Grade 11 English Language and Comprehension

“Confessions of a Misspent Youth”

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:

1. The idea of permissive education appealed to my mother in 1956 when she was a
Bohemian and I was four. In Greenwich Village, she found a small private school
whose beliefs were the same as hers and happily enrolled me. I know it was an act of
motherly love, but it might have been the worst thing she ever did to me. This school
– I’ll call it Sand and Sea – attracted other such parents, upper-middle-class
professionals who were determined not to have their children pressured the way they
had been. Sand and Sea was the school without pain. And it was the kind of school
that the back-to-basics people rightly fear most. At Sand and Sea, I soon became an
exemplar of educational freedom – the freedom not to learn.

2. Sand and Sea was run by fifteen women and one man who taught “science.” They
were decent people, some old, some young, and all devoted to cultivating the innate
creativity they were convinced we had. There was a tremendous emphasis on the arts.
We weren’t taught techniques, however, because any kind of organization stunted
creativity.

3. We had certain hours allotted to various subjects but we were free to dismiss anything
that bored us. In fact, it was school policy that we were forbidden to be bored or
miserable or made to compete with one another. There were no tests and no hard
times. The way we learned history was by trying to re-create its least important
elements. One year, we pounded corn, made tepees, ate buffalo meat, and learned two
Indian words. That was early American history. Another year we made elaborate
costumes, clay pots, and papier-mâché gods. That was Greek culture. Another year
we were all maidens and knights in armour because it was time to learn about the
Middle Ages. We drank our orange juice from tin-foil goblets but never found out
what the Middle Ages were. They were just ‘The Middle Ages.’

4. I knew that the Huns pegged their horses and drank a quart of blood before going to
war, but no one ever told us who the Huns were or why we should know who they
were. Ignorance Is Not Bliss. We spent great amounts of time being creative because
we had been told by our incurably optimistic mentors that the way to be happy in life
was to create. Thus, we didn’t learn to read until we were in the third grade, because
early reading was thought to discourage creative spontaneity. The one thing they
taught us very well was to hate intellectuality and anything connected with it.
Accordingly, we were forced to be creative for nine years. And yet Sand and Sea has
failed to turn out a good artist.
5. At ten, most of us were functionally illiterate, but we could tell that Raymond was
“acting out” when, in the middle of what passed for English, he did the twist on top of
his desk. Or that Nina was “introverted” because she always cowered in the corner.
When we finally were graduated, however, all the happy little children fell down the
hill. We felt a profound sense of abandonment. So did our parents. After all that
tuition money, let alone the loving freedom, their children faced high school with all
the glorious prospects of the poorest slum-school kids. And so it came to be. No
matter what school we went to, we were the underachievers and the culturally
disadvantaged.

6. For some of us, real life was too much-one of my oldest friends from Sand and Sea
killed himself two years ago after flunking out of the worst high school in New York
at twenty. Various others have put in time in mental institutions where they were free,
once again, to create during occupational therapy. During my own high-school years,
the school psychologist was baffled by my lack of substantive knowledge. He
suggested to my mother that I be given a battery of psychological tests to find out why
I was blocking out information. The thing was. I wasn’t blocking because I had no
information to block.

7. Most of my Sand and Sea classmates were also enduring the same kinds of hardships
that accompany severe handicaps. I was often asked by teachers how I had gotten
into high school. However, I did manage to stumble not only through high school but
also through college (first junior college – rejected by all four-year colleges, and then
New York University), hating it all the way as I had been taught to. I am still amazed
that I have a B.A., but think of it as a B.S.

8. The parents of my former classmates can’t figure out what went wrong. They had
sent in bright, curious children and gotten back, nine years later, helpless adolescents.
Some might say that those of us who freaked out would have freaked out anywhere,
but when you see the same bizarre behaviour pattern in succeeding graduating classes,
you can draw certain terrifying conclusions.

9. Now I see my twelve-year-old brother (who is in a traditional school) doing college-

level maths and I know that he knows more about many other things besides maths
than I do. And I also see traditional education working in the case of my fifteen-year-
old brother (who was summarily yanked from Sand and Sea, by my reformed mother,
when he was eight so that he wouldn’t become like me).

