Hi.

你好。

We're going to be talking about education today.

我們今天要討論的是教育。

You asked us your top education questions in English, and we're going to have a chit chat about those questions, immerse you in English, and I hope you will end up on the other side of this conversation with a higher level of vocabulary, more confidence about speaking in English, and you'll enjoy it along the way.

你用英語向我們提出了你最關心的教育問題，我們將就這些問題進行閒聊，讓你沉浸在英語氛圍中，我希望你能在對話的另一端掌握更多的詞彙，對說英語更有信心，同時你也會享受其中。

And like always, I've created a free PDF worksheet, which is over Dan's face at the moment, with all of today's important vocabulary, definitions, sample sentences, everything that you're going to hear in this lesson, you will get in the free PDF worksheet.

和往常一樣，我製作了一份免費的 PDF 工作表，現在就在丹的臉上，上面有今天所有的重要詞彙、定義、例句，你們在這節課上聽到的所有內容，都會在這份免費的 PDF 工作表中找到。

So you can click on the link in the description to download that free PDF worksheet today.

是以，你可以點擊說明中的鏈接，下載免費的 PDF 工作表。

All right, Dan, are you ready to get started with the first question that our students have asked us?

好了，丹，你準備好開始回答學生們提出的第一個問題了嗎？

Yes.

是的。

I'm ready to get educated.

我已經準備好接受教育了。

All right, let's do it.

好吧，我們開始吧

Today's education questions were asked by my student, Carmen, from Italy, and Mai in

今天的教育問題是由我的學生、來自意大利的卡門和麥伊提出的。

Australia.

澳洲。

Are you ready for the first one?

你準備好了嗎？

I'm ready.

我準備好了

All right.

好吧

The first question is, what age does school start in the U.S.?

第一個問題是，美國幾歲開始上學？

That's where we're from, the U.S., and what does the education system look like?

我們來自美國，美國的教育體系是什麼樣的？

So let's start with the first question.

讓我們從第一個問題開始。

What age does school start in the U.S.?

美國幾歲開始上學？

Yeah.

是啊

So a lot of kids go to some kind of school around four years old.

是以，很多孩子在四歲左右都會去上某種學校。

So this would be preschool, and in a lot of cases, this is not provided by the state.

是以，這將是學前教育，而在很多情況下，國家並不提供學前教育。

Yeah.

是啊

This is something that parents have to pay for out of pocket.

這部分費用需要家長自掏腰包。

And I would say this is kind of like daycare, except maybe a little more education peppered in because they're really little kids.

我想說的是，這裡有點像託兒所，只不過因為他們真的是小孩子，所以可能會多一點教育。

And then official school is kindergarten, which starts around five or six years old.

正式學校是幼兒園，大約從五六歲開始。

And this is where real school begins.

真正的學校從這裡開始。

We're sitting and trying to learn our letters and alphabet and reading, and here's numbers and all that kind of thing.

我們正坐著努力學習字母和閱讀，還有數字之類的東西。

And then elementary school would be first through fifth grade, which is probably, what, seven to 11 or 12?

然後小學是一年級到五年級，大概是 7 到 11 或 12 歲？

Yeah.

是啊

Yeah.

是啊

Something like that.

差不多就是這樣。

10, 11 years old.

10、11 歲

Yep.

是的。

And then it moves on to middle school, which is everybody's favorite time of existence, 12 to 14-ish.

然後進入國中，這是每個人最喜歡的時期，12 到 14 歲左右。

This is a great example of sarcasm.

這是一個諷刺的好例子。

Oh, yes.

哦，是的。

This is sarcasm.

這是諷刺。

Yeah.

是啊

Middle school, not known for being the most fun time.

國中，並不是眾所周知的最快樂的時光。

And it's funny because a lot of kids are moving at this time.

有趣的是，很多孩子都在這個時候搬家。

They could be going to a different school, different classes, and then you're going through this awkward time in your life, and here's some other new people for you.

他們可能會去不同的學校、不同的班級，然後你正經歷著人生中的這段尷尬時期，而這裡又有一些新朋友。

It'll be fun.

會很有趣的

So yeah, that's an interesting time.

所以是的，這是一個有趣的時代。

Usually middle school has the stereotype of being pretty rough, pretty tricky.

通常，人們對國中的刻板印象是相當粗暴、相當棘手。

And then after middle school is high school.

國中畢業後就是高中。

And by that point, you're, what, like 14 years old?

那時候，你才14歲吧？

You're a real man.

你是個真正的男人

Like 14 through 18 years old.

比如 14 到 18 歲。

So you're not right at the beginning, the cusp of puberty.

