Academic Discussion and Writing Are major discoveries more often the result of collaborative efforts or individual genius?

Question: Are major discoveries more often the result of collaborative efforts or individual genius?? 

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1         What is the difference between discovery and invention?

2         Name examples of major discoveries. Are they results of collaborative efforts or individual genius? Why?

 

 

☆Hints for Points

Collective efforts

1.     These days, novel prizes of science are shared by a group of scientists.

2.     Very often, major discoveries occur as a serendipity to a member of a group of researchers who are doing the same researches.

3.     Today’s important discoveries are products of strenuous efforts financed by those in power. Governments and big businesses support projects that would yield significant findings. Atomic energy, DNA, semi-conductors workable at room temperatures, and iPS cells, Higgs boson, and gravitational waves are all crucial scientific discoveries that were made systematically with huge subsidies and through the collaboration of a large number of people in the related fields after some geniuses constructed the theories.

4.     No genius can discover anything without cumulative knowledge as an asset of humanity. Galileo’s discovery was based on the theory of Copernicus, and Copernicus’s theory was based on his predecessors.

 

Individual genius

1.     Historically, major discoveries have been attributed to individuals.

2.     Chance discoveries would have been overlooked had it not been for a genius. Numerous people had seen the same phenomenon as Newton saw, but no one else discovered gravity. Only Flaming had the insight to find penicillin when he saw common molds in his laboratory. Few people still understand Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. He solely came up with the idea although helped by a mathematician in calculation.

 

 

☆Sample Essay Structure

A        【Thesis】As long as a mind is a product of knowledge accumulated by a group of people or all humans, major discoveries are results of collaborative efforts rather than a genius in a broader sense of meaning.

【Supporting Details】First of all, thoughts are in sync with language, and the language the thinker uses has been made by the people of the individual’s ethnicity. Also, the pieces of knowledge the individual puts together to reach the “Eureka!” moment are the results of the efforts of other individuals.

【Counterargument-treatment】Of course, it is genius that leaps to the insight that leads to the final stage of a discovery, but what makes the genius is not just the genius themselves.

【Conclusion】Thus, major discoveries are made by countless number of people. (124 words)

 

B        【Thesis】People intuitively regard major discoveries as products of prodigy and I think they are right.

【Supporting Details】Historic major discoveries are attributed to such names as Galileo Galilei, Issac Newton, and Albert Einstein. Those people were actually unknown and even treated as failures or touched when they were vigorously working on what was later going to be a discovery of the century.  

【Counterargument-treatment】Putting aside the cumulative knowledge that the breakthroughs were based on, significant discoveries are solely made by the gifted that people of their times never understood, and few contemporary scientists of these geniuses understood and collaborated with their jobs.

【Conclusion】Therefore, major breakthroughs are done by individual genius, not by collective efforts. (110 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 Should children be forced to do housework? - revised -

Question: Should children be forced to do housework? 

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1.        What chores have you done? How have they affected you?

2.        When necessary, parents must force their children to do something. For example, they must make theim take medicine when they are sick even if they resist it. Is forcing children to do housework the same kind of practice?

 

 

☆Hints for Points

Agree

1.      Chores teach children skills necessary for independence.

2.      Chores encourage children to use their body and brain.

3.     By doing chores, children can acquire patience, a sense of responsibility, and self-esteem.

4.     Housework teaches children knowledge about seasonal traditional events and family cultures.

5.     Through helping with parents, children can effectively communicate with them.

6.     Children will come to appreciate work done by parents and gain respect for labor in general.

7.     Chores can be a part of education.

 

Disagree

1.     Forcing children to do anything will adversely affect their development.

2.     Children must play, study, and interact with their family instead of working.

3.     Doing a simple task for hours disrupts their physical and mental health.

 

 

☆Sample Essay Structure

A        【Thesis】It is important for children to be required to help with household work commensurate with their abilities unless it interferes with other crucial activities for growth, because doing chores helps children’s development in many aspects and brace them for independence.

【Supporting Details】Assigning children chores not only helps their emotional, mental, and physical development but also give them basic skills of daily life, which helps them become independent. They can learn basic domestic duties such as making beds, cleaning, washing, and cooking. There is no denying that having these skills will make their lives easier in the future than not having them.

【Counterargument-treatment】Disciplining often involves compulsion, and the negative effect can be minimized or avoided by parents’ love and ingenuity such as introducing the tasks as part of play or family event. After all, disciplining is teaching patience and nurture tenacity, which is indispensable to lead a good life.

