HSC English First Paper - Unit Six - Path to Higher Education

Unit Six: Path to Higher Education

Lesson 1: "An Eastern University" by Rabindranath Tagore

Introduction

Rabindranath Tagore was not only an outstanding poet but also a very committed educator. He has written extensively in both Bengali and English about his philosophy of education as well as his educational experiments and his desire to transform teaching and learning in Bengal. Here is an example of his thinking about education and desire to implement it in his institution.

1. Warm up activities

Rabindranath Tagore set up a university with the expectation that it would be truly eastern and reflect the ideals of education that he cherished and found in the system of education once practiced in the Indian subcontinent. Find out the name and other details of the university from the net and talk to the class for 5 minutes about it.

□ Did Tagore attend any university in India or abroad? Discuss in a group.

□ What is your idea of the university? Write a page on the topic.

2. Read the following excerpts from Tagore's essay and answer the questions that follow:

Universities should never be made into mechanical organizations for collecting and distributing knowledge. Through them the people should offer their intellectual hospitality, their wealth of mind to others, and earn their proud right in return to receive gifts from the rest of the world. But in the whole length and breadth of India there is not a single University established in the modern time where a foreign or an Indian student can properly be acquainted with the best products of the Indian mind. For that we have to cross the sea, and knock at the doors of France and Germany. Educational institutions in our country are India's alms-bowl of knowledge; they lower our intellectual self-respect; they encourage us to make a foolish display of decorations composed of borrowed feathers ....

Man's intellect has a natural pride in its own aristocracy, which is the pride of its culture. Culture only acknowledges the excellence whose criticism is in its inner perfection, not in any external success.

When this pride succumbs to some compulsion of necessity or lure of material advantage, it brings humiliation to the intellectual man. Modern India, through her very education, has been made to suffer this humiliation. Once she herself provided her children with a culture which was the product of her own ages of thought and creation. But it has been thrust aside, and we are made to tread the mill of passing examinations, not for learning anything, but for notifying that we are qualified for employments under organisations conducted in English. Our educated community is not a cultured community, but a community of qualified candidates. Meanwhile the proportion of possible employments to the number of claimants has gradually been growing narrower, and the consequent disaffection has been widespread. At last the very authorities who are responsible for this are blaming their victims. Such is the perversity of human nature. It bears its worst grudge against those it has injured ....

In the Bengali language there is a modern maxim which can be translated, 'He who learns to read and write rides in a carriage and pair.' In English there is a similar proverb, 'Knowledge is power.1 It is an offer of a prospective bribe to the student, a promise of an ulterior reward which is more important than knowledge itself. . . .

Unfortunately, our very education has been successful in depriving us of our real initiative and our courage of thought. The training we get in our schools has the constant implication in it that it is not for us to produce but to borrow. And we are casting about to borrow our educational plans from European institutions. The trampled plants of Indian corn are dreaming of recouping their harvest from the neighbouring wheat fields. To change the figure, we forget that, for proficiency in walking, it is better to train the muscles of our own legs than to strut upon wooden ones of foreign make, although they clatter and cause more surprise at our skill in using them than if they were living and real.

But when we go to borrow help from a foreign neighbourhood we overlook the fact... that among the Europeans the living spirit of the University is widely spread in their society, their parliament, their literature, and the numerous activities of their corporate life. In all these functions they are in perpetual touch with the great personality of the land which is creative and heroic in its constant acts of self-expression and self-sacrifice. They have their thoughts published in their books as well as through the medium of living men who think those thoughts, and who criticise, compare and disseminate them. Some at least of the drawbacks of their academic education are redeemed by the living energy of the intellectual personality pervading their social organism. It is like the stagnant reservoir of water which finds its purification in the showers of rain to which it keeps itself open. But, to our misfortune, we have in India all the furniture of the European University except the human teacher....

A most important truth, which we are apt to forget, is that a teacher can never truly teach unless he is still learning himself. A lamp can never light another lamp unless it continues to burn its own flame. The teacher who has come to the end of his subject, who has no living traffic with his knowledge, but merely repeats his lessons to his students, can only load their minds; he cannot quicken them. Truth not only must inform but inspire. If the inspiration dies out, and the information only accumulates, then truth loses its infinity. The greater part of our learning in the schools has been waste because, for most of our teachers, their subjects are like dead specimens of once living things, with which they have a learned acquaintance, but no communication of life and love.

