Ejercicio Text A - Task 1 · Inglés PAU Murcia Ordinaria 2024

TEXT A

A study published in The New York Times lamented the fast pace of modern parenting and found that regardless of education, income, or race, parents believed children who are bored should be enrolled in extracurricular activities. According to Erin Westgate, a professor of psychology at the University of Florida, there is a kind of cultural stigma attached to boredom, particularly in the United States.

Only boring people get bored, the saying goes. But the reality is that boredom is “normal, natural, and healthy,” said Dr. Westgate, whose research focuses on what boredom is, why people experience it, and what happens when they do. She believes that in moderate doses, boredom can offer a valuable learning opportunity, encouraging creativity and problem solving, and motivating children to seek out activities that feel meaningful to them. “Preventing kids from ever feeling bored is not suitable in the same way that preventing them from ever feeling sad, or frustrated, or angry is not suitable,” she said.

Here’s what you and your children can learn from feelings of boredom.

Boredom is informative. Boredom is like an indicator light on a car’s dashboard: “Boredom is telling you what you’re doing right now isn’t working,” which means the task you are doing is too easy or too difficult, or lacks meaning. One way parents can help children, particularly younger ones, to learn to manage boredom is to help them distinguish between feeling sad or bored. Another way is to normalize the feeling. “We have a tendency to treat boredom as a sign of discomfort, or a sort of call for help,” Dr. Westgate said. “Boredom is uncomfortable, but it’s not necessarily negative.”

Boredom can lead to fulfillment. Boredom offers children an opportunity to experiment with the kinds of activities that feel fulfilling and interesting to them. For example, if you let your kids loose in the backyard, they may feel bored initially, but they can then learn to prevent that feeling, or resolve it, by finding activities that feel meaningful to them, whether that’s counting bugs, playing with a ball, or drawing with sidewalk chalk. “If parents don’t allow for free, imaginative play, children may never discover their innate love of nature, sports, or art, or even the pleasure they can find in simply relaxing or playing,” Dr. Westgate said.

1. Read the text and decide whether statements 1.1 to 1.4 are true or false. Then, find a text fragment which confirms your answer in either case. Write “TRUE” or “FALSE” plus the fragment (one or two lines maximum) on your answer sheet. [Score: 4 items x 0.5 marks = 2 marks]

E.g.: Parents believed that out-of-school activities can be the solution to child boredom.

TRUE:... regardless of education, income, or race, parents believed children who are bored should be enrolled in extracurricular activities.

1.1.

According to Dr. Westgate, only boring people get bored.

TRUE

FALSE

1.2.

Dr. Westgate does not recommend parents to prevent their kids from ever feeling bored.

TRUE

FALSE

1.3.

Young children may confuse sadness with boredom.

TRUE

FALSE

1.4.

It’s in the parents’ hands to help their kids substitute boredom for meaningful activities.

TRUE

FALSE