邪惡米蒂亞的腦內世界

原文：By ANNA M. PHILLIPS
Published: April 15, 2012


翻譯：不才，林諾拉

當家長焦躁的坐在休息室裡，五個學童正在崔比卡區(*註1)的一間家教中心都奮筆疾書、努力磨練提升他們的應答技巧－他們必須小心翼翼圈出題目中可能讓他們誤拚的陷阱來找出正確答案；比起回家作業，這些考題對這些學生更重要。

補習業的濫觴是史坦路˙卡布蘭在布魯克林某個地下室裡開設的升學準備課程，不過通常只侷限於私立學校或者大學入學考試。但是在紐約，因為連公立學校的入學名額都得透過考試競爭取得，這生意變得大有可為。

這些打從小學開始就成績非凡的曼哈頓中學生，本週開始了他們的州測驗準備訓練，以往這些測驗通常根本不被家長當回事。

基於家長決定留在市中心或者是因為無力負擔昂貴的私立學校費用等原因，這樣的入學競爭已經越來越激烈，四或五年級的學習表現成就測驗已經變成進入明星中學的關鍵戰役。不管經濟狀況如何，許多的家長願意掏出從數百甚至到數千美金不等的大把鈔票給這些家教中心，為的就是在崔比卡區像這樣為期八週、每週六早上的特訓班，而目前幾乎每間小學都會在課堂上提供這樣的練習機會。

「我們希望孩子可以少點壓力」，一個幫孩子在「紐約聰明娃兒」家教中心註冊特訓班的爸爸這麼說，他的孩子今年三年級。這樣的特訓班要價五百五十塊美金，課程班含八次的集訓，每次只有一小時。他要求記者要匿名報導，他怕自己花錢替孩子補習會被誤解成學校教育的不足，事實上，這位爸爸女兒所就讀、位於上東區的第七十七實驗小學(*註2)就和其他學校一樣，對準備學生的考試不遺餘力，「我想許多家庭都會送孩子去補習，我們認識的人都這麼做。」那位爸爸說。

但是教育局(*註3)目前並沒有任何打擊補習歪風的措施，對可能因為家庭經濟實力差距造成學生入學機會不均等的狀況提出任何說明，教育部門也沒有提出任何說明。但是教育部門已經注意資優生的入學測驗(*註4)有不尋常的攀高跡象，也注意到禮拜五發布的驚人數據－2656個學生要競爭400個星公立高中入學名額。

教育部門正在轉換明年入學考試的模式，有部分的原因也是因為這樣的補習風潮多少影響了考試結果。

「學生在學校接受了完善的教育和豐富的課程，應該是相當足夠去應付這些年度考試」沙耶˙波拉考蘇蘭斯基，教育局的官員(*註5)這樣表示，「同時，我們還是鼓勵家長加強學生在學校學的東西，譬如閱讀、寫作、和綜合問題的解決(*註6)。」

「紐約聰明娃兒」的創立者，碧姬˙德魯克，表示她開始提供像數學或者語文的集訓班是因應家長的要求，隨著考試的逼近，上個月開班數也增加不少。「班上的學生其實很優秀、沒有什麼大問題，」她說，「但家長希望孩子可以做到這樣的水準保證－就算隔天(*註7)立即考試，也可以從容不迫的面對。」

有些家長在孩子才念小三的時候就幫孩子補習、聘家教，好準備一年後的明星高中入學考試。

「家長感受到了更多的壓力，」私立與公立學校入學考試顧問羅賓˙厄諾瑙說：「我知道還是有家長非常抗拒補習和家教，他們覺得這太瘋狂；但同時這也反映出越來越多人開始補習和家教。」

紐約市學生補習或者找家教班的問題已經浮出檯面，隨便在網路上搜尋都能找到好幾打一對一或者小班制、針對州測驗的數學或者閱讀能力衝刺班。

【席爾文學習中心】在網站上宣稱他們可以提供任何州測驗的準備，【曼哈頓優勢教育】在網站上則表示他們提供了不同的分科家教課程，收費從每小時八十美金到一百五十美金不等；每小時收費七十五美元的【派克史洛普家教中心】則提醒家長要進好的中學有多麼困難；儘管【柯孟】這間公司並沒有宣傳提供哪類型考試的補習，家長還是會把孩子送到這裡補州測驗；粗略估計，大概有三千個左右三到四年級的學生會在曼哈頓這十幾個機構報名補習

