rashmi Posted September 22, 2004 Share Posted September 22, 2004 Topic 1:"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." Do we learn more from people whose views we share rather than from those who contradict our views? The author claims so, giving the hypothesis that disagreement can cause stress. I agree here that disagreement with people who contradict our views can cause dicord . Else, I am of the view that one can learn more from people who have ideas different from us by constructive discussion and debate. Admittedly, disagreement with people with whom we do not share any common ground at all will always cause dissension. What good can come when a fanatically religious person finds himself in the company of an atheist. The zealot, whose whole life revolves around his religious beliefs and who takes on himself the prime responsibility of propagating his view will not only be faced with totally opposite ideas while confronting the aethist ,but can also lead to a lot of stress which can lead to disastrous results, sometimes even bloodshed. followers of differennt factions of religions fall into the same category. History holds proof of the countless battles in the world where such types of opposing views have caused generations of people to vanish from the face of Earth.The never ending strife between India and Pakistan on the issue of whether Kashmir should be a part of either country based on the religion of the citizend holds testimony of this type of discord. Another common proof of dissension caused by disagreement is something we all see in commom these days. consider the topic of war where people are divide into such varying groups that one just cannot expect any form of coalition among them .There are some who may be in favour of the United States of America going to war with Iraq whereas somemay not think that it was necessary . Still others may not support the war but support the troops . Such major differences in thinking can turn old friends into overnight enemies. How many times have you tried to ignore the war related e-mails your dear friend sends you just because he/she believes that you support her on her stand.How much time and energy is wasted in countless arguments between such opposing factions with no results at all? Nevertheless, I believe that we can learn from people who do not support our views entirely but with whom we can find some common ground. We all have heard and most importantly believe that "Knowledge is Power " and as is depicted by one of the hindu saints in his preachings is that knowledge is a sea from which the more you share, the more you enrichen it. Admittedly ,no one person can boast of knowing everything. In our day to day lives too, we come across and use services of people who may not support our views .Lets try and understand this concept at three levels of society-our home, our neighbourhood and the world at large. Consider the generation gap between two generations each household envisions. The different viewpoints we all seem to have are aggravated when we realise that the person not sharing our line of thought is a generation older or younger to us. But when we all decide to keep our differences apart, the younger ones can benfit from the experiences of their elders, and the older generation can by lending an ear to their younger counterparts learn ways to improve communication among themselves . Either ways we learn to look at things from a different perspective which automatically makes us more wise. Likewise take the society we live in. A scientist may have ideas which can advance the whole civilisation in leaps and bounds but if he teams with an environmentalist who can throw some light on how these efforts can be transformed into ways which can make the air we braethe more healthier,then we have a winning team at hand. Like wise even though all the countries may not agree on all the viewpoints with each other ,yet they can make the world a better place to live in if they develop the patience to give an ear to what the others have to say. No example other than the founders of the famous website-Google can exemplify this issue more . It is said that when the duo-Larry Page and Sergey Brin first met on their campus, they nearly disagreed on every petty issue.But eventually they found common ground in their love for technology and Voila!-we all have a website on our hands which has enabled us to search the Enternet as if the largest encyclopidias on Earth were in our Living Room,that too with the mere click of a mouse and in time it takes to blink the eyes!! In a nutshell, if the opponents in a debate are willing to keep their differences aside and play by a common set of rules, It is beyond doubt that they will learn from each other in spite of their contrasting views. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tans Posted September 23, 2004 Share Posted September 23, 2004 hi rashmi, its a superb essay in first attempt. [clap] u read the essay first from real essay book, isnt it? did u write it in time constraint conditiobn? then its really good, ur example of american war is also sporadic. i shall put a 5.5 in ur essay 'The zealot, whose whole life revolves around his religious beliefs and who takes on himself the prime responsibility of propagating his view will not only be faced with totally opposite ideas while confronting the aethist ,but can also lead to a lot of stress which can lead to disastrous results, sometimes even bloodshed good example and use of vocab No example other than the founders of the famous website-Google can exemplify this issue more . It is said that when the duo-Larry Page and Sergey Brin first met on their campus, they nearly disagreed on every petty issue.But eventually they found common ground in their love for technology and Voila!-we all have a website on our hands which has enabled us to search the Enternet as if the largest encyclopidias on Earth were in our Living Room,that too with the mere click of a mouse and in time it takes to blink the eyes!! this sounds great, well done my friend. carry on, buit before that tell me how much time u took to compose it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rashmi Posted September 23, 2004 Author Share Posted September 23, 2004 I already told you that since this was my first attempt,I took all the time in the world to gather ideas . I read essays from this site on this topic though I copied none of the examples. I also read arco essay book and based my construction,i.e. flow of my essay based on their example.I really liked the style. First give the contrasting views , then the ones u support. It took me half an hour to type it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigduke Posted September 23, 2004 Share Posted September 23, 2004 Rasmi, jolly good attempt, how many months into prep already? The reason I ask is so I'll attempt an essay around the same phase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rashmi Posted September 23, 2004 Author Share Posted September 23, 2004 well thats something difficult to answer. The case here is that I started a about 4-5 months back but my schedule has been kind of erratic as I have a small baby, what matters is that I have just few days left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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