Unit 8 Aspects of Education (Ⅱ)
Part Ⅰ Getting ready
A The following words and phrases will appear in this unit. Listen carefully and study the definitions.
1. well-rounded: complete; well-planned for proper balance
2. compulsory: required; obligatory; that must be done
3. specialize: concentrate on only one part or branch of a subject, profession, etc.
4. abstruse: deep; hard to understand
5. be cut out for: be fitted for; be suited for
6. burn one's bridges: destroy all means of going back, so that one must go forward
7. underestimate: set too low an estimate on or for
8. segregation: separation; isolation; the policy or practice of compelling racial groups or people of different sexes to live apart from each other, or go to separate schools
9. dispel: scatter or drive away; cause to disappear
10. curricular: of all the courses offered in a school, college, etc.
B Tom and Ann are discussing the advantages and disadvantages of a private school. Listen to the conversation carefully and then read the following statements. If it is an opinion that both Tom and Ann agree on, use a "T" for it. If it is not, then use a "O" for it.
Tom: What kind of school did you go to, Ann?
Ann: Well, I went to a public primary school and then to
a private high school.
Tom: So which do you think is better?
Ann: Actually, I prefer private schools because of the smaller classes and ... usually you have a wider choice of subjects.
Tom: Yeah, I suppose that's true.
Ann: And then there are usually better sports facilities. For example, the school I went to had a swimming pool and a huge gym.
Tom: Yeah ... well, the public high school I went to had great sports facilities. Besides, private schools are really expensive.
Ann: Yeah, but I think they're worth it.
Tom: I don't know. I think you have to judge every school individually, whether it's public or private.
Ann: That may be true ... but children generally get a better, more ... well-rounded education in a private school.
Tom: Maybe, but I'm not totally convinced. By the way, Ann, were you on the debating team in high school, by any chance?
Ann: I sure was! I was the captain!
Part Ⅱ Home schooling
A In this section you are going to hear a passage about home schooling. While listening for the first time, add more key words in the left-hand column. After the second listening, answer the following questions.
Although education is compulsory in the United States, it is not compulsory for all children to get their education at school. A number of parents believe that they can provide a better education for their children at home. Children who are educated at home are known as "home-schoolers." There are about 300 000 home-schoolers in the United States today. Interestingly, results show that home-schooled children tend to do better than average on national tests in reading and math.
David Guterson is an American writer. He and his wife teach their three children themselves. Guterson says that his children learn very differently from children in a regular school. Learning starts with the children's interests and questions. For example, when there is heavy snowfall on a winter day, it may start a discussion or reading about climate, snow removal equipment, Alaska, polar bears, and winter tourism. Or a spring evening, when the family is watching the stars, is a good time for setting up a telescope and asking questions about satellites, comets, meteors, and the space program. At dinner, if the Brazilian rain forests are on the news, it could be a perfect time to get out the atlas and encyclopedia. Then there might be two hours or more of eating, asking questions, looking up answers, discovering how rain forests influence the climate, what the "greenhouse effect" is, how deserts are formed and how the polar ice caps affect ocean levels.
Although home schooling offers an experience that is often more interesting than regular schools, critics point out that home-schoolers miss out on many important things. The home-schooler is an outsider who, because he or she never attended school, might be uncomfortable mixing with other people in adult life. Critics also say that most parents are not well qualified to teach their children and may pass on their own narrow views to their children. However, most parents don't have the time or desire to teach their children at home, so schools will continue to be where most children get their formal education.
B Now try this: listen to a more authentic version of the passage. While listening, pay special attention to how and what David Guterson and his wife try to teach their children on different occasions. Then complete the following chart with what you hear on the tape.
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Part Ⅲ UK or US education?
A John James, an American and Peter Davies, an Englishman are arguing about whether specializing early is good or not. Listen to the pros and cons of it carefully. While listening for the first time, write down the key words in the notes column. After the second listening, complete the following chart by filling in the missing information.
John James: I disagree, Peter. I don't think it really matters what your educational background is. Anyone who is bright enough is going to do well whatever their education.
Peter Davies: But John, ...
John James: In fact, I think some people carry on with their education when they would do a lot better to get out and start building their own careers by learning things in real life.
Peter Davies: Yes, but the whole point is, life is getting so much more complicated these days that unless you carry on with your studies you just can't cope.
John James: For certain things, and certain people, OK, but to my mind, the big problem in education is that you specialize too quickly. I mean, in England, you start specializing from the third year in secondary school, when you're about 14. And it gets steadily narrower until you do your "A" levels in only two or three subjects. You either do languages, or natural sciences, or social sciences.
Peter Davies: But surely these days you have to, John — you can't possibly study everything because there's just too much.
John James： Yes, but how many kids at the age of sixteen really know what they want to do? How many of them are convinced that the three subjects they've chosen, or have been recommended, are the ones that will let them follow the careers they eventually decide on?
Peter Davies: Oh, I think most young people who stay on at school have a fair idea of what they want to do.
John James： I'm not so sure, Peter. And after all, that's not the end of it. When they get to university in England, the subjects they study are so narrow that they are only good for one thing, so they are stuck with it.
Peter Davies: But I don't really see that there is any alternative if people are going to learn enough to be competent in their subject. They've got to specialize early, and I suppose those that realize they've made a mistake can always swap to something else.
John James： Ah, but that's just it. You can't. Suppose you study languages at university and then decide that you are not cut out for it and would like to be a doctor. You've burnt your bridges. You can't just change horses in midstream; you've got to go right back to the beginning and you lose years. I think the American system is much better.
