The Guardian view on life without school: not a level playing field
《卫报》关于学校关闭后的生活的观点：不再有公平的竞争环境
What was, just a few days ago, the object of excited speculation among British children has become a reality. Schools are shut. For an unspecified period, learning will take place at home, except for a minority of pupils who are deemed to be vulnerable, or whose parents are key workers. Closing schools was a necessary step that should have been taken sooner, as it was in other countries. But the change in our national life that will begin on Monday morning, when more than 10 million children – 8.8 million of them in England – have nowhere to go, should not be underestimated. Across the world, school is part of the rhythm of life – for parents and teachers as well as pupils. Because of coronavirus, an estimated 800 million children globally are now having their education interrupted. Some may welcome this, at least at first. Nobody wants to catch Covid-19, or be responsible for spreading it. 就在几天前，英国孩子们还在兴奋猜测着的事情，现在却成了现实：学校关闭了。除少数被视为弱势群体或者父母从事重要岗位的学生外，学习都将不设定期限地在家中进行。学校停学是抑制疫情的重要一步，英国本应该和其他国家一样更早采取行动。但从下周一上午开始，我国社会生活因此发生的变化也不可小觑，届时将有1000多万学生（其中约880万在英国）无处可去。在世界各地，学校都是生活节奏的一部分——对家长、老师和学生均是如此。由于冠状病毒的影响，全球约有8亿儿童的教育被迫中断。一些人可能会欣然接受学校停学的举措，至少一开始是这样。没人愿意感染新冠病毒，也没有人想出门传播它。 British schooling has become narrowly exam-focused and in the run-up to primary school Sats, GCSEs and A-levels, lessons can be more like drills than investigations. Some parents have already begun sharing plans (and jokes) about home schooling. There is an undoubted novelty factor. 英国的学校教育已经变得狭隘地以考试为中心，在小学标准评估测试（Sat）、普通中等教育证书考试（GCSE）和中学高级水平考试（A-level）的准备阶段，学校课程更像是反复练习而不是学习研究。一些父母已经开始分享关于家庭教育的计划（以及笑话）。这其中无疑有新奇的因素。 Most parents will feel less well equipped to teach older children. On Friday, the UK government announced that teacher assessments would determine grades for GCSE and A-level pupils, along with the option of sitting exams late. Such clarity was badly needed by students, some of whom have spoken powerfully of feeling that their entire secondary schooling has led to a dead end. 大部分父母可能会感觉没有足够的能力来教大一点的孩子。周五，英国政府宣布教师的评估将会决定学生普通中等教育证书考试（GCSE）和中学高级水平考试（A-level）的成绩，同时也提供了推迟考试的选项。学生迫切需要这种清晰的说明，他们中的一些人曾强烈表示，他们的整个中学教育已经走进了死胡同。 The social impact of being separated from peers also varies for different age groups. Almost all children, including some who find school difficult, benefit from the social experiences that it offers. But for teenagers, whose emotional development requires them to become more separate from their parents and carers, being forced back into the family nest carries particular stresses. 和同龄人分离对不同年龄段的人的影响是不同的。几乎所有的孩子，包括那些觉得学校学习很困难的孩子，都会从学校提供的社交经验中获益。但是对于青少年来说，他们情感的发展需要他们与父母和照顾者分离，被迫回到家庭会给他们带来一定的压力。 But economic inequality will be the biggest variable between the experiences of British children over the next few months, and between richer and poorer children in other countries. Even in a society that is starkly unequal, and an education system that does worse by disadvantaged pupils than by advantaged ones, school is a leveller. When they are there, pupils share the same spaces, lessons, menus and teachers. At home, children of well-off parents invariably live in bigger houses, are more likely to have their own bedrooms, two parents rather than one to support them, and better access to technology as well as books and other learning resources, and food. 然而经济不平等将成为英国孩子们，包括其他国家贫富水平不同的家庭里的孩子们，未来几个月在体验上的最大变量。即使在一个极端不平等的社会，学校也给弱势学生与优势学生提供平等的环境。当孩子们在学校时，享有相同的空间、课程、饮食和老师。而回到家里，富裕家庭的孩子有更大的房子，甚至有自己独立的卧室，可以有父母同时提供帮助，更容易获得技术、书籍和其他学习资源，当然还有食物。 We must all do our best over the coming months, and no one should begrudge those who are looking forward to lessons, or weekday lunches, with their children. But during this strange, frightening period, the government must do everything in its power to ensure that more vulnerable children and families do not lose out. When things get back to normal, any who have fallen behind must be helped to catch up. 在接下来的几个月中，我们所有人都必须尽力而为，人们不应该妒忌那些期待与孩子们一起上课或在工作日享用午餐的人。但是在这个令人恐慌的特殊时期，政府必须竭尽所能，以确保更多的弱势儿童和家庭不会迷失方向。当一切恢复正常时，必须帮助任何落后的人赶上来。
