Today, Even B Students Are Getting Squeezed out

A. Read the article and give the main point of each passage.

The real tragedy may be the failure to provide the educational opportunities all citizens need to flourish.

A new way of students moving through the nation’s high school promises to place unprecedented stress on America’s colleges and universities. We have seen other periods of rapid growth since World War II – with the GI Bill and the baby boom – but this is not just another surge, it’s a tsunami.

This tsunami will pit a lot of well-prepared students against one another as they vie for acceptance by selective public universities that can’t increase their enrollments because of cutbacks in state support. Already in states like Washington and Virginia, high-school graduates with solid B averages are hard pressed to get into most public universities.

In the past, with each enrollment surge, college officials complained that they couldn’t afford to expand enrollments and that, without more state support, greater numbers of students would dilute a poorly defined attribute called “quality”. Nevertheless public universities reluctantly accommodated more students.

But that response has changed. If anything the situation has worsened. State governments must now cope with revenue shortfalls or historic deficits brought about by tax cuts, a recession, and non-financed mandates passed down from Washington. Even though the economy appears to be recovering, states have far fewer resources than even seven years ago to support higher education and expand capacity. So more high-school students with good records are competing for the same number of slots at public flagship universities.

The financially poor and educationally disadvantaged will be the major victims. But the real political train wreck will occur as well-prepared, solid but unspectacular middle-income students increasingly discover that there is no room for them at selective public institutions. Their parents vote and contribute to political campaigns. They have invested time, money, and emotional energy to ensure that their kids have a shot at their state’s flagship university. They are going to be angry.

Moreover, as it becomes harder to get into prestigious colleges, other institutions are ratcheting up their standards of admission. Colleges belong to one of the few industries (along with country clubs and fancy restaurants) in which a key measure of quality is how many customers they turn away. The ripples from the competition for spaces in the elites affect admission decisions at almost all colleges.

Growing numbers of out-of-state students heighten the competition. Our university business officer tells of going to his board with a budget and being sent back to come up with revised revenue figures that included many more students from other states. Why? Because out-of-state students pay three times the tuition that in-state students pay. The logic is impeccable – and disastrous for in-state students.

The middle class has figured out what’s going on before the poor – not surprisingly because they are better educated and informed. As the capacity crunch intensifies, pressure from middle-income families will continue to build, and those families will become even more competitive for slots. The result: Politicians and academic administrators will overlook many bright, but poor and less well-prepared, young people – the ones who don’t know how to get into college or even why they should bother.

Those students need opportunities to acquire marketable skills and knowledge, and we need them in the work force. Yet given the current economic scenario, what can colleges and universities do?

Most colleges have not made up losses in state appropriations through increased tuition. Most are just trying to stay afloat and, as they now operate, can’t cut much more.

But colleges could cut costs substantially by changing the way they do their work. They could focus their spending on providing access and helping students complete programs of study. How? By considering different approaches that, while offering educational benefits, also increase institutional capacity and faculty productivity, and allow students to take the courses they need to obtain their degrees faster and at less expense.

The real tragedy is not the decline of institutions, even great ones. The real tragedy may be the failure of America to provide the educational opportunities all its citizens need to flourish. Ironically, of middle-class parents over their privileged children’s lack of access to the college they want to attend may be the only political force that can trigger change within higher education.

The Observer. 2008

B. Answer the questions.

1. What’s the general trend in higher education of the U.S.A.?

2. What’s the result of this great surge?

3. What was the situation in the past?

4. How has it changed now?

5. Who are the major victims? Why is such a state of affairs unacceptable?

6. How does the competition for spaces in the elites affect other colleges?

7. Why do colleges prefer out-of-state students?

8. What is the consequence of such a policy?

9. What is the way out?

10. What is the real tragedy of the present situation in higher education of the U.S.A.?

11. Can you say that we have the same situation in Russia? Are there any problems in our higher education?

C. Summarize the article using your main points of the passages. Make use of link words to connect your points.

Threat to Universities

A. Skim through the text to give the main idea.

The crisis in university education, as in the rest of the education system, is due to a lack of resources. It hits young people from working-class homes with particular force.

It is a disgrace that students are denied housing benefit. But most disgraceful of all is the appalling level of grants, and the way the government is squeezing these out gradually in favour of loans.

The Tories are treating education as though it were something to be bought and sold like a house, with the loan being the millstone equivalent to the mortgage.

In that respect, the Tory philosophy is the same as with health. But neither health nor education should be treated in this way. True, they both benefit the individual.

But more importantly, they both benefit the community. A healthy educated community is by definition made up of healthy educated individuals.

The starving of education at every level of the resources it needs is a crime threatening the future of Britain. Education is a right in itself and offers everyone the chance to participate fully in the life of society, to understand its history and achievements, and appreciate its culture.

Without adequately educated people, especially in this day of advanced science and technology, Britain is also bound to lose out in today’s competitive world.

Investment in education is as crucial as investment in modern machinery. Britain lags behind in both.

Scientific research is a key factor for any modern society. But too is under attack. Research is important as a means of acquiring a pool of new knowledge to feed the development of applied technology.

But it is also important in another way. When it comes to teaching at university level, it is vital that the teachers are engaged in research, for it keeps them up to date and enliven their whole approach.

Yet this is also under attack through cuts in spending on research. And there is a real danger that steps could be taken to stop it altogether in certain universities.

