PBS高端访谈:为什么学生表现不佳就要被退学?

 　　GWEN IFILL: Finally tonight: America's dropout¹ crisis.

　　Each year, approximately one million students drop out of high school. That's roughly 7,000 every day. Tonight, the NewsHour kicks off American Graduate week, where we will go inside the nation's classrooms to examine some of the causes and some of the solutions.

　　Ray Suarez has more.

　　RAY SUAREZ: In addition to those who leave school without a diploma, there are millions more who are underperformers, failing classes, and falling behind.

　　What happens when students drop out?

　　Are American schools any good at providing a flexible path to graduation for those who have already checked out? Are schools doing enough to grab kids with potential before failure and negative reinforcement leads them to drop out?

　　My guests' lives and work makes them unusually qualified³ to tackle those questions.

　　Stephanie Krauss is a former dropout who runs the Shearwater Education Foundation in Saint Louis, which operates a charter high school for high-risk students.

　　Adam Steltzner is a NASA engineer we profiled earlier this year. He helped design the landing for the Curiosity mission to Mars, but once came close to dropping out of high school himself.

　　And we also profiled Professor Victor Rios, a former gang member and high school dropout who now studies young men like himself. He teaches sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

　　And, Professor Rios, if you have failed classes, if you have missed credits, do we set too high a bar in America to graduate? Do schools make it too tough to get back on track?

　　VICTOR RIOS, University of California, Santa Barbara: I think so, Ray.

　　I think that what happens is that, sometimes, we give up on kids too soon. Sometimes, we want to teach to the test instead of teaching to transform. And, sometimes, that comes from top-down policy.

　　So, on the ground level, educators are trying genuinely to help young people out, but sometimes they're forced to live by the standards of the test versus⁴ living by the standards of supporting young people's development.

　　And, so, what happened in my story was that I had a teacher, Ms. Flora⁵ Russ, that helped me to change my life around by teaching me to transform my life around through emotional support, social support and linking me with mentors⁶ along the way.

　　RAY SUAREZ: Stephanie Krauss, you have designed a program to reach kids like yourself.

　　STEPHANIE KRAUSS, Shearwater Education Foundation: Absolutely.

　　RAY SUAREZ: What do you have to keep in mind?

　　STEPHANIE KRAUSS: So, to the credit question, in the state of Missouri, one of the things that we're really concerned about is something we call seat time.

　　So in order to get one unit of credit when 24 units are required to graduate, you have to get a passing grade and then be in class for 7,830 minutes.

　　So, if you have a story like mine—I left school and was what you would call chronically⁷ truant⁸ for a while. So I had a couple of jobs and I was goofing⁹ around with the wrong group of friends.

　　I wasn't acquiring credit. I wasn't at school. And so my education was disrupted. When I was still high school-aged, if I had returned, I would have been too old with too few credits.

　　And this is what we're seeing all over the city of Saint Louis, these young people who are 17 or 18 years old, and they need 24 units of credit. They only have 22 or sometimes they only have three or four.

　　So the math doesn't work out. So, what we're trying to do is come up with what we call a competency-based approach. So, kids get credit when they show us that they know it, flexible paths for them to acquire credit, to show us proficiency¹⁰. Do they know what you need to know in order to go on to college, so that you can succeed in work and life?

　　RAY SUAREZ: Adam Steltzner, you didn't drop out.

　　But to hear you tell it, you might as well have. You were checked out, even if your body was getting that seat time.

　　ADAM STELTZNER, NASA Curiosity Mission: Yes, but I actually came close to not—not passing through the same kind of seat time requirement in the state of California when I was there.

　　So, I agree with both Victor and Stephanie that looking at the student and—as opposed to a set of formulas, is really the way to stem the tide of kids not graduating.

　　RAY SUAREZ: Well, you heard the professor say it was one particular caring teacher who helped him turn it around. What worked with you?

