以下是SAT考试的写作预测，希望对大家备考有所帮助。

1.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (OG1)

Some people believe that there is only one foolproof plan, perfect solution, or correct interpretation. But nothing is ever that simple. For better or worse, for every so-called final answer there is another way of seeing things. There is always a "however".

Assignment: Is there always another explanation or another point of view? 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, experiences, or observation.

2.  Think carefuIly about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (OG2)

Honesty is important, of course, but deception can actually make it easier for people to get along. In a recent study, for example, one out of every four of the lies told by participants was told solely for the benefit of another person. In fact, most lies are harmless social untruths in which people pretend to like someone or something more than they actually do("your muffins are the best")

Adapted from Allison Kornet, "The truth About Lying"

Assignment:  Is deception ever justified? 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, experiences, or observation.

3.  Think carefuIly about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (OG3)

To change is to risk something, making us feel insecure. Not to change is a bigger risk, though we seldom feel this way. There is no choice but to change. People, however, cannot be motivated to change from the outside. All of our motivation comes from within.

Adapted from Ward Sybouts, Planning in School Administration: A Handbook

Assignment: What motivates people to change? 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, experiences, or observation.                        

4.

Technology promises to make our lives easier, freeing up time for leisure pursuits. But the rapid paceof technological innovation and the split second processing capabilities of computers that can work virtually nonstop have made all of us feel rushed.  We have adopted the relentless pace of the very machines that were supposed to simplify our lives, with the resultthat, whether at work or play, people do not feel like their lives have changed for the better.

Adapted from Karen Finucan. "Life in the Fast Lane".

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:(OG4)

Assignment: Do changes that make our lives easier not necessarily make them better? 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, experiences, or observation.

5.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (OG5)

A mistakenly cynical view of human behavior holds that people are primarily driven by selfish motives; the desire for wealth, for power, or for fame. Yet history giyes us many examples of individuals who have sacrificed their own welfare for a cause or a principle that regarded as more important than their own lives. Conscience that powerful inner voice that tells us what is right and what is wrong---can be a more compelling force than money, power, or fame.

Assignment: Is conscience a more powerful motivator than money, fame or power? 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, experiences, or observation.

6.    Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (OG6)

The old saying, "be careful what you wish for," may be an appropriate warning. The drive to achieve a particular goal can dangerously narrow one's perspective ancl encourage the fantasy that success in one endeavor will solve all of life's difficulties. In fact, success can sometimes have unexpected consequences. Those who propel themselves toward the achievement of one goal often find that their lives are worse once "success" is achieved than they were before.      

Assignment: Can success be disastrous? 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, experiences, or observation.

7.    Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (OG7)

A better understanding of other people contributes to the development of moral virtues. We shall be both kinder and fairer in our treatment of others if we understand them better. Understanding ourselves and understanding others are connected, since as human beings we all have things in common.

Adapted from Anne Sheppard, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Art

Assignment: Do we need other people in order to understand ourselves? 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, experiences, or observation.

8.    Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (OG8)

There is, of course, no legitimate branch of science that enables us to predict the firture accurately. Yet the degree of change in the world is so overwhelming and so promising that the future, I believe, is far brighter than anyone has contemplated since the end ofthe Second World War.

Adapted from Allan E. Goodman, A Brief Histo,y of the Future: The United States in a Changing World Order

Assignment: Is the world changing for the better? 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, experiences, or observation.

9.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (OG9)

"Tough challenges reveal our strengths and weaknesses." This statement is certainly true; Adversity helps us discover who we are. Hardships can often lead us to examine who we are and to question what is important in life. In fact, people who have experiences seriously adverse event frequently report that they were positively changed by their negative experiences.

Assignment: Do you think that ease does not challenge us and that we need adversity to help us discover who we are? 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, experiences, or observation.

10.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (OG10)

Traditionally the term "heroism" has been applied to those who have braved phisical danger to defend a cause or to protect others. But one of the most feared dangers people face is that of disapproval by their family, peers, or community. Sometimes acting courageously requires someone to speak out at the risk of such rejection. We should consider those who do so true heroes.

Assignment: Should heroes be defined as people who say what they think when ourselves lack the courage to say it? 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, experiences, or observation.

11.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (OC1)

We often hear that we can learn much about someone or something just by casual conversation. We are not required to look beneath the surface or to question how something seems. In fact, we are urged to trust our impressions, often our first impressions, of how a person or a situation seems to be. Yet appearance can be misleading. What "seems" isn't always what is.

Assignment: Is the way something seems to be not always the same as it actually is? 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, experiences, or observation.

12.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (OC2)

For a variety of reasons, people often make choices that have negative results. Later, they regret these choices, finding out too late that bad choices can be costly. On the other hand, decisions that seem completely reasonable when they are made may also be the cause of later disappointment and suffering. What looks like a wonderful idea at one time can later seem like the worst decision that could have been made. Good choices, too, can be costly.

Assignment: Are bad choices and good choices equally likely to have negative consequences? 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, experiences, or observation.

