3. Outings to museums have no educational value. Do you agree?

I don’t see eye to eye to the notion.

+ Museums provide an effective way of learning

Museums are examples of informal learning environments, which means they are devoted primarily to
informal education — a lifelong process whereby individuals acquire attitudes, values, skills, and knowledge
from daily experience and the educative influences and resources in his or her environment. Even outside of
museums, informal learning plays a pivotal role in how we take in the world around us. In fact, The U.S.
Department of Labor estimates 70% or more of work-related learning occurs outside formal training. A single
visit to a museum can expose visitors to in-depth information on a subject, and the nature of the museum
environment is one in which you can spend as much or as little time as you like exploring exhibits. The
environment allows you to form your own unique experiences and take away information that interests you.
Despite the success that museums have already had in educating visitors, there continue to be ongoing
discussions among institutions in regard to increasing museums’ ability to connect through informal learning.

+ Museums need your support in order to keep educating and inspiring people

Many museums are nonprofit entities with missions to educate and inspire audiences – and that means
that they need the support of visitors, members, and donors in order to keep on fulfilling those missions. Sadly,
many people don’t even know that museums are nonprofit organizations! Often, a membership pays itself off in
as few as three annual visits to a museum, and you can come back and visit the museum again and again all year
round. If you like a cultural organization and you want to keep it around for decades to come (so that you may
bring your great-grandchildren), make a donation or fill out that membership card with pride! In many ways,
supporting a museum through visitation or – even better – through membership or philanthropic support is a
way of strengthening communities and giving back so that the museum can create impactful programs that fulfill
its mission.

+ Counterargument: Museums are time-consuming while we can read online.

>> Admittance: Admittedly, they take more time in terms of travelling and experiencing.

>> Refutation: Museums present a far more on-hands experience which can be easier for students to
remember.
4. Do you think computers will one day replace teachers in the classroom? (NO)

+ People are social animals

Humans like to learn in groups and they like to learn from other people. Robots will never be able to match
humans on that count. Another factor which is likely to be irreplaceable: the ability to inspire. Teaching facts and
theories is one thing, relating the things you teach to everyday life is quite another. Teachers are there to
answer the really difficult questions when students get stuck. Teachers are there to share their experiences in
life, to relate to the students one human to another. It is for this reason that teachers’ jobs are safe for the
foreseeable future.

+ They help children thrive in an uncertain future

No-one knows what the world will be like in twenty years but those starting school this year will need to take
their place in that world. The world is getting more connected and seems smaller. Global issues cannot be
ignored. No-one would argue, certainly not teachers, that we all want young people to thrive and flourish in this
unknown world and work to allow the earth to thrive as well.

+ Counterargument: Computers are more accurate than people can ever be.

>> Admittance: People do make mistakes

>> Refutation: Mistakes can somehow make students much easier to remember rather than the always-
accuracy. Not only can students remember and they won’t follow the same path, teachers per se can reflect on
themselves and improve.
5. It is believed that computers will become more intelligent than humans. (NEGATIVE)

Suggested introduction:

Since the mid-20th century, scientists have been fascinated by the idea of machines that are capable of
independent thinking and learning. In an article published in 1950, British mathematician Alan Turing raised the
question of whether a machine might someday achieve the same level of intelligence as a human being. And in
1997, a computer program defeated a world chess champion for the first time when IBM’s Deep Blue computer
conquered the reigning world champion, Garry Kasparov, 4–2. Since then, advances in AI have accelerated
considerably. It has already found its way into numerous aspects of our day-to-day lives, including text, image
and speech recognition. Many of you are probably regular users of translation tools, own a smartphone with a
facial recognition feature or communicate with chatbots or intelligent voice assistants such as Siri and Alexa.
However, whether the computers will outpace the progress of human beings is debatable in terms of potential
or looming apocalypse. Standing from this personal standpoint, I deem this computers’ overdevelopment
inauspicious which will be rationalized later on.

+ Overcomputerization encourages the widening of the rich and the poor.

Even as technology becomes more affordable and internet access seems increasingly ubiquitous, a
“digital divide” between rich and poor remains. The rich and educated are still more likely than others to have
good access to digital resources according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The digital divide has
especially far-reaching consequences when it comes to education. For children in low-income school districts,
inadequate access to technology can hinder them from learning the tech skills that are crucial to success in
today’s economy. According to the 2019 Pew Report “America’s Digital Divide,” 21 million Americans don’t have
access to high-speed Internet service.

Furthermore, as technology reduces the need for manual labor, unskilled poor people find it hard to
secure a job. Using advanced tools and machines, rich people increase their production capacity and make a
huge profit as a result.

+ Mass unemployment undesirable after effect.

