Cheating in Exams

      Cheating in exams has become a serious issue nowadays. The reasons behind this phenomenon are many. Firstly, students desire to get good grades due to pressure from parents, peers, and teachers. In other words, if students get bad grades, their parents will tell them off and their peers will laugh at them. secondly, students who lack basic study skills resort to cheating. These include critical and creative thinking as well as time management and test preparation. Thirdly, peer influence is another factor many students cheat. That is to say, cheaters tend to think everyone cheats as liars tend to think everyone lies. Fourthly, some students are lazy and look for ways to get better results with little effort. To put it differently, some students spend time playing and relaxing instead of studying hard, reviewing lessons, and doing exercises, and resort to cheating the day of the exam. Lastly, academic overload is also a reason why students cheat. I mean too much homework and too many lessons and not enough time may drive students to cheat. Therefore, parents, education practitioners and policy makers should work together to fight this phenomenon.

Empowering Women

Our economy can draw a lot of economic, political, and social benefits from the empowerment of women.

First empowering women can enhance the economic status of a country. To start with, women are better at planning the family budget. Men may be the breadwinners of most families, but women are the ones who manage its budget. Besides, women invest more in the family than men do. It is no secret women dedicate their lives to the prospect of their families including its emotional and physical welfare. To put it in Hilary Clinton's words, "When women participate in the economy, everyone benefits" .

Second, empowered women make good politicians. A family is the smallest institution of society, and women play a core role in developing it. This is because they worry and care about others usually more than men. Also, they are often more responsible than them, because they are driven by a desire to build rather than win, which implies that they focus a lot on the welfare of people. All of these elements add to the idea that women are actually less corrupt than men. In Marget Thatcher's words, "“If you want anything said ask a man, if you want it done ask a woman.”

Third, Empowering women enhances the welfare of families in general. Firstly, educated women improve nutrition, health, and help stem diseases. Also,they can take care of their families in a more efficient way than uneducated ignorant ones. Besides, educated women space their pregnancies and thus have fewer but healthy kids.They know the amount of care and attention every single child needs, which contributes in the building of strong and emotionally and physically healthy families. Harriet B. Stowe was right when she said, "Women are the real architects of society."

To conclude, empowering women through education is a prerequisite in enhancing the social, economical, and political aspects of a country as well as the quality of life for women, men, and the entire family.

Aya O.

Email about the causes of homelessness.

Dear Brian,
I hope you are well and that the first semester of school is going smoothly for you. I am writing in response to your question regarding the causes of homelessness in my country.
Firstly, Homelessness and poverty are inextricably linked. When poor people cannot provide for their kids, these resort to living on the street. Secondly, family dysfunction -conflict, misbehavior, neglect or abuse of children- drives children onto the streets. Thirdly, lack of affordable housing is among the leading causes of homelessness and pushes children and families to live on the streets. Lastly, umemployment may cause youth homelessness because losing the job usually means losing the source of income and home.
So, the government, civil society and the private sector should all work together to find a sustainable solution to this growing phenomenon.
Yours,
Mohammed

Email about the effects of smoking.

Hello Sean,
How are you doing? Today is May 31, the No Tobacco Day, and I am writing to tell you about the effects of smoking.
First, smokers are prone to many respiratory diseases like lung cancer, bronchitis, asthma and others. Also, smokers are dirty people: they smell awful and have lousy breath and decayed bad teeth. As Larry james said,  “kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray ”. In addition, smoking costs a lot of money because cigarettes are expensive and their price keeps rising. People can save that money to go on holidays, buy clothes, pay debts, etc. Finally, smoking causes premature aging : it causes skin discoloration, wrinkles, and fine lines.
So, you need to give up smoking, begin a hobby, and take up a sports activity .
Best,
Samira