Parents Are Not Always the Best Teachers

Throughout my life, I have been lucky enough to have a very good relationship with my parents. They have supported me, given me necessary criticism, and taught me a great deal about how to live my life. Parents can be very important teachers in our life; however, they are not always the best teachers.

Parents may be too close to their children emotionally. Sometimes they can only see theirchildren through the eyes of a protector. For example, they may limit their children’s freedom in the name of safety. A teacher might see a trip to a big city as a valuable new experience. However, it might seem too dangerous to a parent.

Another problem is that parents may expect their children’s interests to be similar to their own. They cannot seem to separate from their children in their mind. If they love science, they may try to force their children to love science, too. But what if their children’s true love is art, or writing, or even car repair?

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The most important thing to realize is that we all have many teachers in our life. Our parents teach us, our teachers teach us, and our peers teach us. Books and newspapers and television also teach us. All of them are valuable.

Everyone Is Talking, and No One Is Listening

Since the middle of the 1990s, the ability to communicate electronically has expanded dramatically. Electronic communication is changing how people relate to one another. However, one thing remains constant: these new forms of communication are not face to face. They are distant, and they keep people at a distance. In my opinion, due to electronic communication, relationships today are changing for the worse; they have become fragmented, superficial, and anonymous.

Communication these days is becoming a process of exchanging messages of two or three words. There is no longer time for serious and deep reflection. For example, in most countries, sending a text message via a cell phone is much cheaper than talking on that phone, so people send each other silly messages like “RU ready?” or “4 sure. ” The language of Shakespeare and Milton has become reduced to abbreviations. With Instant Messenger(IM), people send each other emoticons such as a smiley face instead of sentences. In addition, since Instant Messenger depends on who has the fastest connection, there cannot be real communication. There is no give-and-take. These fragmented messages are not true communication.

The current ability to relate to one another electronically is largely textual; that is, peopleread messages from each other. Blogs, or Web logs, have become the way to communicate. However, anyone, anywhere can create a blog, and they can write anything they want. There are millions of blogs being produced. It seems that everyone wants to shout, “Hey, here I am ! This is me!”, but no one really listens. No one responds. Another reason why relationships are becoming more superficial is the spread of e-mail. Because they are overwhelmed by spam in addition to real messages, people just skim what they see and either make a rapid, thoughtless response or ignore it completely. No one reads e-mail messages carefully because there are just too many of them.

Finally, while one great advantage of the World Wide Web is that it is anonymous, this isalso its major disadvantage. Anyone can pretend to be anyone. For example, a sixteen-year-oldhigh school student could say that he is a twenty-three-year-old college graduate, and the person reading his blog or profile would never know. This type of anonymity can also put internet users at risk. There are many news stories about a criminal convincing a teenager to meet him at a coffee shop or a mall. The teenager agrees to meet her internet friend because she thinks she is meeting another teenager. The Web knows no one; a person can invent an identity. It’s clear that there can be no real communication when it’s so easy for someone to remain anonymous.

In short, electronic communication has multiple advantages, but it also has disadvantages. This new form of communication makes people lonelier because they don’t make real and meaningful connections. The communication is fragmented and superficial, and it is not always honest because of the ability to be anonymous. Fewer silly messages and more face-to-face communication would make us better people, I think..

Academic dishonesty in all levels of education has been a hotly debated topic in the previous decade. Students cheat in examinations and papers; even some famous professors cheat in their academic works. What do you think are the major causes of academic dishonesty?

Write an essay of about 300 words expressing your views with the title given.

What Has Caused Academic Dishonesty?

Parents Are Not Always the Best Teachers

Throughout my life, I have been lucky enough to have a very good relationship with my parents. They have supported me, given me necessary criticism, and taught me a great deal about how to live my life. Parents can be very important teachers in our life; however, they are not always the best teachers.

Parents may be too close to their children emotionally. Sometimes they can only see theirchildren through the eyes of a protector. For example, they may limit their children’s freedom in the name of safety. A teacher might see a trip to a big city as a valuable new experience. However, it might seem too dangerous to a parent.

Another problem is that parents may expect their children’s interests to be similar to their own. They cannot seem to separate from their children in their mind. If they love science, they may try to force their children to love science, too. But what if their children’s true love is art, or writing, or even car repair?

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

The most important thing to realize is that we all have many teachers in our life. Our parents teach us, our teachers teach us, and our peers teach us. Books and newspapers and television also teach us. All of them are valuable.