A‘Education to Be More’ was published last August. A. 去年，《从教育中获取更多》出版了。 Tis was the report of the New Zealand Government’s Early Childhood Care and Education Working Group. 它是新西兰政府早期儿童关怀协会和教育工作小组的工作 报告。 The report argued for enhanced equity of access and better funding for childhood and early childhood education institution. 报告中说，我们需要更高质量的教育，在儿童关怀和儿童早期教育方面投入更多的资金。 Unquestionably, that’s a real need; but since parents don’t normally send children to pre-schools until the age of three, are we missing out on the most important years of all？ 毋庸置疑的是，这些的确是我们所需要的。但是，家长在孩子三岁时才会把他们送入学前班，我们是不是错过了最重要的时段呢？

B A 13-year study of early childhood development of Harvard University has shown that, by the age of three, most children have the potential to understand about 1000 words – most of the language they will use in ordinary conversation for the rest of their lives. B. 哈佛大学就早期儿童培养问题进行了一项为期十三年的研究。结果表明，在三岁时，大部分儿 童已经有能力理解 1 000 个左右的词，这些是他们在今后生活中的讲话里要使用到的大部分词汇。

Furthermore, research has shown that while every child is born with a natural curiosity, it can be suppressed dramatically during the second and third years of life. 而且，研究还表明，虽然孩子天生就有好奇心，但是在两岁和三岁期间，这种好奇心可能会受到严 重压制。 Researchers claim that the human personality is formed during the first two years. 研究人员说，人的性格形成于两岁前。 Children learn the basic skills they will use in all their later learning both at home and at school. 而到了三岁前，孩子们已经具备了最基本的学习技能，这些技能在他们今后的家庭和学校生活当中都有着举足轻重的作用。 Once over the age of three, children continue to expand on existing knowledge of the world. 一旦过了三岁，孩子们会继续扩 展他们已有的对世界的认识。

C It is generally acknowledged that young people from poorer socio-economic backgrounds tend to do less well in our education system. C. 一个普遍被认可的观点是，社会经济背景较差的孩子很可能在我们的教育系统中表现较差。 That's observed not just in New Zealand, but also in Australia, Britain and America. 不 仅在新西兰是这样，在澳大利亚、英国和美国也是如此。 In an attempt to overcome that educational under-achievement, a nationwide programme called 'Headstart’ was launched in the United States in 1965. 为了克服这种教育方面的较差表现，美国在1965 年开展了一项全国性的教育项目，名为“从头开始”。 A lot of money was poured into it. 并且投入了大笔资金。 It took children into pre-school institutions at the age of three and was supposed to help the children of poorer families succeed in school. 该项目对学前班里的三岁儿童进行了研究，目的是帮助贫困家庭的孩子提高学习成绩。

Despite substantial funding, results have been disappointing. 尽管投入了大量资金，但结果却让人很失望。 It is thought that there are two explanations for this. 有两种解释。 First, the programme began too late. 首先，项目开始的时间太晚。 Many children who entered it at the age of three were already behind their peers in language and measurable intelligence. 很多三岁入学的孩子已经在语言和智力上落后于同学。 Second, the parents were not involved. 其次，家长没有参与进来。 At the end of each day, 'Headstart' children returned to the same disadvantaged home environment. 每天放学之后，孩子们又回到 了一成不变的落后的家庭环境中。

D As a result of the growing research evidence of the importance of the first three years of a child's life and the disappointing results from 'Headstort', a pilot programme was launched in Missouri in the US that focused on parents as the child's first teachers. D. 由于成长研究表明三岁前的时期非常重要，也由于“从头开始”项目的结果无法让人满意，美国 密苏里州启动了一个项目，把焦点放在了孩子家长身上，因为他们是孩子的第一任教师。 The 'Missouri' programme was predicated on research showing that working with the family, rather than bypassing the parents, is the most effective way of helping children get off to the best possible start in life. “密苏里”项目的基础是另一个研究，该研究表明，与家人协同工作（而不是忽略孩子的家长）才能保证孩子不会输 在起跑线上。 The four-year pilot study included 380 families who were about to hove their first child and who represented a cross-section of socio-economic status, age and family configurations. 这个为期四年的研究涵盖了 380 个家庭，他们即将拥有自己的第一个孩子。并且横向来看，他们也涵盖了各种社会经济地位、年龄和家庭特征。 They included single-parent and two-parent families, families in which both parents worked, and families with either the mother or father at home. 这些家庭包括单亲和双亲家庭，家长双方都工作和一方工作的家庭等。

