美國目前的教育體系有什么問題?（一）

Ethan Soo
What is the biggest problem with the public school system of the United States?
Albert Einstein once proclaimed, “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” Throughout the past century, technology has advanced greatly, but our education system has not changed at all. The standardized school system we use today was originally created to supply factory workers for the Industrial Era (Dintersmith). However, in the technological era of today, we need innovators, creative minds, and critical thinkers. Our education system does not allow students to grow nor does it motivate students to learn; ultimately, today’s school environment does not prepare us with essential skills we need to thrive in the future.

美國公立學(xué)校系統(tǒng)最大的問題是什么？
阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦曾宣稱：“唯一干擾我學(xué)習(xí)的是我的教育?！痹谶^去的一個世紀(jì)里，科技有了很大的進(jìn)步，但我們的教育制度卻一點(diǎn)也沒有改變。我們今天使用的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化學(xué)校系統(tǒng)最初是為工業(yè)時代(Dintersmith)提供工廠工人而創(chuàng)建的。然而，在今天的技術(shù)時代，我們需要創(chuàng)新者、創(chuàng)造性思維和批判性思考者。我們的教育體系不允許學(xué)生成長，也不激勵學(xué)生學(xué)習(xí);最終，今天的學(xué)校環(huán)境并沒有讓我們具備在未來茁壯成長所需的基本技能.

Our current school system does not promote student growth. Though students spend about 8 hours in school daily, students are unable to retain most of the knowledge they learn. In a study conducted by researchers, high school students who passed the AP Psychology exam were tested again in 3 months with the same material the exam covered. The study found that 90% of these high school students did not even pass that test (Dintersmith). 90% of those students forgot more than half of the material they “l(fā)earned” in just a span of 3 months. Students cannot retain the information they learn, because it’s just too much. In 2012, the Economic Intelligence Unit compiled a global report on education by ranking 40 countries in the world based on test scores in reading, math, and science. While the U.S. was ranked 17th, Finland topped the chart at number one . Finland uses a very different approach to education. In the Finnish school system, there are no standardized tests. Additionally, high school students spend less than 3 hours of homework a week and school hours are cut in half . But how is it that doing less means more? Darling-Hammond, a Stanford professor in education answers this question by describing “the [Finnish] curricula” as an education system that emphasizes “critical thinking…, problem-solving, project-based learning, and learning to learn”. By covering less content and challenging students to critically think, students are able to retain much more of their knowledge.

我們目前的學(xué)校制度不能促進(jìn)學(xué)生的成長。盡管學(xué)生們每天在學(xué)校呆上大約8個小時，但他們無法保留所學(xué)的大部分知識。在研究人員進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)研究中，通過AP心理學(xué)考試的高中生在3個月后再次接受了與考試內(nèi)容相同的測試。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，這些高中生中有90%甚至沒有通過這項(xiàng)測試（Dintersmith）。其中90%的學(xué)生在短短3個月內(nèi)忘記了他們“學(xué)到”的一半以上的材料。學(xué)生無法保留他們所學(xué)的信息，因?yàn)檫@些信息太多了。2012年，經(jīng)濟(jì)情報局根據(jù)閱讀、數(shù)學(xué)和科學(xué)考試成績對世界40個國家進(jìn)行了排名，編制了一份全球教育報告。美國排名第17，芬蘭排名第一。芬蘭采用了一種截然不同的教育方法。在芬蘭的學(xué)校系統(tǒng)中，沒有標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化的考試。此外，高中生每周花在家庭作業(yè)上的時間不到3小時，上課時間減少了一半。但是為什么做得少意味著掌握得多呢？斯坦福大學(xué)教育學(xué)教授Darling Hammond回答了這個問題，他將“芬蘭課程”描述為一種強(qiáng)調(diào)“批判性思維、解決問題、基于項(xiàng)目的學(xué)習(xí)和學(xué)習(xí)如何學(xué)習(xí)”的教育體系。通過涵蓋較少的內(nèi)容和挑戰(zhàn)學(xué)生批判性思維，學(xué)生能夠保留更多的知識。

Despite everything students learn in school, they do not develop the skills they need to thrive in the workplace. Jobs today are immensely different than those from the past. Google receives around 2 million applications a year, but only accepts and hires about 4000 of them. With an acceptance rate of 0.2%, surely, the special few who have a job at Google earned a 4.0 GPA in high school in order to get accepted, right? Wrong. Laszlo Bock, head of People Operations at Google, explains that Google does not use test scores and GPA to determine qualification. Instead, they employ people with a high cognitive ability, those who have a strong thinking ability, and those who have grit. It is inevitable that being able to pass tests and memorize content will not prepare us for jobs of the modern era.

