ESSAY QUESTION (copy here):

FIRST DRAFT

IEP 510/520 Core

Prof. Christine Bauer-Ramazani

Date:

Nature or nurture? Discuss the different research opinions with respect of the influence of nature/nurture on attitudes toward change. Illustrate your answer with examples. Which is the more prominent influence, in your opinion. Explain your reasons.

Psychologist found the openness to change actually is one of five personality traits, while most research proved that people are able to change before age 30, which is adulthood. In fact, change is affected by nature and nurture.

First of all, the reason why our openness will decline after our early 20s is from the genes. That is to say, it is a nature reason. As people of all culture age, they become less open. Moreover, in order to be fulled of happy emotion, the brain is also establishing our habits. In his book, Personality, Decision, and Behavior, the brain researcher Gerhard Roth (2007) claims that our brain which hold the old habits can provide a feeling of safety and decrease our fear of the future and failure. In a addition, according to the psychologist Peter Borkenay of Martin Luther University halle-Wittenberg in Germany, it is said that people's personalities are possible to change after they have retired from their occupations and their children can make a living by themselves.

Secondly, according to the psychologist and personality researcher Rainer Riemann of Bielefeld University in Germany, the reason why sometimes change is difficult for people is because of similar life demands and societal expectations, which are nurture factors. For example, at the beginning, young men and women must leave their own home to make a living by theirselves, and then they have to take good care of their next generations. Therefore, when a person's family and career are stable, they won't be willing to change, because new experiences will bring the feeling of insecurity.

In my point of view, I think the nature factors are more prominent influence. The traits, personality or age are based on our genes, and we cannot change them. They determine our future life and life style. To illustrate, even though we are eager to change, our body fail to allow us to realize it when we get old. Sometime we also decide to change, we still are limited from our personalities and  traits.

Reference:

Set in our ways: why change is so hard (2011). Q: Skill for success 5. Reading and writing: Oxford University Press.

FIRST DRAFT

Name: Yu Shiyao(Anny)

Course: IEP/510/520 Core

Prof. Christine Bauer-Ramazani

The Convenience of Living On-Campus VS Living Off-Campus

(The 1^st draft)

Between living on-campus and living off-campus, which one is the better choice for a student? Maybe for different students, the answer is different. In the University of Hartford, about 85% of all undergraduate students live on-campus. In the article “Living on campus” (n.d.), the author claims that “85% of all undergraduate students live on the University of Hartford Campus.” Before a student makes a decision, he/she should ask himself/herself: Am I ready to live off-campus? In fact, living off-campus is not as easy as living on-campus. In this article, “Benefits of living on campus” (2010), the author states that living on-campus could provide different conveniences to students while living off-campus could not.

In the first place, one of the clearest ways to see the different conveniences between living on-campus and living off-campus is to look at the students’ transportation. Living on-campus means one's residency must be in the college or the university, so it is not hard to imagine how accessible his/her transportation is. In daily life, the students who live on-campus do not need to worry about the transportation. The article “Living on-campus vs. off-campus” (2005) illustrates that living on-campus students can easily walk to classes, libraries, computer labs, cafeteria, and so on. In addition, it is handy that they do not need to worry about the space for parking. On the other hand, some students can not enjoy the same convenience off-campus in their daily life, since it is possible that they fail to live near to the college or the university. If they have a car, driving to study also create transportation cost. Nevertheless, if they do not have a car, walking to school is a disaster for them, definitely. Moreover, for living off-campus students, they must feel hard to find parking place in the college or in the university. 

Secondly, the article “Benefits of living on campus” (2010) indicates that another main difference between living on-campus and living off-campus is whether it is convenient to access the resources or not. For living on-campus students, it is easy to access the resources of the college or the university. For instance, it is quite handy to eat in the dining room of the college or the university, so they do not need to use so much time to prepare for the dinner every day. Especially when they finish their study, they can take exercises in the gym, read in the library, and attend friends' parties in another room easily and directly. However, for living off-campus students, it must be difficult to access these republic resources. To illustrate, they cannot study in the library for a long time because they have to think of the inconveniences of being home late.  Furthermore, in order to making things comfortable and easy, the students who live off-campus always stay at home on weekend.

Finally, the article “Living on campus vs. off-campus” (2005) insists that living on-campus students are much more convenient on socializing than the living off-campus students. Living on-campus gives students the opportunity to live with other students and cooperate with others. Usually, people feel uncomfortable about having to live with a stranger, because they do not know each other and perhaps their habits and personalities are different. After a period of living together, it becomes easy for them to cooperate with each other to solve problems. Gradually, they can learn to care for and understand other classmates or roommates. In contrast, the students who live off-campus will feel difficult to communicate with their classmates because they lose such a great chance. Maybe they live with a family or other residents from different ages, and of course they do not have some common topics. They always have to solve problems by themselves; therefore, they will bring some inconveniences for them to communicate with their classmates.

