Analytical Reading

At the root of every book, whether fiction or nonfiction, is a central idea based on an outline of intentions. Think of the basic structure of the book as the skeleton and the elements that make up the story (and/or the themes) as the organs that complete the body. The life that this body takes on is based on your interpretation. You may wonder why you need to dig up the skeleton at all. Isn’t the book’s structure inherent in its outcome? Not always. You may find new interpretations if you look more closely at the core of the book. What you think is true in the outcome may change if you look closer at certain elements that make up the book.

Analyzing a book involves the ability to ask questions. Analysis does not have to lead to conclusions, it need only lead you toward a deeper examination. When it does lead to answers, however, it makes for a more satisfying reading experience.

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READING COMPREHENSION 2

READING COMPREHENSION 2

Electronic technology has produced significant changes in the way that humans interact. Before telephones, computers, and digital pagers, people communicated primarily by writing. We had to sit down, compose our thoughts, and then spend some time writing them down on paper. There was also a delay between the expression of our ideas and their reception on the other end, but folks were patient enough to wait. With technology, however, communication happens in “real time.” We don’t take time beforehand to consider what we want to say, and how to say it best. We Express ourselves directly, and bluntly. Now we are irritated when no one answers the phone, or get overly anxious if we don’t receive an immediate response to an email or page. We want all of our communication to happen instantaneously.

1) The author of this passage probably believes that the effects of technology on human communication are

A)  not very important       B) mostly negative             

C)  not well understood     D)  almost negligible

2) By  “Stop putting me on.” the speaker means ;

A) “I prefer to dress myself.”                                           B)  “Don’t lie to me.”

C)  “I don’t want you to put things on top of me.”      D)  “Don’t think that I am the same as you are.”

3) The federal government is not ____ any economic problems for the second half of the year; all the indicators are positive.

A)  anticipating                   B)  accommodating            

C)  asphyxiating                  D)  administering

READING COMPREHENSION 2 (ANSWER KEY)

1.B          2.B          3.A

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Passive Reading

Passive reading is effortless reading. It’s when you pick up a magazine or what we refer to as “light reading” (think beach books, “chick lit,” romance novels, etc.). You want the words to be easy, and the action to be fast and exciting or relaxed and simple. You don’t want to have to think too much. You just want to sit back, relax, and be entertained.

“Passive reading” is an expression more than anything. You are actively reading the material, but the deeper level of activity (such as looking for symbolism, or wondering what message the author is trying to convey to you) is not as intense as that of active reading. When you read passively, you may not be taking away new ideas or opinions, but you are being entertained. Passive reading is really only as good as the material you choose to read. It would be very difficult to read Plato’s Republic passively. If you even tried, you would find yourself digesting absolutely nothing.

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READING COMPREHENSION – 9 TRUE OR FALSE

The Explorers is a delightful book. It is delightful for its vivid descriptions of the fifteenth century seamen who set out to explore the unknown Atlantic and for its colourful English. It is delightful also for the charming sketches included here and there by a most unusual artist-author.

1) The seamen described in the book speak colourful English.

2) The beautiful drawings that are present in the book describe both Atlantic and England.

Dialogue adds variety to a story and thus stimulates the reader’s interest. It makes the action seem real and may throw light on the characters and the circumstances. In real life a word or speech may be quite as important as an act.
3) Sometimes, dialogue bears the same as or even more importance than an action.

There are many different ways of preserving history. The ancient Egyptians carved theirs in stone. The Dead Sea Scrolls were written on leather and parchment. Recently, history has been recorded not only on paper, but also on film, phonograph discs, and tape.
4) The main aim of this passage is to enumerate ways of preserving history in ancient times and the present.

One of the prime objects of education is to foster a taste for reading and to cultivate a discriminating appreciation of books. Accordingly every educated person needs the power to express his opinion of what he reads. Such an opinion is called a criticism.
5) In education, one main aim is that pupils should like reading and enjoying books.

6) Criticism, by definition, is an opinion expressed on what has been read.

When, how, or whence the Indians came to America we do not know for certain. In times more recent, men from Asia have crossed Bering Strait on the ice to Alaska in pursuit of fur-bearing animals. Many centuries ago it would have been just as easy for other Asiatics to have made the journey.
7) Probably, those Asian people that crossed Bering Strait in recent times are not the only ones that used this route to America.

A single glove at the scene of a murder may provide valuable clues for the police. For one thing, the size and style may suggest the build of the criminal and his way of life; one glove may direct the search toward a large man accustomed to driving a truck, another may suggest a small, dapper man of the ‘society’ type. For another, the hairs on a glove when placed under a microscope may provide important information. If they match those of the victim, they may link the owner to the crime. If not, they may give away the criminal’s own hair colour or, perhaps, the fact that he has been where there are farm animals. Finally, bits of hay, grains of soil, tiny metal fragments, and even oily threads of cloth are often invaluable in indicating the kind of place where the murderer lives or works.
 The passage groups the valuable services of a single small object for the police under three main topics.

