SAT Essay Saturday (Delayed)

Topic: Are temporary solutions to problems better than permanent ones?

Slapping a band-aid on a bullet hole will not solve a problem, but instead will allow the problem to fester. Temporary solutions to political problems after wars seem expedient and practical, but in the long run they become untenable as the resentment and problems mount. The interim decision to quarter Berlin and bisect Korea led to far reaching and devastating results.

The decision to temporarily split Germany and Berlin in particular led to increased tensions between the United States and the U.S.S.R. and the Berlin Wall. After Germany was defeated in World War II, the country was divided into 4 quadrants to allow for the rebuilding of the country under the watchful eyes of France, Great Britain, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., but ideological differences led to Germany and Berlin in particular being split. Movement from East to West was restricted and people died attempting to cross the Berlin Wall that was erected in 1961 to prevent defection from the communist sector. The result was that the Area of West Berlin that was within the boundaries of Soviet occupied territory became isolated and people living on the East side of the wall attempted to cross the wall, often dying in the process. The temporary solution to the problem of Nazi Germany was to divide it into pieces among the allies, but this caused even greater problems as families and lives within Germany were separated, and it wasn’t until 1990 when the Berlin Wall was dismantled that Berlin once again became a unified city.

Unification is the also the hope of Korea, which was divided in a similar manner after World War II. Korea was also “temporarily” split up in order to facilitate its rebuilding after the Japanese occupation. The defeat of the Japanese left the Korean peninsula in ruins and rudderless, and so the United Nations decided to divide the country along the 38^th parallel and have the Soviet Union administer the northern part while the United States would administer the southern part. This was to be a temporary solution until the Koreans could establish their own government. Unfortunately again the ideological differences between the 2 new superpowers caused each to support a different type of government and no real consensus was attained, instead the entire peninsula became embroiled in a war that has technically lasted over 50 years. Korea is still split and still at war and the temporary solution has caused problems far worse than any presented after the Japanese withdrawal.

The problem with temporary fixes is that they appear to solve a problem, appear being the operative word. In reality the “fix” actually leads to a whole host of other complications and the problems become insurmountable. A slow, considered solution is a better choice as it will address all possible complications before they become insurmountable. 

Mount Rushmore

Located in Keystone South Dakota, the Mt. Rushmore Monument is a granite sculpture carved into the mountain depicting the faces of 4 presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt (Theodore) and Lincoln.

Over the years, Rushmore has come up numerous times and there have been a few misconceptions. The sculptures did not form naturally, and they are not small. Gutzon Borglum and 400 men used explosives and jackhammers to carve the likenesses out of the side of the mountain and each face is about 18 meters tall. Construction began on 1927 and by 1939 most of the faces were completed, but Borglum died in 1941 before he could complete the originally envisioned sculpture which had the torsos of the Presidents as well. Funding also dried up and the project was deemed complete.

There is controversy over this monument, as it is located on land that was seized from Native Americans in the 1870’s after it had been deeded to the Lakota in perpetuity. Another sculpture in the area is currently being constructed depicting Native Leader Crazy Horse and this monument when completed will be much larger than the Rushmore Monument.

This sculpture is referenced frequently in American pop culture and appears in many movies. Any image that depicts faces carved out of a mountain is probably referencing this sculpture. The connotations that may be associated with Mount Rushmore would be huge, patriotic, man’s dominion over nature, and manifest destiny.

To see a picture follow this link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mt_rushmore_07_27_2005.jpg

Dictators

I say dictator, you say Hitler. Boring. As I tweeted yesterday, let's try to not bore the reader. If your essay topic lends itself to writing about oppression, honesty, power, conformity, authority, or war then you might be tempted to dust off Hitler and write the exact same essay as all the other students with that topic that day. Why don't we try to do better?

How about...

Pol Pot

Pol Pot was the leader of the Cambodian Communist Party also known as the Khmer Rouge. From 1967, Pol Pot's group opposed the Cambodian Government and in 1975 when the Americans withdrew from Vietnam the Khmer Rouge attacked the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. The Khmer Rouge overthrew the government and imposed a harsh communist regime which involved the execution of millions of people, primarily the educated and wealthy, the dispersal of people to the countryside and the eradication of religion. Under the regime all property was communal and people were fed a daily ration that resulted in mass starvation. The regime then attacked Vietnam, even though it too was a communist state, but by 1979 Vietnam had beaten the Khmer Rouge. The complete destruction of the society and the eradication of the educated left Cambodia with few options for leadership and the Vietnamese set up a puppet government while Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge leadership fled to Thailand. Pol Pot and his followers attempted to regain control of Cambodia until 1997 when Pol Pot was arrested and sentenced to life long house arrest. He died the following year.

