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English

TOPICAL JOURNEY

36

March 2013

MARK TWAIN ON EDUCATION

Did you know that Mark Twain, the genius writer who is now recognized as the “father of American literature,” was not educated beyond elementary school? Mark Twain education quotes express his cynicism towards the mediocre education system. He believes that “schooling” is different from “education.” He warns us of the hazards of following the education system with blind faith.

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.

Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.

We have not the reverent feeling for the rainbow that a savage has, because we know how it is made. We have lost as much as we gained by prying into that matter.

God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board.

The man who does not read books has no advantage over the man that can not read them.

Just the omission of Jane Austen’s books alone would make a fairly good library out of a library that hadn’t a book in it.

There is nothing training cannot do. Nothing is above its reach. It can turn bad morals to good; it can destroy bad principles and recreate good ones; it can lift men to “angelship.”

I never let my schooling interfere with my education.

The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice.

Education consists mainly in what we have unlearned.

Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run.

Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It’s like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won’t fatten the dog.

The chief reason for going to school is to get the impression fixed for life that there is a book side for everything.

Robert Frost

School in Books

The school story as a fiction genre does not have a long history. The first boarding school story was published in 1749; it was The Governess, or The Little Female Academy by Sarah Fielding, the younger sister of the novelist Henry Fielding. The Governess is didactic and teaches young women to spot moral dangers that British social life presents. Each of the nine girls in the novel relates her story individually but all of them live together, and a sense of community and collective responsibility are encouraged.

School stories in general became popular not at once. Children’s problems did not promise must profit with the reading public and the novel as a genre was considered immoral.

Nicholas Nickleby (1837-38) by Charles Dickens contained the depiction of a brutal schoolmaster, and these pages became as moving and influential as those of the workhouse and criminal underclass in Oliver Twist.

Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Bronte, Dombey and Son (1848), David Copperfield

(1850) by Charles Dickens had school story elements and caused considerable public interest. The most famous story appeared in 1857, and it was Tom Brown’s Schooldays by Thomas Hughes. The novel firmly established the genre and thousands of novels followed.

The genre became most popular in the first half of the twentieth century. It was commonly set in boarding schools. As schools were segregated by gender until the 1950s, school stories naturally formed two separate but related genres of girls school stories and boys school stories. In both cases the school story focused largely on friendship, honor and loyalty between pupils. Sports event, bullying, romance and bravery were often used in plots.

In 1870 the Education Act introduced universal education for children, which led to public interest in the genre. The majority of girls’ school stories in the final decade of the nineteenth century focused on upper class pupils at boarding schools who learned to earn trust by making mistakes; they had little focus on sports and were primarily interested in friendships and loyalty. According to the Victorian values, they prepared girls to be proper wives and mothers.

Later girls school stories featured energetic characters who challenged authority and played pranks.

Kipling studied at school that prepared boys for the British Army. It proved rough going for him at first, but later led to firm friendships, and provided the setting for his schoolboy stories Stalky&Co (1899). His work has a lot of features of the genre but can hardly be described as ‘typical’.

After WWII, in the new type of a state run coeducational school boys and girls learned together alongside with immigrants, and themes involved more modern problems such as racial prejudice, family difficulties, sexuality and drugs.

The traditional school story has been revived with the success of J.K. Rowlings’ Harry Potter series, which uses many recognizable plot motifs combined with fantasy conventions. The strongest element of the school story is the action being described exclusively from the point of view of pupils.

Among American classics there are What Katy Did at School(1873) by Susan Coolidge, Little Men(1871) by Louisa May Alcott and Little Town on the Prairie (1941) by Laura Ingalls Wilder. However, the main school story theme of the school as a sort of character in itself, actively formed by the pupils and their enjoyment of being there, is a fundamentally British phenomenon.

Commercially-successful writers for boys are P.G.Wodehouse, Anthony Buckeridge with his Jennings series, and Charles Hamilton, better known as Frank Richards, who wrote the Greyfriars School series.

By Olga Sventsitskaya

It is in fact a part of the function of education to help us escape, not from our own time – for we are bound by that – but from the intellectual and emotional limitations of our time.

T.S. Eliot

Sources: quotations.about.com

You can’t learn in school what the world is going to do next year.