盡管學(xué)生在學(xué)校學(xué)到了一切，但他們并沒有發(fā)展出在工作中茁壯成長所需的技能。今天的工作與過去大不相同。谷歌每年收到約200萬份申請，但只接受并雇傭了其中約4000份，錄取率為0.2%，當(dāng)然，在谷歌工作的少數(shù)特殊人群在高中時獲得了4.0的GPA才能被錄取，對吧？錯，谷歌人事運(yùn)營主管Laszlo Bock解釋說，谷歌不使用考試成績和GPA來確定資格。相反，他們雇傭的是認(rèn)知能力高的人、思維能力強(qiáng)的人和有毅力的人。不可避免的是，能夠通過考試和記住內(nèi)容并不能讓我們?yōu)楝F(xiàn)代職場做好準(zhǔn)備。

Now how do we solve this? We need students to be motivated. Motivation is the driving force that compels us to learn, yet schools do not employ it. According to a National Research Council report on education, 40% of high school students are “chronically disengaged from school” . Now, why is that? Well, from spending 8 hours on our daily lives at school, 5 hours on homework, and 3 hours on extracurriculars, students are simply exhausted with countless loads of information to memorize that they feel don’t relate to them. To solve this, our schools need to stop standardizing our learning and create more choices for students to learn. This way, students can pursue their own interests rather than wasting time on others. Some argue that if students are able to learn anything they want, then students might not be motivated to take the initiative to learn. However, it turns out the contrary seems to be true. An experiment conducted by teacher researchers concluded that increasing the freedom of choice to learn directly leads to an increase in self-motivation. In other words, it has been proven that students are more motivated when they are given more choices.

現(xiàn)在我們該如何解決這個問題？我們需要學(xué)生有積極性。動機(jī)是迫使我們學(xué)習(xí)的動力，但學(xué)校并沒有利用它。根據(jù)國家研究委員會關(guān)于教育的報告，40%的高中生“長期脫離學(xué)?！?。為什么？好吧，在學(xué)?；?個小時在日常生活上，花5個小時在家庭作業(yè)上，花3個小時在課外活動上，學(xué)生們只是被無數(shù)他們覺得與自己無關(guān)的信息所累。為了解決這個問題，我們的學(xué)校需要停止規(guī)范我們的學(xué)習(xí)，為學(xué)生創(chuàng)造更多的學(xué)習(xí)選擇。這樣，學(xué)生可以追求自己的興趣，而不是把時間浪費(fèi)在別人身上。一些人認(rèn)為，如果學(xué)生能夠?qū)W到他們想要的任何東西，那么學(xué)生可能就沒有動力主動學(xué)習(xí)。然而，事實(shí)證明恰恰相反。教師研究人員進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)實(shí)驗(yàn)得出結(jié)論，增加選擇學(xué)習(xí)的自由度直接導(dǎo)致自我激勵的增加。換句話說，事實(shí)證明，當(dāng)學(xué)生有更多的選擇時，他們會更有動力。

In this technological era, we have the freedom to learn anything we want online. Did you know you could even watch free lectures from many top universities like Stanford, UC Berkeley, and MIT as if you were a part of their course? Well you can and once schools are able to give us enough time to learn on our own, our educational growth will no longer be defined by the education system. We can create our own unique education. Of course, there are some skills like collaboration, cooperation, and grit, which cannot be developed online. Rather than focusing on teaching content in school, schools can help us develop these essential life skills we need for our future.

在這個科技時代，我們可以自由地在網(wǎng)上學(xué)習(xí)我們想要的任何東西。你知道嗎，你甚至可以觀看斯坦福大學(xué)、加州大學(xué)伯克利分校和麻省理工學(xué)院等許多頂尖大學(xué)的免費(fèi)講座，就好像你在上他們的部分課程一樣？你可以的，一旦學(xué)校能夠給我們足夠的時間讓我們自己學(xué)習(xí)，我們的教育成長將不再由教育系統(tǒng)來定義。我們可以創(chuàng)建自己獨(dú)特的教育。當(dāng)然，有些技能，如協(xié)作、合作和毅力，是無法在網(wǎng)上培養(yǎng)的。學(xué)?？梢詭椭覀儼l(fā)展未來所需的這些基本生活技能，而不是專注于學(xué)校的教學(xué)內(nèi)容。

