- 主题:11岁还不会说话的自闭症成为剑桥最年轻的黑人教授
Jason Arday, 37, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and global development delay when he was just a kid.
He couldn’t speak until he was 11, using sign language to communicate — and he couldn’t read or write until he was 18.
Less than a decade ago, Arday was given a devastating outlook: He would likely need to stay in an assisted living facility.
He refused to make that a reality, writing that he would “work at Oxford or Cambridge” on the wall of his mom’s bedroom, solidifying one of his lifelong goals.
Now, he’s the youngest black professor at the University of Cambridge. He teaches the sociology of education.
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“As optimistic as I am, there’s just no way I could have thought that would have happened. If I was a betting person, the odds on it were so long. It’s just mad,” Arday told The Times of UK, admitting he had “no idea” what he was doing when he first began writing academic papers.
He told the BBC that watching Nelson Mandela’s prison release in 1990 and witnessing South Africa’s 1995 Rugby World Cup win were among the most formative moments in his young life, vowing that if he didn’t “make it as a football player or a professional snooker player,” then he would “save the world.”
He said he never had a mentor teach him to write for academia, leading to a number of rejections — that is, until he finally reached his goal of teaching at the University of Cambridge. March 6 will mark his first day.
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According to the BBC, there are only five other black professors at the university.
“Everything I submitted got violently rejected. The peer review process was so cruel, it was almost funny, but I treated it as a learning experience and, perversely, began to enjoy it,” he explained to The Times.
In the face of adversity, he was hell-bent on changing the tides in his favor. He went on to earn two master’s qualifications after receiving a degree in physical education and education studies from the University of Surrey. He later earned a PhD from Liverpool John Moores University in 2016.
“A lot of academics say they stumbled into this line of work, but from that moment, I was determined and focused — I knew that this would be my goal,” Arday, who hails from South London, told The Times. “On reflection, this is what I meant to do.”
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The scholar recalled a dear friend, Sandro Sandri, encouraging him in academia, telling him, “I think we can take on the world and win.”
Arday published his first scholarly paper in 2018, becoming one of the youngest professors in the entire UK when he secured a job at the University of Glasgow’s School of Education.
“My work focuses primarily on how we can open doors to more people from disadvantaged backgrounds and truly democratize higher education,” Arday told The Times.
He hopes that being at Cambridge can leverage his ideas “to lead that agenda nationally and globally.”
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The scholar recalled a dear friend, Sandro Sandri, encouraging him in academia, telling him, “I think we can take on the world and win.”
Arday published his first scholarly paper in 2018, becoming one of the youngest professors in the entire UK when he secured a job at the University of Glasgow’s School of Education.
“My work focuses primarily on how we can open doors to more people from disadvantaged backgrounds and truly democratize higher education,” Arday told The Times.
He hopes that being at Cambridge can leverage his ideas “to lead that agenda nationally and globally.”
32
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FROM 114.241.83.*
He finally began to read and write in his late teens, supported by his mentor, college tutor and close friend, Sandro Sandri. He then studied Physical Education and Education Studies at the University of Surrey before training as a PE teacher. During this time, he became aware of the possibility of postgraduate study, and at 22 told Sandri that he was considering a PhD.
He remembers that conversation as a turning point. “Sandro told me: ‘I think you can do this: I think we can take on the world and win.’ Looking back, that was when I first really believed in myself. A lot of academics say they stumbled into this line of work, but from that moment I was determined and focused: I knew that this would be my goal.”
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FROM 114.241.83.*
18岁还不会读写,22岁考虑读博士,也就是说2008年考虑读博士,用了8年,读了2个硕士学位,一个博士学位。2016年博士毕业。
真是一个奇迹。
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2016年博士毕业,但是2018年才发表第一篇论文。
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FROM 114.241.83.*
都是新闻里转载的啊, 2018年,然后就去大学当讲师,然后又去另外一个大学当副教授2021年又成一个大学的教授,2023年去剑桥大学当教授了。
这经历真传奇啊。
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FROM 114.241.83.*