TED演讲:打游戏激起对学习的热情(4)

 　　Third reason that boys are out of sync with school today:  第三个原因是男孩与我们今日的学校相脱节：

　　kindergarten is the old second grade, folks.  幼儿园是一种过时的脱节教育。

　　We have a serious compression of the curriculum¹ happening out there.  我们教学课程中有严重的压缩问题。

　　When you're three, you better be able to write your name legibly,  当孩子三岁时，他们最好能清楚地写下他们的名字，

　　or else we'll consider it a developmental delay.  要不我们会认为这是发育迟缓。

　　By the time you're in first grade,  到孩子小学一年级时，

　　you should be able to read paragraphs of text with maybe a picture,  他们应该能读带图的，

　　maybe not, in a book of maybe 25 to 30 pages.  或者不带图的课文里的段落，这本书大概有25-30页。

　　If you don't, we're probably going to be putting you into a Title 1 special reading program. 如果孩子做不到，老师很可能把这孩子送到编号一的特殊阅读计划班。

　　And if you ask Title 1 teachers, they'll tell you  如果问问这班的老师们，她们会告诉你：

　　they've got about four or five boys for every girl that's in their program, in the elementary grades. 在这个低年级的特殊阅读计划班里，每当有1个女孩就对等的有4到5个男孩。

　　The reason that this is a problem is because the message that boys are getting  这问题是因为男孩得到的教育

　　is "you need to do what the teacher asks you to do all the time." 是“在上学间，你就需要做老师吩咐你做的事。”

　　The teacher's salary depends on "No Child Left Behind" and "Race to the Top" 老师的工资取决于让学生考试名列前茅，不让一个孩子掉队，

　　and accountability and testing and all of this. 并负有责任和大大小小测试，以及类似这样的事。

　　So she has to figure out a way to get all these boys through this curriculum -- and girls. 所以她得想方设法地让这些男孩和女孩通过这课程。

　　This compressed² curriculum is bad for all active kids. 这压缩课程对所有活跃调皮的孩子来说是糟糕的。

　　And what happens is,  接下来发生的是，

　　she says, "Please, sit down, be quiet, do what you're told, follow the rules, manage your time, focus, be a girl." 她说，“请坐下来，安静点，听我说的做，遵守规矩，抓紧时间，注意一下，要乖点像个女孩。”

　　That's what she tells them.  这就是女老师让男孩做的事。

　　Indirectly³, that's what she tells them.  间接地，她指示了男孩该做什么。

　　And so this is a very serious problem. Where is it coming from?  所以这是个很严重的问题。这是从哪开始的呢？

　　It's coming from us.  它是源于我们自己。

　　We want our babies to read when they are six months old.  我们想让我们的宝贝在他们六个月大时就能读。

　　Have you seen the ads?  你看过广告吗？

　　We want to live in Lake Wobegon where every child is above average,  我们想住在沃比冈湖，那里每一个孩子的智商都高于平均水平。

　　but what this does to our children is really not healthy.  但是这对我们的孩子来说是非常不健康的。

　　It's not developmentally appropriate, and it's particularly bad for boys. 这是种不良发育，特别对男孩来说有不好的影响。

　　So what do we do?  我们能做什么呢？

　　We need to meet them where they are.  我们要迎合男孩们的需求。

　　We need to put ourselves into boy culture.  我们要置身于男孩文化中。

　　We need to change the mindset of acceptance⁴ in boys in elementary schools. 我们要改变小学对男孩子一成不变地思维模式。

　　More specifically⁵, we can do some very specific things.  更具体地，我们可以做些非常具体的事。

　　We can design better games.  我们可以设计更好玩的游戏。

1 curriculum   

n.课程，（学校等的）全部课程

参考例句：

• Is German on your school's curriculum?你们学校有德语课吗？
• The English curriculum should stress both composition and reading.英语课程对作文和阅读应同样重视。

2 compressed   

adj.压缩的，压紧的

参考例句：

• Her lips compressed into a thin line. 她的双唇抿成了一道缝。
• The poet compressed many thoughts and emotions into a few well-chosen words. 诗人将丰富的思想感情浓缩于几个精选的词语里。

3 indirectly   

adv.间接地，不直接了当地

参考例句：

• I heard the news indirectly.这消息我是间接听来的。
• They were approached indirectly through an intermediary.通过一位中间人，他们进行了间接接触。

4 acceptance   

n.接受，接收，验收，接纳；承认，认可

参考例句：

• The new laws gained widespread acceptance.新法令受到广泛赞同。
• It took years for Einstein's theory to gain acceptance.爱因斯坦的理论经过多年才被人们接受。

5 specifically   

adv.明确地，具体地；特别地，特意

参考例句：

• The book was written specifically for children.这本书是特地为儿童编写的。
• I told you specifically not to do that.我明确地告诉你不要那样做。