ESSAY TOPICS WITH POINTS: ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS

DO PUBLIC PROTESTS DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD?

·         Damage to lives and property +

·         High jacking of the protest by extremists+

·         Unnecessary social upheaval+

·         Drawing attention to issues –

·         Expressing opposition or support for issues -

·         A democratic right –

ARE LAW ENFORCEMENT CAMERAS AN INVASION OF PRIVACY?

·         Invasion of privacy (yes)

·         Not everyone is a criminal (yes)

·         Big brother is watching (yes)

·         Public safety (no)

·         Supports testimony in court (no)

·         Helps apprehend criminals (no)

SHOULD SCHOOLS SPEND MONEY ON FINE ARTS?

Yes

·         Promotes creativity

·         Provides welcome relief

·         Develops talents

·         Creates happiness

No

·         Basis skills more practical

·         Is a luxury

·         University preparation a priority

SHOULD PRAYER BE ALLOWED IN SCHOOLS?

Yes

·         Unbelievers and other religions can be exempt

·         Helps instill good values

·         Religion taught correctly

·         Every subject taught; why not religion

No

·         Freedom of religion; wrong to force

·         Many different religions, non-believers

·         Could lead to bullying, teasing and discrimination

·         Religion should not be publically endorsed

·         School the wrong place

DO WE HAVE A MORAL OBLIGATION TO HELP REFUGEES?

Yes

·         Help will be reciprocated

·         Easy to help, help is big

·         Will lead to economic growth

·         Refugees fleeing persecution

No

·         Costly

·         Threat to national security

·         Dilution of national culture

·         Increasing social problems
     
      SHOULD TABLETS REPLACE TEXTBOOKS IN SCHOOL?

     Go to https://tablets-textbooks.procon.org/ for the points.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF TARIFFS AND QUOTAS

Trade, without doubt, has  the most  important role in human life.Trade, or commerce, involves the transfer of goods or services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. All  people trade regularly. Although it caused wars and people died in the past, it now continues its importance with different results.  Trade protectionism, which is a kind of virtual commercial war, is the economic practice of restricting trade between countries, usually through imposing tariffs or setting quotas on imported goods. It can also involve subsidizing domestic industries. Nowadays, governments are applying tariffs and quotas to protect their countries. Even though there are several effects of  tariffs and quotas, welfare and retaliation are claimed to be the most important two.

To begin with, welfare is known to be the primary effect of tariffs and quotas.It is not a coincidence that most societies want to live at a high level of prosperity(enjoy a high level of prosperity), even if they are rich, hence the governments of these  societies are occupied in increasing (in the increase of) their people's trading power.The first rule of wealth or welfare for a country is that local products are cheaper than imported products. To exemplify, the domestic producer should be relatively more competitive compared to importers. Thanks to tariffs, the small manufacturer can make   more profit than international companies. Another point is that if a country does not have enough products and producers(have either enough products or enough producers) ,increasing tariffs will reflect on consumer labels. Eventually, purchasing power will be reduced. In short, tariffs must be balanced for both consumers and producers by governments.

Furthermore, retaliation seems to be the second effect of tariffs and quotas. Countries may also set tariffs as a retaliation technique, if they think that a trading partner has not played by the rules. For instance, when the US does not agree with its ally Turkey in the Middle East, it puts extra customs duty on iron and steel products On the other hand, thanks to tariffs and quotas, the countries can produce their business opportunities for their citizens. The more business opportunities you have, the fewer  problems of revenue you have. Briefly, tariffs and quatas  always offer the possibility of retaliation

All in all, welfare and retaliation are said to be the most common effects of tariffs and quotas. International trade is connected with consumer demands and supply. I think the most sensible economic model for a country is to use tariffs and quotas, which are considered to be international economic weapons after they have achieved their domestic trade balance.

BURAK ÖZÇİFÇi

THE PALM OIL INDUSTRY

    One of the world's most widely used edible vegetable oils is palm, which can be found in various varieties of everyday products from junk food to detergents. It grows best in tropical areas where rainforests occur, especially in Indonesia and Malaysia. Demand for edible vegetable oils has grown strongly in recent decades, and the palm oil industry has expanded rapidly to meet the global demand. There are various reasons why  palm oil has been widely utilized in daily products and goods is that palm trees have high yield , and the palm industry has provided people with new employment opportunities. The palm oil industry has had many types of effects on the environment and all living creatures.