In 1929, an entire community in Austria became unemployed overnight when the textiles factory that provided
work to almost everyone in the village of Marienthal closed down. This became the inspiration for social
psychologist Marie Jahoda’s life’s work, crystallised in her ‘deprivation theory’ of unemployment. Jahoda, who
spent many weeks with the locals in Marienthal, proposed an explanation for the hardship people experience
when they are unemployed. Work doesn’t just provide money, but also fulfils basic psychological needs
including social contact, status and time structure.Yet no one rigorously tested Jahoda’s ideas until Dr Andrea
Zechmann and her colleague started speaking to hundreds of people looking for jobs. Their 2019 study
confirmed that being out of work causes distress due to seven unmet psychological needs, the most important
being collective purpose: work makes our lives meaningful. This suggests that robot-induced mass
unemployment would make us miserable. How miserable? We can only rely on what little we know from long-
term studies of unemployment. “People’s wellbeing is on a plateau for months or even some years afterwards,”
says Zechmann. “This obviously means that many people who are unemployed for a long time find themselves in
a depression.” Of course, this is in a world where people continue searching for work. What happens without
any prospect of re-employment is difficult to predict.
6. What invention do you hope to see in the future?

https://www.sciencefocus.com/future-technology/future-technology-22-ideas-about-to-change-our-world/

Check them out!

+ Reinforcement of knowledge and perspectives

Ironically, the most underutilized stakeholders in improving the effectiveness of our education system
are our students themselves. When it comes to evaluating how students are doing in their learning, it turns out
student self-assessment is possibly the most effective means by which we can measure their growth. Similarly,
when it comes to teacher effectiveness, it turns out student perceptions are more reliable measures than
supervisor observation. After all, students’ perceptions of their learning environment are their reality, whether
we have the same perceptions or not.

+ Improve the quality of impact on students.

While it is true that investing in and improving our adult actions have the largest impact on students’
outcomes, if the students don’t actually feel the impact of an adult’s action, making changes on this front is
largely in vain. For instance, after observing a teacher, a supervisor may suggest that she stand at the door to
greet her students at the beginning of class in order to form better relationships and create a more welcoming
environment. The teacher may make that change, and during a subsequent observation, the supervisor may
note that the change has been made—reflecting an improvement to the learning environment. However, if the
students don’t feel welcome as a result of the change, then did the change in adult action really result in a
change to the students’ experience?

We often look at “effect data” in schools to point to the effectiveness of teachers. We cite grades, test
scores, and students’ work samples to determine an educator’s impact. This seems like an obvious and common-
sense practice until we start to unpack the greatest predictors of student success when they leave school. A
student’s GPA and SAT score may help him get into a good college, but these factors don’t have much
correlation to success in the workforce or success in his personal life after that.

+ Counterarguments: Ineffective feedbacks due to the lack of competency in students.

>> Admittance: They may not have the same competence level.

>> Refutation: Yet, they will provide a more objective viewpoint in terms of attitudes and overall
performance.
8. How to make online studying effective?

https://blog.coursera.org/8-tips-for-effective-online-learning/
12. Research in medical treatments is essential, but health care is more important.

>> Emphasize: This notion bears resemblance to a motto: “Prevention is better than cure.”

+ From a economic viewpoint, health care improves job efficiency.

Health can affect job productivity through absenteeism and presenteeism. Absenteeism, not being
present at the place of work as a result of injury or illness, prevents an individual from contributing to output,
and may also affect the ability of coworkers to be productive when tasks require collaboration. Presenteeism is
the loss of at-work productivity caused by a lack of physical or mental energy needed to complete tasks,
increased workplace accidents, and the possible spread of illness to fellow employees. There is evidence that
both of these factors are costly. According to the Current Population Survey (CPS), 2.3 percent of workers will
have an absence from work during a typical week due to injury or illness. Several studies estimating the extent
to which presenteeism affects productivity indicate that, on average, the productivity loss caused by some of the
most common conditions (such as allergies, depression, musculoskeletal pain, and respiratory disorders) is
between 5 and 18 percent.

Investment in improving and managing health offers opportunities to mitigate some of these costs. An
increasing number of employers are instituting at-work wellness programs that provide targeted health
management. These programs range from monetary penalties for those with unhealthy lifestyles (such as
smoking or uncontrolled diabetes) to subsidizing access to exercise facilities. The benefits are shared by the
worker (higher earnings, better quality of life) and the employer (enhanced productivity and decreased health
care expenditures). Evidence of the success of these programs, while incomplete and variable, suggests that at-
work wellness programs can improve worker health outcomes and provide a positive return to employers. One
long-term study of a particularly comprehensive wellness program shows that health care expenditures fell by
an average of $225 per employee per year (mostly due to fewer doctor visits and hospital stays), but it took
several years to realize these benefits.

+ Socially speaking, health care encourages a community’s safety.

>> Take COVID19 for example. Without health care but depending on the research of vaccine, the
mortility rate would have been much higher.

>> Emphasize the role of health care in COVID19. (why it is important, how it is important, in which
situation does it demonstrate its importance?)

>> Refer to the doctors in Vietnam throughout the COVID19.

Background:

+ The study found that federal agencies consider only 64% of endangered species to be threatened by
climate change and have implemented protection plans for just 18% of listed species.

+
18. Money management?

https://www.fscb.com/blog/7-money-management-tips-to-improve-your-finances
20. Negative impacts of advertisements on consumers?

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-impacts-advertising-22146.html

https://www.momjunction.com/articles/negative-side-effects-of-advertising-on-your-children_00385891/