As we have seen, a student should decide cautiously whether he/she should live on-campus or live off-campus because of the convenience of one's life. It is a truth that living on-campus is much more convenient than living off-campus from the three aspects. Different from the students who live on-campus, the students who live off-campus must remember they are still the members of the whole community.

References

Living on Campus or off Campus /What's Best for Me? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://admission.hartford.edu/applying/international/living.php.

Living On-Campus vs. Off-Campus (2005). Retrieved from http://www.ecampustours.com/campuslife/livingonandoffcampus/livingoncampusvsoffcampus

Benefits of Living on Campus (2010). Retrieved from http://www.desales.edu/default.aspx?pageid=6248

Name: Ao QU (Skye)

Commenton:

SECOND DRAFT 

Name: Yu Shiyao(Anny)

Course: IEP/510/520 Core

Prof. Christine Bauer-Ramazani

The Convenience of Living On-Campus VS Living Off-Campus

(The 2nddraft)

In the article “Living on campus” (n.d.), the author claims that “85% of all undergraduate students live on the University of Hartford Campus.”Between living on-campus and living off-campus, which one is the better choice for a student? Maybe for different students, the answer is different. Before a student makes a decision, he/she should ask himself/herself: Am I ready to live off-campus? In fact, living off-campus is not as easy as living on-campus. It is true that living on-campus could provide different conveniences to students while living off-campus could not, especially in the three aspects.

In the first place, one of the clearest differences inconveniences between living on-campus and living off-campus isthe students’ transportation. Living on-campus means one's residency must be on the college or the university, so his/her transportation is extremely easy. In daily life, the students who live on-campus do not need to worry about their transportation. The article “Living on-campus vs. off-campus” (2005) illustrates that living on-campus students can easily walk to classes, libraries, computer labs, cafeteria, and so on. In addition,it is handy that they do not need to worry about the space for parking. On the other hand, some students who live off-campus cannot enjoy the same convenience. It is possible that they live far away from the university or the college.If they have a car, driving to the school also creates transportation costs. However, if they do not have a car, they must feel difficult to go to school. If they choose to take bus or subway, it will be quiet crowded. If they choose to take taxi, they might be caught in a traffic jam and take much more money. Moreover, off-campus students must feel so inconvenient to find parking place on the college or the university when they are late.

Secondly, another main difference between living on-campus and living off-campus is whether students have access to the on-campus resources conveniently or not. For on-campus students, certainly it is easy. For instance, it is quite handy to eat in the dining room of the college or the university, so they do not need to take time to cook dinnersevery day. Especially after they finish their studies, they can exercise in the gym, read in the library, and attend friends' parties easily. However, for off-campus students, it is difficult to have access to thesepublic resources. To illustrate, because they cannot on the college or the university, they have choose a reasonable time to exercise in the gym. Furthermore, even though some off-campus students have cars, they still cannot to study as late as the most on-campus students in the library in order to go back home and sleep early.

Finally,on-campus students can be much more convenient on socializing than off-campus students. Living on-campus gives students the opportunity to live with other students and cooperate with others. Usually, most on-campus students feel uncomfortable about having to live with strangers, because they do not know each other and perhaps their habits and personalities are different. However,after a period of living together, it becomes easy to cooperate with each other to solve problems for most on-campus students.Gradually, they can learn to care for and understand their classmates and roommates. In contrast, the students who live off-campus will have difficultyon communicating with their classmates because they fail to have enough chances to come into contact with their classmates. Maybe they live with a family or other residents from different ages and backgrounds, and they have less social connection with their life. Some off-campus students always have to solve problems by themselves without the help and suggestion from their classmates; therefore, they will become more and more isolated. Over time they might feel inconvenient when they communicate with their classmates.

As we have seen, a student should decide cautiously whether he/she should live on-campus or off-campus because of the convenience of life. It is a obvious that living on-campus is much more convenient than living off-campus from the transportation, resources, and socializing. Different from the students who live on-campus, the students who live off-campus must try their best to overcome these inconvenient problems and remember they are still members of the whole university or college. 

References

Living on Campus or off Campus /What's Best for Me? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://admission.hartford.edu/applying/international/living.php.

Living On-Campus vs. Off-Campus(2005). Retrieved from http://www.ecampustours.com/campuslife/livingonandoffcampus/livingoncampusvsoffcampus