‘The pursuit of equality of the sexes is not only futile but foolish.’ Do you agree?

I absolutely love this piece.

‘The pursuit of equality of the sexes is not only futile but foolish.’ Do you agree?

KS Bull Essays [Online]

KS Bull is a compilation of essays written by RI(JC) students.

Several issues are available online (links courtesy of Bok Chong):

• 2007 – Issue 1
• 2008 – Issue 1
• 2008 – Issue 2
• 2010 – Issue 1

Sample essay: Do you agree that city life is becoming increasingly unattractive? (Nov 2002)

Some of the common mistakes that surfaced when marking this essay included:

1. Misunderstanding of the topic word “city life
   - Equating city life to the developed world / developed countries (and non-city life to the developing world)
2. Not addressing question requirements
   - Comparing city life with non-city life (one of the question requirements, as signaled by the term “increasingly”, was to compare city life in the past with city life now – so comparing city life with non-city life does not meet the question requirements)
   - Merely talking about what makes city life now unattractive, with no comparison

Here‘s an essay that’s worth a read – it clearly recognises the tension between city life and sub-urban life, considers a range of arguments (scope), which include financial, health, convenience and psychological aspects (amongst others) and shows good attention to the key word “increasingly”.

Task

Read the sample essay in the link above. Identify how the question requirements were met, paying attention to how the topic word “city life” and the value term “increasingly” were addressed. Make a list of all the aspects/levels/other areas of scope that were included in the essay.

Protected: Sample essay: In the modern world, image is everything. Discuss.

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Protected: Sample essay: In a world where borders are vanishing, is it futile for Singapore to persist in building a national identity? (Essay 1)

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Protected: Sample essay: In a world where borders are vanishing, is it futile for Singapore to persist in building a national identity? (Essay 2)

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Protected: Sample essay: In a world where borders are vanishing, is it futile for Singapore to persist in building a national identity? (Essay 3)

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A sample introduction: The world would be a better place if everyone spoke the same language.

Writing an effective introduction isn’t easy because it’s far more than just a first impression in words. In the context of a GP essay, it needs to encompass the biggest issues you’re going to deal with and, ideally, capture the complexity of the issues in just a short paragraph.  Which means that to do so, you must have unpacked the question requirements, identified and played with the issues behind the question, considered the counter-arguments, experimented with various possible angles of approach, and finally decided on how you intend the entire essay to shape up. In other words, it’s more than just weaving a few nice quotations into the definitions of the topic words and remembering to attach a stand at the end.

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Example:

“The world would be a better place if everyone spoke the same language”. Discuss.

An American tourist who speaks only English may attempt, desperately, to get a message across in a small Chinese town in. They might fail miserably and lament the inconvenience of the language barrier. Within the European Union, the problems are arguably less trivial – translatingdocuments costs the EU up to 800 million euros annually, and it slows the decision making process. If only everyone spoke the same language – acommon language, or a lingua franca – the world would be better off. Or would it? Even if we argue for bi- or multi-lingualism, where speaking acommon language does not mean losing our native one, might we still lose our culture and the treasured diversity in our world? And if so, is the tradeoff worth it? Because the issues here are complex, it is rather simplistic to argue that every single person on this planet needs to speak the same language in order to reap benefits. So while the world would be a better place if more people spoke a common language, it is unnecessary – and, in fact, detrimental – for every single person to do so.

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Comments and feedback:

Comment 1
I like how it’s packed with almost everything [which shows] a lot of complex thought processes:

- A relevant, interesting scenario that alludes to the issue
- An understanding of the premise (language barrier is inconvenient)
- Wider issue (translation)
- Embedded clarification of ‘everyone spoke the same language’ (monolinguailsm vs bi-/multilingualism)
- Evaluation (simplstic)
- Nuanced thesis (keep ‘better’, challenge absolute term ‘everyone’) + extension of thesis (judgement beyond ‘better’ / ‘detrimental’ — unnecessary)

Comment 2
Some examiners get annoyed with introductions that string too many questions together.
Another slant to consider is also the idea that not all languages are necessarily spoken languages. [For example, you could argue that]  it’s helpful to have a same language but these should be the languages that are devoid of political baggage (eg. music, sports, art, etc). Spoken languages will always have some sort of political baggage and the choice of one over another may trigger off more conflict and discontent.

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Note: In light of the potentially annoying questions, the introduction may be revised, as follows:

If only everyone spoke the same language – a common language, or a lingua franca – the world would be better off. Or so it might seem, because even if we argue for bi- or multi-lingualism, where speaking acommon language does not mean losing our native one, we might  still lose our culture and the treasured diversity in our world.  Because the issues here are complex [...]

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General Paper Essays

A site and a Facebook page which provides GP essays, for you to read, analyse and critique.

Reminder: Use your discretion when reading sample essays – read it with  critical mind, and a good dose of healthy scepticism,  for no essay is perfect.

Useful resource: Sample essays by RJC students

Here‘s a page of links to good essays written by Raffles Junior College (RJC) students during their exams.