The Issue statement is :
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.
This is my first writing on Issue section...Very intense.((Also first post in this forum...DOUBLE intense..))
It took me almost 50 minutes to finish.
Please give me some advice per GRE standard. Thanks!
What most inspire one to learn more? Agreement or disagreement? The speaker believes in the former. While some of our everyday exprience may lend credence to this contention, a further reflection reveals its flaw, that human advancement doesn't necessarily come from a single source, but a more complex one, involving both internal and external inspirations.
Admittedly, in some circumtances disagreement with other people can be counterproductive to learning. To see this point, We need to look no further than ourselves. To disagree is to deem one's opinions wrong. So we need to point out their thinkings' lack out consideration. This process reveals oneself to his/her own flaws. Some of us just don't take this easy. They can't face their flaws like vampire can't face the sun. Once exposed to it, they get burnt also--but in the inside. They will be discouraged to think, for fear of making more mistakes, exposing more flaws, hence more burns. It's like a snake who gets hold of its tail, a circle that never ends. And thinking is like writing articles, if you don't do it for a while, you simply forget how to. So these people certainly can't learn from disagreement.
In this sense, to be agreed seems to be much more benign. Not this simple. when someone was agreed, a sense very similar to glory emerges from deep inside. This feeling , as comfortable as it may be, is the very reason why sometimes the history didn't move forward. When the catholic church believes the earth is the center of the universe, as is shared with virtually everyone, the truth, even lives, are sacrificed to this sense of glory and righteousness. Learn from agreement? Don't even get your hopes up.
But the world is big and besides the foregoing provisos, I fundamentally disagree with the speaker's contention. An ideal example to assess the function of disagreement in learning would be the field of History. Washington disagreed. When the Queen of England took too much of their rights, when there is nothing more to give up but their free will and their pursuit of happiness, he stood up aganist the empire. By learning from the disagreement with colonist government, he drafted the Decleration of Independence. By revealing what a tyranny the colonists have been, he learnt how a nation should be governed. That's how you do it. Face the flaw and face the challenge. Analyze the circumtances and stay open to new ideals. Then you may learn and thrive through disagreement.
In sum, weather you learn from disagreement or agreement now appears to be a much trivil dichotomy. I concede that disagreement can cause stress and inhibit learning. But it really is the altitude and the way one think of and treat disagreement , or agreement, that matters. If you think like a vampire, you would be a vampire. If you think like a Washinton, you would be a Washington.
