VOA常速英语2014--American Schools Shift From Suspending Students 美学校渐弃学生因不良行为而停学的处罚

American Schools Shift From Suspending Students 美学校渐弃学生因不良行为而停学的处罚

There is a growing trend in U.S. schools to re-think the way students are disciplined for bad behavior, including finding alternatives to punishments such as out-of-school suspensions. In Los Angeles, a city with one of the largest school districts in the country, changes in discipline policies are already affecting students.

如今，越来越多的美国学校在重新思考如何管教学生的不良行为，包括寻求学生因不良行为而停学的替代方法。洛杉矶是拥有国内最大的学区之一的城市。

In a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood known for its poverty and gangs, growing up can be tough. That’s especially true for Garfield High School student Marco Antonio Aguilar.

成长于因贫穷和帮派著称的西班牙裔聚集社区并非易事，这对加菲尔德高中学生阿基拉来说尤其如此。

“My freshman 1 year, everything went bad. I hated the school,” he said.

阿基拉：“在我高一的时候，一切都是乱套的。我讨厌这个学校。”

Aguilar says he had the wrong friends, often skipped school and even got into fights. The school suspended him and he almost had to go to a school for problem students. But a talk with his mom woke him up.

阿基拉说，他以前交了很多不好的朋友，他们经常翘课，甚至打架。他被学校停学，差点不得不去专为问题学生准备的学校。但与妈妈的一番对话唤醒了他。

“She was always there for me. She cooked for me. So for me to waste my time at school, that wasn’t fair for her, and being a single mom that’s even more sad for her for me to be messing around like that. What also sparked the fire more was with the help of the teachers I received, and knowing that they did care about me, the school did really help me,” Aguilar recalls.

阿基拉说：“让我更深有感触的是，得到老师的帮助，知道他们的确是在乎我的。学校确实对我有很大帮助。”

Looking for alternatives

Garfield High School Principal Jose Huerta does not believe in suspensions.

加菲尔德高中校长韦尔塔说：

“You don’t have to suspend kid. It doesn’t get you anywhere. It’s not even expensive, it’s very simple, connect with students,” he said.

“没有必要让学生停学，这一点用都没有，他们甚至也没有付出什么代价。 很简单，要跟学生多联络。”

When he first arrived at Garfield High more than four years ago, the dropout 2 rate was more than 50 percent, with close to 700 suspensions a year. He says most of the suspensions were for minor 3 behavioral problems known as “willful defiance 4.”

加菲尔德高中校长韦尔塔说，他四年前到任时，学校退学率超过了50%，每年有将近700例停学。他同时表示，大部分学生被停学都是因为学校官员口中的“故意挑衅”等行为类问题。

“It could be from chewing gum in class to sticking gum under the things,” he said.

韦尔塔说：“行为类的问题可能包括从上课嚼口香糖到把口香糖粘在东西下面。”

Huerta, a new principal at the time, changed the discipline policy. Instead of facing suspension, those with willful defiance issues will first talk to a teacher, then a parent may get involved and eventually, a support group if needed.

韦尔塔更改了纪律政策，那些有“故意挑衅”问题的学生不再会被停学，学校会安排他们先跟老师谈话，然后家长也许会参与进来，最后，如果有必要，会让一个支持小组介入。

Garfield High now has an 85 percent graduation rate, and the school has changed.

加菲尔德高中现在毕业率达到了85%，整个学校都焕然一新。

"The reason we don't see vandalism or anything is because now there's a connection with our students. They respect us dearly and we respect them, and I tell them I love them. Every time we have an assembly: 'remember guys I love you and we love you" and they all respond with an applause because they don't always get that," he said.

韦尔塔说：“现在，我们很少看到人为破坏或其他违纪行为，因为我们和学生建立了联系。他们非常尊重我们，我们也很尊重他们，我告诉我的学生，我爱他们。每次我们聚在一起就会说，孩子们要记得我爱你，老师们爱你们”，学生们总会热烈鼓掌，因为他们不经常得到这样的鼓励。

Punishments for behavioral problems used to be decided 5 by each school in this urban district. But last year, the Los Angeles Unified 6 School District banned out-of-school suspension as a form of punishment for students with willful defiance issues.

这个学区内每所学校有各自处理行为性问题的处罚方式。而去年，洛杉矶联合学区禁止用停学来处理“故意挑衅”事件。

Superintendent 7 John Deasy says he started working on finding solutions to the problematic discipline policy when he first came to Los Angeles Unified in 2011.

洛杉矶联合学区学校负责人迪希说：“有太多的停学处罚，更多是针对黑人学生和棕色皮肤学生的停学处罚。”

“Far too many suspensions, and far far too many suspensions for black and brown youth,” he said.

美国教育部部长邓肯说：“用停学和开除学生的方式制止非暴力行为对于学生和社区来说都成本过大。”

More suspensions in poor neighborhoods

The U.S. Departments of Justice and Education recently called on schools to find alternatives to suspensions for non-violent behavior.

美国教育和司法部门最近呼吁学校寻找学生因非暴力行为而被停学的替代方案。

Dan Losen of The Civil Rights Project at UCLA says while 60 percent of secondary schools in the U.S. do not have high suspension rates, those that do often are in poor black or Latino neighborhoods.

加州大学洛杉矶分校民权项目主任卢森表示，美国60%的中学停学率都不是很高，停学率较高的地方常出现在贫困的黑人或者拉丁裔社区。

“The schools that suspend high number of kids, they don’t have better achievement. They don’t have better graduation rates,” he said.

卢森说：“学生被停学情况较多的学校没有很好的成果，也没有较高的毕业率。”

United Teachers Los Angeles President Warren Fletcher says that while suspending a student should never be a first option, taking the option away completely is not the solution either.

洛杉矶联合教师会主席弗莱彻说，让学生停学永远不应该是学校采取的第一选择，但完全取消这个选择也不是很好的解决办法。

“If you take it off the table; if you make it so that a school essentially 8 doesn’t have that option at all in an environment of ballooning class sizes and deep, deep cuts to student mental health, it creates a pressure cooker environment in a school, and that’s not good for anyone,” said Fletcher.

洛杉矶联合教师会弗莱彻说：“如果完全取消这个选择，使得学校在班级规模膨胀、深度削减学生心理健康的经费的情况下，取消停学处罚，就会在学校制造一种压力锅的环境。这样对谁都不好。”

While the number of suspensions nationwide seems to be slowly decreasing, many educators say a more permanent solution is to pair changes in discipline with more funding to provide support for the students - so they can succeed like Aguilar, who plans on going to college when he graduates this year.

当全国停学率看起来都在下降时，许多教育学者表示，更彻底的解决方式是改变纪律的同时，增加为学生提供支持的资金，以便使得他们可以像阿基拉一样成功。阿基拉今年毕业后准备去念大学。