TOEFL Official Guide Practice Test 2 Integrated Writing Professors on TV

Nowadays professors do not only appear in their universities but also on television in talk shows or just to state their opinion on a topic. This has advantages but also disadvantages. Both the passage and the lecutre discuss these points but have opposing views on it.

The writer argues that a professor profits when he or she is on TV because he or she gains a reputation by a wide audience. In the lecture total opposite is said. The speaker says that it is unprofessional for a professor to be on TV. The professor has no time to do proper research and furthermore he or she is rather an entertainer than an educator. In addition to that, the professor on TV loses too much time with preparations for the show and has no time to attend seminars or university courses.

In the passage it is stated that the university would also profit if a professor attended a TV show as it gets the attention of more people. The speaker instead says that a professor on TV loses his academic reputation and will never win a real academic award again.

The final question of both the lecture and the passage is about the public and if it profits when a professor is on TV. While the text argues, that the general public normally do not have access to an academic lecture, the speaker says that the topics are not academic but entertaining. The speaker is clearly against a professor on TV because the only one who benefits from that are and broadcaster.