A Good film to watch that will help you understand these events is "The Killing Fields" (1984).

Other Historical Examples include
Fidel Castro- Cuba
Juan Peron-Argentina
Agusto Pinochet- Chile
Joseph Stalin- U.S.S.R.

If you prefer literary examples, you should read the following:
Animal Farm- George Orwell
1984- George Orwell
Brave New World-Aldus Huxley
A Handmaid's Tale- Margaret Atwood
The Children of Men- P.D. James

Queen Victoria

Yes, I know Victoria is not American and the SAT is an American test, but the Victorian era had a huge impact on culture around the world. Victoria became queen in 1837 when she was just 18 years old and reigned until her death in 1901. During this time England was the superpower of the world and had so many colonies that the adage “the sun never sets on Britain” was true. At any time it would be daytime somewhere in the British Empire, from Canada to Australia to India (just to name a few). Additionally, the world changed in vast and varied ways with the industrial revolution and the invention of many things we take for granted today including bicycles, photography, steamships, sewing machines, steel, pasteurization, electric light and the postage stamp. Many customs seen today started in the Victorian era including brides wearing white, bridal showers, Christmas trees, Father Christmas (precursor to Santa Claus), mourners wearing black and even bouquets. Over the course of her 64 year reign, the changes to the world where unprecedented. For example when Victoria was young crossing the Atlantic took about eight weeks and by the time of her death that trip took only one week.

Any reference to “Victorian” or Victorianism” is talking about those times and references a multitude of connotations including strictness, definite class distinctions, colonialism, ornate decoration in art and architecture, and overall that there is “proper” way to do anything and everything.

Victoria is important for being the longest reigning monarch in English history (although Elizabeth II will pass her in September 2015) and during her reign there was expansion of the British Empire through colonialism and the marriages of her 9 children into the families of many other European royalties, including Russia, Germany, Greece, Sweden, Norway and Belgium.

Remember that any reference to Victoria is probably referring to the Queen, and not Beckham or a lingerie store.

SAT Example Essay: Is there such as thing as too many choices?

Henry Ford said that customers could order his Model T in any colour as long as it was black. There were no complaints about this limitation because color had no bearing on the function of the vehicle. The Model T was transportation first and foremost, but today people choose from hundreds of vehicles and thousands of options to find the optimal car and the deciding factor for 80% of buyers is colour. This decision prevails over others like V6 or V8, manual or auto transmission, cloth or leather interior because it is a simple decision. Do I want a red car or a blue car? People like having choices but limited choices are better than unlimited choices, which is why cars come in a limited number of colours even though we now have the technology to paint the car any color imaginable. The same is true with marriage. Having a limited number of possible partners is better than an unlimited choice, as can been seen in the lives of Scarlett O’Hara and Charlotte Lucas.

Scarlet O’Hara is the object of every man’s desire in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, but this vast choice of husbands makes Scarlett miserable. Scarlett has many suitors and throughout the novel 3 husbands, but she is dissatisfied with them all. She only wants the one man who she cannot have, Ashley Wilkinson. Had Scarlett been a little more limited in her options she would have been able to be satisfied with any one of her husbands, all of whom loved her deeply. Instead, she waits too longs and ends up losing her best match, Rhett Butler because she cannot focus on the good aspects of their marriage and so he leaves her. Scarlett would have been better off with a more limited set of men like Charlotte Lucas has.

Charlotte Lucas in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is realistic about her marriage prospects and this limitation allows her to be happy with her decision to marry Mr. Collins. Charlotte’s family is not wealthy and Charlotte herself is plain and simple. Consequently, she does not set her hopes too high, but instead limits herself to marrying someone from her social sphere who will treat her well. She is not looking for the love of her life, but rather a compatible match. When Mr. Collins proposes, she readily accepts because he has a steady position and is a good man who will treat her well. Charlotte has a happy marriage even though her choices were limited.

Unlimited choice demands more thought and careful decision which ultimately leads to regrets over the choice not chosen. Whether choosing a husband, a car, a cell phone or an ice cream flavour, limited choices lead to simpler and more satisfactory decisions than unlimited choices. More does not equal better, just more time, more headaches and more regrets.

