University Life

Unit Three: University Life As the soil, however rich it may be, cannot be productive without cultivation, so the mind without culture can never produce good fruit.      Seneca The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means to an education. Ralph Waldo Emerson Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won't fatten the dog.        Mark Twain Section-One: Pre-reading For many people, university life is an unforgettable experience—one of joys and tears, success and failure, opportunities and challenges. Studying, assignments and examinations are far from everything in campus life. What is even more important is tracing one’s path on the way to maturity: learning to be independent, learning to get along with others, and learning what one values and how to foster those values. University, in this sense, is more like a training base for students to get ready for the real world. In this unit, we will probe into several aspects of university life and problems students may encounter. But before you start reading, discuss the following questions in a group. 1. Before you became a university student, you may have imagined what it would be like to study in a university. Is university life the way you imagined it would be? 2. What do you think is the most important thing to achieve at university? Explain. 3. Do you agree that examinations are an important means of assessing your school work? How do you feel when you are sitting in an examination? 4. Many university students nowadays take part-time jobs. What is your attitude towards students taking part- time jobs?  5. In what ways is the university life of your generation different from that of your parents’ generation? Explain. 6. Do you share a room with others at university or do you rent your own room? List the advantages and disadvantages of shared and single rooms. Section Two: In-reading Reading One Since one’s performance in examinations is generally the overriding factor in deciding the final class grades or marks, many students rack their brains to get satisfactory results – by working hard, burning the midnight oil, or playing little tricks. Let’s see what the boy in the following article does in order to get a good score. How to Get an A on Your Final Exam During my senior year in college, I served as a teacher’s assistant. One of my roles was to administer and proctor the exams. The class was a freshman introductory course, which had well over five hundred students. The students were given four exams during the semester and one cumulative final exam at the semester’s end. In order to manage these five hundred college freshmen, I had to establish rules. The rules were as follows. The exams began at exactly 9:00 A.M. The students would pick up test booklets and blue books and proceed to a seat of their choosing. They would have exactly fifty minutes to complete the examination. At exactly 9:50 A.M., I would call out, “Pencils down!” Everyone has to stop writing immediately, put their pencils down, proceed to the front of the room and turn in their blue books. Those who did not put their pencils down at exactly 9:50 A.M. and turn in their blue books would receive an automatic F, no exceptions! When final exam time came, the students were so indoctrinated into the system that I only needed to announce one warning at 9:40 A.M. So as the final minutes ticked away, I announced, “It is 9:40. You have ten minutes until pencils down.” Then at 9:50 A.M., I barked my last command for that semester: “It’s 9:50, pencils down. You know the rules!” And boom, all pencils went down, just like always. All 500 students stood---or was it only 499? Yes it was. Everyone filled the aisle except for one sneaky guy---a guy way up in the nosebleed section. He was just writing and writing away. I saw him up there, but he didn’t think I could. Once again, I barked, “Pencils down everyone!” But he kept writing and writing, trying to beat my system. How dare he! Boy, would I get him! At 9:58 A.M., as I began to organize the stacks of examination packets, I saw this young man running down the aisle to surrender his exam to the table. “Here, Mr. D’Angelo, take my blue book!” he huffed and puffed. “I cannot accept this. You know the rules. Pencils down at 9:50 A.M., or you get an automatic F.” “Please, Mr. D’Angelo, take my blue book!” “No! You know I can’t do that. It’s against the rules.” “Please, please, take my blue book! I’m barely passing this class. My mom and dad will kill me if I have to repeat this class. Just take it, and no one will ever know.” A tear began to stream down his cheek. “I’m sorry. I just can’t.” I went back to the stacks, organizing them one by one. The young man just turned and walked away with his shoulders slumped. Now with a stack of five hundred or so blue books in my arms, I watched the freshman walk up the stairs toward the exit. Just about at the halfway point, I saw him boldly turn around, with great confidence, you might say with a hint of arrogance.          