1 . Recent years have seen a small increase in unemployment rates due to slowing of the economy. The fact that many college graduates are finding it difficult to land a job has sparked online discussions on the cost of education and the returns on it, with many agreeing with the notion that “education is useless”.
Stories like a person with a doctorate’s degree from Zhejiang University is delivering food, and overseas-returned graduates are selling hot-pot ingredients have caused many to question the value of education. Moreover, the fact that about 36,000 fewer candidates have applied to take the postgraduate exam in 2024, the first decline in numbers in years, has also fueled the “education is useless theory.
Is education truly worthless? This question has resurfaced due to several factors.
The wide spread of higher education has significantly increased the number of college graduates, reducing the value of college degrees. As the job market becomes over-crowded with graduates, the scarcity of high-level talents has become apparent, particularly in fields such as the humanities. For example, more than 900 institutions in China offer English major, making it the most common degree program, yet there’s a shortage of top talents who are proficient in English and have a good knowledge about the differences in Chinese and foreign approach to fields such as international relations and journalism.
The declining returns on the investment in education have given rise to the “education is useless” theory. Given the challenging job market, many believe college education does not guarantee any sort of employment, let alone a suitable job. And with various economic opportunities available, the notion that one can become financially successful even without formal education is becoming increasingly acceptable.
In light of these developments, combined efforts need to be made to change the situation. For instance, universities must take measures to integrate education, research and industry, while enhancing cooperation with enterprises through tailored talent training programs. Additionally, the authorities need to pay greater attention to vocational education, an important part of China’s educational system. Students, parents and society, on their part, should abandon their bias against vocational training, because it integrates education with career prospects throughout the learning process, offering targeted, technical and practical training which allows students to master their skills which can get them well-paying jobs in the future.
Developing a correct view of employment and career choice is key to abandoning the notion of “education being useless”. People, especially students, must understand the current employment landscape, their positioning, and strengths and weaknesses. While realizing that a college degree is no longer a ticket to employment, college students should leverage education resources to enrich their professional knowledge and competitiveness. And youths should approach vocational education with an open mind in order to make the most of what the job market has to offer.
Education is not synonymous with earning money, nor does a college degree guarantee financial success. The value of education is knowledge, which we need to make informed decisions not only in our professional life but also in our social and other fields of life.
1. What are the main reasons for the recent rise in the belief that ”education is useless”?A.Economic slowdown and job scarcity. |
B.Sad stories about educated individuals. |
C.Decline in postgraduate exam applicants. |
D.Emphasis on practical skills over qualifications. |
A.By focusing solely on academic research. |
B.By integrating education, research, and industry. |
C.By ignoring cooperation with enterprises. |
D.By eliminating vocational education courses. |
A.limit | B.abandon | C.balance | D.maximize |
A.Negative and pessimistic | B.Positive and supportive |
C.Balanced and objective | D.Unclear and ambiguous |
2 . As children returned to school in Sweden last month, many of their teachers were putting a new importance on some traditional skills. These included reading printed books, quiet reading time and handwriting practice. Teachers were spending less time on digital products, online research and typing skills.
The return to traditional ways of learning might be the answer to questions raised by experts. They have questioned the country’s dependence on electronic technology in education. For example, schools in Sweden have introduced tablets (平板电脑) in preschools.
Lotta Edholm, Swedish Minister for Schools, was one of the biggest critics (反对者) of the level of technology in schools. “Sweden’s students need more textbooks,” Edholm said. “Physical books are important for student learning.” Edholm said last month that the government wants to reverse the decision made by the National Agency for Education to make digital products required in preschools. The ministry plans to stop digital learning for children under the age of six.
Sweden’s students score above the European average (平均分) for reading ability. But an international test of fourth grade reading levels showed Sweden’s children had lost ground between 2016 and 2021. “An overuse of electronic products during school lessons may cause kids to fall behind,” education experts said.
Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, a medical school centered on research, said in a statement last month, “It has been proved that digital tools harm rather than benefit student learning.” It added that schools should instead center on teaching using printed textbooks.
Not all experts think Sweden’s move away from digital technology is only about what is best for students. “It ignores the fact that technology improves learning,” said Neil Selwyn, a professor of education.
