Not achievement or accomplishment or All-American. Not anymore.

“A”不再代表“成績”、“成就”，也不代表“所有美國人”。

It's a basic tradition of American education: rewarding student achievement through honor rolls and academic awards. The idea is that schools can encourage excellence by recognizing it publicly. Honored students rightfully feel pride， and their example motivates other students to work harder. It's a little like society in general - capitalism in the classroom， you might call it.

對成績優(yōu)異的學(xué)生通過光榮榜和獎學(xué)金進行鼓勵是美國教育的基本傳統(tǒng)。這一想法的初衷就是校方通過公開的方式對優(yōu)秀的學(xué)生進行鼓勵。受到表彰的學(xué)生的自豪感油然而生，并且以他們?yōu)榘駱?，可以激勵其他學(xué)生更努力地學(xué)習。一般而言，學(xué)校就是一個小社會，你也可以將學(xué)生的成績稱為他們在教室里的資本。

But some people think that for every honor student， there's a kid with bruised feelings. And protecting the low feelings of a student is more important than celebrating another's high accomplishments. That's the message sent to school kids in Nashville last December.

然而有些人認為每名得到榮譽的學(xué)生背后，都會有一個心靈受挫的孩子。安撫某些情緒低落的學(xué)生比嘉獎成績優(yōu)異者要重要的多。 那就是去年12月發(fā)送給在納什維爾學(xué)校的孩子們的信息。

It all started when several parents complained about a school publicizing the names of students who had made the honor roll and earned other academic distinctions. It seems those parents felt the list would harm the self-esteem of some non-honors students. \"They were very concerned that... children would feel ashamed or discouraged or left out because they weren't honored，\" one school official told the Nashville Tennessean.

事情始于幾名家長對學(xué)校公布上光榮榜并拿到獎學(xué)金的學(xué)生名單大加抱怨。似乎那些家長認為這些名單會傷害一些未受表彰的學(xué)生的自尊?！八麄兎浅摹⒆訒驗槲词艿焦膭疃X得羞愧、氣餒甚至有種被遺棄感，” 一位校方管理人員這樣告訴《納什維爾田納西人》的記者。

Here's the kicker: The complaining adults weren't even upset about their own kids， who'd actually made honor roll. They were indignant on behalf of their kids' friends who hadn't. Who knew a simple honor roll could cause so much trouble? But it did. A school attorney discovered an old state law barring the release of students' academic information without parental consent. Suddenly， most Nashville schools stopped announcing their honor roll. One school declined to announce the winner of its spelling bee. One high school principal was told， to his amazement， that he couldn't release the names of high-scorers at basketball games. It became taboo to celebrate success.

還遠不止這些：那些抱怨連天的家長甚而不是為了他們自己的孩子上了光榮榜而感到沮喪。他們也為自己孩子那些沒有上光榮榜的朋友們感到憤慨。誰能想到一個簡單的光榮榜能導(dǎo)致如此多的麻煩？但是的確如此。一位學(xué)校的代理律師發(fā)現(xiàn)該州一條很久以前的法律條文規(guī)定：禁止在沒有得到家長許可的情況下公布學(xué)生的學(xué)術(shù)（考試）信息。突然間大多數(shù)納什維爾的學(xué)校停止了光榮榜的公布行為。有所學(xué)校甚至拒絕宣布一場拼字比賽的優(yōu)勝者。一位高中校長被告知，他不能公布籃球比賽獲勝球員名單，這讓他十分詫異。慶祝成功一時間成為了禁忌。

Now for the sanity part: Some folks in Nashville had the good judgment to call this madness， and the honor rolls were eventually reinstituted (for kids whose parents consented， at least). But others still wanted to eliminate old-fashioned competition. The principal of one local school said that he just didn't believe in ranking students. In fact， he had done away with his school's honor roll before the statewide controversy. \"I discourage competitive games at school，\" he told the Associated Press. \"They just don't fit my worldview of what a school should be.\"