He swiftly jogged down to me. He questioned softly, “Mr.D’Angelo, do you know who I am?” “Why no, and frankly I couldn’t care less.” “Are you sure you don’t know who I am?” he inquired with even greater confidence. I started to get a little concerned. Was this the dean’s son? What had I gotten myself into? “No, I’m sorry. I don’t.” I said with a little hesitation in my voice. “Are you absolutely, 100 percent sure that you don’t know who I am?” “For the last time, no. I don’t know who you are!” “Well then, good!” and he shoved his blue book into the middle of the stack and ran out the door. (from Chicken Soup for the College Soul. By Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen. 1996. Health Communications, Inc. ) (622 words) Words in Focus proctor (v.) To proctor an exam is to supervise students in an exam. cumulative (adj.) If a series of events have a cumulative effect, each event makes the effect greater. indoctrinate (v.) If people are indoctrinated, they are taught a particular belief with the aim that they will reject other beliefs and automatically follow what they have been taught. bark (v.) If you bark at someone, you shout at them aggressively in a loud, rough voice. sneaky (adj.) If you describe someone as sneaky, you disapprove of them because they do things secretly rather than openly. nosebleed (n.) If you have a nosebleed, it means that a small blood vessel inside your nose has  broken from stress, etc. and your nose is bleeding a lot from the inside. Some people  are prone to getting nosebleeds. the nosebleed section (ph.) This is a humorous idiomatic phrase that refers to a far-back, high-up section of a large auditorium or stadium. This phrase came from the fact that people often get nosebleeds at high altitudes, such as on a very high mountain. surrender (v.) If you surrender something you would rather keep, you very reluctantly give it up or let someone else have it, perhaps after a struggle.  huff and puff (ph.) If someone huffs and puffs, they express their annoyance or dissatisfaction with a decision or situation loudly but do not do anything to change it. In this case, “huff and puff” means to speak with great exertion, as after running, while trying to catch one’s breath. slump (v.) If you slump somewhere, you fall or sit down there heavily, for example, because you are very tired or feel ill. If your shoulders are slumped, it means that your back is bent with saddened disappointment and weariness. arrogance (n.) Arrogance refers to a proud and superior manner, showing too much pride in oneself and too little consideration for others. shove (v.) If you shove something somewhere, you push it there quickly and roughly.  Check Your Comprehension Answer the following questions with the information from the text. 1. What would be the punishment for those who failed to turn in the blue books in time? 2. How did the students behave in the exam? 3. What did the boy beg the teacher’s assistant to do? What was the assistant’s response? 4. Has the boy been a good student in this introductory course? 5. Why did the boy ask repeatedly if the teacher’s assistant knew him? 6. What’s your general impression about the teacher’s assistant? Check Your Vocabulary Find a word or phrase from the list of words or phrases provided below to complete each sentence. There are more words and phrases than you need to fill in all the sentences. Change word forms where necessary. introductory bark arrogance cumulative stacks of sneaky indoctrinate surrender huff and puff stream slump nosebleed   1.  Feeling extremely exhausted after a day’s work, she     into the sofa and soon fell asleep. 2.  “Impertinent!” Mr. Smith     again and again at his son’s rudeness, stomping around the room after his son had left. 3.  The policeman       at the criminal and raised his gun. 4.  Having a       is a common symptom of high blood pressure. 5.  His       behaviour has driven away a lot of friends. He always acts suspicious and like he’s up to something 6.  “I will surely beat him!” claimed the older boxer with an air of       . 7.  If you do not have enough time to go through the whole book, read the remarks to get a vague idea about it. 8.  She unfolded the letter from her son, tears       down her cheeks. 9.  They have been ordered to         their passports. 10. It is simple pleasures, such as a walk on a sunny day, which have a       effect in improving our general mood. Group Discussion Get yourselves into groups and discuss each of the following questions based on the information from the article and also your own knowledge, experiences, and beliefs. 1. If you were the teacher’s assistant, what would you do next? 2. Have you ever seen or heard of similar tricks played during an exam? If yes, describe them to your friends. 3. If you were principal/president of the school, what measures would you possibly take in the proctoring of exams? 4. Many students feel that university life is stressful. What do you think is the source of the major pressures in one’s college life? 5. Do you think an educational system without traditional exams will function better than one relying heavily on such exams? Give reasons. Reading Two If you consider lazy students to be the only ones suffering during examinations, you will find yourself wrong when you encounter another group of students, who have test anxiety. The following article focuses on this subject and gives advice on how to overcome test anxiety.  Learning to Keep Your Cool during Tests  1．  Have you ever felt so panicky during an examination that you couldn’t even put down the answers you knew? If so, you were suffering from what is known as test anxiety. 