<p>Last year, my English teacher gave us some sample essays from the SAT from people from the year above us, and what scorers gave them. Let's see how well you would do. I love how people can just complete BS and still get away with it. Names mentioned in the essays have been changed. There are two essays.</p>
<p>ESSAY ONE: Assignment: Are leaders necessarily people who are most capable of leadership? </p>
<p>In our society, men and women form groups to cooperatively works towards a goal. In there groups, certain men and women rise up to become the "leader"- the dominating, alpha member of the pact who commands others in the group. These men and women come to be leaders through various tactics and methods, but they do not necessarily have the experience or traits to be a leader. In fact, as seen in the case of the Nazis, and my personal experience, we can see that leaders do not have to be the most capable of leadership.</p>
<p>In the early 20th century, a man by the name of Adolf Hitler proved that a leader can appear by chance, and not just by capability. When Hitler was a teenager, he was an artsy and quite pompous lad. He though he was a great artist, until of course, he got reject by the art school he applied to. Infuriated, he left his home town and met his first Nazi in a pub while drunk. Eventually, he was put into a Nazi journalism business. One day, while researching an article, he enters a bar, gts arrested, and goes to jail. Once there, he became a well-known person. Had he not have been rejected from art school, nor have become intoxicated in a bar one night, nor have gone to another bar to be arrested, he wouldn't have written Mein Kampf, which gave continent-wide recognition. In Hitler's case, he gained leadership by chance.</p>
<p>In my high school, we have a large newspaper entitled The Spectator. Since my induction in freshman year as a writer, I have noticed that the leaders, the editors, have become gradually weaker and weaker. This is because these leaders were once friends of old editors. Yes, folks, the newspaper is plagued with favoritism. My most recent editors, Monica, did not even one year of experience when she became editor. However, because she was great friends with the editor-in-chief, Jessica, Jessica decided to make her editor. Monica has poor grammar skills and poor reporting skills, but she was still put as one of the leaders of a reporting department. Though there were many other candidates with far better writing and reporting skills, because of bias, Monica became my editor, and the department fell apart by the seams. In this case, quality does not beat the friends you know when you want to lead a group.</p>
<p>With so many groups popping up in our grand society and so many leaders are rising up. I would expect the conductors to be well-versed and adept. If we continue to have leaders like Adolf Hitler and Monica, our society of groups will eventually fall and crash.</p>
<p>ESSAY TWO: Assignment: Is it best not to change our ideas, opinions, or behaviors?</p>
<p>In our society, we are plagued with the notion of inconsistency. Many individuals believe that "flip-flopping"- a term used to describe those who change ideas, opinions, or behaviors often- is a sound and just way of living. Furthermore, they believe that by changing their values, they can further fit into society. In my opinion, to change your beliefs constantly is a sign of a weak human being, and thus can ultimately lead to catastrophe. </p>
<p>For example, in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, the narrator, who remains nameless throughout the entire book, ultimately discovers his flip-flopping made his life a failure. Having just graduated from a black high school as a valedictorian in the 1940's, the narrator believes that by conforming to the values of the white man, he can make life better for blacks in general. He morphs his values to try to be subservient to the white oppressors. Later on, he joins a "pro-Black-rights" group called the Brotherhood, and tries to absorb all of the group's doctrine, ultimately bending his will to fit in with the group. At the end of the book, he learns that the Brotherhood changed his personality and lifestyle in order to use him to spark a black riot. He learns that he is indeed invisible to the world; his true self isn't shown to the world, but rather the people aorund him make him change his beliefs. This, he learns, is what drives him into being a poor, homeless drunkard. In this novel, changing beliefs does make the character fail in the end, showing that sometimes, being stubborn in your values is the only way to lead to a happy ending.</p>
<p>In addition, my friend, Billy, tried to be a follow and manipulate his values, but it all ending in tragedy. In middle school Billy was always harrassed and bothered. He couldn't understand why others did it, so he tried becoming them. He tried to change his hairstyle and fashion sense to fit those who hurt him, but that only made him get abused more. He was an intelligent child; at the end of the eighth grade, he got accepted to the best high school in my city, but he decided to follow the bullies who tormented him to a local high school three blocks away from our middle school. A year after, he died from a dra race, while hanging with those same bullies. Had he not felt the urge to change his values, he would still be alive today.</p>
<p>The problem with our society today is that we are too influenced by others. Don't be invisible, don't be Billy. Don't flip-flop. Be yourself.</p>