1.  Find a sentence that expresses the author’s main idea and underline it.

I am convinced, however, that a great books education is not only practical, but, in our day and age, the most practical education available. [The last sentence of paragraph 1]

2.  What does the author claim is the main objection to the type of education offered at Gutenberg College? Explain, in your own words, how Dr. Crabtree responds to this claim.


3.    According to the author, how does the pace of technological change make a great books education more relevant than ever before?



4.    Paraphrase this sentence from paragraph 3: “But the rapid rate of change is clouding the crystal ball.”

5.    What does the author want the reader to understand from the example of the “artisan” in paragraph 4?



6.    How might a great books education have softened the blow suffered by the mid-management executives mentioned in paragraph 5?


7.    According to the author, what difficulties await future doctors in the US?


8.    Why should students choose a great books education rather than technical computer training?


9.    What does the author feel are the qualities of a well-educated worker? Do you agree with his definition?


10.    Using context clues, give a definition for the word fortuitous. [¶10]

Student A: a good coincidence

Student B: fortunate

fortuitous definitions

• (Merriam-Webster)
  1: occurring by chance
  2 a: fortunate, lucky <from a cost standpoint, the company's timing is fortuitous — Business Week>  b: coming or happening by a lucky chance <belted down the stairs, and there was a fortuitous train — Doris Lessing>
  

11.    According to the author, the historical goal of education is to “teach students how to live wisely.” Do you feel that Chulalongkorn University is working toward achieving this goal? Should it?


12.    Explain, in your own words, the meaning of this sentence from paragraph 12: “In a sense, such a skill [to live wisely] cannot be taught; it can only be learned.” Do you think that this is true?


13.    Dr. Crabtree believes that small classes and a discussion format are conducive to students’ learning how to live wisely. How does he support this belief? Do you agree?


14.    According to the author, what type of student is most likely to benefit from the education offered at Gutenberg College?


15.    To what extent, does the author manage to convince you that a great books education is practical?

1.  In a few sentences, explain why the writer claims that “books are overrated.”

Student A: Even though books can take you to wonderful places, it can also harm you, make you unsociable.

Student B: Because books don’t only have a good effect on readers, they can also give you a misconception about the world and discourage you to face the unlikable reality.

2.    The writer makes a number of contrasts in the first two paragraphs of the selection. Find some examples.


3.    The best completion for the blank in paragraph 3 is…
a. in fact        b. however        c. therefore        d. as well

4.    According to the writer, why have books often been seen as “bad” for us?


5.    What does “that one” (paragraph 4) refer to? What does “there” refer to in the same paragraph?



6.    What is the writer’s objection to the poster she describes in paragraph 4?


7.    Who was Jean-Paul Sartre? What is he an example of in paragraph 5?



8.    Paraphrase the last sentence of paragraph 5: “In retrospect, Sartre realized that he passed from “real” knowledge to its subject, finding more “reality” in the idea of a thing than in the thing itself.”


9.    The last sentence of paragraph 6 is an example of a rhetorical question? What does that mean?


10.    Explain what the writer means by the expression “the intoxicating moment” at the start of paragraph 7.


11.    Explain what she means by saying that “they [horror stories] took me out of my own story”.


12.    In paragraph 8, the writer compares herself to a ghoul. Why?



13.    Supply an appropriate word for the blank in paragraph 10.

14.    In your own words, why weren’t proper Victorian girls encouraged to read novels?



15.    What does the word “copiously” (paragraph 12) mean?


16.    How are Charlotte’s Web and Watership Down similar?


17.    In the writer’s opinion, how are the tears that children cry different from those that adults cry (paragraph 12)?



18.    In paragraph 12, find several synonyms for “cry.”



19.    In paragraph 12, the writer claims to understand the appeal of hopeless love to “inexperienced teenage girls.” Do you?





20.    How does the writer contrast the world of the novels she read and her own “real life” as a teenager?



21.    Why does the writer call Jane Eyre the “plain girls’ bible”? Can you think of other stories that might also be called the same thing? Why did this novel have such an impact on the writer as a young girl?



22.    In context, what is a “money shot” (paragraph 15)?



23.    Explain, in your own words, the “vicious self-perpetuating cycle” the writer found herself in as a teenager.



24.    In the context, what does “all the rage” (paragraph 17) mean?



25.    According to the writer, what are the potential benefits of reading? What kind of reader do you need to be to reap these benefits?



26.    The writer tells us in paragraph 18 that she didn’t know how to talk about the books she read. Why not?


27.    What regrets does the writer have about the way she spent her teenage years?



28.    The writer tells us that even as an adult, she continues to feel isolated and insecure, and she blames books for these feelings. Do you think this is fair, or do you think she should look elsewhere for the cause of her insecurities? In other words, do you share the writer’s belief that books can be bad for a child? Explain.