2020年经济学人 中断的学校教育使不平等加剧(1)（在线收听）

United States

美国版块

Back to school

重返校园

Learning and covid

学习与新冠肺炎疫情

Disrupted schooling spells worse results and deeper inequality

中断的学校教育会引发更糟的结果，且不平等加剧

The first meeting between teachers in Montpelier, Vermont, before the start of the autumn term is usually festive—hugging over breakfast and coffee. This year they had to make do with an online videoconference. After a scramble in the spring (to set up online learning, pack lunches for poor pupils who relied on them and ship computers to those without them), the district plans to let younger pupils return for in-person learning on September 8th. High school will remain partly online because the building is too small to allow social distancing. The young pupils who can return will need to wear masks, keep their distance and have temperature checks before entering school buses or buildings.

佛蒙特州蒙彼利埃市的教师们通常会在享用早餐和咖啡时，欢悦地拥抱，以此来庆祝秋季学期开始前的第一次会面。但是今年，他们只能通过在线视频会议勉强应付一下。今年的春季十分艰难（校方要安排网课，为贫困学生提供他们依赖的午餐，并为没有电脑的学生提供电脑），此后，蒙彼利埃地区计划让低年级学生在9月8日返校进行面授学习。高中将依旧安排部分线上授课，因为教学楼太小了，学生们无法保持社交距离。那些能够返校的低年级学生需要戴上口罩，保持距离，并在进入校车或教学楼之前进行体温检查。

Setting up these protocols took many 60-hour weeks over the summer holidays, says Libby Bonesteel, the superintendent. Her husband, a microbrewer, recently dedicated a new beer, “Our Impossible Ask”, to teachers. “Pairs well with late staff meetings, upended expertise, existential crisis and seemingly unending complications,” suggest the tasting notes.

教育局局长利比·博内斯泰尔表示，我们在暑假期间用了好几周的时间，且每周要工作60个小时，才制定了这些方案。她的丈夫是一位微酿酒师，他最近将一款新调制的啤酒“我们不可能的要求”献给了老师们。品酒记录上写着：“老师们迟来的会面、颠覆性的专业知识、人类的生存危机与似乎永无止境的难题完美搭配”。

Of the 50 largest school districts in America, 35 plan to start the coming term entirely remotely. The opportunity to squelch the virus over the summer has been lost, upending plans for “hybrid” education (part-time in-person instruction). This means more than just child-care headaches for parents. The continued disruption to schooling will probably spell permanent learning loss, disproportionately hurting poorer pupils.

在美国最大的50个学区中，有35个学区计划在下学期完全线上授课。在夏季压制病毒传播的机会已经丧失，这颠覆了“混合式”教育计划的推行（部分时间面授）。这不仅会给父母带来儿童保育方面的麻烦。学校教育的持续中断很可能会引发永久性的学习损失，对贫困学生造成不成比例的伤害。

“Achievement gaps will become achievement chasms,” warns Robin Lake, director of the Centre on Reinventing Public Education, a research group. Analysts at McKinsey, a consultancy, reckon that the typical American pupil would suffer 6.8 months of learning loss if in-person instruction does not resume until January 2021 (which looks plausible). This would fall heaviest on black pupils, who would regress by over ten months’-worth of instruction, and poor ones, who would fall behind by more than a year. There could also be 648,000 more high-school dropouts.

研究组织“公共教育革新中心”的主任罗宾·莱克发出警告，“成绩差距会变成成绩鸿沟”。咨询公司麦肯锡的分析师估计，如果到2021年1月仍旧没有恢复面授课，那么美国学生一般会蒙受6.8个月的学习损失。（该评估似乎很合理）。这次教育中断也给黑人学生带来了最严重的负担，他们的教学将倒退超过10个月，而贫困生将会落后一年多。高中辍学的人数可能会增加64.8万人。