The advantages and disadvantages of co-education

Read list of advantages and disadvantages of co-education

I study in a co-education school. In my class there are about twenty boys and twelve girls. We learn many things one another in the course of being in the same class everyday. Sometimes the interaction is pleasant and sometimes not. In other words co-education has its good points and bad points, that is, its advantages and disadvantages.

The main advantage that I can see is that we learn that boys are different from girls in many ways. In short, we learn how to handle each other. Boys tend to be more physical, while girls are far gentler. However this is not a universal rule, for tom-boys do exist in our class and they pack a harder wallop than some sissies who also exist in our class. Anyhow I learn that the two sexes behave generally in fixed manners although there are exceptions.

I suppose this sort of interaction will come in useful in the future when boys and girls become men and women who will produce the next generations. I am a boy and I have to admit that I learn a lot about how to handle both boys and girls. I have a friend who studies in an all-boys’ school. He always asks me how I handle the girls. He is quite ignorant about girls, for I have seen him being tongue-tied in front of girls. None of my classmates have such a problem.

The one big disadvantage about having boys and girls in the same class is when we go for physical education. Boys and girls just cannot do the same type of exercise or play the same game together. So we need to have two teachers, one for the boys and one for the girls. Our headmaster has come up with the ingenious solution of having two classes doing P.E. at the same time so that the boys and girls from each class combine together under one teacher each.

Another advantage of a co-education school becomes obvious when the school holds the school sports, concerts and other functions. In sports a co-education school can see full participation from both sexes. Also the harder physical work of preparing for a sports meet can be done by the boys while the gentler tasks of preparing food and drinks as well as serving guests are best left to the girls. The boys and girls get to learn their social roles.

In concerts and other functions it is undoubted that both boys and girls are needed. In a co-education school there is no problem of finding the persons to take part. However in an all-boys’ or an all-girls’ school, they will have to “borrow” the necessary boys or girls in order to run their functions. I myself and other boys have had to go and serve our all-girls neighbor for some of their functions. I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed my duties there, for the girls there really appreciate our help thus lavishing their attention on us. I suspect that they enjoy our being there too.

Our girls too get to go and help out at an all-boys’ school. I am sure they enjoy themselves too.

I have not studied in an all-boys’ school before so I do not really know what sort of situation exists there. However I would not change my place here for anything else. It is definitely better to have girls around than to see only boys everyday.

The advantages and disadvantages in teaching English to Adult Learners

The advantages and disadvantages in teaching English to Adult Learners in the Current Situation in Vietnam

A brief look at the current English language teaching and learning context in Vietnam will show that the demand for English learning is very great. This is clearly seen in the multitude of institutions and centers that offer English courses as well as in the great number of learners who go to English classes. Among these learners adult learners form a big special group. Due to some of their characteristics the teaching of English to this group of adult learners has some advantages and disadvantages as follows.

The first advantage is that adult learners have some degree of extrinsic motivation. They may study English for a variety of reasons but they all do so because they want to or need to. For some students, the motivation may be in the form of integrative motivation because they wish to integrate themselves into the culture of an English-speaking country like Britain, America, Canada or Australia. For others, the motivation is instrumental in the sense that the mastery of the English language is seen as an instrument that can bring them a better job or position. When these adult students go to class with some motivation they are easier to teach than those who bring no motivation to the classroom.

The second advantage is that adult students can transfer those study skills and learning strategies they have acquired in their first language to their study of English. Unlike children and adolescents, adults are autonomous in some way. They have finished their studies or have undertaken at least some in their own language, so they must have gained some basic skills like reading, summarizing, identifying and applying formulae and information and such critical thinking skills as analyzing, synthesizing, hypothesizing, speculating, etc. Moreover, they may also have some well-established strategies for learning. Therefore, the English language teacher can make his job easier by creating conditions for adult students to reactivate these study skills and learning strategies and apply them to their study of a new language.

One more advantage is that adult learners can make use of whatever kind of knowledge they have accumulated in their own language. Again this advantage cannot be seen in other groups of learners like children and adolescents. First, adult learners have extensive experience of using a language, which is their mother tongue. Now that they start learning English, they can remember the new langue system better by making use of what they know about their own language. It is not uncommon to see learners comparing and contrasting their first language with the foreign language they are learning to find out areas in which the two languages are different or similar so that they can learn the new language more quickly. Second, adult students’ life experience, world knowledge and specialist knowledge can contribute much to their learning a foreign language. It can help them a lot when they have to read about or discuss complex or controversial topics in English. So the English teacher can engage adult learners more easily if he knows how to tap the knowledge they have gained over time.

On the contrary, there are some disadvantages to the teaching of English to adult students as well. The first disadvantage is that English learning makes a strong demand on adult learners in terms of time. As a matter of fact, it is really difficult for adult students to make time to learn English. As most institutions and centers teach English in the evening adult students have to study after work. Three one-hour-and-a-half sessions or three three-hour sessions a week seem not to add up to a lot of time but not all adult students can manage to set aside that much time for study purposes. The simple reason is that they all have their own lives to live outside the classroom or they all have other commitments in life than learning English. As a result, some students fail to invest as much time and effort in learning as they should. Of course, teachers will have difficulty in monitoring the performance and progress of those students who cannot attend class regularly.

