GRE Issue Topic 89

GRE Issue Topic 89

Topic:

All parents should be required to volunteer time to their children's schools.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.

همه والدین باید ملزم باشند که زمانی را به مدارس فرزندشان اختصاص دهند.

پاسخی بنویسید که در آن درباره میزان موافق یا مخالف بودن خود با این ادعا بحث کنید. در توسعه و حمایت از موضع خود، اطمینان حاصل کنید که قانع کننده ترین دلایل و / یا نمونه هایی که می تواند برای به چالش کشیدن موقعیت شما استفاده شود را به کار می برید.

موافق

  • حضور والدین در مدرسه فرزندانشان مزایای بسیار زیادی از جنبه‌های مختلف دارد. اولاً این که موجب می‌شود فرزندان با مشاهده نحوه رفتار والدین با اولیای مدرسه طرز برخورد و روابط عمومی مناسب را یاد بگیرند. دوما، والدین با معلمین و اولیای مدرسه فرزندانشان آشنا می‌شوند و در صورتی که انتقاد و پیشنهادی در خصوص بهتر شدن نحوه درس دادن یا تربیت فرزندانشان داشته باشند می‌توانند با آنها مطرح کنند.
  • زمانی که فرزندان می‌دانند که والدین شان با معلمین و اولیای مدرسه در ارتباط هستند، آگاهانه یا به طور ناخودآگاه تشویق می شوند که رفتار بهتری داشته باشند و بهتر درس بخوانند. در حقیقت، حضور والدین در مدارس می تواند به نوعی یک روش کنترلی برای بهبود درس خواندن فرزندان باشد.
  • حضور والدین در مدرسه فرزندان موجب می‌شود اگر مشکلاتی در مدرسه وجود دارد با مشورت همه والدین و اولیای مدرسه این مشکلات به سرعت برطرف شود.
  • در عصر دیجیتال امروزی زمانی که والدین و فرزندان با یکدیگر می گذرانند، به شدت محدود شده است، اگر در مدارس فرصتی فراهم شود که والدین بتوانند با فرزندانشان در یک محیط تعامل داشته باشند، روابط بین آنها به خوبی بهبود خواهد یافت.

مخالف

  • برخی از دانش آموزان به شدت به پدر و مادر خود وابسته هستند که این مسئله به خصوص در سالهای اولیه تحصیل ابتدایی موجب می‌شود که دانش آموزان، پدر و مادر خود را مجبور کنند که در کلاس درس نیز همراه آنها بنشینند اما این مسئله باید تا حد معقولی محدود شود تا کم کم دانش آموزان زندگی مستقل بدون حضور پدر و مادرانشان را یاد بگیرند.
  • بعضی از والدین مشغله بسیار زیادی دارند و نمی‌توانند در مدرسه فرزندان ایشان حضور پیدا کنند اگر مدارس حضور والدین را اجباری کنند، دانش‌آموزانی که والدینشان امکان حضور در جلسات مدرسه را ندارند ممکن است احساس ضعف شخصیتی کنند.

 

Strategies
Restate the Recommendation:
Attempt to use negative words to convey the same meaning as the original.
In other words:
No parent should be exempt from volunteering time to their children’s schools.
Determine what question is being answered by the issue statement.
Which parents should be required to volunteer time to their children’s schools?
Or: Should all parents be required to volunteer time to their children’s schools?
Or: How can parents become more involved in their children’s educations?
There may be several other questions that call for the answer in the original recommendation. Answering these questions can help you formulate a response or alternative recommendation. It can help you identify the circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would be advantageous or disadvantageous.
Now think about the parts of the original recommendation that provide evidence that you can affirm or refute.
a) All parents – There are no exceptions. What about working parents? Noncustodial parents?
b) required – Again, there are no exceptions. It’s not an option.
c) time – Does it have to be during the school day? This could be interpreted to mean cleaning the classroom on the weekend. Does it have to be time? Could they volunteer to supply snacks or tissues?
d) volunteer – To volunteer is to give freely. Require and volunteer contradict each other.

