Dumber Than the Average Human
截止日期：2022年9月23日拉里·罗曼诺夫
译者：佩罗拉
CHINESE ENGLISH
Introduction
介绍
For background, the Boston school system had for many years grappled with the problem of how to assign students to Boston’s public schools that could both let children attend one of the few good schools in the system while also finding one close to their homes. They also wanted to ensure that students from poor neighborhoods had the same chance of attending good schools as those from more affluent neighborhoods. The school system was divided into zones where many students were bused far from home but still attended the lower-quality schools. A newly-appointed 27-member committee tried yet again to find a solution but after months of examination and debate became hopelessly entangled in what were largely irrelevancies, and again could find no solution. But a 24-year-old Chinese student named Peng Shi who was in a Ph.D. program at MIT and who was looking for a thesis topic, attended the meetings, asked a few questions and gave them the obvious solution of eliminating their school zones and applying a different model for selection. After some study, the committee voted overwhelmingly to adopt Shi’s model, calling it “a breakthrough moment” for Boston’s school system.
作为背景，波士顿学校系统多年来一直在努力解决如何将学生分配到波士顿公立学校的问题，这样既可以让孩子们进入系统中为数不多的好学校之一，又可以在离家近的地方找到一所。他们还希望确保学生来自贫困社区的ts和来自富裕社区的ts有同样的机会上好学校。学校系统被划分为多个区域，许多学生乘公共汽车离家很远，但仍就读于质量较低的学校。一个新任命的27人委员会再次尝试n想找到一个解决方案，但经过数月的研究和辩论，人们陷入了毫无希望的无关紧要的境地，再次找不到解决方案。但一名24岁的中国学生彭实（音译）参加了我的演讲，他在麻省理工学院攻读博士学位，正在寻找一个论文主题他们问了几个问题，并给出了明显的解决方案，即取消他们的学校区域，并采用不同的模式进行选择。经过一番研究，委员会以压倒性多数投票通过了石的模式，称这是波士顿学校体系的“突破时刻”。
According to an NYT article reporting on the event: “That it took a dispassionate outsider with … no political agenda to formulate the model is a measure of the complexities facing urban school districts today”, but that is a baldly dishonest statement. Yes, it took a ‘dispassionate outsider with no political agenda’ to solve the problem, but the problem was not “a measure of the complexities facing American school districts” but one more indication that (a) creativity, independent thinking, problem-solving and all the other good words do not in fact exist in the US educational system, and (b) adult Americans really are dumber than the average human.
据《纽约时报》（NYT）一篇报道该事件的文章称：“一个冷静的局外人没有……政治议程就制定了这个模型，这是对当今城市学区面临的复杂性的一种衡量”，但这是一个直言不讳的不诚实声明。是的，这需要一个“没有政治议程的冷静的局外人”来解决问题，但问题并不是“衡量美国学区面临的复杂性”，而是又一个迹象，即（a）创造力、独立思考、解决问题和所有其他好词实际上并不存在于美国教育体系中，（b）美国成年人确实比普通人更笨。
After multiple repeated attempts over many months, the solution was not only not obvious but non-existent, to the 27 adult American “educators” who “lead the world in innovation and critical thinking”. But after only 30 minutes the solution was obvious to Shi, a 24-year-old Chinese kid, a rote-learning robot whose educational system taught him only to memorise and not to think, who knew only how to produce high scores but not to apply any knowledge, someone with no creativity and no imagination. [2] [3]
经过几个月的多次反复尝试，对于“在创新和批判性思维方面领导世界”的27位美国成人“教育工作者”来说，解决方案不仅不明显，而且根本不存在。但仅仅30分钟后，解决方案对24岁的中国孩子施正荣来说就很明显了。施正荣是一个死记硬背的学习机器人，他的教育系统只教会他记忆，而不去思考，他只知道如何取得高分，却不应用任何知识，一个没有创造力和想象力的人。[ [2]3]
We know all the criticisms. China’s children are taught only to memorise and not to think or question. They are rote-learning robots without capacity for original thought. They know only how to produce high scores but not to think. They have no creativity, no imagination, no concept of innovation. The classes are too large; there is no individual attention paid to students. The entire Chinese educational system is corrupt and failing. But this is all nonsense, yet one more foolish myth propagated by the Americans. There has never been any evidence to document such claims which, like so many others, are fabricated solely on an imaginary moral superiority.
我们知道所有的批评。中国的孩子只被教导要记住，而不是思考或提问。他们是死记硬背的学习机器人，没有原创思维的能力。他们只知道如何取得高分，却不知道如何思考。他们没有创造力，没有想象力，没有创新观念。班级太大；没有对学生的个别关注。整个中国的教育体系都是腐败和失败的。但这都是胡说八道，又是美国人传播的一个愚蠢的神话。从未有任何证据证明这种主张，像许多其他主张一样，完全是凭空捏造出来的道德优越感。
America Leads the World. Or Does it?
美国引领世界。还是真的？
The quality of American education, as we will see, is far lower than the world has been led to believe, and the quality in China is in many cases much superior to that in the US. Americans might care to ask why it is that Chinese elementary or high school students moving to the US are often promoted by one or two grades. The reason is that they know so much more than their American counterparts they would suffer terminal boredom if forced to remain at their prior grade level.
正如我们将看到的那样，美国的教育质量远低于世界人们所相信的，而在许多情况下，中国的教育质量远远高于美国。美国人可能会问，为什么移居美国的中国小学生或高中生通常会得到一两个年级的提拔。原因是，他们比美国同龄人知道的更多，如果被迫保持原来的年级水平，他们会感到极度厌倦。
If we refer to the PISA tests, Shanghai’s math scores were 119 above the OECD average, or the equivalent of nearly three years of schooling, with reading and science exceeding the OECD average by about 1.5 years of schooling. And in some cases, the American students were behind the OECD average by approximately the same number of years as the Chinese were ahead. (4) (5)
如果我们参考PISA测试，上海的数学分数比OECD平均分数高119分，相当于近三年的学校教育，阅读和科学超过OECD平均水平约1.5年。在某些情况下，美国学生落后于经合组织平均水平，与中国学生领先的年数大致相同。 (4) (5)
The myth persists that the US has always led the world in quality of education, but this is nothing more than branding propaganda and part of the indoctrination process of American moral superiority that is wholly unsupported by facts. Consider this quote from an American education expert:
人们一直认为，美国在教育质量方面一直领先于世界，但这只不过是品牌宣传和美国道德优越性灌输过程的一部分，而这完全没有事实依据。考虑一下美国教育专家的这句话：
“The US has never been first in the world, nor even near the top, on any international tests. Consistently over the past half century, American students have typically scored near the median at best, but most often being in the bottom quartile. The historical record indicates that American elementary students are only average at best, their performance degrading year by year until high school seniors perform last in almost all international tests. The International Science Studies that began in high schools in the late 1960s and early 1970s found that 14-year-olds were below average and seniors scored last of all countries. In the International Mathematics tests that began in the 1960s, American high school seniors scored last of all nations. In the 1982 International Mathematics Study, high school seniors placed at the bottom on almost every test. In terms of the PISA tests, American students – placing last – are simply following the pattern that has been consistent for the past 50 years or more.” [5a] [6] [7]
美国从来没有在任何国际考试中名列世界第一，甚至也没有接近榜首。在过去的半个世纪里，美国学生通常最多只能取得接近中位数的分数，但大多数情况下都是在四分之一以下。历史记录表明，美国元素y学生充其量只是中等水平，他们的表现逐年下降，直到高中生在几乎所有的国际考试中表现最后。20世纪60年代末和70年代初开始在高中进行的国际科学研究发现，14岁的学生低于平均水平，而且是高年级学生在所有国家中，s得分最后。在20世纪60年代开始的国际数学考试中，美国高中生在所有国家中得分最后。在1982年的《国际数学研究》（International Mathematics Study）中，高中四年级学生几乎在所有考试中都排名垫底。在PISA测试方面，美国排在最后的学生只是遵循了过去50年或更长时间以来一贯的模式。” [ [ [5a年]6]7]
The National Assessment of Education Progress, or NAEP — called the Nation’s Report Card — is an exam given to fourth-grade and eighth-grade students throughout the country by the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education. Only 36 percent of fourth-grade students and 34 percent of eighth-grade students in 2015 scored high enough to be considered proficient or above in reading. In math, 40 percent of fourth-grade students and 33 percent of eighth-grade students scored proficient or above. Many experts have stated that Americans are “uneducated to a degree unmatched by many third-world countries”. [8]
国家教育进步评估（NAEP）——被称为国家成绩单——是美国教育部下属的国家教育统计中心对全国四年级和八年级学生进行的一项考试。2015年，只有36%的四年级学生和34%的八年级学生取得了足以被视为精通或以上阅读的分数。在数学方面，40%的四年级学生和33%的八年级学生取得了熟练或以上的成绩。许多专家表示，美国人“未受教育的程度是许多第三世界国家无法比拟的”。[8]
Recent tests in the New York area show that less than half of all students are proficient in English and Math, and in some areas the number is as low as 13%. This is true in most of the country, literacy being marginal in most American secondary schools. In an article published in the San Jose Mercury in 2001, it was documented that 75% of California high school seniors could not read well enough to pass their exit exams.
