返回首页

SeemaBansal_2016S-_如何在不多花一分钱的前提下拯救教育系统_
So we all have our own biases . 我们对很多事情都有自己的偏见。
biases:n.偏差,偏见(bias的复数形式);v.偏见(bias的三单形式);
For example, some of us tend to think that it's very difficult to transform failing government systems. 例如, 我们可能会认为 要改革腐朽的政府机构是很难的。
transform:v.使改变;使改观;使转换;n.[数]变换式;[化]反式;
When we think of government systems, we tend to think that they're archaic , set in their ways, and perhaps, the leadership is just too bureaucratic to be able to change things. 当我们聊到政府机构时, 我们会觉得肯定是腐朽的、顽固的, 而且领导层都非常的官僚主义, 拒绝可能的革新。
archaic:adj.古代的;陈旧的;古体的;古色古香的; bureaucratic:adj.官僚的;官僚政治的;
Well, today, I want to challenge that theory. 那么,今天,我会尝试挑战下这个观点。
I want to tell you a story of a very large government system that has not only put itself on the path of reform but has also shown fairly spectacular results in less than three years. 我的故事是关于一个非常大的政府机构, 这个机构不仅积极的进行改革, 而且改革仅仅三年时间就已经取得了 非常不错的效果。
reform:v.改革;改进;改良;(使)悔改;n.改革;改良;改善; fairly:adv.相当地;公平地;简直; spectacular:adj.壮观的;壮丽的;令人惊叹的;n.壮观的场面;精彩的表演;
This is what a classroom in a public school in India looks like. 这是印度的公立小学的常见景象。
public school:(美国和苏格兰的初等或中等的)公立中小学;寄宿学校;
There are 1 million such schools in India. 印度有一百万公立学校。
And even for me, who's lived in India all her life, walking into one of these schools is fairly heartbreaking . 即使像我这样在印度土生土长的人, 走进这样的学校依然会让我觉得心碎。
heartbreaking:adj.令人心碎的;使人悲痛的;
By the time kids are 11, 50 percent of them have fallen so far behind in their education that they have no hope to recover. 这些孩子在11岁的时候, 有差不多一半的人在学习上掉队严重, 严重到很难赶上。
11-year-olds cannot do simple addition , they cannot construct a grammatically correct sentence. 到了十一岁还无法做简单的加法, 无法拼写出语法正确的句子。
addition:n.添加;[数]加法;增加物; construct:v.建造;创建;建筑;修建;n.概念;构筑物;结构体;建造物; grammatically:adv.从语法上讲;
These are things that you and I would expect an 8-year-old to be able to do. 而这些都是你我会预期一个八岁的孩子 就应该会的。
By the time kids are 13 or 14, they tend to drop out of schools. 在他们13或14岁的时候, 他们很可能会退学。
In India, public schools not only offer free education -- they offer free textbooks, free workbooks , free meals, sometimes even cash scholarships . 在印度,公立学校不仅提供免费教育—— 还提供免费教材,免费作业本,免费午餐, 有时候甚至提供奖学金。
workbooks:n.工作手册;练习簿; scholarships:n.奖学金;学问;学术;学术研究;(scholarship的复数)
And yet, 40 percent of the parents today are choosing to pull their children out of public schools and pay out of their pockets to put them in private schools. 即便如此,如今多达四成的家长 依然选择将他们的孩子从公立学校 转去需要自掏腰包的私立学校。
in private:私下地;秘密地;
As a comparison , in a far richer country, the US, that number is only 10 percent. 而比印度富裕得多的美国, 这个比例只有一成而已。
comparison:n.比较;对比;相比;
That's a huge statement on how broken the Indian public education system is. 这个数字印证了印度的公共教育系统现在有多糟糕。
statement:n.声明;陈述,叙述;报表,清单;
So it was with that background that I got a call in the summer of 2013 from an absolutely brilliant lady called Surina Rajan. 正是在这样的大环境下,2013年的夏天, 我接到了一位非常睿智的女士的电话,她叫 Surina Rajan。
absolutely:adv.绝对地;完全地;
She was, at that time, the head of the Department of School Education in a state called Haryana in India. 她当时是印度 Haryana 省(邦) 基础教育厅的厅长。(译注:全文按大陆行政体系翻译)
So she said to us, "Look, I've been heading this department for the last two years. 她告诉我, 你看,我已经领导这个部门 有两年时间了。
