#72. Do grades encourage students to learn?
Does grade really encourage students to learn, and guarantee a qualified education? Hardly. Given the opportunity, students spend time using their intelligence to figure out how to get a higher or top grade without doing the real work of the course and without thinking, rather than spending the same time thinking and exploring, regardless of what grade this may bring them. It isn't that these students are not motivated. It's just that they're not motivated to learn as much as they're motivated to get good grades. Once one became grade-oriented in your thinking, it is difficult for him/her to stop thinking that way.
Anybody who gets top grades is, in some sense, a winner of the system. But these seeming winners are, far too often, losers of a more important game. To win the grade competition in high school, most of these"winners" learned to ask what was expected of them and then do just that. They had to make sure they got high SAT scores by memorizing endless vocabulary words and by practicing a 1001 uses of the Pythagorean Theorem. They wanted to know from their high school teachers if the material being covered on a given day was going to be on the test, because they realized early on that the test is all that matters.
When these "successes" of the system arrive in college, they, of course, have not changed their attitudes. They fear open-ended assignments. They are impatient with discussions that are not going in any particular direction except where the interests of the discussants dictate, since they know that such discussions waste time that could have been better spent studying for a test. What these students have learned from school is the underlying message that the world is run by authorities who have definite points of view. The system has taught them that the way to get along in the world is to understand and to cater to those points of view espoused by the educational "authorities". Cleverness pays, but disagreement does not. Such students are in the process of becoming "yes men."
On the other hand, students who do less well in high school are often rebelling against curricula they see as irrelevant to their lives. This type of student judges what goes on in school according to how well it relates to his own day-to
day concerns. If algebra does not seem relevant to the problems such students face, then they see little need to pay attention to it. Under such circumstance, the school might have been able to embed algebra instruction inside a task they cared about, causing them to want to know algebra because it would help them do something they wanted to do. But schools generally don't like this, so the conclusion drawn by many students is that since so much is irrelevant, they might as well tune it out. These students learn to get by as well as they can, separating themselves from other kids who are willing to play the game.
72. 分数能激励学生学习吗？
分数真的会鼓励学生学习和保证良好的教育吗？这几乎不可能。如果给学生们机会，他们会花费时间来运用他们的智慧去决定怎样不用做作业、动脑筋就能获取高分，而不是花时间思考和研究学习，他们不会去管思考和研究会带来一个什么样的分数。并不是学生没有动力，而是他们学习的动力不如想取得高分的动力大。一旦获取高分成为学生学习的目标，那么他们就不能停止想办法取得高分的念头。
从某种角度来说，取得高分的人是这个体制中的胜利者。但是，这些看起来胜利了的人却往往输掉了更重要的比赛。在高中阶段，为了在分数的竞争中取胜，大多数“胜利者”仅仅学会了去询问别人期待自己做什么，然后就照着这些目标和要求去做。他们通过没完没了地背诵单词、做1001道勾股定理的练习题来确保自己在学业能力测试中取得好成绩。他们会考虑从老师那里得知的某一天所讲授的知识是否会出现在考试里，因为他们很早就认识到考试才是最重要的。
当这种体制的“胜利者”考上大学之后，他们当然不会变换学习态度。他们害怕没有对错的作业。他们对于没有任何导向而仅凭兴趣进行的讨论也会感到很不耐烦，因为他们觉得这是在浪费时间，他们认为还不如花这些时间来准备考试。这些学生从学校里学到的就是：世界是由权威主宰的，任何观点都是由权威决定的。这种体制教给他们在社会上的生存之道就是：理解并迎合教育权威所持有的观点。迎合则获利，不合则无。而这样的学生逐渐会变成“只会说‘是’的人”。
从另一方面说，那些在高中时期学习不是很好的学生经常会反对学习那些与生活无关的课程。这种学生根据课程是否与自己的日常所关心的问题相关来判断其合理与否。如果代数看起来与他面临的问题毫不相干，他们就会认为不用在代数上花过多的心思。在这种情况下，学校就应该把代数题与他们关心的事情联系起来，使他们想学代数，让他们认为代数可以帮助他们解决自己想做的事情。但是学校往往并不这么想，所以很多学生得出的结论就是：既然毫不相关，那就不用学了。这些学生尽自己所能在这个分数体制下过活，与那些喜欢分数体制的孩子形成了鲜明对比。
- grade ［greid］ n. 成绩，考分
- discussant［diˈskʌsənt］ n.讨论者，谈论者
- explore ［iksˈplɔ:］ v. 探险，探测，探究
- definite ［ˈdefənit］ adj. 明确的，一定的
- regardless［ri ˈga:dlis］adj.不管，不顾，不注意
- espouse ［iˈspauz］ v. 支持，赞成
- oriented ［ˈɔ:rientid］ ad. 以…为导向的
- rebel against 反抗
- Pythagorean Theorem 勾股定理
- algebra ［ˈældʒəbrə］ n. 代数学
- vocabulary［vəu ˈkæbjuˌleri］n.词汇，词汇量
- embed ［əmˈbed］ v. 使插入，使嵌入
- open-ended［ ˌəupənˈendid］adj.自由回答的
- draw conclusion 下结论
- impatient［im ˈpeiʃənt］ adj.不耐烦的，急躁的
- tune out 关掉