The educational institution, therefore, which I have in mind has primarily for its object the constant pursuit of truth, from which the imparting of truth naturally follows. It must not be a dead cage in which living minds are fed with food artificially prepared. It should be an open house, in which students and teachers are at one. They must live their complete life together, dominated by a common aspiration for truth and a need of sharing all the delights of culture. In former days the great master-craftsmen had students in their workshops where they co-operated in shaping things to perfection. That was the place where knowledge could become living - that knowledge which not only has its substance and law, but its atmosphere subtly informed by a creative personality. For intellectual knowledge also has its aspect of creative art, in which the man who explores truth expresses something which is human in him - his enthusiasm, his courage, his sacrifice, his honesty, and his skill. In merely academicals teaching we find subjects, but not the man who pursues the subjects; therefore, the vital part of education remains incomplete.

3. Why does Tagore criticize the Indian universities of his time?

4. What, according to Tagore, should a university do?

5. Why, do you think 'Modern India,' (Tagore's phrase) abandoned its traditional system of education? What have been the consequences?

6. Can you find out the equivalent of the maxim 'He who learns to read and write rides in a carriage and pair' in Bengali? Do you agree to what the maxim means?

7. Do you agree with Tagore when he says that the training we get in our schools makes us believe that we must borrow rather than produce?

8. Who is Tagore's ideal teacher?

9. What positive features of European universities does Tagore highlight in the essay?

10. Explain the following ideas in your own words:

a. Knowledge is power

b. It is better to train the muscles of our own legs than to strut upon wooden ones of foreign make

c. A lamp can never light another lamp unless it continues to burn its own flame

d. Intellectual knowledge also has its aspect of creative art

e. Our educated community is not a cultured community, but a community of qualified candidates

11. What do the following words/terms mean?

a. hospitality

b. borrowed feathers

c. humiliation

d. prospective

e. initiative

f. trampled

g. recoup

h. perpetual

i. disseminates

12. Which of the following statements is true and which one false in the context of the essay? Write T or F beside the statements to indicate your answer.

a. Tagore believes that Indian universities do not collect and distribute knowledge.

b. Educational institutions in India teach their students to borrow and not produce.

c. Culture is concerned with excellence which is external.

d. Our educated community is a cultured community.

e. European universities encourage self-expression and self-sacrifice.

f. A teacher should have a living traffic with knowledge.

g. Educational institutions should constantly pursue truth.

13. What parts of speech are these words?

Inner, gradually, responsible, perversity, worst, intellectual, express, skill

Lesson 2: Access to Higher Education in Bangladesh

1. Warm up activity:

□ Discuss what you know about the opportunities of higher education in Bangladesh.

□ Why do you think higher education is important. Discuss in a group.

2. Read the following text and answer the questions that follow:

Tertiary education in Bangladesh comprises two categories of institutions: degree awarding universities and colleges affiliated with the National University (NU). There were only 4 universities in Bangladesh at the time of independence in 1971. All of those universities were publicly financed autonomous entities. At present, there are 35 such universities. Private universities are a relatively new phenomenon in this country. In the early 1990s, the private sector came forward to establish universities. Since then the country has experienced a spectacular growth in private universities-mostly in and around Dhaka and couple of other large cities. At present, there are 79 private universities. The number of colleges providing tertiary level education is around 1,400. Most of them offer BA (pass) education of three year duration; only one-third of them offer B.A. (Honors) courses and some offer MA degrees as well. All of these colleges are affiliated with the National University.

Accessibility to higher education

Accessibility to higher education implies that students get the opportunity to get university education and sufficient support from educational institutions. Increasing enrolment at the secondary and higher secondary level puts pressure on higher educational institutions. But due to limited capacity, only a small number of students may be enrolled in universities. Thus, each year a large number of students are denied access to higher education. Also, due to poverty and increase in educational expenses, students of the lower middle class do not get easy access to higher education. Moreover, those who get places in the universities have limited access to avail all kinds of diversified educational facilities relating to their study fields.

Only about 12 percent of graduates enter highs educational institutions. More than SO pei wait of (bese students arc admitted to NU affiliated colleges. Others arc absorbed by tin public and private umvsaitiea. In the last two decades, there has been a substantial rise in the number of students b private univeraitia. According to the UGC Annual Report 2010, the number rose from 8S.669 in 2003 to 2,00,752 in 2010.

Public universities in Bangladesh

Public Universities arc the first choices of most students. The public universities offer a wide range of subjects in Science, Commerce, Libaal Arti, Humanities, Engineering and Technology, low, Education and Medicine. Public universities attract the beet mind* to teaching although monetary compensation fix teacher* H anything but attractive. Library, laboratory, Internet and research facilities are much bettor there than anywhere else In the country. Seminar*, symposiums, lectures, workshops, debates, mni nahitaiinnH are often held in these iTmtitiitimn wnH there is Hmplp agape far national and international exposure for jzumi&mg young knowledge seekers. Moreover, public univerwtie* offer residential and boarding facilities at low cort/rubridized rates.