這樣花錢又花力氣的入學競爭在曼哈頓非常明顯，而且像洪水一樣席捲了國小和中學入學階段的學生。根據市政府表示，從2002年開始，已經在第二區新設立四所中學提供就學機會給上東區到下曼哈頓的學生，而其他學校也不停地擴張中。但這並沒有讓中學的入學申請降溫，像【索克科學中學】這樣的學校去年招生名額只有146人，但仍然收到777份入學申請。

為了有機會進入這樣的明星中學，五年級的學生，在四年級的數學和閱讀能力測驗必須達到三甚至四級分；但是一些在明星學校裡，達到洲標準的三級分其實是敬陪末座的成績、甚至被視為能力不足。

為了能申請進【戴爾塔中學】，一間位於上西城、有資優教育的第54中學，該學校在網頁上明示學生成績在數學或者閱讀能力都必須達到四級分或者整體成績要有1385到1575分。最競爭的【安德森中學】，他們則要求申請學生的英文測驗達725分、數學測驗要有731分，意思表示學生在考試中，英文不能錯超過四題，數學則不能超過五題，每題每分都是昂貴的代價。

但是亮眼的成績不保證一定就能申請到理想學校，學生還得再參加一次學校自行舉辦的入學考試。

想參加【杭特學院中學部】七年級入學考的學生，在五年級的州測驗裡必須拿很高分。

在頗負盛譽的學校，譬如上東城的東區中學，每個申請的學生申請分數滿分三十分，其中有七分是根據學生的閱讀和數學成績，四級分可以拿到三點五分，三級分拿到二點五分，剩下的分數則是根據面試、寫作測驗、數學測驗和小學的學習成績評定。

今年申請的人數比大概是5：1，五個學生要競爭一個入學名額，而且這些申請的學生都把這間學校當作第一志願。東區中學的校長大衛˙蓋茲表示自己曾聽過有人討路關於學生為四年級測驗補習的事情，但是他沒注意過這些即將進入他學校的六年級學生是不是也這樣子補習。

「我希望家長這麼做是因為他們的孩子在整體學習都是非常投入認真，而別只是為了特定考試而努力」，蓋茲校長說。

*1 紐約市的一個大區塊，差不多像天龍國的大安區那樣的涵義。

*2 紐約市學校名稱，學校網頁：http://ppt.cc/6H4z

*3 education department可以翻做教育部，但這裡應該是指地方政府的教育主管機關；因此採台灣直轄市教育主管機關的「局」來代稱。

*4 資優入學測驗：一般而言，美國公立中學的學校是學區制，但紐約這幾間明星高中比較特別，他們因為規劃了類似學科資優班的特別課程，幾乎是申請進頂尖大學的保證搖籃所以格外搶手，想進入這樣的學校必須在學業成就表現以及其他領域上有相當突出的表現，他們的入學測驗也有些像資優測驗，但不是智力測驗。

*5 chief academic officer 職責在於連絡、領導監督當地各級學校的發展和規劃，有點像督學。

*6 有些像應用題那樣的題型，需要高超的理解和解題能力。

*7 原文是禮拜二，這篇新聞是禮拜一刊載，意思即「明天就要考試」。

原始出處：http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/education/new-york-citys-tutoring-industry-grows-with-competition-for-admissions.html?ref=education#h[AtpFht,1]

以下是原文


As their parents sat anxiously in a waiting room, five children were sharpening their test-taking skills in a tutoring center in TriBeCa, underlining words that might hold clues to the answers and crossing off the illogical multiple-choice options intended to trip them up. For homework, there were more practice problems.

The tutoring business has come a long way from Stanley Kaplan’s basement in Brooklyn, and test-preparation courses for college or private school admission are practically a rite of American education. But in New York City, where even seats in public schools can be the rewards of a Darwinian contest, the industry has found a whole new lode to mine.

The students in the Manhattan center, all high achievers in their elementary schools, were practicing for the state standardized tests that begin this week, exams that for years had typically been overlooked, if not ignored, by the parents of top performers.

But competition for top middle schools has intensified as more families choose to remain in the city and others find themselves unable to afford private schools, and performance on fourth- and fifth-grade standardized tests is crucial to getting into one of those schools. So many parents — some wealthy, some not — are now shelling out hundreds and even thousands of dollars for tutors and for courses like the eight-week Saturday morning boot camp in TriBeCa. And that is on top of test preparation that almost all elementary schools now provide in class.

