Grammar exercises 1 and 2

1. In dealing with students on the high-school level - that is, the second, third, and forth year of high school - we must bear in mind that to some degree they are at a difficult psychological stage, generally called adolescence. Students at this level are likely to be confused mentally, to be subject to involuntary distractions and romantic dreaminess. They are basically timid or self-conscious; they lack frankness and are usually very sensitive but hate to admit it. They are motivated either by great ambition, probably out of all proportion to their capabilities, or by extreme laziness caused by the fear of not succeeding or attaining their objectives. Fundamentally they want to be kept busy but they refuse to admit it. They are frequently the victims of earlier poor training, and this makes every effort doubly hard. They are usually willing to work, but they hate to work without obtaining the results they think they should obtain. Their critical faculties are beginning to develop and they are critical of their instructors and of the materials they are given to learn. They are beginning to feel the pressure of time; and although they seldom say so, they really want to be consulted and given an opportunity to direct their own affairs, but they need considerable guidance.

2. They seldom admit that they need this guidance and they frequently rebel against it, but if it is intelligently offered they accept it with enthusiasm. If they are healthy they are capable of long periods of concentration and an extraordinary amount of work. They are trying, most of them, to form political ideas and they have a tendency to be either extremely idealistic ( which is usually another term for radical ) or conservative, blindly accepting what their fathers and grandfathers believed in. It is in this period that students can be most easily and permanently influenced. It is the period in which they form strong attachments for their teachers. Their outlook on life is usually extremely exaggerated. They are either far too modest and retiring, or extravagantly boastful. They are much more susceptible to the influence of a strong personality than to that of a great intelligence. Of all periods of life, this is what may best be called the 'plastic age'.