原文:http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzU1MDQwNTgzMg==&mid=2247491081&idx=1&sn=f11ebb103f2ab20a0e4c891eb9533423&chksm=fba04daeccd7c4b8228bdf05f504da5636ae2aeb5e7ab75b9f23d2dfe211a8383c726986a0bd#rd
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感谢思维导图作者
Tracy,女,设计爱好者,推理烧脑粉
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Covid-19 and schools
疫情中的学校
英文部分选自经济学人20200718期Leaders版块
Covid-19 and schools
疫情中的学校
Let Them Learn
让孩子们重返学校
Keeping Schools Closed Will Do More Harm Than GooD
停课,弊大于利
All around the world, children’s minds are going to waste. As covid-19 surged in early April, more than 90% of pupils were shut out of school. Since then the number has fallen by one-third, as many classrooms in Europe and East Asia have reopened. But elsewhere progress is slow. Some American school districts, including Los Angeles and San Diego, plan to offer only remote learning when their new school year begins. Kenya’s government has scrapped the whole year, leaving its children idle until January. In the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte says he may not let any children return to the classroom until a vaccine is found. South Africa has reopened casinos, but only a fraction of classrooms.
全世界孩子们的大脑正在被荒废。随着四月初新冠肺炎病例激增,超过90%的学生被停课。到目前为止,因为欧洲和东亚的许多学校重新开放,该人数已经下降了三分之一,但是其他地区没有太大进展。在美国,包括洛杉矶和圣迭戈在内的一些学区计划新学期只提供线上教育。肯尼亚政府甚至取消了一整年的在校课程,使得孩子们在2021年一月份前都将无所事事。菲律宾总统罗德里戈·杜特尔特表示,疫苗出来前不会让任何孩子返校。南非已经恢复开放赌场,但却只开放了一小部分的教室。
Many parents are understandably scared. Covid-19 is new, and poorly understood. Schools are big and crowded. Small children will not observe social distancing. Caution is appropriate, especially when cases are rising. But as we have argued before, the benefits of reopening schools usually outweigh the costs.
家长们的恐慌是可以理解的。我们对新冠肺炎这一新型疾病知之甚少。学校场所范围大且拥挤,年龄小的孩子很难保持社交距离,保持谨慎是恰当的,特别是在病例持续增多的情况下。但正如我们前面所说,恢复学校的教学利大于弊。
The new coronavirus poses a low risk to children. Studies suggest that under-18s are a third to a half less likely to catch the disease. Those under ten, according to British figures, are a thousand times less likely to die than someone aged between 70 and 79. The evidence suggests they are not especially likely to infect others. In Sweden staff at nurseries and primary schools, which never closed, were no more likely to catch the virus than those in other jobs. A new study of 1,500 teenage pupils and 500 teachers who had gone back to school in Germany in May found that only 0.6% had antibodies to the virus, less than half the national rate found in other studies. Granted, an outbreak at a secondary school in Israel infected over 150 pupils and staff. But with precautions, the risk can be minimised.
新冠肺炎对孩子的风险很低。研究表明,18岁以下人群感染新冠病毒的可能性比其他人低三分之一至二分之一。根据英国的数据来看,10岁以下的孩子比70岁到79岁的老人死亡率低1000倍。有证据表明,孩子们并不太容易感染其他人。在瑞典,从未关闭过的托儿所和小学的工作人员感染病毒的可能性并不比其他领域的工作人员高。一项新的研究检测了德国5月份回到学校的1500名青少年学生和500名教师,发现只有0.6% 的人有病毒抗体,不到全国比例(据其他研究结果)的一半。当然,以色列一所中学有150多名学生和教职员感染病毒,但只要采取预防措施,风险可以降到最低。
However, the costs of missing school are huge. Children learn less, and lose the habit of learning. Zoom is a lousy substitute for classrooms. Poor children, who are less likely to have good Wi-Fi and educated parents, fall further behind their better-off peers. Parents who have nowhere to drop their children struggle to return to work. Mothers bear the heavier burden, and so suffer a bigger career setback. Children out of school are more likely to suffer abuse, malnutrition and poor mental health.
然而,失学的代价是巨大的。孩子们学得少,丢失了学习的习惯。Zoom并不是一个理想的教室替代品。家境贫穷的孩子们,不大可能有流畅的无线网,父母也不太可能受过良好教育,因此远远落后于家境较好的同龄人。有些父母因为不知道如何安置孩子很难重返岗位。母亲们承受着更沉重的负担,因此也遭受着更大的事业挫折。失学儿童更有可能遭受虐待、营养不良以及心理疾病。
School closures are bad enough in rich countries. The harm they do in poor ones is much worse . Perhaps 465m children being offered online classes cannot easily make use of them because they lack an internet connection. In parts of Africa and South Asia, families are in such dire straits that many parents are urging their children to give up their studies and start work or get married. The longer school is shut, the more will make this woeful choice. Save the Children, a charity, guesses that nearly 10m could drop out. Most will be girls.
