Writing for Academic Discussion Is rewarding children to study a good idea? - revised later -

The effectiveness of using rewards to motivate children to study is a topic of much discussion. Some argue that providing incentives is a powerful tool to encourage academic effort, while others believe that reliance on rewards can undermine intrinsic motivation. What is your perspective on this issue? Is rewarding children to study a good idea, and why?

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1.        What kind of rewards do teachers give to their students?

2.        Do you agree with rewarding children for their efforts and achievements?

 

☆Hints for Points

Good

1.       Rewards makes learning a game, and children like games.

2.       Rewards visualize how much students have learned.

 

Bad

1.        Rewards may help lose sight of the meaning of studies. Children will lose intrinsic motivation.

2.        Rewards lose effect soon as students get used to them. They will not be motivated in tasks without rewards.

3.        Children who are not good in class would be unhappy.

 

 

☆Sample Answer

【Thesis】Praise from teachers and other students are rewards that correctly recognize the student’s effort and lubricate relationships in class, and so it is necessary. However, rewards in other forms would be useless, I think.

【Supporting Details】Students should know why they are doing the task for effective learning. If they know the purpose of their studies, leaning itself will be the reward, and rewards will be like party gifts; you would be glad to get them, but you wouldn’t care less even if you don’t as you have enjoyed the party.

【Counterargument-treatment】Jessica may be right that using rewards is effective with young children who cannot be aware that the study is good to them, and yet, I doubt the effect of teaching young children something that needs rewards to keep their attention. Subjects should be interesting to learn in the first place, and people can learn only what they believe they need in the end. If children learning multiplication table by heart boring, it is because they haven’t been assigned tasks of adding the same number multiple times in 81 patterns. After the task, the laziest child will find the multiplication table worth learning most. Although some children may think of carrying the table, and that is a novel idea in the area of smart phones, the child will cram it after losing a number game with an opponent who has learned all the multiplications. Winning a game could be a reward, but it is not, in a strict sense here in this discussion.

【Conclusion】In the end, classes that do not rely on rewards are based. (264 words)

Writing for Academic Discussion Should schools prioritize teachig children how to be creative?

The necessity of teaching creativity in schools is a topic of considerable debate, especially in our rapidly evolving world. Some argue that fostering creativity is essential for preparing children for future challenges and opportunities, while others believe that traditional academic subjects should take precedence to ensure a solid educational foundation. What is your opinion on this issue? Should schools prioritize teaching children how to be creative? Why or why not?

 

 

☆Let’s Read

Read the following articles, underlined by yours truly Sasaki, and make sure what creativity is and how it can be learned.

 

Article 1: Medical students 'raised on screens lack skills for surgery'

Leading surgeon says lack of hobbies and creativity in schools has affected children’s practical abilities

Matthew Weaver  Oct 2018  The Guardian

 

Article 2

The Guardian view on creativity in schools: a missing ingredient

Imagination should infuse teaching of science as well as the arts. Children are not pitchers to be filled with facts   Oct 2019

 

☆Let’s think

1.       Why is creativity important?

2.       How can school teach creativity? What are creative classes?

 

 

☆Hints for Points

Creativity (arts, experiments, and extracurricular activities)

1.       Whether one is creative or not will be crucial in the near future as the impacts of climate change becomes serious and more routine jobs will be taken care of by AI.

2.       Real creativity comes from real contact with nature, people, and society.

 

Academic subjects

1.        To create something new, you need to know what has already been created. What you think is new might already exist.

2.        Another pandemic may happen. (economic conditions, social trends)

 

 

☆Sample Answer

【Thesis】Although I agree with Meg in that creativity is the inspiration that is the key to solve difficult problems and come up with new ideas, I don’t think school should prioritize teaching creativity because in my view, school cannot teach creativity in a real sense.　It is not a subject. Thus, I think school should prioritize providing quality education of academic subjects for children, while reducing school hours and homework, to help their natural development of creativity.