13.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (OC3)

The people we call heroes do not usually start out as unusual. Often they are ordinary people subject to ordinary human weaknesses-fear, doubt, and self-interest. In fact, they live ordinary lives until they distinguish themselves by having to deal with an injustice or a difiicult situation. Only then, when they must respond in thought and in action to an extraordinary challenge, do people begin to know their strengths and weaknesses.

Assignment: Do people Ieam who they are only when they are forced into 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.

14.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (OC4)

People's lives are the results of the choices they make---or fail to make. The path one takes in life is not arbitrary. Choices and their consequences determine the course of every people's life. All people, whatever their circumstances, make the choices on which their lives depend.

Assignment: Are people's lives the result of the choices they make? 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.

15.     Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (OC5)

Many people believe that  "closed doors make us creative." These people argue that obstacles and restrictions are necessary, for without them we would never be forced to come up with new solutions. But "closed doors," either in the form of specific obstacles or a lack of opportunities, often prevent people from reaching their full creative potential.

Assignment: Do closed doors make us creative? 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.

16.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (OC6)

People who like to think of themselves as rough-minded and realistic tend to take it for granted that human nature is "selfish" and that life is a struggle in which only the fittest may survive. According to this view, the basic law by which people must live is the law of the jungle. The "fittest" are those people who can bring to the struggle superior force, superior cunning, and superior ruthlessness.

Adapted from S.I,Hayakawa, Languageinthught and Action

Assignment: Do people have to be highly competitive in order to succeed? 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.

17.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the foiaowing excerpt and assignment beiow: (Practice Test l)

When people form opinions about someone or something, what affects them most is not substance but style. In other words, the way something appears or is presented is more important than what it actually is. This principle affects how people look at their leaders and their lives, the books they read, the products they buy, and even the subjects they take at school.

read, the products they buy, and even the subjects they take at school.

Assignment: Is style more important than substance? 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.

18.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (Practice Test 2)

If we valued honesty, we would be willing to risk our jobs to become whistleblowers and tell truths that our employers did not want revealed. I f we valued success, we would give up our free time in order to excel in a subject or sport. In other words, the sacrifices we are willing to make what we care about the most.

Assignment: Can what we value be determined only by what we sacrifice? 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.

19.    Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (Practice Test 3)

Something flawed is far more interesting than something perfect. Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life's ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better not quit achieved.

Adapted from W. Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up

Assignment: Is perfection something to be admired or sought after? 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.

20.    Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (Practice Test 3)

We need to remember that wisdom is not just about what we think or know, but more importantly, how w eact. Simply being smart is not enough. I define wisdom as the application of intelligence and experience toward the attainment of a common good. In other words, the wisest people are those who look out not just for themselves but also for others.

Adapted from Robert J. Sternberg, "Teaching for Wisdom in Our Schools"

Assignment: What makes a person wise? Are the wisest  people merely smart or are they also concerned with the well-being of others? 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.

21.     Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:(2005.3)

We must seriously question the idea of majority rule. The majority grinned and jeered when Columbus said the world was round. The majority threw him into a dungeon for his discoveries. Where is the logic in the notion that the opinion held by a majority of people should have the power to influence our decisions?

Adapted from James A. Reed, "Majority Rule"

Assignment: Is the opinion of the majority---in govemment or in any other circumstances---a poor guide? 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 observation.

22.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:(2005.3)

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 reseach 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.

Assignment: Is creativity needed more than ever in the world today?  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 observation.

23.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.3)

Even scientists know that absolute objectivity has yet to be attained. It's the same absolute truth. But, as many news reporters have observed, the idea of objectivity as a guiding principle is too valuable to be abandoned. Without it, the pursuit of knowledge is hopelessly lost.

Adapted from "Focusing Our Values," Nieman Reports

Assignment: Are people better at making observations, discoveries, and decisions if they remain neutral and impartial? 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 observation.

24.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.3)

If you think that what you do is your oxvn business, you are wrong. In this world your conduct affects not only you but the conduct of other people as weil. If you behave in a xvay that is considered unacceptable and other people copy your behavior, you are responsible for the consequences.

Adapted from Margare: Banning, "Letter to Susan"

Assignment: Is a person responsible, through the example he or she sets, for the behaviour of other people?

25.  Think carefiilly about the issue presented in tne foilowing excerpt and assignment below: (2005.5)

It's easy to see why-aside from the income it provides---having a job is so desirabie in our culture. Work works for us. It structures our time and imposes a rhythm on our lives. It gets us organized into various kinds of communities and social groups. And perhaps most important, work tells us what to do every day,

Adapted from Joanne B. Ciulla, The Working Life

Assignment: Do people depend on work-whether it is a job, schoolwork, or volunteer work---to determine what their daily activities and interactions with others should be?  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 observation.

26.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.5)

There is no progress unless someone comes up with a new way of looking at things, of trying things that have never been done or thought of before. We cannot move forward by looking backward to old customs and past experiences. There can be no advancement or improvement unless there are people who look forward in pursuit of the new and untried.

Assignment: Does progress depend on people with new ideas rather than on people whose ideas are based on the current way of doing things? 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 observation.