在发达国家,学校关闭已经够糟糕的了。然而这对贫穷国家带来的伤害更为严重,大约4.65亿儿童因为没有互联网而无法利用好网课。在非洲和南亚的部分地区,许多家庭处境艰难,以至于家长正催促孩子们放弃学业,开始工作或者结婚。学校关闭越久,就有越多家庭会做出这样可悲的选择。据慈善机构“救助儿童会”预测,大约1000万儿童会辍学,其中大部分是女孩。
注:
In dire straits: in a very difficult situation especially because of lack of money (尤指经济拮据引起的)困境,境况窘迫
Education is the surest path out of poverty. Depriving children of it will doom them to poorer, shorter, less fulfilling lives. The World Bank estimates that five months of school closures would cut lifetime earnings for the children who are affected by $10trn in today’s money, equivalent to 7% of current annual gdp.
无疑,教育是最可靠的脱贫路径。如果剥夺了孩子的受教育机会,注定会使他们过上更贫穷、更短暂、更缺乏意义的生活。据世界银行估算,学校关闭5个月会影响孩子们一生的收入,按照当前货币计算,总计约10万亿美元,相当于目前GDP的7%。
With such catastrophic potential losses, governments should be working out how to reopen schools as soon as it is safe. This should not be a partisan issue, as it has sadly become in America, where some people assume it is a bad idea simply because President Donald Trump proposes it. In some countries teachers’ unions have been obstructive, partly out of justified concern for public health as cases climb, but also because teachers’ interests are not the same as children’s—especially if they are being paid whether they work or not. The main union in Los Angeles urges that schools remain closed until a long wishlist of demands has been met, including the elusive dream of universal health care in America. Children cannot wait that long.
面对如此灾难性的潜在损失,政府应该着手解决的问题是:一旦疫情风波结束,如何重新开放学校。这不应该是一个党派问题,但遗憾的是在美国,这已经变成了一个党派问题——有些人仅仅因为是特朗普总统提出了复学就认为这是一个糟糕的主意。一些国家的教师工会阻止了复学,一定程度上是随着病例的增加,出于对公共健康的合理担忧;但同时也因为教师的利益与学生并不一致——尤其是教师不论是否工作都会得到报酬的话。洛杉矶主要的教师工会呼吁学校持续关闭,直到能够满足一长串的要求,其中甚至包含美国全民医保这一难以实现的梦想。孩子们等不了那么久。
Places that have restarted schooling, such as France, Denmark, China and New Zealand, offer tips for minimising the risks. They let the most vulnerable teachers stay at home. They commonly reduced class sizes, even though that meant many children could spend only part of the week with their teachers. They staggered timetables to prevent crowding in corridors, at school gates and in dinner halls. They required or encouraged masks. They boosted school-based testing and tracing. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has used these to draw up sober guidelines, which include measures such as separating desks by six feet (though the vice-president this week said that schools should feel free to ignore them).
像法国、丹麦、中国和新西兰等一些已经重新开学的国家,都提供了将风险降到最低的建议。他们让身体最虚弱易感的教师呆在家里;他们通常缩小班级规模——尽管这意味着很多孩子一周只能有一部分时间和老师待在一起;他们错开时间表以防止在走廊、校门口和食堂造成拥挤,或要求或鼓励学生戴口罩;他们加强了基于学校层面的检测和追踪。同时疾病控制和预防中心已经利用这些规则起草了严格的指导方针,其中包括如课桌之间保持6英尺间隔等措施(尽管副总统本周表示,学校可以任意忽视这些指导方针)。
European countries waited on average about 30 days after infections had peaked before they resumed some presence at school. Having started this way, many have since relaxed the rules to let most pupils return to school at the same time. There is no known experience of schools reopening in places where the virus was as prevalent as it is now in Arizona, Florida or Texas. Such places will have to bring the virus under control before the new term begins. This probably means that not all children will be able to go back full-time even then. But a few days a week with a teacher are better than none. And, as in Europe, schools can open up more as covid-19 recedes.
在疫情感染达到高峰后,欧洲各国平均等待30天左右才开始恢复部分返校。开始这样做后,许多学校放松了规定,允许大多数学生同时返校。现在在亚利桑那州、佛罗里达州和德克萨斯州这些疫情盛行的地方,还没有可参考的学校重新开学经验。这些地方必须在新学期开始前控制住病毒。这可能意味着即使到那时,也不是所有的孩子都能回校进行全日制学习。但是一周有几天和老师在一起总比没有好。与欧洲一样,随着新冠疫情的消退,更多的学校可以重新开放。
The trade-offs in the global South are even harder. Only a quarter of schools in the poorest countries have soap and running water for handwashing. However, schools in such places are also where pupils are often fed and vaccinated. Closing them makes children more vulnerable to hunger and measles, and this risk almost certainly outweighs that of covid-19. The prudent course for poor-country governments is therefore to act boldly. Face down unions and reopen schools. Conduct loud re-enrolment campaigns, aimed especially at girls. Offer small cash transfers or gifts (such as masks or pens) to ease parents’ worries about the costs of getting their offspring back to class.
