For over a decade, I have studied young people that have been pushed out of school, so called "dropouts." As they end up failed by the education system, they're on the streets where they're vulnerable to violence, police harassment, police brutality and incarceration. I follow these young people for years at a time, across institutional settings, to try to understand what some of us call the "school-to-prison pipeline."
近十年来, 我一直都在研究那些 从学校辍学的年轻人, 也就是所谓的“退学学生”。 当他们被教育体系视作失败者时, 他们便成为易受伤害的弱势群体, 遭受来自警察的骚扰 和暴行, 以及被监禁。 每次我会跟进观察 这些年轻人几年的时间, 结合制度背景, 尝试去理解我们所谓的 “学校-监狱传送模式”。
When you look at a picture like this, of young people who are in my study ... you might see trouble. I mean one of the boys has a bottle of liquor in his hand, he's 14 years old and it's a school day. Other people, when they see this picture, might see gangs, thugs, delinquents -- criminals. But I see it different. I see these young people through a perspective that looks at the assets that they bring to the education system. So will you join me in changing the way we label young people from "at-risk" to "at-promise?"
当你看到这样的情景, 也就是参与我所研究的年轻人们, 你也许会看到问题和麻烦。 我是说其中的一个男孩 手上拿着一瓶烈酒, 他现在 14 岁, 另外,这本应该去上学的日子。 当其他人看到这个画面时, 他们也许想到的是帮派、 暴徒、品行不端的流氓之人 或者罪犯。 但我从另一个角度看, 我通过关注这些年轻人 为教育体系做出的贡献来看待他们, 所以,你们愿意加入我 来改变人们对年轻人的一贯判断吗? 他们实际上充满希望, 而非前途渺茫。
(Applause)
(掌声)
How do I know that these young people have the potential and the promise to change? I know this because I am one of them. You see, I grew up in dire poverty in the inner city, without a father -- he abandoned me before I was even born. We were on welfare, sometimes homeless, many times hungry. By the time I was 15 years old, I had been incarcerated in juvy three times for three felonies. My best friend had already been killed. And soon after, while I'm standing next to my uncle, he gets shot. And as I'm waiting for the ambulance to arrive for over an hour ... he bleeds to death on the street. I had lost faith and hope in the world, and I had given up on the system because the system had failed me. I had nothing to offer and no one had anything to offer me. I was fatalistic. I didn't even think I could make it to my 18th birthday.
我是怎样知道这些年轻人 有潜力和希望做出改变的呢? 我知道这些, 因为我曾是其中一员。 正如各位了解到的, 我在市内一个可怕的贫民窟长大, 甚至没有了父亲—— 他在我出生前便抛弃了我。 我们依靠社会福利生活, 有时会无家可归, 通常处于饥饿状态。 当我 15 岁时, 我因为犯下三次重罪, 被三次送进青少年管教所。 我最好的朋友已经被处死。 之后不久, 当我正站在叔叔身边时, 他被子弹射中了。 当我还在等待救护车到达时, 等了超过一个小时, 他已在街上失血而亡。 我曾对这个世界失去信仰与希望, 我曾经放弃现有的体制 因为它使我成为一个败者。 我曾经无可奉献, 也没有人能为我做过些什么。 那时我相信宿命。 我甚至未曾想过 我能活过 18 岁生日。
The reason I'm here today is because a teacher that cared reached out and managed to tap into my soul. This teacher, Ms. Russ ... she was the kind of teacher that was always in your business.
而我今天站在这里的原因, 是一位给予我关心, 并且触及到我的灵魂深处的老师。 这位老师, 拉斯小姐…… 她是那种时刻介入你的生活, 会插手你的各种事情的老师
(Laughter)
(笑声)
She was the kind of teacher that was like, "Victor, I'm here for you whenever you're ready."
她是那位总是说, “维克多,任何你准备好的时候, 我都在这里” 的老师。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
I wasn't ready. But she understood one basic principle about young people like me. We're like oysters. We're only going to open up when we're ready, and if you're not there when we're ready, we're going to clam back up. Ms. Russ was there for me. She was culturally relevant, she respected my community, my people, my family. I told her a story about my Uncle Ruben. He would take me to work with him because I was broke, and he knew I needed some money. He collected glass bottles for a living. Four in the morning on a school day, we'd throw the glass bottles in the back of his van, and the bottles would break. And my hands and arms would start to bleed and my tennis shoes and pants would get all bloody. And I was terrified and in pain, and I would stop working. And my uncle, he would look me in the eyes and he would say to me, "Mijo, estamos buscando vida." "We're searching for a better life, we're trying to make something out of nothing."
