Unit 1: Critical Thinking

Know Thyself

Before you read

1. What are critical thinking skills?

Answer: The critical thinking skills are self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored and self-corrective thinking.

critical thinking includes the rational, skeptical, unbiased analysis or evaluation of factual evidence.

2. How do critical thinkers solves the problems? Guess the steps they follow while tackling a problem.

Answer: The critical thinkers solve the problems step by step.

Some steps are overview, goal, objectives, standard connection and strategy.

Working with words

(A) Find the words from the text that match with the following meanings:

a. …………… walking by dragging one’s feet along or without lifting them fully from the ground

b. …………… drawing pictures or patterns while thinking about something else

c. …………… a piece of flat metal with writing on it

d. …………… a general rule intended to regulate behaviour or thought

e. …………… move or go in a furtive or stealthy way

Answer

a. Shuffle walking by dragging one’s feet along or without lifting them fully from the ground

b. Doddle drawing pictures or patterns while thinking about something else

c. Plaque a piece of flat metal with writing on it

d. Precept a general rule intended to regulate behaviour or thought

e. Sidle or Sneaky move or go in a furtive or stealthy way

(B) Consult your teacher and define the following thinking skills:

a. convergent thinking;                b. divergent thinking;                   c. critical thinking;              d. creative thinking

Answer

a. convergent thinking

Convergent thinking is the process to find out the single best solution to a problem.

School uses many tests for convergent thinking; they are multiple-choice tests, spelling tests, math quizzes, standardized tests etc.

b. divergent thinking

Divergent thinking is the process of creating many unique solutions to solve a problem.

The problem of convergent thinking is systematic and logical, unlike divergent thinking, which is spontaneous and free-flowing. By using convergent thinking, we apply logical steps to determine what the single best solution is.

c. critical thinking

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively.

It is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored and self-corrective thinking

It includes the rational, skeptical, unbiased analysis or evaluation of factual evidence.

Critical thinking needs effective communication and problem-solving abilities.

d. creative thinking

Creative thinking involves thinking about an unusual topic.

It helps to consider things from a fresh perspective and different angles.

It is an inventive thought process that results in surprising conclusions.

Creative thinking skills generates ideas problem solving, writing, visual art, communication skills and open-mindedness

A creative thinker tries to address an issue from a perspective that has not been used before.

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Comprehension

Answer the following questions:

a. Who was Jack? How did he make children laugh?

Answer: Jack was a kid. He made children laugh by saying jokes.

b. Why are “Sharks” important to Reid?

Answer: Sharks are important to Reid because they eat dead things in the ocean.

c. What does Mr. Browne think about the most important thing?

Answer: Mr. Browne thinks that precept is the most important thing.

d. What is that has not been noticed by the student?

Answer: The student has not noticed about plaque text.

e. How did Jack make fun of the English class?

Answer: Jack made fun in the English class by saying jokes with friends.

f. What were the students going to do at the end of the month?

Answer: The students were going to write the easy about precept at the end of the month.

g. What particular act of students surprised a girl student?

Answer: The girl student was surprised with the environment.

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Critical thinking

a. Have you made your own precept after you read this lesson? What is it? Share it with your friends.

Write yourself

b. According to Josh Lanyon, “If there was one life skill everyone on the planet needed, it was the ability to think with critical objectivity.” Justify this statement with your logic.

Answer:

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively.

It is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored and self-corrective thinking

It includes the rational, skeptical, unbiased analysis, clarity, accuracy, consistency, factual evidence, good reason etc.

Creative thinking involves thinking about an unusual topic.

It helps to consider things from a fresh perspective and different angles.

It is an inventive thought process that results in surprising conclusions.

Creative thinking can be aided by brainstorming or lateral thinking to generate ideas.

Creative thinking skills include problem-solving, writing, visual art, communication skills and open-mindedness

A creative thinker tries to address an issue from a perspective that has not been used before.

