作者简介：Kathryn Cannady,毕业于美国西北大学，梅迪尔新闻学院新闻学学士、历史学学士和艺术历史学学士。日落杂志研究助理，知名电视剧《圣诞丘比特》制片助理（美国迪斯尼集团），成功辅导学员录取：西北大学（综合12名）、卡内基梅隆大学（综合23名）、维克森林大学（综合23名）、加州大学洛杉矶分校（综合23名）、南加州大学（综合23名）等美国名校。

翻译：Louise洪艳

One of the biggest differences between American and Chinese primary schools is not the curriculum, but the actual access students have to them. In China, students go where their test scores on the Xiao Kao or Zhong Kao allow them to go. However, in America, your school is determined by what neighborhood you live in – no matter how smart you are or how good your scores are. Because of this, if you can’t pay for private school, you might be forced to go to a “failing” school your entire life.

中美小学之间最大的差异并不在课程上，而在于学生们实际获得怎样的课程。在中国，学生们要凭小考或者中考的成绩才能去相应的学校，但是在美国，无论你有多聪明或者成绩有多优秀，你上的学校都由你所居住的小区来决定。正因为这，如果你无法支付私立学校的费用，你可能被迫一生都要去上那些比较失败糟糕的学校。

To an outsider, the Chinese system seems designed to benefit those who can afford the tutors and extra classes to help their children get better scores. If you have these tutors, you score higher, if you score higher, you get to move to a better school in another city (working your way towards the greatest schools in Beijing and Shanghai). While this is a slightly reductionist way of viewing the system, there is no denying that the Chinese system heavily favors the rich and powerful.

对于一个外人来说，中国的教育系统似乎旨在帮助那些能负担家教和课外辅导班费用的学生取得更好的成绩。如果你请了家教，你会得更高的分数，一旦分数提高了，于是你就可以去在更好的城市的更好的学校（努力奋斗，争取去北京或上海最好的学校）。但是这其实是一个有些简化的方式去看待这个教育系统，尽管不可否认中国的教育系统确实让有钱有势者有很大的优势。

Surprisingly, although the American system is created to avoid this type of favoritism, it is a system that also favors the rich - just in a different way. Because American schools are filled depending on the “zone” each student lives in, many schools cater to either exclusively rich or exclusively poor families. This is because while Chinese rich and poor all live near each other, American neighborhoods are often split by the wealth of their inhabitants (the more wealthy you are, the better area you can live in). The more wealthy neighborhoods then have more wealthy schools, which then produce better-educated students.

让人惊讶的是，虽然美国的教育系统致力于避免这种偏袒，但它依然偏袒着有钱人，不过是换了一种方式。因为美国学校的入学是用每个学生居住的区域来划分的，很多的学校要么是完全服务于富人家庭，要么就是全部是穷人家庭。这是因为尽管中国的富人和穷人都是住在同一片区域的，但是美国的小区却是按照居民的富裕程度来划分的（越有钱的人住在越好的区域）。（相应地）越有钱的小区就会有越富裕的学校，它们塑造出更有教养的学生。

So although Chinese students go to school based on tests, and Americans go based on zone, in the end, wealth is a great determinant in who gets to go to the better schools. Although the systems are different, this surprising similarity shows a global issue with educational access and economic status. While these similarities draw a parallel between the two systems, one of the biggest changes in American education hasn’t quite made its way to China.

因此，尽管中国的学生以成绩定校，美国却是以区域来决定，说到底，富裕程度成为了决定谁能够去更好学校的很大的决定因素。虽然这两个系统有不同之处，但这惊人的相似点显示出了在教育获得性和经济地位上的一个全球化问题。尽管这些相似性让这两个教育体系做了对照，但是在美国教育中发生的最大的变化之一却没有能在中国顺利发展。

Since the early 1990s, the American education system has been undergoing changes in access and equalization of access, but one of the biggest changes is the idea of what it actually means to be intelligent. Before, the idea was that the poorest students from bad neighborhoods or backgrounds couldn’t be taught. If you were bad at school or tests, it was believed that your intelligence was fixed. However, in recent years, the idea of a malleable intelligence has been rising in popularity among education reform circles.

