[YB-2]7月6日7日作业 by gaochenwei1

gaochenwei1UID: 2635763

94"Universities should require every student to take a variety of courses outside the student's field of study because acquiring knowledge of various academic disciplines is the best way to become truly educated."

In terms of true education, I fundamentally agree with the arguer’s broader assertion that taking a variety of courses outside the academic field is necessary or even essential in their study. But on the flip side, I strongly disagree with the claim that these courses should be mandatory and the speaker assert too hastily that taking various academic disciplines is the best way towards true education.

In the first place, I have to acknowledge that true education definitely do not only narrowly focus on academic fields, which only provide some ability or knowledge to promise the possibility to become dazzled in one's professional zone, no better than this case. However, our ideas of education take too narrow and too low a range. There is need of a broader scope, a higher aim. True education means more than the pursual of a certain course of study. It means more than a preparation for the life that now is. It has to do with the whole being and with the whole period of existence possible to man. It is the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers. It prepares the student for the joy of service in this world and for the higher joy of wider service in the world to come. In order to get this aim, we have to step into some other fields-such as art, literature-to broaden our horizons and further perfect our temperament and philosophy.

Furthermore, various disciplines is needed in order to have a better understanding of our own academic field that will never bring about any new discoveries and inventions without a broader picture of world by the help of other academic knowledge. Various disciplines were interrelated; the study outside one’s own field may make a great contribution to the study of their own major. Leonardo da Vinci, who considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived, is renowned primarily as a painter, but afterwards, he is revered for his technological ingenuity. It is his unquenchable curiosity of all the mysterious field that help him greatly initiate renaissance and accelerate the improvement of art and science. Without the knowledge of various disciplines, it is absolutely impossible for da Vinci to create the great artwork-Mona Lisa. Da Vinci's life experience illustrate that people with extensive knowledge can make a tremendous difference in changing the world.

On the other hand, however, the speaker implies that taking more courses in other fields should be compulsory, which is dubious and ungrounded as it stands. Firstly, the concept of true education should be weighed carefully. The question of what true education should do has been argued for thousands of years since the most primitive form of education appeared in the ancient time. Socrates, a philosopher living approximately thousands of years ago, whose theory of education has a far fetching effect to the human being, claimed clearly that look into your own selves and find the spark of truth that God has put into every heart, and that only you can kindle to a flame. Although it reflected more theological ideology than the education perspective, the connotation of his remark reveals that true education is not inserting the stuffing of information into a person, but rather eliciting knowledge from him. As long as we understand it, it is explicit that requiring the students to take a variety of courses without considering the specific situation of students so that the knowledge structure has nothing to do with the true education. On the contrary, what we should do is encourage and suggest the students taking the necessary courses, which will do good to the major field the students pursue according to their specific courses.

In the final analysis, the recommendation that we should take more courses besides our major is unimpeachable; after all, studying various other disciplines is beneficial not only to our academic career but to our own life philosophy as well. Yet, the recommendation goes too far that the out-of-major courses should be mandatory; we should encourage, rather than require, the students to take more disciplines in order to further perfect the claim.

gaochenwei1UID: 2635763

238The following appeared in a memorandum from the president of Mira Vista College to the college's board of trustees.

"At nearby Green Mountain College, which has more business courses and more job counselors than does Mira Vista College, 90 percent of last year's graduating seniors had job offers from prospective employers. But at Mira Vista College last year, only 70 percent of the seniors who informed the placement office that they would be seeking employment had found full-time jobs within three months after graduation, and only half of these graduates were employed in their major field of study. To help Mira Vista's graduates find employment, we must offer more courses in business and computer technology and hire additional job counselors to help students with their résumés and interviewing skills."



Based on unwarranted assumptions and dubious evidence, the author recommends that Mira Vista College should offer more courses in business and computer technology and hire additional job counselors. In order to substantiate this recommendation, the argument cites a study of the employment condition of the two colleges. Close scrutiny of the argument, however, the argument suffers from three logical flaws.

In the first place, unless the survey sampled a sufficient number of graduates and did so randomly across the entire spectrum, the result of the survey is not reliable to gauge the employment condition generally. However, the arguer fails to provide the exact number of samplers, which render the argument unacceptable. In addition, the survey was only conducted between graduate seniors, it is entirely possible that graduates in Mira Vista College are more likely to find a job after a year or even a longer period of time. In terms of only 70 percent of the seniors who informed that they would be seeking employment had found jobs, it is possible that
many graduate students primarily didn't plan to seek employment but later changed their minds. Without ruling out these scenarios, the arguer cannot rely on the study to give his further claim.

