Only connect - Module 2

C1 Advanced · Multiple Choice Reading · Advanced Expert Coursebook, Pearson Education

You are going to read an article about education. For questions 1–6, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of sixteen year olds in the UK leave school with few or no qualifications. What, if anything, can be done to stop schools failing young people? I left school at the age of 16 and lost my sense of direction. Fifteen years later, this memory was triggered by a TV experiment called Dream School in which a celebrity gathers together 20 kids who have left school and asks some of Britain’s smartest people – none of whom are trained teachers – to teach and inspire them. And in the faces of the kids – alternately bad-tempered, unable to listen and desperate to change – I can see my younger self. There are half a million such kids in Britain, and during this rough and ready attempt to turn a few of them round, some of the so-called ‘teachers’ try aggressive discipline, others try sympathetic indulgence, and beneath this pedagogical chaos the ideal solution becomes clear. On the first day at my first secondary school, I remember thinking, ‘How dare they tell me what I’ll be doing every day?’ I loved to learn – I was always reading – but my reaction to being ordered to do it made me come across as hostile. The teachers responded to me scornfully, which led to mutual hatred. So I was always skiving off school without permission, always on the brink of being expelled, until I dropped out as soon as I legally could. Although distressed by my behaviour, my parents were unable to convince me to stay on to do my ‘Advanced’ level exams. Since they had left school at 16 too, they didn’t really have a leg to stand on. Anyway, I spent a year playing video games and having fantasies of being ‘discovered’. (For some reason, I thought I was going to be an actor, even though I am utterly incapable of acting, in the same way that today’s kids dream of achieving fame through reality shows like The X Factor.) Finally, I was persuaded to try out another school, although I didn’t have high expectations. But something happened that I had never found in the education system before: there were teachers there who took the time to figure out why I was so resistant to their praise and to find a way of teaching that would nurture me. Outwardly indifferent and unsurprised, I was inwardly astonished. My sense of self began to change and I began to think, for the first time, that I might have ability. It was their encouragement and caring that turned my life around. Some were strict and some were soft, but it was the emotional connection that mattered. You can see the same process happening in Dream School. These kids associate education with being told they are useless. One of the ‘teachers’ tells them, in effect, to pull themselves together. But being looked down on sends them back into a same-old spiral of shame and rage. The ‘teacher’ then shifts strategy, instinctively sensing the need to get to know them individually. Suddenly, it works and the kids begin to react. There can be discipline – indeed, the kids want it, deep down – but first there has to be a bond. It’s there when one of the ‘teachers’ tells a kid that his poetry is brilliant and when another tells a boy he’s great at maths. They then begin to work – like plants finally given water and sunshine. But can a principle like this be introduced into our education system? Recently, the US city of Raleigh passed a law to restrict the number of underachieving students in each school so that those who needed most help wouldn’t all be lumped together. The idea was that if there are one or two disaffected young people in the class, the others create a group dynamic that discourages bad behaviour, and if that doesn’t work the school can give the troublemakers personal attention. If they make up the majority, it’s impossible. Within a decade, Raleigh went from being one of the worst-performing districts to one of the best, with the added benefit that crime in the neighbourhood also fell substantially. However, my first school wasn’t crammed full of chaotic students and yet it still let me down. What do you do then? The rap artist, Plan B, has talked about how his educational misery only ended when his school set up a Pupil Referral Unit – a calm place where he could be given one-to-one attention by sympathetic and consistent teachers. When a child is seriously misbehaving, it should be a flashing light that they most need to establish a relationship with someone. Until the government is prepared to invest money in schemes like this, the principles uncovered in the experiment will be just that – dreams.

he has experienced the type of incoherent teaching techniques shown in it.

he can identify with the attitude of the students who took part in it.

he once participated in a similar research project himself.

he is convinced that the idea will fail.

In the first paragraph, the writer mentions the Dream School experiment on TV because

his parents did not recognise the value of education.

he had already set his heart on a specific job.

he resented the way he was treated there.

his teachers believed he had no academic potential.

The writer left his first secondary school because

he had already made up his mind to adopt a co-operative attitude.

he was inspired to fulfil his potential.

he felt the timetable provided more flexibility.

he realised the need to focus on a future career.

The writer's experience at the next school he attended was more successful because

it took time for them to accept the discipline.

none of them would admit that they needed help.

they were made to feel unworthy of attention.

the subjects were taught badly.

The writer believes the students at the Dream School did not initially respond to the experiment because

the number of law-breakers in an area is related to the academic success of its schools.

students should be responsible for monitoring each other's behaviour.

children will achieve more academically if they are given more individual help.

limiting the number of disadvantaged students in schools can achieve good results.

Available as a free printable PDF worksheet with an optional answer key.

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