8. Interpret the idea:

1. The idea is catching on.

2. Valerie Johnson and her husband Robert have latched onto a controversial alternative.

3. Al Gore opposes them (voucher experiments) as a drain on the public-school system.

4. The teacher unions (…) regard vouchers as a threat to their livelihoods.

5. The downside to such freedom is lack of accountability.

6. The defenders of school vouchers argue that the marketplace will work quickly to weed out the worst offenders.

7. Other complaints are tougher to answer.

8. The Hartford Avenue School (…) spiraled into chaos.

9. White parents yanked their kids out as black students were bused in.

10. At its worst point the school went through three principles in three years.

11. The debate has loosened some of the chains that the central office and unions have traditionally imposed upon us.

12. Valerie Johnson would like to see public schools rise to the challenge.

9. Comment on the headline.

Exam Pass

The government is trying to reconcile its egalitarian belief that all should have prizes with the requirements of a meritocracy

"Devise, in your own words, a system for educating English teenagers that stretches the brightest without discou­raging the dimmest. It must be rigorous but flexible, broad but deep, and suit employ­ers, universities, pupils, teachers and par­ents, as well as the politicians who will mark your answer. Write neatly."

That, broadly, was the daunting task facing Mike Tomlinson, a former chief schools inspector, who this week pub­lished his proposals for reforming second­ary-school education in England (Wales and Scotland are different). The current system is based on the gcse exam, which is normally taken at 16 and A-levels, taken in two stages at 17 and 18.

The system certainly needs improving, but the government's aims are hard to rec­oncile. Too many people-around a quar­ter-drop out of education at 16: Britain is one of the worst rich countries on that score, and it is the poor that suffer. But be­ing softer on the low-achievers conflicts with another goal-satisfying employers who complain that school leavers' literacy and numeracy are inadequate: only 42% of gcse candidates gain at least a C in both English and maths.

Another beef is that vocational quali­fications are confusing and poorly regarded-but one reason for that is endless meddling with the system. Now there will be yet more.

Differentiating the brightest is hard: this year 22.4% of A-level entries achieved an A grade. But making the exams tougher will penalise pupils at bad schools and help the independent schools that the gov­ernment has it in for. The system is too bur­densome: ten gcses and three A-levels can mean 40 exam papers. But that pro­vides lots of data that universities and em­ployers say they like.

Mr Tomlinson's proposed reform is based on a new four-tiered diploma, which almost all pupils should be able to complete at some level. For the middle and upper tier, basic maths, English and com­puting will be compulsory. That should please employers, because it will create an incentive to persevere with subjects that are dropped by those who find them diffi­cult. The top-tier diploma will be broadly similar to A-levels, in that pupils will pick a handful of subjects to study in depth. But there will also be an extended essay or similar project, and two new grades of A+ and A« to help the brightest candidates stand out. For gcses teachers will do more marking, and external examiners less.

Will it work? Creating an exam-lite sys­tem based largely on teachers' assess­ments will be a huge and costly task.' Examining is outsourced now because marking scripts is difficult, and best done by experts.

The report suggests that pupils take exams when they want to, rather than with their age-group. That's a nice idea. But even private schools, which have the most money and best teachers, find it hard to ac­commodate those who want to take exams a lot earlier than their peers. And even if a bright 13-year-old and a dim 18-year-old are studying the same thing, it may be a bad idea to teach them side by side.

Another proposal is workplace experi­ence for the non-academic. Employers are very dubious about that. The sort of teen­agers that schools don't want to teach are not necessarily those you want wandering around your factory. Red tape means that firms who play host to minors face legal and insurance problems.

With enough time and money, all that could be solved. But there are other, deeper problems. It is hard to see the sys­tem being both tougher and more appeal­ing: making difficult subjects like maths compulsory may encourage a few border­line students not to give them up. But oth­ers may decide that it is better to drop out of school as soon as possible. Adding new grades at A-level won't stop grades being devalued: better to encourage the use of a separate exam. Raising esteem for voca­tional qualifications is a fine idea-but es­teem comes from the esteemers, and usu­ally is attracted by an old and solid system, not a new complicated one.

The biggest difficulty is that the pro­posed new diploma conflates quality and quantity. Accumulating lots of passes in easy and peripheral subjects is not the same as gaining a handful of stellar grades in hard ones. The government quickly sig­nalled that it wants to keep A-levels and gcses for now, whatever other tweaks it ends up endorsing from Mr. Tomlinson's ingenious but flawed piece of work. In the end, meritocracy counts for more.

Jane Bromhead

/The Economist, October 23, 2004/

Set Work

1. Define the words and word combinations below. Say how they were used in the article:

Rigorous, to mark one’s answer, a daunting task, to reconcile, low-achiever, to conflict, numeracy, beef, to meddle with smth, to penalise, computing, to create an incentive, to stand out, to outsource, red tape, to raise, peripheral subject, stellar grades, tweak.

2. Think of the best Russian translation for:

Meritocracy, a chief school inspector, to drop out of education, to reconcile one’s aims, inadequate literacy, vocational qualification, to be poorly regarded, A-level entries, to complete a diploma, a top – tier diploma, to study in depth, an extended essay, a huge task, to mark scripts, sb’s age group, non-academic, a flawed piece of work.

3. Explain what is meant by:

To reconcile one’s egalitarian beliefs, the requirements of a meritocracy, one of the worst rich countries, to stretch the biggest without discouraging the dimmest, to be soft on sb, to make exams tougher, four-tiered diploma, to persevere with subjects, to pick a handful of subjects, borderline students, external examiners, an exam light system, firms who play host to minors, a separate exam.

