The structure and workings of the university are ever changing. The university of the past is not like the university of the present and the university of the present will not be like the university of the future. This “adaptation” to the times is what can make some universities great or make some universities among the worst in the nation.
In the past the university was very set in their ways. They did things the way they wanted them done. They paid no attention to the rest of the society and the way the ones paying the bills wanted them done. In the past the professors would lecture endlessly to the students, which often left the students bored and with no idea what was really said to them in the lecture. This is no way to try and teach students; students need interaction with the professors that are paid to teach them. As Paulo Freire believed there needs to be communication between the students and the professors and the class should not be totally memorization. This is the way that things were done in the past.
In the present many universities have either changed or are changing the way that they run their universities. The universities now are taking on many of the modern educational beliefs in order to make changes in the teaching methods. Universities are breaking down many of the divides between majors that they offer. By breaking these barriers the universities are becoming less specialized and more diverse. This goes along with the ideas of Berry who believes that the schools are over-specialized and that the universities are now just machines that are merely meant to produce workers. In the past few years the colleges have been lowering the standards of admission, which in turn lowers the standards of all the schools below the college level. The universities are now on the right track by increasing the standards of admission into their colleges.
小题1:In the author’s view, what can decide a university’s quality?
A．What its structure is like.
B．How its workings are run.
C．What times it belongs to.
D．Whether it’ll adjust itself.小题2:Which of the following is NOT a feature of universities in the past?
A．They were run in a fixed way.
B．They ignored the needs of society.
C．They had lower standards of admission.
D．Professors lacked interaction with students.小题3:What is the author’s main attitude towards universities in the present?
A．Positive.
B．Doubtful.
C．Passive.
D．Uncertain.小题4:What would the author most probably focus on in the following part of this passage?
A．Universities in the future.
B．The standards of schools.
C．The admission into some colleges.
D．Other changes of teaching methods.
