<p>I haven’t written any essays for the SAT in a while, and I don’t feel that this essay represented the best of my potential; however, the course gave me a 6 out of 6 (for one reader), meaning a potential score of 11-12. </p>
<p>My request is for you to read and grade this essay, so that I can have a better idea of the accuracy of the automatic essay scoring.</p>
<p>Assignment:
Does the success of a community—whether it is a class, a team, a family, a nation, or any other group—depend upon people’s willingness to limit their personal interests?</p>
<p>My response:</p>
<pre><code> People do not need to limit their personal interests to unreasonable extents for the success of a community. However, in order to achieve a successful community, giving up some personal interests is integral to building a successful community.
One such example of this is the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Huck, for the best of his community, needs to give up some of his own personal interests. Although he would much rather prefer to live outdoors and sleep in mud, he doesn’t do so because he does not want to taint the success of his community as a whole. Huck, therefore, becomes civilized; if Huck had not given up some of his own personal interests, he would have made the town’s reputation not only tainted but people would also have to go out of their way to deal with the problems that Huck would be making. We can see how limiting personal interests results not only in the success of a community in a novel but also in real-life situations, such as in a classroom.
Limiting personal interests is essential in the classroom. From personal experience, I have seen what happens when personal interests are not limited. Only one person or a few out of many will benefit because he or she will only care about their own grades and performance. The students who don’t limit their personal interests, in turn, hurt the rest of the class’s progress and, ultimately, its success. When the teacher started noticing this, he started to call on other students to answer questions more. Slowly but surely, the progress of the class overall was improving and the success of this community was definite.
Another place one would want to limit himself or herself for the success of others would be in a team sport. Most teams will have at least one player who surpasses, by far, the abilities of the rest of the team. If that person only cares about himself, he or she will only be hurting the team overall. The purpose of a team sport is to play as a team, not as an individual. Once people start to play for their team and not for themselves, success is sure to follow. Without teamwork, the personal interests of others are not being cared for, and the success of the team could be unlikely.
In conclusion, limiting one’s personal interests is a key to success of any given group or community. Through seeing novels and real-life examples, one can hardly argue otherwise. As humans, we must each care for one another and not care so much about ourselves. Although caring for oneself more than others is natural, one should try to limit his or her own personal interests so that the success of others and, therefore, the community is insured.
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