1、Business Sees Profits in Education:Challenging Public Schools By Irving H.Buchen 由于私人企业的介入，美国的教育正在经历一系列快速、惊人的变化。1.Education in the United States is undergoing a rapid and dramatic series of changes caused by private enterprise moving into the field.教育吸引私人企业有三个原因。第一是财务上的回报。估计教育是个有 6000 亿美元的市场，超出国防部的预
2、算。从幼儿园至 12 年级是最大的单个市场，1998 年的价值达到了 3100 百亿美元。除此之外，人们对学习的毕生追求，企业与机构进行的培训项目是不断增长的领域。2.Education attracts the private sector for three reasons. First, it can be financially rewarding. Education is estimated to be a $600 billion market, more than the budget for the Department of Defense. The biggest sin
3、gle market is kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12), valued at $310 billion in 1998. Additionally, lifelong learning and training programs for businesses and organizations are growing areas.第二，教育受到严重的压力，虽然内部尽全力进行改革，但人们对这个既有的体制信心不足。针对公共教育的种种败笔，居家自学者和公办民管学校有了增加，他们都是教育产品和教育服务的对象。居家自学者的家长们定期参加承办者们推荐
4、其教育产品和教育服务的地区会议。3.Second, education has received such a bad press that confidence in the established system is low in spite of all the internal efforts at reform. In response to public educations many failures, home schoolers and charter schools have increased, and both are customers for educational
5、 products and services. Home-schooling parents regularly attend regional conferences at which exhibitors offer their products and services.第三，教育就在人们身边，伸手可及。人们普遍认为专业的公共教育家们有充足的时间来彻底改变这一体制。私人企业即便是以营利为动力介入来纠正这种体制，只能怪教育家们自己，尤其是因为这类介入许诺会产生效果。 4.Third, education is there for the taking. The general attitu
6、de is that professional, public educators have had sufficient time to turn the system around. They have no one but themselves to blame for corrective intervention from the private sector, even if that intervention is financially motivated, and especially since these actions promise to achieve result
7、s.目前几乎所有在营销的新的教育产品和教育服务都带有技术的特征。这种技术能替代全部教师或减少教师的数量，从而解决一些传统教育中的致命弱点。譬如，替代教师只是降低了大量劳动密集型的教学过程导致的昂贵费用，而学生数量并没有减少。这样就取消了教师终身职位制，而终身制恰恰使那些既没有受过培训又没有水平，不适应变化及新方法的教员始终留在岗位上。这一技术最终犹如最好的教师，永远耐心温和。它适5.Almost all of the new educational products and services now being marketed bear the stamp of technology. Su
8、ch technology replaces teachers altogether or reduces their number, thus solving several critical weaknesses in traditional education. For instance, replacing teachers reduces the high cost of an excessively labor-intensive instructional process while still serving the same number of students. Then,
9、 too, it eliminates tenure, which unfortunately locks in instructors who do not have the training or knowledge to keep up with changing fields and new approaches. 合每个学生的不同学习速度和知识水平，永不疲倦。Finally, technology, like the best of teachers, is infinitely patient and reassuring. It accommodates the speed of
10、 each student and his or her level of learning. It never wearies.以下描述的是竞争教育市场的多家不同公司，以其所采用的主导技术排列。由于情况一直在变化，也许不是所有的主要竞争对手都在此出现。其目的不在于提供一幅完整的图画而是要展现教育变化的广度。6.Below is a description of the many different companies competing for the educational market, grouped by the main technology they use. Because t
11、he situation is in flux, not all the major players may appear here. The aim is not to produce a definitive picture but rather to demonstrate the extent to which education is changing. 卫星连接 Satellite Links拥有 800 多万学生观众的第一频道提供 12 到 15分钟的新闻广播和适合不同年龄段的时事回顾。这一免费为学校提供的服务是由广告商赞助的。学生喜欢哪个设计师的品牌或他们爱看哪种电视广告的反馈
12、则当作市场信息出售。7.Channel One, viewed by over 8 million students, provides a 12- to 15-minute newscast and review of current events adjusted for different age groups. This service, free for schools, is sponsored by advertisers. Feedback from students as to what designer labels they prefer and what adverti