最近在纽约地区的测试表明，不到一半的学生精通英语和数学，在某些地区，这一数字低至13%。这在美国大部分地区都是如此，美国大多数中学的识字率都很低。2001年，在圣何塞水星报发表的一篇文章中，有记录表明，75%的加州高中生的阅读能力不足以通过毕业考试。
A quote from one news report: “In October of 2013 a new global report issued by the OECD found that Americans ranked well below the worldwide average in just about every measure of skill. In math, reading, and technology-driven problem-solving, the United States performed worse than nearly every other country… The US would have looked even worse if China had been included in this study. In basic literacy – the ability to understand and use basic written text – 80% of Americans reached only a level 2 out of 5. And in math and numerical proficiency, using numbers in daily life, they are worse … and 10% scored below level 1. Technological literacy and ability were worse too. In problem-solving in a technological environment and the use of “cognitive skills required to solve problems”, the Americans were at the bottom.” And that bottom is in math, vocabulary, language usage and technology, with Chinese students far surpassing the Americans even when using a language that is not their own. [9] [10]
引用一篇新闻报道的话：“2013年10月，经合组织发布的一份新的全球报告发现，美国人在几乎所有技能指标上都远低于世界平均水平。在数学、阅读和技术驱动的问题解决方面，美国的表现几乎比其他国家都差呃，国家……如果中国被纳入这项研究，美国看起来会更糟。在基本识字能力（理解和使用基本书面文字的能力）方面，80%的美国人仅达到五分之二的水平。而在数学和数字熟练程度方面，在日常生活中使用数字的情况则更糟…10%的人得分低于1级。技术素养和能力也较差。在技术环境下解决问题和使用“解决问题所需的认知技能”方面，美国人处于最底层。“最底层是数学、词汇、语言使用和技术y、 中国学生甚至在使用非自己的语言时也远远超过了美国人。[9] [10]
In early 2014 the Washington Times reported that new studies and the results of the recent SAT tests demonstrate conclusively that the vast majority of America’s 2012 high school graduates aren’t ready for college, and SAT scores have plummeted to their lowest level in more than 40 years. The results of the exams, released by the College Board, revealed that only about 39% of students planning to attend university are in any way prepared for the world of higher education. More than 60% displayed functional illiteracy by failing the reading portion of the test, with only a slightly better result on math and writing, which means most US university students will achieve C or D grades at best, and that a great many will either fail or be falsely graduated without merit or knowledge. And the dropout rates are fierce. In Washington DC, the nation’s capital, almost 70% of college students fail to graduate. [11] [12] The solution was to abandon the SAT tests for college entry.
2014年初，《华盛顿时报》报道称，新的研究和最近SAT考试的结果确凿地表明，美国2012年高中毕业生中的绝大多数还没有准备好上大学，SAT分数已跌至40多年来的最低水平。大学理事会公布的考试结果显示，只有约39%的计划上大学的学生为高等教育做好了准备。超过60%的学生由于阅读部分考试不及格而表现出功能性文盲，数学和写作成绩只略好一点，这意味着大多数美国大学生最多只能达到C或D级，而许多学生要么不及格，要么没有功绩或知识而被假毕业。而且辍学率很高。在首都华盛顿特区，近70%的大学生未能毕业。解决办法是放弃SAT考试，进入大学。[11][12]
I deleted this paragraph, then decided to re-insert it because the topic irritated me. We’re dealing with the English language, and listening to a senior American educator, a Ph.D. from Harvard, explaining why only 39% of all students who took the SAT college admissions test scored well enough to be deemed ready for college. In her little media sound-byte, she said this fact showed American educators where they needed to “hone in”. The correct expression is “to home in on”, as with a homing device, to focus on or bring us to the correct place, in fact to take us home. To “hone” is to sharpen, as to hone a blade, but for Americans who don’t – or can’t – read, the sound is similar and sloppy carelessness accounts for the rest. Critics pounced on this, but she and other ‘educators’ defended such a foolish error by claiming that language is alive and fluid, and it changes. To make matters worse, another shining light, this one an education expert from Duke University, informed us that our criticisms of poor-quality education (and educators) would likely “snuff out democracy”.
我删除了这一段，然后决定重新插入，因为这个话题激怒了我。我们正在处理英语，正在听一位美国资深教育家，一位哈佛大学博士解释为什么只有39%参加SAT大学入学考试的学生取得了足够好的成绩被认为已经准备好上大学了。在她小小的媒体声音字节中，她表示，这一事实向美国教育工作者展示了他们需要“磨练”的地方。正确的表达是“回家”，就像使用自动寻的设备一样，专注于或带我们到正确的地方，实际上是带我们回家。磨砺就是磨砺，至于磨刀，但对于那些不识字或不会识字的美国人来说，声音是相似的，其余的都是粗心大意造成的。评论家对此进行了猛烈抨击，但她和其他“教育工作者”为这样一个愚蠢的错误辩护，声称语言是生动的、流动的，而且它会改变。把事情搞砸rse是另一盏明灯，这位来自杜克大学的教育专家告诉我们，我们对低质量教育（和教育工作者）的批评可能会“扼杀民主”。
In spite of all the branding propaganda and rhetoric, the decreasing quality of American education is well-known in the West. It is not a secret that for many decades the US has been “dumbing-down” its education at all levels, consistently reducing government funding to result in fewer teachers, larger classrooms, poorer facilities, lower salaries and teacher quality, and steadily decreasing learning. One need only do a quick Internet search to find hundreds of studies and alarmed reports of the greatly-deteriorated quality of American education. As John Kozy noted, “In fact, piles of evidence reveal that Americans are getting dumber. People who have graduated from high school since the pocket calculator was invented can’t calculate in their heads, not even simple addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Many people addicted to the Internet have difficulty reading anything more complicated than a tweet”.
