Higher Education

Out of more than three million students who graduate from high school each year, about one million go on for higher education. A college at a leading university might receive applications from two percent of these high school graduates, and then accept only one out of every ten who apply. Successful applicants at such colleges are usu­ally chosen on the basis of a) their high school records; b) recommen-

⁷ Information on a student's attendance, enrollment status, degrees conferred
and dates, honours and awards; college, class, major field of study; address, tele­
phone number.

⁸ Grade Point Average — a grade allowing to continue in school and to graduate.

⁹ To take up an additional course for personal interest, not for a credit and to pay
for it additionally, с/, факультатив.

¹⁰1. D. (Identification Document) — с/, студенческий билет.

¹¹ Transcript — AmE. An official document of a college or university which lists the student's classes and the grades received: Students can pick up their transcripts at the registrar's office in Murphy Hall.

dations from their high school teachers; c) their scores on the Scho­lastic Aptitude Tests (SATs).

The system of higher education in the United States comprises three categories of institutions: 1) the university, which may contain a) sev­eral colleges for undergraduate students seeking a bachelor's (four-year) degree and b) one or more graduate schools for those continuing in specialized studies beyond the bachelor's degree to obtain a master's or a doctoral degree, 2) the technical training institutions at which high school graduates may take courses ranging from six months to four years in duration and learn a wide variety of technical skills, from hair styling through business accounting to computer programming and 3) the two-year, or community college, from which students may enter many professions or may transfer to four-year colleges.

Any of these institutions, in any category, might be either public or private, depending on the source of its funding. Some universities and colleges have, over time, gained reputations for offering particularly chal­lenging courses and for providing their students with a higher quality of education. The factors determining whether an institution is one of the best or one of the lower prestige are quality of the teaching faculty; qual­ity of research facilities; amount of funding available for libraries, special programs, etc.; and the competence and number of applicants for admis­sion, i. e. how selective the institution can be in choosing its students.

The most selective are the old private north-eastern universities, com­monly known as the Ivy League, include Harvard Radcliffe, (Cambridge, Mass., in the urban area of Boston), Yale University (New Haven, Conn, between Boston and New York), Columbia College (New York), Princ­eton University (New Jersey), Brown University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College; University of Pennsylvania. With their traditions and long established reputations they occupy a position in American university life rather like Oxford and Cambridge in England, particular­ly Harvard and Yale. The Ivy League Universities are famous for their graduate schools, which have become intellectual elite centers.

In defence of using the examinations as criteria for admission, ad­ministrators say that the SATs provide a fair way for deciding whom to admit when they have ten or twelve applicants for every first-year student seat.

In addition to learning about a college/university's entrance re­quirements and the fees, Americans must also know the following.

Professional degrees such as a Bachelor of Law (LL.A.) or a Bach­elor of Divinity (B.D.) take additional three years of study and re­quire first a B.A. or B.S. to be earned by a student.

Gradual schools in America award Master's and Doctor's degrees in both the arts and sciences. Tuition for these programs is high. The courses for most graduate degrees can be completed in two or four years. A thesis is required for a Master's degree; a Doctor's degree requires a minimum of two years of course work beyond the Master's degree level, success in a qualifying examination, proficiency in one or two foreign languages and/or in a research tool (such as statistics) and completion of a doctoral dissertation.

The number of credits awarded for each course relates to the num­ber of hours of work involved. At the undergraduate level a student generally takes about five three-hour-a week courses every semester. (Semesters usually run from September to early January and late Jan­uary to late May.) Credits are earned by attending lectures (or lab classes) and by successfully completing assignments and examina­tions. One credit usually equals one hour of class per week in a single course. A three-credit course in Linguistics, for example, could in­volve one hour of lectures plus two hours of seminars every week. Most students complete 10 courses per an academic year and it usu­ally takes them four years to complete a bachelor's degree require­ment of about 40 three-hour courses or 120 credits.

