TEXT 1 : Grading Colleges on Access to the American Dream Right now, eager 18-year-olds from across the country are tweeting photos of their newly postered dorm rooms and scanning with p
Trang 1BACCALAUREAT BLANC CORRIGE
Terminale L ANGLAIS
Durée de l'épreuve : 3h (+1h si tiers temps) Coefficient : 4 (8 pour les élèves ayant choisi la LVA) Lisez les textes A et B puis répondez aux questions.
TEXT 1 : Grading Colleges on Access to the American Dream
Right now, eager 18-year-olds from across the country
are tweeting photos of their newly postered dorm rooms
and scanning with private fear their freshmen1 class
schedules They’re embarking on a journey to capture their piece of the American Dream (…) To expand access to the dream, President Obama announced last week that he intends
to grade colleges, just as colleges grade students The department will look at outcomes including graduation rates, employment and salaries Ultimately, Obama would like to reward colleges that graduate more students at lower costs He proposes to do that by giving students who attend colleges with the best ratings larger federally guaranteed student loans And he wants to encourage states to resume proper funding for public institutions The idea
is to restore equal opportunity to attain the American Dream ( )
The parents and grandparents of today's 18-year-olds witnessed diminishing access to the dream When they were teens, in the 1960s and the 1970s, they could buy a year of college with three months' labor in a factory or mill2 Also, a summer in a mill with good wages persuaded some that this was the life for them, no college necessary ( )
But too many mills are gone now, lost to the government's failure to enforce international trade regulations and to the corporate greed that swapped middle class wages3 for foreign sweatshop4 pittances That means to attain the American Dream, even more youngsters now must get higher education or technical training And now, paying for that additional education
is much more difficult One of those old-time mill jobs -if they were still available- wouldn't cover a year's tuition now
Leo Gerard, Grading Colleges on Access to the American Dream,
in The Huffington Post, August 26th, 2013
1 a freshman = a first-year university student
2 A factory or a building where grain is ground into flour or where tree trunks are cut into planks
3 = salaries
4 a place where people work long hours for low pay in poor conditions
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Trang 2TEXT 2
Early in his senior year at Woodson, Chris informed his parents that he had no intention of going to college When Walt and Billie suggested that he needed a college degree to attain a fulfilling career, Chris answered that careers were demeaning "twentieth-century inventions," more of a liability than an asset, and that he would do fine without one, thank you
"That put us into kind of a tizzy," Walt admits "Both Billie and I come from blue-collar families A college degree is something we don't take lightly and we worked hard to be able
to afford to send our kids to good schools So Billie sat him down and said, 'Chris, if you really want to make a difference in the world, if you really want to help people who are less fortunate, get yourself some leverage first Go to college, get a law degree, and then you'll be able to have a real impact.'"
"Chris brought home good grades," says his friend Eric Hathaway "He didn't get into trouble,
he was a high achiever, he did what he was supposed to His parents didn't really have grounds to complain But they got on his case about going to college; and whatever they said
to him, it must have worked Because he ended up going to Emory5, even though he thought
it was pointless, a waste of time and money."
It's somewhat surprising that Chris ceded to pressure from Walt and Billie about attending college when he refused to listen to them about so many other things But there was never a shortage of apparent contradictions in the relationship between Chris and his parents When Chris visited, he frequently railed against Walt and Billie, portraying them as unreasonable tyrants "My impression was that his parents were very nice people," says Hathaway, "no different, really, than my parents or anyone's parents Chris just didn't like being told what to
do I think he would have been unhappy with any parents; he had trouble with the whole idea
of parents."
McCandless's personality was puzzling in its complexity (…) Perhaps the greatest paradox concerned his feelings about money Walt and Billie had both known poverty when they were young and after struggling to rise above it saw nothing wrong with enjoying the fruits of their labor "We worked very, very hard," Billie emphasizes "We did without when the kids were little, saved what we earned, and invested it for the future." When the future finally arrived, they didn't flaunt their modest wealth, but they bought nice clothes, some jewelry for Billie, a Cadillac Eventually, they purchased the townhouse on the bay and the sailboat They took the kids to Europe, skiing in Breckenridge, on a Caribbean cruise And Chris, Billie acknowledges, "was embarrassed by all that."
