77. Still a lot to learn
Jun 4th 2009 | SAO PAULO From The Economist print edition
Brazil's woeful schools, more than perhaps anything else, are what hold it back. They are improvingbut too slowly
GOD may be Brazilian, as citizens of South America's largest country like to say, but he surely played no part in designing its education system. Brazil has much going for it these daysstable politics, an open and fairly harmonious society, an economy that has remembered how to grow after decades of stagnationbut when it comes to the quality of schools, it falls far short even of many other developing countries despite heavy public spending on education.
In the OECD's worldwide tests of pupils' abilities in reading, maths and science, Brazil is near the bottom of the class (see chart). Until the 1970s South Korea was about as prosperous as Brazil but, helped by its superior school system, it has leapt ahead and now has around four times the national income per head. World domination, even the friendly and non-confrontational sort Brazil seeks, will not come to a place where 45% of the heads of poor families have less than a year's schooling.
Moises Zacarias, who is 14, goes to school in Diadema, a poor suburb of Sao Paulo that sprang up when millions of people migrated from the countryside to the country's biggest metropolis, starting in the 1960s. Most of the houses are thrown together, clinging to steep hills and set along narrow alleys. At his school, which has 2,000 pupils, there are three separate shifts of students every day to get the most out of the buildings and teachers. Last year some pupils beat up others during a lesson and posted a video of the attack on the internet. Teachers often fail to show up for work. But Moises’s school is better than it was five years ago.
A. 어휘
woeful 형편없는, 비참한, 구슬픈. play no part 아무런 역할도 하지 않는다.
stable politics 안정된 정치. fairly=very.
decades of stagnation 수십년 간의 停滯(정체). despite ...에도 불구하고.
prosperous 번영하고 있는, 부유한. leap-leaped-leaped/leapt-leapt 跳躍(도약)하다.
domination 지배, 통치, 우세. world domination 세계를 주도하는 것.
non-confrontational 非對決(비대결)적인. sort 종류. come to a place 이루다.
schooling 학교교육. spring-sprang-sprung. spring up 갑자기 생기다.
migrate 이주하다. metropolis 대도시, 수도. throw up 긁어모아 어설프게 만들다.
cling-clung-clung 달라붙다. steep 가파른. set 자리잡다. alley 골목길, 뒷골목.
pupil 학생. separate 각각의, 분리된, 개별적인.
three separate shifts 3交代(교대), 3部制(부제)의. get the most 최대의 이익을 얻다.
show up 나타나다, 출석하다.
B. 구문
- Brazil has much going for it these days.
[브라질은 근래에 잘 나가고 있다.]
- World domination, even the friendly . . . less than a year's schooling.
[빈곤가정출신의 아이들 중 45% 미만만이 학교교육을 받고 있는 상황에서는 브라질이 추구하고 있는 우호적이고 비대결적인 세계지배도 이룰 수가 없을 것이다.]
77-2-367
Brazil began its education late. When the country was a Portuguese colony even the elite had little access to education at home. The first printing press did not arrive until the 19th century, hundreds of years after books were first printed in the region's Spanish-speaking countries. Before then presses were illegal. In 1930 just one in five children went to school. When Brazil did decide to build a nationwide education system, the wants of the elite came first. As in India, Brazil still spends a lot on its universities rather than on teaching children to read and write.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva came to power criticising his predecessor's achievements and promising rapid improvements. In fact, his successes have largely come from continuing and expanding the initiatives he inherited. He renamed and enlarged Fundef, the previous government's programme to supplement local funding for teachers' pay and schools in poor districts. Cash transfers to poor families, conditional on their children attending school, became more generous and were rolled together with other programmes under the brand name Bolsa Familia. After two bad appointments, the president picked a good education minister, Fernando Haddad, who enjoys the backing of educational reformers.
A. 어휘
colony 식민지. access 접속, 접근. at home 국내에서는. printing press 인쇄기.
press인쇄기. illegal 불법적인. nationwide 전국적인. want 부족.
predecessor 前任者(전임자). expand 확장하다. initiative 發議(발의).
inherit 물려받다, 상속하다. supplement 보충하다. local funding 지방에 대한 자금제공.
poor district 가난한 학구. cash transfers 현금 讓渡(양도). generous 관대한.
roll together 합치다. cf. roll 둘러싸다. appointment 任命(임명). minister 장관.
backing 후원, 지원. reformer 개혁가.
B. 구문
- conditional on their children attending school
[그들의 자녀들이 학교에 다닌다는 조건으로]
cf. conditional →which were conditional
