In the past few years, reformers have embraced a disarmingly simple idea for fixing schools; Why not actually flunk those students who don’t earn passing grades? Both Democrats and Republicans have begun attacking the practice of “social promotion”—shuttling bad students to the next grade, advancing them with peers even if they are failing. Make F truly mean failure, the movement says.
Last week in Los Angeles, the reformers learned just how ornery, the current system can be. According to a plan released Tuesday by the L.A. school district, ending social promotion there will take at least four years, could cost hundreds of millions of dollars—and probably would require flunking about half the district’s students. That’s a pessimistic assessment, but it’s not just bureaucrats’ caterwauling. Rather, L.A school superintendent Ruben Zacarias was an eager convert to the crusade against social promotion. In February he unveiled an ambitious plan to end unwarranted promotions in five grades during the 1999-2000 school year—a full year ahead of the timetable set by a state law.
At the time, Zacarias acknowledged that his goal would be hard to meet. He estimated that as many as 6 of every 10 students would flunk if they had to advance on merit. Zacarias wanted to spend $140 million in the first year alone to help these kids. Why so much? Because a mountain of research shows that ending social promotion doesn’t work if it just means more Fs. Kids who are simply forced to repeat grades over and over usually don’t improve academically and often drop out. Zacarias wanted more tutoring, summer school and intensive learning classes. Unqualified students wouldn’t rise to the next grade; nor would they be doomed to redo work they already failed. It was a forward-looking plan that Zacarias, 70, didn’t have the clout to enact. He wasn’t popular enough—the school board recently bought out his contract after a bitter power struggle—but even fellow reformers think his plan was too much, too soon. Says board member. David Tokofsky: “You’ve got the unions who want their say. And, of course, there’s the facilities issue: Where do you send all these eighth-graders if you can’t send them to high school?” The district now says it will stop advancing low-achieving students only in two grades (second and eighth), and it will begin next year.
Los Angeles isn’t the only place that has run into roadblocks while trying to end social promotion. In New York City, some advocates have said in lawsuits that parents weren’t notified early enough that their kids were flunking. And in Chicago, which led the nation on the issue, a parents’ group has filed civil rights complaints alleging that the promotion crackdown holds back a disproportionate number of black and Latino kids.
Still, the war on social promotion could have one salutary consequence: if every school district takes L.A.’s approach, struggling students will get a lot more teaching help, not just a kick in the rear as they finish another unproductive school year.
1. “Social promotion” is ______.
2. Education officials give the reform prospect a pessimistic assessment because ______.
3. The writer mentioned the case of Zacarias to show that ______.
4. It seems that the effort at ending social promotion ______.
5. Toward the proposal of ending social promotion, the author’s attitude seems to be ______.
问题1选项
A.a simple idea for fixing school
B.flunking students who don’t earn passing grades
C.making F more or less meaningless
D.a political movement
问题2选项
A.it takes too long time, costs too much and may produce undesirable result
