Parent-Teacher Associations

By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: October 23, 2003

This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Education Report.
Six-million people in the United States belong to 1)parent-teacher associations, or PTA's. PTA's work to help schools and students in their communities.
Members give their time to serve on committees. They plan school projects and special activities, such as sales and other events to assist schools. Members also serve as activists¹ for children's issues before government agencies and other organizations.
There are national, state and local PTA organizations. PTA groups exist in the fifty American states and the District of Columbia. The PTA also operates in the United States Virgin² Islands and in Department of Defense³ schools in the Pacific and Europe. These are schools for children of American military families.
Three women are responsible for establishing the Parent-Teacher Association. Two of them, Alice McLellan Birney and Phoebe Apperson Hearst, established the Congress of Mothers in eighteen-ninety-seven. Both women lived in Washington, D.C.
Alice Birney proposed the plan for the group in eighteen-ninety-five. Two years later, she met Phoebe Hearst who provided the money to start the organization. Later, fathers, educators and other interested citizens joined the group. It then changed its name to the National Congress of Parent-Teacher Associations.
Selena Sloan Butler is considered the third founder⁴ of the PTA. She established and 2)served as the first president of the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers. In nineteen-seventy, the congress united with the National PTA.
The National PTA provides members with, among other things, information online about educational issues. It publishes a free 3)newsletter called "This Week in Washington" on its Web site, p-t-a dot o-r-g. It tells about developments that affect education.
There are critics of the National PTA. In a recent book, education researcher Charlene Haar says the positions of the group mainly serve the interests of teachers unions. PTA spokeswoman Jenni Sopko says the group speaks for parents, students and teachers, and is not influenced by the unions. She also notes that other countries have used the PTA in the United States as an example to develop their own parent-teacher associations.
This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Jerilyn Watson. This is Steve Ember.

注释：
1) PTA (parent-teacher associations) n. 教师家长协会
2) serve as  作为
3) newsletter [njU:z9letE(r)] n.时事通讯

 

1 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。