拿什么来拯救你 美国的初等教育
To the Editor:
致编辑：American kids aren’t inherently less intelligent than kids in Singapore, or so one hopes. That’s the good news. The explanation for the Americans’ continued dismal performance in math therefore lies elsewhere.
好消息是，美国的孩子并不生来就比新加坡的孩子笨，或者我们希望是这样。美国人长期以来在数学上的劣势是由于其他方面的原因。
Having watched my kids navigate the local public schools for the past 11 years, I know that one of the problems is that educators still seem to be trying to figure out how to teach math. My daughters have been through the Singapore approach, with its traditional emphasis on mastery of number facts and arithmetic procedures; the reform approach, with its confusing inquiry-based philosophy; and now the “can’t we all just agree” Common Core standards approach. Why are we still trying to figure this out?
过去11年里，通过观察我在本地公立学校上学的孩子们，我发现其中一大问题在于，老师们似乎依然在摸索教授数学的方法。我的女儿们接受过新加坡式的教育。新加坡式的传统教育方法强调对数字规律和运算步骤的熟练掌握。而创新的教育模式则是令人困惑的基于询问的理念，直到现在的“我们怎么不都同意呢”的共同核心标准方法。为何我们国家现在还在摸索？Math has been taught to children at least since ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, and those kids grew up to use their mathematical skills to build the Parthenon, aqueducts and pyramids, which are still standing. The math taught in K-12 hasn’t really changed much since Gottfried Leibniz and Isaac Newton invented calculus in the 1600s, so one would think that educators have had enough time to figure out how to teach it.
最晚从古希腊、罗马和埃及时代起，人们就开始教小孩学习数学，那儿的孩子长大后运用他们学到的数学技巧建立了存续至今的帕台农神殿、水道和金字塔。自从戈特弗里德·莱布尼茨(Gottfried Leibniz)和艾萨克·牛顿(Isaac Newton)在17世纪初发明了微积分后，从幼儿园到12年级的数学教育就没怎么变过。人们当然觉得这么长的时间足够让老师们摸索出合适的教学方法。How about if educators stop experimenting with our kids, adopt whatever approach the Finnish or Singapore schools use, and get on with it?
不如老师们别再拿我们的孩子做实验了，不管是芬兰还是新加坡学校的方法，随便选一种用下去吧？ELIOT BRENOWITZ
艾略特·布雷诺维茨(Eliot Brenowitz)Seattle
西雅图The writer is a professor of psychology and biology at the University of Washington.
作者是华盛顿大学(University of Washington)心理学与生物学教授。To the Editor:
致编辑：For America to keep up globally, students need to have a basic understanding of mathematics. As an eighth grader, I am not proud to admit that I struggled with some of the problems posed by Nicholas Kristof. However, the difference between America and other countries is work ethic, not natural intelligence.
对于美国来说，要想跟上全球的步伐，学生们得对数学有个基本了解才行。身为八年级的学生，我不好意思承认自己确实被纪思道文中的有些题目搞得焦头烂额。然而，美国与其他国家之间的差异在于工作态度，而不在先天智商。BRIAN SILVERSTEIN
布莱恩·西尔福斯坦(Brian Silverstein)Highland Park, Ill.
伊利诺伊州高地公园To the Editor:
致编辑：Despite all the national and local efforts, energy and resources invested in attempting to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics, Nicholas Kristof is correct: Our students’ results on international comparative exams continue to be dismal, and general attitudes toward the subject are worse.
尽管我们已经在提高数学教学和学习上做出了全国性、地方性的诸多努力，投入了一定的精力和资源，但纪思道依然是对的：我们的学生在国际竞赛中的表现不如人意，对待数学学科的整体态度甚至更为糟糕。Unfortunately, our country does not have enough highly qualified, well-prepared mathematics teachers who are well respected and properly compensated to motivate students to appreciate and excel in mathematics.
不幸的是，我们国家的确缺少能力超群、准备充分、受人尊敬、薪酬合理，能正确激励学生对数学感兴趣并学好数学的老师。Quick fixes will never be the answer to strengthening the ranks of our mathematics teachers. Recruiting our best high school mathematics students (and there are many!) into a carefully designed, comprehensive and cohesive teacher preparation program would be a promising start.
权宜之计永远不能真正解决强化数学老师的问题。把高中里数学学得最好的学生们（有很多！）召集到一起，编成一支精心设计、全面而持续的教师后备军倒会是一个充满希望的开始。FRANCES R. CURCIO
弗朗西斯·R·柯西奥(Frances R. Curcio)Flushing, Queens
纽约皇后区法拉盛The writer is a professor of secondary mathematics education at Queens College, CUNY.
作者是纽约城市大学皇后学院中学数学教育教授。To the Editor:
致编辑：What is really disappointing is that meaningless test questions like these are used to judge educational competence. From a testing perspective, these should be classified as trick questions, not because they are hard, but because they have answers nobody would care about except for the test. Teaching kids to do well on tests like this is the real problem.
真正让人失望的是这类毫无意义的考试问题居然被用来评判人们的教育水平。从考试角度讲，这些问题属于捉弄人的问题，并不是因为它们难，而是因为它们的答案除了考试外，没人在乎。教导孩子们在这种考试上得心应手才是真正的麻烦。MICHAEL ZIMMERMAN
迈克尔·齐默尔曼(Michael Zimmerman)New York
纽约
