Quotes and References

All of the SAT essays begin with the directions, "Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below."

They end with the directions, "Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations."

March '05 #1

Given the importance of human creativity, one would think it should have a high priority among our concerns. But if we look at the reality, we see a different picture. Basic scientific research is minimized in favor of immediate practical applications. The arts are increasingly seen as dispensable luxuries. Yet as competition heats up around the globe, exactly the opposite strategy is needed.

Adapted from Mihaly Csikszentmihaly

Assignment: Is creativity needed more than ever in the world today?

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March '05 #2

We must seriously question the idea of majority rule. The majority grinned and jeered when Columbus said the world was round. The majority threw him into a dungeon for his discoveries. Where is the logic in the notion that the opinion held by a majority of people should have the power to influence our decisions? Adapted from James A. Reed, "Majority Rule"

Assignment: Is the opinion of the majority--in government or in any other circumstances--a poor guide?

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[edit] March '05 #3

Even scientists know that absolute objectivity has yet to be attained. It's the same for absolute truth. But, as many news reporters have observed, the idea of objectivity as a guiding principle is too valuable to be abandoned. Without it, the pursuit of knowledge is hopelessly lost. Adapted from "Focusing Our Values," Nieman Reports

Assignment: Are people better at making observations, discoveries, and decisions if they remain neutral and impartial?

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[edit]MMMMarch '05 #4

If you think that what you do is your own business, you are wrong. Inthis world your conduct affects not only you but the conduct ofother people as well. If you behave in a way that is considered unacceptable and other people copy your behavior, you are responsible for the consequences. Adapted from Margaret Banning, "Letter to Susan"

Assignment: Is a person responsible, through the example he or she sets, for the behavior of other people?

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June '05 #1

Many persons believe that to move up the ladder of success and achievement, they must forget the past, repress it, and relinquish it. But others have just the opposite view. They see old memories as a chance to reckon with the past and integrate past and present.

Adapted from Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot

Assignment: Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present?

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June '05 # 2

I cannot comprehend those who emphasize or recognize only what is useful. I am concerned that learning for learning's sake is no longer considered desirable, that everything we do and think must be directed toward the solution of a practical problem. More and more we seem to try to teach how to make a good living and not how to live a good life.

Adapted from Philip D. Jordan

Assignment: Do people put too much emphasis on learning practical skills?

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June '05 # 3

Most of our schools are not facing up to their responsibilities. We must begin to ask ourselves whether educators should help students address the critical moral choices and social issues of our time. Schools have responsibilities beyond training people for jobs and getting students into college.

Adapted from Svi Shapiro

Assignment: Should schools help students understand moral choices and social issues?

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June '05 # 4

The media not only transmit information and culture, they also decide what information is important. In that way, they help to shape culture and values.

Adapted from Alison Bernstein

Assignment: Do newspapers, magazines, television, radio, movies, the Internet, and other media determine what is important to most people?

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January '06 #1

Every important discovery results from patience, perseverance, and concentration--sometimes continuing for months or years--on one specific subject. A person who wants to discover a new truth must remain absorbed by that one subject, must pay no attention to any thought that is unrelated to the problem.

Adapted from Santiago Ramon Cajal, Advice for a Young Investigator

Assignment: Are all important discoveries the result of focusing on one subject?.

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June '06 #1

We measure our progress as a civilization by what we see as advances in technology, which seem more significant than such concerns as education and the condition of the natural world. Still, I would prefer to be a part of a community that judged itself on the happiness of its members rather than on the development of new technology.

Adapted from Thomas Moore

Assignment: Does a strong commitment to technological progress cause a society to neglect other values, such as education and the protection of the environment?

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June '06 #2

People are often told to obey the rules. In reality, these rules are not permanent: what is right at a given point in time may be declared wrong at another time and vice versa. The world changes so rapidly that rules are out-of-date almost as soon as they are created. People cannot rely on established guidelines to determine what they should and should not do.

Adapted from Gregory D. Foster

Assignment: Are established rules too limited to guide people in real-life situations?.

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June '06 #3

I suspect that like many people who watch their diet, exercise regularly, and check the weather report before leaving the house, I am a little too concerned with controlling what can't be fully controlled. I know I am doing the sensible thing. But I sometimes think that the more reckless among us may have something to teach the rest of us about freedom. Perhaps there is something good about taking chances against our better judgments.

Adapted from Melvin Konner

Assignment: Is it sometimes better to take risks than to follow a more reasonable course of action?

