A bold but risky move to toughen exams
增加考试难度：大胆而又有风险的举措
Inflation feels so good
在容易的考试中得高分，这种感觉真棒
IT IS not so much a revolution as a restoration. Leaked plans have revealed that Michael Gove, the education secretary, intends to phase out the General Certificate of Secondary Education, the exam for which 16-year-olds have swotted since the late 1980s. Back comes the O-level system which preceded it.
要说这是革命的话还不如说是复旧。“普通中等教育证书会考”（GCSE）是自20世纪80年代后期16岁学童就在为之努力的考试，但据遭泄露的政府计划透露，教育大臣迈克尔•戈夫想要逐步取消这套考试，恢复GCSE之前的中等教育证书会考（O-level）。
From 2014 most candidates will sit more academically orientated papers, with particular emphasis on English, science and maths. Modern-languages exams will be toughened up. The various GCSE-awarding exam boards will compete for a single exam-setting contract, ending the temptation to undercut each other on standards. Most controversially, less able pupils will sit different exams, similar to the old Certificate of Secondary Education.
从2014年起，大部分考生的考试试卷将更注重学术内容，并以英语、科学与数学为重点学科。现代外语的考试将变难。各家中考委员会将竞争取得单一的考试设置合同，不再需要竞相压低标准以招徕考生。计划中最具争议的部分是：能力较差的学生可以参加不同的考试，这与过去的“中等教育证书会考”（ Certificate of Secondary Education）类似。
Mr Gove has good reason to take a sledgehammer to the exam system. GCSEs, sat by pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Scotland has a separate system), have long been criticised for lacking theoretical rigour and focusing too narrowly on the easier aspects of hard subjects. A grading and points system encouraged schools to enter pupils for less demanding courses, in order to boost their place in league tables. The proportion of pupils gaining at least five grades A* to C has shot up from 55% to 81% since 2004-05. Mr Gove has concluded that the exam’s reputation is beyond repair.
戈夫有充分理由对考试制度痛下杀手。英格兰、威尔士和北爱尔兰（苏格兰有不同的考试制度）学生参加的这套考试长期以来就广遭非议，认为它对学生的学业水平要求不高，在较难的科目中过分偏重比较容易的部分。为了让自己在排名榜上获得较高的位置，学校受定级与评分制度的诱导，让学生学习要求不高的课程。至少在5门考试中获得A*-C成绩的学生比例自2004-05年度的55%一路飙升至去年的81%。戈夫的结论是：这套考试的名声已无法挽回。
Mathematics, chemistry, biology and physics will be examined in tougher new papers, intended to propel Britain up the world education rankings. In 2009 the latest round of the PISA test, which compares educational attainment across rich countries, showed the country lagging in the middle of the results table in key subjects.
数学、化学、生物和物理将采用更难的新试卷，目的是提高英国的世界教育排名。PISA测试旨在比较富裕国家的教育成果，它在2009年的最后一轮测试表明，英国在关键学科的结果列表中屈居中游。
The GCSE has become a qualification freighted with contradictory social and academic expectations. Intended to end the academic-vocational divide, it has produced a two-tier system in which some subjects are regarded by universities and employers as markedly inferior to others.
GCSE这种学业资格现在充斥着自相矛盾的社会与学术期望。为了结束学术与就业分离的现象，它推出了一种两级体系；大学和用人单位认为，在此体系中的一些学科显然不像其他的学科那样有用。
The plans are likely to irk the Conservatives’ Liberal Democrat coalition partners and the teachers’ unions. The government may also have to endure the public-relations problem of lower exam results, at least in the short term. Mr Gove is banking on winning the argument by moving quickly to introduce the new exams and appealing to parents and employers to back him. His challenge will be to find enough outstanding teachers to ensure that state school pupils receive teaching of a quality suited to the new rigour. A shortage of science and maths teachers has long been a problem.
这些计划很可能会让保守党在联合政府中的自民党伙伴和教师工会烦恼。至少在短期之内，政府可能也必须面对因考试成绩下降而引起的公众愤慨。戈夫指望以迅雷不及掩耳之势推出新的考试制度赢得争论，并向家长和用人单位寻求支持。他所面临的挑战是：必须找到足够多的优秀教师，以保证公立学校学生享有的教学的质量能与考试的新难度相称。缺乏足够的科学与数学教师长期以来就是个难题。
Mr Gove is on his way to being remembered as a bold education secretary. To rank as an outstanding one, he will need to show that the result of the upheaval is not simply exams to rival the best in the world, but markedly better state schools. That remains a stiff test.
戈夫正在成为一位大胆的教育大臣。但要跻身杰出教育大臣之列，他需要证明，这次重大改革获得的成果不仅是在考试上与世界最强者竞争，而是要造就比原来好得多的公立学校。这仍旧是一项艰难的考试。
天之聪教育
2012-08-17
economist
819次
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