Skills for academic success and time management

In the essay "Invitation to the Pain of Learning," the author argues that all educational activities should lie in a person's easy reach. That is, he believes good teaching is never "over the head" of the student.

• True

• False

True or False? The author of "Invitation to the Pain of Learning" believes that a person's education is more like work than entertainment.

• True

• False

True or False?  In the opening paragraphs of "Invitation to the Pain of Learning," the author argues that we should see education in the same way as we see most of the other tasks we have to do, so we realize that strenuous personal effort is often required for much to come of it.

• True

• False

In the following excerpt, the author of "Invitation to the Pain of Learning" gives two views of education:

"What lies behind my remark is a distinction between two views of education. In one view, education is something externally added to a person, as his clothing and other accoutrements. We cajole him into standing there willingly while we fit him; and in doing this we must be guided by his likes and dislikes, by his own notion of what enhances his appearance. In the other view, education is an interior transformation of a person's mind and character. He is plastic material to be improved not according to his inclinations, but according to what is good for him. But because he is a living thing, and not dead clay, the transformation can be effected only through his own activity. Teachers of every sort can help, but they can only help in the process of learning that must be dominated at every moment by the activity of the learner."

Based on your reading of the whole article, select the choice below that you believe the author argues is the better of the two ways to approach education.

• Something externally added to a person, governed by the person's own likes and dislikes.

• An interior transformation of a person's mind and character.

How do you think the phrase "pain of learning" is being used by the author of "Invitation to the Pain of Learning?"

• Physical Soreness from sitting and listening to long lectures.

• A kind of mental "soreness" that comes from hard exertion in thinking and studying.

When the author of "Invitation to the Pain of Learning," says "far from trying to make the whole [educational] process painless from beginning to end, we must promise them the pleasure of achievement as a reward to be reached only through travail." What does he mean?

• Education should be fun and easy at all times.

• Thinking is the easiest thing humans do.

• Without hard effort in our education, we should not expect much reward.

• None of these

Choose the best summary statement for the article, "Invitation to the Pain of Learning."

• Mortimer Adler argued that education must be first and foremost fun or no one will want to take part.

• Mortimer Adler argued that education is like anything else in life: if we do not put in hard work at it, we will not get much from it.

• Mortimer Adler argued that the United States government is spending too much on education.

• Mortimer Adler education is different from most activities in life-we can get big rewards from a very small investment of our time and effort.

If Thomas wants to practice the most effective reading strategies, he should read a whole passage through from start to finish without stopping instead of breaking the passage down into smaller segments.

• True

• False

If Leanne wants to practice the most effective reading strategies, she should read the end of the passage first and then start reading the passage from start to finish. 

• True

• False

If Jamaal wants to practice the most effective reading strategies, he should take notes on each segment of the passage he is reading.

• True

• False