Hello, here is my 2 essays:
Topic = The best way to teach is to praise positive actions and ignore negative ones.
Praising positive actions and ignore negative ones can be a great way to teach, but it
must be carefully executed.
Students may feel galvanized to interact with the class and professor, since they will
have a positive reward, making them give more of themselves for the class not only for the
sake of grading, but also for a positive reinforce. It can make the relationship between
students and professor closer, because some students may view the professor only as someone
who will give a subject and the student just need to pass his/her class. You can easily find
students in class who does not want to interact at all, fact which may interfere with their
education, as well interfering in how the professor can measure the learning of his/her
students, so praising their positive actions may give them the desire to interact more with
the professor, class and on.
The problems with this approach is exactly in how it will be executed, since not all
negative actons can be tolerated or ignored, because it can lead to repetition or misbehavior
form the students. Of course a student can be forgiven if comes late for class, but not even
receiving a note or warning, he/she may think the professor does not care and turn that into
a routine.
It depends strongly in how the professor will approach the students with this technique,
and it can surely help students interact more with the class and make their learning better.
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The following appeared in an article written by Dr. Karp, an anthropologist.
“Twenty years ago, Dr. Field, a noted anthropologist, visited the island of Tertia and
concluded from his observations that children in Tertia were reared by an entire village
rather than by their own biological parents. However, my recent interviews with children
living in the group of islands that includes Tertia show that these children spend much
more time talking about their biological parents than about other adults in the village.
This research of mine proves that Dr. Field’s conclusion about Tertian village culture is
invalid and thus that the observation-centered approach to studying cultures is invalid as
well. The interview-centered method that my team of graduate students is currently using
in Tertia will establish a much more accurate understanding of child-rearing traditions
there and in other island cultures.”
Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the
argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.
The island of Tertia or the the group of islands that include Tertia may have suffered
a disaster 20 years ago, before Dr. Field studies, leaving several orphans that were raised
by the elders of the village or some group, not necessarily making the studies of Dr. Field
invalid.
The children may talk more about their biological parents, but it doesn't prove they are
being raised by them, since the parents can be living in another island or country and only
coming to visit their children.
The observation-centered method can be useful to provide details of the culture from
citizens of Tertia, since the information gathered from interviews must have its
veracity proven before being used to disprove another study.