I've tried a number of things, and nothing seems to work. 我尝试了很多方法,都没有效果。
Can you possibly help?" 你看看能否帮上忙？”
Let me describe Haryana a little bit to you. 让我先简单介绍下 Haryana 省的情况。
describe:v.描述;形容;把…称为;画出…图形;
Haryana is a state which has 30 million people. Haryana 省有约三千万人口,
It has 15,000 public schools and 2 million plus children in those public schools. 有一万五千所公立学校, 为超过两百万孩子提供教育。
So basically , with that phone call, 简单地说,在那通电话里,
basically:adv.主要地,基本上;
I promised to help a state and system which was as large as that of Peru or Canada transform itself. 我答应要帮助这个省的教育系统进行改革, 改革的规模跟整个秘鲁或加拿大的差不多。
As I started this project, I was very painfully aware of two things. 当我开始着手干的时候,我很快发现两间让人沮丧的事实。
painfully:adv.痛苦地,费力地;
One, that I had never done anything like this before. 首先,我从来没有处理这类问题的经验。
And two, many others had, perhaps without too much success. 其次, 其他人的尝试也大多以失败告终。
As my colleagues and I looked across the country and across the world, we couldn't find another example that we could just pick up and replicate in Haryana. 我和同事把印度全国调研了个遍, 然后放眼全球, 也没有找到任何样板 能够直接拿过来套用在 Haryana 省上。
colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数); replicate:vt.复制; vi.重复; adj.复制的; n.复制品;
We knew that we had to craft our own journey . 我们意识到需要自己走出一条路。
craft:n.工艺;船;手艺;飞行器;v.(尤指用手工)精心制作; journey:n.旅行;行程;vi.旅行;
But anyway, we jumped right in and as we jumped in, all sorts of ideas started flying at us. 不管怎样,我们决定开始动手干, 一下子我们就想到了很多点子。
People said, "Let's change the way we recruit teachers, let's hire new principals and train them and send them on international learning tours, let's put technology inside classrooms." 有人说, 我们对聘请教师进行改革, 应该聘请新校长并且训练他们, 把他们都送到国外进行培训, 还要引入现代化的教学设备。
recruit:n.新兵; v.吸收(新成员); (通过招募)组成; principals:n.校长;负责人(principal的复数); technology:n.技术;工艺;术语;
By the end of week one, we had 50 ideas on the table, all amazing, all sounded right. 一个星期下来我们就收集了超过五十个想法, 看起来都非常不错, 都应该立刻着手实施。
There was no way we were going to be able to implement 50 things. 但是我们显然不可能同时做50件事情。
implement:v.实施;执行;贯彻;使生效;n.工具;
So I said, "Hang on, stop. 所以我说, 等下,先等下。
Let's first at least decide what is it we're trying to achieve." 至少让我们先定一个目标再说。
So with a lot of push and pull and debate , 经过来来回回的讨论和争辩,
debate:n.辩论;争论;考虑;v.辩论;争论;考虑;
Haryana set itself a goal which said: by 2020, we want 80 percent of our children to be at grade-level knowledge. Haryana 省的教育改革目标定了下来: 到2020年超过80%的学生能按时升入下一年级。
Now the specifics of the goal don't matter here, but what matters is how specific the goal is. 这个目标的具体内容并不是重点, 重点是这个目标为我们指明了方向。
specifics:n.细节;特性(specific的复数);详情;
Because it really allowed us to take all those ideas which were being thrown at us and say which ones we were going to implement. 现在这个目标为我们确定了一个标准, 让我们在面对各种新点子的时候 有了一个明确的筛选标准。
Does this idea support this goal? If yes, let's keep it. 这个点子对于我们的目标有帮助吗？如果有,我们就继续往下做。
But if it doesn't or we're not sure, then let's put it aside. 如果不能或者我们不确定,就先把这个想法放到一边。
As simple as it sounds, having a very specific goal right up front has really allowed us to be very sharp and focused in our transformation journey. 这个听起来非常简单的做法,让我们能够目标明确, 在教育改革的道路上 保持专注和敏捷。