所以你並不是在青春期的開始階段。

Instead, you're a little further in and maybe a little more mature, maybe.

相反，你走得更遠一些，也許更成熟一些。

Yeah.

是啊

Ninth grade is still kind of awkward.

九年級還是有點尷尬。

Ninth grade is still pretty awkward.

九年級還是挺尷尬的。

Because when you're in ninth grade and you're like 14 or 15, and then you see like a 17 or 18-year-old.

因為當你讀九年級的時候，你只有十四五歲，然後你會看到一個十七八歲的孩子。

A lot of the, especially if you're a guy like me, puberty can hit all of a sudden and then you'll be a man versus like I was, a boy.

很多時候，尤其是像我這樣的男生，青春期可能會突然來臨，然後你就會變成一個男人，而不是像我一樣是個男孩。

A little boy when you're in ninth grade.

九年級時的小男孩

Hi, guys.

你們好

Yeah.

是啊

So this is the typical progression of school.

這就是學校的典型發展過程。

And there's a couple of different options in the US.

在美國有幾種不同的選擇。

You could go to public school, which is free.

你可以上公立學校，那是免費的。

It's paid for by your taxes.

這是由你們的稅款支付的。

So if you pay taxes, it's technically not free.

是以，如果你交稅，從技術上講就不是免費的。

Free not free.

免費不免費。

Yes, free not free.

是的，免費而非免費。

It's paid for by the state.

費用由國家支付。

You could go to public school.

你可以上公立學校。

You could go to a public charter school.

你可以去公立特許學校。

So this is kind of a nuance where you don't have to pay extra to go to a charter school, but it's somehow-

是以，這是一種細微差別，你不必為上特許學校支付額外費用，但在某種程度上--

It's run privately.

它是私人經營的。

It's run privately.

它是私人經營的。

It's smaller.

它更小。

Usually the programs have a little bit higher quality.

通常，這些節目的品質會更高一些。

And to get into a charter school, you often need to do a lottery.

要進入特許學校，往往需要抽籤。

And this isn't like the lottery where you try to win a million dollars.

這可不像彩票，你想贏一百萬美元就能贏一百萬美元。

This is where you just sign up and they pull a kid's name out of a hat.

你只需報名，他們就會從帽子裡抽出一個孩子的名字。

Totally random.

完全隨機。

And if you get it, you get it.

如果你得到了，你就得到了。

And if you don't, you don't.

如果你不這樣做，你就不會這樣做。

So it's not based on your income.

是以，它不是基於你的收入。

It's not based on where you live.

這並不取決於你住在哪裡。

Because most public schools are based on where you live.

因為大多數公立學校都是根據您的居住地而定的。

You have to go to the school in your neighborhood.

你必須去你附近的學校。

Yeah.

是啊

But a charter school-

但特許學校

Kind of stinks.

有點臭。

Yeah.

是啊

Especially if you live in an area that's really poor, well, your school is probably not going to be very high quality.

特別是如果你住在一個非常貧窮的地區，那麼你的學校很可能不會很優質。

And there's a lot of controversy about that because it's kind of a cycle.

這引起了很多爭議，因為這是一種循環。

Yeah.

是啊

It's definitely a cycle.

這絕對是一個循環。

You don't have as many resources to get out of poverty and all of that.

你沒有那麼多的資源來擺脫貧困和所有這些。

So we've got public school, charter school, private school.

是以，我們有公立學校、特許學校和私立學校。

I have a little statistic here I looked up in advance, fancy.

我這裡有一個事先查到的小統計，很有意思。

Private schools, 9% of students go to a private school and parents have to pay extra for a private school.

私立學校，9%的學生就讀於私立學校，家長需要為私立學校支付額外費用。

It could be a religious private school.

可能是一所宗教私立學校。

It could be a secular private school.

它可以是一所世俗的私立學校。

Our child, Theo-

我們的孩子

He's probably in the 1% because he goes to a nature school.

他可能是那 1%，因為他上的是自然學校。

It's not religious based.

它不是基於宗教的。

He's in the 0.5%.

他只佔 0.5%。

It's a very unusual private school, but there's also other types of private schools, like a nature school where half of the day they spend time outside in the woods or the teachers try to incorporate the outside nature into the lessons.

這是一所非常不尋常的私立學校，但也有其他類型的私立學校，比如自然學校，他們每天有一半的時間在外面的樹林裡度過，或者老師們嘗試把外面的大自然融入到課程中。

A lot of times these schools will call themselves alternative education.

很多時候，這些學校會自稱為替代教育。

So that just means we're trying to do something different here.

這說明我們在嘗試做一些不同的事情。

Yeah.

