Let Children Manage Money? To some extent, our life is tightly connected with money which supports our daily expenses. Thus it is natural to see that more and more parents start to restrict their children's exposition to money in order to prevent them from wasting it. However, I rather disagree with this. It would probably be more accurate to say that only when children learn how to manage their own money at a young age can they become financially responsible adults finally. There is no denying that there are some risks when doing so. Thus most families will not let children manage their own money all the time. But according to a recent survey conducted by IMO (International Media Organization), 9 out of 10 people who are in the upper class agree that they had some instructions and freedom on dealing with money when they were under 10 years old. Besides, some of them mentioned teaching such a lesson associated with money could fill the blanks of traditional school education. Moreover, it is customary to say that managing money is a big topic, which is totally too hard for a child to understand it well enough. However, it is well worth noticing that this assertion cannot be taken as a general rule. Take myself as an example. I was fond of financial knowledge even when I was in kinder garden. Since I could recognize some words, I have thrown myself in learning all kinds of methods of investment. Those books, such as Investment in 21st Century as well as Advanced Investment Method, taught me good lessons about money, which I would certainly appreciate if I became a millionaire. Consequently, interest plays an essential role in learning everything, including how to manage money. Therefore, it is rational for some children to have access to money based on my experience. To put it into a nutshell, that all amounts to saying that children should learn something about managing money in order to become adults who are wise of using money. With enough interest as well as trust, it is much easier to send our children onto the right orbit. Teaching children a lesson about money is never a must; instead, it's a choice.

Broad Knowledge or Specific Knowledge? There are always a group of people who seem a bit strange, because their topics are always related to their majors even in restaurants. Thus it's natural for them to hold the belief that specializing in one specific subject is the correct choice. Personally, I rather disagree with this statement. It would probably be more accurate to say that it is better to have broad knowledge of many academic subjects. There is no denying that one has to grasp a subject well enough to earn a living. Thus we all have our majors in universities, which could be seen as a way of specializing. But that doesn't mean we should only care about knowledge within that given circle. Besides, it's much wiser for youngsters to have a taste on other areas. Moreover, it is customary to say that it's no use to waste time on those things unrelated with our future career. However, it is well worth noticing that this assertion cannot be taken as a general rule. What actually happens is that future career competition calls for much more complex skills than what we may have learnt in school, needless to say when they are compared with the limited knowledge within a major. For example, a scientist who owns leader skills has a higher possibility to win an upper position than those who only focus on graphs and statistics. However, where does the leadership come from? The answer is from knowledge. Consequently, people usually need more than one skill to help them go further in their jobs. Last but not least, one should not forget that the process of broadening his/her sight is not contradicted to specializing in one subject. For instance, I am good at writing Chinese ancient literature although my major is EE. Actually, learning others contributes to my understanding of my major. That is because we need to make a balance in and to refresh our mind after focusing on one point for a long time. To put it in a nutshell, that all amounts to saying that having broad knowledge of everything does good to our growth. It is not only a must for us to perform well in jobs but also a perfect method to enhance our specific learning meanwhile. Only when we realize the unity of knowledge itself can we move further.

Doubts on the reading passage The reading passage introduces three reasons which support Jane Austen is the subject of a painting: family's endorsement, similarity with the face in Cassandra's sketch, and style linked with Ozias Humphrey. However, the lecturer disagrees. First of all, the lecturer opposes that permission given by Austen's family. Because she had been dead for almost 70 years when the portrait was used for edition, which indicates the fact that even her family members didn't see her face. Therefore, it's impossible for them to verify the validity of the portrait. Furthermore, the lecturer raises questions about the portrait's subject. Instead of Jane, there's evidence showing it could be one of the relatives of her extensive family, especially it might be her teenage cousins and children who could resemble Jane well enough at that time. Last but not least, the lecturer argues that the painting's connection with Ozias is only limited to style, while the other features are attributed to a later date. One of those proofs is that the black canvas was not sold in London until the age of that girl in the painting added 27, when Jane was no longer a young lady. Consequently, the last point of view in the reading passage doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

"valuable" information? Furthermore, it's not hard for everyone to notice the vague definition of the word valuable in that statement. How to define whether something is of great value while others are not? In fact, during many cases we will feel some pieces of information do have a huge impact to a specific group of people, but not to everyone at that time. In other words, if we use information which isn't prepared for us, we may not make good use of it after all. For instance, there has been a slogan called "knowledge is useless", supported by a fact that some successful entrepreneurs don't even have any school experience. Such piece of information is kind of deceptive in that it's only valuable to those who do have a great talent in business although without proper education. However, the number of such people is generally believed to be quite low. So, this rule may not apply to you and me. To conclude, the value of information on the Internet is somehow overestimated.

My thoughts of italki I consider this website as a great platform for language learners around the world to communicate freely. It has to be admitted that sometimes even the best second language teacher of a nation cannot match a real native speaker. Limitations do exist in current traditional school education, which push increasing amount of ambitious students to hunt for updating learning methods.