英国大学：数学太难？取消相关课程！

Universities are dropping maths from degree courses because students – and their lecturers – cannot cope with it, a report warns today. Decades of substandard maths education in schools has led to a ‘crisis’ in England’s number skills, threatening the future of the economy, it says. Universities are being forced to dumb down degree courses requiring the use of maths, including sciences, economics, psychology and social sciences.

一篇报道警告说，英国学校正在取消数学相关学位课程，原因是学生和讲师都解决不了这类问题。该报道称，英国教育数十年间数学教育不合格，以至于英国学生现在面临数学技能短缺的威胁，也严重影响着未来经济的发展。英国大学被迫降低学位课程对数学运用的要求，这些学位课程包括科学、经济学、心理学及社会科学。

Students are unable to tackle complex problems and their lecturers struggle to teach them anyway, it is claimed. The reputation of the country’s universities and graduates is now under threat, according to the report, ‘Solving the Maths Problem’, published by the education lobby group RSA.“

学生们应付不了复杂的数学问题，而教师们则疲于来回为他们讲解。英国大学和毕业生的声誉正遭受威胁。”由教育游说团体RSA出版的“解决数学问题”报告如是说。

After looking at maths education in other countries, the authors found that lessons and qualifications in English schools were ‘not fit for purpose’. They say that classes fail to stretch the brightest while leaving weaker pupils ill-equipped to use maths for work and family budgeting, and warn of a growing knock-on effect on universities. ‘English universities are sidelining quantitative and mathematical content because students and staff lack the requisite confidence and ability,’ the report says, adding that English universities are ‘not keeping pace’ with international standards.

在观察了其他国家的数学教育情况后该报告作者说英国学校里的课程及授课质量“不符合现实需求”，他们称课堂上的教学没有有效延伸，使得基础较弱的学生无法应付生活和家庭中的经济预算问题。而这也给大学教育带来了连锁效应，因为学生和教员对数学缺乏必须的信心和能力，英国大学不得不取消定量和数学相关课程内容，这也使得英国大学难以与国际标准接轨。

Some universities are no longer advertising the level of maths needed to study particular subjects for fear of putting off applicants, the report warns. It adds: ‘Recent research suggests that universities are marginalising mathematical content in the delivery of degree courses because English students are not capable of studying it.’

该报告还表示，一些大学已不再在宣传中要求学生报名某些课程时必须有一定的数学能力，因为担心这会把报名者刷掉。它同时补充道：“近期的研究显示，大学在教授学位课程时正在逐渐忽视数学内容，因为英国学生应对不了！”

The report by the RSA – formally called the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce – suggests that all students should be required to study maths until the age of 18, with the introduction of sixth-form qualifications such as ‘Maths for Citizenship’. England is just one of a handful of developed nations that fail to educate pupils in maths until that age, it says. Only 15 per cent of youngsters study the subject past 16, aside from GCSE candidates taking resits to boost their grades.

RSA（前称皇家艺术、制造和商业促进会）的这项报告建议，所有的学生18岁前都必须学习数学，包括诸如《Maths for Citizenship》的高中水平内容的介绍。英国是未能对学生的数学教育持续到时18岁的少数发达国家之一。除了中学会考学生补考用于升学外，只有15%的年轻人在16岁以后还学习数学。

‘Mathematics knowledge and qualifications are increasingly important gateways to further and higher education, for crucial life-skills and in order to respond to economic change,’ it says. ‘But the way mathematics is taught and assessed in England has not always kept pace with these changes or with the needs of learners and has left one in four adults functionally innumerate.’

“数学知识和水平越来越成为未来教育和高等教育的敲门砖，也是关键的生活技能和应对经济变动的手段。但是英国数学教育的实施和评价并没有跟上这些变化的脚步，也没有满足学习者的需要，也使得四分之一的成年人不懂数学。”