1. How does digital technology influence schools in Sweden?A.They act as a role model. | B.They tend to depend on it. |
C.They center on written tests. | D.They value students’ talents. |
A.Acquire. | B.Change. | C.Recover. | D.Follow. |
A.It is an ill-considered step. | B.It achieves great results. |
C.It is easy to be carried out. | D.It opens children’s mind. |
A.The Advantage of Traditional Skills |
B.Recent Advances in Electronic Technology |
C.Sweden Starts to Control Digital Products in Schools |
D.Students in Europe Gave an Impressive Performance |
3 . Young adults often have a lot to learn in school. However, occasionally, the life skills needed for them to become successful outside of school aren’t learned. This may be why the years after high school can sometimes be the most uneasy and tense times for young adults.
Some may say that life skills are to be taught by their household rather than school, but that’s not exactly true. Some students don’t have a parent figure to teach them the necessary moral lessons needed and habitually rely on school to propound them with this essential knowledge. This is why courses of life skills should be set up in schools.
Over the course of history, students generally go to an educational institution of some sort to find themselves spending their entire time learning math and science, instead of what is required for real world-communication, which is through behaviors and manners. Manners are important when having a conversation with family, friends, teachers perhaps or even employers. Schools should find a way to teach manners as a way for students to have respect and be open-minded when it comes to other individuals.
In addition, the handling of finances is one of the major life skills for students. For people, especially young people, to survive in today5s financial environment, knowledge of personal finance is a necessity. For example, schools educating students about building credit scores and keeping up with a credit card is helpful. However, Educational Institutions does not spend a good amount of time talking about the topic of money managing : paying taxes, mortgage, bills, insurance, etc. It is time to extend financial knowledge by making personal finance a required course at US colleges and universities.
With the essential instructions of communication and financial management provided to the young adults, they will be more successful in their future life.
1. What does the underlined word “propound” in paragraph 2 mean?A.Bother. | B.Charge. | C.Provide. | D.Treat. |
A.Skills of making money. | B.The communication ability. |
C.The history of their country. | D.Ways to study maths and science. |
A.It is easy to survive in today’s financial environment. |
B.Most of the students don’t need to build credit scores. |
C.Students are lacking in instructions of financial management. |
D.Educational Institutions spend much time on money managing. |
A.What Have Students Learned in School? |
B.Why Should Life Skills Be Taught in School? |
C.How Can Students Behave Well in Daily Life? |
D.Why Should Parents Teach Kids Moral Lessons? |
4 . Recess for Kids
Ask a group of kids about their favorite part of the school day and many will talk about something that happened at recess. Maybe they finally made it across the monkey bars (单杠). Maybe somebody kicked the ball over the fence. Maybe a fruit tree in a neighboring yard started to drop apples on the playground.
It’s true not just according to kids, but also to adults who study recess for kids. Whether they’re inventing a new game or sitting under a tree, kids need a break — or several of them — during the school day.
Why Kids Need Recess.
There's no debate that recess, or mainly referred to as physical activity, is good for kids.
You can’t have your brains go hours at a time and retain and store information in working memory.
How Much Recess Should Kids Get.
“Ideally, children should get four 15-minute recesses every day”, says Debbie Rhea, a professor from Texas Christian University, who advocates for outdoor play in schools.
In addition to simply providing enough time for recess, schools should teach skills that will make recess more successful. For instance, letting kids run fast will help them develop coordination.
A.How to Make Recess Better. |
B.Who should help kids recess. |
C.You need time away to process it. |
D.This recommendation has been widely accepted. |
E.Any one of these things is a marker of a good recess. |
F.Maybe running up the slide is not as unsafe as it looks. |
G.We wouldn’t have kids sitting there for math or reading for long hours. |
5 . Everyone has “down days”. Maybe it’s because of the bad weather, or the disappointing grades on a difficult test, and some days teenagers just act uninterested in life or school. But these symptoms(症状) often pass quickly, as teens move on to new school subjects, or meet with friends to prevent themselves from thinking what troubles them at the moment. But if a teenager displays symptoms of sadness for more than two lasting weeks, it might point to something serious.
