Daisy's Island

153. "Students should bring a certain skepticism to whatever they study. They should question what they are taught instead of accepting it passively."

From the beginning of education, a student receives knowledge from his teachers. Then he takes examinations, in which what his teachers said in classes is the correct answers to the questions. After a long time, the concept that the teacher is always right is stereotyped in students' mind. However, such a concept results in a lot of disadvantages for students, no matter it is during his schoolhood or profession career. Therefore, it is very important for students to grasp critical thinking and bring a certain skepticism to what they are taught.

Without skepticism, students would become used to accept passively what teachers, books or other information sources tell them, which needs little thinking about it. Yet effective learning can not be achieved by merely remembering knowledge, but by thinking. A student who never asks questions about his courses must be the one that never thinks about the truth.

It would result in more problems in their profession career after the schoolhood is ended if students are not able to think critically. The leading one is that it is not possible for them to make a breakthrough whatever they do, for that any breakthrough is a result of skepticism of the old pattern.

For making new discoveries in science, if the student becomes a scientist, nothing is more critical than skepticism. Only when a question arise about a phenomena or an established idea does one begin to think deep into it and seek for the explanation or solution, and ultimately come up with a new idea. If he had firmly believed in the Classic Physics that was established by Newton and was accepted widely as the crest of the study of physics, Albert Einstein would not have originated the theory of relativity, which is a milestone of the development of physics.

In the business world, which is more likely to be where the student is engaged, skepticism is also of great importance. Michael Dell would not have made Dell Inc. a big success among the computer companies if he had followed what his professor said to him. While a student at the university of Texas, Michael Dell's paper in which he created a new business model----"cutting out the middle man" and selling computers directly to customers----was signed "C" by his professor, who thought that the model was impossible at all. However, Dell didn't take his professor's opinion as absolute truth and insisted in founding his own company in his model, which turned out to be a big success.

Yet too much skepticism should also be avoided. It is of no benefit if students question blindly what teachers say, which loses the function of education. What students should do is to bring a certain skepticism to whatever they study, rather than accept all passively or doubt everything. In the aspect of educators, their understanding of students' questions of what they teach is essential to create a good atmosphere for students to cultivate their critical thinking.

 

 

TOPIC: ISSUE50 - "In order to improve the quality of instruction at the college and university level, all faculty should be required to spend time working outside the academic world in professions relevant to the courses they teach."
WORDS: 417          TIME: 00:42:44          DATE: 2008/8/17 21:21:28

Today in many colleges and universities, some students work hard on their courses. However, when they step out of the university and into their career, they confront a lot of problems that they are not able to solve with what they have learned in the courses in the college or university. What is the cause of such a problem that troubles many graduates when they begin their career? It is that most faculty in colleges and universities always focus on their academic work while pay little attention to the professions relevant to the courses they teach.

Generally speaking, almost all faculties in universities have research programs to do, which is usually the main part of their work. Dealing with academic work takes most of their time and energy. As a consequence, the courses they give to students are generally in relation to their own academic work, rather than the professions.

However, only few students go into the academic world like their faculty while most go to do pragmatic jobs after graduation. What they need in their career is practical skills that help them solve the problems in their work. Many theories they learn in the university are too abstract to be used to deal with pragmatic problems.

Facing such a situation, it will be beneficial to the quality of instruction at the college and university level if most faculties can spend time working outside the academic world in professions relevant to the courses they teach. When faculties know more about the professions, they will be able to give more practical instruction and skills to the students in their courses, which is of significant meaning to students in their careers.

Yet it should also be pointed out that too much work outside in professions is harmful to the successful education in colleges or universities, for that too work in professions may affect the quality of the academic researches and the teaching work. Academic researches are always the important tasks of faculty in university in that only the faculties stand at the head of the development of sciences and lead science to go ahead continuously.

To sum up, faculty in colleges and universities should spend part of their time working outside the academic world and learn more about the professions relevant to the courses they teach so as to provide instruction of higher quality and practical use to students. But faculty should always bear in mind their duty to accomplish academic goals that can not be achieved by others.

TOPIC: ISSUE147 - "Tradition and modernization are incompatible. One must choose between them."
WORDS: 371          TIME: 00:45:00          DATE: 2008/8/15 15:50:29

Nowadays, with the fast modernization in the world, mangy people are worried  that their tradition will be lost if they continue modernizing their society. Are tradition and modernization imcompatible? I don't think so. In my point view, it is possible to make a balance between tradition and modernization and the two can contribute to each other.

Let's look at the Beijing Olympic Games Ceremony, which is a perfect combination of the elements of both tradition and modernization. For one thing,  on this ceremony, numerous methods of modern technology are utilized to express the beauty of the traditional Chinese culture.  The traditional Chines arts-----calligraphy, paintings,music and dance------are performed splendidly and amazingly with the help of modern technology. In addition, it is modern technology of transition of information that makes it possible for these Chinese traditions to be watched by many people all over the world. The conventions of modern technology like this can also been felt during the Spring Festical in China or Christmas in Western countries when families can gather together much eazier with modernizd transportation.

