GRE Issue Topic 47

Sample 1:

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always had. Limiting yourself to eating only what you've always eaten prevents you from sampling cuisines from all over the world and, perhaps, discovering your new favorite food. Selecting your next novel from the same genre that you've always read limits your exposure to the talents of thousands of writers. Exposing yourself to new foods, new authors, or new ideas can be stressful, but it will either change your life in some way or reaffirm the choices that you’ve already made.

The Amish, who live apart from modern society and spurn any conveniences, encourage their young people to participate in the tradition known as Rumspringa. Generally, in their late teens, these young adults leave the comfort of their orderly communities and relocate to a city in order to live like the "English". At their own discretion, they make friends with those outside their faith, wear fashionable clothing, and attend parties where they may choose to drink alcoholic beverages. At the end of their year, they freely decide to return to the Amish lifestyle or remain in the secular world. The Amish elders understand that those who choose to return will become the strongest members of their society. Freely spurning modern technology to live a life of hard physical labor accomplished only with the help of work horses displays a firm dedication to the religion and lifestyle practiced by generations of their ancestors. Certainly, there is some comfort in knowing what to expect of each day without the distractions of television, computers, and smart phones or the stress of maintaining the fast pace of life in the English world. They take pleasure in contributing to their community through the work of their hands and their faith in God rather than in updating their Facebook statuses or incessant text messages. They have likely learned many life lessons from those with whom they have fundamental disagreements.

An exit–level assessment at the high school I attended is a team debate carried out in front of the entire senior class. We were given a list of topics from which to choose and were then randomly assigned to teams. The greatest challenge came when we were told whether we would be arguing in the affirmative or the negative. Several members of each team were compelled to support a point of view with which they disagreed. Imagine the groans of protest! My group had to debate comprehensive versus abstinence–only sex education in public schools. I was selected to debate the position with which I disagreed. It was frustrating and stressful to develop a cogent argument to support this contrary point of view, but it did not prevent my learning about the strengths of that position. Although I did not change my opinion on the topic, I learned a lot about the other side of the debate and understood why it has merit. In fact, one is likely to learn more by tackling new and sometimes disagreeable information.

During the most recent presidential election, I watched my friends and family debate the suitability of the candidates by posting supposed facts on Facebook. I'm sure that they saw a posting by someone else, and they thought, "I agree. I'll repost this." Some of these postings, whether or not they aligned with my beliefs, seemed too pejorative to be true. On more than one occasion, I did some research and found, for example, that Michelle Obama does not have a greater number of personal assistants than former first ladies have had. Quotes ascribed to the president were taken out of context or said years before he became an elected official. Only by disagreeing with or, at the very least, questioning my Facebook friends did I come across information that was new to me.

Without change there is no progress. Without disagreement there is no change. Therefore, without disagreement, there is no progress. Had President Lincoln not disagreed with secessionists, America might still be a divided country. Had Galileo not disagreed with the Catholic Church, we might still think the Earth is the center of the Universe. Giants in the arts, literature, the humanities, and science have flouted the status quo, and we are better off as a result. This claim and reason are valid only for people who ignore history.

Sample 2:

Any kind of learning needs a favorable environment. Where there is conflict amongst people it only results in commotion. I believe that although there is a lot that we can learn from every situation and people around us, it is a general attitude of people to dismiss the ideas of someone who has a contrary view. According to the given statement, we can learn a lot more from people with whom we share our views rather than from those who hold contradicting views. I, however, feel that there is a great scope of learning from people who hold different views as well. Nonetheless, we are not ready for this type of learning because our ego comes in the way. Disagreement causes stress, tension and commotion, but we should try to rise above this and benefit from the experiences of others who we disagree with.

Birds of a feather flock together. We join the company of people who share the same views as ours. Thus, there are increased chances that we listen to what others have to say instead of getting involved in an argument. This makes a perfect environment for positive learning and we get influenced by the ideas of others. There is no inhibition among such people and a mutual rapport is established. However, the scope of this type of learning is limited. It ends where the views are exchanged. When one person is at the receiving end and agrees to all the views of the learned person, he does not question his knowledge. On the other hand, there is a greater scope of learning from someone who has different ideas than you.

When people holding different views come together, they argue over a certain issue. We cannot take it for granted that we are always right. What seems to be correct to us may be wrong for someone else. Therefore, in an argument we come across different views and interpretations of the same issue. There could be sides of looking at the issue which do not strike to one person, but these can come out only in an argument where people present views that are different from those of yours.

Another example of a great social worker is that of Mother Teresa. She is known for her concern towards the poor, sick and underprivileged. She has given a definition to humanity, charity and compassion. Even though there are millions who claim to appreciate her, there aren’t many Mother Teresas around. So much so that we even ignore our basic social responsibility of charity. ‘Charity begins at home,’ is a dictum for everyone but ourselves; we do not even bother about the financial well-being of our domestic helps. We are so self-centered and engrossed in our own lives that we seldom practice what we know should be correct. We celebrate the birth and death anniversaries of great men, celebrate the official holidays on such significant days, attend chat shows, hold discussions…we do it all but only for the moment. This shows that the influence of great men on our minds and actions is merely superficial. We ‘claim’ to admire them but do not prove the same in our actions.

Let us take an example of a simple classroom. If the students learn everything that the teacher teaches them without asking their doubts or questions, they become passive learners. On the other hand, if the students try to figure out the problem on their own, they will come up with doubts and questions. They might not agree with their teacher on a certain topic for which they can initiate a discussion. It is only in such a discussion that a real clarification of the topic comes out. This type of learning is detailed, effective and lasting.

A new discovery or invention comes to light only when someone disagrees with the norms and tries to prove his point. It is only when someone refused to believe that earth is stationary and that Sun revolves around the earth that efforts were made to discover the truth.

Disagreement surely causes stress if the criticism is taken in a negative way. Instead we should welcome criticism positively and try to learn from the ideas of others. It is a matter of attitude that can change the way people think. If you are ready to welcome contradicting views and accept different ideas, it will increase your knowledge manifold.