尽管有各种品牌宣传和花言巧语，但美国教育质量的下降在西方是众所周知的。几十年来，美国一直在“降低”各级教育水平，不断减少政府资助，导致教师人数减少、教室扩大、设施变差、工资和教师素质下降，并不断减少学习，这已不是什么秘密。人们只需在互联网上快速搜索，就能找到数百份关于美国教育质量严重恶化的研究报告和令人担忧的报告。正如约翰·科齐（John Kozy）所指出的那样，“事实上，大量证据表明，美国人变得越来越笨了。袖珍计算器发明以来，高中毕业的人都无法在头脑中计算，甚至连简单的加法、减法和乘法都不能。许多上网成瘾的人很难阅读比推特更复杂的东西”。
The propaganda machine focuses heavily on the mythical superiority of the American education system, but Americans haven’t the critical thinking skills needed to see through the lies presented to them. One author pointed out that American public schooling grinds away at children until they graduate with little creativity or curiosity, stating further that “Such people will never be informed citizens, and most could care less”. All of this has been heavily researched and documented by John Gatto, who was nominated as Teacher of the Year for New York State and New York City, and who has since left teaching, claiming he was no longer willing to harm children by teaching them in the US public school system.[13]
宣传机器主要关注美国教育系统的神话般的优越性，但美国人没有必要的批判性思维技能来看穿向他们呈现的谎言。一位作者指出，美国公立学校在孩子们毕业之前一直在磨磨蹭蹭，他们几乎没有创造力或好奇心，并进一步指出，“这样的人永远不会成为知情的公民，大多数人也不会太在意”。约翰·加托（John Gatto）对所有这一切进行了大量的研究和记录，他被提名为纽约州和纽约市年度教师，并自那以后离开了教学岗位，声称他不再愿意通过在美国公立学校系统中教孩子来伤害他们。[13]
In 2013, Jeff Schweitzer wrote an article in the UK Guardian titled ‘God created gravity’, in which he deplored the sad state of American education, to quite an extent blaming religion for the lack of intelligent focus, with subjects like science still in the 17th century in US schools. He said that while the rest of the world is becoming educated, Americans spend their time discussing how exceptional and awesome they are, with the result that Americans are number one only in delusion. “Steeped in this wasteland of scientific illiteracy we march ever further toward a theocracy … twisting history to indoctrinate our children with stories about god and gravity”, with educational debates, like all others based on faith rather than logic. He wrote that the only way for Americans to support any position they hold is to simply assert their supremacy as loudly as possible, reduced to childlike tantrums of “I’m right, you’re wrong, I win.” [14]
2013年，杰夫·施韦策（Jeff Schweitzer）在《英国卫报》（UK Guardian）上发表了一篇题为“上帝创造了重力”的文章，他在文章中对美国教育的悲惨状况表示痛惜，在很大程度上，他将缺乏智慧的焦点归咎于宗教，像科学这样的学科在17世纪的美国学校仍然存在。他说，当世界其他地区都在接受教育的时候，美国人花时间讨论他们有多么与众不同和令人敬畏，结果美国人只是在妄想中排名第一。“在这片科学文盲的荒原上，我们进一步走向神权政治……扭曲历史，向我们的孩子灌输关于上帝和重力的故事”，进行教育辩论，就像所有其他基于信仰而非逻辑的辩论一样。他写道，美国人支持他们所持任何立场的唯一方式就是尽可能大声地宣称自己的至高无上地位，并将其简化为孩子般的发脾气：“我是对的，你错了，我赢了。14
Because American schools do not demand critical thinking and problem-solving from students starting at a young age, the students are lost in university classrooms when they are years behind and struggling with the basics of reading and understanding. Many US educators complain that fewer than one-quarter of their students have any proficiency at all in basic skills like math and reading comprehension, that they are never taught original ideas or methods of learning that will prepare them for higher education. One educator claimed, “My former teachers simply did not push me to think past a basic level, to apply concepts, to move beyond memorizing facts and figures.” And of course the students feel the pressure acutely. One first-year university student said, “I basically thought I was stupid. I just felt like, What’s wrong with me? Maybe I’m not meant to be here.” Another said, “You can’t make it in college by yourself. You just need all the help you can get.” One student who felt blessed by having a good teacher in her final year in high school said, “I feel like it was too late. It just wasn’t enough to have that kind of teacher for one year.” [15]
因为美国学校不要求学生从小就开始批判性思考和解决问题，所以当他们落后多年，在阅读和理解的基础上苦苦挣扎时，他们就会在大学课堂上迷失。许多美国教育工作者抱怨说他们的学生在数学和阅读理解等基本技能方面都很熟练，从来没有人教过他们为接受高等教育做准备的原创思想或学习方法。一位教育家声称：“我以前的老师根本没有强迫我忘记基本知识c级，应用概念，超越记忆事实和数字。当然，学生们也感受到了巨大的压力。一名一年级大学生说：“我基本上认为自己很愚蠢。”。我只是觉得，我怎么了？也许我不该在这里。另一个说：“你不能在大学里自己做吧。你只需要你能得到的所有帮助。一位高中最后一年有一位好老师的学生说：“我觉得为时已晚。”。仅仅有一年这样的老师是不够的。” []15
And it isn’t only the students who are in this position. The New York Post ran an interesting article titled, “US adults are dumber than the average human“, which stated in part, “It’s long been known that America’s school kids haven’t measured well compared with international peers. [16] Now, there’s a new twist: Adults don’t either. In math, reading and problem-solving using technology – all skills considered critical for global competitiveness and economic strength – American adults scored below the international average on a global test.” The studies also found that it was much more difficult on average to overcome the lack of knowledge, literacy and other barriers in the United States, than in other nations.
不仅是学生处于这种地位。《纽约邮报》刊登了一篇有趣的文章，题为“美国成年人比普通人更笨”，其中部分指出，“众所周知，与国际同龄人相比，美国的学童没有很好的衡量标准。[现在，有一个新的转折点：成年人也没有。在数学、阅读和使用技术解决问题方面，所有被认为对全球竞争力和经济实力至关重要的技能，美国成年人在全球测试中的得分低于国际平均水平。“研究还发现，与其他国家相比，美国要克服知识缺乏、识字和其他障碍的平均难度要大得多。16]
The article continued, “It’s not just the kids who require more and more preparation to get access to the economy, it’s more and more the adults don’t have the skills to stay in it. Americans scored toward the bottom in the category of problem solving in a technology rich environment, even in skills such as using a mouse”, creating a kind of “underclass – a large group of people who are basically unemployable“. And again, “A quarter of all Americans never become proficient in math. In Shanghai and Korea, the comparable figure is about 6%. Some 7% of US students reached the top two scientific performance levels, compared with an amazing 27% in Shanghai.” [17] [18] [19]
文章接着说，“不仅仅是孩子们需要越来越多的准备才能进入经济，成年人也越来越没有能力留在经济中。美国人在技术丰富的环境中解决问题的能力，甚至在使用鼠标等技能方面，得分都接近最底”，创造了一种“下层阶级&一大群基本上无法就业的人”。再次重申，“四分之一的美国人从未精通数学。在上海和韩国，可比数字约为6%。约7%的美国学生达到了前两名的科学表现水平，而在上海，这一比例达到了惊人的27%。17]18]19
Rick Shenkman wrote an interesting and enlightening article titled ‘Just How Stupid Are We?’, in which he wrote “Americans generally do not seem to absorb what it is that they are reading and hearing and watching. Americans cannot even name the leaders of their own government. The error can be traced to our mistaking unprecedented access to information with the actual consumption of it.” He said that in the postwar period, social scientists began to systematically measure what Americans actually knew, and even back then the results of their displayed ignorance were devastating. He further claimed that surveys showed Americans’ level of ignorance remaining constant over time, and that by some measures “Americans are dumber today than their parents of a generation ago. Young people … know less today than young people forty years ago.” [20] [20a][21]
里克·申克曼（Rick Shenkman）写了一篇有趣且富有启发性的文章，题为“我们到底有多愚蠢？”，他在信中写道：“美国人似乎通常无法理解他们正在阅读、聆听和观看的内容。美国人甚至无法说出自己政府的领导人的名字。错误可以追溯到我们错误地将前所未有的信息获取与实际消费相混淆。”他说，在战后时期，社会科学家开始系统地测量美国人的实际知识，甚至在那时，他们表现出的无知的结果也是毁灭性的。他进一步声称，调查显示，随着时间的推移，美国人的无知程度保持不变，并且通过一些衡量标准，“今天的美国人比他们的父母一代人以前更笨。年轻人……今天的知识比四十年前的年轻人少。”[[20]20年]21]
The situation is so bad that in 2003, when the Strategic Task Force on Education investigated Americans’ knowledge of world affairs, they concluded that “Americans’ ignorance … is so great as to constitute a threat to national security.”
