【沙龙120104】亚洲猖獗的欺骗问题

花落无声

【中文标题】 亚洲猖獗的欺骗问题

【原文标题】Asia’s rampant cheating problem

【登载媒体】沙龙

【来源地址】http://life.salon.com/2012/01/04/asias_rampant_cheating_problem/singleton/

【译者】花落无声

【翻译方式】人工

【声明】欢迎转载，请务必注明译者和出处 bbs.m4.cn。

【原文库链接】http://bbs.m4.cn/thread-3278499-1-1.html

【译文】

From sleep to social lives, there is little Asia’s most upwardly mobile students won’t sacrifice for education. Though they belong to the so-called “Asian Century,” American colleges remain the premier destination for the elite from Shanghai to Singapore to Seoul.

从睡眠到社交生活，亚洲最有上升趋势的学生们为了教育没有什么不能牺牲。尽管他们属于所谓的“亚洲世纪”，美国大学仍然是从上海到新加坡到首尔的精英们的第一选择。


The path to U.S. college acceptance, however, increasingly compels students to sacrifice their integrity. For the right price, unscrupulous college prep agencies offer ghostwritten essays in flawless English, fake awards, manipulated transcripts and even whiz kids for hire who’ll pose as the applicant for SAT exams.

然而，通往美国大学录取的道路逐渐强迫学生们牺牲自己的正直。通过合理的价格，寡廉鲜耻的升学机构提供有着完美英文的代写文章、虚假的奖项、修改过的成绩单、甚至雇佣优等生代考SAT。


“Oh my God, they can do everything for you,” said Nok, 17-year-old Thai senior in her final year at a private Bangkok high school. (She asked GlobalPost to alter her name for this article.) “They can take the SAT for you, no problem. Most students don’t really think it’s wrong.”

“我的天啊，他们能替你做任何事。”17岁泰国高三生Nok说，她在私立的曼谷高中就读。（她要求《环球邮报》在本文中改换她的名字）。“他们能替你考SAT，没问题。大多数学生觉得这没错。”


Among Asian high society, and particularly in China, parents’ obsession with sending their offspring to U.S. colleges has given rise to a lucrative trade of application brokers. Depending the degree of assistance, families can expect to pay between $5,000 and $15,000.

在亚洲的上流社会里，尤其是在中国，父母对于把自己的孩子送到美国大学的痴迷使申请经纪人有利可图。根据辅助程度，家庭可以预计花费5000美元到15000美元。

“The parent says, ‘My kid needs this GPA but, frankly, his scores aren’t that strong.’ Then the unscrupulous agent says ‘Don’t worry. We’ll figure that out,’” said Tom Melcher, chairman of Zinch China and author of a Chinese-language book on choosing American colleges.

“家长说，‘我的孩子需要这个GPA，但是坦白说他的成绩并不是很强。’然后寡廉鲜耻的中介就说‘别担心。我们会想办法的。’”，Zinch中国的主席、一本关于选择美国大学的中文书的作者Tom Melcher说。

A 250-student survey by Zinch China, a Beijing wing of the California-based Zinch education consultancy, suggests college application fraud among Chinese students is extremely pervasive. According to the survey, roughly 90 percent of recommendation letters to foreign colleges are faked, 70 percent of college essays are ghostwritten and 50 percent of high school transcripts are falsified.

Zinch中国——位于加利福尼亚的Zinch教育咨询公司的北京分部——的一个涉及了250个学生的调查显示，中国学生中的大学申请诈骗及其普遍。根据这个调查，大约90%给外国大学的推荐信都是伪造的，70%的大学申请文章都是代写的，50%的高中成绩单都是被篡改过的。

“For the right price,” Melcher said, “the agent will either fabricate it or work with the school to get a different transcript issued.” Admission into a top 10 or top 30 school, as defined by the U.S. News & World Report, can bring a $3,000 to $10,000 bonus for the agent, he said. The magazine, Melcher said, is commonly confused in China for an official government publication.

“只要有合理的价格，”Melcher说，“中介会伪造一份成绩单或者和学校协商来得到一份不同的成绩单。” U.S. News & World Report（我记忆里这是两个？）前10或前30大学的录取能给中介带来3000美元到10000美元的奖金，他说。Melcher说，中国人普遍以为这杂志是一份官方的政府出版物。

Demand for such agents is high and getting higher. Rapid economic growth across China and other parts of Asia has sparked an explosion in foreign students hoping to secure their ascent with a Western diploma.