In the American higher education system credits for the academic work are transferable among universities. A student can accumulate credits at one university, transfer them to a second and ultimately receive a degree from there or a third university.

1. a) Answer the following questions:

1. What are the admission requirements to the colleges and uni­versities? 2. What are the three types of schools in higher education? 3. What degrees are offered by schools of higher learning in the USA? What are the requirements for each of these degrees? 4. What are the peculiarities of the curricula offered by a college or a university? 5. What is a credit in the US system of higher education? How many credits must an undergraduate student earn to receive a bachelor's degree? How can they be earned?

b) Find in the text the factors which determine the choice by an individual of this or that college or university.

i' c) Summarize the text in three paragraphs.

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2. Use the thematic vocabulary and the material of the Appendix in answer­
ing the following questions:

1. What steps do students have to take to enroll in a college/ uni­versity for admission? Speak about the exams they take - PSAT, SAT, ACT. 2. What financial assistance are applicants eligible for? What is college scholarship, grants, loan? Explain and bring out the essence of student financial aid. 3. Speak about the academic calendar of a university. How does an academic year differ from the one in Russia? 4. How many credit hours does a student need to graduate? What types of curricular courses and how many does a student have to take to earn a degree? 5. What is a GPA (Grade Point Average)?

6. What is there to say about a college faculty? What is a tenure?

7. What is the role of a student's counsellor? Specify the function of career development and job placement within a university. 8. Should there be an age limit for university full-time students? What are your attitudes to mature students? 9. What are the sources of funding for universities and colleges (both public and private)? 10. What is an undergraduate student? A graduate student?

3. Read the following dialogue. The expressions in bold type show the way peo­
ple can be persuaded. Note them down. Be ready to act out the dialogue in class.

Molly: Yolanda, I have big news to tell you. I've made a very big decision.

Yolanda: Well, come on. What is it?

M.: I'm going to apply to medical school.

Y: You're what? But I thought you wanted to teach.

M.: I've decided to give that up. Teaching jobs are being cut back now at many universities.

Y: Yes, and I've read that a number of liberal arts colleges have been closed.

M.: I have a friend who finished his Ph. D. in history last year. He's been looking for a teaching position for a year, and he's been turned down by every school so far.

K: I suppose a Ph.D. in the humanities isn't worth very much these days.

M.: No, it isn't. And even if you find a teaching job, the salary is very low.

Y.: Yeah, college teachers should be paid more. But, Molly, it's very difficult to get into medical school today.

M.: I know. I've been told the same thing by everyone.

Y: How are you going to pay for it? It costs a fortune to go to medical schools now.

M; Maybe I can get a loan from the federal government.

Y.: That's an interesting possibility but it doesn't solve the finan­cial problem entirely even if you get the student financial aid. You will graduate owing money. Medical students, especially, acquired heavy debts. Recently I read of one who owed $ 60,000. Won't you be facing sufficient other problems without starting life in debt? Aren't many college graduates having trouble even finding jobs? When they find them, don't they begin at relatively modest salaries?

M.: I don't know, but...

Y.: It's foolish for a student to acquire debt, a negative dowry, unless it's absolutely imperative. Students sometimes become so ex­cited about college that they forget there's life afterwards.

M.: Maybe you're right. Life is a series of compromises, I'll have to consider career possibilities in the light of college costs...

4. In trying to persuade others, people use different tactics which can be clas­sified into 3 basic strategies — hard, soft and rational. Hard tactics alienate the people being influenced and create a climate of hostility and resistance. Soft tac­tics — acting nice, being humble — may lessen self-respect and self-esteem. Peo­ple who rely chiefly on logic reasons and compromise to get their way are the most successful.

