Н.Э. Шарабарина, Л.В. Кулик - English for Junior Students of the Humanities - Unit 3, страница 7

Providesupporting facts and data.TEXT 2To Know More about Less or Less about MoreWith the emergence of the technological age, it has become increasingly difficult to be aknowledgeable person: there is just too much information to know something abouteverything. So what should an educated person be in the twenty-first century? It isn'talways clear whether one should try to become a specialist or a generalist in today'sworld. Some people have focused their education, developing skills in one area;specialists now flourish in every field of life.

Inversely, others continue to believe that awell-rounded education offers the most in life; generalists typically follow a liberal artseducation but may never become a specialist in any field.The Greek poet, Archilochus, had already described this difference between generalistsand specialists with the metaphor, "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knowsone big tiling." It's not clear whether there were more foxes or hedgehogs in ancientGreece, but today there appear to be an inordinate number of hedgehogs, people whoknow very little about the world, save their field of expertise.

This, in fact, has been acriticism of today's American colleges and universities, that they are producing too manyhedgehogs.In the 1960s most American colleges and universities offered a generalist approach toeducation. In response to student protests, universities began offering many innovativecourses.

For example, they added Asian Studies and African Studies to their curricula in aneffort to extend education beyond the mores of Western society. Students began "doingtheir own thing" taking courses, in just about every subject imaginable, from iTranscendental Meditation to Swahili storytelling. Students believed these coursesenriched their minds. But as university students began to focus on more and more of theseless common subject areas, critics began to abound. They believed that much of educationhad become useless.

Employers began to make derisive comments about the quality ofcollege graduates. As "jacks-of-all-trades" they could "function" in most areas of life butmight never "excel" in any. The college degree of the 1960s was viewed by many as rot.Too many subjects, too general an approach to education, may have resulted in too littletoo much.In the 1970s and 1980s with new technologies creating new job opportunities, anemphasis on specialisation appeared in American education. Many vocation courses28were offered in colleges and universities, especially in computer programming; jobsbecame available; Business schools flourished; more and more graduate students couldenter fields that offered specialized jobs with high salaries, such as investment bankingand stock trading.

But with the media coverage of junk bond trading and the crimescommitted by insider information scoundrels on Wall Street, even the reputation of theMBA (Master's in Business Administration) degree was sullied. The more narrowlyfocused approach to professional education also seemed to fail. The One of the dilemmasof this decade was whether to approach modern education in terms of the generalist or thespecialist. Some universities require all students to take a common core of courses from abroad range of disciplines, appealing to the generalist approach to education.

Yet,choosing the core courses in light of today's explosion in information and diversemulticultural student populations has not been an easy task. How does one select what it isthat everyone should know? Other universities continue to tailor their courses to the moreimmediate professional needs of their students, appealing to the specialist approach toeducation.

But without a core curriculum, students often lack the shared knowledgenecessary to participate effectively in an integrated society.A coherent vision of an educated person in the twenty-first century has yet to bedefined.EXERCISE 7 Agree or disagree. Give your reasoning.1. There is just too much information to know something abouteverything.2. Specialists now flourish in every field of life.3.

A well-rounded education offers the most in life.4. Generalists typically follow a liberal arts education but may neverbecome a specialist in any field.5. Generalist could "function" in most areas of life but might never"excel" in any.6. Without a core curriculum students often lack the sharedknowledge necessary to participate effectively in any integratedsociety.EXERCISE 8 Write a summary of the text.EXERCISE 9 Discuss the following questions:1.

What is your attitude to the dilemma - the generalist or thespecialist?2. Does your university tailor its courses to the more immediateprofessional needs of the students?3. What is a coherent vision of an educated person in the twenty-firstcentury?4. What is the current trend in this country?3229EXERCISE 10Make up the questionnaire to examine public opinion on theproblem of career education and broad university education.EXERCISE 11 Arrange a round-table discussion of the above mentioned problem.TEXT 3Intelligence is a Classless CommodityIQ girls are emerging everywhere. In the fashion world, grey matter is the new black:Christy Turlington has gone to read philosophy at Columbia University; the currentface of Lancome is Ines Sastre, who has a degree from the Sorbonne and speaks fourlanguages fluently.

