<p>Topic comes from the Real SAT March 2005
Prompt 1
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
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.
Adapted from Mihaly Csikszentmihaly
Assignment
Is creativity needed more than ever in the world today? </p>
<p>We need creativity more and more in this day and age. Though some say that art is inapplicable and therefore useless in this modern world where only science seems to predominate, without it the world would be a more miserable place. Three episodes from my observation illustrates the point clearly.
In this burden life, we sometimes resort to art to find peace within ourselves. For instance, my uncle, a former CEO, at one point looking back what he had achieved. He might had everything yet still longed for something that brings him to real peacefulness after all these years of working hard. The first thing he did, as he told me, was to stand up and plug in a CD compilation of "Good Oldies" into his walkman and closed his eyes. He said that the songs were like rivers running through his soul. All his worry started to pass. My uncle resorted to art because he wanted to escape from his bustling worlds.
Creativity can make your family's economy thrives. In my paternal family, there is a couple of father-and-son painters who have their exhibition operated occasionally. One picture they sell brings them hundreds of dollars. They use their money to build houses and shop. Their main house is one of the biggest in the area. The couple chose art because art makes them rich.
What about other advantages of creativity? In many street corners, graffiti thrives. Young artists use their spray to color dull electricity poles and walls. This form of art may be considered deplorable in few eyes of the conservative; yet to most of young people and the open minded, it makes their hometown more beautiful. Graffiti is now becoming more and more widely appreciated among the largest number of people in the world. The creativity of those artists are clearly perceived.
Creativity shall never die, regardless of any stage of human evolution. The world simply can't get enough of it.</p>