Games lessons 博弈教学

Games lessons
博弈教学

Depressingly few pupils get a proper academic education
极少学生得到适当的基础理论教学

Jan 13th 2011 | from PRINT EDITION

I knew I should have done beauty therapy. 我知道我本应该学习美容疗法。

WHEN Michael Gove, the education secretary, took up his post last May, he placed on the bare home page of his department’s website the information that he considers most important: school performance tables. A few months later, Mr Gove added to the data deluge when he announced that schools would be judged not only on the proportion of pupils that passed examinations, but also on the share passing academically rigorous ones. The revamped league tables, published on January 12th, reveal the extent to which schools have artificially inflated their performance by steering pupils towards easier exams.

当教育部长迈克·戈夫（Michael Gove）去年五月份到职，他把他认为最重要的信息---学校表现参数表---放上部门网站的首页。几个月之后，当他宣布对学校的评定将不只局限于学生考试及格的比例，还包括通过学术缜密的考试比例，戈夫对网站添加了洪水般涌来的数据。在1月12日出版的完善成绩表透露了学校采用过于简单的考试人为地夸大学校表现的趋势。

Just over half of English children leave school having passed five GCSEs, including English and maths, with acceptable grades, a figure that has been rising relentlessly since that measure was introduced as the basis of school-performance tables. Yet only 16% pass their five exams in the subjects once considered essential: a science, a language and a humanity, in addition to English and maths. The rest pass vocational subjects—not surprising, perhaps, when according to the official exchange rate a GCSE in applied physical education is equivalent to one in Latin, and a vocational qualification in beauty therapy worth as much as a good pass at GCSE physics.

只有超过半数的学生离校时拿到普通中等教育证书（GCSEs），语文和英语均得到可接受的分数；自从这个措施被作为衡量学校表现的根据，数字就持续地上升。但是只有16%通过五科基础课的考试，包括科学、语言、人文、语文和数学，剩下的只通过职业学科。根据行政部门的互换比率，取得应用物理的证书与拉丁文证书等效，取得美容疗法的职业证书也和物理教育证书一样等值，通过基础课的低比例也许就不足为奇了。

A second reason for the low take-up of academic subjects is the declining popularity of modern languages, which were compulsory for 14-16-year-olds until 2004, but are no longer part of the national curriculum for that age group. In 2002, 76% of pupils were entered for French, German or Spanish. By 2010, that figure had fallen to 43%.

文化科目低学习率的第二个原因是现代语言越来越不容欢迎；直到2004年，14-16岁学生需强制学习语言，但是现在，语言已不包括在该年龄层学生的全国总课程中。在2002年，76%的学生学习法语、德语或者西班牙语；到2010年，这一比例下降为43%。

That matters because directing pupils towards easier qualifications makes it impossible for them to get into the best universities. University College London, for example, has said that from 2012 it will require entrants to all its degree courses to have passed a GCSE in a modern language at grade C or above.

这一事情至关重要是因为，学生过于简单地取得资格证书将阻止他们进入最好的大学。比如伦敦大学（UCL）已经表明从2012年起，入学者应取得普通中等教育证书并在现代语言学科上取得C等级以上的分数。

Some head teachers complain that the new tables are unfair, because Mr Gove’s criteria were devised after the relevant exams had been sat. Others observe that highlighting academic subjects will not stop schools distorting their methods to maximise their standing. In the past some have coached those students close to achieving five good passes while neglecting those who seem certain either to pass or fail; now teachers could come under pressure to pull the same trick, but for academic GCSEs only. The games will no doubt continue—but at least they now have a determined umpire.

一些校长抱怨新的参数表不公平，因为戈夫的标准是在相关的考试设置完毕才规定的。其他人评论说强调文化科目并不会停止学校重视地位而不惜扭曲方式的做法。在过去，有些老师会指导那些可以取得五科良好成绩的学生，而忽视那些无望及格的学生；现在，仅仅在中等教育文化课上，老师迫于压力可以采取同样的手段。博弈无疑还在继续，但至少现在有一个决意的仲裁人。