<p>One of these essays scored an 11 and one scored a 9. Which one and why?</p>
<p>March SAT (asked if creativity is more important in today's world):</p>
<pre><code>Increased creativity is mankinds greatest indication of advancement. Greater technologies bring greater obstacles and pleasures to everyone. In an ever-changing society, sometimes what is done in the past may become archaic, unuseful. In the context of military strategies, business operations, and family togetherness, creativity is more essential than ever.
Each age of war brings astronomical development of military technologies and strategies. Threats from an outsiders technology as shown in World War I, World War II, and the Cold War helped the world to amazing and essential innovations. These isolated instances brought aircraft out of the fields and onto the front, nuclear destruction, and a phenomenal arms race (where concerns put unprecedented research into reconnaissance). Each of these instances caused our leaders to be creative, even more creative than previous generation. Each of these three major conflicts aforementioned were won not with superior manpower but with creativity. Another important aspect that must be recognized is a change of tactics. When armies switched to guerrilla warfare, they were regarded as weak, afraid, inferior. But such tactics worked, and creativity was the catalyst of demise for less innovative armies. In a world of nuclear technology, the brilliance of the mind has become more important than the brawn of the sword.
While military situations are a situation of life and death, the same can be said for business. Corporate giants like Wal Mart are pushing the evelope to unseen and obscene levels. Increased competition means more time is spent in the think tank. When a company is on edge with another major superpower, the one with the new great idea surges to the lead. Such competition breeds success, and creativity breeds creativity. More creativity means greater bonuses. On a more personal level, well within the iron rungs of the corporate ladder, lower individuals are filled with incentives and aspiration to help bring them to the top. The same can be said of small businesses; in many cases they have to be more creative than larger companies because their livelihood depends on it. Unable to compete with the incredible demands they are subjected to by corporate giants, small businesses have to find their own niches through exceptional customer service, rebates, and discount programs. Creativity breeds success in business, and as major corporations grow and feed on them selves, creativity all around is a keystone to success.
Family is important, and greater divorce rates are tearing teenagers apart. Video games and televisions, while pacifying, make the work of parents so much harder. To reach their children with the growing epidemic of drugs and other problems, parents are forced to be more creativity.
Creativity is a must, and one cannot survive without it.
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<p>June SAT (do people place too much emphasis on practical skills?):</p>
<pre><code>Society is growing more and more competitive, from colleges to job placement. In such an environment, pragmatic skills often take precedent over less tangible necessities. While intellectualism is lost at colleges yet is found in The Awakening, practical skills certainly play an essential role in our daily lives.
Many students at top universities today approach not with a passion to learn, but a passion for monetary success. While it would certainly be reasonable for them to have such motivations, it nevertheless is not the same approach that exists several decades ago. Majoring in the classics, in literature, in history has been sidestepped for more practical majors such as business, law, and medicine. This shift in the nature of the worlds most gifted individuals reflects a monument change, for our roots are no longer tied to ethics and philosophy but monetary greed. So many reject the intellectualism of lesser schools to attend the brand name, whether it be the Ivy League or a similar institution. Why is it that we have stopped learning in favor of receiving?
Kate Chopins The Awakening stresses the dangers of being the shallow student. The protagonist, Edna Pontellier, leads the practical life she knits, she washes clothes, she cleans. But she is not happy. While living the hypothetical American dream to have a large house and wonderful family, she finds herself lost at sea. Edna has a passion for learning, for experiencing. It is in this context that her admirable nature is truly choreographed. While having all the practical skills of being a good mother and good wife, she is still unable to find peace with herself. The culminating climax when Edna drowns at sea conveys a fundamental message being and having what society desires does not create happiness. It is our inability to fundamentally discover the intimacies and delicacies within us not merely having practical skills that allows us not only to grow but fill our insides.
While the message presented by both the dangers of college life and the efforts of Mrs. Pontellier, it would be inconceivable to make a claim that does not justify the value of practical skills. Many professors are often lost in their own world, light years from reality. And after all, Ednas passions made her suicidal. However, to isolate these instances does not convey the complete message. The bottom line is that we need practical skills to survive, to function. We live in a dog-eat-dog world of capitalism and ferocity and hunger. Society demands action, not reflection. With this in mind, practicality is in fact necessary for we need it to sustain both our inner complexities and our lifestyles.
Through our practical actions, we have the ability to heave true leisure time to discover our inner selves. But we must seek it. The practical is necessary, but we must delve past the practical to lead more than a good life to lead a fulfilling life.
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