经济学人:奥巴马尝试改造美国的学校

 　　Education policy 教育政策 Final exam期终考试

　　As elections loom¹, Barack Obama tries to reform America’s schools

　　随着选举临近，巴拉克-奥巴马尝试改造美国的学校

　　AMERICA’S schools are dotted with stories of progress. In December your correspondent watched a class of seven-year-olds on Chicago’s poor West Side. As Mauricia Dantes, a consultant² for IBM before she retrained as a teacher, led the pupils in a discussion about the deaf-and-blind author Helen Keller, one small girl declared: “I feel like I’m in college.” One day, thanks to Ms Dantes and other teachers, she may be.

　　美国的学校系统里不乏一些可圈可点的先进事迹。去年12月份，我们的记者在芝加哥欠发达的西区旁听了一节七年级课程。当毛里西噢-邓蒂斯（Mauricia Dantes）教师（之前是IBM的一名咨询员）引导学生们围绕聋哑作家海伦·凯勒（Helen Keller）展开讨论时，一个小女孩大声说：“我感觉自己像在大学里。”感谢邓蒂斯女士和其它教师，有一天她可能真的会到那里。

　　Barack Obama wants such scenes to be the rule rather than the exception. The question is what the federal government can do to help. Ten years ago Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), a bold effort to improve America’s schools. On March 14th Mr Obama announced that he wants to pass a new version by August. It could be one of his most important feats³. But it will not be easy.

　　巴拉克-奥巴马希望这样的场景成为常例，而非特例。问题是联邦政府能提供怎样的帮助。十年前，国会通过了《不让一个孩子掉队法》（No Child Left Behind Act，NCLB）——一项旨在改进美国学校系统的大胆举措。3月14日，奥巴马先生宣布他想在8月份前通过一个新版本。虽然这有可能成为他执政期间最重要的成就之一，但是实现起来将不会轻松。

　　The main problem is that politicians still disagree on Washington’s role in education. The federal government provides less than 10% of the money schools spend. But NCLB, the most recent incarnation of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, gave the federal government unprecedented⁴ influence. States must set standards of achievement. Schools that fail to make progress face sanctions.

　　主要问题是政客们仍无法就联邦政府在教育中该扮演的角色达成共识。虽然来自联邦政府的补贴在学校开支中占比不到10%，但是作为1965年中小学教育法(Elementary and Secondary Education Act)最新体现的NCLB法案给了联邦政府前所未有的影响力。就教学质量，各州必须设定合格标准，未能达标的学校将面临处罚。

　　NCLB exposed the dismal⁵ performance of schools. But it has also demonstrated how clumsy Washington’s hand can be. A requirement for “highly qualified” teachers turns out to have helped keep states from hiring good ones. State standards diverge⁶ wildly. NCLB’s main goal, for all pupils to be proficient⁷ in reading and maths by 2014, is unrealistic. And thanks to an odd way of judging schools, more than 80% may be labelled as “failing” this year.

　　LCLB暴露了学校的糟糕表现。但是它也展现了华盛顿之手是何等笨拙。一项关于“高质量”教师的要求结果导致州政府无法择优聘请。鉴于各州的标准相差巨，NCLB的主要目标，即到2014年前让所有小学生熟练掌握阅读和算术技能，根本不切实际。因为古怪的评判方法，今年估计超过80%的学校可能将被打上“失败”的标记。

　　Mr Obama has already offered one new model: dangle⁸ carrots for reform and hope that states bite. The stimulus⁹ offered more than $4 billion in grants for states that made certain changes, such as lifting caps on the number of charter schools and devising new ways to evaluate teachers. No state had to apply for the grant programme, Race to the Top, but 46 did.