9) The size of a single glove may well provide the police with information about the building in which the murder has been committed.

KEY TO COMPREHENSION – 9
1. b 2. b 3. b 4.a 5.a 6.a 7.a 8.a 9.b

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READING COMPREHENSION – 7

The outlook for the expansion of the silk-producing business in the United States is not bright there is no obvious reason why it should. In the first place, the silkworm requires hour-by-hour human care, and Americans, by disposition, are not suited to the work. Again, there is a strong belief that each country should specialise in those countries best suited to her geography and her culture. Why, then, should Americans attempt to build on a large industry which is well suited to Japan and to their South American neighbour, Brazil? And finally, nylon has proved superior to silk for many purposes, and nylon is produced in the States in quantity.

1- The tone of the passage is —.a) protesting
b) humorous
c) informational
d) matter-of-factly
e) sarcastic

The Black-Tailed Deer inhabits the forests along the Pacific Coast of North America from southern Alaska to southern California. In summer it is covered by a short reddish coat which it sheds as the season advances. The new coat, known as the ‘blue coat’, gradually lengthens and turns grey with the approach of winter. Each year the deer sheds its antlers, dropping them off from the skull from the base of the horn. New antlers sprout in the early spring. They are covered at first with skin and fur known as ‘velvet’, but when they have attained full growth and have hardened, the animal polishes away the ‘velvet’ against shrubs and trees. The common superstition that the number of points on the antlers indicates the age of the deer is quite without foundation.
2- This passage may have been taken from —.a) a weekend magazine
b) a natural park information service brochure
c) a talk on the natural beauties of Alaska and its surrounding mountains
d) a writing on the development of antlers on various animals
e) a book on various superstitions related with animals and their life

KEY TO COMPREHENSION – 7
1.a 2.b

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READING COMPREHENSION – 6

When the world was young, the opportunity for inventing new words must have been unlimited. Even then, however, the inventor’s task was less than half accomplished when he had emitted the new sound. Before he could regard his task as complete, he must induce his neighbours to use the sound as he had used it. Here we may draw on modern experience. The child playing in the sand invents a word for the pebbles that fill his hand. The new words is “pocos”. Does society adopt this word because it has been duly invented? Not at all. Society has an expression of its own for the designation of pebbles. So the child’s word “pocos” lingers for a time in the tolerant memory of the immediate family and then passes into oblivion.

1) The chief function of the paragraph is —.a) to enumerate details
b) to tell a story
c) to explain
d) to contrast
e) to compare

One application of the use of radioactive materials of particular interest to westerners is the use of radio cobalt to measure the depth of the snowpack in the Sierra Nevadas. For some years a group of co-operating agencies has taken measurements of snow depths throughout the range in order to determine the amount of run-off that will swell the rivers of the lowlands in spring and summer. This requires laborious excursions on snowshoes and skis by snow surveyors. The radio cobalt installation now being tested at the Sierra Nevada Snow Laboratory may eliminate most of this drudgery. A tube of radio cobalt is placed at ground level and its radiations are picked up by a detector directly above it. As snow accumulates, the strength of the signal varies with the quantity of water stored in the pack. Theoretically, a network of these installations would make it possible to keep track of the snow from one central station.
2) The main function of the paragraph is —.a) to arrive at a definition
b) to argue a controversial point
c) to recount in correct time order
d) to explain
e) to defend a presumably harmful material
 
3) Choose the best topic.
a) Peacetime Uses of Radioactive Materials.
b) Measuring the Snowpack with Radio Cobalt.
c) Radio Cobalt Uses.
d) The Sierra Nevada Snow Laboratory.
e) New Experiments in Nevada Mountains.

KEY TO COMPREHENSION – 6
1. C 2. d 3. C

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READING COMPREHENSION 5

The Tartan Museum

You cannot miss it. At first it was only the outside of the new Museum of Scotland that was unmissable, stuck on the corner of Chambers Street in Edinburgh, with its huge, yellow sandstone tower and cheese-wedge buildings, topped by a hulk of a hanging garden. Last winter the building was greeted with a mix of modernist architectural applause (‘masterpiece’, ‘stunning’), cautious approval (‘striking’) and outright hostility. This winter, now that the inside is almost ready for the opening, the exhibitions themselves look set for a similar fate.

Forget the does-it-tell-a-nation’s-story, is-it- chronological debate. The answers are definitely yes; it is a many-splendoured dreamcoat of stories, each hung about a precious historic object, and there is an outline timescale that helps visitors get their bearings but does not strait-jacket the displays. And no, it does not let its lovely national treasures – such as Mary Queen of Scots’ jewels and the Holyrood chapel silver – get swamped in national pride.

