2015-11-13

【Aiden in English】

        School is silly. That’s all there is to it. No, but’s, if’s, why’s, or any other contradiction. To what level, the world may never fully grasp, but the first marking period of Pennbrook puts it in perspective.

        It’s not like throwing, what, three-hundred kids in a confined, high security prison is going to get us to learn anything. I suppose when an adult tells you to do something, an inner sense screams at you to listen. But if you ask me, middle school’s curriculum basically put fancy names on things I already knew. I know, half of the audience probably just said “but you’re CHINESE” and maybe it is true. Maybe it’s just how all Americans, Europeans, and Koreans are intellectual deficient, or that Chinese have a boosted IQ due to some random chromosome in their DNA. Whatever the case is, school is not teaching anything useful.

        Now that I’ve just said that, math is probably one subject that I learn something ever. It also explains my 92 percent average. Mom wasn’t quite happy about it, and I couldn’t disagree. At least I can learn something. For example, in science, we talked about how the population on earth grew exponentially in the past half century. You know what’s funny, the vocabulary word for that was “exponential growth”. God dang, Sherlock, you really are smart! Not to mention the term “global warming” with all another reason why I have a 98.23 in science.

        School gets worse. Tests and quizzes are all short term, and for the mid-terms and finals, all you have to do is to look at pervious tests and you’re set. The thing is, none of this stuff is really going to carry on in your life. I’m pretty sure how nearly no adults remember all the formula’s for Trigonometry. As for classes that only last for a marking period, like health, no, I’m not going to remember anything from it after Christmas break. In fact, I basically lose a few IQ points after the holidays (yes it’s possible for a Chinese to lose IQ points). We don’t have a final for health at the end of the year. Instead, we have it at the end of the marking period. All I did was to stare at the notes for five minutes the period before health and walked in calmly. Hey, what a coincidence! I aced it which was 98% close enough and ended with a 100.43% for the class.

        Yeah, that’s really what teachers don’t want you to do, and I really don’t recommend it if you’re struggling. But seriously, take it from the Student of the Month of Pennbrook Middle School, school is silly.

【红霞译文】

        学校无聊，其名称诠释内涵，既不想听 “但是”，又不允许“假如”，更不存在 “为什么”， 乃至其它任何有悖教规的行为。由此说来，整个世界由不得半点随心所欲，宾溪初中第一学制突出地再现了这一点。

        与扔东西不同，让三百来号半大不小的学生禁锢在一个密闭安全可靠的樊笼里接受教育，只要大人发号施令，听者就会下意识地去服从。但在我看来，初中课程其实不过将已知的东西冠上华丽的词藻，我心里明白，可能有半数的听众会说“只因你是中国人”，也许如此，敢情所有的美国、欧洲以及韩国孩子都缺心眼，不然就是中国同伴身上携带某种随机性脱氧核糖核酸染色体有助提高智商，无论何种原因，学校教的东西一点都不实用。

        说归说，数学可称之为一门叫人增长学识的课程，92%平均得分着实反映出本人的日常水平，妈妈对之颇有微词，而我也深表同感，毕竟我学了点东西。再以科学课为例，大家谈论起过去半个世纪世界人口呈指数增长，这里巧妙地使用“指数增长”来描述现状，天哪，难道你真像福尔摩斯那样料事如神！且不说所谓“全球变暖”再度助我拿下98.23分的好成绩。

        学校每况愈下，阶段摸底和单元测验叫人考过就忘；而对于期中和期末大考，你只要把先前考过的题目拿出来翻阅一下足以应付了事，问题出在课堂上所学的知识与实际生活脱节，我敢肯定几乎没有一位家长牢记三角函数公式，因此能将记忆保留到第一学制结束已然是非常了不起的事情，如同健康课，且慢，过完圣诞节后我肯定想不起任何学过的东西，事实上，每逢节假日我的智商水平基本上都要下滑几分，没错儿，对于中国人来说丢掉这么几分极有可能。健康课没设期末大考，但却有学制结业测验，考试前五分钟我全力突击纲纲要要，然后大义凌然走进考场，表现出高度的自信心！我连蒙带猜答对了98%，以总成绩100.43分了结这门课程。

        是啊，老师对此做法深恶痛绝，我也不主张铤而走险，但是认真听一下发自宾溪初中本月模范学生的内心道白，学校确实无聊。