10. Now, after seven years of real education, he is making impressive film documentaries
for a project on the Bicentennial. A better learning experience than playing Pilgrim
for four and a half months, and Indian for four and a half months, which is how I
imagine they spent this year at Sand and Sea.
Mara Wolynski, Newsweek Magazine
1.1 What impression does the headline of the article make: “Confessions of a Misspent
Youth.”? (2)

1.2 Why does the writer state, “I’ll call it Sand and Sea”? (paragraph one) (1)

1.3 What can we deduce about the character of the writer’s mother from the first
paragraph? (3)

1.4 In your own words explain the intentions of the people who ran “Sand and Sea.”
(paragraph one) (2)

1.5 Summarise the policies and beliefs of Sand and Sea in Paragraphs Two and Three. (4)

1.6 Discuss the tone of the writer in paragraphs four and five.
Provide evidence from the paragraph to support your answer. (4)

1.7 Define the phrase “incurably optimistic”? (paragraph four) (2)

1.8 Explain the expression “Ignorance is not bliss”. (2)

1.9 What does the writer mean by “all the happy little children fell
down the hill”? (paragraph five) (2)

1.10 How does the writer prove to the audience that Sand and Sea failed its Students ?
(Identify three reasons) (3)

1.11 “Most of my Sand and Sea classmates were also enduring the same
kinds of hardships that accompany severe handicaps.”
Explain what the writer intends to convey with this statement. (paragraph eight) (2)

1.13 Provide a suitable synonym for ‘bizarre’. (1)

(paragraph nine)

1.14 Explain what the author means by my “reformed mother” (1)

1.15 “At ten most of us were functionally illiterate.”

Identify the parts of speech of the underlined words. (2)

1.16 “Now, after seven years of real education, he is making impressive film documentaries
for a project on the Bicentennial.” Identify the sentence type. (1)
GRADE 11 MEMO

1.1 What impression does the headline of the article make: “Confessions
of a Misspent Youth.”? (1)
Impression of wasted time. Negative investment. Bad behaviour.

1.2 Why does the writer state, “I’ll call it Sand and Sea”? (paragraph one) (1)
Sand and Sea is not the school’s real name.

1.3 What can we deduce about the character of the writer’s mother from the first paragraph? (3)
Mother is the Gypsy type. Belief in the liberty of mind, soul, will. Creative living versus
any form of rigid structure. Pain free, pressure free lifestyle.
Dislikes any type of structured organisation.

1.4 In your own words explain the intentions of the people who ran “Sand and Sea.” (paragraph
one) (2)
They meant well and believed in tapping into the internal creativity they believed every
person possessed.

1.5 Summarise the policies and beliefs of Sand and Sea in Paragraphs two and three. (4)
They frowned on anything that stifled creativity – pressure, discipline, structure,
routine, boredom, pain or anxiety.
Learning and growth was optional.
Students were not allowed to experience any uncomfortable situation.
The focus was on releasing and nurturing creativity. Artistic expression, creating and
recreating.

1.6 Discuss the tone of the writer in paragraphs four and five. Provide
evidence from the paragraph to support your answer. (4)
Ironic, Sardonic, Cynical
‘Told by our incurably optimistic mentors that the way to be happy was to create.’
‘forced to be creative for nine years .And yet Sand and Sea has failed to turn out a good
artist.’

1.7 Define the phrase “incurably optimistic”? (paragraph four) (2)

Inability to change being hopeful about the future. Tending to believe good things will
happen.

1.8 Explain the expression “Ignorance is not bliss”. (2)

The writer reveals the not knowing something that we should (lack of knowledge) is to
our own detriment. The road to suffering – pain – disappointments.

1.9 What does the writer mean by “all the happy little children fell
down the hill”? (paragraph five) (2)
The learners had a reality check when they realised they were not fit for the real world.
Incompetent, inadequate and always culturally disadvantaged.
1.10 How does the writer prove to the audience that Sand and Sea failed its Students ? (Identify
three reasons) (3)
One of the writer’s oldest friends killed himself after flanking out of the worst high
school in New York.
His own lack of substantive knowledge.
The pattern of behaviour followed by the majority of learners from Sand and Sea.
One of failure and incompetency.

