克林顿谈21世纪的美国教育——美国总统认为教育是决定美国未来的关键问题，本文主要内容关键词为：美国论文,克林顿论文,美国总统论文,关键论文,未来论文，此文献不代表本站观点，内容供学术参考，文章仅供参考阅读下载。
Exactly100years ago,in the twilight （注： twilight[ ｀twailait] n.曙光，黎明）hours of the 19th century,anotherAmerican magazine the Saturday Evening Post looked toward the"distant （注：distant 
adj.远离的，远隔的）millennium（注：millennium 
n.一千年， 千年期）." Some contributors envisioned（注：
envision 
vt.想象，展望）cities aglow（注：aglow 
adj.发光的）in electric lights, and skies filled with"soaring（注：soaring 
adj.飞腾的） machines." One imagined a day
when theschoolroom doors would be open to all American children, andour public schools would "receive double the notice now paidthem."
Today,a century later,education in America is a rightenjoyed by all.And there is certainly no shortage
ofattention being paid to our public schools.Regretably （注：regretably 
adv.令人遗憾地）, however, not all that attention ispositive.While America's colleges and universities are theenvy of the world,too many of our primary and secondaryschools are not.As President Kennedy said:"Our progress asa nation can be no swifter than our progress in education."In the 21st century,in an economy driven by intellect（注：intellect 
n.智力） and powered by ideas,that will certainly be thecase.In the year 2000 and in the years to follow I hope wewill dedicate（注：dedicate[｀dedikeit] vt.以…奉献）ourselvesas a nation to giving all our children the world-classeducation they need .There is no challenge more important asAmerica enters the new century.
People like to say that the schools aren't what they usedto be.The truth is,they're much too much like they used to be.At the beginning of the 21st century,we can't expect toprepare our children for the challenges of the
globalinformation economy in schools designed to meet the demandsof the industrial economy.At the same time,we're not flyingblindly（注： blindly[blaindli] adj.盲目的）into the future.The answers we need to transform America's schools into theschools our children deserve are being applied already inschool districts（注：district[｀distrikt] n.区， 管区）acrossthe country.So,we know what works,and we know what to do.Andit's pretty simple.It all comes down to good teachers andgood principals（注：principal 
n.中（或小） 学的校长）,high standards,real accountability（注：accountability 
n.负有责任） and adequate resources.We must insist thatstudents,teachers and principals meet the highest standardsfor excellence,but we must provide students,teachers andprincipals with the tools they need to achieve excellence.
You can call this approach "accountability plus" or youcan call it "investment with strings（注：string 
n.[口]附带条件）." It doesn't matter. The importantthing is for people to understand that neither demandingwithout assisting nor providing without insisting will work.This twin（注：twin[twin] adj.双重的）approach（注：approach 
n.方式，方法）investing in our schools and holding themaccountable to the highest standards is already producing alearning revolution in schools from Chicago to Miami to Houston.Now we need to apply this approach nationwide （注：nationwide 
adv.在全国）.
Ten years ago,at the First National Education Summit inCharlottesville,Va（注：Va.Virginia弗吉尼亚州的缩写）., weset out to create challenging academic standards in all 50states.Now we need to transform our schools into institutionsthat meet them; standards won't be met simply because they'vebeen declared.Without consequence（注：consequence 
n.结果） for failure,standards are all bark and no bite.Without resources for success,standards are all hope withno prayer（注：prayer 
n.[美口]机遇）.
We must make standards meaningful by holding students,teachers,principals and everyone else accountable.Congressshould pass my education accountability act.It requires thatall states and school districts that receive federal funds dofive things:turn around（注：turn around （使）好转）failingschools,increase teacher quality, end social promotion,institute sound discipline policies and issue school reportcards to increase public accountability and allow parents tomake informed choices between public schools.Congress shouldsupport,not block,the development of national standards,andvoluntary national tests to measure them.And Congress shouldsupport the National Board of Professional Teaching Standardsand its goal of certifying 100,000 "master" teachers so wecan have at least one certified master teacher in everyschool in America.
At the same time,we must make standards achievable bygiving failing schools the tools they need.The supervisiongap created by the end of the traditional workweek and theadvent of two-income and single-parent families demands moreafter- school and summer- school programs.We need smallerclasses led by more and better teachers to
meet
theincreasing demand of the rapidly expanding student population.Congress must meet its commitment to hire 100,000 teachers,build or repair 6,000 schools,invest in after- school andsummer-school programs,connect all our classrooms to theInternet and provide the resources America needs to fixfailing schools,starting with the 
200 million I
proposed in my budget.Finally,we mustprovide all parents with greater choices; that means public-school choice in every state and more charter schools.There was one charter school when I was elected in 1992;now there
are more than 1,700.We should encourage more educators,parents and community groups to start innovative schools that are open to all students and held accountable to thepublic.
