- Studying literature develops critical analysis
- Brings about empathy
- Readers learn communication
- Organisation of ideas becomes easier
- Transferrable to employment (suggests intelligence, ability to organise/think deeply, skills to conduct presentations/seminars, skills to communicate)
- Understand a variety of reactions, personalities, attitudes and situations in everyday life
- To read and evaluate anything written
- Skills can be specialised needing to understand and use technical terms (identify figures of speech, symbolism, poetic techniques, the nuances and ambiguities of language etc.)
- Wider messages/value
- Appreciation of historical context
Category: Outlines
The value of water is more important than the value of oil. Discuss.
- The value of water cannot be pegged to a price.
- Huge palm oil plantations are increasing water toxicity
- Water supplies could be dramatically reduced if ‘fracking’ becomes more common
- The water needs of industry are growing all the time.
- Water shortages show the need for ensuring a clean water supply
- Treatment of wastewater for irrigation and the recycling of sewage water for personal consumption
- The threat of water wars is very so prominent.
- Oil can be replaced but not water and the former may not be a necessity in the future
- Oil may soon be neutralised by alternatives being found
- Large swathes of the world are facing decreased rainfall, a severe drought so the management of water is of urgent strategic importance.
- Desalination can be employed to solve the value of water.
- Freshwater is essential for life. Rationing will not work.
How important is the father’s role in the modern family?
Importance of the father’s role
Keywords: ‘important’ and ‘role’ and ‘modern’
• Male role models are important, especially for boys
• Can share the workload
• A balanced view of gender issues
• Maybe a poor role model
• May not want the responsibility
• A role model may be another male relation, e.g. grandfather, uncle, cousin
Should everyone have access to free medical care?
Key words: ‘should everyone’, ‘access’, ‘free medical care’
• A basic human right
• Medicines/vaccines should be stock-piled in developing countries (depending on the need)
• Efforts should be made to check everyone’s health
• Role of the WHO
• Free immunisation programmes (Ebola)
• Cheaper generic medicines are delayed through pharmaceutical patents
• Wealthier nations should fund
• The pharmaceutical industry requires a return on their investment to fund further research
• Problems of logistics/corruption/recruiting qualified professionals to administer
• Responsibility of individual governments to provide some funding and organised programmes
• Should not: to avoid people abusing the system; having a carefree life; creating dependency and not leading a healthy lifestyle
If we are pushed far enough, we are all capable of acting aggressively, but we are not all equally aggressive. Discuss what makes some people more aggressive than others.
For and against arguments for aggression and aggressive behaviour
- aggression is an expression of the survival instinct
- people respond differently to triggers but are all capable of acting aggressively, even the most passive
- people learn to be aggressive or to control it as a result of their upbringing
- aggression management techniques can be taught to help people control their aggression
- aggression may be channelled into competitive sports
- aggression is sometimes necessary for the greater good
- aggression can be an uncontrolled response; non-aggression is more likely to be a rational choice based on beliefs.
‘Our understanding of modern technology is enhanced by knowledge of mathematics’. Discuss.
Keywords: ‘modern technology’, ‘enhanced’, ‘mathematics’, ‘discuss’
• There needs to be a binary/digital understanding of mathematics
• Many Computer languages (Java and MATLAB) – are based on mathematics in formulaic/coded/encrypted sense
• More accessibility and understanding when technology fails
• Mathematics also enables an understanding of programming
• Extract patterns from data • Understand computer modelling to test theories
• As a part of science which requires a foundation in Mathematics
• Requires an understanding of instructions more than Mathematics
• Accessible to everyone
• Function and use are enhanced by other factors (ease of communication)
• Mathematics enhances if specialist knowledge is required (a career in computer programming)
How far can the arts change the world?
- the arts range from high art to popular culture
- the arts offer a personal experience for everyone
- the arts push the boundaries of acceptability over time (eg Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain)
- for many, the arts hold little interest or influence
- the arts might encourage people to view society from different perspectives (eg Damien Hirst’s winning “Mother and Child (Divided),” a cow and a calf bisected and emerged in formaldehyde, was a tabloid sensation.)
- the arts could be seen as a reflection of society and its values at the time
- Contemporary works like Bansky can highlight issues that need to be solved
- arts can be elitist (Read Article)
- arts can be sexist (eg Les demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), Pablo Picasso _
How far can poorer countries benefit from scientific developments?
For and against points for poorer countries benefit from science
- Present a broad interpretation of ‘poorer’.
- Present a broad interpretation of ‘scientific’ to embrace technology/medicine etc.
- the extent to which difficulties posed by pricing are insurmountable/avoidable, eg, declining prices; increasing affordability of new technologies; pricing of medicines may be slower to decline
- ways in which companies/countries might not see it in their financial/political interests for poorer countries to profit
- the problem of the ‘brain drain’ of talented scientists being attracted to richer countries for study, practice and research
- the main beneficiaries actually are within a country – the state/individuals/particular groups
- Poor countries may have other urgencies
How far can it be argued that wildlife tourism and zoos are the only ways to protect wild animals?
- Observing animals in conservation areas and zoos can encourage practical concern for their cousins in the wild
- Tourism can be vital for local economies
- As last resort zoos can keep populations of wild animals that may disappear in the wild (provided zoo’s have the expertise)
- Zoos cannot retain the genetic variability of a wild population
- Threatened species need to attract cash to justify their protection and existence
- There can be zoos without bars (but this is a weak argument since even with open spaces, a zoo is enclosed)
- Opportunity for scientific research
- Questionable when animals are simply kept for the entertainment of the public
- The assumption of species superiority
- Animals have consciousness, sentience, and intentionality
- Their “natural” behaviours have to be recognised and catered for
- The captive breeding of threatened species
- Intense viewing of creatures can interrupt feeding patterns and cause stress
- Captive animals can provide a genetic “lifeboat” for those in the wild
- Opportunities to adopt an animal
‘The most effective learning takes place away from school.’ How far do you agree?
- what do we learn outside school which is not generally available at/in school?
- definitions of what constitutes ‘learning’ – informal/formal learning, ‘academic learning’, general life skills, etc
- role of parents, grandparents, siblings, peer groups
- rites of passage
- importance of personal initiative – finding things out for oneself
- homework is done outside school
- how and what children might learn from the internet at home
- the social environment in the school is essential for the working world