美国总统奥巴马每周电台演讲2015.02.15

Hi, everybody.  In my State of the Union Address, I laid out my ideas to help working families feel more secure and earn the skills required to advance in a world of constant change.
And in a new economy that’s increasingly built on knowledge and innovation, a core element of this middle-class economics is how well we prepare our kids for the future.
For decades, we threw money at education without making sure our schools were actually improving, or whether we were giving teachers the tools they need, or whether our taxpayer dollars were being used effectively.  And our kids too often paid the price.
大家好。在我的国情咨文演讲里，我勾勒了促使工薪家庭感到更加安全和获得在一个永恒变化的世界上不断前进所需要的技能的设想。
在一个越来越依赖知识和创新的新经济里，中产阶级经济学的核心要素就是我们如何培养我们的孩子们应对未来。
几十年来，我们在教育上砸了很多钱但是没有什么成效，换句话说就是是否我们给老师们他们需要的工具，是否我们有效地使用了纳税人们的钱。通常是我们的孩子们深受其害。

Over the past few years, we’ve seen signs that our elementary and secondary school students are doing better.  Last year, our younger students earned the highest math and reading scores on record.  Last week, we learned that our high school graduation rate hit a new all-time high.
This is progress.  But in a 21st century economy, our kids will only do better than we did if we educate them better than we were educated.  So we have to do more to make sure they graduate from school fully prepared for college and a career.
This year, I want to work with both parties in Congress to replace No Child Left Behind with a smarter law that addresses the overuse of standardized tests, makes a real investment in preschool, and gives every kid a fair shot in the new economy.
在过去的几年里，我们已经看到我们的小学生和初中生们不断进步的苗头。去年，我们的青年学生们在数学和阅读方面取得了创纪录的成就。上周，我们得知我们的中学毕业率达历史最高。
这是了不起的进步。但是在21世纪经济中，只有我们给他们比我们受到的更好的教育才能比我们更加出色。所以我们必须更进一步确保他们中学毕业后就完全适应大学和职业生涯需要。
今年，我希望与国会的两党议员们合作用更加明智的，针对过度使用标准化考试的法律来取代“不让一个孩子掉队”方针，在学前教育上有效投资，给每个孩子在新经济中一个公平的机会。

Now, it’s pretty commonsense that an education bill should actually improve education.  But as we speak, there’s a Republican bill in Congress that would frankly do the opposite.
At a time when we should invest more in our kids, their plan would lock in cuts to schools for the rest of this decade.  We’d end up actually invest less in our kids in 2021 than we did in 2012.
At a time when we should give our teachers all the resources they need, their plan could let states and cities shuffle education dollars into things like sports stadiums or tax cuts for the wealthy.
At a time when we have to give every child, everywhere, a fair shot – this Congress would actually allow states to make even deeper cuts into school districts that need the most support, send even more money to some of the wealthiest school districts in America, and turn back the clock to a time when too many students were left behind in failing schools.
今天，教育投资应该带来教育的改进简直就是常识。但是正如我所说的，在国会共和党人的教育投资法案坦率地说恰恰相反。
在我们需要给我们的孩子们投资更多的时候，他们的计划却在这个十年的余下年份里削减教育投资里打转转。我们最终达成的在2021年对我们的孩子们的投资比我们在2012年的还少。
在我们应该给我们的老师们他们需要的所有资源的时候，他们的计划可能使很多州和很多市的教育经费用到体育场馆建设或为富人减税上去。
在我们必须给我们的每个孩子，无论他在哪里，一个公平的计划的时候--本届国会可能会允许各州进一步削减最需要支持的学区的教育经费，而把这些钱用于美国最富裕的学区，重演那么多学生们被扔到惨淡经营的学校里的历史。

Denying a quality education to the children of working families is as wrong as denying health care or child care to working families.  We are better than this.
I have a different vision for the middle class.
In today’s world, we have to equip all our kids with an education that prepares them for success, regardless of what they look like, or how much their parents make, or the zip code they live in.
And that means trying new things, investing in what’s working, and fixing what’s not.
That means cutting testing down to the bare minimum required to make sure parents and teachers know how our kids and schools are doing from year to year, and relative to schools statewide.
That means giving the teachers and principals who do the hard work every day the resources they need to spend less time teaching to a test, and more time teaching our kids the skills they need.
拒绝给工薪家庭的孩子们高品质的教育如同拒绝给工薪家庭的孩子们医保或儿保一样错误。好在我们还没有到这步田地。
我给中产阶级一个不同的远景规划。
在今天的世界上，我们必须给我们的孩子们培养他们成功的教育，不管他们长得什么样或他们的父母挣多少钱，或他们驻地的邮政编码是什么。
这意味着做新尝试，投资于那些有效的，修改那些无效的。
这意味着削减仅仅满足最低要求的考试，而确保家长们和老师们知道我们的孩子们和学校年复一年都做什么，和全国其他学校相比有什么不同。
这意味着给每天呕心沥血的老师们和校长们他们需要的资源减少应试教育时间，把更多时间用于教授我们的孩子们他们需要的技能。

Some of these changes are hard.  They’ll require all of us to demand more of our schools and more of our kids, making sure they put down the video games and iPhones, and pick up the books.  They’ll require us to demand that Washington treat education reform as the dedicated progress of decades – something a town with a short attention span doesn’t always do very well.
But I'm confident we can do this.  When it comes to education, we are not a collection of states competing against one another; we are a nation competing against the world.  Nothing will determine our success as a nation in the 21st century more than how well we educate our kids.  And we shouldn’t accept anything less than the best.
Thanks, and before I go – Happy Valentine’s Day, Michelle.  Have a great weekend, everybody.
这些变革中有些很艰难。它们都要求我们所有人提高我们对学校和孩子们的要求，确保他们放下电游和iphone，拿起书。它们都要求我们要求华盛顿把教育改革视为今后几十年里必须专注的进程--一些一个城市只关心几天就放弃肯定做不好的事。
但是我相信我们能做好这些。谈到教育，我们就不是一些互相竞争的州的总和，我们是一个与世界竞争的国家。没有什么能比如何教育好我们的孩子们更能决定我们在21世纪的成功了。我们只接受最好。
谢谢，在我结束之前--情人节快乐，米切尔。各位，周末快乐。