“This is just us wanting to kind of ease the pressure of the test,” said the father of a third grader enrolled in the TriBeCa program, run by Bright Kids NYC. The program costs about $550 for eight one-hour tutoring sessions. He asked to remain anonymous because he feared his decision to pay for tutoring would reflect poorly on his daughter’s school, the Lower Lab School on the Upper East Side, which like most schools makes its own efforts to prepare students for tests. “I think a lot of families are tutoring in some way,” he said. “Everybody we know does something.”

The Education Department has not tried to discourage private tutoring, nor would officials say whether they are concerned about the possibility that it could give wealthier students an unfair advantage in middle school admissions. But the department has already seen an unusual rise in high scores on its tests for gifted programs, administered to 4- and 5-year-olds, with figures released on Friday showing 2,656 students qualifying for roughly 400 seats in the most selective schools this fall.

The department is switching to a new type of gifted test next year, partly in response to concerns that tutoring and test preparation are influencing the results.

“Students at schools with strong teaching and a rich curriculum should be well prepared for the annual exams,” said Shael Polakow-Suransky, the department’s chief academic officer. “At the same time, we do encourage families to reinforce what students learn in the classroom with activities like reading, writing and solving complex problems.”

Bige Doruk, the founder of Bright Kids NYC, said she began offering the math and language arts boot camp in response to parental demand and had opened more classes in the last month, as the tests drew near. Most of the students in these classes do not need remediation, she said, but their parents want assurance that when the exams begin on Tuesday, their children will be comfortable and not lose their cool.

Some hire tutors when their children are in third grade, a full year before they will take the fourth-grade tests that many selective middle schools use for admissions.

“Parents are feeling the pressure more,” said Robin Aronow, a private and public school admissions consultant. “I know parents who have resisted tutoring because they thought it was crazy, but just the fact that I’ve had parents resist it means there’s a lot of it going on.”

Tutoring companies have popped up across the city, and a quick Internet search turns up dozens of one-on-one or group programs set up for the state’s math and reading exams.

Sylvan Learning advertises test prep for “any state test” on its Web site; Manhattan Edge Education offers individual tutoring for the state exams at rates of $80 to $150 an hour, its Web site says; Park Slope Tutorial Services, which charges $75 an hour, reminds parents just how tough it is to get into a good middle school. Although Kumon does not brand itself as tutoring for a particular exam, parents do use the company for the state tests, and roughly 3,000 third and fourth graders are currently enrolled in the 12 Manhattan locations.

This elbows-out and wallets-open competition for top middle schools is most apparent in Manhattan, where a boom in development has carried in a flood of elementary- and middle-school-age children. Since 2002, four new schools serving the middle grades have opened in District 2, which runs from the Upper East Side to Lower Manhattan, and others have expanded, according to the city. But that has not cooled the contest over selective middle schools like the Salk School of Science, which received 777 applications for 146 seats last year.

To have a shot at schools like these, fifth graders need to have scored at least a Level 3 — out of 4 — on both the reading and math exams in fourth grade. But at some of the most-sought-after schools, a Level 3, which means that the student met the state’s standards, is insufficient.

To apply to Delta, a gifted program at Middle School 54 on the Upper West Side, the children needed to reach Level 4 on both exams, or a combined scale score of 1,385 out of 1,575, according to the school’s Web site. At Anderson, one of the city’s most selective middle schools, they needed a 725 on the English test and a 731 on the math test. That means they could get no more than four wrong answers on the English test and five on the math test, making every missed question a costly one.

And those scores do not guarantee admission; they simply qualify the student to take another test, given by the school itself.

Students who want to take the Hunter College High School test for seventh-grade admission must score high on the fifth-grade standardized tests.

At one highly regarded school, East Side Middle School on the Upper East Side, each applicant is graded on a 30-point scale. Seven of those points are assigned based on students’ reading and math exam scores — 3.5 points for a score of 4, 2.5 for a score of 3 — and the rest are based on an interview, a writing sample, a math quiz and the elementary school report card.

The school received about five applications this year for every open seat — and those were only the applicants who ranked the school as their first choice. The principal, David Getz, said he had heard people talking about children being tutored for the fourth-grade exams, but had not noticed whether his incoming sixth graders had been prepped.

“I would hope parents were doing that because their kids were struggling over all, as opposed to just doing well on that specific test,” Mr. Getz said