Opposing viewpoint:
Not all parents should be required to volunteer time in their children’s schools.
Identify the parts of the opposing statement that provide evidence that you can refute or affirm.
a) not all – This implies that some should be required. For which parents should this be a requirement?

Alternatives:
Is there any other way to look at this recommendation? Can it be qualified in some way? Think about the absolute words like all and required. Can they be reduced to less than commands?

New viewpoint:
All parents should be encouraged to volunteer time in their children’s schools.
Identify the parts of the new statement that provide evidence to affirm or refute.
a) all – This leaves no one out. If volunteerism is encouraged, everyone should be invited to participate.
b) encouraged – To encourage would involve building some flexibility into the time frame and types of volunteering required.
Examples and Reasons:
a) financial – Budget cuts have adversely affected the ability of teachers and schools to accomplish many tasks that aides or janitors used to do.
b) transparency – Volunteering is a great way to know what is happening in a child’s school or classroom.
c) exceptions – Encouraging rather than requiring leaves an option for parents who have neither the time nor the desire to volunteer in their children’s schools.
d) danger – Some children have parents who should not volunteer at their children’s schools under any circumstances. Some parents are abusive or alcoholics or drug users. Their children are likely to feel safer at school than at home. Should volunteers have to undergo the same background checks as teachers?

Sample 1:

Schools have always sought to involve parents in their children’s educations. For most parents that involvement is receiving progress reports and rank cards. Some of them attend open houses or participate in parent/teacher conferences, although those numbers decline as the children leave elementary school, and, by the time they’ve reached high school, few parents ever cross the thresholds of the schools their children attend. If a child participates in sports or plays in the band, his or her parents may attend games or concerts. Many school and teachers want parents to know what goes on in their schools and classrooms in order to develop transparency. After all, schools aren’t– or shouldn’t be – trying to hide anything. Today, schools are facing budget cuts that have decimated the ranks of teacher aides who performed tasks that teachers, with their busy schedules, don’t have time to do. Custodial staffs are smaller, and schools aren’t as clean or well–maintained as they used to be. Volunteerism seems the solution to a number of problems that schools face. However, requiring volunteerism is not a valid concept either in its phrasing or expectations.

Volunteerism by its definition is something done of one’s free will; it is a choice. Requiring someone to volunteer changes the entire concept. How does one enforce mandatory volunteerism? What are the consequences for parents who can’t or won’t volunteer? When a requirement is not met, consequences do ensue. If one doesn’t pay his/her taxes, the government levies a fine or sentences the violator to jail. Would schools fine parents who don’t volunteer? Maybe they or their child would get detention. Clearly, the enforcement of such a policy would be difficult at best and unfair at worst.

There are bound to be parents who cannot, will not, or should not volunteer at their children’s schools. It’s probably safe to say that most parents work today. How would they fulfill the requirement to volunteer? The recommendation does not specify that the volunteerism must take place during the school day, but should working parents give up time with their families on their days off from work? Just as some children refuse to do their school work, there are parents who will simply refuse to volunteer at their children’s schools. They pay their taxes to support the schools in their district, and that should be enough of a contribution. There are parents who, under no circumstance, should be allowed to volunteer at their children’s schools. Some parents are physically, psychologically, or sexually abusive. Their children may think of school as an escape from a dangerous home, even if it is only for a few hours of the day. What would the impact be on those children if their parents were to show up in their classrooms on a regular basis?

Adults who work in school systems today, from the principal and teachers to the bus drivers must undergo fingerprinting and background checks before they can work around children. Shouldn’t volunteers be subject to the same scrutiny? After all, we are letting them into spaces populated by our most vulnerable citizens. What is the liability to a school system when a volunteer becomes a danger to children? Teachers serve in loco parentis, in the parents’ place while their children are at school. Parents trust that their children are safe, and it is the school’s responsibility to see that they are.

School systems face a number of challenges today. Administrators and teachers are being asked to do more with less. Volunteerism seems a way to fill some of the needs that are not met by tight budgets. Some wonderful people do give freely of their time and talents to help out in their local schools, but the rewards aren’t worth the risks of requiring all parents to volunteer in their children’s schools.


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