The real issue here, assuming that the collections are properly preserved, is whether people will find the museum interesting enough to come back. Dr David Clarke, the head of exhibitions, insists that a visit should be a pleasurable, visual experience, and that it is designed not for specialists but for those with little prior knowledge. Despite this liberalism, Clarke is a convincing purist when it comes to what is on show. Mock-ups and scenes from the past that rely heavily on imagination are out. For Clarke, they are tantamount to ‘giving a complete statement of certainty about what the past was like, which’, he explains, ‘would be wrong. The public deserves the truth.’ The result is that, at this museum, what you see is what the experts know. But the question for today’s visitor  is whether the objects’ stories can be told vividly enough merely with explanation panels, captions and multi-media interpretation and using barely 30 computers in total around the museum.

Less than three days before the opening, it is still difficult to be sure. Some impressions are clear, though, and it is not just the panoramic views of Edinburgh Castle that take your breath away. Step inside and what immediately hits you is the sequence of spaces. Galleries open one into another, different sizes, different shapes, all with pale walls that are wood-panelled to look like large blocks of stone and inset with deep display cases. Shafts of daylight stream through arrow-slit windows and cascade down from the roof lights. There is room to ponder and enjoy every item on display.

Thanks to the 12-member Junior board, set up three years ago with 9- to 12-year-olds drawn from all over Scotland, the museum also has a Discovery Centre. What the group really wanted was to be able to ride through the displays, Dr Clarke admits. They lost that one,  but won a dedicated children’s hands-on centre in what should have been the temporary exhibition gallery. As a result, the Twentieth Century gallery, on the top floor, is the only temporary exhibition. Due to change after three years, it is a hotchpotch of objects chosen by Scottish people and other personalities as the items that have had most impact on life in Scotland in the twentieth century. The Prime Minister’s suggestion was an electric guitar. Others went for televisions, Thermos flasks and favourite toys. Although the idea is fun, somehow it feels like a lightweight solution that has floated up to the top of the building, not a proper attempt to address serious issues. It may seem less frothy when the computerised bank of personal reasons and recollections goes live next week.

 Overall, Dr Clarke seems right when he suggests that ‘objects open windows on the past more vividly than anything else’. As for the modernist architecture: it works brilliantly from the inside and the top, but whether it is in the right location is another matter.

1. How does the writer expect people to react to the exhibitions?A They will be more interested in the buildings than the exhibitions.
B There will be a predominance of negative feelings.
C Their expectations are too high to be satisfied.
D There will be no consensus of opinion.

2. What does the writer say about the historical focus of the exhibitions?A The adherence to a strict historical timescale is the most important aspect.
B The historical background of a period is characterised through particular objects.
C The displays are not always easy to place in a historical context.
D The importance of national treasures in a historical context is exaggerated.

3. How does Dr Clarke feel about the historical displays?A There should be something for everyone with an interest in Scottish history.
B They should stimulate the visitors’ own imaginations.
C They should show only what is factually accurate.
D They should recreate history in as realistic a way as possible.

4. What is the most impressive aspect of the inside of the museum, according to the writer?A the design  B the lighting C the items on display D the number of galleries

5. What does the writer think of the temporary exhibition?A It deserves a better location in the museum.
B Its realisation does not satisfy the original concept.
C Its contents should be more accessible to children.
D It is difficult to understand the rationale for it.

6. What is the writer’s overall impression of the museum?A She thinks it provides inadequate coverage of Scotland’s historic past.
B She finds its approach insufficiently different from that of any other museum.
C She considers the building to be impractical for its purpose.
D She feels unsure as to whether the exhibitions will live up to their setting.

READING COMPREHENSION 5 (ANSWER KEY)1. D   2. B   3. C   4. A   5. B   6. D

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READING COMPREHENSION 4

A recent survey of crime statistics shows that we are all more likely to be burgled now than 20 years ago and the police advise everyone to take a few simple precautions to protect their homes. The first fact is that burglars and other intruders (criminals) prefer easy opportunities, like a house which is very obviously empty. This is much less of a challenge than an occupied house, and one which is well-protected. A burglar will wonder if it is worth the bother. There are some general tips on how to avoid your home becoming another crime statistic. Avoid leaving signs that your house is empty. When you have to go out, leave at least one light on as well as a radio or television, and do notleave any curtains wide open. The sight of your latest music centre or computer is enough to tempt any burglar.
Never leave a spare key in a convenient hiding place. The first place a burglar will look is under the doormat or in a flower pot and even somewhere more ‘imaginative’ could soon be uncovered by the intruder. It is much safer to leave a key with a neighbour you can trust. But if your house is in a quiet, desolate area be aware that this will be a burglar’s dream, so deter (prevent) any potential criminal from approaching your house by fitting security lights to the outsideof your house. But what could happen if, in spite of the aforementioned precautions ( mentioned earlier), a burglar or intruder has decided to target your home. Windows are usually the first point of entry for many intruders. Downstairs windows provide easy access while upstairs windows can be reached with a ladder or by climbing up the drainpipe. Before going to bed you should double-check that all windows and shutters are locked. No matter how small your windows may be, it is surprising what a narrow gap a determined burglar can manage to get through. For extra security, fit window locks to the inside of the window. What about entry via doors? Your back door and patio doors, which are easily forced open, should have top quality security locks fitted. Even though this is expensive it will be money well spent. Install a burglar alarm if you can afford it as another line of defence against intruders. A sobering (serious) fact is that not all intruders have to break and enter into a property. Why go to the trouble of breaking in if you can just knock and be invited in? Beware of bogus ( false not real) officials or workmen and, particularly if you are elderly, fit a chain and an eye hole so you can scrutinise ( examine and discover) callers ( visotors) at your leisure (when you want to and when you have time to) . When you do have callers never let anybody into your home unless you are absolutely sure they are genuine. Ask to see an identity card, for example. If you are in the frightening position of waking in the middle of the night and think you can hear an intruder, then on no account (never)  should you approach the intruder. Far better to telephone the police and wait for help. 

