VOA慢速英语2015 老式的教育模式在美国引发争论

AS IT IS 2015-03-16 Old Style Parenting Starts Debate in the US 老式的教育模式在美国引发争论

Child abuse and child neglect are serious crimes. Some U.S. laws are designed to protect children from their very own parents.

Recently, two parents who live in the state of Maryland, near Washington, D.C., were found guilty of “unsubstantiated neglect.”

What was their crime? The parents let their two children walk home together unsupervised from a neighborhood park.

The children are a 10-year old boy named Rafi and his 6-year old sister Dvora.

The two siblings² like to play at their neighborhood park. After playing, they walk home – by themselves.

And that is a problem says Maryland’s child protective services agency.

This incident has restarted a debate in the U.S. about the amount of independence parents should give their children.

Some people object to courts telling parents how to raise their children. They also think children benefit from exploring the outside world without a lot of supervision³.

Opponents say this so called “free-range parenting” can put children in danger.

Rafi and Dvora’s parents, Danielle and Alexander Meitiv, are both trained scientists. They defend "free-range parenting."

Free-range is usually a term used to describe farm animals that live uncaged. With parents, it means loosening control over your children. Danielle Meitiv explains.

"The idea of free-range parenting is really that your children need the freedom to explore. They need to be alone, without parents. They learn to take risks. They learn to be independent.”

But opponents say children may not be able to safely navigate⁴ the world alone. They may not be able to cross the street safely. They may get lost. They could get hurt or, a parent’s worst nightmare, kidnapped.

Supporters of free-range parenting argue that many more children die in car accidents than are kidnapped. But, they say, parents still put children in cars all the time.   

The Meitiv parents say they slowly let their two children take walks by themselves. They first made sure Rafi and Dvora knew the area well.

But on December 20, 2014, the two young Meitivs went farther than usual. They walked home from a park that is a little more than a kilometer away.

Police officers stopped the children as they walked along a busy street. They drove the children home.

What happened next came as a shock, says Alexander Meitiv, their father.

"When they brought them home I thought they would release the kids -- it's my house, my kids -- but apparently⁵ they had some procedure to go through which required me to give them my ID.”

Mr. Meitiv says the police would not let him go to his children. They physically⁶ blocked him. Rafi, the older child, called his mother who was out of town. He said he felt afraid, or scared, that the police were going to arrest his father.

"At first I was just a bit annoyed because we know that they're not allowed to do this and what we're doing is allowed. And then I started to kinda (kind of) get scared because I thought that maybe they would like my arrest my dad or something."

The police did not arrest Mr. Meitiv. However, a few hours later, an investigator⁷ from Child Protective Services, or CPS, showed up at their house.

Mr. Meitiv says the CPS investigator came with, what she called, a “safety plan.” This “safety plan” called for Mr. Meitiv to have his children under supervision at all times. Mr. Meitiv refused to sign the paper. The CPS investigator threatened to take his children from him and call the police if he did not sign the “safety plan.”

How is neglect defined?

U.S. federal law defines neglect as “failure of a parent or other person with responsibility for the child to provide needed food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision to the degree that the child’s health, safety, and well-being⁸ are threatened with harm.”

Many U.S. states do not have laws that say at what age a child can be left alone. Maryland does. Child Protective Services opened the Meitiv investigation⁹ based on a Maryland law that makes it illegal to leave a child younger than eight with anyone under the age of 13.

Danielle Meitiv says she and her husband did not violate this law.

"It says children may not be left unattended while confined or locked in a building, dwelling¹⁰, enclosure or vehicle. They were not locked or confined anywhere. They were outdoors playing in a playground or walking home."

“Free-range parent” is just another name for “old school”

This is not the first time the U.S. has debated free-range parenting.

In 2008, a journalist in New York City named Lenore Skenazy let her 9-year old son ride the subway alone. Then Ms. Skenazy wrote about it, calling it “free-range parenting.” The name stuck.

Some called Ms. Skenazy the “World’s Worst Mother” for putting her child in danger. She now has a television show called “World’s Worst Mother” where she helps parents who are too protective.

Free-range parents such as Danielle Meitiv say that letting your children be out in the world alone is how most American children played just a generation ago. This is the way children still do play in many parts of the world.

She remembers her own childhood when she was permitted to go almost everywhere alone.

"Up until this generation, it was perfectly¹¹ normal for children to go to the park by themselves or down the block or run errands for their parents or walk home from school. It's only very recently that this has become unusual."

For now, the Meitivs say they feel as if they are living under a cloud of uncertainty¹². Child Protective Services will keep the case against the couple open for at least five years. The Meitivs still do not know what will happen if their children walk or play outside by themselves in the future.

Words in This Story

unsubstantiated – adj. having no basis in reason or fact

sibling¹ – n. a brother or sister

scared – adj. afraid of something; nervous or frightened

free-range – adj. allowed to move around freely; not kept in cages

constant – adj. happening all the time or very often over a period of time

uncertainty – adj. something that is doubtful or unknown

1 sibling   

n.同胞手足(指兄、弟、姐或妹)

参考例句：

• Many of us hate living in the shadows of a more successful sibling.我们很多人都讨厌活在更为成功的手足的阴影下。
• Sibling ravalry has been common in this family.这个家里，兄弟姊妹之间的矛盾很平常。

2 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

3 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

4 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

7 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

8 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

9 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。

10 dwelling   

n.住宅，住所，寓所

参考例句：

• Those two men are dwelling with us.那两个人跟我们住在一起。
• He occupies a three-story dwelling place on the Park Street.他在派克街上有一幢3层楼的寓所。

11 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

12 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。