27.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.5)

We are afraid that our cause is unjust, or that it is unclear, or that it is too insignificant to justify the horrors of a confrontation with Authority. We will endure almost any inconveniences before undertaking head-on, I'm-here-to-tell -you complaint.

Adapted from William F. Buckley, Jr., "Why Don't We Complain?"

Assignment: Are people afraid to speak cut against authority, whether the authority is an individual , a group, or a government? 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 observation.

28.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.5)

Alone we can afford to be wholly whatever we are and to feel whatever we feel absolutely. With others we are busy wondering what does my companion see or think of this, and what do I think of it? The original impact of our feelings gets lost or reduced.

Adapted from May Sarton, The Rewards of Living a Solitary Life

Assignment: Does worrying too much about other people's opinions prevent us from seeing things clearly? 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 observation.

29.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.6)

Many persons believe that to move up the ladder of success and achievement, they must forget the past, repress it, and relinquish it. But others have just the opposite view. They see old memories as a chance to reckon with the past and integrate past and present.

Adapted from Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, I've Known Rivers: Lives of loss and Liberation

Assignment: Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present? 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 observation.

30.  Think carefully aboutt the issue presented in tne following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.6)

I cannot comprehend those wbo emphasize or recognize only what is useful. I am concemed that learning for learning's sake is no longer considered desirable, that everything we do and think must be directed toward the solution of a practical problem. More and more we seem to tryto teach bow to make a good living and not how to live a good life.

Adapted from Philip D. Jordan, "The Usefulness ofUseless Knowledge"

Assignment: Do people put too much emphasis on learning practical skills? 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 observation.

31.   Think carefully aboutt the issue presented in tne following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.6)

Most of our schools are not facing up to their responsibilities. We must begin to ask ourselves whether educators should help students address the critical moral choices and social issues of our time. Schools have responsibilities beyond training people for jobs and getting students into college.

Adapted from Svi Shapiro

Assignment: Should schools help students understand moral choices and social issues? 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 observation.

32.     Think carefully aboutt the issue presented in tne following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.6)

The media not only transmit information and culture, they also decide what information is important. In that way, they help to share culture and values.

Adapted from Alison Bernstein," Artists Thrive on Freedom and Freedom Thrives on the Arts"

Assignment: Do newspapers, magzines, Television, radio, movies, the Internet, and other media determine what is important to most people? 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 observation.

33.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment beiow: (2005.10)

1. Success in life is largely a matter of luck. It has little correlation with merit. And in all fields of life there have always been people of great merit who did not succeed.

Karl Popper, Popper Selections

2. As Colin Powell said, "there are no secrets to success. Don't waste time Iooking for them. Success is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

Adapted from Barry Farber, "Selling Points"

Assignment: Is success in life earned or do peoole succeed because they are lucky? 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 observation.

34.   Think carerully aoout the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.10)

l.   Celebrities have the power to attract "communities" of like-minded followers; they provide an identity that people can connect to and call their own. Celebrities are trusted; they stand for certain ideas and values to which followers can express allegiance.        

Adapted from Wiliiam Greidex, Who Will Tell the people?

2. Admiration for celebrities is often accompanied by contempt for "average" people. As we focus on the famous, other people become less important to us. The world becomes populated with a few "some bodies" and an excess of "near-nobodies."      

Adapted from Norman Solomon and Jeff Cohen, Wizards of Media Oz

Assignment: Is society's admiration for famous people beneficial or harmful?  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 observation.

35.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.10)

This is a time for shallowness. Seriousness is so rare these days that we tend to make all kinds allowances for those who only seem to possess it. In this way, shallow ideas are not recognized for what they are, and they are increasingly misataken for deep thoughts.

Adapted from Margaret Talbot, "The Perfectionist"

Assignment: Do we live in a time when people do not engage in serious thinking? 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 observation.

36.  Think carefully about the issue presented in tne following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.10)

Nowadays nothing is private: our culturehas become too confessional and self-expressive. People think that to hide one's thoughts or feelings is to pretend not to have those thoughts or feelings. They assume that honesty requires one to express every and impulse.

Adapted from J. David Velleman, "the Genesis of Shame"

Assignment: Should people make more of an effort to keep some things private? 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 observation.

37.     Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.11)

Beauty is not a quality in people or in objects themselves. It exists in the mind that perceives those objects, and each mind perceives beauty differently. To seek real beauty, in some absolute sense, is pointless. Where one person sees beauty, another may even see the opposite. For this reason, we all ought to accept our own perceptions of who or what is beautiful, and not be influenced by the perceptions of others.

Adapted from David Hume, "Ofthe Standara of Taste"

Assignment: Should our perceptions of beauty be influenced by the perceptions of beauty of other people? 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 observation.

38.     Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.11)

There are situations where flattery is mandatory: The bride is always beautiful. If we look at someone's artwork, we are obliged to say something complimentary to the artist. If we visit someone with a new baby, we are required to say the infant is cute. In such situations, to say nothing is interpreted as rudeness. We compliment each other because we understand that flattery makes life run smoothly.

Adapted from Richard Stengel, You're Too Kind: A brief History of Flattery

Assignment: Is praising others, even if the praise is excessive or undeserved a necessary part of life? 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 observation.

