My comments: In other words, a big misunderstanding. The above quote is from a Wall Street Journal story (What’s a Degree Really Worth? February 2, 2020) about the difference between the life-time earnings of a college graduate and those of a high school graduate. It’s generally believed that college grads might be able to make up to a million dollars more in their career than a high schooler but recent research has found that idea to be probably untrue. The difference, according to, is considerably smaller – the conclusion being that the financial value of a college diploma, too, may have been overvalued. Don’t burn all your books, please…. Anyways, Schneider was actually making a play of words with that estimated “million-dollar” difference in the career earnings between the two groups when he used the term “million-dollar misunderstanding”, meaning that the misunderstanding is one of huge proportions. Similarly, you may hear people talk about “million-dollar ideas” - ideas that may prove to be worth millions of dollars. In other words, great ideas. Or “million-dollar lessons” - lessons you could not buy even if you were willing to pay a million dollars, again figuratively speaking, for them. Speaking of which, “million-dollar lessons” must still be available on a college campus. But they’re hidden somewhere in the dull textbook, the large library or the strange head of a quaint teacher and it’s all up to the student to seek and find them. As the saying goes, when the student is ready, the teacher appears. Related stories: Butt-brush effect 本文僅代表作者本人觀點(diǎn),與本網(wǎng)立場無關(guān)。歡迎大家討論學(xué)術(shù)問題,尊重他人,禁止人身攻擊和發(fā)布一切違反國家現(xiàn)行法律法規(guī)的內(nèi)容。 About the author:Zhang Xin has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column. |
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