sharp:锋利的,尖的 transformation:n.转变;(用于南非)民主改革;
And looking back over the last two and a half years, that has been a huge positive for us. 两年半之后回头看当时的决定, 对我们帮助是巨大的。
positive:adj.积极的;[数]正的,[医][化学]阳性的;确定的;n.正数;[摄]正片;
So we had the goal, and now we needed to figure out what are the issues , what is broken. 有了目标之后, 现在就需要找到问题所在,追本溯源。
issues:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;(issue的第三人称单数和复数)
Before we went into schools, a lot of people told us that education quality is poor because either the teachers are lazy, they don't come into schools, or they're incapable , they actually don't know how to teach. 在我们去学校实地考察之前,很多人告诉我们 基础教育之所以糟糕, 要么是因为教师们的懒惰,他们时常缺勤不来学校, 要么是教师无能,不具备授课的技能。
incapable:adj.不能的;无能力的;不能胜任的;
Well, when we went inside schools, we found something completely different. 但是当我们在学校实地调研的时候,发现完全不是这样。
On most days, most teachers were actually inside schools. 绝大多数老师在上班时间都是出勤的。
And when you spoke with them, you realized they were perfectly capable of teaching elementary classes. 我们通过与老师们的交谈, 发现他们完全有能力教小学课程。
elementary:adj.基本的;初级的;[化学]元素的;
But they were not teaching. 问题是他们的时间没花在上课上。
I went to a school where the teachers were getting the construction of a classroom and a toilet supervised . 我去的一所学校, 里面的老师在忙着监督盖教室 和厕所设施。
construction:n.建设;建筑物;解释;造句; supervised:v.监督;管理;指导;主管(supervise的过去分词和过去式)
I went to another school where two of the teachers had gone to a nearby bank branch to deposit scholarship money into kids' accounts. 我去的另一所学校, 两个老师需要跑到附近的银行柜台 一个一个的把奖学金存到学生的账户里去。
nearby:adj.附近的,邻近的;adv.在附近;prep.在…附近; deposit:n.订金; v.放下;
At lunchtime, most teachers were spending all of their time getting the midday meal cooking, supervised and served to the students. 午饭的时候, 基本上所有的老师都动员起来 参与或监督午饭的准备和分发,为学生服务。
midday:n.中午;正午;adj.正午的;
So we asked the teachers, "What's going on, why are you not teaching?" 于是我们问这些老师, 这是怎么了, 为什么你们都不去教课?
And they said, "This is what's expected of us. 他们回答, 因为这就是我们被要求做的呀。
When a supervisor comes to visit us, these are exactly the things that he checks. 当教委领导来我们这里视察的时候, 这些就是他们检查的内容。
supervisor:n.监督人,[管理]管理人;检查员;
Has the toilet been made, has the meal been served. 厕所有没有建好,午饭供应是否正常。
When my principal goes to a meeting at headquarters , these are exactly the things which are discussed." 当我们的校长去首都开会的时候, 他们讨论的也都是这些事情。
headquarters:n.总部;指挥部;司令部;
You see, what had happened was, over the last two decades, 你看,实际上在过去二十年间,
India had been fighting the challenge of access, having enough schools, and enrollment , bringing children into the schools. 印度为了让学生入学做了很多,建立了足够的学校, 并且努力地让适龄儿童进入学校读书。
enrollment:n.登记;入伍;
So the government launched a whole host of programs to address these challenges, and the teachers became the implicit executors of these programs. 政府发起了一系列项目 来保证中小学入学率, 而老师们变成了这些项目实际上的执行人员。
launched:v.发射;发起;开展;开始;(launch的过去式和过去分词) implicit:adj.含蓄的;暗示的;盲从的; executors:n.[法]执行者;[法]实施者;[法]遗嘱执行者(executor的复数);
Not explicitly , but implicitly . 虽然没有明确要求,但是他们就是实际的执行者。
explicitly:adv.明确地;明白地; implicitly:adv.含蓄地;暗中地;
And now, what was actually needed was not to actually train teachers further or to monitor their attendance but to tell them that what is most important is for them to go back inside classrooms and teach. 现在我们真正需要的,不是培训这些老师, 也不是监督他们出勤, 而是告诉他们,相比刚才说的那些事情, 回到教室上课才是他们最重要的任务。
