III. Define the words and word combinations below, say how they were used in the article.

Mere, drive (n), handbook, to sue, to launch an assault on sb., to spring up, to foster diversity, to weigh in, a minority student, to keep sth. down, counterpart, to tinker, to concede.

IV. Say what you know about:

California, Texas, Washington, Michigan, Massachusetts, Berkeley, Harvard, Ivy League.

V. Explain what is meant by:

Affirmative action, college admissions, referendum, minority numbers, the Supreme Court, racial quotas, university preference programmes, minority enrolment, Latinos, selective college, top universities, broken schools, broken families, double standards, self-serving statistics, colour-blind admission, standardised tests.

VI. State the difference between the words below. Give examples to illustrate their usage.

To end-to end up;

To assure-to ensure-to insure;

To value-to estimate-to assess

VII. Interpret the idea.

1. On March something angry, students pounded the walls while Ward Connerly…..was inside making a speech as part of his national campaign.

2. Although Texas is ground zero in the fight over racial preferences in American universities, it is far from the only battlefield

3. Aspiring lawyers will doubtless seize on it.

4. For 30 years, American universities sought to increase racial diversity.

5. This practice went unchallenged until 1978.

6. Long boasting the highest scores on standardized tests among minority groups, Asians have never needed preferential treatment from universities.

7. Sensing that it would soon be on the wrong side of the law, the University of Massachusetts announced last month that it would be no longer attempt to increase diversity through racial preferences.

8…… the system will remain broken, and no amount of judicial tinkering will fix it.

VIII. Points for discussion.

1. What’s your attitude to the affirmative-action programme? Does it have more pros or cons?

2. Do affirmative-action programmes succeed in fostering diversity and integrating the highest levels of the professional world?

3. Should affirmative action be reconsidered?

4. Why does the author call broken schools and broken families twin pillars of social disintegration?

5. Does the future of racial preferences rest with the courts?

В Америке наукой уже не прокормишь

Преподаватели научных дисциплин порождают преподавателей других научных дисциплин. В большей или меньшей степени это походит на размножение мышей. На протяжении своей научно-педагогической карьеры один специалист с докторской степенью способен воспроизвести примерно 15 новых докторов наук, чтобы те тоже обучали и проводили исследования. Если же эти полтора десятка останутся преподавать, что большинство из них и пытается делать, то они произведут еще 225.

В противоположность рассуждениям традиционного типа, часто предсказывающим грядущий дефицит квалифицированных работников науки, д-р Дейвид Гудсейн, физик и проректор Калифорнийского технологического института, утверждает, что страна стоит перед лицом «хронического и систематического переизбытка докторов наук – такого наплыва ученых, который мы, кажется, беспомощны сдержать».

Д-р Гудсейн, написавший про свою обеспокоенность в журнале American scholar, допускает, что прежде чем его ученое племя наводнит собою вселенную, их оклады резко упадут, рабочие места исчезнут, и им придется подыскивать себе другую работу.

Научное сообщество до сих пор страдало от безработицы в масштабах, сравнимых по величине с уровнем безработицы среди обслуживающего техперсонала авиакомпаний и среди сталелитейщиков. Однако и эти элитные, мыслящие кадры американской рабочей силы, которые редко оказывались безработными, теперь осознали, что такое новая экономика.

По сведениям Бюро статистики труда США, с 1989 по 1992 год включительно общий уровень безработицы повысился из-за экономического спада с 5,3 до 7,4 процента. Среди специалистов естественных наук, таких, как химия, физика и биология, безработица была низкой – 2,3 процента в прошлом году. Общее количество безработных среди инженеров подскочило на 159 %, с 27 000 до 70 000, а уровень безработицы достиг 3,8 процента. Инженеры-химики пострадали больше всех.

Удар за ударом

Причина нехватки рабочих мест в науке и в инженерном деле – та же, что на всех остальных. Речь идет об экономике, слишком медленно восстанавливающей число рабочих мест, утраченных во время спада.

Однако науке и инженерии, подобно многим отраслям, был нанесен еще один удар. Сокращается научный истеблишмент – аэрокосмические и оборонные компании вместе с университетами, обладающими крупными научно-исследовательскими подразделениями, которые обеспечивали рабочими местами новых выпускников. Скорое возрождение здесь представляется в любом случае невероятным.

