经济学人精读 The Economist [43] | Pupil power
经济学人精读The Economist [43]
选自 January 06 2018 Leaders 社论板块
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#Eva说#
提到巴基斯坦，人们想到的是政治庇护，想到的是恐怖袭击。曾经发生在巴基斯坦学校的枪击案在全世界都是极为震惊的。但是，这种想法可能掩盖了巴基斯坦正在进行的一个重大改革，那就是巴基斯坦的教育改革，其教育改革为世界上的贫困国家提供了非常好的经验。经验之一，为其实行的教育券体系。这一体系的实施，可以降低国家经营学校的成本，提升入学率，提高教学质量。其二，将大量钱支付教师的工资，只能滋长腐败，而对教学结果没有帮助。其三，政治庇护和课堂的联系是可以终止的，从“政治庇护”到“政治作为”的转变，将有机会改变贫困国家的公共服务。尽管巴基斯坦还有很长的路要走，但是，它已经提供了很多经验教训。
#以上，个人总结和理解，欢迎批评指正，欢迎留言讨论
#有输出才有进步
Education
Pupil power[学生的力量]
Pakistan’s school reformshold lessons for other developing countries[巴基斯坦学校改革给其他发展中国家提供了经验]
When Pakistan’s schools attractglobal attention, it is often as a backdrop[背景]to violence[当巴基斯坦的学校吸引了全球的注意力时，通常是暴力事件的背景].
In October 2012 a masked gun-man from the Tehreek-e-TalibanPakistan[巴基斯坦塔利班运动]boarded a school bus and shot Malala Yousafzai[玛拉拉·尤苏芙札，是巴基斯坦的一位以争取女性教育而闻名的活动家]in the head, neck and shoulder[2012年10月，巴基斯坦塔利班运动的一名蒙面持枪者，上了一辆校车，击中了MY的头部，颈部和肩部]. Two years later, and six days after Ms Yousafzai received the Nobel peace prize, terrorists from the same umbrella group killed 141 people,nearly all pupils, at an army-run school in Peshawar, oneofthedeadliestattacksonaschoolinanycountry[两年后，也是在MY女士获得诺贝尔和平奖的6天后，来自同一组织的恐怖袭击者，在白沙瓦的一所军队管理的学校，杀死了141人，几乎都是小学生，这对于任何国家，都是最为致命学校袭击事件].According to the Global Terrorism Database kept by the University of Maryland, 867 educational institutions were attacked by Islamists between 2007 and 2015, often because these places had the temerity[冒失]to teach science—or worse,educate girls[根据马里兰大学提供的全球恐怖主义数据库，在2007到2015年之间，867个教育机构被伊斯兰教主义者袭击，通常是因为这些地方冒失得教受科学，更为甚者，教受女生].
Such attacks have added to problems that schools in Pakistan, the world’s sixth-most-populous[人口密集的]country, share with those in other poorstates—irrelevant curriculums, high rates of dropout as children (especially girls) get older, and woeful[极糟糕的]teaching[这样的袭击，为作为世界六大人口密集国家之一的巴基斯坦的学校增添了问题，也是那些其他贫困国家都存在的问题——不相关的课程，当孩子们年龄增加（尤其是女生）时的高辍学率，以及糟糕的教学].Yetthe spectreof[对于…的恐惧]violence may haveobscured[掩盖]another development: the emergence of Pakistan as perhaps the world’s largest laboratory for education reform[但是，对暴力的恐惧可能掩盖了另一个发展：巴基斯坦作为可能是世界上最大的教育改革试验室的出现].
Pakistan has long been home toa flourishing market of low- cost private schools, as parents have given up onadysfunctional[失调的]state sector and opted[选择]instead to pay for a better alternative[巴基斯坦长期以来是那些低费用私立学校的火爆市场，因为家长们已经放弃了失调的政府教育机构，而选择为更好的教育付学费]. In the province of Punjab alone the number of these schools has risen from 32,000 in 1990 to 60,000 by 2016[单单是Punjab省，这些学校的数量从1990年的3.2万增长到了2016年的6万]. (England has just 24,000schools, albeit much bigger ones.[英格兰仅有2.4万所学校，尽管是一些更大的学校])
More recently, Pakistani policymakers have begun to use these private schools to provide state education[近来，巴基斯坦的监管者，开始利用这些私立学校提供公立教育]. Today Pakistan has one of the largest school-voucher schemes[教育券体系]inthe world[如今，巴基斯坦拥有世界最大的教育券体系之一].