39.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.11)

Conflict is not necessarily bad, and it does not necessarily indicate a failed interaction. It is a signal, a message that says, "Things aren't working around here. We've got to do something different." Thus, confiict can be a catalyst-a motivating force-encouraging people to interact and comunicate in ways that are more satisfying. Conflict can actually benefit people by pushing them to make neccessary changes.

Adapted from Beverly Potter, From Conflict to Cooperation

Assignment: Is conflict helpful? 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 observation.

40.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excprpt and assignment below: (2005.11)

What explains our increasing obsession money and the things it can buy? It seems as though the acquisition of money is gradually replacing real measures of success, such as integrity, honesty, skill, and hard work.

Adapted from Alan Durning, "Limiting Consumption: Toward a Sustainable Culture"

Assignment: Has the accuisition of money and possessions replaced more meaningful ways of  measuring achievements? 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 observation.

41.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.12)

We like to think that if someone has "the right stuff," be or she will p.aturaily rise to the top. But it isn't true. In that same way that acting talent doesn't guarantee stardom, the capability for leadership doesn't guarantee that one will run a corporation or a govemment. In fact, at least in our time, genuine achievement is not highly valued, and those who are skilled at achieving greatness are not necessarily those who are ready to lead.

Adapted from Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader

Assignment: Are leaders necessarily people who are most capable of leadership? 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 observation.

42.   Think carefully about the issue presentad in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.12)

How valuable is history for our generation? On the surface this question is not as easy as it once might have been, for there is a widespread belief that history mav no longer be relevant to modern life. We live, after all, in an age that appears very different from the world that came before us.                                  

Adapted from Steph Vaughn, "History Is It Relevant?"      

Assignment: Is knowledge of the past no longer useful for us today? 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 observation.

43.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.12)

The free expression of thoughts and opinions is one of humanity's most precious rights. Every citizen must be able to Speak, write,and publish freely, provided that he or she is held accountable for the abuse of this liberty in cases determined by the law.                                                                                    

Adapted from Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

Assignment: Is it necessary to limit or put restrictions on freedom of thoughts and expression? 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 observation.

44.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2005.12)

Progress is likely to slow down once science and technology have met our basic human needs. New developments in science and technology will not continue to produce more societal benefits. In fact, the promise that science and technology will continue to benefit us is increasingly doubtful when so many individuals find their lives changing in ways they cannot control and in directions they do not desire.

Adapted from Daniel Sarewitz, "Social Change and Science Policy"

Assignment: Do the benefits of scientific and technological developments come at the cost of undesirable changes to people's lives? 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 observation.

45.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.1)

A colleague of the great scientist James Watson remarked that Watson was always "lounging around, arguing about problems instead of doing experiments." He concluded that "there is more than one way of doing good science." It was Watson's form of idleness, the scientist went on to say, that allowed him to solve "the greatest of all biological problems: the discovery of the structure of DNA."It is a point worth remembering in a society overly concerned with efficiency.

Adapted from John C. Polanyi, "Understanding Discovery"

Assignment: Do people accomplish more when they are allowed to do things in their own way?  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 observation.

46.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.1)

I do not feel terrible about my mistakes, though I grieve the pain they have sometimes caused others. Our lives are "experiments with truth," and in an experiment negative results are at least as important as successes. I have no idea how I would have learned the truth about myself and my calling without the mistakes I have made.

Adapted from Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak

Assignment: Is it necessary to make mistakes, even when doing so has negative consequences for other people? 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 observation.

47.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.1)

An actor, when his cue name, was unable to move onto the stage. He said, "I can't get in, the chair is in the way." And the producer said, "use the difficulty. If it's a drama, pick the chair up and smash it. If it's a comedy fall over it." From this experience the actor concluded that in any situation in life that is negative, there is something positive you can do with it.

Adapted from Lawrence Eisenberg, "Caine Scrutiny"

Assignment: Can any obstacle or disadvantage be turned into something good? 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 observation.

48.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.1)

Every important discovery results from patience, perseverance, and concentration---sometimes continuing for months or years--on one specific subject. A prson who wants to discover a new truth must remain absorbed by that one subject, must pay no attention to any thought that is unrelated to the problem.

Adapted from Santiago Ramon Cajal, Advance for a Young Investigator

Assignment: Are all important discoveries the result of focusing on one subject? 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 observation.

49.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:(2006.4)

Inconsistency is commonly though to be an undesirable personality trait, and inconsistent people are viewed as indecisive and weal willed. On the other hand, firm commitment to an idea or plan of action is associated with personal and intellectual strength, stability, and honesty. Thus, once we have made a choice or taken a stand, it is best not to change.

Adapted from Robert B. Cialdini, Influence: How and Why People Agree to Things

Assignment: Is it best not to change our ideas, opinions, or behaviour? 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 observation.

50.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.4)

A teenager challenges everything and, by forming habits of intellectual and emotional independence, makes himself or herself into an adult. In a similar way, all people can learn the behaviours that they need to become the people they want to be. We can all change ourselves---our behaviour, our goals, our relationships---because our potential for change is unlimited.

