教育不平等打碎了美國(guó)夢(mèng)

The best escalator to opportunity in America iseducation. But a new study underscores that theescalator is broken.

在美國(guó)，機(jī)遇的最佳升降機(jī)是教育。但從一項(xiàng)新研究可以明顯看出，升降機(jī)壞了。

We expect each generation to do better, but,currently, more young American men have lesseducation (29 percent) than their parents than havemore education (20 percent).

我們希望每一代人都能更好，然而，當(dāng)前一代美國(guó)年輕人中，受教育程度低于其父母的(29%)要比高于其父母的(20%)更多。

 

 

Among young Americans whose parents didn’t graduate from high school, only 5 percent makeit through college themselves. In other rich countries, the figure is 23 percent.

在父母沒有讀完高中的年輕美國(guó)人中，自己能夠讀完大學(xué)的只有5%。而在其他富有國(guó)家，這個(gè)數(shù)字是23%。

The United States is devoting billions of dollars to compete with Russia militarily, but maybe weshould try to compete educationally. Russia now has the largest percentage of adults with auniversity education of any industrialized country — a position once held by the United States,although we’re plunging in that roster.

美國(guó)在軍事上投入數(shù)以十億計(jì)的美元與俄羅斯抗衡，但也許我們應(yīng)該在教育上比一比。俄羅斯成年人中擁有大學(xué)學(xué)歷的比例是所有工業(yè)化國(guó)家里最高的——這個(gè)位置曾經(jīng)屬于美國(guó)，然而現(xiàn)在我們?cè)谶@項(xiàng)排名里一直往下掉。

These figures come from the annual survey of education from the Organization for EconomicCooperation and Development, or O.E.C.D., and it should be a shock to Americans.

這些數(shù)字來自經(jīng)濟(jì)合作與發(fā)展組織(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development，簡(jiǎn)稱OECD)的年度教育調(diào)查報(bào)告，美國(guó)人應(yīng)該為此感到震驚。

A basic element of the American dream is equal access to education as the lubricant of socialand economic mobility. But the American dream seems to have emigrated because manycountries do better than the United States in educational mobility, according to the O.E.C.D.study.

美國(guó)夢(mèng)的一個(gè)基本元素是平等的受教育機(jī)會(huì)，這是社會(huì)和經(jīng)濟(jì)流動(dòng)性的潤(rùn)滑劑。然而這個(gè)夢(mèng)似乎已經(jīng)移居海外，因?yàn)閺腛ECD研究來看，很多國(guó)家在教育流動(dòng)性上做的比美國(guó)好。

As recently as 2000, the United States still ranked second in the share of the population with acollege degree. Now we have dropped to fifth. Among 25-to-34-year-olds — a glimpse of howwe will rank in the future — we rank 12th, while once-impoverished South Korea tops the list.

一直到2000年時(shí)，美國(guó)持大學(xué)學(xué)歷者在人口中的占比還排在第二位?，F(xiàn)在已經(jīng)跌到第五。在25到34歲這個(gè)年齡段——這一項(xiàng)指標(biāo)可以反映我們將來的排名——我們排在第12位，曾經(jīng)貧困的韓國(guó)現(xiàn)在是第一。

A new Pew survey finds that Americans consider the greatest threat to our country to be thegrowing gap between the rich and poor. Yet we have constructed an education system,dependent on local property taxes, that provides great schools for the rich kids in thesuburbs who need the least help, and broken, dangerous schools for inner-city children whodesperately need a helping hand. Too often, America’s education system amplifies notopportunity but inequality.

皮尤(Pew)的一項(xiàng)新調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，美國(guó)人認(rèn)為對(duì)我們國(guó)家構(gòu)成最大威脅的是貧富差距的拉大。然而我們建立的這個(gè)教育系統(tǒng)，以地方物業(yè)稅為依托，給市郊那些最不需要幫助的富人孩子提供了最好的學(xué)校，給內(nèi)城那些最需要拉一把的孩子提供了不能正常運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)的危險(xiǎn)學(xué)校。美國(guó)的教育系統(tǒng)，有太多時(shí)候是在放大不平等，而不是放大機(jī)遇。

My dad was a World War II refugee who fled Ukraine and Romania and eventually made his wayto France. He spoke perfect French, and Paris would have been a natural place to settle. But hefelt that France was stratified and would offer little opportunity to a penniless EasternEuropean refugee, or even to his children a generation later, so he set out for the UnitedStates. He didn’t speak English, but, on arrival in 1951, he bought a copy of the Sunday editionof The New York Times and began to teach himself — and then he worked his way throughReed College and the University of Chicago, earning a Ph.D. and becoming a universityprofessor.

