Welfare reforms has been a success. Today, there are fewer people on the welfare rolls, and more people holding jobs, than there were before the welfare reform policiess adopted under President Clinton. Former welfare receipients are better off today because they are able to support themselves. The success of maximum time limits for collecting welfare benefits demonstrates that one need not be jobless for life. 

This argument states that the welfare reforms have been a success because of the decrease in the number of people enrolled for welfare and increase in the number of employed people. The welfare reforms included putting a maximum time limit on collecting welfare benefits. But, the effect stated by the author as a measure of success of welfare reforms is a direct consequence of removing people from welfare benefits.

The argument is flawed in the sense that it assumes that if lesser number of people are enrolled for welfare benefits, then the welfare reforms have been successful. Infact, the success of welfare reforms can be gauged only by looking at other statistics which portray the average prosperity of people. If after the introduction of the reforms, the prosperity and average incomes for people earlier enrolled for welfare benefits has increased, then these reforms can be considered as success. If the people who had exceeded maximum time limits were not able to secure decent jobs due to disability, bad health or any other reason, then welfare reforms will be deemed as a failure.


The argument goes on to claim that the welfare recepients are better off today because they were able to support themselves. This assertion needs more data, because if the average incomes have decreased, then people are simply getting exploited. Besides author fails to look into scenarios where older people with no pension and other means to support themselves might be getting forced to go back to work.


Lastly, the argument concludes that a person does not need to be jobless for life. This generalization is attributed to the success of the welfare reforms. In this case, the author fails to realize that people with critical illnesses, physical disabilities or mental incapabilities may not be able to secure a decent job. For them to be successfully initiated, many government initiatives will need to be taken. Just throwing people off welfare rolls, will not transform a person from jobless to a capable earning member of the society. Thus although these reforms have succeded in reducing the government expenditure, have they really helped in improving the public prosperity? The answer to this question still requires more data and analyses.

The simple absence of data has never been enough to stop fools from inventing theories. 

It is said that coming to conlusions without first analysing the facts is dangerous. But fools over the history of human civilization, have made this error of inventing theories without having enough data to prove them. We have always made theories by extra-polating our data or going ahead with theories without any reasonable data backing them. For instance, without going out of earth and exploring the night skies, people theorize earth to be as the center of the universe. Some even provided the theory of earth being flat without ever looking at the earth from outside or conducting experiments to prove otherwise.

Thankfully, in today's science, almost every theory is based on the analysis of extensive sets of data. According to the scientific process, a person has to first come up with a hypothesis. Afterwards, in order to prove the hypothesis, he conducts certain experiments and carefully record the observations into data sets. These data sets are then analyzed to either disprove or prove the hypothesis. If it is proven successfully, then only it becomes a theory. Almost, all of the formal areas of study these days, follow the same scientific principle as described above. Infact, in today's world there is an over-abundance of data. For instance, if somebody wants to study the weather, today's weather sensors will provide thousands of data-set points every second about various conditions of weather. Previously, however, without computers and sophisticated sensors, data was recorded only twice or thrice a day. Thus, with the introduction of computers, scientists have got a means of analysing huge amounts of data-sets to increase the accuracy of their findings. Also with internet, and various visualization tools, data is increasingly being used by every scientist to give a theory.

But not everybody follows the scientific process towards making theories. Theories are still being made without data and circulated from one person to another. These theories which are often superstitions or beliefs of one fool spread to form urban myths and legends. There is a even popular Discovery channel show: MythBusters which tries to bust as many of these urban myths as possible. Some of these myths can be very believable while other can be really outlandish. To give an example of an outlandish theory, some people believe that if they are going on a street and a black cat crosses the path in front of them, if they go ahead on the same path, something bad will happen with them.

However, most of these theories also have a good justification behind them. But without data, they can quite often be wrong. For instance, many people believe that by eating sugar, children become over-active and go out-of-control. The reasoning behind the theory is that sugar contains carbohydrates which provide energy and this over-abundance of energy causes children to become hyper-active. Since, there was no supporting data, the theory was never tested. But we now know, that this is a myth since although sugar has energy but extracting energy from it requires digestion and often with extra sugar a child may feel drowsy.

Although people will keep on making new theories, some scientific, some foolish, it is upto us to choose what to believe in. If you are a rational person who believes in science and the importance of data, then you will refrain from believing in the theories purported by fools. But, the simple absence of data will never be enough to stop fools from inventing theories.