現(xiàn)在也有明智的一部分：一些判斷力強的納什維爾的當?shù)鼐用駥⒋艘暈榀偪?，光榮榜最終被重立（至少為了那些已征得父母同意的孩子們）。 但是其他居民仍然想廢除古板的競爭。 一所地方學(xué)校的校長說他根本不推崇光榮榜。實際上，他在全州范圍內(nèi)的爭論之前就已經(jīng)廢除了自己學(xué)校的光榮榜制度。他告訴美聯(lián)社：“我在學(xué)校不鼓勵競爭比賽。在我的世界觀中，學(xué)校不該如此充滿競爭?！?/p>

Come again? Competition has always been central to education， and for good reason. In the real world， results matter - whether you're a mechanic or a house painter or an accountant.

重新來過？競爭從來都是教育的核心部分，也是教育里再好不過的原因。不管你是技工、油漆工或者會計，在現(xiàn)實世界中，結(jié)果才是重要的。

And your abilities have never mattered more than today. Think for a minute about the outsourcing of jobs. Sure， companies are attracted to cheaper labor in places like India， but to thrive they also need skilled workers. That's just what they find there and in a number of other countries: well-educated， highly motivated workers. To compete in this global marketplace， our students have to be taught to excel.

而個人的能力從未像今天這樣顯得重要。想想那些外包的工作吧。毋庸置疑，像印度這樣勞動力低廉的地方對公司肯定更有吸引力，但是企業(yè)要發(fā)展他們也需要熟練工。那正是他們在印度以及其它很多國家想要找的：受過良好教育、工作積極性高的員工。要在這個全球化的市場勝出，我們的學(xué)生必須優(yōu)秀。

Unfortunately， plenty of schools around the country are joining Nashville in watering down the traditional standards of success. For instance， you might assume that honoring one superstar as the class valedictorian every year is a rock-solid tradition. But school districts in a number of states are rethinking this practice.

然而不幸的是，全國很多學(xué)校加入納什維爾來弱化成功的傳統(tǒng)標準。比如，學(xué)校每年都要像推崇超級巨星一樣選出一名優(yōu)秀畢業(yè)生，你也許認為這是每年雷打不動的傳統(tǒng)。但是很多州的校區(qū)都在反思這一做法。

\"There are folks who are against the whole valedictorian idea because they don't like the competitiveness，\" says Michael Carr of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. One San Antonio principal told the local paper that naming valedictorians would clash with her school's \"educational philosophy.\"

“有不少人反對挑選優(yōu)秀畢業(yè)生的想法，因為他們不喜歡競爭，”全國中學(xué)校長協(xié)會的邁克爾#8226;卡爾說。一位名叫圣#8226;安東尼奧的校長告訴一家地方性報紙，公布優(yōu)秀畢業(yè)生姓名與她學(xué)校的“教育理念”相互沖突。

But kids are fighting back with lawsuits brought against schools， claiming they were denied their rightful title as valedictorian. These pressures are causing some schools to respond in really bizarre ways. In Texas， Indiana and Kentucky， several schools are parading 10 or more of their top students as \"valedictorians\" on graduation day - making a joke out of a once-great honor. According to the dean of admissions at one California college， some high schools are honoring as many as 50 to 100 \"valedictorians.\"

但是孩子們正在用法律手段進行反擊，宣稱校方剝奪了其優(yōu)秀畢業(yè)生的正當頭銜。這些壓力致使一些學(xué)校的反應(yīng)異乎尋常。在得克薩斯、印第安納和肯塔基州，畢業(yè)那天，好幾所學(xué)校的尖子生都在游行，玩笑地看待這曾一度偉大的榮譽。據(jù)加州的一位負責招生的校方領(lǐng)導(dǎo)稱，一些高中表彰多達50到100名的優(yōu)秀畢業(yè)生。

It's one thing to blur the differences between students when you're giving out awards. But this Kumbaya attitude has also seeped into classrooms， with potentially serious consequences. A school board in New Hampshire， concerned about undermining the self-image of kids， voted earlier this year to end the practice of breaking students into different groups and teaching them according to their ability. So now the school is \"leveling\" the groups and teaching everyone together. But tracking students makes good academic sense: It allows teachers to challenge the best students and give struggling kids the extra support they need， without wasting the time of either group. And who's to say that low-performing students will feel any better when they're in a classroom full of sharpies and can't keep up?

