Directions (1-8): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below them. Certain words/phrases have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
PARAGRAPH 1: Some months ago, a global leader of the IT industry set sections of India’s corporate-sector elite aflutter with the comment that Indians are not creative. It is possible to disagree with the criterion Steve Wozniak, a co-founder of Apple Computer, had adopted while at the same time agreeing with some of his observations. He had predicted that Indians are unlikely to create world-leading IT companies because they lack the creativity to do so and argued that this has to do with the education system.
PARAGRAPH 2: While building global IT giants may have more to do with an appetite for growing a business rather than anything else, Mr. Wozniak’s assessment of India’s education system is sharp. He traced the lack of creativity to an education system that rewarded studiousness over independent thought. He also managed an anthropological take when he identified the ‘MBA and the Merc’ as the mark of success in India’s corporate world. For good measure he likened this to the culture of Singapore, but here he may have missed a trick. The per capita income of Singaporeans is quite close to that of Americans. And that country has achieved much of what it set out to do when it struck off on its own, which was to turn a swampy colonial port into a prosperous city state proudly independent of world powers. Also, it has a national leadership more educated and responsible than what the U.S. has currently. Singapore’s orderly society may not be everybody’s cup of tea but its history suggests one way we could identify the creativity of a people as a whole. That is, a people are truly creative when they are able to collectively surmount the challenges that their country faces.
PARAGRAPH 3 : Actually, what India is experiencing in higher education today is far worse than merely the production of studious but creativity-challenged youth. There is abetment of a toxic productivity whereby our universities churn out youth with a poor grasp of the subject matter that they are expected to know and an even poorer understanding of the challenges that India today faces, for which they alone can provide the solutions. This is particularly troubling as public expenditure on education in India favours higher education far more than elsewhere in the world when schooling is severely neglected by comparison. In addition, this is a sector so micro-managed that it answers to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s description of the Indian economy in the 1990s as “over regulated and under governed” better than the economy itself. So, neither funding nor neglect can be blamed for the lack of vitality in India’s institutions of higher education.
PARAGRAPH 4 : Universities are embedded in society and cannot be expected to naturally rise above them. Close to 50 years ago, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen had spoken of a ‘crisis in Indian education’ pointing to how India’s educational policy had been shaped by the aspiration of its middle class. Creativity is unlikely to have been a part of it. However, it is precisely to ensure that there is no sectional capture of public institutions intended to serve a larger purpose that we have public regulators. While there is more than one regulator for the higher education sector in India, for sheer reach the University Grants Commission (UGC) is unmatched. To say that it has a major responsibility in the state of affairs that we are experiencing in higher education would be an understatement. The government would be advised to follow email discussions of UGC regulations circulating on the Internet right now to garner a sense of how wide the resentment against the body is.
Q1. "He also managed an anthropological take when he identified the ‘MBA and the Merc’ as the mark of success in India’s corporate world." What is the meaning of the phrase "‘MBA and the Merc’ as the mark of success in India’s corporate world" in the passage?
(a) In India, and MBA degree from the Merc University is considered as a mark of success.
(b) In India, having an MBA degree and a Mercedes car are considered as a mark of success.
(c) In India, an MBA graduate is only considered eligible for being successful.
(d) In India, having an MBA degree is considered the eligibility to drive a Mercedes car.
(e) In India, MBA and the Merc university are the best rated in the education system.
Show Answer
S1. Ans.(b)
Sol. "MBA and the Merc" here means and MBA degree and a Mercedes car.
Q2. Which of the following statements is/are true regarding the education system in India?
(I) In India, Children are going to school but not learning much beyond “floor level tasks”.
(II) The education system lays more emphasis on spending a lot of time studying than embracing independent thoughts.
(III) People in India tend to spend more on higher education in comparison to schooling.
(a) Only (I)
(b) Only (III)
(c) Both (II) and (III)
(d) Both (I) and (II)
(e) All are correct.
Show Answer
S2. Ans.(c)
Sol. Both statements (II) and (III) are correct. Refer the following lines:
(II)"He traced the lack of creativity to an education system that rewarded studiousness over independent thought."
(III)"This is particularly troubling as public expenditure on education in India favors higher education far more than elsewhere in the world when schooling is severely neglected by comparison. "
Q3. Which of the following cannot be inferred from the passage above?
(a) Creativity of a country can be assessed by its ability to get over the challenges it faces.
(b) Politicians, bureaucrats, and media can influence education from the outside, but they find it of no use to advance their agendas.
(c) Parents, students, and employers must demand that our institutions deliver real capability and not empty certificates.
(d) Both (a) and (b)
(e) All of the above.
Show Answer
S3. Ans.(a)
Sol. Refer the following line "That is, a people are truly creative when they are able to collectively surmount the challenges that their country faces."
Q4. What is the tone used by the author in the passage given above?
(a) Didactic
(b) Laudatory
(c) Satirical
(d) Cynical
(e) Critical
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S4. Ans.(e)
Sol. The tone of the author is critical here. The author is basically using a fault finding negative style of writing here.
Q5. Which of the following word has similar meaning to the word given in bold in the passage?
SWAMPY
(I) Parched
(II) Shrivelled
(III) Marshy
(IV) Soggy
(a) Only (I)
(b) Only (IV)
(c) Both (III) and (IV)
(d) Both (I) and (III)
(e) Both (I) and (IV)
Show Answer
S5. Ans.(c)
Sol. Swampy: characteristic of or resembling a swamp(an area of waterlogged ground.)
Marshy: characteristic of or resembling a marsh; waterlogged.
Soggy: very wet and soft.
Parched: dried out with heat.
Shrivelled: wrinkled and shrunken, especially as a result of loss of moisture or old age.
Q6. Which of the following word has similar meaning to the word given in bold in the passage?
SURMOUNT
(I) Fondle
(II) Triumph
(III) Flunk
(IV) Subdue
(a) Only (I)
(b) Only (IV)
(c) Both (II) and (IV)
(d) Both (I) and (III)
(e) Both (I) and (IV)
Show Answer
S6. Ans.(c)
Sol. Surmount: to achieve a victory over
Triumph: a successful result brought about by hard work
Subdue: to achieve a victory over
Flunk: fail to reach the required standard in (an examination, test, or course of study).
Fondle: stroke or caress lovingly or erotically.
Q7. Which of the following word/pair of words is/are opposite in meaning to the word given in bold in the passage?
ABETMENT
(I) Assistance
(II) Backing
(III) Hindrance
(IV) Menace
(a) Only (I)
(b) Only (III)
(c) Both (III) and (IV)
(d) Both (I) and (III)
(e) (I), (II) and (III)
Show Answer
S7. Ans.(b)
Sol. Abetment: an act or instance of helping
Hindrance: a thing that provides resistance, delay, or obstruction to something or someone.
Q8. Which of the following word is opposite in meaning to the word given in bold in the passage?
GARNER
(I) Brigade
(II) Congregate
(III) Huddle
(IV) Dissipate
(a) Only (I)
(b) Only (IV)
(c) Both (III) and (IV)
(d) Both (I) and (III)
(e) Both (I) and (IV)
Show Answer
S8. Ans.(b)
Sol. Garner: to bring together in one body or place
Dissipate: to cause (members of a group) to move widely apart
Brigade: a group of people working together on a task
Congregate: to bring together in one body or place
Huddle: a coming together of a number of persons for a specified purpose
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