中國教育:起跑線上的娃娃們

看罷中國小孩子的“悽慘生活”，你先別忙着嘆氣，這個世界上人的差別其實並不大。那年在尼泊爾旅遊，小編不經意間看到“補課”的小廣告，再稍留意，才發現，這種小廣告到處都是。敢情這補課也講究“接軌”啊。其實，不僅僅是補課，就連“不要輸在起跑線上”也不是中國特色呢。這段印度人講的英語，一開始聽起來會很費力。要注意幾點：一是印式英語總體上來說發音與英式英語更近，特別是元音；二是印式英語的輔音，尤其是詞首輔音不標準，如T、D不分等；三是印式英語就跟寶萊塢的歌舞片一樣，語調變化特別多，而且一般的陳述句也常常以升調結束。

All work and no play. That seems to be holding true for kids these days. Children as young as two can now sing, rattle off nursery rhymes and are growing up faster than anyone could ever imagine.

只能用功，不能玩。如今，這一準則對於小孩子來說似乎很適用。年齡小至兩歲的小孩子現在會唱歌、能輕鬆地背出童謠，他們的成長速度是任何人都無法想象的。

It looks like innocent fun, but these toddlers are actually shaping up for graduation day; and they started early, mind you. Like baby Via, who can sing, rattle off nursery rhyme identify colours and animal all before she turns two. Little Via and her classmates are learning vital survival skill skills these future leaders of India Inc. being taught in a 12-Month program in a Mumbai school. And, of course, these doting parents are very, very proud.

這看起來像是天真無邪的童趣，其實，這些纔剛剛學步的孩子們正在爲畢業日做準備呢。請注意，他們起步早。比如說維亞寶寶，她在兩歲前，就能唱歌、會背童謠、辨認顏色和動物。維亞寶寶和她的同學正在學習的可是不可或缺的生存技巧，孟買一家培訓機構正通過一個爲期一年的培訓計劃向這些印度未來領袖傳授所必需的技巧。當然，那些溺愛兒女的父母再驕傲不過了。

Mother: I feel like they have that potential, and we should use it.

母親：我覺得既然我們看到了他們的潛力，就應該加以開發。

No time to goof around—unh uh—or slack off in class. The rat race just got tougher, and there's not enough time to soak it all up.

不能浪費時間胡鬧，或者在課堂上偷懶，那是不可以的。你死我活的競爭只會越來越激烈，沒有時間慢慢理解這一切。

But are these children learning to run before they can walk? Or are they getting a head start in a ruthlessly competitive world? It's a question being asked with more and more schools in Mumbai turning toddlers into little adults. Parents feel that such a program is essential for their young kids today because these young children, themselve are inquisitive to learn new things. And perhaps that's why this school has a wait list for the next mother/toddler program. But perhaps it is this thought that is not going down well with the child psychologists.

可是，這些小孩是不是還未學會走就先學跑呢？還是說他們在這個競爭殘酷的世界裏有了領先的優勢？如今，在孟買，有越來越多的培訓機構提供此類課程，努力把小孩子打造成小大人。因此，這個問題就被提了出來。可父母覺得這種課程對當今的孩子來說是很關鍵的，因爲這些小孩子本身對新事物好奇心很重。也許這也正是這家培訓機構的下一期母親與孩子的課程有一個等候名單的原因。可同時，也正是這個想法不被兒童心理學家認同。

Dr. Chabbria (Child Psychologist): What is happening is that we might be churning out robots who have all the information but actually do not really know how to use that information, and maybe even be getting overconfident kid who cannot see beyond themselves.

查布拉博士（兒童心理學家）：如今的現象會導致這樣一個結果：我們可能是在粗製濫造一些知道很多信息，但卻不知道該如何使用這些信息的機器人。我們可能會培養出一些過於自信，且目中無人的孩子。

Parents and children that play together learn together, and the school says parents are taught constructive play techniques. But the big question i with all that learning, does it leave these little ones any time to play?

在這裏，家長與孩子一起玩耍，一起學習。培訓機構表示，他們會教家長一些有益的玩耍技巧。可是，更關鍵的問題是，要上這麼多的課，學這麼多東西，這些小傢伙還有時間玩嗎？