In Class SAT Essay Prompts for 2nd Semester Requirement- One per week and revisions.

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Writing Prompts 

• Prompt 1
• Most of us are convinced that fame brings happiness. Fame, it seems, is among the things people most desire. We believe that to be famous, for whatever reason, is to prove oneself and confirm that one matters in the world. And yet those who are already famous often complain of the terrible burden of fame. In fact, making the achievement of fame one's life goal involves commitments of time and effort that are usually wasted.
• Adapted from Leszek Kolakowski, Freedom, Fame, Lying, and Betrayal: Essays on Everyday Life
• Assignment:
• Does fame bring happiness, or are people who are not famous more likely 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 observations.

Writing Prompts 

• Prompt 2
• A society composed of men and women who are not bound by convention—in other words, they do not act according to what others say or do—is far more lively than one in which all people behave alike. When each person's character is developed individually and differences of opinion are acceptable, it is beneficial to interact with new people because they are not mere replicas of those whom one has already met.
• Adapted from Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness
• Assignment:
• Is it better for a society when people act as individuals rather than copying the ideas and 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 observations.

Writing Prompts 

• Prompt 3
• When someone has the same ideas or views as most people do, we tend to believe that the person is reasonable and correct. Often, however, views that are considered reasonable or commonsensical are anything but sensible. Many widely held views regarding current events, science, education, arts and literature, and many other topics ultimately prove to be wrong. The fact that an idea or view is widespread—held by many people—does not make it right.
• Assignment:
• Are widely held views often wrong, or are such views more likely to be correct? 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.

Writing Prompts 

• Prompt 4
• 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 observations.

Writing Prompt 

• Prompt 5
• Albert Einstein said, “The most complex problems have the simplest solutions.” The avenues of student learning are processed in two domains, the Affective Domain and the Cognitive Domain. The Affective Domain concerns behavior, attitudes, and work ethics while the Cognitive Domain measures manual dexterity and scholastic achievement through testing. Formal studies have shown that student success in these two domains correlates to their success in career pathways.
• Assignment: From your point of view as an employer, how would use the two domains to select and manage the proficiency of your workforce? Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #6
• “Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can’t be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people.” -- Lee Iacocca
• Assignment: What is your view on the idea that there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’? 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.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #7
• “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.”
• Source: Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Assignment: What is your view on the idea of the importance of what lies within a person? In an essay, support your position by discussing an example (or examples) from literature, the arts, science and technology, current events, or your own experience or observation.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #8
• “A great parent knows how to say no. Many parents find that it’s tough to be firm with their children. They can’t set rules. They threaten but don’t follow through with consequences. ‘No television for a week,’ a mom may tell her child in the afternoon, only to make an exception that very night. But the fact is, if we relinquish our parental authority, we are doing a disservice to our kids.”
• Ron Taffel, therapist and author, Parents, May, 2001, p.113.
• Assignment: What is your view of the idea that parents need to be firm in disciplining their children? In an essay, support your position with an example (or examples) from literature, science, current events, or your own experience and observation.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #9
• According to the National Institutes of Health, about 64% of Americans are overweight or obese. The obesity issue has ignited various debates and finger-pointing over who is responsible for this health crisis. Lawsuits against fast food chains, like McDonald’s, lay the blame for an individual’s weight gain on the door step of the restaurants themselves, who aggressively advertise, especially to young people, and offer a menu of fat-filled items guaranteed to make you “happy” and satisfied at a great price.
• The other side of the debate is expressed in the following quote:
  • “Obesity has much to do with our own choices. Changing how we think about food would be a good first step toward improving how we eat, exercise, and take care of ourselves and those around us.”
• Source: Seattle Post – Intelligencer Editorial, March 11, 2004.
• Assignment: Do you think that restaurants should be responsible for an individual’s weight gain? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your viewpoint on this issue. Support your position with reasoning

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #10
• Thomas Edison, the great inventor, once said the following about all of his inventions: “To invent something takes 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration.” Do you agree or disagree that for an idea or goal to become a reality it takes a lot of hard work?
• Assignment: In an essay support your position that it takes a lot of hard work to make a goal a reality by discussing examples of an individual you know or have read about. Cite personal experiences where you had an idea and carried it through until it became a reality

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #11
• Some years ago, Oliver Wendell Holmes, a Supreme Court Justice stated, “We pay taxes to live in a civilized society.” He did not elaborate on how many taxes or how much money should be paid.
• Assignment: What is your view or position that taxes are the price we pay for living in a “civilized society”? In an essay, support your position by discussing examples or events that you have observed. Cite personal experiences, current events, and observations.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #12
• The root of the word “technology” is the Greek word tecknos, which means “art.” Technology has been linked to art for centuries. For example, it took almost four years for Leonardo Da Vinci to paint the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world. Today, it would take a graphic artist using a computer about five minutes to reproduce her. Howard Sparks, a well-known author of the 20th century, suggests that, “The art of our era is not art, but technology. Today, Rembrandt is painting automobiles; Shakespeare is writing research papers; Michelangelo is designing more efficient bank lobbies.”
• Source: Howard Sparks, Quote Cache Website, http://quotes.prolix.nu/Technology/ (9/30/04)