13、sing they enjoy seeing on TV is then sold as marketing data.教育管理集团为 4000 多个教室开通虚拟旅行。集团花费 3 万美元为教室配备了卫星实况转播装置和交互对话装置，因此学生可以直接向在世界各地景点的电视制作人员提出问题。摄制景点包括考古、水下探险、科学实验室以及艺术家工作室。8.The Educational Management Group provides virtual voyages for over 4,000 classrooms. For $30,000, the company equips classroom
14、s with a live satellite link and interactive speaker phones so that students can ask questions directly to a traveling series of TV crews visiting sites all over the world. Visits include archaeological sites, underwater explorations, scientific labs and artists studios.软件 Software卢卡斯学习创办于 1998 年的秋季
15、。公司采用星球大战的样式为 10 至 14 岁儿童讲授基本科学原理。例如，他们第一个软件产品是星球大战德劳特工厂。软件以一个机器人工厂为背景，向学生解释设计制造机器人涉及到的能量、光学、磁性、工程学和机械装置原理及应用。9.Lucas learning was launched in the fall of 1998. The company uses the Star Wars format to teach 10 to14 year-olds basic scientific principles. For example, their first software product is
16、Star Wars Droid Works. Set on the floor of a robot factory, it takes students through all the principles and applications of energy, light, magnetism, engineering and motion necessary to design and build robots.学习公司与布罗特邦德由布罗特邦德软件公司（产品有卡门圣地亚哥和奥秘）与学习公司（产品有马雅探索）最近合并而成。这家新公司注册用户增加了 1 倍，达到 2000 万。最流行的软件程
17、序有点击艺术、家谱制作、打印工艺、游戏策略、红眼孩子及泥球墙，这些软件用来开发 8至 12 岁儿童的逻辑思维技能。10.The Learning Company and Broderbund is the result of a recent merger between Broderbund Software (which produces Carmen San Diego and Myst) and the Learning Company (which produced MayaQuest), this new company has almost doubled its registe
18、red users to about 20 million. Some of the most popular software programs are Click Art, Family Tree Maker, The Print Shop, Games Strategies, Red Orb Kids, and Mudball Wall (which build the logic skills of 8 to 12 year-olds).计算机课程公司是从幼儿园至 12 年级的软件最大的提供商。这个公司 50 个不同的程序对学生和教师都适合。公司提供追踪个别学生和全班学生之需求与进步的
19、程序，使教师能判断学生的不足之处并每周给出进步情况的报告。最新的教具之一是一个帮助运作和协调学校课程计划的程序。11.The Computer Curriculum Corporation is the largest K-12 software provider. CCCs 50 different programs are both student- and teacher-friendly. The company provides programs that monitor the needs and progress of individual students as well as
20、 an entire class, enabling teachers to diagnose student deficiencies and give weekly progress reports. One of the newest teacher aids is a program that helps to manage and co-ordinate school lesson plans.MindQ Publishing 在成人计算机的开发市场上取得了极大的成功。MindQ 目前有两百多家用户，如，国际商业机器公司、Sun、和微软公司。MindQ 用爪哇学院软件培训员工爪哇的程
21、序编制技术。它还为家庭个别教学提供光盘，或针对某个公司的需要专门设计一整套计算机课程程序。12.MindQ Publishing has been extremely successful in the adult computer development market. Currently used by over 200 companies such as IBM, Sun and Microsoft, MindQ trains employees in Java programming skills with its software Java Academy. MindQ provid
22、es CD-Roms for individual instruction at home, or it can design an entire computer curriculum tailored to the needs of a specific company. 因特网 The Internet大多数在因特网上提供教育产品和服务的公司致力于员工和管理业务培训。电脑学校声称全校有3 万名学生通过电子邮件进行计算机培训、现场聊天、诊断错误和个别指导。Pensare 用一种游戏形式为 1.6 万名接受管理培训的用户模拟实际公司场景。全球执行委员会力图使最高管理层不太孤寡：其 5000
23、名总经理成员能与近 350 个旗鼓相当的顾问团体进行接触，探讨问题，交换意见，或是交换竞争经历。国际生产力尖端在全美150 个左右的培训中心培训约 100 万名员工，还13.Most of the companies offering educational products and services on the Internet are targeting businesses for employee and management training. Cyber School claims to have 30,000 student employees involved in comp
24、uter training, live chat sessions, diagnostics and personal tutoring by e-mail. Pensare uses a game format to simulate actual corporate situations for its 16,000 management trainee users. The Executive Committee (TEC) Worldwide is dedicated to making it less lonely at the top: Its 5,000 CEO members
25、can contact nearly 350 peer advisory groups in order to share problems, exchange ideas, or swap war stories. 可通过远程教育实施培训。 Productivity Point International trains about 1 million employees at some 150 training centers around the United States, but its training is also available through distance educa
