Schooling in Great Britain.

State Schools.

English children must go to school when they are five, first to infant schools where they learn the first steps in reading, writing and using numbers. Young children are divided into two groups according to their mental abilities. The curriculum for «strong» and «weak» groups is different, which is the beginning of future education contrasts.

When children leave infant school, at the age of seven, they go to junior schools until they are about eleven years of age. Their school subjects include English, arithmetic, history, geography, nature study, swimming, music, art, religious instruction and organized games.

The junior classroom often looks rather like a workshop, especially when the pupils are working in groups making models or doing other practical work.

When pupils come to the junior school for the first time, they are still often divided into three «streams» - А, В and C- on the basis of their infant-school marks or sometimes after a special test. The brightest children go to the A-stream and the least gifted to the C-stream

Towards the end of their fourth year in the junior school, a certain percentage of English schoolchildren still have to write their Eleven Plus Examinations, on the results of which they will go the following September to a secondary school of a certain type. Usually these examinations should reveal not so much what a child has learned at school, but his mental ability.

About 5 % of elementary school - leavers in Britain go to secondary modern schools. Modern schools do not provide complete secondary education. As the pupils are considered to be interested in «practical» knowledge only, study programmes are rather limited in comparison with other secondary schools. Some modern schools do not teach foreign languages. In modern schools pupils are also streamed according to their «intelligence».

The secondary technical school, in spite of its name, is not a specialized school. It teaches many general subjects. Boys and girls in technical schools study such practical subjects as woodwork, metalwork, needlework, shorthand (stenography) and typing. Not more than two per cent of schoolchildren in Britain go to technical schools.

The grammar school is a secondary school taking about 3% of children offering a full theoretical secondary education including foreign languages, and students can choose which subjects and languages they wish to study. In most of them there are food, chemistry and physics laboratories. The majority (80 or 85%) of grammar school students, mainly children of poorer families, leave the school after taking a five-year course. Then they may take the General Certificate of Secondary Education at the ordinary level. The others continue their studies for another two or three years to obtain the General Certificate of Secondary Education at the advanced level, which allows them to enter university.

The comprehensive school combines in one school the courses of all three types of secondary schools; so the pupils can study any subject which is taught in these schools. Their number is growing; there are more than two thousand of them now. They are of different types; all of them preserve some form of streaming, but pupils may be moved from one stream to another. Comprehensive schools take over 90 % of schoolchildren in Great Britain.

The comprehensive school is the most popular type of school, for it provides education for children from all strata.

Private Schools.

There are many schools in Britain which are not controlled financially by the state. They are private schools, separate for boys and girls, and the biggest and most important of them are public schools charging high fees and training young people for political, diplomatic, military and religious service.

The doors of Oxford and Cambridge, the best English universities, are open to the public school -leavers.

Other non-state schools which charge fees are independent and preparatory schools. Many of the independent schools belong to the churches. Schools of this type prepare their pupils for public schools.

Some Aspects of British University Life.

Of the full-time students now attending English Universities three quarters are men, and one quarter
women. Nearly half of them are engaged in the study of arts subjects such as history, languages, economics
or law, the others are studying pure or applied sciences such as medicine, dentistry, technology, or
agriculture.

The University of London, for instance, includes internal and external students, the latter coming to London only to sit for their examinations. Actually most external students at London University are living in London. The colleges in the University of London are essentially teaching institutions, providing instruction chiefly by means of lectures, which are attended mainly by day students. The colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, however, are essentially residential institutions and they mainly use a tutorial method which brings the tutor into close and personal contact with the student These colleges, being residential, are necessarily far smaller than most of the colleges of the University of London.

Education of University standard is also given in other institutions such as colleges of technology and agricultural colleges, which prepare their students for degrees or diplomas in their own fields.

The three terms into which the British University year is divided are roughly eight to ten weeks. Each term is crowded with activity, and the vacations between the terms - a month at Christmas, a month at Easter, and three or four months in summer - are mainly periods of intellectual digestion and private study.

A person studying for a degree at a British University is called a graduate.

B. A. or B. Sc. stands for Bachelor of Arts, or of Science, the first degree. M. A. or M.Sc. Denotes Masterof Arts, or of Science. One can become B. A. after three years of hard study, and and an M. A. at the end of fiveyears.

English Traditions.

London has preserved its old ceremonies and traditions to a greater extent than any other city in England. Most of these traditions have been kept up without interruption since the thirteenth century.

Foreigners coming to London are impressed by quite a number of ceremonies, which seem to be incompatible with the modern traffic and technical conditions of a highly developed country. Uniforms are rather characteristic of this fact. When one sees the warders at the Tower of London with their funny hats aind unusual dresses with royal monograms, one feels carried back to the age of Queen Elizabeth L

Even in the unromantic everyday life of English businessmen we can see the same formal traditions. In the City of London there may be seen a number of men in top-hats. These are the bank messengers who had to put on these hats according to traditions. The same tradition makes the Eton boys (the boys of Eton College which was founded in 1440 by Henry VI) put on a silk hat, a very short jacket and long trousers.

All of you, of course, have seen English films and noticed official black dresses and white wigs of judges and advocates, though wigs have not been used for nearly two hundred years in other countries.

One of the most impressive and popular ceremonies is «Changing the Guard», which takes place at Buckingham Palace every day, including Sunday, at 11. 30. The uniform of the guards is extremely coloured - red tunics, blue trousers and bearskin caps, and they always attract London sightseers.