Types of critical thinking

There are three types of critical thinking; they are deduction, induction and abduction.

Deduction

The deduction includes critical thinking skills that involve drawing conclusions based on the facts at hand.

Deduction is a great skill to use to solve problems.

For example, a doctor tests blood to determine a virus.

It blood tests come positive, we can assume there is a virus.

Induction 

Induction includes the critical thinking skills to conclude based on previous knowledge.

Previous patterns, clues and a methodology are used to the answer.

For example, when you visit the doctor showing a fever, sneezing and coughing; the doctor does not do tests.

He/she induces that you probably have influenza because your symptoms are characteristic of the flu.

Abduction 

Abduction includes the critical thinking skills to conclude logically with a small amount of knowledge.

You cannot be sure of the answer, but you can think critically and make an educated guess.

For example, you see a cat is on the roof.

The most logical answer is that the cat got up there by climbing a nearby tree and jumping from it to the roof, but you cannot be sure.

Therefore, critical thinking is used to solve different problems by using rational, skeptical, unbiased analysis, clarity, accuracy, consistency, factual evidence and good reason.

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Unit 4: Technology

Hyperloop

Before you read

a. Do you know the means of transportation shown in the pictures? What are they?

b. Do you enjoy travelling at high speed? How do you feel when you travel at high speed?

c. What means of transportation do you think we will be using in 50 years’ time? What makes you think so?

Read the following text about an ultra-high-speed ground transportation system called hyperloop and do the given tasks:

A hyperloop, as you may have heard, is an ultra-high-speed ground transportation system for passenger and cargo. It could see freight and passengers travelling as high as 760mph (1,220 km/h), in a ‘floating’ pod which shoots through giant, low-pressure tubes, either above or below ground. It is a newer form of transport, currently being explored and developed by a number of companies. A hyperloop technology is still in development even though the basic concept has been around for many years. The earliest hyperloop was likely to be up and running by 2020 but most services are expected to be later, as trials of the technology are still in their early stages.

There are two big differences between hyperloop and traditional rail. Firstly, the pods carrying passengers travel through tubes or tunnels from which most of the air has been removed to reduce friction. This should allow the pods to travel at up to 760 miles per hour. Secondly, rather than using wheels like a train or car, the pods are designed to float on air skis, using the same basic idea as an air hockey table, or use magnetic levitation to reduce friction.

A hyperloop could be cheaper and faster than train or car travel, and cheaper and less polluting than air travel. It is also quicker and cheaper to build than traditional highspeed rail. A hyperloop could therefore be used to take the pressure off gridlocked roads, making travel between cities easier, and potentially unlocking major economic benefits as a result.

What is the history of a hyperloop?

The idea of using low-pressure or vacuum tubes as part of a transport system has a long heritage. The Crystal Palace Pneumatic Railway used air pressure to push a wagon uphill (and a vacuum to drag it back down) way back in Victorian south London in 1864. Similar systems using pneumatic tubes to send mail and packages between buildings have been in use since the late nineteenth century, and can still be seen in supermarkets and banks to move money around today.

One clear predecessor of the hyperloop is the ‘vactrain’ concept developed by Robert Goddard early in the twentieth century; since then, many similar ideas have been proposed without much success.

However, it was entrepreneur Elon Musk who really reignited interest in the concept with his ‘Hyperloop Alpha’ paper in August 2013, which set out how a modern system would work and how much it would cost.

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How does a hyperloop tube work?

The basic idea of hyperloop as envisioned by Musk is that the passenger pods or capsules travel through a tube, either above or below ground. To reduce friction, most but not all of the air is removed from the tubes by pumps.

Overcoming air resistance is one of the biggest uses of energy in high speed travel. Airliners climb to high altitudes to travel through less dense air; in order to create a similar effect at ground level, hyperloop encloses the capsules in a reduced-pressure tube, effectively allowing the trains to travel at airplane speeds while still on the ground.

