issue 23 示范
本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-7-8 15:58 编辑23) Governments should place few, if any, restrictions on scientific research and development.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.
I believe that scientific research and development should not be subject to any restrictions from governments. I will first discuss why the governments should not place restrictions on research activities by considering the nature of the government and its threat to academic freedom. Next, I will explain why such restrictions are not necessary by explaining how research activities are being monitored by funding agencies and ethical review committees.
My first objection to government restriction is based on my skepticism of the power of governments in general and my belief in academic freedom. As Thomas Paine famously put it, “Government, even in its best form, is a necessary evil.” We allow the government to take away part of our freedom and property (via taxation) because some form of government is necessary to maintain the social order. But the power of the government should be restricted; otherwise, the power will be abused by the government officials. Since scientific research and development do not usually threaten the social order and national security, I believe that the government should not place any restrictions on them. Meanwhile, the principle of academic freedom, which is the core values of higher education, also dictates that the government should allow maximum freedom for the scientists and researchers to pursue any projects they are interested in.
Another reason why the government should not restrict scientific research is that research projects nowadays often have to go through lengthy processes of funding applications during which experts will evaluate the potential benefits and harms of the research. If a research project carries certain risk or threat to public safety or national security, it is very unlikely that such projects would receive financial support from the funding agencies. In other words, we should trust the scientific community itself to make sound decisions on whether or not a particular project should be supported or not. Through the competitive processes for funding, projects that are potentially harmful will be stopped.
Finally, it is important to recognize the importance of the ethical approval mechanisms that are in place to screen all research projects nowadays. Before the researchers start any projects, they will have to submit a report to the ethical review committee of their institutions to get ethics approval. Any projects that are ethically problematic or may threaten the public interests will not receive endorsement from the ethics committees. As a result, such projects will not continue. Again, the ethical approval mechanism is another example of how the scientific community itself can check the validity and soundness of the research projects without the need of government intervention.
In conclusion, governments should not restrict research activities in any way because the power of the governments should be limited to the scope where government is necessary. In addition, scientific research and development have already been subject to close scrutiny in funding applications and ethical review through which potentially harmful or dangerous projects will not be approved or supported.
issue 27 示范
本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-6-30 17:37 编辑27) In any field of inquiry, the beginner is more likely than the expert to make important contributions.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.
27) In any field of inquiry, the beginner is more likely than the expert to make important contributions.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.
In any field of inquiry, the experts always have better chance than the beginners to make important contributions. This is because the experts have developed better skills and techniques, have more thorough knowledge of the field and have access to different resources necessary for making any contribution.
To begin with, the experts, by definition, are well-trained with the skills and techniques that are necessary for making contribution to a field. For example, in the field of computer science, the technique of building sophisticate mathematical models is essential. Usually, experts in computer science have more experience of building math models and revising them when the results are not ideal. Also important is developing the programs to implement the math models. It is true that beginners may be more energetic and can program faster than the experts. But the experts are often better skilled in debugging the programs and optimizing the algorithms. As illustrated in this example, experts who are more skillful in performing essential tasks in a field have a better chance to make contribution.
Another advantage of the experts is their thorough knowledge of the field. In most academic disciplines, it is essential to review the literature before starting one’s own research projects. Reviewing the literature can help one identify the gap of knowledge that needs to be filled and choose the most appropriate methods that have been successfully adopted in previous studies. With more time spent in the field, the experts are usually much more familiar with the literature than the beginners. In fact, the real experts are often the authors of some key articles in the literature. With their knowledge of the literature and past accomplishments in the field, they can identify the really important issues for inquiry and pursue the projects with better potential.
Finally, compared to the beginners, the experts have more resources in their disposal. Experts usually get more funding from the governments or other foundations than beginners because the experts had a record of successful projects that can predict their future success of the next project. The funding agencies would more likely accept a grant application from an expert based on the assumption that they are more likely to succeed. In addtion, experts are usually the leaders of a team in which beginners work for them as PhD students or junior researchers. The team leaders usually take most of the credit for the contribution of the teams.