We all have the power to change the future. Nelson Mandela, former South African President, once stated, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” By spreading awareness of these changes we can use to fix our school system, we can revolutionize our education, and with our education, we can diversify our future. School should not be a place to limit our growth as students. School should be a place of development. School should be a place of discovery. School should be a place of exploration. School should be a place of inspiration. School should be a place for students to find their passion. School should be a place for students to find their potential. And the day schools are able to help students find their potential, the day schools are able to help students find their voice, is the day the sky becomes the limit.

我們都有改變未來的力量。南非前總統(tǒng)納爾遜·曼德拉曾說過：“教育是改變世界的最有力武器。”通過傳播人們對這些變化的認(rèn)識，我們可以用這些變化來修復(fù)我們的學(xué)校系統(tǒng)，我們可以徹底改變我們的教育，通過我們的教育，我們可以使我們的未來多樣化。學(xué)校不應(yīng)該成為限制我們學(xué)生成長的地方。學(xué)校應(yīng)該是一個發(fā)展的地方。學(xué)校應(yīng)該是一個探索的地方。學(xué)校應(yīng)該是一個研究的地方。學(xué)校應(yīng)該是一個充滿靈感的地方。學(xué)校應(yīng)該是一個讓學(xué)生找到激情的地方。學(xué)校應(yīng)該是學(xué)生發(fā)掘潛力的地方。當(dāng)學(xué)校能夠幫助學(xué)生找到自己的潛力，當(dāng)學(xué)校能夠幫助他們找到自己的聲音，屆時天空才是極限。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處

Dylan Owens
I’m a good student.
Scratch that, I’m an excellent student. My grades are spot on, I do great on tests, and my standardized test scores are phenomenal. I’m great at school.
I can study for a test in half the time other people can. I can crank out an assignment the night before and get an A. I can show up at the SAT after one hour of studying and score in the 98% percentile. I’m an amazing student.
But guess what. I don’t know anything.
I’m damn good at remembering stuff, but I don’t learn it. I remember it just long enough for my test or assignment, then I forget it a day later. Then I cram my brain with new info, take the test, and forget it. Rinse and repeat.
I learn very little in school. Very little. I don’t remember 99% of what stuff I learned a month ago. I probably only remember about 10% of what I learned last week.

我是個好學(xué)生。
別誤會，我是個優(yōu)秀的學(xué)生。我的成績很好，我在考試中表現(xiàn)很好，標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化考試成績也很好。我在學(xué)校表現(xiàn)很好。
我可以用別人一半的時間來準(zhǔn)備考試。我可以在考試前一晚完成作業(yè)，然后拿A。我可以在學(xué)習(xí)了一個小時后去參加美國高考，然后拿到98分，我作為學(xué)生挺了不起的。
但你猜怎么著。我什么都不知道。
我非常擅長記住東西，但沒學(xué)進(jìn)去。我記得的時間只夠應(yīng)付考試或作業(yè)，一天后我就忘記了。然后我用新的信息填滿我的大腦，參加測試，然后忘記它，重復(fù)同樣的過程。
我在學(xué)校學(xué)得很少、很少。我一個月前學(xué)的東西99%都不記得了、我可能只記得上周所學(xué)內(nèi)容的10%左右。

But according to the system, I’m learning tons. My grades are stellar. My tests are great. According to all quantitative records, I’m being educated incredibly well.
But I’m not. I’ve just learned how to screw the system. I don’t learn, I take in and spit out the required amount of information, then dexe it from my brain.
My education isn’t an education. It’s a constant balance of finding out how to get the highest grade for the least amount of work. It’s suvival of the fittest, and I’m one of the fittest.
I do waaaaay less work than most people. Far less. But since I’ve mastered study techniques that let me cram info into my brain really fast, and keep the info in my brain for just long enough, I get excellent grades. I’ve mastered the art of doing assignments. When I do an assignment, I write the absolute minimum that I can, and still get a good grade.

