dilotor

Issue Topic: The best way to teach is to praise actions and ignore negative ones. In general, praising a certain behavior encourages more of it, but this does not necessarily mean the best way to teach is to acknowledge and reward positive behavior while ignoring negative actions. This is just a good practice that must be complemented with other strategies, including correcting or improving defects on a student´s performance. Rewarding a good behavior or good results is beneficial for a student because it is an incentive to keep doing more of it, but there are certain circumstances in which it could create the opposite. For example, praising a student constantly for getting straight A´s, can encourage the continuation of this results, but on the other hand, if done excessively, could make the student overconfident or egocentric, making him or her underperform. As Jimi Hendrix once said, “Compliments can become distractions” As well as with praising positive actions, ignoring negative ones has similar consequences under different circumstances. For instance, identifying negative results, weaknesses and failure is a fundamental part of teaching because it tells us what our opportunities for improving are and turn them into strengths. So definitely, ignoring negative behavior is something that should be avoided, with some exceptions, such as when students are shy and lack confidence. In this case, for example, ignoring some of the student’s mistakes can be beneficial for a while because it can help him gain confidence and help him at the beginning. In conclusion, the best way to teach is a combination of rewarding positive behavior and penalizing negative actions but while being conscious about the extent to which each is done and being able to identify under which circumstances it is proper to make an exception for each case.

Argument Topic: In the argument, Dr. Karp concludes that children in Tertia are reared by their biological parents, instead of by an entire village, as Dr. Field suggested, after interviewing them and noticing they talk more about their biological parents than about the other adults in the village. Answer: First of all, it is important to note that there is some subjectivity to the matter. Before reaching any conclusion, a definition about what rearing children means, must be established before discrediting Dr. Karp´s or Dr. Field´s methods. After having done this, each of their approaches should be evaluated separately to validate de solidity of their arguments. In modern societies, children are commonly raised by their biological parents, but many other people in our communities, such as teachers and friends, play important roles as well. In some cases, they even play a bigger role, for this reason, defining what raising is and determining who does it, is crucial. The fact that children spoke more about their biological parents, rather than talking about other adults in their tribe, can be part of the answer to who raises the children in Tertia. Still, this is insufficient to reach the conclusion Dr. Karp reached and discard Dr. Field´s. The facts presented by Dr. Karp do point partially in the direction he established, because children of Tertia speaking about their biological parents could mean it was them who raised the children instead of other villagers, but it could also mean the opposite, since the children could have talked about the lack of presence of their biological parents during their interview. It wasn´t specified what was said about them, which is crucial for determining their role in raising the children. In conclusion, the subjectivity of the matter means that Dr. Karp´s argument needs further establishment of the definition of what rearing means and further evidence based upon the best practices in anthropology.

Argument: The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of a food distribution company with food storage warehouses in several cities. "Recently, we signed a contract with the Fly-Away Pest Control Company to provide pest control services at our warehouse in Palm City, but last month we discovered that over $20,000 worth of food there had been destroyed by pest damage. Meanwhile, the Buzzoff Pest Control Company, which we have used for many years in Palm City, continued to service our warehouse in Wintervale, and last month only $10,000 worth of the food stored there had been destroyed by pest damage. Even though the price charged by Fly-Away is considerably lower, our best means of saving money is to return to Buzzoff for all our pest control services." Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted Answer: Mr. Vice -President, After analyzing the situation you have communicated to us, we believe the actions you plan to execute regarding your business might not be ideal unless we explore further the causes and proportions of pest damage your warehouses have suffered. In first place, just because the pest damage with Buzzoff Pest Control Company in Wintervale was lower in dollar terms, this doesn’t mean there was less damage than in Palm City. The percentage of goods damaged might have been higher than the one with Fly Away Pest Control Company and it would be necessary to make this calculation to discover which of the companies provides a more effective. Secondly, supposing the Buzoff Pest Control Company did perform better than the Fly Away Pest Control Company percentwise, it is important to note that these results were obtained in the city of Wintervale, which might be a city with a different weather that potentially might be less suitable for pests to thrive, making the results obtained not comparable. In order to be able to make that assumption, we would first need to make sure that the geographic conditions of both cities are comparable in terms of temperature, humidity and cleanness, among others, so we can discard this variable as a possible cause for the difference in damages to the merchandise among both locations. In conclusion, the best way to save money would be to compare the damage that happened on both cities in a more fair manner, calculating the percentage of damaged goods in relation to the total merchandise stored in each warehouse and identifying if any variable other than the Pest Control Company might have caused an apparently better result in Wintervale. Failing to do so before choosing which pest control company to hire, might result in further damage to the merchandise and in higher switching costs. Sincerely, Diego López

Argument: The luxuries and conveniences of contemporary life prevent people from developing into truly strong and independent individuals. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position. Answer: The above argument is partially valid, and its validity depends on the perspective or circumstances under which it is analyzed. The luxuries or conveniences available contemporarily can be used as a tool to improve personally or collectively, or to weaken us on many aspects us as well. Firstly, having luxuries such as last generation gaming consoles or the possibility to order food through applications on your phone, can spoil a person or prevent them from learning new skills since the easiness provided by some modern online services can facilitate tasks that you would normally have to do, but avoid, because you can choose to have someone else do them for you. In that sense, what would make these technologies good or bad would depend on what you do with the extra free time you have. If a person chooses to order food instead of cooking, and uses that time to slack off, then the technology would be preventing him from being more diligent or learning a new skill. If on the other hand, that same person used the time to learn how to code, then the same delivery application would be helping him save time to become better at something. Secondly, examples like unnecessary or superfluous luxury items that a person could buy to impress others such as designer clothes, can be analyzed similarly. On one hand, wearing this kind of clothes can be negative if you get into serious debt to acquire them, making you less independent, and weaker financially. On the other hand, wearing these clothes could help others perceive you as a more successful person or professional and improve your business relationships. In conclusion, the luxuries and conveniences of contemporary life can have many effects on the development of individuals. These effects can depend on many factors such as the purpose for which they are used and the specific circumstances surrounding and defining that specific individual’s objectives, personality and education, among others.