Prompt 1: The Value of Sports

Students are introduced to a variety of sports during their childhood. A source of fun, sports are often credited with shaping a child’s all-round personality. However, a growing school of thought is challenging this assumption. Are sports just a waste of time? Or worse, do they take away from important aspects such as education? Given the predominance of sports in students’ schedules, it is worth considering whether sports are beneficial for students.

Read and carefully consider these perspectives. Each suggests a particular way of thinking about the value of tech-free time.

Essay Task

Write a unified, coherent essay in which you evaluate multiple perspectives on the value of tech-free time. In your essay, be sure to:

• analyze and evaluate the perspectives given
• state and develop your own perspective on the issue
• explain the relationship between your perspective and those given

Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of the others, in partial agreement, or wholly different. Whatever the case, support your ideas with logical reasoning and detailed, persuasive examples.

Sample Essay: Prompt 1

Sports and general athletics in education present a unique set of psychological and social benefits to students that are simply unattainable otherwise. The development of a student is a complex, multifaceted process for which science cannot fully comprehend. Promulgating a more holistic approach to education through sports will serve our students, sports, and society. A well-intentioned, yet ultimately myopic consideration of athletics in education argues that a sense of community may be developed in this way. The fundamental misunderstanding which proponents of this stance succumb to is that these activities that allow for this sense of community are multitudinous and pervasive. Take something as essential and organic as family relations, for instance. Within one’s own family, a sense of community and goodwill may be easily fostered. Moreover, academic extracurriculars and interest clubs both offer much of the same. It is naive to assert that sports are the ubiquitous way to achieve this sense of community. This is not to say that sports are detrimental, however, as there are other, more valuable ways in which students may benefit from engaging in sports, namely through the development of otherwise difficult to learn skills.

Another flawed perspective addressing this issue belligerently accuses athletics of is detracting from education itself. This is clearly untrue and represents yet another complete mischaracterization of sports’ role in education. To say that athletics threatens the purpose of education is to assume that the purpose of education is to unilaterally infuse students with information, rather than to foster the overall development of society’s future leaders. Arguing this ignores the overarching purpose and function of education; education is not a zero-sum game. That is, it is possible to both allow for a strong intellectual development in tandem with promoting sports as a psychological benefactor. One emphatic example comes to mind: a New York teenager who had played soccer all her life had the sport banned from her school for safety reasons. Thereafter, her grades dropped and she became less engaged overall. She later documented this in a Huffington Post editorial, citing the inability to play soccer as the root cause for her weakened grades. Thus, it is clear that sports do indeed provide tangible benefits, both for an individual’s grades and or the individual himself/herself. It follows, then, that a middle ground may be ascertained between sports and education; this being the acknowledgement of the quantitative and qualitative benefits that athletics do provide. First, the difficult to measure, yet no less crucial, development of such qualities as leadership, teamwork, and overcoming adversity are imperative to holistic growth. Having these skills leads to greater monetary gain, a more sociable personality, and more overall life opportunities. It is inherent to our psychology, and thereby to any potential employer, to prefer these characteristics. Sports allow for these traits to grow, presenting each student with distinct, dynamic challenges of leadership, vitality, and especially teamwork. Furthermore, quantitative studies suggest an overall boost to academic performance through athletics.

The Economist magazine, in their special report “Generation Uphill,” concluded that a 1-2 hour engagement in athletics for young adults and teens resulted in an overall GPA boost of 28%. Coupled with the more intangible benefits, athletics presents itself as not only a boon to the individual student but also as a vital component of creating future adults. The final analysis shows that sports create a myriad of benefits for both students and society. It is not attributable to a sense of community, as some suggest, nor do sports present a systemic threat to the educational system. Instead, sports broaden the scope of the athlete, subsequently resulting in both psychological and education benefit. As it commonly is, a moderate perspective in this dichotomy of sports and athletics is correct; therefore, let us not lose sight of this, our society and children stand to gain. Hence, sports teach specific important lessons to children while simultaneously providing an educational benefit and should thus be preserved.

Prompt 2: Public Health and Individual Freedom

Most people want to be healthy, and most people want as much freedom as possible to do the things they want. Unfortunately, these two desires sometimes conflict. For example, smoking is prohibited from most public places, which restricts the freedom of some individuals for the sake of the health of others. Likewise, car emissions arc regulated in many areas in order to reduce pollution and its health risks to others, which in turn restricts some people’ s freedom to drive the vehicles they want. In a society that values both health and freedom, how do we best balance the two? How should we think about conflicts between public health and individual freedom?

Read and carefully consider these perspectives. Each suggests a particular way of thinking about the conflict between public health and individual freedom.

Essay Task

Write a unified, coherent essay in which you evaluate multiple perspectives on the conflict between public health and individual freedom. In your essay, be sure to:

• analyze and evaluate the perspectives given
• state and develop your own perspective on the issue
• explain the relationship between your perspective and those given

Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of the others, in partial agreement, or wholly different. Whatever the case, support your ideas with logical reasoning and detailed, persuasive examples.

Sample Essay: Prompt 2

The popular adage “Health is wealth ‘’ rings true in today’s day and age. As society progresses into the 21st century, there are some pundits who create a false two-sided fight between individual liberty and complete dependence on the government. The question arises: can good health be enjoyed if there is no freedom? On the other hand, will unrestricted freedom result in a healthy society? In order to truly enjoy wealth and health, a delicate balance needs to be struck between these two seemingly conflicting viewpoints.

While health is of paramount importance, Perspective 1 is too extreme as it espouses the curbing of freedom for a healthy society. Regardless of how perfect these ideals sound, such utopian ideas are not always practical. For example, the state of Gujarat in India is a dry state (alcohol is banned in this state). Yet, statistics show that the consumption of alcohol is alarmingly high as people resort to illegal ways to get what they desire. Reports also show that every year about 1/3 of the male population succumbs to cirrhosis, a liver disease, allegedly caused due to over consumption of alcohol. These reports successfully refute the implausible view that restricting freedoms leads to better public health.

On the other hand, Perspective 2 is also extreme as it states freedom is more important than health. Such thinking can be dangerous. Living in a country where one person’s freedom can cost another his/her health would be disastrous. Newspapers these days are replete with shootings at US campuses. A number of studies have linked these to the minimal restrictions in place to buy guns. This embodies the view that having too much freedom is not only scary but also disastrous for one’s health.
Perspective 3 accurately draws a fine line between freedom and public health.

This perspective mentions that autonomy or limitations cannot outweigh the other as both are two sides of the same coin: both are equally essential for the health of society. For instance, the High court of India has passed a rule that during the festivals, music on loudspeakers cannot be played after 10:30pm. This gives individuals the freedom to enjoy music till 10:30 while allowing senior citizens and children to have peaceful sleep. Likewise, smoking rooms is another concept promoted and accepted in many countries as it protects passive smokers while giving freedom to those who want to smoke.

The final analysis shows that robust public health is a complex, multifaceted goal that cannot be realized by eliminating individual liberties. The correct approach takes a moderate stand in this dichotomy of public health and individual health: they are both pillars of a salubrious society and compromising on either one would result in jeopardizing society.