Bernal Well, there are a lot of different
views on this, but I think it is probably wrong to imagine that there was some
golden age in the past when everything was perfect. It all depends, of course,
on what you measure and how you measure it. Some people might be surprised that
there has not been an obvious and dramatic increase in the standard of
education, given the vast amounts of money spent in this area by successive
governments in recent years. Unfortunately, most improvements in education are
intangible. Carlos Many people talk about how
to improve education and a lot suggest raising the salaries of teachers and
professors. Of course, this is very important to education. However, increasing
the salary of teachers is just one way to improve education. It will not work
without the cooperation of the other determinants, such as student’s interest in
gaining knowledge and in reading. Even if the teachers are devoted, it won’t
make any difference if the students are not willing to learn.
Stevens Well, if you asked me, it’s all these modern
methods that is the problem. In the old days you sat in rows at desks and you
did as you were told. You knew what you had to do and you follow the way as the
teachers instructed and you kept quiet. Nowadays, my god, the noise in most
schools is deafening especially in primary schools. As far as I am concerned the
children wander around—do whatever they would like to. The teacher just sits
there or wanders around with them, talking to them. Informal teaching they call
it. Discovery methods sounds more like a recipe for discovering disaster to
me. Ingersoll The criticism that what students
learn today is not adapted to present-day society is utterly wrong because
education can never be seen only in terms of how useful the subjects are when
students leave school. We ought to evaluate education in terms of how much the
students enjoy those subjects and how much they mean to those students. Instead
of being trained to be utilitarian, students should be encouraged to do things
for their own sake, and study what they are interested in.
Jessica I think it’s a great shame people don’t learn
anything today. I mean, good heavens, when you think of all the millions of
pounds the Government have spent on education—new schools, more teachers, new
equipment. And yet still you find people who can’t read properly, can’t even
write their names and don’t know what two and two is without a calculator. I
think it’s downright disgraceful. Think of the time when we were young, we went
to school to learn and did as the teachers told and respected our teachers.
Nowadays we get long-haired kids who aren’t interested in anything. No wonder
they don’t learn anything. Now match each of the persons to the
appropriate statement. Note: there are two extra statements.
Statements
A. The modern methods of teaching should be responsible for the deafening
noise in primary schools.
B. It’s shameful of some people not to learn anything with provided
conditions.
C. We should evaluate education from the students’ aspect, how much they
enjoy is what counts most.
D. Raising salary of teachers and professors is the only way to improve
education.
E. Students’ own willingness to learn really matters in terms of education.
F. There is no improvement in education. G.
Most of the improvements in the standard of education are
intangible.