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Computing in schools
校园里的计算机技术
Hello world!
你好世界！
Training an army of tiny techies
训练一支微型计算机专家队伍
“I CALL this a playground,” says Vinay Patel, gesturing to a score of monitors in the computer lab of Avanti House School in North London: “I tell pupils not to be scared of mistakes.” The two dozen teenagers in his classroom are among the first to follow a radically reformed technology curriculum which comes into force this month. But they are not the only ones learning new tricks. Though his background is in product design, Mr Patel has spent the summer grappling with Python and Java, two computer languages he will teach as part of the course.
北伦敦阿凡提豪斯中学的电脑实验室里，维奈·帕特尔指着二十个显示器说:“我把这叫做游乐场。我告诉学生们不要害怕犯错。”一项彻底的科技课程改革将于本月开始实施，他班里的二十四个青少年学生是首批吃螃蟹的人之一。但他们不是唯一学习新技术的人。尽管帕特尔的专业背景是产品设计，他整个夏天都在努力学习Python和Java，这两种电脑语言的教学将成为课程的一部分。
Information and communications technology has been on school timetables since 1990. But lately it has grown unfashionable. In 2012 the Royal Society reported that dreary instruction in word-processing and spreadsheet software had made lessons “demotivating and routine”. That reputation has made it difficult to attract good teachers and has dulled enthusiasm for the subject.
信息与通讯技术自1990年便登上了学校的课表。但最近它的风头渐弱。2012年，英国皇家学会报告，文字处理和试算表软件的沉闷教学使得课程变得“毫无动力、平淡乏味”。这样糟糕的声誉难以吸引优秀的老师，也浇熄了学生对这门学科的热情。
This year’s change replaces ICT with a new subject called “computing”, which is mandatory for children in England aged five to 16. Tiddlers will learn about algorithms and other basic concepts of computer science; older kids will learn to use at least two programming languages. Big chunks of the course can be taught without computers; boosters say it will give children lasting problem-solving skills.
今年的改革是以一门名为“计算机技术”的新学科取代ICT，英国5至16岁的学生都将被强制要求学习这门新学科。小孩子们要学算法和计算机科学的其他基本概念；大一点的孩子要学习使用至少两种编程语言。大量的课程可以在没有电脑的情况下进行教学。支持者认为这将使孩子们在问题解决方面终身受益。
In part the overhaul aims to produce eager recruits for Britain’s growing technology firms. They cannot keep relying on a small pool of self-taught enthusiasts, reckons Bill Mitchell of BCS, an industry body. “Some people are so intelligent you could lock them in a room and hit them with a stick instead of sending them to school and they’ll still be successful,” he says. “But this will help children of all abilities.”
在某种程度上，这次大改革的目的是为英国欣欣向荣的科技公司提供热切的新雇员。行业组织英国计算机协会的比尔·米歇尔认为这些公司不能一直依赖少部分自学成才的爱好者，他说：“有些人就是天才，就算你不送他们去上学，反而把他们锁在一个屋子里，用棍子打他们，他们还是会成功。但这次改革将会对所有的孩子都起到帮助作用。”
By requiring five-year-olds to study computer science, England has leapfrogged countries such as America. The EU thinks England is a model for its neighbours; Asian governments are watching closely, reckons Rachel Swidenbank of Codecademy, an education firm.
通过要求5岁的儿童学习计算机科学，英国已超越一些国家，比如说美国。欧盟认为英国是邻国的典范。蕾切尔·斯维顿班克来自一家名为Codecademy教育公司，她推测亚洲政府部门也在密切关注这一改革。
Yet some debugging is needed. The government has found only about ￡3m to train 200,000 or so teachers. Enthusiasm varies among free schools and academies. The reform will need years of support, thinks Simon Peyton Jones of Computing at School, a charity. “It’s like a rocket at take-off. It could still explode.”
然而还有一些调试时必然的。政府仅提供了三百万英镑的基金来培训200，000人左右的教师。在免费学校和院校里，人们的热情不一。来自慈善机构“学校里的计算机技术”的西蒙·佩顿·琼斯认为这场改革需要多年的支持，他说：“这就像起飞时的火箭，仍有可能发生爆炸。”