情况如此糟糕，以至于2003年，当教育战略特别工作组调查美国人对世界事务的了解时，他们得出结论：“美国人的无知……太大了，对国家安全构成了威胁。
But according to the NYT‘s resident jack-of-all-trades Paul Krugman, if you had to “express the greatness of the United States in one word, that word would be ‘education’.” Other more knowledgeable and competent people disagree with Krugman. Donald Kagan, a former president of Yale University gave a final speech in 2013 in which he said that American universities were failing their students, that the curricula were inappropriate and were “unfocused and scattered”, the campuses “a kind of cultural void, with an ignorance of the past”, and that “faculty with atypical views” were rare. Perhaps most importantly, Kagan said, “At the university, there must be intellectual variety. If you don’t have [that], it’s not only that you are deprived of knowing some of the things you might know. It’s that you are deprived of testing the things that you do know or do think you know or believe in, so that your knowledge is superficial.” [22] [23]
但据《纽约时报》驻纽约各行各业专家保罗·克鲁格曼（Paul Krugman）称，如果你必须“用一个词来表达美国的伟大，那么这个词就是‘教育’。”其他更有知识、更有能力的人不同意克鲁格曼的观点。2013年，耶鲁大学前校长唐纳德·卡根（Donald Kagan）发表了最后一次演讲，他在演讲中说，美国大学让学生们失望了，课程设置不合适，而且“不集中、分散”，校园“是一种文化空白，对过去一无所知”，“具有非典型观点的教师”很少。卡根说，也许最重要的是，“在大学里，必须有各种各样的知识。如果你没有这些知识，不仅你会被剥夺一些你可能知道的知识。还因为你被剥夺了测试你确实知道或认为你知道或相信的东西的权利，所以你的知识是肤浅的。22]
The man was precisely correct in this last statement, reflecting one of the hazards today of being an American, the programmed and propagandised uniformity of thought that deprives Americans of any way to test the validity of their (mostly) foolish beliefs. Such regimented and incessant propaganda provides a uniform reinforcement of ideology, creating impenetrable boundaries of the mind. The simple-minded adherence to a single ideology narrows one’s views and cripples the ability to think clearly or critically. As one author wrote, “a closely adhered-to ideology becomes a mental locality with limits and borders just as real as those of geography. In fact, if we consider (American) nationalism a pervasive modern ideology, there is a direct connection between the boundaries induced in the mind and those on the ground.” [24]
这个人在最后一句话中说得很对，反映了当今作为美国人的危险之一，即程序化和宣传性思维的一致性，剥夺了美国人检验其（大多数）愚蠢信仰有效性的任何途径。这种有组织的、不间断的宣传统一强化了意识形态，创造了难以逾越的思想边界。简单地坚持一种意识形态会缩小观点，削弱清晰或批判性思考的能力。正如一位作者所写，“一个紧密依附的意识形态成为一个心理场所，它有着与地理一样真实的限制和边界。事实上，如果我们认为（美国）民族主义是一种普遍存在的现代意识形态，那么在头脑中产生的边界与地面上的边界之间有着直接的联系。”[24]
Karl Weiss wrote an excellent and perceptive article that was published in Germany’s Berliner Umschau in October of 2009; I will quote some of his observations here. He began with the decrepit American educational system, stating “.. the education system in America is unlike that of almost any other industrialized country. Free education is available only at primary and secondary levels; beyond that, community and technical colleges and universities are so expensive that children in lower socioeconomic classes have little chance of attending unless they are “gifted” and get scholarships. The education provided by the public school system is often so inferior that graduates who can’t afford better schooling have little chance of ever getting the knowledge and skills necessary to lead fulfilling lives. Instead, the focus is on producing nationalistic dimwits who know nothing but their own country.”
卡尔·韦斯（Karl Weiss）于2009年10月在德国柏林大学发表了一篇优秀而敏锐的文章；我将在这里引用他的一些意见。他从破旧的美国教育体系开始，他说：“美国的教育制度与几乎任何其他工业化国家的教育制度都不一样。免费教育只在初等和中等教育水平上提供；除此之外，社区和技术学院和大学的学费太高，社会经济地位较低的孩子除非“有天赋”，否则几乎没有机会入学“并获得奖学金。公立学校系统提供的教育往往很差，无法负担更好教育的毕业生几乎没有机会获得过过充实生活所需的知识和技能。相反，重点是培养出只懂自己国家的民族主义傻瓜。
He went on to say that one result is a deeply divided society with the capitalists and bankers on one side and the uneducated and lower class on the other, resulting in what he called “a society of force so shot through with violence that any other value has little or no meaning”, and with everything rooted in the Christianity-based black and white dog-eat-dog competition that creates only winners and losers. Weiss’ allegation of “nationalistic dimwits” is not only accurate for the US educational system, but the process is universal throughout the nation. Educational materials in the US are largely propaganda tools, intended not to educate but to indoctrinate.
他接着说，一个结果是一个严重分裂的社会，一方是资本家和银行家，另一方是未受过教育的下层阶级，导致他所称的“暴力横行的社会，任何其他价值都几乎没有意义”，一切都植根于基督教的黑白狗对狗竞争，只创造赢家和输家。韦斯所说的“民族主义傻瓜”不仅对美国教育系统来说是准确的，而且这个过程在全国都是普遍的。美国的教育材料主要是宣传工具，目的不是教育，而是灌输思想。
In the wonderfully disingenuous but disturbing manner of propagandising in which Americans excel, one educational website made the following claim: “While lawyers, doctors, and teachers typically complete additional schoolwork, computer programmers, nurses, and automotive technicians may be qualified with only one or two years of study”.
一家教育网站以美国人擅长的令人难以置信的虚伪但令人不安的宣传方式声称：“虽然律师、医生和教师通常要完成额外的学业，但计算机程序员、护士和汽车技术人员可能只需要一年或两年的学习就可以胜任”。
Doctors “typically” complete “additional schoolwork”? That sounds like some, but not all, medical students doing a bit of extra homework at the Grade Three level, but doctors in most countries need an undergrad degree plus an additional four years of grueling medical training to become an M.D., and yet this is being equated with an auto mechanic who may be qualified with only one year of study. This re-categorisation may appear trivial to the casual reader, but this anti-intellectual linguistic magic is reprogramming Americans with a much-denigrated appreciation of a university education. Now, an American hairdresser and manicurist is trained to the same level of competence as a gynecologist – except for the bit of “additional schoolwork”. And only in the US can a nurse be “qualified” with only one year of study. Many countries require a 4-year nursing degree.
医生“通常”完成“额外的学业”？这听起来像是一些（但并非全部）医学生在三年级做了一些额外的家庭作业，但大多数国家的医生需要获得本科学位，再加上四年艰苦的医学培训才能成为医学博士，然而这等同于一个只需一年学习就可以胜任的汽车修理工。对于普通读者来说，这种重新分类可能显得微不足道，但这种反智力的语言魔法正在以对大学教育的极大贬低重新规划美国人。现在，一位美国美发师和美甲师接受了与妇科医生同等水平的培训，除了“额外的课业”。只有在美国，护士只有一年的学习才能“合格”。许多国家要求4年制护理学位。
The amount of mythological propaganda and marketing surrounding American education is stunning. Shailendra Raj Mehta, a visiting professor at Duke University, wrote one of the most nonsensical articles I have seen in years, titled ‘The secret of Harvard’s Success’, in which he wrote “No country dominates any industry as much as the United States dominates higher education”. According to him, in a ranking of world universities, 17 of the world’s 20 best universities are American, with Harvard topping the list by a substantial margin, a feat he attributes to “America’s innovative governance model for higher education“. I have no idea what that would be, but it can’t be good. As I’ve detailed elsewhere, Harvard was established by the Puritans as a religious training camp to produce missionaries for their heresies, not to “educate” anybody. And, as with all rankings everywhere, the Americans choose the game, set all the parameters, lay down the rules, decide the scoring system, then win the game. And the US media promote this nonsensical propaganda literally to the ends of the earth. American universities are not ranked so highly because they are the best; it’s because the Americans determined the ranking rules so they would come out on top.