在全球南部地区,权衡取舍更加困难。在一些最贫穷的国家,只有四分之一的学校有肥皂和自来水洗手。然而,这些地方的学校也经常为学生提供食物和接种疫苗。关闭学校会使儿童更易遭受饥饿和麻疹,而这种风险几乎肯定超过新冠肺炎带来的风险。因此,贫穷国家政府的谨慎的做法就是大胆行动。说服工会,让学校重新开学。组织声势浩大的重新入学运动,特别是针对女孩。提供小额现金转移支付或礼物(如口罩或笔),来缓解父母对孩子重返课堂所需费用的担忧。
注:
1. The Global South: it is an emerging term, used by the World Bank and other organizations, identifying countries with one side of the underlying global North–South divide, the other side being the countries of the Global North.As such the term does not inherently refer to a geographical south, for example most of the Global South is within the Northern Hemisphere.全球南部是世界银行和其他组织使用的一個新兴术语,用于标识全球南北鸿沟的一侧,另一侧是全球北部的国家。该术语並不固有地指地理上的南部,例如,全球南部的大多数国家位于北半球內。该术语最初是作为“第三世界”替代品引入的。
2. Course: (also course of action) a way of acting in or dealing with a particular situation 行动方式;处理方法
3. Face down:oppose sb. by dealing with them directly and confidently 压倒;降服
4. A cash transfer: a direct transfer payment of money to an eligible person. Cash transfers are either unconditional cash transfers or conditional cash transfers. They may be provided by organisations funded by private donors, or a local or regional government.转移支付是指政府或企业无偿地支付给个人以增加其收入和购买力的费用。它是一种收入再分配形式。政府的转移支付大都带有福利支出性质,如社会保险福利津贴、抚恤金、养老金、失业补助、救济金以及各种补助费等。
Reopening the world’s schools safely will not be cheap. Besides billions of bottles of hand sanitiser, it will require careful organisation, flexible schedules and assistance for those who have fallen behind to catch up. It will cost taxpayers money, but taxpayers are often parents, too. Rich countries should help poor ones with some of the costs. Steep as these will be, they are nothing like the costs of letting the largest generation in human history grow up in ignorance.
安全地重新开放世界各地的学校不会便宜。除了数十亿瓶洗手液,还需要细心的组织、灵活的时间表和使那些落后的学生赶上进度所需的援助。这将花费纳税人的钱,但纳税人通常也是为人父母。富裕的国家应该帮助贫穷的国家承担部分成本。尽管这些成本代价将会非常高昂,但这与让人类历史上人口最多的一代人在无知中成长所需付出的成本代价相比,是无足轻重的。
翻译组:
Miranda,女,翻译在读,爱哭又爱笑的00后
Carole,女,经济硕士,在成为经济学人铁粉的路上
Mai,男,经济学博士,世界那么大,我想活得久一点
校对组:
Neil, 男,外贸民工,经济学人铁粉
Hannah,女,英语教书匠,经济学人粉丝
Melody,女,咨询搬砖逐渐熟练工,经济学人粉丝儿
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观点|评论|思考
本次感想
Samantha,女,不吃米饭,邓伦未婚妻
真正体会到享受学习是在成年之后。过了一定时间点才发现,以前觉得老生常谈的话大部分还挺有道理,比如学习是为了懂得思考;采取哪种学习方法非常重要;教育不是注满一桶水,而是点燃一把火……那些令人羡慕的能力,如辨识、决断、取舍、批判,都是从日积月累的教育经历而来。学校则是习得这些能力的途径中成本最低的地方——前人智慧摊开在你面前,有固定的时间提供互动,也有定期反馈和检查机制。尽管考试压力之大毋庸置疑,但要先抛开人口增长这个外生变量不谈,单论教育和学习本身的话,那种纯粹为了探索知识的边界而沉浸的感受,确实非常值得珍惜。
除了知识,教育更是为了经历。实体教育场所的另一个美好之处是学会如何与人相处。进入社会后往往更加珍惜那些校园时代的朋友,他们靠谱踏实有趣,你们一起在校服上花心思绞尽了脑汁,你知道他们为了躲避班主任的死亡凝视做出过什么糗事,他们知道你暗恋的男生其实早也喜欢你。独生子女这一代人,很少有过比同学更亲密的同龄人关系。每一次转校或者升学,认识的那些单纯善良的小伙伴们也在慢慢改变你,这是家庭永远代替不了的美好环境。希望未来的年轻人们回忆现在新冠给学校按下的暂停键,更多会感慨一声,开学真好。
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