Claim: We can usually learn much more from people whose views we share than from those whose views contradict our own.
Reason: Disagreement can cause stress and inhibit learning.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.
Dudley Field Malone, an American attorney and politician, once said, “I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me”. It is often claimed that individuals who share similar or identical beliefs, values or opinions learn more from one another than from those they disagree with. While it is a tempting thought, it is clear that disagreement and debate can frequently be much more productive in the long term.
The primary argument against the benefits of disagreement is that it inevitably causes stress, antagonism and thus precludes effective learning. However, the aforementioned issues are not determined by the perceived validity or falsity of contrary opinions, but by the character of their advocates. Disagreement, when it occurs between open-minded individuals, encourages the process of critical thinking and enhances an individual’s ability to support their perspective with facts and irrefutable evidence, instead of relying on a loud voice and unfounded enthusiasm.
In fact, the progress of mankind would stagnate if it were not for our ability to debate diametrically opposite ideas and beliefs. Disagreement encourages a search for the right answers, as is often manifested in the fields of science, law, and politics. Galileo, whose disagreement with the Catholic Church on the geocentric model of our solar system nearly cost him his life, is believed to have said, “But the Earth does move” upon recanting his “heresy”. He was eventually vindicated and proven to be right.
What most proponents of “learning from agreement” do not realize is that automatically agreeing with an individual who shares a similar opinion to theirs is an indicator of succumbing to basic human instinct. Our need to conform to group mentality and incessant strive for peer acceptance does not make us right; instead, it makes us complacent, bigoted, ignorant and unwilling to accept the existing diversity of the human race. This in turn has frequently led to violence, dictatorship and unwarranted suppression of dissent by both individuals and political regimes.
All in all, while agreement is often an indicator of harmony within a society, it can also be an implication of ignorance. Disagreement, debate, and sharing opposing opinions is the true propellant behind the advancement of mankind and a genuine sign of our ability to live in harmony.
Discourse Markers used:
['also', 'but', 'however', 'if', 'so', 'thus', 'while', 'in fact']
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance in Part of Speech:
Nouns: 0.239910313901 0.240241500013 100% => OK
Verbs: 0.139013452915 0.157235817809 88% => OK
Adjectives: 0.0807174887892 0.0880659088768 92% => OK
Adverbs: 0.0560538116592 0.0497285424764 113% => OK
Pronouns: 0.0538116591928 0.0444667217837 121% => OK
Prepositions: 0.121076233184 0.12292977631 98% => OK
Participles: 0.0358744394619 0.0406280797675 88% => OK
Conjunctions: 3.22063706621 2.79330140395 115% => OK
Infinitives: 0.02466367713 0.030933414821 80% => OK
Particles: 0.0 0.0016655270985 0% => OK
Determiners: 0.0807174887892 0.0997080785238 81% => OK
Modal_auxiliary: 0.0067264573991 0.0249443105267 27% => Some modal verbs wanted.
WH_determiners: 0.0134529147982 0.0148568991511 91% => OK
Vocabulary words and sentences:
No of characters: 2430.0 2732.02544248 89% => OK
No of words: 376.0 452.878318584 83% => OK
Chars per words: 6.46276595745 6.0361032391 107% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.40348946061 4.58838876751 96% => OK
words length more than 5 chars: 0.414893617021 0.366273622748 113% => OK
words length more than 6 chars: 0.356382978723 0.280924506359 127% => OK
words length more than 7 chars: 0.279255319149 0.200843997647 139% => OK
words length more than 8 chars: 0.186170212766 0.132149295362 141% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.22063706621 2.79330140395 115% => OK
Unique words: 237.0 219.290929204 108% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.630319148936 0.48968727796 129% => OK
Word variations: 79.1093814218 55.4138127331 143% => OK
How many sentences: 15.0 20.6194690265 73% => OK
Sentence length: 25.0666666667 23.380412469 107% => OK
Sentence length SD: 52.3185117016 59.4972553346 88% => OK
Chars per sentence: 162.0 141.124799967 115% => OK
Words per sentence: 25.0666666667 23.380412469 107% => OK
Discourse Markers: 0.533333333333 0.674092028746 79% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.94800884956 101% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 5.21349557522 0% => OK
Readability: 60.704964539 51.4728631049 118% => OK
Elegance: 1.59459459459 1.64882698954 97% => OK
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.182763683424 0.391690518653 47% => OK
Sentence sentence coherence: 0.0955617117091 0.123202303941 78% => OK
Sentence sentence coherence SD: 0.040432962771 0.077325440228 52% => OK
Sentence paragraph coherence: 0.570102713795 0.547984918172 104% => OK
Sentence paragraph coherence SD: 0.107532395061 0.149214159877 72% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0787429538819 0.161403998019 49% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0308836509126 0.0892212321368 35% => The sentences are too close to each other.
Paragraph paragraph coherence: 0.309411246477 0.385218514788 80% => OK
Paragraph paragraph coherence SD: 0.0788152087067 0.0692045440612 114% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.12038538848 0.275328986314 44% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0294128238026 0.0653680567796 45% => OK
Task Achievement:
Sentences with positive sentiment : 11.0 10.4325221239 105% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 5.30420353982 75% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 0.0 4.88274336283 0% => More neutral sentences wanted.
Positive topic words: 7.0 7.22455752212 97% => OK
Negative topic words: 1.0 3.66592920354 27% => More negative topic words wanted.
Neutral topic words: 0.0 2.70907079646 0% => More neutral topic words wanted.
Total topic words: 8.0 13.5995575221 59% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
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It is not exactly right on the topic in the view of e-grader.
Rates: 16.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 1.0 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.