In-Praise-of-the-F-Word

In Praise of the F Word 1 Tens of thousands of 18 year olds will graduate this year and be handed meaningless diplomas These diplomas won t look any different from those awarded their luckier classmates Their validity will be questioned only when their employers discover that these graduates are semiliterate 今年 将有成千上万的 18 岁学生毕业并被授于毫无意义的文凭 这些文凭对每个人都 是一样的 没有一点差别 而不管学生的成绩如何 但当雇主发现他们没有实际能力时 文 凭的有效性就会被质疑 2 Eventually a fortunate few will find their way into educational repair shops adult literacy programs such as the one where I teach basic grammar and writing There high school graduates and high school dropouts pursuing graduate equivalency certificates will learn the skills they should have learned in school They will also discover they have been cheated by our educational system 即使少数幸运的人找到了成人进修的地方 像我教语法和写作的地方 在这里 高中 毕业和高中辍学的学生为了追求等价的毕业证书必需学习他们本应该在学校学习的东西 他们会发现自己被我们的教育系统所欺骗 3 As I teach I learn a lot about our schools Early in each session I ask my students to write about an unpleasant experience they had in school No writers block here I wish someone would have had made me stop doing drugs and made me study I liked to party and no one seemed to care I was a good kid and didn t cause any trouble so they just passed me along even though I didn t read well and couldn t write And so on 当我教他们的时候 我从我们的课堂上学到了很多 在每次开班 首先我会让学生写一 下关于他们在学校的一次很不愉快的经历 每个学生都会有这样的经历 有人说 我希 望有一个人可以使我停止吸毒 让我好好学习 有人说 我喜欢聚会 但好像没有人 注意过我 有人说 我是一个好孩子 没有制造过任何麻烦 所以尽管学习不好 考试 还是让我通过 等等 4 I am your basic do gooder and prior to teaching this class I blamed the poor academic skills our kids have today on drugs divorce and other impediments to concentration necessary for doing well in school But as I rediscover each time I walk into the classroom before a teacher can expect students to concentrate he has to get their attention no matter what distractions may be at hand There are many ways to do this and they have much to do with teaching style However if style alone won t do it there is another way to show who holds the winning hand in the classroom That is to reveal the trump card of teacher 我是教过这个班级的先届老师和他们最初级的改良者 我痛斥那些拙劣的教学方式 以 至于今天我们的孩子们陷入吸毒 离婚和其他使他们不能专注于学习的困扰 但是 当我 每次走进教室都会发现的是 在一名老师期望可以引起学生的注意之前 他已经吸引了学 生的注意 而不管面临什么样的干扰 有很多方式可以做到这一点 并且老师们在教学风 格方面还亟待改进 然而 如果教学风格不能做到这点 还有另一种方法使你成为教室里 的导引者 那就是使用教师的杀手锏 5 I will never forget a teacher who played that card to get the attention of one of my children Our youngest a world class charmer did little to develop his intellectual talents but always got by until Mrs Stifter became his teacher 我永远都忘不了那位曾用她独特的方式来吸引我儿子注意力的那位老师 我最小的儿子 后来成为了世界级魔术师 但在 Stifter 女士成为他的老师之前 学习总是不怎么努力却总 能过关 直到 Stifter 女士当了他的老师 这种局面就改变了 6 Our son was a high school senior when he had her for English He sits in the back of the room talking to his friends she told me Why don t you move him to the front row I urged believing the embarrassment would get him to settle down Mrs Stifter looked at me steely eyed over her glasses I don t move seniors she said I flunk them I was flustered Our son s academic life flashed before my eyes No teacher had ever threatened him weth that before I regained my composure and managed to say that I thought she was right By the time I got home I was feeling pretty good about this It was a radical approach for these times but well why not She s going to flunk you I told my son I did not discuss it any further Suddenly English became a priority in his life He finished out the semester with an A 当她教我们儿子英语的时候我们儿子还是一个高中生 她对我说 你们儿子总是坐 在教室后面和他的朋友说话 我敦促她说 为什么你不把他调到前排 相信他坐在前排 被那么多人看着就会好好学习 Stifter 女士用坚毅的眼神通过她的眼镜看着我说 我不 会为他们调位 他们已经是高中生了 我让他们不及格 我很慌张 我们儿子的学术生涯从我的眼前一闪而过 在这之前从没有老师威胁过他 我恢复了 平静 也认为她做的是对的 当回到家时我对这个方式感觉很好 它是一个好的激降法 为什么不这样做呢 于是我告诉我的儿子 她准备让你不基格 我其它什么也没说 突 然英语在他的生活中处于优先地位 他这个学期的成绩竟然得了一个 A 7 I know one example doesn t make a case but at night I see a parade of students who are angry and resentful for having been passed along until they could no longer even pretend to keep up Of average intelligence or better they eventually quit school concluding they were too dumb to finish I should have been held back is a comment I hear frequently Even sadder are those students who are high school graduates who say to me after a few weeks of class I don t know how I ever got a high school diploma 7 我知道一个例子虽然不能充分说明全部 但是在晚上我看到满是愤怒和怨恨的游行学 生 由于被忽略掉 他们甚至不能再这样假装的忍耐下去 即使智力一般的或更好的学生 由于认为他们太笨 而使他们最终退学 我应该被留下 是我听到的最频繁的话 更令人悲 哀的是 那些高中毕业生过了几周对我说 我不知道我曾经是怎么获得了一个高中毕业证 8 Passing students who have not mastered the work cheats them and the employers who expect graduates to have basic skills We excuse this dishonest behavior by saying kids can t learn if they come from terrible environments No one seems to stop to think that no matter what environments they come from most kids don t put school first on their list unless they perceive something is at stake They d rather be sailing 8 让一个对自己的学业都没掌握好的学生毕业 不仅欺骗了他们自己 也欺骗了那些 认为毕业生们都掌握了基本技能的雇主们 我们可以对这个不诚实的行为辩解说 孩子们 不能学习是因为他们周围的环境太糟糕 似乎没有人停下来思考过这个问题 无论孩子 们来自什么环境 大部分孩子并不会把学业放在第一位 除非他们意识到这种做法有一定 风险 他们宁愿随波逐流 9 Many students I see at night could give expert testimony on unemployment chemical dependency abusive relationships In spite of these for a better job or the need to hang on to the one they ve got They have a healthy fear of failure 9 我在夜校看到的学生的状况 被解雇 对毒品的依赖和家庭暴力等 可以给出 有力的证明 尽管有这样许多的困难 他们依然把接受教育放在优先的位置 他们被他们心 里的希望激励着 或是出于要找到一份好的工作 或是出于对保持现有工作的需要 他们 对失败都有一个健康的心理 10 People of all ages can rise above their problems but they need to have a reason to do so Young people generally don t have the maturity to value education in the same way my adult students value it But fear of failure whether economic or academic can motivate both 10 所有年龄段的人都能克服他们的问题 但他们需要一个这样做的理由 年轻人通常不 像我的那些成年的学生一样有一个成熟的心态去看待教育 但是对失败的害怕 可以激励 他们 无论是在经济上或是学术上 11 Flunking as a regular policy has just as much merit today as it did two generations ago We must review the threat offlunking and see it as it really is a postive teaching tool It is an expression of confidence by both tecahers and parents that the students have the ability to learn the material presented to them However making it work again would take adedicated caring conspiracy betwwen teachers and parents It would mean that teachers would have to follow through on their threats and parents would have to stand behind them knowing their children s best interests are indeed at stake This means no mor