围绕美国教育的神话宣传和营销数量惊人。杜克大学客座教授Shailendra Raj Mehta写了几年来我所见过的最荒谬的文章之一，题为“哈佛成功的秘密”，他在其中写道“没有国家域名他说，在世界大学排名中，世界上20所最好的大学中有17所是美国大学，哈佛大学以相当大的优势位居榜首，他将这一壮举归因于“美国创新的治理模式我支持高等教育”。我不知道那会是什么，但这不可能是好的。正如我在其他地方详述的那样，哈佛是清教徒建立的一个宗教训练营，为他们的异端邪说培养传教士，而不是“教育”任何人。而且，与世界各地的排名一样，美国人选择比赛，设置所有参数，制定规则，决定得分系统，然后赢得比赛。美国媒体将这种毫无意义的宣传推广到了天涯海角。美国大学排名不是很高，因为它们是最好的；因为美国人确定了排名规则，这样他们就能名列前茅。
In fact, in a recent, more intelligent and less-biased, examination of higher education systems, China ranked ninth, six places above the US. Universitas 21, a group of 27 research-intensive universities from around the world, created an international ranking system of educational quality based on national purchasing power. A leading Universitas researcher said that despite a relatively low per capita income, China had made a “phenomenal” investment in its top universities, resulting in Chinese universities now being “serious players” in research and other fields.
事实上，在最近一次更聪明、更不带偏见的高等教育体系考试中，中国排名第九，比美国高出六位。Universitas 21是由来自世界各地的27所研究型大学组成的一个组织，创建了一个基于国家购买力的教育质量国际排名体系。一位知名大学研究员表示，尽管人均收入相对较低，但中国对顶尖大学的投资“惊人”，导致中国大学在研究和其他领域成为“重要参与者”。
Here is an excerpt written by Sarah Brown, taken from Canada’s Globe and Mail, in response to an NYT article about Harvard students always receiving A grades:
以下是莎拉·布朗（Sarah Brown）撰写的摘录，摘自加拿大《环球邮报》（Globe and Mail），以回应《纽约时报》（NYT）一篇关于哈佛学生总是获得A成绩的文章：
“Having attended both Harvard and the University of Toronto, I can state that there are two differences between the schools: Harvard is much more difficult to get into, whereas the University of Toronto is much more difficult to get out of – with a degree and decent grades, that is. At Harvard, undergraduates have to take only four full-time courses per year to earn a degree, and they have a longer school year in which to prepare for their exams. At U of T, five full-time courses must be taken, and the school year is much more condensed. The atmosphere at Harvard is quite “country-clubish” and leisurely, while at U of T it is a downright pressure-cooker. At U of T there is an unwritten policy that 20 per cent of the students in every class will receive a failing grade. At Harvard, most students receive a minimum of A- grades. In fact, to receive anything less than a B, one would have to miss exams and not hand in assignments. As far as getting into Harvard goes, the most significant factor is whether or not you are a so-called “legacy,” meaning that if your father, mother, or sibling went to Harvard before you, you can still get in, as hundreds do, with mediocre high school grades. I’m not surprised that current Harvard students feel that they deserve A’s for their $100,000 investment; if they were forced to compete with students at the U of T, many would receive only C’s at best.” And many would fail.
我曾就读于哈佛大学和多伦多大学，我可以说，这两所学校之间有两个不同之处：哈佛大学更难进入，而多伦多大学则更难离开——拥有学位，成绩也不错rgraduates学生每年只需参加四门全日制课程即可获得学位，而且他们有更长的学年来准备考试。在T大学，必须修五门全日制课程，而且学年要紧凑得多。哈佛大学的氛围相当“乡村俱乐部悠闲地说，在U of T，它是一个彻头彻尾的高压锅。在T大学，有一项不成文的政策，即每个班20%的学生都会得不及格分数。在哈佛大学，大多数学生的最低成绩是a。事实上，要得到低于B的任何东西，就必须错过考试，不交作业。就进入哈佛而言，最重要的因素是你是否是所谓的“遗产”，也就是说，如果你的父亲、母亲或兄弟姐妹比你先进入哈佛，你仍然可以像数百人一样以平庸的高中成绩进入哈佛。我一点也不奇怪，现在的哈佛学生觉得他们的10万美元投资值得得A；如果他们被迫与T大学的学生竞争，很多人最多只能获得C。“许多人都会失败。
Dumber Than the Average Human
比一般人笨
When I was a university student, there were Americans at my school who had obtained B.A. degrees from UCLA with majors in – and I am not kidding – basket-weaving and ceramics. In America, that’s called an education. Basket-weaving. That’s about the same being granted a Master’s degree if you can learn to knit a sweater. At around the same time, a US polling firm did a nation-wide study and discovered, among other things, that a full 75% of Americans could not find their own country on a map of the world. Similar studies have been repeated many times since then, with essentially the same results among adults and students at all levels including university: about 75% of Americans couldn’t find either their country or Canada. One of the most famous references to this astonishing level of American ignorance occurred on US national television during a Miss Teen USA pageant when one of the finalists, Miss South Carolina, Caitlin Upton, was asked why most Americans couldn’t find their country on a world map. Here is her answer, which was posted on YouTube and received more than 40 million views.
当我还是一名大学生时，我所在的学校里有一些美国人在加州大学洛杉矶分校获得了学士学位，主修编织篮子和陶瓷，我不是开玩笑。在美国，这被称为教育。篮子编织。如果你能学习，那么获得硕士学位也差不多我想织一件毛衣。大约在同一时间，一家美国民意调查公司在全国范围内进行了一项研究，除其他外，发现整整75%的美国人在世界地图上找不到自己的国家。自那时以来，类似的研究已经重复多次，结果基本相同在成年人和包括大学在内的各级学生中：大约75%的美国人找不到自己的国家或加拿大。在美国国家电视台举行的美国青少年小姐选美比赛中，最著名的一则报道提到了美国人如此惊人的无知程度南卡罗来纳州小姐凯特林·厄普顿被问及为什么大多数美国人在世界地图上找不到自己的国家。这是她的答案，发布在YouTube上，获得了超过4000万的浏览量。
“I personally believe that US Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the US should help the US, uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future for our children.” [25]
我个人认为，美籍美国人无法做到这一点，因为，呃，我们国家的一些人没有地图，而且，呃，我相信，我们的教育，比如，呃，南非，呃，伊拉克，世界各地，比如，我相信他们应该，我们在美国的教育应该帮助美国，呃，呃，应该帮助南非，应该帮助伊拉克和亚洲国家，所以我们将能够为我们的孩子建设未来。” [25]
If that doesn’t tell you what you need to know about the quality of American education, I don’t know what would. It isn’t only the ignorance, but the obvious functional illiteracy of such a person, that is so stunning. [26]
如果这不能告诉你关于美国教育质量你需要了解什么，我不知道该怎么办。令人震惊的不仅仅是这样一个人的无知，还有明显的功能性文盲。[26]
The American media flood the nation and the world with the most astonishing propaganda and fabricated fairy-tales about the quality of the nation’s education. The US used to boast that it had the highest percentage of population with university degrees. I don’t know if that claim was ever true, but it eventually became false so the Americans moved the goalposts. Now, in all the statistics, including those by the US government itself, anyone with almost any kind of accreditation above High School, perhaps including even a hairdressing or lawn maintenance diploma – which they call an “associate degree” is listed as a college graduate.