【Creativity】Creativity is not something that you learn from school education but something you forget in school. Children are naturally all creative. Yet, once they start school, they lose creativity. Studies to get good scores in examinations of subjects in which they have no interest stunts the development of their neurons, which had been budding freely by then. Long school hours and large amounts of homework reduce their free time, reducing their time to be creative.

【Academic Subjects】On the other hand, academic subjects are indispensable to develop and mature a creative mind. They provide knowledge and skills to understand and internalize nature, people, and society in detail and deeply. Teachers should be here to support children do these jobs by providing them with proper materials and assignment.

【Conclusion】What school can do is to teach traditionally academic subjects well, and therefore, although it is paradoxical, school should not prioritize creativity to help children creative. (227 words)

 

Writing for Academic Discussion What is the best way to learn about the culture of a foreign country? - revised -

Understanding the culture of a foreign county is essential for fostering global awareness and appreciation. There are various methods to learn about different cultures; in your opinion, what is the best way to learn about the culture of a foreign country?

 

 

☆Let’s think

1.       Other than traveling and reading the literature, what are best ways to learn about the culture of a foreign country.

 

 

☆Hints for Points

1.       Doing business with the country necessitates you to learn the culture of the country.

2.       Traveling the country allows you to learn the culture through five senses.

3.       Living in the country makes the culture of the country part of your life.

4.       Making friends with the person from the country helps you learn the language, religions, values, and custom of the person’s country.

5.       Learning the language of the culture helps you learn the values and world view of the culture and gives you insights of it.

6.       Watching movies of the country gives you a comprehensive understanding of it.

7.       Comics of a country show a lot about the culture of their country.

8.       Eating food of the country tells you a lot about the customs and history of the country.

9.       Learning about the art of the country is learning about the culture of the country.

10.    By reading the literature of the country, you can see the culture through the characters’ eyes.

11.    Dealing with haters from the country will train you to be equipped with detailed information about a culture.

 

 

☆Sample Answer

【Thesis】Both Aisha and Carlos make valid points in the senses as follows, but I think that watching movies is the best way to learn other cultures as it has both the advantages of traveling and reading literature and more.

【Literature】Literature shows what is in the people’s mind, that is, more fundamental, deeper layers of the culture, as Carlos points out. It allows you to learn not only the mentality of the people, their world views, and their values but also the roots of them, showing what was in the past and affects the current state of their mental world. You can trace the origin of the present culture by reading period novels, for instance. Moreover, the reader adapts it as part of their beings thanks to the power of simulated experience. This is the reason why a foreign researcher of a country’s literature often sounds more indigenous than the real indigenous people of the country.

【Travels】On the other hand, traveling makes you immersed in the whole environment the culture exists, which includes the geography, the history, the economy, the politics, the custom, and the characteristics of the nationals. The direct contact to them through all senses leaves an experience as a page in your journal of the journey of your life.

【Movies】Watching movies has the virtues of both traveling and reading literature, I think, as it shows both the surface and the deeper layers of a culture through visuals and sounds. It also takes you to the past. It gives you an experience of a culture in around 100 minutes with entertainment.

【Conclusion】While All traveling, reading literature, and watching movies compensate for each other in learning other cultures, the last is the most effective and favored way to learn a culture, I believe.

(293 words)

Writing for Academic Discuttion Should schools spend more time allowing students to read fiction rather than just books about facts? - revised -

There is an ongoing debate about the balance between fiction and non-fiction in school curriculums. Some argue that students should spend more time reading fiction to foster skills such as empathy, while others believe that non-fiction is more important to learn essential facts about the world. In your opinion, should schools spend more time allowing students to read fiction rather than just books about facts?

 

 

☆Let’s Think

1.        What other benefits than strengthening empathy does reading fiction provides?

2.        Share your experience of learning from a non-fiction book.

 

 

☆Hints for Points

Fiction

1.       Stories and dramas are necessary to make life rich and enjoyable.

2.       Fiction is good for emotional education. Students get, even partially, the brain wiring of the author, a great intellect, as well as the author’s vocabulary, world view, attitude, and so on.