In conclusion, thanks to their better skills and more thorough knowledge as well as more resources available to them, the experts are in a better position to make important contributions than beginners.
issue 48/92 示范 先占楼
本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-7-18 18:28 编辑48) Educators should teach facts only after their students have studied the ideas, trends, and concepts that help explain those facts.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.
很有趣的问题
Teaching involves presenting facts and discussing the ideas, trends and concepts that may help students better understand the facts. Whether teachers should teach facts after discussing the explanations depends on the reasons why the facts have to be taught in the particular educational contexts as well as the learning abilities of the students . I’ll explain my position with some specific examples.
If the purpose of learning a fact is to use it as a tool to solve problems, there would be no need to talk about the ideas or concepts behind such fact. Consider the well-known fact that any numbers that are divisible by 3 would have the sum of their digits divisible by 3 as well. This piece of fact is very useful for primary school children to do arithmetic operations with numbers as they can very quickly decide if a number is divisible by 3 or not by adding up the digits of the numbers. But few math teachers in elementary schools would discuss why this fact holds true simply because students do not need to know this in order to use the fact.
Teachers should not talk about the concepts or ideas behind a fact if the students are not mature or well-prepared to understand the issues. Returning to the example in the previous paragraph, in order to understand why trick about numbers divisible by 3 works, one has to use a bit of elementary algebra that involves equation. Obviously, primary school students would not be able to understand it even if the teachers try to teach the ideas behind the facts. Therefore, the abilities of the students have to be taken into account when making decisions on what to teach.
Of course, in other contexts, students do need to learn the ideas and trends behind certain facts. For example, in a political science course on contemporary Chinese society, the professors may discuss the fact that Chinese people have to apply for permits before they have babies under the one-child policy. Without some knowledge of the historical background of the one-child policy and how the Chinese government developed and implemented the policy, it would be very tempting to conclude that such policy is an outrageous and barbaric violation of basic human rights. Only after learning the social conditions of China in early 1980s and the concerns of the Chinese government at the time could the students develop a more balanced view on this controversial issue. In other words, for more sophisticated and contentious social and political problems, facts should be taught after discussing the related context and trends.
In conclusion, how facts and related issues should be taught and in what orders should be decided by the teachers based on the purpose of learning the fact, the students’ learning abilities and the nature of the problems or issues related to the facts.
92) Educators should base their assessment of students' learning not on students' grasp of facts but on the ability to explain the ideas, trends, and concepts that those facts illustrate.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.
issue 51 示范 先占楼
本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-11 21:59 编辑51) Young people should be encouraged to pursue long-term, realistic goals rather than seek immediate fame and recognition.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position
TS: Whether young people should pursue long-term goals or seek immediate fame and recognition depends on the careers they plan to pursue. In the field of sports, young people should try to achieve success as soon as possible in order to get more resources to support their career development. In other fields such as academic research and politics, it takes more time to earn experience and build networks to reach long-term goals.
ts 1: In the field of sports, young people should try to become famous as soon as possible because their careers will not last long and they need to be successful in order to succeed further.
- most athletes would have to retire by the time they reach early 30s
- to succeed in a sport career, it takes a lot of resources such as excellent coaches and other advisors
- to have access to such resources, the athlete has to show promise as early as possible
- the best way to show promise is to become famous in the international sports event
- may use the example of Li Na to illustrate the points above
ts 2: in the field of academic research, young people need to learn the basic knowledge and skills as undergraduates first and then pursue a PhD under the supervision of more senior researchers
- at undergraduate level- goal: get to know the field; basic knowledge and skills
- at PhD level - focus on some specific problems and make some breakthrough
- tenure track - become more experienced and publish more papers
ts 3: in the field of politics, young people also need to meet more people and learn from more senior members of the community
- Barack Obama
law school lecturer - civil right attorney- state senator- US senator - POTUS
issue 53 示范 先占楼
本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2018-11-12 08:38 编辑53 If a goal is worthy, then any means taken to attain it are justifiable.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.
When we pursue worthy goals, we have to consider whether the means conforms the relevant rules, costs less than the value of the goal and any unintended long-term consequences of using the means.
