gre writing issue sample writing 35
- Educational institutions should dissuade students from pursuing fields of study in which they are unlikely to succeed.
Write a response in which you discuss your views on the policy and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider the possible consequences of implementing the policy and explain how these consequences shape your position.
Saying that educational institutions should dissuade students from pursuing fields of study in which they are unlikely to succeed, the speaker claims that students benefit from focusing all their efforts on the field they can excel in a practical manner. In general, I also agree that one of the important missions formal education should take is to present students with greater chances to enjoy successful life in their future job careers. Ultimately, however, this view is ignoring many important aspects of human nature outside of success in mundane life including our passion to harmonize well with others( to be respected from others) as well as desire to pursue one’s deeply rooted dreams for true happiness.
Of course, few would disagree that the likelihood of successful adaptation to a given society is an important consideration to which any educator should pay attention. If students are defined as future job seekers or competent workers in workplaces, concentrating their courses on such fields as their specialty can easily bloom seems to be a wise strategy. Instead of wasting valuable time and energy onto a variety of irrelevant topics or superficial experiences, students who are advised to concentrate on the skill areas that their future jobs demand can accomplish a level of sophisticated skill and professional knowledge for which most companies will credit at recruiting. In addition, well-developed specialty can boost their pride and confidence with which they can face a series of challenges more effectively.
Then, is exposure to a variety of intellectual experience in college life just a waste of time? My answer is definitely no. If students are defined as one individual who needs to harmonize with other members of a larger society, lack of common background coming from exclusion of studies in many important fields will limit their ability to cooperate with others whose initial interests and major skills are different from them. A business student lacking sound level of knowledge in natural sciences or topics of engineering can never be an effective manager who should make a sustainable conversation with those diverse spirits; in this case, the brilliant business student may face isolation from others, still lamenting others’ lack of understanding and respect of his own “specialized” know-how. In short, without experiences in diverse fields, specialty can be jeopardized to become a source of isolation. -----------------
We are frequently advised that, despite the importance of our ideals and dreams, our intellectual pursuits should be guided primarily by the likelihood of real success in a chosen field of study. In general, it is hard to deny that such practical concerns as the availability of jobs in the future, the relative ease with which we can find lucrative careers, and the possibility to contribute our talents to a society and people in general are never trivial on the process of our learning. However, in my opinion, this mundane approach fails to consider the critical importance of our internal passions in driving our learning as well as the capricious nature of the social, cultural environments.
Of course, few would disagree that one of the important criteria in searching out our major field of study is the objective reality. Especially in terms of building a solid material base which in turn leads to personal security for pursuing our long-term dreams, those pragmatic and worldly considerations can never be blamed. Lacking special skills or specialty areas with which we can be a true member of a society as an actual contributor, people in their forties and fifties might stop to be a dreamer; the financial instability in this case could be a cause for one idealist to compromise his dream and become a social loser.
Nevertheless, this does not necessarily mean that students should be encouraged to take into account only their mundane likelihood of success. This practical approach seems problematic in that it underrates the capriciously changing social, cultural environments. During the early 1990’s, many students were advised to become knowledgeable in computers and computer programming skills; within ten years, however, the rosy promises related to the skill turn out to be pathetic—although several creative computer specialists won their shares of success from the skills, most students with a level of knowledge in the machine are now workers in the area where computers are not their specialties but just a tool. Similarly, the social frenzies on law schools or MBA’s, which have been symbols of successful careers for students’ future at one time or another do not usually meet their respective promises. Considering the unpredictability of our social, economic environment, therefore, we need to be very careful when we say that the primary standard for choosing our field of study is the likelihood of success in the future.
Meanwhile, the wisdom of the advice that students should be guided not by their interests and talents but by the practical considerations can be blurred if we consider the benefit of following the internal calls. In coping with many difficulties in the course of our lives, the existence of the autonomous planning and design can serve as resources to treat those adversities with a sense of personal responsibility. Imagine how you will feel and do if you think that I began to do this work only because I felt I had to do for my life’s convenience. The fact that we are more responsible and responsive when we pursue what we truly want to do also weakens the efficacy of the advice the speaker presents.
In sum,