美国媒体以最惊人的宣传和编造的关于国家教育质量的童话充斥全国和世界。美国曾经夸耀拥有大学学位的人口比例最高。我不知道这一说法是否属实，但它最终变成了错误，所以美国人移动了球门柱。现在，在所有的统计数据中，包括美国政府本身的统计数据，任何拥有高中以上几乎所有认证的人，甚至可能包括美发或草坪维护文凭，他们称之为“副学位”，都被列为大学毕业生。
Similarly, the US claims the highest level of literacy in the world – 99%. Truly enviable. But then, reading the small print at the end of a recent highly-regarded “definitive study” purporting to document American educational supremacy, what do we find? Just as with its economic statistics and every other comparison the US produces, we discover manipulated and falsified data. In these so-called studies produced by the US government and its educational institutions, the Americans simply misrepresented the facts so they could place themselves at the top of the list. In the case of functional literacy, the US position is this:
同样，美国声称其识字率是世界上最高的——99%。真令人羡慕。但是，阅读最近一项备受推崇的“权威性研究”结尾处的小字，旨在记录美国教育霸权，我们发现了什么？正如美国的经济统计数据和其他所有比较一样，我们发现了被操纵和伪造的数据。在美国政府及其教育机构进行的这些所谓的研究中，美国人只是歪曲事实，以便将自己置于榜首。就功能性识字而言，美国的立场是：
“For highly developed or high-income countries where literacy statistics were not collected, a rate of 99% was assumed.”
对于没有收集识字统计数据的高度发达国家或高收入国家，假定识字率为99%。
We might legitimately ask why the Americans didn’t bother to collect statistics. The reason is that in all studies, researchers have found the rate of functional illiteracy in the US is almost 25% of the total population, with the illiteracy rate for adults in many American cities like Detroit having been documented at almost 50%, a very long way from the fictional 99% literacy ‘assumed’, and in many other major cities like New York large swathes of the population read below a grade three level and have no math or other skills. The highly-regarded National Adult Literacy Survey found a total of almost 25%, or about 50 million of the 200 million American adults functioning at the lowest literacy level. In basic literacy – the ability to understand and use basic written text – 80% of Americans reached only a level 2 out of 5. It is so bad that 75% of the Fortune 500 companies have to provide some level of remedial training for their workers – a large number of whom are college graduates. [27]
我们可能会合理地问，为什么美国人不去收集统计数据。原因是，在所有的研究中，研究人员发现，美国的功能性文盲率几乎占总人口的25%，而在美国许多城市，如底特律哈文，成年人的文盲率也很高据记载，g的识字率接近50%，与虚构的99%识字率“假设”相去甚远，在纽约等许多其他大城市，大部分人的阅读水平低于三年级，没有数学或其他技能。备受推崇的全国成人识字率调查发现f几乎25%，即在2亿美国成年人中，约有5000万处于最低识字水平。在基本识字能力（理解和使用基本书面文字的能力）方面，80%的美国人只达到了五分之二的水平。糟糕的是，《财富》500强中有75%的公司必须提供对工人进行一定程度的补救培训，其中大部分是大学毕业生。[27]
Countless books and academic studies have been produced on the severe literacy problem in America, but the media ignore these facts and continue, like Paul Krugman, to feed the world the foolish utopian claim that the US is a world leader in education when nothing could be farther from the truth.
关于美国严重的识字问题，已经出版了无数书籍和学术研究，但媒体忽视了这些事实，继续像保罗·克鲁格曼一样，向世界灌输愚蠢的乌托邦式主张，即美国是教育领域的世界领先者，而事实并非如此。
More than 25% of Americans believe the sun revolves around the earth, but one US columnist wrote that this wasn’t really a bad thing. He claimed, “Firstly, the great majority of humans throughout history have believed this. Secondly, it’s not a problem that impinges on the daily life of anyone. We should pick co-ordinates for convenience, not dogma.”
超过25%的美国人相信太阳围绕地球旋转，但一位美国专栏作家写道，这并不是一件坏事。他声称：“首先，历史上绝大多数人都相信这一点。其次，这不是一个影响任何人日常生活的问题。我们应该选择方便的坐标，而不是教条。
Talking to Americans
与美国人交谈
Canada had a popular TV personality named Rick Mercer, who took a camera crew into the US on a crusade to satirise the true educational level of Americans. One of his trademark programs (on Canada’s CBC network) was called ‘Talking to Americans’, in which he would conduct random interviews with average Americans and tell them outrageous stories about Canada which they would inevitably accept as true. In one show, Mercer told Americans that very old or terminally-ill Canadian citizens are put onto ice floes and just pushed out into the Arctic Ocean to die. He pretended to be collecting signatures for a petition to the Canadian government to stop this practice; the signatures he obtained included those of full professors from Harvard and Yale.
加拿大有一位受欢迎的电视人物，名叫里克·默瑟，他带领摄制组前往美国，进行一场旨在讽刺美国人真实教育水平的运动。他的一个标志性节目（在加拿大CBC网络上）被称为“与美国人交谈”，在这个节目中，他会随机采访普通美国人，并告诉他们关于加拿大的离奇故事，他们会不可避免地认为这些故事是真实的。在一个节目中，默瑟告诉美国人，年老或身患绝症的加拿大公民被放在浮冰上，然后被推到北冰洋中死去。他假装正在收集签名，请求加拿大政府停止这种做法；他获得的签名包括哈佛大学和耶鲁大学的全职教授的签名。
In another, he interviewed George W. Bush (who had previously stated “you can’t stump me on world leaders”), conveying to him compliments from Canada’s Prime Minister Jean Poutine, on Bush’s Presidential candidacy, to which Bush responded with the warmest expressions of heartfelt gratitude. [28] [29] The Prime Minister of Canada was Jean Chretien; “poutine” is a French-Canadian dish of French fries with gravy and melted cheese. Bush was so miffed when the program aired, that Canada’s CBC was banned in the US for years.
在另一次采访中，他采访了乔治·W·布什（他之前曾说过“你不能在世界领导人问题上难倒我”），向他转达了加拿大首相让·鲍廷对布什总统候选人资格的赞扬，布什对此表示了最热烈的感谢。[][加拿大首相是让·克雷蒂恩（Jean Chretien）；“poutine”是一道法式加拿大菜，由法式炸薯条、肉汁和融化的奶酪组成。节目播出时，布什非常恼火，以至于加拿大的CBC在美国被禁播多年。2829]
In one of his shows, Mercer asked Americans how many sides a triangle had: One victim of American education said, “None. There are no sides in a triangle.” Another said “Four.” He asked them if the movie “Star Wars” were based on a true story; many Americans answered in the affirmative. It was so bad that Mercer claimed “About 80 per cent of the people give me the right answer, by which of course, I mean the wrong answer.” Mercer convinced tourists at Mount Rushmore that the mineral rights to the mountain had been sold to a Canadian firm that was going to drill for oil in Lincoln’s forehead. “Professors at Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, NYU and Stanford University were consistently fooled by [Mercer’s] absurdities.” [30]
在他的一个节目中，默瑟问美国人三角形有多少条边：一个美国教育的受害者说：“没有。三角形没有边。”另一个说：“四条。”他问他们电影《星球大战》是否基于真实故事；许多美国人的回答是肯定的。这太糟糕了，默瑟声称“大约80%的人给了我正确的答案，当然，我指的是错误的答案。”默瑟让拉什莫尔山的游客相信，这座山的采矿权已经卖给了一家加拿大公司，这家公司将在林肯的额头钻取石油。“哥伦比亚大学、哈佛大学、普林斯顿大学、伯克利大学、纽约大学和斯坦福大学的教授一直被莫瑟的荒谬愚弄。”[30]
It isn’t only Canadians who mock American ignorance and lack of education. The US late-night talk shows often do this kind of thing, ridiculing the fabled ignorance of their own citizens, claiming that they need to speak to only ten or at most twenty Americans to find 5 stupid ones who know nothing – 25%. This is so well-known that in Europe, ‘American’ equals ‘ignorant’, the two adjectives considered equivalent and synonymous.
