GRE写作素材Section+one.docx

1、GRE写作素材Section+oneGRE写作素材Section one: Education下面的材料旨在丰富学生在是非问题写作方面的思想和语言，考生在复习时可以先分类阅读这些篇章，然后尝试写相关方面的作文题。 对于素材中用黑体字的部分，特别建议你熟读，背诵，因为它们在语言和观点上都值得吸收。学习语言的人应该明白，表达能力和思想深度都靠日积月累，潜移默化。从某种意义上说，提高英语写作能力无捷径可走，你必须大段背诵英语文章才能逐渐形成语感和用英语进行表达的能力。这一关，没有任何人能代替你过。因此，建议你下点苦功夫，把背单词的精神拿出来背诵文章。何况，并不是要求你背了之后永远牢记在心：你可以这个

2、星期背，下个星期忘。这没有关系，相信你的大脑具有神奇的能力。背了工具箱里的文章后，你会惊讶的发现：I can think in English now！1. Proverbs1. A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that individuality is the key to success.2. The primary purpose of a liberal educ

3、ation is to make ones mind a pleasant place in which to spend ones time.3. Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.4. The classroom-not the trench-is the frontier of freedom now and forevermore.5. Educati

4、ons purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.6. It is the purpose of education to help us become autonomous, creative, inquiring people who have the will and intelligence to create our own destiny.7. You see, real ongoing, lifelong education doesnt answer questions; it provokes them.8. P

5、eople will pay more to be entertained than educated.9.the most important function of education at any level is to develop the personality of the individual and the significance of his life to himself and to others. This is the basic architecture of a life; the rest is ornamentation and decoration of

6、 the structure.10. The essence of our efforts to see that every child has a chance must be to assure each as equal opportunity, not to become equal, but to become different-to realize whatever unique potential of body, mind, and spirit he or she possesses.11. A great teacher never strives to explain

7、 his vision-he simply invites you to stand beside him and see for yourself.12. If you can read and don, you are an illiterate by choice.2. Damaging ResearchA study by National Parent-Teacher Organization revealed that in the average American school, eighteen negatives are identified for every positi

8、ve that is pointed out. The Wisconsin study revealed that when children enter the first grade, 80 percent of them feel pretty good themselves, but by the time they get to the sixth grade, only 10 percent of them have good self-images.3. Education and CitizenshipAn important aspect of education in th

9、e United States is the relationship between education and citizenship. Throughout its history this nation has emphasized public education as a means of transmitting democratic values, creating equality of opportunity, and preparing new generations of citizens to function in society. In addition, the

10、 schools have been expected to help shape society itself. During the 1950s, for example, efforts to combat racial segregation focused on the schools. Later, when the Soviet Union launched the first orbiting satellite, American schools and colleges came under intense pressure and were offered many in

11、centives to improve their science and mathematics programs so that the nations would not fall behind the Soviet Union in scientific and technological capabilities.Education is often viewed as a tool for solving social problems, especially social inequality. The schools, t is thought, can transform y

12、oung people from vastly different backgrounds into competent, upwardly mobile adults. Yet these goals seem almost impossible to attain. In recent years, in fact, public education has been at the center of numerous controversies arising from the gap between the ideal and the reality. Part of the prob

13、lem is that different groups in society have different have different expectations. Some feel that children should be taught basic job-related skills; still others believe education should not only prepare children to compete in society but also help them maintain their cultural identity (and, in th

14、e case of Hispanic children, their language). On the other hand, policymakers concerned with education emphasize the need to increase the level of student achievement and to improve parents in their childrens education.Some reformers and critics have called attention to the need to link formal schoo

15、ling with programs designed to address social problems. Sociologist Charles Moscos, for example, is a leader in the movement to expand programs like the Peace Corps, Vista, and Outward Bound into a system of voluntary national service. National service, as Moscos defines it, would entail “the full-t