'It takes a village to raise a child'. The education of our children is the task of the community as a whole, not merely the province of teachers and local school adminstrators.

Although, in today's world, with busy lives and over-burdened schedules, parents often leave the education of a child in the hands of a school, it is often the responsibility of the whole community to educate a child. If we believe that by sending children to a red bricked building from 8 to 2 is going to educate them, then we might be misleading ourselves. Education involves the overall development of a child. By mugging up of certain historical dates or scientific facts, we cannot classify a person as educated. Education comprises of understanding about human values; discovering various facts about the nature and environment we live in; being able to exercise our body well and excel in sports; become a part of the society and acquire skills to contribute towards the development of the society; and understanding and acquiring the existing culture and taking it forward. 

We are often influenced a lot by our brothers, sisters, peer groups, mentors, parents, and sometimes strangers. The beliefs and values of these people get reflected in us too. So for instance, if a community has a habit of people throwing garbage on the streets; a child growing up in that community will not grow up to respect the value of cleanliness and will do the same. On the contrary, in a society which values hardwork and meritocracy; future generations will also learn to do the same.Education is happening at every moment of our lives. When a small child sees people talking to him, he is learning to talk by listening to them. Similarly, when a child watches a gruesome movie on TV, he learns about violence and imitates the hero by uttering the same bad words from the movie. And it is not just the children, but even adults are influenced and educated by the society. So it becomes the responsibility of the community, to make sure that instead of exposing the tender mind of a child to gruesome violence, it is exposed to the good values in the society. 

Apart from values, people in the community teach children a lot of different skills. For instance, a child growing up in a community of sailors will be good at swimming. But community does not just teach specialised skills like swimming but also very general skills too. Many of us might have learnt cooking from our mothers and driving from our fathers. An elderly grandparent tells about various experiences of life and help in the maturity and formation of judgement about right and wrong in a child's mind. A sibling or a friend from the community encourages one to be competitive and give one's best at anything. Thus, each and every person in our life, teaches us something. 

Thus, instead of delegating the responsibility of education of young ones to schools, we ourselves as a community should take steps towards a good education. The community as a whole, needs to be tolerant and encouraging towards children. We should portray our best face to them while discouraging the ills in our society from them. Since if the children understand the evils and their bad implications, then only will they be truly educated. 

Gre Issue Practice 3

If rituals did not exist, we would have to invent them. We need ceremonies and rituals to help us define ourselves socially and culturally. 

Rituals can be defined as a set of actions or procedure which is repeated again and again. Usually a ritual depicts or signifies something important to the person performing them. Rituals are not just confined to religion though religion uses them heavily. They are present in almost every walk of life.

Rituals are present in our social interactions. In eastern cultures, people bent their backs and bow in front of a stranger as greetings and sign of respect. The ritual takes its meaning from the prehistoric times of predatorship. A person by bowing presents his neck (the most vulnerable part of the body) to the other party as a sign of trust. Obviously, in today's times nobody will pounce on your neck to tear it apart, yet people still follow it for greetings. We have elaborate rituals for almost every important event of our lives. Every culture has detailed rituals for passing school, graduating, dating, marriage, divorce, having a child etc. Every job is preceded by a ritual of interviews. Every business dealing requires rituals of signing various contracts. Religion requires rituals of song and dance in praise of the almighty. These rituals bring a peace of mind and every ritual means something.  

Some rituals define our culture while some are conceived as a way of explaining things to our young ones. For instance, in christian families, the ritual of Santa is an excellent way of teaching children the importance of doing good things. According to the story, Santa comes at night riding a sleigh and drops gifts into socks kept by children beneath the christmas tree. Santa always fulfils the wishes of children who have done good throughout the year. 

Although, a skeptic can scoff at the rituals as a characteristic of an irrational and uneducated person. Rituals are performed by every human being. They satisfy our desire for stability and certainity. A ritual provides the mind with a sense of calm and peace. This is because, we feel certain while performing them. For instance, every sportsperson has his own rituals which can range from something sensible to downright bizzare. As an example, a very famous cricketer, Sanath Jayasurya, touches every part of equipment on his body from his pads to his arm-guards once before playing every ball. Why does he perform such repetitive action? He performs it to feel calm before facing a delivery. 