1 A well-protected house:A is less likely to be burgled.   B is regarded as a challenge by most criminals.
C is a lot of bother to maintain.   D is very unlikely to be burgled.

2 According to the writer, we should:A avoid leaving our house empty.   B only go out when we have to.
C always keep the curtains closed.   D give the impression that our house is occupied when we go out.

3 The writer thinks that hiding a key under a doormat or flower pot:A is a predictable place to hide it.   B is a useful place to hide it.
C is imaginative.     D is where you always find a spare key.

4Gaining entry to a house through a small window:
A is surprisingly difficult.     B is not as difficult as people think.
C is less likely to happen than gaining entry through a door. D is tried only by very determined burglars.

5According to the writer, window locks, security locks and burglar alarms:
A cost a lot of money but are worth it.   B are good value for money.
C are luxury items.     D are absolutely essential items.

6 The writer argues that fitting a chain and an eye hole:
A will prevent your home being burgled.  B avoids you having to invite people into your home.
C is only necessary for elderly people.  D gives you time to check if the visitor is genuine.

7 The best title for the text is:
A Increasing household crime.   B Protecting your home from intruders
C What to do if a burglar breaks into your home. D Burglary statistics.

READING COMPREHENSION 4 (ANSWER KEY)
1-A 2-D 3-A 4-B 5-A 6-D 7-B

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Reading Comprehension 3

Social Influence

Of the many influences on human behavior, social influences are the most pervasive. The main influence on people is people. When we hear the term social influence, most of us think of deliberate attempts of someone to persuade us to alter our actions or change our opinions. The television commercial comes to mind. But many of the most important forms of social influence are unintentional, and some of the effects we humans have on one another occur by virtue of the simple fact that we are in each other’s physical presence.

In 1898 a psychologist named Triplett made an interesting observation. In looking over speed records of bicycle racers, he noticed that better speed records were obtained when cyclists raced against each other than when they raced against the clock. This observation led Triplett to perform the first controlled laboratory experiment ever conducted in social psychology. He instructed children to turn a wheel as fast as possible for a certain period of time. Sometimes two children worked at the same time in the same room, each with his own wheel; at other times, they worked alone. The results confirmed his theory: Children worked faster in coaction, that is, when another child doing the same thing was present, than when they worked alone.

Soon after Triplett’s experiment on coaction, it was discovered that the mere presence of a passive spectator (an audience rather than a coactor) was sufficient to facilitate performance. This was discovered accidentally in an experiment on muscular effort and fatigue by Meumann (1904), who found that subjects lifted a weight faster and farther whenever the psychologist was in the room. Later experiments have confirmed this audience effect.

It appears that coaction and audience effects in humans are caused by the individual’s “cognitive” concerns about competition and the evaluation of performance that others will make. We learn as we grow up that others praise or criticize, reward or punish our performances, and this raises our drive level when we perform before others. Thus, even the early studies of coaction found that if all elements of competition are removed, coaction effects are reduced or eliminated. Similarly, audience effects are a function of the subject’s interpretation of how much he is being evaluated.

1. Which of the following would be an example of the coaction effect? A.  A woman works harder when her boss is in the room than when she is alone.
 B. Bob’s two children finish their homework faster when he is watching them than when he is not.
 C. Players on the team work harder when they exercise together than when they each exercise alone.
 D. Joe and his two friends work more slowly when they are together than when each is alone.
 
2. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
 A. How people grow up determines their adult behavior.
 B. Competition and evaluation increase the coaction and audience effects.
 C. People praise and criticize children as they grow up.
 D. Competition and evaluation are not related to the coaction and audience effects.
 
3. According to the passage, Triplett’s experiment of 1898 —. A. supported his theory of coaction effect.
 B. challenged his theory of coaction effect.
 C. showed that cyclists race harder against each other than against the clock.
 D. showed the connection between coaction effect and audience effect.
 
