Essay 9

There has been a lot of talk lately concerning the possibility of computers replacing the position
of books in our life. But is it truly possible? After all, they are both valuable assets of our
civilization and possess positive and negative features.

One may say that computers are far more effective because they are much more convenient –
unlike them, printed books don’t have an option of automatic search, and in order to find the
necessary fragment you have to look through the entire text. Books are ineffective as a source of
containing information, while computer’s hard drive can easily contain many thousands of
books, being as transportable as any single volume. Moreover, computer is more helpful when it
is necessary to get some information quickly, for you have nothing to do but enter the necessary
word into the search engine and skim through the results, whereas in the case of using books you
have to go to the library or a book shop.

On the other hand, books possess unquestionable cultural, symbolic and aesthetic value that
computer lacks completely. A lot of people say that reading electronic texts is nothing near to
holding an actual book in your hands, feeling the smell of paper and turning the pages as you
read. Besides, reading books is not accompanied with harmful radiation that is inevitable when
you use computers – certain individuals are even physically incapable of reading e-text for a long
time.

Having looked through pro et contra, I think that books can be replaced by computers as the
method of storing information, but not as the source of aesthetic and intellectual pleasure for a
lot of people.

The feeling of rough paper on your fingertips, the familiar smell of a book fresh out of print…
Would you really wish for these to become mere memories, lost and worthless? Would you want
to go to a library where there were no books, only an electronic catalogue to browse through for
electronic text? I know I would not appreciate such a world. Books are essential to the world.
They have been around for centuries and have become widely appreciated and almost every
living soul has owned a book. What would our world come to if the only book left in the world
was that book sitting behind a glass wall in the local museum?

There have been many arguments about books using up world resources. E-books have been
introduced that you can use to download online versions of text and novels. These do save trees
from being cut down and reduce the usage of the Earth’s resources. However, as the world is
growing even more aware of our diminishing resources, more ‘green’ methods and alternatives
to reduce this loss are being introduced. In the United Kingdom, already, two of the top five
publishers of books have introduced the new paper policies to use ‘Ancient Forest Friendly’
book papers, which are free of ancient forest fibers and contain one hundred percent recycled
fiber. Six million books have already been printed in such a manner, and more will continue to
do so, leaving little worry for our depleting resources. As for E-books, it can be said that they are
the better choice for books. They can store thousands of books and they allow you to purchase
books as electronic text without ever having to go out to a bookstore to buy them. However, the
downsides are plentiful. These E-books cost much more than a single book and this might prove
inconvenient for those who only wish to purchase one or two nooks. Also, if you purchase these
because you fear there is no space in your house, there are always libraries for you to visit, which
are free and cost you no space. Furthermore, these E-books are much less durable than regular
books. Data can be backed up, but here is the worst part: These are considered particularly
valuable as they are electronic, making them easy targets for theft. If you happen to lose your E-
book, the thousands of books you might have downloaded will be lost forever; along with the
money you spent purchasing them.

One of the largest areas that technology can replace books is in the education system. More and
more schools are replacing textbooks with laptops for students to use. These laptops aid the
students further by bringing online tools to use. There are many programs that can help with their
learning. The fact that granting students laptops means getting them excited and more motivated
to learn also has schools up and ready to implement such measures. But as usual, there are just
some things technology can never surpass books in. There is the danger of the abuse of
technology granted to the students. They can visit other sites during lessons and access other
programs. Fortunately, schools are able to block certain sites and reduce the permission from the
students’ laptop to prevent this. However, children can learn to break these restrictions. The new
generation is more likely to know how to bypass the school’s system. While some might argue
that this is unlikely, there is one more problem. It is impossible for the school to block every
single site the students might visit. More and more sites are popping up by the day and new sites
are just a Google’s click away. Moreover, the school wastes money buying these laptops and
new technology. Even more money is given for the courses that teachers have to go through to
learn how to utilize these new learning tools. The money could definitely be spent on better
things, to fund the school for a much better educational experience. While it remains true that the
new technology gets children excited, this is a short term measure. By the time every school has
this, students will accept that it is a regular thing in life and it will lose its appeal, no longer alien
and curious to them. There are also students who simply cannot use laptops, and although these
form only a small minority, they definitely exist. Some people are simply not born to use
technology. It is possible to learn how to use it, but it may not be as easy getting used to it.
Books have been used since ages ago and some people appreciate the tradition. Why change
now?