Jackie Robinson

Today in history, the Titanic sunk off the coast of Newfoundland. But you knew that right? Titanic...big movie about a boat, Leonardo Di Caprio, Kate Winslett...Celine Dion singing. Yes, well, to set the story straight the movie is part fiction part fact, so take it with a grain of salt. Okay I think we all know the Titanic, so let's try somebody who is a little more obscure.

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson played his first baseball game in the major leagues. This may seem ridiculous today, but there was a time in U.S. history when black athletes were not allowed to compete with white athletes, and there were black leagues and white leagues in many sports. The Vice President of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey wanted to change this policy and he scouted for the best black baseball player he could find. He then signed  Jackie Robinson to play for the Montreal Royales which was the Dodgers' farm team and eventually brought him to  Brooklyn to play.  Robinsoin was continually derided and abused for playing, at times players on other teams refused to be on the field with him and some of his own teammates shunned and abused him. But Branch Rickey made Robinson promise to not fight back. Rickey know that any sign of temper or anger would only hurt their position and so Robinson was stoic and played the best he could. Robinson won the Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award that year. His record improved in the following years and he became one of the best players in the League. By taking a stand and being first, Robinson ended the segregation that existed and opened the door for all athletes to compete equally in professional sports.

1776

Okay class, why is 1776 important?
Sit down America. I know that you know.
...
Nothing?
How about July 4th, 1776?

Well the short answer is that on July 4th the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Let's rewind a little.

In the years leading up to 1776, colonists in the 13 colonies of Virginia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Georgia were upset (to put it mildly) with the excessive taxation that was imposed by England while there was no opportunity for representation in British Parliament.  The issue of taxation without representation led to the establishment of the Continental Congress. The Continental Congress was composed of representatives of the 13 colonies to decide matters for the themselves.  During the Second Continental Congress in June of 1776, a committee was formed to draft a formal document outlining the colonists wish to separate from Great Britain. The men in charge of this document were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Philip Livingston and Roger Sherman. (If you don't know who these men are- stay tuned and I'll get to them in future posts)  The document was presented to Congress and adopted on the 4th of July. However on that day it is assumed that only John Hancock, the president of the Continental Congress signed the document before it was sent to the printers. Hancock's signature is large and complex and now if someone asks for your "John Hancock", they are asking for your signature. Because the drafting and signing of this document was treason, all the men who participated were under threat of death and so the names of the signers was a secret for many months. Consequently, there is dispute over exactly when the document was signed completely, but many believe it happened on August 2nd. So the fight for independence started before July 4th, 1776 and the signing of the document probably happened after July 4th, but that really doesn't matter. The 4th of July 1776 has been deemed the birth date of the United States of America.

If you want to watch a dramatized version of these events try the 1972 movie "1776" or the mini-series "John Adams"

TRIVIA: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on  July 4th 1826- exactly 50 years after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence!

SAT Essay Saturday: Has a shift in communication resulted in people being less informed?

I am going to attempt to write an example essay for each Saturday using the ideas from previous real SAT Essay Prompts. As always these will be written in 25 minutes, so judge them accordingly. My first tip in regards to the essay it to ignore the quotation. It often leads students astray and the Assignment is the idea you are expected to respond to. So save your time for writing and just read the prompt first.

Assignment: Has a shift in communication resulted in people being less informed? 

It could be said that the news died on July 17, 2009. That was the day when Walter Cronkite died at the age of 92. Cronkite was the CBS news anchor throughout the height of broadcast news and garnered the moniker “The Most Trusted Man in America” because of his journalistic ethics and honesty. From the Kennedy Assassination to the Lunar Landing, Americans tuned in to see and hear what Cronkite had to say, but with today’s 500 channels and 24 hour news there isn’t one person to whom everyone turns. Instead Americans are fed snippets of facts surrounded by the fluff of entertainment, sports and weather. The amount and variety of information seems vaster but in actuality it is just a sliver of the news our grandparents were privy to every night at 6 and 11.

During the 1950’s-1970’s the pattern was the same throughout households across America; everyone turned on the television at 6 o’clock to learn the news of the day. For one hour, an anchor guided viewers through the events that were shaping the world. These events were thoroughly researched and written by professionals who looked to deliver the truth of events and provide a good overview. For the most part these stories were told with a dispassionate point of view and the journalists strove to provide all sides of the issues. People had a favourite news anchor and they tuned in to get the real news nightly from a trusted anchor.