对这种中介的需求越来越多。中国和亚洲其他部分迅速的经济增长使外国学生希望通过西方文凭巩固自己的上升。

Chinese citizens currently account for more than one in five foreign students studying at U.S. colleges. Nearly 158,000 Chinese students are enrolled at any given time, a full 300 percent jump over mid-1990s numbers, according to the Institute of International Education.

现在中国公民组成了美国大学国际学生的超过五分之一。根据国际教育学会的说法，无论何时都有接近158000个中国学生在学校注册，比上世纪九十年代中期多了整整300%


Chinese, Indian and South Korean students comprise roughly half of America’s foreign college student population. Vietnam has sent 13 percent more students to the U.S. within the last year, and Malaysia has added 8 percent, the institute reports.

中国、印度和韩国学生大约构成了美国国际大学生总数的一半。学会说，去年里越南多向美国送出了13%的学生，而马拉西亚增加了8%。

But many American college officials are oblivious to the application fix-it men these foreign students may have paid back home. Worse yet, remaining blind to the deception is often financially incentivized.

但很多美国大学负责人对这些国际学生可能在国内雇佣的申请加强人毫不在意。更糟的是，对这种欺诈的熟视无睹往往是由财政激励的。

America’s economic downturn has drained the state tax coffers that provide a funding lifeline to many U.S. colleges. Many schools have resorted to unpopular tuition hikes. But many are also courting wealthy foreign students whose families gladly fork over money for housing and tuition along with out-of-state or even out-of-country fees.

美国的经济低迷已经耗干了向很多美国大学提供资金生命线的州财政库。很多学校已经求助于不受欢迎的学费增长了。但同时也有很多在向富有的国际学生讨好，除了住宿费和学费，这些学生的家庭会很高兴地支付州外学费甚至国外学费。


“International students are seen as a source of revenue … and the trend has exploded in the past two years,” said Dale Gough, international education director for AACRAO, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

“国际学生被视作收入来源……这种趋势在过去两年里已经爆发了。”美国大学注册与招生人员协会（AACRAO）的国际教育主管Dale Gough说。

Foreign students, through tuition and living expenses, contribute $2.1 billion to the U.S. economy, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. “In short,” Gough said, “they help the bottom line.”

根据美国商务部，国际学生通过学费和生活费向美国经济贡献21亿美元。“简而言之，”Gough说，“他们帮助了底线。”

Excuses abound for ignoring fraudulent applications, Gough said. Some assume that kids who cheat will inevitably flame out anyway and never score a degree. Some admissions officers, he said, contend that “that’s just the way it’s done over there.”

对于忽略欺诈申请有很多借口，Gough说。有一些假定这些欺骗的孩子无论如何都会不可避免地露馅，不会获得学位。他说一些招生官说“这只不过是那边做申请的方法。

Many schools also make sloppy attempts to translate foreign transcripts, calculated by an “indigenous” and unfamiliar methodology, into America’s GPA or “grade point average” system, Gough said.

很多学校在把外国成绩单换算成美国的GPA或者叫“平均绩点”的方面也很笨拙，这些成绩单一般都用“本土的”或者不熟悉的方法计算，Gough说。

His association publishes a guide to deciphering foreign scores, the only one of its kind, but fewer than 500 of the 3,500 institutions represented by AACRAO bother to buy a copy.

他的协会出版了一本破译外国分数的指导书，这是独一无二的，然而AACRAO里的3500所大学里只有500所买了。

“Translating foreign grades into a GPA system is meaningless,” Gough said. “They attempt to do it anyway.”

“将外国成绩转换到GPA系统里毫无意义，”Gough说，“但他们还是想这么做。”


Gough fears that universities’ lax standards, and focus on big foreign tuition payments, will eventually undermine the pedigree of an American diploma. The damage, he said, would be nearly impossible to undo.

Gough担心大学松懈的标准，以及对于巨额外国学费的关注，会最终降低美国文凭的含金量。这种伤害，他说，几乎是不可能撤销的。

“This scenario spells disaster,” Gough said. “Even if a lot of the students who cheat are bright, and they go on to succeed, is this fair to American students? Or [to] the foreign students who play by the rules?”

