<h2>Wrote an Essay using a Kaplan prompt:</h2>
<p>Think carefully about the issue presented in the following quotation and the assignment below.</p>
<p>“People in those old times had convictions; we moderns have only opinions. And it needs more than a mere opinion to erect a Gothic cathedral. Mark this well, you proud men of action: You are nothing but the unwitting agents of the men of thought who often, in quiet self-effacement, mark out most exactly all your doings in advance.”</p>
<h2>- Heinrich Heine, Selected Writings</h2>
<h2>ASSIGNMENT: Is it more important and valuable to acquire knowledge or to take action? 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.</h2>
<pre><code>Throughout every second of our lives, we have to make a decision, whether it is something big like getting involved to defend someone in a fight or as small as as how fast you should brush your teeth. But in those big decisions, sometimes you have to choose whether to think about the topic before jumping in or just attacking it. I believe history in black suffrage, scientific achievements, as well as my own life has shown how taking action is the best choice.
In the Progressive Era of the early twentieth century, black civil rights were still not full given, and two men wanted to change that. Booker T. Washington advocated for blacks to simply reeducate themselves in order to gain respect from the public, but whites did not pay attention. On the other hand, W.E.B. Dubois, called for blacks to rise up and take action by rallying and protesting in front of not only the public, but government offices. American political officials had no choice but to pay attention, and the Civil Rights movement pushed forward more quickly due to these actions.
The realm of science was also benefited by action in Isaac Newton. During his time, many scientists didn’t dare fight the established laws of physics, restricting themselves to the small libraries of knowledge then available. Newton, who was unsatisfied, went on a different tangent, discovering and creating different theories concerning gravity and Calculus (although some High School students taking Calculus classes might be happy of the resulting homework they must learn from).
Finally, in my own life I have seen that taking action for sick children is better than just learning about them. Instead of browsing the internet for information of the diseases, I created a fundraising club called Operation Smile that has raised enough money to pay for 6 surgeries for kids with cleft palate syndrome.
Throughout all of this, it is easy to see that rather than waiting around and learning about the situation, it is far more effective to take action and progress things far more quickly and efficiently for the benefit of not only myself but others as well.
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<p>Note: Typing it all out has made me see a ton of glaring errors, but I have typed it out exactly as I had written it in the 25 minutes allotted nonetheless.</p>
<p>Please give me feedback! Thank you!</p>