A new report from a government advisory panel says U.S. education is failing many of America's best and brightest young people.
美国一个政府顾问小组最近发表报告指出，美国的教育正在辜负美国很多出类拔萃的年轻人。
The National Science Board, which advises Congress and the president on science and engineering issues, says potentially high-achieving young students often go unrecognized or under-served in the nation's classrooms.
负责就科学和工程问题向国会和总统提供咨询的国家科学理事会表示，有潜力取得重大成就的年轻学生在学校教室里经常被忽视埋没，或者没有受到应有的教育。
In a back-to-school speech in Philadelphia a few days ago, President Barack Obama told high school students to study hard, even at subjects in which they don't think they can excel.
最近，奥巴马总统在费城发表开学演讲的时候，敦促学生们刻苦学习，即使是对他们自认为学不好的科目也要孜孜以求。
"Even if you don't think of yourself as a math person or a science person, you can still excel in those subjects if you're willing to make the effort. And you may find out you have talents you never dreamed of."
他说：“你今天不是最好，并不意味着你明天就不能出类拔萃。就算你不认为自己擅长数学或者科学，只要你愿意努力，你仍然能够在那些学科上表现出色。你可能会发现自己从来都不曾梦想有过的才能。”
Overlooked and underserved
Those words are echoed in the National Science Board report: Preparing the Next Generation of STEM Innovators: Identifying and Developing Our Nation's Human Capital. The study explores ways to promote so-called "STEM" careers, the acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
奥巴马总统的这些话在国家科学理事会的报告中也得到了体现。报告题为“准备下一代的科技工程数学创新者：识别并开发我国的人力资源”，重点是探索如何鼓励科学、技术、工程和数学领域的职业。
Camilla Benbow is dean of education at Vanderbilt University and co-author of the report. She says finding and nurturing tomorrow's innovators is essential to keeping the country competitive in an ideas-driven global economy. The nation's brightest students, she adds, have been too often overlooked in an attempt to raise math and science achievement overall.
卡米拉·本堡是田纳西州范德比尔特大学的教务长，也是这份报告的作者之一。她说，发现并培养未来的创新者对于保持美国在知识推动的全球经济中的竞争力至关重要。她认为，在提高学生整体数学和科学成绩的努力中，那些最聪明的学生往往被忽视了。
"They weren't being identified. They weren't being developed and so their potential and their contributions were potentially lost. And so that's why we put the report out so that we could also be focused on this group of individuals."
“他们没有被发现，没有被发掘培养。因此他们的潜能和贡献可能被浪费了。这就是我们发表这份报告的原因，希望我们也能重视这些人。”
Benbow disagrees with the popular notion that students are either academically gifted or they are not. She says it is possible to promote more innovative thinking in a general student population, but it is a process that requires a lot of hard work.
卡米拉·本堡不认同学生学习好坏是天生的这种普遍的观念。她说，在整个学生群体中推进更加创新型的思维是可能的，但是需要大量艰苦的工作。
"And that is kind of a mind change and an attitude change that we need to have here in America to focus on how much effort it takes to develop skills to a very high level. And how much support society needs to provide for that to happen."
'Accident of birth'
According to the report, America's most talented students face a number of roadblocks, some simply an accident of birth. The authors point to one national study that shows 72 percent of the highest-achievers in first grade were from higher-income families.
根据这份报告，美国最有才华的学生面临诸多成长障碍，有些仅仅是家庭出身问题。报告作者指出，一项全国性研究显示，一年级成绩最好的学生中有百分之72来自高收入家庭。
Benbow finds that a startling statistic. "Before we have even begun our educational background, she says "the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has estimated that we loose [academically] about 200,000 kids a year and that to me is inequitable."
卡米拉·本堡说：“只有百分之28的成绩优秀学生来自低收入家庭。这个统计数字令人吃惊。因此杰克·肯特·库克基金会预测说，甚至在我们开始教育之前，每年就已经失去了20万个有潜能的孩子。我认为这很不公平。”
Benbow says schools must be held accountable for the progress of all students. That doesn't necessarily mean more funding, she says, but rather, better coordination of existing resources and flexibility for top students to move across the curriculum at their own pace.
卡米拉·本堡指出，学校有责任让所有的学生取得进步。这不一定意味着要有更多的资金。相反，更好地协调配置现有资源，让拔尖学生能够灵活掌握所学课程和进度，同样可以达到这个目的。
"Because otherwise they are bored. These kids are advanced. And if they don't have a chance to play with advanced curricula and be learning at the levels at which they are functioning, then they lose that spark, inspiration and passion."
“否则的话，拔尖学生会感到很无聊。这些孩子成绩好。如果他们没有机会接触更深的课程，学习适合他们水平的课程，他们就会失去学习热情和兴趣，失去激情。”
Challenging bright students
Benbow says the report makes three broad recommendations: First, to challenge bright students with advanced-placement "…whether these are AP [college level Advanced Placement] courses, whether these are enriched courses, whether this is working in labs, working in industry, mentors and so on."
本堡说，报告提出三个基本建议：第一，用跳级课程和更高水平的学习机会来激励拔尖学生。
Secondly, the board recommends that schools: identify and nurture students no matter their gender, race, ethnicity or economic circumstance, with a commitment to equity and diversity. Thirdly, schools must foster an environment that celebrates learning and rewards innovative thinking.
第二，学校要识别和培养天才学生，不考虑学生的性别、种族、种族或者经济状况，但要致力于平等和多元化。第三，学校要创造一种氛围，鼓励学习和创造性思维。
Benbow says turning the National Science Board's recommendations into reality is going to require hard work and political will - and a recognition that the country's future depends on it.
本堡表示，把国家科学理事会的建议变成现实，需要艰苦的工作和坚定的政治意愿，要意识到国家的未来有赖于此。
That's a point President Obama stressed in his speech to the students in Philadelphia.
这就是奥巴马总统在费城对高中生发表演讲时所强调的。
"The further you go in school, the further you go in life," Mr. Obama said. "And at a time when other countries are competing with us like never before, when students around the world in Beijing, China or Bangalore, India, are working harder than ever, and doing better than ever, your success in school is not just going to determine your success. It's going to determine America's success in the 21st century."
他说：“你受教育程度越高，你的生活就越有前途。在一个其他国家正在以前所未有的力度和我们竞争的时代；在中国北京或者印度班加罗尔等世界各地的学生正在比以往更用功读书、比以往成绩更好的时代，你们在学校取得的成功就不仅仅决定你们自己的成功，而是将决定美国在21世纪的成功。” |