“这种场景意味着灾难，”Gough说。“即使很多欺诈的学生很聪明，而且继续下去获得成功，这对美国学生公平吗？或者对其他遵守规则的国际学生公平吗？”

While America has ceded manufacturing power and foreign influence to China, an American degree remains the gold standard of educational prestige. Nok, who is currently applying for colleges abroad, never considered applying to universities in Asia.

美国将生产力和国际影响让给了中国，但美国文凭还是教育威望的黄金标准。Nok正在申请海外的大学，她从未考虑过申请亚洲的大学。

“Students who study in America are elite, the privileged,” said Nok. “It shows you’re smarter than the others.”

“在美国学习的学生是精英，享有特权，”Nok说，“这表示你比其他人聪明。”

But like most Asian students, Nok has felt baffled and overwhelmed by America’s complex application system.

但像大多数亚洲学生一样，Nok感觉被美国复杂的申请系统感觉迷惑和压倒了。

“Here, you take a big test one day and report the score. That’s how you figure out where you’ll go to college,” she said. “The Americans are different. They want to know the big picture. All these essays. All this stuff about your life.”

“在这里，你在一天里参加一个大型考试然后报告分数。这是你知道你会去哪个大学的方式。”她说。“美国人不一样。他们想了解大局。所有这些文章。所有关于你生活的东西。”


America’s liberal arts application system is “fundamentally more confusing,” said Joshua Russo, director of Top Scholars, a college prep and tutoring agency in Bangkok.

美国的文理申请系统“基本上更复杂”，“最高学者”（一个曼谷的升学和辅导机构）的主管Joshua Russo说。

Asian families unfamiliar with the process, he said, are justified in seeking an agency’s help with application strategies and tutoring to build the skills U.S. colleges demand. But Russo’s refrain to parents, he said, is that kids who can’t write their own essays are likely to burn out once enrolled in America.

他说，不熟悉这些流程的亚洲家庭有正当理由寻求有着申请策略、能辅导美国大学要求的技能的中介的帮助。但Russo说，他常对父母说的是，不能自己写文章的孩子一旦进入美国大学，很可能手足无措。

“Some consultants will promise the world … and they’re fundamentally preparing students to fail,” Russo said. “Beyond fabricating an essay, they’re fabricating a whole life story. Students will start to believe in the lie. It’s wrong.”

“有些顾问会承诺给你整个世界……他们基本上是在带学生走向失败，“Russo说。“除了伪造文章，他们还伪造整个人生故事。学生会开始相信这个谎言。这是错的。”

The allure of America’s universities, and the pressure-cooker drive to succeed among Asia’s expanding upper class, will continue to propel Asian students into American schools. Many Chinese teenagers applying abroad, Melcher said, are the sort of highly motivated students colleges desire.

美国大学的诱惑以及要在亚洲逐渐扩大的上层阶级中成功的高压锅似的压力会继续推动亚洲学生进入美国学校。很多申请海外学校的中国青少年，Melcher说，是那种大学想要的拥有高度积极性的学生。

“Chinese kids are typically great,” Melcher said. “They’re not at the tailgate parties drinking. They’re busting their butts. Failure is not an option.”

“中国孩子通常很棒。”Melcher说。“他们不会在车尾野餐会喝酒。他们十分努力。失败不可接受。”

But college application fraud will continue, he said, so long as the risks are low and the rewards are so high. His consultancy suggests interviewing all Chinese students via online video chats, conducting spot tests in English, and hiring a mainland Chinese staffer in the college’s home office.

但大学申请作假还会继续，他说，只要风险还很低而收获还很高。他一直建议对所有中国学生用在线视频聊天进行面试、抽查英语、在大学办公室里雇佣一位中国大陆的职员。

“Frankly, I feel really bad for Chinese families who are trying to be honest,” he said. “They’re driving 55 while everyone’s zooming past them. After a while, they throw up their hands and say, ‘Fine, I’ll speed up.’”

“老实说，我为那些试图保持城市的中国家庭难过。”他说。“他们在用55的速度开车，而其他人都加速超过他们。一段时间后，他们两手一摊说，‘好吧，我也要加速。’ ”