At Oxford University, I often hear people say there is nothing wrong with the system: the problem is the vice-chancellor/master/bursar/ university officials. And, in a sense, they are right. If the vice-chancellor had the wisdom of Socrates, the political skills of Machiavelli and the leadership qualities of Winston Churchill, not to mention the patience of Job, he or she would be very likely to be able to fulfil the conflicting demands of the post. But such paragons are few and far between. In the meantime we must try to find structures that can be operated by ordinary mortals.
在牛津大學(Oxford university)，我經常聽到人們說，體系沒有錯，問題在于副校長/教師/會計/學校官員。在某種意義上，他們是對的。如果副校長擁有蘇格拉底(Socrates)的智慧、馬基雅維利(Machiavelli)的政治技巧和溫斯頓?丘吉爾(Winston Churchill)的領導才能，更不用說擁有約伯(Job)的耐心，他或她很可能能夠滿足這一職位的苛刻要求。但這種天才人物非常稀少。與此同時，我們必須努力找到能夠由普通人操作的架構。