2015年经济学人 穆斯林与教育 宗教研究

Muslims and education

Religious studies

Giving schools more autonomy and encouraging religious groups to run them will produce the occasional disaster

IT IS known as the Trojan Horse plot, but it may have been less subtle.

Late in 2013 an anonymous¹ letter was uncovered, outlining a hardline Muslim plan to “overthrow” teachers

and governors in several Birmingham state schools and replace them with people who would run the schools on orthodox Islamic lines.

The furore has grown, eventually involving Peter Clarke, once the head of counter-terrorism in London's Metropolitan² Police, who will lead a government investigation³.

The letter may be a fake, but something has certainly gone wrong in Birmingham's schools.

Leaked reports about several academies (schools that are state-funded but independently run) by Ofsted,

the schools inspectorate, suggest that in some classrooms boys and girls are seated apart,

that sex education is ignored and the theory of evolution dismissed. Ofsted is investigating 25 schools in the city.

This is more than a local problem, because it hints at flaws in England's otherwise rather commendable⁴ education reforms.

What has gone wrong in Birmingham is related to what has gone right elsewhere.

The last, Labour, government set some schools free from control by local authorities, which had often run them shoddily.

The Conservative-Liberal Democrat⁵ coalition⁶ that has run Britain since 2010 has gone much further.

About 60% of secondary schools are now independent academies.

A further 173 are “free schools”, never under local-government control.

Parents and local business folk have been encouraged to become more involved in running schools. So too have religious groups.

Their influence is both formal and informal. Formally, Anglicans, Catholics and Jews, who have long run state schools,

are being joined by others. Between 2011 and 2013 there were 831 applications to open free schools.

The British Humanist Association, a secular⁷ outfit⁸, has identified the religious affiliation—or lack thereof—of 659 of the applicants⁹.

They include 32 linked to the Church of England, almost half of which were approved.

Fully¹⁰ 80 Muslim groups applied¹¹ to run schools, although just five were granted approval

(none of the schools under review in Birmingham is a religious school).

Informally, Muslim parents are becoming more involved in schools of all sorts.

In the London borough¹² of Tower Hamlets, the Collective of Bangladeshi School Governors encourages it.

Ibrahim Mogra, a Leicester imam who has served as a governor in several schools, says that religious schools are unnecessary:

instead, Muslim parents should keep in touch with schools to ensure that the curriculum is taught in a way that does not cause anxiety.

Much of this is to the good. Bangladeshis' exam results have improved so dramatically in recent years that they now outscore whites in GCSE exams taken at 16—astonishing for a mostly working-class group.

But there have been calamities¹³, too. An explicitly¹⁴ Muslim free secondary school in Derby was closed earlier this year following criticism of poor education standards and discrimination towards female staff.

Muslim schools are trickier¹⁵ to handle than Anglican or Catholic ones, because British Islam varies so much in interpretation¹⁶.

Without clear structures of central authority, schools vary, and zealots can spy an opportunity to take over.

The Birmingham affair has also highlighted gaps in the inspection¹⁷ regime.

The Department for Education is responsible for free schools and academies,

but as their numbers soar it is increasingly hard to keep track of what is going on in them.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, Ofsted's head, has argued that as schools become more autonomous¹⁸ some kind of stronger local oversight¹⁹ is needed,

so that problems can be caught and dealt with more quickly.

Even if that happens, the difficulty of running any kind of religiously inspired school in an increasingly secular country grows.

Politicians have smiled on faith schools. Many do not.

A poll last year by YouGov put popular support for state funding of religious schools at just 32%.

1 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

2 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

3 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

4 commendable   

adj.值得称赞的

参考例句：

• The government's action here is highly commendable.政府这样的行动值得高度赞扬。
• Such carping is not commendable.这样吹毛求疵真不大好。

5 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

6 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

7 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

8 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

9 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

10 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

11 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

12 borough   

n.享有自治权的市镇；(英)自治市镇

参考例句：

• He was slated for borough president.他被提名做自治区主席。
• That's what happened to Harry Barritt of London's Bromley borough.住在伦敦的布罗姆利自治市的哈里.巴里特就经历了此事。

13 calamities   

n.灾祸，灾难( calamity的名词复数 )；不幸之事

参考例句：

• They will only triumph by persevering in their struggle against natural calamities. 他们只有坚持与自然灾害搏斗，才能取得胜利。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• One moment's false security can bring a century of calamities. 图一时之苟安，贻百年之大患。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

15 trickier   

adj.狡猾的( tricky的比较级 )；（形势、工作等）复杂的；机警的；微妙的

参考例句：

• This is the general rule, but some cases are trickier than others. 以上是一般规则，但某些案例会比别的案例更为棘手。 来自互联网
• The lower the numbers go, the trickier the problems get. 武器的数量越低，问题就越复杂。 来自互联网

16 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

17 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

18 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

19 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。