<p>I started using the collegeboard online study course to grade my SAT essays. However, when I put in my first essay, I received a 12. As I did not score that high on my previous SAT, I wish to know whether the service is accurate. I am putting up the essay and the prompt. Thank you to anyone who reads and grades it</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 on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.</p>
<p>Essay:
People have often taught that authority implies competence. Leadership needs no such qualities. People get elected to high office through campaigning and bribery throughout much of the world today. No one is perfect, so the people must monitor and question everything by those in power.
In George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”, a group of animals overthrow their abusive human master and establish their own government. As an allegory to the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, it includes the increasing corruption that befalls the government. Betrayal and propaganda occur, and the rights of the citizens are slowly taken away from them. Those who could have prevented the disaster slowly get eliminated, insuring that the dictatorship stays intact.
Some countries have the infrastructure necessary to avoid a cataclysm. However, a functional system still requires the effort and vigilance of the citizens. The United States government created a system of checks and balances embedded in its second constitution because the Articles of Confederation had no foresight. The Articles had created a weak government that was closer to an aristocracy than a democracy. As the government was still in its infancy, the founding fathers created powers for themselves to insure that they could invigorate the nation. As the country went into ruin, the second constitution was drafted to insure that no part of government could become too powerful or infringe on the rights of its people.
Leniency can have a dramatic effect on those in power. As they abuse their power, a clear understanding of how to raise the peoples tolerance for abuses comes into play. In Germany during the 1930’s and 1940’s Hitler came into power. As he threw the people who opposed him into jail, their was no major reaction. He started with the communists, who he eliminated to get rid of political rivals. Then he went after the weak and undesirable groups, who no one stood up for because they were not included. By weakening those groups one at a time, no one challenged him and human rights abuses occurred at a dramatic rate. In the United States during the same time period a similar situation occurred. The people of Japanese origin were thrown into detainment camps with little shelter or food. These people had no crimes or even suspicion of a crime. They were simply of the same race as the enemy. The people did not challenge the decision because it not affect them negatively. Complacency is a dangerous mindset to be in during war, as it leaves one open for many abuses.
A bandwagon often joins a cause to be with the majority illustrating the fact that the support they give is fickle contrary to what they profess. Senator Joe McCarthy was a little known entry-level senator during the Cold War. As the government was afraid of communist spies, they often did screening on a person’s background. McCarthy saw an opportunity and took charge of the purifying effort of the government. He falsely accused many people of being communists and once claimed he had a list of two hundred spies in the department of defense. Once people found out of his deception, he was not reelected and faded away into obscurity. Had people not been vigilant of his actions, the senator could have implicated more people into his scandal in his attempt to accrue power.
People must be skeptical of all things their leadership do, whether insignificant or otherwise corruption can occur. Humans can and do make mistakes and it is up to our peers to check and buffer the consequences of those mistakes. If that means rebelling and ousting popular tyrants, that is a small price to pay for personal freedom.</p>