If You are Going to Educate Anyone, Let It be the Girls
如果好为人师，那就教育女生吧！
A response to an article arguing that only boys should be educated in certain parts of the world, and by the force of sheer logic, elsewhere.
回应关于世界某些区域认为只有男孩应受教育之争论文章，这在其他地方完全是强盗逻辑！
This was an interesting and thought provoking article, and I was originally going to make a comment, but found it growing large so I thought I would post this up myself with a link to the original. Please go and read it before you read this, if you can.
这是一篇发人深省的趣味文章，我原本打算作些评论，但发现越扯越远，所以我应把自己和原文接个链接，阅读此文前请尽可能先看链接原文。
Here is my response:
以下是我的回应内容：
Interesting. Forgetting the old maxim for one minute "educate a man, you educate an individual, educate a woman, educate an entire family" (or indeed a nation), I have one or two things to say..
有趣。好像记得有则格言怎么说的，“教育一个男人只是个体的人，教育一女子则教育整个家族” （或甚至整个民族） ，因此，我想说一两点..
It has been proven, time and time again in nations that are developing (or recovering) that educating women is of primary importance. Literacy within the home, for example, is rarely passed down via the male... and in order to ensure a generational passing on of this most vital of basic educational needs, then teach the mother how to read and write.
各国的发展（或复兴）一次又一次地证明，教育女性头等重要。举例来说，家族文化很少是由男性传承下来的...，而且，为了确保一代一代地传承这种头等大事的基本教育需求，母亲都要接受如何阅读和书写的教育。
However, firstly, why not educate both genders at the same time? It's a very simple idea - give both genders an equal playing field. Basic education is not expensive but the value and worth of it in future life is. Priceless.
首先第一点，为什么男女两性不同时教育呢？这是非常简单的理念----让男女的生存环境平等公平。基础教育不昂贵，但它对未来生活具有价值和意义。无价之宝。
Then, you forget about that great divider - class. Are you saying that every boy should be educated in the country before any of the girls? That won't happen and you know it. As you no doubt know, class is of high importance in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Are you saying that those in power should ignore their daughters' educational needs? I very much doubt it. Indeed, in Pakistan, a woman could have risen to power very recently, had it not been for her assassination. Whatever the people in charge say for *you* to do, they will continue to educate their daughters. Ask yourself why.
其次，您忘记了放大除法——素质。你说每个男孩都应比女孩先获得教育吗？您知道这不符合现实。您无疑懂得，素质在阿富汗和巴基斯坦的重要性。您说当政者应忽视各家女儿的教育需要吗？我十分怀疑。事实上，巴基斯坦的女性已经非常自强，不受性别歧视的话更是如此。无论是哪位领导人指使*您*的言行，他们将不会放弃对自己女儿的教育。扪心自问其原因吧！
Next, you seem to want to change the male-centered education of your country (and, incidentally, I have educated many, many Afghans and Pakistanis both male and female and so feel qualified to write and talk about this). The only way to do that is to have equality. It is a transparent inequality which must be addressed, pursued and gained - and soon. Without it, Afghanistan will sink even lower than the point it is now - a point which, I do not have to remind you, has been reached purely and solely by men.
还有，您似乎想改变贵国以男性为中心的教育（顺便提一句，我的教育涉及许多阿富汗和巴基斯坦男女，所以觉得有资格将其写下来并谈谈看法） 。平等是唯一途径。不平等问题显而易见，必须加以解决，而且必须抓紧。没有平等，阿富汗将比现状更糟，这一点男性们已经完全彻底达成共识，也不需要我提醒您吧！
I know that many, many girls have been killed in Afghanistan simply for going to school and that many teachers, too, have been killed for teaching them. I speak from safety, of course, but is that not the more reason to continue to teach them? Easy, I know, for me to say.
我知道阿富汗有太多太多女孩被杀害，只因她们上学，也有许多教师因为给女生上课也被杀害。从安全的角度来说，当然主张放弃教育她们的理由足够了，这对我来说，我知道再容易不过了！
However, if teaching only boys is done, if you wish to keep the male-dominant education then by all means, just teach the men to read and write. Keep the women in ignorance any longer and Afghanistan (and almost by the domino effect, its neighbors) has no chance to rise above where it is today. The country will remain poor, and desperately, desperately isolated.
不过，如果真的实施教学只面对男孩，如果您想通过各种手段保持以男性为主导的教育，只教官兵阅读和书写，让女性继续无知，那么，阿富汗（几乎像多米诺骨牌效应一样其邻邦）就没有从自己家园崛起的机会，国家将继续贫穷，孤立绝望！
Let us not blame where Afghanistan is today on anyone in particular (just for a moment). What we need to concentrate on is how it must progress. However, Afghanistan can learn both from Europe and from other Islamic nations, such as Turkey, where the role of democracy in terms of being a realistic alternative to a complete theocracy (if you can call the anarchy that is the Taliban that) has resulted in a measured society that can both think and question and worship at the same time. Pivotal to this is the role of women. Without them there is no real progress.