2．According to psychologist Ralph Trimble, test anxiety is a very real problem for many people. When you’re worried over your performance on an exam, your heart beats faster, your pulse speeds up, hormones are secreted. These reactions trigger others: You may sweat more than normal or suffer from a stomachache or headache. Your field of vision narrows and becomes tunnel-like, leaving you with very little peripheral sight. Before you know it, you’re having difficulty focusing. 3． “What I hear students say over and over again,” says Dr. Trimble, who is involved with the Psychological and Counseling Center at the University of  Illinois, “is, ‘My mind went blank.’” 4．  For a number of years, Dr. Trimble helped many students learn how to function better during exams and to bring up their grades. Some of these students were interested in sharing what they learned and, with Trimble’s help, began holding workshops on overcoming test anxiety. For many students, just being in a workshop with other sufferers was a relief. They realized they weren’t freaks, that they were not the only ones who had done poorly on tests because of tension. The workshops were so successful that they are still given. 5．  In the workshops, students are taught that anxiety is normal. You just have to prevent it from getting the best of you. The first step is to learn to relax. If before or during an examination you start to panic, stretch as hard as you can, tensing the muscles in your arms and legs; then suddenly relax all of them. This will help relieve tension. 6．  But keep in mind that you don’t want to be too relaxed. Being completely relaxed is no better than being too tense. “If you are so calm you don’t care how you do on an examination, you won’t do well,” Trimble says. “There is an optimum level of concern when you perform at your best. Some stress that in a challenging situation, being keyed up is good and will help them to do better. But if they label it anxiety and say, ‘It’s going to hit me again,’ that will push them over the edge.” 7．  As a student you must also realize that if you leave too much studying until a day or two before the examination, you can’t do the impossible and learn it all. Instead, concentrate on what you can do and try to think what questions are likely to be asked and what you can do in the time left for studying. 8．  When you sit down to study, set a moderate pace and vary it by interspersing reading, writing notes, and going over any papers you have already written for the course, as well as the textbooks and notes you took in class. Review what you know. Take breaks and go to sleep in plenty of time to get a good night’s rest before the exam. You should also eat a moderate breakfast or lunch, avoiding drinks with caffeine and steering clear of fellow students who get tense. Panic is contagious. 9．  Get to the exam room a few minutes early so that you will have a chance to familiarize yourself with the surroundings and get out your supplies. When the examination is handed out, read the directions twice and underline the significant instructions, making sure you understand them. Ask the teacher or proctor to explain if you don’t. First answer the easiest questions, then go back to the more difficult. If you are stumped on a multiple-choice question, first eliminate the impossible answers, then make as good an intuitive guess as possible and go on to the next. 10． On essay questions, instead of plunging right in, take a few minutes to organize your thoughts, make a brief outline, and then start off with a summary sentence. Keep working steadily, and even when time starts to run out, don’t speed up. 11． After the examination is over, don’t torture yourself by thinking over all the mistakes you made, and don’t start studying immediately for another exam. Instead, give yourself an hour or two of free time. 12．  Among the students who are working now as volunteer leaders in the workshops are a number who started out panicky and unable to function on exams. They learned how to deal with test anxiety and are now teaching others. It’s almost as easy as ABC. (from Reading & Study Skills, 5th Edition, Form A. By John Langan. 1992. McGraw- Hile, Inc.) (752 words ) Words in Focus panicky (adj.) A panicky feeling or panicky behaviour is characterized by panic. hormone (n.) A hormone is a chemical, usually occurring naturally in your body, that makes an organ of your body do something. secrete (v.) If part of a plant, animal, or human secretes a liquid, it produces it slowly and steadily.  trigger (v.) If something triggers an event or situation, it causes it to begin, or “sets it off,” just as a small stressful event can trigger a large psychological breakdown. peripheral (adj.) Peripheral areas are those which are on the edges of a larger area. Peripheral vision is your vision around the edges of what you’re looking at, rather than what you’re looking at directly. For example, if while you are looking straight ahead you see that someone is coming at you from the side, you have used your peripheral vision. freak (n.) People are sometimes referred to as freaks when their behaviour or attitude is very different from that of the majority of people. It is to show disproval. get(ting) the best of you (ph.) If something gets the best of you, it has overcome you and defeated you. optimum (adj.) The optimum or optimal level or state of something is the best level or state that it could achieve.  