In Musk’s model, the pressure of the air inside the hyperloop tube is about one-sixth the pressure of the atmosphere on Mars (a notable comparison as Mars is another of Musk’s interests). This means an operating pressure of 100 pascals, which reduces the drag force of the air by 1,000 times relative to sea level conditions, and would be equivalent to flying above 150,000 feet.

How do hyperloop capsules work?

The hyperloop capsules in Musk’s model float above the tube’s surface on a set of 28 air-bearing skis, similar to the way that the puck floats just above the table on an air hockey game. One major difference is that it is the pod, not the track, which generates the air cushion in order to keep the tube as simple and cheap as possible. Other versions of hyperloop use magnetic levitation rather than air skis to keep the passenger pods above the tracks.

The pod would get its initial velocity from an external linear electric motor, which would accelerate it to ‘high subsonic velocity’ and then give it a boost every 70 miles or so; in between, the pod would coast along in near vacuum. Each capsule could carry 28 passengers (other versions aim to carry up to 40) plus some luggage; another version of the pods could carry cargo and vehicles. Pods would depart every two minutes (or every 30 seconds at peak usage).

How would a hyperloop be powered?

The pods will get their velocity from an external linear electric motor-effectively a round induction motor (like the one in the Tesla Model S) rolled flat. Under Musk’s model, the Hyperloop would be powered by solar panels placed on the top of the tube which would allow the system to generate more energy than it needs to run.

What will it feel like to travel in a hyperloop?

Critics of hyperloop have warned that travelling in the tube might be an uncomfortable experience, due to nausea-inducing acceleration, plus lateral G-force on bends in the route. However, Virgin Hyperloop One says that a journey via hyperloop will feel about the same as riding in an elevator or a passenger plane. “Although a hyperloop will be fast, the systems we are building will accelerate with the same tolerable G-forces as that of taking off in a Boeing 747,” it said. Acceleration and deceleration will be gradual, it added, with no G-forces and turbulence.

Travelling in a concrete pipe in a windowless pod means there isn’t going to be much to look at; Musk’s original vision said that “beautiful landscape will be displayed in the cabin” and each passenger will have access to their own personal entertainment system.

Will a hyperloop be a success?

That’s the huge, multibillion dollar and, as yet, unanswered question. The concept has been around for a long time, but until now the technology has been lacking. This time around, it’s possible that the technology may have just caught up with the concept. There are well-funded companies racing to be the first to deliver a working service but, despite their optimistic timescales, these projects are still very much in the pilot and experimental stages. Going from short test routes to hundreds of kilometres of track is a big jump that none of these firms has made yet.

If the technology is still in development, that’s also very true of the business models to support it. The success of hyperloop will vary depending on the destinations, local economics, and geography. Trying to build a new line overland across England, for example, can prove an expensive and complicated business which can take many years (as the ongoing HS2 controversy has shown). In other countries where land is cheaper or where routes can travel through less populated areas, it may be easier to get services up and running faster.

Capacity is another issue. It’s not clear that hyperloop can do a better job of moving a large number of people than other mass transit options. Critics argue that lots of pods will be required to achieve the same passenger numbers as more traditional rail, which uses much bigger carriages. And there are many engineering hurdles to overcome, like building the tubes strong enough to deal with the stresses of carrying the highspeed pods, and finding energy- and cost- efficient ways to keep them operating at low pressure.

Moving from a successful test to a full commercial deployment is a big jump, and passenger trials are still to come. Assuming that consumers are happy being zoomed around in these tubes, finding the right price for the service will be vital, too.

Right now hyperloop is at an experimental stage, even if the companies involved are very keen to talk about its potential.

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The post Technology | Hyperloop | NEB English Grade 12 | Chapter 4 | Text appeared first on EP Online Study.

Unit 3: Sports

Euro 2020

Before you read

a. What does UEFA stand for?

b. How many teams competed in Euro Cup 2020?

c. Which is your favourite team? Why?