4. As it is used in the passage, what does the highlighted phrase “comes to mind” mean?
 A. Is a problem
 B. Affects our thinking
 C. Creates confusion
 D. Is an example
 
5. Where would you most likely find this passage?
 A. In a business letter
 B. In an instructional manual
 C. In a college textbook
 D. In a book review

1.C 2B 3A 4D 5C

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READING COMPREHENSION 1

“Miss Caroline began the day by reading us a story about cats. The cats had long conversations with one another, they wore cunning little clothes and lived in a warm house beneath a kitchen stove. By the time Mrs. Cat called the drugstore for an order of chocolate malted mice, the class was wriggling like a bucketful of catawba worms. Miss Caroline seemed unaware that the ragged, denim-shirted and floursack-skirted first grade, most of whom had chopped cotton and fed hogs from the time they were able to walk, were immune to imaginative literature.”

1. The best interpretation of events in the above paragraph is that —.A) Miss Caroline loved stories more than the children did.
B) reality and experience made it hard for the children to appreciate the cats.
C) the story was too silly to be interesting to anyone.
D) the children had not been taught to sit still.

2. To be despondent means to be —.A) disheartened   B) cheerful  C) focused  D) ready

READING COMPREHENSION 1 ANSWER KEY

1. B  2. A

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Boy Scouts of America

One of many organizations for children formed at the beginning of the 20th century by members of the PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION movement to provide educational experiences that would supplement the work of schools during the days and weeks when school was not in session. Founded in 1910, adult leaders of the Boy Scouts of America sought to channel and shape the “play” instincts of young boys and the “gang instincts” of adolescent boys into educationally enriching and socially constructive activities that would ultimately produce socially responsible adults. Geared to the needs of rural children, the founding of the Boy Scouts followed by four years the founding of the Boys’ Clubs of America for urban youngsters. In 1912, two similar organizations for girls were founded— the Camp Fire Girls and the Girl Scouts. All four groups were secular models of organizations such as the Young Men’s Christian Association, the Young Women’s Christian Association and the Cadets of Temperance, which religious groups had set up for youngsters in the previous century. Like those predecessor organizations, the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and other secular groups provided adult leaders with handbooks on how to operate local chapters, and they published informative, entertaining periodicals such as Boys’ Life and The American Girl for the youngsters. Scouting for boys actually began in England in 1907 as a result of the writings and efforts of Lord Baden-Powell, but the American organization’s rules differed substantially from those of comparable overseas groups, which did not permit racial and religious discrimination.

Many local scout groups in the United States were formed by church groups that limited membership to children of families in that church. Such discrimination caused a sharp decline in Boy Scout membership, as new activities such as Little League baseball and other nondiscriminatory after-school recreational activities attracted children from middle- and upper-middle-income families away from scouting. To halt the decline, the Boy Scouts launched an outreach program in 1991 to attract boys they had previously rejected— sons of sharecroppers in disadvantaged rural areas; disadvantaged children from urban slums; and immigrant children. As part of the “Scoutreach ’91” program, The Boy Scout Handbook was translated into 14 different languages. In addition to ending racial and religious discrimination, Scoutreach also modernized career exploration programs by substituting computing and family life for blacksmithing and beekeeping as activities leading to merit badge rewards. By 2000, Scoutreach had rebuilt enrollment to more than 4 million—still far short of the more than 6.5 million members it boasted in 1972, however.

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Day Care

A widely varying program for tending the physical, emotional and intellectual needs of children two to five years old while their parents work. Day-care programs operate as many as six days a week for up to 12 hours a day, in private homes, churches, social service agencies, independent entrepreneurial “nursery schools,” cooperative, parent-owned centers, public and private schools, university campuses and factories and businesses. Because they do not fall under the jurisdiction of state education authorities in most states, operations and conditions vary widely. Some amount to nothing more than baby-sitting services; others offer comprehensive programs that include carefully planned feeding and nutrition programs, organized play and formal instruction to help each child’s physical, emotional, social and intellectual development. Most states require licensing of day care centers; some require staffers to be trained and certified. Of the nearly 100,000 day-care centers in the United States, fewer than 15% are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Accreditation, however, is of questionable value, because it is based largely on self-analysis. Only about two-thirds of accredited day-care centers were rated as offering high-quality care by outside researchers, with the rest providing only mediocre care. The quality of nonaccredited day-care centers was even worse, with about 30% of the care offered to infants and 15% of the care offered to children two and a half to five years old rated as harmful. In the most definitive study of the effects of day care, the ABECEDARIAN PROJECT in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, found that, regardless of their economic levels, children who received high-quality day care consistently outperformed children who did not, on both cognitive and academic tests. Children who received high-quality day care were also more likely to attend college and hold highskill jobs in adulthood.