【Conclusion】It is parents’ responsibility to make children do housework so that they can function well in society when they grow up. (165 words)

 

B        【Thesis】I am concerned about exploitation and abuse in disguise of discipline when parents order their children to housework.

【Supporting Details】Unfortunately, many children are still forced to help with housework at the expense of other essential activities they need to go through for their development and even exposed to physical damage. This is not just because of poverty but because of ignorance or negligence. Parents are human beings and imperfect and thus can take advantage of their children for their convenience or pleasure. My mother made me wax the whole floor of my father’s office with bear hands alone at least twice when I was around eight. It took hours for me to finish the task, and I still remember the chemical smell of the wax. I wonder how much chemical my hands and respiratory organs absorbed and how it affected my physical condition. Also, while I was doing the task, my mother spent time with my little sister. I remember feeling isolated.

【Counterargument-treatment】Even though the task may have instilled me with patience and sense of responsibility, the total teaching effect of that chore is questionable. My mother was not a bad person. In fact, she was respected and loved by her family and friends, which means that most children of average parents are vulnerable to parental exploitation and abuse.

【Conclusion】Thus, as Chris says, assignment of chores must be done only according to the children’s natural motivation. (229 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 Should children be forced to do housework?

Question: Should children be forced to do housework? 

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1.        What chores have you done? How have they affected you?

2.        What happens when children are assigned to do a certain household work when they are not old enough to know how to do it?

3.        Are there any cases in which children should not do chores? For example, in poor countries, children do chores like getting water from a far-away place without going to school. Their parents cannot help doing it. If parents in a high-income country made their child do chores so that they can rest or play, is it acceptable?

 

 

☆Hints for Points

Agree

1.      Chores teach children skills necessary for independence.

2.      Chores encourage children to use their body and brain.

3.     By doing chores, children can acquire patience, a sense of responsibility, and self-esteem.

4.     Housework teaches children seasonal traditional events and other culture.

5.     Through helping with parents, children can effectively communicate with them.

6.     Children will come to appreciate work done by parents and gain respect for labor in general.

7.     Chores can be a part of education.

 

Disagree

1.     Forcing children to do anything will adversely affect their development.

2.     Children must play, study, and interact with their family instead of doing chores.

3.     Doing a simple task for hours disrupts their health.

 

☆Sample Essay Structure

A        【Thesis】It is important for children to be required to help with household work commensurate with their abilities, because doing chores helps children’s development in many aspects unless it interferes with other crucial activities for growth and brace them for independence.

【Supporting Details】Assigning children chores not only helps their emotional, mental, and physical development but also give them basic skills of daily life, which helps them become independent. They can learn basic domestic duties such as making beds, cleaning, washing, and cooking. There is no denying that having these skills will make their lives easier in the future than not having them.

【Counterargument-treatment】Upbringing often involves compulsion, and the negative effect can be minimized or avoided by parents’ love and ingenuity such as introducing the tasks as part of play or family event. After all, disciplining is teaching patience and nurture tenacity, which is indispensable in life.

【Conclusion】 It is parents’ responsibility to make children do housework so that they can function well in society when they grow up. (165 words)

 

B        【Thesis】I am concerned about exploitation and abuse in disguise of discipline.

【Supporting Details】Unfortunately, many children on are still forced to help with housework at the expense of other essential activities they need to go through for their development and even exposed to physical damage. This is not just because of poverty but because of ignorance or negligence. Parents are human beings and imperfect and thus can take advantage of their children for their convenience or pleasure. My mother made me wax the whole floor of my father’s office with bear hands alone at least twice when I was around eight. It took hours for me to finish the task, and I still remember the chemical smell of the wax. I wonder how much chemical my hands and respiratory organs absorbed and how it affected my physical condition. Also, while I was doing the task, my mother spent time with my little sister. I remember feeling isolated.

【Counterargument-treatment】Even though the task may have instilled me with patience and sense of responsibility, the total teaching effect of that chore is questionable. My mother was not a bad person. In fact, she was respected and loved by her family and friends, which means that most children of average parents are vulnerable to parental exploitation and abuse.

【Conclusion】Thus, as Chris says, assignment of chores must be done only according to the children’s natural motivation. (229 words)

 

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

 

                                               DRAFT