TED演讲:我们不要一成不变的教育(6)

 　　But when they really get pushy¹, people really get pushy, I say, "I do it because you do it for your kid." 但是当他们变得有进取心时，我们就会变得更有进取心，我说：“我这样做就像你们为自己的儿子做的原因一样。”

　　And you've never read a study from MIT that says giving your kid dance instruction is going to help them do algebra² better, 可能你从未看过麻省理工学院的一份报告，报告说教你的小孩舞蹈会对你孩子的代数学习大有裨益，

　　but you will give that kid dance instruction, 但你会教那些孩子舞蹈，

　　and you will be thrilled³ that that kid wants to do dance instruction, and it will make your day. 而你也会很兴奋地发现学生喜欢学舞蹈，那这样子你就会觉得有点成就感。

　　And why shouldn't poor kids have the same opportunity? It's the floor for these children. 那为什么穷学生就不能有相同的机会呢？对这帮孩子来说，这是最基本的东西呢。

　　So here's the other thing. I'm a tester guy. I believe you need data, you need information, 还有，我是一名测试论的支持者。我相信你需要数据和信息，

　　because you work at something, you think it's working, and you find out it's not working. 因为你可能在做你认为有用的事，然后你发现其实它并没有多大用处。

　　I mean, you're educators. You work, you say, you think you've got it, great, no? 我是说，你们是教育工作者。你会说，我在做事情啊，你认为你做了应该做的事，不是吗？

　　And you find out they didn't get it. But here's the problem with testing. 然后你发现学生没学到其想要的东西。可是，就算是测试也有很多有待改善的问题。

　　The testing that we do -- we're going to have our test in New York next week -- is in April. 我们给学生的考试--比如说，下周纽约州又准备考试了。现在是四月。

　　You know when we're going to get the results back? 可你知道我们什么时候才知道考试结果吗？

　　Maybe July, maybe June. And the results have great data. 可能要等到七月，也可能是六月。

　　They'll tell you Raheem really struggled, couldn't do two-digit multiplication⁴, so great data, 而考试结果里面含有大量的数据，比如说，他们会告诉你如Raheen的学习有困难，他做不了两位数的乘法，

　　but you're getting it back after school is over. 这数据多有价值啊，可当你拿到这些数据时已经放暑假了。

　　And so, what do you do? You go on vacation. 那你怎么会利用好这些数据呢？你都去度假了。

　　You come back from vacation. Now you've got all of this test data from last year. 等你度假归来，你拿到这些上学期的测试数据。

　　You don't look at it. Why would you look at it? You're going to go and teach this year. 你连看都不会看了。你怎么会看呢？因为你又要准备新学期的功课了。

　　So how much money did we just spend on all of that? 所以，你看我们在这些无谓的事情上浪费了多少资金？

　　Billions and billions of dollars for data that it's too late to use. 那可是成亿美元的资金啊，就为那些来得太迟而我们无法使用的所谓数据。

　　I need that data in September. I need that data in November. 我九月需要那些数据，我十一月需要那些数据。

　　I need to know you're struggling, and I need to know whether or not what I did corrected that. 我需要知道你学习上有什么困难，我需要知道是否我采取的措施能补救学生学习上的不足。

　　I need to know that this week. I don't need to know that at the end of the year when it's too late. 我需要考完试的这周就知道。我不希望在学年结束时才拿到这些数据，因为那太迟了。

1 pushy   

adj.固执己见的，一意孤行的

参考例句：

• But she insisted and was very pushy.但她一直坚持,而且很急于求成。
• He made himself unpopular by being so pushy.他特别喜欢出风头，所以人缘不好。

2 algebra   

n.代数学

参考例句：

• He was not good at algebra in middle school.他中学时不擅长代数。
• The boy can't figure out the algebra problems.这个男孩做不出这道代数题。

3 thrilled   

adj.非常兴奋的；极为激动的vt.“thrill”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He was thrilled at the prospect of seeing them again. 他一想到將要再次见到他们便欣喜若狂。
• They were thrilled to discover a perfectly preserved specimen of Roman pottery. 他们因发现了一件保存完好的罗马时代陶器而欣喜若狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 multiplication   

n.增加，增多，倍增；增殖，繁殖；乘法

参考例句：

• Our teacher used to drum our multiplication tables into us.我们老师过去老是让我们反覆背诵乘法表。
• The multiplication of numbers has made our club building too small.会员的增加使得我们的俱乐部拥挤不堪。