Henry Ford

& Movies

DEAD POETS SOCIETY

Robin Williams toned down his usually manic comic approach in this successful period drama. In 1959, the Welton Academy is a staid but well-respected prep school where education is a pragmatic and rather dull affair. Several of the students, however, have their thoughts on the learning process (and life itself) changed when a new teacher comes to the school. John Keating is an unconventional educator who tears chapters of his textbooks and asks his students to stand on their desks to see the world from a new angle. Keating introduces his students to poetry, and his free-thinking attitude and the liberating philosophies of the authors he introduces

to his class have a profound effect on his students, especially Todd, who would like to be a writer; Neil, who dreams of being an actor, despite the objections of his father; Knox, a hopeless romantic; Steven, an intellectual who learns to use his heart as well as his head; Charlie, who begins to lose his blasé attitude; unconventional Gerard; and practical Richard. Keating urges his students to seize the day and live their lives boldly; but when this philosophy leads to an unexpected tragedy, headmaster Mr. Nolan fires Keating, and his students leap to his defense. Dead Poets Society was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for R.Williams; it won one, for Tom Schulman’s original screenplay.

MONA LISA SMILE

Set in 1953, Mona Lisa Smile tells the story of Katherine Watson, a new young art history professor at Wellesley College, an all-female campus with a prestigious reputation for academic excellence. Unfortunately for free-mind- ed Berkeley grad Watson, her East Coast teaching stint comes during a less-progressive time that finds most of her students – among them Betty Warren, Joan Brandwyn, and Giselle Levy – more interested in nabbing a good husband than achieving scholastic and intellectual growth. Watson challenges her students and the Wellesley faculty to think

outside of the current mores of the community and redefine what it means to be a success; meanwhile, she tries to come to terms with her own heart’s desires.

PAY IT FORWARDS

A young boy stumbles upon a simple way to change the world in this drama. Trevor is a bright 11-year-old boy who comes from a troubled home; his mother Arlene is an alcoholic trying to hold down two jobs to support her son, while Trevor’s father left his family behind some time ago. At school, Trevor’s class is introduced to their new social studies teacher, Mr. Simonet, a guarded man with severe facial scars. Simonet gives his class an unusual assignment – think up a practical way to make the world a better place, and put it into action. Trevor comes up with the notion of “Pay It Forward” – do a needed favor for

three different people without being asked, and then ask them to do the same for three others. Trevor starts by letting Jerry, a junkie living on the streets, stay in his home. Next, he tries to fix Arlene up with Mr. Simonet, since both seem to be lonely and the clean and sober teacher might help Arlene stay away from alcohol. Finally, he tries to rescue one of his schoolmates, who is constantly tormented by bullies. Meanwhile, journalist Chris Chandler finds himself stuck on the road without a car late one night when a man stops and gives him the keys to a new car, asking him only to pay the favor forward to someone else; astonished, Chris wants to find out where this philosophy came from.

Mark Deming, Rovi

http://www.rottentomatoes.com

TOPICAL JOURNEY

 

English

 

 

37

 

 

March 2013

TOEFL WRITING TOPICS

1.People attend school for many different reasons (for example, expanded knowledge, societal awareness, and enhanced interpersonal relationships). Why do you think people decide to go to school? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

2.It has recently been announced that a new high school may be built in your community. Do you support or oppose this plan? Why? Use specific reasons and details in your answer.

3.Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Classmates are a more important influence than parents on a child’s success in school. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

4.Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Children should begin learning a foreign language as soon as they start school. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.

5.Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Boys and girls should attend separate schools. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

6.Schools should ask students to evaluate their teachers. Do you agree or disagree? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

7.Some people think that children should begin their formal education at a very early age and should spend most of their time on school studies. Others believe that young children should spend most of their time playing. Compare these two views. Which view do you agree with? Why?

8.Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? All students should be required to study art and music in secondary school. Use specific reasons to support your answer.

9.Some people say that physical exercise should be a required part of every school day. Other people believe that students should spend the whole school day on academic studies. Which opinion do you agree with? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.

10.Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? High schools should allow students to study the courses that students want to study. Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

11.If you could make one important change in a school that you attended, what change would you make? Use reasons and specific examples to support your answer.

