(2) Writing task 2: Free Higher Education

Students should pay the full course on their university studies rather than have free higher education provided by the state. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

Nowadays, university or college qualifications are one of the most important requirements for decent careers. Some suggestions arise to ease the struggle of young people by providing them free higher education, yet others believe they should pay them on their own rather than letting the state do that for them.  Personally, I do support free higher education.

First thing that has to be considered is, higher education is extremely expensive. Getting a degree is the main struggle for young people nowadays. Some are born in wealthy family and are capable to afford their own education. Others who are not so fortunate, have to compete with thousand others for scholarships or rely on student loans. The rest simply give up and look for whatever job available that accepts high school diploma. 

Yet some of the programs that designed to help turn out with some drawbacks in the end. Student loans, for instance, cripple the student once they graduate. They may have to forget about paycheck for the first years because they have to pay the loan first. scholarship, on the other hand, only caters to small percentage of students. Considering all of these, it is obvious that the states have to guarantee equal chance in free education for all students. 

Some may consider this is a bad decision for a few reason. First, the students may take it for granted just because it is free. This can be refuted by demanding certain grades and amount of years to finish the study. Second, this is a waste of taxpayer money. Well, one has to consider this as more of an investment rather than a waste. Scandinavian countries like Finland and Sweden use tax money to fund free education for its citizen. Educated citizens, in turn, will create a better country. This is obvious in how Finland and Sweden always rated among countries with best living standard, least amount of corruption and minimum employment.

In the end, I conclude that the states do have to provide free higher education for everyone. It costs a lot, but overall, it will benefit the country itself.

Word counts : 350

The test will be taking place at August 3rd. So screw the 70 text target, which I might as well do since today is a month after making the pledge and I'm nowhere near that target. Haha, so predictable.

So lets cut it down to 40.

Too much? I know, I know. 30.

I'll have written 30 texts by the night before the test.

(1) Writing Task 2: Airport

Air traffic is increasingly leading to more noise, pollution and airport construction. One reason for this is the growth in low-cost passenger flights, often to holiday destinations.
Some people say that governments should try to reduce air traffic by taxing it more heavily.
Do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge and experience. Write at least 250 words.

During these years it becomes increasingly easy for people to travel by plane, something that is considered extremely expensive years ago. This causes air traffic to get heavier and creates more noise, pollution and airport construction. Government is demanded to reduce this. However, I disagree that administering heavier taxes is the right solution.

The increasing use of airplane is due to low ticket cost. Airplane used to be transportation system that caters to rich people only. However, as technology grows, so does the possibiliWordty to suppress its cost. Flight companies then try to boost their ticket sale by offering it at a price as low as possible, ensuing a price war between themselves. Now, people from all economy background can fly on a regular basis.

As the consequences, air traffic is getting busier day by day. The level of pollution is also escalating, in term of noise and chemical. Waste gas emitted by airplane is known to be one of the most dangerous and poisonous. Not to mention the land that has to be turned into airport. Airports require no small amount of area and often demand people’s property to be sacrificed.

 

Yet, taxing the flight companies more hardly will bring any change. They will simply raise the price or lower the quality. Either way, people will find a way to cope. World has become smaller and the need for fast transportation is inevitable.

As a conclusion, demanding higher taxes will not necessarily bring the changes everyone wants. The government should find a way without attacking people’s need.

 Word counts: 258
 Band (by my tutor) : 7

 

Cross Cultural Understanding : Babel

Babel is one of my favorite movie. I watched it for the first time when I was in high school. I don't know what Babel exactly means, but I do know it has something to do with Babylonian culture or the history of language. This movie, in particular, is about how culture and language separate us apart. Different languages create inability and difficulty to understand each other. Different cultures create differences. These, in turn, create judgement.

Every nation, race and ethnicity has their own image which, although is not always true, becomes with the rest of the world judge them with. Americans, for instance, are snobbish and full of themselves. Mexicans are illegal immigrants who will kidnap your children and sell you drugs. Middle-Easterns are either terrorists or stupid nomads spending their life riding camel through the desert. Indians are rapist. Actually, most of the third-world country citizens are rapist or stupid or shallow, or gold-digger, or going to marry you if you pay for her sister education or fanatics ... you name it. You skip omegle when it connects you with an Indian. You reject a friend request if its someone from Nigeria. You pretend to be someone else if you are from one of these countries. Stereotype is everywhere and it's annoying.

This eye-opening movie shows us that this is not always the case. Despite our differences, we are all just humans. Humans are biologically programmed to be the same and with same need. Granted, our civilization creates for us a more sophisticated rules of life, but in the end, our basic instincts are similar. We just act on it in different ways. If we want to be understood, we have to listen.