attendance:n.出席;到场;出席人数;
They needed to be monitored and measured and awarded on the quality of teaching and not on all sorts of other things. 我们应该以课堂教学的质量 来跟踪、评价和奖励老师, 而不是用别的事情来考核他们。
measured:adj.缓慢谨慎的; v.测量; (measure的过去分词和过去式)
So as we went through the education system, as we delved into it deeper, we found a few such core root causes which were determining , which were shaping how people behaved in the system. 当我们对教育体系有了更深入的了解之后, 我们找到了一些问题的根源所在, 这些根源决定着教育系统中老师和其他人的行为。
delved:vi.钻研;探究;挖;vt.钻研;探究;挖;n.穴;洞; core:n.核心;要点;果心;[计]磁心;vt.挖...的核; determining:v.查明;测定;准确算出;决定;支配;裁决;(determine的现在分词) behaved:v.表现;表现得体;有礼貌;(behave的过去分词和过去式)
And we realized that unless we change those specific things, we could do a number of other things. 我们意识到除非我们解决了这些根源上的问题, 否则我们可以做的其它的改革措施,
do a number:伤害;做某事;伤害…的感情;
We could train, we could put technology into schools, but the system wouldn't change. 例如教师培训、引入新技术, 都不会起到真正的改善作用。
And addressing these non-obvious core issues became a key part of the program. 于是处理这些隐藏在背后的核心问题 称为改革项目的重中之重。
So, we had the goal and we had the issues, and now we needed to figure out what the solutions were. 现在我们已经设定好了目标,也找到了问题根源, 现在就差解决方案了。
We obviously did not want to recreate the wheel , so we said, "Let's look around and see what we can find." 我们不希望闭门造车, 相反地,我们决定 尽量从他人现有的经验中学习。
recreate:vt.再现;再创造 wheel:车轮,转动
And we found these beautiful, small pilot experiments all over the country and all over the world. 我们也确实在印度和世界范围内找到了一些成功案例, 规模不大,但效果非常好。
Small things being done by NGOs, being done by foundations . 这些成功案例一般由NGO（非政府组织）或者基金会参与完成。
foundations:n.基础;地基;基金会;粉底;(foundations是foundation的复数)
But what was also interesting was that none of them actually scaled . 但是这些成功案例都有一个问题,就是他们的规模有严重的局限性。
scaled:adj.有鳞的; v.刮去鳞片;
All of them were limited to 50, 100 or 500 schools. 所有的案例规模都只有50所,100所或者最多500所学校。
limited:adj.有限的; n.高级快车; v.限制; (limit的过去分词和过去式)
And here, we were looking for a solution for 15,000 schools. 我们要找的是能适用于15000所学校的方案。
solution:n.解决方案;溶液;溶解;解答;
So we looked into why, if these things actually work, why don't they actually scale? 我们仔细分析了原因, 如果这些项目效果显着,为什么不能扩大规模？
What happens is that when a typical NGO comes in, they not only bring in their expertise but they also bring in additional resources . 我们发现, 当NGO参与进来时, 他们不仅投入了他们的专业经验, 还能够投入额外的资源。
typical:adj.典型的;特有的;象征性的; expertise:n.专门知识;专门技术;专家的意见; additional:adj.附加的,额外的; resources:n.[计][环境]资源; v.向…提供资金(resource的第三人称单数);
So they might bring in money, they might bring in people, they might bring in technology. NGO可能投入额外的资金, 可能投入额外的人力, 也有可能投入新的技术。
And in the 50 or 100 schools that they actually operate in, those additional resources actually create a difference. 当NGO主持的项目的规模限制在50所或者100所学校的时候, 这些额外投入的资源产生了很好的效果。
But now imagine that the head of this NGO goes to the head of the School Education Department and says, "Hey, now let's do this for 15,000 schools." 但是想象一下, 这些NGO的负责人跑到省教育厅,说: “让我们在15000所学校推广吧！”
Where is that guy or girl going to find the money to actually scale this up to 15,000 schools? 问题是到哪儿去募集到足够多的资金 能同时支持15000所学校呢?
