gre writing issue sample writing 47
- Educators should find out what students want included in the curriculum and then offer it to them.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.
Saying that educators should find out what students want included in the curriculum and then offer it to them, the speaker asserts that the best education is to respect students’ preference and choice rather than force them to learn something outside of their initial demands. In many ways, it is true that true enlightenment (of students) begins more by students’ hearts than by teachers’ heads or a society’s prejudgment. In my opinion, however, there could be sufficient reasons for which “what students need to know” is sometimes more important than “what students want to know” in designing effective curricula. ------------------------------
The given statement asserts that effective curriculum is one that respects students’ own personal interests. For many reasons, one may say that students benefit most from the academic environment taking into accounts their own choices. Despite several merits from an academic plan considering personalities, however, I tend to believe that the most effective education may come from a curriculum specifying what should be shared by general students for making themselves good social members.
Of course, few would deny that what students really want should be an important consideration for designing an educational program. In our modern society where the ability to make creative activities is ever more critical, it is almost a duty for a teacher to encourage students’ own demands and personal aptitudes. Rather than confining their imaginations in a narrow, uniform boundary, an academic schedule respecting students’ individualities would increase their capacities in reasoning and training in more creative and autonomous fashions.
Moreover, this kind of academic plan is advantageous to students in many other situations. In some classrooms where most students are poorly motivated to make active participations, a wise educator can transform this lethargic hell into an exciting and lively laboratory by presenting various alternatives of students’ own making; instead of forcing them to memorize somewhat boring concepts of sciences and mathematics, educators can encourage students to have a sense of duty as well as to stimulate real joys and initiatives.
Nevertheless, it does not necessarily mean that schools should eliminate any type of required courses. When it comes to preparation for the entry into job markets, it seems more desirable and even necessary to require students to take some courses outside of their initial interests. Consider the importance of such subjects as literature, art, science, and mathematics. Regardless of whether some students like them or not, it is almost a matter of duty for a teacher to provide students with basic knowledge and skills in these subjects; without them, the prospective employees would lack the socially desired level of reasoning, emotional, or general communicative skills.
In addition, with regard to forming a common ground on which any citizen makes his or her civic life, it seems inevitable for schools to provide students with some courses which apparently defy students’ actual demands. Though there would be few students who want to take courses in ethics, history, or basic sociology, these subjects are essential (thus, can never be compromised by the rhetoric emphasizing only on the students’ personalities) to making the future citizens equipped with tolerances on racial, sexual, religious, cultural, or political differences.