VOA慢速英语:East Asian Educators Look to US Schools for Ideas

High school students in Asia often do better than American students on international math and science tests. Experts say part of this is because schools in countries like China and South Korea do better at preparing students to take tests. Yet some of these same countries want to learn what makes American students good at creativity and critical thinking.
亚洲高中学生在国际数学和科学测试中往往表现得比美国学生更好。专家称，这其中部分原因是因为中国和韩国等国家在帮助学生备考方面做得更好。然而，同样是这些国家，其中一些知道是什么让美国学生擅长创造和批判性思维。

Foreign educators often visit Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, near Washington. This past summer, seventy-five school principals visited from China.
国外教师经常访问位于华盛顿附近的弗吉尼亚州亚历山德里亚市的Thomas Jefferson高中。刚刚过去的这个夏天，来自中国的75个学校校长访问了该校。

Evan Glazer, the principal of Thomas Jefferson, says the school combines science and math with literature and other liberal arts.
Thomas Jefferson高中的校长Evan Glazer称，该校将科学和数学与文学及其它文科相结合。

EVAN GLAZER: “Curriculum, when it’s seen within one particular context, you’re really just developing knowledge and skills. But if you want to look at the complexity of real problems and original solutions, it requires people to come at them from different angles. And so we foster a lot of team teaching, with pairing up teachers from different disciplines so that, when they’re offering challenges to students, that they have a variety of perspectives as they approach problems.”
EVAN GLAZER：“当在一个特定背景下看课程，你只是在开发知识和技能。但如果你想看看实际问题的复杂性和解决方法，它就需要人们从不同角度来探索。因此，我们通过将来自不同学科的教师进行配对，培养了许多教学团队。因此，当他们给学生提供挑战时，随着他们接触各种问题，他们也会拥有各种不同的观点。”
The admissions process is intensely competitive. Thomas Jefferson is part of the Fairfax County Public Schools but serves a wider area. The number of students from families of Asian ethnicity at the school reached fifty percent this past year.
录取的过程就是激烈的竞争。Thomas Jefferson高中是费尔法克斯县的公立学校之一，但是服务于更广阔的领域。过去这一年，该校来自亚裔家庭的学生数量达到百分之五十。

The program was created in partnership with local businesses in nineteen eighty-five. The goal was to improve education in science, math and technology.
在1985年，这些课程与当地企业建立合作。目的是提高科学、数学和技术方面的教育。

Some students do university-level research in fields such as microelectronics, neuroscience and biotechnology. Students can also learn from working with professionals, says Mr. Glazer.
有的学生在微电子学、神经科学和生物技术等领域进行大学水平的研究。Glazer先生称，学生们还可以通过与专业人士一起工作学到知识。

EVAN GLAZER: “We certainly cultivate a culture of inquiry and research so that students can do original work. That’s part of our mindset. But I think, as Americans, I think we pride ourselves in our ability to constantly generate new ideas for the benefit of humanity.”
EVAN GLAZER：“当然，我们培养了一种探索研究的文化，这样学生就能够从事独创性工作。这是我们观念的一部分。但我认为，作为美国人，我们为能够不断带来造福人类的新思路而感到骄傲。”

In East Asia, the focus of high school is often to prepare students for college entrance exams. But Mr. Glazer says in recent years China has been developing experimental schools. These offer more student-centered learning the way many top American schools do.
在东亚地区，高中的重点往往放在给学生准备高考上。但Glazer先生称，近年来中国一直在发展实验学校。这些学校学习美国顶尖学校方式，更多的以学生为中心。

EVAN GLAZER: “And I think that’s part of the American mindset that we’ve had pride in as a country for so many years -- of the idea that everyone can bring original ideas. And I think East Asia senses that, and they certainly see the benefit to our innovation as a country.”
EVAN GLAZER：“而我认为，这是我们国家多年来引以为豪的部分美国观念，每个人都能带来独到见解。我也认为，东亚意识到了这点，他们也当然看到我们的创新给一个国家带来的好处。”

He points out that as East Asian countries consider greater freedom for their schools, American education is headed in the opposite direction. Most states have recently approved common standards in math and reading.
他指出，随着东亚国家在考虑给予学校更大自由的时候，美国教育却是反方向前进。美国大多数州最近已经通过了数学和阅读的共同标准。

EVAN GLAZER: “In China and in Korea there is a strong interest in trying to get students to be more creative. And in America there is a strong interest in standardization. And, you know, the reality is we don’t operate in one world or the other. It’s trying to find that right balance."
EVAN GLAZER：“在中国和韩国对试图让学生更富创造性充满兴趣的时，美国却对标准化产生了浓厚的兴趣。你知道，不管怎样，事实是我们没有操纵，而是试图找到适当的平衡。”