UPSC CSAT : Reading Comprehension Home Exercise- 16 PASSAGE C

Monday 30 March 2015

Reading Comprehension Home Exercise- 16 PASSAGE C

 It is not enough to teach man a specialty. Through it he may become a kind of useful machine but not a harmoniously developed personality. It is essential that the student acquire an understanding of and a lively feeling for values. He must acquire a vivid sense of the beautiful and of the morally good. Otherwise he – with his specialized knowledge- more closely resembles a well-trained dog than a harmoniously developed person. He must learn to understand the motives of human beings, their illusions, and their sufferings in order to acquire a proper relationship to individual fellow-men and to the community.

These precious things are conveyed to the younger generation through personal contact with those who teach not- or at least not in the main- through textbooks. It is this that primarily constitutes and    preserves culture. This is what I have in mind when I recommend the “humanities” as important, not just dry specialized knowledge in the fields of history and philosophy.

Overemphasis on the competitive system and premature specialization on the ground of immediate usefulness kill the spirit on which all cultural life depends, specialized knowledge included.
It is also vital to a valuable education that independent critical thinking  be developed in the young human being, a development that is greatly jeopardized by overburdening him with too much varied subjects (point system)./ Overburdening necessarily leads to superficiality. Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty.

10.   Specialization is undesirable, according to the author, because
A.      He becomes a machine
B.      It warps his personality
C.      It is devoid of values
D.      None of the above.

11.   The humanities definition that the author is most likely to agree to is
A.      An understanding of values
B.      Sensitivity towards fellow human beings
C.      History and philosophy
D.      Diffused knowledge rather than specialization

12.   The author is-
A.      Happy with the current education system
B.      Having strong support for specialized knowledge.
C.      A humanitarian
D.      Of the belief that the educational system leaves a lot to be desired

13.   Independent critical thinking is vital because
A.      It shapes the future actions
B.      It helps avoid specialization
C.       It is a key to stable society
D.      He develops his own thought process.

14.   The definition of teaching according to the passage is-
A.      That what is offered and not perceived
B.      A valuable gift of perception to duty
C.      An offer, not a hard duty
D.      None of the above.

15.   Cultural life depends on-
A.      Competitive system
B.      Premature specialization
C.      Options 1 & 2
D.      None of the above

Answer:


10.   B     In the very first paragraph, the author speaks of how acquiring a specialty is detrimental for the personality.

11.   B   refer second paragraph. The emphasis is on the relationship between the teachers and the taught. This author says, develops the sensitivity.

12.   D   the basic stance of the author is that the current educational system has a lot of deficiencies. Hence D.

13.   D    Independent thinking enables an individual to develop his own thought process, thereby preserving culture at large. Hence D.

14.   D     the idea of teaching that the author espouses is a process to develop critical thinking skills. Refer last paragraph.
Not found in any of the options.

15.   D   in the second paragraph, the author mentions that it is human contact that constitutes and preserves culture.
Not mentioned in any of the options.

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