At a London University conference last weekend, two professors warned that the government was considering drastic changes in research allocations.

Universities would be put into three categories. Those in the top league would be funded for research and teaching. Those in the bottom league would only be funded for teaching. Those in between would only get funding for research in certain departments.

An assessment would be made of each university to ascertain the category to which it should belong, this assessment being based upon an examination of the research papers published by its staff.

Once again, we see the mania for assessment as a means of rationing inadequate funds, rather than an approach which would provide universities they need to excel.

To survive, those in the bottom league would have to pack the students in, so that they would suffer twice – from overcrowding and the lack of a research-enriched environment.

The Guardian. 2007

B. Read the text again to answer the following questions.

1. What’s the main reason for the crisis in British university education and who are the victims of this crisis?

2. What’s the essence of the crisis?

3. What’s the education policy of the government?

4. Why is it wrong according to the author?

5. Why is scientific research so important?

6. What changes does the government plan?

7. What threatens certain universities?

8. What would be the consequence of these changes?

C. Summarize the text in English.

6.3. Британские студенты предпочитают искусство
математике

A. Render the text into English using the suggested vocabulary items for the underlined words and word combinations.

Applied, IT-technology, as the survey reveals, fine arts, considerably exceeds, increased by 1/5, went down by 10%.

Изучение дизайна является самым популярным курсом в британских университетах в этом году. Более 12 000 студентов подали заявки на факультеты, обучающие профессии дизайнера. На втором месте по популярности среди британцев – юриспруденция, за которой следует компьютерная техника и психология.

В то же время, как показывает исследование, студенты стали проявлять значительно меньший интерес к фотографии, медицине, биологии и сельскохозяйственным наукам.

Продолжает сокращаться число британцев, выбирающих своей специальностью математику. Сегодня количество студентов, изучающих изобразительное искусство, значительно превышает число тех, кто предпочёл математические науки, что не может не беспокоить потенциальных работодателей и математические факультеты британских вузов.

Статистическое исследование также показало, что в этом году на одну пятую возросло количество студентов, приезжающих учиться в Британию из стран, не входящих в Европейский Союз. А число англичан, отправляющихся на учёбу в Шотландию, наоборот, сократилось на 10%.

Мир новостей. 2006

B. Answer the question.

1. What can you say about the preferences of Russian students?

6.4. Карьера: вертикальный взлет

A. Read the article and answer the questions.

1. When should you think of getting a second higher education?

2. What qualifications are in demand today?

3. What is the main disadvantage of a second higher education?

4. What’s the way out?

Второе высшее – дело трудоемкое. Получать его стоит, если оно действительно необходимо.

Относиться ко второму высшему образованию как к одной из форм интеллектуального тренинга не стоит. Если уж браться за трудоемкое и, прямо скажем, недешевое дело, то с четким осознанием цели. Вам это надо, если:

А. Первый диплом уже не может вас прокормить. За время вынужденной паузы, вызванной, к примеру, рождением ребенка, вашу фирму поглотили конкуренты, а ваш отдел попал под головное сокращение. Если к тому же ваша первая профессия – преподаватель начальной школы или филолог-библиограф, то шансов найти достойную работу у вас практически нет.

Б. Для продвижения по службе вам необходимы специальные знания. Расти «горизонтально» уже некуда, а чтобы расти «вертикально», надо быть юридически грамотным или знать основы менеджмента. В этом случае кардинально менять специальность не потребуется – вы лишь расширите свой профессиональный кругозор.

Самое популярное на сегодняшний день второе высшее – юридическое. За ним следует бухгалтерский учет и аудит. Третье место занимает менеджмент в сфере коммерции и госучреждениях. За ним следует социальная психология и управление персоналом. В первую десятку входят также PR и реклама. В будущем специалисты прогнозируют увеличение интереса к кандидатам со вторым высшим в сфере психологии, социологии, дизайна. Если экономическая ситуация в стране останется стабильной, то будут востребованы художники-модельеры и специалисты в области моды.

Главным минусом второго образования является, без сомнения, финансовая сторона вопроса. Второе высшее образование можно получить только за деньги. Решая, какой вуз предпочесть – престижный или доступный, учтите, что у большинства работодателей понятие “качественное образование” ассоциируется, как правило, с брэндами проверенных временем вузов. А вот к дипломам негосударственных институтов многие – возможно, совершенно напрасно – относятся с изрядной долей скепсиса. Самые престижные вузы – разумеется, и самые дорогие.

Учиться за счет фирмы – мечта карьериста. Впрочем, согласно статистике, большая часть втородипломников находит способы сохранить собственные деньги. Получить дотацию на обучение у прогрессивно настроенного руководителя фирмы можно. После элементарных подсчетов окажется, что расходы на поиск опытных специалистов из других компаний намного превышают расходы на ваше обучение.

Подведем итоги. Отправляясь за вторым дипломом, смотрите на два шага вперед. Не надейтесь, что приобретенная невпопад профессия сильно украсит вашу жизнь. Отнеситесь к образованию как к нормальному капиталовложению и беритесь за это дело, только если рассчитываете получить солидные дивиденды. Выбирайте проверенные временем вузы. Наконец, ищите спонсоров и в разговоре с ними придерживайтесь главного аргумента всех карьеристов: если вам сегодня согласны платить такую зарплату, значит, вы стоите гораздо больше.

АиФ-МОСКВА. 2009

В. Render the article into English.