Lost in the news of the week was a headline that ought to be a source of concern for every American. It said, “Many Nations Passing U.S. in Education.” Now, debates in Washington tend to be consumed with the politics of the moment: who’s up in the daily polls; whose party stands to gain in November. But what matters to you – what matters to our country – is not what happens in the next election, but what we do to lift up the next generation. And the fact is, there are few issues that speak more directly to our long term success as a nation than issues concerning the education we provide to our children.
本周令我陷入沉思的是一条应该引起所有美国人关注的新闻。“许多国家在教育方面正超越美国。”现在，华盛顿的辩论有被当前的政治所吞噬的倾向：谁在每日调查中领先了？谁的党派很可能在十一月获胜？但对你们而言非常重要——对我们国家也非常重要的——不是下届选举将如何变迁，而是我们应该做些什么来激励下一代。事实上，关注我们为孩子们提供了怎样的教育的议题，才最直接地谈到了一个国家如何获得长期成功的问题。
Our prosperity in the 20th century was fueled by an education system that helped grow the middle class and unleash the talents of our people more fully and widely than at any time in our history. We built schools and focused on the teaching of math and science. We helped a generation of veterans go to college through the GI Bill. We led the globe in producing college graduates, and in turn we led in producing ground-breaking technologies and scientific discoveries that lifted living standards and set us apart as the world’s engine of innovation.
我们在二十世纪的繁荣得益于当初的教育体制，那是一个帮助发展中产阶级，并在美国历史上最充分、最广泛地发掘了我们人民的才能的教育体制。我们建立学校，聚焦数学与科学教育。我们通过《退伍军人法》帮助一代老兵上大学。我们在培养大学毕业生方面处于世界领先地位，然后，我们在研发开拓性技术和科学发明方面也处于世界领先水平，这些技术与发明提高了人们的生活水平，并将作为世界“创新发动机”的我国逐渐与他国拉开了距离。
Of course, other nations recognize this, and are looking to gain an edge in the global marketplace by investing in better schools, supporting teachers, and committing to clear standards that will produce graduates with more skills. Our competitors understand that the nation that out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow. Yet, too often we have failed to make inroads in reforming and strengthening our public education system – the debate mired in worn arguments hurled across entrenched divides.
当然，其他国家也意识到了这一点，通过投资更好的学校、支持教师以及承诺培养具备更多技能的毕业生的明确标准，他们正寻求在全球市场上领先一步。我们的竞争者深知，一个今天在教育上落后于我们的国家，明天就会被我们竞争掉。然而，在改革与加强我们的公共教育体制的道路上，我们总是无法取得进展——根深蒂固的分歧令争论不成样子，使辩论陷入僵局。
As a result, over the last few decades, we’ve lost ground. One assessment shows American fifteen year olds no longer even near the top in math and science when compared to their peers around the world. As referenced in the news report I mentioned, we’ve now fallen behind most wealthy countries in our high school graduation rates. And while we once led the world in the proportion of college graduates we produced, today we no longer do.
于是，在过去几十年里，我们落后了。有评估显示，与全世界其他同龄人相比，15岁的美国青少年在数学与科学方面甚至不再名列前茅。正如我提到的那则新闻报道中所说到的，在高中毕业率方面，我们现在已经落后于世界大多数富裕国家。我们曾在大学毕业生比例方面处于世界领先地位，如今我们已风光不再。
Not only does that risk our leadership as a nation, it consigns millions of Americans to a lesser future. For we know that the level of education a person attains is increasingly a prerequisite for success and a predictor of the income that person will earn throughout his or her life. Beyond the economic statistics is a less tangible but no less painful reality: unless we take action – unless we step up – there are countless children who will never realize their full talent and potential.
这不仅威胁着我国的领导地位，也使得数百万美国人面临一个更为暗淡的前景。因为我们知道，一个人的教育水平逐渐成为其成功的先决条件，并预示他（她）一生能取得多少收入。经济数据之外还有一个不够明确但依然痛苦的现实：除非我们采取措施——除非我们加以改进——否则将有无数的孩子永远无法发挥全部的才能和潜力。
I don’t accept that future for them. And I don’t accept that future for the United States of America. That’s why we’re engaged in a historic effort to redeem and improve our public schools: to raise the expectations for our students and for ourselves, to recognize and reward excellence, to improve performance in troubled schools, and to give our kids and our country the best chance to succeed in a changing world.