16、ime undertaking of public duties by young people whether as citizen soldiers or civilian servers-who are paid subsistence wages” and serve for at least one year. In return for this period of service, the volunteers would receive assistance in paying for college or other educational expenses.Advocate

17、s of national service and school-to-work programs believe that education does not have to be confined to formal schooling. In devising strategies to provide opportunities for young people to serve their society, they emphasize the educational value of citizenship experiences gained outside the class

18、room. At this writing there is little indication that national service will become a new educational institution in the United States, although the concept is steadily gaining support among educators and social critics.4. The Teachers RoleGiven the undeniable importance of classroom experience, soci

19、ologists have done a considerable amount of research on what goes on in the classroom. Often they start from the premise that, along with the influence of peers, students experiences in the classroom are of central importance to their later development. One study examined the impact of a single firs

20、t-grade teacher on her students subsequent adult status. The surprising results of this study have important implications. It is evident that good teachers can make a big difference in childrens lives, a fact that gives increased urgency to the need to improve the quality of primary-school teaching.

21、 The reforms carried out by educational leaders like James Comer suggest that when good teaching is combined with high levels of parental involvement the results can be even more dramatic.Because the role of the teacher is to change the learner in some way, the teacher-student relationship is an imp

22、ortant part of education. Sociologists have pointed out that this relationship is asymmetrical or unbalanced, with the teacher being in a position of authority and the student having little choice but to passively absorb the information provided by the teacher. In other words, in conventional classr

23、ooms there is little opportunity for the students to become actively involved in the learning process. On the other hand, students often develop strategies for undercutting the teachers authority: mentally withdrawing, interrupting, and the like. Hence, much current research assumes that students an

24、d teachers influence each other instead of assuming that the influence is always in a single direction.5. Education PhilosophyFor the past fifty years our schools have operated on the theories of John Dewey (1859-1953), an American educator and writer. Dewey believed hat the schools job was to enhan

25、ce the natural development of the growing child, rather than to pour information, for which the child had no context, into him or her. In the Dewey system, the child becomes the active agent in his own education, rather than a passive receptacle for facts.Consequently, American schools are very enth

26、usiastic about teaching “life skills” logical thinking, analysis, creative problem-solving. The actual content of the lessons is secondary to the process, which is supposed to train the child to be able to handle whatever life may present, including all the unknowns of the future. Students and teach

27、ers both regard pure memorization as an uncreative and somewhat vulgar.In addition to “life skills”, schools are assigned to solve the ever growing stoke of social problems. Racism, teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, drug use, reckless driving, and suicide are just a few of the modern problems that have

28、 appeared on the school curriculum.This all contributes to a high degree of social awareness in American youngsters.6. Student LifeTo the students, the most notable difference between elementary school and the higher levels is that in junior high they start “changing classes”. This means that rather

29、 than spending the day in one classroom, they switch classrooms to meet their different teachers. This gives them three or four minutes between classes in the hallways, where a great deal of the important social action of high school traditionally takes place. Students have lockers in these hallways

30、, around which thy congregate.Society in general does not take the business of studying very seriously. Schoolchildren have a great deal of free time, which they are encouraged to fill with extracurricular activitiessports, clubs, cheerleading, scoutssupposed to inculcate such qualities as leadershi

31、p, sportsmanship, ability to organize, etc. those who dont become engaged in such activities or have afterschool jobs have plenty of opportunity to “hang out”, listen to teenager music, and watch television.Compared to other nations, American students do not have much homework. Studies also show tha

32、t American parents have lower expectations for their childrens success in school than other nationalities do. (Historically, there has not been much correlation between American school success and success in later life.) “Hes just not a scholar”, the American parents might say, content that their so

33、n is on the swim team and doesnt take drugs. (Some of the young do choose to study hard, for reason of their own, such as determining that the road to riches lies through Harvard Business School.)What American schools do effectively teach is the competitive method. In innumerable ways children are pitt