As teenagers develop, they push new boundaries(边界), complain about rules and look for more free rights from their parents. According to the online Health Guide on Adolescent Development, parents must be lasting figures in their teenagers’ life, providing safe boundaries for teens to grow, even if the teenagers act like these boundaries are unwanted.
Parents need to provide rules, while also remaining flexible(灵活的) and respectful of the growing teens’ need for freedom. For example, teenagers will often feel frustrated, embarrassed, and even angry that thought they want freedom, they still need to ask their parents for an agreement to go to a friend’s house, or need their mothers to take them to school.
The US Department of Education says that parents should respect and support their teen’s choices as long as those choices won’t have long-term harmful effects. For example, even if a parent doesn’t enjoy the music his or her teen listens to, it’s unlikely that the choice of music will prevent that teen from entering a good college, or lead to health problems. However, if that teen is drinking alcohol and driving, parents must get through strict punishments to teach that there are bad results for poor choices that come with increased freedom.
1. Why do teen’s feelings of bad days usually disappear quickly?A.Their teachers help them. |
B.They take some medicine. |
C.Their parents talk with them. |
D.They change their attention. |
A.Freedom must be given at anytime. |
B.Teens are mad at being controlled. |
C.Teens need both freedom and proper rules. |
D.Rules must be absolutely strict for teens. |
A.Support their helpful hobbies. | B.Tell them which college to attend. |
C.Cancel their after-school activities. | D.Get them away from singing pop songs. |
A.How to Be With Growing Teens |
B.Causes of Teens’ Sadness |
C.Teens’ Worries About Strict Rules |
D.The Importance of Making Friends With Teens |
6 . Can you imagine a world without music? Studies show that public schools across the country are cutting back on music classes to save money. Worse, some schools have never had music classes to begin with. But without them,students’ academic growth and emotional health could suffer. In fact, music classes are necessary for all students in schools.
Recent studies by Brown University have shown that students who received music education classes were better in maths and reading skills than those without music classes. Another study by the College Board found that students taking music and art classes got higher points. Students' academic success seems to depend on their taking part in music education.
Music programmes in public schools also help to add to a students sense of pride and self-confidence. Teens today have too many learning tasks. Besides, they have family problems, self-confidence problems, relationship troubles, and other troubles. All of these can stop academic success, but music education can help. A study by the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse found that students who took part in school music programmes were less likely to turn to drugs. Music programmes encourage students to work together to produce an excellent performance.
Music crosses language, class, cultural and political boundaries. Music allows students from different countries to connect. For example, at a school talent show, a new Japanese student played a piano duet with an American classmate. Although they could not communicate verbally, they were able to read the music in order to play the duet. Two students from different cultures worked as a team with self-confidence and common purpose through music.
The gift of music is priceless. We need to be sure to have necessary music classes for all students. The world is losing its music, and putting music into schools is the first step to get it back.
1. What can we learn about education with music classes?A.It allows schools to make more profits. |
B.It leads to a lot of emotional problems easily. |
C.It helps students to improve their schoolwork. |
D.It has a great influence on the culture of the country. |
A.Not all students take part in music lessons. |
B.Students with great success like to attend music lessons. |
C.Music plays an important role in students’ success. |
D.Students having music classes are better in all lessons. |
A.different cultures have different styles of music |
B.music makes cross-country communication possible |
C.Japan has a good international relationship with America |
D.Japanese and American students are good at playing the piano |
A.How to Get Music Back | B.Music Education in Schools |
C.Music—a Bridge to Understanding | D.The Importance of Listening to Music |
Fay: I can’t decide
Mark: What does he want to do?
Fay: He’s not sure. There is an excellent pre-law program (法律预科课程) at a university in Troy, but that’s three hours away. Well, he likes
Mark: Ha, ha. I forgot
Fay: I know! These days young people have such involved social lives! Maybe
Mark: That sounds like a good plan. He’ll grow up a lot
Fay: Thanks, Mark. I always appreciate
8 . Parents should stop blaming themselves because there' s not a lot they can do about it. I mean the teenager problem. Whatever you do or however you choose to deal with it, at certain times a wonderful, reasonable and helpful child will turn into a terrible animal.