Adapted from Richard Stiller, Habits

Assignment: Is our ability to change ourselves limited, or are there limits on our ability to make important changes in our lives? 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 observation.

51.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.4)

It is widely believed that people do their best work when they are promised rewards for their achievements. Our schools and workplaces operate on the assumption that good work occurs when people are competing for grades, money, or recognition from others. In truth, the prospect of rewards provided by others can inhibit and limit people's drive and creativity. People do their bestwork when motivated from within by their enjoyment of a particular challenge and their satisfaction in doing something well.

Assignment: What do you think motivates people to do their best? 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 observation.

52.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.4)

Young people should have the right to control and direct their own learning---that is, to decide what they want to learn, when, and where. I f we take from someone his or her right to decide what to be curious about, we destroy that person's freedom of thought. We say, in effect,"you must think about what interests and concerns us, not you."

Adapted from John Holt, "The Right to Control One's Learning"

Assignment: Should each individual decide what and how to learn? 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 observation.

53.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.5)

Some people claim that each individual is solely responsible for what happens to him or her. But the claim that we ought to take absolute responsibility for the kinds of people we are and the kinds of lives we lead suggests that we have complete cortrol over our lives. We do not. The circumstances of our lives can make it more or less impossible to make certain kinds of choices.

Adapted form Gordon D. Marino, "I think You Should Be Responsible; Me, I'm not so Sure"

Assignment: Are we free to make our own decisions or are we limited in the choices we can make? 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 observation.

54.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.5)

Certainly anyone who insists on condemning all lies should think about what would happen if we could reliably tell when our family, friends, colleagues, and government leaders were deceiving us. It is tempting to think that the world would become a better place without the hand, perhaps there is such a thing as too much honesty.

Adapted from Allison Komet. "The Truth About Lying"

Assignment: Would the world be a better place if everyone always told the complete truth? 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 observation.

55.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.5)

It is not that people dislike being part of a community; it is just that they care about their individual freedoms more. People value neighborliness and social interaction-until being part of a group requires them to limit their freedom for the larger good of the group. But a community or group cannot function effectively unless people are willing to set aside their personal interests.

Adapted from Warren Johnson, The Future Is Not What It Used To Be

Assignment: Does the success of a community-whether it is a class, a team, a family, a nation, or any other group-depend upon people's willingness to limit their personal interests? 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 observation.

56.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.5)

There is an old saying:"A person with one watch knows what time it is; a person with two watches isn't so sure." In other words, a person who looks at an object or event from two different angles sees something different from each position. Moreover, two or more people looking at the same thing may each perceive something different. In other words, truth, like beauty, may lie in the eye of the beholder.

Adapted from, Gregory D. Foster, "Ethics: Time to Revisit the basics"

Assignment: Does the truth change depending on how people look at things?  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 observation.

57.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.6)

We measure our progress as a civilization by what we see as advances in technology, which seem more significant than such concerns as education and the condition of the natural world. Still, I would prefer to be a part of a community that judged itself on the happiness of its members rather than on the development of new technology.

Adapted fiom Thomas Moore, The Re-Enchantmet-of Everyday Life

Assignment: Does a strong commitment to technological progress cause a society to neglect other values, such as education and the protection of the environment? 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 observation.

58.   Think carefully about the issue presented in tne following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.6)

People are often told to obey the rules. In reality, these rules are not permanent: what is right at a given point in time may be declared wrong at another time and vice versa. The world changes so rapidly that rules are out-of-date almost as soon as they are created. People cannot rely on established guidelines to determine what they should and should not do.

Adapted from Gregory D. Foster, "Ethics: Time to Revisit the Basics"

Assignment: Are established rules too limited to guide people in real-life situations? 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 observation.

59.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.6)

I suspect that like many people who watch their diet, exercise regularly, and check the weather report before leaving the house, I am a little too concerned with controlling what can't be fully controlled. I know I am doing the sensible thing. But I sometimes think that the more reckless among us may have something to teach the rest of us about freedom. Perhaps there is something good about taking chances against our better judgments.

Adapted from Melvin Konner, "Why the Reckless Survive"?

Assignment: Is it sometimes better to take risks than to follow a more reasonable course of 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 observation.

60.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.6)

It's rare to find an objective and independent viewpoint on style, literature, politics, or any other matter. Many people's opinions are formed their associations with others. It is our nature to conform; conformity is a force that few can successfully resist. We give in to the huamn instinct to go along with the crowd and to leave its approval.

Adapted from Mark Twain,"Corn-pone Opinions"

Assignment: Do we tend to accept the opinions of others instead of developing our own independent ideas? 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 observation.

61.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.10)

While some people promote competition as the only way to achieve success, others emphasize the power of cooperation. Intense rivalry at work or play or engaging in competition involving ideas or skills may indeed drive people either to avoid failure or to achieve important victories. In a complex world, however, cooperation is much more likely to produce significant ,lasting accomplishment.

Assignment: Do people achieve more success by cooperation than by competition? 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 observation.

