Every year we come across the usual allegations of ‘lengthy’ or ‘tough’ question papers against CBSE. But, in the year 2021, something happened in the Term 1 class 10 English question paper that provoked the Opposition leaders to walk out of Lok Sabha in protest. Read on to find out what was wrong in the Term 1 class 10 English unseen passage. Class 10th controversial passage in JSK 1 series and its answer key with the reasons behind controversy are given in this article.
CBSE Dropped Unseen Passage for Class 10 English Answer Key
What was it that triggered an ire against CBSE on Twitter, Youtube and other social media platforms? The controversy was over an ‘unseen passage’ in the reading comprehension section. The unseen passage with multiple-choice questions talked about the change in the parenting style over the years. The conclusion to the passage was not at all acceptable in today’s world where we boast of gender equality.
What was wrong in Term 1 (JSK series 1) Class 10 English Unseen Passage?
The passage has caused distress among some people, who thought it was regressive and misogynistic. The passage tried to emphasise several times that men are superior to women. According to the passage, women should stay under men’s control to create discipline among their children. It was criticised widely for subordinating the authority and position of Indian women in comparison to Indian men.
It was immediately taken aback after Sonia Gandhi raised her voice against it. All the students were promised full marks for this passage by CBSE. All must keep in mind that a piece of writing trying to relegate any gender can’t be accepted by society because we are living in an era of ‘Gender Equity’. To better understand the real issue you can read the Term 1 Class 10 Controversial Passage given below with answers.
Class 10 Term 1 Controversial Passage | Gender Stereotyping Passage | CBSE Dropped Unseen Passage Class 10 English | Women Disobedience and Discipline
Read the passage given below and answer the questions/complete the statement that follows by choosing the correct options from the given options. (attempt any 8)
Some teenagers live in a world of their own. Various causes can be found for this state of affairs but the first in importance is clearly the lack of parental authority in the home. This depended, more than a century ago, upon the convention of the husband being master in his own house. The wife gave him formal obedience, realising that upon this depended her authority, in turn, over the children.
She was likely to see much more of them and her own efforts to maintain discipline might thus be weakened by familiarity. It was always her best plan, therefore, to fall back on the authority of an absent husband, saying, ‘Your father has forbidden it,’ often with the inference that she herself would have been more indulgent. It was only by accepting her husband’s sway that she could gain obedience from the young. The decision might be hers but the unpopularity was his, the more easily borne in that he might not be there. To precepts about subordination she thus added the potent force of an example. Children and servants were in this way taught to know their place.
In the twentieth century, children became fewer and the feminist revolt was the result. With discipline no longer the chief problem, the pattern of the family life underwent a change. Granted a small number of children carefully spaced out, there might, it was thought, be time to reason with them. There might even be time to read books on child psychology. Father’s word had no longer the authority of holy writ and given the Bible itself was relegated to high shelf quite unsuitable for the young. Why should women accept their subordinate rule? Why indeed? With some hesitation, their claim to equality was conceded. Among the intelligent, there would henceforth be an easier relationship, a more casual comradeship and co-operation with love to take the place of fear. Married women now retained their identity and some of them even pursued separate careers; and most men welcomed the change, readily dropping their role of an infallible tyrant in the home.
What people were slow to observe was that the emancipation of the wife destroyed the parent’s authority over the children. The mother did not exemplify the obedience upon which she still tried to insist. There was more room now for disagreement between the parents, enabling the child to appeal from one to the other, eventually ignoring both. In bringing the man down from his pedestal the wife and mother deprived herself, in fact, of the means of discipline.
Objectionable lines in the passage –
1. Children and servants were in this way taught to know their place.
2. What people were slow to observe was that the emancipation of the wife destroyed the parent’s authority over the children.
3. The mother did not exemplify the obedience upon which she still tried to insist.
4. In bringing the man down from his pedestal the wife and mother deprived herself, in fact, of the means of discipline.
Unseen Passage MCQ – Question and Answers
Q 1 The title of this passage could be:
a. Who is responsible for indiscipline among children?
b. Collapse of discipline at home
c. Place of children and servants at home.
d. Child Psychology
Show Answer:
a. Who is responsible for indiscipline among children?
Q 2 The writer
a. seems to be a male chauvinist pig/an arrogant person.
b. takes a light-hearted approach to life.
c. is a disgruntled husband
d. has his family’s welfare at his heart
Show Answer:
d. has his family’s welfare at his heart
CBSE’s Answer to Q2 – b. takes a light-hearted approach to life.
Q 3 Earlier, a wife was obedient to her husband:
a. so that she could discipline her children.
b. so that she could control her entire household.
c. as he was the bread-earner.
d. as men are physically stronger than women.
Show Answer:
a. so that she could discipline her children.
The Dancing Girl | CBSE Unseen Passage
Q 4 Study the following statements:
(i) mother spent most of her time at home.
(ii) Element of familiarity decreased her control over her children.
Choose the correct option:
a. only (i) is true and represents an assertion
b. (ii) is false and follows the assertion in (i)
c. (i) is false but represents an assertion.
d. (ii) is true and follows the assertion in (i)
Show Answer:
d. (ii) is true and follows the assertion in (i)
Q 5 Study the following statements:
(i) Wife asserted her authority through her husband.
(ii) Firm steps were taken by the wife in the name of her husband.
(iii) Wife made the decisions and husband took the blame.
Choose the correct option:
a. (i) and (ii) are true and (iii) is false.
b. (ii) and (ii) are true and (i) is false.
c. (iii) is true and follows the assertion in (ii).
d. (i) is true and follows the assertion in (iii).
Show Answer:
c. (iii) is true and follows the assertion in (ii).
Q 6 Study the following statements:
(i) It gives mothers more time to talk to children.
(ii) Mothers had more freedom and more time.
(iii) Mothers could discuss matters with their children.
(iv) In the twentieth-century families had fewer children.
Which event leads to which?
a. (i) –>(ii) –> (iii) –> (iv)
b. (ii) –> (i) –> (iv) –> (iii)
c. (iv) –>(ii) –> (i) –> (iii)
d. (iii) –> (iv) –> (ii) –> (i)
Show Answer:
c. (iv) –>(ii) –> (i) –> (iii)
How to Solve Unseen passage with MCQ (Tips and Tricks)
Q 7 “even the Bible itself was relegated to a higher shelf” the figure of speech used in this expression is
a. irony
b. metonymy
c. personification
d. metaphor
show Answer:
a. irony
Q 8 The Bible was unsuitable for the young as
a. it was symbolic of religious authority.
b. it talked of male superiority.
c. the young did not like to believe in God.
d. the scientific temper goes against religious beliefs.
Show Answer:
b. it talked of male superiority.
Q 9 Study the following statements:
(i) Now intelligent men and women have developed a comfortable relationship.
(ii) wives’ fear of the husbands has turned into a feeling of mutual love.
Choose the correct option
a. (i) is right but (ii) is wrong and (i) is the result of (ii).
b. (ii) is right but (i) is wrong and (ii) is the result of (i).
c. (i) and (ii) are both right and (ii) is the result of (i).
d.(i) and (ii) are both wrong and (i) is the result of (ii).
Show Answer:
c. (i) and (ii) are both right and (ii) is the result of (i).
Q 10 “their role of “infallible tyrant”
The phrase “infallible tyrant” means a cruel person
a. who sometimes fails
b. never fails
c. sometimes makes a mistake
d. never makes a mistake
Show Answer:
d. never makes a mistake
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