我为何离开FT去教书？

A year from now, I will not be at my desk at the Financial Times writing mocking columns about the madness of corporate life. I will be standing in front of a classroom of teenagers in an inner London school teaching them the basic rules of trigonometry.

明年这时候，我将不再坐在英国《金融时报》(简称FT)的工位上写着嘲讽疯狂公司生活的专栏，而是会站在内伦敦一所学校的教室里，给一班青少年学生讲授三角函数的基本原理。

There are various things about this change of career that are irregular. One is that I’m doing it rather late — I’ll be 58 when I start. Another is that I am making this announcement rather early. I’m not actually off until July.

这次职业变动有好些地方不寻常。一是我转行较晚——等我开始执教时就58岁了。二是我公布消息较早——实际上我要到明年7月份才正式离职。

The reason I’m giving so much notice is I want to persuade you to jack in whatever you are doing and come with me. Or rather I want to persuade you if you are a) of a certain age b) doggedly determined c) based in London and d) fancy the idea of teaching maths, science or languages, where the shortage of teachers is worst.

我之所以提早这么多宣布消息，是想说服你们抛下正在从事的无论什么工作，加入我的行列。准确地说，我打算说服的是这样的你：a) 到了一定岁数 b) 意志坚定 c) 生活在伦敦 以及d) 对教授数学、科学或英文这几门最缺老师的科目有兴趣。

During the past few months, in cahoots with people who know what they are doing, I’ve been setting up an organisation to encourage bankers, lawyers and accountants to spend the rest of their careers in the classroom. Our outfit is called Now Teach, and aims to do a version of what Teach First has done so brilliantly — convincing the brightest graduates that teaching is a cool and noble thing to do before trotting off to work for McKinsey/PwC/Goldman — only the other way round. We want to convince people who have spent a career at McKinsey or wherever that teaching is a cool and noble thing to do afterwards.

过去几个月，我跟一帮靠谱的人混在一起，在创办一个组织，目的是鼓励银行业人士、律师和会计师们将剩余的职业生涯奉献给讲台。我们这个组织叫Now Teach(现在教书吧)，我们力图效仿Teach First(先教书吧)，说服那些最聪明的人相信，教书是又酷又崇高的职业，只不过Teach First是鼓励最优秀的毕业生，在投奔麦肯锡(McKinsey)、普华永道(PwC)或高盛(Goldman)之前先去教书，而我们是反过来，想说服那些已经在麦肯锡或别的什么地方度过了一段职业生涯的人改行去教书。

Not everyone thinks this is a great idea. When I told my fellow columnist Gideon Rachman about it he looked at me in befuddlement. “Let me see if I’ve understood,” he said, brow furrowed. “You are leaving a job you are good at, where you get money, praise, freedom, glamour and flexibility. You are swapping it for something that is less well paid, difficult, has no freedom, no glamour, is intensely stressful and you may be rubbish at it. Or am I missing something?”

并不是每人都认为这是个好主意。当我告诉我的专栏作家同事吉迪恩•拉赫曼(Gideon Rachman)这个消息时，他不解地看着我。“让我确认下我的理解对不对，”他皱着眉头说，“你要离开一份你很擅长、薪水不错、为你带来赞赏、非常自由、光鲜体面而且非常灵活的工作，换一份待遇较差、难度较高、不自由、不光鲜、压力非常大而且你可能非常不擅长的工作。还是我有什么考虑漏了?”

The answer, Gideon, is yes you are. Nobody can go on doing the same thing forever. In most jobs two decades is plenty. I’ve stuck at mine for 31 years because my job is the nicest in the world. But even so, it has been long enough. With jobs, as with parties, it is best to leave when you are still having a good time.

回答是，吉迪恩，你确实没考虑全。没有人能一直干同样的事。大多数工作干上20年已经很长了。就因为我这份工作简直是世界上最好的工作，我才一直干了31年。但即便如此，这也够长了。对待工作，应该像对待派对一样，最好在你仍意犹未尽时离场。

For me, the thought of starting over, learning something that is new and terrifyingly hard, is part of the point. So is the thought of being in a staffroom with colleagues who are my children’s age. But the biggest thing, which readers may find hard to swallow given my entire career has been based on ridiculing others, is that, for my next act, I want to be useful. Yes, I know sticking pins in pompous chief executives is useful in a meta kind of way but that’s not the kind of useful I have in mind.

对我来说，从头再来、去学一些全新又十分困难的东西，恰恰是部分意义所在。与一群跟我的孩子们年龄相仿的同事们共处一个教研室也是部分意义所在。但最主要的意义在于，我希望在我的下一段人生旅程里做一个有用的人。考虑到鄙人整个职业生涯均建立在讽刺他人的基础上，这一点或许会让我的读者们难以置信。诚然，我知道戳破那些首席执行官的自负在某种意义上也是有用的，但那并不是我心目中的有用。

A few months ago I wrote a column pointing out that there were hardly any 50-somethings left in banking, corporate law or most managerial jobs. Underneath, a prescient FT reader wrote: time for Teach Last? It is time. Schools need teachers. My generation has mostly paid off mortgages; we have pensions and can afford a pay cut. We will live until we are 100, and will work into our 70s. If Leonard Cohen could do world tours until he was 80, I can surely find the energy needed to be in a classroom all day, teaching kids my favourite subject.

几个月前，我在一篇专栏文章中指出，在银行业、公司法或大多数管理职位上已难觅50几岁的人。一位有先见之明的FT读者留言道：到了“终于去教书(Teach Last)”的时候了?是的。学校需要老师。我们这代人大多已经还清了贷款;我们有退休金，也经得起减薪。我们将活到百岁，也将一直工作至年逾古稀。如果伦纳德•科恩(Leonard Cohen)可以环球巡演到80岁，我也肯定有精力在教室待一整天，教孩子们我最爱的科目。

Various people have protested that it won’t work as my generation will be hopeless at controlling unruly teenagers. But I’m not dumping myself and fellow Now Teach recruits in schools unsupported. We are in partnership with Ark, the educational charity, which knows how to train teachers. I’ve sat in on some of its sessions and have learnt how to stand, and what to do with my voice to make kids behave. I’ve practised in front of the mirror: I almost managed to scare myself.

很多人断言那也没用，因为我这岁数的人不可能降得住那些难以管教的青少年。但我不会把我自己和Now Teach招募的其他人丢在学校里不管。我们与教育慈善机构Ark有合作，Ark懂得如何培训教师。我参加过他们的一些讲座，并学会了用怎样的站姿和语气能让孩子们老实。我在镜子前演练过：我的威严几乎把自己都震慑住了。

For now I’m banning all FT readers from emailing me to say goodbye as I’m not off yet. I’m staying until the summer and, even then, will not be making a clean break. I will go on writing for the FT, whenever I have a spare minute from all that trigonometry.

眼下我禁止所有FT读者们发告别邮件给我，因为我还没走。我将一直待到明年夏天，即便到那时，我也不会跟FT一刀两断。在教授三角函数之余，我一有空就会继续为FT撰稿。

Instead, I want only to hear from people who have a view on Now Teach.

我只希望大家来信告诉我对Now Teach有何高见。

Better still, I want to hear from anyone who is ready to chuck in the corporate life and come with me.

我更愿意获悉有人已准备告别公司生活，加入我的行列。