American Educational Philosophies
By Diane Ravitch
Since the middle 1940s, American schools have been at the centre of a tug of war between competing educational philosophies. With striking regularity, educational policy has swung from domination by “progressives” to domination by “traditionalists” in roughly ten-year periods …
Progressivism in the late 1940s was called “life adjustment education” by friend and foe alike… It judged every subject by its everyday utility, substituting radio repair for physics, business English for the classics, and consumer arithmetic for algebra. Under the rubric of life adjustment education, schools were encouraged to merge traditional subjects like English and history with health and guidance to create “common learning” courses, in which students could examine their personal and social problems.
Beginning in 1949, critics complained that “how-to” courses and socio-personal adjustment had been substituted for history, science, mathematics foreign languages, and literature. Life adjustment education was condemned by some because it was anti-intellectual, and by others because it aimed to teach group conformity…
After the Russians orbited Sputnik in 1957, the national press was filled with indictments of American schools for ignoring science and mathematics. The Russian’s feat served as evidence for many of the critic’s worst complaints about the softness of American education.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, educators shifted their focus from “meeting the needs of the whole child” to “excellence”. Programs were developed to identify talented youth at an early age and to speed their way through rigorous courses in high school and college… The political climate, typified by the brief presidency of John F. Kennedy, also stimulated the popular belief that the identification of talent and the pursuit of excellence were appropriate educational goals. Part of Kennedy’s image was the idea that youth, talent, intelligence, and education could right society’s problems. The drive for excellence was in high gear during the early 1960s, and enrollment in advanced courses and foreign languages rose steadily, along with standardized test scores.
The sudden and remarkably quiet disappearance of the “pursuit of excellence” in the mid-1960s showed how dependent it was on the socio-political climate. A series of cataclysmic events shook national self-confidence: violence against blacks and civil rights workers in the South; Kennedy’s assassination; the rediscovery of poverty; American involvement in Vietnam. By 1965, the nation’s competition with the Soviets for world supremacy had lost its motivating power. As the Cold War appeared to fade, students in elite universities – the presumed beneficiaries of the post-Sputnik years – protested against technology, against the middle-class values of their parents, and against the meritocratic pressures of an achievement-oriented society…
|
|
|
Responding to changes in the social and cultural milieu, educators sought to adapt the schools to the new conditions and to placate their numerous critics. The innovation that had the most influence in the public schools was the open education movement.
The open education philosophy answered perfectly the need for a set of educational values to fit the countercultural mood of the late 1960s; it stimulated participatory democracy; it justified the equal sharing of power between the authority figure (the teacher) and the students; it made a positive virtue of nonassertive leadership; and it insisted that children should study only what they wanted. At the high-school level, the open philosophy led to dropping of requirements, adoption of mini-courses, schools-without-walls, and alternative schools.
On paper, open education was ideal. Once put into practice, the problems appeared. Many schools removed classroom walls, hired open educators, sent their veteran teachers to workshops to be retrained, and provisioned classrooms with the obligatory gerbils and sensory, tactile materials. Despite their training, some teachers couldn’t handle the open-ended situation; children wandered about aimlessly, got into fights, demanded that the teacher tell them what to do. In some districts parents complained bitterly that their children couldn’t read, that the classroom was chaotic, and that there was no homework. By the mid-1970s, the open education movement had gone into decline…
The swing away from open education was hastened by the public reaction to the news in 1975 that score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) had dropped steadily since 1963. Regardless of explanations blaming such factors as Vietnam, Watergate, drugs, the effect of television, and working mothers, a substantial part of the public believed that the decline of standards in the school was primarily responsible for lower test scores. The College Board’s 1977 report on the score drop confirmed that the part of the drop was in fact due to lowered standards, grade inflation, absenteeism, and the widespread decline of critical reading and careful writing.
|
|
|
41. Write an opinion essay on the topic “Students’ Life All Over the World” using the words from Ex-s 35, 37 as well as Key Vocabulary. Your essay should contain about 300 – 350 words. Do not forget about link words to structure your essay.
| On the one hand, … | С одной стороны, … |
| On the other hand, … | С другой, … |
| Firstly, … | Во-первых, … |
| Secondly, … | Во-вторых, … |
| I believe that … | Полагаю, что … |
| It is often said … | Часто говорят, что … |
| However, … | Однако, … |
| Many consider … | Многие считают … |
| Moreover, … | Более того, … |
| First of all, … | Прежде всего, … |
| Nevertheless, … | Тем не менее, … |
| In my opinion … | По-моему, … |
| One more important point is that … | Еще один важный момент в том, что … |
| Furthermore, … | Далее … |
Translation Practice
42. Translate the text into English.
Не все студенты учатся на дневном отделении в университете или колледже. Многие люди сочетают обучение с работой. Некоторые компании освобождают своих работников для обучения на один-два дня в неделю или на два месяца в год. Крупные компании часто имеют свои собственные внутренние программы обучения.
|
|
|
Британское правительство с энтузиазмом приветствует такие схемы обучения, особенно потому, что таким образом меньше людей пойдут в университеты.
Если Вы безработный, то для Вас есть две формы обучения: профессиональная подготовка для людей, которые не имеют работы долгое время, и молодежная программа обучения для выпускников школ, которые не могут найти работу.
