VOA慢速英語:President Obama to visit Manor New Technology High School in Texas

From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report in Special English.

這里是美國之音慢速英語教育報道。

An unusual high school in Texas recently welcomed a special visitor. President Obama visited Manor New Technology High School near the city of Austin. The visit was part of what the White House called a "Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity Tour."

德克薩斯州一家不同尋常的高中最近迎來了一位特殊的訪客。奧巴馬總統(tǒng)參觀了奧斯汀市附近的馬諾新科技高中。這次訪問是白宮所謂的“中產(chǎn)階級就業(yè)與機會之旅”的一部分。

Manor New Technology High School seeks to help prepare students to meet the increasing demand for technology workers. The school has gained nationwide recognition for its program. It focuses less on teacher lectures, and more on student projects in so-called "STEM subjects" -- Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

馬諾新科技高中旨在幫助學生滿足社會對技術工人不斷增長的需求。學校因為其課程獲得了全美國的認可，該校不注重教師講課，而是注重于被稱為STEM學科的課程設計，即科學、技術、工程和數(shù)學。

Most of the teachers who helped start the school six years ago were graduates of a program called "UTeach" at the University of Texas in Austin. They are still working at the high school today. Lawrence Abraham is one of the directors of the "UTeach" program, he praises the program and the teachers at Manor New Technology High School.

大部分六年前幫助開辦這一學校的教師都畢業(yè)于奧斯汀市德克薩斯大學的UTeach項目。今天他們?nèi)栽谶@所高中任教。勞倫斯·亞伯拉罕(Lawrence Abraham)是UTeach項目的董事之一，他贊揚了馬諾新科技高中的課程和師資。

"They put together the curriculum, which has elevated this school, among all the new tech schools in the network around the country, to be the premier site, and we think it is the marriage of the UTeach program, which prepares teachers and encourages teachers to teach in a project-based way, with the new tech curriculum model, which is designed to incorporate that."

他說，“他們把全部課程歸納起來，使得該校在全國所有新科技學校的網(wǎng)絡中成為最好的。我認為它是UTeach項目的緊密結(jié)合，它鼓勵教師以基于項目的方式，通過旨在結(jié)合這點的新科技課程模式來教學。”

Manor New Technology has 332 students, 68 percent are from ethnic or racial minorities, and 52 percent are from poor families. The Texas school sent 97 percent of its graduates to college in 2011 and all of its graduates in 2012. Most schools, however, do not have the financial support that Manor New Technology receives. It gets help from private organizations and state and federal funding. And technology schools are sometimes criticized for not paying enough attention to the arts and social sciences.

馬諾新科技高中有332名學生，其中68%是少數(shù)民族，同時52%來自貧困家庭。這所德克薩斯州的學校2011年有97%的畢業(yè)生進入了大學，2012年所有畢業(yè)生都進入了大學。然而大多數(shù)學校不具備馬諾新科技高中擁有的財政支持。該校得到了私營機構(gòu)以及州和聯(lián)邦資金的支持。而科技學校有時候被批評不夠重視藝術和社會科學。

Last year, Texas governor Rick Scott proposed an end to state financial aid to university programs in subjects like psychology and anthropology. The goal was to put more money into STEM programs that he said that would provide people with jobs. But some educators say that kind of thinking ignores the gains possible with the learning.

去年，德克薩斯州州長里克·斯科特(Rick Scott)提出停止心理學和人類學一類大學課程的國家財政援助。目的是把更多的錢投入到他所說的能夠為人們提供就業(yè)崗位的STEM課程。但一些教育工作者表示，這種想法忽略了學習可能的收獲。

University of Texas history professor Jeremi Suri says the goal of education goes beyond preparation for employment.

德克薩斯大學歷史教授杰芮米·蘇瑞(Jeremi Suri)表示，教育的目標不僅僅是為就業(yè)做準備。

"Obviously science and math literacy are crucial, but democratic citizenship requires that people have a sense of our historical background as a society, a sense of how our society functions and an understanding of what democracy looks like in theory and in practice."

他說，“顯然，科學和數(shù)學素養(yǎng)是至關重要的，但民主公民權要求人們對我們的歷史背景、對我們的社會功能有所了解，對民主在理論和實踐上的表現(xiàn)有所領悟。”

Professor Suri says today more than ever, workplace success depends on good communication, and ability to work well with others as a team.

蘇瑞教授表示，如今職場成功比以往任何時候都更依賴于良好的溝通能力，以及和他人協(xié)同工作的能力。