I’ve seen friends deal with it in all kinds of different ways. One strict mother insisted that her son, right from a child, should stand up whenever anyone entered the room, open doors and shake hands like a gentleman. I saw him last week when I called round. Sprawling himself (懒散地躺) on the sofa in full length, he made no attempt to turn off the loud TV he was watching as I walked in, and his greeting was no more than a quick glance at me. His mother was ashamed. "I don' t know what to do with him these days," she said. "He' s forgotten all the manners we taught him.”
He hasn' t forgotten them. He' s just decided that he' s not going to use them. She confessed (坦白) that she would like to come up behind him and throw him down from the sofa onto the floor.
Another good friend of mine let her two daughters climb all over the furniture, reach across the table, stare at me and say, "I don' t like your dress; it' s ugly. " One of the daughters has recently been driven out of school. The other has left home.
"Where did we go wrong?" her parents are now very sad. Probably nowhere much. At least, no more than the rest of that unfortunate race, parents.
1. The boy on the sofa would most probably be described as _______.A.lazy | B.quiet |
C.unusual | D.rude |
A.pay no attention to them | B.are too busy to look after them |
C.have come to hate them | D.feel helpless to do much about them |
A.Parents have no choice but to try to accept it. |
B.Parents should be to blame for it. |
C.Parents should work more closely with school teachers. |
D.Parents are at fault for the change in their children. |
A.a specialist in teenager studies | B.a headmaster of a middle school |
C.a parent with teenage children | D.a doctor for mental health problems |
9 . Children start out as natural scientists, eager to look into the world around them. Helping them enjoy science can be easy; there’s no need for a lot of scientific terms or expensive lab equipment. You only have to share your children’s curiosity (好奇). Firstly, listen to their questions. I once visited a classroom of seven-year-olds to talk about science as a job. The children asked me “textbook questions” about schooling, salary (薪水) and whether I liked my job. When I finished answering, we sat facing one another in silence. Finally I said, “Now that we’re finished with your lists, do you have questions of your own about science?”
After a long pause, a boy raised his hand, “Have you ever seen a grasshopper (蚱蜢) eat? When I try eating leaves like that, I get a stomachache. Why?”
This began a set of questions that lasted nearly two hours.
Secondly, give them time to think. Studies over the past 30 years have shown that, after asking a question, adults typically wait only one second or less for an answer, no time for a child to think. When adults increase their “wait time” to three seconds or more, children give more logical (符合逻辑的), complete and creative answers.
Thirdly, watch your language. Once you have a child involved in a science discussion, don’t jump in with “That’s right” or “Very good”. These words work well when it comes to encouraging good behavior (行为). But in talking about science, quick praise can signal that discussion is over. Instead, keep things going by saying “That’s interesting” or “I’d never thought of it that way before”, or coming up with more questions or ideas.
Never push a child to “Think”. It doesn’t make sense, children are always thinking, without your telling them to. What’s more, this can turn a conversation into a performance. The child will try to find the answer you want, in as few words as possible, so that he will be a smaller target (目标) for your disagreement.
Lastly, show; don’t tell. Real-life impressions of nature are far more impressive than any lesson children can learn from a book or a television program. Let children look at their fingertips through a magnifying glass (放大镜), and they’ll understand why you want them to wash before dinner. Rather than saying that water vaporates (蒸发), set a pot of water to boil and let them watch the water level drop.
1. According to the passage, children are natural scientists, and to raise their interest, the most important thing for adults to do is _______.A.let them see the world around |
B.share the children’s curiosity |
C.explain difficult phrases about science |
D.supply the children with lab equipment |
A.any questions |
B.any problems |
C.questions from textbooks |
D.any number of questions |
A.ask them to answer quickly |
B.wait for one or two seconds after a question |
C.tell them to answer the next day |
D.wait at least for three seconds after a question |
A.The second and third. |
B.The fourth and fifth. |
C.The fifth. |
D.The seventh. |
A.tell their children stories instead of reciting facts |
B.offer their children chances to see things for themselves |
C.be patient enough when their children answer questions |
D.encourage their children to ask questions of their own |