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June '06 #4

It is rare to find an objective and independent viewpoint on style, literature, politics, or any other matter. Many people's opinions are formed through their associations with others. It is our nature to conform; conformity is a force that few can successfully resist. We give in to the human instinct to go along with the crowd and to have its approval.

Adapted from Mark Twain

Assignment: Do we tend to accept the opinions of others instead of developing our own independent ideas?

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October '06 #1

While some people promote competition as the only way to achieve success, others emphasize the power of cooperation. Intense rivalry at work or play or engaging in competition involving ideas or skills may indeed drive people either to avoid failure or to achieve important victories. In a complex world, however, cooperation is much more likely to produce significant, lasting accomplishments.

Assignment: Do people achieve more success by cooperation than by competition?

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October '06 #2

Sometimes it is necessary to challenge what people in authority claim to be true. Although some respect for authority is, no doubt, necessary in order for any group or organization to function, questioning the people in charge-even if they are experts or leaders in their fields-makes us better thinkers. It forces all concerned to defend old ideas and decisions and to consider new ones. Sometimes it can even correct old errors in thought and put an end to wrong actions.

Assignment: Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority?

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October '06 #3

We don't really learn anything properly until there is a problem, until we make a mistake, until something fails to go as we had hoped. When everything is working well, with no problems or failures, what incentive do we have to try something new? We are only motivated to learn when we experience difficulties.

Adapted from Alain de Botton, How Proust Can Change Your Life: Not a Novel

Assignment: Does true learning only occur when we experience difficulties?

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October '06 #4

There are two kinds of pretending. There is the bad kind, as when a person falsely promises to be your friend. But there is also a good kind, where the pretense eventually turns into the real thing. For example, when you are not feeling particularly friendly, the best thing you can do, very often, is to act in a friendly manner. In a few minutes, you may really be feeling friendlier.

Adapted from a book by C. S. Lewis

Assignment: Can deception�pretending that something is true when it is not�sometimes have good results?

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November '06 #1

It is wrong to think of ourselves as indispensable. We would love to think that our contributions are essential, but we are mistaken if we think that any one person has made the world what it is today. The contributions of individual people are seldom as important or as necessary as we think they are.

Assignment: Do we put too much value on the ideas or actions of individual people?

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[edit] November '06 #2

Many people deny that stories about characters and events that are not real can teach us about ourselves or about the world around us. They claim that literature does not offer us worthwhile information about the real world. These people argue that the feelings and ideas we gain from books and stories obstruct, rather than contribute to, clear thought.

Adapted from Jennifer L. McMahon, "The Function of Fiction"

Assignment: Can books and stories about characters and events that are not real teach us anything useful?

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November '06 #3

[edit]November '06 #3NNN

"No one is perfect." There are few among us who would disagree with this familiar statement. Certain that perfection is an impossible goal, many people willingly accept flaws and shortcomings in themselves and others. Yet such behavior leads to failure. People can only succeed if they try to achieve perfection in everything they do.

Assignment: Can people achieve success only if they aim to be perfect?

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November '06 #4

[edit]November 'NNNnNnn N

Everybody has some choice. People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and, if they can't find them, make them.

Adapted from George Bernard Shaw, Mrs. Warren's Profession

Assignment: Do success and happiness depend on the choices people make rather than on factors beyond their control?

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December '06 #1

In order to be the most productive and successful people that we are capable of being, we must be willing to ignore the opinions of others. It is only when we are completely indifferent to others' opinions of us�when we are not concerned about how others think of us�that we can achieve our most important goals.

Assignment: Are people more likely to be productive and successful when they ignore the opinions of others?

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December '06 #2

In many circumstances, optimism�the expectation that one's ideas and plans will always turn out for the best�is unwarranted. In these situations what is needed is not an upbeat view but a realistic one. There are times when people need to take a tough-minded view of the possibilities of success, give up, and invest their energies elsewhere rather than find reasons to continue to pursue the original project or idea.

Adapted from Martin E. P. Seligman, Learned Optimism

Assignment: Is it better for people to be realistic or optimistic?

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December '06 #3

It is easy to make judgments about people and their actions when we do not know anything about their circumstances or what motivated them to take those actions. But we should look beyond a person's actions. When people do things that we consider outrageous, inconsiderate, or harmful, we should try to understand why they acted as they did.

Assignment: Is it important to try to understand people's motivations before judging their actions?