　　ADAM STELTZNER: Well, for me, what it was, was seeing a couple of my friends not graduate and the challenge that they had and how they suffered that kicked me in the hind² very late as I got close to graduation, and I really knuckled¹¹ down and was able to make it through.

　　RAY SUAREZ: What are the impediments to reconnecting kids with school? Do they have to spend some time in the wilderness¹² and realize how hard it is on the outside before they realize, ooh, I have got to get back there?

　　STEPHANIE KRAUSS: That's a great question. It depends on who the student is. But we're seeing a couple of trends with our work on the ground in Saint Louis.

　　So, often, I use the comparison with alcoholism, with addiction¹³, and this idea that there are, in fact, smart kids who leave school because life happened. They get pushed or pulled out.

　　And they have got to go through some of that life, and essentially¹⁴ bottom out, in order to have a real invested interest themselves in returning.

　　So, at Shearwater, we run—our flagship program is a charter high school. And what we find in terms of stickiness, kids who come and stay and do the hard work of reengaging and moving toward graduation, that they made the decision themselves, many of them young parents, many of them coming off the streets from homelessness or in foster care. Often, they have that supportive adult.

　　But they have the agency and the decision to return. We call that grit¹⁵. It's kind of that persistent¹⁶ passion of wanting it for themselves that is born out of a little failure and a little hardship and a lot of survival and resilience.

　　RAY SUAREZ: Professor Rios, your academic work takes a look at high school kids and what keeps them in and keeps them out. A lot of them don't even know why they're in school, do they?

　　VICTOR RIOS: Well, sometimes, purpose is very important.

　　So, if we don't have purpose, if we're not teaching young people what the purpose of school is, then they will think of school and college as this very abstract 10th planet kind of idea.

　　I know there's maybe a 10th planet out there, but I have never really learned about it. And it's such an abstract concept sometimes. So college becomes very abstract for young people oftentimes.

　　And so it's a matter of providing concrete opportunities, persistent care, persistent programming that teaches them. And, unfortunately, sometimes, young people that come from poverty don't have those parents that are examples that have gone to a four-year university, let's say.

　　And so, because of that, I think it's our obligation as a society to provide role models that have gone to four-year universities who can teach a more concrete example of what it means to go to college. So, mentoring¹⁷ is key here.

　　RAY SUAREZ: Adam Steltzner, I have spoken to a lot of teachers over the last year. And high school teachers say one of the most critical moments is when they sit down with a kid with their transcript¹⁸ and say, you can't finish this year. You can't graduate with your friends.

　　We don't have much of a safety net for those kids. So, how do we keep them engaged?

　　ADAM STELTZNER: That's right.

　　I think it's very hard. And I know from my own experience through high school you can feel in a big high school like no one is really seeing you, no one really is caring about you, the student. You're occupying a spot in a class. You're either there or you're not.

　　And that's the challenge because when you feel seen by the institution, by the—by a person, at least one, it's a strong pull. And you start to feel that they're on your side.

　　RAY SUAREZ: Stephanie Krauss, we are right now in the midst of a standards revolution. Everybody wants to make sure high school graduates meet the highest standard.

　　And we're in the middle of a numbers revolution, where we want to get those graduation rates higher and higher and higher.

　　Are those two things warring against each other? How do we maintain standards and get the graduation number up?

　　STEPHANIE KRAUSS: Both are critical.

　　And I want to take a minute just to highlight the really incredible work that is going on in the city of Saint Louis.

　　I think that there is a collective effort to come up around this idea of how does a community surround its kids to get the numbers up and to make sure that, within that space of numbers, our graduates truly are ready for education past high school.

　　And so a part of those two things not warring is common vision and common ground around, what does it mean for our kids to reengage and what does it mean for them to be successful? What do we want for them out of being contributing citizens?

　　I think that a key piece of that, a driver, is understanding that while dropping out is something that has affected¹⁹ kids in communities for years, that this is a community-wide issue like it's never been before. With the markets and the jobs being different, it becomes imperative²⁰.

　　Educators have always cared about educating kids to the standards, to the standard of what it will take to be successful.