Like everything else, rituals also change from time to time. For instance, while the early Afrikan tribes required a young adult to kill an animal before letting him classify as an adult; modern societies confer degrees to individuals which allow them to become a contributing member to the society. Often a society's popular rituals can give deep insights into the beliefs and practices of the people in that time. For instance, in Roman empires, the rituals of gladiator fights and slavery portray the lack of compassion for human life during those times. Surely, our civilization has advanced from that time. Thus, rituals are not only present, but they are constantly evolving because of our need to define and depict ourselves. 

Gre Issue Practice 2

A true university encompasses far more than the narrow specialized study of a single discipline. Only through exploring the broad spectrum of liberal arts courses can the students become truly learned.


Usually universities aim at educating young adults and equip them with the knowledge so that they can take their place in society and contribute. While some people take the view that universities are meant for making people job-ready and they should only provide enough specialization in a single field of study. Others maintain that university education should comprise of a whole variety of courses including liberal arts to make students well rounded individual.


Education is not just a means of imparting well-formed concepts and tested ideas; but is also a mechanism of enabling a person to think and create new ideas. If it were not so, our society will not progress, and man-kind will come to a stand-still. Will we then be any different from a machine which runs according to a well-defined computer program?  Also, if the scope of education is narrowed, it will only lead to narrow-minded individuals. For instance, a computer science graduate with only computer science education will be able to write great algorithms, but will fail to use them to solve the mystery of human genomes. Similarly, he will not be able to participate in the decisions made for his country, county or community.


Although, it is easy to teach well-defined concepts, there is no clear mechanism of teaching people to innovate and create. It has always been thought of as something intrinsic to an individual. Infact, human-beings are naturally inquisitive creatures known to invent and create contraptions to progress and make their life comfortable. Early man did not need a university education to discover fire or invent the concept of wheel. Thus, some might say, that a university does not need to teach students on how to think. But, modern studies have shown, that engaging in creative arts such as dance, music and arts can stimulate right portions of the brain. This portion of the brain is associated with thinking and creativity. As brain is like a muscle, more you use it, better it becomes. Thus, engaging in creative arts during college can make an individual more creative. Also, in today's environment, use of right-side of the brain is more required since most of the left-brained jobs are going to be automated through computers. Thus, creativity is an essential part of making people job-ready also.


Is creativity the only reason why colleges should teach liberal arts courses. Liberal arts also give a perspective towards things. It lends an ability to appreciate nature, beauty, understand and recognise past geniuses, and helps in relieving tensions in an individual. Thus, they enable the students to become truly learned. At this point, one might argue, that liberal arts should be taught during school and not universities. Universities are aimed at specialization while schools aim to provide a well-rounded education. But does the education ever stop? Shouldn't the good trend started at school continue through-out the career of an individual.


Also, many schools do not give enough emphasis on liberal arts. Often, various schools focus too much on academics not giving enough chance towards doing all round development of an individual. Also, during school, the exposure towards society is limited with most of the children coming from a similar background and locality. A university, on the other hand, consists of people from diverse backgrounds and many nationalities. An eclectic group of people can come together during these years to form great groups. These groups then go on the create various rock-bands, great companies such as Apple, sports teams for various games and visionaries, artists and great thinkers.


Thus, having recognised the need for an overall education, universities should focus on being more open towards non-standard courses. The importance of liberal arts lies in their ability to stimulate creativity, collaboration and understanding the appreciating all that is beautiful in this world. Thus, I will sum up with this simple quote - "The difference between educated and uneducated lie in their ability to recognise and appreciate beauty". 

GRE Argument Analysis - 1.1

Question
Statistics gathered over the past three decades show that the death rate is higher among those who do not have jobs than among those with regular employment. Unemployment, just like heart disease and cancer, is a significant health issue. While many health care advocates promote increased government funding for medical research and public health care, it would be folly to increase government spending if doing so were to affect the nation's economy adversely and ultimately cause a rise in unemployment. A healthy economy means healthy citizens.


Response:

The goal of an economy is the sustained prosperity of the people it represents. It tries to achieve this goal through efficient allocation of resources, price stability, trade with other nations, good health care or full employment. The above argument delves into how health care and employment are inter related, and why it is crucial for an economy to properly allocate resources between these two metrics to achieve its premier goal.