且不要责怪令阿富汗处于今天境况的任何一位（只为这一刻） 。我们需要的是集中力量助其进步。不过，阿富汗可以学欧洲和其他伊斯兰国家（如土耳其），让民主作为可替代完整神圣的现实选择（如果您将神圣等同于塔利班的话），这对同时兼有思考和问题宗教共存的衡量社会已起作用。关键所在应是妇女的作用，没有她们则没有实质性进展。
The real age of European enlightenment started with universal suffrage - an effort (at the very least and still not perfected by any means - please do not think this is an "attack" on only Afghanistan.) to pursue equality between the genders. While the European model is certainly almost impossible to promote and reproduce in Afghanistan, we must keep in mind that Afghan women continue to leave the country in order to pursue their education (and some may say liberty) in large numbers. This is a figure that cannot be denied. So, too, in the Turkey of Ataturk where equality in education has resulted in a delightful, enlightened generation who stretch their arms out both east and west: sometimes to the suspicion of both.
真正的欧洲启蒙时代是从普选开始的（最低限度且任何方式都尚未完善——请大家不要以为这只是“攻击”阿富汗），其努力在于追求两性平等。虽然欧洲模式无疑几乎不可能在阿富汗推广和复制，但我们必须牢记，出国谋求教育（有人可能会说是谋求自由）的阿富汗妇女数量继续大幅度上升。这是一个不得不承认的数字。那么再看看同样是阿塔图尔克地区的土耳其，受平等教育所催生的乐观开明一代已展开双臂融合东西双方：有时双方即使互相怀疑。
I am a teacher and lecturer of many years' experience. I find it abhorrent that, should this model be followed, I would deny girls the basic human right of education and the ability to better themselves (what many men fear is that their women, with education, will outgrow them - and sure, such laziness is often rewarded thus). Any holy book can be misinterpreted as a textbook for treating women like dogs and men who do this are a shame on their culture and their religion.
我是一名教师，凭着讲学多年的经验，我觉得可恶的是遵循以下这种模式：我不认为女孩有受教育的基本人权就有能力充实自己（许多男人害怕的是他们的女人受教育后会自我发展而不再依赖他们，当然，懒惰也往往因此获得奖励。） 任何圣书都可以对如狗般活着的女人说成是教科书，而男人这么做是对他们的文化和宗教的一种耻辱。
Boys and girls learn well together. Boys often develop a boxed in logical train of thought that the presence of girls humanize and train: girls show the way in terms of societal belonging and how to fit it - hugely important and vital in a country that has been cut in to parts by civil strife - never mind interference from without).
男孩和女孩在一起学习很好。男孩往往要发展他们带着框框条条的逻辑思想训练，即女孩出现是人性化的训练：女孩要适应其社会属性来展示其言行，这对因内乱分裂的国家非常重要，无干扰的也无关紧要） 。
How will the wives of Afghanistan stand a chance if they cannot teach their children, boys and girls alike, to read? Education starts at home and it is primarily with the mother. If they cannot read or write, articulate opinion and encourage their children to do better than they themselves have done (a parental preoccupation anywhere in the world) then what hope is there for Afghanistan?
阿富汗人的妻子们如果不能部分男女地教导他们的子女阅读，那她们该如何表明其立场呢？教育从各个家庭开始，主要由母亲进行。如果她们自己都不能读写，不能清晰阐明看法，不能鼓励其子女努力超过她们（世界各地家长的关注点），那么，阿富汗还有什么希望呢？
Without her education my mother would not have been fulfilled as a human being, could not have functioned fully or attained any sort of ambition in life. That, incidentally, involved raising two boys to be loving, caring, men who question (but certainly do not question equality between the sexes, that is simply taken for granted), argue and *listen* to what others say - and have brought up their own families likewise.
没有她自身的教育我的母亲便不会履行作为人的职责，无法在一生中去充分实现任何形式的抱负。顺便要提醒的是，在两名男童相互关怀互爱的环境中长大的男人质询这类问题（但当然不会问男女间的平等问题，因为已经简单地视为理所当然了）、争辩并*听*了别人的说法后，对自己家庭的养家糊口也定将如法炮制。
Without women we men are nothing. Without educating women, we are less.
没有女人，男人什么都不是，不教育妇女，我们所剩无几！
In peace and love.
为了和平与爱！