B In this section, John James and Peter Davies go on to argue about whether one should study a wide range of subjects. Listen to the pros and cons of it carefully. While listening for the first time, write down the key words in the notes column. After the second listening, complete the following chart by filling in the missing information.
John James: ... I think the American system is much better.
Peter Davies: In what way?
John James: Well, for your first degree you've got to study a fairly wide range of subjects, and you can choose them yourself, within certain limits.
Peter Davies: Fine, but doesn't that mean that American students with a first degree don't have the depth of knowledge they should have?
John James: Should have for what?
Peter Davies: Well, they often aren't accepted for postgraduate work in England with just a first degree.
John James: Maybe not, but I don't really think that's important. They come out with a pretty good general knowledge in a wide area. After all, when you think about a lot of the stuff English students have to study, what good is it to them afterwards? I'm sure the majority of British students never use 90 percent of what they studied at university.
Peter Davies: That may be true of some arts subjects, but what about the sciences?
John James: Even there, a lot what they do at university is so academic and abstruse that they will never be able to put it to any practical use. I'm sure they would benefit far more from on-the-job experience. And if they've had a broader course of study they've got two advantages.
Peter Davies: How do you mean?
John James: First of all, they will have a better understanding of the world in general, so they will be more flexible in their jobs, and then if things do go wrong they will be able to switch jobs easily.
Peter Davies: That all sounds very simple, but I think you're still underestimating the amount of pure learning that you need these days, particularly in technical and scientific areas. I mean even at school these days, children have to learn far more things than we did when we were at school.
John James: All the more reason we should not try to concentrate on such a few things at such an early age. Things are changing so rapidly these days that we have to change with them. When we were younger, there was a pretty good chance that we would be able to carry on in the profession we'd chosen until we retired. But these days, people have got to be prepared to change their jobs and learn new skills as technology moves ahead. Take just the area of the office, for example. How many offices ...
Part Ⅳ More about the topic: Co-educational or Segregated Schools?
You are going to hear a passage about co-education and segregated education. While listening for the first time, take down some key words in the notes column. After the second listening, complete the following outline.
Imagine being asked to spend twelve or so years of your life in a society which consisted only of members of your own sex. How would you react? Unless there was something definitely wrong with you, you wouldn't be so happy about it, to say the least. It is all the more surprising therefore that so many parents in the world choose to impose such abnormal conditions on their children — conditions which they themselves wouldn't put up with for one minute!
Any discussion of this topic is bound to question the aims of education. Stuffing children's head full of knowledge is far from being foremost among them. One of the chief aims of education is to equip future citizens with all they require to take their place in adult society. Now adult society is made up of men and women, so how can a segregated school possibly offer the right sort of preparation for it? Anyone entering adult society after years of segregation can only be in for a shock.
A co-educational school offers children nothing less than a true version of society in miniature. Boys and girls are given the opportunity to get to know each other, to learn to live together from their earliest years. They are put in a position where they can compare themselves with each other in terms of academic ability, athletic achievement and many of the extra-curricular activities which are part of school life. What a practical advantage it is (to give just a small example) to be able to put on a school play in which the male parts will be taken by boys and the female parts by girls! When segregated, boys and girls are made to feel that they are a race apart. In a co-educational school, everything falls into its proper place.
But perhaps the greatest contribution of co-education is the healthy attitude to life it encourages. Boys don't grow up believing that women are mysterious creatures. Girls don't grow up imagining that men are romantic heroes. Years of living together dispel illusions of this kind. The awkward stage of adolescence brings into sharp focus some of the physical and emotional problems involved in growing up. These can better be overcome in a co-educational environment. When the time comes for the pupils to leave school, they are fully prepared to enter society as well-adjusted adults. They have already had years of experience in coping with many of the problems that face men and women.
Part Ⅴ Do you know ...?
The following passage is about the history of encyclopedias. While listening for the first time, write down some key words in the notes column. After the second listening, complete the following statements by filling in the missing information. Pay special attention to the numbers in the passage.
An encyclopedia is a collection of information about people, places and things. A general encyclopedia includes all areas of knowledge. Special encyclopedias discuss just one area, like art or medicine. The ancient great philosopher Aristotle was perhaps the first to try to bring all existing knowledge together in a series of books. Others in different times and places did the same. The Roman writer Pliny the Elder and the Chinese expert Tu Yu are two of them. The first work similar to modern encyclopedia books was published in 1704 in Britain. Its stories were listed in order of subject from A to Z. It was the first encyclopedia whose reports were written by different experts. The first encyclopedia to include life stories of living people was published in 1732. Two French writers published an encyclopedia in their country in 1751. It continued to be published until 1780. Some history experts say the ideas presented in this encyclopedia help start the movement that led to the French Revolution. The first modern encyclopedia was the Encyclopedia Britannica written in Scotland in 1768. That provided information about almost any subject and listed its reports in alphabetical order. Through the years, Britannica articles have been written by well-known experts like scientists Marie Curie and Albert Einstein. Today, similar encyclopedias are published by many different companies all over the world. All have been books until recently. The first electronic encyclopedia appeared in 1986. Many companies now produce computer encyclopedias while they continue to publish books. The electronic versions provide the same information as the books but also include sounds and moving pictures. The Britannica company says its new electronic encyclopedia has 72 000 reports, including 7 000 not found in its book form. It also has more than 8 000 pictures and more than 1 000 maps. These new electronic encyclopedias cost about 70 to 125 dollars. That is much less than you would pay for the books. However, you need a computer to be able to read the electronic versions. |