ENGLISH COURSE IX – READING ACTIVITY

NAME: __________________________________ DATE: _______________

INSTRUCTIONS: Read the text and answer the questions.

SCHOOL DAYS

In the past few weeks, circumstances had

made me discover what an ignorant I was.
Lately I’d been fortunate, and my life had
changed quickly, but I’d reflected little on it.
When I think of myself in comparison with
those in public schools, I became aware that
I knew nothing; I was vessel filled with
empty data, an intellectual void. I wasn’t even certain who Shakespeare was, for
God’s sake I knew nothing about zoology, geology, astronomy, languages,
mathematics, physics. Nothing I could actually apply to the real world.

Most of the kids I went to school with finished school at sixteen, others stayed behind
and failed some years. Surprisingly, only some of the people I graduated with in high
school continued to a higher education Then, they found a job related to what they
studied. Others are working as car-mechanics, or managers, in department stores.
Others decided to be their own boss. And I’d walked out of college without thinking
twice about it and despite my parents disappointing face. As a student at a private
school, at the end of the day no matter what school you graduate from. Education
doesn’t seem to be considered as a particular advantage, and certainly couldn’t be
seen as worthwhile in itself. Getting into business and start making yourself
productive as young as possible is more important.

Now that I am part of the workforce of the

country where I chose to live in, I work with
people who has less qualifications than me,
less studies than me, less experience than me,
But they managed to make their way to the
top. It doesn’t matter if you had the best
scores in your exams. If you come from one
of the best private schools. What seems to
count more for many companies is how well your family is related to the richest
families or politicians of the country.

-1-
I wasn’t the best student though, and my family wasn’t the richest. My parents made
good money when they opened an Arab food restaurant when they first came to
London. Then it became very popular so they opened another branch, then another
and another. My parents enrolled my in a private school. I was among people who
wrote as naturally as we played football. My classmates were the kind of people who
took vacation to Miami as if it were the closest beach in the country. What infuriated
me – what made me loathe both them and myself – was their confidence and
knowledge. Of course, they had access to traveling around the world, studying with
the best teachers, eating the best food. Their easy talk of art, theatre, architecture,
travel; the languages, the vocabulary, knowing the way round a whole culture – it
was invaluable and irreplaceable capital.

At my school they taught you a bit of French, all of our teachers were native and most
of my classmates have already been to Paris at least twice. Anyone who attempted to
pronounce a word incorrectly was laughed down. On a trip to Lyon, we attacked a
Frog behind a restaurant. By this ignorance we knew ourselves to be superior to the
Public-School kids, with their messy uniforms and fabric backpacks. They had to
walk home after class while we had our silk uniforms and leather briefcases, and
Mummy and Daddy waiting outside in the car to pick us up. If you walk or took the
bus back home people started making comments about your family being in
bankruptcy.

Those public school kids. They were rougher;

they disrupted all lessons; they were fighters;
they never carried no effeminate briefcases
since they never did no homework. they were
proud of never learning anything except the
names of the latest celebrities, the members of
rock groups and the lyrics of *‘Smells like
Teen Spirit”. What idiots we were! How
misinformed! We memorized entire texts and
we could speak about different topics. That later became in fun facts to be shared at a
party and impress a girl. But being knowledgeable in chemistry, physics, calculus
didn’t help to correctly fill the taxes form. I had to hire an accountant who studied in
a public school and got his university degree as a public accountant from a public
university, and he just filled the taxes form in a couple of hours.

Why didn’t we understand that we were happily condemning ourselves to being

nothing better than motor-mechanics? As any other student from a private or public
school. Why couldn’t we see that? For my school, hard words and sophisticated ideas
were in the air they breathed from birth, and this language was the currency that
bought you the best of what the world could offer. But for public school students it
sounded as a second language, consciously acquired.

-2-
And so it was. Not being the friend of the friend of the richest families felt as if my
past wasn’t important enough, wasn’t as substantial as theirs so I’d thrown it away. I
never talked about Mum and Dad waiting for me in the car outside school, I never
talked to my ex-classmates or the suburbs. I started over in a new city and met new
people. I work now as a Freelance editor for a company in New York. I really wanted
a simple life. And once I practically stopped talking at all, my voice choking in my
throat when Eleanor said my accent was cute. “You speak quite refined, Karim. You
use a lot of refined words. You sound like from London – so that’s how you speak.
It’s not unusual. It’s different to my voice, of course.”
Of course… At that moment I resolved to lose my accent.

Adapted from: Hanif KURAISHI, The Buddha of

Suburbia (1990)
*Smells like teen spirit – Song by Nirvana.

Questions:
A – Underline the most suitable alternative: (15 points – 5 points each)

1. In the text, the writer is recalling his school days with:

a- nostalgia b- bitterness c- pride

2. The writer wouldn’t have realized he was wrong

a- if he hadn’t compared himself to Public School students.
b- if he hadn’t been reproached by his parents for dropping out of school.
c- if he hadn’t been blamed by one of his teachers.
3. The writer thinks getting good grades at school is now:
a- Something good to add in his curriculum and get the best jobs.
b- Something that doesn’t make any difference when it comes to finding a job
c. Something to be ashamed of, so he decided to move to a new city.

B – Check true or false for the following statements (15 marks – 3 points each)
1. The writer’s surroundings (environment) didn’t value education.
True ( ) False ( )

2. The writer and his classmates had an excellent relationship

True ( ) False ( )

3. The writer was impressed by the quality of education acquired by Public

School students.
True ( ) False ( )

-3-
 4. Like most of his peers, the writer dropped out of school at 16.
True ( ) False ( )

5. The students in British Public Schools belong to badly-off families.

True ( ) False ( )

E – Choose the most suitable alternative to summarize the text: (5 points )

1. The writer and his mates used to envy Public School students.
2. The writer and his mates used to look down on public School students.
3. The writer and his mates used to feel inferior to Public school students.
F – Based on the text we can infer that : ( 10 marks)
Eleanor was: What country would the writer most
a. his teacher likely is from?
b. his coworker a. Turkey
c. his mother b. India
c. England

G – Underline 5 subjects Karim most likely saw at school (5 points - 1 mark each)
a. Drama
b. Chemistry
c. Accounting
d. Philosophy
e. English
f. Computer Science
g. Natural Sciences
h. Art
i. Biology

-4-