而我没有准备好。 然而她理解我们年轻人的 一项基本原则。 我们像牡蛎沉默寡言。 我们只会在准备好时,打开自己, 如果在我们准备就绪时, 你不在这里, 那我们便会重新封闭自己。 而拉斯小姐一直在我身边。 她能充分理解我成长的环境与文化, 她尊重我的组织, 我的朋友,我的家人。 我告诉她关于罗宾叔叔的故事。 叔叔因为我破产 而带上我和他一起工作, 他知道我需要钱。 他收集玻璃瓶为生。 上学时,每天早晨四点, 我们会在他的卡车后面 一起扔玻璃瓶, 然后瓶子会破。 接着我的手和胳膊便会流血, 网球鞋和裤子也会沾满血迹。 那时候我很害怕, 深陷痛苦,我会停下工作。 这时叔叔会看着我的眼睛对我说, “孩子, 我们正在寻找生活。” “我们在努力追求更好的生活, 我们在白手起家。”
Ms. Russ listened to my story, welcomed it into the classroom and said, "Victor, this is your power. This is your potential. Your family, your culture, your community have taught you a hard-work ethic and you will use it to empower yourself in the academic world so you can come back and empower your community."
拉斯小姐听着我的故事, 并把它讲给整个班级,之后她说, “维克多,这就是你的力量。 这就是你的潜能。 你的家庭,你的文化,你的组织 教会你成为一个努力工作的人, 它会帮助你在学术研究上 取得更多成绩, 所以你能回馈社会。”
With Ms. Russ's help, I ended up returning to school. I even finished my credits on time and graduated with my class.
在拉斯小姐的帮助下, 我最终重返学校。 甚至按时修满课程学分 和我所在的班级一起毕业。
(Applause)
(掌声)
But Ms. Russ said to me right before graduation, "Victor, I'm so proud of you. I knew you could do it. Now it's time to go to college."
在毕业前,拉斯小姐对我说, “维克多,我为你感到骄傲。 我就知道你能行。 现在,是时候去上大学了。”
(Laughter)
(笑声)
College, me? Man, what is this teacher smoking thinking I'm going to college? I applied with the mentors and support she provided, got a letter of acceptance, and one of the paragraphs read, "You've been admitted under probationary status." I said, "Probation? I'm already on probation, that don't matter?"
上大学,我吗? 天啊,这个想让我 上大学的老师在想些什么啊? 我通过她提供的指导 和支持申请了一些学校, 并且拿到了一个学校的录取信, 信中有一段这样写道, “你以试用生的身份被录取。” 我说:“缓刑?我已经在缓刑期了, 这样没关系吗?
(Laughter)
(笑声)
It was academic probation, not criminal probation. But what do teachers like Ms. Russ do to succeed with young people like the ones I study? I propose three strategies. The first: let's get rid of our deficit perspective in education. "These people come from a culture of violence, a culture of poverty. These people are at-risk; these people are truant. These people are empty containers for us to fill with knowledge. They have the problems, we have the solutions." Number two. Let's value the stories that young people bring to the schoolhouse. Their stories of overcoming insurmountable odds are so powerful. And I know you know some of these stories. These very same stories and experiences already have grit, character and resilience in them. So let's help young people refine those stories. Let's help them be proud of who they are, because our education system welcomes their families, their cultures, their communities and the skill set they've learned to survive. And of course the third strategy being the most important: resources. We have to provide adequate resources to young people. Grit alone isn't going to cut it. You can sit there and tell me all you want, "Hey man, pick yourself up by the bootstraps." But if I was born without any straps on my boots --
只是这是学术试用, 而不是犯罪缓刑。 然而拉斯小姐这样的老师做了什么 能让像我的研究对象一样的 年轻人获得成功呢? 我认为有三个方法。 第一条: 让我们摆脱以教育逆差的角度 看待问题的习惯。 “这些人来自充满暴力, 充满贫穷的文化。 这些人很危险, 他们懒惰逃避责任。 这些人是等待我们 用知识填充起来的空容器。 他们身上存在问题, 而我们有解决问题的方法。” 第二条: 让我们学会珍惜 这些年轻人带到学校的种种故事。 那些关于他们如何克服 各种各样困难的奇闻逸事 很能振奋人心。 而且我知道你们 了解这样的一些故事。 这些十分相似的故事和经历 本就包含着勇气、决心 和乐观的态度。 所以,我们应该 帮助年轻人消化这些故事。 我们要帮助他们为自己感到骄傲, 因为我们的教育体制 欢迎他们的家庭,他们的文化, 他们的团体, 以及他们所学到的生存技能。 当然,第三条也是最重要的一条: 资源。 我们必须为年轻人提供足够的资源。 只有勇气远远不够。 你可以坐在那里 告诉我你想要的所有东西, “嗨伙计,用鞋拔子把你的鞋提起来。” 但如果生来我就没有鞋拔子,
(Laughter)
(笑声)
How am I supposed to pick myself up?
