Chapter 34: The Specialist / 第34章：专业化的学生

SUBJECT: Junior大三学生/ˈdʒuːniər/ and senior大四学生/ˈsiːniər/ project
TIME REQUIRED: 2 to 3 hours or more per week in grades 11 and 12

In the preceding前面的/prɪˈsiːdɪŋ/ chapters, you will have noticed that the number数量/ˈnʌmbər/ of subjects studied is reduced减少/rɪˈdjuːst/ in the junior and senior years of high school. For example, math数学/mæθ/ and language语言/ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/ study can be completed完成/kəmˈpliːtɪd/ in tenth or eleventh grade; the formal study of writing写作/ˈraɪtɪŋ/ ends.

By the junior year in high school, the typical student学生/ˈstuːdənt/ of rhetoric修辞学/ˈretərɪk/ is spending two hours per day studying Great Books伟大著作/ɡreɪt bʊks/, an additional hour and a half two days per week studying science科学/ˈsaɪəns/, and a couple of hours twice a week dealing with art艺术/ɑːrt/ and music音乐/ˈmjuːzɪk/.

He's also pursuing an elective选修课/ɪˈlektɪv/—computer programming, advanced language, or Advanced Placement math. This schedule时间表/ˈskedʒuːl/ leaves time for the junior and senior writing projects项目/ˈprɒdʒekts/. Eleventh and twelfth graders should choose a major research研究/rɪˈsɜːrtʃ/ project in a field that interests them and carry this project out.

This is the equivalent等同的/ɪˈkwɪvələnt/ of a high-school "honors荣誉/ˈɒnərz/" program.

During the high-school years, most students begin to develop a "specialty专业/ˈspeʃəlti/," a skill技能/skɪl/ or branch of learning in which they have a particular talent天赋/ˈtælənt/ and interest兴趣/ˈɪntrəst/. Computer programming, Victorian novels, ancient Britain, Renaissance art, French poetry, piano performance, gymnastics, baseball, writing fiction—whatever the student chooses to spend his time doing can become a specialty.

The junior and senior projects are wider in scope范围/skoʊp/ than the ninth- and tenth-grade research papers. Research papers focus on a topic that can be summarized总结/ˈsʌməraɪzd/ in a thesis论文/ˈθiːsɪs/ statement; they tend to deal with a single time and place (that is, they are synchronic共时的/sɪŋˈkrɒnɪk/—they examine a particular point in time).

The junior and senior projects should be more complex复杂的/kəmˈpleks/—they should be diachronic历时的/ˌdaɪəˈkrɒnɪk/ (moving through history, examining the origins起源/ˈɔːrɪdʒɪnz/ and historical development发展/dɪˈveləpmənt/ of the topic under study).

Any subject, Neil Postman observes, can be given scholarly学术的/ˈskɒlərli/ value if the student traces its historical development, reflects on its origins, and theorizes理论化/ˈθiːəraɪzɪz/ about its future. Every topic treated in this way sheds light on human endeavor努力/ɪnˈdevər/—the way we live.

Baseball, for example, becomes a fascinating迷人的/ˈfæsɪneɪtɪŋ/ and fruitful富有成果的/ˈfruːtfəl/ study if the student follows it back to its beginnings and traces it from there. Bat-and-ball games were played as far back as the Aztecs阿兹特克人/ˈæzteks/; baseball became a popular child's game in the nineteenth century; the mutation变化/mjuːˈteɪʃən/ of baseball into a professional sport parallels the general shift in American culture from rural-centered to urban-centered.

Allow some room for creativity创造力/ˌkriːeɪˈtɪvəti/. At least one of the projects (ideally, the junior project) should be in standard research-paper form. But permit the second to vary. A student with an interest in creative writing could research the novel in the junior year and write part of a novel for the senior project.

Just keep the following guideline指导原则/ˈɡaɪdlaɪn/ in mind: whatever creative project is undertaken for the senior year must be documented记录的/ˈdɒkjʊmentɪd/—it must involve writing. These writing projects force the student to evaluate评估/ɪˈvæljueɪt/ what he's doing.

The student who chooses to research a historical event or era should be careful not to get "stuck in the past." He should deal with the event's relationship关系/rɪˈleɪʃənʃɪp/ to similar prior events, its effect on the surrounding cultures文化/ˈkʌltʃərz/, and any effects that stretch to the present day.

The student working on literature should always treat the development of the genre体裁/ˈʒɑːnrə/ under study, from its roots to the present day. This will yield a number of insights见解/ˈɪnsaɪts/, as is illustrated by the Jane Austen example above.

Mathematics projects can take two forms: the historical development of a type of mathematics (from Pythagoras and Euclid to the present) and the application应用/ˌæplɪˈkeɪʃən/ of mathematics to specific scientific problems.

We strongly suggest that you find someone to guide and evaluate评估/ɪˈvæljueɪt/ the junior and senior projects. Enlist local college faculty教员/ˈfækəlti/ members or experts专家/ˈekspɜːrts/ in the student's field. You can also write to authors, musicians, and scholars学者/ˈskɒlərz/, asking them to evaluate the junior and senior papers and projects.