British Education Secretary Michael Gove claimed Monday that schools in Britain have slipped far behind those in the Far East, and said urgent improvements must be made if Britain's schools were to compete with those of China and Singapore.
英国教育大臣迈克尔 戈夫周一称，英国学校已经远远落后于远东国家的学校，并表示英国学校若想同中国和新加坡等国的学校进行竞争，校园改革迫在眉睫。
Earlier this month it emerged the UK had plummeted to 23rd in the world education rankings. It is behind relatively poor nations such as Estonia, Poland and the Slovak Republic in reading, maths and science.
本月早些时候进行全球学生能力测试中，英国学生排名跌至第23名。在阅读、数学和自然科学科目上，英国还不如较为贫穷的国家如爱沙尼亚、波兰和斯洛伐克。
The secretary called on the UK to learn from Chairman Mao and embark on "a Long March to reform our education system". "Schools in the Far East are turning out students who are working at an altogether higher level than our own," he said. He also added that colleges can no longer rely on the existing A-level to identify the best candidates because A-levels are failing to prepare students for degree courses.
戈夫于是号召英国向中国的毛主席学习，进行一场“改革教育系统的长征”。“远东国家的学生学习水平整体比我们要高，”他说。他还称高校不能仅仅依赖现存的A-Level水准证书来选拔人才，因为它并不能保证学生可以通过大学学位课程。
"We are asking universities to play a bigger part in designing A-levels so they don't have to offer their own tests on top. And we're also reforming league tables so they focus on the exams universities and employers value, such as science, history and modern languages," said the secretary.
戈夫说：“我们如今要求各高校加大‘A-level’水准课程设计的参与度，这样高校就不必另行举办考试。同时我们正在改革成绩表，新的表格将会偏重于高校以及企业重视的考试，比如自然科学、历史以及当代语言。”