Help to revise essays

[AbigailStricker]

Hello!

I am new here, I just started to prepare for the GRE test. These are the first writing tasks I've done and I am in need of critics for my essays. I live in Argentina and here it's extremely difficult to find someone around who know about this. So, if anyone can read these stuff and help me a bit I'd be very thankful.

Issue Task

Educators should teach facts only after their students have studied the ideas, trends, and concepts that help explain those facts.

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.

It is always complicated to define which facts are worth of teaching, and which are optional.Even more, it is harder to find the way to teach them. Some teachers prefer to give a proper context before laying down any facts, while others do exactly the opposite: learn the facts first, then (if there is time to spare) let's do a revision of what lead to them. Instead of doing a full background of the facts or just give them, wouldn't be better to find a balance?
Having a developed background about the ideas and trends of fact can be vital to fully understand it. The Bastille take by the poor people during French Revolution is tightly related to what was happening: the King's army was killing them on the streets, destroying any chance of political change. The Bastille was the central deposit of weapons powered by gunpowder. If they took the place, they could fight against historic repression. Darwin's journey through Galapagos Islands is crucial for Origin of the Species. It is in that place where he could confirm several ideas about evolution, watching the slight and big differences between birds' beaks. 
Also, when the students have more information and not just the fact itself they may develop a broader perspective. One can see how everything and anything can affect the outcome of an action, a fact. Would Darwin have published Origin of the Species if he hadn't been able to see those birds? What would have happened if he hadn't see them? Would Democracy was we know it exist if those men didn't take the Bastille? It is important for a student, and for any person, to grasp at least a bit of the interconnection that exists between facts and context. 
But this approach can be very impractical. In the tight school schedules that rule the education system is hard to find enough time to teach and explain fully the ideas and trends that lead to an outcome. And given that difficulty, a new one arises: if there is not enough time, then a classification between vital and not important ideas should be developed. This can change too much between teachers and institutions, since it may be heavily influenced by personal points of view and different formation background between teachers. 
Nonetheless, it is important to not overlook any of these extremes. A fact without context is meaningless, and too many trends, ideas, and context without their outcomes are too abstract. The best way is to relate both sides at the same time, so the student can learn the important facts with their corresponding context, and give them meaning.

Argument Task

Twenty years ago, Dr. Field, a noted anthropologist, visited the island of Tertia. Using an observation-centered approach to studying Tertian culture, he concluded from his observations that children in Tertia were reared by an entire village rather than by their own biological parents. Recently another anthropologist, Dr. Karp, visited the group of islands that includes Tertia and used the interview-centered method to study child-rearing practices. In the interviews that Dr. Karp conducted with children living in this group of islands, the children spent much more time talking about their biological parents than about other adults in the village. Dr. Karp decided that Dr. Field's conclusion about Tertian village culture must be invalid. Some anthropologists recommend that to obtain accurate information on Tertian child-rearing practices, future research on the subject should be conducted via the interview-centered method.

Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

 

In order to understand culture and behavior, in particular the Tertian ones, researchers need to get information and perspective about traits and costumes practiced along a community. According to the text, both observation and interviews have been done. Since the latter has been selected to continue they should be children-centered, and in parallel do interviews with adults in the community. For both groups, the following questions -among others- should be asked.
One of the key ones would be how much time they pass with their parents. If their rearing is done by their biological parents, it is logical to think that most of the children day-to-day experiences will happen with them. It is in those experiences where most children learn about their place in the world, being instructed and formed by parents or people with some sort of importance in their life. For that, time needs to be spent together. 
Another question would be if in case of a problem or doubt who the children go to; a father or mother? the oldest person at their village? a determined group? In that way, researchers could have a vague (but otherwise important) idea of who is or are the authority figures for the children. Authority is very much related to parents or people with rearing function.
A third one could be about their living situation. Do they live with other children? With adults? How many? Did they grow up together, with the same group of people? The living organization can further develop the net of connections between children and adults; those who live with the children may have an important part in their rearing, as much as to share a place with them.
Finally, observation shouldn't be discarded. Even with a set of complete questions to flesh out children ideas and experiences, behavior observation can add new information and help to understand systems of authority and can give a view unaffected by children costumes. Sometimes people aren't completely honest or clear in surveys and interviews, so it is important to have other sources of information. 
So, in order to have a more complete representation of Tertian culture, this set of questions could be useful to start an expanded research on the topic.
 

Edited August 7, 2018 by AbigailStricker
I just finished both and it's 2 AM.