Writing for an Academic Discussion More videos into the curriculum? - revised -

Should schools incorporate more videos into the curriculum alongside traditional reading materials to enhance the learning experience?

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1.        Sarah says that videos can supplement the intellectual depth of written material by providing real-world context, visual examples, or even expert interviews that can make abstract or complicated subjects more relatable. Provide a specific example for this point. Do you have any related experience?

 

2.        Share your experience of a passive form of consumption that Tom mentions in terms of video usage in learning.

 

 

☆Hints for Points

For

1.     Seeing is believing. Geography, for instance, needs more films for students to know about the features of each region on this planet, such as landscape, climate, economic activities, and culture.

 

2.     Good movies are effective teaching materials. They attract attention of students and give them strong impact, leaving an experience in them.

 

3.     Videos and books supplement for each other. Videos facilitate understanding of the subject while books provide detailed information that videos leave out.

 

 

Against

1.     Videos have less information than books do. The information in videos has been filtered and edited. The raw data are in books.

 

2.     Overuse of videos may lower students’ reading and writing skills. Watching a video takes up time, reducing time to read and write.

 

3.     Watching a film in class is a passive activity. Students cannot freely inquire, research, and analyze matters related to the subject during the play although mind can run. It is essential to work on appropriate length and timing of video usage in curriculum, such as assigning watching a related video as homework.

 

 

☆Response for Ideas and Expression

【Thesis】I agree with Sarah that schools should incorporate more videos in the curriculum.

【Supporting Details】Videos are realia and so indispensable in classes. They contribute to motivation, engagement, and better understanding of the reading materials. They also supplement provision of some types of information that reading cannot provide. For example, they can show actual audio and visuals of battle grounds in history classes, chemical reactions that are too dangerous to demonstrate in a school lab, or a certain expression uttered in a real conversation in a foreign language class.

【Counterargument-treatment & Conclusion】 Of course, reading materials make up the core of academic learning as most of the academic information is only in books. However, videos enhance learning when they are used as supplementary materials for reading, and therefore, they should be utilized more in classes.

 (130 words)

 

【Thesis】Although I don’t deny the remarkable teaching effect of videos used in schools, I am skeptical of its total benefit in the long run.

【Supporting Details】For one thing, studies come down to accurate comprehension of the reading materials and training of critical thinking, and intensive and comprehensive reading is necessary to develop the mind of students. Videos can make it easier to understand the reading material to some degree, but they are nothing more than that. Also, as Tom is concerned, they may hamper the active learning, giving students false satisfaction that they have learned the subject well enough. For instance, watching chemistry class videos introducing each element of the periodic table may provide some general ideas about elements, but it can give little real knowledge of them that is acquired by actually experimenting on the samples and reading the related information about them. (143 words)

 

 

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

 

                                               DRAFT

 

 

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                         

 

Writing for an Academic Discussion Government funding for primary education or college level education? - revised -

Do you think the government should prioritize funding for primary education or for college level education?

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1.        Who will benefit from a good education? What about college level education?

2.        Which choice is better for economic development?

 

 

☆Hints for Points

Primary education

1.     Strike the iron while it is hot.

 

2.     Better primary education promotes equity. Primary education is for everyone while college level education is for only a small percentage of the population. Therefore, spending money on the former is more egalitarian than the latter, all children getting more resources for self-fulfillment, which increases their opportunities to live a better life.

 

3.     Narrower education gap will benefit society and the government in the long run. It raises the intelligence level of the whole population, who will make good workforce and citizens.

 

4.     Prioritizing primary education will reduce health and social problems by reducing dropouts.

 

5.     Subsidizing primary education helps find more talents.

 

College education

1.     Giving smart people an intensive higher education will help produce experts who will build and develop the country as quickly as possible by contributing to innovations and inventions. Thus, supporting those who have shown the best academic ability will efficiently help the development of the country.

 

2.     Better-educated workforce, in other words, more skilled and resourceful workers, will raise productivity of the society, and tax revenue will increase as a result.

