More and more pupils are giving teachers presents, but the practice only creates insecurity in parents and staff.
I’ve certainly noticed some pupils being feverishly overgenerous of late. Last year, I received not one bottle of wine but four for helping a disaffected pupil through his GCSEs. By and large, my colleagues report the gifts differing along gender lines. Gentlemen get ties, mugs, booze and, if they’re really lucky, tickets to football matches. The ladies are often presented with flowers, jewels, chocolates and so on.
When my son was at private school, I noticed there was a real competitiveness between the students about giving presents to teachers, with expensive baskets from fancy stores and huge bouquets being handed out on the last days of term. Since my wife and I only let my son give thank-you cards, it was clear we were not “classy”. Now he is at an inner-city primary, we’ve noticed that this kind of nonsense seems to have more or less disappeared．For one thing, there isn’t that kind of money floating around – but there isn’t that kind of competitive culture either.
Personally, I think gifts to teachers should be banned beyond the thank-you card they cause many more problems than they solve, creating insecurity in both parents and staff. Perhaps the recession and the lack of money in people’s pockets might be a good excuse for the government to issue some guidelines to schools that gifts shouldn’t be accepted by teachers.
The gifts that I really value are the cards which say a genuine thank you. I still keep them in a file at home.
21．What can the author most probably be?
A．A teacher.        B．A school nurse.
C．A researcher.     D．A gift shop owner.
22．The underlined word “nonsense” in Paragraph 3 refers to the fact that ________.
A．the son only gives thank-you cards to teachers
B．the author and his wife are not classy
C．the son goes to an inner-city primary
D．the students give gifts to teachers
23．To solve the problem, the author thinks it’s a good way to ________.
A．forbid the students to give any gifts to teachers
B．create insecurity by giving thank-you cards
C．make people have less money in pockets
D．issue some guidelines by the government
24．Which of the following can be the best title?
A．Don’t Forget to Give Gifts to Your Teachers
B．Presents Won’t Make Pupils Teachers’ Pets
C．Learn the Competitive Culture of Gifts
D．Refuse Presents from Your Students

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