Another factor that can interfere with or even impede adult students’ learning English is their fear of failure and frustration with lack of progress. As can be seen, some adult students are very successful professionals or have a high status at their work place. And now, at school they are just normal students coping with tasks, assignments, examinations, etc. as they have been successful in their career, they do not want to fail to achieve their desired goal of mastering English. They may therefore put themselves under unnecessary stress if they do not give themselves enough time to achieve their goals or if they set themselves unrealistic goals. Other students may be hard on themselves in a different way. For example, adult intermediate and advanced students, those who already know a lot, may find progress difficult to perceive. In this case, the teacher has more work to do: they must help these students get the level of challenge right or view success in a broader sense.

In addition, the lack of well-qualified teachers and the poor physical conditions of the classrooms at some English language schools and centers can be damaging to student motivation. Currently, in Vietnam a great number of institutions and centers provide English courses and they range form universities and their satellite centers, joint-venture centers, privately-owned centers to privately-run home-based classes. Such proliferation of schools and centers is useful in the sense that it offers students a wide variety of programs to choose from. However, because of a lack of quality control, the reality of some schools and centers may fall short of student expectations. Some teachers are untrained or inexperienced, delivering boring or uninteresting lessons; the physical classroom conditions and resources for learning are just basic. All this cannot of course supply students in general and adult students in particular with any intrinsic motivation, a crucial factor for successful language learning.

In general, this analysis of the current teaching context for adult learners of English in Vietnam in general and of the characteristics of this group of learners in particular partly reflects the increasing need for English language learning and mainly shows the advantages and disadvantages that adult students have in their English study. Both teachers and students need to be aware of these findings of the analysis so that they can find ways to maximize the advantages and minimize the disadvantages. Only in this way can teachers deliver quality English language programs for students to benefit from.

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The advantages and disadvantages of a good memory

The advantages and disadvantages of a good memory

There is no need to dwell on the importance of having a good memory. A bad memory is such a handicap in life that everyone realizes the advantages of a good one. By a good memory we mean a retentive and accurate memory, one that will retain for us knowledge once gained, and retains it correctly. How slow and erratic is the progress of a student who cannot remember what he has learnt! He is like Sisyphus, the poor wretch the Greek fable tells about, who was condemned to push a stone up a hill in Hades, which was forever rolling down again before it reached the top. In business life, a man who cannot remember his appointments and is always forgetting the orders he receives will soon be left behind. A servant who forgets to do his work at the proper time quickly loses his job. One of the poorest excuses we can make for work undone is, “I am awfully sorry; but I forgot!” And it is an excuse that is not excused if it is made too often. A good memory is essential for the student, the businessman, the employee, the politician, the statesman – in fact for every one in every walk of life. It is necessary, too, in social life; for a person who forgets his social engagements and can never remember the faces of those he has met will not be a social success.

People with bad memories, however, need not despair; for even the worst memory can be improved by training, like every other faculty. The chief cause of a bad memory is inattention, lack of concentration. We often blame our memories for not retaining knowledge, when as a matter of fact we never gave it the knowledge to retain. It is not the memory that is to blame, but our lack of attention, when learning. You read a book, and at once forget all about it; you forget it because you never really read the book. Your eyes passed over the words on the page, but your mind was wandering, and you never really took into your mind what the author wrote. The first step in training a memory is to learn to concentrate our mind on what we are doing, and give it our whole thought. We must learn to notice things, carefully observe what we see, consciously and determinedly attend to what we are about; and then regular repetition of the knowledge we have gained will quickly strengthen memory, till remembering becomes a habit.

The only disadvantage of a good memory is our inability to forget things we do not want to remember. There are events, desires, and thoughts in our past life which we would like to forget. The only way to forget such unpleasant things is to fill our mind with good thoughts, for you cannot forget by trying to forget.

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Advantages and disadvantages of cinema
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The advantages and disadvantages of a good memory

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The advantages and disadvantages of the cinema

The advantages and disadvantages of the cinema

Cinemas are a common sight nowadays. They are found in every town. The existence of so many cinemas reflects their popularity. They have indeed become the most popular places of entertainment.

The cinema attracts large numbers of people everyday. It is the magnet of the town. It sometimes attracts even those who do not wish to see a film.

As it is so popular, the cinema exerts a profound influence on the minds of many people, young and old. The influence is sometimes good, and sometimes it is bad. Films showing criminal activities and the sensual desires of man have caused much harm to many youths. Some youths have become criminals themselves though almost every film shows how the good always triumphs over the evil. The cinema has also caused many people to waste money. Such people have become so addicted to visiting the cinema that they see almost every film, good or bad. In this way money is wasted not only on purchasing tickets for admittance to the cinema but also on travelling and many other things.

Often, however, the cinema helps to spread knowledge. There are many films which show the activities of the various races of people living in the remote regions of the earth. Some films show how man has struggled through the centuries to make the world a better place to live in. There are also films which show the events that led to some of the important battles in the past. They are shown with so much realism that one remembers them for a long time. Such films are indeed invaluable, especially to those who are illiterate. In this respect the cinema could be regarded as a school. Even the dullest student learns many things if he sees an educational film in the cinema though he may learn nothing from his teacher or his books. Such is the effect of the film, and in many countries, educational authorities are trying to make the best use of the cinema to spread knowledge and information.

It is therefore clear that the cinema has many advantages as well as disadvantages. Often the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Those who visit the cinema with the purpose of learning something good are sure to benefit from almost every visit to the cinema.

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