And this is Sophia.

而這是 Sophia。

She also just graduated from college, in Finland.

她則是剛從芬蘭大學畢業。

Anna and Sophia both want to be middle school teachers.

Anna 與 Sophia 都想成為中學老師。

But it turns out, there's a good chance their experiences will be very different.

但，有很大的機會這兩個人的經驗會相當不同。

So different that Anna is twice as likely as Sophia to leave teaching for good.

這差異讓 Anna 比起 Sophia，有兩倍的可能永遠離開教學工作。

That's causing a problem.

這造成了一個問題。

The supply of new certified teachers in the United States is shrinking, but the number of public school students keeps growing.

美國有執照的新教師數量不斷下降，但公立學校學生數量卻不斷上升。

Massive teacher shortages.

大量教師荒。

Warnings about teacher turnover.

這是教師更換率太高的警示。

Educators call Colorado's teacher shortage a crisis.

教育家稱科羅拉多的教師荒是種危機。

So what makes Sophia stay and Anna leave?

所以，是什麼讓 Sophia 留下，而 Anna 離開？

And how can the United States keep more of its teachers in the classroom?

而美國該怎麼做，才能讓更多教師留下？

In the US, teachers work about nine and a quarter hours a day.

在美國，老師一天的工作時數大概為 9.25 小時。

That's an hour and a half longer than the average for teachers in other countries in the Organization for Economic Development or OECD for short.

這比經濟合作暨發展組織，或簡稱經合組織，之中國家的老師們的平均時數還要長 1.5 小時。

That's a group of mostly wealthy countries that economists often compare to one another.

這組織中的國家大多較為富庶，經濟學家常拿裡頭的國家相互比較。

Teachers in the U.S. work more than two and a half hours longer than their colleagues in South Korea, Finland, and Israel.

美國教師的工作時數，比南韓、芬蘭與以色列教師還要多 2.5 小時。

There are some countries with similar teacher work hours to the United States, like New Zealand, Singapore, and the U.K.

也有些國家的教師時數與美國相似，如紐西蘭、新加坡與英國。

Teachers in Japan, for example, work nearly two hours more per day than teachers in the U.S., but in all of these countries teaching hours are much lower.

日本教師的工作時數則比美國教師多了接近兩小時，但這些國家的教師真正的上課時間都比美國低許多。

Of the nine and a quarter hours that American teachers work every day, they spend about five and a half of those hours actually teaching.

美國教師每天的 9.25 小時工時中，有 5.5 小時是真的在上課。

That's more than the OECD average and significantly more than teachers in New Zealand, the U.K., South Korea, Japan, and Singapore.

這比經合組織的平均還要多，也比紐西蘭、英國、南韓、日本與新加坡來得高上許多。

Teachers in these countries get more time for planning, grading, and collaborating with each other.

這些國家的教師們，有更多的時間可以備課、批改作業、和同事合作。

So do all those extra teaching hours translate to better results?

那美國比別人高的上課時數，有轉換成學生的好成績嗎？

Students in the U.S. score slightly above the OECD average on the PISA exam, which tests 15 year-olds all over the world in reading, science, and math.

美國學生的 PISA 測驗分數，稍微比經合組織的平均高，PISA 是測試全世界 15 歲學童閱讀、自然與數學的測驗。

But they score lower than students in countries like Finland, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore, where teaching hours are much lower.

但美國學生的分數比芬蘭、南韓、日本與新加坡學生的分數都來得低，這些國家的教師上課時數都比美國短很多。

If we look inside Anna and Sofia's classrooms in the U.S. and Finland, we'd see Anna teaching an hour and a half more per day than Sofia.

若我們仔細看看 Anna 與 Sofia 的上課狀況，會得知 Anna 每天比 Sofia 多上 1.5 個小時的課。

Anna also spends more time planning lessons, grading student work, and leading extracurricular activities.

Anna 也花比較多時間備課、批改作業與帶課外活動。

But those extra hours aren't necessarily reflected in Anna's paycheck.

但這些額外的時數，並沒有反映在 Anna 的薪資上。

If you compare Sofia to other people in Finland with college degrees, she makes about 98 cents for every dollar that they make.

如果拿 Sofia 來與芬蘭其他大學畢業生來比較，薪資比大約是 0.98 : 1。

That's on par with the pay ratio between teachers and college graduates in similar countries.

這教師與大學畢業生的薪資比，與類似國家的結果相去不遠。

But Anna and other American middle school teachers only make about 65 cents for every dollar that their college-educated peers make.

但 Anna 與其他美國中學教師，他們與大學畢業生的薪資比為 0.65 : 1。

Still, as politicians in the U.S. never tire of pointing out, we spend more per student than almost any country I think than nearly every other country in the developed world.

然而呢，美國政客很愛強調的一點就是「我們花在每個學生上的錢，比幾乎所有的已發展國家還要多。」

But that figure varies a lot by state.

但這個數據，州與州之間的差異很大。

New York spends twice as much as California on each student.

平均花在每一位學生的錢，紐約比加州多了快一倍。

Mississippi spends less than half as much as Alaska.

密西西比則比阿拉斯加少一半以上。

And American schools generally spend a lot more on security and other non-instructional costs than schools in other countries.

且美國學校通常比其他國家花更多錢，在校園安全與非教學花費上。

Plus, if you look at the share of its national wealth or GDP that each country spends on education, you can see there are plenty of countries spending a bigger share than the U.S.

再者，如果從國家 GDP 花在教育上的比例來看，有許多國家的比例都比美國高。

There's one other difference between Anna and Sofia.

Anna 與 Sofia 之間還有一個差異。

When they're asked whether people in their country value teachers, two out of three Finnish teachers say yes.

當被問到國家人民是否敬重教師，2/3 的芬蘭教師會同意。

But just one in three American teachers agree.

但只有 1/3 的美國教師會同意。

There are a lot of reasons why teachers like Anna leaves a classroom,

像 Anna 般的老師離開教學有許多原因，但美國若想留住更多教師，或許可以參考一下芬蘭的做法。

but if the U.S. wants to keep more of them around, we might want to take a few pages from Finland's book.