Read the following news story about Euro Cup 2020 and do the given tasks. Italy wins Euro 2020, beats England in penalty shoot-out

By Associated Press

LONDON, July 12: Italian soccer’s redemption story is complete. England’s painful half-century wait for a major title goes on. And it just had to be because of a penalty shootout.

Italy won the European Championship for the second time by beating England 3-2 on penalties on Sunday. The match finished 1-1 after extra time at Wembley Stadium, which was filled mostly with English fans hoping to celebrate the team’s first international trophy since the 1966 World Cup.

“It’s coming to Rome. It’s coming to Rome,” Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci shouted into a TV camera amid the celebrations, mocking the famous lyric “it’s coming home” from the England team’s anthem.

For England, it was utter dejection again – they know the feeling so well when it comes to penalties – after Gianluigi Donnarumma, Italy’s imposing goalkeeper, dived to his left and saved the decisive spot kick by 19-year-old Londoner Bukayo Saka, one of the youngest players in England’s squad.

That was England’s third straight failure from the penalty spot in the shootout, with Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho — players brought on late in extra time seemingly as specialist penalty-takers – also missing.

As Saka and Sancho cried, Donnarumma was mobbed by his teammates as they sprinted toward him from the halfway line at the end of the second penalty shootout in a European Championship final.

Then Italy’s jubilant players headed to the other end of the field and ran as one, diving to the ground in front of the Italian fans who have witnessed a rebirth of their national team.

It was less than four years ago that Italy plunged to the lowest moment of its soccer history by failing to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in six decades. Now, they are the best team in Europe and on a national-record 34-match unbeaten run under Roberto Mancini, their suave coach who has won an international trophy in his first attempt to add to the country’s other European title – in 1968 – and its four World Cups.

Mancini joined his players on the podium as Italy captain Giorgio Chiellini lifted the Henri Delaunay trophy to the backdrop of fireworks and tickertape.

“It was impossible even to just consider this at one stage,” Mancini said, “but the guys were just amazing. I have no words for them.”

For England, it’s the latest heartache in shootouts at major tournaments, after defeats in 1990, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006 and 2012. They ended that losing streak by beating Colombia on penalties in the round of 16 at the 2018 World Cup, but the pain has quickly returned.

“The boys couldn’t have given more,” England captain Harry Kane said. “Penalties are the worst feeling in the world when you lose. It’s been a fantastic tournament — we should be proud, hold our heads up high. It’s going to hurt now; it’s going to hurt for a while.”

England’s first major final in 55 years had all started so well, too, with Luke Shaw scoring the fastest goal in a European Championship final by meeting a cross from opposite wing back Kieran Trippier with a half-volley that went in off the post in the second minute.

It was Shaw’s first goal for England and it prompted a fist-pump between David Beckham and Tom Cruise in the VIP box amid an explosion of joy around Wembley, which had at least 67,000 fans inside. Maybe more, given dozens of ticketless England fans managed to barge their way past stewards and police and into the stadium in unsettling scenes before kickoff.

That was the only time Italy’s famously robust defense was really opened up in the entire 120 minutes.

Indeed, after Shaw’s goal, England barely saw the ball for the rest of the game. Italy’s midfielders dominated possession, as widely predicted before the match, and England simply resorted to dropping deep and getting nine or even all 10 outfield players behind the ball. It was reminiscent of the 2018 World Cup semifinals, when England also scored early against Croatia then spent most of the game chasing its opponent’s midfield before losing in extra time.

Italy’s equalizer was merited and Bonucci was the unlikely scorer. He put the ball in from close range after a right-wing corner was flicked on to Marco Verratti, whose stooping header was tipped onto the post by goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

England managed to hold on for extra time – the way three of the last six European finals went – and actually had the better of the final stages.

Just not the shootout, again.

After the misses of Rashford – he stuttered up to the ball and then hit the post – and Sancho, whose shot was saved by Donnarumma again down to his left, Jorginho had the chance to win it for Italy.

