<p>I finished this SAT practice essay this morning, and I would appreciate it if someone could grade it for me and give me feedback. Thank you in advance, and many thanks to everyone on CC who has taken the time to read my past SAT practice essays!</p>
<p>I tried harder to use AcademicHacker's method for this essay (explained in the thread "How to Write a 12 Essay in 10 Days").</p>
<p>Prompt: Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority?</p>
<p>People in positions of authority are far from infallible. Although positions of authority were created for the very purpose of establishing and maintaining order, it is important to question the ideas and decisions of people in these high ranks to avoid becoming entangled in potentially disastrous situations. The need to question authority is evidenced by many events throughout history and literature.</p>
<p>In the 1930s, the Great Depression struck the world hard. Germany was especially hard hit due to the fact that it had to pay billions of dollars in reparations to nations such as France and the UK as per the Treaty of Versailles. Hyperinflation plagued Germany as people had to bring wheelbarrows full of bills to pay for loaves of bread, and the Weimar Repuplic, the German government at the time, was too weak and ineffective to do anything about the people's plight. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party exploited the national situation to gain power in 1933, and the Nazis slowly but surely began to marginalize and severely limit the opinions of other parties, stifling freedom of expression. Hitler usurped more and more power, eventually burning down the Reichstag (parliament building) and pursuing a highly belligerent foreign policy that would lead to World War II and Germany's second defeat. No one had questioned the decisions of Hitler and the Nazis to seize power and invade Germany's neighbors, and the result was a second disaster for Germany's people.</p>
<p>George Orwell's Animal Farm shows another example of why it is important to question the ideas of people in authority. In Animal Farm, a group of animals overthrow a farmer and drive him off his farm, eventually establishing a new government. At first, an air of optimism and efficacy permeates Animal Farm, but a power struggle leads to the ascension of Napoleon the pig to power. Over time, Napoleon becomes increasingly autocratic, and the society of Animal Farm, which was originally intended to be egalitarian, becomes stratified with pigs as the ruling class and the other animals as laborers. Soon, Napoleon does away with the pretense of egalitarianism completely, and by the end of the book, the original 7 Animal Farm Commandments have become one: "Some animals are more equal than others." None of the animals spoke out against Napoleon's seizure of power and his abandoning of Animal Farm's original ideals, and the result was that Animal Farm became something far from the utopia it was envisioned to be.</p>
<p>A third example of why it is important to question the ideas and decisions of authority is present in the planning of the Bay of Pigs invasion during John F. Kennedy's presidency in 1961. The plan in Bay of Pigs was to train Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro. However, groupthink pervaded Kennedy's inner circle of advisors, who did not speak up about inherent flaws in the plan. The Bay of Pigs invasion turned out to be a disaster as a result.</p>
<p>Indeed, it is very important to question authority. It is important that people never follow authority blindly lest a disaster occur.</p>