3.       Good fiction reflects reality and tell the truth in the way non-fiction cannot.

4.       A novel is in itself is a raw data of a period of history.

 

Non-fiction

1.        Non-fiction books have more information than fiction. Students need to learn more about the real world to make the most out of life, to avoid problems, and to help those who are in trouble.

2.        Students may not read non-fiction after graduation, so they should be assigned to read as many non-fiction books related to their studies as possible while at school.

3.        “In the end, fiction doesn’t go beyond the author’s world, while non-fiction does.” – Takashi Tachibana, an award-winning journalist, who kept reading fiction all day every day for 8 years at Tokyo University

 

 

☆Sample Answer

【Thesis】I agree with Ella in that fiction provides insights into real events and real people. People tend to think that fiction is for emotional education for children, and teens and young adults, whose mentality and personality are almost established, don’t need it in their curriculum. However, I think reading fiction is even more important in higher grades because of simulated experience it gives to the reader.

【Supporting Details】Students need the power of fiction to maintain their interest in the subjects that become increasingly complicated and layered as grades go up. Fiction helps relive the real events or issues effectively, and thus it makes students assimilate and feel related to them. Stories of victims of war or pollution, for instance, help students experience the tragedies vicariously and this leads them to understandings of and interest in the issue. In other words, students can acquire imagination necessary to learn advanced level subjects by reading fiction.

【Counterargument-treatment】Certainly, fiction has its limits. It cannot beat the value of non-fiction as facts. But good novels are not fantasies or delusions. They usually have models in the real world. The difference from non-fiction is that authors filter and process the reality into the truth just as artists filter the image a camera lens projects on the film to capture the intrinsic nature of the matter and process it into what is universal and eternal or something new. As a result, although fiction doesn’t have all the information non-fiction has and it contains the author’s imagination, it often comes closer to the reality than non-fiction does.

【Conclusion】Although the risks of confusion between facts and fantasy always exist, the tremendous power of fiction that helps students sympathize with those involved and have insights of the issue cannot be ignored. If used carefully, it will boost the students’ studies. Therefore, I think fiction should be used more at school, especially in the advanced level. (314 words)

 

早稲田国際教養AO The Root Cause of Poverty - rewrite -

暴力が貧困の根源であることを示し、権力の僕である警察組織の本質を明らかにしてあるべき姿に変える方法を提案しています。

 

解答のポイント

アメリカのBlack Lives Matterは警官によるジョージ・フロイドさんのリンチ後歴史的規模に達した黒人差別・警察による暴力に対する抗議運動ですが、問題の根深さや歴史の学習を通して世界中で認知されたのは、アメリカが奴隷制とネイティブアメリカン・移民の略奪を基盤とする暴力による搾取構造を今も保っているということでした。また、2023年10月7日以降のソーシャルメディアの情報から、イスラエルによるパレスチナの植民地支配・民族浄化政策による意図的なガザの貧困化も一般の人々の目に明らかになりつつあります。この文章は発展途上国の権力による暴力と貧困の関係を扱っていますが類推することで心のこもった解答が書けると思います。

 

主題

警察は国家権力を守る暴力組織であり、貧困対策には権力の暴力を罰する司法制度の整備が必要である。

 