26、tion.对于孩子们来说，还有妈妈传媒, 这是一家据称有 9 万名 12 岁以下孩子注册的因特网教育公司。由麻省理工学院毕业生创建的妈妈传媒要求家长而不是教师对其内容及链接进行选择。公司对学习主题强调三个 X：探索（exploration）， 表述（expression）， 交换（exchange）。公司提供与笔友联络的软件；传授诸如素描、绘画和摄影等爪哇工作室技术，提供让青少年谈论他们学习和生活的网页。14.For kids, theres MaMaMedia, an Internet educational company that claims to have 90,000 regist
27、ered users under the age of 12. Created by MIT graduates, MaMaMedia seeks parental, rather than teacher, endorsement of its content and linkages. The companys learning themes emphasize the “three Xs“: exploration, expression, and exchange. This company offers a program to link pen pals; teaches Java
28、 Studio skills such as drawing, painting and photography, and provides Web pages where teenagers can chat about their learning and living. 至于成年人，有一所即将问世的知识大学， 计划为公司和个人提供高等教育和培训。这家新的企业由大提供商-知识宇宙拥有。对此后面再作详细描绘。15.For adults, theres the soon-to-be-launched Knowledge University, which plans to offer post
29、-secondary education and training to corporations and individuals. This new venture is owned by mega-supplier Knowledge Universe, to be described in greater detail later.根据位于康涅狄格州斯坦福的一家信息技术咨询公司加特纳集团的消息，美国别的提供网上教学的大学从 1995 年的 25% 增加到 1998 年的65%。加特那集团预测这个数字在 2001 年还会增至 80%。16.As for other universities
30、 in the United States, 65% were offering online courses in 1998, up from 25% in 1995, according to Gartner Group, an information technology consulting firm in Stanford, Connecticut. The group projects that figure will rise to 80% by 2001. 辅导 Tutoring 成绩！属于卡普兰教育中心考前准备公司。它为大约两万名学生提供个别辅导。这一体制按照体育模式，强调学
31、习小组，教师起拉拉队长的作用。现实生活和电子良师提供一对一的学术和职业咨询。公司的数据库里拥有有关未来职业的最新信息。洛杉矶刚选择成绩！为 25 所公共学校提供辅导。17.Score! is owned by the test prep company Kaplan Educational Centers. It offers personal coaching to some 20,000 students. The system is based on a sports model, which emphasizes study teams; teachers function as ch
32、eerleaders. Real life and electronic mentors offer one-on-one academic and career counseling. The companys database contains up-to-date information on future careers. Los Angeles just selected Score! to provide tutoring at 25 public schools.思尔文学习系统最近与美国微波通信公司合作创建了 100 多个实验中心，学生课外可以在那里接受高度复杂的技术培训。40
33、多个类似的中心仿18. Sylvan Learning Systems recently partnered with MCI to create over 100 pilot centers where students can receive highly sophisticated technology training after school. Over 40 such centers, dubbed the Caliber 照 Caliber Learning Network，已为 3 万多位学生提供了服务。很快思尔文将雄心勃勃地推广其服务：尤其是想吸引空闲中的居家自学者。Lear
34、ning Network, have served over 30,000 students. Sylvan will soon aggressively market its services; it will especially try to attract home schoolers during their off hours.电脑化考试 Computerized Testing依据个人考试结果来提供教学与建议的电脑化考试方法进一步弱化了教师的角色。最初为美国海军陆战队开发的微型猫，用来评估阅读、语法和数学的技能。教育考试中心和美国空军设计的HyDrive 用来测试知识水准和解决问
35、题的能力，并给予更正反馈。教科书出版社艾迪生韦斯利研制的指南针，根据学生的考试结果推荐学习计划。电子阅卷机最终自动按照句法、词汇、结构批改文章。教育考试中心还在对电子阅卷机作改进：目标是让电子评估与人工评估的一致性达到85%。19.Computerized testing methods that can provide instruction or suggestions based on an individuals test result are further diminishing the role of the teacher. Micro-Cat, originally deve
36、loped for the U.S. Marine Corps, evaluates reading, grammar, and math skill. HyDrive, designed by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the U.S. Air Force, tests both knowledge and problem solving ability, it also gives corrective feedback. Compass recommends study plans based on a students test
37、 results; it was created by text book publisher Addison Wesley. Finally, E-Rater automatically score essays for syntax, vocabulary, and organization. It is still being developed by ETS: The goal is for 85% agreement between E-Rater and human evaluations.书籍，玩具和电视 Books, Toys, and Television尽管对尖端技术的依赖