Annual total intake and total number of students in selected public universities:

Name of the university	Annual Total Intake	Total students	Male students	Female students
University of Dhaka	5219	28772	19119	9653
University of Chittagong	3773	19301	14192	5109
University of Rajshahi	4305	26909	19133	7776
Khulna University	642	4423	3440	983
Comilla University	350	591	417	174
Jahangirnagar University	1361	10417	7082	3335
Islamic University	1210	10109	7913	2196
Bangladesh Agriculture University	757	4621	3211	1410
Jagannath University	2415	25896	21774	4122
Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology	885	7218	5865	1353
Shahjalal University of Science and Technology	1160	7930	6156	1774
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University	Na	1116	695	421

Source: Journal of Management and Science, Vol.111. No 2. June 2013.

ISSN 2250-1819 / EISSN 2249-1260

3. Find the meanings of the following words. Also indicate the part of speech of each word, change them into as many parts of speech as is possible and make sentences of your own with each changed form:

i. comprise

ii. phenomenon

iii. spectacular

iv. tertiary

v. affiliated

vi. support

vii. enrolled

viii. compensation

ix. symposium

x. subsidize

4. Make sentences of your own with the following phrases:

i. at present

ii. due to

iii. access to

iv. in and around

5. How many public and private universities are there in Bangladesh?

6. What percentage of students gets opportunities for admission into tertiary education?

7. Write a paragraph on "Accessibility to higher education in Bangladesh" using the information about enrollment statistics in the public universities of Bangladesh.

Lesson 3: 21 st Century Higher Education

1. Warm up activity:
□ What do you think should be the focus of 21st century education? Think and note down the factors that determine the nature of higher education.

2. Now read the following text and answer the questions that follow:
Many educators believe that one of the functions of education today should be to impart 21rt century skills that are indispensable for participation, achievement and competitiveness in the global economy. Beyond the assessment of reading, mathematics and science, it is now necessary to train other essential skills that are in demand in the 21rt century. All people, not just an elite few, need 21* century skills that will increase their ability, employabihty and readiness for citizenship. Such skills include:

□ Thinking critically aid making the beat use of the barrage of information that comes their way everyday on the Web, in the media, in homes, workplaces and everywhere else. Critical thinking empowers people to assess the credibility, accuracy and value of information, analyze and evaluate information, make reasoned decisions and take purposeful action.

□ Solving complex, multi-disciplinary problems that all workers in every kind of workplace encounter routinely. The challenges workers face don't come in a multiple-choice format and typically don't have a single right answer. Nor can they be neatly categorized as 'math problems,' for example, or passed off to someone at a higher pay grade. Businesses expect employees at all levels to identify problems, think through solutions and alternatives, and explore new options if their approaches don't work. Often, this work involves groups of people with different knowledge and skills who, collectively, add value to their organizations.

□ Creativity and entrepreneurial thinking skills are always associated with job creation.

Many of the fastest-growing jobs and emerging industries rely on workers' creative capacity-the ability to think unconventionally and produce astonishing work. Students should develop the ability to recognize and act on opportunities and the willingness to embrace risks, for example.

□ Communicating and collaborating with teams of people across cultural, geographic and language boundaries is a necessity in diverse and multinational workplaces and communities. Mutually beneficial relationships are important in achieving goals everywhere, not just in business.

□ Making innovative use of knowledge, information and opportunities which create new services, processes and products. The global marketplace rewards organizations that rapidly and routinely find better ways of doing things. Companies want workers who can contribute to this environment.

These skills will prepare everyone to prepare for the challenges of the 21st century and contribute meaningfully to the country's development.

3. Give contextual meanings of the following words. Also, give the part of speech of each word, change them in as many parts of speech as possible, and make sentences of your own with each changed form:
i. indispensable
ii. empower
iii. credibility
iv. unconventional
v. dynamic
vi. beneficial
vii. emerging
viii. typically
ix. categorized
x. evaluate

4. The passage discusses the importance of acquiring skills for entry into the global marketplace. What is meant by 'global marketplace'? Does the passage talk about other areas of involvement as well? What are those?

5.  What are the qualities that graduates of the 21st century need to develop?

6.  Write a summary of the passage.

7.  Add more qualities that you think should be emphasized in education of our time.

8.  Write a short composition on "Your view of the 21st century education".