Her son, the teenage Tolstoyan, believed that wealth was shameful, corrupting, inherently evil—which is ironic because Chris was a natural-born capitalist with an uncanny knack for making a buck "Chris was always an entrepreneur," Billie says with a laugh "Always."
5 Emory is a university in Atlanta, USA
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Trang 3As an eight-year-old, he grew vegetables behind the house in Annandale and then sold them door-to-door around the neighborhood "Here was this cute little boy pulling a wagon full of fresh-grown beans and tomatoes and peppers," says Carine "Who could resist? And Chris knew it He'd have this look on his face like I'm damn cute! Want to buy some beans?' By the time he came home, the wagon would be empty, and he'd have a bunch of money in his hand."
Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild, 1996
1ère PARTIE sur 10pts COMPREHENSION ECRITE
En l'absence d'indication de longueur attendue, les candidats répondront aux questions
en une vingtaine de mots.
Les candidats ayant choisi la Langue Vivante Approfondie traiteront deux questions
supplémentaires (questions 7 a & b).
Questions pour TOUS LES CANDIDATS
1 Read TEXT 1 and 2 and say what country/ies the two texts deal with (2)
Both texts deal with the USA
Focus on TEXT 2
2 a Give the main character's name (first and family names) and approximate age at the time of the story, justifying your answer by explaining how you came to that conclusion
(5 = 3 éléments x1 + 2 explication)
The main character's name is Chris McCandless He was approximately 18 at the time of the story, as he was about to go to university
b List all the characters and say how they are related to the main character
(4 = 2 + 2)
Walt and Billie are Chris's parents Eric Hathaway is a childhood friend of Chris's
3 a Give Walt and Billie's social background, giving two elements from the text
(6 = 3 + 3)
Both Walt and Billie “come from blue-collar families” (l.5), which means that their parents were workers and quite poor, as it is said that “they had both known poverty
when they were young” (l.25-26).
b Compare the main character's and Walt and Billie's opinions on university, justifying your answer with four elements from the text (50 words) (8 = 4 x 2)
Chris didn't want to go to college (l.1-2) as he thought it was “pointless” and “a waste
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Trang 4of time and money” (l.15) His parents, however, thought “he needed a college degree
to attain a fulfilling career”, which he considered as a “demeaning “20th-century invention” (l.2-3) Both coming from poor families, they wanted their children to be successful and get a good education (l.6-7), which would give them a good job They knew the importance of going to university (l.6 & 9-10) in order to do so.
Focus on TEXT 1
4 Pay particular attention to the title of TEXT 1 Say what the text deals with (4)
The text deals with the link between higher education and the American Dream
5 a Read paragraph 2 (l.12-22) Describe the situation in the 1960s and 1970s in your own words (40 words) (9 = 3 x 3)
In the 1960s and 1970s, higher education was affordable for all Americans, even for kids from poor families Young adults could afford a year of college by just working
for three months in a factory in the summer (l.15) And even if they didn't go to university, they could still have good wages by working in a factory or a mill (l.15-16).
b In your own words, explain why “more youngsters now must get a higher education or
technical training” to attain the American Dream (l.19-20) (50 words)
(15 = 5 x 3)
Now the situation is different The price of higher education studies has increased
over the years and a student wouldn't be able to pay for a year at university by just
working in the summer (l.21-22) They wouldn't be able to find a job in a factory that
pays well enough, especially as there aren't that many factory jobs in the USA now
because industrial production has been moved/outsourced to foreign countries
where the cost of labour is cheap (l.17-19)
c Now read paragraph 1 (l.1-11) and explain what President Obama wants to do about it (40 words) (12 = 4 x 3)
President Obama wants to “restore equal opportunity to attain the American Dream” (l.11) by giving “federally guaranteed student loans” to students who choose to
study at universities 'that graduate more students at lower costs' (l.8-9) He proposes
to grade colleges by looking at “graduation rates, employment and salaries” (l.4-7).