По всему научному истеблишменту в государственных лабораториях, в частной промышленности и в отдельных университетах застопорился наем персонала. Промышленные компании, подобные АТ&Т, IBM и Westinghouse, сокращают и ликвидируют лаборатории, куда прежде были мобилизованы целые легионы исследователей.

Незавидная участь

Геополитика также играет роль крупного фактора. Мир с русскими задушил федеральные ассигнования на исследования в области вооружений. А решимость Вашингтона уменьшить бюджетный дефицит вынудила произвести сокращения в области космических и большинстве невоенных исследований.

Когда наступило время стесненных бюджетов, наука оказалась насильственно поставленной перед лицом тех же самых изнурительных подсчетов денежных средств.

Все большее число ученых состязаются между собой за все меньшее количество долларов, выделяемых на исследования. Несмотря на нынешнюю суровость экономической обстановки, университеты все еще продолжают проводить подобные исследования. Поскольку указанные тенденции сохраняются, то, по мнению д-ра Гудсейна, ведущие университеты потеснят менее элитарные учебные заведения, понуждая их оставить исследовательскую работу.

Питер Т. Килборн

/Нью Йорк Таймс, 2000, №23/

Set Work

1. Think of the best English equivalent of:

Порождать, докторская степень, переизбыток докторов наук, резко упасть, техперсонал, экономический спад, геополитика, время стесненных бюджетов, потеснить кого-то.

2. Comment on the headline of article.

3. Render the above article into English and say if its content corresponds to the present day reality.

4. Say whether you agree that:

1. A university degree doesn’t guarantee a good pay.

2. There is a steady decrease in the scientific Establishment.

3. There are too many PhDs today.

4. There is a strong connection between research and geopolitics.

5. Fewer universities will go on with serious scientific research in the foreseeable future.

FAILING GRADE: Students protest at one of Germany's crowded, cash-strapped universities

^{A German Harvard?}

Universities are plagued by bureaucracy and a false a false sense of egalitarianism. New reforms may not help.

Just over 60 years ago, Germany's universities were world beaters. Berlin, Heidelberg and Göttingen churned out Nobel Prize winners when Harvard, Princeton and Stanford were sleepy coun­try clubs that could only dream of one day being as grand. These days Germans are aghast at the diminished state of their uni­versities. Overcrowded and underfinanced, they produce too few students with often outdated skills. Those who survive a drop­out rate of 27 percent are, on average, 29 years old when they graduate with their first degree—a world record. Innovation and entrepreneurship have suffered. The last time a German won a Nobel was three years ago—and he was doing his research in the United States. Today it's the Germans looking up to the likes of Harvard.

To be sure, the rest of Europe faces a sim­ilar problem. In Britain, controversy over a new law giving the country's cash-strapped public universities a much-needed tuition hike almost cost Prime Minister Tony Blair his job. In France, top universities like the Sorbonne or INSEAD are still competitive, but nonelite institutions are struggling. The Germans, though, have set their sights high­est Declaring that 2004 would be "the year of innovation," Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in December vowed to create noth­ing less than "a German Harvard." A new tier of "elite" universities, Schröder promised, would reinvigorate the German economy and be on par with America's leading institutions by the end of the decade.

Never mind the gargantuan task ahead. The idea alone is close to a German revolu­tion. For decades Germans have prided themselves on their egalitarianism in educa­tion, just as elsewhere in their society. The entire university system has been geared to ad­vance that holy grail. Selective admissions were abolished decades ago, along with tu­ition payments. A degree from one universi­ty was supposed to be worth just as much as another. Laws and regulations ensured that every university would be run exactly the same, turning these once proud institutions into virtual extensions of the government bureaucracy. Professors and staff became civil servants, earning the same pay at every university, based on seniority rather than merit. Even today the idea of students’ rating their professors— standard practice in America—is unheard of, reeking of nasty competi­tion and unholy pressure to perform. Elite? Nein, danke!