The once distant millennium is here.Our cities are aglowin electric lights;the sky is filled with "soaring machines."Let us resolve today that we end the 20th century determinedto transform America's public schools into the very best ofthe 21st.
就在100年前，在19世纪即将结束之时， 美国的另一份杂志——《周六晚邮报》对“遥远的千年”作了一番前瞻。一些撰稿人设想那时的城市电灯通明，天空布满了“飞翔的机器”。一位撰稿人猜想，有一天学校的大门将对所有美国的孩子敞开，公立学校将“获得比现在多一倍的关注”。
100年后的今天，美国的教育已成为人人均可享受的权利。 当然也不乏对公立学校的关注。然而令人遗憾的是，并非所有的关注都产生了积极的结果。美国的高等院校是全世界羡慕的对象，而我们的许多中小学却并非如此。肯尼迪总统曾说：“我们国家的发展速度不可能超过我们教育的发展速度。”在21世纪，在一个经济为智慧所驱动、以观念为动力的时代，情况必将如此。在2000年及以后的年代，我希望整个国家竭尽所能，使我们所有的孩子都获得他们所需的世界一流的教育。在美国步入新世界之时，没有哪项任务比此更重要。
人们常说，当今的学校与已往大不相同。事实是，当今的学校与已往过于相似，在21世纪的起始阶段，我们不可能期望孩子们在按工业经济需求设计的学校里迎接全球信息经济的挑战。但与此同时，我们并未盲目地奔向未来。全国各地的校区已在为我们回答如何转变美国学校，使孩子们获得应有的教育的问题。因此，我们知道什么方法有效，我们也知道应该怎样去做，而且也很简单。归根结底就是好教师、好校长、高标准、切实的责任制和充足的物力。我们必须坚持要求学生、教师和校长达到很高的标准，而我们也必须为他们提供达到高标准的手段。
你可以将此方针称作“加码的责任制”或“外加附带条件的投资”。这并不重要。重要的是让人们清楚，只要求而不支持或只给予而不坚持都不能奏效。这一双重措施——对学校的投资及要求学校达到高标准——已经在从芝加哥、迈阿密直到休斯敦的学校中引发了一场学习的革命。现在，我们需要将此方法在全国范围推广。
十年前，在弗吉尼亚州夏洛茨维尔举行的第一届全国教育高层会议上，我们决定在全国50个州制定严格的教学标准。今天我们需要使学校达到这些标准；仅靠宣布这些标准并不能使其实现。若达不到标准，也无需承担后果，那么，这些标准就是放空炮。如果没有成功所需的资源，这些标准也就是没有达到的希望。
为了落实这些标准，我们必须让学生、教师、校长以及每一个人都负起责任。国会应当通过我提出的教育责任制法案。这个法案要求所有获得联邦拨款的州和校区完成五件事：扭转未达标学校的状况，提高教师素质，消灭不论成绩一律升级的社会现象，制定完善的校纪校规，发布学校的成绩报告单，以促进学校的成绩责任制，并使家长能够在充分了解情况的基础上对公立学校作出选择。国会应支持而非阻碍全国教学标准及考查这些标准的全国自选考试的实施。国会还应支持全国职业教学标准委员会及其颁发10万张“优秀”教师合格证的目标，从而在美国的每一所学校我们都至少有一名合格的优秀教师。
与此同时，我们必须向未能达标的学校提供帮助，以使其达标。传统工作周的结束所导致的监管机制的失控，以及双收入家庭及单亲家庭的出现，需要更多的课外班和暑期班。我们应缩小班级规模，增加优秀教师的人数，以满足学生人数激增的需求。国会必须实现承诺：雇用10万名教师、建造或翻修6000所学校、投资课外班和暑期班、使所有教室与因特网相连、向未达标学校提供美国所需的财力——这一切应从我在预算中提出的2亿美元教育经费开始。最后， 我们必须为所有家长提供更多的选择，这意味着各州都应可选择公立学校并开设更多的特许学校。我在1992年当选总统时全国只有一所特许学校，现在的特许学校超过了1700所。我们应当鼓励更多的教育工作者、家长和社区组织开办向所有学生开放并对公众负责的富有革新精神的学校。
曾经遥远的千年已经到来。我们的城市电灯通明；天空布满了“飞翔的机器”。在20世纪结束之时，让我们今天就作出决定：把美国的公立学校变成21世纪最好的公立学校。
标签：美国教育论文;