Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:Assignment: Is there always another explanation or another point of view? 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.Essay 1:I admit with pride that I am a perfectionist. I see it as the force which motivates me to achieve high goals. I owe my good grades, my success as a dancer as well as my organized room to my drive to be perfect. However, others view my perfectionism as a f law. Others see me crying over the “B+”I received on the math test and blame my “emotional instability”, as they call it, on my perfectionism. Whether one considers it is a vice or a virtue depends on his or her point of view.May is AP test season and for me that means severely high levels of stress. I could be spotted walking down the halls of the school with my Barron’s AP World History book under my right arm and a highlighter in my pocket. It was imperative that I study hard enough to receive a grade of “5” on the test. All my stressing and constant studying gave me dark circles under my eyes and a head cold. One day, shortly before the test, my French teacher approached me and asked me if I was alright. I explained that I was just tired and stressed from studying for APs. She paused when I finished speaking. Then she stared me straight in the eye and said, “Everyone chooses their own poison.” I was dumbfounded. What did she mean? Then it dawned on me; she sees my drive for perfection in the spring that feeds my ultimate downfall. My perfectionism is my vice, according to her and yet all this time I thought it was my greatest virtue.Now I understand that my perfectionism is not “all good”; it was after all responsible for the lack of plenty of sleep as well as being responsible for my head cold. However, I maintain that it is not “all bad” either. I continued to study for the AP World History test and although the scores are not back yet, I have a hunch I did well on it. So is perfectionism a vice or a virtue? It depends on whom you are talking to.Essay 2:There is always a “however.” Each situation has its benefits and its drawbacks. In the field of market finance, we find a compelling example that supports this thesis.The Roaring Twenties was a decade during which the American economy saw a rapid boom. In fact, America’s bull markets, such as the New York Stock Exchange had become so financially inviting by 1927 that even America’s middle class poured its money into America’s financial forums. Unfortunately, on October 4, 1929 the Booming Twenties came to an abrupt halt when the New York Stock Exchange crashed.The crash had many negative consequences. Most notably, the stock market crash of 1929 launched America into the Great Depression, a time of starvation and unemployment for millions of American citizens. The widespread optimism of the 1920’s quickly turned into an almost suicidal pessimism. Indeed, the Great Depression represents a crippling consequence of the stock market crash of 1929.However, Franklin Delano Roosevelt established institutions and regulations to prevent future economic catastrophes. Cognizant of the Crash’s causes, such as pool corruption, overpriced stock values, and margin buying, Roosevelt implemented the Social Security Act, the FDIC, and stricter rules monitoring credit. His aggressive policies not only ameliorated the uncomfortable climate of the Great Depression, but also laid the groundwork for a safer, more successful economy.The American public also realized the many positive results of the stock market crash of 1929. In particular, American citizens now have an entirely different fiscal outlook from the one they had before the Crash. Speculators have proven to be more prudent and insightful, as they often research market trends before investing. Perhaps most importantly, American investors are not as easily swayed by popular optimism and eager advertisement.While the stock market crash of 1929 was the embryo of the Great Depression, the Crash also set the foundation for a sounder economy. If we recognize the good and the bad of the Crash, we are destined to make fewer economic mistakes.Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. （OG2）: Is deception ever justified? 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.Essay 3:Deception is sometimes justified. When someone is trying to achieve an end, he or she must sometimes use deception as a means. On at least two occasions, the Confederate Army used deception in an attempt to overthrow the more powerful Union Army. Also in literature, Jay Gatsby uses deception to win over his true love.In the first major battle of the Civil War, The First Battle of Bull Run, the Confederate Army gained a neat victory over the Union using deception. Although the Union appeared to be winning the battle, General Stonewall Jackson was waiting with reserve troops. In fact, he surprised the overconfident Union Army, and drove them back with his delayed attack. Had Stonewall Jackson not used deception, the South would not have won that important battle of the Civil War.D eception was actually a major element in the South’s overall war strategy. Since they lacked resources and the manpower of the North, they had to make due with what they did have---cleverness. They used tactics such as fierce rebel yelling and false reports to make the North believe that there were more Confederate troops than there actually were. General McClellan of the North often hesitated to take action because he was always concerned about sending his men into certain death. The South’s façade worked for some time and they had the Union tricked out of attacking them.We also see the necessity of deception in F.Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby when the protagonist uses the façade of his mansion and his parties to impress his love, Daisy. To him, his only goal in love is to win her over, which goal drives him to become wealthy and buy a huge mansion. He holds huge drinking parties merely for the sake of attracting Daisy to his love. Gatsby, however, does not fit into high society. He merely uses these things to attract Daisy. To him, deception is necessary, or else he could not pursue true love for himself.On many occasions, deception is necessary. The South had to deceive the North, and Gatsby had to deceive himself and Daisy. For deception to be justified there must be some end that is necessary to achieve. However, deception must have a good cause. Enron’s recent deception was unjustified, because their end was to steal and to embezzle.The confederacy was defending its way of life and Gatsby was in pursuit of true love. Although deception was justified in these cases, mendacity in general should not be encouraged. Lying and stealing are forms