比尔盖茨的忧虑:教育关乎美国未来

Bill Gates was on "Morning Joe" Wednesday to talk about the role of innovation in humanitarian aid, but singled out education as the issue that could most determine America's future.

比尔盖茨星期三在“Morning Joe”谈论人道主义援助方面创新的作用，但单列出教育作为最可能决定美国未来的问题。

"Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski asked Gates to name one issue in the U.S. that "really plagues us and could really bring us down, semi-health-oriented."

“Morning Joe”搭档Mika Brzezinski要求盖茨说出在美国“真正困扰我们，且可能真的会把我们击倒、半健康导向的”一个问题。

"I'd pick education, if I was thinking broadly about America," Gates responded. "It's our tool of equality. It has not improved, it's fallen behind other countries in a very big way."

“我会选择教育，如果我正在对美国畅想，”盖茨答道。“这是我们平等的工具。它还没有改善，在很大方面它还落后于其他国家。”

The statement came during a discussion with New York Times columnist Nick Kristof on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's work in humanitarian aid and education -- pegged to the release of Gates' annual letter on Wednesday.

该声明是在与《纽约时报》的专栏作家尼克•克里斯托夫关于比尔和梅林达•盖茨基金会在人道主义援助和教育方面的工作的讨论中出来的——与周三盖茨的年度信一起。

Every year, the Microsoft founder's letter reflects on what he has learned through his travel and work for the foundation, and how that new knowledge and perspective will influence his work in the future. This year's letter concentrates on setting goals and creating effective progress measurements, including for teachers. The Gates Foundation released the third of its Measuring Effective Teachers project earlier this month, which advocates for teacher accountability through balanced evaluations of classroom observations, student test scores and student surveys.

每一年，这位微软创始人的书信反映了通过基金会的旅行和工作他学到的东西，以及新的知识和观点在未来如何影响他的工作。今年的信专注于设定目标和创建有效的进度测量，包括为老师的。本月早些时候盖茨基金会发布了衡量有效教师项目的第三部分，通过平衡课堂观察的评价、学生考试成绩和学生的调查来倡导教师的责任。

"Our teachers get the least feedback of any, and we've got to change that," Gates said on Wednesday. "We've got to help them learn from each other."

“我们的教师获得的任何反馈都很少，我们必须改变,”盖茨周三表示。“我们必须帮助他们互相学习。”

Gates' belief that education is the greatest predictor of America's future is supported by a report released last March that declared education to be an issue of national security. "A Nation at Risk," penned by former New York City Schools chief Joel Klein and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, argues that a failure to provide quality education in areas like foreign languages, science and technology will create major future deficiencies of engineers, diplomats and soldiers, among others.

盖茨关于教育是美国未来最大预测师的信仰受到去年3月发布的一份宣布教育是关乎国家安全问题的报告的支持。《一个危机中的国家》，由前纽约市学校长官克莱恩和前国务卿康多莉扎•赖斯执笔，认为在外语、科学和技术领域未能提供素质教育的失败使得其他人中未来工程师、外交官和军人的缺失。

"As we're not able to train people for the jobs, you're going to hit a limit that, no matter how good the economy is, you're not providing the opportunity," Gates said Wednesday.

“我们不能够为工作培训人才，你会到达一个极限，无论多么好的经济，你不提供机会，”盖茨周三说。

A 2009 report found that U.S. students ranked 25th among 34 countries in math and science, trailing nations like China, Singapore, South Korea and Finland. And just 6 percent of U.S. students performed at the advanced level on a 2006 international exam administered across 56 countries. That percentage is lower than those attained by students in 30 other countries.

2009年的一份报告发现，美国学生数学和科学方面在34个国家中排名第25位，落后于像中国、新加坡、韩国和芬兰这样的国家。在2006年由56个国家实施的国际考试中只有6%的美国学生表现靠前。这一比例低于其他30个国家通过学生努力达到的比例。

To be sure, the U.S. is not among the worst-performing developed nations, but is in a position researchers have called "middling." Analysts also point out that U.S. scores on the 2009 international exams did generally improve over 2006.

可以肯定的是，美国不是发达国家中表现最差的，但是处在一个研究人员称为“中等”的位置上，分析人士也指出，美国2009年国际考试成绩比2006年确实有普遍改善。