Incredibly, the midfielder who converted the decisive penalty in a shootout win over Spain in the semifinals also failed to score as Pickford tipped the effort off the post.

It was Donnarumma who then made the crucial saves and within minutes he had also been named player of the tournament, the first goalkeeper to be so honored.

So instead of coming home, the trophy is headed to Rome.

“We’d heard it day in, day out from Wednesday night – we heard it would be coming home to London,” Bonucci said. “I’m sorry for them, but the cup will be taking a nice flight, making its way to Rome so Italians all over the world can savor this.”

Credit: Associated Press

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Unit 2: Family

Family

Before you read

a. Do you live in a small family or a big family? Which type of family do you like? Why?

b. How important is family to you? How important is it in your culture?

Credit: CDC, Nepal

Read the following text about family and do the given tasks:

At its most basic, a family consists of an adult and his or her offspring. Most commonly, it consists of two married adults, usually a man and a woman (almost always from different lineages and not related by blood) along with their offspring, usually living in a private and separate dwelling. This type of unit, more specifically known as a nuclear family, is believed to be the oldest of the various types of families in existence. Sometimes the family includes not only the parents and their unmarried children living at home but also children that have married, their spouses, and their offspring, and possibly elderly dependents as well; such an arrangement is called an extended family.

At its best, the family performs various valuable functions for its members. Perhaps most important of all, it provides for emotional and psychological security, particularly through the warmth, love, and companionship that living together generates between spouses and in turn between them and their children. The family also provides a valuable social and political function by institutionalizing procreation and by providing guidelines for the regulation of sexual conduct. The family additionally provides such other socially beneficial functions as the rearing and socialization of children, along with such humanitarian activities as caring for its members when they are sick or disabled. On the economic side, the family provides food, shelter, clothing, and physical security for its members, some of whom may be too young or too old to provide for the basic necessities of life themselves. Finally, on the social side, the family may serve to promote order and stability within society as a whole.

Historically, in most cultures, the family was patriarchal, or male-dominated. Perhaps the most striking example of the male-dominated family is the description of the family given in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament), where the male heads of the clans were allowed to have several wives as well as concubines. As a general rule, women had a rather low status. In Roman times the family was still patriarchal, but polygamy was not practiced, and in general the status of women was somewhat improved over that suggested in the Hebrew Bible, although they still were not allowed to manage their own affairs. The Roman family was an extended one. The family as it existed in medieval Europe was male-dominated and extended.

In the West, industrialization and the accompanying urbanization spawned—and continue to spawn—many changes in family structure by causing a sharp change in life and occupational styles. Many people, particularly unmarried youths, left farms and went to urban centres to become industrial workers. This process led to the dissolution of many extended families.

The modern family that emerged after the Industrial Revolution is different from the earlier model. For instance, patriarchal rule began to give way to greater equality between the sexes. Similarly, family roles once considered exclusively male or female broke down. Caring for the home and children, once the exclusive duty of the female, is often a shared activity, as, increasingly, is the earning of wages and the pursuit of public life, once the exclusive domain of the male. The structure of the family is also changing in that some couples choose not to marry legally and instead elect to have their children out of wedlock; many of these informal relationships tend to be of short duration, and this—as well as the rise in levels of divorce—has led to a rapid increase in the number of one-parent households.

Family law varies from culture to culture, but in its broadest application it defines the legal relationships among family members as well as the relationships between families and society at large. Some of the important questions dealt with in family law include the terms and parameters of marriage, the status of children, and the succession of property from one generation to the next. In nearly every case, family law represents a delicate balance between the interests of society and the protection of individual rights.

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The general rule in marriages until modern times was the legal transfer of dependency, that of the bride, from father to groom. Not only did the groom assume guardianship, he usually assumed control over all of his wife’s affairs. Often, the woman lost any legal identity through marriage, as was the case in English common law. There have been exceptions to this practice. Muslim women, for instance, had considerable control over their own personal property. The use of dowries, an amount of money or property given to the husband with the bride in compensation for her dependency, has long been practiced in many countries, but it has tended to disappear in many industrial societies.

