Many private institutions of higher education around the country are in danger. Not all will be saved, and perhaps not all deserve to be saved. There are low-quality schools just as there are low-quality businesses. We have no duty to save them simply because they exist.But many promising institutions that deserve to continue are threatened. They are doing a fine job educationally, but they are caught in a financial squeeze, with no way to reduce rising cost or increase income significantly. Raising tuition doesn’t bring in more income, for each time tuition goes up, the enrollment goes down, or the amount that must be given away in student aid goes up. Schools are bad businesses, whether public or private, not usually because of mismanagement but because of the nature of the enterprise. They lose money on every customer, and they can go bankrupt either from too few students or too many students. Even a very good college is a very bad business.It is such colleges, promising but threatened, that I worry about. Low enrollment is not their chief problem. Even with full enrollment, they may go under. Efforts to save them, and preferably to keep them private, are a national necessity. There is no basis for arguing that private schools are inherently (固有地) better than public schools. There are many examples to the contrary. Anyone can name state universities and colleges that rank as the finest in the nation and the world. It is now inevitable that public institutions will be dominant, and therefore diversity is a national necessity. Diversity in the way we support schools tends to give us a healthy diversity in the forms of education. In an imperfect society such as ours, uniformity of education throughout the nation could be dangerous, In an imperfect society, diversity is a positive good. Supporters of public higher education know the importance of sustaining private higher education.

Vocabulary:

public school 公立学校

private school 私立学校

tuition 学费

enrollment 招生

diversity 多样性

Multiple choices:

1.   According to the author’s opinion schools are bad businesses because of ________.A.   mismanagement                                       

B.   too few students                  C.   too many students                                    

D.   the nature of schools2.  The author used the phrase “go under” (Sentence 3, Para. 3) to mean ________.A.   get into difficulties                                    

B.   have low enrollmentC.   have low tuition                                        

D.   bring in more money3.  We can reasonably conclude from this passage that the author made an appeal to the public in order to support _______A.   public institutions                                    

B.   private schoolsC.   uniformity of education                             

D.   high quality of education4.  Which of the following statements is NOT true?A.   High-quality private schools deserve to be saved.B.   If the tuition is raised, the enrollment goes down.C.   There are many cases to show that public schools are better that private schools.D.   Private schools have more money than public schools.5.  Which of the following ways could possibly save private schools?A.   Raising tuition.                                         

B.   Full enrollment.C.   National awareness and support.                

D.   Reduction of rising cost.

 Key: D A B D C