原标题：经济学人 | 小升初考试应该被废弃吗？
布景介绍：
日前，英国工党领导人在全国教育联盟的一次会议上提出要废弃针对11岁左右孩子们的 SATs 考试，这一言辞引起了人们的热议。SATs 即规范成果考试，是一项旨在点评学生对基础学科掌握情况的考试，相当于我国的小升初考试。
Should British 11-year-olds be sitting exams?
英国11岁的孩子应该参与考试吗?
Labour wants to scrap standardised tests. But it may struggle to find an adequatereplacement
工党期望废弃规范化考试。但或许很难找到一个代替计划
Next month 11-year-olds will sit a series of short tests in maths and English—a fact that causes much unhappiness among England’s teachers.
下个月，11岁的孩子们将参与一系列有关数学和英语的小测验——这在英国的教师集体中引起了极大的不满。
At the National Education Union’s recent conference, Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s leader, announced to hearty applause that he would scrap these tests, which are known as SATs, and that he would review other primary-school assessments.
在全国教育联盟最近的一次会议上，工党首领杰里米·科尔宾在火热的掌声中宣告，他将废弃这些被称为 SATs 的考试，并将考虑用其他的方法对小学进行点评。（注：SATs，即规范成果考试，类似于我国的小升初考试。）
At the conference of the NASUWT, another teachers’ union, an official made headlines when he revealed that lots of schools were calling pupils in to prep for the tests over Easter, sometimes with rewards of fun activities or fast food.
在全国校长协会暨女教师公会联盟（另一个教师联盟）的一次会议上，一名官员泄漏称，许多校园要求学生们预备复活节期间的考试，而且有时会以风趣的活动或快餐作为奖赏，这一音讯随后登上了头条新闻。
Unlike GCSEs (taken at 16) and A-levels (at 18), SATs hold little sway over a pupil’s future. At most, they will help determine which academic stream the child enters in their first year at secondary school. Their chief purpose is to measure teachers and schools.
与GCSEs (16岁时参与的，相当于英国的中考)和 A-levels (18岁时参与的，相当于英国的高考)不同，SATs 对学生的未来几乎不发生影响。它最多是协助孩子们确定在中学的榜首学年进入哪个学术流。SATs 的首要意图是为了查核教师和校园。
If children are making good progress in their sums but not their reading, a school can devote more resources to English lessons. If one part of the country is making good progress, the government can study its success.
假如孩子们在算术上前进很大，但在阅读上却没有前进，那么校园就可以投入更多的资源到英语课程上。假如一个国家在某一方面正在获得很大的开展，那么政府就可以（使用 SATs）研讨它的成功地点。
Teachers nevertheless complain that they are under too much pressure to squeeze high marks out of their pupils.
虽然如此，教师们仍是诉苦称，他们承受了太大的压力，要去逼着学生们考取高分。
League tables are based on the percentage of children reaching certain standards, the schools inspectorate uses their results to inform its judgments and some teachers are on performance-related pay. Not all respond well.
排名表是根据到达某一成果规范的学生的百分比来算的，校园督查组织以学生的考试成果作为教师评判的根据，一些教师的薪酬是和学生的成果挂钩的。这并不只发生活跃的效应。
One head teacher in Leeds dragged a high-performing pupil from their sick bed to take a test, setting a sick bucket beside them.
利兹市的一位班主任把一名躺在病床上的成果优异的学生拖去参与考试，而只是只为他预备了一个痰盂在身旁。
Although tempting to teachers (and some parents), Labour’s promise to abolish SATs raises a question: what would replace them? A popular answer among teachers is to rely on their own assessments.
虽然工党废弃 SATs 的许诺关于教师(和一些家长)来说很有吸引力，但它一起带来了一个问题：用什么来代替 SATs 呢？教师们的遍及答复是依托教师自己的判别。
Yet this would be no better than children marking their own homework. What’s more, there is evidence that teachers are biased by pupils’ ethnicity. Mr Corbyn has promised that his alternative system will encourage creativity.
可是，这就好像让孩子们修改自己的家庭作业相同。更重要的是，有依据标明，有些教师对学生存在种族成见。科尔宾许诺，他的代替计划将会鼓舞学生们的创造力。
小编说：
作为一项首要为了查核教师和校园的考试， SATs让教师们承受了太大的压力。一起，学生们为了应对考试，而很难在其他学科（比方音乐、体育和艺术等）上得到全面的开展。可是废弃这项考试也带来了一个问题：怎么对教育水平进行点评？这是值得人们考虑的问题。
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