经济学人246:学校改革的佼佼者 A class act

 　　A class act

　　佼佼者

　　Freedom and discipline go together in an innovative¹ school

　　在一所革新的学校，自由和纪律同行

　　Innovation in schools

　　学校改革

　　THE scene is enough to appal² those teachers steeped in ideas about child-centred education and learning through play. At the Durand Academy, a large primary school set amid tough housing estates in south London, a class of four-year-olds files into the corridor. Dressed in navy blue uniforms, the children silently divide, boys lining³ up against one wall, girls by the other. Following rules laid down by the watching boss of the school, Greg Martin—a man of firm convictions, once compared to Stalin by trade-union activists—the children stand with one finger to their lips, as a reminder⁴ to be quiet.

　　这个场景足以让那些整日浸淫于“教育要以孩子为中心”和“寓教于乐”等思想的教师们感到震惊。杜兰德专科学校坐落于南伦敦贫困居民区中，是一家大型小学，一个4岁班的同学们依次来到走廊里，他们穿着深蓝色的校服，默无声息地分成两组，男生靠一边的墙排成一队，女生靠另一边墙排成一队。根据监事校董格雷格?马汀(他具有坚定的信念，曾被工会活动分子比作斯大林)的规定，孩子们站在那里，用手指指着嘴唇，提醒自己保持安静。

　　Durand pupils are trained to move about the school in hushed crocodiles. Their work is marked strictly⁵, with low scores carefully explained. Teachers'lesson plans must be approved by senior staff. Classes are filmed for use in training.

　　杜兰德学校的学生们要接受这样的训练，排成纵队在校园中静静地走动。他们的表现要进行严格的打分，如果分数低的话，还要认真地说明原因。普通教师的授课计划必须征得高级教师的批准。课堂要拍下来以备训练使用。

　　Mr Martin is one of a vanguard of senior teachers endeavouring—with support from Michael Gove, the education secretary—to put discipline at the heart of teaching. But this does not involve a lurch⁶ back to past ferocities. His school feels secure and calm rather than strict. “I'm four today,” a small girl whispers in the corridor, before popping her finger back on her lips, eyes agleam with birthday excitement. Her classmates wriggle⁷ happily as their teacher praises them for “lining up so beautifully”.

　　马汀先生是高级教师先锋之一，在教育大臣迈克尔?戈夫的支持下，他努力把纪律摆在教学的中心位置，但这并不是说又一下子回到过去的简单粗暴。在这个学校天，能感受到的是安全、宁静，而不是严格。“我今天4岁了。”走廊里，一个小女孩低声说道，然后迅速把手指重新放在嘴唇上，眼睛里闪着过生日才会有的兴奋。老师表扬同学们 “队列排得真整齐”，他们愉快地缓缓前行。

　　At a recent seminar on school discipline, Mr Gove and a clutch of star head teachers who have turned around failing (indeed out-of-control) schools discussed how firm, consistent rules are a tool for social mobility⁸, enabling children from deprived backgrounds to escape the effects of often chaotic⁹ home lives. Mr Martin noted¹⁰ how many new pupils arrive unprepared for learning: unable to sit still and listen, or not toilet-trained. Half his 968 pupils receive free school meals (a marker for family poverty). Most are from black African or Caribbean backgrounds. Before the formal skills, all are taught something simpler: that they are constantly making choices, which have consequences.

　　在最近一次的学校纪律研讨会上，戈夫先生和一些曾使差校（实际上处于失控状态）发生改观的明星校长们展开讨论：怎样才能使严格的、一贯的纪律成为社会流动的工具，使贫穷的孩子们能够摆脱那些常常是乱糟糟的家庭生活的影响？马汀先生记下了入学但没有为学习做好准备的学生数量：他们不能静静地坐下来听课，甚至连用卫生间都不会用。他的968名学生，有一半得到了免费的校餐（这是家庭贫困的标志），他们大多是非洲或加勒比地区的移民后代。在学习正式的技能之前，首先要学习那些更简单的事情：他们常常做出选择，这也产生了一定效果。

　　Mr Martin's approach combines the traditional virtue¹¹ of discipline with the extended freedoms offered to ambitious heads by the coalition¹² government. He has been innovating¹³ on the same site for 25 years, taking advantage of each new reform that offered greater autonomy. Last year Durand secured academy status, gaining new powers to shape its curriculum and to recruit and pay staff on its own terms. Mr Martin shows off two smart, indoor swimming pools. Swimming lessons, he explains, teach the very smallest to undress and dress themselves, which many have never tried. The larger pool is open to the paying public after midday, and forms part of a private enterprise (also including a gym and a block of flats) that subsidises organic lunches, smaller than average classes and after-school care.

