"We can usually learn much more from people whose views we share than from people whose
views contradict our own."; disagreement can cause stress and inhibit learning."
Do we learn more from people whose ideas we share in common than from those whose
ideas contradict ours? The speaker daims so, for the reason that disagreement can cause
stress and inhibit learning. I concede that undue discord can impede learning. Otherwise, in
my view we learn far more from discourse and debate with those whose ideas we oppose than
from people whose ideas are in accord with our own.
Admittedly, under some circumstances disagreement with others can be counterproductive
to learning. For supporting examples one need look no further than a television set. On today's
typical television or radio talk show, disagreement usually manifests itself in meaningless
rhetorical bouts and shouting matches, during which opponents vie to have their own message
heard, but have little interest either in finding common ground with or in acknowledging the
merits of the opponent's viewpoint. Understandably, neither the combatants nor the viewers
learn anything meaningful. In fact, these battles only serve to reinforce the predispositions and
biases of all concerned. The end result is that learning is impeded.
Disagreement can also inhibit learning when two opponents disagree on fundamental
assumptions needed for meaningful discourse and debate. For example, a student of
paleontology learns little about the evolution of an animal species under current study by
debating with an individual whose religious belief system precludes the possibility of evolution
to begin with. And, economics and finance students learn little about the dynamics of a
laissez-faire system by debating with a socialist whose view is that a centrv2ized power should
control all economic activity.
Aside from the foregoing two provisos, however, I fundamentally disagree with the speaker's
claim. Assuming common ground between two rational and reasonable opponents willing to
debate on intellectual merits, both opponents stand to gain much from that debate. Indeed it is
primarily through such debate that human knowledge advances, whether at the personal,
community, or global level.
At the personal level, by listening to their parents' rationale for their seemingly oppressive
rules and policies teenagers can learn how certain behaviors naturally carry certain
undesirable consequences. At the same time, by listening to their teenagers concerns about
autonomy and about peer pressures parents can learn the valuable lesson that effective
parenting and control are two different things. At the community level, through dispassionate
dialogue an environmental activist can come to understand the legitimate economic concerns
of those whose jobs depend on the continued profitable operation of a factory. Conversely, the
latter might stand to learn much about the potential public health price to be paid by ensuring
job growth and a low unemployment rate. Finally, at the global level, two nations with opposing
political or economic interests can reach mutually beneficial agreements by striving to
understand the other's legitimate concerns for its national security, its political sovereignty, the
stability of its economy and currency, and so forth.
In sum, unless two opponents in a debate are each willing to play on the same field and by
the same rules, I concede that disagreement can impede learning. Otherwise, reasoned
discourse and debate between people with opposing viewpoints is the very foundation upon
which human knowledge advances. Accordingly, on balance the speaker is fundamentally
correct.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 7, column 24, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'circumstances'' or 'circumstance's'?
Suggestion: circumstances'; circumstance's
...with our own. Admittedly, under some circumstances disagreement with others can be counter...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 26, column 84, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Indeed,
...ts stand to gain much from that debate. Indeed it is primarily through such debate th...
^^^^^^
Line 34, column 49, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...g and control are two different things. At the community level, through dispassion...
^^
Discourse Markers used:
['accordingly', 'also', 'but', 'conversely', 'finally', 'however', 'if', 'look', 'so', 'for example', 'in fact', 'to begin with']
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance in Part of Speech:
Nouns: 0.248344370861 0.240241500013 103% => OK
Verbs: 0.129139072848 0.157235817809 82% => OK
Adjectives: 0.112582781457 0.0880659088768 128% => OK
Adverbs: 0.044701986755 0.0497285424764 90% => OK
Pronouns: 0.0298013245033 0.0444667217837 67% => OK
Prepositions: 0.135761589404 0.12292977631 110% => OK
Participles: 0.0397350993377 0.0406280797675 98% => OK
Conjunctions: 3.0674912183 2.79330140395 110% => OK
Infinitives: 0.0215231788079 0.030933414821 70% => OK
Particles: 0.0 0.0016655270985 0% => OK
Determiners: 0.0844370860927 0.0997080785238 85% => OK
Modal_auxiliary: 0.0182119205298 0.0249443105267 73% => OK
WH_determiners: 0.0198675496689 0.0148568991511 134% => OK
Vocabulary words and sentences:
No of characters: 3587.0 2732.02544248 131% => OK
No of words: 532.0 452.878318584 117% => OK
Chars per words: 6.74248120301 6.0361032391 112% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.80261649409 4.58838876751 105% => OK
words length more than 5 chars: 0.454887218045 0.366273622748 124% => OK
words length more than 6 chars: 0.353383458647 0.280924506359 126% => OK
words length more than 7 chars: 0.281954887218 0.200843997647 140% => OK
words length more than 8 chars: 0.206766917293 0.132149295362 156% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.0674912183 2.79330140395 110% => OK
Unique words: 289.0 219.290929204 132% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.543233082707 0.48968727796 111% => OK
Word variations: 67.6508761744 55.4138127331 122% => OK
How many sentences: 24.0 20.6194690265 116% => OK
Sentence length: 22.1666666667 23.380412469 95% => OK
Sentence length SD: 74.3137002286 59.4972553346 125% => OK
Chars per sentence: 149.458333333 141.124799967 106% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.1666666667 23.380412469 95% => OK
Discourse Markers: 0.5 0.674092028746 74% => OK
Paragraphs: 41.0 4.94800884956 829% => There are something wrong with the essay format.
Language errors: 3.0 5.21349557522 58% => OK
Readability: 57.5050125313 51.4728631049 112% => OK
Elegance: 2.08130081301 1.64882698954 126% => OK
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.243118025923 0.391690518653 62% => OK
Sentence sentence coherence: 0.0721922951586 0.123202303941 59% => OK
Sentence sentence coherence SD: 0.0661731573748 0.077325440228 86% => OK
Sentence paragraph coherence: 0.75440101001 0.547984918172 138% => OK
Sentence paragraph coherence SD: 0.269527145279 0.149214159877 181% => Sentences are changing often in a paragraphs.
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0863070861859 0.161403998019 53% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.095947106663 0.0892212321368 108% => OK
Paragraph paragraph coherence: 0.054748371301 0.385218514788 14% => OK
Paragraph paragraph coherence SD: 0.043469470099 0.0692045440612 63% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0663524694906 0.275328986314 24% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0868483464334 0.0653680567796 133% => OK
Task Achievement:
Sentences with positive sentiment : 8.0 10.4325221239 77% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 10.0 5.30420353982 189% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 6.0 4.88274336283 123% => OK
Positive topic words: 5.0 7.22455752212 69% => OK
Negative topic words: 6.0 3.66592920354 164% => OK
Neutral topic words: 5.0 2.70907079646 185% => OK
Total topic words: 16.0 13.5995575221 118% => 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.