Drawing Conclusions: Putting It All Together


LESSON SUMMARY


This lesson wraps up your study of reading comprehension by reviewing everything you’ve learned so far.

You’re almost at the end of this book. If you’ve been doing a lesson every weekday, you’ve spent almost a month building your reading skills. Congratulations! This lesson uses a longer passage than the ones you’ve read so far to give you a chance to practice all the skills you’ve learned. Here’s a quick review of what you’ve learned since the last review lesson:

  • Lesson 16: Finding an implied main idea. You practiced looking for clues in structure, language, and style, as well as the facts of the passage, to determine the main idea.
  • Lesson 17: Understanding implied causes and effects. You learned to “read between the lines” to determine causes and make predictions about effects.
  • Lesson 18: Emotional and logical appeals. You learned that arguments that appeal to readers’ emotions must be supported by logic, as well in order, to be convincing.
  • Lesson 19: Finding the theme in literature. You used your detective skills to find the main idea implied by the structure, language, style, and action in a work of literature

If any of these terms or strategies sound unfamiliar to you, STOP. Please take a few minutes to review whatever lesson is unclear.

Practice

Today, you’ll practice these skills in combination with skills covered earlier in this book:

  • Finding the facts
  • Determining the main idea
  • Determining the meaning of unfamiliar words
  • Distinguishing between fact and opinion
  • Chronological order
  • Order of importance
  • Cause and effect
  • Comparison and contrast
  • Point of view
  • Diction
  • Language and style
  • Tone

If this seems like a monumental task, don’t worry:

It isn’t. You’ve already mastered some of these skills and should be very comfortable with the others. In fact, you will probably be surprised at how easy you find this exercise to be.

Practice Passage

Are you ready? Read the following essay. Remember, read actively and make observations in the space provided on the next page. Then answer the questions that follow. This will give you a chance to see how well your reading skills are coming along.

Although many companies offer tuition reimbursement, most companies only reimburse employees for classes that are relevant to their position. This isa very limiting policy. A company that reimburses employees for all college credit courses whether job related or not offers a service not only to the employees, but to the entire company.
One good reason for giving employees unconditional tuition reimbursement is that it shows the company’s dedication to its employees. In today’s economy, where job security is a thing of the past and employees feel more and more expendable, it is important for a company to demonstrate to its employees that it cares. The best way to do this is with concrete investments in them.
In turn, this dedication to the betterment of company employees will create greater employee loyalty. A company that puts out funds to pay for the education of its employees will get its money back by having employees stay with the company longer. It will reduce employee turnover, because even employees who don’t take advantage of the tuition reimbursement program will be more loyal to their company just knowing that their company cares enough to pay for their education.
Most importantly, the company that has an unrestricted tuition reimbursement program will have higher quality employees. Although these companies do indeed run the risk of losing money on employees who go on to another job in a different company as soon as they get their degree, more often than not, the employee will stay with the company. And even if employees do leave after graduation, it generally takes several years to complete any degree program. Thus, even if the employee leaves upon graduating, throughout those years, the employer will have a more sophisticated, more intelligent, and therefore more valuable and productive employee. And, if the employee stays, that education will doubly benefit the company: Not only is the employee more educated, but now that employee can be promoted so the company doesn’t have to fill a high-level vacancy from the outside. Open positions can be filled by people who already know the company well.
Though unconditional tuition reimbursement requires a significant investment on the employer’s part, it is perhaps one of the wisest investments a company can make.
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