Hi! This is a practice SAT essay that I wrote. Can you please give me feedback on it (like what I should improve on), as well as a grade (please specify if it’s out of 6 or out of 12!)? Thank you so much!
*Note: If you gave me feedback on my previous essay too (that’s awesome!), then yeah I realize that the 1st body paragraph is pretty much the same. I wrote this essay not that long after the other one so the info was still pretty fresh in my mind.
Prompt: Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority?
Questioning the ideas and decisions of others is always important. One should never take things presented by others for granted as facts. As demonstrated by the example of Hershey and Chase and my personal experience in school, it is crucial for one to never simply accept anything as fact.
Hershey and Chase were scientists in an age when DNA was not understood well at all beyond the basic knowledge that it was a substance found in living organisms. At their time, the scientific community had narrowed the substances that could act as the transmitter of genetic information between cells and between generations down to two—proteins and DNA. Comparatively, much was known about proteins, and abysmally little about DNA. Plus, proteins could be made up of 20 different types of amino acids whereas DNA was made of a mere 4 different types of nucleotide monomers, so the vast majority of scientists simply assumed that proteins were the source of genetic material since they had greater variety. However, Hershey and Chase conducted an experiment and found results that led them to believe in something else—that DNA, not proteins, were the genetic material in living organisms. Hershey and Chase labelled the protein coast of bacteriophages with radioactive sulfur and the DNA of the bacteriophages with radioactive phosphorus, and ultimately found that the bacteria that those bacteriophages infected contained radioactive phosphorus. By conducting this experiment in the first place, Hershey and Chase were questioning the widely accepted assumption in the scientific community that proteins were the genetic material in living organisms, and due to their unexpected results, they now adamantly believed otherwise. It has now been extensively proven that DNA is, in fact, the transmitter of genetic information in living organisms. If Hershey and Chase had not thought to question the prevalent assumption of the scientific community in the 1900s, then perhaps we would have never known that, and rather have kept on believing in a false assumption. Important scientific advances such as DNA testing for medical purposes and the renowned Human Genome Project may have never come about.
Similarly, it is important to question the ideas of people in positions of authority, such as teachers. Teachers may, at times, teach information with a personal bias, whether intentional or not. In my United States History class, the information is a times presented from a perspective of white male superiority, without much regard for people of other races or genders. However, a student in my class challenged my teacher on her standpoint in the presentation of material, arguing that the stories and history of these other, less empowered groups should not be ignored. In the end, my teacher ended up listening to the student, and we had a special lesson on the history of minority groups in the United States. It was a lesson that presented things form a perspective that I would have never heard of, were it not thanks to my fellow student who question the teaching method of my teacher.
Thank you!