- JOSEPH’S COLLEGE OF COMMERCE (AUTONOMOUS)
END SEMESTER EXAMINATION – SEPT /Oct. 2014
B.COM (Travel & Tourism) – III SEMESTER
GENERAL ENGLISH & BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Duration::3 HOURS Max. Marks: 100
Note: Read the questions carefully and answer.
Do not exceed the paragraph limit.
Each paragraph should contain at least four sentences.
SECTION – A
- Answer ANY THREE in about three paragraphs each. (3 X15 = 45)
- What is Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s opinion about the English Language and why does he want the English Departments in the Universities to be abolished? Compare the situation of Africa with India in terms of the domination of the English language. How differently have we received the English language when compared to other countries ruled by England?
- What is the philosophical thought behind the composition of the play Sudra Tapasvi? Even though the play is set in a mythical time of the Rama’s reign what relevance do you think the play has to the present times?
- Comment on any one interesting aspect from each of the poems that you have read as part of your course. Also narrate your experience of reading poetry from childhood.
- It is usually considered that reading a book is much better than watching a movie anytime. You have watched a movie as part of your course and also read a short story and a play. Write how different were the experiences of reading the short story/play and watching the movie and tell what the value of each medium is for you personally.
SECTION – B
- II) Read the passage below and answer the questions.
The Right to Control One’s Learning
by John Holt
Young people should have the right to control and direct their own learning; that is, to decide what they want to learn, and when, where, how, how much, how fast, and with what help they want to learn it. To be still more specific, I want them to have the right to decide if, when, how much, and by whom they want to be taught and the right to decide whether they want to learn in a school and if so which one and for how much of the time.
No human right, except the right to life itself, is more fundamental than this. A person’s freedom of learning is part of his freedom of thought, even more basic than his freedom of speech. If we take from someone his right to decide what he will be curious about, we destroy his freedom of thought. We say, in effect, you must think not about what interests and concerns you, but about what interests and concerns us.
We might call this the right of curiosity, the right to ask whatever questions are most important to us. As adults, we assume that we have the right to decide what does or does not interest us, what we will look into and what we will leave alone. We take this right for granted, cannot imagine that it might be taken away from us. Indeed, as far as I know, it has never been written into any body of law. Even the writers of our Constitution did not mention it. They thought it was enough to guarantee citizens the freedom of speech and the freedom to spread their ideas as widely as they wished and could. It did not occur to them that even the most tyrannical government would try to control people’s minds, what they thought and knew. That idea was to come later, under the benevolent guise of compulsory universal education.
This right of each of us to control our own learning is now in danger. When we put into our laws the highly authoritarian notion that someone should and could decide what all young people were to learn and, beyond that, could do whatever might seem necessary (which now includes dosing them with drugs) to compel them to learn it, we took a long step down a very steep and dangerous path. The requirement that a child go to school, for about six hours a day, 180 days a year, for about ten years, whether or not he learns anything there, whether or not he already knows it or could learn it faster or better somewhere else, is such a gross violation of civil liberties that few adults would stand for it. But the child who resists is treated as a criminal.
The right I ask for the young is a right that I want to preserve for the rest of us, the right to decide what goes into our minds. This is much more than the right to decide whether or when or how much to go to school or what school you want to go to. That right is important, but it is only part of a much larger and more fundamental right, which I might call the right to learn, as opposed to being educated, i.e. made to learn what someone else thinks would be good for you. It is not just compulsory schooling but compulsory education that I oppose and want to do away with.
Answer all three in about a paragraph each. (3×5 = 15)
- What is argument for ‘the right to control one’s learning’ that the writer presents in the above passage?
- Why does he think this right to control one’s learning is in danger? Do you agree with his reasons?
- Under what conditions do you think learning becomes enjoyable rather than a burden?
SECTION – C
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
- Answer ALL FOUR questions. (4 x 10 = 40)
- Look at the cartoon below and try to make sense of the conversation. Why do you think the business environment needs a different set of communication skills?
- Public speaking is one of the basic aspects of business communication. How according to you should one speak in front of an audience? Write about a speaking style that you have seen in another person and admired the most.
- You have been invited by a reputed Travels and Tours Company for an interview and it is for a specific post of a Hospitality Manager. Write a covering letter and draft a Resume which you will take along with you.
- You are managing a conducted tour and one of the tourists is missing. You simply could not find him again despite searching all known places with the police. Your relationship with the company you are working for is not very good. Write a report to your manager documenting what happened in the tour you were managing. (One reason may be your company had just sent you to manage a tour for 80 people)
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