Moreover, the argument draw a conclusion based on an incomplete and a distorted comparison between GMC and MVC. First, the argument fails to provide more information to better evaluate the true condition of graduates between GMC and MVC. It is entirely possible that graduates in MVC averagely have a higher level of salary, cozier working environment or more opportunities to get promotion. In addition, the author also fails to indicate how many graduate students from GMC were actually employed in their major study. It is possible graduate students in MVC are more likely to get a job related to their major. Without a complete comparison between these two colleges to rule out these possibilities, the author cannot justifiably conclude that graduates from GMC are more likely to get a better job.

Even if the survey reflect the employment condition between these two university, the arguer fail to establish the casual relationship between the fact that GMC have more business courses and more job counselors than does MVC and the claim that graduates from GMC are more likely to find a job. Perhaps students there are more talented and the ranking of GMC is higher than MVC, so that graduates from GMC have a larger possibility to find a job. Besides, it is also possible that educational object between these two colleges is totally different; perhaps MVC educate students in order to prepare them for a further education while GMC is more pragmatic. Without ruling out these possibilities, it is unwarranted to establish a cause-and-effect relationship given above.

In order to better support this recommendation, the arguer have to provide more statistics to show a complete comparison between the two colleges. What's more, the arguer has to provide more information to illustrate that more business courses and more job counselors will surely benefit graduates' employment in MVC.

gaochenwei1UID: 2635763

63"To truly understand your own culture—no matter how you define it—requires personal knowledge of at least one other culture, one that is distinctly different from your own."



Truly understanding our own culture can provide us all, regardless of your country, a sense of identity and core values that allow us to functions more successfully in both our personal and professional lives. What is equally important is that knowing your own culture makes it possible to more accurately interpret and evaluate your behaviors, customs and traditions. In terms of the way to understand our own culture, I partly agree with the speaker’s claim that we should resort to comparison with other culture in order to better understand our own culture under certain circumstance. Yet, on the flip side, I strongly believe that, to truly understand our culture, we have to explore into the history to find out its origin and route in some cases.

In the first place, I contend that personal knowledge of another culture which is distinct from our own is essential to be of self-awareness of our own culture. Hardly can we notice traditions, behaviors, customs or other ways we deal with daily affairs without a comparison with another kind of culture. Metaphorically, frogs in a pool would never be aware of the environment, such as water, plants and other species around, without a look at the world outside, and they are distorting their view of the outside world. We humans, as well, function in our culture and do not notice the culture’s existence. To most people, cultural values -- what we do and the way we feel about things -- are assumed to be human nature. Only having an understanding of the difference we behave between people from different districts can we be started to realize that culture are indeed exist and that is the first step to the understanding of our own culture. For example, we did not realize that the direct eye contact which we value is regarded as disrespectful in many cultures; we would always assume that someone who is not looking at us is deceitful, uninterested, or shifty. In fact, they are probably attempting to communicate respect. The trick to eliminating misunderstandings such as this is to get to know of other culture to become consciously aware of our values and of the fact that they are not necessarily shared by everyone we meet.

In addition, it is only when knowledge of other culture or cultures has been assimilated, that we can define and evaluate our own culture more distinctly and correctly. Only by compare with French behaviors and ideology can we define that our culture favors pragmatism, only by compare with American culture can we claim that we are moderate and conservative. It is just simple as it is. This also can be illustrated by the fact that cultures of most countries are defined and described by historians and travelers who had been to a lot of places elsewhere. To exemplify this point clearly ,here are two examples. Hsuan Tsang, a Buddhist monk in the Tang Dynasty, define the Chinese culture to a certain extend. Marko Polo, whose worldwide travels as recorded in the book Il Milione help identify the culture of Italy.

However, under some other circumstances, in order to better assess and have a profound understanding of our own culture, we have to pay a lot effort to find the route, the history, and the development of some elements of our culture, which is so unique that we cannot find a counterpart in other culture, rather than acquiring of other culture which seems useless in this case. To exemplify this point, here’s an example that is very persuasive. Being the only insurance of their lives, guns thus became crucial tools in their living. And for the great help of guns in the War of Independence and the Civil War, the constitution of USA consequently added the legality of personal possession of gun as one clause. Since then, possessing gun, as a sacred right, gradually developed into a particular culture. Considering the gun culture of the US as a representative instance, that strange or even dangerous culture fascinates many people living in other countries to wonder what meaning is truly included in it. However, they could never understand the significance of gun culture to the US people when they failed to reveal its origin. This illustrates that, in some cases, find the origin and route of culture is the best way-even the only way-to truly understand our own culture.

In the final analysis, in order to have a true understanding of our culture, acquiring of knowledge of other culture one is an effective and important way but definitely not the best way, let alone the only way in some conditions. So we have to strike a balance to make the best choice to find the right way to get a better understanding of our culture.