比爾蓋茨的憂慮:教育關乎美國未來

Bill Gates was on "Morning Joe" Wednesday to talk about the role of innovation in humanitarian aid, but singled out education as the issue that could most determine America's future.

比爾蓋茨星期三在“Morning Joe”談論人道主義援助方面創新的作用，但單列出教育作爲最可能決定美國未來的問題。

"Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski asked Gates to name one issue in the U.S. that "really plagues us and could really bring us down, semi-health-oriented."

“Morning Joe”搭檔Mika Brzezinski要求蓋茨說出在美國“真正困擾我們，且可能真的會把我們擊倒、半健康導向的”一個問題。

"I'd pick education, if I was thinking broadly about America," Gates responded. "It's our tool of equality. It has not improved, it's fallen behind other countries in a very big way."

“我會選擇教育，如果我正在對美國暢想，”蓋茨答道。“這是我們平等的工具。它還沒有改善，在很大方面它還落後於其他國家。”

The statement came during a discussion with New York Times columnist Nick Kristof on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's work in humanitarian aid and education -- pegged to the release of Gates' annual letter on Wednesday.

該聲明是在與《紐約時報》的專欄作家尼克•克里斯托夫關於比爾和梅林達•蓋茨基金會在人道主義援助和教育方面的工作的討論中出來的——與週三蓋茨的年度信一起。

Every year, the Microsoft founder's letter reflects on what he has learned through his travel and work for the foundation, and how that new knowledge and perspective will influence his work in the future. This year's letter concentrates on setting goals and creating effective progress measurements, including for teachers. The Gates Foundation released the third of its Measuring Effective Teachers project earlier this month, which advocates for teacher accountability through balanced evaluations of classroom observations, student test scores and student surveys.

每一年，這位微軟創始人的書信反映了通過基金會的旅行和工作他學到的東西，以及新的知識和觀點在未來如何影響他的工作。今年的信專注於設定目標和創建有效的進度測量，包括爲老師的。本月早些時候蓋茨基金會發布了衡量有效教師項目的第三部分，通過平衡課堂觀察的評價、學生考試成績和學生的調查來倡導教師的責任。

"Our teachers get the least feedback of any, and we've got to change that," Gates said on Wednesday. "We've got to help them learn from each other."

“我們的教師獲得的任何反饋都很少，我們必須改變,”蓋茨週三表示。“我們必須幫助他們互相學習。”

Gates' belief that education is the greatest predictor of America's future is supported by a report released last March that declared education to be an issue of national security. "A Nation at Risk," penned by former New York City Schools chief Joel Klein and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, argues that a failure to provide quality education in areas like foreign languages, science and technology will create major future deficiencies of engineers, diplomats and soldiers, among others.

蓋茨關於教育是美國未來最大預測師的信仰受到去年3月發佈的一份宣佈教育是關乎國家安全問題的報告的支持。《一個危機中的國家》，由前紐約市學校長官克萊恩和前國務卿康多莉扎•賴斯執筆，認爲在外語、科學和技術領域未能提供素質教育的失敗使得其他人中未來工程師、外交官和軍人的缺失。

"As we're not able to train people for the jobs, you're going to hit a limit that, no matter how good the economy is, you're not providing the opportunity," Gates said Wednesday.

“我們不能夠爲工作培訓人才，你會到達一個極限，無論多麼好的經濟，你不提供機會，”蓋茨週三說。

A 2009 report found that U.S. students ranked 25th among 34 countries in math and science, trailing nations like China, Singapore, South Korea and Finland. And just 6 percent of U.S. students performed at the advanced level on a 2006 international exam administered across 56 countries. That percentage is lower than those attained by students in 30 other countries.

2009年的一份報告發現，美國學生數學和科學方面在34個國家中排名第25位，落後於像中國、新加坡、韓國和芬蘭這樣的國家。在2006年由56個國家實施的國際考試中只有6%的美國學生表現靠前。這一比例低於其他30個國家通過學生努力達到的比例。

To be sure, the U.S. is not among the worst-performing developed nations, but is in a position researchers have called "middling." Analysts also point out that U.S. scores on the 2009 international exams did generally improve over 2006.

可以肯定的是，美國不是發達國家中表現最差的，但是處在一個研究人員稱爲“中等”的位置上，分析人士也指出，美國2009年國際考試成績比2006年確實有普遍改善。