1.11 “ Most of my Sand and Sea classmates were also enduring the same
kinds of hardships that accompany severe handicaps.”
Explain what the writer intends to convey with this statement. (paragraph eight) (2)
Someone who is handicapped has a permanent injury and are not able to function
normally. Learners at Sand and Sea were disadvantaged and unable to function.
Crippled mentally, socially, emotionally.

1.13 Provide a suitable synonym for ‘bizarre’. (1)

(paragraph nine)
Strange

1.14 Explain what the author means by my “reformed mother” (1)

His mother has changed her beliefs and behaviour. She has corrected her faulty beliefs.
To correct a situation that is wrong.

1.15 “At ten most of us were functionally illiterate.”

Identify the parts of speech of the underlined words. (2)
most- adverb
were –finite verb
functionally- adjective
illiterate- adjective

1.16 “Now, after seven years of real education, he is making

impressive film documentaries for a project on the
Bicentennial.”
Simple sentence
COMPREHENSION AND LANGUAGE

Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.

WHEN WORK BECOMES CRIMINAL by Mark Borchers and Megan Euston-Brown

1 This is a good time to ask whether the economy is adequately serving humanity.
British economist Richard Layard states that the purpose of the economy is to maximize
average happiness – what else? Layard believes that happiness is not a “woolly, fuzzy
feeling” that is difficult to pinpoint, but rather that it can be clearly and consistently
researched and identified with all the necessary scientific rigour [strictness].

2 Comprehensive global studies all show the same trend – increases in national wealth
do not bring with them increases in happiness. Beyond a basic level of income that services
the essential requirements of life, happiness is not linked to income in a country.

3 If you are poor, more money will definitely increase your happiness. In order to
increase average happiness, it makes sense for economic policy to have a strong focus on
improving the wealth of the poor, by boosting employment and reducing inequity. But it
makes no sense for economic policy to help middle and upper income bands get wealthier.
This has no impact on national well-being.

4 For those employed, working norms [normal practices] are often not healthy. The
nature of work undertaken by the majority in the industrialised world is generally
characterized by meaningless content, low wages and powerlessness in the workplace. The
economist E.F. Schumacher said: “To organize work in such a manner that it becomes
meaningless, boring, stultifying [limiting], or nerve-wracking for the worker would be little
short of criminal; it would indicate a greater concern with goods than with people.” Yet such
work seems a key component of many of today’s economies.

5 The consequences of these working norms – practices we consider quite normal and
civilized – include a rising trend of stress, ill-health, lower life satisfaction, substance abuse,
relationship and community breakdown and, of particular concern, juvenile delinquency and
violence as parenting breaks down.

6 During the 1800s – the Industrial Revolution – the average work time was 10 hours a
day, six days a week. The Factory Acts began to limit working hours, initially those of
children, to not exceed 12 hours a day. The Fair Labour Standards Act of 1938 in America
established the 40 hour week. (The Steel Industry relinquished [gave up] the “twin relics of
barbarism”, the 12-hour day and the seven-day week in 1923.)

7 In the 1930s, author Julian Huxley predicted that the two-day working week was
inevitable because human beings can consume so much and no more. Economist John
Maynard Keynes concurred [agreed]: “When we reach the point when the world produces all
the goods that it needs in two days, as it inevitably will, … we must turn our attention to the
problem of what to do with our leisure.”
8 Kellog, the breakfast cereal king, instituted a six-hour workday in his factory in
Michigan in 1930. The scheme was considered a great success, paying for itself in terms of
increased productivity of workers. Families and communities were the two main
beneficiaries, as workers spent their extra time at home and in the neighbourhood. Most
people at the time simply assumed it was the next inevitable step for business in general.
This clearly did not happen.

9 The eight-hour day, five-day week is now generally the norm in most parts of the
world. This is not because of any consideration of what is good for people or healthy for
society. It is simply the outcome of a historical process in which the pressure from labour for
reduced hours reached a stalemate with the pressure from business against such reduction.