【教育券制】
这是美国经济学家米尔顿•弗里德曼提倡的一种政府教育补贴制度。与直接给公立学校发放教育经费不同，政府向家长发放教育代金券。主要目的在於，在维持政府对教育的补贴同时，在教育体系中引入市场竞争机制，提升教育质量，给家长更多选择。
· 政府向家长发放学券，学券金额等於政府每年津贴个别学生的金额
· 家长自由选择合乎指定要求的公立或私立学校
· 家长用学券缴付全部或一部分学费，学校有权收取学券以外的额外费用，有关费用由自由市场机制决定
· 学校收到学券后，凭券向政府兑换现金
在学券制度之前，儿童如果想接受政府补贴只能入学就近公立学校，即使该校的教育质量很差，而如果上私立学校则无法接受任何政府补贴。引入教育券后，家长把孩子送到公立学校和私立学校都能享受每年数千美元的教育补贴。学生有了更好的选择，而好的学校由生源广而收入高，规模会逐渐扩大。不好的学校会因缺乏生源，最终因经营不善而被淘汰。（资料来源：维基百科）
It has outsourced the running of more government-funded schools than any other developing country[它与其他任何发展中国家相比，外包了更多的政府资助的学校]. By the end of this year Punjab aims to have placed 10,000 public schools— about the number in all of California—in the hands of entrepreneurs or charities[到今年年底，Punjab目标将1万所学校——相当于加利福尼亚的全部学校数量——交给企业家或是慈善机构]. Although other provinces cannot match the scope and pace of reforms in Punjab, which is home to53% of Pakistanis, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are implementing some similar changes on a smaller scale[尽管，其他省份改革规模与速度，无法与作为53%巴基斯坦人的家园的Punjab相比，Sindh和KP也正在进行较小规模的类似改革].
The results are promising—and they hold lessons for reformers in other countries[成果是可观的，它们也为其他国家的改革者提供了经验]. One is that “public-private partnerships” can improve children’s results while costing the state less than running schools itself[一方面，公私合作可以提高孩子们的学习成果，同时，比国家独自经营学校的成本更低]. A paper published in August by the World Bank found that a scheme to subsidise[资助]local entrepreneurs to open schools in 199 villages increased enrolment of six- to ten-year-olds by 30percentage points and boosted test scores[8月由世界银行发表的一篇文章发现，在199个村庄资助当地企业家在办学的方案，使得6-9岁孩子的入学率提升了30个百分点，并且提高了考试成绩]. Better schools also led parents to encourage their sons to become doctors not security guards, and their daughters to become teachers rather than housewives[更好的学校引导家长鼓励他们的儿子成为医生，而不是保安，鼓励他们的女儿成为教师，而不是家庭主妇].
Other new research suggests that policymakers can also take simple steps to fix failures in the market for low-cost privateschools[其他新的研究建议，监管者也可以采取简单的方法来弥补低费用私立学校在市场中的失败]. For example, providing better information for parents through standardised report cards, and making it easier for entrepreneurs to obtain loans to expand schools, have both been found to lead to a higher quality ofeducation[例如，通过标准报告卡片向家长提供更优质的信息，也使企业家更容易为扩张学校申请贷款，这些都可以带来更高质量的教育].
