241 Flaw on U S Education Practice in Math and Science
241 美国数学和科学教育的缺陷
Throughout the nation's more than 15,000 school districts, widely differing approaches to teaching science and math have emerged. Though there can be strength in diversity, a new international analysis suggests that this variability has instead contributed to lackluster achievement scores by U.S. children relative to their peers in other developed countries.
全国15万多个校区出现了迥异的自然科学和数学的教学方法。一项新的国际分析报告指出：尽管这些教学方法都有各自的优势，但是目前多样化的教学方法已经导致美国孩子与其他发达国家同龄孩子相比显得成绩平平。
Indeed, concludes William H. Schmidt of Michigan State University, who led the new analysis, "no single intellectually coherent vision dominates U.S. educational practice in math or science.'' The reason, he said, "is because the system is deeply and fundamentally flawed."
的确，领导这项新的调查分析的密歇根州立大学的威廉·H·许密特总结道：“美国的数学或自然科学教学实践中，没有一种知识内容上的前后连贯性，因为这个体系有着根本的，深层次的缺陷。”
The new analysis, released this week by the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va., is based on data collected from about 50 nations as part of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study.
弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿郡的国家基金会本周发表的这项新分析，搜集了约50个国家的数据，这些数据也是第三次国际数学和自然科学研究的一部分。
Not only do approaches to teaching science and math vary among individual U.S. communities, the report finds, but there appears to be little strategic focus within a school district’s curricula, its textbooks, or its teachers' activities. This contrasts sharply with the coordinated national programs of most other countries.
报告发现．美国的各个学区之间不仅教授自然科学和数学的方法不尽相同，就在同一个学区，其教学大纲，教科书以及教师组织的活动中似乎都没有什么战略中心。这跟大多数其他国家的系统有序的全国性教学计划形成了鲜明的对比。
On average, U.S. students study more topics within science and math than their international counterparts do. This creates an educational environment that "is a mile wide and an inch deep," Schmidt notes.
美国学生在自然科学和数学方面所学的项目平均比国际上其他国家的学生多。许密特指出，这就造成了一个。一英里宽，一英寸深“的教育环境。
For instance, eighth graders in the United States cover about 33 topics in math versus just 19 in Japan. Among science courses, the international gap is even wider. U.S. curricula for this age level resemble those of a small group of countries including Australia, Thailand, Iceland, and Bulgaria. Schmidt asks whether the United States wants to be classed with these nations, whose educational systems "share our pattern of splintered visions" but which are not economic leaders.
例如，美国八年级学生要学习大约33个数学科目，而日本的同年级学生只需学习19科。在自然科学课程方面，国际间的差距则更大，在美国，这个年龄段的课程与包括澳大利亚，泰国，冰岛和保加利亚等少数国家的相应课程相同。许密特对美国是否要跟这些国家为伍表示质疑，这些国家的教育体系“与我们支离破碎的观念模式相同”，可是他们却并不是经济领袖。
The new report "couldn't come at a better time," says Gerald Wheeler, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association in Arlington. "The new National Science Education Standards provide that focused vision," including the call "to do less, but in greater depth."
阿灵顿郡的国家科学教师协会执行理事杰拉尔德，惠勒说，这个新报告真是“来得及时”。“新的国家科学教育标准提供了中心明确的观念”，包括“少学一些，学深一些”的号召。
Implementing the new science standards and their math counterparts will be the challenge, he and Schmidt agree, because the decentralized responsibility for education in the United States requires that any reforms be tailored and instituted one community at a time.
他和许密特都认为，实旌新的科学教育标准和数学教育标准将是个挑战，由于美国教育的责任是分散的，所以，任何一项改革只能一次一个社区地进行调整和实施。
In fact, Schmidt argues, reforms such as these proposed national standards "face an almost impossible task, because even though they are intellectually coherent, each becomes only one more voice in the babble."
实际上，许密特认为，像所提出的这些统一全国标准之类的改革面临着一项几乎不可能完成的任务，因为即使它们在知识上连贯一致，但每一项标准都只会像是嘈杂声音中的某一种声音。