The principle of day care goes back to the 18th century, when some two- and three-yearolds were sent to rural common schools with older siblings while their parents worked in the fields. The practice disappeared in the early 19th century, however, in favor of family care, either by mothers themselves or neighborhood women. Day care as we know it today has its roots in the post–Civil War industrial expansion and the population explosion that took place with the arrival of millions of immigrants. To survive, few families could afford to leave a parent at home to care for young children. Children either stayed with neighbors or relatives, at home with older siblings or roamed the streets. Journalist-author Jacob Riis estimated in 1892 that New York City had a population of 200,000 children under five, of whom half could be found on the streets, unattended. Churches and charitable organizations responded by establishing the first organized day-care centers—Riis listed 28—but most limited their activities to what Riis called the “soap cure,” that is, physical care, consisting of feeding and bathing the children and keeping them off the streets. In 1909, the Conference on the Care of Dependent Children opened with President Theodore Roosevelt’s call for direct financial aid—so-called mothers’  pensions—to widows, to allow them to remain at home to care for their children. In 1911, Missouri and Illinois enacted the first legislation providing for such aid, and over the next seven years, 37 of the 48 states followed suit. To receive such pensions, mothers had to provide proof of poverty and be “a proper person, physically, mentally and morally fit to bring up her children.” By 1931, all but Georgia and South Carolina provided mothers’ pensions, and in 1935, the AID TO FAMILIES WITH DEPENDENT CHILDREN portion of the Social Security Act provided federal funds to underwrite state programs.

Although the mothers’ pension movement reduced the need for day care, it also gave rise to its transformation from a physical-care facility to an educative institution—that is, the nursery school. Designed with much wider social, educational and developmental goals, nursery schools not only housed, cared for and fed their charges, they also provided health maintenance services, mental and emotional services, constructive play, lessons in socialization, and such preschool intellectual activities as storytelling, exploring nature, art, music and dance. By 1930, about 300 nursery schools had opened across the United States, and the number increased fivefold after the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) provided funds to establish nursery schools for needy children. Designed to put unemployed teachers back to work, the FERA program and, later, the Works Progress Administration, sponsored nearly 1,500 nursery schools with an enrollment of nearly 40,000 children. In 1942, the program expanded to allow mothers to take jobs in World War II defense plants. By the end of the war, 2,800 federally financed day-care centers were caring for about 1.5 million children. Although most of them closed after federal aid was withdrawn, the day-care movement had grown so strong that private operators stepped into the breach to provide what by then had become an essential service for American families. In 1964, the U.S. government once again involved itself in day-care as part of its “WAR ON POVERTY.” Asserting that, without equal educational opportunities, the poor would never obtain equal economic opportunities, the government launched a comprehensive program to provide day-care to economically disadvantaged children. Called Operation Head Start, or more simply HEAD START, the program funded establishment of several thousand day-care centers across the United States to provide preschool education to about 750,000 economically deprived children a year. By 1999, nearly 60% of American children under five years of age, from all economic levels, were attending day-care centers, nursery schools or both.

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Medical Schools in America

Medicine is a profession that continues to attract entrants of exceptional talent with offers of status, meaningful service and comfortable compensation. Competition by college undergraduates for acceptance into medical school remains formidable. Entry into the medical profession requires completion of a baccalaureate degree followed by four years of medical school in order to qualify for a position in a postgraduate training program or “residency.” Postgraduate training in a hospital setting has become an essential part of the qualifications for medical practice and can last from three to seven additional years. Medical schools are responsible for not only imparting a knowledge base to students, but also inculcating a professional identity complete with professional norms and values. There is a natural asymmetry in power stemming from the asymmetry in knowledge between physician and patient that mirrors the asymmetry between teacher and student. Professional norms play a big role in limiting abuses of power. Because patients have limited ability to monitor whether the medical recommendations they receive are in their best interest, they entrust their very lives to physicians. These concerns are particularly acute in the US healthcare system, where physician compensation is related to the volume and nature of medical services. Fees for service physicians are rewarded for additional volume, whereas many managedcare organizations create financial incentives to limit the volume of medical services.

Under the stresses of a distorting payment system, the success of the doctor-patient relationship depends on the maintenance of professional norms to protect the interests of patients. These norms are maintained by: (1) selecting applicants for medical school who can signal the presence of altruistic concern; (2) early co-option of students as junior colleagues in the profession; (3) tying professional prestige to personal responsibility for patient outcomes; and (4) informal and formal censure for physicians whose treatment decisions show signs of pecuniary motivation. All professions, medicine included, have suffered some erosion in trust and confidence. Always a nation of do-it-yourselfers, the self-help movement has left America less awed by doctors and more inclined to try to address health problems on their own. In working out their own solutions to health problems, Americans are increasingly likely to consult the Internet, reference books and alternative health practitioners for constructive input.

In addressing its shortcomings, the medical profession is handicapped by long delays between the time educational reforms are started and the time the students who benefit from these reforms enter practice. The long pipeline of medical training is part of the inherent conservatism of medical practice. The latest adaptation to wend its way through medical schools has been a move in practice style away from authoritarian paternalism towards cooperative teamwork in the doctor—patient relationship. Trainees who have learned to listen for constructive input from patients and to share medical advice as suggestions along with the reasoning behind them have been in the making for over a generation. However, only recently have the numbers of these new physicians begun to reach a critical mass in communities throughout America.