     Firstly, one of the disastrous environmental impacts of the booming palm oil industry is deforestation. Palm can grow in regions only within 10 degrees north or south of the equator. The regions house vast areas of tropical rainforest rich in biodiversity on the continents of Asia, Africa, and South America. Day after day, huge tracts of rainforests are being cut to make room for new plantations and to meet the rising demand, which leads the world's precious rainforests to be destroyed. Deforestation for palm oil production also contributes significantly to climate change. For example, In Indonesia – the world’s largest producer of palm oil –  vast areas of forests are  disappearing, and releasing vast amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. Furthermore, the other adverse effect is  the destruction of the world's precious rainforests. Because of clearing a piece of land for new fields, endangered species of many animals and plants  face extinction, and their population is declining. Some of them are orangutans, Sumatran Rhinoceros, Sun Bears, Pygmy Elephants, and so forth.

   

    Lastly, one of the social consequences of the booming palm oil industry is job opportunities. Many people living in regions where palm oil is produced work in the palm oil industry  growing  palm trees for example.  While the global palm oil production does create an opportunity to bring many communities out of poverty, the industry has also had a devastating impact on groups of people in these places. For example, in rural regions of  Borneo and Sumatra, many people work on oil palm plantations and they think that this is good for their economies. However, the government allows corporations to take the land owned by indigenous peoples for their own financial benefit. This is more harmful to these people. Moreover, the palm oil industry has an adverse effect: it violates human rights. For instance, many children living in these areas must work in the palm oil industry because of their family condition and they confront many problems such receiving little or no pay for their efforts. Also, smallholders and indigenous people who have inhabited and protected the forest for generations are often brutally driven from their land.

   

    In conclusion, the palm oil industry has rapidly expanded and has led to many types of serious problems. The palm oil industry cannot be stopped due to the global demand. Therefore, we should take the necessary measures to reduce its adverse impacts. For example, the awareness of the dangerous affects of the palm oil industry should be raised, and governments should promote sustainable palm oil. It is an approach to oil palm agriculture that aims to produce palm oil without causing deforestation or harming people. 

WHAT IS CYBERCRIME?

     Cybercrime is simply defined as crimes that are directly related to computers and internet networks. Computers, codes and software are weapons of the cybercriminals. Cybercriminals often commit crimes by targetting networks or devices. You might wonder  why computers are used for cybercrime. If criminals are capable of writing codes, they can readily access your identity data. So, why do people commit cybercrime? There are three reasons which are linked to attackers.

          The first group commits cybercrimes to make money in illegal ways. They access people’s bank accounts or credit card information. Then, they steal their money without touching it. So these criminals are motivated by money. The second group is motivated by protest, opinion and laws. This group includes hactivists. Their purpose is basically making a protest. The third group might surprise you because you might have trusted your government but governments commit cybercrime against their own citizens. For instance, when the Arap spring occured in April 2011,the government of Egyp spied on their own citizens. The government of Egyp secretly took all of the communication of citizens.

          On the other hand, why can't we realize cybercrimes? Cybercrimes are committed at most in a few seconds in the background of your computer. You can't notice it/ what is going on. The cybercriminals are very professional and organized and it isn't difficult for them to access your identity data. You might think about how they can do it easily. For example, if you went to a porn site, you were probably hacked. To put it simply, you can get infected this way. Cybercriminals design trojans for accessing and stealing your data. They distribute these malicious codes. These malicious codes can be in a photo which looks innocent. Therefore, you can't realize them. There are many ways to hack people. Also, cybercriminals might send a fake virus. After that, they say “let me scan your computer and clean these viruses”. If you except it, they send real viruses with your permission. Furthermore, cybercriminals are fed by dating sites because they can access your identity data from there. They can access your location because the photos contain GPS coordinates where the photos are taken.

          To sum up, security breaches, identity theft, bullying and phishing scams are types of cybercrime. We have to protect against  them. We must use a full-service internet security suite and strong passwords. You mustn't use the same password everywhere. You must change it regularly. Also, you must manage your social media settings. You must keep your personal and private information locked down. You can be protected in these ways.

Gökhan DEMİRÇİN 

          

GLOBAL POVERTY

There are many different countries all around the world. Some of them are richer and are called developed countries. Others are poorer. In the last century, global poverty has been spreading and the difference in quality of life between the richer half of the world and poorer countries has been increasing. There are obvious causes of this problem such as lack of food and water but there are also less obvious ones like climate change and conflict.