The author rightly points out that unemployment is an health issue. This relation is apparent as unemployment leads to poverty, which is, in turn the breeding ground for many diseases. An unemployed individual would not be able to afford clean food and hygienic surrounds, falling prey to even the most innocent fevers. The situation could become worse as it is the individuals with low immunity who easily fall prey to dangerous flue such as the H1N1. Flu and plagues such as these have dire consequences not only for the economy of the nation, but of the entire world.

This intuitiveness of thought is also supported by statistics of the past three decades which show that unemployed people fell prey to dangerous diseases which lead to increased death rates among them. It is not only the food, water and environment which are the enemy of the unemployed; it is also their mind. An unemployed individual would be constantly under stress that can be self imposed or external. Scientific studies have shown that it is stress and mental tension which is the source of many dangerous diseases including heart attack, paralysis and various forms of organ failure. Peace of mind is central to a healthy human life, which is difficult to find among the unemployed.

In these scenarios there is an added pressure on the nation to provide for extra health care to curb the situation. This leads to a domino effect in which the nation ends up playing the honest defender against the deteriorating health condition. There is less and less to invest in creating jobs, producing food and resources; while medicine is constantly burning a hole in its pocket.


The author rightly hints that the solution to a pervading health issue isn't blindly investing in health care. Subsidizing health care, having more hospitals, private clinics and doctors makes sense if it isn't done at the cost of education, employment, foreign trade, industry and agriculture. The solution is to have a system in place which is self sustaining, productive and prosperous. Employability of the the younger generation and employment of the current has a central role to play in making this system possible.

GRE Argument Analysis - 1

Question
Statistics gathered over the past three decades show that the death rate is higher among those who do not have jobs than among those with regulat employment. Unemployment, just like heart disease and cancer, is a significant health issue. While many health care advocates promote increased government funding for medical research and public health care, it would be folly to increase government spending if doing so were to affect the nation's economy adversely and ultimately cause a rise in unemployment. A healthy economy means healthy citizens.

Response
The argument made in the above paragraph seems inherently flawed. It starts with an unsupported claim that death rate is higher among those who do not have job than among those with regular employment. Numbers will be useful here since it is very hard to co-relate between death rate and unemployment. The unemployed people demographics will also either lend credibility or question the meaningfulness of the stats. For instance, if more older people are unemployed, it will automatically lead to higher death raters. Another interesting number will the amount of time a person remains unemployed for before dying. A chronically unemployed person might have very bad financial conditions leading to early death. Also, if the above claims were to be true, then it means that people with less money cannot get good healthcare. It will also imply that healthcare in this country is very expensive and government usually do not provide cheap or free healthcare for its citizens.

Afterwards, author goes on to claim unemployment to be a significant health issue. The claim should be supported with more facts. Infact, a counter-argument can be that employed people usually work a lot more leading to worse health conditions. Also, work related stress can lead to more heart diseases. A study on the morale conditions of the unemployed might support this claim. For instance, in a meritocratic society an unemployed person might have significantly low morale leading to higher diseases. The earnings from the state to an unemployed person might be very low leading to bad lifestyle choices amongst unemployed people. This can also lead to significant health issues to unemployed people over the longer run.

Author hints that spending in medical research and public health care will harm the economy. On the other hand, it can be argued that spending will lead to more jobs in this sector thereby employing a lot many people. A detailed study of other alternative areas of investment along with the prospective return in the number of employed people will give a better credibility to the author's claims. Also, there are no statistics given that government spending in this area will lead to a worse economy. On the contrary, a healthy society will mean a healthier and more productive work-force leading to a better economy. Also, the research spending in health care could lead to selling of healthcare products in other countries thereby contributing to the economy.

Infact, the sentence makes an indirect assumption that a good economy will mean more jobs. There is no relationship established between a bad economy and unemployment rates. Certain countries around the world may not have a developed economy but still might have better employment rates. If an economy is more developed, it will invariably mean more automation, thereby leading to lesser jobs and more unemployment. Thus, spending towards improving the economy might lead to more unemployment which might lead to an unhealthy society going by the author's claims in the first half of the argument.

Thus, the claims made in this argument need to be more persuasive by conducting various studies into the demographics, morale and health conditions of the unemployed people vis-a-vis employed people. Also more effort needs to be put into the study of the existing healthcare systems and do they really need additional funding to make them more efficient. Also, identification of other areas of investment which might lead to a better economy leading to a better workforce is needed. Then only, a clear and a more powerful argument can be made towards cutting the spending in medical sector to boost economic growth.