<p>I will wait 4-5 days then post the answer. PM me if you want to know earlier. This was for the October SAT. </p>
<p>ESSAY PROMPT
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below:</p>
<p>There are two kinds of pretending. There is the bad kind, as when a person falsely promises to be your friend. But there is also a good kind, where the pretense eventually turns into the real thing. For example, when you are not feeling particularly friendly, the best thing you can do, very often, is to act in a friendly manner. In a few minutes, you may really be feeling friendlier. Adapted from a book by C.S. Lewis </p>
<p>Assignment: Can deception–pretending that something is true when it is not–sometimes have good results? 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>
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<p>Pretense and deception may often have “good”, or desirable results. Consider the world we live in: It is filled with deception and unfulfilled promises. But in the end, these false assertions have positive outcomes.</p>
<p>For example, we have politicians, who may as well be the most deceitful people on earth. They use pretense in every way imaginable; internally, they campaign with grand ideals to win elections. Externally, politicians befriend other politicians in order to accumulate personal power. The basis for both actions is pretense; the former obviously does not mean to actually carry out the said “grand ideals”–rather, they serve as an instrument for filling the ballot box. Since the candidate who makes the most promises, intended or not, is usually the one who is more popular, he or she has a higher chance of winning the election. The latter politician on the other hand is not allying with others because of a real personal connection or friendship; it is more of a symbolic, outwardly appealing act than anything else. </p>
<p>The important thing, however, is always the outcome. A promising-looking politician who wins an election may as well end up fulfilling his previously empty goals, and a “fake” relations between politicians can lead to improved economic, politiacl and military relations between countries. That is to say, deception is not inherently bad; the end can justify the means. </p>
<p>Personal experience has also taught me about the different uses of deception. I recall when I was in kindergarten, there was a group of boys whom I wanted to play with. Since they weren’t friendly to me and I wasn’t to them either, I gradually made it clear to them that I was “on their side.” By the end of that year, we were all running around happily. Although my demonstration of friendliness was originally meant only to allow myself into the play group, it eventually became a real friendship. This is just another indication that deception can do more than what it originally was intended to do. </p>
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