Climate change or global warming is a problem that some countries like to ignore. Trump has recently denied it exists. However, the world is warming up, ecosystems are being damaged and the balance of nature is being upset. One obvious outcome of global warming is erratic weather patterns. Floods wash away top soil and ruin crops. Hurricanes devastate towns. Desertification is also becoming a problem. In certain parts of Africa it hasn’t rained for months. Afghanistan is now a desert where even opium poppies no longer grow well. Under these conditions, poverty is a normal outcome, and there is no solution. The damage has been done. According to experts, we have reached the point of no return. In short, climate change is a major cause of global poverty.

The second major cause of global poverty in this century is conflict. The 21^st century is characterized by civil war and terrorism. The continuing civil war in Syria is a good example. There has been no production there for a long time. There has been no education either. This means the next generation will not be able to save the country either. The ongoing problem of terrorism in certain African countries and the rebellion in Yemen are two other examples of poverty caused by conflict. In Yemen, thousands are dying of starvation every day.  The infrastructure is ruined, schools are closed, production has stopped and the young population is ignorant. In such circumstances, poverty is unavoidable. In short, civil war negatively impacts countries for generations.

In conclusion, two major trends, climate change and conflict are making global poverty a more serious problem. The first is a long term situation. People should listen to experts and do everything they can to reverse the trend. The second is also a man made problem. Everything should be done to end civil wars so countries can start to rebuild themselves. In short, the solution is within our grasp.

THE EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC RECESSION

   Many developed and developing countries suffer from economic recessions. Economic recessions are a term of general economic decline. It is thought that economic recessions can occur due to many factors like high-interest rates and an increase in inflation for example. Economic recessions have various effects on business and society, and the impacts of a recession depend on how long it lasts and the depth of the fall in output.

  Initially, one of the important effects of economic recessions is unemployment. For example, many companies can dismiss some of the workers in order to reduce cost and combat the recession, and some firms go bankrupt, which causes all workers to lose their jobs. Therefore, the unemployment rate rises gradually. And this also affects families or individuals whose income is drastically reduced due to loss of employment and underemployment.

      Finally, economic recessions also have adverse impacts on society.

When people are out of work, they are unable to meet their needs, and this causes the pressure on demands for government-funded social services to increase. However, governments also experience drops in revenue collection during the recession; hence, it becomes difficult to meet the increased demands on social services. Furthermore, the social effect of the economic recession is family problems. With the loss of a job, many families experience many economic problems. For instance, they cannot defray the educational cost of their children, and their lifestyles change because of a lack of funds.

    To conclude, many countries are hit by economic recessions because of a more than normal drop in spending by both the private and public sectors. Economic recessions have negative impacts on every part of life. Accordingly, people and governments should take the necessary measures to escape from them.

HİLAL BAYIRLI

CRITICAL THINKING

The most important feature  of people is thinking and, without doubt, it  is an intellectually disciplined process for actively applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information obtained or acquired through experience, reasoning or communication, of course if it done critically.People who think critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically because they are aware of inherently flawed nature of human thinking  when left unchecked. Well, what is the significance of this thinking style that people use to take a stand towards their life? Even though there are several reasons why critical thinking is so important, independence and creativity are claimed to be the most important two.

To begin with, encouraging independence is known to be the primary reason why  critical thinking is so important. Learning to think critically teaches a person to be more independent. To illustrate, a person who does not rely on others, and  takes  full ownership of his strengths and weaknesses is truly independent. This helps people avoid mistakes, improving their judgmental and evaluation skills to a whole new level. Another point is that thinking with reason/ rationally and making logical justifications help reflect their own values and decisions in a good way. Critical thinking is considered as an important asset for one’s own well-being. In brief, critical thinking improves people’s independence and self-evaluation.

Furthermore, promoting creativity and innovation seems to be the second reason why  critical thinking is so important.Firstly,thanks to critical thinking, people might be out of the box and come up with new ideas that explore  altarnative options and they also find creative solutions. As opposed to narrow thinking, critical thinking frees the person's mind and motivates him to understand other situations around his.On the other hand,critical thinking keeps us up-to-date with our 21. century economy. As you already know, our economy today is based on information and technology. It is changing quickly and effectively. Analyzing information and solving problems systematically helps us adapt to this fast-changing workplace.Shortly,people who think critically are generally very close to invention or reform.

All in all, creativity and independence  are said to be the most common reasons why are critical thinking so important.So as explained, it is vital to possess good critical thinking skills full of reason and logic.

BURAK ÖZÇİFÇİ

Learn better, think smarter and aim higher!