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Unit Three: University Life As the soil, however rich it may be, cannot be productive without cultivation, so the mind without culture can never produce good fruit. Seneca The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means to an education. Ralph Waldo Emerson Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. Its like feeding a dog on his own tail. It wont fatten the dog. Mark Twain Section-One: Pre-reading For many people, university life is an unforgettable experience—one of joys and tears, success and failure, opportunities and challenges. Studying, assignments and examinations are far from everything in campus life. What is even more important is tracing one’s path on the way to maturity: learning to be independent, learning to get along with others, and learning what one values and how to foster those values. University, in this sense, is more like a training base for students to get ready for the real world. In this unit, we will probe into several aspects of university life and problems students may encounter. But before you start reading, discuss the following questions in a group. Before you became a university student, you may have imagined what it would be like to study in a university. Is university life the way you imagined it would be? What do you think is the most important thing to achieve at university? Explain. Do you agree that examinations are an important means of assessing your school work? How do you feel when you are sitting in an examination? Many university students nowadays take part-time jobs. What is your attitude towards students taking part- time jobs? In what ways is the university life of your generation different from that of your parents’ generation? Explain. Do you share a room with others at university or do you rent your own room? List the advantages and disadvantages of shared and single rooms. Section Two: In-re