D. Project Work

1. Collect as much information as possible about college and university education in your country. Organize a discussion which will touch upon the following questions:

Is college and university very expensive in your country?

Which college/university degrees are most common?

What opportunities are there for college graduates?

Is it difficult for young people to find a job?

2. Choose a university you are interested in. Pick up information about it in encyclopaedias and other reference books as the basis for your discussion.

3. Collect information about different types of secondary schools in your country. Great Britain/the USA and compare it. In your group decide:

which type of school is the best one and explain why you have chosen it;

which types of schools you consider out-of-date and why;

what your idea of a perfect school is.

4. Plan the perfect "core" college curriculum using the following information:

The trustees of your university are very upset by recent studies that show that the average graduate from your school is less competent than the average graduate of 50 years ago. As a result, the trustees have insisted that the entire educational approach be changed. Instead of having students take only elective courses, they must take three years (144 units) of "core" courses. Only during their senior year may they take electives in their major.

According to the trustees, the core courses must be designed to "give the student a broad background in the general humanities and sciences with the result that the student possesses analytical skills and written and verbal ability necessary to be a leader in society."

Each course is four units. You may require a person to take more than four units (or no units) in the following subjects:

5. Study the following chart and make a chart of the Russian/ British System of Education. Consult the reference material.

41. Supplementary reading

(by P.P. Dunne)

§ 1. On Education

Mr Smith was worried. His little Bobbie was already six years old and it was time for the family to decide his career. It was difficult, however, to choose a suitable school for little Bobbie Smith. The boy was such a bright little chap. At last Mr Smith made up his mind to drop in* on Mr Brainer, his neighbour, and ask him for advice. Everybody in the neighbourhood believed Mr Brainer to be a very clever old gentleman.

"It's a serious question," Mr Brainer said, "and it seems to worry people more than it used to. Nowadays they start talking about the education of the child before they choose the name. It's like this: 'This kid talks in his sleep. He'll make a fine lawyer.' Or, 'Look at him fishing up in Uncle Tom's watch pocket. We must train him for a banker.' Or, 'I'm afraid he'll never be strong enough to work. He must go into the church.'

"To my mind, Smith, we are wasting too much time, thinking of the future of our young, and trying to teach them... what they ought not to know** till they are grown-up. We send the children to school as if it was a summer garden*** where they got to be amused instead of a reformatory**** where they are sent to be reformed. When I was a kid I was put at my ABC the first day I set foot in the school; and my head was sore inside and out***** before I went home. Nowadays things seem to be quite different. Now the first thing we teach the future businessmen and politicians of our nation is waltzing, singing and cutting pictures out of a book. In my opinion it would be much better to teach them toughness******, that's what they need in life."

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* to drop in on – to go to a person's house for a short visit

** what they ought not to know – чего они не должны знать

*** a summer garden – sort of kindergarten

**** a reformatory – исправительное заведение для малолетних преступников

***** my head was sore inside and out – у меня просто разламывалась голова

****** toughness – жесткость; упорство