NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English Supplementary Chapter 4 The Treasure Within

The Principal reminded him how his mother was working hard to bring him up after his father’s death. She also said that he was a fully fledged grown up and therefore should start taking care of himself. She also said that his main concern should be his studies instead of sports.

What did Hafeez contractor have nightmares about?
Hafeez Contractor use to get nightmares about appearing in mathematics examination in which he did not know anything.

“… that year I did not step out onto the field.” What was he busy doing that year?
Being a cricketer he used to play a lot but this year, he was busy studying. He went for prayers, and ate and studied hard so that he could clear his exams.

Comprehension Check
Question:
(i) What “distraction” did Hafeez Contractor create one day?
(ii) Would you have liked to participate in the “distraction” had you been with him?
Answer:
(i) He played chor-police for an hour and even school boy loved distractions more than studying.
(ii) Had I been with Hafeez Contractor, I would have certainly liked to particulate in the distraction as it is the basic nature of children especially boys at this age.

Hefeez Contractor did not join the police force because of his mother who told him not to. His mother told him to complete his graduation.

In the architect’s office, Hafeez Contractor was advised to drop everything and join architecture. Why?
In the architect’s office he saw somebody making a technical drawing of a window. Hafeez was able to find some faults in the drawing and convince that person about it. When Hafeez was asked to make a drawing for a house, he did amazingly well. They were astonished to see Hafeez’s talent and therefore advised him to join architecture.

Question:
(i) What was Mrs Gupta’s advice to Hafeez contractor?
(ii) What made her advise him so?
Answer:
(i) Mrs. Gupta, who was Hafeez Contractor’s teacher in the second and third grade, advised him to become an architect when he grew up.
(ii) She always told him that he was pretty hopeless in everything, except for his drawings and sketches, which were always very good. So, she advised him to take up architecture.

As a school boy, he broke many rules and regulations. He used to do cheating in class during examinations. He played pranks and cracked jokes on others in the class. He was involved in gang fights and used to plan strategies to disturb others. He was most involved in funny pranks. So he often distracted others in the class and became a street Romeo.

How did he help fellow students who had lost a button?
When his fellow students lost a button, he helped them by cutting a button from chalk, by using a blade.

According to him putting designs, constructions, psychology and sociology together and making a sketch from all that is ‘mathematics’.

How would you want to define mathematics? Do you like the subject?
I would define mathematics as the magic of numbers, quantity and space. Something that has calculations in it and which is enjoyed by the students.

Is it likely that someone who is original and intelligent does not do very well at school? Should such a learner be called a failure? If not, why not?
There are chances that someone who is original and intelligent does not perform well at school. Such a learner cannot be called a failure as everyone has his or her own strengths or weaknesses. The ones who are brilliant in academics tend to do well in other fields too. Hafeez Contractor was not very good at studies. He had a bent towards construction, and is now one of the top architects. Each individual is talented but this may or may not reflect in his academic report. That is why we should encourage the students to display their talents, and work on polishing them.

Any subject may develop a genius who learns uniquely. He is going to stand out from everyone else.

What can schools do to draw out the best in unusual learners? Suggest whatever seems reasonable to you.
All students should no longer be treated equally in the classroom. They shouldn’t adhere to redundant, mechanical methods of instruction. They need to make an effort to find each student’s hidden potential and encourage him to do his best to develop it.