万花筒 2008-12-28&12-29 校园暴力滋长

The playground and classroom should be areas of learning and development. But on more than 7,000 occasions in England last year, there were incidents of violence deemed so serious that the police were called in. “The figures,” said the Conservative Party who obtained them, “are alarming and just the tip of the iceberg¹.

 

"Teachers don’t call out the police for minor² incidents. These are very serious incidents being faced by the school, and they are indicative of a more severe behavioral issue in our schools as a whole that really does have to be tackled, if we are to raise academic standards in schools.

 

The National Union of Teachers insists that it’s a minority causing serious problems in schools, and also argues that the figures reflected an improved relationship between schools and the police.

 

Now headteachers can feel confident that they can call up the local policemen, the local police station if they have a problem with a third party--a parent coming in and threatening them-- if there is someone that’s come over the fence for example, if there is a gang at the school gate.

 

The conservatives say that they aren’t suggesting that schools are entirely³ empty of discipline, but they do believe that the figures would have been higher if all police forces have responded. Teaching bodies have accused them of scaremongering. The government has rejected the conservatives’ claims and said that the overwhelming majority of schools are a safe and suitable environment for children to study and play.

 

Alistair Bunkall of Sky News

 

1 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

2 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

3 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。