我无法接受他们拥有那样的未来，也无法接受美利坚合众国面临那样的未来。所以我们作出历史性的努力，开始赎回并改善我们的公共学校：提高对我们的学生和我们自身的期望、认可并奖励杰出贡献、改善困难学校的工作、为我们的孩子和我们国家在一个变化中的世界取得成功提供最好的机会。
Under the leadership of an outstanding Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, we launched a Race to the Top, through which states compete for funding by committing to reform and raising standards, by rewarding good teaching, by supporting the development of better assessments to measure results, and by emphasizing math and science to help prepare children for college and careers.
在杰出的教育部长阿恩·邓肯的领导下，我们开展了“奔向最高点（Race to the Top）”项目，参加该项目的各州通过承诺改革和提高标准、奖励优秀教学、支持发展衡量结果的更好评测方法、重视数学与科学帮助孩子念大学和找工作来竞争拨款。
And on Monday, my administration will send to Congress our blueprint for an updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act to overhaul No Child Left Behind. What this plan recognizes is that while the federal government can play a leading role in encouraging the reforms and high standards we need, the impetus for that change will come from states, and from local schools and school districts. So, yes, we set a high bar – but we also provide educators the flexibility to reach it.
3月15日，我的政府将向国会提交更新《初等和中等教育法案》（Elementary and Secondary Education Act）的计划书，用以全面修订《一个都不能少》（No Child Left Behind）教育法案。该计划书认识到，联邦政府在鼓励改革、鼓励推出我们所需要的高标准方面能发挥领导作用，这一改变将得到各州，各地方学校和各学区的推动。所以，是的，我们设置了一道很高的门槛——但我们也为教育家们提供灵活的空间来达到要求。
Under these guidelines, schools that achieve excellence or show real progress will be rewarded, and local districts will be encouraged to commit to change in schools that are clearly letting their students down. For the majority of schools that fall in between – schools that do well but could do better – we will encourage continuous improvement to help keep our young people on track for a bright future: prepared for the jobs of the 21st century. And because the most important factor in a child’s success is the person standing at the front of the classroom, we will better prepare teachers, support teachers, and encourage teachers to stay in the field. In short, we’ll treat the people who educate our sons and daughters like the professionals they are.
在这些方针的指导下，表现优秀或显示的确获得进步的学校将获得奖赏，我们鼓励当地地区承诺对那些明显令其学生感到失望的学校作出改变。对那些介于两者之间的大多数学校——即表现良好但可以做得更好的学校——我们鼓励你们为帮助我们的年轻人走向一个光明的未来而继续进行改善：为21世纪的工作做好准备。一个孩子要想取得成功，最重要的因素就是站在教室前面的那个人，因此，我们将更好地培养教师、支持教师并鼓励教师驻守在教育岗位。简言之，我们将把教育我们儿女的人们当做专家一样对待。
Through this plan we are setting an ambitious goal: all students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career – no matter who you are or where you come from. Achieving this goal will be difficult. It will take time. And it will require the skills, talents, and dedication of many: principals, teachers, parents, students. But this effort is essential for our children and for our country. And while there will always be those cynics who claim it can’t be done, at our best, we know that America has always risen to the challenges that we’ve faced. This challenge is no different.
通过这一计划，我们正在建立一个雄心勃勃的目标：所有即将高中毕业的学生都应该为上大学和找工作做好准备——不管你是何人，不管你来自何方。达到目标绝非易事，需要时间，需要校长、老师、家长、学生等许多人的技术、才能和贡献。但这一努力对我们的孩子和我们国家而言至关重要。然而总会有那么一些愤世嫉俗的人，声称这是无法做到的，我们知道美国总在鼎盛时期接受所面临的挑战。这一次的挑战也没什么两样。
As a nation, we are engaged in many important endeavors: improving the economy, reforming the health care system, encouraging innovation in energy and other growth industries of the 21st century. But our success in these efforts – and our success in the future as a people – will ultimately depend on what happens long before an entrepreneur opens his doors, or a nurse walks the rounds, or a scientist steps into her laboratory. Our future is determined each and every day, when our children enter the classroom, ready to learn and brimming with promise.
作为一个国家，我们进行过许多重要的努力：改善经济、改革医疗卫生制度、鼓励能源创新和其他21世纪工业的增长。但我们在这些努力上取得的成功，以及我们作为个体未来获得的成功最终都取决于为商业、医学、科研领域走入正轨长期以来的做的工作。我们的未来取决于每一天，我们的孩子走进教室，准备学习并满怀希望的每一天。
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