BBC：英国家长为孩子升学操心，与中国家长不乏共同语言
Each year on 1 March, pupils across England find out which secondary schools are offering them places for the following September.
每年3月1日，是英格兰地区的政府张榜公布中学录取名单的日子。
Ahead of this year's "national offer day", the Good Schools Guide has warned that about 100,000 of almost 600,000 pupils involved will not be offered a place at their first choice of school.
在“全国发榜日”前，《好学校指南》就曾提醒称，60万小升初的学生中大约10万很可能进不了第一志愿的学校。
那么为何英国儿童也遭遇“上学难”的问题呢？
1. There are more secondary school-age children
适龄儿童人数增加
A baby boom in the 2000s created a "population bulge". Primary schools have been feeling the effects of this for years. Now, secondary applications are beginning to rise as children born during this population boom move up through the school system.
“00后婴儿潮”（2000年以后出生的孩子）从2011年开始逐年进入小升初的管道。这个群体体积庞大，人数近60万。前几年是全国各地的公立小学首当其冲，现在轮到了中学。
2. The demand for school places has increased.
学校对录取学生的要求变高
Parents and guardians can list up to six schools in order of preference, depending on the area in which they live. Some will be allowed fewer choices.
家长和监护人可以根据自己居住的地区在申请表上列出六所学校，而另外一些学生的选择则非常有限。
The increase in demand for school places has meant fewer pupils across England are being offered their first or any of their top choice schools - last year the proportion (83.5%) was the lowest since 2010.
学校对录取学生的要求变高，这意味着在英格兰地区越来越少的学生能进入自己理想的学校，去年这一比例为83.5%，这是自2010年以来的最低点。
And more are being offered a school that they didn't choose at all.
还有很多学生被他们没有报名的学校录取。
3. Local authorities lost the power to plan and build new maintained schools
当地政府无权新建公立学校
Since the Education Act 2011 came into force, local authorities lost the power to plan and build new maintained schools, because the government said any new school had to be a free school.
自从2011新的教育法案实施以来，当地政府就没有权力新建公立学校，因为国家规定任何新建的学校都必须让学生免费入学。
This relies on private individuals or organizations to apply to set up a school.
于是当地政府就只能依靠个人或者组织的捐款来新建学校。
Partly because of this, new free schools are not always opened in the areas they are most needed.
由于这个原因，新建的免费学校不总是建在最需要的地区。
Previously, local authorities had both the statutory obligation to provide enough school places for their population and the power to build new schools to meet demand.
以前，当地政府有法定义务为当地居民提供充足的学位，也有权力新建学校以满足需求。
Now, they still have a duty to provide enough places, but they can only encourage, not make, academies add new classes.
如今，当地政府有义务提供充足的学位，但是他们只能鼓励而不是强制学校增加更多的班级。
与中国和其他地方的虎爸虎妈一样，英国绝大部分父母认为孩子上好学校对于他们未来的人生至关重要。
英国教育慈善机构“教育优先”（Teach First）的一项调查显示，英格兰最好的公立中学里将近一半的学生来自最富的20%家庭，但93%被访家长都表示孩子在好学校受教育对他们未来的人生至关重要，这些家庭来自不同的社会阶层。这些家长里有75%表示，如果孩子小升初没能被第一志愿的学校录取，他们会向英国政府提出申诉。
报道称，通常如果选择让孩子考文法学校，家长提前至少一两年就会做准备，主要有三条路可走：学区房、补习班或家教、三年级以后从公立小学转入私立小学备考，这三项都离不开钱。英国教育部2017年一项研究显示，在伦敦排名前10%的小学附近的学区房房价会比均价高出将近4万英镑。慈善机构萨顿信托2017年的统计数据显示学区房价格比非学区内同样房产价格贵20%，实际上把低收入家庭挤出了好学校。
来源：英国广播公司网站（BBC），参考消息网站
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