Student satisfaction with the university experience continues to fall as concerns over debt rise

The fact gender and background can set young people at a disadvantage is 'a national scandal and must change'

University grants for poorest students axed and replaced with loans

This has followed on from the recent news university tuition fees in England will rise to £9,250 per year from 2017, as maintenance grants for around half a million of England’s poorest students are also axed.

Avoiding debt was the key motivation for not going into higher education, with 56 per cent of those asked citing it as the main reason not to attend.

This year’s report from The Student Room (TSR) also found gender and socio-economic background still have a huge impact on students’ confidence and optimism for the future.

Seventy per cent of those from less privileged backgrounds were less confident about getting a job than those from privileged backgrounds. Male students also feel more confident about getting a job than their female counterparts

There was a significantly large difference in perception about who studies apprenticeships. While the reality is that a roughly equal split of men and women take them up, the research, however, showed 40 per cent of students thought apprenticeships were taken mainly by men compared to just one per cent who thought they were taken mainly by women.

Anxiety about the future was much higher in females than males; only 14 per cent of female respondents said they were very excited about the future compared to 26 per cent of male respondents.

Chris Newson described how no student should feel “they can’t achieve their dream job or further education” He added: “Yet, in 2016, we still find gender and background can set young people at a disadvantage. This is a national scandal and must change.

“We - the education industry - need to continue to work hard to address this challenge head on. Graduates who fail to make student loan repayments should face arrest

When it comes to improving overall university satisfaction, Newson said one thing students say they want is more support getting jobs. He continued: “Universities can help students by building good relationships with employers and supporting their careers and aspirations whilst at university.

“Another big factor in improving university satisfaction is helping students to make the right decision in the first place. Helping them to research their course thoroughly will increase overall satisfaction in the long term.”

Despite the report’s eye-opening findings, on the whole, going to university and getting a degree emerged as still being the most popular option for student participants. Overall, 82 per cent said they would go straight to university following school, more than double the percentage of young people applying for higher education in the UK.

*More than 10,000 students were recruited for the survey and 8,751 gave qualifying responses. Under 16s and non-UK domiciled students were excluded from the survey

*Majority of university students work through summer amid fears over tuition fees and graduate job competition

*Analyst, consultant and software engineer are the UK’s highest-paying graduate roles, report finds

*Going to university ‘ruining young people’s chances of becoming homeowners’, study finds

*Graduate salaries do not justify tuition fee increase unless students went to Oxbridge or are doctors, report finds

*The student loan situation in the UK is becoming increasingly tense, but arresting desperate graduates isn’t the answer

*Mass student demonstration against ‘marketisation of education’ confirmed to take place in central London

The Independent, August, 2016

UNIT V

 Jerome David Salinger (January 1, 1919 – January 27, 2010), better known as J. D. Salinger, was an American writer who won acclaim early in life. He led a very private life for more than a half-century. He published his final original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980.Salinger was raised in Manhattan and began writing short stories while in secondary school. In 1951, his novel ”The Catcher in the Rye” was an immediate popular success. His depiction of adolescent alienation and loss of innocence in the protagonist Holden Caulfield was influential, especially among adolescent readers. The novel remains widely read and controversial, selling around 250,000 copies a year. He followed “Catcher” with a short story collection, “Nine Stories” (1953); a volume containing a novella and a short story, “Franny and Zooey” (1961). His last published work, a novella entitled "Hapworth 16, 1924", appeared in The New Yorker on June 19, 1965. In November 2013, three unpublished stories by Salinger were briefly posted online. One of the stories, "The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls", is said to be a prequel to «The Catcher in the Rye”.

The Catcher in the Rye.

The events of the novel take place over three days in December 1949. Holden Caulfield is an 18-year-old boy from New York City. He recently flunked out of prestigious boarding schools because he doesn't apply himself. Holden tells the story from a tuberculosis rest home, 1 year after the events take place, (he was 17 at the time). Holden has been expelled from Pencey due to poor work and isn't to return after Christmas break, which begins the following Wednesday. On invitation, he goes to the home of his history teacher, Mr. Spencer. Holden returns to his dorm, which is quiet. But fed up with Pencey Prep, Holden catches a train to New York City. Holden makes the decision that he will head out West and live as a deaf-mute. When he explains this plan to his girlfriend, she wants to go with him, even though she was looking forward to acting in a play that Friday. Holden refuses to let her come with him, which upsets Phoebe, so Holden decides not to leave after all. He tries to cheer her up by taking her to the Central Park Zoo, and as he watches her ride the zoo's carousel, he is filled with happiness and joy at the sight of Phoebe riding in the rain. At the novel's conclusion, Holden decides not to mention much about later events up to the present day.

Chapter 1.

