<p>Please help me with the score in this area. I’m trying to get it up as high as possible so all feedback/constructive criticism is helpful. I’m a college grad btw, hence the reference to art school in my essay.</p>
<p>Thanks so much in advance!</p>
<p>Prompt is:
Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority? </p>
<p>Essay:</p>
<p>It is always important to question, at least some of the ideas of people in authority. While most are honorable and have good intentions, bad habits can develop in leaders just as they can in any one of us.</p>
<p>When I was in art school, many of the faculty were brilliant and talented. These positive qualities are what put these educators at the top of their fields and in the esteemed positions they were in. Unfortunately, other aspects of their character were not as considered for their positions.</p>
<p>The head of my department, let’s call him Paul, was one of these leaders. Paul has been a critic, an artist, a curator, and a theorist over his expansive career. And as great as these qualities are, he was also arrogant and a bully. Secretly, I theorize the reason for his arrogance was because of his success. The bottom line though, was that his poor character traits were allowed to shine through, because he was so respected for his other qualities.</p>
<p>This is just not right! No matter how special or successful someone is, does not give them right to bully others, especially naive students. Personally, I found major fault with this, and decided to deal with it myself. </p>
<p>I addressed the issue by talking to some other professors about Paul’s character issues. I pointed out times when he had badgered students in lecture, or attacked them during critiques. One professor agreed with me, but admitted they did nothing about it because of intimidation.</p>
<p>This lead me to speak with the dean about the issues. He reassured me that he would talk to the entire department and put an end to the bullying. Sure enough, this fixed the problem. Afterwards, Paul dared not insult his students, and even shied away from opportunities to do so. Furthermore, the attitude of the entire department changed. Because he was the leader, his actions set the tone for the entire department. When those actions changed, the tone changed from a hostile environment, to and accepting and welcoming one.</p>
<p>Just because leaders have prestige and power, does not mean they are perfect. They make mistakes like the rest of us, and those issues need to be addressed in order to keep the peace.</p>