Rude, bone idle... and cosseted by the welfare state! Chinese teachers' damning verdict on British children after spending a month in UK classrooms
A group of Chinese teachers has blamed the generosity of Britain's benefits system for lack of ambition, ill-discipline and idleness among school pupils. They believe the option of living on welfare handouts has produced 'feather-bedded' teenagers prone to rudeness and disrupting the classroom rather than concentrating on working and getting ahead.
一组中国老师指责英国慷慨的福利制度让学生没有进取心、缺少纪律性而且很懒散。他们认为，选择依赖福利救济生活，这使得娇生惯养的青少年很容易变得粗鲁，扰乱课堂秩序，而不能专心做功课，积极进取。
This verdict on the failings of British pupils and the influence of the welfare state was delivered by five Chinese teachers who spent four weeks in a Hampshire comprehensive school to see whether the strict methods used in China would work here.
针对英国学生的弱点，以及英国福利制度的影响，五名中国老师作出了上述判断。他们在汉普郡一所综合中学待了4周，试验中国所采用“严加管教”是否也会在这里奏效。
Teachers who stand in front of a class giving instruction for up to 12 hours a day have been credited with putting Chinese schools at the top of international ratings in maths, sciences and literacy, in which the record of UK schools is mediocre.
每天，老师们站在教室前讲课多达12小时，因此，中国学校在数学、科学和文化素质方面处于国际领先水平，而英国学校在这些方面的记录却很普通。
One of the teachers, Wei Zhao, believed British pupils lacked motivation. She said: 'Even if they don't work, they can get money, they don't worry about it. But in China they can't get these things so they know, "I need to study hard, I need to work hard to get money to support my family". If the British Government really cut benefits down to force people to go to work they might see things in a different way.’
其中一位老师名叫魏昭（音译），她认为英国学生缺乏上进心。她说：“即使他们不工作，他们也可以拿到钱，他们并不担心。但在中国的情况截然不同，所以中国学生知道，‘我要努力学习，我要努力工作，赚钱养家’。如果英国政府能削减福利，就能迫使他们去工作，那么他们可能会以不同的角度来看待问题。”
Others among the Chinese teachers who took classes at Bohunt School in Liphook, Hampshire, found their group of 50 children, aged 13 and 14, were disruptive and unable to concentrate. Li Aiyun, from Nanjing Foreign Language School, said: 'When I handed out the homework sheets, I expected everybody to be concentrated on the homework. But when I walked in the classroom some students were chatting, some students were eating, somebody was even putting make-up on her face. I had to control myself, or I would be crazy. about half of them tried their best to follow me. And the other half? Who knows what they were doing?'
其他几名在汉普郡利普胡克博航特中学授课的中国老师发现，他们组的50个孩子，13、14岁不等，容易扰乱纪律且无法集中精力。来自南京外国语学校的李爱云（音译）说：“当我分发作业纸时，我希望大家都能专心致志做作业。但当我走进教室时，有的聊天，有的吃零食，有的化妆。我必须克制自己，否则我会疯的。大概有一半的学生在听课，至于剩下一半，谁知道他们在干嘛？”
Science teacher Yang Jun, who taught in Xi'an, central China, before moving to Britain, said: 'In China we don't need classroom management skills because everyone is disciplined by nature, by families, by society. Whereas here it is the most challenging part of teaching.’ She also questioned the use of different teaching programmes for different pupils. ‘You have different syllabuses to suit different students' ability,' she said. ‘We don't. We have one syllabus, one standard; you survive or you die. It's up to you.’'
来英国之前曾在中国中部城市西安任科学老师的杨军（音译）说：“在中国，我们不需要教室纪律管理技巧，因为每个人受天性、家庭、社会影响都很有纪律性。然而在这里，这却是教学中最具挑战性的一部分。”她也质疑“因材施教”是否有效，她说，“你们对不同能力的学生有不同的教学大纲。我们没有。我们只有一个教学大纲，一种标准。要么适应，要么被淘汰，这取决于自己。”
The Chinese methods are to be screened in the BBC Two documentary, Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School. A trailer for the programme shows a teacher shouting 'listen to me', 'just use your brain' and 'no talking, no questions' at bewildered looking British children.
中国的教学方法即将在BBC2台播出，名为《我们的孩子真的很难管吗？中国学校》纪录片里。在节目预告中，一个老师对着困惑不解的英国学生喊道：“听我说”、“动动脑子”、“别说话，别提问”。
But the Chinese methods did not appear to impress the Bohunt head teacher, Neil Strowger. He described the teaching techniques as ‘mind-numbingly boring’ and said usual standards of discipline at his school were not as loose as the Chinese teachers described. Mr Strowger added: 'I don't believe we are somehow causing our children to fail by having a welfare state.'
不过，博航特中学的校长史尼尔•史端乔似乎对中国式教育方法并不感冒。他认为这种教学方法“让人思想麻木且枯燥无聊”，他说，他们学校平时的纪律标准并不像中国老师所描述的那般松散。他还说：“我不相信我们国家的福利制度在某种程度上导致我们学生失败。”