If we do not follow certain rules when trying to achieve a goal, we may defeat the purposes of the activities. e.g. cheating and plagiarism in education
If we devote too many resources to achieve a goal with limited value, the decisions would make little economic sense.
Save Private Ryan
At societal level, we need to consider the possible long-term consequences of using certain means to achieve short-term goals.
economic development and environmental protection
今天有同学说这道题很难写 于是我写了一篇示范 思路和上面的提纲不太一样
I do not agree to the statement that a worthy goal can justify any means that is necessary to achieve it. If the means used is too costly, unjust in procedures or ethically problematic, the worthiness of the goal cannot be the ground for justifying the means. I’ll explain my position with some examples including the movie Save the Private Ryan, the latest Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage and the (in)famous Milgram experiment.
As a start, the means cannot be justified if it involves too great a cost. Consider the story in the movie Saving Private Ryan. After the death of three brothers of Private Ryan, the US military decided that Private Ryan had to be rescued at all cost. It is understandable that such decision was made at both emotional and political levels. Emotionally, it is extremely difficult for Ryan’s families to deal with losing one more son, which would be devastating to the family. Politically, having a family losing four sons in the war, the government and the military would be challenged in terms of their leadership. Yet, the cost of saving one soldier turned out to be the lives of seven soldiers. If each and every life should be equally valued, saving one Private Ryan at the expense of 7 can hardly be justified. As this example clearly illustrates, the means can only be justified if the cost is not too high.
In addition, the means used to attain a worthy goal has to be just in terms of its procedures. Consider the latest landmark ruling of the US Supreme Court on same-sex marriage. There is no doubt that pursuing the marriage rights for homosexual couples is a worthy goal in itself. Yet, allowing 9 mortal individuals (the Supreme Court justices) to redefine marriage, one of the oldest institutions in human history, cannot be justified simply because of the worthy goal. Such decision has been criticized by many as judicial activism. Some people also question the legitimacy of the justices given the fact that they are not elected officials. Indeed, it would be more desirable if the decisions are made by a democratically elected state or federal legislature. As shown in this example, the procedures taken to achieve the goal have to be just in order to justify the means.
Finally, any worthy goals should be achieved in an ethical manner. Consider the (in)famous Milgram experiment. The goal of the experiment, like that of most scientific research projects, is to advance human knowledge. This is certainly a worthy goal. But the experiments involve some procedures that are clearly unethical. The subjects were asked to perform certain actions that caused a great amount of emotional and moral distress. Therefore, even the goal was worthy and the experiments were successful in achieving the goal, i.e. advance human knowledge in psychology, the means used to achieve the goals cannot be justified. In fact, such projects would not pass the ethical review had they been proposed nowadays. In other words, any means used to achieve a goal has to be ethically acceptable.
In conclusion, I believe that this statement is wrong because a means cannot be justified if the means is too costly, procedurally unjust or ethically controversial.
issue 55 提纲示范
本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-15 23:38 编辑55) In order for any work of art—for example, a film, a novel, a poem, or a song—to have merit, it must be understandable to most people.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.
TS: The merit of artistic work should not be judged based on its comprehensibility to the majority of the people because many valuable works of art may not be understandable to a large group of people due to intertextuality, cultural barriers and generation gap.
The first reason why many people could not appreciate meritable works of art is that the works often involves intertextuality which requires the audience to have knowledge of other works.
- The movie Green Mile refers to the biblical story of Jesus Christ
- for people who are not familiar with the Bible it would be difficult to understand the metaphors and messages
- http://study.com/academy/lesson/intertextuality-in-literature-definition-examples.html
Another reason why valuable works of art may not be understandable to many people is the cultural barrier that prevents the readers from other cultures to appreciate certain works
- Louis Cha’s Kung fu novels are difficult to understand for people not familiar with Chinese culture
- many of the Kung Fu techniques involves the Taoism philosophy and the principles of Yin and Yang
the stories of the Kung Fu masters are also driven by Chinese themes such as defending the homeland against foreigners and the being loyal to the monarch
generation gap
- novels about puppy love may not be appreciated by older people
- movies on mid-life crisis will be difficult for teenagers
issue 56 示范 先占楼
本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-15 23:36 编辑56 Many important discoveries or creations are accidental: it is usually while seeking the answer to one question that we come across the answer.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position， you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position
While we can find a number of well-known examples to support this statement, generally speaking, discoveries and creations in science and engineering are made possible by a great many experts working together with clear goals in mind and the support of great amount of resources.