In general, modern marriage is best-described as a voluntary union, usually between a man and a woman (although there are still vestiges of the arranged marriage that once flourished in Eastern Europe and Asia). The emancipation of women in the 19th and 20th centuries changed marriage dramatically, particularly in connection with property and economic status. By the mid-20th century, most Western countries had enacted legislation establishing equality between spouses. Similarly changed is the concept of economic maintenance, which traditionally fell on the shoulders of the husband. Though many laws still lean toward this view, there was increasing recognition of a woman’s potential to contribute to the support of the family. At the beginning of the 21^st century, family law and the notion of family itself was further complicated by calls for acceptance of same-sex marriages and nontraditional families.

Dissolution of marriages is one of the areas in which laws must try to balance private and public interest, since realistically it is the couple itself that can best decide whether its marriage is viable. In many older systems—e.g., Roman, Muslim, Jewish, Chinese, and Japanese—some form of unilateral divorce was possible, requiring only one party to give notice of the intention, usually the male. Most modern systems recognize a mutual request for divorce, though many require an attempt to reconcile before granting divorce. Extreme circumstances, in which blatant neglect, abuse, misbehaviour, or incapacity can be demonstrated, find resolution in civil court. Many systems favour special family courts that attempt to deal more fairly with sensitive issues such as custody of children.

The issue of children poses special problems for family law. In nearly every culture, the welfare of children was formerly left to the parents entirely, and this usually meant the father. Most societies have come to recognize the general benefit of protecting children’s rights and of prescribing certain standards of rearing. Thus, more than in any other area, family law intervenes in private lives with regard to children. Compulsory education is an example of the law superseding parental authority. In the case of single-parent homes, the law will frequently provide some form of support. Legislation on child labour and child abuse also asserts society’s responsibility for a child’s best interests.

The succession of family interests upon the death of its members can be considered a part of family law. Most legal systems have some means of dealing with division of property left by a deceased family member. The will, or testament, specifies the decedent’s wishes as to such distribution, but a surviving spouse or offspring may contest what appear to be unreasonable or inequitable provisions. There are also laws that recognize family claims in the event that property is left intestate (i.e., with no will to determine its distribution).

Alan John Barnard

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The post Family | Family | NEB English Grade 12 | Chapter 2 | Text appeared first on EP Online Study.

Unit 1: Critical Thinking

Know Thyself

Before you read

a. What are critical thinking skills?

b. How do critical thinkers solves the problems? Guess the steps they follow while tackling a problem.

Read the following text and do the given tasks:

There was a lot of shuffling around when the bell rang and everybody got up to leave. I checked my schedule and it said my next class was English, room 321. I didn’t stop to see if anyone else from my homeroom was going my way: I just zoomed out of the class and down the hall and sat down as far from the front as possible. The teacher, a really tall man with a yellow beard, was writing on the chalkboard.

Kids came in laughing and talking in little groups but I didn’t look up. Basically, the same thing that happened in homeroom happened again: no one sat next to me except for Jack, who was joking around with some kids who weren’t in our homeroom. I could tell Jack was the kind of kid other kids like. He had a lot of friends. He made people laugh.

When the second bell rang, everyone got quiet and the teacher turned around and faced us. He said his name was Mr. Browne, and then he started talking about what we would be doing this semester. At a certain point, somewhere between A Wrinkle in Time and Shen of the Sea, he noticed me but kept right on talking.

I was mostly doodling in my notebook while he talked, but every once in a while I would sneak a look at the other students. Charlotte was in this class. So were Julian and Henry. Miles wasn’t.

Mr. Browne had written on the chalkboard in big block letters:

P-R-E-C-E-P-T!

“Okay, everybody write this down at the very top of the very first page in your English notebook.” As we did what he told us to do, he said: “Okay, so who can tell me what a precept is? Does anyone know?”

