Victor. Hi, Anna. Have you registered yet?
Anna. Yes, I ’ve just seen my adviser and I ’m through. I t ’s easy now we register by computer. How about you?
Victor. Almost, but I don’t know who to take for history. I ’m thinking about Dr. Smith. I hear he’s easy. Who’d you have for history?
Anna. Oh, Victor, take Dr. Jones. She’s terrific! I used to hate history, but I loved her course.
Victor. I hear she’s hard.
Anna. She knows that’s what students think. She told us she’s not hard, it ’s understanding history that’s hard.
Victor. So what’s her course like?
Anna. Well, it ’s not memorizing names and dates! She wants you to understand the processes that shape human communities so we can understand how the world got to be the way it is today.
Victor. Good Lord! What are her tests like?
Anna. There’s a test at the end of each unit, but before she begins a unit she hands out a review sheet with everything she might test on. She won’t ask any question on the test that’s not covered on the review sheet.
Victor. Hey, piece of cake!
Anna. Think so? One of the questions was “Explain how the process of industrialization differed in any two of the following countries: England, the United States, Germany, Russia.”
Victor. I ’m not believing this! How’d she expect you to answer a question like that?
Anna. She spent a week talking about the process of industrialization in general. Then we spent a week in class applying that to the process of industrialization in England. After that she expected the class to take the initiative in analyzing the process in the other countries. By the time we’d gone through that, we could have explained what the Fiji Islands had to do in order to industrialize! And notice, Victor, whichever country we chose to write about on the exam, we had to pick the important names and dates from that country’s history.
Victor. Seems to me that’s expecting a lot.
Anna. Well, she said once, I don’t expect you to know everything; but I do expect you to know something.
Victor. Were the tests objective or essay?
Anna. The unit tests were mixed. There were some names, dates, and geographical locations tested with objective questions, but every unit exam had an essay question. Victor. Did she count spelling and grammar and all that in the grade?
Anna. Yes, she said this is higher education and we’re expected to know how to write and spell.
Victor. Well, Anna, you’ve convinced me. I ’m taking Dr. Smith for history.
Anna. Victor!

KEYS

A1: 3; A2: 2; A3: 1; A4: 1; A5: 1; A6: 3; A7: 2.