Discuss the following questions in groups of 2-3. Make good use of topical vocabulary

1. What was the reason for writing this essay?

2. Do you agree with the author’s idea of a mature individual? Why?

3. Why did the author say that “college education is gradually coming to resemble the Caucus-race in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”?

4. What is the author’s idea about thr role of higher education in sustaining a democracy?

5. Do you find the author’s argumentation that “all too common condition among students ... can contribute to the decay of a democracy” convincing?

6. What is your idea of improving such an educational system? What are the things to be done first?

Develop the following ideas according to the text.

1. American higher education stands on the brink of chaos.

2. It is painful to have one’s ignorance exposed.

3. The joy is a result of overcoming genuine challenges.

4. Not every piece of work is a good piece of work.

5. Professors are busy trying to ingratiate themselves with the students.

3. Read the text and answer the following questions:

1. Why has knowledge become the key strategic resource for prosperity?

What is meant by knowledge?

2. Do you agree that knowledge is inexhaustible? Why?

3. Why is knowledge not available to all?

4. Why does a society become more dependent on social institutions? What other arguments could you lay out?

5. Do you agree with the author that present time is a new age – the age of knowledge?

The age of knowledge

The United States is evolving rapidly into a postindustrial, knowledge-based society, just as a century ago it evolved from an agrarian into an industrial nation. Industrial production is shifting steadily from material- and labor-intensive products and processes to knowledge-intensive products. A radically new system for creating wealth has evolved that depends on the creation and application of new knowledge.

In a very real sense, the nation is entering a new age--an age of knowledge--in which the key strategic resource necessary for prosperity has become knowledge itself; that is, educated people and their ideas. Unlike natural resources, such as iron and oil, that have driven earlier economic transformations, knowledge is inexhaustible. The more it is used, the more it multiplies and expands. But knowledge is not available to all. It can be absorbed and applied only by the educated mind. Hence, as society becomes ever more knowledge-intensive, it becomes ever more dependent on those social institutions, such as the university, that create knowledge, educate people, and provide those people with learning resources throughout their lives.

Comment on the following statements

Higher education is сonsidered an essential enterprise for the improvement of American society.

To obtain a good education is skip blithely down the merry road to learning.

To acquire sufficient understanding and capability of citizens requires a rigorous education.

The United States is evolving rapidly into a postindustrial, knowledge-based society.

Changing times demand a new social contract between society and the institutions of higher education.

Fill in the blanks with the following links and express your opinion concerning the information in the text

Both (2) as (2) less than (1) and (3)

American colleges and universities play a pivotal role in training the nation’s citizens, leaders, innovators, public servants and educators. In today’s economy, a college education is more desirable than ever before - millions of high school students strive for its promise ... the benefits it brings for ... the individual ... society.

In the past decade, government support for higher education has declined; ... a result, tuition and fees have increased. Grants have failed to keep pace. ... costs continue to swell, students are taking on more ... more debt to pay for their degrees. Two-thirds of all four-year college graduates in 2004 left school with student debt, compared with ....one-third in 1993.

Having such a high percentage of students facing burdensome debt has consequences ...for specific professions of high social value and the entire economy. To solve this problem and ensure that higher education remains within reach for all Americans, we need to increase needbased grant aid; make loan repayment fair and affordable; protect borrowers from usurious lending practices; ... provide incentives for state governments and colleges to control tuition costs.

( Executive Summary – State PIRGs’

Higher Education Project – April 2006)

6. Discuss the following points:

1. Yet criticism of any sort is rare nowadays.

2. Knowledge can be absorbed and applied only by the educated mind.

3. Overcoming genuine challenges cannot be experienced without toil.

7. Support or refute the following statements:

a) ‘Universities must strive to achieve new levels of understanding.’

b) ‘Most colleges and universities are responding to the challenges presented by a changing world (more responsive to what students need to learn).’

c) ‘College degree is a ticket to success, the key to good jobs and careers.’

Section 5

Writing