• Assignment: What is your view of the idea that today’s art is technology? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples from your reading, studies, current events, or your own experiences or observations.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #13
• In 1959, C.P. Snow, a former scientist turned novelist, gave a controversial lecture called “The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” He was still controversial in 1971 when he told a New York Times interviewer, “Technology is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one
• hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other.” Again, he expressed the ambivalence people feel about technology.
• Source: C.P. Snow, New York Times 15 March, 1971.
• Assignment: What is your view of the idea that technology has many great benefits as well as very dangerous consequences? In an essay, support your position by discussing examples from literature, the arts, science, technology, current events or your own experiences or observations.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt 14
• In 1965, the famous science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clark remarked, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” In 2004, we have many more electronic, electrical, and radio-controlled devices than Clarke knew in 1965. Electronics, electricity, and radio waves act invisibly, so we must wonder if we can tell the difference between technology and magic.
• Source: Arthur C. Clarke, The Lost Worlds of 2001. (Dutton)
• Assignment: What is your view of the idea that advanced technology is no different from magic? In an essay, support your position by discussing an example (or examples) from literature, the arts, science, technology, current events, or your own experiences or observations.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #15
• “A leader should never apologize for his or her actions because it shows a sign of weakness.” For a leader not to apologize or to show remorse is easier to do because s/he is denying his or her shortcoming, or choosing to ignore the issue at hand.
• Assignment: What is your view of the idea that to apologize shows a sign of weakness? 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 experience, reading, studies, and observations.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #16
• “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”
• Source: Sam Walton
• Assignment: What is your view of the statement that the customer is really the boss? Do customers have the ability to fire members of the company? In an essay, support your position by discussing an example (or examples) from your work experience with customers or with companies that have provided services to you.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #17
• “Personal success is simply the fulfillment of what makes you happy.”- Anonymous
• “The wealthy man is the man who is much, not the one who has much.” - Karl Marx
• Assignment: What is your view of the idea that true success consists of personal fulfillment rather than monetary gain?
• In an essay, support your position by discussing an example (or examples) from your reading, studies, current events, our society and culture, or your own experiences or observations.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #18
• How many times have you caught yourself thinking about something else while someone was speaking to you? Was it embarrassing when that person then asked you a question and you couldn’t answer? Clearly, communication fails when listening does not take place.
• Assignment: Plan and write an essay to explain the following statement: Listening is the key to successful oral communication. Support your position with reasoning and examples.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #19
• “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” - Sam Walton
• “Treat every customer as if they sign your paycheck…because they do.” –Anonymous
• Assignment: What is your view of the idea that the customer is always right? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning, and examples from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #20
• The well-known proverb “experience is the best teacher” suggests that people can gain valuable knowledge through accomplishing tasks. It further implies that the knowledge gained by doing so is often preferred to knowledge attained via the text or class lecture.
• Assignment: Describe the value of your work experience as it relates to your future employment goals. Before you begin, think about your employment goals. Consider both the positive and negative aspects of your work experience during this semester (school year). Also, think about what skills you have acquired during the semester (year) and what additional skills you may need to acquire to reach your employment goals and where you can acquire those skills? Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your experiences and observations.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #21
• Failure can bring success. The individual who fails can turn failure into an opportunity. We learn from our failures and successes. Each experience in life makes us stronger and is a learning process. Richard Bach says, “Wrong turns are as important as right turns. More important sometimes.”
• Assignment: What is your view of the idea that success can come from failure? In an essay, support your position by discussing your point of view.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #22
• Think carefully about the excerpt and the assignment below.
• “The computer is probably the single most important invention of the twentieth century? Computers affect us not individually but also as a society as a whole. You see computers almost everywhere.”
• Source: IC3 Basics, Ambrose, etc.
• Assignment: Identify how computers are used in our daily lives and explain how the Internet, the World Wide Web, e-mail, and networks affect the use of computers. Plan and write an essay in which you develop your position with supporting material and examples taken from your reading, experience, or observations.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #23
• employers looked at their transcripts.
• Source: From Maryland Business Roundtable “1999 Annual Report”
• “Your transcript is one of the things in your life over which you have control. Make it a powerful statement about who you are.”
• Source: Michael Spiller, American Federation of Teachers
• Assignment: Should transcripts be a standard part of the hiring process or should they be kept 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, experience, or observations.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #24
• “Live each day so that you will not be afraid of tomorrow nor ashamed of yesterday.”
• “Some think they’re honest because they’re never been caught stealing.”
• Source: Tim Beal
• Assignment: What is your view of ethical behavior? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position by discussing an example (or examples) from your reading, studies, or your own experience or observation.

Writing Prompt 

• SAT Prompt #25
• “When looking for a solution, one may consider numerous options to solve problems. The majority of success would not be met if we did not endure any challenges in our lives.”
• Source: Martin Luther King
• Dr. MLK Jr. stated, “All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.” <LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l26 level1 lfo26; tab-stops: l

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