Carta ao diretor: adiantar a entrada (A letter to the editor)
QECR B2374 palavras
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.
Palavras que talvez não conheças
- councilcâmara municipal
- to bring forward (a time)antecipar (uma hora)
- timetablehorário das aulas
- foolishinsensato, disparatado
- a fleet of busesuma frota de autocarros
- teaching postlugar de professor
- the billa fatura; aqui, o custo que alguém acaba por pagar
- exam subjectsdisciplinas com exame
- to stagger (times)escalonar, desfasar
- to cost (a plan)orçamentar, calcular o custo de
- Yours faithfullycom os melhores cumprimentos (fecho formal de uma carta)
- name and address suppliednome e morada na posse do jornal (fórmula das cartas publicadas sem assinatura)
Perguntas
Respondem-se com o texto à frente. Não é memória: é perceber.
What exactly is the council planning to do?
Start the school day fifty minutes earlier — O que muda é a hora de entrada: «bring the start of the school day forward by fifty minutes», ou seja, as aulas passariam a começar às sete e quarenta. O dia não fica mais longo nem mais curto: apenas começa mais cedo.
The writer accepts that pupils will simply go to bed earlier.
False — Falso. Esse argumento é citado apenas para ser refutado: «They will not». O horário não decide o sono de quem tem catorze anos; quem decide é o corpo, e 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 show that good behaviour is not the same as being able to learn — O elogio é a armadilha: são educados e portam-se bem, e mesmo assim não estão ali. A frase diz que uma sala calma pode ser uma sala a dormir, e isso não se vê de um gabinete.
What is the writer doing in paragraph 3?
Admitting that the other side has real arguments, before answering them — É uma concessão, não uma mudança de lado: as poupanças são reais e «deserve to be taken seriously». São admitidas primeiro para lhes poder responder no parágrafo seguinte, que começa com «But».
According to the letter, the real cost of the change falls on the ___ lesson of the day.
first — «the bill falls on the first lesson of the day», que é precisamente onde costumam ficar as disciplinas com exame. Por isso a poupança não é gratuita: quem a paga é essa primeira aula.
What is asked of the council at the end of the letter?
To work out the cost of the other option and make the figures public — O final baixa o tom de propósito: «I am not asking the council to abandon the plan tomorrow». O que se pede é orçamentar a outra opção e publicar os números antes da votação.