10 When assessed by the measure of average happiness, there is strong evidence that the
economy is failing to serve society. At the heart is a call to reduce the pressure on society to
produce and consume more than what is needed, and to value and prioritise the space and
time to be in touch with ourselves, with each other, and with nature.

1.1 What is the effect of the headline of this article: When work becomes criminal?

1.2.1 According to the text, how can economic arrangements make poor people happier?

1.2.2 How does the writer think that economic arrangements can make rich people happier?

? 1.3 Do you agree with the statement that work for the majority of people is by
“meaningless content, low wages and powerlessness” (paragraph 4)? Give your
opinion and explain your answer with an example or examples of your own. (3)

1.4.1 What does E.F Schumacher think of modern working conditions? Answer in your

own words. (2)

1.4.2 Write down the most dramatic word which shows his attitude. (1)

1.5 Select and write down the most shocking fact about labour conditions in the

1800s from paragraph 6. (2)

1.6 List three benefits that were noted when workers for Kellogs Cereal Company

worked a six-hour day. (3)

1.7 According to paragraphs 8 and 9, what should contemporary [present day] workers

be fighting for, and why? (3)

Grammar and punctuation questions

1.8 If you are poor, more money will definitely increase your happiness.

1.8.1 State whether this sentence is

(a) a simple sentence

(b) a complex sentence

(c) a compound sentence (1)

1.8.2 Write down the main clause. (1)

1.8.3 Write down one abstract noun from the above sentence. (1)

1.8.4 Write down one adjective from the above sentence. (1)

1.8.5 Write down one adverb from the above sentence. (1)

1.8.6 Write down one common noun from the above sentence. (1)

1.9 Name the punctuation marks around the phrase “woolly, fuzzy feeling” in

paragraph 2 and explain why the writer has used this punctuation. (2)

1.10 The work is characterized by meaningless content, low wages and powerlessness.

The above sentence is in the passive voice. Rewrite the sentence in the active voice.

(2)

Read the following passage carefully before answering the questions.

From: IT WAS ON FIRE WHEN I LAY DOWN ON IT

by Robert Fulgham

1 The teacher is quiet. He is thinking, I can’t believe I am doing this.

He pulls on rubber gloves, reaches into a white plastic bag, and
pulls out a human brain. A real human brain.
The students are quiet. They are thinking, I can’t believe he is
5 really doing this.
The students are thinking, if he hands it to me I will DIE, JUST
DIE!
Sure enough, he hands it to them. They do not die.
1
When the brain comes back to him, the teacher tosses it across the
10 table to the rubber-gloved quarterback of the football team, and
he tosses it to his rubber-gloved tight end. Laughter as the tight
 end drops the brain on the table. The brain bounces.

To explain: In this beginning drawing class, I had been lecturing

about the impact of brain research on the process of art, using
15 pictures and diagrams and anatomy charts. We tossed around a
cantaloupe to get the feel of the size of a brain, but somehow
brains remained a bit abstract. The students had that glazed
expression on their faces that means this is getting b-o-r-i-n-g.

In that moment of educational ennui, a freshman girl says, ‘I can

20 bring a human brain to school if you want – my father has lots of
them. ‘(Talk about a full-scale class alert: ‘She’s going to do WHAT?’)
Well, it turns out her daddy is a bona fide research neurosurgeon
at the medical school and has jars and jars of brains in his lab and he
25 would be pleased to have us see the real thing. So, sure, I can handle
this. ‘Bring a brain to school!’ I shout at the departing class. ‘ALL of
you.’
Sure enough, a week later, the freshman girl, Queen Forever of
Show-and-Tell, shows up with a brain in a bag.

30 ‘Well, Mr Fulghum, what do you think?’

If ever there was an appropriate use of the word ‘nonplussed’, it
is now. This is what the students call an ‘oooo-wow’ moment of
monumental proportion.

