Leaders
Education in America and Britain

85. Learning lessons from private schools
Jul 2nd 2009 From The Economist print edition

The right and wrong ways to get more poor youngsters into the world's great universities

85-1-408
LOTS of rich people and crummy state schools, especially in the big cities where well-off folk tend to live: these common features of America and Britain help explain the prominence in both countries of an elite tier of private schools. Mostly old, some with fat endowments, places like Eton, Harrow and Phillips Exeter have done extraordinarily well. Fees at independent schools have doubled in real terms over the past 25 years and waiting lists have lengthened. Even in the recession, they are proving surprisingly resilient. A few parents are pulling out, but most are soldiering on and plenty more are clamouring to get their children in.

Row, row together
All sorts of class-based conspiracy theories exist to explain the success of such institutions, but the main reason why they thrive in a more meritocratic world is something much more pragmatic: their ability to get people into elite universities. For Britain and America also have the world's best universities. Look at any of the global rankings and not only do the Ivy League and Oxbridge monopolise the top of the tree, British and (especially) American colleges dominate most of the leading 100 places. This summer graduates will struggle to find jobs, so a degree from a world-famous name like Berkeley or the London School of Economics will be even more valuable than usual. The main asset of the private schools is their reputation for getting children into those good universities.

A. 어휘
leader 신문의 社說(사설). crummy 초라한, 陋醜(누추)한. state school 공립학교.
well-off folk 부유한 사람들. feature 특징. prominence 탁월함, 顯著(현저)함.
tier 열, 줄, 층, 일렬. an elite tier of 一連(일련)의 우수한.
endowment 기본재산, 기부, 자질. fee 수업료. in real terms 실질가격으로.
waiting lists 입학지원자 명부. recession 불경기, 경기후퇴.
resilient 彈力性(탄력성)이 있는, 復原力(복원력)이 있는.
soldier on 계속해서 복무하다. clamour 절규하다, 시끄럽게 요구하다.
row 노를 젖다. class-based 사회계급에 바탕을 둔.
conspiracy 어떤 결과를 가져오게 한 사건-사정의 결합. theory 이론, 학설.
conspiracy theories 결합이론. thrive-throve-thriven/thrived-thrived 번영하다.
meritocratic 실력위주사회. pragmatic 실용적인.
the Ivy League 미국 동북부의 명문대학들. monopolise 독점하다.
dominate 지배하다, ...을 좌우하다. graduate 졸업생. degree 학위. asset 자산, 이점.
reputation 명성.

85-2-409
Only 7% of British children go to private schools, but they account for more than 40% of the intake at Oxford and Cambridge. That statistic is a little unfair: private schools account for a fifth of the people taking A-levels (pretty much essential for getting in). All the same it is notable that Britain's two best-known universities educate more Etonians than boys who were poor enough to get free meals at their schools. In America figures are harder to come by, but the independent sector again does disproportionately well. The universities on both sides of the Atlantic have tried to balance things up (indeed, some rich British children are whisked out of private schools in their final years so they appear to have been state-educated). But in general the elite schools deserve their reputation for getting children onto the next rung up, if only because their pupils do so much better at the exams you need to pass to get in.
A system of elite schools and universities to which the rich have privileged access is neither fair nor efficient. Yet there are worse ways of organising education. At least Britain and America have top-class universities: European and Asian countries, which don󰡑t, are scrambling to create some of their own. And attempts to increase equality by getting rid of elitism sometimes achieve the opposite: when British governments in the 1960s and 1970s abolished elite state grammar schools, it became harder still for poor, clever children to get into elite universities.

A. 어휘
account for 책임이 있다, 원인이 되다. intake 입학인원, 수입, 매상고.
statistic 통계치. unfair 불공정하다. A-levels 영국의 대학입학자격시험.
essential 필수의. notable 주목할만한. Etonian 이턴고교 졸업생.
figure 숫자. come by 입수하다. sector 분야.
independent sector 교육청(교육부)의 간섭을 받지 않는 학교.
disproportionately 불균형적으로. both sides of the Atlantic 미국과 영국.
balance things up 불균형을 解消(해소)하다. whisk out of 갑자기 사라지다.
state-educated 공립학교에서 교육받은. deserve ...받을만하다.
rung 사닥다리의 가로장, 단계.
getting children onto the next rung up 대학에 진학시키는 것. pupil 학생.
privileged access 특별한 혜택(특권)에 의해서 입학하는 것. efficient 능률적인.
scramble 바삐 서두르다, 기어오르다. equality 평등. abolish 폐기하다.
still 더욱더.

85-3-410
Nowadays few reformers talk about banning independent schools. Instead they look at fiddling with university admissions. Sadly the methods of most left-leaning educators say much more about their own outdated preoccupations than about the problem. In America tragically the focus has been on race and affirmative-action programmesa system the private schools have duly exploited by giving scholarships to poor black and Hispanic pupils. In Britain the obsession has been class, with Labour ministers telling the dons of Oxford to find more working-class talent, and setting up a government "Office for Fair Access" (widely known as OffToff) to set targets, albeit non-binding ones, for the proportion of state-school applicants at each university.
There are some areas where universities could be reined innotably America's system of favouring the children of alumni. But admissions are a symptom, not a cause. Black Americans and working-class Britons struggle because they are overwhelmingly educated in poor government-run schools. Change them and you change the system. And here the private elite schools are useful exemplars. Their success is not based on money, but on organisation. Make head teachers at state schools as accountable to parents as their peers at private schools are and give them the same freedoms, notably to sack poor teachers and pay more to good ones. Then people will not need to go to Winchester or Amherst any more.

A. 어휘
reformer 개혁가. ban 금지하다.
independent school 교육청(교육부)으로부터 일체의 간섭을 받지 않는 학교.
fiddle with 만지작거리다, 빈둥거리다. admission 입학허가.
left-leaning 左傾的(좌경적)인. outdated 시대에 뒤진.
preoccupation 편견, 선입관, 偏向(편향), 先取權(선취권). race 인종.
affirmative-action 긍정적인 행동. duly 정당하게, 적절하게. exploit 이용하다.
Hispanic 미국의 라틴 아메리카계 주민. pupil 학생.
obsession 달라붙어서 떠나지 않는 관념(고질적인 문제), 妄想(망상), 강박관념.
class 계급, 계층. Labour ministers 영국 노동당정부 장관들.
Office for Fair Access󰡓공정입학담당 廳(청). albeit ...에도 불구하고.
non-binding 강제적이 아닌, 의무적이 아닌. applicant 지원자, 신청자.
rein in 고삐로 제지하다, 억제하다. notably 두드러지게, 명백하게.
alumni 同窓(동창). symptom 징후, 症狀(증상). overwhelmingly 압도적으로.
exemplar 본보기, 例(예). head teacher 校長(교장). accountable 책임지다.
sack 파면시키다. peer 동갑내기, 동료.

B. 구문
- Make head teachers at state schools . . . at private schools are .
[공립학교 교장도 사립학교 교장만큼 학부모에게 책임을 지게 하라.]