Page 104 - DENG201_ENGLISH_II

English - II

Notes 9. The cardinal principle in literature is
(i) not to maintain one’s own style throughout one’s literary career
(ii) to satisfy the critics
(iii) to satisfy the public
(iv) not to take public criticism in the way of defending oneself
10. The only safeguard against insult and offence is
(i) to maintain a dignified silence (ii) to protest openly
(iii) to defend one’s own writing (iv) to attack the offenders

ANSWERS

1. (i) because a genius suffers the penalty of genius and a talented person has so many cares and
worries
2. (i) to be acknowledged as a new light in literature
3. (iv) they are mere brokers who conduct their business on the hardest lines of a Profit and Loss
account.
4. (ii) he has to run the ‘gauntlet’ of the critics
5. (iv) He should take criticism as not more than the bye-play of clowns in a circus and go his way
unheeding
6. (iv) all of the above
7. (iii) they abandon the writing profession
8. (ii) expedited the death of Keats
9. (iv) not to take public criticism in the way of defending oneself
10. (i) to maintain a dignified silence
3. Read the following passage carefully to answer the questions given below it.
The University Grants Commission’s directive requiring college and university lecturers to spend a
minimum of 22 hours a week in direct teaching is the product of budgetary cutbacks rather than
pedagogic wisdom. It may seem odd, at first blush, that teachers should protest about teaching a
mere 22 hours. However, if one considers the amount of time academics require to prepare lectures
of good quality as well as the time they need to spend doing research—it is clear that most conscientious
teachers work more than 40 hours a week. In university systems around the world, lecturers rarely
spend more than 12 to 15 hours in direct teaching activities a week. The average college lecturer in
India does not have any office space. If computers are available. Internet connectivity is unlikely.
Libraries are poorly stocked. Now, the UGC says, universities must implement a complete freeze on
all permanent recruitment, abolish all posts which have been vacant for more than a year, and cut
staff strength by 10 per cent. And it is in order to ensure that these cutbacks do not affect the quantum
of teaching that existing lecturers are being asked to work longer. Obviously, the quality of teaching
and academic work in general — will decline. While it is true that some college teachers do not take
their classes regularly, the UGC and the institutions concerned must find a proper way to hold them
accountable. An absentee teacher will continue to play truant even if the number of hours he is
required to teach goes up.
All of us are well aware of the unsound state that the Indian higher education system is in today.
Thanks to years of sustained financial neglect, most Indian universities and colleges do no research
worth the name. Even as the number of students entering colleges has increased dramatically, public
investment in higher education has actually declined in relative terms. Between 1985 and 1997, when
public expenditure on higher education as a percentage of outlays on all levels of education grew by
more than 60 per cent in Malaysia and 20 per cent in Thailand, India showed a decline of more than
10 per cent. Throughout the world, the number of teachers in higher education per million population

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