‘I have one of these things between my ears,’ I said. It is made up

35 entirely of raw meat at the moment. It is fuelled by yesterday’s baloney
sandwich, potato chips, and chocolate milk. And everything I am
doing at the moment – everything I have ever done or will do –
passes through this lump. I made it; I own it.

And it is the most mysterious thing on earth.

40 (This brain in my hand wasn’t raw, mind you – it had been
preserved in formaldehyde. And no, it was not in fact icky or gross.
Light beige in colour, slightly damp, soft and rubbery, like clay. And
just about the size of that cantaloupe we had passed around – only
this one weighed almost three pounds.)
2
45 ‘Now I can kind of understand the mechanical work of the brain -
 stimulating breathing, moving blood, directing protein traffic. It’s all
chemistry and electricity.A motor. I know about motors.’
But this three-pound raw-meat motor also contains all the
limericks I know, a recipe for how to cook a turkey, the remembered
smell of my junior-high locker room, all my sorrows, the ability to
double-clutch a pickup truck, the face of my wife when she was
young. Maths formulas, the first scene in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the
sound of the first cry of my firstborn son, the cure for hiccups, fifty
years’ worth of dreams, how to tie my shoes, the taste of cod-liver oil,
60 an image of Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”. It’s all there in the MEAT.’
‘One cubic centimeter of brain contains ten billion bits of
information and it processes five thousand bits a second.’
‘That’s what I think.’
‘Oooo-wow,’ chorus the students. The teacher is in a groove – got ‘em.
65 Once again the brain is passed around from hand to hand, slowly
and solemnly. Once again it is very quiet. The Mystery of Mysteries is
present, and it includes us.

The single most powerful statement to come out of brain research

in the last twenty-five years is this: We are as different from one
70 another on the inside of our heads as we appear to be different from
one another on the outside of our heads.

Look around and see the infinite variety of human heads – skin, hair,
age, ethnic characteristics, size, colour and shape. And know that on the
inside such differences are even greater – what we know, how we learn,
75 how we process information, what we remember and forget, our
strategies for functioning and coping. Add to that the understanding that
the ‘world’ out ‘there’ is as much a projection from inside our heads as it
is a perception, and pretty soon you are up against the realization that
it is a miracle that we communicate at all. It is almost unbelievable that
80 we are dealing with the same reality. We operate on a kind of loose
consensus about existence, at best.

From a practical point of view, day by day, this kind of information

makes me a little more patient with the people I live with. I am less
inclined to protest, ‘Why don’t you see it the way I do?’ An more
85 inclined to say, ‘You see it that way? Holy cow! How amazing!’
 This set me to thinking about Einstein’s brain, which is somewhere
in Missouri in a lab, in a jar now. It was removed and studied to see
if it was special in some way. (No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t his equipment,
but what he did with it, that cracked the window on the Mystery of
90 Mysteries.) When Big Al was in residence at the Institute for Advanced
Studies at Princeton, a guest asked to be shown Einstein’s laboratory.
The great man smiled, held up his fountain pen, and pointed at his
head. (Oooo-wow).

1.1. How does the author depict the students’ horror and revulsion at the
thought of handling the brain? (1)
1.2. Why does the teacher toss the brain to the football player? (3)
1.3. What mood or atmosphere do the occasional short sentences create
in the beginning (from lines 1 to 12)? (1)
1.4. How is this mood broken just after the brain comes back to the
teacher? (2)
1.5. Explain the ambiguity (double meaning) in: ‘Bring a brain to school
… ALL of you. ‘ (lines 26-27) (2)
1.6. 1.6.1. ‘… the ‘world’ out ‘there’ is as much a projection from inside
our heads as it is a perception…’ (line 77)
Explain fully what the author means by this statement. (2)
1.6.2. Why then, is it a ‘miracle that we communicate at all’? (2)
1.6.3. What does the phrase ‘a kind of loose consensus’ in the
context of line 80-81 mean? (1)
1.6.4. Explain in your own words how the author puts his
understanding of individual differences into practice. (3)
1.7. Authors often reveal much about themselves in their writing. Refer to
the passage and discuss what Robert Fulghum reveals about himself
as a person, as a teacher, and about his relationship with his students. (4)