At this point, most people are at least somewhat aware that pesticides cause a great deal of environmental harm. Less well known are the effects pesticides have on individual and public health. Here, I give you 5 compelling reasons to avoid pesticides.

A quick note: This list is a little data-heavy. To start, it will help to read through the bold lines first, and then go back to see the data behind each claim.

1. Acute exposure can kill you.

“Late in the afternoon of April 1, 1990, a three-year-old girl playing in front of her trailer home in California’s San Joaquin Valley suddenly lost control of her body and began foaming at the mouth. By the time the girl arrived at the local emergency room, she was near death. She recovered eventually. A report filed with the California Department of Pesticide Regulation concluded the child had been poisoned by aldicarb, a highly toxic insecticide that works the same way on people as it does on bugs — like nerve gas. ‘Somebody had parked a tractor with pesticide material on it right in front of the play area,’ said Michael O’Malley, the author of the report and a physician at the University of California, Davis.”
– Matt Crenson, Associated Press, December 9, 1997

Some common symptoms of over-exposure include burning, stinging, or itchy eyes, nose, throat and skin; nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, wheezing, coughing, headache. These symptoms can range from mild irritation to death. These symptoms are often misdiagnosed and not attributed to pesticide poisoning.

The Advantage and Disadvantage of Nuclear Power
Nuclear power is generated by using uranium which is a metal mined in various part of the world. The first large scale of nuclear power station was opened at Calder Hall in Cumbria, England in 1956.
Some military ships and submarines have nuclear power plant for engine. Nuclear power produces around 11% of the world's energy needed, and produces huge amounts of energy. It cause no pollution as we would get when burning fossil fuels. The advantages of nuclear plant are as follow:

* It costs about the same coal, so it is not expansive to make.
* It does not produce smoke or carbon dioxide, so it does not contribute to the greenhouse effect.
* It produces huge amounts of energy from small amount of uranium.
* It produces small amount of waste.
* It is reliable.

On the other hand, nuclear power is very, very dangerous. It must be sealed up and buried for many years to allow the radioactivity to die away. Furthermore, although it is reliable, a lot of money has to be spent on safety because if it does go wrong, a nuclear accident ca be a major accident.
People are increasingly concerned about this matter. In the 1990's nuclear power was the fastest growing source of power in many parts of the world.

Note on the Generic Structure of Discussion Text
Discussion is a process to find the meet point between two different ideas. It is important to to get the understanding between the two differences. In many social activities, discussion is the effective way to calm down any friction and difference in thought, perception and recommendation.
This example of discussion text present the two poles, between the advantage and disadvantage of using nuclear plant to fulfill the energy needed. It is a case which need to be talked and discussed from two points. They are represented in the generic structure which is used:
Stating the Issue: In the first paragraph, it is stated that using nuclear power can be the choice in fulfilling the needed energy.
Supporting Point: In the second paragraph, it is presented the advantages of nuclear power plant to be used as the source of the world's energy needed
Contrastive Point: The third paragraph shows the balance. It gives the contradictory idea in using nuclear power plant as the resource of energy.
Recommendation: This text is ended with a similar recommendation on how people should concern in the matter of nuclear energy.

The advantages and Disadvantages of Distance Learning

A few years ago, distance learning was seen as an inferior way but nowadays even famous and established traditional colleges and universities are providing distance learning courses and it is generally considered a way to improve one's life.

However, people still argue whether distance learning give more advantage or disadvantage. Some of them who see the benefit of distance learning will say that distance learning needs no commuting. Of course it saves money and time that students would take. Furthermore, distance learning can be done at any student’s convenience. Mostly of the classes of distance learning are asynchronous. It means that students do not have to attend a lecture at a fixed particular time and place. Students can review the assignments and do their homework during off-hours or from home. Additionally, distance learning gives more accessibility. No one can deny it. People with limited mobility may encounter the problem when they take traditional class. With the online class system, the problem is absent.

