诺贝尔经济学奖得主詹姆斯·赫克曼教授在香港中文大学（深圳）2020年度入学典礼上的致辞

2020年诺贝尔经济学奖得主

James J. Heckman教授致辞

在香港中文大学（深圳）2020年度入学典礼上，2000年诺贝尔经济学奖得主詹姆斯·赫克曼教授与大家分享了对大学生活以及未来人生的建议，鼓励同学们去探索新观点、新思想、新价值观。“大学之所以是一个重要而独特的转折点，是因为你将迎来一个崭新的世界，百花齐放，大开眼界······不要过分局限于既定的目标，思想的世界浩瀚无垠，当你敞开怀抱时，你会发现那些有别与你的“主业”的思考方式和分析工具，不仅能够让你更好地理解和欣赏周边世界，还能够激发你自己的创造力。”

詹姆斯·赫克曼教授是美国芝加哥大学经济学教授，在微观计量经济学领域有着杰出贡献。

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徐校长、各位同事、各位同学、家长们：

我很荣幸能够在此为港中大（深圳）2020级新生致辞，很荣幸能够与大家分享大学生活以及未来人生的建议。大学是非常重要的人生转折点，各位学子离开了熟悉的家园，在大学里开始了新的人生。

在这里，各位需要独当一面，需要做的决定也要比中学时期多很多。在这里，各位会建立新的朋友圈，结交许多不同背景的朋友，他们的兴趣爱好可能与你们截然不同。大学为各位学子提供了丰富的探索空间，新的科目、新的观点和新的价值观。在这里，你也可以更好地探索自己，探索你所感兴趣和珍视的事物，探索你对未来生活的希冀。

大学生其实有点像舞台上的演员，需要探索不同的身份，扮演不同的角色，以多种方式参与到世界之中。在这段探索中，你将更加清晰地了解自己，以及你的一辈子的热诚所在。各位将一直处于了解新事物、新人物、新思想和新价值观的过程之中。

大学之所以是一个重要而独特的转折点，因为你将迎来一个崭新的世界，百花齐放，大开眼界。然而，自己所习得的知识才是最好的知识 。各位需要勇于探索新的想法和体验，需要仔细倾听和聆听，还需要敞开心扉去了解不同的观点，学习如何与他人交往。

说起来容易，做起来难。断然否定他人的观点是一件很轻松的事情，不就是批判他人不够好嘛。但如果想要真正了解新的观点，需要很强大的自控力和节制力，还需要厘清自己为何同意或反对该观点。

在香港中文大学（深圳），各位可以接触到许多新鲜的思想和概念，丰富而多样化的课程，正是求知的良机。踏入大学阶段的你，可能已经有了明确的学习目标，甚至已经规划好了未来的方向，但也请千万注意不要过分局限于既定的目标。

思想的世界浩瀚无垠，当你敞开怀抱时，你会发现：那些有别与你的“主业”的思考方式和分析工具，不仅能够让你更好地理解和欣赏周边世界，还能够激发你自己的创造力。我曾学习过的经济学、历史、文学、物理学、数学、统计学、语言学和艺术 ，全部都曾助我一臂之力，且常常出乎我的意料。沉浸在不同的思想和创造过程中，会帮助你跳出思维定势。

正如伟大的诺贝尔经济学家哈耶克曾经写道："如果一个人只是一名经济学家，便不可能成为一名好的经济学家"。这句话适用于各行各业。请各位充分利用港中大（深圳）的优势，丰富自己的生活和思想。

另一个重要的经验是，各位学子应学会如何学习。大学不是一个仅追求学业成绩和标准化考试的地方，大学所强调的是理解，而不是考试分数的高低。在生活中、工作中、甚至大学里，问题往往不是以标准化考试的形式出现的。

真正的知识远不止于各式各样的定理、算法或程序。随着新知识的涌现，旧的知识很快就会过时。如果不想被时代所淘汰，则各位必须探索和梳理新问题，并系统地解决问题。这不仅需要你使用已有的解决方案，还需要你去真正地探索新的想法和方式。

对于这类问题，各位需要学会进行有效的类比，学会触类旁通，探索事物的相通之处。深入探讨各种思维过程，是非常有价值的。可以说，我所学习过的任何事物，最终都促进了我的科研和创新。在我看来，这些知识能够帮助我们更好地理解自己和世界。而最终，你将能够使用自己所积累的智慧和能力去挑战那些已知正确或错误的观点。

解决新问题本身就是一个创造性的过程，这个过程没有具体的规则要去遵守。你们中的一些人，可能缺乏挑战权威的勇气，甚至不敢创造自己的理性论点。随波逐流，不思革新, 向来是更方便、更省事的选择，殊不知推陈出新才是创造性思维的核心源泉。尝试新事物和理解新思想可能是困难的，但最终是值得的。

在这个过程中，你也许会发现所有的新事物，无论你如何努力，都有可能会失败。但应对失败本身就是人生的必修课。正如老话所说，有得必有失。但这总比只懂得在一旁评头论足要好得多。失败，乃探索知识的动力。

