Few US Schools Now Named for People, Especially Presidents

美国学校现在很少以人命名，特别是总统的名字

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

这里是VOA特别英语教育报道。

Public schools in New York, America's biggest city, commonly have numbers for names. But this is unusual. In the United States, the process of naming a school often involves parents and the community as well as elected school leaders.

美国最大的城市纽约的公立学校，一般用号码做名字。但这是不寻常的。在美国，命名一所学校的过程以及选举学校领导人，经常需要家长和社会各界参与。

Researchers say school names can show civic values and also shape them. For example, naming a school after a historic person becomes a way to teach students about that person's importance in history.

研究人员说，学校名称可以体现公民价值观，并形成它们。举例来说， 以一个历史性的人物命名一所学校成为一种方法来教导学生了解那个人物在历史上的重要性。

A new study examines the naming of American public schools. The study is from the Manhattan Institute, an organization that does public policy research.

一项新研究检查美国公立学校的命名。这项研究来自曼哈顿研究所——一家国家政策研究机构。

The study shows that fewer and fewer schools are being named after people. Instead, more schools are being named after the local area or natural features like hills, trees or animals. The researchers say these changes raise questions about the civic duty of public education.

研究显示越来越少的学校以人命名。 相反，更多的学校以当地局部地区或者象小山，树木或者动物之类的自然的特征命名。那些研究人员说这些变化提出了关于公共教育的公民责任问题。

They looked at seven states with twenty percent of all public school students in the country. They found similar results in every state: new schools are less likely to be named after people.

他们调查了全国7个州20 %的所有公立学校的学生。 他们在每个州发现了相似的结果：新学校很少会以人名命名。

This is true especially with presidents. For example, in Arizona, public schools in the past twenty years were almost fifty times more likely to be named after such things as landforms or plants.

这尤其对美国总统亦是如此。例如，在亚历桑那州，公立学校在过去二十年里更有可能的依如地形或植物之类的事物命名近五十次。

In Florida, out of almost three thousand public schools, the report says five honor George Washington, the nation's first president. Eleven honor the manatee, an endangered sea animal found in that state.

在佛罗里达，在将近3，000所公立学校之中，报告说，有5 所以美国的第一位总统乔治·华盛顿为荣耀。有11所以所在州发现的一种濒危海洋动物——海牛为荣耀。

In fact, the study says that today, a majority of all public school districts nationwide do not have a single school named after a president.

研究指出，实际上现在全国公共学区的绝大多数没有一所学校以一位总统的名字命名。

School officials say they try to choose names that will not offend anyone. For example, a few years ago, the city of New Orleans banned the naming of any school after a person who owned slaves. Other school systems have rules against naming new schools after any person, living or dead.

学校官员说他们努力选择的名字将不冒犯任何人。举例来说，几年前，新奥尔良市禁止任何学校以一个拥有奴隶的人来命名。其它学校系统规定不准以任何活着或死去的人来命名新学校。

The researchers say naming a school after a person can lead to important debates about democratic values. They call for more research to identify the causes and effects of the changes in school names.

研究者说，以个人名字命名一所学校会导致关于民主价值的重要辩论。他们需要更多的研究来证明学校名字方面变化的原因和影响。

The causes may include changes in American culture as well as in the political control of school systems. One area worth exploring, they say, is the link between trends in school names and weak results for public schools on measures of civic education.

原因可能包括在美国文化方面的变化还有在政治上对学校系统的控制里。他们说，一个值得探讨的领域是在学校名字的变化趋势和公立学校在公民教育的衡量标准上不佳的结果之间建立联系。

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Joan Kornblith.

以上VOA特别英语教育报道，由南希·斯坦芭撰稿。我是琼·科恩布利思。