Carlos Sánchez Criado

“Criminals”
Prisons were conceived as a solution to criminality. Locking criminals in a structure for
a certain amount of time seemed like a good idea when the concept came out of
someone´s mind. If it was a good or a bad idea, it shall be discussed in the next two
texts.
In the first text, the author agrees that prisons are the only method there is to deal
with criminals, making an emphasis on those who committed a crime on purpose, not
making it so clear for those who have committed a crime unintentionally, as if they
should be treated differently. It is argued that prisons are necessary, specially to set a
good example towards children and teenagers.
In the second text, the argument used is completely different, stating that prisons,
instead of rehabilitating people, it makes them even worse, endorsing them to keep
committing more crimes the moment they put a foot outside of the prison, as if the
moment the crime was committed, they had already decided to become criminals for
the rest of their lives and that they cannot help but thinking about committing crimes
instinctively.
In my opinion, none of these two texts really make a valid argument. Not everyone
commits a crime on purpose, and if they do, they can regret it without becoming
monsters for a society. Personal psyches are much more complex that sending or not a
person to prison for an action that he/she might have not think very deeply at will.
There are many more and even better options instead.

“Report”
It is usually believed that “better” means “expensive” and that does not always have to
be the case. When schools try to improve their methods, computers are most of the
times the first thing that comes to mind, and that could be a very common mistake.
Books are often the best method for students to learn, specially when talking about
text books, specially designed and made to make things easier for the ones trying to
learn a language, although there are others kinds of books that might come in handy,
reading books. Affordable, light and portable, they might not be for everyone, but one
of the best ways to learn a language is by reading a book with a dictionary next to you.
There are few better ways to learn how to use certain vocabulary than choosing a
specific book which focuses mainly on that certain subject, as economy, for example.
Some may say that these books are not as affordable as one may think, but thanks to
the wide variety of book shops nowadays, second-hand books are a very plausible
choice that allows readers to buy a book for as few as just one or two euros, even
books in other languages.
Therefore, I would suggest schools to dare to buy more second hand books, not only
text books, but reading books as well. It could be true that the construction quality of
these might not be as sturdy as a freshly made one, but the content is the same, and it
also teach kids to take care of their school supplies, which could be retired from
classes as a way to save some money as well.
As another option, more digital files could be used instead of printing so many exercise
sheets. At the end, using an interactive PDF file is as useful as handwriting on a piece of
physical paper, even though I affirmed investing on computers should not be
necessary, being honest, most schools already have them anyways.

“Fair trade”
When farmers and workers in general produce what has cost them so many hours of
work and so much effort and sweat, one may think that they will earn would be
proportional, and one may not be wrong, but in most occasions, that is not the case,
and that is exactly what fair trade tries to avoid.
The first text suggests that instead of helping workers, the fair trade movement is used
as a marketing movements in the form of stickers placed on certain products just to try
to sell more. The money raised would go directly to the company´s bank accounts
instead of the real worker´s ones, which is unacceptable and something should be
done to avoid such situations.
On the other hand, the second text defends the fair trade association, even when
some supporters are turning their heads away when realizing what it really stand for,
which is earning the money that farmers really deserve. Despite not quite achieving its
gold, the association has not given up yet, quite the opposite, with companies starting
to grow fear to lose that advantage that they have been taken from farmers all these
years past.
Fair trade has one and just one purpose which is to fight and stand for the rights of,
mainly, farmers, who have always been treated unfairly by big companies, taking
advantage of their power when setting prices and working conditions, and it is about
time for the tables to be turned.