Comprehension (A)
The teacher may illustrate the economic importance of belonging to a strong union by closing down the school before the child arrives. Fathers and mothers may demonstrate to the child the social cohesion that can be built on shared hatred by demonstrating their dislike for children whose pigmentation displeases them. In the latter event, the child may receive visual instruction in techniques of stoning buses, cracking skulls with a nightstick and subduing mobs with teargas. Formal education has begun.
During formal education, the child learns that life is for testing. This stage lasts twelve years, a period during which the child learns that success comes from telling testers what they want to hear. At this point, education becomes more subtle. The child taught by school that he is dumb observes that neither he, she, nor any of the many children who are even dumber ever failed to be promoted to the next grade. From this, the child learns that while everybody talks a lot about the virtue of being smart, there is very little incentive to stop being dumb. What is the point of school, besides attendance? The child wonders. As the end of the first formal stage of education approaches, school answers this question. The point is to equip the child to enter college.
Questions:
i. Write down the summary of the passage and suggest a suitable title.
ii. Interpret the expressions "social cohesion," "shared hatred," and "pigmentation displeases them" in the context of the passage.
iii. Analyze the role of formal education in shaping the child's perception of success and the strategy of telling testers what they want to hear.
iv. Explore the idea presented in the passage regarding the child's understanding of the value of being smart and the lack of incentive to stop being dumb.
v. State your point of view on formal education in the passage and how it influences the child's perception of the purpose of school.
vi. How can the experiences described in the passage be applied to real-life situations, especially in understanding the dynamics of education and its impact on a child's worldview?
