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  3. For America’s children the education system is often literally a lottery. That is the main message of a new documentary about Am

For America’s children the education system is often literally a lottery. That is the main message of a new documentary about Am

admin2019-08-01  68
问题     For America’s children the education system is often literally a lottery. That is the main message of a new documentary about America’s schools, "Waiting for ’superman’." It is intended to create a surge in public support for education reform at least as great as the clamour to do something about climate change generated by Al Gore’s eco-disaster flick.
    The timing could hardly be better. The "jobless recovery" is finally bringing home to Americans the fact that too many of those who go through its schools are incapable of earning a decent living in an increasingly competitive global economy. Despite its depressing enumeration of the failure of so many schools, its miserable ending, and the bleakness of its title, the movie also has a message of hope: there are good schools and teachers in America, whose methods could make its education system as good as any in the world.
    That truth, recognized by anyone who has spent even a few hours in, say, a KIPP charter school, is an inconvenient one to the teachers’ unions. For example, the film features efforts to reform the school system in Washington, DC, led by Adrian Fenry, the mayor, and Michelle Rhee, his combative schools chief, including a scene where Ms Rhee’s offer to double salaries for teachers in exchange for them giving up tenure and accepting performance-related wages is rejected by the unions. Right on cue for the launch of the film.
    The teachers’ unions have resolutely opposed efforts to pay good teachers more than mediocre ones, to fire the worst performers, and to shut down schools that consistently fail to deliver a decent education. This, coupled with underfunding in poor areas, has resulted in a shortage of good schools; so the few that are worth getting into are hugely oversubscribed. Ms Rhee upset the unions by refusing to accept all this, closing dozens of schools and firing 1,000 teachers.
    Perhaps the most important thing about "Waiting for superman" is that it is liberal, Al Gore-friendly types who are highlighting the fact the teacher’s unions are putting their worst-performing members before the interests of America’s children. Class war may be about to break our within the Democrats. Teachers’ union members are a vocal group within the party; but its rising stars—such as Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, who has just persuaded Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, to donate $100m to improve the city’s schools—are making school reform a priority.
    To be fair, the unions are not all bad. As Bill Gates has pointed out, they are taking part in an initiative funded by his foundation to develop new measures of teacher performance. Moreover, he notes, reform cannot succeed without the support of the majority of teachers. Even so, the fact is that the teachers’ unions are the primary obstacle to reform—which presents leading Democrats, and above all, Barack Obama, with a crucial test: will they be willing to confront a core part of their membership in the interests of America’s children? Mr Obama has gone further than many expected in pushing school reform. If he has any doubt as to which side he ought to be on, he need only ask that bellwether of public opinion, his old friend Oprah Winfrey. She recently invited Ms Rhee onto her show, where the audience gave her a standing ovation.
Which of the following is true of the teachers’ unions?
选项 A、Mr Fenty and Ms Rhee is trying to protect teachers’ unions’ interests.
B、They have managed to persuaded Zuckerberg to do something to improve school quality.
C、They have a decisive influence within the Democrats.
D、Their efforts have resulted in shortage of decent educations.
答案D
解析 属事实细节题。选项A起到了反向干扰的作用，考生读完第三段和第六段第四句后就能了解到教师工会是其改革措施的绊脚石，故选项A错误。选项B犯了张冠李戴的逻辑错误，教师工会并没有这么做，而是纽马克市长这么做的，故选项B错误。选项C犯了夸大其词的逻辑错误，在第五段第三句，作者只是提到教师工会的成员在民主党内有话语权，而并没有谈到其有决定性的影响，故选项C错误。作者在第四段第二句提到了教师工会的种种行径给美国教育带来的影响，其中就有选项D，故选项D符合题意。
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