Academic Discussion and Writing Has technology truly given us more free time?

Question: Has technology truly given us more free time? 

 

 

☆Let’s think

1.        What kind of technologies save our time?

Note: Electric appliances (washing machine, electric drill, robotic vacuum, etc.)

Kitchen appliances (rice cooker, bread maker, blender, coffee maker, etc.)

Technology for work/study (computer, the Internet, smartphone, electric dictionary, etc.)

Modern transportation (car, motorcycle, bus, train, plane, etc.)

Others (industrial robot, AI, escalator, elevator, etc.)

 

2.        Are we less busy than before?             

Note: Most fathers used to spend their time with their children at home every evening 30 years ago. Workers used to be able to forget about their jobs completely at home because once they leave their work places, their employers were not able to contact them except by using the fixed telephone. Taking paper documents home for work was rare. Since the advent of pocket beepers, mobile phones, and notebook computers, most workers have been working round the clock.

 

 

☆Ideas and Expressions

Agree: Technology has already freed us from most manual labor, so it has increased leisure time.

 

Disagree: No matter how developed technology becomes, people use it to work more. Thus, technology has not increased our free time.

 

 

☆Sample Response

A        【Thesis】There have been talks that robots will do all our jobs and humans will be liberated from daily routines, but it seems that that future has not been realized yet. Technology has the potential to bring us more free time, but I think that most people feel that they have seen better days.

【Everyday Life】Technology can allow us to finish work much earlier than before in many cases, but we are doing more tasks in the same amount of time as before.

【Business】Robots are replacing humans and there is a concern about job loss in many areas of business. However, in other areas, technological innovation expands areas of its application and increases workload and working hours.

【Conclusion】Technology can bring us more leisure time but it has not. It has even made us busier. 　(190 words)

 

B        【Thesis】Although it is not always the case in reality, it can be said that technology has increased our leisure time.

【Point 1】Electronic appliances have shortened the time we spend on household work.

【Point 2】Also, thanks to advanced means of transportation, we can go home earlier than before.

【Counterargument-treatment】Some claim that technology can even cause less leisure time, citing such cases as developed transportation network makes it possible for students to go to cram schools after school and smartphones make it easier to contact a worker who is off-duty. However, the problem is not in the technology itself but in the society or our values. We are busy because we have not learned to be satisfied with what we already have.

【Conclusion】It is our lifestyle that still keeps us busy. Therefore, technology in itself has helped us make spare time.　(138 words)

 

 

 

Write your response in 10 minutes. Show each other your responses. Write down questions or suggestions to each other’s response.

 

                                               DRAFT

 

 

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

 

 

Academic Discussion and Writing Has globalization gone too far, or is its progression beneficial to the global community? - revised -

Question   Has globalization gone too far, or is its progression beneficial to the global community?

 

 

☆Let’s think

1.        What is globalization? When did it start?

2.        What are the negative effects of globalization?

 

 

☆Ideas and Expressions

Benefits of globalization

1.        Products are distributed to countries far from the producers.

2.        Cultures around the world are shared, especially in developed countries.

3.        New cultures are created through fusion of different cultures. e.g. new type of food or music

4.        People travel or immigrate to other countries and have special experiences.

5.        Some countries in Global South developed through world trade.

 

Negative effects of globalization

1.        Poor countries have become poorer while rich countries have become richer through free trade. This is because rich countries buy raw materials from poor countries at low prices and manufacture and sell the products for high prices. Also, domestic products in weaker countries are replaced by imports from stronger countries like the US and Canada, whose prices are lower than domestic products due to lifting the customs duty.  e.g. NAFTA, Japan-USA FTA, etc.

2.        Workers in developed countries have lost jobs because their factories have been moved to developing countries, where human rights are violated by extremely low labor costs and poor working conditions.

3.        Monopoly of multinational corporations has occurred and small businesses have disappeared.

4.        Transporting products to other countries consumes energy and raises carbon foot prints, causing climate crisis.

5.        Economic refugees have increased and immigrants are discriminated against in other countries.

6.        Major cities around the world now look the same due to the development of the skylines with modern buildings, wiping out old traditional buildings.

7.        Indigenous cultures, including indigenous languages, are being lost as cultures and languages of the Western countries spread through globalization.

 

☆Sample Response

Globalization has intrinsically been bad to most people on the earth. It is the economic side of colonialism of Global South by the West. The non-Western countries that produce raw materials have been exploited by the Western countries for 5 hundred years since the beginning of the Age of Discovery. It has made the countries in Africa, Asia, and Laten America poor while the colonizers have prospered. People other than the ruling class in poor countries have suffered from enslavement. It is true that the development of transportation and communication combined with technological breakthroughs have made a number of the developing countries wealthier than before, but people in many countries, especially those in mineral-rich countries like Congo and Bolivia, still suffer from deprivation and violence manipulated by the West. People or countries that resist have been punished by colonizers, especially the USA, the most recent case being Palestine. All in all, globalization has been evil in nature from its inception. The silver line would be that the power-balance between Global South and Global North has started changing since the Ukraine War, and the birth of BRICS Plus has tipped it recently, giving the countries with natural resources their own economic self-determination. (201 words)

 

 

☆Sample Response Body Structure

Sample A

【Advantages of globalization】

【Disadvantages of globalization】

【Your opinion】

 

Sample B

【Advantage 1】

【Advantage 2】

【Counterargument-treatment: The reason why disadvantages do not matter so much】

 

Write your response in 10 minutes. Show each other your responses. Write down questions or suggestions to each other’s response.

 

                                               DRAFT

 

 

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

 

 

Academic Discussion and Writing Has globalization gone too far, or is its progression beneficial to the global community?

Question   Has globalization gone too far, or is its progression beneficial to the global community?

 

 

☆Let’s think

1.        What is globalization?

2.        When did it start?

3.        What are the negative effects of globalization?

 

 

☆Sample Response

Globalization has intrinsically been bad to most people on the earth. It is the economic side of colonialism of Global South by the West. The non-Western countries that produce raw materials have been exploited by the Western countries for 5 hundred years since the Age of Discovery started. It has made the countries in Africa, Asia, and Laten America poor while the colonizers prospered. People other than the ruling class in poor countries have suffered from enslavement. It is true that the development of transportation and communication combined with technological breakthroughs have made a number of the developing countries wealthier than before, but people in many countries, especially those in mineral-rich countries like Congo and Bolivia, still suffer from deprivation and violence. People or countries that resist have been punished by colonizers, with the most recent case like Palestine. All in all, globalization has been evil in nature from its inception. The silver line would be that the power-balance between Global South and Global North has started changing since the Ukraine War, and the birth of BRICS Plus has tipped it recently and the countries with natural resources now have their own economic self-determination. (194 words)

 

 

☆Sample Response Structures

Sample A

【Advantages of spending money on scientific research】

【Advantages of spending money on training programs of teachers】

【Your choice】

 

Sample B

【Advantage 1】

【Advantage 2】

【Counterargument-treatment: The reason why the advantages of the other choice does not matter】

 

 

Your Sample Essay Structure

【Thesis = Outline】

【                    】

【                    】

【                    】

【Conclusion = Wrap-up】

 

 

Write your response in 10 minutes. Show each other your responses. Write down questions or suggestions to each other’s response.

 

                                               DRAFT