62.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.10)

Sometimes it is necessary to challenge what people in authority claim to be true. Although some respect for authority is, no doubt necessary in order for any group or organization to function, questioning the people in charge-even if they are experts or leaders in their fields-makes us better tbinkers. It forces all concerned to defend old ideas and decisions and to consider new ones. Sometimes it can even correct old errors in thought

and put an end to wrong actions.

Assignment: 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 observation.

63.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.10)

We don't really learn anything properly until there is a problem, until we make a mistake, until something fails to go as we had hoped. When everything is working well, with no problems or failures, what incentive do we have to try something new? We are only motivated to learn when we experience difficulties.

Adapted from Alain de Botton, How Proust Can CXhange Your Life: Not a Novel

Assignment: Does true learning occurs only when we experience difficulties? 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 observation.

64.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.10)

There are two kinds of pretending. There is the bad kind, as when a pprson falsely promises to be your friend. But there is also a good kind, where the pretense eventually turns into the real thing. For example, when you are not feeling particularly friendly, the best thing you can do, very often, is to act in a friendly manner. In a few minutes, you may really be feeling friendlier.

Adapted from a book by C. S. Lewis

Assignment: Can deception-pretending that something is true when it is not-sometimes have good results? 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 observation.

65.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.11)

It is wrong to think of ourselves as indispensable. We would love to think that our contributions of individual people are seldom as important or as necessary as we think they are.

Assignment: Do we put too much value on the ideas or actions of individual people? 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 observation.

66.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.11)

Many people deny that stories about characters and events that are not real can teach us about ourselves or about the world around us. They claim that literature does not offer us worthwhile information about the real world. These people argue that the feelings and ideas we gain from books and stories obstruct, rather than contribute to, clear thought.

Adapted from Jennifer L. McMahon, "The Function of Fiction"

Assignment: Can books and stories about characters and evens that are not real teach us anything useful? 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 observation.

67.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006,11)

"No one is perfect." There are few among us who would disagree with this familiar statement. Certain that perfection is an impossiole goal, many people willingly accept flaws and shortcomings in themselves and others. Yet such behavior leads to failure. People can only succeed if they try to achieve perfection in everything they do.

Assignment: Can people achieve success only if they aim to be perfect? 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 observation.

68.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.1)

Everybody has some choice. People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and, if they can't find them, make them.

Adapted from George Bernard Shaw, Mrs. Warren's Profession

Assignment: Do success and happiness depend on the choices people make rather than on factors beyond their control? 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 observation.

69.   Think carefully abcut the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.12)

In order to be the most productive and successful people that we are capable of being, we must be willing to ignore the opinions of others. It is only when we are completely indifferent to others' opinions of us---when we are not concerned about how others think often-that we can achieve our most important goals.

Assignment: Are people more likely to be productive and successful when they ignore the opinions of others? 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 observation.

70.  Think carefully abcut the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.12)

In many circumstances, optimism-the expectation that one's ideas and plans will always turn out for the best-is unwarranted. In these situations what is needed is not an upbeat view but a realistic one. There are times when people need to take a tough-minded view of the possibilities of success, give up, and invest their energies elsewhere rather than find reasons to continue to pursue original project or idea.

Adapted from Martin E. P. Seligman, Learned Optimism

Assignment: Is it better for people to be realistic or optimistic? 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 observation.

7 1.   Think carefully about the issue- presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.12)

It is easy to make judgements about people and their actions when we do not know anything about their circumstances or what motivated them to take those actions. But we should look beyond a person's actions. When people do things that we consider outrageous, inconsiderate, or harmful, we should try to understand why they acted they did.

Assignment: Is it important to try to understand people's motivations before judging their actions?  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 observation.

72.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2006.2)

Abraham Lincoln said, "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." In other words, our personal level of satisfaction is entirely within our control. Otherwise, why would the same experience disappoint one person but delight another? Happiness is not an accident but a choice.

Assignment: Is happiness something over which people have no control, or can people choose to be happy? 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 observation.

73.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.1)

Many people believe that our government should do more to solve our problems. After all, how can one individual create more jobs or make roads safer or improve the schools or help to provide any of the other benefits that we have come to enjoy? And yet expecting that the government-rather than individuals-should always come up with the solutions to society's ills may have made us less self-reliant, undermining our independence and self-sufficiency.        

Assignment: Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communities or the nation in general?   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 observation.

74.     Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.1)

Most human beings spend their lives doing works they hate and work that the world does not need. It is of prime importance that you learn early what you want to do and whether or not the world needs this service. The return from your Work must be the satisfaction that work brings you and, the world's need of that work. Income is not money,it  is     satisfaction;it  is     beauty.                                              Adapted from W.E.B. Du Bois. The autobiography of W.E.B. Du Bois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century

Assignment: Is it more important to do work that one finds fulfilling or work that pays well? 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 observation.

75.     Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.1)

The education people receive does not occur primarily in school. Young people are formed by their experiences with parents, teachers, peers, and even strangers on the street, and by the sports teams they play for, the shopping malls they frequent, the songs they hear, and the shows they watch. Schools, while certainly important, constitute only a relatively small part of education.