Another, related lesson is that simply spending more public money is not going to transform classrooms in poor countries[另一个相关的经验是，简单的花费更多的公共资金并不能改变贫困国家的课堂]. The bulk of spending on public education goes on teachers’ salaries, and if they cannot teach, the money is wasted[公立教育将大量的钱为教师付工资，如果他们不能够教课，这样的钱就浪费了]. A revealing recent study looked at what happened between 2003 and 2007, when Punjab hired teachers on temporary contracts at 35% less pay[最近的一项研究揭示了2003年到2007年发生的事情，那时Punjab用短期合同以减少了35%的工资雇佣教师]. It found that the lower wages had no discernible[可辨别出的]impact on how well teachers taught[研究发现，更低的工资对教师教课的好坏没有可辨别出的影响].
Such results reflect what happens when teachers are hired corruptly, rather than for their teachingskills[这样的结果可以看出，当老师是因受贿赂被雇佣，而不是因他们的教学技能而雇佣时，会出现怎样的情况]. Yet the final and most important lesson from Pakistan is that politicians can break the link between political patronage[庇护]and theclassroom[但是，来自巴基斯坦的最终也是最重要的经验是，政治家可以打破政治庇护和课堂的联系]. Under Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab’s chief minister, the province has hired new teachers on merit, not an official’s say-so[在P省首席部长SS的管理下，该省已经依据业绩雇佣的新的老师，而不是一个官员说应该雇佣的老师]. It uses data on enrolment and test scores to hold local officials to account at regular high-stakes meetings[该省利用入学率和考试成绩的数据，在定期大股东会议中让当地官员遵循].
Must try harder
Shifting from “the politics of patronage” to “the politics of performance”, in the words of SirMichael Barber, a former adviser to the British government who now works with the Punjabis, would transform public services in poor countries[用前任英国政府顾问，现在为Punjab人工作的MB先生的话说，从“政治庇护”向“政治作为”的转变，可以改变贫困国家的公共服务]. Pakistan’s reforms have a long way to go[巴基斯坦的改革还有很长的路要走]. But they already have many lessons to teach the world[但是，他们已经给世界带来很多经验教训].
Jan 07 | 718 words
词汇总结
【temerity】/təˈmer.ə.t̬i/
a willingness to do or say something that shocks or upsets other people
鲁莽；冒失
[ + to infinitive ] She had the temerity to call me a liar.
她竟冒失地说我是骗子。
【woeful】
very bad or (of something very bad or unpleasant)very large or extreme
极坏的，极糟糕的
The team's woeful record consists of six defeats in seven games.
这个队非常糟糕的记录是7场比赛中有6场败北。
They displayed woeful ignorance of the safety rules.
他们对安全条例表现出极端的无知。
【the spectre of sth】
the idea of something unpleasant that might happen in the future
对于…的恐惧（或忧虑）
The awful spectre of civil war looms over the country.
内战的阴云笼罩着全国。
Drought and war have raised the spectre of food shortages for up to 24 million African people.
干旱和战争引起了2400万非洲人民对于食品短缺的恐惧。
【obscure】
to make something difficult to discover and understand
隐藏，掩盖；使难理解，使晦涩
Managers deliberatelyobscured the real situation from federalinvestigators.
经理们故意对联邦调查人员掩盖真实情况。
【dysfunctional】/dɪsˈfʌŋk.ʃən.əl/
not behaving working normally
失调的，失常的
a dysfunctional family
不正常的家庭
【albeit】/ɑːlˈbiː.ɪt/
although
虽然，尽管
The evening was very pleasant,albeit a little quiet.
那个夜晚过得非常愉快，尽管有点儿冷清。
He tried,albeit without success.
虽然没有成功，可他努力了。
【subsideze】
to pay part of the cost of something
给予…津贴（或补贴）；资助
£50 would help to subsidize the training of an unemployed teenager.
50英镑能够资助一名失业青年接受培训。
The refugees live in subsidized housing provided by the authorities.
难民们居住在当局提供的有政府补贴的住房里。
【discernible】/dɪˈsɝː.nə.bəl/
able to be seen or understood
能看出的；可辨别出的；能明白的
The influence of Rodin is discernible in the younger artist.
从这位年青一些的艺术家身上可以看到罗丹的影响。
There is no discernible reason why this should be the case.
没有理由可以解释为什么会这样。
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我是Eva
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