Another formal display is the «Ceremony of Keys» which takes place every night at 9. 53 p. m. when the Chief Warder of the Tower of London lights a candle lantern and carrying the keys makes his way with the Escort to the gates of the Tower and locks them. This ceremony takes place every night without interruption. It is said that on the night of April 16. 1941 air bombing stopped the ceremony, knocking out members of the Escort. Despite this the duty was completed.

Strange as they may seem to a modern European or American, nobody in London sees anything remarkable in these old traditions which mix harmoniously with the city everyday life.

English Character.

One of the most striking features of English life is the self-discipline and courtesy of people of all classes. There is little noisy behaviour, and practically no loud disputing in the street. People do not rush excitedly for seats in buses or trains, but take their seats in queues at bus stop in a quiet and orderly manner.

Englishmen are naturally polite and are never tired in saying «Thank you», «I'm sorry», «Beg your pardon». If you follow anyone who is entering a building or a room, he will hold a door open for you. Many foreigners have commented on a remarkable politeness of the English people.

English people don't like displaying their emotions even in dangerous and tragic situations, and ordinary people seem to remain good-tempered and cheerful under difficulties.

The Englishman does not like any boasting or showing off in manners, dress or speech. Sometimes he conceals his knowledge: a linguist, for example, may not mention his understanding of a foreigner's language.

The Englishman prefers his own house to an apartment in a block of flats, because he doesn't wish his doing to be overlooked by his neighbours. «An Englishman's house is his castle».

Many Englishmen help their wives at home in many ways. They clean the windows on Saturday afternoon, they often wash up the dishes after supper in the evening.

Sunday is a very quiet day in London. All the shops are closed, and so are the theatres and most of the cinemas.

Londoners like to get out of town on Sundays. The sea is not far -only fifty or sixty miles away and people like to go down to the sea in summer or somewhere to the country for skiing in winter.

Holidays in Great Britain

There are fewer public holidays in Great Britain than in other European countries. They are: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day. Spring Bank Holiday and Summer Bank Holiday. Public holidays in Britain are called bank holidays, because the banks as well as most of the offices and shops are closed.

The most popular holiday is Christmas. Every year the people of Norway give the city of London a present. It's a big Christmas tree and it stands in Trafalgar Square. Central streets are beautifully decorated.

Before Christmas, groups of singers go from house to house. They collect money for charity and sing carols, traditional Christmas songs. Many churches hold a carol service on the Sunday before Christmas.

The fun starts the night before, on the 24th of December. Traditionally this is the day when people decorate their trees. Children hang stockings at the end of their beds, hoping that Father Christmas will come down with toys, and sweets.

Christmas is a family holiday. Relatives usually meet for the big dinner of turkey and Christmas pudding. And everyone gives and receives presents. The 26th of December, Boxing Day, is an extra holiday after Christmas Day. This is the time to visit friends and relatives or perhaps sit at home and watch football.

New Year's Day is less popular in Britain than Christmas. But in Scotland, Hogmanay is the biggest festival of the year.

Besides public holidays there are some special festivals in Great Britain. One of them takes place on the 5'h of November. On that day, in 1605, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James I. He didn't succeed. The King's men found the bomb, took Guy Fawkes to the Tower and cut off his head.

Since that day the British celebrate the 5^th of November. They burn a dummy, made of straw and old clothes, on a bonfire and let off fireworks. This dummy is called a «guy» (like Guy Fawkes) and children can often be seen in the streets before the 5 of November saying, «Penny for the guy». If they collect enough money they can buy some fireworks.

There are also smaller, local

Sports in Great Britain.

The British are known to be great sport-lovers, so when they are neither playing, nor watching games, they like to talk about them. Many of the games we play now have come from Britain.

One of the most British games is cricket. It is often played in schools, colleges, universities and by club teams all over the country. Summer isn't summer without cricket. To many Englishmen cricket is both a game and a standard of behaviour. When they consider anything unfair, they sometimes say «That isn't cricket».

But as almost everywhere else in the world, the game which attracts the greatest attention is Association football, or soccer. Every Saturday from late August till the beginning of May, large crowds of people support their favourite sides in football grounds. True fans will travel from one end of the country to the other to see their team play. There are plenty of professional and amateur soccer clubs all over Britain. International football matches and the Cup Finals take place at Wembley.

Rugby football is also very popular, but it is played mainly by amateurs.

Next to football, the chief spectator sport in British life is horse-racing. A lot of people are interested in the races and risk money on the horse which they think will win. The Derby is perhaps the most famous single sporting event in the whole world.

Britain is also famous for motor-car racing, dog-racing. Boat-race between the teams of Oxford and Cambridge attracts large crowds of people.

A great number of people play and watch tennis. Tennis tournaments at Wimbledon are known all over the world. The innumerable tennis courts of Britain are occupied by people between the ages of 16 and 60 who show every degree of skill - from practically helpless to the extremely able.

The British also like to play golf, baseball, hockey, grass-hockey. Various forms of athletics, such as running, jumping, swimming, boxing are also popular. You can sometimes hear that there are no winter sports in England. Of course the English weather is not always cold enough to ski, skate, or toboggan, but winter is a good season for hunting and fishing.

Indeed sport in one form or another is an essential part of daily life in Britain.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1680