Carta al director: adelantar la entrada (A letter to the editor)
MCER B2374 palabras
To the Editor: Your paper reported on Thursday that the council intends to bring the start of the school day forward by fifty minutes, so that lessons would begin at twenty to eight. I have taught in this town for twenty-two years, and I want to set out, as calmly as I can, why I think the change would cost us more than it saves.
The argument I keep hearing is that children will simply go to bed earlier. They will not. A fourteen-year-old does not fall asleep at nine o'clock because a timetable says so; the body decides that, and it decides it late. What happens instead is that fifty minutes are taken off one end of the night and never put back at the other. Early in my career I taught eight o'clock lessons in another town, and I know what they look like: a room of polite, well-behaved pupils who are not really there.
The case for the change is not a foolish one, and I would not want readers to think it is. An earlier finish frees the buildings for adult classes, lets one fleet of buses serve two schools instead of one, and makes the afternoon easier for working parents. In a year in which this council has had to cut three teaching posts, savings of that kind deserve to be taken seriously.
But savings are never free; somebody pays for them, and here the bill falls on the first lesson of the day, which in most timetables is where the exam subjects go. Move the clock and those fifty minutes are not taken from heating and lighting. They are taken from mathematics, five days a week, and from the pupils who can least afford to lose them.
There is another way of reaching the same savings, and it is not new: leave the clock where it is and stagger the finishing times, so that the buses and the sports halls are shared after lessons rather than before. I am not asking the council to abandon the plan tomorrow. I am asking it to cost that second option properly, and to publish the figures before it votes next month.
Yours faithfully, a teacher of mathematics. Name and address supplied.
Palabras que quizá no conozcas
- councilayuntamiento, pleno municipal
- to bring forward (a time)adelantar (una hora)
- timetablehorario de clases
- foolishinsensato, absurdo
- a fleet of busesuna flota de autobuses
- teaching postplaza de profesor
- the billla factura; aquí, el coste que alguien acaba pagando
- exam subjectsasignaturas que entran en el examen
- to stagger (times)escalonar
- to cost (a plan)calcular el coste de
- Yours faithfullyatentamente (cierre formal de una carta)
- name and address suppliednombre y dirección en poder del periódico (fórmula de las cartas que se publican sin firma)
Preguntas
Se contestan con el texto delante. No es memoria: es entender.
What exactly is the council planning to do?
Start the school day fifty minutes earlier — Lo que se mueve es la hora de entrada: «bring the start of the school day forward by fifty minutes», o sea, a las ocho menos veinte. El día no se alarga ni se acorta: solo se adelanta.
The writer accepts that pupils will simply go to bed earlier.
False — Falso. Ese argumento se cita solo para tumbarlo: «They will not». El horario no decide el sueño de quien tiene catorce años; lo decide el cuerpo, y decide tarde.
Why does the writer describe an eight o'clock lesson as a room of polite, well-behaved pupils who are not really there?
To distinguish orderly behaviour from readiness to learn — El elogio es la trampa: son educados y se portan bien, y aun así no están. La frase dice que un aula tranquila puede ser un aula dormida, y eso no se ve desde un despacho.
What is the writer doing in paragraph 3?
Acknowledging the savings before weighing their educational cost — Es una concesión, no un cambio de bando: los ahorros son ciertos y «deserve to be taken seriously». Se admiten primero para poder responderlos en el párrafo siguiente, que empieza con «But».
Why does the teacher describe the first lesson as paying the bill?
Financial savings would be gained at the expense of pupils’ learning. — La metáfora contrapone ahorro económico y pérdida de aprendizaje por sueño; no describe transferencias presupuestarias.
What is asked of the council at the end of the letter?
Cost the alternative and publish the figures before voting — El final baja el tono a propósito: «I am not asking the council to abandon the plan tomorrow». Lo que se pide es calcular el coste de la otra opción y publicar las cifras antes de votar.