是啊

Yeah.

是啊

And there's varying degrees of quality.

而且品質參差不齊。

Just because you're paying for it doesn't mean that it's going to be vastly better quality than the free public school.

你付錢並不意味著它的品質會比免費公立學校好得多。

So if you come to the US and you think, I want my kid to have the best education, I think I can afford to pay for private school, make sure you check it out first and make sure that it's actually the quality that you want.

是以，如果你來到美國，並認為我想讓我的孩子接受最好的教育，我想我能負擔得起私立學校的費用，請務必先去看看，確保它的品質確實是你想要的。

There are a lot of scholarships actually.

實際上，有很多獎學金。

So the school that our son goes to, a lot of people have an 80% scholarship to go to the school, which makes it very affordable.

是以，我們兒子就讀的學校，很多人都有 80% 的獎學金，這讓他們負擔得起。

The state has scholarships.

國家設有獎學金。

The school provides some scholarships.

學校提供一些獎學金。

There's some grants given to the school to provide scholarships.

學校還獲得了一些助學金，以提供獎學金。

So they're trying to make it more accessible.

是以，他們正試圖讓更多人瞭解它。

Yeah.

是啊

Most schools, especially private schools and anything education related, you're going to find a lot of organizations that will try to help kids get into whatever they really, really want.

大多數學校，尤其是私立學校和任何與教育相關的學校，都會有很多組織會盡力幫助孩子們進入他們真正想要的學校。

And the government helps with that as well in America.

在美國，政府也在這方面提供幫助。

I think a lot of it comes down to the parents having the ability to sign up, follow through with the applications, sign up for the scholarship.

我認為，這在很大程度上取決於家長是否有能力報名、跟進申請、申請獎學金。

That doesn't mean it's easy.

這並不意味著這很容易。

It doesn't mean it's easy, but it is an option.

這並不意味著容易，但這是一種選擇。

There's a fourth option, which is what Dan experienced when he was a child, homeschooling.

還有第四種選擇，這就是丹小時候的經歷--家庭教育。

Look at me.

看著我

So interestingly enough, what percent of Americans do you think homeschool?

有趣的是，您認為在家上學的美國人佔百分之幾？

This means that generally, don't peek.

也就是說，一般情況下，不要偷看。

Your mom- This is what I learned in homeschooling.

你的媽媽--這是我在家庭教育中學到的。

Your mom or your dad is your teacher, usually your mom.

你的媽媽或爸爸是你的老師，通常是你的媽媽。

And there's local organizations that you can join weekly, like a co-op.

您還可以每週加入當地組織，比如合作社。

They call it a homeschooling co-op.

他們稱之為家庭教育合作社。

What percent of American children are homeschooling as of 2021 or 2022?

截至 2021 年或 2022 年，在家接受教育的美國兒童比例是多少？

Well, I would have guessed it was very low.

嗯，我想應該是很低的。

See, I think I looked at your phone earlier and saw it.

看，我想我剛才看了你的手機，看到了。

You cheated.

你作弊

Well, you showed it to me.

你給我看了

Okay.

好的

But I would have guessed like 2% before seeing that.

不過，在看到這個數字之前，我猜應該是 2%。

Okay.

好的

But I think it's higher.

但我認為要高一些。

Yes.

是的。

The answer is 7%.

答案是 7%。

Which is pretty high, actually.

事實上，這已經很高了。

It's almost the same amount as go to private school.

這和上私立學校差不多。

Yeah.

是啊

That's crazy.

太瘋狂了

Yeah.

是啊

So 7%.

所以是 7%。

And the interesting thing is-

有趣的是

I guess it probably bumped up after COVID too.

我想它可能也是在 COVID 之後才上升的。

Yes.

是的。

That's the big thing.

這才是最重要的。

So before COVID, it was, I think, 4% or 5%.

是以，在 COVID 之前，我認為是 4% 或 5%。

And now it's 7%.

現在是 7%。

And it's growing 10% every year.

而且每年增長 10%。

So it's hard to talk about those stats, but it's growing every year because of all the changes in education.

是以，很難談及這些統計數據，但由於教育領域的各種變化，這些數據每年都在增長。

Yeah.

是啊

And public school has gotten kind of like a bad reputation as well.

公立學校的名聲也不太好。

I mean, there's varying qualities, but a lot of people where they live, their school is not very good.

我的意思是，品質參差不齊，但很多人住的地方，他們的學校不是很好。

And it's not just teachers.

這不僅僅是教師的問題。

It's also like the peers you're with and it's kind of, I don't know.

這就像你的同齡人一樣，我也說不清楚。