Which area do you believe the government should prioritize in its spending, scientific research or teacher training? Why?
☆Let’s Think
1.
How will the government benefit
from spending money on scientific research?
2.
How will the government benefit
from spending money on training programs for teachers?
3.
What are the decisive reasons
to choose one over the other?
☆Ideas and
Expressions
About scientific research
1.
Scientific research is
indispensable to the development of the industry, which has a huge impact on
economic development, although not all people benefit from the blessings.
2.
To build and maintain the
infrastructure of the country, governments should subsidize research and
development to increase knowledge and skills for the purpose.
3.
To cope with the impact of
climate crisis, we need to increase research funding and reward the experts.
4.
Over the past decade Japan has
had budget cuts on basic researches, which had contributed to breakthroughs, and
now other Asian countries have surpassed it in almost all areas from electronic
applications to robotics.
About teacher training
1.
It will benefit the
government in the long run. It will raise the academic level of the whole
population, who will build a good county. It will also raise the levels of both
science and humanities.
2.
Good education will reduce the
number of health and social problems. The more educated people are, the fewer
health and social problems they are likely to have. It will increase education
continuance rates. It will also reduce the number of bullying, discrimination,
and warlike characteristics.
3.
Trained teachers can find and
develop talents. Many people who are as good as any successful people are doing
menial jobs because they were not taught properly and recognized when they were
in school. They could have contributed to the country if they had received a
good education.
4.
The budget on scientific
research equals the total budget for education including salary for teachers.
This means that training teachers is not prioritized at all. In fact,
capitalist countries have cut costs for education, and our children are not
doing well compared to children of the socialist countries that prioritize
education. This reflects on the difference in recent development between the
West and the rest.
Decisive reasons
1.
Spending money on education is
more egalitarian than spending money on scientific research.
2.
New information costs money to
acquire, and science is all about new information. On the other hand, education
is to pass down information that is already shared.
3.
Teachers are too busy to
educate themselves. They also lack resources for training by themselves.
4.
Money for science is directed
to military, for developing weapons.
☆Sample Response
Seeing the
situation that we are in, where scientific development is doing more harm
than good in this century, I believe training teachers should be put before
scientific research. Although science and technology have made our lives
comfortable and convenient, they also have put life on earth in danger. Life
has been suffering and dying from diseases and injuries caused by the impact of
scientific discoveries and inventions. The scientific endeavor to solve these
new problems have not achieved much, controlled by capitalism, which
prioritizes profits than life. In a sci-fi movie called “Extrapolations”,
humans will have done little to solve the problems of climate change around
2070 even though the technology is available. Only the innovation on smart
phones and other profitable technology will have advanced extremely. This satirical
movie tells the truth of modern society, in which educators are attacked
because they are regarded to have dangerous ideas to disturb society while
actually teachers are the people who tell the truth and show children the right
path for the survival of humankind. This has been going on for generations and
consequently deteriorated the humanities, including teachers’ qualities. For
the survival of humanity, education of teachers must be prioritized over
scientific researches. (203 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 draft on this topic. Give feedbacks to other people’s drafts, asking
questions and making suggestions.
DRAFT