4. Explain what is:

GCSE exams, A-level an A grade, a C grade, A+, A + +

5. Specify the difference between the words below. Give examples to illustrate their usage.

To wonder – to wander;

To persevere – to persist;

To collect – to accumulate – to amass – to gather;

To inflate – to conflate;

Quality – quantity;

To end – to end up;

Genuine – ingenious.

6. Say whether you agree or disagree:

1. Differentiating the biggest is hard.

2. Creating an exam-lite system based largely on teachers’ assessments will be a huge and costly task.

3. Marking scripts is difficult, and best done by experts.

4. Even if a bright B-year- old and a dim 18-year-old are studying the same thing, it may be a bad idea to teach them side by side.

5. Is it hard to see the system being both tougher and more appealing.

6. Adding new grades at A-level won’t stop grades being devalued.

7. Sum up the main points of the article.

8. Say how you understand the rounding paragraph of the article.

9. Comment on the headline.

10. What do you think of the new proposals, mentioned in the article?

Pilgrims’ Paths to Understanding

Georgina Power reports on how the new Compostela Group of Universities, based in Spain, is encouraging students to cross frontiers and work a real European identity.

Universities in 17 countries are working together to encourage the spread of a stronger European culture. They hope to promote the social inte­gration of Europe through joint academic research and by sharing information and facilites.

The inaugural meeting of the Compostela Group of Universities last month decided to try to develop the idea of a European personal­ity and create a closer European awareness by offering students and staff the opportunity of working in member countries.

The group takes its inspi­ration from the ancient cultural links created by the various pilgrim routes which lead to the Galician capital of Santiago de Compostela, where St James, brother of St John the Evangelist, is said to be buried.

The Way of St James was one of the first routes to link the nations of Europe in the Middle Ages. It passes through a number of towns whose universities have joined the Compostela Group. The city's own uni­versity, founded in 1495, is one of the oldest in Spain and has 35,000 students today. "The study of different European cultures enables us to bring out common values which will form the basis of a collective identity in the future," says the official report of the first meeting at the University of Santiago.

Аll EU countries apart from Ireland and Luxem­bourg are represented in the group, as well as Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland. Spain, with 26, has the highest number of academic institutions, followed by France with 12, Portugal with six and Poland with four. The group hopes to balance the large number of members in the south by recruiting a further 15 universities from Scandi­navia, and eastern and cen­tral Europe.

The group will be financed from each member, as well as funding from private and public bodies. Marc Richelle of Liege University was elected interim president until the first general assem­bly, to be held in the Belgian city next March.

The Compostela group plans to improve communi­cation between members, organise forums and debates on European topics, and encourage the mobility of staff and students.

"We think it is important to help create a greater understanding of Europe's languages and cultures," says Manuel Freire-Garabal Nunez of the University of Santiago de Compostela. "There is little communication bet­ween universities at present, apart from at conferences and exhibitions."

Santiago university will be the administrative centre for the group. Data banks are being created with informa­tion about member universi­ties, while "telecommunica­tion systems between universities" is one of several themes proposed for further joint research.

At student level, the Com­postela Group is working towards recognition of diplo­mas in the different member countries. Apart from mak­ing use of EU-funded exch­ange programmes such as Erasmus and Lingua, the group is interested in the exemption of enrolment fees, family exchanges and free language courses for stu­dents going abroad.

For postgraduates, the group is hoping to launch a European doctorate, recog­nised in all member coun­tries. Students would need to carry out part of their studies outside their country of birth, and they would present a thesis in two European lan­guages. Postgraduates would also be encouraged to spend a short time, a month for example, in several universi­ties in one country. In the area of research, the group plans to set up between ten and 12 scientific work groups in its first two years.

Subjects identified as pos­sible topics for workshops or research include migration, social cohesion, democracy and xenophobia, nationalism in Europe, European law, and regional development in Europe. Mainstream possibilities are archaeology, history and philology.

Georgina Power

/The European, October 21-27, 1994/

The universities in the Compostela Group

Belgium: Gent, Katholieke Universiteit Brussel, Liege

Czech republic: Masaryk University

Denmark: Kobenhavns Universitet

France: Angers, Bordeaux 1 and III, Catholique de I'Ouest, Limoges, Science et Technologies de Lille 1, Nantes, Nice-Sophia Antipolis, Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, Rennes I, Valenciennes et du Hainaut- Cambresis, Institut Superieur de Gestion de Paris.

Germany: Gottingen, Koblenz-Landau, Rostock

Greece: Athens, loannina

Holland: Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen Hogeschool

Hungary: Pecs Medical School

Italy: “G. d’Annunzio”, Perugia, Verona

Norway: Bergen

Poland: IM. Adama Mickiewicza, Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski, Lodz Politechnika Lubelska.

Portugal: Aveiro, Lisboa, Minho, Porto, Portugalense Infante D. Henrique, Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro

Slovenia: Ljubljani

Spain: Alacant, Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Cadiz, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Coruna, Deusto, Jaume I, la Laguna, Leon, Lleida, Malaga, Murcia, Navarra, Oviedo, Pais Vasco, Pompeu Fabra, Ponfflicia de Salamanca, Publica de Navarra, Salamanca, Santiago de Compostela, Valladolid, Vigo, Zaragoza, Comunidad de Madrid: Direccion General de Universidades e Investigation

Sweden: Karlsad

Switzerland: Fribourg, Geneve

United Kingdom: Westminster

Set Work