本文該当箇所  第1段落 Today, the principal cause of misery in the world isn’t a lack of food or education. It’s violence and lawlessness.  現在、世界のひどい貧困の主要原因は食料や教育の欠乏ではない。暴力と無法状態である。  第3段落 These crimes are rarely punished by law. これらの暴力はめったに法の裁きを受けない。 Often, the police are predators. しばしば、警察が天敵である。  第4段落 The violence is bad enough. But it’s also interfering with development assistance. 暴力だけでも十分悪いが、開発援助も妨げている。　　第5段落 lawlessness, like joblessness or illiteracy, is a form of deprivation. It’s part of a class structure. 無法状態は失業や識字不能同様貧困の一形態だ。階級構造の一部なのだ。　第8段落 you can’t just do good. You have to grapple with evil. 単に善行を行うのではなく、悪と取っ組み合いで戦わなくてはならない。　第10段落 Authoritarian rulers impose their will by making an example of anyone who stands up to them. 独裁者は反抗する者は誰でも見せしめにすることによって意思を押し付ける。 In corrupt police forces, some officers are predators, but others want to serve the public. Most officers are somewhere in the middle, willing to go along with whichever side prevails. 堕落した警察内には、暴力警官もいれば社会奉仕を目指す警官もいる。大半はその間のどこかに位置し、優勢な方に着くつもりでいる。第11段落 When citizens in a lawless county see a powerful criminal brought to justice, they’re shocked. They begin to hope. They gain confidence. They raise their voices. The system begins to respond to them. 権力のある犯罪者が罰されるのを無法状態の国の市民が目の当たりにするとショックを受ける。希望を持ち始める。自信を得る。声を上げ始める。制度が応じ始める。　第12段落 You can’t police the world. You can only help those who are willing to police themselves. 世界を取り締まることはできない。自身を取り締まる意思のある人々を助けることしかできない。

 

各段落の要旨

副題　世界中の貧しい人々を助けるためには犯罪と戦わなくてはならない。

第１段落　貧困の主な原因は暴力と無法状態である。

第2段落　戦争だけでなく日常的暴力（性犯罪・奴隷・盗難）が身体障害と死亡の主な要因である。

第3段落　これらの犯罪は法の裁きを受けることがなく、警察の暴力が頻繁にある。

第4段落　暴力は発展も妨げる。国際支援は届かない。（例）女子教育の暴力による妨害

第5段落　無法状態は略奪の一形態であり階級構造の一部である。植民地時代、宗主国は司法と警察を（公共の安全ではなく）自己の利益保護のために設計した。

第6段落　独立後は地元の権力者が自分たちに奉仕（群衆管理・テロ対策・要人警護）するよう刑事司法制度を変えた。

第7段落　法整備をしても法を効果的に行き渡らせることは難しい。（例）奴隷の存在

第8段落　悪と取っ組み合いの戦いをしなくてはならない。（例）世界銀行による道路建設→労働者による性犯罪増加

第9段落　警察廃止は非現実的だ。

第10段落 警察内部は極悪警官と良心的警官の間に大多数の日和見的警官がいるという構造なので大多数を良心的警官側につかせることにより改革が可能である。そのためには極悪警官をなくすことが可能な司法制度の構築を援助しなくてはならない。

第11段落 法が機能しない国で権力者の犯罪が罰されると市民運動がおこり制度が応じる。

第12段落 各政府との共同作業には忍耐と妥協を要する。また、司法制度改革を望まない国に対しては何もできない。

 

（１）問１～４　記号問題

考え方　上記各段落の要旨及び別紙参照

 

（２）「世界を取り締まることはできない。自国を取り締まる意思のある人たちを助けることしかできない。」と筆者は結論しています。賛成ですか反対ですか？答えを支持する為に理由あるいは具体例を解答用紙の解答欄に英語で示してください。

 

考え方　

本文の関連個所を元に判断する、自分の知っている理由や具体例も付ける。

Ideas and Expressions 

Agree: It takes time to change the world. The police conform to the powerful, and therefore, to transform the police, the sovereign authority has to be transformed. The French Revolution occurred after people suffered enough and stood up to fight the power. Defeat in the Pacific War brought the pacifist constitution to Japan. African Americans have been suffering all the time, and Black Lives Matter is about ten years old; yet it was not until the social media circulation of the lynching video of George Floyd during pandemic under failed Trump administration that most of the population stood by the activists. Moreover, trying to make a change at an early stage can just bring about another oppression, since policing the world is no different from violating each country’s autonomy. Invasions have occurred under the banner of intervention in the domestic affairs with force. Imperial Japan occupied other countries under the banner of “liberating” or “civilizing” the people. The excuse of the Iraq War was to “liberate” the people from the dictator, while it was for oil and the profits of the military industry complex. Colonialism was to “rescue” the indigenous people from “barbarism” through Christianization. All caused excruciating suffering among the people. The United States went into Afghanistan to catch Bin Laden, the leader of 9.11, stayed there for 20 years and built a military of the local people, while causing countless deaths, and when it left August 2021, Taliban, the Islamist extremists, and the local militia men quickly got the power back with little bloodshed.

