89. Work hard. Be nice
Jul 9th 2009 From The Economist print edition

A new breed of school for some of the poorest kids

89-1-421
A CHEERY yellow building in south-west Houston may not look like the centre of an educational revolution, but appearances can be deceptive. Bedecked with upbeat slogans"People make the difference", "Think like a champion today", "Be the constant, not the variable"the building houses the main offices and assembly area of the KIPP Academy, Houston, the first of a network of 66 schools in 19 states and Washington, DC.
KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Programme) started in 1994 with a simple philosophy, encapsulated in its main motto, "Work hard. Be nice." It stresses personal responsibility and hard work (even the youngest students can expect a couple of hours of homework a night, and teachers must be available on their mobile phones to help with it) and tells its pupils that "there are no short cuts."
The KIPP schools are the most striking example of a movement that is improving education across America: the rise of "charter" schools. These are paid for by state governments and free for the students, open to anyone and, crucially, independent of often badly-run school boards. Head teachers have wide discretion in the hiring and firing of teachers and are free to pay by results as they think fit. Charter schools are a mixed bag, but the best of them are achieving results most board-run schools can only dream of and are heavily oversubscribed.

A. 어휘
educational revolution 교육혁명. appearance 外見(외견), 外樣(외양).
deceptive 믿을 수 없는, 사람을 잘 속이는. bedeck 꾸미다, 장식하다.
upbeat 낙관적인, 명랑한. make the difference 차이를 만들다.
the constant 변함이 없는 사람. the variable 변덕스러운 사람.
assembly area 집회장. academy 사립 중고등학교, 학원, 사관학교.
encapsulate 캡슐에 넣다, 담아 넣다. available 이용할 수 있는. pupil 학생.
short cut 지름길. striking 놀라운. state government 州 정부.
crucially 결정적으로. independent of ...로부터 독립된. badly-run 형편없게 운영되는.
school board 교육위원회(교육청), 학부모위원회(영국). head teacher 교장.
discretion 재량권, 판단의 자유, 신중. mixed bag 잡동사니, 뒤섞임.
board-run schools 교육청 관할 학교들. oversubscribe 모집정원이상으로 신청하다.

B. 구문
- Bedecked with upbeat slogans . . . 19 states and Washington, DC.
[“사람이 차이를 만든다”, “오늘의 챔피언처럼 생각하라”, “변덕스러운 사람이 되지 말고 한결같은 사람이 되어라”, 등의 낙관적인 구호들로 장식된 그 학교 건물은 19개 주와 Washington, DC에 있는 66개 학교연합의 첫 번째 학교인 Houston市 所在(소재) KIPP 중고등학교의 본관과 집회장을 포함하고 있다.]

89-2-422
Central to the KIPP programme is the contract that all students (or KIPPsters) sign before they join the school, which commits pupils, parents and teachers to do everything in their power to ensure that the pupils complete their courses and go on to a university. Critics say that this, in effect, excludes children from the most deprived families of all.
Still, around 70% of the academy's students come from low-income families, and around 95% are either Hispanic or African-American. Typically, says Elliott Witney, the head of the academy, only about 7% of students from low-income families graduate from college KIPP's rate so far has been over 90%, though it has not yet quite achieved its goal of 98.6% ("body temperature").
KIPP's successes may be due to exceptional leadership, but according to Mr Witney there is no reason to think that they cannot be widely replicated. The rapid expansion of KIPP schools across the country is proof of that, and Mr Witney says these days there is no shortage of highly motivated young people who want to work as teachers in such schools. KIPP can hardly be the answer to all of Texas's problems, let alone America's. But along with the five campuses operated by YES (Youth Engaged in Service), with a very similar philosophy, it is an important part of it.

A. 어휘
contract 계약. commit 專念(전념)하게 하다, 위탁하다. critics 비판자들.
exclude 배제하다. deprived 빈곤한. Hispanic 미국의 남아메리카계 주민.
"body temperature" 사람의 체온은 화씨 98.6도. 학생들의 진학률이 사람의 체온과 같다는 뜻. due to ...때문에. exceptional 예외적인, 특별한. replicate 複製(복제)하다.
highly motivated young people 의욕이 매우 많은 젊은이들.
motivate 동기를 유발하다. let alone ...은 말할 것도 없이.