TED英语演讲：我的高中，我的训练场

TED英语演讲：我的高中，我的训练场

演讲稿

At 7:45 a.m., I open the doors to a building dedicated to building, yet only breaks me down. I march down hallways cleaned up after me every day by regular janitors, but I never have the decency to honor their names. Lockers left open like teenage boys' mouths when teenage girls wear clothes that covers their insecurities but exposes everything else. Masculinity mimicked by men who grew up with no fathers, camouflage worn by bullies who are dangerously armed but need hugs. Teachers paid less than what it costs them to be here. Oceans of adolescents come here to receive lessons but never learn to swim, part like the Red Sea when the bell rings.

This is a training ground. My high school is Chicago, diverse and segregated on purpose. Social lines are barbed wire. Labels like "Regulars" and "Honors" resonate. I am an Honors but go home with Regular students who are soldiers in territory that owns them. This is a training ground to sort out the Regulars fr-om the Honors, a reoccurring cycle built to recycle the trash of this system.

Trained at a young age to capitalize, letters taught now that capitalism raises you but you have to step on someone else to get there. This is a training ground where one group is taught to lead and the other is made to follow. No wonder so many of my people spit bars, because the truth is hard to swallow. The need for degrees has left so many people frozen.

Homework is stressful, but when you go home every day and your home is work, you don't want to pick up any assignments. Reading textbooks is stressful, but reading does not matter when you feel your story is already written, either dead or getting booked. Taking tests is stressful, but bubbling in a Scantron does not stop bullets fr-om bursting.

I hear education systems are failing, but I believe they're succeeding at what they're built to do -- to train you, to keep you on track, to track down an American dream that has failed so many of us all.

清晨7点45分，我打开那扇门，那扇通往建筑楼的门，即便它只能让我失望。我走过门廊，清洁工每日在我的身后打扫，但我从未高尚地记住他们的名字。储物柜敞开着，就像青春期的男生们看到女生们穿着暴露的衣服——那种除了掩饰她们的不安全感，其实什么都没有遮住的衣服时，他们张大的嘴一样。处处彰显着自己的男子气概的，是成长在没有父亲的家庭中的男人;恃强凌弱、横行霸道的，是需要拥抱的持枪者。老师们拿着不足以维持生计的薪水，孩子们如潮水一般涌来聆听教诲，却从未学会游泳。下课铃一响，孩子们便像红海分开一样，彼此说再会。

这就是我们的训练场。我的高中，芝加哥，在那里，学生被蓄意分隔成不同类别。像有一张铁丝网横在我们中间一样。 “普通学生”和“优等生”的标签不绝于耳。我是一个优等生，却混杂在普通学生中一道回家。那些普通学生，就像战士站在统治他们的领地上一样。这就是我们的训练场：永无止境地从优等生中寻找平庸者，只是为了回收体系的垃圾。

从小接受的资本化训练告诉你，虽然资本主义养育了你，但你还必须踩在别人的肩膀上才能实现自己的目标。这就是我们的训练场：在这里，一部分人被训练成领导者，另一部分人被训练如何去服从。为什么我们中很多人去饶舌，因为真相很难下咽。对学位的需求让许多人感到害怕。

家庭作业让人抓狂，每当你回到家中，你的家就是作业，你根本不想拿起作业本。读课本也让人抓狂，但有时，读书也没有用：那就是当你觉得你的命运已被决定——不是死亡，就是被征用的时候。考试更让人抓狂，但是在答题卡上填涂得再多，也无法阻止枪声响起，子弹爆炸。

我听到我们的教育正在走向失败，但我以为，我们的教育正是成功实现了它的预期目标——训练你在已有的轨道上前行，去追寻一个对于我们很多人来说已经失败的美国梦。