Olt is curious that Stephen Koziatek feels almost as though he has to justify his efforts to give his students a better future.
❶Mr. Koziatek is part of something pioneering.❷He is a teacher at a New Hampshire high school where learning is not something of books and tests and mechanical memorization, but practical.❸When did it become accepted wisdom that students should be able to name the 13th president of the United States but be utterly overwhelmed by a broken bike chain?
❶As Koziatek knows, there is learning in just about everything.❷Nothing is necessarily gained by forcing students to learn geometry at a graffitied desk stuck with generations of discarded chewing gum. ❷They can also learn geometry by assembling a bicycle.
❶But he's also found a kind of insidious prejudice. @Working with your hands is seen as almost a mark of inferiority. ❷Schools in the family of vocational education "have that stereotype...that it's for kids who can't make it academically,M he says.
❶On one hand, that viewpoint is a logical product of America's evolution.❷Manufacturing is not the economic engine that it once was. ❷The job security that the US economy once offered to high school graduates has largely evaporated. ❹More education is the new principle.❺We want more for our kids, and rightfully so.
❶But the headlong push into bachelor's degrees for all— and the subtle devaluing of anything less—misses an important point: That's not the only thing the American economy needs. ❷Yes, a bachelor's degree opens more doors.❸But even now, 54 percent of the jobs in the country are middle-skill jobs, such (24) as construction and high-skill manufacturing.❹But only 44 percent of workers are adequately trained. Oln other words, at a time when the working class has turned the country on its political head, frustrated that the opportunity that once defined America is vanishing, one obvious solution is staring us in the face. ❷There is a gap in working-class jobs, but the workers who need those jobs most aren't equipped to do them. ❷Koziatek5s Manchester School of Technology High School is trying to fill that gap.
❶Koziatek9s school is a wake-up call.❷When education becomes one-size・fits・all, it risks overlooking a nation's diversity of gifts. n
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斯蒂芬・科齐亚克一直在努力给学生一 个更好的未来。但奇怪的是，他觉得好像自 己必须证明这种努力的合理性。 在某种意义上，科齐亚克先生的行 为是具有开创性的。他是美国新罕布什尔州 一所高中的老师，在这所学校，学习不是啃 书本、做测试和机械记忆，而是实践。学生 们应该能够说出美国第13任总统的名字，却 对一根断裂的自行车链完全束手无策，这何 时成了一种公认的智慧呢？ 正如科齐亚克所认为的，每件事都蕴藏 学问。强迫学生坐在画有涂鸦、粘着往届学 生丢弃的口香糖的课桌前学习几何学，他们 未必有所收获。通过组装自行车，他们也可 以学习几何学。 然而，他也发现了一种潜在的偏见。体 力劳动几乎被视为低人一等的标志。(22)人 们对职业教育类的学校“有一种刻板印象。 认为职业教育针对的是学习成绩差的孩子，” 他说。 一方面，那种观点是美国发展的合理产 物。制造业不再像以前一样是经济发展的引 擎。(23)美国经济曾经给高中毕业生提供 的工作保障，现在也已基本消失。接受更多 的教育是新的理念。我们想让自己的孩子接 受更多的教育，这也理所当然。 但是，盲目地让所有人取得学士学 位--- 同时微妙地贬低不如这个学位的其他 任何学历——忽略了非常重要的一点：那并 不是美国经济发展唯一需要的东西。的确， 拥有学士学位意味着会有更多的就业机会。 可是，即使现在，美国54%的工作岗 位都是中等技能岗位，比如建筑业和高技能 制造业。但是只有44%的工人接受过充分的 培训。 换言之，在一个工人阶级已完全改变美 国的政治观，并为曾经定义美国的机会逐渐 消失而感到沮丧的时代，一个明显的解决办 法就摆在我们面前。工人阶级的工作岗位 中存在需求缺口，但是最需要这些工作的 工人却不具备相应的工作技能。(25)蚤 齐亚克所在的曼彻斯特技术高中正在努力填 补那个缺口。 科齐亚克所在的学校为我们敲响了 警钟。如果教育变得一刀切,那它就是在冒 忽视国民才能多样性的风险。 /