No one raised their hands. Mr. Browne smiled, nodded, and turned around to write on the chalkboard again:

PRECEPTS = RULES ABOUT REALLY IMPORTANT THINGS!

“Like a motto?” someone called out.

“Like a motto!” said Mr. Browne, nodding as he continued writing on the board. “Like a famous quote. Like a line from a fortune cookie. Any saying or ground rule that can motivate you. Basically, a precept is anything that helps guide us when making decisions about really important things.” He wrote all that on the chalkboard and then turned around and faced us. “So, what are some really important things?” he asked us.

A few kids raised their hands, and as he pointed at them, they gave their answers, which he wrote on the chalkboard in really, really sloppy handwriting:

RULES. SCHOOLWORK. HOMEWORK.

“What else?” he said as he wrote, not even turning around. “Just call things out!” He wrote everything everyone called out.

FAMILY. PARENTS. PETS.

One girl called out: “The environment!”

THE ENVIRONMENT.                    

He wrote on the chalkboard, and added:

OUR WORLD!

“Sharks, because they eat dead things in the ocean!” said one of the boys, a kid named Reid, and Mr. Browne wrote down

SHARKS.

“Bees!” “Seatbelts!” “Recycling!” “Friends!”

“Okay,” said Mr. Browne, writing all those things down. He turned around when he finished writing to face us again. “But no one’s named the most important thing of all.”

We all looked at him, out of ideas.

“God?” said one kid, and I could tell that even though Mr. Browne wrote “God” down, that wasn’t the answer he was looking for. Without saying anything else, he wrote down:

WHO WE ARE!

“Who we are,” he said, underlining each word as he said it. “Who we are! Us! Right?

What kind of people are we? What kind of person are you? Isn’t that the most important thing of all? Isn’t that the kind of question we should be asking ourselves all the time?

“What kind of person am I?

“Did anyone happen to notice the plaque next to the door of this school? Anyone read what it says? Anyone?”

He looked around but no one knew the answer.

“It says: ‘Know Thyself,’ ” he said, smiling and nodding. “And learning who you are is what you’re here to do.” “I thought we were here to learn English,” Jack cracked, which made everyone laugh.

“Oh yeah, and that, too!” Mr. Browne answered, which I thought was very cool of him.

He turned around and wrote in big huge block letters that spread all the way across the chalkboard:

MR. BROWNE’S SEPTEMBER PRECEPT:

WHEN GIVEN THE CHOICE BETWEEN

BEING RIGHT OR BEING KIND, CHOOSE KIND.

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“Okay, so, everybody,” he said, facing us again, “I want you to start a brand-new section in your notebooks and call it Mr. Browne’s Precepts.”

He kept talking as we did what he was telling us to do.

“Put today’s date at the top of the first page. And from now on, at the beginning of every month, I’m going to write a new Mr. Browne precept on the chalkboard and you’re going to write it down in your notebook. Then we’re going to discuss that precept and what it means. And at the end of the month, you’re going to write an essay about it, about what it means to you. So by the end of the year, you’ll all have your own list of precepts to take away with you.

“Over the summer, I ask all my students to come up with their very own personal precept, write it on a postcard, and mail it to me from wherever you go on your summer vacation.”

“People really do that?” said one girl whose name I didn’t know.

“Oh yeah!” he answered, “people really do that. I’ve had students send me new precepts years after they’ve graduated from this school, actually. It’s pretty amazing.”

He paused and stroked his beard.

“But, anyway, next summer seems like a long way off, I know,” he joked, which made us laugh. “So, everybody relax a bit while I take attendance, and then when we’re finished with that, I’ll start telling you about all the fun stuff we’re going to be doing this year—in English.” He pointed to Jack when he said this, which was also funny, so we all laughed at that.

As I wrote down Mr. Browne’s September precept, I suddenly realized that I was going to like school. No matter what.

R.J. Palacio (excerpt from Wonder)

Credit: Penguin Random House, Canada

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