In Nordic countries， people rely on the state. In the U.S.， they rely on their communities.

在北欧，人们依靠国家。在美国，人们依靠自己的社区。

In 1970， a 17-year-old named Lars Tragardh left Sweden for America， trading in the collectivism of his home country for rugged individualism. Or so he thought.

1970年，一位名叫拉尔斯·特雷高的17岁少年离开瑞典前往美国，舍弃祖国的集体主义而选择了坚定的个人主义。至少他是这样想的。

His disillusionment began while he was applying for college financial aid. He hoped to attend Pomona College in Southern California， and even back then， tuition seemed steep compared with the cost of education in Sweden， where university was free. When he learned that the school had two sets of aid forms—one regarding his own income， and one for his parents’—he was surprised. “Well， what does that have to do with me？” Tragardh recalls asking. “I’m an adult … I have no economic relations to my family anymore.” An administrator explained that in America， parents are expected to contribute to their children’s college costs.

申请大学助学金时他的幻想开始破灭。他希望入读南加州的波莫纳学院，而即便在那个年代，美国大学的学费相较于瑞典也似乎高不可攀——瑞典的大学教育是免费的。当他得知学校有两套助学金申请表（这两套表分别涉及他自己的和他父母的收入）时，他很惊讶。特雷高记得自己当时问道：“呃，那和我有什么关系？我是个成年人……我和家人已经没有经济关系了。”一位管理人员解释说，在美国，父母应该出钱供孩子上大学。

Tragardh thought that sounded generous， but also concerning. Wouldn’t that sort of financial dependence give parents unreasonable influence over their adult children？ What if the child wanted to study， say， history， but the parents refused to pay unless their child pursued medicine？ “They looked at me like I was from Mars，” Tragardh， now a historian living in Stockholm， told me.

特雷高觉得这听起来很慷慨，但也很令人担忧。这种经济依赖难道不会导致父母对成年子女施加不合理的影响吗？比如说，如果孩子想学历史，但父母要孩子学医他们才肯出钱，该怎么办？“他们看我的眼神，就像我来自火星一样。”特雷高对我说道。他现在是一位历史学家，居住在斯德哥尔摩。

America has a reputation， both at home and abroad， as a country that values independence above practically all else. But from Tragardh’s perspective， that commitment to independence rings hollow. To him， Americans seem to have confused individualism with anti-statism; U.S. policy makers happily throw people into positions of reliance on their families and communities in order to keep the state out. He’s got a point. We have our own culture of dependence， and it comes with its own shortcomings.

美国在国内外都以将独立看得高于一切而著称。但从特雷高的角度来看，这种对独立的信奉听起来有些空洞。他认为，美国人似乎混淆了个人主义和反国家主义；美国的政策制定者乐见人们依赖自己的家庭和社区，这样国家就能置身事外。他的观点有一定道理。我们有自己的依赖文化，而这种文化有其自身的缺点。

In Nordic countries， people generally have help paying for college—just not from their parents. Take Sweden， for example： Most European students don’t have to pay tuition， and Swedish citizens can apply for a stipend to cover their living expenses. All young people， in university or not， with incomes below a certain threshold can qualify for a housing allowance. And if they go on to begin families of their own， they’re automatically eligible for paid parental leave and， after kids turn 1， low-cost child care.

在北欧国家，上大学通常会获得学费资助，只是并非来自父母。