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December '06 #[edit] 4

Abraham Lincoln said, "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." In other words, our personal level of satisfaction is entirely within our control. Otherwise, why would the same experience disappoint one person but delight another? Happiness is not an accident but a choice.

Assignment: Is happiness something over which people have no control, or can people choose to be happy?

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January '07 #1

Many people believe that our government should do more to solve our problems. After all, how can one individual create more jobs or make roads safer or improve the schools or help to provide any of the other benefits that we have come to enjoy? And yet expecting that the government�rather than individuals�should always come up with the solutions to society's ills may have made us less self-reliant, undermining our independence and self-sufficiency.

Assignment: Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communities or the nation in general?

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January '07 #2

Most human beings spend their lives doing work they hate and work that the world does not need. It is of prime importance that you learn early what you want to do and whether or not the world needs this service. The return from your work must be the satisfaction that work brings you and the world's need of that work. Income is not money, it is satisfaction; it is creation; it is beauty.

Adapted from W.E.B. Du Bois, The Autobiography of W.E.B. Du Bois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century

Assignment: Is it more important to do work that one finds fulfilling or work that pays well?

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January '07 #3

The education people receive does not occur primarily in school. Young people are formed by their experiences with parents, teachers, peers, and even strangers on the street, and by the sports teams they play for, the shopping malls they frequent, the songs they hear, and the shows they watch. Schools, while certainly important, constitute only a relatively small part of education.

Adapted from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, "Education for the Twenty-First Century"

Assignment: Is education primarily the result of influences other than school?

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January '07 #4

If we are dissatisfied with our circumstances, we think about changing them. But the most important and effective changes�in our attitude�hardly occur to us. In other words, we should worry not about how to alter the world around us for the better but about how to change ourselves in order to fit into that world.

Adapted from Michael Hymers, "Wittgenstein, Pessimism and Politics"

Assignment: Is it better to change one's attitude than to change one's circumstances?

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March '07 #1

From the time people are very young, they are urged to get along with others, to try to "fit in." Indeed, people are often rewarded for being agreeable and obedient. But this approach is misguided because it promotes uniformity instead of encouraging people to be unique and different. Differences among people give each of us greater perspective and allow us to make better judgments.

Assignment: Is it more valuable for people to fit in than to be unique and different?

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March '07 #2

It is easy to imagine that events and experiences in our lives will be perfect, but no matter how good something turns out to be, it can never live up to our expectations. Reality never matches our imaginations. For that reason, we should make sure our plans and goals are modest and attainable. We are much better off when reality surpasses our expectations and something turns out better than we thought it would.

Adapted from Baltasar Graci�n y Morales, The Art of Worldly Wisdom

Assignment: Is it best to have low expectations and to set goals we are sure of achieving?

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March '07 #3

Every event has consequences that are potentially beneficial. We may not always be happy about an experience, but we should at least gain in some way from it. For example, the worldwide gasoline shortage in the early 1970's created many hardships but inspired efforts to conserve energy. Whether the gains are large or small, there is something positive or useful for us in everything that happens to us.

Assignment: Do we really benefit from every event or experience in some way?

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May '07 #1

Materialism: it's the thing that everybody loves to hate. Few aspects of modern life have been more criticized than materialism. But let's face it: materialism-acquiring possessions and spending money-is a vital source of meaning and happiness in our time. People may criticize modern society for being too materialistic, but the fact remains that most of us spend most of our energy producing and consuming more and more stuff.

Adapted from James Twitchell, "Two Cheers for Materialism"

Assignment: Should modern society be criticized for being materialistic?

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May '07 #2

Knowledge is power. In agriculture, medicine, and industry, for example, knowledge has liberated us from hunger, disease, and tedious labor. Today, however, our knowledge has become so powerful that it is beyond our control. We know how to do many things, but we do not know where, when, or even whether this know-how should be used.

Assignment: Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?

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May '07 #3

We do not take the time to determine right from wrong. Reflecting on the difference between right and wrong is hard work. It is so much easier to follow the crowd, going along with what is popular rather than risking the disapproval of others by voicing an objection of any kind.

Adapted from Stephen J. Carter, Integrity

Assignment: Is it always best to determine one's own views of right and wrong, or can we benefit from following the crowd?

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May '07 #4

It is often the case that revealing the complete truth may bring trouble�discomfort, embarrassment, sadness, or even harm�to oneself or to another person. In these circumstances, it is better not to express our real thoughts and feelings. Whether or not we should tell the truth, therefore, depends on the circumstances.

Assignment: Do circumstances determine whether or not we should tell the truth?