Weekly Address: Giving Every Child, Everywhere, a Fair Shot (February 14, 2015)

奧巴馬每周電視演講：給每一個孩子公平的機會

Hi, everybody.  In my State of the Union Address, I laid out my ideas to help working families feel more secure and earn the skills required to advance in a world of constant change.

大家好。在我的國情咨文演講里，我勾勒了促使工薪家庭感到更加安全和獲得在一個永恒變化的世界上不斷前進所需要的技能的設想。

And in a new economy that’s increasingly built on knowledge and innovation, a core element of this middle-class economics is how well we prepare our kids for the future.

在一個越來越依賴知識和創(chuàng)新的新經濟里，中產階級經濟學的核心要素就是我們如何培養(yǎng)我們的孩子們應對未來。

For decades, we threw money at education without making sure our schools were actually improving, or whether we were giving teachers the tools they need, or whether our taxpayer dollars were being used effectively.  And our kids too often paid the price.

幾十年來，我們在教育上砸了很多錢但是沒有什么成效，換句話說就是是否我們給老師們他們需要的工具，是否我們有效地使用了納稅人們的錢。通常是我們的孩子們深受其害。

Over the past few years, we’ve seen signs that our elementary and secondary school students are doing better.  Last year, our younger students earned the highest math and reading scores on record.  Last week, we learned that our high school graduation rate hit a new all-time high.

在過去的幾年里，我們已經看到我們的小學生和初中生們不斷進步的苗頭。去年，我們的青年學生們在數(shù)學和閱讀方面取得了創(chuàng)紀錄的成就。上周，我們得知我們的中學畢業(yè)率達歷史最高。

This is progress.  But in a 21st century economy, our kids will only do better than we did if we educate them better than we were educated.  So we have to do more to make sure they graduate from school fully prepared for college and a career.

這是了不起的進步。但是在21世紀經濟中，只有我們給他們比我們受到的更好的教育才能比我們更加出色。所以我們必須更進一步確保他們中學畢業(yè)后就完全適應大學和職業(yè)生涯需要。

This year, I want to work with both parties in Congress to replace No Child Left Behind with a smarter law that addresses the overuse of standardized tests, makes a real investment in preschool, and gives every kid a fair shot in the new economy.

今年，我希望與國會的兩黨議員們合作用更加明智的，針對過度使用標準化考試的法律來取代“不讓一個孩子掉隊”方針，在學前教育上有效投資，給每個孩子在新經濟中一個公平的機會。

Now, it’s pretty commonsense that an education bill should actually improve education.  But as we speak, there’s a Republican bill in Congress that would frankly do the opposite.

今天，教育投資應該帶來教育的改進簡直就是常識。但是正如我所說的，在國會共和黨人的教育投資法案坦率地說恰恰相反。

At a time when we should invest more in our kids, their plan would lock in cuts to schools for the rest of this decade.  We’d end up actually invest less in our kids in 2021 than we did in 2012.

在我們需要給我們的孩子們投資更多的時候，他們的計劃卻在這個十年的余下年份里削減教育投資里打轉轉。我們最終達成的在2021年對我們的孩子們的投資比我們在2012年的還少。

At a time when we should give our teachers all the resources they need, their plan could let states and cities shuffle education dollars into things like sports stadiums or tax cuts for the wealthy.

在我們應該給我們的老師們他們需要的所有資源的時候，他們的計劃可能使很多州和很多市的教育經費用到體育場館建設或為富人減稅上去。

At a time when we have to give every child, everywhere, a fair shot – this Congress would actually allow states to make even deeper cuts into school districts that need the most support, send even more money to some of the wealthiest school districts in America, and turn back the clock to a time when too many students were left behind in failing schools.

在我們必須給我們的每個孩子，無論他在哪里，一個公平的計劃的時候--本屆國會可能會允許各州進一步削減最需要支持的學區(qū)的教育經費，而把這些錢用于美國最富裕的學區(qū)，重演那么多學生們被扔到慘淡經營的學校里的歷史。

Denying a quality education to the children of working families is as wrong as denying health care or child care to working families.  We are better than this.

拒絕給工薪家庭的孩子們高品質的教育如同拒絕給工薪家庭的孩子們醫(yī)保或兒保一樣錯誤。好在我們還沒有到這步田地。

I have a different vision for the middle class.

我給中產階級一個不同的遠景規(guī)劃。

In today’s world, we have to equip all our kids with an education that prepares them for success, regardless of what they look like, or how much their parents make, or the zip code they live in.

在今天的世界上，我們必須給我們的孩子們培養(yǎng)他們成功的教育，不管他們長得什么樣或他們的父母掙多少錢，或他們駐地的郵政編碼是什么。

And that means trying new things, investing in what’s working, and fixing what’s not.

這意味著做新嘗試，投資于那些有效的，修改那些無效的。

That means cutting testing down to the bare minimum required to make sure parents and teachers know how our kids and schools are doing from year to year, and relative to schools statewide.

這意味著削減僅僅滿足最低要求的考試，而確保家長們和老師們知道我們的孩子們和學校年復一年都做什么，和全國其他學校相比有什么不同。

That means giving the teachers and principals who do the hard work every day the resources they need to spend less time teaching to a test, and more time teaching our kids the skills they need.

這意味著給每天嘔心瀝血的老師們和校長們他們需要的資源減少應試教育時間，把更多時間用于教授我們的孩子們他們需要的技能。

Some of these changes are hard.  They’ll require all of us to demand more of our schools and more of our kids, making sure they put down the video games and iPhones, and pick up the books.  They’ll require us to demand that Washington treat education reform as the dedicated progress of decades – something a town with a short attention span doesn’t always do very well.

這些變革中有些很艱難。它們都要求我們所有人提高我們對學校和孩子們的要求，確保他們放下電游和iphone，拿起書。它們都要求我們要求華盛頓把教育改革視為今后幾十年里必須專注的進程--一些一個城市只關心幾天就放棄肯定做不好的事。

But I'm confident we can do this.  When it comes to education, we are not a collection of states competing against one another; we are a nation competing against the world.  Nothing will determine our success as a nation in the 21st century more than how well we educate our kids.  And we shouldn’t accept anything less than the best.

但是我相信我們能做好這些。談到教育，我們就不是一些互相競爭的州的總和，我們是一個與世界競爭的國家。沒有什么能比如何教育好我們的孩子們更能決定我們在21世紀的成功了。我們只接受最好。

Thanks, and before I go – Happy Valentine’s Day, Michelle.  Have a great weekend, everybody.

謝謝，在我結束之前--情人節(jié)快樂，米切爾。各位，周末快樂。

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