<p>Here is my January 27th Essay. Please grade it and I will reveal my actual score before the March test. This is to help people taking the March test. </p>
<p>Assignment: Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communities or the nation in general? 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.</p>
<p>Many political thinkers deem that the goal of a republican state is to implement reforms bettering the lives of its people. But while institutions such as Congress are composed of only a small number of representatives, incapable of omniscience, it is the responsibility and duty of individuals to address the problems in their communities and bring those to the attention of the government for redress. Throughout American history, individual reformers have taken this responsibility and ultimately succeeded in their efforts. They serve as examples for the effect individuals can have on improving the community and nation.</p>
<p>Dorthea Dix was a Jacksonian-Age Reformers that brought prison reform for the mentally-ill to the forefront of American politics. Prior to, in the 19th century, the mentally-disabled were placed in the desolate and abhorrent facilities, reminiscent of the worst prisons. The government gave little attention to treating these patients, but instead wrongly treated them as felons, worthy of incarceration. Through her travels to the Carolinas and Southern United States, Dorthea Dix labored to redress this societal ill and ensure equality for all. The subsequent nation reforms made in the treatment of the mentally-ill embody the successes of Dix at redressing this problem.</p>
<p>At the turn of the century, in the early 20th century, another reformer, Upton Sinclair, took on the horrid conditions in the Chicago meat-packing industry. An aftershock of the industrialization in America, corporate America emphasized quantity over quality of production. In his book, The Jungle, Sinclair recounted the lack of care for the consumer in Chicago’s meat-plants, as no regulations were imposed on the quality of meat outputted. Sinclair’s book and its nauseating descriptions resonated throughout America, ultimately coercing Congress to pass the Food and Drug Act and other decrees enforcing quality and production regulations.</p>
<p>In the mid-1900s, American still lacked regulation of pollution outputted by industry, indifferent to the negative effects it had on the environment. Like Sinclair, Rachael Carson in her book Silent Spring initiated the movement toward cleaner industry and measures reducing pollution output. The Clean Air Act is a testament of Carson’s work.</p>
<p>History proves the effect the individual can have on the community and nation by providing epitomes of successes in reform. People have the responsibility of addressing the problems of society and bringing them to the attention of the government for redress.</p>