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Quiz

1) She is _____ of people not going to college.

a) a supportor
b) skepical
c) an example

2) She likes _____ .

a) lectures
b) lab work
c) debates

3) She thinks college helps people _____ .

1394 Is College Worth It? a) get focused
Marianne and Todd talk about how college has changed and b) fill a void
discuss if college is still a wise choice for young people. c) learn social skills

4) She thinks MOOCs are a _____ .

Todd: So Marianne, we're talking about
education. ___ things are changing. Society a) good idea
is changing as it always is. ___ these days, b) bad idea
you can pretty much learn anything on your c) short term answer
own. ___ there is a new debate going
around that colleges no longer serve the
purpose that it used to. That basically, you Marianne 5) She says college _____ .
Todd
can just learn what you want to learn without a) costs too much
going to college. What do you think about that?
b) takes to much time
Marianne: Yes, that's a very good c) offers useless degrees
Right Word!
question. I really love this Fill in the blanks with one of Reset Quiz Show Answers
possibility of having access to the words below.
knowledge just by yourself without
having to attend a college for
example. It's a great chance for and so
everyone to have access to this but or Vocabulary
knowledge. ___ I can think it's a
good thing.
Note: Some words can be serve the purpose
___ I don't know why. I'm kind of used more than once.
skeptical because I think at some
point, you have to have a time where you can exchange with a Colleges no longer serve the purpose
teacher ___ at least with other people who have the same that they used to.
knowledge as you. Because if you never, if you don't have this When something serves a purposes, it
time ___ space where you can debate about what you learned, does what it was intended to do.
then there is no increase of the level of thinking. Like because
you need to debate about things to learn more ___ maybe to
correct things. 1. A helmet cannot serve its purpose
if you do not wear it.
2. We rarely use fire extinguishers, but they serve a
It's like the Wikipedia, right. Like it's
a contributive dictionary or – purpose and must be available.
encyclopedia. ___ everybody is
writing in this page. ___ sometimes skeptical
you see some updates ___ you
don't know why, for example, I'm kind of skeptical.
someone made the change
because you don't have the space When you are skeptical, you have
where you can debate about is this doubts about something.
wrong ___ correct about like the
information that was uploaded was 1. I hear raw fish can be healthy but I
___ correct. ___ if you just see the am skeptical.
correction ___ you couldn't debate 2. The city says new taxes will create jobs but I am
about this, then you cannot skeptical.
understand.
level of thinking
___ I think for me, having a time
and a space where you can debate
is very important. ___ this is a place There is no increase of the level of
and the time that college can offer, thinking.
for example, debate between teachers ___ debate between
students about some topics. Here, a level of thinking refers to
thinking intelligently.
Todd: Wow! Those are really good points. Yeah, I agree. You
know, I've taught at university for a while. ___ I do see some of 1. The level of thinking is higher at
the points of being a self-learner ___ just basically getting what college than high school.
you want – getting the information you want online. 2. The book took me to a higher level of thinking.
But the problem is, when you go to university, you have that void social element
or the vacuum really. And so, you're going to fill that with all these
different types of information. And you might see things that you
aren't – that you didn't even know that you liked. And also, there's There's that social element that's really
that social element that's really strong in college. I don't think strong in college.
you're going to find that anywhere else where you, you know,
make friends, you make relationships that last your whole life. A social element refers to a situation
where people interact and socialize.
So I'm still a big believer of college but I can see that maybe we
need to change the model to make them little bit better. 1. There is a small social element to
role playing games.
Marianne: Uh-hmm. 2. Many people go to the gym for the social element,
not to get in shape.
Todd: Which brings us to another question: how do you think we
can change college to make better? Like what are some changes MOOC
we can make to college?
We're starting to see it a little bit with
Marianne: Wow. MOOCs.
Todd: Like I have one idea. One idea I have is that we're starting MOOC stands for Massive Open Online
to see it a little bit with MOOCs but there's no reason that you Course, and it refers to free online
can't take a class at any other university via video from your classes offered by universities.
university. So example, if you go to UCLA, you can take art
classes from Harvard or somewhere else. I think that would be 1. I took a MOOC in art history from UCLA.
really good if you can start doing that. So you're not only limited 2. I like MOOCs because you do not have to leave
to the professors on your campus. home.
Marianne: Wow. Yes, that's a great idea. Yes. accessible
Todd: Anything that you, looking back, you wish you could have
done differently at university? We can make university more
accessible to a wider audience.
Marianne: Well the big issue about university especially in the
US is that it costs a lot of money. And so, if we could find ways to When something is accessible, it is easy
– because for example, you are talking about having access to a to enter or use.
lot of content information for free actually – I mean, for free. Like
you just have to pay your Internet connection and suddenly, you 1. In the winter that road is not
have access to a lot of knowledge. accessible because of the snow.
2. State colleges are more accessible than private
But when you go to college, it costs a lot of money. So this is a universities.
big issue actually. So if you could find a way to, financially
speaking, like if we can find a way to make university more
accessible to a wider audience, it could be nice. But I know it's Vocabulary Quiz
difficult because we have to pay teachers. We have to pay all the
infrastructures about university, so it costs a lot of money.
So I don't have the solution right now but I think working on this serve a purpose • skeptical • level of
like free education or cheaper education – I mean, cheaper in a thinking
way talking about the entrance fee, not losing the quality of
education. Yeah. If we can work on this point. social element • MOOC • accessible

Todd: Yeah. I totally agree. 1. Going to class is better than taking a

.
[End of Transcript]
2. Stop signs are annoying but they
.
Speaking Challenge 3. The in the meeting was
deep.
4. There is a to team sports.
Answer these questions related to the lesson.
5. That building is not to the
public.
Q1 Is college easily accessible in your country? 6. I am of his actions. He seems
A1 fake.
Q2 What is a book that raised your level of thinking?
A2

Q3 Why are people skeptical of the government?

Listen Online at elllo.org!
A3

Q4 Do you think colleges still serve their purpose?

A4

Q5 Do you think MOOCs are a good way to learn?

A5

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