　　奥巴马先生已经提出了一个新模式，即提供改革奖励，希望各州会动心。超过40亿美元的奖励将以补贴的形式提供给那些实施某类变革的州，例如取消特许学校的数额上限和制定新的教师考评办法。这项名为“力争上游”（Race to the Top）的计划并非强制参加，目前已有46个州参与进来。

　　With the new version of NCLB, Mr Obama can go further. He wants to set clear goals but give states more flexibility¹⁰ in meeting them. His plan would fix NCLB’s most obvious failings, such as neglecting to track the progress of individual pupils. Only the worst schools would face dramatic intervention¹¹. Districts would evaluate teachers on a range of factors, including pupil performance.

　　凭借新版NCLB，奥巴马先生可以走得更远。他希望设定清晰的目标，但就实现方式上留给各州更多的自由。他的计划将弥补 NCLB 最明显的缺陷，比如忽视了对于单个学生的进步跟踪。只有最糟的学校将面临积极干涉。学区将根据一系列因素（包括学生成绩）来考评教师。

　　Such plans would seem ripe for bipartisan compromise. Gene¹² Wilhoit, director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, thinks that Mr Obama has moved in the right direction. Many of the president’s priorities, such as improving teaching, overlap¹³ with those of conservatives.

　　这样的计划看上去很容易获得两党妥协。州立学校校长协会（Council of Chief State School Officers）主任吉恩韦-贺特（Gene Wilhoit）认为奥巴马先生选择了正确的方向。总统的许多优先事项，比如改进教育质量，都与保守主义者的关注点相重叠。

　　But Republicans are wary¹⁴. John Kline, the chairman of the House education committee, frets¹⁵ that states spend too much time complying with federal rules. Race to the Top had good goals, but poor implementation¹⁶. He is dubious¹⁷ about the proposed interventions¹⁸ for failing schools—a concern he shares with the teachers’ unions. Mr Kline’s party now faces an awkward choice. If the Republicans pass a new version of NCLB, they will give Mr Obama a victory. But if they do nothing, Democrats¹⁹ will blame them for failing to fix a law that voters have come to hate.

　　但是共和党人很谨慎。众议院教育委员会主席约翰-克莱恩（John Kline）为各州花太多时间来满足联邦规定而感到不安。“力争上游”计划的目标很好，但是实施很糟。就计划中针对未达标学校所提议的干预措施，他尚持怀疑态度——教师工会也有同样的顾虑。现在，克莱恩先生所在的共和党面临一个尴尬的选择。如果共和党人通过新版NCLB，他们将给奥巴马先生一个胜利。但是如果他们什么也不做，民主党人将责怪他们未能顺应民意修复一项有问题的法律。

1 loom   

n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近

参考例句：

• The old woman was weaving on her loom.那位老太太正在织布机上织布。
• The shuttle flies back and forth on the loom.织布机上梭子来回飞动。

2 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

3 feats   

功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He used to astound his friends with feats of physical endurance. 过去，他表现出来的惊人耐力常让朋友们大吃一惊。
• His heroic feats made him a legend in his own time. 他的英雄业绩使他成了他那个时代的传奇人物。

4 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

5 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。

6 diverge   

v.分叉，分歧，离题，使...岔开，使转向

参考例句：

• This is where our opinions diverge from each other.这就是我们意见产生分歧之处。
• Don't diverge in your speech.发言不要离题。

7 proficient   

adj.熟练的，精通的；n.能手，专家

参考例句：

• She is proficient at swimming.她精通游泳。
• I think I'm quite proficient in both written and spoken English.我认为我在英语读写方面相当熟练。

8 dangle   

v.(使)悬荡，(使)悬垂

参考例句：

• At Christmas,we dangle colored lights around the room.圣诞节时，我们在房间里挂上彩灯。
• He sits on the edge of the table and dangles his legs.他坐在桌子边上，摆动著双腿。

9 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

10 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

11 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

12 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

13 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

14 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

15 frets   

基质间片； 品丝（吉他等指板上定音的）( fret的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The river frets away the rocks along its banks. 河水侵蚀了两岸的岩石。
• She frets at even the slightest delays. 稍有延误她就不满。

16 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

17 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

18 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

19 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》