38、不是很大，以下的公司、产品和服务同样也在打入教育市场：英国出版大亨皮尔逊拥有企鹅图书和金融时报。通过一连串的收购，兼并或联营还拥有或管理着西蒙和舒斯特、艾迪生韦斯利、学徒馆和其他出版社的教育分支。这是世界上最大的教育出版社。皮尔逊还利用它的金融基础开发了一系列的金融投资、金融风险管理软件程序，并提供从打字到语言学的培训软件。聪明小丑是一家适合高消费阶层的教育类的玩具商店，连锁店遍布全美。聪明小丑不时使用或展示他们的教学玩具，为家长和孩子设计特别教育程序。商店里备有电脑，孩子们可以随时上电子网，那是公司为孩子制作的每月时事通讯。另外一家叫跳蛙的玩具公司，用具有视音触摸的掌上玩具进行阅读、拼写和字
39、母教学。以斯坦福教授罗伯特卡尔斐开发的语音系统为基础，跳蛙玩具直接进入学校进行营销或通过玩具店销售。通过剧场有线电视公司播出的布卢线索系列，每周有 500 多万观众，比巴尼和芝麻街的收视率还要高。其观众在标准考试中的成绩要比不看此节目的人要好。布卢线索的观众可以和主持人一起通过寻找线索-一只卡通小狗布卢的爪印-整理分析这些线索来解决问题。美国儿童发现中心声称大约有两万名学生在中心学习语言技术、逻辑思维及相互配合能力。中心致力于培养全方位的孩子，其方法之一就是给每个孩子充分的活动空间，他们认为这样会启发孩子们的思考能力。 20.Although less reliant on cutting e
40、dge technology, the following companies, products and services are also entering the education market:21.The British publishing giant Pearson owns Penguin Books and the Financial Times. Through a series of acquisitions, mergers and alliances, it also owns or manages the education divisions of Simon
41、requires more hours of school attendance, including summers, and regularly assesses both teacher and student performance. Edison now manages an estimated 48 schools and projected a profit of $125 million for 1998.公管民办学校 Charter Schools另一类学校由教育董事会授权开办并接受公共基金, 他们从同类小学和中学吸引学生,但其规模通常要比这些学校小许多。1998 年，美国有
42、 800所这类公管民办学校。通常学生家长也积极参与。当一个学生转到一所公管民办学校，这个地区就失去一份资金，因为这个学生的教育金配额被转到了这个公管民办学校。现在来评判公管民办学校的功效还为时过早。但支持者却相信特别的关注和较小的规模自然会带来变化。多数州限制公管民办学校的数量，但最近加利福尼亚取消这个限制的做法也许会蔓延到其他州。由克莱纳珀金斯风险投资家 John Doerr 领导的家长和企业经理同盟成功地去除了27.Usually much smaller than the comparable elementary, middle or high school room from whi
43、ch they draw students, these alternative schools are “chartered“ by boards of education to operate. The charter authorizes the school to operate and to receive public funds. There were 800 charter schools in the United States in 1998. Normally a group of parents is heavily involved. When a student t
44、ransfers to a charter school, the district loses funding because the educational allotment for that student is given to the charter school.28.It is too soon to gauge the effectiveness of charter schools, but proponents believe that the special attention and smaller size will automatically make a dif
45、ference. Most states limit the number of charter schools, but a recent breakthrough in California may spread to other states: A coalition of parents and business executives, led by John Doerr, the Kleiner Perkins venture capitalist, succeeded in removing Californias charter school cap. Doerrs major
46、corporate partner in this venture was Tech-Net, a Silicon Valley 对加利福尼亚的公管民办学校的封顶。Doerr 进行冒险活动的主要伙伴是科技网，这是一个活跃的硅谷政治活动积极分子组织。political activist group.居家自学 Home Schooling尽管居家自学的人数估计在 100 万上下，但很多人认为实际人数会更高。难以估计这一数字的部分原因在于居家自学人数一直在增加。最初家长是出于宗教原因使他们对一些课程的授课方法有异议，现在由于担心孩子的安全及教学质量使得居家自学流行开来。很多居家自学学生所在的地段没有
47、合适的私人或教会学校可供选择。居家自学的家长们通过相互沟通，强烈要求地方学校为他们提供实验室、健身房、艺术工作室、剧院和图书馆之便利，他们已扭转了趋势。最终的结果是居家自学者不再像当初那样孤立了。最重要的是科技业已成为最高平衡器，提供给居家自学者的教育产品常常超越一般学校所拥有的产品。最后，居家自学日程安排机动灵活，可把家庭度假包括在上课和学习时间内。居家自学同一般学校教育相比至少是一样成功，要是照标准化考试来衡量，则常常胜过一筹。29.Although the estimated number of home-schooled students is about one million, m
48、any believe the actual number is higher. Part of the difficulty in estimating is that home schooling is growing. Originally impelled by parents whose religious views led them to object to the way certain subjects were taught, home schooling has caught on with parents who are concerned about their ch
49、ildrens safety and quality of learning. Many home schoolers are located in areas with no viable private or parochial school alternatives.30.Home-schooling parents have transformed the movement by affiliating with each other and aggressively petitioning local schools to provide them with access to laboratories, gymnasiums, art studios, theaters and libraries. The net result is that home schooling is not as isolated as it was initially. Above all, technology has been the supreme equalizer by providing home schoolers with educational products that often surpass those available i
