Getting a college education is a 20-year investment.
接受大学教育，是一段长达二十年的投资。
When you're growing up poor, you're not accustomed to thinking that far ahead.
当你在贫穷中度过青少年时期，根本不会有条件去思考这件事。
Instead, you're thinking about where you're going to get your next meal and how your family is going to pay rent that month.
相反，你考虑的是在哪能吃到下一餐，以及你的家庭如何支付那个月的租金。
Besides, my parents and my friends' parents seemed to be doing just fine driving taxis and working as janitors.
此外，我的父母和我朋友的父母似乎生活得还不错，开着出租车，或者当个看门人。
It wasn't until I was a teenager when I realized I didn't want to do those things.
直到步入青春期，我才意识到自己不想做那些事情。
By then, I was two-thirds of the way through my education, and it was almost too late to turn things around.
那时，我已在受教育的路上走了三分之二的旅程，差点就来不及扭转这一切了。
When you grow up poor, you want to be rich. I was no different.
当你在贫困的环境中长大，你想要变得富有。我也一样。
I'm the second-oldest of seven, and was raised by a single mother on government aid in Queens, New York.
我是七个孩子中的老二，在纽约皇后区由单亲母亲一手靠着政府救济养活。
By virtue of growing up low-income, my siblings and I went to some of New York City's most struggling public schools.
由于成长在低收入的家庭中，我和兄弟姐妹只能去纽约一些水平较差的公立学校。
I had over 60 absences when I was in seventh grade, because I didn't feel like going to class.
在七年级时，我有60多次的旷课记录，因为那时我不想去上课。
My high school had a 55 percent graduation rate, and even worse, only 20 percent of the kids graduating were college-ready.
我上的高中毕业率为55%，更糟糕的是，只有20%的毕业生做好了考大学的准备。
When I actually did make it to college,
当我真的成功考上大学时，
I told my friend Brennan how our teachers would always ask us to raise our hands if we were going to college.
我告诉了朋友布伦南，我们的老师一直以来是如何要求我们举手发言的，如果我们想上大学的话。
I was taken aback when Brennan said, "Karim, I've never been asked that question before."
我吃了一惊，布伦南说的是，“卡里姆，我之前从未被问过那个问题。”
It was always, "What college are you going to?"
我们被问的问题一直是，“你要去哪所大学？”
Just the way that question is phrased made it unacceptable for him not to have gone to college.
就是那个问题的表达方式，使得不能上大学对他来说简直不可想象。
Nowadays I get asked a different question. "How were you able to make it out?"
如今，我被问到一个不同的问题。“你是怎么做到的？”
For years I said I was lucky, but it's not just luck.
多年来我总是回答说我是幸运的，但那并不只是运气。
When my older brother and I graduated from high school at the very same time and he later dropped out of a two-year college,
当我哥哥和我在同一时间从高中毕业，并且之后他从两年制的大学退学时，
I wanted to understand why he dropped out and I kept studying.
我想搞清楚为什么他退学了，而我还在继续学习。
It wasn't until I got to Cornell as a Presidential Research Scholar that I started to learn about
直到我作为总统研究学者进入康内尔大学时，我才开始真正了解到，
the very real educational consequences of being raised by a single mother on government aid and attending the schools that I did.
教育的重要性对于那些接受政府补助、单亲妈妈扶养长大、像我一洋念烂学校的孩子有多重要。
That's when my older brother's trajectory began to make complete sense to me.
就是那时，我完全理解了哥哥的人生轨迹为何如此。
I also learned that our most admirable education reformers, people like Arne Duncan, the former US Secretary of Education,
我也了解到我们最可敬的教育改革家们，像阿恩·邓肯，美国前教育部长，
or Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach For America, had never attended an inner city public school like I had.
或温蒂·科普，“为美国而教”组织的创始人，从未像我那样参加内城的公立学校。
So much of our education reform is driven by a sympathetic approach, where people are saying,
我们如此多的教育改革是由同情的方式驱动的，人们会说，
"Let's go and help these poor inner city kids, or these poor black and Latino kids," instead of an empathetic approach,
“我们去帮助这些可怜的内城孩子，或可怜的黑人和拉丁裔孩子们吧。”抛开同情的方式，
where someone like me, who had grown up in this environment, could say,
像我一样成长在这种环境里的人会说：
"I know the adversities that you're facing and I want to help you overcome them."
“我明白你正在面临的困境，我想帮助你克服它们。”

Today when I get questions about how I made it out, I share that one of the biggest reasons is that I wasn't ashamed to ask for help.
现在，当我被问到曾经如何做到的时候，我会分享最重要的原因之一，就是我不会为寻求帮助而感到难为情。
In a typical middle class or affluent household, if a kid is struggling,
在典型的中产阶级或富裕的家庭里，如果一个孩子求学艰难，
there's a good chance that a parent or a teacher will come to their rescue even if they don't ask for help.
很有可能父母或老师会前来为他们解围，尽管孩子们并没有寻求帮助。
However, if that same kid is growing up poor and doesn't ask for help, there's a good chance that no one will help them.
