If You Get In, Make College Count
As tuition costs rise, with post-undergraduate (本科毕业后) jobs difficult to find, is higher education worth the cost?
Here is an unfortunate truth: For far too many incoming freshmen, college-any college-is not worth it. Year after year, students fail to get the full value of their tuition.
Many critics blame this cost/value problem on the universities, though each critic might point to a different reason: teachers always think of difficult research, the high costs of athletics, or the popularity of majors that are supposedly not suited to the new job market, to name some of their favorites.
But these are symptoms and not the illness itself. In our experience, the source of the wasted university experience begins with the student. Too often, students make bad choices or, frankly, just not enough great choices.
Too often we meet students who are so exhausted by the business of getting into college that they don’t work hard once they arrive-one of the most common wastes of time and tuition. A poorly constructed transcript (成绩单) can be destructive to a student’s education. Failure to engage and build professional working relationships with professors in office hours (which may lead to continued study, internships and more) also hurts the student’s experience.
Another mistake is failing to make use of the many support networks on today’s college campuses. It’s almost embarrassing how many good offerings are rolled into each tuition dollar, but most students don’t know they exist.
Another common point of failure is filling the schedule with too many extracurricular activities as students once did in high school, rather than getting intensely involved in one or two at most. The same can be said of overburdened course loads.
The final great failure we frequently see is the approach students (and their parents) take to selecting a major and accurately seeing its impact on a future career. University systems are not vocational schools. While critics nowadays complain about the attraction of useless majors – and some do exist – more frequently we see too many students pursue a course of study that is not their strength, simply because it seems to have obvious connections to a potential job after graduation.
Rather than perform poorly in a “practical” major and be of little interest as a future job candidate, we say it is better to major in a subject where a student would do well and master the tools of communication and analysis. Students who choose a unique major should complement (使更具有吸引力) that with some well-chosen skill courses, internships and other co-curricular activities that help them with career opportunities after college.
So, is college worth it? It can be. Studies show that college graduates have many advantages – material, social and emotional – that can lead to greater success later in life.
To get the full value out of college, students must be as diligent and creative about getting out of college as they were about getting in. After all, the most beautiful, Olympic saltwater pool does you no good if you don’t know how to swim.
Introduction | Students in college are (71) ▲ to get the full value of the constantly rising tuition. Critics hold that the universities are responsible for the problem, but actually it is students themselves that are to (72) ▲ . |
Students’ mistakes | ● Students tend to stop working hard after (73) ▲ to college. |
● Students fail to take advantage of the (74) ▲ that colleges provide. | |
●(75) ▲ in too many extracurricular activities makes students overburdened with course loads | |
● Students can’t adopt a correct (76) ▲ to select a major and accurately see its future potential. | |
Author’s advice | ● Take personal (77) ▲ and strength into account. |
● Learn the skills of communication and analysis. | |
● Choose some skill courses, internships and other co-curricular activities to (78) ▲ future career chances. | |
● Most importantly, diligence and creativity (79) ▲ . | |
(80) ▲ | Students, and only students themselves, can get the best out of college, as long as they learn the skills to swim in the beautiful pool of college. |
71.unable / unlikely
72.blame
73.admission/ going
74.resources / support
75.participating / joining
76.method / way
77.strength(s)/advantage(s)/merit(s)
78.increase/ boost
79.diligence
80.Conclusion
In a society, such as the United States or Canada, which has many national, religious and cultural differences, people highly value individualism--the difference among people. Teachers place a lot of importance on the qualities that make each student special. The educational systems in these countries show these values. Students don't memorize information. Instead, they work individually and find answers themselves. There is often discussion in the classroom. At an early age, students learn to form their own ideas and opinions.
In most Asian societies, by contrast, people have the same language, history, and culture. Perhaps for this reason, the educational system in much of Asia reflects society’s belief in group goals and purposes rather than individualism. Children in China, Japan, and Korea often work together and help one another in assignments. In the classroom, the teaching methods are often very formal. The teacher lectures, and the students listen. There is not much discussion. Instead, the students recite rules of information that they have memorized.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both of these systems of education. For example, one advantage to the system in Japan is that there much more math and science than American students learn by the end of high school. They also study more hours each day and more days each year than North Americans do. The system is difficult, but it prepares students for a society that values discipline and self-control. There is, however, a disadvantage. Memorization is an important learning method in Japanese schools, yet many students say that after an exam, they forget much of the information that they have memorized.
The advantage of the educational system in North American, on the other hand, is that students learn to think for themselves. The system prepares them for a society that values creative ideas. There is, however, a disadvantage. When students graduate from high school, they haven’t memorized as many basic rules and facts as students in other countries have.
Title: 76 of Educational System between North America and Asia
Students in the US and 77 | Students in China, Japan and Korea | |
What do they 78 | Individualism | 79 goals and purposes |
Different 80 of study | Working individually | Listening to the teachers |
Forming their own ideas and opinions | Reciting rules and memorizing information | |
A lot of discussion in the classroom | Not much discussion | |
81 | Learning to think for themselves | Learning much more math and science |
Studying more hours each day and more days each year | ||
Good for a society that values 82 | Good for a society valuing 83 and self-control | |
Disadvantages | Students haven’t memorized many basic rules and facts before 84___ | Information is 85 easily. |
Directions: Read the following passage. Complete the diagram by using the information from the passage. Write NO MORE THAN 3 WORDS for each answer.
American public education has changed in recent years. One change is that increasing numbers of American parents and teachers are starting independent public schools called charter schools.
In 1991, there were no charter schools in the Unite States. Today, more than 2300 charter schools operate in 34 states and the District of Columbia. 575. 000 students attend these schools. The students are from 5 years of age through 18 or older.
A charter school is created by groups of parents, teachers and community members. It is similar in some ways to a traditional public school. It receives tax money to operate a number of students. The charter school must prove to local or state governments that its students are learning. These governments provide the school with the agreement, or charter that permits it to operate.
Unlike a traditional public school, however, the charter school does not have to obey most laws governing public schools. Local, state or federal governments cannot tell it what to teach.
Each school can choose its own goals and decide the ways it wants to reach those goals. Class sizes are usually smaller than in many traditional public schools. Many students and parents say teachers in charter schools can be more creative.
However, state education agencies, local education-governing committees and unions often oppose charter schools. They say these schools may receive money badly needed by traditional public schools. Experts say some charter schools are doing well while others are struggling.
Congress provided 200 million dollars for establishing charter schools in the 2006 federal budget. But, often the schools say they lack enough money for programs. Many also lack needed space, District officials say they have provided 14 former school buildings for charter education. Yet charter school supporters say officials should try harder to find more space.
Title: 71.
72 ________ | Independent public school | ||
Similarities between charter schools and traditional schools | ●73 ________ to operate U number of students ●Having to prove the students are learning ●Getting 74 ________ to operate from government | ||
75 __________ between charter schools and traditional schools | ●Not having to obey most laws for public schools ●Being free to decide the 76 ________ ●Being free to choose the goals and decide 77 ________ them ●There usually being 78 ________ students in charter schools’classes ●Having teachers who are more creative | ||
Charter school's problems | Opinions from education departments | These schools receiving money badly needed by 79 ________ Not all doing well | |
Opinions from charter schools | Lacking enough money Lacking 80._________ |