This craving for state-controlled equality has fueled the problems German univer­sities must deal with today. Unfortunately, much of what's now being discussed in Berlin as educational "reform" does nothing to get at the basic rot. Instead of freeing up universities to compete with each other, the socialist Education Minister Edelgard Bulmahn has come up with yet another bureaucratic "solution." The government, she announced recently, will decide which five universities deserve to be­come German Harvards and give them each an extra €50 million a year. Never mind that €50 million is nothing when you compare the annual budget of a better German insti­tution like Berlin's Humboldt University (€200 million) with that of Harvard (€2 bil­lion). Worse, the money barely makes up for recent funding cuts. Earlier in her tenure, Bulmahn closed a key avenue to better fi­nancing with a law forbidding German uni­versities from charging tuition, as some had begun to plan. Says Steve McClain, head of Johns Hopkins University's European office in Berlin: "Regulating from the top down is not going to improve the quality of any Ger­man university."

Some universities aren't waiting for the new regulations. At Munich Technical Uni­versity, one of the country's leading schools, president Wolfgang Herrmann is actively reorganizing his institution along American lines. Testing the limits of Ger­many's bureaucratic wiggle room, Herr­mann has toughened admissions stand­ards, introduced professional managers to run the university and begun headhunting for the best professors at home and abroad. Pressure to shape up is coming from the EU, where a new rule to ease student trans­fers between member states is opening uni­versities to competition like never before. And, as Herrmann points out, the coming demographic decline in the number of young Germans will force universities to compete harder for students from abroad. "Our economy and society will only survive if we learn to draw bright foreign students to fill these empty spaces," he says.

Sadly, the education debate is a perfect microcosm of Germany's broader social and political ills. An egalitarian ideal taken to the extreme, coupled with the hubris of politicians and bureaucrats who think they know how best to run the nation's universi­ties, has produced a system straitjacketed by regulation and disincentives. And you don't need to go to Harvard to figure out what's wrong with that.

Stefan Theil

/Newsweek, February 23, 2004/

Set Work

1. Practise the pronunciation of the words below. Learn and translate them.

Bureaucracy, egalitarianism, gargantuan, seniority, equality, transfer (n), hubris, microcosm, Munich.

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

To be aghast at sth, outdated skills, entrepreneurship, the likes of, hike, to set one’s sights, to be on par with sb, tier, to be geared, to reek of sth, to get at the basic rot, to free up, tenure, a key avenue, head hunting, to shape up, coupled with sth, to figure out, straitjacketed, a drop-out rate.

3. Find in the article the English for:

Ухудшающийся статус, переполненный, выпускать студентов, плохо финансируемый, получить первое высшее образование, ведущие университеты, не престижные университеты, вдохнуть новую жизнь в экономику, сама мысль, гордиться чем-либо, ограниченный набор в вузы, бюджетники, неслыханный, жажда чего-то, усугубить проблему, улучшить финансирование, назначать плату за обучение, новые правила, по американскому образцу, ужесточить процедуру приемных экзаменов, обмен студентами, падающий уровень рождаемости, споры вокруг образования, доведенный до крайности, политические/ социальные болезни.

4. Say what you know about:

1) Berlin, Heidelberg, Göttingen, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, the Sorbonne, INSEAD, Humboldt University, Johns Hopkins University, Munich Technical Uni­versity;

2) Nobel Prize, Tony Blair, Schröder, Edelgard Bulmahn, Steve McClain, Wolfgang Herrmann, the EU.

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

Incentive-disincentive;

Everywhere-elsewhere;

Payment-fee

6. Fill in the correct preposition. Check against the article.

1. It reeks__ nasty competi­tion and unholy pressure to perform.

2. Many German universities used to churn__ Nobel Prize winners.

3. Some universities can only dream __ being that grand.

4. Drop-outs are, __ average, 29 years old.

5. The craving __ state-controlled equality has fueled some problems.

6. It does nothing to get__ the basic rot.

7. Some educationalists have come__ with some other bureaucratic solutions.

8. The idea is close __ a German revolu­tion.

9. For decades Germans have prided themselves __ their egalitarianism in educa­tion, just as elsewhere in their society.

10. Today the Germans are looking __ __the likes of Harvard.

11. The Germans are aghast__ the diminishing state of their universities.

12. In Britain there is a controversy __ a new law.

13. Schröder promised to be on par__ America's leading universities.

14. Pressure to shape __ is coming from the EU.

15. You don't need to go to Harvard to figure __ what's wrong with that.

16. An egalitarian ideal coupled __ the hubris of politicians and bureaucrats has produced a straitjacketed system.