He doesn't have the additional money, he doesn't have the resources. 他们没有这么多额外的资金, 也没有这么多额外的资源。
And hence , innovations don't scale. 所以这样的创新项目没办法大范围推广。
hence:adv.因此;今后; innovations:n.创新(innovation的复数);改革;
So right at the beginning of the project, what we said was, "Whatever we have to do has to be scalable , it has to work in all 15,000 schools." 所以在项目开始的时候我们就明确了, 不管我们做什么都要能够大规模推广, 一定要能够同时支持15000所学校。
at the beginning of:在…的开始; scalable:adj.可攀登的;可去鳞的;可称量的;
And hence, it has to work within the existing budgets and resources that the state actually has. 因此,我们必须在现有的政府预算内 利用省内现有的资源达成目标。
budgets:n.[财政]预算(budget复数形式);v.为…做预算(budget的第三人称单数形式);
Much easier said than done . 说起来比做起来容易多了。
easier said than done:说起来容易做起来难;
(Laughter) (笑声)
I think this was definitely the point in time when my team hated me. 我想正是从这个时间点开始 我的同事开始 恨 我了。
definitely:adv.清楚地,当然;明确地,肯定地;
We spent a lot of long hours in office, in cafés, sometimes even in bars, scratching out heads and saying, "Where are the solutions, how are we going to solve this problem?" 我们花了很多的时间,无论是在办公室,咖啡馆, 甚至在酒吧, 想破了脑袋, 到底应该怎么办,怎样才能解决这些问题？
scratching:v.划伤;擦伤;刮痕;(scratch的现在分词)
In the end, I think we did find solutions to many of the issues. 最终, 我觉得大部分的问题都找到了比较好的解决方法。
I'll give you an example. 我来举个例子。
In the context of effective learning, one of the things people talk about is hands-on learning. 在 如何更有效率地学习 这个问题上, 人们常说要通过动手操作来加深印象。
context:n.环境;上下文;来龙去脉; effective:adj.有效的,起作用的;实际的,实在的;给人深刻印象; hands-on:adj.亲身实践的,亲自动手的;
Children shouldn't memorize things from books, they should do activities, and that's a more effective way to learn. 学生不应该死记硬背, 而是应该做些课堂活动, 这样学习的效果更好。
memorize:v.记住;记忆;
Which basically means giving students things like beads , learning rods , abacuses . 这个想法实现起来就是要给学生一些教具, 例如（算术用的）小珠子、小棒子、算盘之类。
beads:n.(有孔的)珠子;(玫瑰)念珠;(液体的)小滴;(bead的复数) rods:n.鱼竿(rod的复数);棒条体;v.装避雷针;用杆捅清(rod的单三形式); abacuses:n.算盘;
But we did not have the budgets to give that to 15,000 schools, 2 million children. 但是我们没有那么多预算 提供给15000所学校的两百万学生。
We needed another solution. 我们要想别的方法。
We couldn't think of anything. 但是始终没有想到解决方法。
One day, one of our team members went to a school and saw a teacher pick up sticks and stones from the garden outside and take them into the classroom and give them to the students. 有一天,我们一个同事在一所学校里 看到一个老师,从学校周围的花丛里捡了点小树枝和小石子 拿到了教室里 分给了学生(用于教学)。
That was a huge eureka moment for us. 这一幕让我们灵光一闪。
eureka:int.有了！;找到了！;
So what happens now in the textbooks in Haryana is that after every concept, we have a little box which are instructions for the teachers which say, "To teach this concept, here's an activity that you can do. 于是现在在 Haryana 省的课本里, 每一个新知识点的旁边都有一段注解, 为老师提供了一个操作清单, 教授这个知识点的时候你可以通过以下活动来促进学生理解。
And by the way , in order to actually do this activity, here are things that you can use from your immediate environment, whether it be the garden outside or the classroom inside, which can be used as learning aids for kids." 活动需要一些辅助的教具, 而你可以在你周边环境中找到, 无论是在室外还是教室内都可以就地取材, 用于课堂教学。
by the way:顺便说一下;
And we see teachers all over Haryana using lots of innovative things to be able to teach students. 我们后来看到 Haryana 省的老师们 想出了各种创新的方法来教育学生。