Despite the many advantages, the other people will see that distance learning is costly and needs complex technology. To attend online learning, student must have a computer with possibly access to the internet. Admitted or not, such technology devices are not always available for common students. Another disadvantage of distance learning is that it does not provide immediate feedback. Unlikely traditional classroom, students have to wait for the feedback and comment until the instructor has review the works and sent response to them. Most of the time students will study alone. Distance learners may feel isolated or miss that social physical interaction that comes with attending a traditional classroom

Regarding the individual’s learning style, some students are able to learn when there is a live interaction between them and the available of accompanying teacher while others don’t really need it. So before deciding a choice of attending distance learning or not, each student needs to do a fair analysis regarding the kind of person he/she is.

A problematic discourse is the simple key to see whether the text is an example of discussion or the other genres. Discussion text will see and elaborate the issue from the different point of view. It presents pro and contra opinion on certain issue. One side is agreeing the issue, the other is disagreeing that issue. The different point of views, according to the generic structure, is the heart of the discussion text. That will differentiate from the other text types.

When we read an example of discussion text, we will see the structure as follow;

Stated issue; what issue is going to be discussed. This must drive problematic discussion from different points of view.

Supporting arguments: after stating the issue, it is necessary to present the argument to support that one point is agreeing.

Against arguments: beside the supporting argument, discussion text need the arguments which disagree to the stated issue.

Recommendation; finally in the end of the discussion, it is important to re-think to formulate certain recommendation for the discussed issue.

Now we will see the following example of discussion text


Giving Children Homework; Pro and Con

There are a lot of discussion as to whether children should be given homework or not. Is it enough for children having time to study at school or needing additional time in home for study after school time?

Some people claim that children do enough work in school already. They also argue that children have their hobbies which they want to do after school, such as sport or music. A further point they make is that a lot of homeworks are pointless and does not help the children learn at all.

However, there are also strong arguments against this point of view. Parents and teachers argue that it is important to find out whether children can work on their own without the support from the teacher. They say that the evening is a good time for children to sit down and think about what they have learned in school.

Furthermore they claim that the school day is too short to get anything done. It makes sense to send home tasks like independent reading or further writing task which do not need the teacher support.

I think, on balance, that some homework is good idea but that should only given at the weekend when children have more time.

National exam becomes the hot topic in most of discussions. Though the Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the go-vernment on the organization of the national exams, the controversy over whether it is necessary to maintain the national exams (UN) has continued. Some debates include the primary questions such as; does the quality of Indonesia education depend on the national exam?, will the quality of the Indonesian education system worsen without natipnal exam?
People, who support the national exam explain that the quality of the Indonesia education system will drop without the national exam, so they try to defend the current system.
Hoever there are people who disagree with the opinion. Those who against this national exam kept in our high school education say that it doesn't need the national exams because the quality of education does not just depend on the national exam. Further, the national exam only measures a small portion of students' competence in specific subjects, and does not measure students' competences throughout the semester.
In fact, the national examination can still be useful as an instrument to evaluate or detect the level of students' cognitive competence in several subjects, on a national scale.
Arranged from: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/12/19/quality-education-and-national-exams.html

Everybody like home sweet home however making office at home is possible and recommend. Of course home office will has both advantage and disadvantage. Therefore it is wise to consider the strengths and weaknesses to have a home office.

Some people will agree that having office at home will make benefit. It saves time. We need no commuting which occasionally takes a long time. Besides we are free to set the work schedule. Having home office will save money as we need not to purchase or lease of office space from rent companies. What make it more flexible is that we can set part or all parts of our home just as a real office. What we need is only a wireless router to cover all parts of our house with Internet. We can run our business wherever part of house we want, from living room, bed room, veranda, etc even we can make sell or purchase by online shopping for things we need. Furthermore Working at home might reduce stress, effort and time and divert it to other more productive things because while working, we are close to our families.

However making home as office also has some disadvantages. For some people, keeping the schedule is hard in flexible time. Such people type will harder if they are working just from home. There will no clear border between working and breaking. Working just from home also reduces the possibility to meet new people. It is true that computer and Internet connection possibly relate people every time and everywhere but we will interact with them in a dimension which is not real face.

So considering carefully what we actually need in running our business is very recommended before choosing to have office at home or not.