但根據(jù)這個系統(tǒng)，我學(xué)到了很多。我的成績很好，測試很棒。根據(jù)所有的定量記錄，我受到了非常好的教育。
但我沒有，我剛剛學(xué)會了如何破壞系統(tǒng)。我不學(xué)習(xí)，我吸收并吐出所需的信息，然后從我的大腦中刪除它。
我所受的教育不是教育。如何用最少的努力獲得最高的分?jǐn)?shù)，這是一個不斷平衡的過程。適者生存，我就是適者生存中的一員。
我學(xué)習(xí)上付出的努力比大多數(shù)人少得多。少得多。但是，由于我掌握了一些學(xué)習(xí)技巧，這些技巧可以讓我快速地把信息塞進(jìn)大腦，并在大腦中保存足夠長的時間，所以我取得了優(yōu)異的成績。我已經(jīng)掌握了做作業(yè)的藝術(shù)。當(dāng)我做作業(yè)時，我會盡我所能寫下最低限度的內(nèi)容，但仍然能獲得好成績。

School has taught me how to be good at school. My work-to-grade ratio is phenomenal. If I have 10 minutes on an assignment, and average Joe has 10 minutes on an assignment, I guarantee you I’ll get a better grade. Guaranteed. I may not know more than the other guy, but I will get a better grade. No question.
Give me and average Joe each 10 minutes to study for a test, and I’ll do better on the test. I promise you. Come back and talk to us in a week, and average Joe will probably remember more. He’ll probably even be able to apply it to real life. But it doesn’t matter. We already took the test.
I have screwed the system. Completely destroyed it. I am not an educated person. I am not being educated. I am a person that learned how to take advantage of the system.
But guess what? According to anyone that looks at my transcxt, I’ve gotten an incredible education.
They're wrong. I don’t give a crap about most of my classes. I do the absolute minimum, and get the grade. The few subjects I care about, I use the same study method because it’s what I’ve always done. It’s what I know.
I am not getting educated. I am clinically manipulating a broken system to fit my needs.
Students being able to do this is what’s wrong with American education.

學(xué)校教會了我如何在學(xué)校表現(xiàn)出色。我的學(xué)習(xí)與成績之比是驚人的。如果我學(xué)習(xí)10分鐘，一般人也學(xué)習(xí)10分鐘，我向你保證我會得到更好的成績，這是肯定的；我可能不會比其他人知道更多，但我會得到更好的成績，這是毫無疑問的。
讓我和普通人一樣復(fù)習(xí)10分鐘，在測試中，我的成績更好，這是我可以向你保證的。一周后再來和我們談?wù)劊胀ㄈ丝赡軙浀酶嗟膬?nèi)容。他甚至可能將其應(yīng)用到現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中。但（在我們學(xué)習(xí)系統(tǒng)中）這并不重要，我們已經(jīng)參加了測試。
我把系統(tǒng)搞砸了，完全毀了它。我不是一個受過教育的人，我沒有受過教育，我是一個學(xué)會了如何利用這個系統(tǒng)的人。
但你猜怎么著？據(jù)任何看過我成績單的人說，我接受了令人難以置信的教育。
他們錯了，我對我的大部分課程都不在乎。我只做了最少的功課，就拿到了分?jǐn)?shù)。對于少數(shù)我關(guān)心的科目，我使用同樣的學(xué)習(xí)方法，因?yàn)檫@是我一直在學(xué)習(xí)的方式，這是我所知道的。
我沒有受過教育，我在不偏不倚的操作一個破碎的系統(tǒng)來滿足我的需要。
學(xué)生們能夠做到這一點(diǎn)正是美國教育的問題所在。

Karan Mehta
I think the biggest problem with the US K-12 school system is the creation of socio-economic silos, which leads to a disconnect between citizens and causes a cultural divide, which we are seeing now.
To provide some contrast, I went to a Jesuit school in Mumbai, India from the age of 5–16, and the education was excellent, so it attracted kids from all backgrounds. There were kids from all sections and strata of society, because the fees were cheap, since Jesuits view education as a social good. And there was little discrimination because we all had to wear identical uniforms and no cellphones were allowed, so you can’t tell who is rich and who isn’t, so we learned to judge other students as individuals based on their personal achievements in school events and personality rather than on their family’s background or wealth. This builds genuine empathy and compassion your your fellow countrymen, and this is how you heal social fracture.
In comparison to this, in the US it is common to buy a house based on the schools in that district. This idea is ridiculous to me, why should the quality of schools be so different in each neighborhood that I must decide where to settle down based on schools? I want to live wherever I like for reasons other than schools. Rich people buy houses next to each other, and their kids get the fanciest schools with other people from the same socio-economic strata as them. They grow up knowing people just like them. And then just 1–2 neighborhoods away you’ll have a neighborhood with way worse schools, in terms of teachers and students and learning environment, all because that is known as the poor part of town. This is economic segregation and is very unfair on a social level.
Kids are the least prejudiced and biased among us, so they should get to mingle with other kids from different backgrounds. Putting them in these echo chambers/silos leads to serious harm to the unity and strength of a nation.

