Passage Fifteen (Contribution of Coeducation)
Imagining being asked to spend twelve or so years of your life in a society which consisted only of members of own sex. How would you react? Unless there was something definitely wrong with you, you wouldn’t be too happy about it, to say the least. It is all the more surprising therefore that so many parents in the world choose to impose such abnormal conditions on their children - conditions which they themselves wouldn’t put up with for one minute!
Any discussion of this topic is bound to question the aims of education. Stuffing children’s heads full of knowledge is far from being foremost among them. One of the chief aims of educations is to equip future citizens with all they require to take their place in adult society. Now adult society is made up of men and women, so how can a segregated school possibly offer the right sort of preparation for it? Anyone entering adult society after years of segregation can only be in for a shock.
A co-educational school offers children nothing less than a true version of society in miniature. Boys and girls are given the opportunity to get to know each other, to learn to live together from their earliest years. They are put in a position where they can compare themselves with each other in terms of academic ability, athletic achievement and many of the extra-curricular activities which are part of school life. What a practical advantage it is ( to give just a small example ) to be able to put on a school play in which the male parts will be taken by boys and the female parts by girls! What nonsense co-education makes of the argument that boys are cleverer than girl or vice-versa. When segregated, boys and girls are made to feel that they are a race apart. Rivalry between the sexes is fostered. In a coeducational school, everything falls into its proper place.
But perhaps the greatest contribution of co-education is the healthy attitude to life it encourages. Boys don’t grow up believing that women are mysterious creatures - airy goddesses, more like book-illustrations to a fairy-tale, than human beings. Girls don’t grow up imagining that men are romantic heroes. Years of living together at school dispel illusions of this kind. There are no goddesses with freckles, pigtails, piercing voices and inky fingers. There are no romantic heroes with knobbly knees, dirty fingernails and unkempt hair. The awkward stage of adolescence brings into sharp focus some of the physical and emotional problems involved in growing up. These can better be overcome in a co-educational environment. Segregated schools sometimes provide the right conditions for sexual deviation. This is hardly possible under a co-educational system. When the time comes for the pupils to leave school, they are fully prepared to enter society as well-adjusted adults. They have already had years of experience in coping with many of the problems that face men and women.
1. What is the best title for this passage?
[A] only co-education can be in harmony with society.
[B] people are in great need of co-education.
[C] any form of education other than co-education is simply unthinkable.
[D] co-education has many features.
2. what does co-education offer to children?
[A] A society.
[B] A true small model of society.
[C] A real life.
[D] True version of social condition.
3. According to the passage, what is one of the chief aims of education?
[A] It is for students to acquire knowledge.
[B] It is to equip future citizens with scientific technology.
[C] It is to equip future citizens with what is required in getting a position in society.
[D] It is for students to get academic achievements.
4. Why do boys and girls in co-education have no illusion about each other?
[A] They live together and know each other too well.
[B] Years of living together at school dismiss such illusion.
[C] co-education encourage them to have an healthy attitude toward life.
[D] They are familiar with each other’s problems.
Vocabulary
1. to be in for = receive 接受
He is in for punishment.他受到惩罚。
2. miniature 缩样，雏形，微型画
3. freckle雀斑
4. pigtail 鞭子采集者退散
5. knobbly = knobby多节的
6. unkempt乱七八糟，蓬乱的
7. sharp focus = clear view
bring into focus 使集中在焦点上，对光
bring into sharp focus这里的意义是：一目了然，明显突出
8. deviation 越轨，偏离，入歧途
