TOEFL--A job with more vacation time is better....& Teachers should show their...

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Teachers should show their political or social views known in the classroom.

Contemporarily, people have already hold the freedom of speech and everybody, including educators and adolescents, are allowed to support distinct political or social views. Admittedly, it is still not proper for teachers to demonstrate their personal angles on political or social issues during classes. Otherwise it will probably contribute to some unpleasant situations, including weakened education, conflicts between the teacher and students, introducing misunderstanding in certain policy or subjects, etc. Thus I don't agree with the statement.

Initially, if teachers show their political or social views in the classroom, the time for teaching will be unavoidably curtailed and the education will be weakened. A teacher's responsibility and obligation are composed of teaching and enlightening students, rather than assist students in establishing or correcting their political views. My friend's physics teacher used to complain about the policy our government executed during classes. And my friend told me that after the classes, most of her classmates always obtained a vague concept about the physical knowledge mentioned in the classes but a vivid memory of their teacher's annoying and meaningless complaints. And her classmates' feeling obviously indicate the education was negatively influenced. So as far as I'm concerned, teachers should not show their political or social views during classes.

Secondly, teachers showing their views on political or social issues would probably ignite conflicts in the classroom and would give rise to prejudice between teachers and students. Supposing there is a student who is against the political or social views the teacher holds, he would feel offended or even humiliated when hearing his own teacher criticizing strongly on his views. He is likely to defend his angle and express his disagreement directly to his teacher, which is identically offensive to the teacher. If the debate goes on and develops into an unpleasant conflict, not only will the atmosphere in the classroom be intense, but the relationship between the teacher and the student will deteriorate. And it is detrimental to both of them: the teacher may ignore the student's problems in study, which will undermine the student's success at school; and the student may evaluate the teacher with prejudice, which will do harm to the teacher's career. Therefore I don't approve that teachers should make their political or social views known in the classroom.

Furthermore, it is possible that teachers showing their views in the classroom will introduce misunderstanding upon some sorts of political or social issues. During the period they spend in schools, students are still forming their own positions on certain issues. Teachers have no rights to interfere the progress. Besides, their views are not always right, since their different life experiences, educational backgrounds, religious and regional cultures would exert direct influence on their political or social views. And there might be limit and deficiency in their views, especially toward those naturally controversial topics, such as use of drugs in athletics, cloning and homosexual discrimination. Their perspectives are easily driven to extreme, which will mislead the students in a large degree if the views are shown. Consequently, teacher should not express their political or social views in front of their students.

In brief, personally, I believe that teachers should not show their political or social views in the classroom.

Thank you all in advance!

For your first essay,
I dont really think the first two points are solid.

A job with low salary but more vacation time will not necessary enhance communication.
Good communication between parents and children depends on how they treat each others, not how much time they stay together. Parents may use most of the time for entertainment and sleeping.

Also a job with low salary but more vacation time will not necessary update people's ideas. It is probable that the job is monotonuos and low-skilled. When it is comapared with officers, the former should have less chance in using his brain!

You should write down some points wont be easily argued such as health issue and financial issue.

Well, I see what you mean. But I think it would be hard to find a point that shows absolute support or opposition for/to the statement. For most of cases, you can argue them either way.

Anyway, thank you for your advice. I'll try the "health" one. :)

Hmmm... I don't know... if I had a job with 6 weeks of vacation time I could use 4 of those weeks to earn extra money, so I could have the best of both options!

Wow, this is for TOEFL? You already write perfectly! I'll give you a tip about style:
Use a comma to separate the 2 halves of a compound sentence:
Supposing one person takes a job with high salary but less vacation time, his angle of consideration or solution would stay conservative or obsolete, for he is always spending time with the exactly same bunch of fellows, and there is no fresh blood to stimulate exciting inspirations.

the reason I put a comma above is that you could have this as a separate sentence:
There is no fresh blood to stimulate exciting inspirations.
When part of a long sentence could be a separate sentence, separate it with a comma, and that will make your writing more sophisticated.

Contemporarily, people have already hold have freedom of speech, and everybody, including educators and adolescents, is allowed to support distinct political or social views.

I bet $1,000 you will score very high on the TOEFL.

EF Kevin,


Actually, I'm not quite sure about how to use comma properly. Thank you for your explanation. :)

And hopefully, you'll win the bet. ^_^ haha~ But I'm still trying to better my speaking skill. >_<
Anyway, wish me luck! :)

Famous writers use commas in different ways, and their uses have changed with time.

My favorite approach is that of Strunk and White in The Elements of Style.