<p>Please take 2 minutes to grade this SAT essay.</p>
<p>Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment
below.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Adapted from Mihaly Csikszentmihaly</p>
<p>Assignment Is creativity needed more than ever in the world today? </p>
<p>Creativity is the window to change. Without it, the world would be an indefinitely
repeating cycle. In the areas of art and science, creativity has long been hallowed as the
game-changer and eye-opener; in the area of politics and human relationships, creativity
is also vital for breaking the old cycles of hate and strife, in order to usher in new eras of
global harmony. </p>
<p>The Michael Brown shooting exemplifies the need for a new kind of imagination
in resolving human conflicts. Both the police and the protesters are in a stalemate, neither
side open to negotiation, because the protesters lack the vision to transcend their
stereotypical understanding of their adversaries and the racial dynamics in the United
States. They refuse to open to new possibilities and try coming to the middle ground. The
Ukraine crisis also demonstrates the urgent need for new visions in making old traditions
adapt to the evolving global politics. Since the end of WW2, all the satellite communist
states had been heavily repressed by the USSR. The old regimes will soon meet their
demise and new ones will emerge. By February 2014, Ukraine, 45 million strong,
decided to free itself from the wrath of Russia. The ethnic Ukrainians had become
disgusted with the Russian policy, and with very few options, they were forced to attempt
to begin an original movement. Henceforth the Ukrainian revolution epitomizes the need
for creativity in cycles of Time of Troubles. </p>
<p>But with the powerful concept of creativity we have the ability to adapt. We can,
as a result of originality, improve these worsening conditions of our societies and
successfully restore our long sought harmonious relationship again. On the other hand, no
new vision is without its risks and follies. Despite all the constructive effects of
creativity, it can also be manipulated to do the opposite. For example, the ISIS militant
movement has truly shown new depths of evil. Through unifying certain regions of Syria
and Iraq by annexing them from their original governments, ISIS has immensely
alienated liberal democratic western nations and turned them hostile to the Middle East.
By conducting appalling attacks on innocent civilians, ISIS has thus abused the concept
of originality, as almost no other group has gone so far to perform such nefarious acts. </p>
<p>With regards to current society, creativity has brought both great technological
and artistic advancements as well as new political and civic possibilities, together with
their risks and abuses. Continuing to raise the standard of living and progressing the
human race to yet unthinkable heights depends on, more than ever, original visions and
thoughts and fresh endeavors.</p>