43. Render this extract into English.
Дистанционное образование
Большинство современных молодых людей предпочитают получить работу и создать семью, а образование получить позже. Каждому хочется поскорее стать финансово независимым, построить дом, посадить дерево и родить ребенка. Работа занимает все основное время, ребенок все свободное, а когда же учиться? Каждый из нас знает, как сегодня важно получить высшее образование, чтобы не только иметь постоянную работу, но и получить в перспективе более высокую должность.
Сегодня, благодаря современным достижениям в области образования, появилась дистанционная форма обучения. Никаких записей лекций и аудиторий, не надо отпрашиваться с работы на сессию. При этом Вы сможете общаться с преподавателем посредством чатов, форумов или веб-конференций.
В первую очередь, дистанционное обучение выгодно работающим людям, которым необходима специализированная информация для дальнейшего успешного карьерного роста. Независимо от местонахождения и рода занятий, Вы будете в любое удобное для Вас время получать необходимые знания. Для успешного обучения Вам понадобится всего лишь компьютер, веб-камера, подключение к Интернету и желание учиться.
|
|
|
Учебные заведения ведут прием студентов круглогодично, то есть Вы поступаете в институт тогда, когда у Вас появится желание. Срок обучения в дистанционной форме такой же, как и на других формах обучения.
Во многих городах зачастую нет необходимых нам учебных заведений, а ездить в другой город нет возможности. Дистанционное образование позволяет не ехать в институт для написания заявления о приеме. Документы в вуз высылаются по почте, а сдача вступительных экзаменов происходит в режиме онлайн. Также нет необходимости приезжать на сессию, сдача экзаменов происходит через Интернет. После поступления каждому студенту предоставляется доступ к СДО, где в личном кабинете Вы найдете все необходимое для учебы: видео лекции, электронные учебники и свою электронную зачетную книжку.
Благодаря дистанционному образованию, учеба перестает быть проблемой, она не мешает работе и семье. Вы развиваетесь, успевая делать много полезного и интересного.
Key Vocabulary
Academic – учебный, академический
Alumni (мн. ч. от alumnus) – выпускники вуза
Assumption - предположение
Bachelor’s degree – степень бакалавра
Baccalauréat – бакалавриат
Carefully – бережно, тщательно
Certificate – аттестат
Clergyman – священнослужитель
Completion – завершение
Counterpart – представительство, штаб
To date from – вести начало
Eminence – высокое положение
Establishment – учреждение
To evaluate – оценивать
Governing council – управляющий совет
Gown – (зд.) мантия
Higher education/higher learning – высшее образование
Independent – независимый
Licence – (фр.) лицензиат
Master’s degree – степень магистра
Mixed college – колледж для мужчин и женщин (смешанный колледж)
Private – частный
Postgraduate – аспирант
To preserve – сохранять
Prominent – выдающийся
To provide – обеспечивать
Public – государственный
Public leaver – (зд.) выпускник частной школы
Qualification – квалификация, специальность
Recruitment – найм
Regarding – касательно
Responsible (for/to) – ответственный за/перед
Scholastic Aptitude Test – школьный тест на выявление способностей
Staff – штат сотрудников
Strength – сильная сторона
To take advantage – иметь преимущество
Undergraduate – студент
Test Yourself
1) Arthur Haley … a popular author for many years.
a) was b) has been c) have been
2) The advertisement … in the newspaper.
a) was already published b) has already been published c) already published
3) When Sarah arrived at the party, Paul … home.
a) already went b) has already gone c) had already gone
4) He will … understand … help you.
a) neither…nor b) either…nor c) not so…as
5) Some verbs can be followed … by the gerund … the infinitive.
a) as…as b) the…the c) either…or
6) The authors often phone us and ask if their books … .
a) is already being printed b) have already been printed c) was printed
7) The students … the test translation for half an hour when you come.
a) will have been writing b) will write c) will be writing
8) I hope you … all this by tomorrow.
a) won’t have forgotten b) won’t forget c) shan’t forget
9) The papers … by the lunch time.
a) will finish b) will be finished c) will have been finished
10) The article … to the editor.
a) have just sent b) had just been sent c) has just been sent
11) Jane … about the change of their plans yet.
a) haven’t told b) haven’t been told c) hasn’t been told
12) He found out that the house … to the rich American.
a) had been sold b) have sold c) have been sold
13) Have you heard the news? The Governor… .
a) has shot b) has been shot c) had been shot
14) A new park … by the summer.
a) will lay out b) will have laid out c) will have been laid out
15) All her affairs … before she gets married.
a) will have settled b) will have been settled c) will be settled
16) We … to the pictures twice this month.
a) have gone b) go c) went
17) She … him for a long time before he left for India.
a) knows b) have known c) had known
18) The teacher … through all your tests by the end of the week.
a) will look b) will be looked c) will have looked
19) He is … in long scientific dispute.
a) participated b) taken c) engaged
20) Whether she will go to University … on her exam results.
a) depends b) defends c) devotes
Grammar Support
Существительное ( The Noun)
Английское существительное имеет грамматические категории числа, падежа и, как правило, употребляется с артиклем. Существуют различные классификации существительных. Вот некоторые из них:
Дата добавления: 2019-09-13; просмотров: 627; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы! |
Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!