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thorne

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  1. Can someone please offer their two cents? It would be tremendously helpful. Thanks!
  2. Topic: Teachers' salaries should be based on their students' academic performance. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position. Essay: It is easy to make the analogy that as sales reprentatitives are compensated by their sales records, teachers should be compensated by their students’ academic performance. However, there are many nuances that make such a claim untenable. An academic performance based compensation scheme, while not without merit, could lead to many undesirable consequences and, therefore, should be implemented with careful precautions, ensuring that the objectives of the education system can be fulfilled. While one would argue that a performance based compensation could incentivize teachers to improve their students’ academic performance, many questions, which are vital to the argument’s validity, need to be addressed. First, how would one define and measure academic performance? One direct way to do so is through test scores. Indeed, test scores do correlate with income, which is essential to students’ future. Nevertheless, one must not avoid the hypothetical situation in which teachers put all of their effort into test preparation, ignoring pyschological development and interpersonal and social skills. Studies do show that a successful career hinges not just on one’s academic performance, but also his or her emotional intelligence, which measures how one can deal with the society. By focusing only on academic performance, the proposed compensation scheme incentivizes teachers not just to raise test scores, but also to ignore qualities that are quintessential to the future success of their students. Since using academic performance as the only standard for compensation induces pervert incentives, the proponent of such proposal should better define and expand the scope of performance, instead of limiting it just to academic. The measurement issue leads to another question: What if the measurement or metric used could be improved by unintended means? For example, the No Child Left Behind Act meant to reward teachers by their student’s test scores, equating test scores with academic performance and even future success. However, they did not consider the possibility that test scores could be improved through other means, such as cheating. Compared to sincere and assiduous hard work, cheating is much easier for a salary boost. Indeed, there is evidence that teachers did help students cheat on tests. Therefore, such a proposed scheme, if implemented, must find a metric that measures what the scheme intends to enhance. Lastly, this proposal, while recognizing the responsibility of the teachers, neglects the responsibility of the students. Education is a mutual effort. While one could argue that teachers should share a greater burden because of both their vocation and maturity, students are also one of the variables that play in the equation. The proposal cannot effectively separate the effect of the teachers from the effect of the students, thus unfairly penalizing the teacher if the student were to blame. This could lead to greater inequality among students, as teachers tend to flee to good schools and those who cannot would pursue other jobs. The end result would be such that good students would retain good teachers and bad students would bad teachers who would have been better if those who left decided to stay. This proposal needs to balance the share of burden. While there is merit in the performance based compensation scheme, one must not forget its risks and potential harm. If it were to be implemented, policymakers need to define what it is supposed to measure and make sure that it actually reflects such. Furthermore, it needs to strike a fair balance in the share of responsibility. Yes, it would be unfair to compensate good and bad teachers equally, but it would also be unfair and detrimental if the burden is not shared equally.
