Unit1 Who Are You and What You Are Doing Here.docVIP

Unit 1 Who Are You and What You Are Doing Here Mark Edmundson Structure of the Text Part I (Paras. 1-2) The speaker begins his speech by congratulating the students because their successful entry into the university has been achieved in spite of the mess the country is in. Thus he sets the tone of his speech: critical of the society in general, and its education in particular. Part II (Paras. 3-4) In these two paragraphs the speaker advises the students what they must do to get a real education. He calls on them to get ready to fight the institution. Part III (Paras. 5-7) The speaker recalls how his father helped him make up his mind about what he should do at university. Part IV (Paras. 8-18) In this part the speaker indicates what he considers to be the problems existing within the various groups making up the university: students, professors, and administrators. Part V (Paras. 19-23) The speaker describes how university authorities define the aims of education so that they do not include the substantial content of the courses and the soul-making of students. Part VI (Paras. 24-29) In this section, the speaker warns students against the influence of their parents and friends, teachers and counselors, religious leaders and conservative thinkers. They may all be useful, but they may all be wrong about who you are. Part VII (Paras. 30-34) In this section, the speaker tells students how to find out who they really are and what they really want to do with their lives. He believes that the place to do that is at university, the time to start is now, and the best method is to read great authors. Then he goes on to describe his own experience to show how he has benefited from reading. Part VIII (Paras. 35-38) In this part, the speaker sums up his suggestions as how students can get a real education. Part IX (Paras. 39-40) In this last part, the author ends with the idea that education is about each student’s finding out what form of work is close to being play—work