly barking. The most humiliating thing a student ever said to me: “You went to Oxford and you’re just a teacher?” I know that education is the most popular destination for Oxford graduates, but it was little comfort at that moment.

然而，也有一些“驚喜”等著你。前同事認(rèn)為你瘋了根本不算什么：學(xué)校教員休息室里的同事會(huì)認(rèn)為，你放棄一份光鮮的媒體工作太瘋狂了。學(xué)生們會(huì)認(rèn)為，你完全是精神錯(cuò)亂。學(xué)生曾對(duì)我說過的最讓我感到羞辱的一句話是：“你上完牛津，結(jié)果就只是當(dāng)老師?”我知道，教育是牛津畢業(yè)生最喜歡的職業(yè)選擇，但當(dāng)時(shí)我并沒因?yàn)檫@個(gè)感到一絲的安慰。

Be prepared for the first time you are asked what you do by a stranger at a function: “I’m a teacher” gets a very different response from “I’m an FT columnist”. You think you won’t mind, but you may find that you do.

請(qǐng)為如下的第一次做好準(zhǔn)備：當(dāng)陌生人在活動(dòng)上問到你的職業(yè)時(shí)，“我是老師”得到的反應(yīng)與“我是英國(guó)《金融時(shí)報(bào)》專欄作家”完全不同。你認(rèn)為你不會(huì)在意，但你或許會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，你是在意的。

Lorna Dolan is assistant head of Sixth Form at Sevenoaks School.

洛娜•多蘭(Lorna Dolan)是七橡樹中學(xué)(Sevenoaks School)第六學(xué)級(jí)(Sixth Form)的副主管