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, an what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them. They're quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They're nice and all--I'm not saying that--but they're also touchy as hell. Besides, I'm not going to tell you my whole goddam autobiography or anything. I'll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy. I mean that's all I told D.B. about, and he's my brother and all. He's in Hollywood. That isn't too far from this crumby place, and he comes over and visits me practically every week end. He's going to drive me home when I go home next month maybe. He just got a Jaguar. One of those little English jobs that can do around two hundred miles an hour. It cost him damn near four thousand bucks. He's got a lot of dough, now. He didn't use to. He used to be just a regular writer, when he was home. He wrote this terrific book of short stories, The Secret Goldfish, in case you never heard of him. The best one in it was "The Secret Goldfish." It was about this little kid that wouldn't let anybody look at his goldfish because he'd bought it with his own money. It killed me. Now he's out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute. If there's one thing I hate, it's the movies. Don't even mention them to me.

   Where I want to start telling is the day I left Pencey Prep. Pencey Prep is this school that's in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. You probably heard of it. You've probably seen the ads, anyway. They advertise in about a thousand magazines, always showing some hotshot guy on a horse jumping over a fence. Like as if all you ever did at Pencey was play polo all the time. I never even once saw a horse anywhere near the place. And underneath the guy on the horse's picture, it always says: "Since 1888 we have been molding boys into splendid, clear-thinking young men." Strictly for the birds. They don't do any damn more molding at Pencey than they do at any other school. And I didn't know anybody there that was splendid and clear-thinking and all. Maybe two guys. If that many. And they probably came to Pencey that way.

   Anyway, it was the Saturday of the football game with Saxon Hall. The game with Saxon Hall was supposed to be a very big deal around Pencey. It was the last game of the year, and you were supposed to commit suicide or something if old Pencey didn't win. I remember around three o'clock that afternoon I was standing way the hell up on top of Thomsen Hill, right next to this crazy cannon that was in the Revolutionary War and all. You could see the whole field from there, and you could see the two teams bashing each other all over the place. You couldn't see the grandstand too hot, but you could hear them all yelling, deep and terrific on the Pencey side, because practically the whole school except me was there, and scrawny and faggy on the Saxon Hall side, because the visiting team hardly ever brought many people with them.

  There were never many girls at all at the football games. Only seniors were allowed to bring girls with them. It was a terrible school, no matter how you looked at it. I like to be somewhere at least where you can see a few girls around once in a while, even if they're only scratching their arms or blowing their noses or even just giggling or something. Old Selma Thurmer--she was the headmaster's daughter--showed up at the games quite often, but she wasn't exactly the type that drove you mad with desire. She was a pretty nice girl, though. I sat next to her once in the bus from Agerstown and we sort of struck up a conversation. I liked her. She had a big nose and her nails were all bitten down and bleedy-looking and she had on those damn falsies that point all over the place, but you felt sort of sorry for her. What I liked about her, she didn't give you a lot of horse manure about what a great guy her father was. She probably knew what a phony slob he was.

   The reason I was standing way up on Thomsen Hill, instead of down at the game, was because I'd just got back from New York with the fencing team. I was the goddam manager of the fencing team. Very big deal. We'd gone in to New York that morning for this fencing meet with McBurney School. Only, we didn't have the meet. I left all the foils and equipment and stuff on the goddam subway. It wasn't all my fault. I had to keep getting up to look at this map, so we'd know where to get off. So we got back to Pencey around two-thirty instead of around dinnertime. The whole team ostracized me the whole way back on the train. It was pretty funny, in a way.

    The other reason I wasn't down at the game was because I was on my way to say good-by to old Spencer, my history teacher. He had the grippe, and I figured I probably wouldn't see him again till Christmas vacation started. He wrote me this note saying he wanted to see me before I went home. He knew I wasn't coming back to Pencey.

    I forgot to tell you about that. They kicked me out. I wasn't supposed to come back after Christmas vacation on account of I was flunking four subjects and not applying myself and all. They gave me frequent warning to start applying myself--especially around midterms, when my parents came up for a conference with old Thurmer--but I didn't do it. So I got the ax. They give guys the ax quite frequently at Pencey. It has a very good academic rating, Pencey. It really does.

    Anyway, it was December and all, and it was cold as a witch's teat, especially on top of that stupid hill. I only had on my reversible and no gloves or anything. The week before that, somebody'd stolen my camel's-hair coat right out of my room, with my fur-lined gloves right in the pocket and all. Pencey was full of crooks. Quite a few guys came from these very wealthy families, but it was full of crooks anyway. The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has--I'm not kidding. Anyway, I kept standing next to that crazy cannon, looking down at the game and freezing my ass off. Only, I wasn't watching the game too much. What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse.

