1006G[REBORN FROM THE ASHES组]备考日记 by Fancy——no pain no gain

fancywwUID: 2583671

0204不限时练笔
https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1057690-1-1.html
words count:616

TOPIC: ISSUE103 - "The study of history has value only to the extent that it is relevant to our daily lives."


It cannot be doubted that the study of history has significant values. If we define "daily life" as the mundane chores in our everyday routines, the history does have little pragmatic use. However, people do not only live with secular concerns. When considering the big picture of the future and the motivation to carry on, the study of history shows much more important values.

To begin with, I concede that the study of history should serve to make our daily life more meaningful and pleasant. The reasons are twofold. On one hand, based on the account of historic study, historic TV series, drama, and plays bring people some basic knowledge of historic events as well as amusement, for example, The Tudors on Showtime. On the other hand, history can provide elevate our everyday chores to rich, interesting, and enjoyable experience. For example, reading the biographies of famous people in history, people seem to find some similar quandaries which also used to bother these great minds. And how our predecessors reacted gives people reference.

However, the study of history has far more important values to both individuals and the society beyond benefiting daily lives. Admittedly, what happened in the past will not repeat exactly in the future. However, just as Mark Twain once said,
"history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme". The "rhyme" here means the experience we can learn from history. For example, Apple may learn something from its marketing failure of personal computer. Back in the 1980s, Apple leapt way ahead in the PC market when it released the i-mac. At that time, Apple had the market all to itself. However, Apple refused to let other companies license its software. Later, Windows took over the world and now holds more than 90 percent market share. Now Apple's i-phone seems to have taken the leading place in the market. However, other mobile phone manufacturers are working together on Android, new type of cell phone similar to i-phone but with more diversity and lower prices. So will it be the déjà vu of i-mac all over again, or will Apple can learn from the past and take measures to avoid losing its dominant position? I believe Steven Jobs can learn a lot from the history of the technology development and make wise decisions.

More often history may not simply provide us with accurate answers or guidance in dilemmas, but more importantly, it support us with spirit, motivation, and strength. To individuals the spirits of the preeminent figures in history can give them thoughtful enlightenment and strength to achieve their goals. Reading the biography of great individuals has far more values than simply find counterpart of our daily life from history. To a community, its history is the foundation where its people find their common faith, consolation, and cultural identity. Confucius, the greatest Chinese thinker and philosophers, once put that,"it is history that teaches us to hope". I believe it means that the more you know about the past, the better you are prepared for the future. Consider why Chinese people cherish their history so much. The great achievements made by their ancestors are so distant and even irrelevant from their daily life, but their history furnish them with pride, perseverance, and faith to revive their nation at present time.

Thus, I believe that history is the witness of the past, the example and instructor of the present, and monitor to the future. The study of history not only adds colors to our daily life and help solving the current problems, but also sheds light on the development of an individual, a state, or even the whole world, inspiring and enlightening us to build a promising future.      

fancywwUID: 2583671

0205不限时练笔

https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1058069-1-1.html


issue51


Education will be truly effective only when it is specifically designed to meet the individual needs and interests of each student.


It is widely said that "Interest is the best teacher". I concede that education should try to meet the individual needs and interests in order to maximum students' personal advantages and motivate their talents. For modern education, however, it is impossible, unpractical, and also unnecessary to do so. In fact, there are some alternatives to achieve effective education.

I admit that the speaker's claim has some merit in its emphasis on the importance of the individualized education. Satisfied individual needs and fulfilled interests are very powerful motivations to simulate the students to get fully improvement and let their imagination soar in their beloved field. And in fact, this is how education likes in its very beginning. Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher, once pointed out that the real education is the process that an insightful teacher, with a few passionate students, discussing the issues they concerned. Here, Socrates focused on two elements of education: passion and concern, which could be translated in modern context as interest and need. Later, the whole Greek and the rest of the world witnessed his magnificent success on education. So we can conclude that if the real interests and reasonable needs of students is satisfied, the education for such students is truly effective.

However, due to the change of the recipients and goals of education, even though such individual-oriented method is effective, it is unpractical and unnecessary for modern education. On the one hand, the recipients of modern education have become all the people in our society. Nowadays, education is not only accessible to elites and nobles; on the contrary, we have entered a mass education time. So it is impossible and infeasible for our limited educational resources to meet the needs of every individual. In order to nurture billions of Plato, billions of Socrates is needed. Obviously, this is out of the question. On the other hand, the purpose of education has shifted from nurturing philosopher like Socrates and Confucius into the bringing up of social workers. Mass education is more skills-oriented and job-oriented. We can even conclude that it is the need of society calls for education rather than the interest within the learner's inner voice. In this sense, the criterion for the effectiveness of education should be the compatibility with social need.

The impracticality of individual-oriented education for every students does not means that we cannot achieve effective education in modern time. On the contrary, there are some alternatives to choose from. And abetter approach should be a combine of basic compulsory education and autonomous courses. For example, for primary school, we should adopt the uniform national curriculum, as it is more important for students to firstly construct a integrate and comprehensive framework of the world and society. As for high school and college students' level, they become more aware of their own interests and more responsible for their own choices. So education can try to design some special curriculum according to their aptitude. In brief, wFor primary education, the uniform arrangement of teaching and basic courses will make education really effective,Read more: wwe should allocate the educational resources in a rational way, meeting the general need of the majority, with a few institutions offering personalized education.

In sum, although education cannot ignore personal interests and needs, contemporary society actually cannot reproduce Socrates' success as in ancient times. Considering the purposes and students of modern education, we should seek for a balance between the needs of individuals and society, and this is the right way to approach effective education.

fancywwUID: 2583671

0205
今天还是不限时写吧 但也不能拖太久了 今天要开始写argument了~
另外 要开始背单词了

fancywwUID: 2583671

0206
https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1058405-1-1.html
很荣幸能有这么细致的点评，学到了很多，^_^
fighting！

fancywwUID: 2583671

0207
今天写的issue153，好几个童鞋给了意见，又学到了不少。
https://bbs.gter.net/thread-1058690-1-1.html