I love Alejandro Gonzales Inarittu's movies. They are all just so dark and depressing - just the way I like it. The Japanese girl, Chieko, doesn't exactly speak any language, but her story is the most tragic one. I love the scene when they went to a club, and the scene alternately went from everyone's point of view which is a glamorous, noisy club, and Chieko's point of view, which are colorful pretty lights, but in total silence. In that moment you can almost feel her loneliness. No one speaks her language.

If you want to watch this with someone else, mind that there is nudity in it.  I watched this with my friends and hated it. This is a 2 hours long very dense and very depressing movie and the biggest thing they got from it is 'Holy fuck there is a naked girl in it'. I don't see anything sexual in this movie - seriously, if you have even the slightest bit of idea that this girl is 'pornography', then you are fucked up in the head. If they want  porn why don't just find one? Why waste time watching sand dune and Mexican wedding party for 2 hours just to see 10 seconds glimpse of vagina? Why? Guys are just stupid if their dicks start taking control.

Anyway, watch this. This is great.

Cross Cultural Understanding : The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

This movie tells a story about sex seniors who plan to spend their last years in a retirement resort in Jaipur, India. They come from different background, with different problems, but each of them shares the same thing; the desperation of the old days and the anxiety of being the marginal part of society.

Because these are old people with old values suddenly being thrown into a country with a landslide of difference with their own beloved England, there are a lot of interesting cases of culture crossing. India, known as a third world country, makes them very anxious about everything. The food, for instance, scares them not only in terms of its spicy and stomach-unfriendly nature, but also hygiene. In India, it’s common for people in public place to offer food to another person, even someone they don’t know, but this is not acceptable for them. Also, when visiting people’s house, it is very rude not to accept the food offered by the host, which is another habit completely strange for the British. The horrendous traffic and horrible infrastructure are also shocking. These people had a hard time accepting the fact that if you are driving through the road in a country like India (especially in marginal areas) you just have to accept that people are going to act like traffic laws are nonexistent.

There also some things of a milder nature, like when a character named Evelyn bought a sari and was about to pay for it, another character, Douglas, came and said to tell the seller the price she want to pay, not the price he ask. When the seller didn’t agree, he told her to leave no matter how much she wants the sari because the seller will end up chasing them anyway. He said, ‘This is the game we play.’ In the end, they lose, but still interesting to see how they adapt to a buying tradition that definitely doesn’t exist in England.

Some of them are quite open- minded about the whole change, but others are downright degrading and racist. But with time, they learn to appreciate everything’s around them; the color, the noise, the smile and the kindness. The way people strive and struggle, the way they think of life as a privilege and not as a right.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel : "If I can't pronounce it, I don't want to eat it."

I saw The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel last night and cried my eyes out.
Everything is just flawless with this movie.

The cinematography and the score are just so beautiful, probably one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. About the story,  I don’t know if this kind of movie has been done before, but this is certainly my first time watching a movie like this. Movies about misunderstood characters striving to be heard and acknowledged are mostly centered around teenagers. But apparently, the same problems are much worse when you are old, and this movie tells it, perfectly. This is like a middle-aged version of The Breakfast Club, and they handle their life-altering trip to India with much more class than Eat, Pray, Love, which I don’t like. Its unrealistic and too novelty, more like a woman in her middle age crisis trying to follow the hipsterish trendy lifestyle rather than a woman looking and finding a revelation in her life. On the contrary, these old people story feels so real, I can put myself in every one of their shoes, doesn’t matter that I’m young enough to be their grand kids.

Another plus thing is, they need old people as the casts and they obviously do an excellent job picking them. They are all magnificent actors in their younger years; the glory has died down maybe, but the talent is still there.

This movie really makes me think, beside squeeze my tears dry of course. My life is nowhere near the end - this is basically just the beginning. I have no right to be negative, to say, “Oh, I’m already this old, if it doesn’t happen now its not going to happen. Might as well forget everything and start living like all those girls my parents really want me to be like." These people are facing more dead-end situation and they still … well, they worry too, but they certainly aren’t as negative as me. Rachel starts her life at 26 years old. Susan Boyle won Britain’s Got Talent at 40 years old. Chuck Palahniuk start writing at 30 years old. What I’m facing is nothing.

And lets just give ourself a little credit, okay? I’m not bad, I’m doing good. I’m well on my way to have the perfect life I’ve always wanted. I just have to stop underestimating myself so bad and for once, let myself happy. I’ll never be if I keep waiting for people to tell me I deserve it.
Oh, and if that does not convince you, Professor McGonagall is in this movie. And Dev Patel, the adorkable Dev Patel. If you don’t at least shed a teary laugh while watching this movie, you’re a robot.

"Everything is gonna be alright in the end. If it’s not alright, it is not the end." - Sonny