However, the news of today is much different from that of the past. When people watch them at 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 or 11 p.m., most news broadcasts have been truncated to 30 minutes, during which the news of Brad and Angelina’s latest trip to Disneyland is next to the latest casualty in Afghanistan. The entertainment portion of the broadcast outweighs the hard news and this leads to the news being clipped down to 20 second sound bites and headlines alone. There is no depth and certainly no opportunity to have the other point of view. The erosion of the news broadcast has led to people learning less about the world and more about Britney Spear’s custody arrangements.

The way information or the news is disseminated is shifting again with the rise of the internet and social networks such as Twitter. Instead of from a journalist, we are gathering our news from the Blogger who tweeted the latest about Obama’s tax plan. The amount of news and the depth of that news are dwindling daily and the noise of celebrity gossip and “Reality” TV is overpowering the information that will inform us of events in the world that may actually affect our lives.

Watergate

Watergate showed up yesterday in a grammar class and once again I was met with blank stares. One brave soul asked what Watergate was and so I gave the class my "Watergate in a nutshell" lecture. It goes something like this...

Richard M. Nixon...does anyone know who he was?

Blank stares...crickets chirping.

Okay.

Richard Nixon was president of the United States from 1969 to 1974 and if you are good at math you can see that that is neither 4 nor 8 years. Nixon is the only president in U.S. history to resign and his resignation and the preceding scandal is all called the Watergate Scandal.

It all started on June 17, 1972 when there was a break in at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters in the Watergate Hotel (this is where the name Watergate comes from).  The burglars were caught and arrested and through an investigation is was determined that the burglars were paid from an account that belonged to the Re-Elect Nixon campaign. There were investigations and the media focused on this connection between the burglars and the source of payments. At the Washington Post, two reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward received tips from an anonymous source whom they referred to as "Deep Throat". The identity of Deep Throat was a mystery for over 30 years until William Mark Felt Sr. wrote a book in 2005 identifying himself as Woodward and Bernstein's source. At the time of the Watergate Scandal, Felt was Deputy Director of the FBI.

Through many official investigations, it was found that White House Staff were implicated in an attempt to cover-up the connection between the burglary and the President. Key evidence was found in audio recordings of conversations within the Oval Office. Nixon recorded all his conversations in the Oval Office and some of these tapes revealed that he knew people were being bribed to not speak about the situation. Ultimately there was evidence that Nixon knew about the cover up and Congress was prepared to impeach him. Nixon chose to resign on August 8, 1974, rather than being removed from office.

A dramatized version of these events can be seen in the movie "All the President's Men" and a recreation of an interview with Richard Nixon after Watergate can be seen in the movie "Frost/Nixon".

As always, this is a simplification of events that are complex, but this is enough so that you have an idea when Watergate is referenced.

Who to choose for my first post?

This is tricky because so many ideas come to mind, but let's start with one that is student generated and pops up in essays.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (The Jr. is important.)

At least once every 6 months or so, a student will write about how Martin Luther King freed the slaves during the Civil War. The confusion crops up with the difference between the Civil War (1861-1865) and the Civil Rights movement (1955-1968). These events are 100 years apart. The Civil War was between the Northern and Southern States over the issue of slavery and ended with the North winning and the abolishment of slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation, and after the war the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution which banned all slavery in U.S. States and Territories. Unfortunately these legal changes did not change the way white society viewed black people and 100 years later that Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's-60's acted to gain equality for all.

 Dr. King was an active member of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950's-60's until he was assassinated on April 4, 1968 at the age of 39. In 1963, the March on Washington occurred with the largest gathering of citizens on Washington in its history. During this event King gave his iconic "I have a dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. In 1965, King won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to eliminate racial segregation and to gain civil rights through non-violent protest. This is the merest sliver of the events and actions surrounding Kings life. But at a minimum you need to know that he was alive from 1929-1968 and that he was working for Civil Rights in order to end  discriminatory "Jim Crow" laws that espoused segregation.

The Civil Rights Movement is a complicated time with many people who affected the United States of that time and to think that it all begins and ends with Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks would be a mistake. A good overview of the highs and lows of the movement is A Dream of freedom: the civil rights movement from 1954 to 1968 by Diane McWhorter .

To understand what life was like in the American South during the Civil Rights Movement try one of these novels.
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
 The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Watsons go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis