VOA慢速英语2011--No National Standards: A Strength or Wea

Education Report - No National Standards: A Strength or Weakness of US Schools

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
What American students are expected to learn has long been different from state to state. We talked last week about the tradition of local control of schools. To some people, the lack of national academic standards is an important limit on federal powers. But others say all it does is limit American competitiveness¹ in a world that is becoming more educated.
Now, state governors and chief school officers are leading a movement toward what are known as the "common core state standards." These list content in math and English language arts that students are expected to learn each year from kindergarten to high school.
In the past year, most of the fifty states have adopted these standards. That speed is partly explained by President Obama's Race to the Top competition. Accepting the standards helped states that competed last year for federal money for school reform efforts.
Patrick Murray has been an elected member of the school governing board in Bradford, Maine, for four years. The public school system is small, just one thousand two hundred students from five towns. In April, Maine became the forty-second state to approve the common core standards. 
Mr. Murray says he does not trust supporters of these standards. "They say this is a state-led effort," he says, but he thinks the goal is national control of education.
PATRICK MURRAY: "Any school that receives federal or state money is going to be required to use the common core standards."
He says many states have adopted the common core standards only because they were offered federal money.
PATRICK MURRAY: "My opinion is when you have federal mandates² and federal money involved, it’s no longer state-led."
Mr. Murray says national academic standards would violate³ the United States Constitution. He believes the federal government should have no role in education -- none.
Patience Blythe disagrees. Ms. Blythe has taught for five years. She recently moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Before that she was a science teacher in Texas -- one of the few states not to adopt the common core standards.
Ms. Blythe says national standards could improve the results of American students on international science tests.
PATIENCE BLYTHE: "Not everything has to be a state issue. There could be a benefit from some more federal involvement in our education system, that we could address a lot of the inequalities that we have."
She also disagrees with those who say the standards could limit the ability of teachers to be creative.
PATIENCE BLYTHE: "The reality is the standards give you keys and tools to understand what the objectives⁴ are, and understand what the questions on whatever state assessment⁵ you’re going to take are going to cover. I can be as creative as I want to, especially if I have a good team of teachers to work with, and that we can work together and bounce ideas off each other."
And that’s the VOA Special English Education Report. You can find last week's report on the debate over national standards at voaspecialenglish.com. And tell us what you think of this issue. You can also write to us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Christopher Cruise⁶.

1 competitiveness   

n.竞争能力

参考例句：

• At the same time shifts in international competitiveness were beginning to be felt. 与此同时，国际市场上的竞争能力也出现了变化。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Their scientific know-how, innovation and technical capability are critical to maintaining the nation's competitiveness and productivity. 它们的科学知识、革新和技术能力对于保持本国的竞争力和生产率来说都是至关重要的。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

2 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

3 violate   

vt.违反，违背，亵渎，侵犯，妨碍

参考例句：

• Those who violate traffic regulations should be punished.那些违反交通规定的人应该受处罚。
• Can they be allowed to violate rules and regulations at will?难道能容许他们随心所欲地破坏规章制度吗？

4 objectives   

n.目标( objective的名词复数 )；[光学]（望远镜、显微镜、照相机及其他光学仪器上的）物镜；[语法学]1)。 宾语 2)。 宾格；[军事]出击目标

参考例句：

• Our objectives need to be precisely delineated. 我们的目标需详细解释清楚。
• Money will be crucial to the accomplishment of our objectives. 要实现我们的目标，钱是至关重要的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

6 cruise   

v.巡航，航游，缓慢巡行；n.海上航游

参考例句：

• They went on a cruise to Tenerife.他们乘船去特纳利夫岛。
• She wants to cruise the canals of France in a barge.她想乘驳船游览法国的运河。