Writing for an Academic Discussion Is it better to stay true to yourself at all times？

It’s better to stay true to who you are at all times:

1.       There are moral values that cannot be compromised.

2.       If you betray yourself, you will never be the same.

3.       The human mind is weak. We can come up with thousands of reasons not to flinch.

4.       Daily practice of not compromising yourself is very important to be ethical.

 

It’s better to shape your behavior depending on the context:

1.        When in Rome, do as Romans do.

2.        You don’t have to be nice to everyone.

3.        The real world won’t let you to stay who you are.

4.        There are situations where you have to demean yourself to survive. In this case, you are a victim of the circumstance, although there are cases in which no excuse is allowed.

 

 

☆Sample Response for Ideas and Expressions

Although I partly agree with Nadia’s opinion that people can change their behavior depending on the situation as a strategy to adapt, like learning to tell a white lie, when it comes to whether you should abide by your core value, I think you should always do the right thing because you will lose yourself by doing so and will be punished by others or yourself later other than the obvious moral cause.

 

During WWII, there were people who knowingly got killed by rejecting conscription so that they won’t have to kill other humans. After the war, soldiers who committed war crimes, which were also crimes against humanity, were caught and sent to the courts, most of them sentenced to death. Among them, there might have been individuals who would have lived a peaceful life if not sent to the war. In a life-or-death situation, they bet on surviving by turning themselves evil, lived a nightmare, and got killed in the end. Justice didn’t save most of the other soldiers, either, who also committed war crimes but were let go probably because they were supposed to have followed orders or peer pressure in the extraordinary circumstances of war, or just because there were too many to punish. They suffered from the guilt consciously or unconsciously. It is said that the short temper and violence of old Japanese men is a negative legacy of the last war. In the insane cases like war, those few that stick to themselves get what religions call an eternal life while those who compromise their principles will lose their soul for the rest of their lives and will demise sooner or later, and strictly speaking it is impossible to decide that our times are not insane because no one can tell that we are crazy if everyone is crazy.

 

Thus, we should always comply with the moral standard, and daily practice of it is necessary. Human mind is weak. We can come up with thousands of reasons not to flinch, not to betray what you believe is right, or even not to be kind. If you make it a rule to act in accordance with the situation, you may make a wrong choice in a critical moment of life. Therefore, you should always try to adhere to your core value.  (385 words)

 

Write your draft on Topic ２. Show each other your responses. Write down questions or suggestions to each other’s response.

 

 

DRAFT