UPSC 2014 CDS I English Paper

COMPREHENSION

Directions, for the following 15 items :
Read the following passages and answer the items that follow.

PASSAGE-I

  Those responsible for teaching young people have resorted to a variety of means to make their pupils learn. The earliest of these was the threat of punishment. This meant that the pupil who was slow, careless or inattentive risked either physical chastisement or the loss of some expected privilege. Learning was thus associated with fear. At a later period, pupils were encouraged to learn in the hope of some kind of reward. This often took the form of marks awarded for work done and sometimes of prizes given at the end of the year to the best scholar. Such a system appealed to the competitive spirit, but was just as depressing as the older system for the slow pupil.
  In the nineteenth century sprang up a new type of teacher, convinced that learning was worth while for its own sake and that the young pupil’s principal stimulus should neither be anxiety to avoid a penalty nor ambition to win a reward, but sheer desire to learn. Interest, direct or indirect, became the keyword of instruction.