Please refer to Albert Einstein at School Class 11 English Notes and summary provided below. The following summary and solved questions have been designed as per the latest syllabus and books issued by CBSE, NCERT, and KVS. By going through and learning the below notes for Class 11 English you will be able to understand the entire chapter and easily solve questions in your exams. Also, refer to the Class 11 English Chapter Summary for all chapters in your textbooks.

Class 11 English Albert Einstein at School Summary and Questions

The following Albert Einstein at School Class 11 English Notes and questions answers will help you to easily learn the entire chapter. You will be able to solve all questions in upcoming Class 11 English exams and score better marks

Summary

Einstein was studying at a German school in Munich. His History teacher Mr Braun asked him in which year Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo by the Prussians. The boy confessed bluntly that he didn’t know the year, and he must have forgotten. The teacher wanted to know if Einstein ever tried to learn. Einstein again said with usual honesty that he did not see any point in learning dates. He argued that one can always look up the dates in a book. There was no sense in learning facts which were not the aim of education. The teacher then asked the boy to tell the class his theory of education.

Albert Einstein told the class that in his opinion it was more important to know the ideas than to learn dates or facts. He would rather like to know why the soldiers tried to kill one another. The teacher shouted that Einstein was a disgrace to the school, and he had better ask his father to take him away.

Albert felt very miserable. It was a had day. He didn’t feel like going back to that hateful school the following morning. But his father was not likely to lake him away until he (Einstein) had taken his diploma. Being poor, he was putting up in a room m the poorest part of Munich. He hated that place also because of a slum atmosphere. His landlady beat her children regularly. and on weekends she herself was thrashed by her drunk husband.

Albert was lucky to have a very sincere friend — Yuri. Ile discussed his problem of schooling as well as lodging with him. He doubted if he would ever pass the exams for the school diploma. He discussed his problem with his cousin, Elsa, when she came to Munich. She advised him to take the bean and just repeat what he learnt in the examination. But his problem was that he was not good at learning things by heart. She enquired which book he was carrying under his arm. It was a book on Geology and not a textbook at all. He studied it because he liked the subject. His second interest was music, He played upon his violin regularly until his landlady asked him to stop that noise. She had already enough of howling by the kids.

Albert told Yuri after six months that he must get away from there. It was absurd that he should waste his father’s money. He wished to go to Milan, Italy. He requested Yuri to get him a doctor’s certificate that he had a nervous breakdown and he must leave the city. Yuri contacted his friend, Dr. Ernst Weil, though not a specialist in nervous disorders. He asked Albert to be honest about his intention of meeting the doctor. The doctor agreed to certify that Albert had a nervous breakdown, and he must stay away from school for six months. The doctor didn’t charge any fee for his service. Six months was a pretty long period. Albert won’t be leaving the school, and need be, he could come back to do his diploma.

Albert planned to take that medical certificate to the head teacher the next day. But Yuri advised him to get a reference in writing from his Maths teacher, Mr Koch, first. Mr Koch agreed with Albert that the latter was wasting his time in that class in Munich because he knew much more than even his teacher. He gave a certificate that Albert was ready to join some college for the study of higher Maths.

The head teacher sent for Albert and told him that he wanted the boy to leave the school at once. It was a sort of expulsion. The other way was that Albert should go of his own accord. The head teacher’s point was that Albert refused to learn, and he was in constant rebellion. Albert declared that he was going to leave even otherwise. He walked out of the office and the school where he had spent five miserable years. Yuri saw him off with good wishes and good luck. He hoped that Albert would he happier in Milan.

Important Points

• Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, in the Kingdom of Württemberg in the German Empire on 14 March 1879.
• His father was Hermann Einstein, a salesman and engineer. His mother was Pauline Einstein.
• In 1880, the family moved to Munich, where his father and his uncle founded Elektrotechnische Fabrik J. Einstein & Cie, a company that manufactured electrical equipment based on direct current (DC).
• Albert attended a Catholic elementary school from the age of five for three years.
• At the age of eight, he was transferred to the Luitpold Gymnasium (now known as the Albert Einstein Gymnasium) where he received advanced primary and secondary school education until he left Germany seven years later.
• In 1894, his father’s company failed. In search of business, the Einstein family moved to Italy, first to Milan and then, a few months later, to Pavia.
• When the family moved to Pavia, Einstein stayed in Munich to finish his studies at the Luitpold Gymnasium.
• His father intended for him to pursue electrical engineering, but Einstein clashed with authorities and resented the school’s regimen and teaching method.
• At the end of December 1894, he travelled to Italy to join his family in Pavia, convincing the school to let him go by using a doctor’s note.

