The numbers are in and they don’t look good." that was the assessment of Josephson institute of Ethics last October, when they conducted a survey about the moral standards of more than 20.000 middle and high school students. Almost half the young people reported stealing something from a store in the previous 12 months. In the same period seven out of 10 cheated on an exam.
Should we be worried? Many observers say that we should. We see evidence of more antisocial behavior than ever among our youth – a sort of divorce between personal ethics and everyday behavior. Even among our most academically talented students, personal interest seems to triumph over the common good.
From across the political spectrum come calls to address the problem, as people from left, right, and center – however differently they may understand morality – recognize that building character is everyone's business. And, of course, in American society, whatever is everyone's business and involves children quickly leads us to the school.
The ideal that schools should produce people who are both smart and good has a venerable tradition in the United States. Most children in 19th century America learned their ABC's from the McGuffey Readers, which were replete with stories of honesty, self-reliance and courage. The reader's author, William H McGuffey, was a professor of moral philosophy at the University of Virginia. But by the early 20th century, schools were beginning to lose their comfort with such moral indoctrination. As America became a more pluralistic society, it was harder to come up with a shared notion of good behavior. Given the lack of agreement, moral education, it was argued, was best left to the individual child's family and religious institution. By the late 1970s character development had all but disappeared as a goal of American public schools.
Part one:
1) Choose the most suitable title to the reading passage.
a- Ethical standards
b- Ethics in education
c- Scholars behaviour
2) Say whether the following statements are true or false according to the text.
Correct the false ones.
a- the survey results were satisfactory.
b- A few numbers of students cheated on the exams.
d- Building character should be an individual interest.
e- American schools start neglecting about some moral beliefs
3) Answer the following questions according to the text.
a- Are ethics respected by youngsters?
b- Did students prefer common or personal interests?
c- Why did American schools lose moral and ethical values?
4) Find in the text words closest in meaning to:
Organize (1§) = neat (4§) =
5) Find in the text words opposites in meaning to:
Fear (4§) ≠ empty (4§) ≠
6) Find words in the text whose definitions follow.
a- the way that someone acts towards other people (2§)
b- Qualities and features that make a person, groups or places different from others (3§)
7) Divide the followings words into roots and affixes.
Recognition- indoctrination-understanding-individual
Prefix Root suffix
8) Combine these pairs of sentences using the appropriate linking word
a- I tried hard. I failed.
b- He enjoys going to the theatre .his wife doesn’t.
c- We live in a castle. The castle was built by my grandfather.
d- He will not succeed. He works hard.
9) Underline the stressed syllable in the words below.
Absentee – psychology- international– economical.
10) Which form is used (weak/strong)
a- I would have come if he told me.
b- would you?
11) The sentences below are in jumbled order. Reorder them to have a coherent paragraph. Cross out the irrelevant one.
a- schools has to do more than teach academic subjects.
b- It has to teach Algerian tradition too.
c- Education has become a high priority for the government to develop the individual mentally, physically and morally since independence.
d- Education is compulsory until the age of 16.
e-Therefore cultural activities have become an important part of school life.
f- It has to offer physical education and sport as well as moral development through religious studies.
Part two: written expression
Choose one of the following topics.
Topic one
Is it the responsibility of schools to teach students moral standards or personal responsibility? People would argue that morals are the realm of parents. What are your own arguments on this issue?
Topic two
Many educators believe that students misbehave to achieve self-serving
goals.
These usually include:
- Getting attention.
- Seeking power.
- Taking revenge.
- Avoiding failure.
Write a paragraph of about 120 words talking about the causes of student's misbehavior.
Should we be worried? Many observers say that we should. We see evidence of more antisocial behavior than ever among our youth – a sort of divorce between personal ethics and everyday behavior. Even among our most academically talented students, personal interest seems to triumph over the common good.
From across the political spectrum come calls to address the problem, as people from left, right, and center – however differently they may understand morality – recognize that building character is everyone's business. And, of course, in American society, whatever is everyone's business and involves children quickly leads us to the school.
The ideal that schools should produce people who are both smart and good has a venerable tradition in the United States. Most children in 19th century America learned their ABC's from the McGuffey Readers, which were replete with stories of honesty, self-reliance and courage. The reader's author, William H McGuffey, was a professor of moral philosophy at the University of Virginia. But by the early 20th century, schools were beginning to lose their comfort with such moral indoctrination. As America became a more pluralistic society, it was harder to come up with a shared notion of good behavior. Given the lack of agreement, moral education, it was argued, was best left to the individual child's family and religious institution. By the late 1970s character development had all but disappeared as a goal of American public schools.
Part one:
1) Choose the most suitable title to the reading passage.
a- Ethical standards
b- Ethics in education
c- Scholars behaviour
2) Say whether the following statements are true or false according to the text.
Correct the false ones.
a- the survey results were satisfactory.
b- A few numbers of students cheated on the exams.
d- Building character should be an individual interest.
e- American schools start neglecting about some moral beliefs
3) Answer the following questions according to the text.
a- Are ethics respected by youngsters?
b- Did students prefer common or personal interests?
c- Why did American schools lose moral and ethical values?
4) Find in the text words closest in meaning to:
Organize (1§) = neat (4§) =
5) Find in the text words opposites in meaning to:
Fear (4§) ≠ empty (4§) ≠
6) Find words in the text whose definitions follow.
a- the way that someone acts towards other people (2§)
b- Qualities and features that make a person, groups or places different from others (3§)
7) Divide the followings words into roots and affixes.
Recognition- indoctrination-understanding-individual
Prefix Root suffix
8) Combine these pairs of sentences using the appropriate linking word
a- I tried hard. I failed.
b- He enjoys going to the theatre .his wife doesn’t.
c- We live in a castle. The castle was built by my grandfather.
d- He will not succeed. He works hard.
9) Underline the stressed syllable in the words below.
Absentee – psychology- international– economical.
10) Which form is used (weak/strong)
a- I would have come if he told me.
b- would you?
11) The sentences below are in jumbled order. Reorder them to have a coherent paragraph. Cross out the irrelevant one.
a- schools has to do more than teach academic subjects.
b- It has to teach Algerian tradition too.
c- Education has become a high priority for the government to develop the individual mentally, physically and morally since independence.
d- Education is compulsory until the age of 16.
e-Therefore cultural activities have become an important part of school life.
f- It has to offer physical education and sport as well as moral development through religious studies.
Part two: written expression
Choose one of the following topics.
Topic one
Is it the responsibility of schools to teach students moral standards or personal responsibility? People would argue that morals are the realm of parents. What are your own arguments on this issue?
Topic two
Many educators believe that students misbehave to achieve self-serving
goals.
These usually include:
- Getting attention.
- Seeking power.
- Taking revenge.
- Avoiding failure.
Write a paragraph of about 120 words talking about the causes of student's misbehavior.
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