IN RECEnT weeks more than 1,800 maths and science lecturers(讲师，授课者) at the University of California, one of America’s largest and best public university systems, have signed an open letter(公开信) detailing a tricky(棘手的，复杂的) problem. First-year undergraduates(本科生), they say, are increasingly arriving without the basic skills they need to succeed. At the campus in Berkeley, they write, some 20-30% of students taking an early calculus course turn up(出现，到达) displaying “severe preparation deficits(不足，缺陷)”. The challenge has become so great, they add, that instructors are having to reteach middle-school mathematics.(他们补充说，挑战如此之大，以至于教师不得不重教中学数学。)
在最近几周，加州大学（美国最大最好的公立大学系统之一）1800多名数学和科学讲师签署了一封公开信，详细描述了一个棘手的问题。他们说，一年级本科生越来越多地缺乏成功所需的基本技能。在伯克利校区，大约20-30%选修微积分入门课程的学生表现出“严重的准备不足”。他们补充说，挑战如此之大，以至于教师不得不重教中学数学。
The letter is the latest entry(项目，条目) in a widening debate about post-secondary education(高等教育（中学后）), university admissions practices—and the acuity(敏锐度， acuity) of America’s young. It follows a gobsmacking(令人震惊的) report in November at the California system’s San Diego campus. Academics there noted that the number of first-year students entering with maths skills below high-school level had increased nearly thirtyfold in five years, to almost one in eight.(那里的学者指出，入学时数学技能低于高中水平的一年级学生数量在五年内增加了近30倍，达到几乎八分之一。) Some 70% of the lagging(落后的) students, they argued, were not performing at the level expected of a 14-year-old.
这封信是围绕高等教育、大学招生实践以及美国年轻人敏锐度的一场日益扩大的辩论中的最新进展。此前，加州大学系统圣地亚哥分校在11月发布了一份令人震惊的报告。那里的学者指出，入学时数学技能低于高中水平的一年级学生数量在五年内增加了近30倍，达到几乎八分之一。他们认为，这些落后学生中约70%的表现未达到14岁孩子应有的水平。
Worries about undergraduate maths skills pair with long-running dismay(沮丧，忧虑) at falling levels of literacy(读写能力). Lecturers warn of literature students who seem incapable of finishing books. It is not just on the west coast, or in public universities, where these problems are reported. At Harvard some humanities and social-science professors say they feel compelled to(感到被迫做某事) shorten texts, according to a report released to faculty in October. Students are arriving at America’s most famous university “with less experience reading complex prose and less capacity for focus and sustained attention.”(学生们来到美国最著名的大学，“阅读复杂散文的经验较少，专注力和持续注意力的能力也较差”。) They “struggle with readings that students completed with ease just ten years ago”.
对本科生数学技能的担忧与对识字水平长期下降的沮丧并存。讲师们警告说，文学专业的学生似乎无法读完一本书。这些问题不仅发生在西海岸或公立大学。根据10月份向教职员工发布的一份报告，哈佛大学的一些人文和社会科学教授表示，他们被迫缩短文本。学生们来到美国最著名的大学，“阅读复杂散文的经验较少，专注力和持续注意力的能力也较差”。他们“难以完成十年前学生能轻松完成的阅读任务”。
Every child left behind
每个孩子都被落下
CheatGPT
作弊GPT