　　马汀先生的方法，既注重遵守纪律的传统美德，又充分利用联合政府给予他们这些胸怀改革雄心的校长们扩展了的自由。25年来他一直致力于这一学校的改革，利用每一次新改革所赋予的更大自主权。去年，杜兰德获得了专科学校的身份，使他们有新的力量制定自己的课程，按照自己的条件招聘员工并支付报酬。马汀向我们展示了两个整洁的室内游泳池。他解释说，游泳课程教给那些最小的孩子如何穿衣脱衣这些很多学生从未尝试的事情。大游泳池午后对公众有偿开放，就像一个私营企业的一部分（还有一个体育馆和一片公寓），可以资助有机午餐，比一般的班级和课外看护机构的规模要小。

　　The experiments seem to be working. Durand is rated “outstanding” by Ofsted, the schools inspectorate. When they arrive, its three-year-olds, chosen non-selectively by catchment area, are well behind the national average. By final tests at 11, the children are in the top 2% in the country. Achievement and calmness follow each other says Mr Martin. Disruptive behaviour is “usually about fear”, triggered when children (especially boys) do not know how to do something.

　　实验似乎正在发生作用，学校的监察机构“英国教育标准局” 将杜兰德学校的工作评定为“杰出”级。实验开始时，学校接收的是本学区三岁的孩子，这无可选择，他们的入学水平远远落后于全国的平均水平。到11岁毕业测试时，他们的成绩已跃居全国的前2%。马汀先生说，成绩与平静相互促进，捣乱性的行为通常和害怕有关，多在孩子们（特别是男孩）不知道一件事如何做时发生。

　　The school's boldest experiment lies ahead. Tired of watching Durand’s high-achieving, happy 11-year-olds sink or fall prey¹⁴ to bad influences at their next schools, Mr Martin is opening a middle school and, in 2014, a weekly boarding school for 600 pupils from 13 to 18, on land Durand has bought in West Sussex. The education department has promised up to ￡17.3m for the new buildings. Existing state boarding schools charge for food and lodging¹⁵. This one will be entirely¹⁶ free.

　　学校最大胆的实验还在后面。马汀先生不想看到那些得了高分、快快乐乐的11岁的孩子们今后堕落成学习中不良影响的牺牲品，他开办了一所中学。2014年，一所面向13到18岁孩子、可以容纳600名学生的寄宿制学校将在西埃塞克斯郡开办。教育部门许诺将为新校舍提供1730万英镑的资金。现在的寄宿制学校食宿是收费的，而这所学校却是完全免费的。

　　Nothing quite like it has been tried before; Whitehall officials cannot guarantee that it will succeed. But to Mr Gove's team, experimental risk is not the downside of setting schools free (more than 1,000 have gained academy status since 2010): it is the point. Parents will choose those schools that work. Durand, currently a remarkable¹⁷ exception, may be just the start.

　　此前还没有过类似的实验，白厅官员并不能保证它一定会成功。但对于戈夫先生的团队来说，实验的风险不是学校自由度的缩小（2010年以来，1000多所学校获得专科资格）：这才是问题的关键所在。家长将选择那些运转良好的学校。杜兰德专科学校，现在已是一个非凡的另类，也许这只是开始。

1 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

2 appal   

vt.使胆寒，使惊骇

参考例句：

• I was appalled at the news.我被这消息吓坏了。
• This "Hamlet" will appal some for being so resolutely unclassical.新版《哈姆雷特 》如此违背经典，确实惊世骇俗。

3 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

4 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

5 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

6 lurch   

n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行

参考例句：

• It has been suggested that the ground movements were a form of lurch movements.地震的地面运动曾被认为是一种突然倾斜的运动形式。
• He walked with a lurch.他步履蹒跚。

7 wriggle   

v./n.蠕动，扭动；蜿蜒

参考例句：

• I've got an appointment I can't wriggle out of.我有个推脱不掉的约会。
• Children wriggle themselves when they are bored.小孩子感到厌烦时就会扭动他们的身体。

8 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

9 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

10 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

11 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

12 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

13 innovating   

v.改革，创新( innovate的现在分词 )；引入（新事物、思想或方法），

参考例句：

• In this new century, the company keeps innovating and developing new products. 新世纪伊始，公司全面实施形象工程及整合营销，不断改革创新，开发高新产品。 来自互联网
• Beijing is backward most prime cause is innovating at system lack. 北京落后的最根本原因在于制度缺乏创新。 来自互联网

14 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

15 lodging   

n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍

参考例句：

• The bill is inclusive of the food and lodging. 账单包括吃、住费用。
• Where can you find lodging for the night? 你今晚在哪里借宿?

16 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

17 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。