我该怎么把鞋提起来呢?
(Applause)
(掌声)
Job training, mentoring, counseling ... Teaching young people to learn from their mistakes instead of criminalizing them, and dragging them out of their classrooms like animals. How about this? I propose that we implement restorative justice in every high school in America.
工作培训, 指导, 咨询…… 教会年轻人如何 从自己的错误中学到教训 而不是将这些错误判定为犯罪, 像对待动物一样 把他们从教室中拖出去。 这样怎么样? 我建议在全美每一所高中内 推行恢复性公平措施。
(Applause)
(掌声)
So we went out to test these ideas in the community of Watts in LA with 40 young people that had been pushed out of school. William was one of them. William was the kind of kid that had been given every label. He had dropped out, he was a gang member, a criminal. And when we met him he was very resistant. But I remember what Ms. Russ used to say. "Hey, I'm here for you whenever you're ready."
所以我们首先在洛杉矶瓦茨 推行检验这些想法, 实验对象是 40 位已被开除的学生。 威廉是其中之一。 威廉是被贴上各种标签的那类孩子。 他退了学并且是某个帮派成员, 他是一个罪犯。 当我们第一次见到他时,他十分抗拒。 但我记得拉斯小姐 过去经常说的一句话。 “嘿,任何你准备好的时候, 我都在这里。”
(Laughter)
(笑声)
So over time -- over time he began to open up. And I remember the day that he made the switch. We were in a large group and a young lady in our program was crying because she told us her powerful story of her dad being killed and then his body being shown in the newspaper the next day. And as she's crying, I don't know what to do, so I give her her space, and William had enough. He slammed his hands on the desk and he said, "Hey, everybody! Group hug! Group hug!"
所以随着时间流逝, 慢慢地,他开始打开心门 与我们坦诚相待。 我依然记得他改变的那一天。 我们当时在一个很大的团队里, 组里一位年轻的小姐在哭, 因为讲述她自己爸爸被杀, 尸体出现在第二天的 报纸上后的故事 她哭得很伤心。 她在哭的时候,我手足无措, 所以我给她了空间, 然而威廉不这么想。 他用手敲打桌子说到: “嘿,每个人! 一起来抱抱!一起来抱抱!”
(Applause)
(掌声)
This young lady's tears and pain turned into joy and laughter knowing that her community had her back, and William had now learned that he did have a purpose in life: to help to heal the souls of people in his own community. He told us his story. We refined his story to go from being the story of a victim to being the story of a survivor that has overcome adversity. We placed high value on it. William went on to finish high school, get his security guard certificate to become a security guard, and is now working at a local school district.
在得知她能得到互助小组的依靠后, 这位小姐的眼泪和悲痛 随即变为喜悦和笑声, 而且威廉现在也明白 自己确实有存在的意义: 帮助并治愈那些 与他同属一个团体的灵魂。 他给我们讲了他的故事。 我们重新整理了他的故事 让一个受害者的遭遇变成 有关一位克服逆境的 幸存者的故事。 我们赋予它很高的价值。 威廉回到学校继续读完高中, 拿到安全警卫证书, 成为了一名安全警卫, 现在在当地学校的街区工作。
(Applause)
(掌声)
Ms. Russ's mantra -- her mantra was always, "when you teach to the heart, the mind will follow." The great writer Khalil Gibran says, "Out of suffering have emerged the greatest souls. The massive characters are seared with scars." I believe that in this education revolution that we're talking about we need to invite the souls of the young people that we work with, and once they're able to refine -- identify their grit, resilience and character that they've already developed -- their academic performance will improve.
拉斯小姐的口头禅—— 她经常说道, “当你在引领一个心灵时, 思想会紧随其后。” 一位伟大的作家哈利勒·纪伯伦 (Khalil Gibran)说过, “受苦能凸显坚强的灵魂, 最明显的特徵就是那伤口痊愈的疤痕。” 我相信在我们目前 所讨论的教育改革中 我们需要邀请那些 我们所研究的年轻人的灵魂, 他们一旦有机会被净化—— 认识到自己的勇气、乐观 和那些优秀的品质, 这些都是他们已经拥有的—— 他们便会在学习上有很大的提高。
Let's believe in young people. Let's provide them the right kinds of resources. I'll tell you what my teacher did for me. She believed in me so much that she tricked me into believing in myself.
让我们相信这些年轻人, 让我们为他们提供适当的资源, 让我告诉你我的老师给予了我什么: 她对我的信任之大, 大到足以让我去相信自己。
Thank you.
谢谢。
(Applause)
(掌声)