The programme involved trained parent-educators visiting the parents' home and working with the parent, or parents, and the child. 项目中，受过培训的家长导师会进行家访，并且与家长和孩子进行交谈。 Information on child development, and guidance on things to look for and expect as the child grows were provided, plus guidance in fostering the child’s intellectual, language, social and motor-skill development. 家长导师会提供一些关于培养孩子的信息以及孩子成长当中的一些指导，还有一些针对如何提高孩子智力、语言、社交能力和 主观能动性的指导。 Periodic check-ups of the child's educational and sensory development (hearing and vision) were made to detect possible handicaps that interfere with growth and development. 他们会对孩子的教育和感知（听觉和视觉）成长进行定期回访，以便发现那些影响 成长发展的障碍。 Medical problems were referred to professionals. 健康问题则会寻求专业人士的帮助。

Parent-educators made personal visits to homes and monthly group meetings were held with other new parents to share experience and discuss topics of interest. 家长导师会以个人身份进行家访，并且每个月会与其他新参与进来的家长会面，以分享经验，并且讨论大家感兴趣的话题。 Parent resource centres, located in school buildings, offered learning materials for families and facilitators for child care. 家长资源中心（位于学校内）可以为家庭提供学习资料，并且提供针对儿童 关怀方面的咨询。

E At the age of three, the children who had been involved in the "Missouri" programme were evaluated alongside a cross-section of children selected from the same range of socio-economic backgrounds and family situations, and also a random sample of children that age. E“密苏里”项目对参与项目的三岁儿童与参照对象进行了横向对比。一些参照对象有着同样的社会经济和家庭背景，还有一些参照对象是同龄的随机采样的儿童。 The results were phenomenal. 结论是非常喜人的。 By the age of three, the children in the programme were significantly more advanced in language development than their peers, had made greater strides in problem solving and other intellectual skills, and problem were further along in social development. 到三岁时，参与 研究的孩子在语言方面明显强于参照对象，在解决问题和其他智力表现上进步明显，在社交能力方面 的发展也很显著。 In fact, the average child on the programme was performing at the level of the top 15 to 20 per cent of their peers in such things as auditory comprehension, verbal ability and language ability. 参与研究的普通儿童在各种表现上都能比同龄人好 15%～20%，例如在听力理解、口头表达和语言能力方面。

Most important of all, me traditional measures of ‘risk’, such as parents' age and education, or whether they were a single parent, bore little or no relationship or the measures of achievement and language development. 最重要的是，有关儿童教育“风险”的传统衡量标准，如家长的年龄和教育背景以及是否单亲等，与研究结果和语言培养的关系都微乎其微。 Children in the programme performed equally well regardless of socio-economic disadvantages. 参与研究的孩子，不管社会经济背景如何糟糕，表现的都 一样好。 Child abuse was virtually eliminated. 儿童虐待也完全消失。 The one factor that was found to affect the child's development was family stress leading to a poor quality of parent-child interaction. 影响孩子发展的一个因素是家庭压力，这会导致家长和孩子之间的互动 较差。 That interaction was not necessarily bad in poorer families. 但这种互动不一定只存在于贫穷家庭。

F These research findings are exciting. F. 这些研究结论很让人兴奋。 There is growing evidence in New Zealand that children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds are arriving at school less well developed and that our school system tends to perpetuate that disadvantage. 在新西兰，越来越多的证据表明，社会经济背景较差的孩子只能进入 环境较差的学校，而我们的教育系统也倾向于延续这种劣势。 The initiative outlined above could break that cycle of disadvantage. 上文所述的研究也许可以打破这种劣势 的恶性循环。 The concept of working with parents in their homes, or at their place of work, contrasts quite markedly with the report of the Early Childhood Care and Education Working Group. 这种与家长在家中和工作场合共同合作的理念，与早期儿童关怀协会和教育工作小组的 工作报告中的理念截然不同。 Their focus is on getting children and mothers access to childcare and institutionalised early childhood education. 他们的焦点是使孩子和家长能够直接参与儿童关怀项目，并且提供早期 儿童教育。 Education from the age of three to five is undoubtedly vital, but without o similar focus on parent education and on the vital importance of the first three years, some evidence indicates that it will not be enough to overcome educational inequity. 三岁到五岁间的教育无疑是非常重要的，但是如果不对家长教育和三岁前教育投入同样的 关注，我们就无法克服教育上的不平等。