Н.Э. Шарабарина, Л.В. Кулик - English for Junior Students of the Humanities - Unit 3

1UNIT 3EDUCATIONPRE-TEXT EXERCISESEXERCISE 1 Practise reading the following words and collocations.a) crisis; science; either; indiscriminately; throughout; blithely; unfortunately; detour;ignorance; carefully; thoroughly; mankind; demeaning; weight; sufficient; rigorous;decay.b) increasingly widespread acceptance; intense physical training; mental exertion; acontinuous source; genuine challenge; a muddled economics paper; an incompetentlaboratory performance; misguided policies.c) faculty and administration; self-discipline and hard work; pleasure and delight; pain andfrustration; joy and ecstasy; to read intelligently and think precisely; to speak fluentlyand write clearly; cooperative and sensitive; well-founded and constructive.d) on the brink of chaos; to yield to pressure; a man of real integrity; to achieve withouteffort; thought equally foolish; baffled by intellectual subtleties; experienced withouttoil; evaluation of faculty; the success of a democracy; to ingratiate themselves withthe students.THE AIMS OF EDUCATIONAmerican higher education stands on the brink of chaos.

Never have so manyspent so long learning so little.The present crisis stems from the increasingly widespread acceptance amongfaculty and administrators of the fatal educational principle that a student shouldnot be required to do any academic work that displeases him. If a student prefersnot to study science or history or literature, he is allowed to attain his degreewithout studying any science, history, or literature.If he prefers not to take examinations, he either makes special arrangements with hisinstructor or else chooses his courses from among the ever-growing number thatinvolve no examinations.

If he prefers that his work not be graded, he arrangesin most or all of his courses to receive an undifferentiated pass or fail. If he isconcerned about obtaining high grades, he selects his teachers from among themany who have yielded to student pressure and now indiscriminately award As tovirtually everyone. As the dean of Yale's Morse College recently remarked of herstudents. "They get а В and they bawl. It takes a man or woman of real integrityto give a B.'Throughout the country the attempt is being made to provide students with what isadvertised as a 'liberal education' without requiring of them the necessary selfdiscipline and hard work.

Students have been led to believe they can achievewithout effort, that all they need do in order to obtain a good education is skipblithely down the merry road to learning. Unfortunately, that road is no morethan a detour to the dead end of ignorance.25We must realize that becoming an educated person is a difficult demandingenterprise. Just as anyone who spoke of intense physical training as a continuoussource of pleasure and delight would be thought a fool for we all know howmuch pain and frustration such training involves, so anyone who speaks ofintense mental exertion as a continuous source of joy and ecstasy ought to bethought equally foolish for such effort also involves pain and frustration. It ispainful to have one's ignorance exposed and frustrating to be baffled by intellectual subtleties.

Of course, there can be joy in learning as there can be joy in sport.But in both cases the joy is a result of overcoming genuine challenges and cannotbe experienced without toil.6It is not easy to read intelligently and think precisely. It is not easy to speakfluently and write clearly. It is not easy to study a subject carefully and know itthoroughly. But these abilities are the foundation of a sound education.7If a student is to learn intellectual responsibility, he must be taught to recognizethat not every piece of work is a good piece of work.

In fact, some work is justno good at all. A student may be friendly, cooperative and sensitive to the needof mankind, but. he may nevertheless turn in a muddled economics paper or anincompetent laboratory report.8And that he means well is no reason why he should not be criticized for aninadequate performance. Such criticism, when well-founded and constructive, is inno way demeaning, for the willingness to accept it and learn from it is one markof a mature individual.

Yet criticism of any sort is rare nowadays. As studentopinion is given greater and greater weight in the evaluation of faculty, professorsare busy trying to ingratiate themselves with the students.9Indeed, college education is gradually coming to resemble the Caucus-race in"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" in which everyone begins runningwhenever he likes and stops running whenever he likes. There are no rules. Stilleveryone wins, and everyone must receive a prize.10 A democracy, however, cannot afford to transform its educational system into aCaucus-race, for the success of a democracy depends in great part upon theunderstanding and capability of its citizens. And in the complex world in which welive, to acquire sufficient understanding and capability requires a rigorouseducation.

