The City-as-School

Reading three

Answer the following questions.

You will hear an interview with Ian Beer, the headmaster of Harrow School and a radio programme on the subject of independent schools today. Before listening study the following vocabulary.

Listening сomprehension

Give arguments for and against the following statements.

Give extensive answers to the following questions.

Speech activities

1. What are the freedoms that children at Summerhill enjoy?

2. In what ways does a child usually have to fit a school? To what extent do you think Summerhill fits a child?

3. What do you understand by the last sentence of the extract? What were you afraid of when you were young?

4. Dr. Neill holds quite strong views on education. Which of these views do you agree with? Which of his ideas could be applied to our educational system?

1. Learning is important – but not to everyone.

2. Teaching methods are of no importance nowadays.

3. Creation is killed in the classroom.

4. Marks and exams sidetrack proper personality development.

5. “Most of the school work … is simply a waste of time. It robs youth of its right to play and play and play” (A.S.Neill).

attach v	приписывать, придавать, прикреплять
to attach importance to sth	придавать значение чему-л.
available adj	доступный, имеющийся в распоряжении, наличный
aristocratic background	аристократическое происхождение
corporal punishment	телесные наказания
disdainful adj	презрительный, пренебрежительный
extra-curricular activities	зд. внеклассные мероприятия
fagging	практика, когда младшие ученики оказывают услуги старшим (в английских школах)
fuss v	суетиться, волноваться из-за пустяков
fussy adj	суетливый, нервный
obsess v	завладеть, преследовать, мучить (о навязчивой идее, страхе и т.п.)
GCSE General Certificate of Secondary Education	аттестат о среднем образовании

1. What do you learn about the names independent schools and public schools?

2. What changes have taken place in public school life?

3. What is said about the curriculum, especially in relation to classics, sports, science and computers?

4. Do you get the impression that academic success is still important or not?

5. What is said about discipline?

6. To what extent are public schools involved with the local community and with the rest of the world at large?

An alternative in education – the City-as-School – has been started in New York, USA. Below is an article about the school. Before you read it, try to predict from the name, what kind of schooling it might provide and discuss your ideas with the rest of the class. Read the article to find out how accurate your predictions were.

The City-as-School idea itself is not new but the New York programme is generally recognised as being the most successful of its kind.

Three hundred and fifty high school students between 15 and 18 attend the City-as-School: it's a school without walls and its classroom is the city itself. Students spend their days in the theatres, museums, government offices and businesses of New York in a programme of part-time apprenticeships that are individually tailored to their interests and needs.

Pam Bruno, 16, for example, spends part of her time in the City Council press office, finding out about New York politics as she helps prepare press releases and assists in the running of the office. Another day is spent at New York University where she takes first year courses in sociology and main themes in contemporary world history. She also works for a Women’s Centre, travelling about the City interviewing women in business for a report that’s soon to be published. Yet another day is spent at a television casting agency, learning what show business is all about.

Students are accepted into City-as-School after an interview; the only academic requirement is two years of basic mathematics and science at a high school.

Credits are given, for satisfactory completion of each assignment, so that the students stand as good a chance of getting into an American college as their counterparts in ordinary high schools. In fact it was shown recently that 80–85 per cent of CAS graduates are going on to college without problems.

As might be expected, many of the CAS students are young people who, for one reason or another, were unhappy with conventional education. Pam Bruno dropped out of the conventional system because she was bored: “I felt stifled by an educational system that didn’t seem to care about me. I was jut a number.”

The New York City-as-School is viewed as a useful alternative way of dealing with these final and often troublesome school years. There are, however, still some lingering doubts as to whether this kind of life experience can totally replace the academic development acquired in a classroom.

Alan Mathews. Themes. 1992

Дата добавления: 2017-01-14