昊 天 翱 龙 » 日志 » 2008-04-02 Issue1 Argument154 神奇抽到了Issue.1~~
2008-04-02 Issue1 Argument154 神奇抽到了Issue.1~~
昊天翱龙 发表于 2008-04-02 16:03:24
TOPIC: ISSUE1 - "We can usually learn much more from people whose views we share than from people whose views contradict our own; disagreement can cause stress and inhibit learning."
WORDS: 502 TIME: 00:43:34 DATE: 2008-04-02 15:57:06
The speaker asserts that we usually learn much more from people whose views we share than from people whose views contradict own own. I fundamentally agree insofar that disagreement sometimes is detrimental to communication. However, the speaker overlooks the positive sides of contradiction, which may leads us to another perspective of certain problems.
To begin with, I agree with the contention that disagreement can cause stress and thus inhibit learning. People have a natural and intrinsic sense that their own ideas and concepts are more reasonable than that of others, so it is always difficult for a person to accept views different from his or hers. When others pose an opinion that contradicts against one's specific intuition, a sense of anxiouty, pressure and tension may arise, even quarrels and battles, thus impeding the person from listening to others' voices and promoting his logic reasoning. Especially, we refuse to accept when others point out the flaws and mistakes in our ideas, for the unwillingness to admit our disadvantages. All above will inhibit our learing in a great degree.
Nevertheless, disagreement, on the other hand, serves well to facilitate learning in the aspect of promoting thinking ,scrutinizing, and improving ourselves. Firstly, from hearkening to different ideas, we can find and fetch up the flaws of our ways of thinking, as well as absorb the advantages of others to improve ourselves. We are hardly aware of our shortages but by the critics from our peers, colleagues, and teachers. Secondly, those views that contradict our own can broaden our views, as we can not have a clear view of every angle of a problem, so we need to communicate with people who have different opinions. Thirdly, by comparing various sorts of opinions, we can deepen our own understanding of a certain subject.
A close scrutiny of the role that agreement plays in learning shows that contents also have both positive and negative points. Agreements can make it easier for people to discuss about their standpoints together. Moreover, the meeting of minds helps to strenghen our confidence, which is benificial to the learning process. But on the contrary, agreement will blind our eyes. A unanimous discussion is of no good to stimulate creative ideas and innovation, but to promote ignorant arrogance. An blindly agreement on a wrong idea may even quicken the worsening of the situation.
To sum up, every coin has two sides and either disagreement or agreement is no exception. The speaker's assertion that we can learn much more from agreements rather than contradictable views unfairly overlooks both the postive points of disagreements and the negative aspects of agreements. In my opinion, it is in the environment where harmonious communication is held, we listen to different voices and consider their merits and shortages by our independent thinking that we learn most effectively and efficiently. Reaching an agreement on the right aspects of other's opinions and a disagreement on the incorrect parts of our own, is the one of the best ways to improve ourselves indeed.
TOPIC: ARGUMENT154 - The following appeared in the editorial section of a health and fitness magazine.
"In a study of the effects of exercise on longevity, medical researchers tracked 500 middle-aged men over a 20-year period. The subjects represented a variety of occupations in several different parts of the country and responded to an annual survey in which they were asked: How often and how strenuously do you exercise? Of those who responded, the men who reported that they engaged in vigorous outdoor exercise nearly every day lived longer than the men who reported that they exercised mildly only once or twice a week. Given the clear link that this study establishes between longevity and exercise, doctors should not recommend moderate exercise to their patients but should instead encourage vigorous outdoor exercise on a daily basis."
WORDS: 423 TIME: 00:30:00 DATE: 2008-04-02 15:57:06
The editor of the health and fitness magazine suggests patients should take vigorous outdoor exercise on a daily basis instead of moderate exercise. The recommendation relies on a study showing that men who reported that they engaged in vigorous outdoor exercise nearly every day lived longer than those who exercised mildly only once or twice a week. The author claims this study eastablishes a clear link between longevity and exercise. However, by scrutinizing many dimensions of the problem, I find the author's logic reasoning flawed, for the following reasons:
As far as the study that the editor cites is concerned, we are not convinced that the result of the study reflects the real situation. As the auther mentions, only 500 subjects were involved in the study and the time period is merely 20 years, which I consider too small for the reliability of statistical random sampling. Secondly, we are also not informed what kinds of activities the subjects were taking participation in besides physical exercises, which have possible benifits to the subjects. Thirdly, I doubt whether to take middle-aged people as research samples is reasonable. The author provides no evidence that people of this age stage is the best choice for such research. All above makes us suspectable of the conclusion drawn from the research.
The author attributes longevity to exercise, which unfairly overlooks other possible reasons that may prolong one's life time. It is entirely possible there lies other factors, such as eating habits, climate, and so on, promoting the physical qualities of some of the subjects. Moreover, modern science has told us that the longevity has close affinities with one's gene. Perhaps those who engaged in vigorous outdoors exercise on a daily bases involved in the study happened to be born to live a longer life.
Furthermore, the author's suggestion that every patient should take vigorous outdoor exercies every day is based on the assumption that patients share the same situation of the subjects involved in the study, which is unreasonalbe. And the samples are male only while the patients can be male or female. Whether daily exercises would benifit women patients remains questionable.
To sum up, the author's suggestion that doctor should reccommend vigorous outdoor exercise on a daily basis to their patients is unconvincing. To strenghen the recommendation, the editor should provide more evidence: (1)The cited study is scientically reliable and truly reflects the fact (2)There is indeed relations between longevity and exercises. (3)Outdoor exercises will benifit the patients as well as benifit the male subjects in the research.
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