 

Disagree: We need to police the oppressor. It is impossible to end poverty without ending attacks on the oppressed in the first place. As seen in the failure of the World Bank project, policing the predators of the weak is necessary. At this moment, there are countless numbers of innocent people around the world who are suffering and dying from violence. Waiting for wills for change will lose more lives. The Rwandan Genocide could have ended earlier if the UN had intervened in it. Now, as of August 2024, it is obvious that Netanyahu has no will to end the Israeli genocide on Gaza, as the last stage of its ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people to usurp the land, despite the international community interventions such as the UN resolution, ICC judgement, ICJ arrest warrants, and BDS movement, which was effective to end the apartheid in South Africa. Anand Giridharadas quotes that the fantasy of the win-win is that we can help the people down below without intervening with the people standing on their necks, (that) we can lift the people down below up without disturbing people standing on their neck. The only aid that works to end the misery of Gaza is to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine by abolishing Israel. It is the countries whose ruling class oppress the people with the police, or military, that needs real policing. It is difficult to change regimes, but, as written in the text, most police officers are opportunistic, and therefore, I believe that it is possible to make the police, or military, stop serving the corrupt ruling class and start protecting the oppressed if more citizens around the world act. 

Writing for Academic Discussion What is the best way to learn about the culture of a foreign country?

Understanding the culture of a foreign county is essential for fostering global awareness and appreciation. There are various methods to learn about different cultures; in your opinion, what is the best way to learn about the culture of a foreign country?

 

 

☆Let’s think

1.       Other than traveling and reading the literature, what are best ways to learn about the culture of a foreign country.

 

 

☆Hints for Points

1.       Doing business with the country necessitates you to learn the culture of the country.

2.       Traveling the country allows you to learn the culture through five senses.

3.       Making friends with the person from the country helps you learn the language, religions, values, and custom of the person’s country.

4.       Learning the language of the culture gives you insights of it.

5.       Watching movies of the country gives you a comprehensive understanding of it.

6.       Comics of a country show a lot about the culture of their country.

7.       Eating food of the country tells you a lot about the customs and history of the country.

8.       Learning about the art of the country is learning about the culture of the country.

9.       By reading the literature of the country, you can see the culture through the characters’ eyes.

10.    Dealing with haters will train you to be equipped with detailed information about a culture.

 

 

☆Sample Answer

【Thesis】Both Aisha and Carlos make valid points in the senses as follows, but I think that watching movies is the best way to learn other cultures as it has both the advantages of traveling and reading literature and more.

【Literature】Literature shows what is in the people’s mind, more fundamental, deeper layers of the culture, as Carlos points out. By reading the literatures of a country, you share the mental world of the people, although, if you don’t read the contemporary authors’ works, you might end up with living in, say the culture in the 19^th century, which in itself is another strong point of literature; showing what was in the past and affects the current state of the culture. You can trace the origin of the present culture by reading period novels, for instance.

【Travels】On the other hand, traveling shows the whole environment the culture exists, which includes the geography, the history, the economy, the politics, the custom, and the nature of the nationals. The direct contact to them through all senses leaves an experience as a page in your journal of the journey of your life.

【Movies】Watching movies has the virtues of both traveling and reading literature, I think, as it shows both the surface and the deeper layers of a culture through visuals and sounds. It also takes you to the past. And it gives you an experience of a culture in around 100 minutes with entertainment.

【Conclusion】While All traveling, reading literature, and watching movies compensate for each other in learning other cultures, the last is the most effective and favored way to learn a culture, I believe.

(270 words)