Focus on TEXT 1 and 2
6 a Explain what the American Dream is, illustrating your answer with four elements from
Walt and Billie's life in TEXT 2 (40 words)
(12 = 4 explication + 4 éléments x 2pts)
The American Dream is to be able to become wealthy when you start off poor, like
Walt and Billie, who have “risen above poverty” (l.26) to now enjoy an opulent
lifestyle They have “nice clothes”, “jewelry”, a “Cadillac”, a “townhouse on the
Trang 5bay” and a “sailboat” and have paid for expensive trips (“to Europe”, to “skiing in
Breckenbridge”, on a “Caribbean cruise”) (l.29-31) They also have sent their kids to
good schools for them to have a good future (l.6).
b Say what young Americans need to have to fulfill their American Dream nowadays,
giving four elements from the two texts (12 = 4 éléments x 3pts)
To fulfill their American Dream today, young Americans need to work hard (TEXT 2
l.6 & l.27) to have a good job/fulfilling career (TEXT 2 l.2-3) in order to be on good wages (TEXT 1 l.15) and be rich enough to afford a wealthy lifestyle (see question 6.a.).
But in order to do this, they need a higher education diploma, as factory jobs can no
longer provide a good job in the US nowadays (TEXT 1 l.19-20 & TEXT 2 l.2-3), the
problem being that only students with wealthy enough parents can go to university
(TEXT 1 l.12-13 & 21-23 & TEXT 2 l.6-8), a problem which President Obama wants to
solve (TEXT 1 l.5-6 & 10-11)
c Compare the main character's view on life in TEXT 2 to that vision of the American
Dream (=your answer to question 6b) (40 words)
(10 = 4 explication + 3 éléments x 2pts)
Chris didn't believe it was necessary to have a degree or a career to be happy : “he
would do fine without” (l.3-4) He didn't seem to believe that being rich was necessary
and actually believed that money and “wealth (were) shameful, corrupting (and)
inherently evil” (l.33-34) He resented his parents' lifestyle, which embarrassed him (l.32) We can guess he didn't believe in the American Dream, based on ownership and wealth, and actually disliked its very concept based on money.
(TOTAL /100)/5 = NOTE/20
Questions pour LES CANDIDATS de LVA
7 a Read lines 11 to 18 in TEXT 2 and describes his relation to his parents (50 words)
(18 = 6 x 3)
There were “contradictions in the relationships between Chris and his parents” (l.18) Although he complained to his friends about them, portraying them as unreasonable tyrants” (l.19-20), didn't like being told what to do by them (l.21-22),
refused to listen to them about many things (l.17) and didn't want to go to university,
he still followed their advice and went to Emory university in the end
b Read the end of TEXT 2 (l.27-41) and further analyse the paradox in the main
character's personality in relation to American values (50 words)
(12 = 6 + 6)
Similarly, although he hated money and wealth, he “was a natural-born capitalist with an uncanny knack for making a buck” (l.34-35) from a very early age : when he was 8, he
Trang 6grew vegetables in the family's garden that he sold to his neighbours, who couldn't resist his cuteness
Chris seemed to have a contradictory personality : he rebelled against his parents' values and beliefs but followed their advice, resented their wealth but had a talent for entrepreneurship and making money He seemed to fight American values at the same time as he followed them
(TOTAL /130) / 6,5 = NOTE / 20
2ème PARTIE sur 10pts EXPRESSION ECRITE
Les candidats traiteront un seul des trois sujets en au moins 300 mots.
1 Is a university degree necessary to succeed in life ? Discuss
2 Discuss the pros and cons of President Obama's plan to grade colleges on access to the American Dream
3 Write the dialogue between Chris and his parents when he told them he did not want to go
to university Include narrative passages in which you will describe their attitudes and thoughts
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