Technology is ever-growing, changing, improving the lives of people. However, books are just
one thing that technology cannot overtake. The flaws that come with these new inventions are
evident. Money and adaptability are two of thousands that some people just don’t have. The
world needs to remember that technology was born to improve our lives, not to take over them
and replace things we value.

ESSAY 3

Education is very important in life. Pursuing studies abroad has been the most plausible trend
nowadays for the purpose of gaining international exposures and experiential learning's. Such
experience contributes in getting the best education so as to acquire the best knowledge and to
obtain opportunities for employment. While also developing the individual’s adaptability and
independence, studying abroad expands the horizon of the students and their network. In
immersing to different cultures, the students will increase their chance of learning new languages
and skills as socialization thereby becoming ‘a changed person’. Nonetheless, there are also
inherent disadvantages into it, and these advantages could be evident from both country and
students perspectives.

For the home country, the main disadvantage would be the explicit disclosure of the weaknesses.
Provided that students could improve understanding of the conditions of other countries such as
political issues and tolerance of other views, comparison is inevitable. Through constant
interactions with other people the deficiency of the home country could be revealed while the
international students are not always equipped with avenues on how to explain further, thus the
possibility of jeopardizing own culture. The deficiencies and inflexibilities of the education
system of the home country compared to the host country could be also considered here.
Educational travel is viewed to be an effective alternative tourism both for home and host
countries. However, the undertaking dissidents international students in terms of the unequal
power relations between the educational tourist and the locals which will be eventually evident
on economic exchanges and exchange of knowledge. Stereotyping and idealizing of cultures is
possible wherein lack of real contact and meaning characterizes the acquaintance. As such,
gaining of respect for cultural differences will be less than superficial. The saddest part of this is
when the exchange of experience travel by word-of-mouth in which damaging the reputation of
one culture is inescapable.

Basically, the endeavor is in itself a hard thing because of the fact that the student will be away
from the family for a significant period. There are people who are uncomfortable without their
family and the people they know so well, making them emotionally dependent onto their
presence. This typically results in homesickness and the way to deal with it will be also a
challenge to the student. The distance inevitably destroys family relationships especially when
conversations are limited and there are no resources to prioritize telephone calls, online chatting
and etc since it can add up to the financial burden. Realizing this, the offshore education is
expensive in order to cover all the requirements such as a place to live, transportation, food and
books among others. Not to mention, the pressures to equate with the spending habits of
colleagues is also a serious issue herein. Aside, international studies are tended on the fact that
the student will experience culture shock. Studying abroad requires that the person will readily
immerse himself in whatever cultures are apparent in the host country. Since there is a relatively
high difficulty of conforming to local language and customs, confusions could arise and may
affect the confidence level of the student. These people who suffer from getting passed the
acculturation stage will normally feel outcast and intensifies homesickness, which in return could
affect the academic performance. In this stage also, the person could not fully developed the
sense of trust with his or her colleague and would always want to watch their backs. The
possibility that conflicts will emerge is high and that the person will resort in otherwise
unhealthy practices such as withdrawing from reality and hurting their selves. Given that
universities abroad will endow students with no special favors, the study habits and learning
practices that the students had grown accustomed with could be also challenged. Unique to every
country are official ways of dealing with paperwork and rules and these are expectantly extended
to academic undertakings. Several rules and regulations are outlined in student handbooks that
might sound alien to the student. Further, international students are expected to collaborate
within and outside the classroom and this maybe another burden to them; linguistic and cultural
barriers may limit expectations. There could be also the possibility that older students may feel
tensions and frustrated since they are surrounded by a pool of twenty-year-old students. In a
scenario that no one could assist an international student in coping with the localization process;
the tendency is isolation and poor academic performance.