In Hollywood, Geena Devis has become a member of Mensa, andSharon Stone is considering it. You cannot even scratch a screen bimbo withoutfinding a bookworm underneath; Mira Sorvino, who played the dim porn actress inMighty Aphrodite, went to Harvard and speaks Mandarin Chinese.To what do we owe the new intellectual climate? "The cold war between the sexes ismore or less over, and men no longer feel as threatened by intelligent and assertivewomen", argues Julie Baxter, the chairwoman of Mensa. While the war lasted,intellectualism was considered a masculine quality.

Nothing was less glamorous thanbeing thought of as a bluestocking.Of course, the idea that women cannot be both sexy and bright is famously a myth.There have always been women who have combined looks and brains to devastatingeffect: take Madame de Pompadour, or Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire. Indeed, inboth the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was extremely fashionable to haveboth. Only in the Victorian era was female intelligence corseted and the idea of thedumb blonde born.

It was fostered not only by men - who didn't like the idea of theirbraininess being threatened - but also by ambitious mamas who, knowing that a goodmarriage was the only career open to a girl , muttered to their lovely daughters, 'Thewisest of our sex do not aspire to be clever.'Today, a formidable intelligence is a girl's best asset - something to flaunt ratherthan conceal. 'Grey Matter Chic is a social phenomenon, a dinner-party thing,' saysSimon Davis, editor of the Daily Telegraph's Peterborough column.(from Harpers & Queen, July 1998)EXERCISE 12 Give your comments:1.

IQ girls are emerging everywhere.2. Men no longer feel as threatened by intelligent and assertive women.3. Intellectualism was considered a masculine quality.4. The idea that women cannot be both sexy and bright is a myth.5. There have always been women who have combined looks and brain.6. A formidable intelligence is a girl's best asset.3330TEXT 4A PROFILE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK15,900 students: 8100 undergraduates, 5900 postgraduates, and 1900 on otherprogrammesInnovative subject combinations, with opportunities to study abroad or spend time inindustry and businessOver 80% of Departments so far evaluated in the National teaching QualityAssessment have been judged to provide teaching of an excellent quality One ofthe UK's leading research universitiesA lively modern campus (290 hectares) with its own shops, banks, bars andrestaurantsHigh quality, purpose built, on-campus accommodation, for both undergraduates andpostgraduates, at competitive pricesThe largest Arts Centre outside London - theatres, concert hall, cinema and art galleryFirst class facilities on campus for indoor and outdoor sport Excellent entertainmentand over 200 clubs and societies organised by a dynamic Student's UnionLOCATIONThe University is adjacent to Coventry on the border with Warwickshire, allowingstudents the opportunity to enjoy both city and countryside.

Regular bus services link thecampus with Coventry city centre, three miles away, offering all the attractions of a bigcity, and to the historic Warwickshire town of Leamington Spa, home to many second andthird year students. Further afield is Birmingham, the UK's second city, and the NationalExhibition Centre, one of the country's most popular concert venues, only 10 minutes byrail from Coventry.

The great medieval castles of Kenilworth and Warwick are close by,and Stratford-upon-Avon, home of the Royal Shakespeare Company (with whom theFaculty of Arts has close associations) is easily accessible.Warwick students benefit from the University's Midlands location: the quality of the lifeis high and the cost of living (including rents) reasonable. Situated near to the centre ofBritain's road and rail network, and only 20 minutes from Birmingham InternationalAirport, the University is easy to reach from all parts of the UK and abroad.EXERCISE 13Think of the possible Moscow State University UndergraduateProspectus and discuss it with your groupmates.EXERCISE 14Write a similar profile of Moscow University3431WRITING.Academic writing may pursue different purposes.Your essay may focus on : 1) explaining a concept 2)taking a position 3) proposing a solution 4) makingevaluations 5) speculating about causesBasic Features of Explanatory EssaysEssays explaining concepts display certain basicfeatures: a well-focused subject, a thesis statement, alogical plan, clear definitions and careful use ofsources.

The primary purpose for explaining aconcept is to inform readers, but writers cannotpossibly hope to say everything about a concept.Instead they make choices about what to include, whatto emphasize, and what to omit. Most writers focuson one aspect of the concept.Here is the list of concepts which you encounter in thisUnit:liberal educationrigorous educationdemocracyintellectual responsibility amature individualEXERCISE 1 Choose a concept that interests you and that you want to study further.Give a definition of the concept. Consider carefully the thesis aboutsome aspect of the concept. Write an essay of 150 — 200 words.EXERCISE 2 Write an essay comparing the two concepts:1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.A liberal education vs.