B.there is no feasible plan yet
C.it involves too many students
D.it is not approved by state legislature
问题3选项
A.ending social promotion doesn’t work
B.schools do not have the ability to enact his plan
C.plans like his are too ambitious
D.it’s hard to reach agreement on the issue of ending social promotion
问题4选项
A.is confronting a lot of resistance
B.has proved fruitless
C.has little hope of success
D.does more harm than good
问题5选项
A.pessimistic
B.optimistic
C.objective
D.biased
第1题:C
第2题:A
第3题:D
第4题:A
第5题:B
第1题:
【选项释义】
“Social promotion” is ______. “社会提升”______。
A. a simple idea for fixing school A. 是一个修复学校的简单想法
B. flunking students who don’t earn passing grades B. 让成绩不及格的学生不通过考试
C. making F more or less meaningless C. 使得F或多或少失去了意义
D. a political movement D. 是政治运动
【答案】C
【考查点】判断推理题。
【解题思路】根据题干可以定位答案所在区域为第一段。根据第一段倒数第二句“民主党人和共和党人都开始抨击‘社会提升’的做法——让差生升入下一年级,即使他们不及格,也能与同龄人一起进步”可知:“社会提升”会把考试不及格的学生送进下一年级;结合本段最后一句“该运动说,让F真正意味着失败”,该句中的“运动”是指第一句提及的改革运动,而根据改革者的想法——“为什么不让那些成绩不及格的学生不通过考试呢?”可知:改革运动会让考试不及格的学生不通过考试,不把他们推入下一年级,这场运动让F真正意味着失败。由此可推断出“社会提升”则让F失去了它意味着失败的意义,所以正确答案为C选项。
【干扰项排除】
A选项:“是一个修复学校的简单想法”,根据第一段第一句“在过去的几年里,改革者们接受了一个简单而又不费力的修复学校的想法;为什么不让那些成绩不及格的学生不通过考试呢?”可知该选项不是“社会提升”的内容,而是改革者想法,该选项属于张冠李戴;
B选项:“让成绩不及格的学生不通过考试”,根据第一段第一句内容可知该选项属于张冠李戴;
D选项:“是政治运动”,根据文章对“社会提升”的描述可知应该是教育方面的,该选项属于曲解原文。
第2题:
【选项释义】
Education officials give the reform prospect a pessimistic assessment because ______. 教育官员对改革前景的评价很悲观,因为______。
A. it takes too long time, costs too much and may produce undesirable result A. 它花费的时间太长,成本太高,可能会产生不良的结果
B. there is no feasible plan yet B. 目前还没有可行的计划
C. it involves too many students C. 它涉及太多的学生
D. it is not approved by state legislature D. 它没有得到州议会的批准
【答案】A
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干可以定位答案所在区域为第二段。根据第二段第二、三句内容“根据洛杉矶学区周二公布的一项计划,在那里结束社会宣传至少需要四年时间,可能需要花费数亿美元,可能需要该学区大约一半的学生不及格。这是一个悲观的评估,但这不仅仅是官僚们的抱怨”可知:对改革前景的评价很悲观的原因是花费时间长,成本高,可能会产生不良的后果,所以正确答案为A选项。
【干扰项排除】B、C、D选项均属于曲解原文。
第3题:
【选项释义】
The writer mentioned the case of Zacarias to show that ______. 作者提到了扎卡里亚斯的案例来说明______。
A. ending social promotion doesn’t work A. 结束社会提升是行不通的
B. schools do not have the ability to enact his plan B. 学校没有能力实施他的计划
C. plans like his are too ambitious C. 像他这样的计划野心太大了
D. it’s hard to reach agreement on the issue of ending social promotion D. 在结束社会提升的问题上很难达成一致
【答案】D
【考查点】判断推理题。
【解题思路】根据第三段第十一句“他不够受欢迎——在一场激烈的权力斗争后,学校董事会最近买断了他的合同——但即使是其他改革者也认为他的计划太过了,太快了”,由此可知:扎卡里亚斯的计划由于他在董事会的失利以及其他改革者的反对而失败了,作者其实是想表明,停止“社会提升”很难达成统一的意见所以才会失败,因此正确答案为D选项。
【干扰项排除】
A选项:“结束社会提升是行不通的”,根据第三段第五句“因为大量研究表明,如果只是意味着更多的学生得到F,那么结束社会提升是行不通的”可知该选项并不是扎卡里亚斯的案例得出的结论,该选项属于曲解原文;
B选项:“学校没有能力实施他的计划”,根据第三段第十句“It was a forward-looking plan that Zacarias, 70, didn’t have the clout to enact.(这是一个前瞻性的计划,70岁的扎卡里亚斯没有能力实施。)”可知该选项属于曲解原文;
C选项:“像他这样的计划野心太大了”,原文没有提及,属于无中生有。
第4题:
【选项释义】
It seems that the effort at ending social promotion ______. 结束社交提升的努力似乎______。
A. is confronting a lot of resistance A. 遇到了很多阻力
B. has proved fruitless B. 证明了是徒劳的
C. has little hope of success C. 成功的希望很小
D. does more harm than good D. 弊大于利
【答案】A
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据第四段第一句“洛杉矶并不是唯一一个在试图结束社会提升时遇到障碍的地方”可知:结束社会提升会遇到阻碍,所以正确答案为A选项。
【干扰项排除】B、C、D选项均属于曲解原文。
第5题:
【选项释义】
Toward the proposal of ending social promotion, the author’s attitude seems to be ______. 对于结束社交提升的提议,作者的态度似乎是______。
A. pessimistic A. 悲观的
B. optimistic B. 乐观的
C. objective C. 客观的
D. biased D. 有偏见的
【答案】B
【考查点】观点态度题。
【解题思路】根据最后一段开头部分内容“Still, the war on social promotion could have one salutary consequence(尽管如此,这场反对社交提升的战争可能会产生一个有益的结果)”可知:作者的态度应该是乐观的,所以正确答案为B选项。
【干扰项排除】A、C、D选项均属于曲解原文。