<p>I wrote an essay for a Kaplan course practice test, and my instructor gave me a 6/6. I don't think it's that good, but what do you guys think? She said that her only critique was to add more transitions between paragraphs, the lack of which may have gotten me a 5, but I thought I wrote enough transitions. Well, here it is.</p>
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People in those old times had convictions; we moderns have only opinions. And it needs more than a mere opinion to erect a Gothic cathedral. Mark this well, you proud men of action: You are nothing but the unwitting agents of the men of thought who often, in quite self-effacement, mark out most exactly all your doings in advance. </p>
<p>Heinrich Heine, Selected Writings
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<p>Assignment: Is it more important and valuable to acquire knowledge or to take action? 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>Taking action is a far more important skill than simply acquiring knowledge. As shown by many examples and stories taken from both history and literary works, it is more important to go for something rather wait. </p>
<p>As demonstrated in The Alchemist, by noted writer Paulo Coelho, one should not be afraid of failure when taking action. There is an unnamed Englishman in the novel, who traveled far and wide to seek knowledge regarding the secret behind the alchemy. The narrator of the novel notes that the Englishman brought many books with him, three suitcases full, as a matter of fact. However, as shown later in the story, none of that knowledge was really important. When the Englishman finally finds the man who had succeeded in finding all the secrets behind alchemy, the Englishman realizes what he had been doing wrong: he was seeking too much useless, knowledge instead of taking action.</p>
<p>During the American Civil War, the North had many generals. Among them was one named McClellan. He was a true genius, training the North to be a powerful army. However, he failed to attach the South, always wasting perfect opportunities. For this, many newspapers angrily reported things like, "All's quite along the Potomac," where the Potomac referred to McClellan's army. Even Abraham Lincoln, who was president at that time, proclaimed, "McClellan's got the slows."</p>
<p>In the novel, The Green Book, a family travels to another planet and attempts to grow crops. However, the crops are abnormal. The father refuses to eat it, and would rather conduct more experiments on the food, starving himself. Fortunately, his children take action and eat the crops, proving them perfectly safe to eat and saving the entire family from starvation.</p>
<p>As shown by the Englishman in the The Alchemist, General McClellan in the Civil War, and the family from The Green Book, taking action is, indeed, many times more valuable than acquiring knowledge. If General McClellan had been just a little more bold, the Civil War may not have been so bloody, and less people would have died.</p>