嘲笑美国人无知和缺乏教育的不仅仅是加拿大人。美国深夜脱口秀节目经常这样做，嘲笑他们自己公民传说中的无知，声称他们只需要与十个或至多二十个美国人交谈，就能找到五个一无所知的愚蠢的人——25%。这是众所周知的，在欧洲，“美国人”等于“无知”，这两个形容词被认为是等价的，同义的。
Ron Unz wrote an excellent and informative article in The American Conservative titled The Myth of American Meritocracy, in which he detailed issues with admission to top US universities, quoting other studies as well, all of which suggest that various preferences and biases, including the role of cash in this process, with most universities, including Harvard, having a ‘cash price’ of admission, meaning that a substantial donation will obtain admittance even for a dim-witted student with no particular ability. [31]
罗恩·恩兹（Ron Unz）在《美国保守党》（The American Conservative）上发表了一篇题为《美国精英政治的神话》（The Myth of American Meritocracy）的文章，文章中详细阐述了美国顶尖大学的入学问题，并引用了其他研究，所有这些研究都表明，包括现金在这一过程中的作用在内的各种偏好和偏见，大多数大学，包括哈佛大学，都有入学的“现金价格”，这意味着，即使是没有特殊能力的愚蠢学生，也可以获得大量捐款。[31]
He wrote that the notion of a wealthy family buying their son his entrance into the Grandes Écoles of France or the top Japanese universities would be an absurdity.” He mentioned China as well, confirming that China’s gaokao is strictly based on merit and has never been corrupted by favoritism, and has been kept “remarkably clean for 1300 years”. He confirmed what many of us already know, that this uncorrupted system may be one reason so many wealthy Chinese send their “dim and lazy” offspring to study in the West. In his words, “enrolling them at a third-rate Chinese university would be a tremendous humiliation, while our own corrupt admissions practices get them an easy spot at Harvard or Stanford, sitting side by side with the children of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and George W. Bush.” One of his final comments was that the admissions process at top American universities operates under the principle of “Ideology and Diversity tempered by Corruption”, not what many Chinese have been led to expect from the propaganda machine.
他写道，一个富裕家庭买儿子进入法国高等学府或日本顶尖大学的想法是荒谬的。“他还提到了中国，确认中国的高考严格基于功绩，从未因偏袒而腐败，并且1300年来一直保持着非常干净”。他证实了我们许多人已经知道的，这种廉洁的制度可能是许多富裕的中国人把他们“昏暗和懒惰”的后代送到西方学习的原因之一。用他的话说，“让他们在中国的三流大学入学将是一种挑战虚伪的羞辱，而我们自己的腐败招生做法让他们在哈佛或斯坦福轻松获得一席之地，与比尔·克林顿、阿尔·戈尔和乔治·布什的孩子们并肩坐在一起。“他最后的评论之一是，美国顶尖大学的招生程序是在腐败调和意识形态和多样性”的原则，并不是许多中国人所期望的宣传机器。
It should be abundantly obvious that there is no way to reconcile these testimonials and experiences, and countless thousands similar, with claims that the US ‘dominates higher education’, at least not in any positive way. And so, with appropriate apologies to Paul Krugman, for those of you who are desperate to “express the greatness of America in one word”, that word would be “bull****”, not education.
很明显，这些证词和经历，以及无数类似的证词和经验，都无法与美国“主导高等教育”的主张相调和，至少不能以任何积极的方式调和。因此，对保罗·克鲁格曼（Paul Krugman）表示适当的歉意，对于那些急于“用一个词来表达美国的伟大”的人来说，这个词应该是“公牛”，而不是教育。
*
Mr. Romanoff’s writing has been translated into 32 languages and his articles posted on more than 150 foreign-language news and politics websites in more than 30 countries, as well as more than 100 English language platforms. Larry Romanoff is a retired management consultant and businessman. He has held senior executive positions in international consulting firms, and owned an international import-export business. He has been a visiting professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University, presenting case studies in international affairs to senior EMBA classes. Mr. Romanoff lives in Shanghai and is currently writing a series of ten books generally related to China and the West. He is one of the contributing authors to Cynthia McKinney’s new anthology ‘When China Sneezes’. (Chapt. 2 — Dealing with Demons).
罗曼诺夫先生的作品已被翻译成32种语言，他的文章发表在30多个国家的150多个外语新闻和政治网站上，以及100多个英语平台上。拉里·罗曼诺夫是一位退休的管理顾问和商人。他曾在国际咨询公司担任高级行政职务，并拥有国际进出口业务。他曾任上海复旦大学客座教授，向高级EMBA班介绍国际事务案例研究。罗曼诺夫先生住在上海，目前正在写一系列与中国和西方有关的十本书。他是辛西娅·麦金尼（Cynthia McKinney）新集《当中国打喷嚏时》（When China Sneeezes）的特约作者之一。（第二章——对付恶魔）。
His full archive can be seen at
他的完整文章库可以在以下找到
https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/ + https://www.moonofshanghai.com/
He can be contacted at:
联系方式：
2186604556@qq.com
*
Notes
注释
- Andreas Schleicher who was in charge of the PISA test on behalf of OECD, said “While that’s important, for me the real significance of these results is that they refute the commonly held hypothesis that China just produces rote learning. Large fractions of these students extrapolate from what they know and apply their knowledge very CREATIVELY in novel situations. In my opinion, it’s the American k-12 education which has failed miserably in teaching the American students the solid basics, has to be reformed.”
[1] Andreas Schleicher博士代表OECD负责PISA测试，说“虽然这很重要，但对我来说，这些结果的真正意义在于，它们驳斥了人们普遍认为的中国只会死记硬背的假设。这些学生中有很大一部分是根据他们所掌握的知识进行推断，并创造性地将他们的知识应用到新的情境中。在我看来，美国的k-12教育在教育美国学生学习英语方面失败得很惨。”扎实的基础，必须改革。
He also added this: “I have no respect for a large number of the Chinese students who come to U.S. for UNDERGRADUATE study. Most of these students are from well-off families and academically too weak to get into decent Chinese colleges. The real smart Chinese students are the ones who finish their undergraduate education in China and come to the U.S. for graduate study and beyond.”
他还补充道：“我不尊重大量来美国读本科的中国学生。这些学生大多来自富裕家庭，学业太差，无法进入像样的中国大学。真正聪明的中国学生是那些在中国完成本科教育，然后来美国读研究生和其他课程的学生。
[2] Dr. Peng Shi | USC CAIS;
[2] 彭石博士|USC CAIS；
www.cais.usc.edu/news/prediction-and-optimization-in-school-choice/
[3] No Division Required in This School Problem;
[3] 这个学校问题不需要划分；
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/education/no-division-required-in-this-school-problem.html
[4] What You Need to Know About the International Test Scores;
[4] 关于国际考试成绩你需要了解的内容；
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/international-test-scores_b_4379533
[5] Global Test Shows U.S. Stagnating – Education Week;
[5] 全球测试显示美国教育周停滞不前；
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/12/11/14pisa-2.h33.html
[5a] Vietnam Wallops U.S. on Test Scores;
[5a]越南在考试成绩上击败了美国；
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vietnam-wallops-us-on-tes_b_7290682
[6] Asian countries top OECD’s latest PISA survey;
[6] 亚洲国家是经合组织最新PISA调查的热门国家；
www.oecd.org/…countries-top-oecd-s-latest-pisa-survey-on-state-of-global-education.htm
[7] In PISA Test, Top Scores From Shanghai Stun Experts;
[7] 在PISA考试中，来自上海的高分让专家们目瞪口呆；
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/education/07education.html
[8] National Assessment of Education Progress Scores
[8] 国家教育进步分数评估
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/naep-scores_562fd4fde4b06317990fcf74
[9] The Washington, DC radio station, WTOP, reported in 2016 that only 25% of American 12th graders are able to write an essay.
Many educators called in to say they thought the number was too high..
