TPO 41 Independent Writing
Teachers were more appreciated and valued by society in the past than they are nowadays.
Education is an inevitable process for most people in the world to enter society, and teachers play an important role in it. Whether teachers are more appreciated and valued by society in the past than they are nowadays can be weighed in many aspects. In my opinion, I do not concur with the statement that teachers are more valued in the past. We will discuss the reasons below.
Admittedly, some people will hold a position that teachers are elites among people in the past because the average life quality is lower than today, and most people are busy sustaining their lives. Moreover, technology enables students to access the amount of information easier than ever. However, teachers are still an essential element in a person’s educational development.
First of all, teachers are playing roles similar to sailors on the boat. Students in the schools are their crews on the boat, and teachers guide a direction for the future. For example, during high school studies, most students devote a lot of time to study materials in textbooks in order to gain a high score in the examination. They absorb a lot of knowledge established by great scientists from the past but have little idea about what major they want to participate in. In this case, teachers become essential to students because they have relatively comprehensive experience and knowledge to guide and encourage students to find their interests, even give students feedback when they have failures. Consequently, with the help of instructors in education institutions, students will better understand their future and themselves.
On the other hand, although technology brings convenience and accessibility through the internet that students can even learn at home without other’s assistance, they might have insufficient ability to discern the content. For example, scandals and fake news are prevalent on the internet and bring negatives influence to our youngsters, luring them to imitate those behaviors such as drug abuse. On the contrary, if teachers can teach students how to distinguish what are healthy and legal behaviors, society can reduce the crime rate and increase the overall productivity, creating a prosperous country. Therefore, the teacher’s role is crucial in society to impart the knowledge and foster students to develop critical thinking and healthy minds.
To sum up, the statement is not as persuasive as it stands. Based on my expositions mentioned above, even the internet brings convenient learning ways, but teachers are still the key in education nowadays. They guide students to find their interests and help them establish critical thinking abilities as well.
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