 

3.     To revolutionize the whole education system, the government should start with the higher education to help change the educational concept and put new ideas into practice such as letting graduate school-bound students teach their subjects part-time at local grade schools.

 

 

☆Response for Ideas and Expression

【Thesis】I agree with Emily that a good education during formative years is crucial because it prepares children well for advanced level education and later life.  

【Supporting Details】Primary education must provide children with not only basic knowledge which will smoothly introduces them into the intermediate level education but also understanding about life and society which will save them from straying from the right path.

【Counterargument-treatment】Tom’s point that it is college level education that provides truly practical skills required in jobs makes sense. However, only the fraction of the population go to college and thus what the government should focus on is to reduce dropouts and low grades in early ages. After all, allocating a larger budget to compulsory education is more egalitarian than doing it to higher education as the former is for all children while the latter is only for good students. All children must be given equal opportunities regardless of their backgrounds such as race, ethnicity, or financial status of their family. Especially for children with any of these disadvantages, meeting a good teacher in a good educational environment, including good facilities like personal computers and internet access, can greatly help them survive. This will raise the spirit of the whole population in the end.

【Conclusions】Therefore, the educational institution for everyone to jump-start their lives must be subsidized more than higher education, which is only for the advantaged. (231 words)

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

 

 

                                                 DRAFT

 

 

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                          

Writing for an Academic Discussion Government funding for primary education or college level education? - revised -

Do you think the government should prioritize funding for primary education or for college level education?

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1.        How do primary education and college level education differ?

2.        What are the advantages of a good primary education?

3.        Who will benefit when college level education is subsidized more?

 

 

☆Hints for Points

Primary education

1.     Better primary education promotes equity. Primary education is for everyone while college level education is for only a small percentage of the population. Therefore, spending money on the former is more egalitarian than the latter, all children getting more resources for self-fulfillment, which increases opportunities to live a better life.

 

2.     Spending money on children would benefit society and the government in the long run because it will narrower the education gap. Everyone receives the primary education, so it raises the intelligence level of the whole population, who will make good workforce and citizens.

 

3.     Good primary education will reduce the number of health and social problems. It will increase the number of children who finish primary education and continue to middle school and higher education. The more educated people are, the less health and social problems they will have

 

4.     To find more talents, primary education should be subsidized more. Many people who are as good as any successful people are doing menial jobs because they were not recognized when they were children. They could have contributed to the country if they had received a proper primary education.

 

College education

1.     Giving the smartest people an intensive higher education will help produce experts who will build and develop the country as quickly as possible. Better-educated students will contribute more to innovations and inventions. Thus, it is efficient to support those who have shown the best academic ability.

 

2.     Subsidizing college will help produce more skilled and resourceful workers. This will raise productivity of the whole society, and tax revenue will increase as a result.

 

3.     To revolutionize the whole education system, the government should start with the higher education to help change the educational concept and put new ideas into practice such as letting graduate school-bound students teach their subjects part-time at local grade schools.

 

 

☆Response for Ideas and Expression

I believe the government should prioritize primary education. As Emily says, a good education during formative years is crucial because it prepares children well for advanced level education and later life. Primary education must provide children with not only working basic knowledge which will smoothly introduces them into the intermediate level education but also moral and vision about life and society that will save them from straying from the right path. Also, allocating budget to compulsory education is more egalitarian than doing it to higher education as the former is for all children while the latter is only for good students. All people must be given equal opportunities regardless of their backgrounds such as race, ethnicity, or financial status of their family. Especially for children with any of these disadvantages, meeting a good teacher in a good educational environment, including good facilities like personal computers and internet access, can greatly help them move up the social ladder. This will raise the spirit of the whole population and will benefit the country more than supporting elites, a small percentage of the population. Therefore, the educational institution for everyone to jump-start their lives must be subsidized more than higher education. (188 words)

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

 

    

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

 

 

                                                 DRAFT