P2 cite a few well known examples such X-ray, antibiotics and GPS (they are well-known not because they are typical but because they are exceptional attracting disproportionally more media attention)
P3 most discoveries and creation require collaborative works by many experts one step at a time
literature review; peer-reviewed journals; replicable experiments
P4 projects for these discoveries and creation often require commitments of great amount of resources that are by no means accidental
based on the story of GPS, one can also argue that the initial idea or concept may be accidental but the subsequent development and refinement of the idea into sophisticated technology are by no means accidental
the outline is for you to write up
a more detailed outline
TS: While it is true that some important discoveries or creation were not anticipated by the explorers or researchers in advance, in most cases, knowledge and new products are constructed in a systematic way through which accidents are anomalous.
ts1: Some dramatic events in the history of mankind created the illusion that many discoveries or creation were accidental when in fact such serendipity is rather unusual.
- the discovery of the New World by Columbus
- the explorer aimed to find a new route to Asia
- he stumbled upon America due to the incomplete knowledge about the world geography at the time
- the discovery of X-ray by William Roentgen while experimenting with a cathode radiation
- but these cases are dramatic but rare
ts 2: the reason why most discoveries or creations in science are not accidental
- modern scientists usually work on problems under the sponsorship of some organizations
- to make sure the money is well spent, they will have to write proposals for their research
- in the proposal they will need to review the literature to justify the need of the research
- the questions they seek to answer are grounded in the literature and well-defined in advance
- they will also set out very clearly the methodology for achieving the goals
- there is very little room for accidental discoveries
ts 3: the reason why researchers and designers in engineering seldom discover or make anything by accident
- many researchers work for R&D in coporations
- they make detailed plan in advance in order to get the money they need (budget has to be approved by the management)
- they make prototypes first and then get feedback from colleagues from other departments
- the questions they seek to answer have to be clearly stated in advance
- the design of the products may also be revised according to the response of the customers
issue 58 提纲示范
本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-15 23:45 编辑58) Learning is primarily a matter of personal discipline; students cannot be motivated by school or college alone.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.
For primary school students, learning is a matter of personal interest as the young students have not yet developed personal discipline
- students are still learning how to discipline themselves
- they should be driven to learn by interest
- schools should offer opportunities to explore different subjects through a balanced curriculum
- such a curriculum should motivate students to learn
For secondary school students, learning is indeed a matter of personal discipline but schools should help the students to improve their personal discipline through motivation
- more stuff to learn and competition is fierce
- schools should be respobsible to help students to develop their discipline because their performance will determine their future path (high school dropouts v. college graduates)
For college students, college should respect students’ personal choice over how much effort they want to make for learning
- college students are adults who should be responsible for their own decisions
- learning may not be the priority for many college students (no need for colleges to motivate them)
- some may drop out from colleges to do other interesting things (e.g. start a new company)
issue 59 示范 先占楼
Scientists and other researchers should focus their research on areas that are likely to benefit the greatest number of people.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.
https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1785726-1-1.html
issue 60 示范 先占楼
本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-21 16:44 编辑60) Politicians should pursue common ground and reasonable consensus rather than elusive ideals.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.
本文政治立场与寄托无关。
Any politicians who care about the interest of the people they serve should try to pursue the goals that are shared by the majority of the society rather than ideals that are hard to realize. I will illustrate my position with the stories of three political figures: Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Barack Obama.
