Idioms related to School & Education

May is typically the month in a year for family and friends to celebrate the completion of school years. The wonderful sense of achievement, pride, and elation fills the air, and parents have the moment full of tears of joy. This week, let us brush up on interesting English expressions related to school and education.

(source from http://www.idiomconnection.com/education.html)

    

    1.   old boy network/ society: social and business connections among former pupils of male-only private schools. It can also mean a network of social and business connections among the alumni of various prestigious schools

    2.   town and gown: In a college town, the relations between “town and gown” are those between the residents of the town and the students and faculty associated with the school, who in the past wore academic gowns. Such relations are often not friendly or pleasant.

    3.   to live in an ivory tower: to live in a state of sheltered and unworldly intellectual isolation.

    4.   to learn something by rote: to learn something in order to be able to repeat it from memory, rather than in order to understand it

    5.   get through (a course or a set of materials): to complete or finish a course or a set of materials

    6.   to put / get one’s thinking cap on: to engage your mind and think in a serious manner.

    7.   an eager beaver: someone who is a keen/ enthusiastic worker

    8.   to goof off: to slack off or waste time with the implication that the time is better spent at something to hand (like one's job)

    9.   Honor Roll: If we belong to the honor roll, then our names are included in a list of names of people with outstanding performance or achievement

    10.               A for Effort: Giving “A for effort” to students when they try to put in their best in a work, which may or may not necessarily be great, acceptable or successful

Let’s fill in the following blanks with proper idiomatic expressions.

1.    Peter thought that he could use his old_____________________ of the class 2019 in finding the best working position right after graduation from college, but it was harder than he had expected.

    2.   Maria was working at night at two different restaurants, but she went all out to get ______________________ her courses at school with flying colors during the daytime. Everyone of her classmates called her a eager _________________.

    

    3.   Jeffrey’s father told him to stop _________________ off and get a job. He kept telling Jeffrey that he is not living in an __________________ tower anymore.

    4.   When Theresa heard that her daughter had qualified for the ___________________ roll in her final semester, she jumped up and down in joy.

    5.   Our local festivals seem so divisive between residents outside campus and college kids. It doesn’t feel so pleasant to be living in this _____________ and ______________ rivalries.

    

    6.   Ted is a hard-working rookie in his department, but his manager said at the meeting that he’d need to understand the mechanism of how things are going in the upcoming project instead of learning things by ______________.

    

    7.   Wayne: You know what, I’ve been stood up by Amy three times in a row. Guess it’s time for me to put a ___________________________ to figure out this situation.

Jean: Agreed. She doesn’t deserve your love!

    

    8.   This fashion show did not turn out like I had planned, but I’d like to give all the models on my show ____________________________.

Answer Keys

    

    1.   boy network

    2.   through, beaver

    3.   goofing, ivory

    4.   honor

    5.   town, gown

    6.   rote

    7.   thinking cap

    8.   A for effort