<p>I found this to be one of the more difficult essay prompts in the official sat study guide. I wanted to see how I would do on an essay prompt like this.</p>
<p>I also had to completely retype this because the forum logged me out after I clicked submit new thread. -_-</p>
<p>Prompt:
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. </p>
<p>"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 governemtn - 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."</p>
<p>Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communities or the nation in general? 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. </p>
<p>Essay:</p>
<pre><code> As President John F. Kennedy once exclaimed, "Ask not what our country can do for you, ask what you can do for our country", the people of a nation are also entitled to a portion of the responsibility of governance. Government is simply a vessel in which the people insert their morals and values onto, and if the citizens of the country do not act upon the call-to-action, the nation as well as its people will suffer. In reference to the forceful rule of North Korean dictator(s), and the role of the government in the United States recession, the people are supposed to be designated for some of the blame that befalls onto them.
War transforms the balances between nations, as it did when the U.S. conceded land past the 38th parallel to the communist North Korean regime. This release allowed for the dictator, one man who did not necessarily reflect the desires of the people of his nation, to rise in political strength and dominate his country's affairs. The people of North Korea remained docile, afraid to organize on the notion that they might be put down. To this day, the ruling family of this struggling nation allows its people to live in perpetual starvation, and frequently casts currency away for trivial pursuits, such as the launching of rockets into space and furthering of its under-armed military. Taught to be respectful to the corrupt leader, the citizens of North Korea allow themselves to be brainwashed by school curriculum revolving on the dictator's superiority. The people, who are supposed to represent the government, do not have a stake in any of the actions that their own nation takes.
On the year before the recession began, no logical person would have guessed the upcoming financial crisis caused by a private mortgage company. Within a matter of days in 2008, housing prices crashed, banks and small businesses around the world collapsed, and the blame-game was aimed towards the U.S. government. While the government tried almost everything to calm the excited nerves of its frightened citizens, the people continually blamed the government for the monetary fiasco. Even with the proposed stimulus packages and reformed financial acts, the people still did not accept their own responsibility for the meltdown, instead blaming it on the symbol of their opinion, their own government.
Simply put, government is what is needed to highlight the people's needs. Just as political philosopher John Locke explains, the government is just an embodiment of the moral values of men. Because of this, the people should put more blame on themselves and not what they chose for their own leadership.
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<p>Thanks for grading this essay! If you want to help me further, you can tell me what I can improve on throughout the essay.</p>