The next generation of physicians is being trained in an environment that is thoroughly infiltrated by economic concerns. Insurancecompany policies and constraints are just as likely to be discussed in daily rounds as the latest vital signs and urine output. Hospitals and insurance companies both deploy cadres of “case managers” to question the financial impact of each medical decision. Although older generations of physicians see the presence of economics at the bedside as intrusive and unnatural, how a generation that has grown up in this system will adapt to the continued presence of an activist payment system is an open question.

The stress of medical training stems from a variety of sources. Perhaps foremost is the need for students to adapt to their continual exposure to the harsh realities of death and human suffering. The professional norm of “detached concern” for the suffering of individual patients does not come naturally to idealistic students selected on the basis of a high degree of empathy. Finding a way to be effectively present for the suffering of patients while maintaining the ability to objectively assess clinical situations is a difficult task to be negotiated during the process of professionalization. Errors of cynicism, inappropriate humor and depersonalization are common in this process. In the end there is a great deal of variation in how successful each physician becomes at merging detachment with concern. Overall, medicine tends to focus on physical processes rather than their meaning for whole persons. American society generally gives little space to suffering, preferring to deny its presence or attack its validity. Physicians as products of society mirror this attitude and often address suffering as an objective problem to be solved rather than a fact of life requiring adaptation.

Additional stresses for medical trainees come from long hours both in medical school and postgraduate training. Coupled with long hours is hierarchy. A chain of responsibility extends from the attending physician supervising residents who supervise interns who supervise medical students. Medical problems occur around the clock and the system must be able to respond at all hours. It has been challenging to find ways to couple the dual goals of 24-hour availability and continuity so that the same physicians and students maintain responsibility for a medical problem until it is resolved. To lower the demands on trainee hours, continuity of individual physicians has been replaced by continuity of physician teams in some medical schools. This permits the introduction of shift work into medical training and a concern that the norm of personal responsibility may be replaced by a watch-the-clock mentality.

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Mastery Learning

One of a number of strategies designed to provide the equivalent of individualized instruction in a conventional classroom setting. Designed to help students achieve a predetermined level of competence, mastery learning is based on the concept that every student is capable of learning basic skills and acquiring the requisite knowledge if the curriculum and instruction are appropriately designed. The mastery learning model is a sixpart, individualized program consisting of: learning objectives; preassessment of the student’s current skills and knowledge; instruction (adapted to the objectives and the learner’s case history); diagnostic assessment (testing, etc.); prescription of new or changed instructional methods; and postassessment, to see whether the student has achieved the original learning objectives. Although widely accepted as a valuable and fundamental approach to teaching, mastery learning has had mixed practical results.

On the positive side, it has formed the basis for much of the computer-based, PROGRAMMED INSTRUCTION that is widely used in American elementary and secondary schools and even in colleges. In the classroom, however, mastery
learning has often proved difficult for many teachers to implement, despite overwhelming evidence in studies by BENJAMIN BLOOM and other researchers that almost all children can indeed learn if they are given enough time,
opportunities and resources. One of the originators of mastery learning, Bloom found that 80% of students who were provided with oneon- one teaching achieved results normally reached by only 20% of students in conventional classrooms. Although one-on-one tutoring is both impractical and too costly for most schools, mastery learning was designed to provide each student with an individualized program that has some of the effects of one-on-one teaching, because its goals, pace and methods of instruction are adapted to individual needs.

Unfortunately, many teachers fail to administer mastery learning techniques to each student with equal enthusiasm. Many teachers simply do not believe all children can learn; others believe that children who do poorly are themselves to blame for their failures—because they are either incapable, lazy or rebellious. Even teachers who believe all children can
learn have trouble implementing mastery learning in the typical school setting, where conventionality, regularity, fixed curricula and adherence to strict time schedules make it virtually impossible for teachers to let students be both different and conventional at the same time. Conventional schools thus tend both to discourage the very individuality that mastery learning requires and to reinforce teacher perceptions that learning patterns of individual children are relatively unchangeable. As a result the relative performance of students in any given class rarely changes. The best students at the start of the year usually remain so at the end of the year, and the poorest students usually remain at the bottom of the class.

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Compensatory Education

Instructional programs designed to overcome the effects of poor education associated with poverty and racial segregation. The most renowned of these is HEAD START, a government-sponsored preschool program that has helped provide millions of socially disadvantaged youngsters with learning skills generally lumped together as “school-readiness.” In addition to preschool programs, compensatory education is available in many schools throughout the elementary and secondary school years and in most public colleges.

Compensatory education dates back to the passage of the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964, which ordered a survey “concerning the lack of availability of equal educational opportunity by reason of race, color, religion, or national origin in public educational institutions at all levels. . . .” Two surveys followed. In 1965, the COLEMAN REPORT studied 600,000 children at 4,000 schools and found that the academic achievement of minority children was one to two years behind that of whites in first grade and three to five years behind in the twelfth grade. A second study by the CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION confirmed the Coleman Report findings. On that basis, Congress passed the ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT OF 1965, which provided funds for compensatory education programs to close the educational gap between the races and between the poor and rich.