innovative:adj.革新的,创新的;
So in this way, whatever we designed, we were actually able to implement it across all 15,000 schools from day one. 从这个角度看,我们的方法虽然简陋, 但是起到了实实在在的效果, 并且从第一天起就能推广到全省15000所学校。
Now, this brings me to my last point. 现在,让我阐述下最后一个观点。
How do you implement something across 15,000 schools and 100,000 teachers? 你怎么样让一件事情贯彻到15000所学校, 贯彻到十万名老师身上呢？
The department used to have a process which is very interesting. 教育部门之前有一套流程, 我觉得非常有意思。
process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的;
I like to call it "The Chain of Hope." 我喜欢叫这个过程“希望的链条”。
They would write a letter from the headquarters and send it to the next level, which was the district offices. 从教育厅开始,写一封信件, 然后投递给下一集教育部门, 一般是市县级教委办公室。
They would hope that in each of these district offices, an officer would get the letter, would open it, read it and then forward it to the next level, which was the block offices. 教育厅希望每个下级部门的 部门领导都能够阅读这封信件, 然后再将信件转发给他们的下一级, 一般是区级教委。
And then you would hope that at the block office, somebody else got the letter, opened it, read it and forwarded it eventually to the 15,000 principals. 接下来你需要指望这些区级教委, 有人能够收到邮件, 阅读完信件,并最终将信件送到15000所学校的校长手里。
eventually:adv.最后,终于;
And then one would hope that the principals got the letter, received it, understood it and started implementing it. 最后,我们还要指望所有的校长 能够顺利收到邮件,阅读并理解其中的意思, 并开始实施。
implementing:n.实施,执行;实现;v.贯彻,执行(implement的现在分词);
It was a little bit ridiculous . 这个过程有点夸张。
ridiculous:adj.可笑的;荒谬的;
Now, we knew technology was the answer, but we also knew that most of these schools don't have a computer or email. 现在,我们知道正确的方式是借助科技。 但是我们也知道大部分的学校 连个电脑或者电邮地址都没有。
However, what the teachers do have are smartphones . 但是每个老师现在都有智能手机了。
smartphones:智能手机(smartphone的复数);
They're constantly on SMS, on Facebook and on WhatsApp . 老师们都可以收发短信,挂在Facebook和WhatsApp上。
constantly:adv.不断地;时常地; WhatsApp:智能手机;联络电话;
So what now happens in Haryana is, all principals and teachers are divided into hundreds of WhatsApp groups and anytime something needs to be communicated, it's just posted across all WhatsApp groups. 现在在 Haryana 省我们是这么做的, 我们建立了几百个 WhatsApp 群,把所有的校长和老师都加到里面, 这样当我们需要传达一些信息的时候, 我们就直接通过WhatsApp群发就行了。
It spreads like wildfire . 嗖 的一下就全省都通知到了。
wildfire:n.火灾;磷火,鬼火;散布极快的事物;
You can immediately check who has received it, who has read it. 你还能随时知道哪些人收到了消息, 哪些人已经阅读了。
Teachers can ask clarification questions instantaneously . 老师们如果有不明白的地方可以立刻提出。
clarification:n.澄清,说明;净化; instantaneously:adv.即刻;突如其来地;
And what's interesting is, it's not just the headquarters who are answering these questions. 有趣的是, 不仅是教育厅会有人回答老师的问题,
Another teacher from a completely different part of the state will stand up and answer the question. 有时候别的市县的老师 也会主动提供答案。
Everybody's acting as everybody's peer group , and things are getting implemented . 大家在群组中更像是互助的关系, 很多事情就这么推动起来了。
peer group:n.同龄群体;社会地位相同的群体; implemented:v.使生效;贯彻;执行;实施;(implement的过去式和过去分词)
So today, when you go to a school in Haryana, things look different. 所以现在你去Haryana省的任何一所学校, 情况都跟过去大不相同了。