  3. Truly appreciated! Really need some advice on how to write a superb essay Topic: Claim: In any field—business, politics, education, government—those in power should step down after five years. Reason: The surest path to success for any enterprise is revitalization through new leadership. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based. Essay: While it is not entirely unreasonable to have long term leaders and visionaries, the benefit of installing mechanisms to limit the duration of power is not entirely absent either. To impose a restriction of five years does include an element of impetuosity, but that does not imply that we should lift all constraints. Long term leaders can surely bring benefits. For example, many infrastructure projects take decades to pay off, let alone five years. If leaders can only maintain power for five years, there is no incentive for leaders to take initiatives. However, a length constraint does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that no roads or dams can be built. For example, in the U.S., after Franklin Roussevelt, a president can only serve for eight years. However, the interstate highway system was built under Dwight Eisenhower. The U.S. also landed a man on the moon for the first time under the Kennedy Administration. Therefore, the right answer is not to all or nothing, but find the goldilocks zone in which a good temporal constraint can be found. On the other hand, having new leaderships once in a while brings benefits as well, as George Washington willingly gave up his leadership after two terms. A new leadership prevents the centralization of power. If a leader were offered a lifetime role, there is no reason for him or her not to abuse such power. On the other hand, he or she could inject his or her followers into the administration or system. Even worse, people within the administration would naturally turn themselves into the leadership’s slaves, for the unbridled power that the leaders possess. For example, in communist China, when Mao Zedong ruled and commanded the nation, diversity of opinions was barely existent. Worse, raising objections or disagreement would entail lifetime imprisonment and even death. The result was a long term decline of the national economy and persistent poverty, as initiatives to reform were scant and always rejected under the unchecked power of Mao. The claim also invokes the need for revitalization. Many projects are long-term in nature, such as infrastructure, but new ideas and perspectives are often needed, even on those long term projects. Nokia was not able to innovate and catch up with the smartphone revolution, walking dismally into its demise. However, companies such as Apple and Google were keen on innovation. At Google and Apple, leadership roles are constantly changing and they are quick to grab talented individuals, as they understand the need to revitalize their companies. In this fast spaced world, change is the only constant. As competition becomes more fierce and companies are fighting show demonstrate their new products on the stage every now and then, new leaders are needed to provide unconventional and perspicacious insights. The claim is extreme and inflexible in imposing a five year constraint and neglects certain aspects of long-term planning. However, the answer is not the remove all constraints and introduce unchecked power. Finding the right temporal length is the key, as we can see how the lack of innovation and revitalization and the unchekced power of a dictator could introduce more harm than good. Therefore, the claim to limit power is sound and reasonable, but needs to be nuanced to include flexibility.
  4. Thank you so much for everyone's help! Topic: Claim: Governments must ensure that their major cities receive the financial support they need in order to thrive. Reason: It is primarily in cities that a nation's cultural traditions are preserved and generated. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based. Essay: While cultural traditions are precious to preserve and protect, claiming that governments must financially support cities is too extreme. Supporting cities, especially through monetary subsidies, can maintain population growth and thus potentially preserve traditions, but turning such support into a govermental obligation relies on many unproven assumptions and contains multiple flaws on both theoretical and implementation levels. First of all, it is not necessarily the government’s job to preserve cultural traditions. Traditions are precious and valuable, but so are food, clean water, unpolluted air, health care and other essential services to human life. In developed countries, it is more appealing to call for the protection of cultural traditions and it is easier to implement. However, in the developing world where many people are living bellow a dollar a day, such a preservation task could prove to be burdensome and impractical. Whether or not its citizens can live healthily is the government’s top priority, which surpasses other unnecessary, although well-inteitioned, tasks that could potentially cost human lives if they were turned into obligations. People indeed hear about traditions, such as folklores and cultural festivals, in metropolitan areas. However, we also hear about innovations and unconventional ideologies from big cities. Traditions, by defintion, are practices and behavior that belong to a group of people who are often senior and old-fashioned. Urbanization or the continuation of urbanization could in fact obliterate traditions through the introduction of novelty. For example, in small villages, writing letters is a tradition to convey thoughts and feelings through handwritten words. Such a beautiful tradition does not exist in big cities where technology has erased the importance of handwritten thoughts through emails, text messages, etc. Thus, supporting big cities financially could lead to the destruction of traditions by funneling money into the hands of technological innvators. Some traditions are good to keep, but one must ask whether we should indiscriminately keep all traditions. For example, some traditions are mysoginous, requiring women to subject themselves as slaves to their husbands. In ancient China, women were required to bind their feet, which would be distorted into “acceptable shapes.” The claim does not describe the criteria by which one would distribute the monetary support, nor does it consider the possibility that such criteria might not even be able to be determined. It is impulsive to call for the preservation of cultures without specifying the selection criteria and to make it a governmental obligation. Protecting cultural traditions has its benefits and, to some degree, potentially deserves governmental support. However, making it into an obligation is impulsive and gratuitous. In developing countries such an obligation might not be practical, and in some cases it could be counterproductive and detrimental to the society if there is no selection in the preservation process. Thus, the claim needs to be nuanced with specifications and qualifications.
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