　　But marrying it with the graduation rates and lowering our dropout rates means understanding the implications for the job markets.

　　Kids have to be proficient²¹ in more academic areas than ever before, because the job demands look different than they have ever before. And that common understanding changes the landscape. Saint Louis is a great example of a city that gets that.

　　RAY SUAREZ: Stephanie Krauss, Victor Rios, Adam Steltzner, thank you all.

　　VICTOR RIOS: Thank you.

　　STEPHANIE KRAUSS: Thank you.

　　RAY SUAREZ: Across the U.S., there are programs that are working in this regard, keeping kids in school and changing their lives forever. Find some examples on my blog post online.

　　And our American Graduate series continues all week. Stay with us.

1 dropout   

n.退学的学生；退学；退出者

参考例句：

• There is a high dropout rate from some college courses.有些大学课程的退出率很高。
• In the long haul,she'll regret having been a school dropout.她终归会后悔不该中途辍学。

2 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

3 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

4 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

5 flora   

n.(某一地区的)植物群

参考例句：

• The subtropical island has a remarkably rich native flora.这个亚热带岛屿有相当丰富的乡土植物种类。
• All flora need water and light.一切草木都需要水和阳光。

6 mentors   

n.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的名词复数 )v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Beacham and McNamara, my two mentors, had both warned me. 我的两位忠实朋友，比彻姆和麦克纳马拉都曾经警告过我。 来自辞典例句
• These are the kinds of contacts that could evolve into mentors. 这些人是可能会成为你导师。 来自互联网

7 chronically   

ad.长期地

参考例句：

• Similarly, any pigment nevus that is chronically irritated should be excised. 同样，凡是经常受慢性刺激的各种色素痣切勿予以切除。
• People chronically exposed to chlorine develop some degree of tolerance. 人长期接触氯气可以产生某种程度的耐受性。

8 truant   

n.懒惰鬼，旷课者；adj.偷懒的，旷课的，游荡的；v.偷懒，旷课

参考例句：

• I found the truant throwing stones in the river.我发现那个逃课的学生在往河里扔石子。
• Children who play truant from school are unimaginative.逃学的孩子们都缺乏想像力。

9 goofing   

v.弄糟( goof的现在分词 )；混；打发时间；出大错

参考例句：

• He should have been studying instead of goofing around last night. 他昨晚应该念书，不应该混。 来自走遍美国快乐40招
• Why don't you just admit you're goofing off? 偷了懒就偷了赖，还不爽爽快快承认？ 来自辞典例句

10 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？

11 knuckled   

v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的过去式和过去分词 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝

参考例句：

• He knuckled me in the chest. 他用指关节敲击我的胸部。 来自辞典例句
• Mr. Cruncher knuckled his forehead, as Sydney Carton and the spy returned from the dark room. 克朗彻先生用指关节敲敲自己的前额，这时西德尼 - 卡尔顿和密探从黑屋出来了。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

12 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

13 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

14 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

15 grit   

n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关

参考例句：

• The soldiers showed that they had plenty of grit. 士兵们表现得很有勇气。
• I've got some grit in my shoe.我的鞋子里弄进了一些砂子。

16 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

17 mentoring   

n.mentoring是一种工作关系。mentor通常是处在比mentee更高工作职位上的有影响力的人。他/她有比‘mentee’更丰富的工作经验和知识，并用心支持mentee的职业（发展）。v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• One of the most effective instruments for coaching and mentoring is the "role rehearsal" . 辅导和教学的最有效的手段之一是“角色排练。” 来自辞典例句
• Bell Canada called their mentoring system a buddy-buddy system. 加拿大贝尔公司称他们的训导系统是伙伴—伙伴系统。 来自互联网

18 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

19 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

20 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

21 proficient   

adj.熟练的，精通的；n.能手，专家

参考例句：

• She is proficient at swimming.她精通游泳。
• I think I'm quite proficient in both written and spoken English.我认为我在英语读写方面相当熟练。