The teachers are back inside classrooms, they're teaching. 老师们回到了课堂, 重新走上了讲台。
Often with innovative techniques . 新的技术不断被引入到课堂中。
techniques:n.技巧;技艺;工艺;技术;(technique的复数)
When a supervisor comes to visit the classroom, he or she not only checks the construction of the toilet but also what is the quality of teaching. 当教委领导视察学校时, 不仅会检查是否修了厕所, 也会检查教学质量。
Once a quarter, all students across the state are assessed on their learning outcomes and schools which are doing well are rewarded . 每个季度,全省的学生 都要做一次全省的摸底考试, 考得好的学校会被奖励。
assessed:v.对…进行评估(assess过去时形式); outcomes:n.结果;成果;后果;出路;(outcome的复数) rewarded:v.奖励;奖赏;给以报酬;(reward的过去分词和过去式)
And schools which are not doing so well find themselves having difficult conversations. 表现的不好的学校, 教委会找校长谈话。
Of course, they also get additional support to be able to do better in the future. 当然,这些学校会得到更多扶持, 并努力在未来表现得更好。
In the context of education, it's very difficult to see results quickly. 在教育领域, 很难看到立竿见影的成果。
When people talk about systemic , large-scale change, they talk about periods of 7 years and 10 years. 当人们谈论大规模的、系统性的改革时, 一般说的是7到10年为一个周期。
systemic:adj.系统的;全身的;体系的; large-scale:adj.大规模的,大范围的;大比例尺的;
But not in Haryana. 但是Haryana要快得多。
In the last one year, there have been three independent studies, all measuring student learning outcomes, which indicate that something fundamental , something unique is happening in Haryana. 去年,三个相互独立的研究在Haryana进行, 都是研究学生的学习效果的, 它们都表明在Haryana省, 一些根本性的东西正在变化。
independent:adj.独立的; n.无党派议员(或候选人等); indicate:v.表明;显示;象征;暗示; fundamental:n.基础; adj.十分重大的; unique:adj.独特的,稀罕的;[数]唯一的;n.独一无二的人或物;
Learning levels of children have stopped declining , and they have started going up. 学生的平均学习成绩不再下滑, 甚至开始有所上升。
declining:v.减少;下降;衰弱;谢绝;婉言拒绝;(decline的现在分词)
Haryana is one of the few states in the country which is showing an improvement , and certainly the one that is showing the fastest rate of improvement. Haryana是全印度为数不多的 总体学生成绩在改善的省份, 而且当之无愧是改善速度最快的省份。
improvement:n.改进,改善;
These are still early signs, there's a long way to go, but this gives us a lot of hope for the future. 这些还只是起步阶段, 还有很长路要走, 但是我们从中看到了很大的希望。
I recently went to a school, and as I was leaving, 我最近去一所学校, 准备离开的时候,
recently:adv.最近;新近;
I ran into a lady, her name was Parvati, she was the mother of a child, and she was smiling. 遇到了一位女士, 她的孩子在这里上学, 她正微笑着。
And I said, "Why are you smiling, what's going on?" 我问她, 你在笑什么？有什么好玩的事情吗？
And she said, "I don't know what's going on, but what I do know is that my children are learning, they're having fun, and for the time being , I'll stop my search for a private school to send them to." 她说, 我也不知道发生了什么, 但是我知道我的孩子们开始学习了, 学得还挺开心。 现在我已经决定不再找私立学校 让他们转校了。
for the time being:暂时; private school:n.私立学校;私立中小学;
So I go back to where I started: 最后让我们回到开始的问题:
Can government systems transform? 政府机构能够改革吗？
I certainly believe so. 我很确信可以。
I think if you give them the right levers , they can move mountains. 我相信如果你提供了合适的着力点, 他们就能够带来翻天覆地的变化。(意译:阿基米德 给我一个支点, 我能翘起地球 )
levers:n.杠杆;手段(lever的复数);v.用杠杆撬动(lever的第三人称单数);
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) (掌声)