Since then, Head Start alone has serve about 20 million children. More than 1 million fouryear- olds apply to Head Start each year. At the primary and secondary school levels, CHAPTER 1 of the act provides more than $6 billion a year to improve the academic skills of poor children by offering remedial work in basic subjects. Chapter 1 reaches about 6 million children in two-thirds of the nation’s schools. About 70% of the students are in elementary schools. Although there are no enrollment figures for remedial instruction at the college and university level, about 95% of all four-year and twoyear public colleges and 65% of all private colleges offer such programs.

Since its inception, compensatory education has been the target of considerable criticism. Critics of Head Start, for example, point out that the program relies on pulling students from their regular classes for 30 minutes of remedial work. Meanwhile, the students fall behind in the classes they would normally have been attending. Others say that its annual budget of $4 billion to $5 billion has yet to produce any lasting results. Proponents insist it results in lower school dropout and juvenile delinquency rates.

Although critics of compensatory education at the primary and secondary school levels agree on the value of standard remediation programs, many oppose bilingual education as a subversion of the historic “AMERICANIZATION” process that teaches immigrant children to become U.S. citizens.

At the college level, compensatory education began in the late 1960s, as colleges compensated for historically discriminatory admissions practices by admitting disadvantaged students whose primary and secondary school education had not prepared them for college-level work. To help such students, the colleges introduced costly compensatory remediation and one-to-one tutoring. Critics, however, contend that it is not the function of a college to provide education that should be available at the primary and secondary level and that doing so deprived academically qualified students of the higher-level education colleges should be providing.

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University of Wisconsin

A pioneer institution of higher education in the area of public service and adult education through its extension services. Now made up of 26 campuses, with a total enrollment of about 160,000, the university�s origins go back to 1849 and the founding of the tiny College of Wisconsin, in Madison. Later a land-grant institution, the university was swept up in the fervor of progressive political and economic reform that gripped the state in the 1890s. Several years of poor crops and dust storms had devastated American agriculture and helped plunge the nation into a financial panic. In Wisconsin, public discontent exploded with the discovery of rampant bribery and corruption among the Republican leadership that had controlled the state�s politics since the end of the Civil War. In 1900, Robert M. La Follette was elected governor on a platform of radically progressive reforms, including direct primaries for nominating candidates, establishment of a state civil service and state regulation and equitable taxation of railroads and other corporate entities. Called the �Wisconsin Idea,� it included� government recruitment of expert advisors from the University of Wisconsin, whose equally progressive president, CHARLES R. VAN HISE, was quick to convert the university into a partner of state government in the rebuilding of the state economy and body politic. A former professor of geology, Van Hise had conducted detailed studies of mineralbearing areas of the Lake Superior region as a service to the state. As president of the university he believed the obligation of a public institution of higher education was to use science to improve every aspect of the life of the state�s citizens. He proposed to implement his goal in three ways: through faculty research to expand knowledge and develop as many practical uses as possible for such knowledge; by sending faculty experts to collaborate with government officials in improving agriculture, developing industry and solving social and economic problems and by creating and expanding the university�s extension program to bring knowledge to every citizen. �I shall never be content,� said Van Hise, �until the beneficent influence of the University reaches every family in the state. This is my ideal of the state university.� Van Hise went on to strengthen the university�s research programs and train experts in agriculture, engineering, medicine, law, politics, economics and history to advise state administrators. Dozens of professors served on state regulatory and investigating commissions and helped draft progressive legislation that shaped the �Wisconsin Idea.� Van Hise also expanded the extension division into the most comprehensive, farthest reaching such unit of any� university in the world. If, as educators contend, Charles W. Eliot had made Harvard the archetype of private universities, Van Hise, in his turn, built Wisconsin into the archetype of public universities. Word of his� accomplishments spread through magazine articles and, eventually, through Charles McCarthy�s widely circulated book, The Wisconsin Idea (1912).

Delegations of educators from universities across the United States and from overseas flocked to Madison to study what Van Hise had accomplished and to take back with them what they could. The University of� Wisconsin was hailed as the world�s finest by English educators, and the author Lincoln Steffens declared Van Hise to be �in a class by himself among college presidents.� As president from 1903 to 1918, Van Hise established a model for university- government cooperation that has become a uniquely American concept, with the university retaining academic freedom while working with government to provide the citizenry with the benefits of government-sponsored university research. In addition, he expanded the public service and educative functions of American universities by making university extension and other outreach services an integral part of every public university�s basic functions.

The university today serves as the state�s research center, and more than 160,000 people per year avail themselves of the university�s continuing education programs and distance learning programs. Among the public service facilities on the Madison campus are the Space Science and Engineering Center, the Physical Science Laboratory, a museum of art, an arboretum, agricultural experiment stations and hospitals.

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