12.In the future, students may have the choice of studying at home by using technology such as computers or television or of studying at traditional schools. Which would you prefer? Use reasons and specific details to explain your choice.

13.Many students choose to attend schools or universities outside their home countries. Why do some students study abroad? Use specific reasons and details to explain your answer.

14.Your school has enough money to purchase either computers for students or books for the library. Which should your school choose to buy

– computers or books? Use specific reasons and examples to support your recommendation.

15.Your school has received a gift of money.

What do you think is the best way for your school to spend this money? Use specific reasons and details to support your choice.

English

38

March 2013

 

The one real object of education is to have a man in the

TOPICAL JOURNEY

 

condition of continually asking questions.

 

Bishop Mandell Creighton

Are Schools Unfair to Girls?

SHOULD PRIVATE SCHOOLS BE ABOLISHED?

YES

It is wrong in any society for the best education to be available only to those who can afford it. If everybody in a society is welleducated, they will all have the opportunity to flourish, and they will help their society to

flourish as well. A good educational system benefits everybody in society, so society should pay for it.

Schools which charge high attendance fees afford the best teachers, because they pay the highest salaries. They can also afford the best equipment and resources for their pupils.

State schools, which charge no attendance fee, cannot compete because they have less money. So the majority of pupils, who go to state schools, have a worse education than the minority who can pay. This is unjust in any society.

The organised, protected world of private schools, with their after-school clubs and societies, is very different from reality. Children who go to private schools are often very naïve about the real world, and cut off from the communities in which they live. If they join in activities organised by their local communities they will receive a broader education, and become better human beings as well.

NO

Freedom of choice is an essential part of any decent society. We don’t all have to own the same brand of stereo or the same kind of car, and we don’t all have to live in the same type of accommodation. In the same way, we should not all be forced to receive exactly the same kind of education. People who can afford to send their children to expensive schools should be free to do so.

A good education costs a lot of money, and we cannot rely on governments to provide it.

Private schools generally achieve far better exam results than state schools and this is because they have to compete for our money. State schools do not have to compete for government funding, so they do not focus so much on pupil achievement. If you abolish private schools, you make the education system worse, not better.

Private schools can usually afford extensive extra-curricular activities which state schools cannot. Pupils who join after-school chess clubs, drama societies or sports teams receive a more well-rounded education. It would be unfair to deprive all children of these extra resources just because some parents cannot afford them.

Do you think girls would learn better in single sex schools? Why?/Why not?

If exams were the only important factor, girls and boys would certainly study at separate schools. In England, students from single-sex day schools achieve better results at A level while at mixed boarding schools the pass rate is considerably lower. Girls pass the exams better than boys. However, these facts have not had any effect on the current trend – the number of girls joining traditionally male schools has doubled in the past ten years, and more parents and pupils are accepting mixed schooling.

Boys don’t benefit from single-sex schools. The more boys there are, the more unruly and violent they are. Girls on their own, do better in the subjects they avoid in a mixed school, such as science and maths. But it seems that keeping boys happy is far more important than encouraging girls to do well in education. And the way that a lot of boys keep themselves happy is by turning sexual attention on their female pupils. ‘Walk past a gang of boys in the corridors or outside, and you can hear them making loud comments about you’.

It is the same in the classrooms. In drama lessons, boys act out their ideas, with the girls as spectators. When it comes to class discussion, boys commonly take up two-third of chat, even when they are fewer in the group. Another researcher found that in English groups, for every one girl who spoke up, there were four boys who did. For every girl who asked questions, there were two boys who did, and for every girl who was given praise or encouragement, three boys were patted on the back. You can’t even say this was because the boys deserved it – girls do slightly better in all exam subjects.

Teachers may play a larger role than nature in differentiating between the sexes. Studies show they tend to favor boys by calling on them more often and pushing them harder.

Vocabulary:

rate – оценка, балл trend – тенденция

benefit from – извлечь выгоду, пользу female – женский

favor – оказывать внимание, любезность

Compiled by Svetlana Myakisheva,

School No. 1862, Moscow

Source: efl-resource.com

Source: boltonschool.org

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