然而，如果同样的孩子生长在贫穷的环境中且没有寻求帮助，就很有可能没人去帮他们。
There are virtually no social safety nets available.
实际上我们并没有建立起社会安全感的联系。
So seven years ago, I started to reform our public education system shaped by my firsthand perspective.
所以七年前，我开始改革我们的公共教育制度，根据我自己的经历所建立。
And I started with summer school. Research tells us that two-thirds of the achievement gap,
我从暑期班开始着手。调查告诉我们，三分之二的成就差距，
which is the disparity in educational attainment between rich kids and poor kids or black kids and white kids,
富裕孩子和贫穷孩子在教育成果上的差距，或者黑人孩子和白人孩子的差距，
could be directly attributed to the summer learning loss.
可能直接归因于暑期班学习的缺失。
In low-income neighborhoods, kids forget almost three months of what they learned during the school year over the summer.
在贫穷的社区里，孩子们一个夏天就几乎忘光了他们在一学年里所学的三个月的内容。
They return to school in the fall, and their teachers spend another two months reteaching them old material.
他们在秋季返校，老师还要另外花费两个月重新教授他们旧知识。
That's five months. The school year in the United States is only 10 months.
算下来就是五个月。在美国一学年只有十个月。
If kids lose five months of learning every single year, that's half of their education. Half.
如果孩子们每一学年失去五个月的学习时间，他们只受到一半的教育。只有一半。
If kids were in school over the summer, then they couldn't regress, but traditional summer school is poorly designed.
如果孩子们在学校度过夏天，那么他们的知识不会退步，但是传统的暑期班效果差强人意。
For kids it feels like punishment, and for teachers it feels like babysitting.
它让孩子们感到备受煎熬，对老师们来说，感觉像当临时保姆。
But how can we expect principals to execute an effective summer program
但是我们如何期待校长能执行一个有效的暑期计划，
when the school year ends the last week of June and then summer school starts just one week later?
如果学年在6月最后一周结束，暑期课程却马上在一周后开始？
There just isn't enough time to find the right people, sort out the logistics,
并没有足够的时间找到合适的人，安排后勤，
and design an engaging curriculum that excites kids and teachers.
并设计一个能同时动员孩子和老师的有吸引力的课程。
But what if we created a program over the summer that empowered teachers as teaching coaches to develop aspiring educators?
但是如果我们在夏天创建一个方案，赋予老师们教学督导的权利，去培养有抱负的教育者，那会怎样？
What if we empowered college-educated role models as teaching fellows to help kids realize their college ambitions?
如果我们赋予大学教育模范当教员的权利，去帮助孩子们实现他们的大学志向，那会怎样？
What if empowered high-achieving kids as mentors to tutor their younger peers and inspire them to invest in their education?
如果成就高的孩子被赋予导师的权利去辅导年轻的同辈人，并激励他们投资自身的教育，会怎样？
What if we empowered all kids as scholars, asked them what colleges they were going to,
如果我们赋予所有孩子学者般的权利，询问他们想去哪一所大学，
designed a summer school they want to attend to completely eliminate the summer learning loss and close two-thirds of the achievement gap?
设计一个他们想要参与的暑期学校，彻底消除暑期在知识上的损失和近三分之二的成就差距，又会怎样？
By this summer, my team will have served over 4,000 low-income children, trained over 300 aspiring teachers
截止到这个夏天，我的团队已经服务了4000多位低收入家庭的儿童，培训了300多位有志向的教师，
and created more than 1,000 seasonal jobs across some of New York City's most disadvantaged neighborhoods.
并在纽约城一些最弱势的社区中创建了1000多个季节性岗位。
And our kids are succeeding. Two years of independent evaluations tell us that our kids eliminate the summer learning loss
我们的孩子们正迈向成功。两年的独立评估告诉我们，我们的孩子们消除了暑期中的知识损失，
and make growth of one month in math and two months in reading.
并在数学方面有一个月知识的长进，而在阅读方面有两个月的成果。
So instead of returning to school in the fall three months behind,
所以，对比秋季返校后三个月的进度损失，
they now go back four months ahead in math and five months ahead in reading.
他们的数学有了超过四个月的提升，在阅读上有了五个月的进步。
Ten years ago, if you would have told me that I'd graduate in the top 10 percent of my class from an Ivy League institution
十年前，如果你告诉我我会以全班前10%的成绩从一所常青藤高校毕业，
and have an opportunity to make a dent on our public education system just by tackling two months of the calendar year,
并有机会在我们的公共教育制度上取得初步进展，一切仅通过抓住一年中的两个月，
I would have said, "Nah. No way."
我可能会说，“算了，不可能。”
What's even more exciting is that if we can prevent five months of lost time just by redesigning two months,
更令人激动的是，如果我们能终止五个月的时间损失，仅仅通过把握那两个月的时间，
imagine the possibilities that we can unlock by tackling the rest of the calendar year. Thank you.
想象一些我们能开启的可能性，仅通过抓住每年的空余时间。谢谢。