历年考研英语外刊常考热点：市场化机制

　　在考研英语中，阅读是分值以及难度系数的考题，考生也要拥有大量的词汇，同时还要拥有丰富的阅读经验，尤其是外刊杂志，因为很多考研文章都来自于国外的报刊杂志，所以为了帮助大家复习，好轻松考研小编给大家整理了历年考研英语外刊常考热点：市场化机制，一起来看看吧。

　　原文标题：

　　Lecturers aren’ t to blame for university grade inflation—the government is

　　脉络:

　　引入事件“英国教育大臣将一等学位数量骤增/分数膨胀归咎于大学的不公平行为”（段）——探讨问题，阐述观点“政府推行的大学市场机制直接导致了分数膨胀以及学术标准降低”（第二至五段）——总结观点“市场化与提高学术标准并非相辅相成，而是相互矛盾”（第六段）。

　　Part 1 原文

　　I     Yet again, universities have been blamed for grade inflation. Responding to findings by the universities regulator, the Office for Students, that there has been an “unexplained” 80% rise in first class degrees, the education secretary, Damian Hinds attributed this problem to “unfair practices” by universities.

　　II     This displaces the blame. Grade inflation is a product of the government’ s university marketisation agenda. Governments dating back to New Labour have placed an increasing emphasis on delivering “value for money” to students. Linked to the political decision to introduce (in 1998) and then triple (in 2010) tuition fees, young people have been encouraged to view their education as a financial investment that should deliver a return—ideally in the form of enhanced labour market prospects. These trends form part of a wider ideology which understands education as a private good and reimagines students as consumers and academics as service providers.

　　III    At the same time, politicians such as Hinds have bemoaned the lowering of standards in universities in recent years. Market mechanisms—such as quantified performance indicators and league tables—are often framed as the solution to this problem which will drive up standards by injecting competition, choice and market discipline into the sector.

　　IV    This confuses the disease for the cure. Marketisation has directly incentivised grade inflation and a lowering of academic standards. Undergraduate teaching is now driven by performance measurement that emphasises student (now consumer) satisfaction and employment outcomes as the mark of quality. It is this that encourages grade inflation: students who obtain high grades are employable and satisfied. These metrics promote a culture of spoon feeding and generous marking practices among university lecturers.

　　V     A first-class degree is increasingly viewed as a product that debt-burdened students understandably feel entitled to in return for eye-watering tuition fees. They want to be told exactly how to obtain one and expect to receive it if they follow prescribed guidelines. It has lost its status as the mark of outstanding intellectual originality and talent. Most academics are immensely frustrated by these trends. They often wish to mark more rigorously to encourage independent thinking and intellectual risk-taking from their students. However, this would fly in the face of the professional incentive structure constructed by governments under the ideology of consumer choice.

　　VI     Mainstream political discourse on higher education continues to see these two objectives—marketisation and the raising of standards—as complementary, when in fact they are contradictory. The introduction of market mechanisms into institutions that had been governed by public service was supposed to eliminate waste and drive up standards. Instead, universities have been forced to lower their standards to compete and to waste time on the bureaucratic procedures necessary to make them artificially function as a market. Perhaps Hinds should reflect upon these contradictions before placing the blame for grade inflation on academics.

　　Part 2 长难句点拨

　　I     Yet again, universities have been blamed for grade inflation. Responding to findings by the universities regulator, the Office for Students, that there has been an “unexplained” 80% rise in first class degrees, the education secretary, Damian Hinds attributed this problem to “unfair practices” by universities.

　　[翻译] 又一次，大学因分数膨胀而受到指责。在回应大学监管机构学生事务办公室的调查发现“一等学位的数量‘莫名其妙’增加了80%”时，教育大臣达米安·海因兹将这一问题归因于大学的“不公平操作”。

　　[点评] 引入事件并简述政府观点：教育大臣将分数膨胀归咎于高校。

　　主要逻辑衔接：两句以universities...blamed for.../attributed...to...universities构成“大学受指责”的意群，grade inflation/80% rise in first class degrees明确受指责的原因及全篇主题。Yet again暗示政府对该问题的认识存在根本错误，为下文批判做铺垫。

　　核心关键词：①grade inflation；②“unfair practices” by universities

　　今天好轻松考研小编整理的历年考研英语外刊常考热点：市场化机制就到这里了，希望大家能在题目与答案中找到解题思路。