编译原文: Who Should Teach Our Children?
刊发信息: 《纽约时报》网站 2012 年 6 月 17 日
作者简介: Gary Gutting， 美国圣母大学（University of Notre Dame）的哲学教授
原文地址：http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/who-should-teach-our-children/
As at most colleges, our semester at Notre Dame ends with student evaluations of their teachers. Each time I wonder what the students — and their parents — make of this exercise. “Wait,” I imagine them saying, “we’ve just paid you tens of thousands of dollars in tuition to take courses at your school, and now you’re asking us to tell you if the teachers you hired are any good? If you didn’t already know that they’re first class, you had no right taking our money.”
跟大多数高校一样，在圣母大学也是学生给教师评完分之后学期就结束了。每一次我都禁不住想，学生——还有他们的父母——从打分中得到了什么。 “打住，” 我想象他们说， “我们才刚刚给了你学校几万块钱的学费好在你们这儿上学，现在你却要我们来告诉你学校请的老师好不好？要是你学校自个儿都不清楚请来的老师是不是一流，你凭什么收我们的钱？”
Attracting an elite professional class of K-12 teachers requires more than just higher salaries.
吸引一流的基础教育职业教师，所需要的不只是更高的工资。
We don’t hear this kind of response because, in fact, the large majority of teachers at Notre Dame do a good job. We don’t depend on our students to judge our basic competence as teachers, although they often suggest helpful adjustments in our pedagogy (and can call attention to cases of clear incompetence or irresponsibility when they occur). Over all, schools like Notre Dame hire people that they are confident will be competent teachers. And, although there are criticisms and room for improvement, students, parents, graduate/professional schools and employers are, over all, well satisfied with results.
我们之所以没有听到有学生或家长这样说，是因为大部分在圣母大学工作的教师确实都很出色。我们并不依靠学生来评判自己教师的基本功，当然，学生常常会在教学方法的调整上面给出很有用的建议（也能让人们注意到教师明显的玩忽职守行为，如果有的话）。总而言之，像圣母大学这样的学校，请的都是他们确信将会称职的教师。而且，即便有这样那样的不满和改进的空间，学生、家长、各个学院，还有花钱请人来的高校管理层，总体上都会对最终的结果感到满意。
Who are these successful teachers? Ph.D.’s from first-class programs, of course, but that’s because college teaching and research require a high level of specialist knowledge. Beyond this knowledge, college teachers do a good job because of qualities that they already have when they complete their undergraduate education: a high level of intelligence, enthusiasm for ideas and an ability to communicate. In this regard, they are like those who go into other knowledge-based professions like law, medicine, engineering and architecture. With faculties of the “best and the brightest” from the pool of undergraduates, colleges can be confident of good quality teaching. Moreover, as in other knowledge-based professions, college faculties can be trusted to do their jobs well with minimal external supervision, assessment and in-service training. The professional community itself is, on the whole, able to ensure a high level of competence among its members.
那么，这些成功的教师都是些怎样的人呢？当然都是从一流的研究生项目里毕业的博士生，但这只是因为在高校里面教书或做科研，需要高水平的专业知识的缘故。再来，成功的高校教师还需要拥有良好的素质，而这在他们完成本科教育之时就已具备：高水平的智商、创新的热情以及沟通的能力。在这方面，他们跟进入法律、医学、工程和建筑等其他知识型职业领域深造的人并无二致。有了这些从 “最出色的” 毕业生成长而来的教师，高校自然可以放心教学质量的水平。此外，跟其他知识职业工作者一样，高校教师只需要最低限度的外部监督、评估和在职培训，便能做好本职工作。高等教育师范专业，其本身就具备确保成员拥有高水平实力的能力。
These reflections lead me to a simple proposal. Adopt the same model for grade school and high school teaching that works for colleges. Currently, few of the best students from the best colleges are grade school or high school teachers. This is not because the best students have no interest in teaching.
这些想法使我得出了一个简单的倡议。既然这种模式在高校用得这么好，何不将其也套用在小学、初中和高中的教学模式上？当前，一流大学出来的一流毕业生极少有在中小学执教的——这并不是因为优秀毕业生对教书不感兴趣。
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