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以下开始贴个人练笔。
教育篇:
First part, from college student perspective.
20: Some people believe that college students should consider only their own talents and interests when choosing a field of study. Others believe that college students should base their choice of a field of study on the availability of jobs in that field. (Which view)
32: College students should base their choice of a field of study on the availability of jobs in that field. (Claim)
39: College students should be encouraged to pursue subjects that interest them rather than the courses that seem most likely to lead to jobs. (recommendation)
129: College students should base their choice of a field of study on the availability of jobs in that field. (recommendation)
Second part, from educator's perspective.
15: Educational institutions should actively encourage their students to choose fields of study that will prepare them for lucrative careers. (Claim)
98: Educational institutions should actively encourage their students to choose fields of study in which jobs are plentiful. (Policy)
135: Educational institutions should actively encourage their students to choose fields of study that will prepare them for lucrative careers. (Policy)
136: Educational institutions should actively encourage their students to choose fields of study in which jobs are plentiful. (Claim)
Many would-be college students feel torn between choosing a major that is more likely to lead to good money or better job prospects and choosing a major that they find particularly interesting. I recommend that one’s interests and talents could be the primary factor in deciding one’s field of study, as long as it is where the student’s true passion lies in. However, the information of related career prospects could also be used as a supplement in making up one’s mind.
First of all, a student’s interests drive her to explore deeper in the subject and her talents enable her to excel more easily. History is replete with examples of how some extraordinary individuals succeed by persistently following their true passions and working hard to realize their dreams. Charles Darwin, the English naturalist in 19thcentury, already developed his fascination towards nature at the age of eight—he spent a lot of time doing bird-watching and collecting beetles in his father’s gardens. Such a childhood passion leads him to become a famous systematic naturalist. It is generally accepted that interests and talents are critical in one’s success in any fields. So does college education. Without interests, a student has no motivation to work hard on the subject; and without talents, she need to struggle with the works, which further demoralizes her. In universities, I often see students who study simply for the purpose of passing the exams. They copy other students’ homework in order to submit before the deadline; or perhaps less egregiously, they study only notes with highlighted exam points while giving up reading books rich in content of the subject. After the exam is over, they throw away the notes and forget everything about the course. As a result, they could have at best average performance in the course they choose, which affect their career prospects subsequently. Therefore, I disagree students to choose something they are neither interested in nor good at, just because those lead to potentially lucrative jobs.
However, a student must also be aware of the unemployment rate of his chosen majors. If a student chooses a major which looks fun and interesting, but sadly lead to very bleak career prospects, she might suffer a lot after four years. Currently in Facebook there is a popular quote from a business man saying that, “I don’t always talk to arts and literature students; but when I do, I tell them a big Mac with no onions.” This is to mock literature students who cannot find employment and have to work as waiters in McDonald’s. This is indeed quite sad for students who have passions in literature. Of course, those students with rich fathers do not need to concern about this problem. However, for the majority of students who come from middle-classed families or even poorer ones, it would be a bit cruel to encourage them to learn the difficult Shakespeare’s works, while knowing that after four years of hard works they might end up living in a meager wage. The recently increasing college tuition fees are making this situation even worse, as many students are burdened with more than 100k tuition loans upon graduation. Therefore, it seems that students should not choose something which might lead to their unemployment and financial difficulties upon graduation. This might be in conflict with my first point.
In fact, the extreme scenario of unemployment should not be taken so seriously that a student weigh it more heavily than her interests and talents. This is because the job market is always changing and sometimes unpredictable. When one says that students should look at the availability of jobs, one overlooks the fact that the job market consists of both job offers and job seekers. While it is possible to predict, though not so accurately, the trend of job offers in the future, based on the development of different industry sectors in the nation, one can hardly predict the change in the number of job seekers. Consider the college admission of computer science major. Ten years ago the number of students choosing this major surged due to the booming computing industry; then suddenly the number dropped and the schools soon realized that students were worried about IT outsourcing to India and China; but now the number came up gradually again that the NetworkWorld magazine put “Want a job? Get a Computer Science degree” as its headline. If a student bases her major choice on the job availability, she would be disappointed that things might change after her four years’ college studies. This is even more insecure than basing her decision on her talents and interests.
In a final analysis, I would encourage students to pursue their interests and talented fields, rather than looking at the current trend in the job market. For some of the majors which are always less demanded by the job market, such as the Literature, there are always some approaches to hedge the risk of unemployment. For example, students can choose double majors. In this way, she can always land a good job with another major and wait until she can find her dream job. There are always ways to work out for people who have true passions in certain things. Keep your dreams and you would lead a successful life on one day.
(from educator's perspective, take away the first paragraph on interests and state the responsibility of education institutions.)
Stance: agree but educators also need to be aware of the influence of their words.
Firstly, no doubt it is important to have job security. (original second paragraph)
Second, the job market is always changing. (original third paragraph)
Thirdly, education institutions need to consider what the society needs as well.
High school graduates do not know the true picture of most college majors and most of them do not really have the enthusiasm towards a particular field. The majority of them have their opinions strongly influenced by stereotypes portrayed in mass media. Performing artists are fun, businessmen are powerful and engineers are boring geeks. This trend is partially attributed to the current fact that there are 8.5 liberal arts students for every 1 engineering major student in USA.
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