keyed up (ph.) If you are keyed up, you are very excited or nervous before an important or dangerous event.  intersperse (v.) If you intersperse one group of things with another or among another, you alternate the things in amongst each other. steer clear of (ph.) If you steer clear of someone or something, you deliberately avoid them.  contagious (adj.) A feeling or attitude that is contagious spreads quickly among a group of people.  stump (v.) If you are stumped by a question or problem, you cannot think of any solution or answer to it. Check Your Comprehension A Choose the best answer to complete each of the following statements according to the information you get from the passage. 1.   All of the following are the consequences of suffering from test anxiety except  ________. a.    faster heartbeat and speeding pulse b.    concentration difficulty c.    excessive sweating d.    tense muscles 2.  Which statement below is not correct about the workshops? a. The purpose of the workshops is to help students overcome test anxiety. b. The workshops teach students how to be totally relaxed in exams. c. The workshops were set up by some of Dr. Trimble’s students. d. The workshops are still open because of their success. 3.  The author in the text suggests that students do not ________. a. keep a moderate pace in preparation for the exam b. familiarize themselves with the surroundings before the exam c. take drinks with caffeine to perk up before the exam d. read instructions carefully before answering the questions 4.  After the exam, students should ________. a. think over the mistakes they made b. check the answers one by one with their classmates c. free themselves psychologically from the exam and have a rest d. start studying for another exam 5.  The purpose of this article is to ________. a. tell us the causes of test anxiety b. introduce workshops dealing with test anxiety c. introduce methods of getting high grades in exams d. teach students how to overcome test anxiety Check Your Comprehension B Answer each of the following questions with the information from the text. 1.  What is test anxiety according to psychologist Dr. Ralph Trimble? 2.  What work did Dr. Trimble devote himself to for a number of years? 3.  Why do students feel relieved in the workshop? 4.  Is it good to be too relaxed for exams? Why or why not? 5.  If a student doesn’t start studying for exams until two/ three days before the exam, what should he do to prepare for the exam? Check Your Vocabulary A The following sentences contain key words and phrases from the passage. Paraphrase the sentences below with a special focus on the italicized parts to show that you understand their meaning. 1. Your field of vision narrows and becomes tunnel-like, leaving you with very little peripheral sight. (p.2) 2. You just have to prevent it from getting the best of you. (p.5) 3. There is an optimum level of concern when you perform at your best. (p.6) 4. … that will push them over the edge. (p.6) 5. Among the students who are working now as volunteer leaders in the workshops are a number who started out panicky and unable to function on exams. (p.12) Check Your Vocabulary B Define each of the following words or phrases based on the context the word or phrase is in and then write a sentence of your own using the word or phrase. The number of the paragraph in which the word or phrase is used has been given in brackets. . Target word or phrase Meaning Use 1. tunnel-like (p.2)     2. supplies (p.9)     3. plunge in (p.10)     4. torture (p. 11)     5. ABC (p.12)           Group Discussion Get yourselves into groups and discuss each of the following questions based on the information from the article and also your own knowledge, experiences, and beliefs. 1. Have you ever experienced test anxiety? If yes, have you overcome it? 2. Besides test anxiety, can you think of any other psychological problems students may encounter in their studies? 3. Do you think it necessary to set up workshops to help students overcome their psychological problems in relation to their studies? Why? 4. What, in your opinion, may be useful ways to help you relax during exams? 4.  Some techniques for dealing with different kinds of problems have been introduced. Do you have any of your own to share with your classmates? Reading Three Student employment has often been highly encouraged as it is supposed to have a lot of positive effects: it teaches students to be independent, relieves parents of some financial burden and prepares students to get ready for life in the real world. However, there is always a flip side to the coin. The following article shows you the down side of engaging in a part-time job.  