How America's public schools keep kids in poverty | Kandice Sumner

譯者: joseph huang 審譯者: 绮丽 罗

I want to talk to you about my kids.

我想和你們談談我的孩子。

Now, I know everyone thinks that their kid is the most fantastic,

我知道每個人都覺得 自己的孩子是世上

the most beautiful kid that ever lived.

最了不起、最漂亮的小孩。

But mine really are.

但我的孩子真的是如此。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I have 696 kids,

我有 696 個孩子，

and they are the most intelligent, inventive, innovative,

他們會是你們所見， 最聰明、有創造力、

brilliant and powerful kids that you'll ever meet.

優秀而強大的孩子。

Any student I've had the honor of teaching in my classroom is my kid.

任何我有幸教導的學生 都是我的孩子。

However, because their "real" parents aren't rich

然而，因為他們 「真正的」父母並不富有，

and, I argue, because they are mostly of color,

而且，容我澄清， 因為他們多數是有色人種，

they will seldom get to see in themselves

他們往往看不到自己身上

the awesomeness that I see in them.

如我所見的強大潛力。

Because what I see in them is myself --

因為我在他們身上看到的 是我自己──

or what would have been myself.

或者說，很可能是我。

I am the daughter of two hardworking,

我的父母是兩位認真努力、

大學畢業的非裔美國人。

college-educated, African-American parents

who chose careers as public servants:

他們選擇了進入大眾服務：

my father, a minister; my mother, an educator.

我的父親是一位牧師； 我的母親是一位教育者。

財富在我們家從來不是主要的追求。

Wealth was never the primary ambition in our house.

Because of this lack of wealth,

由於並不富有，

we lived in a neighborhood that lacked wealth,

我們住在沒那麼有錢的社區，

and henceforth a school system that lacked wealth.

而那裡的學校也沒那麼有錢，

Luckily, however, we struck the educational jackpot

幸運的是，因為一項 「自願反隔離教育計劃」，

我被分到一個超棒的學區。

in a voluntary desegregation program

that buses inner-city kids -- black and brown --

這個計劃把內城貧民區 黑色或棕色膚色小孩，

out to suburban schools -- rich and white.

載到市郊又白又有錢的小孩的學校。

At five years old, I had to take an hour-long bus ride

從五歲起，我每天花一小時在巴士上

到遙遠的地方，

to a faraway place

去接受更好的教育。

to get a better education.

At five years old, I thought everyone had a life just like mine.

那時候，我以為 每個人的生活都像我一樣，

I thought everyone went to school

我以為大家都去上學，

and were the only ones using the brown crayons

班上只有自己使用棕色蠟筆，

來著色他們的家庭畫像，

to color in their family portraits,

while everyone else was using the peach-colored ones.

而其他人使用桃色蠟筆。

At five years old, I thought everyone was just like me.

五歲的時候， 我以為每個人都像我一樣。

But as I got older, I started noticing things, like:

當漸漸長大，我開始注意到：

How come my neighborhood friend don't have to wake up

為何我鄰居的朋友

at five o'clock in the morning,

不需要早上五點起床，

然後去離家一小時遠的學校？

and go to a school that's an hour away?

How come I'm learning to play the violin

我學著小提琴，

while my neighborhood friends don't even have a music class?

而我的鄰居甚至沒有音樂課？

我的鄰居朋友

Why were my neighborhood friends learning and reading material

學著我兩三年前的上課內容？

that I had done two to three years prior?

See, as I got older,

當我年紀漸長，

I started to have this unlawful feeling in my belly,

我開始有種內疚感，

like I was doing something that I wasn't supposed to be doing;

好像我正做著什麼不該做的事情；

taking something that wasn't mine;

拿走了什麼不屬於我的東西；

receiving a gift,

或是收下一份

but with someone else's name on it.

寄給別人的禮物。

All these amazing things that I was being exposed to

那些我有機會接觸

and experiencing,

和經歷的精彩事物，

I felt I wasn't really supposed to have.

不像是我應該擁有的。

I wasn't supposed to have a library, fully equipped athletic facilities,

我不該擁有圖書館， 設備齊全的運動設施，

or safe fields to play in.

或是安全的遊樂場地。

I wasn't supposed to have theatre departments

我不該擁有劇場

with seasonal plays and concerts --

那裡有季節性的表演和音樂會──

digital, visual, performing arts.

數位的、視覺的、表演藝術。

I wasn't supposed to have fully resourced biology or chemistry labs,

我不該擁有資源完整的 生物或化學實驗室，

school buses that brought me door-to-door,

學校巴士到府接駁，

新鮮的學校午餐。

freshly prepared school lunches

or even air conditioning.

甚至是空調，

這些是我的孩子所沒有的。

These are things my kids don't get.

