Люди с высшим образованием меньше подвержены депрессии

У людей с высшим образованием лучше состояние здоровья, с ними реже происходят несчастные случаи. Выпускники университетов гораздо реже испытывают депрессию. Эти данные были получены британскими учеными, проследившими за судьбой семнадцати тысяч человек, родившихся в первую неделю марта 1958 года. Исследование, проведенное по заказу английского совета по образованию, показало, что у мужчин, не закончивших образование, депрессия через десять лет отмечалась почти в три раза чаще, чем у выпускников университетов. Примерно в три раза чаще бросившие университет становились безработными. У женщин, в отличие от мужчин, прекращение учебы не вызывало выраженной депрессии. Выпускники университетов реже подвергались насилию, а у их детей реже возникали проблемы с учебой. Специалисты объясняют полученные данные тем, что неспособность завершить образование снижает самооценку. Образ жизни людей с высшим образованием предполагает меньший риск несчастных случаев и любых форм насилия. Положительную роль играют также интенсивное общение и дружба между студентами, возникающая во время учебы. В ранее проведенном исследовании было показано, что мужчины с высшим образованием зарабатывают в среднем на двенадцать процентов больше, чем их сверстники со средним образованием. У женщин этот разрыв достигает тридцати четырех процентов. Теперь впервые убедительно доказано, что высшее образование дает не только экономические преимущества, но и в значительной мере обеспечивает социальное благополучие.

Helpful vocabulary

Accident (несчастный случай), drop out (прекращать), in contrast to (в отличие), pronounced/marked (выраженный), intercourse (общение).

Text 2

Pre-reading task

The underlying principle of the American system of education is to educate people in such a way that everyone has the opportunity to develop his/her greatest potential. Most Russians enjoy studying in the United States. What awaits them back home?

Reading

Read the text quickly and answer the following questions.

1. How much does a higher education in the United State cost?

2. Who can afford to send their children to an American university?

3. Why are exchange programs nonexistent today?

Studying in America: Pros and Cons

Shortly after Mikhail Gorbachev opened the door on America, more than 5,000 Russian undergraduate, graduate and exchange students went to the United States. Nearly all of them got there through their connections, and only a few distinguished themselves academically.

A little later, when the era of so-called New Russians set in, a defining factor in going to a U.S. university was being flush with money – by Russian standards. Today a higher education in the United States can cost up to several hundred thousand dollars, but this does little to discourage Russia’s rich.

He Who Pays Goes to the U.S.

According to Princeton University experts, at present there are 3,000 “self-supporting” undergraduates and graduates from Russia, and about 1,000 students from other CIS countries in America.

The cost of tuition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the most prestigious and expensive training establishment in the United States today (with an estimated 30 Russian students), is almost $35.000 a year.

Adding in the cost of housing, food, transport, and textbook, the total can be double that amount. As the course lasts for four to five years, Russians studying here need to have a very sound financial base to be able to complete their studies.

Incidentally, the other so-called top ten universities are not far behind: John Hopkins, $33,000 a year; Yale, 33,000; Harvard, $32,000; Georgetown, Washington, $32,000, etc.

All of these universities have Russian students, and experts believe that they are the main target of local head-hunters.

The fact is that by paying so much money for a course of training, parents secure not simple a promising career but also financial future for their children. A well-paid job will fully recoup tuition costs within three to four years after graduation. Any company in any part of the world will welcome a Harvard alumnus.

Looking for a job.

At first, Russian undergraduates at U.S. universities feel unhappy about what they see as oversimplified curricula with some of the material already covered in high school in Russia.

But the balance is soon redressed, and they have an opportunity to advance academically without any limit, while those with a good head on their shoulders can get a highly paid job.

The main attraction to a student from Russia is the prospect of a good job abroad. No Russia company can pay a recent university graduate $60,000 to $65,000 a year while in the United States and Europe this is standard practice. Still, the majority of Russians graduating from even the most prestigious of American universities do not stay in the United State but go home.

What is the outlook for them in Russia? Survey show that they mainly go to work for their parents’ companies or foreign companies operating in Russia.

This, however, does not apply to alumni of the top American universities. At the same time Russians whose parents are not very rich enroll in American universities that do not guarantee a job even to U.S. citizens.

Say, tuition at Maryland State University, a half hour’s drive from the U.S. capital, is a mere $13,000 a year. There are approximately 20 Russians at the university – mainly children of Russian World Bank employees, as well as of provincial businessmen from Lipetsk, Saratov, Kaliningrad, and even Nakhodka.

Incidentally, these students are not particularly concerned by the fact that they will have little chance of getting a decent, well-paid job with a degree from Maryland University. All of them are going to return home to get, under their parents’ protection, a cushy job in the sphere of international relations or business.

Exchange Programs Unproductive.

Student exchange programs – a widespread practice in the late Gorbachev era and early in the Yeltsin era – are virtually nonexistent today. Russia’s higher schools have no money for that, to say nothing about students themselves.

Moreover, there are very few of those wishing to do just one or two terms. Those who do come have difficulty getting a foothold in the United States, especially in the sphere of social sciences.

True, there are various advance training programs funded by the U.S. government: the MacArthur, Hurbert Humphrey, Muskie, Eleanor Roosevelt, and other programs. Only individual Russian undergraduate/graduate students and teachers get on such programs. But these people, by their own admission simply hope to make some money, not pursue any useful academic program.

It is certainly prestigious, and potentially beneficial, to get a degree in the United States. Especially if one plans to live and work abroad (preferably in North America, since there is some allergy to a U.S. diploma in Europe). But in Russia, someone with a degree from an American university is unlikely to automatically land a high-level job at Gasprom or LUKoil. Still, is not impossible, especially if their tuition in the States was paid for by people near the top in these companies.

Task 1

Read the text again and answer the following question about the details.

1. Who could go to a U.S. university in the Gorbachev era? Who can go there in the era of new Russians?

2. What are the most prestigious American universities?

3. What is the main attraction to a student from Russian? Why?

4. Why do the majority of Russian graduates not stay in the USA?

5. Do Russians study only in the top universities?

6. Do American universities guarantee a job to their graduates?

7. Who study at Maryland State University? Does the future trouble them?

8. What education program was very popular in the late Gorbachev – early Yeltsin era?

9. What other educational opportunities are there?

10. Who take this kind of advance courses? Why?

Task 2

1. Find words (phrases) in the text for the following definitions.

1. having plenty of money

2. guarantee a good job

3. get back expenses

4. study the material

5. make things equal again

6. future probabilities

7. make officially a member of a school

8. gain a stable position

9. continue with a program

10. pick up prestigious work

11. ex-students, former graduates

2. Use these words and phrases in your own sentences.

Task 3

Explain or express in another way.

1. At present there are 3,000 “self-supporting” undergraduates from Russia.

2. Russian students are the main target of local head-hunters.

3. At first, Russian undergraduates at U.S. universities feel unhappy about what they see as oversimplified curricula.

4. It is certainly prestigious and potentially beneficial to get a degree in the United States.

5. By paying so much money for a course of training, parents secure not simply a promising career but also financial future for their children.

Task 4

Render the following text into English

.