· 上海中学生最近再度保住了全球“学霸”地位，在国际学生能力评估计划（PISA）排名中独占鳌头，而美国学生仅仅排在第36位。这自然又引起一轮“要不要学习中国”的讨论。

· Saga Ringmar是一位瑞典高中学生，曾经在上海读过两年高中，她在英国卫报网站上发表了一篇评论提醒美国人：别想着学中国，上海的中学很可怕的……

· 我们来看看Ringmar在这篇文章里都对中国教育做了哪些吐槽（当然要注意，她说得未必都对）： 

中国教育的最大问题？太老旧了。上海的教育就像是我祖母口中所说的1940年代的高中。

The biggest problem with Chinese education? It's medieval. Shanghainese education is just like the stories my grandmother tells about high school in the 1940's. 

一个问题是中国的学生人数太多了。上海的教室里有40来个学生，而在农村学校则有超过60个人，把所有学生都组织起来最有效的方法就是考试、分类、打分。中国教育的本质是精英教育，成绩好的学生获得奖品和鼓励，而差生则被放弃。

The problem is that there are too many Chinese students. Shanghainese classrooms have about 40 students and in the countryside classes have over 60. The most efficient way to organize all these children is by testing, categorizing and grading them - Chinese education is essentially elitist. Students that excel in school are rewarded with prizes and encouragement, but struggling students are abandoned.

 有七位瑞典的学校校长来我在上海的学校参观，我负责做翻译。瑞典人问道，学校为有“特殊需要”的学生做了哪些事？中国校长的回答是：

 “是说那些成绩不错的学生吗？我们要确保给他们很多关注。”

 显然，他没能理解“特殊需要”的概念，而中国的教育体系也不理解。

I once served as a translator for the principal of my school when seven Swedish principals came to visit Shanghai. The Swedes asked what the school did for students with "special needs" and the principal answered: 

   "The special students who are doing well in class? We make sure to put a lot of focus on them."

This Chinese principal didn't understand the concept of special needs, and neither does the Chinese educational system.

 虽然中国学生也分析文学作品，但他们很少自己写东西，而只背课文。我一辈子都没有像在上海时背过这么多书。一个理想的上海学生就像块海绵，盲目地吸收任何所有的信息，然后在考试时全部挤出来。

Although Chinese students analyze literature, they never write essays and instead they simply memorize the texts. I have never memorized so much in my life as I did in Shanghai. The ideal Shanghainese student is like a sea sponge blindly absorbing any and all information and spewing it all out during the tests. 

 我在学校的很多朋友都承认高考没什么用，那些微积分问题和背诵的文学作品在将来不会派上任何用场，但是他们别无选择。这个体系就是这样运行的，想要成功，就得遵循它。

Many of my friends agree that the test is useless – the calculus problems and memorized literature will not be of any use in the future – but they have no choice. This is the way the system works, and to succeed in life they have to follow it.

 说了这么多，Ringmar的观点自然是，美国教育虽然也有问题，可是万万不能学中国。不过很多卫报网站的网友评论也提出了新的角度。

 用户Biddlemon（应该是英国人）提醒说，中国的顶尖学校已经在改革课程，引入英国教学，让学生参加英国的考试，随后到英国或美国上大学。

 不然我们这里为啥有这么多中国学生呢？

Why do you think there are so many Chinese students here?

 另一位网友crunchycat则说，学生对死记硬背这件事也不能一味地痛恨：

 世界上成功的科学家、医生或者数学家，都是要花大量时间去背诵各种事实和数据表格的，概莫能外。

There isn't a successful, effective scientist, physician, mathematician in the world that didn't spend hours memorizing facts and analyzing tables. Not one.

 作为中国教育的亲历者，你的看法呢？

原文

卫报网站评论版 Saga Ringmar

Here's the truth about Shanghai schools: they're terrible

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