Despite his considerable contribution to building a new China, Mao Zedong had caused a great deal of suffering to the Chinese people and led to many tragic events in modern Chinese history due to his unrealistic political ideals. In late 1950s, he launched the so-called Great Leap Forward movement with the romantic thinking that China can surpass the economic powers such as the US and UK in a few years. As a result of his grave mistakes, the Chinese economy suffered and millions of people died from starvation during the three-year famine from 1960 to 1962. Also thanks to his poetic vision that young people in the city should be re-educated by the rural people, millions of teenagers who can barely take care of themselves were forced to separate from their parents and spend years in the countryside. An entire generation of Chinese people lost their opportunities to receive formal education and the nation also suffered from a lack of human resources vital for its economy. Mao made all these unforgivable mistakes because he did not consult his colleagues at all when making decisions.
Fortunately, Deng Xiaoping, the successor of Mao, was a more pragmatic leader. With less power and charisma, Deng focused on building consensus and finding common ground within the Communist Party after he took the power. The most important consensus at the time was that the country needed to recover from the mess created by Mao and focus on the economic development. Through the introduction of open door policy and the privatization of the rural economy of China, Deng successfully rejuvenated the Chinese economy and lifted millions of Chinese people out of poverty. By taking a more practical approach to politics and focusing on the common ground of the Chinese society, Deng gained more support and respect from both Chinese people and the international community.
A more recent example to support my thesis is the incumbent President of the United States, Barack Obama. One of the key accomplishments of Obama administrations is the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Through Obamacare, millions of Americans, who are previously uninsured, are now covered by health insurance through the federal financial incentives provided by the legislation. If we look more closely at the legislative history of Obamacare, we can see that during the process of pushing for Obamacare, President Obama was always seeking common ground in a Congress that was dominated by GOP politicians. For example, in order to win support from the Senate controlled by the Republicans, Obamacare does not provide health insurance for abortions. Ideally, of course, the rights to abortions should be recognized in Obamacare. But to pass the law, compromise had to be made.
As illustrated through the stories of three political figures, politicians should always pursue the goals that reflect the common ground and the consensus of the majority. Deng and Obama are exemplary figures of such pragmatic approaches. The tragedies caused by Mao, on the other hand, underscore the danger and folly of pursuing elusive political ideals.
issue 61 提纲示范
本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-15 23:46 编辑61) People should undertake risky action only after they have carefully considered its consequences.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.
the statement is true when the risk is well known and fairly easy to manage
the importance of safe sex
unprotected sex may lead to pregnancy and STD
the risk can be greatly reduced by wearing condoms
considering the consequences, people should take measures to manage the risk
the statement is also true when the risk can be assessed quantitatively
financial management and investment
invest in a stock only after reviewing its financial statements and use sophisticated models to calculate the risk
the statement may not be true under emergency situation when people take risky action out of instinct
being in danger - risky action can help the human body to release endorphins and adrenaline that can help the person to perform physical acts that are not possible under normal circumstances
as a result, the person may have a better chance to survive
http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/15/Risk-taking-behaviors.html
issue 66 提纲示范
本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-15 23:48 编辑66) People who are the most deeply committed to an idea or policy are also the most critical of it.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.
https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1786263-1-1.html
thesis: whether people are critical of the ideas or policy they hold depends on the nature and domains of the ideas and policy. In the field of science and technology, scientists and engineers are often critical of the theories and designs they are committed to in order to make further progress. In the field of religion, the belief in supernatural being is based on faith rather than reasoning; as a result, criticality is not part of the equation.
ts1: scientists are often critical of their own theories and research ideas in order to continuously improve the ideas
- being critical means two things
1) remain open-minded to the possibility that they could be wrong in light of new empirical evidence;
support: researchers always describe how they conducted their studies in details so other researchers could replicate the studies (no specific example is needed here)
2) willing to accept new paradigms in methodology and theoretical framework to replace the existing ones
support: if the new approach can generate better results the researchers are willing to give up their own ones
ts 2: engineers are also critical of their designs of the manufacturing process or the prototype
being critical means they continuously modify the design based on the data from the field
data from the manufacturing side
- in order to minimize the cost (the ligntening charger of iPhone)
feedback from the end users
- in order to stay competitive (the resizing of iPhone screen)
ts 3: religious community relies on faith rather than rationality for spiritual well-being
- faith is the source of their spiritual strength and well-being
(prayer- if it is answered, be grateful; if it is not answered, God has better plan)
- criticality is a sign of doubt and temptation
issue 69 示范 先占楼
本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-8-15 23:47 编辑69) Some people believe it is often necessary, even desirable, for political leaders to withhold information from the public. Others believe that the public has a right to be fully informed.
