NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Main Course Book Chapter 17

Unit-6 : Solutions of Questions on Page Number : 120

Q1 : Complete the following information about yourself
SURVEY ON THE USE OF COMPUTERS

Answer :
The question needs to be answered by the student on her/his own.

Q2 : Divide yourselves into groups and collect information on the use of computers from five students each of classes VI, IX and XI. Compile and summarise your answers to the questions above in the following table.

Answer :
The question needs to be answered by the student on her/his own.

Q3 : Exchange information with another group and record it. Then in groups of four discuss the results of the following:
Do boys and girls spend the same amount of time at the computer?
Do their tastes and preferences change as they grow older?
Are the number of hours spent at the computer/studying at home/leisure/
internet different between boys and girls?
Do the number of hours per week spent at the computer/studying at home/
internet/ leisure activities change as students get older?
Answer :
The question needs to be answered by the student on her/his own.

Q4 : Now listen to two speakers debating on the topic, ‘Education of the Girl Child is a Burden’.

Answer :
Pointers have been provided for students’ reference.
Education of the girl child is a burden
For:
1. Girls have faced discrimination for ages.
2. Society never favoured education of a girl child and preferred education of a male child.
3. If we want the change and society to treat both a man and a woman at par, it is important to groom them both equally.
4. We must make a girl self-dependent and to do so it is necessary for her to be educated.
5. If we educate a boy we educate a boy alone; if we educate a girl, we educate a whole family.
Against:
1. Girls play the role of home makers. They have a responsibility to breed and rear.
2. From the times of cave men, women have been responsible for domestic chores.
3. They do not need education for when they grow up, women do not need to work as they will not be able to earn as good as men.
4. If girls are educated, then when they grow into women as adults they want to work and they do not want to have babies. Take example of countries like Germany and Japan, birth rate is falling there as women do not want to conceive.
5. Educated women are anarchic. They do not listen to men and it leads to chaos.

Q5 : Now prepare a graph based on the students’ response to the survey you conducted in C.2. Then write a report for the newspaper taking the help of B.5, C.3 and C.6.
Answer :
The question needs to be answered by the student on her/his own.

Q6 : You will now hold an actual class debate on the topic ‘Computers and Children: A Boon or a Bane’.
In groups of four decide whether your group is FOR or AGAINST the motion. Then draft your debate. Each member of the group must participate in the written as well as the spoken matter. The spoken matter can be divided thus
One introduces the topic
One discusses points favouring the motion
One argues the opponent’s points
One concludes
Answer :
Pointers have been provided for students’ reference.
Computers and Children
Boon or bane
Boon:
1. The technology savvy children of today have accepted the computer as an integral part of their lives.
2. With the help of computers and internet, it is now much easier for children to access information of all sorts.
3. With the help of computers, education has become interesting. Children can now search any topic, for example science or social studies, under the sky with the help of search engines like Google and Yahoo.
4. Children learn new things faster and are up to date with the latest happenings around the globe.
5. E-learning is the latest trend these days. Various educational portals have come up. The purpose is to help children in their education.
Bane:
1. Computer is a machine that makes everything on the Internet so easily accessible that it is difficult to keep children away from things they are not supposed to know at a certain age.
2. Children spend much time in playing games or social networking rather than their education and learning.
3. As everything is just one click away, children are becoming lazy and have lost the habit of manually referring to books or even dictionary.
4. They like to spend much time on the computer rather than playing outdoor games. They do social networking only on the Internet rather than going out and playing with friends.
5. The new disease on the computer or to say Internet is the ‘virtual world’. It is a computer-based simulated environment. A user takes an avatar and lives it virtually on the computer. It has its own negative effects, the user starts losing grip on the real world.