A Student in Economics

Charlie Wintage ran up the steps of the Administrative Building, hurried through the revolving doors and walked down the long hall to the Dean of Men’s¹ office. He was ten minutes late. Before he opened the frosted-glass door he took out a pair of amber-colored spectacles and put them on. Then he went in and handed the summons² to the secretary.

“The Dean will see you in a moment”, she said, “Please take a chair”.

Charlie sat down and gave a glance about the office. Three freshmen, holding their green caps were waiting with him. He recognized none of them, so he picked up a week-old copy of a newspaper and started reading it. But the room was warm and he immediately went to sleep. The newspaper slipped down on the floor. His amber-colored spectacles hid his eyes and no one could see that they were closed. He was awakened by the secretary shaking him.

“Wake up and pay for your bed, old man!” one of the freshmen called and everyone laughed heartily.

“I sort of drowsed off³. It’s so nice and warm here”, Charlie said apologizing to the secretary.

The Dean of Men got up as he entered and said: “Ah, this is Charlie Wintage, isn’t it? How do you like the university by now, Wintage? Eyes troubling you?⁴“

“Pretty well, sir. Yes, sir, a little. I wear these spectacles“.

The secretary brought his folder⁵ and the Dean looked through it briefly. “Well, Wintage, I suppose you are anxious to know why I sent for you. The unpleasant truth is, Wintage, you don’t seem to be doing well in your studies. Now, to be quite frank, Wintage, you’re on the verge of flunking out⁶. Less than a third of the semester remains, and you have an F grade⁷ in English and D grades in Psychology and Military Training. On the other hand, you have an A average in Spanish and a B in Economics. Wintage, how do you account for⁸ your failing English when you are an A student in Spanish?

“To tell you the truth, sir, I got behind in my written work in English and I’ve never been able to catch up. And I don’t really have to study Spanish. My father is a railway section foreman in my home town and he’s always had a gang of Mexicans working for him. I’ve been speaking Spanish ever since I was a kid⁹”.

“How about this B grade in Economics? That’s a fairly high grade”.

“Yes, sir. Our Economics professor doesn’t give exams. Instead he gives everyone a B until he calls for ¹⁰ our term papers. And the grade you get on your term paper is your semester grade. We have to do a lot of outside reading for the term paper. But I’m counting on keeping¹¹ that B in Economics”.

“That’s fine, Wintage. But it appears to me that it’s high time¹² you were getting busy on some of the other grades too. You made an unusually high grade at your entrance exams. Graduated from high school¹³ with honours¹⁴. What’s the trouble, Wintage?”

“I don’t know, sir, except I work at night at a cafe”.

“How many hours do you work?”

“Ten hours, sir. From nine till seven. The cafe stays open all night”.

“Very interesting, Wintage. But don’t you suppose that it would be advisable to cut down a bit on this outside work and attend a little more closely to your studies?”

“I couldn’t work fewer hours and stay in school¹⁵, sir. I pay my room rent and I’ve been paying out on a suit of clothes”.

“Can you arrange for a little financial support from home? “

“No, sir. I’m afraid not. I have two brothers and two sisters at home younger than I am. It wouldn’t be right for me to ask my father to send money out of what he makes”.

“I see, but all this is beside the point¹⁶. We are here to discuss the state of your grades, Wintage. As you must know, any student who turns in¹⁷ less than half his work is automatically suspended¹⁸ from the university and must return to his home. Now one more bad mark and out you will go, Wintage’.

“I’d hate to have to go back home like that. You know there are not many jobs nowadays, sir’.

“Well, unless you can alter your circumstances, I suggest that you withdraw from the university¹⁹ at once”.

“I believe I’ll try to stick it through²⁰, sir. I’ll try to remove the F and D grades and maybe I can luck through on my finals²¹”.

(After George Milburn)

Notes:

UNIT 3

TEXT FOR STUDY: A Talk on Globalisation. (TEXT A)

GRAMMAR GUIDE: 1. THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE.

2. THE PRESENT PERFECT AND THE PAST PERFECT TENSES

3. THE PRESENT PROGRESSIVE (CONTINUOUS) TENSE

READING Topic: Global Brands (TEXT B)

Skill: Scanning (reading for specific information).

TOPICAL SPEAKING TASK: Globalization and the World Market

SPEAKING Topics: 1. Making requests.

2. Expressing one’s personal opinion.

3. At a students’ scientific conference.

Activity: Interviewing your partner. Acting out

dialogues.

WRITING: Correcting a letter

INDEPENDENT READING:

TEXT 1. Consumerism as a by-product of the global market

economy.

TEXT 2. New terms from the last global recession.

TEXT 3. Access to information technology in “information society”.

PRE-TEXT TASKS