of deception that lack a just end. Therefore, deception can be sometimes justified, but at other times not.Essay 4:“Honesty is always the best policy” may be a trite saying, but it holds an enormous amount of truth. Though deception often allows one to escape immediate repercussions, the truth will always emerge. In most situations, one will find that deception does not offer the same long-term benefits as honesty does.Sometimes deception occurs in the form of white lies. For instance, my cousin Joanne was invited to her friend’s wedding in Hawaii and she asked for my opinion on her dress. Her dress was a hideous creation; it looked like a mass of cabbages sewn together. But I smiled and told Joanne that the dress was beautiful anyway. How could I ruin her excitement over the dress? Looking back at that moment, I probably should have told her the truth, considering that the guests laughed at her. She had trusted me to give an honest, helpful opinion, but, instead, I led her to humiliation.With regards to more serious matters, however, deception can lead to more dire consequences. Cheating on a test, for instance, may result in failure of a class or expulsion from school. My brother had helped his best friend cheat on a math test, but confessed the truth to the teacher immediately afterwards. The teacher only forced the two boys to retake the test because she appreciated their honesty. If my brother had not approached his teacher, he might have been kicked out of school. Furthermore, my brother’s decision serves as an example of morality to his friend and other students. Thus, he saved his friend from more serious punishment, which would have been his justification for lying anyway.Despite these advantages to telling the truth, deception can still be rather tempting. For instance, how can one explain the death of a relative to an innocent child? Is it justified to lie to him in order to protect him from the harshness of reality? Should a child learn about war? If one gives children sugarcoated versions of the truth, they may feel even greater shock when they discover the facts. Deception is often a kind, protective gesture, but truth can prepare a child for the future. If revealed gradually, truth offers valuable knowledge.Thus, one can view deception as a sweet treat. It is like a cookie that satisfies hunger and gives immediate pleasure. However, the cookie will only cause poor health in the future. Similarly, deception appears to be a justifiable and sometimes even compassionate, but it only holds future problems.Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.6)Assignment: Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present? 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 observation.Essay 5:Without our past, our future would be a tortuous path leading to nowhere. In order to move up the ladder of success and achievement we must come to terms with our past and integrate it into our future. Even if in the past we made mistakes, this will only make wiser people out of us and guide us to where we are supposed to be.This past year, I was auditioning for the fall play, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." To my detriment I thought it would be a good idea to watch the movie in order to prepare. For two hours I studied Elizabeth Taylor's mannerisms, attitude, and diction, hoping I could mimic her performance. I auditioned for the part of "Maggie" feeling perfectly confident in my portrayal of Elizabeth Taylor, however, I was unaware that my director saw exactly what I had been thinking. Unfortunately, I didn't get the part, and my director told me that he needed to see "Maggie" from my perspective, not Elizabeth Taylor's.I learned from this experience, and promised myself I would not try to imitate another actress, in order to create my character. Persevering, I was anxious to audition for the winter play just two months later. The play was Neil Simon's "Rumors," and would get the opportunity to play "Chris," a sarcastic yet witty role, which would be my final performance in high school. In order to develop my character, I planned out her life just as I thought it should be, gave her the voice I thought was right, and the rest of her character unfolded beautifully from there. My director told me after the first show that "Rumors" was the best work he'd ever seen from me, and that he was amazed at how I'd developed such a believable character. Thinking back to my first audition I was grateful for that chance I had to learn and to grow, because without that mistake I might have tried to base "Chris" off of someone I'd known or something I'd seen instead of becoming my own character. I utilized the memory of the Elizabeth Taylor debacle to improve my approach to acting and gave the best performance of my life so far.Essay 6:Memories act as both a help and a hinderance to the success of someone. Many people advise you to learn from the past and apply those memories so that you can effectively succeed by avoiding repeating your past mistakes. On the other hand, people who get too caught up with the past are unable to move on to the future.Elie Wiesel's memoir Night perfectly exemplifies the double nature of memories. Wiesel, a Jewish man, suffered heavily throughout the Holocaust and Night is rife with horrific descriptions of his experience. These memories help to spread the view of what life was like. Through recounting these memories, Wiesel is able to educate world readers about the atrocities committed in hopes that the same blatant violations of human rights are never repeated again. Through reliving the Holocaust through his writing, Wiesel was inspired to become proactive in the battle for civil rights. Some would point to his peaceful actions and the sales of his book and label him a success.Despite the importance of recounting such memories, Wiesel acknowledges the damage that memories can also cause. Following his liberation from the Auschwitz concentration camp, Wiesel was a bitter, jaded man. He could not even write Night until several years later. The end of the novel describes Wiesel's gradual but absolute loss of faith throughout the experience. His past experiences haunted him for several years, rendering him passive. It was not until he set aside his past that he could even focus on the future. Had he remained so consumed with the pain and damage caused in the past, he may never have achieved the success that he has attained.Overall, Wiesel's experiences exemplify the importance of the past as a guide. Wiesel's past experiences helped to guide him in later life, but it was not until he pushed them aside that he could move on. To me this means that you should rely on your past without letting it control you. Allow your past to act as a guide, while making sure that you are also living in the present and looking to the future.Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:Assignment: Are people motivated to achieve by personal satisfaction rather than by money or fame? 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.Essay 7:Even though we live in a capitalist society, I still cannot help but believe, despite my own cynicism, that people are more motivated to achieve something for personal satisfaction rather than monetary gains. Look at Chekov's short story, "The Bet." A man agrees to sacrifice fifteen years of his life in prison in exchange for a million dollars. Obviously his motivation for such an extreme bet is wealth, but by the end of the prison sentence, the man could care less about the money. After years of introspection, of reading Shakespeare, The Bible, and textbooks, the man actually comes to despise the money he once sought; the money he signed away fifteen years of his life for. He does not collect his money from the banker, he runs away to be on his own and continue to live the life of solitude he has learned to love, free of money and possessions.Also, in a psychology class, one of the first things students study when they come to the topic of motivation, is external stimulus versus personal drive. Any textbook will tell one that studies show that a child is more likely to put as much energy as possible into completing a task when it is something that makes him happy, than if he was doing it for a physical reward. A child is more likely to get good grades, if it makes him feel good about himself, than if his parents offer to pay him every time he makes the honor roll. I agree with this theory on motivation because I see it play out everyday in my life. If my older sister had been concerned with money and fame, which reality television tells us every night is important, she would have gone to college after graduating high school. She knew though, that school and learning did not make her happy, and she was not going to suffer through four more years of school just because a college degree could lead to a more successful job. Right now she does not make as much money at her job, but she likes her life and the way she lives; she has more fun answering phones and dealing with other people at work than she would behind a desk in a classroom. This past year I myself have been forced to look at my priorities as well. I have worked hard in school all my life and have made honor roll semester after semester, because I enjoy it. I have not filled up my schedule with classes I did not want because calculus and economics look good on a college transcript. I had a high enough GPA to join the National Honor Society, but I chose not to join because even though it might have impressed some admissions officers, it was not something that was going to make me happy. Instead I spend my time studying Creative Writing, Art History, and the other subjects I feel truly passionate about.There is a pleasure principle in psychology, which basically means that one will do whatever will make them most happy or least unhappy. I think that is true, and I feel that the happiness most people seek out is not about money or luxury. Maybe it looks like that from the media, because advertising says that people want to be like Donald Trump, but that is not real life. Real life is my next door neighbor who gardens as a second job for small fees because he loves to be outside, working with his hands in the nice weather. I am sure no one would mind winning the lottery, but to say that it is our primary motivator in life is sad and untrue. A person who is happy and making minimum wage is likely to live longer than someone who spends his or her life working sixty four hour weeks at a stressful job to make money hand over fist. Are some people very driven by money? Yes. Is that more important than the personal satisfaction that comes from doing something good? Literature, psychology, and our personal lives tell us no, and I hope it stays that way.Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.3)Assignment:Are people better at making observations, discoveries, and decisions if they remain neutral and impartial? 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 observation.Essay 8：Objectivity by researchers has not, and probably never will be attained. People will always have biases; some will be created by cultural values and others by personal views. The search for objectivity lies in the realm of philosophy along with the search for reality. Even though objectivity can never be reached, people are better at making observations, discoveries, and decisions if they attempt to set aside their biases.As I have learned in my Theory of Knowledge class, perception and thought are intimately connected. While the same rays of light may enter two different peoples eyes, what they see may be very different. The brain takes the input from the eyes and processes it to form an image. That image is not the only thing the brain produces; it also provides extra information based on generalizations and bias. This unconscious addition of information changes the observation of an object. By attempting to reduce the addition of extraneous information being added to the observation, by being objective, a true observation of an object can be more closely approximated.Discoveries, especially in the scientific realm can be doubly affected by a lack of objectivity. Since scientific discoveries are based on observation, all of the problems associated with observation apply as well to discoveries. Additional problems occur in the analysis of data collected by a scientific experiment. In a recent experiment in physics class, almost all of the students in my class analyzed the data incorrectly. However, armed with the knowledge that zero percent error is never possible, we were satisfied with the results. Our personal belief in the validity of the method of analyzation we chose, and lack of objectivity, led to our incorrect discovery in the field of energy. A lack of objectivity can clearly be seen to be a problem in my last student council election as well. The most popular person was chosen for president, not the objectively best candidate. Since then, the president has done nothing for our school. If the people involved had attempted to set aside their biases and pursue the goal of objectivity, it is less likely that errors would have been made.Bias will always be a part of human life. It can, however, be limited in how much we let it affect us. The less we allow bias to influence, the more objective we are, the less likely we are to come to false opinions, discoveries, and bad decisions.。
