VOA慢速英語(yǔ):同性教育：永不結(jié)束的爭(zhēng)論

[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, [00:02.63]this is the Education Report. [00:05.59]Should girls go to school only with other girls? [00:09.44]Is it better for boys to attend all boys schools? [00:13.98]Educators at school for girls in Washington D.C. [00:19.25]believe children in classes of the same sex do better, [00:23.90]but other experts say there is no real evidence [00:28.88]to support that idea. [00:30.58]They believe there are other more important things [00:34.93]that make a school effective. [00:37.25]Excel Academy is the first all-girl school [00:41.40]in Washington, D.C. that is independently operated [00:45.81]and supported by taxpayers. [00:49.11]It was established in 2007 and opened its doors in 2008. [00:56.01]One of its students is Anyreah Clavijo who is 10 years old. [01:01.62]Anyreah attended kindergarten in a classroom with boys. [01:06.18]She says boys have different interests than girls. [01:10.92]She has now been at Excel [01:13.93]for the last five years and praises it. [01:17.43]"They would like support me and tell me that I can do it. [01:21.14]They make me feel like I'm loved [01:22.80]and that I'm the smartest person in the world," Anyreah said. [01:24.90]The Excel Academy provides free education to children [01:29.21]from families without much money. [01:31.70]It serves more than 600 girls from preschool, [01:36.76]the youngest children to grade five. [01:40.07]Three meals are served each day. [01:43.22]Kaye Savage established the school [01:46.68]and leads it as its chief executive officer. [01:50.66]She says that when boys and girls are taught together, [01:54.97]the teachers teach for the boys. [01:58.22]She says boys are a little louder [02:02.88]and much more active than the girls. [02:06.58]In her opinion, that makes girls second-class citizens [02:11.53]in their own classrooms and schools. [02:14.92]But Galen Sherwin at the American Civil Liberties Union, [02:19.98]the ACLU, disagrees. [02:23.82]She says the ACLU thinks that the evidence, in her words, [02:29.35]is not really there to support claims [02:33.37]that same sex classrooms produce better results. [02:37.62]"Similarities between boys and girls are much greater [02:40.47]and more relevant than any differences. [02:43.22]Certainly any differences that exist are not relevant [02:46.82]from an educational standpoint," Sherwin said. [02:48.28]Elaine Weiss is an education expert [02:51.34]at the Economic Policy Institute. [02:54.93]She believes other considerations besides same sex classes [02:59.83]have a bigger effect on children success in school. [03:04.49]Ms. Weiss says everything that happens [03:08.23]in children's early development is important. [03:12.13]This includes how their mothers * and felt during pregnancy, [03:18.19]and she asks did the child attend a pre-kindergarten program [03:23.99]to help get ready for school. [03:26.74]"They start for example in pre-school, [03:28.70]so they're addressing some of that early gap [03:31.05]before kids get to kindergarten. [03:32.35]They keep their classes relatively small, [03:34.59]so that teachers can have a one-on-one conversation [03:37.36]and interaction with students. [03:38.81]They have enriching after-school opportunities," Weiss said. [03:40.74]And Anyreah Clavijo is not sure [03:44.59]if she will always attend an all-girl program, [03:47.93]but she is happy what she is. [03:50.45]And that's the VOA Learning English Education Report. [03:56.10]I'm Bob Doughty.

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