If we fail to provide that education, we shall have only ourselves toblame as misguided policies in our universities contribute to the decay of our democracy.( from If At First You Don't Succeed, Quit by STEVEN CAHN)ACTIVE VOCABULARY1. achieve ( v)~ smth: ~ one's aim, ~ improvements, ~ increase in payment, ~ completeunderstanding - достичь своей цели, добиться улучшения, повышениязарплаты, полного понимания.3achievement (n )certain ~: highest ~, remarkable- наивысшее достижение, выдающеесядостижение2.

acquire (v )- smth: ~ a habit, - knowledge, ~ significance, - status - приобретатьпривычку, знания, значимость, статус acquisition ( n )certain ~ : valuable- - ценные приобретения o f skills - приобретение навыков3. arrange (v )~ smth: ~ words in certain order "- располагать слова в определенном порядке~ for / about smth: - for a meeting, ~ about a reception - организовыватьвстречу, подготовиться к приемуarrangement ( n)certain—: special -, security ~s - особая договоренность, меры безопасностиto come to some- достигнуть договоренности4. attain ( v )- smth: ~ an optimum level, ~ a desired goal, - a degree - достигнутьоптимального уровня, добиться желаемой цели, получить диплом5.

attempt(n)certain ~ : futile ~; successful ~ - тщетная, успешная попытка atthe third — - с третьей попытки6. challenge (v )~ smb: This difficulty ~d us to find a new method - Эта трудность заставила/подвигла нас искать новый метод~ smth.: ~ the rightness, ~ legality - оспаривать правоту, законностьchallenge ( n ) certain ~: genuine ~ - подлинная трудность,big ~ - существенная проблемаchallenging ( adj ) -job - интересная работа ~problem - трудная, но интересная проблема7. ignore (v )~ smth: ~ laws, ~ preliminary arrangements - игнорировать законы,предварительные договоренностиignorance (n )certain ~: complete - - полное невежество / незнание- of smth: - of the situation - незнание ситуации4ignorant ( adj )to be ~ of the fact, to be ~ of the reasons - не знать о факте, о причинах to be~ about smth - быть невежественным в какой-либо области Не was ignorantof the fact.

= He did not know about it. He ignored the fact. = He knew about itbut paid no attention.8. involve~ smth: ~ expenditures; ~ significant changes - повлечь расходы,значительные изменения~ smth: ~ qualified personnel; ~ funds - привлекать квалифицированныйперсонал, фондыbe / get ~d in smth: ~ a heated debate; ~ a conflict - быть втянутым /вовлеченным в горячую дискуссию, конфликт ~ the development ofnew software - заниматься разработкой нового программного продуктаinvolved (adj) ~ explanation; ~ problem - сложное объяснение,проблема9. obtain (v)~ smth: ~ adequate information; ~ positive resultsполучать соответствующую информацию, положительные результаты~ smth: ~ knowledge, ~ experience - приобретать знания, опытbe ~ed in some manner: the results were obtained with great difficulty результаты были получены с большим трудом10.

opinion (n)certain ~: personal ~ ; public ~ - личное мнение, общественное мнениеto give / express one's ~ - выражать собственное мнениеto confirm the ~ - подтвердить мнениеto be of the ~ считатьto have good / bad / high / low ~ of smth./ smb. - быть хорошего/ плохого/ высокого / невысокого мнения о чем-либо /ком-либоdifference of ~ различие во взглядах~ poll - опрос общественного мненияin mу - я думаю...11. realize (v)~ smth: ~ forthcoming difficulties; ~ the risk - осознавать предстоящиетрудности, риск — smth: ~ a project; ~ a profit - реализовать проект,прибыль12. receive (v)~ smth: ~ extra income; ~ unemployment benefit; ~ a lot of attention; ~medical treatment - получать дополнительный доход, пособие побезработице, удостоиться внимания, получать лечение513. receipt (n)to make out a ~ - выписать чек,on ~ of (formal) - по получении чего-либоreceipts (n) - банковские поступления14.