Write a response in which you discuss which view more closely aligns with your own position and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should address both of the views presented.
https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1786263-1-1.html
The public should have the rights to be full informed because of the nature of the relationship between the public and the government in terms of taxation and representation. As for the information that is sensitive for security reasons, it should be declassified within a limited period of time.
The nature of taxation is the first reason why information about government policy making should be made public.
- The political leaders are essentially the officials hired by the public with tax money; the contractual relationship means that the tax payers have the rights to monitor how the government officials do their jobs.
- the public also have the right to know how the government spends the tax money and whether the funded projects made a difference
the nature of representation is the second reason why information about legislative processes should be made public
- the power of the legislature comes from the voters
- they are supposed to represent the interests of their constituency
- their voting records should be publicly available so the voters can see if the public officials deliver their promises
- the public can then decide if they want to support the politicians again in the next election
- this is the mechanism to ensure that the legislators can be trustworthy
certain information may be withheld temporarily for the sake of national security but eventually should be subject to the public scrutiny
- for security reasons certain information may be classified
- how the leaders negotiate a peace treaty with other states
- how the military actions were planned and executed
But such information should be released in 20 or 50 years so that the politicians may take into account the long-term reputation and legitimacy of their parties when making decisions
issue 73 示范 占楼
本帖最后由 tesolchina 于 2015-7-1 21:24 编辑73) Colleges and universities should require all faculty to spend time working outside the academic world in professions relevant to the courses they teach.
Write a response in which you discuss your views on the policy and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider the possible consequences of implementing the policy and explain how these consequences shape your position.
It seems to me that to require all faculty members in colleges and universities to take non-academic jobs off campus is a very bad policy for three reasons. First, many faculty members may not find suitable jobs outside the universities. In addition, such policy may increase the attrition rates of faculty members in certain fields. Finally, the policy is not necessary for certain fields where close contact with the professional world is essential.
To begin with, not all faculty members can easily find jobs in the professional world, especially when they are only available for a relatively short period of time. Consider the professors in philosophy and literature for example. While experts in these fields are important for teaching the relevant courses and conducting original research, their skills are not always immediately useful in corporate environment. If faculty members could not find suitable jobs off campus, the policy would be very difficult to be effectively implemented.
Another negative consequence of this policy is that certain departments such as computer science and electrical engineering may lose some talented professors. Technology companies such as Google and Facebook are constantly hunting for employees with expertise in high-performance computing, data mining and machine learning. Even without such policy, universities have to compete against such companies for talents in these fields. The policy would provide professors in fields more opportunities to work in such companies without losing their academic jobs. Once they find suitable jobs in these companies who usually offer much better compensation packages, it is likely that they might leave their university positions. In other words, the policy may increase the attrition rate of faculty members in certain fields.
Some people may argue that in certain fields such as law and medicine it is important for the academic researchers to stay in touch with the professional world. Working experience outside the universities would help them gain more insights into the fields and become better teachers and researchers. In cases like these, the policy of requiring the faculty members to work outside universities would become unnecessary. Professors interested in professional development will seek job opportunities without such requirements. Those who do not may not perform as well as those who do as researchers and teachers.
In conclusion, the policy may not be feasible for faculty members in certain fields who could not find suitable jobs outside universities. It may also increase the attrition rate of certain departments such as computer science for which there is intense competition for talents. As for those fields where professional working experience is highly valued, the policy is also unnecessary.
tesolchina 发表于 2015-5-21 08:37 static/image/common/back.gif
昨天和小绿版主谈到经济学的理论对GRE写作教学的帮助。比如外部性这个概念，是指某人或机构的行为对其他人所 ...
很有道理！老师更吧！