1GREAWAMODELESSAYSTopicsinthefollowinglistmayappearinyouractualtest.YoushouldbecomefamiliarwiththislistbeforeyoutaketheGRE-AWAtest.Rememberthatwhenyoutakethetestyouwillnothaveachoiceoftopics.Youmustwriteonlyonthetopicthatisassignedtoyou.2ThePoolofIssueTopicsPresentyourperspectiveontheissuebelow,usingrelevantreasonsand/orexamplestosupportyourviews.Issue1"Wecanusuallylearnmuchmorefrompeoplewhoseviewswesharethanfrompeoplewhoseviewscontradictourown.";disagreementcancausestressandinhibitlearning."Dowelearnmorefrompeoplewhoseideasweshareincommonthanfromthosewhoseideascontradictours?Thespeakerclaimsso,forthereasonthatdisagreementcancausestressandinhibitlearning.Iconcedethatunduediscordcanimpedelearning.Otherwise,inmyviewwelearnfarmorefromdiscourseanddebatewiththosewhoseideasweopposethanfrompeoplewhoseideasareinaccordwithourown.Admittedly,undersomecircumstancesdisagreementwithotherscanbecounterproductivetolearning.Forsupportingexamplesoneneedlooknofurtherthanatelevisionset.Ontoday'stypicaltelevisionorradiotalkshow,disagreementusuallymanifestsitselfinmeaninglessrhetoricalboutsandshoutingmatches,duringwhichopponentsvietohavetheirownmessageheard,buthavelittleinteresteitherinfindingcommongroundwithorinacknowledgingthemeritsoftheopponent'sviewpoint.Understandably,neitherthecombatantsnortheviewerslearnanythingmeaningful.Infact,thesebattlesonlyservetoreinforcethepredispositionsandbiasesofallconcerned.Theendresultisthatlearningisimpeded.Disagreementcanalsoinhibitlearningwhentwoopponentsdisagreeonfundamentalassumptionsneededformeaningfuldiscourseanddebate.Forexample,astudentofpaleontologylearnslittleabouttheevolutionofananimalspeciesundercurrentstudybydebatingwithanindividualwhosereligiousbeliefsystemprecludesthepossibilityofevolutiontobeginwith.And,economicsandfinancestudentslearnlittleaboutthedynamicsofalaissez-fairesystembydebatingwithasocialistwhoseviewisthatacentralizedpowershouldcontrolalleconomicactivity.Asidefromtheforegoingtwoprovisos,however,Ifundamentallydisagreewithth...