[9] 华盛顿特区广播电台WTOP在2016年报道称，只有25%的美国12年级学生能够写论文。
许多教育工作者打电话来说，他们认为这个数字太高了。。
[10] Scores for Class of 2014 show no improvement
[10] 2014级成绩无改善
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sat-scores-for-class-of-2014-show-no-improvement-from-previous-marks/2014/10/06/80beb554-4d5b-11e4-aa5e-7153e466a02d_story.html
[11] Average SAT Scores Over Time:
[11] 随时间推移的SAT平均分数：
https://blog.prepscholar.com/average-sat-scores-over-time
[12]SAT scores at lowest level in 10 years;
[12] SAT分数为10年来最低水平；
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/sat-scores-at-lowest-level-in-10-years-fueling-worries-about-high-schools/2015/09/02/6b73ec66-5190-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html
[13] John Taylor Gatto “Dumbing Us Down”
[13] 约翰·泰勒·盖托“愚弄我们
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/41319.John_Taylor_Gatto
[14] God Created Gravity: Why the U.S. Can’t Keep Pace With …
[14] 上帝创造的地心引力：为什么美国跟不上。。。
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/god-created-gravity-why-t_b_4387942
[15] Only 25 Per Cent of All Americans Go to College and Only 16 Per Cent of These Actually Try to Learn Anything. The Unz Review; Alexander Cockburn • March 23, 2012;
[15] 只有25%的美国人上大学，其中只有16%的人真的想学什么。联合国系统审查；亚历山大·科克伯恩•2012年3月23日；
https://www.unz.com/acockburn/the-myth-of-the-knowledge-economy/
[16] US adults are dumber than the average human;
[16] 美国成年人比普通人更笨；
https://nypost.com/2013/10/08/us-adults-are-dumber-than-the-average-human/
[17] US adults rank below average in global survey of basic education skills
[17] 美国成年人在全球基础教育技能调查中排名低于平均水平
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/10/08/us-adults-rank-below-average-global-survey-basic-education-skills
[18] National Assessment of Adult Literacy;
[18] 全国成人识字率评估；
https://nces.ed.gov/naal
[19] Adult Literacy in the United States.
[19] 美国的成人识字率。
https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019179/index.asp
[20] Author: Irwin S. Kirsch; National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS);
[20] 作者：Irwin S.Kirsch；全国成人识字调查（NALS）；
https://nces.ed.gov/statprog/handbook/pdf/nals.pdf
[20a] Just How Stupid Are We?
[20a]我们有多愚蠢？
https://www.amazon.com/Just-How-Stupid-Are-We/dp/0465014933
[21] Terence P. Jeffrey, October 28, 2015; Detroit Public Schools: 93% Not Proficient in Reading; 96% Not Proficient in Math
[21]Terence P.Jeffrey，2015年10月28日；底特律公立学校：93%不精通阅读；96%数学不熟练
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/detroit-public-schools-93-not-proficient-reading-96-not-proficient
[22] Learning to Be Stupid in the Culture of Cash; March 8, 2003; by Luciana Bohne
[22]学会在现金文化中变傻；2003年3月8日；作者：Luciana Bohne
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/03/08_learning.html
[23] On November 18, 2015, Christopher Ingraham wrote in the Washington Post that Ben Carson’s presidential campaign inadvertently underscored this point Tuesday night, when it took to social media to share a map of the United States in which five New England states were placed in the wrong location.
[23]2015年11月18日，克里斯托弗·英格拉汉姆（Christopher Ingraham）在《华盛顿邮报》（Washington Post）上写道，本·卡森（Ben Carson）周二晚上的总统竞选无意中强调了这一点，当时社交媒体分享了一张美国地图，其中五个新英格兰州位于错误的位置。
[24] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/18/ben-carsons-campaign-made-a-u-s-map-and-put-a-bunch-of-states-in-the-wrong-place/?tid=pm_pop_b
[25] Caitlin Upton
[25]凯特林·厄普顿
https://youtu.be/ZPXEdJ_Gtx0
[26] In another televised beauty pageant, a high school girl was asked to explain a quote by Confucius. In response, she said: “Confucius was one of the men who invented confusion.”
[26]在另一场电视选美比赛中，一名高中女生被要求解释孔子的一句话。作为回应，她说：“孔子是制造混乱的人之一。
[27] An article in Forbes magazine stated that “America’s Millennials Are Among the World’s Least Skilled”. Specifically, they are short on literacy, numeracy, ability to follow simple orders, poor at solving problems.
[27]《福布斯》杂志的一篇文章称，“美国千禧一代是世界上技能最差的人”。具体而言，他们缺乏识字能力、计算能力、遵循简单命令的能力，解决问题能力差。
[28] Talking to Americans – Wikipedia
[28]与美国人交谈-维基百科
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_to_Americans
[29] 22 Minutes star pulls prank on George W. Bush | CBC News
[29] 《22分钟》明星对乔治·W·布什恶作剧| CBC新闻
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/22-minutes-star-pulls-prank-on-george-w-bush-1.212339
[30] “Rick Mercer talks to Americans on Nightline”. Welland Tribune, August 2, 2001.
[30]“Rick Mercer在Nightline上与美国人交谈”。《威兰论坛报》，2001年8月2日。
The Myth of America Meritocracy
美国精英政治的神话
[31] http://www.unz.com/runz/the-myth-of-american-meritocracy/
Copyright © Larry Romanoff, Blue Moon of Shanghai, Moon of Shanghai, 2022
版权所有©，2022拉里·罗曼诺夫上海的蓝月上海的月亮
The KM are desperately trying to save themselves by switching over to Central Bank Digital Currencies but, since these are also backed by nothing, this effort is doomed to fail.
高加索可萨突厥撒旦教锡安犹太复国主义阴谋集团黑手党，正在拼命地试图通过改用中央银行数字货币来拯救自己，但由于这些货币也没有任何实体资产的支撑，这一努力注定会失败。
In one of the most visible recent signs KM rule is collapsing, the French Rothschild colony of France has been unable to pay for oil imports. This (not the reported labor disputes) is causing gasoline stations across the nation to either run dry or ration gas.
最近有一个最明显的迹象，显示出高加索可萨突厥撒旦教锡安犹太复国主义阴谋集团黑手党的统治正在崩溃：法国这个国家，作为罗斯柴尔德家族法国分支的殖民地，已经开始无力支付石油进口费用。这导致全国各地的加油站要么没有了，要么定量加油。（而主流媒体的新闻报道竟然把这说成是劳资纠纷和罢工）
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We also noted their slave President Emanuelle Macron has been put under demonic control, as seen by his black eye.
我们还注意到，他们的奴才总统艾曼纽埃尔·马克龙被置于恶魔的控制之下，正如他的黑眼睛所见。
That is why Gabbard recently quit the Demoncratic party after calling it “an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness” who “stoke anti-white racism” and “protect criminals.”
这就是为什么加巴德最近退出了民主党的原因，加巴德把美国民主党称为：“一个由政治正确驱使的懦弱战争贩子组成的社会精英阴谋集团”，“煽动反白人种族主义”，“保护罪犯”。
《我想要建议向5到11岁的儿童推广升级的新冠疫苗。这是我们抗击新冠疫情的关键一步。一种升级的疫苗可以在这个冬天增强对我们儿童的保护。与你们孩子们的健康保险公司交谈来获取更多信息。》
Now watch Avatar Bill Gates’ reaction to the question: “Is this vaccine safe?” Take note of his expression of total fear and despair at the end of the video.
现在看看比尔·盖茨的阿凡达替身对这个问题的反应：“这种疫苗安全吗？”请注意视频结尾处他完全恐惧和绝望的表情。
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The KM are also now trying to hide evidence by dumping vaccines. KM puppet Macron destroyed 30M Covid vaccines worth £522M, while the Swiss trashed 10.3 million doses. This will not save them.
高加索可萨突厥撒旦教锡安犹太复国主义阴谋集团黑手党，现在也试图通过销毁微芯片转基因绝育疫苗来隐藏证据。高加索可萨突厥撒旦教锡安犹太复国主义阴谋集团黑手党傀儡艾曼纽埃尔·马克龙销毁了价值5.22亿英镑的3000万支微芯片转基因绝育新冠疫苗，而瑞士销毁了1030万支。这不会拯救他们。
The third is most likely a Blue Beam UAP.
第三种很可能是“蓝光计划”不明大气现象。
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All we can say for sure is that humanity is entering uncharted territory as an ancient evil is being defeated.
我们可以肯定的是，随着一个古老的邪恶势力正在被打败，人类正在进入未知的领域。 