Adapted from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, "Education for the Twenty- First Century"

Assignment: Is education primarily the result of influences other than school? 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 observation.

76.    Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.1)

If we are dissatisfied with our circumstances, we think about changing them. But the most important and effective changes---in our attitude---hardly occur to us. In other words, we should worry not about how to alter the world around us for the better but about how to change ourselves in order to fit into that world.

Adapted from Michael Hymers, "Wittgenstein, Pessimism and Politics"

Assignment: Is it better to change one's attitude than to change one's circumstances? 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 observation.

77.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.3)

From the time peop:e are very young, they are urged to get along with others, to try to "fit in." Indeed, people are often rewarded for being agreeable and obedient. But this approach is misguided because it promotes uniformity instead of encouraging poople to be unique and different. Differences among people give each of us greater perspective and allow us to make better judgements.

78.  Think carefully about the issue presented in tne following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.3)

It is easy to imagine that events and experiences in our lives will be perfect, but no matter how good something turns out to be, it can never live up to our expectations. Reality never matches our imaginations. For that reason, we should make sure our plans and goals are modest and attainable. We are much better off when reality surpasses our expectations and something turns out better than we thought it would.

Assignment: Is it best to have low expectations and to set goals we are sure of achieving? 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 observation.

79.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignmeptt below: (2007.3)

Every event has consequences that are potentially beneficial. We may not always be happy about an experience, but we should at least gain in some way from it. For example the worldwide gasoline shortage in the early 1970's created many hardships but inspired efforts to conserve    Whether the gains are large or small, there is something positive or useful for us in everyhing that happens to us.

Assignment: Do we really benefit from every event or experience in some way? 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 observation.

80.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.5)

Materialism: it's the thing that everybody loves to hate. Few aspects of modern life have been more criticized than materialism. But let's face it: materialism-acquiring possessions and spending money-is a vital source of meaning and happiness in our time. People may criticize modern society for being too materialistic, but the fact remains that most of us spend most of our energy producing and consuming more and more stuff.

Adapted from James Twitchell, "Two Cheers for Materialism. "

Assignment: Should modern society be criticized for being materialistic? 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 observation.

81.    Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.5)

Knowledge is power. In agriculture,  medicine, and industry, for example, knowledge has liberated us from hunger, disease, and tedious labor. Today, however, our knowledge has become so powerful that it is beyond our control. We know how to do many things, but we do not know where, when, or even whether this know-how should be used.

Assignment: Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit? 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 observation.

82.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.5)

We do not take the time to determine right from wrong. Reflecting on the difference between right and wrong is hard work. It is so much easier to follow the crowd, going along with what is popular rather than risking the disapproval of others by voicing an objection of any kind.

Adapted from Stephen J. Carter, Integrity

Assignment: Is it always best to determine one’s own views of right and wrong, or can we benefit from following the crowd? 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 observation.

83.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.5)

It is often the case that revealing the complete truth may bring trouble---discomfort, embarrassment, sadness, or even harm---to oneself or to another person. In these circumstances, it is better not to express our real thoughts and feelings. Whether or not we should tell the truth, therefore, depends on the circumstances.

Assignment: Do circumstances determine whether or not we should tell the truth? 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 observation.

84.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.6)

People are happy only when they have their minds fixed on some goal other than their own happiness. Happiness comes when people focus instead on the happiness of others, on the improvement of humanity, on some course of action that is followed not as a means to anything else but as an end in itself. Aiming at something other than their own happiness, they find happiness along the way. The only way to be happy is to pursue some goal external to your own happiness.

Adapted from John Stuart Mill, Autobiography

Assignment: Are people more likely to be happy if they focus on goals other than their own happiness? 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.

85.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.6)

Heroes may seem old-fashioned today. Many people are cynical and seem to enjoy discrediting role models more than creating new ones or cherishing those they already have. Some people, moreover, object to the very idea of heroes, arguing that we should not exalt individuals who, after all, are only flesh and blood, just like the rest of us. But we desperately need heroes-to teach us, to captivate us through their words and deeds, to inspire us to greatness.

Adapted from Psychology Today, “How To Be Great! What Does It Take To Be A Hero?"

Assignment: Is there a value in celebrating certain individuals as heroes? 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.

86.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.6)

The advancements that have been made over the past hundred years or more are too numerous to count. But has there been progress? Some people would say that the vast number of advancements tells us we have made progress. Others, however, disagree, saying that more is not necessarily better and that real progress-in politics, literature, the arts, science and technology, or any other field-can be achieved only when an advancement truly improves the quality of our lives.

Assignment: Have modern advancements truly improved the quality of people's lives? 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.

87.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.6)

It is not true that prosperity is better for people than adversity. When people are thriving and content, they seldom feel the need to look for ways to improve themselves or their situation. Hardship, on the other hand, forces people to closely examine-and possibly change-their own lives and even the lives of others. Misfortune rather than prosperity helps people to gain a greater understanding of themselves and the world around them.

Assignment: Do people truly benefit from hardship and misfortune? 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.

88.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007,10)

A person does not simply "receive" his or her identity. Identity is much more than the name or features one is born with. True identity is something people must create for themselves by making choices that are significant and that require a courageous commitment in the face of challenges. Identity means having ideas and values that one lives by.

