The Sunday Read: ‘The Man Who Couldn’t Stop Going to College’

《星期日报》读到:“一个无法停止上大学的人”

The Daily

2024-08-18

25 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

Benjamin B. Bolger has been to Harvard and Stanford and Yale. He has been to Columbia and Dartmouth and Oxford, and Cambridge, Brandeis and Brown. Over all, Bolger has 14 advanced degrees, plus an associate’s and a bachelor’s. Against a backdrop of pervasive cynicism about the nature of higher education, it is tempting to dismiss a figure like Bolger as the wacky byproduct of an empty system. Then again, Bolger has run himself through that system, over and over and over again; it continues to take him in, and he continues to return to it for more.
更多

单集文稿 ...

  • You want control of your financial future.

  • That's why when it comes to managing your wealth, Schwab gives you more choices like full service wealth management and advice when you need it most.

  • You can also invest on your own and trade on Thinkorswim, the powerful, award winning trading platform.

  • Plus, you'll get low costs, transparent pricing, and 24/7 live help.

  • Because Schwab understands it's your financial journey, and they believe you should have choices in how you invest.

  • Visit schwab.com to learn more.

  • Hi, my name's Joe Bernstein, and I'm a reporter on the Styles desk at the New York Times.

  • This week's Sunday read is a story I wrote for our magazine about a 48 year old man named Benjamin Bolger.

  • And what makes Benjamin special is that he is America's preeminent perpetual student.

  • That is, hes someone who collects college degrees.

  • Over the past 30 years, hes received over a dozen degrees.

  • Theyre from the worlds most prestigious Harvard, Stanford, and Yale, just to name a few.

  • I had the same reaction as many people when they hear about Benjamin for the first time.

  • Why?

  • What would possess someone to dedicate themselves to this kind of life?

  • So last summer I decided to go to Boston and ask Benjamin myself.

  • And talking to him is almost like talking to a walking freshman seminar.

  • We talked about union labor.

  • We talked about cryptocurrency.

  • We talked about the nature of bridges, international and Middle eastern diplomacy, even Joan of Arc.