Various studies have shown that increased spending on education has not led to measurable improvements in learning. Between 1980 and 2008, staff and teachers at US public schools grew roughly twice as fast as students. Yet students showed no additional learning in achievement tests.
Universities show similar trends of increased administration personnel and costs without greater learning, as documented in Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa’s recent book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses.
A survey shows that 63% of employers say that recent college graduates don’t have the skills they need to succeed and 25% of employers say that entry-level writing skills are lacking.
Some simplistically attribute the decline in our public education system to the drain of skilled students by private schools, but far more significant events were at work.
Public schools worked well until about the 1970s. In fact, until that time, public schools provided far better education that private ones. It was the under-performing students who were thrown out of public schools and went to private ones.
A prominent reason public schools did well was that many highly qualified women had few options for working outside the house other than being teachers or nurses. They accepted relatively low pay, difficult working conditions, and gave their very best.
Having such a large supply of talented women teachers meant that society could pay less for their services. Women’s liberation opened up new professional opportunities for women, and, over time, some of the best left teaching as a career option, bringing about a gradual decline in the quality of schooling.
Also around that time, regulation government and unions came to dictate pay, prevent adjustments, and introduce bureaucratic standard for advancement. Large education bureaucracies and unions came to dominate the landscape, conflising activity with achievement. Bureaucracies regularly rewrite curriculum, talk nonsense about theories of education, and require even more administrators. The end result has been that, after all the spending, students have worse math and reading skills than both their foreign peers and earlier generations spending far less on educations all the accumulating evidence now documents.
1. What do we learn from various studies on America's public education?
2. How do some people explain the decline in public education?
3. What was the significant contributor to the past glory of public schools?
4. Why did some of the best women teachers leave teaching?
5. What does the author think is one of the result of government involvement in education?
问题1选项
A.Achievement tests have failed to truly reflect the quality of teaching.
B.Public schools lack the resources to compete with private schools.
C.Little improvement in education has resulted from increased spending.
D.The number of students has increased much faster than that of teachers.
问题2选项
A.Government investment does not meet school's needs.
B.Skilled students are moving to private schools.
C.Qualified teachers are far from adequately paid.
D.Training of students' basic skills is neglected.
问题3选项
A.Well-behaved students
B.Talented women teachers
C.Efficient administration
D.Generous pay for teachers
问题4选项
A.New career opportunities were made available to them by women’s liberation.
B.Higher academic requirements made it difficult for them to stay in their jobs.
C.They were unhappy with the bureaucratic administration in their schools.
D.The heavy teaching loads left them little time and energy for family life.
问题5选项
A.Increasing emphasis on theories of education.
B.Highly standardized teaching methods.
C.Students' improved academic performance.
D.An ever-growing number of administration
第1题:C
第2题:B
第3题:B
第4题:A
第5题:D
第1题:
1.细节事实题。题目问的是“我们能够从各种关于美国公共教育的研究中学到什么？” 文中第一段最后一句话提到学生并未在能力考试中展现出学识有所增长（Yet students showed no additional learning in achievement tests）,这是为了说明“教育没有得到改善”，由此可看出能力测试一定程度上反映了教学质量，因此选项A的表述是错误的，排除；第四段提到了公立学校和私立学校之争，但未明确指出公立学校是因为资源短缺而流失优等生，因此选项B表述不正确，排除；第一段第二句提到美国公立学校教职工数量的增长速度约是学生的两倍 (staff and teachers...grow…twice as fast as students), 因此选项D表述错误，排除。综上，选项C符合题意。
第2题:
2.细节事实题。题目问的是“一些人是如何解释公共教育的衰退的？”文章第四段提到一些人简单地将公共教育体系的衰退归因于私立学校将高素质的学生招走（Some simplistically attribute the decline in our public education system to the drain of skilled students by private schools, but far more significant events were at work），由此可知选项B符合题意。
第3题:
3.细节事实题。题目问的是“公立学校过去辉煌的原因是什么？”文章第六段提到公立学校表现出色的一个突出原因是许多高素质的女性除了当老师或护士之外，几乎没有其他工作，她们接受了相对较低的工资和艰苦的工作条件，并尽了最大的努力（A prominent reason public schools did well was that many highly qualified women had few options for working outside the house other than being teachers or nurses. They accepted relatively low pay, difficult working conditions, and gave their very best）。由此可知选项B符合题意。
第4题:
4.细节事实题。题目问的是“为什么一些最优秀的女教师会离开教学岗位？”文章倒数第二段提到妇女解放为妇女开辟了新的职业机会，随着时间的推移，一些最好的女教师离开了这个职业，导致教育质量下降（Women’s liberation opened up new professional opportunities for women, and, over time, some of the best left teaching as a career option, bringing about a gradual decline in the quality of schooling），因此可知选项A符合题意。
第5题:
5.观点态度题。题目问的是“作者认为政府参与教育的结果之一是什么？”文章最后一段第一、二句提到政府和工会开始制定规章制度，规定工资，防止调整，并引入晋升的官僚标准（Also around that time, regulation government and unions came to dictate pay, prevent adjustments, and introduce bureaucratic standard for advancement），以及后面的Large education bureaucracies and unions came to dominate the landscape, conflising activity with achievement. Bureaucracies regularly rewrite curriculum, talk nonsense about theories of education, and require even more administrators，可以看出政府采取的一系列措施，使得学校的管理人员在不断增加，因此选项D符合题意。