我父親是二戰(zhàn)難民，他逃離烏克蘭和羅馬尼亞，輾轉(zhuǎn)到了法國(guó)。他的法語(yǔ)毫無瑕疵，照理說應(yīng)該在巴黎安頓下來。然而他認(rèn)為法國(guó)的階級(jí)過于分明，對(duì)一文不名的東歐難民來說很難有機(jī)會(huì)，甚至他的孩子那一輩也不行，所以他就去了美國(guó)。他不會(huì)英語(yǔ)，但1951年來到這里時(shí)，他買了一份《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》周日版，開始自學(xué)——然后他靠自己的努力上了里德學(xué)院(Reed College)和芝加哥大學(xué)(University of Chicago)，拿到了一個(gè)博士學(xué)位，成為了一名大學(xué)教授。

He rode the American dream to success; so did his only child. But while he was right in 1951 tobet on opportunity in America rather than Europe, these days he would perhaps be wrong.Researchers find economic and educational mobility are now greater in Europe than in America.

他是乘著美國(guó)夢(mèng)走向成功的;他唯一的孩子也是。他在1951年賭美國(guó)的機(jī)會(huì)比歐洲好，這是賭對(duì)了，然而放在今天，他就是錯(cuò)的。研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，歐洲現(xiàn)在的經(jīng)濟(jì)和教育流動(dòng)性要強(qiáng)于美國(guó)。

That’s particularly sad because, as my Times colleague Eduardo Porter noted last month,egalitarian education used to be America’s strong suit. European countries excelled at first-rateeducation for the elites, but the United States led the way in mass education.

讓人尤為傷感的是，正如時(shí)報(bào)同仁愛德華多·波特(Eduardo Porter)上月提到的，平等主義教育曾經(jīng)是美國(guó)的優(yōu)勢(shì)。歐洲國(guó)家擅長(zhǎng)為精英提供一流教育，但是美國(guó)的大眾教育領(lǐng)先。

By the mid-1800s, most American states provided a free elementary education to the greatmajority of white children. In contrast, as late as 1870, only 2 percent of British 14-year-oldswere in school.

到了19世紀(jì)中期，美國(guó)大多數(shù)州都會(huì)向絕大多數(shù)的白人孩子提供免費(fèi)的小學(xué)教育。與此形成鮮明對(duì)比的是，英國(guó)直到1870年也只有2%的14歲孩子在讀書。

Then the United States was the first major country, in the 1930s, in which a majority ofchildren attended high school. By contrast, as late as 1957, only 9 percent of 17-year-olds inBritain were in school.

而美國(guó)還是第一個(gè)實(shí)現(xiàn)讓多數(shù)孩子上高中的國(guó)家，那是在20世紀(jì)30年代。相比之下，一直到1957年，英國(guó)的17歲孩子只有9%在讀書。

Until the 1970s, we were pre-eminent in mass education, and Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katzof Harvard University argue powerfully that this was the secret to America’s economic rise. Thenwe blew it, and the latest O.E.C.D. report underscores how the rest of the world is eclipsing us.

我們?cè)诖蟊娊逃系慕^對(duì)優(yōu)勢(shì)一直保持到20世紀(jì)70年代，哈佛大學(xué)(Harvard University)的克勞迪亞·戈?duì)柖?Claudia Goldin)和勞倫斯·卡茨(Lawrence Katz)曾擲地有聲地說，這是美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)崛起的秘訣。然后我們搞砸了，最新一期OECD報(bào)告顯示我們正在被世界甩在身后。

In effect, the United States has become 19th-century Britain: We provide superb education forelites, but we falter at mass education.

美國(guó)實(shí)際上變成了19世紀(jì)的英國(guó)：向精英提供一流教育，大眾教育卻衰敗不堪。

In particular, we fail at early education. Across the O.E.C.D., an average of 70 percent of 3-year-olds are enrolled in education programs. In the United States, it’s 38 percent.

我們?cè)谠缙诮逃嫌葹槭　Ｔ贠ECD報(bào)告中，參加了教育項(xiàng)目的3歲孩子平均達(dá)70%。美國(guó)是38%。

In some quarters, there’s a perception that American teachers are lazy. But the O.E.C.D.report indicates that American teachers work far longer hours than their counterparts abroad.Yet American teachers earn 68 percent as much as the average American college-educatedworker, while the O.E.C.D. average is 88 percent.

在某些地方，美國(guó)的教師給人留下了懶惰的印象。但從OECD報(bào)告看，美國(guó)教師的工作時(shí)間遠(yuǎn)比外國(guó)同行要長(zhǎng)。而美國(guó)教師的收入是美國(guó)大學(xué)學(xué)歷工作者平均收入的68%，OECD報(bào)告中的平均值則是88%。

Fixing the education system is the civil rights challenge of our era. A starting point is toembrace an ethos that was born in America but is now an expatriate: that we owe all childrena fair start in life in the form of access to an education escalator.

解決教育系統(tǒng)的問題是我們這個(gè)時(shí)代的民權(quán)挑戰(zhàn)。出發(fā)點(diǎn)應(yīng)該是宣弘一種生于美國(guó)但已經(jīng)背井離鄉(xiāng)的道德觀：我們應(yīng)該通過教育升降機(jī)，給所有孩子的人生一個(gè)公平的起點(diǎn)。

Let’s fix the escalator.

我們要修好這臺(tái)升降機(jī)。