2015年经济学人 私人补习 民办教育变得越来越平等

 

Private tuition

私人补习

Premium¹ economy

优质经济舱

Private education is becoming more egalitarian

民办教育变得越来越平等

WHEN Charlotte Hobbs decided² to teach her 11-year-old pupil about the “imaginary” maths needed to work out the square root of a negative number, she knew it would be a stretch. But her ambition paid off: the girl quickly mastered the concept and now hopes to study maths at university. Most remarkably³, Ms Hobbs achieved her feat⁴ in a foster home, not a west London Victorian terrace.

当夏洛特·霍布斯决定教她11岁的学生用来计算负数平方根的虚数时，她知道这是一个艰巨的任务。但她的抱负最终得以实现：这个女孩很快掌握了概念并希望在大学学习数学专业。最值得注意的是，霍布斯女士是在一个寄养家庭取得了这样的成就，而不是在伦敦西部的维多利亚式露台。

Private tuition has long been popular with the rich. A gaggle of London-based firms hire new graduates from Oxford⁵ and Cambridge who charge ￡70-￡100 an hour to prepare children for independent-school entrance exams taken at 11 or 13. Yet thanks to ambitious parents and government policies, many more children from lower-income families are being tutored.

私人补习一直受到富人的欢迎。一些总部位于伦敦的公司聘请刚从牛津、剑桥毕业的学生帮助11岁或13岁的孩子准备私立学校入学考试，他们每小时收费70到100英镑。然而，由于那些望子成龙的父母和政府的政策，更多低收入家庭的孩子也开始补习。

The primary force is the pupil premium, a scheme that channels extra money to schools with poorer pupils. This payment, which is rising from ￡623 ($950) per pupil this year to ￡900 in 2014, has created a market for private tuition in state schools. Ms Hobbs works for Tutor Trust, a not-for-profit organisation⁶ which provides one-to-one sessions for ￡18 an hour. The firm’s 220 tutors tend to be students at Manchester University keen to earn some extra cash. Since February 2012 they have taught for more than 10,000 hours in schools across the city. According to figures from Ofsted, the education regulator, two-fifths of schools are using their pupil-premium cash to pay for one-on-one tuition; a third are using it for group tuition. The aim is to improve results and shrink the yawning gap between the academic achievements of poor children and richer ones in England’s schools.

这一现象最主要的动力来自学生奖学金计划，这个计划把额外的钱拨给贫困学子。这笔款项将从今年的623英镑（约合950美元）在2014年涨到900英镑，这也为在公立学校提供私人补习创造了市场。霍布斯女士为“Tutor Trust”工作，这个非营利组织提供每小时18英镑的一对一辅导。公司的220名老师大多是曼彻斯特大学想要赚点外快的学生。从2012年2月开始，他们已经在这个城市教授超过10000小时的课程。根据教育主管机构Ofsted的数据，五分之二的学校用学生奖学金支付一对一辅导费用；三分之一用此支付集体辅导费用。这项计划的目的是要提高教学成果并减少英国学校贫富学生之间学业成绩的鸿沟。

But it is not just the hardest-up who are getting private help: parents on ordinary incomes are hiring more tutors, too. Explore Learning, a private-tuition chain, says that many of its customers use government child-care vouchers⁷ (which are tax-free) to pay for tuition. Lower earners receiving tax credits can claim back up to 70% of the cost. It helps that franchises⁸ such as Kumon, a Japanese firm, lower costs for parents by teaching in groups. These kinds of out-of-hours outfits⁹ have long been popular in East Asia: roughly three-quarters of South Korean students attend a hagwon after school.

对于接受私人补习的人来说，补习费不是最大的障碍：工薪阶层的父母也聘请很多辅导老师。一个名为Explore Learning的私人连锁教育机构声称他们许多客户都使用政府托儿券（免税）来支付学费。中低收入者的税收抵免能返还70%的费用。一些像日本Kumon这样的特许公司提供的集体教学也帮家长减少了费用。这种课后补习机构在东亚一直很流行：粗略计算，四分之三的韩国学生放学后都要参加补习班。

This combination of rising subsidies¹⁰ and fiercer competition means that the army of tutors is likely to get bigger. This should be welcome news. The Education Endowment Foundation, a charity, estimates that a year of one-to-one tuition is equivalent to five additional months of schooling¹¹. Tutors are particularly valuable for difficult subjects such as maths. The government’s aim—to ensure that more of England’s poorer children reach their potential—is still an aspiration¹². If its policies break the link between tutoring and income, it may yet become fact.

增加的补贴以及激烈的竞争意味着辅导老师队伍将会进一步壮大。这将是一个可喜的消息。一个慈善机构—教育养老基金会估计一年一对一辅导相当于五个月的学校教育。对于像数学一样十分困难的科目来说，辅导老师就显得特别有价值。政府的目标是确保更多英国的贫困儿童的潜能得到发掘，但这只是个仍未的抱负。如果政策能打破辅导和收入之间的关联，这个目标也许能成为现实。

1 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

4 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

5 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

6 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

7 vouchers   

n.凭证( voucher的名词复数 )；证人；证件；收据

参考例句：

• These vouchers are redeemable against any future purchase. 这些优惠券将来购物均可使用。
• This time we were given free vouchers to spend the night in a nearby hotel. 这一次我们得到了在附近一家旅馆入住的免费券。 来自英语晨读30分（高二）

8 franchises   

n.（尤指选举议员的）选举权( franchise的名词复数 )；参政权；获特许权的商业机构（或服务）；（公司授予的）特许经销权v.给…以特许权，出售特许权( franchise的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ford dealerships operated as independent franchises. 福特汽车公司的代销商都是独立的联营商。 来自辞典例句

9 outfits   

n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He jobbed out the contract to a number of small outfits. 他把承包工程分包给许多小单位。 来自辞典例句
• Some cyclists carry repair outfits because they may have a puncture. 有些骑自行车的人带修理工具，因为他们车胎可能小孔。 来自辞典例句

10 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

12 aspiration   

n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出

参考例句：

• Man's aspiration should be as lofty as the stars.人的志气应当象天上的星星那么高。
• Young Addison had a strong aspiration to be an inventor.年幼的爱迪生渴望成为一名发明家。