Studying abroad does not only mean to participate in classes at university but also to be
immersed in different cultures and languages. In country context, the primary disadvantage of
studying abroad is on unequivocal disclosure of the weaknesses of the home country with
persistent comparisons with that of the host country. The second disadvantage would be the lack
of authenticity of cultural exchange as manifested by shallow understanding of cultures and of
the international study program in general. For the students, the disadvantages are homesickness,
culture shock, isolation, expenses and nonconformity that affects the socialization process as
well as the academic performance.     

ESSAY 8

Everything around us has influence on our behavior and life. We are living in a society where all
kinds of mass media, including TV, radio and newspapers dominate. Mass media, therefore,
besides providing us useful information and entertainment, has a great influence in shaping
people's ideas, both for the better and for the worse. This essay will talk about the heated debate
whether public mess media influence us or not and how strong it does. I think that everything
around us has influence on our behavior and life. Mass media, besides providing us useful
information and entertainment, has a great influence in shaping people's ideas, both for the better
and for the worse.
Firstly, mass media affects our fashion. Simply, taking a glance at the way youth dress
nowadays, we can find that their clothes look similar to those of famous actors or singers. The
young try to imitate models appearing everyday in fashion shows on television, the Internet and
magazines.

Secondly, it is obvious that the mass media have an effect on our attitude in life. Nowadays
people, especially the young, tend to be lazier and more violent. This is simply the result of bad
programs shown on T.V all the time, uncontrollable websites and even the carelessness of
parents. They can spend whole day surfing internet or watching TV instead of studying or
traveling with their family and friends… They always have an idol and they tend to follow what
their idols do and say no matter these things are good or bad. For example, a Japanese guy
named Bill got married to a game character, Sara Parker in November, 2009. I’ve heard that
news on T. V or, many women can get cosmetic surgeries to look like their idols. Seriously,
some people are ready to kill a person just because they want to become a movie character.
However, we cannot deny that the mass media have a great contribution to shaping our ways of
thinking. What we watch on TV; what we listen to on radio; what we read in newspaper and
magazine affect a great deal to our thinking. Does food advertisement on TV affect your choice?
Does information about universities on newspaper make you embarrassed to decide the best one
for your child? I definitely believe the answer will be "yes" because these information influenced
on your thought and ruled your decisions.

In short, mass media undoubtedly affect our life style and opinions. We could not fade its
influence away. However we could control it by thinking carefully before deciding and when
approaching to information through the mass media.

The development of the mass media has had great influence on our lives. We have come to
depend on them for information and entertainment. In doing so, we let them affect on important
aspects of our life.

First of all, mass media are regarded as the best ways to broaden our mind. For example, just by
staying at home watching TV, surfing the net, we can know everything happening all over the
world. In addition, we also learn how to take care of ourselves, cook good dishes for our family,
educate our children, and behave with other people… throughout many programs on TV, radio
or Internet.

Secondly, mass media including television, newspaper, and radio is very useful for us to look for
jobs. Seeking through the Situations Vacant column in the newspaper give us a general look of
the jobs we are going to apply for and therefore, we will know whether we like these jobs or not.
According to the latest survey, there are billions of people finding their jobs through newspaper,
radio and Internet every year. Besides, the development of the mass media, especially television
also helps us to fasten the relationship with our family members. For instance, after a hard-
working day, every member of a family gathers at the living room so as to watch TV, chat, and
discuss. I think that it's very comfortable and happy, particularly in this modern life. Last but not
least, some news in some newspapers is unreliable because few journalists have a tendency to
exaggerate hot news such as scandals of famous singers, film starts…

To sum up, it can't be denied that the mass media have great influence in shaping people's ideas.
In my view point, the mass media which are good or bad depend on our awareness and purpose.