雙語財經新聞 第77期:監獄大學教育者喬迪凱文
A college education is out of reach for Most state and federal prisoners, California’s San Quentin is one of the few prisons in the country that offers collegelevel courses .
Jody Lewen has run the facility’s college program for over a decade and she’s the reason that the Prison University Project exists today.
喬迪?勒文經營這座監 獄的大學教育計劃已經10多 年了，因爲她，監獄的大學計劃才能夠堅持到今天。When Lewen joined San Quentin’s college program in 1999 as a volunteer instructor1, it was run by a small volunteer staff with no budget. At that time, she was a graduate student, with plans to return to academic research. But a year later, when the part-time director suddenly quit, Lewen found herself in charge.
1999年，勒文作爲志願教師加人了聖昆廷監獄大 學教育計劃。這個計劃由幾個志願者經營，並且沒有預算。她當時還是一名研究生,原計劃回去從事學術研究。 但是一年後，這個計劃的兼職主任突然辭職，勒文擔負起監獄大學計劃的責任。
“I thought for a long time it was just temporary and that somebody else was going to keep the program running,” she says. “But once I started doing the work and got more deeply involved, I also began to see the potential the program had. And I started to think more and more about what this program could become. There was nobody else to run it. And I thought it would just be one of those failures for the rest of my life if I let it fold.”
勒文說：“我一直認爲這只是暫時的，會有別人來接手。但是，當我開始做並更 深地投入進去後，我逐漸看到這個計劃的潛力。我開始越來越多地思考它的發展前 景、服務對象以及有可能實現的價值和理想等。沒有其他人接手。我想如果我讓這 個計劃半途而廢，這將成爲我一輩子的失敗之一。”Under Lewen’s leadership, the Prison University Project has expanded, now offering 20 classes in English, math, the humanities, social science and Spanish. Three hundred inmates enroll every semester, earning college credits which can lead to an associate of arts degree. Lewen has recruited more than 150 volunteer teachers and graduate students from nearby colleges and universities. She says attracting teachers is not difficult, although some of the new instructors are nervous their first time at San Quentin.
在喬迪?勒文的領導下,監獄大學計劃得到大大地擴充，提供英語、數學、人文 學、社會科學和西班牙語等20門課程。每學期都有300名監獄犯人註冊上課,他們取得大學學分，最終能拿到副學士學位。勒文從附近的學院和大學聘請了 150名志願 教師和研究生。她說，吸引教師來這裏並不難，儘管有些新教師第一次來聖昆廷監獄感到緊張。“When I talk to people about this work, very often they assume that the students are very aggressive and very difficult, all the stereotypes people have in their minds about people who are incarcerated,”says Lewen. “They assume they’re a lot of troublemakers and are goofing off and they don’t want to do their work. That stereotype has nothing to do with reality.”
她說：“當我爲他們做介紹時，他們往往以爲這裏的學生具有攻擊性，難對付。 他們對被關押的犯人存在各種各樣的偏見。他們以爲會遇到很多調皮搗蛋、遊手好 $、不肯工作的人。事實並不是這樣。”Sook young Lee teaches a class on critical thinking and research. She finds her students are curious and engaged. “I’m super surprised at how nice the students are. Most of the times, students are extremely respectful, way more motivated than the University of California at Berkeley undergrads,” says Lee. “It’s always a pleasure for the teachers when the students are not taking learning for granted.”
蘇克揚李教批判思維和研究課程。她說，她的學生非常好奇,而且全神貫注。 她說這些學生的良好表現特別令我驚訝。大多數時候，他們非常有禮貌，比加州 大學伯克利分校的本科生更有學習動力。當學生不把學習當作理所當然的時候，這 對老師來說總是一件快樂的事情。”Charles Spence is serving a life sentence in San Quentin and has a few more courses left to finish his associate’s degree. “This experience realty has changed my life. It’s given me a lot of tools on how to express myself,” says Spence. “This program is really rare in the prison setting, so I’m really lucky. All of the guys feel the same. We’re really lucky to have the opportunity to get education, especially the way the economy is now. The odds are stacked against us when we get out, being convicted felons. This actually gives us a lot of hope and hopefully will help us succeed when we walk out the door.
查爾斯?斯賓斯被判無期徒刑。他還有幾門課就能完成副學士學位了。他說: “這個經歷改變了我的生活，它給了我很多自我表達的手段,”斯賓斯說，“這個計劃 在監獄裏是非常罕見的。我真的非常幸運。這裏所有的犯人都有同樣的感受。特別 是在目前的經濟狀況下，我們非常慶幸能有接受教育的機會。由於我們被判犯有重罪，今後一旦出去，勢必會遇到重重阻力o這個計劃真的帶給我們很多希望，我希望 它在我們走出這裏的時候能夠幫助我們成功。”So far, 100 San Quentin prisoners have graduated with associate’s degrees and many more have continued their college studies after release. Research shows that the more education a prisoner has, the less likely he is to return to prison. Lewen says the recidivism5 rate among prisoners with college degrees is less than 10 percent.
迄今,已經有100名聖昆廷監獄犯人獲得了副學士學位。還有更多的人在獲釋 後繼續進大學學習。研究顯示，監獄犯人受的教育越多，重回監獄的可能性就越低。 勒文告訴記者，擁有大學學位的監獄犯人的再犯率不到10%。“I remember one student saying to me ‘This college program is the best drug treatment program in the world. * And it was interesting because at first I really didn’t understand what he meant,” says Lewen. “And he was just saying ‘This program gives you hope and to stay clean and to live a healthy life, you need to have hope. “
她說我記得一個學生對我說:‘大學計劃是世界上最好的戒毒計劃。’這最初 我並不理解他的意思。他只是說，這個計劃帶給你希望，幫助你戒絕毒品，過上健康 的生活,你需要希望。”The Prison University Project survives on donations and foundation grants and receives no government funding. Lewen would like to see college programs in every prison but without government support, it’s not likely to happen any time soon. In the meantime, there’s a long waiting list of San Quentin prisoners who want to enroll in the college program. Some day, Lewen hopes to expand her program, making a college education available for most of the 5,500 prisoners currently housed at San Quentin.
監獄大學計劃沒有政府資助，而靠捐款和基金會的資金維持。喬迪?勒文希望 看到每座監獄都設立大學計劃。但是沒有麵苯持，這不大可能很快實現。與此同 時，希望註冊大學計劃的聖昆廷犯人有一個很長的等候名單。勒文希望擴大這個計 劃，有朝一日使目前被關押在這個監獄的5500名犯人中的大多數人都能接受大學教育。
