131 AD Some famous athletes and entertainers earn millions of dollars every year. Do you think these people deserve such high salaries? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

Some athletes and entertainers earn millions of dollars annually. In contrast, an elementary school teacher, on average, probably makes less than $35,000 a year. I think the fact that this difference is commonplaces is a sign of our society’s misplaced values. It shows that we put more importance on entertaining our children than on educating them. It seems that the careers that are the least values in our society often are those that are the most important.

Why is this so? The market determines who gets paid what. Teachers are paid by tax dollars. Sports teams make hundreds of millions of dollars every year. These teams earn fabulous profits from radio and television rights, as well as everything sold at the concessions stands. The same is true of movies. They are produced by studios that make huge profits annually. These enterprises can afford to pay their entertainers and sports figures huge salaries, because those athletes and film stars draw people to the entertainment.

Why are we willing to pay so much to see a ball game or a movie, but not for a good teacher? Maybe it’s because we want distraction; we want to be entertained. Maybe it’s because we think of education as a right, which entertainment seems like a luxury. We expect to pay for our luxuries.

It’s not that I begrudge the players and entertainers their huge salaries. Most of them have very short careers. Athletes may be too old in their early 30s. Many of them gamble early in their lives on making it big in the sports or entertainment world, and deny themselves a good education. They have little chance of a stable career, so they need to earn enough money to support them for a long time. On the other hand, most of us aren’t going to earn $10 million in a lifetime of work. So it’s hard to sympathize with people who do.

We have to ask ourselves: who really give the most value to society?

132 EX Is the ability to read and write more important today than in the past? Why or why not? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

Today more than at any time in the history of the world it is important to be able to read and write. This change has been brought about by the Internet which we use to communicate with one another, to get our news, and to sell our product.

Millions of people communicate today through e-mail using the Internet. In the past people would have face-to–face meetings or call one another on the phone; today they use e-mail and chat rooms. It is obviously necessary to be able to read and write in order to participate in this technological revolution.

Today, one can subscribe to news and information services on the Net. When you turn on your computer in the morning, you are given the headlines, financial news, sports scores, or social events that you requested. The news from television or radio—as many still do. Yet, getting your news from the Internet is more efficient since the news is tailored to your specific interests.

E-commerce also demands that people be able to write and read. Of course, the people who design web retail who sites, must be able to express themselves clearly in writing. The potential customers must be able to read the product descriptions. In the past, people would go into stores (as many still do) and point to objects that they would like to buy. This physical approach to shopping does not require any special language skills.

The Internet will force us all to be literate not only in reading and writing, but also with computers. Today, we must be skilled readers and writers to be successful in the high tech world.