Adapted from Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action

Assignment: Is identity something people are born with or given, or is it something people create for themselves? 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.

89.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007,10)

We value uniqueness and originality, but it seems that everywhere we turn, we are surrounded by ideas and things that are copies or even copies of copies. Writers, artists, and musicians seek new ideas for paintings, books, songs, and movies, but many sadly realize, “it's been done.” The same is true for scientists, scholars and businesspeople. Everyone wants to create something new, out at best we can hope only to repeat or imitate what has already been done.

Assignment: Can people ever be truly original? 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.

90.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.10)

All people who have achieved greatness 'n something knew what they excelled at. These people identified the skills that made them special-good judgment, or courage, or a special artistic or literary talent-and focused on developing these skills. Yet most people achieve superiority in nothing because they fail to identify develop their greatest attribute.                                                                              

Adapted from Baltasar Graciany Morales. The Art of Worldly Wisdom

Assignment: Do people achieve greatness only by finding out what they are especially good at and developing that attribute above all else? 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.

91.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.10)

Having many admirers is one way to become a celebrity, but it is not the way to become a hero. Heroes are self-made. Yet in our daily lives we see no difference between "celebrities" and "heroes." For this reason, we deprive ourselves of real role models. We should admire heroes-people who are famous because they are great-but not celebrities-people who simply seem great because they are famous.

Adapted from Daniel Boorstin, The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Event in America

Assignment: Should we admire heroes but not celebrities? 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.

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.11)

People today have so many choices. For instances, thirty years ago most television viewers could choose from only a few channels; today there are more than a hundred channels available. And choices do not just abound when it comes to the media. People have more options in almost every area of life. With so much to choose from, how can we be not happy?

Assignment: Does having a large number of options to choose from make people happy? 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.

93.   Think carefully aoout the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.11)

We are often urged to solve problems by ignoring traditional approaches that are innovative or unconventional. We are encouraged to be creative and to trust that a new way of thinking will yield new insights. But innovation may be impractical and unnecessary. The best way of fixing problems are often the tried-and -true ways.

Assignment: Is it always necessary to find new solutions to problems? 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.

94.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignmem below: (2007.11)

Many people consider the arts---literature, music, painting, and other creative activities---unnecessary because they provide us with nothing more than entertainment. Yet the arts are extremely valuable because they have much to teach us about the world around us and also because they help people find meaning in life.

Assignment: Is the main value of the arts to teach us about the world around us? 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.

95.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.11)

All people judge or crticize the ideas and actions of others. At times, these criticisms hurt or embarrass the people receiving them. Other criticisms seem to be intended to make the critics appear superior. And yet criticism is essential to our success as individuals and as a society.

Adapted from Ken Petress, "Constructive Criticism: A Tool for Improvement"

Assignment: Is criticism---judging or finding fault with the ideas and actions of others-essential for personal well-being and social progress? 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.

96.   Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.12)

The first problem for all of us is not to learn but to unlearn. We hold on to ideas that were accepted in the past, and we are afraid to give them up. Preconceptions about what is right or wrong, true or false, good or wrong are embedded so deeply in our thinking that we honestly may not know what they are there. Whether it's women's role in socjefy or the role of our country in the world, the ols assumptions just don't work anymore.                              

Adapted from Gloria Steinem, "A New Egalitarian Lifestyle"  

Assignment: Do people need to "unlearn", or reject, many of their assumptions and ideas? 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.

97.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.12)

Our determination to pursue truth by setting up a fight betweern tvwo sides leads us to believe that every issue has two sides-no more, no less. If we know both sides of an issue, all of the relevant information will emerge, and the best case will be made for each side. But this process does not always lead to the truth. Often the truth is somewhere in the complex middle, not the oversimplified extremes.

Adapted from Deborah Tannen, The Argumenzt Culture

Assignment: Should people chose one of two opposing sides or an issue, or is the truth usually found "in the middle"?  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.

98.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.12)

All around us appearances are mistaken for reality. Clever advertisements create favorable impressions but say little or nothing about the products they promote. In stores, colorful packages are often better than their contents. In the media, how certain entertainers, politicians, and other public figures appear is more important than their abilities. All too often. what we think we see becomes far more important than what really is.

Assignment: Do images and impressions have too much of an effect on people? 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.

Until fairly recently, technological innovations and inventions were intended to serve basic human needs or desires. Today, however, the most important and urgent problem confronting us is no longer the satisfaction of basic needs. The primary purpose of modem technology is to solve the unintended problems caused by the technology of years past.

Adapted from Dennis Gabor, Innovations: Scientific, Technological , and Social

99.  Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2007.12)

Assignment: Is the most important purpose of technology today different from what it was in the past? 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.

100. Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below: (2008.1)

It is better to be original than to merely imitate others. People should always try to say, write, think, or create something new. There is little value in merely repeating what has been done before. People who merely copy or use the ideas and inventions of others, no matter how successful they may be, have never achieved anything significant.

Assignment: Is it always better to be original than to imitate or use the ideas of others? 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.