TOEFL iBT Independent Writing Scandals are useful in calling our attention to important problems.

Writing Topic

Consider the following statement. Scandals are useful in calling our attention to important problems. Do you agree or disagree with this idea? Support your response by including specific reasons and examples.

 

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1.       Choose one or two of the following scandals or a scandal you know, do some research on them, and share what are the important issues about them with your partner or group members.

-        Shinzo Abe’s and other LDP members’ connection to the Unification Church (Moonies)  

-        Tokyo Olympics bribery scandals

-        Mio Sugita’s “LGBT couples are not productive.”

-        Prime Minister Kishida’s son’s shopping tour during his official visit to Europe

-        PASCO’s announcement that it is going to sell cricket bread

-        Scenes from “Barefoot Gen” and statements on nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll will be removed from textbooks for peace education in Hiroshima

-        Yusuke Narita’s comment that elderlies should commit collective suicide to solve the problem of aging society

 

 

☆Hints for Points

Agree

l  Scandals of public figures attract attention to important issues.

When those in power or those who are close to power are involved in a scandal, people will notice their problems.

 

l  Big scandals reflect the problems of the society, and their revelations will lead to soul-searching.

It is said that scandals related to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe show his cronyism and crony capitalism, from aborted charge of the rapist of Shiori Ito to huge discount of the land sale to Moritomo Gakuen to corrupt public money flow to solar energy brokers like Lully Miura’s husband.

 

Disagree

l  The media play down scandals of those related to the administration.

Misconducts of those in power are seldom taken up. Even when there is a scoop, it will be covered up. For example, when TV stations, including NHK, report scandals of the members of the ruling party, they do not mention which party the individual belongs to, and people will be kept ignorant of the corruption. In this way, people will never be educated about what is going on in their society, unless they consciously educate themselves.

 

l  People tend to forget about the issues once the media stop taking up a certain scandal.

Scandals of the Unification Church, such as spiritual sales and collective wedding, were well-known in the 1990’s, when the practices were reported on television and in magazines every week. However, over the past 20 years, the media did not take them up and people forgot them, while the victims kept suffering.

 

 

☆Sample Paragraph Development

【Main Idea】The media make society consume scandals as entertainment by scapegoating those who are powerless or dissidents.

【Supporting Detail (general)】The media play up their minor mistakes and focus on the shocking part of the scandal to sell their magazines or raise the view rates. This distracts people from important issues like the fact that they are exploited by the vested interests.

【Supporting Detail (specific)】For example, the media wrongly sensationalized the false charge of a Democrat Ichiro Ozawa in 2010 and ended his political life. Ozawa was a decent politician who was trying to allocate the public money to the people instead of the establishment, but the media-driven Ozawa-bashing killed his attempt, the first attempt to make a true democracy in the Japanese history, while people did not even realize that the window of opportunity to improve their lives had gone.

【Follow-up】50 years ago, political scandals would lead to resignation or arrest of those in power and corrupt, raising public awareness of important issues, but those days are gone.

【Conclusion】Now, following a scandal is no more than a hideous pastime.