作为入学典礼的演讲嘉宾，我知道我不该为失败鼓掌。但请注意，我不是在让各位去失败。相反，我希望各位能够乘风破浪，探索真我。希望各位能够找到自己所珍视和热爱的事物。而当你仔细研究失败的原因时，你会发现它是获取知识的绝佳来源。

诸位，请勇往直前，大胆追求你所感兴趣的事物，港中大（深圳）将是你通往智慧和真知的门户。

欢迎各位，祝各位一帆风顺！

James J. Heckman

James J. Heckman's Remarks

at 2020 Inauguration Ceremony

Saturday, September 5, 2020

Prof. James J. Heckman delivers a kenote speech

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President Xu, faculty, students, and guests,

I am honored to have the opportunity to welcome the class of 2024 to CUHK-Shenzhen and to offer some advice to you about going forward in your studies here and in the rest of your life.

Attending college is an important life transition. Many of you are leaving your home or at the very least, forming a new relationship with it. You are on your own and making important decisions far more than in your secondary school years. You are making new circles of friends, meeting people with diverse backgrounds and with interests possibly very different from your own.

College gives you a rich palette of things to explore new subjects, new points of view, and new values. It also offers you the opportunity to explore yourself—explore what interests you, what you value, and what you want out of life.

In some ways, you are like actors on a stage, exploring different roles, trying out different personas, and engaging the world in different ways. You will take from these explorations a clearer definition of yourself. We are always in the process of becoming—of learning new things, people, ideas, and values.

College is unique and is an important transition because so much is new and eye-opening, and it all comes at the same time. The greatest knowledge you can acquire is self-knowledge. This is acquired by exposing yourself to new ideas and experiences.

By listening and learning carefully. By opening yourself to understanding different points of view and learning how to engage with others.

This is harder than it sounds. It is much easier to dismiss arguments out of hand, argue that somebody is not good. It requires a lot of disciplines and self-control to understand new perspectives and to reason to yourself why you agree or disagree with them.

CUHK Shenzhen offers you many opportunities to explore ideas and concepts that are unfamiliar. The broad list of courses in many fields offers real opportunities for knowledge. At this stage in your lives. You may have very definite ideas of what you want to study and how to go about it.

But be careful in focusing too narrowly at this stage of your lives. The world of ideas is vast, vaster than you know. And you will learn, if you open yourself to it, that other modes of thinking and other tools of analysis outside whatever your “main field” may be today will not only illuminate your understanding and appreciation of the world, but also fuel your own creative processes.In my own field of economics, knowledge of history, literature, physics, mathematics, statistics, linguistics, and art are all proved useful, often in surprising ways.

For example, immersion in different thought and creative processes will help you think out of the box. As F.A. Hayek, the great Nobel economist once wrote, “no one can be a good economist if he is only an economist.” The same is true for most fields. Take advantage of what CUHK-Shenzhen offers to enrich your life and thought.

Another important lesson that you should learn is how to learn. In coming here, you have moved beyond the routinized world of classroom grading and standardized testing to a world that emphasizes understanding—not just scoring well on exams. Very few problems that you will face in life, work, or even in college, come in the format of standardized exams. True knowledge is much more than sets of facts, algorithms, or procedures. They rapidly become obsolete as new knowledge is acquired.

What will not become obsolete is :How to frame new problems. How to address them systematically, including how to understand the portions of a problem with known solutions and the portions that require genuinely new understanding. For such problems, you need to learn how to lean to make valid analogies and to sweep across the field of ideas for useful hints and parallels. A deep understanding of a variety of thought processes contributes greatly to this.

I can honestly say that I never learned anything that did not eventually contribute to my own research and creative thought. And I think they will contribute to your own understanding of the world and to oneself. And finally, you will learn how to develop the intellectual and personal strength to challenge received knowledge that you think—or know—to be wrong.

Successfully addressing new questions is a creative process. There are no specific rules to go about it. Some of you may lack the courage to disagree with authority and to develop rational arguments of your own. It is often more convenient and less demanding to graze with the herd and not to try something new, although doing so is the central source of creative thought.

Trying new things and understanding new ideas can be hard, but it is ultimately rewarding. In doing so you should recognize that any new project may—in any attempt—fail. But learning to deal with failure is itself an essential life skill. “Nothing lost, nothing gained.” as the old saying goes. Far better than sitting on the sidelines as only a critic. It is surely unusual for me—or any speaker at an event like this—to applaud failure.

But please listen carefully: I am not asking you to fail. Instead, I am asking you to take the risk of learning who you really are and what you really value and to go where your true interests lead you. Failure is often a great source of knowledge if you carefully study why it occurred and what to learn from it.

So go forth, take risks, and pursue what deeply interests you. CUHK-Shenzhen is your portal to wisdom and true knowledge. Welcome and good luck.

James J. Heckman

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