You see, as I got older,

你知道，當我長大，

while I was grateful for this amazing opportunity

即使我對所擁有過的機會

that I was being given,

充滿感激，

there was this ever-present pang of:

在我的內心有個永遠存在的痛苦：

But what about everyone else?

「那其他人呢?」

有成千上萬像我一樣的孩子，

There are thousands of other kids just like me,

who deserve this, too.

也理應得到這些。

Why doesn't everyone get this?

為什麼不是每個人都得到這些？

Why is a high-quality education only exclusive to the rich?

為什麼好的教育只提供給有錢人？

It was like I had some sort of survivor's remorse.

而我就好像一個倖存者般在自責。

All of my neighborhood friends were experiencing

我所有的鄰居朋友都在經歷

an educational train wreck

支離破碎的教育慘劇，

that I was saved from through a bus ride.

我卻幸運坐上了巴士得到救贖。

我就像一個教育「摩西」尖叫著,

I was like an educational Moses screaming,

"Let my people go ...

「容我的百姓去……

to high-quality schools!"

上高品質的學校！」

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

I'd seen firsthand how the other half was being treated and educated.

我親眼看到另一半數孩童 正在接受怎樣的教育。

我看到教育的應許之地，

I'd seen the educational promised land,

我卻根本不能合理化這差距。

and I could not for the life of me justify the disparity.

I now teach in the very same school system from which I sought refuge.

我如今在我家的學區教書。

I know firsthand the tools that were given to me as a student,

我很清楚我當學生時， 學校給過我什麼教具，

and now as a teacher, I don't have access to those same tools

現在作為老師， 我卻沒有相同的教具

to give my students.

提供給我的學生。

There have been countless nights when I've cried in frustration,

有無數的夜晚，我沮喪哭泣、

憤怒、

anger

and sorrow,

和悲哀，

because I can't teach my kids the way that I was taught,

因為我不能用我被教的方式 去教我的孩子，

because I don't have access to the same resources or tools

因為我沒有權利

擁有當初用來教我的資源和器具。

that were used to teach me.

My kids deserve so much better.

我的孩子應該得到更好。

We sit and we keep banging our heads against this term:

我們空坐著、不停喊著：

「成就落差，成就落差！」 卻是死路一條。

"Achievement gap, achievement gap!"

Is it really that hard to understand

真的有這麼難去理解

why these kids perform well and these kids don't?

為什麼這些孩子表現良好， 而那些孩子不？

I mean, really.

我的意思是，真的！

I think we've got it all wrong.

我想我們都錯了。

I think we,

我想我們 ，

正如威斯康辛大學教授拉德森所說，

as Gloria Ladson-Billings says,

should flip our paradigm and our language and call it what it really is.

應該翻轉我們的範式 和我們的語言並說出實話。

It's not an achievement gap;

這不叫成就落差；

it's an education debt,

它是一個教育債。

for all of the foregone schooling resources that were never invested

從未被投資的放棄式教育法，

in the education of the black and brown child over time.

長期用於教育黑人和棕色的孩子。

A little-known secret in American history

美國歷史上鮮為人知的秘密，

is that the only American institution created specifically for people of color

是美國只有一個機構 是專門為有色人種創造的，

is the American slave trade --

就是美國的奴隸貿易──

and some would argue the prison system,

有些人會說監獄。

but that's another topic for another TED Talk.

但那是另一場 TED 演講的主題。

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

The public school system of this country was built, bought and paid for

這個國家的公立學校系統

using commerce generated from the slave trade and slave labor.

是以奴隸貿易和奴隸勞動力等 商務活動來建造、購買和支付。

While African-Americans were enslaved and prohibited from schooling,

而非裔美國人以前被奴役 並被禁止上學，

their labor established the very institution

他們的勞役建立了這個機構，

from which they were excluded.

這個機構卻排除他們。

從那以後，每一個法庭案件、 教育政策、改革，

Ever since then, every court case, educational policy, reform,

都一直試圖改造，

has been an attempt to retrofit the design,

rather than just stopping and acknowledging:

卻沒有停下來承認：

我們從一開始就錯了。

we've had it all wrong from the beginning.

An oversimplification of American educational history.

這是過度簡化的美國教育史。

All right, just bear with me.

好吧，容我解釋。

Blacks were kept out -- you know, the whole slavery thing.

黑人被禁止──你知道， 整個奴隸制的東西。

With the help of philanthropic white people,

在慈善白人的幫助下，

they built their own schools.

他們建立了自己的學校。

Separate but equal was OK.

分開的但是還算平等的。

But while we all know things were indeed separate,

但是我們都知道， 事情的確不可能如此，

they were in no ways equal.

