<p>I’d really appreciate it if you could read and score my essay (prompt is from the blue book, SAT Practice test #2). It would be great if you could also let me know what works in the essay and what I need to work on. Thanks so much for your help!</p>
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<pre><code>Every person has experienced moments of frustration when they wish desperately for a new tool to make their work easier. Technological improvements have largely been accepted by society not only as change, but also as progress. However, new tools that make parts of our lives easier often worsen our lives as a whole by bringing about a host of new problems we are ill-equipped to handle.
Factories today are filled with state-of-the-art technology that allows for quick and efficient mass-production. In theory, this should mean that each worker’s life has been made easier and better as compared to pre-industrialization conditions. However, in the Industrial Boom that swept across the U.S. in the late 19th century, workers’ lives changed dramatically – for most, the change was for the worse. Craftsmen were replaced by machinery, and workers who remained were reduced to cranking handles for hours on end. Though the work of the lower classes was reduced and simplified, the lives of these people often fell apart. They lost their jobs, their means for raising their family, and their dignity as valuable members of society. Thus the changes that eased their work threatened these people’s lives in many other ways.
Another example stems from the classic tales of Disney’s Aladdin. As the story goes, the poor young boy who seems condemned to a life on the streets miraculously becomes the master of a powerful genie. His life’s problems seem to melt away as all Aladdin needs to do is wish for something in order to achieve it. To his dismay, Aladdin’s life soon becomes more complicated and dangerous when an enemy takes control of genie and nearly destroys Aladdin and all that he loves. In the end, the genie could not magically solve the problems he had introduced into Aladdin’s life; Aladdin had to resolve those himself. Though the genie appeared to make Aladdin’s life much easier, he ended up making Aladdin’s life significantly more difficult.
All too often, new things that hold promise to make our lives easier fail to make our lives better. Often, the changes worsen our lives as we strive to adjust. Ultimately, changes are only changes – not necessarily improvements. Hard work is the surest way to improve our lives. The old adage “no pain, no gain” holds true.
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