Alternative Education

By Jerilyn Watson
Broadcast: July 17, 2003
This is Bill White with the VOA Special English Education Report.
Some young people in the United States attend 1)alternative schools. These are schools that offer subject material or teaching methods that are different from traditional public or private schools.
Some parents choose alternative schools because they want an education planned especially for their children's needs and strengths. The Marcus Garvey School, for example, is a private school in Los Angeles. It was established to help black families who were not happy with the schools in a poor area of the city. The school places importance on subject material related to African American culture. Student test scores are often two or more years above grade level.
Music is at the center of studies at an alternative school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Many students at the Girard Academic Music Program Neighborhood School are also from poor families. They study the traditional subjects taught at other high schools. But they also read and write their own music. Almost all finish school. Most plan to go to college.
Some students get an alternative education without leaving home. Online public and private schools offer a chance to learn by computer. For example, physical disabilities prevented a young man in Pennsylvania from attending his local high school. But he recently completed his high school requirements through an Internet school.
Students in alternative schools may also have emotional or other problems that 2)interfere¹ with a traditional education. Many alternative schools that help such young people also provide them with a place to live. Students ages fourteen to eighteen at Rocky Mountain Academy near Sandpoint, Idaho, live in group housing. The college 3)preparatory program includes what is known as adventure-based learning through outdoor education.
In Texas, the Dallas area operates independent public schools for young people who have broken the law. These students are under the control of the Dallas County Juvenile² Probation³ Department. About five-hundred students attend these schools. Officials say that once these young people are released from the criminal justice system, many go on to attend traditional schools.
This VOA Education Report was written by Jerilyn Watson. This is Bill White.

注释：
1) alternative [C:l5tE:nEtiv] adj.选择性的，二中择一的
2) interfere [7intE5fiE] vi.干涉，干预，妨碍，打扰
3) preparatory [pri5pArEtEri] adj.预备的

1 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

2 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

3 probation   

n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期)

参考例句：

• The judge did not jail the young man,but put him on probation for a year.法官没有把那个年轻人关进监狱，而且将他缓刑察看一年。
• His salary was raised by 800 yuan after his probation.试用期满以后，他的工资增加了800元。