VOA慢速英语:No National Standards: A Strength or Weakness of US Schools

What American students are expected to learn has long been different from state to state. We talked last week about the tradition of local control of schools. To some people, the lack of national academic standards is an important limit on federal powers. But others say all it does is limit American competitiveness in a world that is becoming more educated.
长期以来美国学生所学习的内容都因各州而异。上周我们谈到当地控制学校的传统。某些人认为，缺乏统一的国家学术标准极大限制联邦政府的权力。但也有人说,它限制了美国人在这个受教育程度越来越高的世界上的竞争力.

Now, state governors and chief school officers are leading a movement toward what are known as the "common core state standards." These list content in math and English language arts that students are expected to learn each year from kindergarten to high school.
现在，各州州长和学校行政人员领导制定了被熟知的“共同核心州立标准”。这些列举了学生从幼儿园到高中每年应该学习的数学和英语语言艺术的内容.

In the past year, most of the fifty states have adopted these standards. That speed is partly explained by President Obama's Race to the Top competition. Accepting the standards helped states that competed last year for federal money for school reform efforts.
过去一年里，美国50个州中大部分州已经采纳了这些标准。如此迅速的被采纳部分原因是奥巴马的 “力争上游” 的竞争计划。接受这些标准帮助各州竞争获得去年联邦政府提供资金,以便对学校进行改革.

Patrick Murray has been an elected member of the school governing board in Bradford, Maine, for four years. The public school system is small, just one thousand two hundred students from five towns. In April, Maine became the forty-second state to approve the common core standards.
Patrick Murray四年来一直是缅因州布拉德福德学校董事会一名当选成员。公立学校系统规模很小，只有来自5个城镇的1200名学生。四月，缅因州成为美国认可共同核心州立标准的第42个州。

Mr. Murray says he does not trust supporters of these standards. "They say this is a state-led effort," he says, but he thinks the goal is national control of education.
Murray称他不信任这些标准的支持者。“他们说这是国家推动的措施。”他说，但是他认为这样做的目的是为了让国家控制教育。

PATRICK MURRAY: "Any school that receives federal or state money is going to be required to use the common core standards."
Patrick Murray：“任何接受联邦或州资金的学校都要求实行共同核心州立标准。”

He says many states have adopted the common core standards only because they were offered federal money.
他称很多州只是因为接受联邦资金才认可共同核心州立标准的。

PATRICK MURRAY: "My opinion is when you have federal mandates and federal money involved, it’s no longer state-led."
Patrick Murray：“我的看法是,当涉及到联邦政府的指令和资金时，它将不再是州领导的了。”

Mr. Murray says national academic standards would violate the United States Constitution. He believes the federal government should have no role in education -- none.
Murray 称国家学术标准违背了美国宪法。他认为联邦政府不应该在教育发挥其作用——完全不应该。

Patience Blythe disagrees. Ms. Blythe has taught for five years. She recently moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Before that she was a science teacher in Texas -- one of the few states not to adopt the common core standards.
Patience Blythe不同意。Blythe当老师5年了。她最近搬到宾夕法尼亚州的费城。此前，她是德克萨斯州一名自然科学的老师，德克萨斯州是极少没有认可共同核心州立标准的州之一。

Ms. Blythe says national standards could improve the results of American students on international science tests.
Blythe称国家标准可以提高美国学生在国际科学测试的成绩。

PATIENCE BLYTHE: "Not everything has to be a state issue. There could be a benefit from some more federal involvement in our education system, that we could address a lot of the inequalities that we have."
Patience Blythe：“不是所有问题都是州的问题。联邦政府更多地干预我们的教育系统是有一些好处，就是我们可以解决许多存在的不公平问题。”

She also disagrees with those who say the standards could limit the ability of teachers to be creative.
她也反对那些说这些标准会限制老师创造性的人。

PATIENCE BLYTHE: "The reality is the standards give you keys and tools to understand what the objectives are, and understand what the questions on whatever state assessment you’re going to take are going to cover. I can be as creative as I want to, especially if I have a good team of teachers to work with, and that we can work together and bounce ideas off each other."
Patience Blythe：“事实是这些标准给你提供了方法和工具，让你了解目标是什么，和让你了解政府对你的评估的会涉及哪些问题。如果我有一组很好的教师队伍进行合作，我会变得非常有创造性，那么我们可以一起工作，分享彼此的想法。”