自从20世纪90年代早期以来，美国的教育体系已经在可获得性以及可获得性的平等化上产生了改变，但是最大的改变还是在“究竟什么意味着聪明”的观念（的改变）。在以前，来自最差的区域或背景的最穷的学生被认为是无法教育的。如果你在学校表现不好或者成绩很糟糕，别人就会觉得你的智商就被固定了（永远都会是不高的）。然而，在近些年，智商可塑的观点在教育改革圈中却越来越流行了。

This malleable intelligence argument states that one’s intelligence isn’t fixed, but that with hard work and access to equitable (that is equality of fairness, not access) education, one can become smarter and more successful. This has changed the ways that American educators teach and approach teaching students in low-income or high-risk areas – essentially treating students separately from their circumstances.

这个智商可塑论表明一个人的智商不是固定不变的，而是通过努力学习和接受平等(为同等的公平性，而不是同等的获得性)的教育，一个人可以变得更聪明更成功。这可以改变美国的教育工作者的教育方式以及他们在低收入或高风险地区的教育途径，能从根本上把对待学生与学生所处的环境区分开来。

While these ideas are still taking root in America, in China, I have seen time and time again the idea that if you are not smart now, you will never become smarter. However, this idea, and the perpetuation of it, has two repercussions. The first issue with this is that many people then allow themselves to excuse the state of access for poor and migrant workers in China, because “they aren’t smart enough anyways.” This blocks these students from attending good schools or having access to resources, and ensures that their generational poverty is never overcome. The second, and slightly less problematic, issue is that many students have begun to use this as an excuse for not being able to do something. They mistake skill for passion, and refuse to work on anything that is truly challenging only because “well I’m just not that smart.” These types of excuses keep Chinese (and even still some Americans) from realizing their true potential and abilities.

这些观念（智商固定）还是在美国根深蒂固的同时，在中国，我不止一次地看到那种认为要是你现在不聪明，以后一定不会变聪明的观念的存在。但是，这种观念和它的永存会产生两个后果。这导致的第一个问题是会让很多人给中国穷人和农民工的（教育）可获得状况找借口，认为只是因为他们不够聪明。这会阻碍穷人和民工子弟无法上好的学校或是获得一些资源，以至于他们永远无法脱贫致富。第二个问题，没有像第一个那么严重，这导致的是让很多的学生开始用这作为他们没有能做到一些事情的借口。他们怪罪于技能而非自己的热情，于是把“我只是不够聪明”作为借口去推脱一些真正有挑战性的事情。这种借口阻碍着中国人（甚至仍然有一些美国人）去实现自己真正的潜能。

While these ideas only point to a couple of differences between Chinese and American education, they are differences that have similar outcomes in access and opportunity for the poor. While it is not necessary that China adopts American styles of education, it is important that countries take the time and opportunities to learn from each other’s successes and failures to see the ways that many systems are failing to educate and assist their poorest citizens.

尽管这些观点只指向中美教育之间的一些差异，然而这些差异却对于穷人的教育获得机会产生了相似的结果。虽然并不是说中国一定要采取美国的教育风格，但是两国间还是要抓住时机去互相学习各自成功的经验以及吸取失败的教训，从而看到很多教育系统没能去教育和帮助最穷公民的途径。

文中生词：

Curriculum:全部课程，课程

1）All the different courses of study that are taught in a school, college, or university.

2）one particular course of study that is taught in a school, college, or university.

Reductionist：简化的；分解成简单部分的Reductionist describes a way of analyzing problems and things by dividing them into simpler parts.

Malleable：可锻造的，有延展性的；韧性的

1）Easily influenced or controlled by other people.

2）Soft and can easily be made into different shapes.

Perpetuation：使（尤指不好的情况、制度、信仰等）继续，延长If someone or something perpetuates a situation, system, or belief, especially a bad one, they cause it to continue.

Repercussion: 弹回，返回；反响，影响；（光、声等的）反射；浮动诊胎法If an action or event has repercussions, it causes unpleasant things to happen some time after the original action or event.

【智梦简介】

智梦是一家专注美国本科留学的教育咨询机构。

我们的使命：

“智梦教育团队深知留学申请关系到学生及其家长的前途和未来，我们将竭尽所能帮助每一位智梦学员发掘其潜在的特质，以开放透明的申请方式，让他们能不留遗憾的争取到自己的理想学校。与此同时，培养他们成为诚实守信、独立思考、德才兼备的国际化人才。”

我们的愿景：

“智梦教育将成为一所发掘学术兴趣，培养学术能力，塑造具有公民意识的新时代留学生的学校。”

举报