我認(rèn)為美國K-12學(xué)校系統(tǒng)的最大問題是創(chuàng)造了社會經(jīng)濟(jì)孤島，這導(dǎo)致了公民之間的脫節(jié)，并導(dǎo)致了我們現(xiàn)在看到的文化鴻溝。
為了提供一些對比，我從5歲到16歲在印度孟買的一所耶穌會學(xué)校上學(xué)，那里的教育非常好，所以吸引了各種背景的孩子。有來自社會各階層的孩子，因?yàn)橘M(fèi)用很便宜，因?yàn)橐d會士認(rèn)為教育是一種社會公益。幾乎沒有歧視，因?yàn)槲覀兌急仨毚┫嗤男７也辉试S使用手機(jī)，所以你無法區(qū)分誰富有、誰不富有，所以我們學(xué)會了根據(jù)其他學(xué)生在學(xué)?；顒又械膫€人成就和個性，而不是根據(jù)他們的家庭背景或財富來評判他們。這會給你的同胞建立真正的同理心和同情心，這就是你治愈社會裂痕的方法。
相比之下，在美國，以該地區(qū)的學(xué)校為基礎(chǔ)買房是很常見的。這個想法對我來說很荒謬，為什么每個社區(qū)的學(xué)校質(zhì)量都如此不同，以至于我必須根據(jù)學(xué)校來決定在哪里定居？除了學(xué)校之外，我想住在我喜歡的任何地方。富人挨著買房子，他們的孩子和來自同一社會經(jīng)濟(jì)階層的其他人一起上最高檔的學(xué)校。他們在成長過程中認(rèn)識和他們一樣的人。然后，就在1-2個社區(qū)之外，你會看到一個在教師、學(xué)生和學(xué)習(xí)環(huán)境方面學(xué)校更差的社區(qū)，這一切都是因?yàn)槟抢锉环Q為城鎮(zhèn)的貧困地區(qū)。這是經(jīng)濟(jì)上的隔離，在社會層面上是非常不公平的。
在我們當(dāng)中，孩子們是最沒有偏見和偏頗的，所以他們應(yīng)該與來自不同背景的其他孩子打成一片。把他們放在這些回聲室/筒倉里會嚴(yán)重?fù)p害一個國家的團(tuán)結(jié)和力量。

Katrina Johnston
I can say underfunding has taken its toll. I remember having almost an entire year of math with a substitute handing out a ditto and the same for science. It's hard to be inspired and driven when you are told to read a textbook and fill out a sheet.
Secondly, my parents never pushed education. My dad worked all the time and my mom was a 14 year old school drop out. It's hard to get any mental stimulation or drive when someone who raises you can barely function in life.
Lastly, my mom had this huge misconception that it's still 1970 and no one needs an education to make it. This caused me to begin working at age 13/14 years, against labor laws, and with no real effort on schooling.
There is also this anti-intellectualism vibe in the US; no one wants to be the smart kid. I seriously have no idea when this became a thing but it always existed in my lifetime.

我可以說，資金不足造成了損失。我記得有整整一年的數(shù)學(xué)課都是由代課老師重復(fù)的，科學(xué)科目也是如此。當(dāng)你被告知要閱讀課本并填寫表格時，你很難受到啟發(fā)和激勵。
其次，我父母從不提倡教育。我爸爸一直在工作，我媽媽14歲就輟學(xué)了。當(dāng)撫養(yǎng)你長大的人在學(xué)習(xí)上幾乎無法發(fā)揮作用時，你很難得到精神刺激或動力。
最后，我媽媽有一個巨大的誤解，認(rèn)為現(xiàn)在還是1970年，大家不需要接受教育。這導(dǎo)致我在13/14歲開始工作，違反了勞動法，而且沒有真正努力的去學(xué)習(xí)。
在美國也有這種反智主義的氛圍，沒有人想成為聰明的孩子。我真的不知道這是什么時候開始的，但它一直存在于我的生活中。