Students Who Push Burgers A college freshman squirms anxiously on a chair in my office, his eyes avoiding mine, those of his English professor, as he explains that he hasn’t finished his paper, which was due two days ago. “I just haven’t had the time,” he says. “Are you carrying a heavy course load?” “Fifteen hours,” he says – a normal load. “Are you working a lot?” “No, sir, not much. About 30 hours a week.” “That’s a lot. Do you have to work that much?” “Yeah, I have to pay for my car.” “Do you really need a car?” “Yeah, I need it to get to work.” This student isn’t unusual. Indeed, he probably typifies today’s college and high school students. Yet in all the lengthy analyses of what’s wrong with American education, I have not heard employment by students being blamed. I have heard drugs blamed and television – that universal scapegoat. I have heard elaborate theories about the decline of the family, of religion, and of authority, as well as other sociological theories. But nobody blames student employment. The world seems to have accepted the part-time job as a normal feature of adolescence. A parochial school in my town even had a day to honor students who held regular jobs, and parents often endorse this employment by claiming that it teaches kids the value of the dollar. But such employment is a major cause of educational decline. To argue my case, I will rely on memories of my own high school days and contrast them with what I see today. Though I do have some statistical evidence, my argument depends on what anyone over 40 can test through memory and direct observation. When I was in high school in the 1950s, students seldom held jobs. Some of us baby-sat, shoveled snow, mowed lawns, and delivered papers, and some of us got jobs in department stores around Christmas. But most of us had no regular source of income other than the generosity of our parents. The only kids who worked regularly were poor. They worked to help their families. If I remember correctly, only about five people in my class of 170 held bjobs. That was in a working-class town in New England. As for the rest of us, our parents believed that going to school and helping around the house were our work. In contrast, in 1986 my daughter was one of the few students among juniors and seniors who didn’t work. According to Bureau of Labor statistics, more than 40 percent of high school students were working in 1980, but sociologist Ellen Greenberger and Laurence Steinberg in “When Teenagers Work” came up with estimates of more than 70 percent working in 1986, though I suspect that the figure may be even higher now. My daughter, however, did not work; her parents wouldn’t let her. Interestingly, some of the students in her class implied that she had an unfair advantage over them in the classroom. They were probably right, for while she was home studying they were pushing burgers, waiting on tables, or selling dresses 20 hours a week. Working students have little time for homework. I attended a public high school, while she attended a Roman Catholic preparatory school whose students were mainly middle class. By the standards of my day, her classmates did not “have to” work. Yet many of them were working 20 to 30 hours a week. Why? They worked so that they could spend $60 to $100 a week on designer jeans, or rock concerts, stereo and video systems, and, of course, cars. They were living lives of luxury, buying items on which their parents refused to throw hard-earned money away. Though the parent would not buy such tripe for their kids, the parents somehow convinced themselves that the kids were learning the value of money. Yet, according to Ms. Greenberger and Mr. Steinberg, only about a quarter of those students saved money for college or other long-term goals. How students spend their money is their business, not mine. But as a teacher, I have witnessed the effects of employment. I know that students who work all evening aren’t ready for studying when they get home from work. Moreover, because they work so hard and have ready cash, they feel that they deserve to have fun – instead of spending all their free time studying. Thus, by the time they get to college, most students look upon studies as a spare-time activity. A survey at Pennsylvania State University showed that most freshmen believed they could maintain a B average by studying about 20 hours a week. (I can remember when college guidebook advised two to three hours of studying for every hour in class – 30 to 45 hours a week.) Clearly individual students will pay the price for lack of adequate time studying, but the problem goes beyond the individual. It extends to schools and colleges that are finding it difficult to demand quantity or quality of work from students. Perhaps the reason American education has declined so markedly is because America has raised a generation of part-time students. And perhaps our economy will continue to decline as full-time students from Japan and Europe continue to out-perform our part-time students. (Source still unable to locate) Words in Focus squirm (v.) If you squirm, you move your body from side to side uneasily, usually because you are nervous or uncomfortable.  scapegoat (n.) If you say that someone or something is made a scapegoat for something bad that has happened, you mean that people blame them or it and may punish them for it although it may not be their fault. For example, Hitler used the Jews as a scapegoat in early 20th century Germany. elaborate (adj.) Elaborate plans, systems, and procedures are complicated because they have been planned in very great detail, sometimes too much detail. adolescence (n.) Adolescence is the period of your life in which you develop from being a child into being an adult.  parochial (adj.) Parochial is used to describe things that relate to the parish connected with a particular church.