他們在任何方面都不相等。

Enter Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas in 1954;

在 1954 年布朗訴堪薩斯州 托皮卡市教育委員會案後，

legal separation of the races is now illegal.

種族分類現在是非法的。

But very few people pay attention to all of the court cases since then,

但很少有人注意 自那時起所有的法庭案件，

反而把每個孩子的 教育應許之地都破壞了，

that have undone the educational promised land for every child

that Brown v. Board intended.

那不是這個案件原本的訴求。

Some argue that today our schools are now more segregated

有人認為今天我們的學校更加隔離，

than they ever were before we tried to desegregate them in the first place.

甚至比我們嘗試之前更加隔離。

Teaching my kids about desegregation, the Little Rock Nine,

教我的孩子關於廢除種族隔離、

小石城九人事件、民權運動，

the Civil Rights Movement,

is a real awkward moment in my classroom,

是我教室裡真正的尷尬時刻。

when I have to hear the voice of a child ask,

當我不得不聽到一個孩子問，

"If schools were desegregated in 1954,

「如果學校在 1954 年 就不再種族分離，

how come there are no white kids here?"

怎麼會沒有白人孩子在這裡？」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

這些孩子不傻。

These kids aren't dumb.

They know exactly what's happening,

他們知道發生了什麼，

and what's not.

和什麼沒發生。

They know that when it comes to schooling,

他們知道，在學校教育方面，

black lives don't matter

黑人根本不重要。

他們從來沒有被重視。

and they never have.

For years, I tried desperately to cultivate in my kids a love of reading.

多年來，我拼命地嘗試 讓孩子們培養對閱讀的熱愛。

I'd amassed a modest classroom library

我弄了一個還不錯的教室圖書館，

of books I'd accumulated from secondhand shops,

從二手商店買的書，

thrift stores, attics -- you know.

慈善店、閣樓搞來的──你知道的。

但是每當我說那些可怕的話，

But whenever I said those dreadful words,

"Take out a book and read,"

「拿出一本書來讀」，

you'd think I'd just declared war.

你會認為我是在宣戰。

It was torture.

這是折磨。

One day,

有一天，

after I'd heard about this website called DonorsChoose,

我聽說有個網站 稱為 DonorsChoose，

where classroom teachers create wish lists

教室教師可以創建

他們班上需要的圖書願望清單，

of items they need for their classroom

and anonymous donors fulfill them,

然後匿名捐助者去履行，

I figured I'd go out on a limb and just make a wish list

我就冒險做了一個願望清單，

of the teenager's dream library.

裡面都是青少年的夢想圖書。

Over 200 brand-new books were sent to my room piece by piece.

超過 200 本全新的書 一本又一本被送到我的班上。

Every day there were new deliveries and my kids would exclaim with glee,

每天都有新的書進來， 我的孩子們都很高興大喊：

"This feels like Christmas!"

「這感覺像聖誕節！」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Then they'd say,

然後他們會說，

"Ms. Sumner, where did these books come from?"

「薩老師，這些書從哪裡來？」

And then I'd reply,

然後我會回答：

"Strangers from all over the country wanted you to have these."

「來自全國各地的陌生人 希望你們擁有這些。」

And then they'd say, almost suspiciously,

然後他們會用可疑的語氣說：

"But they're brand-new."

「但他們是全新的。」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

To which I'd reply,

我會回答：

"You deserve brand-new books."

「你們應該得到全新的書。」

有個經驗直擊要害， 班上有一個女孩，

The whole experience hit home for me when one of my girls,

as she peeled open a crisp paperback said,

當她翻開一本嶄新的平裝書，

"Ms. Sumner -- you know, I figured you bought these books,

「薩老師，你知道嗎， 我以為你買了這些書，

'cause you teachers are always buying us stuff.

因為你們這些老師總是 在買東西給我們。

但是想到一個 我根本不認識的陌生人

But to know that a stranger, someone I don't even know,

cares this much about me

關心我這麼多，

is pretty cool."

這真的很酷。」

Knowing that strangers will take care of you

知道陌生人會照顧你

is a privilege my kids aren't afforded.

是我的孩子沒有享受過的特權。

Ever since the donation,

自捐贈以來，

there has been a steady stream of kids signing out books to take home,

孩子們總是簽出書借回家，

and then returning them with the exclamation,

然後還書時他們會大喊：

"This one was good!"

「這一個很好！」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

現在當我說：「拿出一本書讀」，

Now when I say, "Take out a book and read,"

kids rush to my library.

孩子們會衝到我的小圖書館拿書。

It wasn't that they didn't want to read,

他們不是不想讀，

but instead, they'd gladly read if the resources were there.

如果有資源，他們會很樂意閱讀。

Institutionally speaking,

從體制上講，

our public school system has never done right by the black and brown child.