1) As you read the extracts below pay attention to the difference between
the 3 different strategies of persuasion — hard, soft and rational:

a) (parent to child) Get upstairs and clean your room! Now. (hard); b) (professor to student) I'm awfully sorry to ask you to stay late but I know I can't solve this problem without your help, (rational); c) (pro­fessor to student) I strongly suggest that you work this problem out, if not, I will have to write a negative report about you. (hard); d) (teach­er to freshman) That was the best essay I ever read. Why don't you send it to the national competition? You could do very well there (soft).

2) In the text below the teacher is giving Jeff, a talented but a very lazy stu­
dent, his advice. Decide if the teacher's strategies are hard, soft or rational.

I guess there is nothing more I can say or do to persuade you to try harder, Jeff. At this point it is crucial that you decide what you really

want to do in order to know the language well. It's important to start early. You are very bright but it is still essential that you practise on a daily basis. It is also very important for you to come to class regular­ly. No one can do these things for you and no one should. It's neces­sary that you decide yourself whether to make these changes in your attitude or to give up your future as a teacher of English.

5. Pair work, i) From the dialogue in Ex. 3 list the problems which young people face choosing a career in the USA. Team up with another student and discuss the problem of a career choice. Try to be convincing in defending your views. 2) Use the art of persuasion in making your son apply to the university of your choice which does not appeal to him. Vary the strategies from soft to hard.

6. Group discussion. Read the following selections. The issue discussed is the role of the student in the university. Consider each ot the categories present­ed below and discuss the position of the Russian students at the institute in view of the recent changes in the Russian system of higher education.

1. «Is the student's role similar to that of an apprentice — study­ing the master and gradually becoming a master? Or is the proper relationship one of award of the university, which is responsible for the student's welfare and moral and intellectual training? Or is the student a client of the university — where the student seeks out pro­fessors to help in areas of interest and need?»

2. «It is probably safe to say that in England, Canada and the United States, until recent years, there has always been a sharp dis­tinction between the role and status of the teacher and the role and status of the student — a simple recognition of the fact that the former by virtue of his knowledge, age and experience should exercise some domination and direction over the latter.»

3. «It was obvious in the seventies that student protest had al­tered the ethos of the campus in many significant ways. There was, for example, the relaxation of admission requirements, the adoption of pass-fail grading in many courses, the increasing provisions for in­dependent study, the emphasis on creative art, the growth of work-study programs, the free choice of a wide variety of subjects.

There was now no argument: students did share the power. The vital question was to what extent and in what areas?

But in respect of the student's role in the university, a significant point in the history of the university was turned. Students could no longer be considered children, they were adults with responsibility

for their own behaviour and conduct; they were franchised members of the university with voting rights on some issues and potentially on all issues within the university community.»

7. Enact a panel discussion:

A panel discussion programme appears on TV. Four members of the public are invited to give their opinions. The questions for dis­cussion are sent in by the viewers. The chairperson reads out the ques­tions and directs the panel.

a) Open the group discussion by describing the members of the panel and the chairperson.

b) Split into groups of four students. Pretend you are the TV panel. Elect a chairperson and decide which of the four roles each of you will take: Mrs/Mr Ter-rie/John Hill, the academic vice president: Mrs/Mr Lilian/Joseph Ubite, a pro­fessor in the department of education; Mrs/Mr Denis/Gary Bell, a grad student in education; Florence/Donald Burrel, an undergraduate.

c) Consider the questions under discussion and enact the panel:

1. How should higher education be organized, governed, direct­ed? How much, if any, freedom and autonomy should there be for universities and institutes? 2. Students should share the responsibil­ities in a university and enjoy equal rights with the faculty. The vital question is to what extent and in what ways? 3. Pros and cons of written and oral examinations.

8. Do library research and write an essay on one of the given topics:

1. The principle tasks of higher education.

2. Russian and American systems of higher education. Specify the following: admission, requirements, students' grants and financial aid, academic calendar, courses, political, sports and cultural activities.

Do library research and write an essay on one of the given topics:

1. The principle tasks of higher education.

2. Exams or continuous assessment.

3. Harvard University. A system of grades.

Unit TWO

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