issue50 【红尘笑看沧桑】互改小组第13次作业 by moon

bigeyes_1314UID: 2736288

12.29
题目：ISSUE50 - "In order to improve the quality of instruction at the college and university level, all faculties should be required to spend time working outside the academic world in professions relevant to the courses they teach."
用时：00:40:45
日期：2009/12/28 21:53:19


The author contends that all faculties are required to spend time working outside the academic world in professions relevant to the courses they teach in order to improve the quality of instruction at the college and university. I agree with the assertion to the extent that it will be conducive for faculties to improve their academic abilities. However, I don’t think all faculties are required to do this.

On the one hand, working in professions relevant to the courses the faculties teach will improve the practical benefits of their teaching course. It is a main teaching task for the teachers in the colleges and universities to teach students the basic skills which can produce favorable impacts on job seeking. Therefore, it is essential for faculties to work in professions relevant to their teaching so that they acquire direct working experience which can guide the students. Nowadays, it is more competitive in the job market along with the development of society, which requires faculties in college and university to take professions outside their teaching on campus, so that their teaching quality can be more practical to their students.

Meanwhile, working in professions relevant to their teaching course can deepen the understanding of the course they teach. Admittedly, teachers should be excellent in the course or knowledge which they teach. However, studying is an endless voyage, so it is not enough if they do not catch up with the steps of current knowledge relevant to their teaching course in society. If a professor in a college teaches knowledge on the course book and is blind to what is new in the course he teaches, knowledge he teaches is useless and he only stays what he understood before. Through working in professions, faculties can know more about the course and obtain new knowledge to the course they teach.

On the other hand, I don’t agree that all faculties are required to take in professions relevant to the course they teach . There are some courses which provide lots of chances for students to practice what they learnt in the course such as music and art courses. Take the art course for instance, after the teacher teaches the basic painting skills and techniques, students usually begin to paint with these skills. The teaching process is also the practicing process for teachers and students. At the same time, the teacher can have new teaching ideas through amending the students’ painting.

In addition, we should keep the balance between the courses the faculties teach and the outside professions. Redundant outside work may do harm to instruction. If a teacher spend too much time and energy on outside work, it will distract his concentration on his instruction which will inhibit his teaching.

In sum, it is required for some faculties at the college or university to work in professions relevant to the courses they teach, which can promote their teaching quality. However, we should balance the course knowledge and the outside profession to make sure that outside professions can promote the quality of instruction.

bigeyes_1314UID: 2736288

题目：ARGUMENT167 - A folk remedy* for insomnia, the scent in lavender flowers, has now been proved effective. In a recent study, 30 volunteers with chronic insomnia slept each night for three weeks on lavender-scented pillows in a controlled room where their sleep was monitored. During the first week, volunteers continued to take their usual sleeping medication. They slept soundly but wakened feeling tired. During the second week, the volunteers discontinued their medication. As a result, they slept less soundly than the previous week and felt even more tired. During the third week, the volunteers slept longer and more soundly than in the previous two weeks. This shows that over a short period of time lavender cures insomnia.
       
*A folk remedy is usually a plant-based form of treatment common to traditional forms of medicine, ones that developed before the advent of modern medical services and technology.
字数：348         用时：00:30:00          日期：2009/12/30 20:14:00

    In the argument, the arguer concludes that a folk remedy for insomnia has been proved effective and over a short period of time lavender cures insomnia. To support his conclusion, he cites a recent study, 30 volunteers with chronic insomnia slept each night for three weeks on lavender-scented pillows in a controlled room where their sleep was monitored. Then he showed
what happened to these volunteers in the three weeks. At the first sight, the conclusion seems reasonable, but further reflection shows that it is flawed in several aspects in the argument.
   First of all, the arguer failed to provide us reliable statistics of the study. The number of the study is only 30 volunteers. The study range is so small that it is not persuasive. Meanwhile, the arguer did not tell us more details about the volunteers, such as the age, how long they have insomnia, the reason of their insomnia. Perhaps some people have insomnia just because that they do not get use to the sleeping environment, or perhaps some of the volunteers could not sleep well several weeks ago because of some family or personal problems.
  Secondly, the arguer failed to provide us some evidence to make us believe that it is the lavender pillows which made the volunteers sleep longer. Perhaps the sleeping environment is very quiet and it is helpful for the volunteers to sleep more. Or maybe some of them were so tired all day so they slept well.
  Third, we did not find any information about the effective of this fork remedy especially whether some of the volunteers fall into insomnia again after these three weeks study. Perhaps some of the volunteers cannot sleep again after these three weeks which shows that perhaps it takes time that lavender cures insomnia.
  In sum, to strengthen the argument, the arguer should provide reliable statistics about the study and provide us more details about the volunteers. Furthermore, he should analyze the effective of the lavender to cure insomnia and he should cite more information to show that lavender is effective after these three weeks.