VOA慢速英语20060629a

EDUCATION REPORT - New Study Disputes Idea of a Boy Crisis in U.S. SchoolsBy Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Wed¹, 28 Jun 2006 16:00:00 UTC

I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Education Report.




As we discussed last week, there have been a lot of reports that boys are in trouble in American education. Some people say efforts to improve education for girls, especially in math and science, have resulted in a crisis for boys.

That belief has led to what a new report calls a growth industry of experts advising how to make schools more boy friendly. Yet that report, released this week, suggests that the truth is far different from what people might think.

It says American boys in most cases are doing better than ever. But girls have just improved their performance on some measures even faster, it says. As a result, girls have narrowed or closed differences with boys in some areas and moved farther ahead of them in others.

The report is by Sara Mead² at Education Sector³, an independent research group launched in January in Washington. She bases her arguments on tests used since the early nineteen seventies for a national measure of educational progress.

The report does agree that some groups of boys are in trouble. It says this is true especially of Hispanics and blacks and those from poor families. But it says closing racial and economic differences would help them more than reducing differences between boys and girls.

Another concern is the large number of boys being identified with learning and emotional disabilities. Also, the report says policymakers now recognize the need to reform public high schools. Such changes should help boys as well as girls.

But the report questions what it calls simplistic proposals to fix problems for boys in American schools. One example given is expanding single-sex schooling⁴.

In nineteen ninety-eight, only a few public schools offered any kind of single-sex learning environment. Today, there are more than two hundred. The majority normally teach boys and girls together but offer some single-sex classes. Findings on the success of the idea have differed.

The Education Sector report calls for more study into the differences between boys and girls and into the culture of schools. It says the research will help teachers and parents better understand why gains for boys are not rising as fast as for girls. But the report also advises the public not to worry too much, and to be careful not to harm the gains that girls have made.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. Transcripts⁵ and audio can be downloaded at www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 wed   

v.娶，嫁，与…结婚

参考例句：

• The couple eventually wed after three year engagement.这对夫妇在订婚三年后终于结婚了。
• The prince was very determined to wed one of the king's daughters.王子下定决心要娶国王的其中一位女儿。

2 mead   

n.蜂蜜酒

参考例句：

• He gave me a cup of mead.他给我倒了杯蜂蜜酒。
• He drank some mead at supper.晚饭时他喝了一些蜂蜜酒。

3 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

4 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。

5 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句