<p>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 int heir 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. </p>
<p>prompt: Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view in this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from you reading, studies, experience, or observations. </p>
<p>essay:
Authority only comes with the consent of the governed. It is a power that can be taken away at any time, if that power has become abused. Therefore, it is essential that the ideas and decisions of those in power be questioned. One can have respect for authority and yet not be a sheep by not meaninglessly challenging authority, but doing so when it is absolutely necessary. There are individuals in history and literature that evince this. </p>
<pre><code>In Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, Yossarian is forced to serve as a bombardier. He takes this as fact, and does not challenge the government for making him risk his life. However, this later changes. When the eccentric Colonel Cathcart rises to power, he arbitrarily raises the number of missions needed to leave the armed forces. This means that Yossarian is stuck indefinitely in the war, risking his life each and every day. And so he questions Cathcart about this, for it is most unfair. By not sitting there and taking it like everyone else, Yossarian helps create the stepping stone that later frees him from this lingering responsibility.
Frederick Douglass is another example of a person who questioned authority--and benefitted. He was born into slavery, and he lived as a slave for the first few years of his life. l But after learning how to read and write, he quickly became convinced of slavery's evil nature. He later escaped from his plantation and into the free North, where he published a book detailing the atrocities of slavery, which helped lead to the Civil War and ultimately bring this "peculiar institution" to a close.
Authority is meant to be questioned. In a place like the United States of America, this is what the country was founded upon. The people at first strived hard for a constitution that would not have a very powerful central government, but they soon realized that a powerful one was necessary to control the affairs of this vast country. They questioned the current constitution until they were positive it would protect their rights. And so it did. Yossarian and Frederick Douglass were just like our ancestors: people who decided to rise up and challenge those with authority to make the world a better place.
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