For another thing, the spirits and beliefs showed on the ceremony, which are inherited from the Chinese ancestors, play a very important role in the modernaization of China. The core of the spirits and beliefs of Chinese people is "harmony", called "he" in Chinese, which is the Chinese character showed in one of the plays on the ceremony. The harmony------in a family, a working place, a school, a community and a country-----is always pursuited by Chinese for thousands of years. Today the modernized Beijing, China, showed to the whole world through the 29th Olympic Games, is the result of the harmonie development of China. In the future, we believe that harmony in every aspect of our country will help make it stronger and stronger.

In sum, tradition and modernization are not incompatible. They can stay in harmony with each other to the extent that people have a proper attitude towards the relationship between the two. If we are able to take advantage of both tradition and modernization, our society is necessary to bloom. People can better enjoy tradition with many conventions brought by modernization. Traditon, especially traditional spirits, can also lends a hand to modernization.

TOPIC: ARGUMENT142 - The article entitled 'Eating Iron' in last month's issue of Eating for Health reported that a recent study found a correlation between high levels of iron in the diet and an increased risk of heart disease. Further, it is well established that there is a link between large amounts of red meat in the diet and heart disease, and red meat is high in iron. On the basis of the study and the well-established link between red meat and heart disease, we can conclude that the correlation between high iron levels and heart disease, then, is most probably a function of the correlation between red meat and heart disease.

WORDS: 360          TIME: 00:30:00          DATE: 2008/8/15 12:10:36

 

In this argument, the speaker concludes that the correlation between high iron levels and heart disease is a function of the correlation between red meat and heart disease. To support this conclusion, the speaker cites a recent study reported in the article entitled "Eating Iron", which found a correlation between high iron levels and heart disease. In addition, the speaker points out that there is a well-established link between red meat and heart disease and that red meat is high in iron. However, these alone are not sufficient to constitute a convincing argument.

 

To begin with, the conclusion is relied on the assumption that there is correlation between high iron levels and heart disease, which is the result of the study reported in the article, entitled "Eating Iron". Yet, no sufficient evidence is provided to assure the validity of the study. We have to doubt who conducted this study and how the study was conducted, which are both very important for us to judge whether the result of the study is reliable.

 

Further more, another problem with this argument is that it fails to provide evidence to demonstrate that the correlation between red meat and heart disease is due to the iron in red meat. First, the speaker falsely assumes that large amounts of red meat in the diet are necessary to lead to high level of iron in the human body. He does not take into account that how iron is absorbed by the body is a factor that determines the level of iron as well as the amount of red meat. Secondly, other components in red meat are also likely to contribute to heart disease, such as rich fats. However, the speaker does not mention these factors and provides no evidence to rule them out.

 

In sum, the speaker fails to make this argument sound and acceptable. To stronger support his conclusion, the speaker should have provide more information to show the validity of the study about the correlation between high iron levels and heart disease. In addition, we need know more about the correlation between red meat and heart disease and also the iron in red meat.

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

What is the value of the study of history? I could not agree with the speaker that the study of history has value only to the extent that it is relevant to our daily lives. In my point of view, the study of history has significant meanings to development of the present generation and the future ones, with numerous lessons that we learn from the history, only if we have the ability to analyze the history and discover what is valuable to the later generations. As the famous English philosopher, Francis Bacon, told us, "Histories make men wise."

In the study of history, it is historical thinking, or historical reasoning skills that play the fundamental role, rather than history content such as names, dates and places. Historical thinking helps us analyze the past events, find what lessons those events tell us and learn how we can do better in the future.

The value of the study of history can be illustrated by many examples. One of them is the process of the rebuilding of Japan after the World War II. Japan suffered tremendous damage during the World War II and after that it struggled under terrible situation, particularly the poor economic condition. Confronted such a corner, Japan's government conducted a plan that was almost impossible at that time but later saved the country from the damage they got in the war. The plan was to devote a large number of money to education, which cultivated a generation that later become the strongest power in rebuilding their country and developing it into a powerful one in a very short period.  The booming development of Japan tells us about the tremendous importance of education to the development of a country.

Another example happened on the land of China. Hundreds of years ago, during the later period of Qing Dynasty, the feudal government of China refused to communicate with the world out of China and knew nothing about the big changes that were happening on the other side of the earth. They even didn't know that many western countries had exceeded China. As a result, when foreign aggressors invaded the land of China, the Qing government almost had no capacity to defend itself and its country. Today, China's government has learned the lesson from the failure of Qing Dynasty and it is very active in participating in the worldwide communication with many other countries in various areas such as economics, academia and culture. This year the 29th Olympic Games are held in Beijing, China, which show the modern China to the world.

To sum up, for the development of a society, the study of history has great value. So it is with an individual. Focusing on what is right here and right now is not likely to bring long-term improvement that needs insightful understanding of the nature and laws of the world.