我們的公立學校制度從來沒有 給黑色和棕色的孩子福利。

我們一直專注於最終的結果

We keep focusing on the end results

or test results,

或測試結果，

然後感到沮喪。

and getting frustrated.

We get to a catastrophe and we wonder,

我們遇到一場災難，我們感到奇怪，

「情況怎麼會這麼壞？ 我們是怎麼來到這一步的？」

"How did it get so bad? How did we get here?"

Really?

真的是這樣嗎？

If you neglect a child long enough,

如果你長期忽略一個孩子，

you no longer have the right to be surprised

你就不再有驚訝的權利，

when things don't turn out well.

當事情轉向壞的一方的時候。

Stop being perplexed

停止茫然，

停止困惑，

or confused

or befuddled

停止醉茫茫吧！

by the achievement gap,

不要再被成就落差

the income gap,

或收入差距

the incarceration rates,

或監禁率給搞混了。

or whatever socioeconomic disparity is the new "it" term for the moment.

或社會經濟差距 這個當下流行的新術語。

The problems we have as a country

我們作為一個國家的問題，

are the problems we created as a country.

正是我們作為一個國家創造的問題。

The quality of your education is directly proportionate

你受到的教育的品質，

to your access to college,

與你是否能進入大學，

your access to jobs,

與你是否能找到工作，

your access to the future.

與你的未來都是直接相關的。

Until we live in a world where every kid can get a high-quality education

直到我們的世界裡 每個孩子都能得到高品質的教育，

no matter where they live,

無論他們住在哪裡，

or the color of their skin,

無論他們的皮膚的顏色，

there are things we can do on a macro level.

在巨觀層面都有我們可以做的事情。

School funding should not be decided by property taxes

學校的資金不應該 由周邊的房屋稅

or some funky economic equation

或一些奇怪的經濟公式決定，

where rich kids continue to benefit from state aid,

讓富有的孩子 繼續受益於州政府援助，

while poor kids are continuously having food and resources

而窮孩子嘴邊的食物和資源

taken from their mouths.

都要被拿走。

Governors, senators, mayors, city council members --

州長、參議員、市長、 市議會成員──

if we're going to call public education public education,

如果我們叫它國民義務教育，

then it should be just that.

那麼它應該就是名符其實。

Otherwise, we should call it what it really is:

否則，我們應該這麼叫：

poverty insurance.

「貧困保險。」

"Public education:

「國民義務教育：

keeping poor kids poor since 1954."

自 1954 年以來讓窮孩子一直窮。」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

If we really, as a country, believe that education is the "great equalizer,"

如果我們作為一個國家， 真的相信教育是最棒的均衡器，

then it should be just that: equal and equitable.

那麼它就應該是：平等和公平。

不然在我們的民主教育之前 沒有任何民主可言。

Until then, there's no democracy in our democratic education.

On a mezzo level:

從中觀來看：

historically speaking, the education of the black and brown child

歷史上，要教育黑色和棕色的孩子，

has always depended on the philanthropy of others.

必須一直依賴別人的慈善事業。

And unfortunately, today it still does.

不幸的是，今天它仍然是如此。

If your son or daughter or niece or nephew or neighbor

如果你的兒子、或女兒、 或侄女、或侄子、或鄰居、

或在街上的小蒂瑪

or little Timmy down the street

goes to an affluent school,

去了一所富裕的學校，

challenge your school committee to adopt an impoverished school

挑戰你的學校委員會 去認養一間爛學校，

or an impoverished classroom.

或一間貧窮的教室。

Close the divide by engaging in communication

參與有意義的交流

and relationships that matter.

與建立關係以拉近差距。

當資源可以共享時，

When resources are shared,

就不是分割；

they're not divided;

they're multiplied.

而是相乘。

And on a micro level:

在微觀層面上：

if you're a human being,

如果你是一個人，

donate.

捐獻吧！

Time, money, resources, opportunities --

時間、金錢、資源、機會──

whatever is in your heart.

無論你有什麼。

There are websites like DonorsChoose

有像 DonorsChoose 這樣的網站，

讓你發現不平等，

that recognize the disparity

讓你想要去做一些事情。

and actually want to do something about it.

What is a carpenter with no tools?

如果一個木匠沒有工具？

What is an actress with no stage?

如果一個演員沒有舞台？

What is a scientist with no laboratory?

如果一個科學家沒有實驗室？

What is a doctor with no equipment?

如果一個醫生沒有設備？

I'll tell you:

我會說：

they're my kids.

他們是我的孩子。

Shouldn't they be your kids, too?

他們不也是你的孩子嗎？

Thank you.

謝謝。

（掌聲）

(Applause)