Short Questions

Question. why was Albert quite nervous when he met the doctor? What does this nervousness indicate about his nature?
Answer: Albert spent the day wondering what to tell the doctor. When the time arrived for his appointment. He was worried over it so much. He was really quite nervous. This nervousness indicates about his nature that he didn’t want to deceive anyone.

Question. what characteristic’s of Einstein’s nature is highlighted by the exchanges between him and the teacher?
Answer: Scientific aptitude of Einstein’s nature is highlighted by the exchanges between him and the teacher. For him it is not fact but ideas that matter.

Question. What reasons did the head teacher offer for expelling Albert from school?
Answer: The head teacher told him that his presence in the classroom made it impossible for the teacher to teach and for the pupils to learn. He refused to learn. He was in constant rebellion and no serious work could be done while he was there.

Question. Why did Albert see no point in learning dates and facts?
Answer: He didn’t see any point in learning facts and dates because one can always look them up in a book.

Question. How did Albert hope to get admission in an Italian college without a diploma from the German school?
Answer: He hoped to get admission in an Italian school college by getting reference from his mathematics teacher who was Mr. Koch.

Long Questions

Question. Describe how History teacher and the Headmaster humiliated Albert.
Answer: The History teacher, Mr Braun, was chiefly to blame for driving Albert out of school and then out of Munich. He humiliated Albert in the classroom. He asked the boy in which year the Prussians had defeated the French. Albert told him that he did not see any sense in learning the dates and facts by heart. He explained his theory of education that facts were not so important as ideas and students should try to know the reason behind such wars.
Mr Braun called him a disgrace, an ungrateful boy who ought to be ashamed of himself. He complained against the boy to the head teacher who again treated Albert harshly. He was going to expel the boy for disturbing the class. Albert left the school on his own accord and moved off to Milan, Italy.

Question. How did Albert feel at school and at his lodging in Munich?
Answer: Albert was studying in a German school in Munich. But he felt very cramped and suffocated there. He was intelligent, honest and truthful. He admitted frankly that he did not believe in learning the dates of historical events. In his opinion, ideas mattered much more than facts. He was taunted and scoled by Mr Braun every day. His interest lay chiefly in Maths and Geology. The History teacher reported against him to the Headmaster who threatened to expel him. So he felt miserable there.
Due to lack of money his father had rented a room for Albert in a very poor locality. The atmosphere of slum violence there disturbed him a lot. The landlady objected to his playing the violin and she shouted and beat up her children every day.

Question. Yuri was a great help to Albert while in Munich. Comment and Justify.
Answer: Albert Einstein was, so to say, a loner, a boy isolated at school as well as at his lodgings in Munich. The only person who stood by Albert was his friend Yuri. He put his problem before Yuri and sought his help in leaving his school as well as the city. Yuri tried in vain to persuade. Albert to pass the exam for the school diploma. Yuri agreed, at last, to take Albert to Dr Ernst Well to get him a medical certificate. The doctor certified that Albert was close to a nervous breakdown and must stay away from school for six months at least. Yuri also advised Albert to get a testimonial from his Maths teacher. He finally said goodbye and good luck to Albert, before the latter left Munich for Milan.

Question. What was Albert’s philosophy of education? Do you subscribe to his view?
Answer: Albert had a brilliant mind. He studied Geology when hardly any Science was taught at school. He clashed with his History teacher one day. He declared that he did not see any point in learning dates of battles. He explained his theory of education to the class. He said that ideas mattered more than the dates of battles.
Mr Braun called him a disgrace, an ungrateful boy who had better leave school. Albert Einstein’s philosophy of education certainly makes sense. No sensible person can support simply cramming the subjects for passing exams.