教育不平等打碎了美国梦

By the mid-1800s, most American states provided a free elementary education to the great majority of white children. In contrast, as late as 1870, only 2 percent of British 14-year-olds were in school.
到了19世纪中期，美国大多数州都会向绝大多数的白人孩子提供免费的小学教育。与此形成鲜明对比的是，英国直到1870年也只有2%的14岁孩子在读书。

Then the United States was the first major country, in the 1930s, in which a majority of children attended high school. By contrast, as late as 1957, only 9 percent of 17-year-olds in Britain were in school.
而美国还是第一个实现让多数孩子上高中的国家，那是在20世纪30年代。相比之下，一直到1957年，英国的17岁孩子只有9%在读书。

Until the 1970s, we were pre-eminent in mass education, and Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz of Harvard University argue powerfully that this was the secret to America’s economic rise. Then we blew it, and the latest O.E.C.D. report underscores how the rest of the world is eclipsing us.
我们在大众教育上的绝对优势一直保持到20世纪70年代，哈佛大学(Harvard University)的克劳迪亚·戈尔丁(Claudia Goldin)和劳伦斯·卡茨(Lawrence Katz)曾掷地有声地说，这是美国经济崛起的秘诀。然后我们搞砸了，最新一期OECD报告显示我们正在被世界甩在身后。

In effect, the United States has become 19th-century Britain: We provide superb education for elites, but we falter at mass education.
美国实际上变成了19世纪的英国：向精英提供一流教育，大众教育却衰败不堪。

In particular, we fail at early education. Across the O.E.C.D., an average of 70 percent of 3-year-olds are enrolled in education programs. In the United States, it’s 38 percent.
我们在早期教育上尤为失败。在OECD报告中，参加了教育项目的3岁孩子平均达70%。美国是38%。

In some quarters, there’s a perception that American teachers are lazy. But the O.E.C.D. report indicates that American teachers work far longer hours than their counterparts abroad. Yet American teachers earn 68 percent as much as the average American college-educated worker, while the O.E.C.D. average is 88 percent.
在某些地方，美国的教师给人留下了懒惰的印象。但从OECD报告看，美国教师的工作时间远比外国同行要长。而美国教师的收入是美国大学学历工作者平均收入的68%，OECD报告中的平均值则是88%。

Fixing the education system is the civil rights challenge of our era. A starting point is to embrace an ethos that was born in America but is now an expatriate: that we owe all children a fair start in life in the form of access to an education escalator.
解决教育系统的问题是我们这个时代的民权挑战。出发点应该是宣弘一种生于美国但已经背井离乡的道德观：我们应该通过教育升降机，给所有孩子的人生一个公平的起点。

Let’s fix the escalator.
我们要修好这台升降机。