It is curious that Stephen Koziatek feels almost as though he has to justify his efforts to give his students a better future.
斯蒂芬·科佐泰克感到好奇的是，他必须证明他的努力是为了给学生一个更美好的未来。
On one hand, that viewpoint is a logical product of America’s evolution. Manufacturing is not the economic engine that it once was. The job security that the US economy once offered to high school graduates has largely evaporated. More education is the new principle. We want more for our kids, and rigitfully so.
另一方面，这种观点是美国进化的逻辑产物。制造业不再像以前一样是经济的源动力。曾经美国经济向高中毕业生提供的就业保障已不复存在。接受更多的教育方为王道。我们想让孩子受更多教育，这天经地义。
As Koziatek knows, there is learning in just about everything. Nothing is necessarily gained by forcing students to learn geometry at a graffitied desk stuck with generations of discarded chewing gum. They can also learn geometry by assembling a bicycle.
科佐泰克认为，潜心学习，万物皆师。在一张乱刻乱画，桌子上布满了一代代学生吐掉的口香糖，让学生在这样的桌上做几何题，没有任何意义。组装一辆自行车也能让学生学习几何。
Mr. Koziatek is part of something pioneering. He is a teacher at a New Hampshire high school where learning is not something of books and tests and mechanical memorization, but practical. When did it become accepted wisdom that students should be able to name the 13th president of the United States but be utterly overwhelmed by a broken bike chain?
科佐泰克的一些做法颇有开创性。他是新罕布什尔州的一个高中老师，在这所学校里，学习不是啃书本，做测试和玩硬背，而是搞实践。学生要记住美国第13届总统的名字，但连脱掉的自行车链都装不上，难道大家都觉得学校就该教这些东西？
But he’s also found a kind of insidious prejudice. Working with your hands is seen as almost a mark of inferiority. Schools in the family of vocational education “have that stereotype… that it’s for kids who can’t make it academically,” he says.
但是他也发现一种潜在的偏见。动手被视为能力不足的表现。他说道，人们对职业教育类的学校有这样的刻板印象：“那都是那些学习不好的孩子才上的。”
In other words, at a time when the working class has turned the country on its political head, frustrated that the opportunity that once defined America is vanishing, one obvious solution is staring us in the face. There is a gap in working-class jobs, but the workers who need those jobs most aren’t equipped to do them. Koziatek’s Manchester School of Technology High School is trying to fill that gap.
换而言之，工人阶层让美国发展为政治强国，原本让美国引以为傲的机遇正在消失，这令人们一筹莫展。最明显的解决办法显而易见。工人阶层的工作是有差距的，但最需要这些工作的工人却不具备相应的能力。科佐泰克的曼彻斯特高等技术学校正在弥补这个差距。
But the headlong push into bachelor’s degrees for all — and the subtle devaluing of anything less — misses an important point: That’s not the only thing the American economy needs. Yes, a bachelor’s degree opens more doors. But even now, 54 percent of the jobs in the country are middle-skill jobs, such as construction and high-skill manufacturing. But only 44 percent of workers are adequately trained.
但迷恋于让让所有人拿到本科学历——同时对别的东西嗤之以鼻——忽视了非常重要的一点：驱动美国经济发展的可不是只有这个东西吧。的确，拥有本科学历会有更多的机会。即使到现在，美国54%的工作是中等技能型工作，例如建筑和高技能制造。但仅有44%的工人受过充分培训。
Koziatek’s school is a wake-up call. When education becomes one-size-fits-all, it risks overlooking a nation’s diversity of gifts.
科佐泰克的学校敲响了警钟。当学校教育变得千篇一律，国家的多样性就会岌岌可危。
0 条评论