給予學(xué)生獎勵將淡化學(xué)生間的差別。但是這種“老好人”的態(tài)度也滲透到了教室，其潛在的后果十分嚴重。新罕布什爾州的一個校董會，關(guān)注著損害孩子們自我形象的行為，今年初通過投票停止根據(jù)孩子們的能力而進行的分組教學(xué)活動。如今校方正在衡量各小組水平并實行統(tǒng)一教學(xué)。但是對學(xué)生的成績進行全程追蹤在學(xué)術(shù)上還是效果不錯的：老師可以給成績好的學(xué)生更具挑戰(zhàn)的學(xué)習任務(wù)；對學(xué)習吃力的孩子提供額外輔導(dǎo)，這就無需浪費任何一個小組的時間。有誰會認為那些成績不佳的學(xué)生在一個滿教室都是學(xué)習尖子、自己卻怎么也跟不上的環(huán)境里感覺會好呢？

Some elementary schools have also moved away from letter and number grades， choosing instead commentary about students based on their achievements \"in relation to their own effort and ability，\" as one education website puts it. And that has led to a lot of meaningless jargon. One Illinois school district gave up letter grades in favor of baffling commentary like \"emerging\"， \"developing\"， \"exceed\" and \"modify\". According to a local paper， \"modify\" signals that \"changes need to be made in the curriculum to change the child's expectations\" - as if the curriculum， and not the child and his or her parents， is at fault.

一些小學(xué)也取消了使用字母、數(shù)字給學(xué)生評分，而是根據(jù)學(xué)生的努力程度及個人能力來對其成績進行評論，就像一家教育網(wǎng)站做的那樣。這也致使一批毫無意義的術(shù)語的出現(xiàn)。伊利諾斯州的一所學(xué)校的校區(qū)放棄了字母等級排名制度，選用一些令人困惑的評價詞語，比如“進步迅速的”、“有所發(fā)展的”、“優(yōu)秀”、“有待改進”。根據(jù)當?shù)匾患覉蠹埥榻B，“有待改進”就是說課程安排需要作出調(diào)整來改變孩子的期望。這樣一來好像是錯在課程而非孩子及其父母。

No more honor rolls， valedictorians， letter grades - how long before schools start to ban simple games like tag? Oh， wait: That happened at a Santa Monica， California， school just a couple of years ago. \"In this game， there is a 'victim'， or 'It'， which creates a self-esteem issue，\" the principal explained in a newsletter to parents. Tag would no longer be allowed， unless supervised by adults. Your lesson for the day， kids: School is no place for winners.

再也沒有光榮榜、優(yōu)秀畢業(yè)生和分數(shù)表了——學(xué)校是從何時起開始禁止像“1、2、3”木頭人這樣簡單的游戲了？噢，等等，幾年前在加州一個叫圣塔#8226;摩尼卡的地方就發(fā)生過這樣的事?！霸谶@個游戲中有個犧牲品，這便牽扯進來了自尊心的問題，”校長如是在報紙上向家長解釋。這種標簽排名從此銷聲匿跡，除非有成人的監(jiān)督。孩子們，這就是教訓(xùn)：優(yōu)秀者在學(xué)校無立足之地了。

Notes:

1. outsourcing

指外包加工業(yè)務(wù)。

2. clash with

與某物發(fā)生沖撞，也可指相悖的思想、觀點間的沖撞。

3. seep into

指液體慢慢滲入，也可指某種思想、觀念的滲入。