   I was lucky. All of a sudden I thought of something that helped make me know I was getting the hell out. I suddenly remembered this time, in around October, that I and Robert Tichener and Paul Campbell were chucking a football around, in front of the academic building. They were nice guys, especially Tichener. It was just before dinner and it was getting pretty dark out, but we kept chucking the ball around anyway. It kept getting darker and darker, and we could hardly see the ball any more, but we didn't want to stop doing what we were doing. Finally we had to. This teacher that taught biology, Mr. Zambesi, stuck his head out of this window in the academic building and told us to go back to the dorm and get ready for dinner. If I get a chance to remember that kind of stuff, I can get a good-by when I need one--at least, most of the time I can. As soon as I got it, I turned around and started running down the other side of the hill, toward old Spencer's house. He didn't live on the campus. He lived on Anthony Wayne Avenue.

   I ran all the way to the main gate, and then I waited a second till I got my breath. I have no wind, if you want to know the truth. I'm quite a heavy smoker, for one thing - that is, I used to be. They made me cut it out. Another thing, I grew six and a half inches last year. That's also how I practically got t.b. and came out here for all these goddam checkups and stuff. I'm pretty healthy, though.

   Anyway, as soon as I got my breath back I ran across Route 204. It was icy as hell and I damn near fell down. I don't even know what I was running for--I guess I just felt like it. After I got across the road, I felt like I was sort of disappearing. It was that kind of a crazy afternoon, terrifically cold, and no sun out or anything, and you felt like you were disappearing every time you crossed a road.

    Boy, I rang that doorbell fast when I got to old Spencer's house. I was really frozen. My ears were hurting and I could hardly move my fingers at all. "C'mon, c'mon," I said right out loud, almost, "somebody open the door." Finally old Mrs. Spencer opened. it. They didn't have a maid or anything, and they always opened the door themselves. They didn't have too much dough.

  "Holden!" Mrs. Spencer said. "How lovely to see you! Come in, dear! Are you frozen to death?" I think she was glad to see me. She liked me. At least, I think she did.

  Boy, did I get in that house fast. "How are you, Mrs. Spencer?" I said. "How's Mr. Spencer?"

  "Let me take your coat, dear," she said. She didn't hear me ask her how Mr. Spencer was. She was sort of deaf.

   She hung up my coat in the hall closet, and I sort of brushed my hair back with my hand. I wear a crew cut quite frequently and I never have to comb it much. "How've you been, Mrs. Spencer?" I said again, only louder, so she'd hear me.

   "I've been just fine, Holden." She closed the closet door. "How have you been?" The way she asked me, I knew right away old Spencer'd told her I'd been kicked out.

   "Fine," I said. "How's Mr. Spencer? He over his grippe yet?"

    "Over it! Holden, he's behaving like a perfect--I don't know what. . . He's in his room, dear. Go right in."

Salinger, Jerome David, The Catcher In the Rye, Progress Publishers, 1968, chapter 1, p.p. 27-31.

Notes.

David Copperfield – the narrator and protagonist of the autobiographical novel by Ch. Dickens.

Hollywood – is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, is notable for its place as the home of U.S. film industry.

Jaguar – the British luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover.

Pencey Prep. – Pencey Preparatory Academy, name of an exclusive private though fictional school.

Agerstown, Pennsylvania – a fictional town.

Saxon Hall –an ideal venue for parties, weddings, social events, corporate meetings. Here – the name of the football team.

Thomsen Hill – geographical landmark and part of student life at Pencey, overlooks the football field.

Revolutionary War (1775-1783) – American War of independence between the Kingdom of GB and 13 British colonies on the North of the continent.

McBurney School – a college preparatory school in Manhattan

Ø Translation Tips

1. I want you to give me some more money. – You do, do you?

2. No, I don’t want to listen to you! – Oh, you don’t, don’t you?

3. I spoke to the Prime Minister yesterday. — Oh, you did, did you?

4. You mustn’t talk with me like that! – I mustn’t, mustn’t I ?

5. I thought you didn’t want any more! – Oh, you did, did you?

6. You are a very rude person! – Oh, I am, am I?

7. He can’t work here! – He can’t, can’t he?

8. They’ll send you to prison! – Oh, they will, will they?

9. You must answer the letter. – I must, must I?

B).Translate sentences into Russian paying attention to the word STUFF.

1.Thatstuff bores me. 2.I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff, that happened to me. 3.I left all the foils and equipment and stuff on the subway. 4.If I get a chance to remember that kind of stuff, I can get a good-by, when I need. 5.I practically got t.b. and came out here for all these goddam checkups and stuff. 6.I have to buy some stuff at the grocery store. 7. Don’t give me that stuff about being tired. 8.This book is poor stuff. 9. This is the sort of stuff to give them. 10.I don’t need that doctor’s stuff. 11.He was on the stuff. 12.There’s some good football stuff in that player. 13.Apples, oranges, all this kind of stuff. 14.Do you call this stuff butter? 15.My nose is stuffed up. 16.I am stuffed. 17.It’s all stuff and nonsense as far as I concerned.

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