Hello,
This was my first attempt at tackling a timed issue analysis. It was a 30 min block. Please let me know where it succeeds, falls short and anything else notable. Thanks ahead of time for any help!
"To truly succeed in life, a person must assert his or her individuality rather than conforming to the expectations of others."
Every culture, nation and religion of the world has a definition of success. The definition can be as varied and diverse as the individual culture themselves. Thus, defining success, and whether individuality is a determining factor of that success versus societal conformation, cannot be clear cut. Defining success and individualism is a key factor in analyzing this assertion.
Success has no universal apex. For example, spiritually speaking, success can be determined by living a monastic lifestyle, as in Buddhism, or repentance of sins, as in Christianity. In individuals with no spiritual foundation, however, success may be determined by wealth accumulation and possessions, or any combination of faith and wealth. Furthermore, success also changes with the passing of time and eras. In the Great Depression of the early 20th century, simply having a roof over your head was considered a success. Today, nearly every person has the opportunity to be housed with a roof over their head. Those are only a few of the varied examples of success.
When questioning whether individualism is a key to success as opposed to conforming to external expectations, one must also note that expectations are not measurable, because they too can vary greatly from nation to nation and culture to culture. Thus, there can be no clear definition of what defines a person who is an individual and those who have conformed to society.
There is no question, however, that individualism, when self directed, can be a good thing in any society because it is that very issue that creates the mosaic of culture. Without individualism much of the world would not have advanced and would remain in a sociological and industrially stagnant state.
In conclusion, there can be no direct link to individualism versus conformity in defining success because of the vast definitions of all the factors. But individuality has indeed displayed that it can be a great thing in advancing any person and culture.
This was my first attempt at tackling a timed issue analysis. It was a 30 min block. Please let me know where it succeeds, falls short and anything else notable. Thanks ahead of time for any help!
"To truly succeed in life, a person must assert his or her individuality rather than conforming to the expectations of others."
Every culture, nation and religion of the world has a definition of success. The definition can be as varied and diverse as the individual culture themselves. Thus, defining success, and whether individuality is a determining factor of that success versus societal conformation, cannot be clear cut. Defining success and individualism is a key factor in analyzing this assertion.
Success has no universal apex. For example, spiritually speaking, success can be determined by living a monastic lifestyle, as in Buddhism, or repentance of sins, as in Christianity. In individuals with no spiritual foundation, however, success may be determined by wealth accumulation and possessions, or any combination of faith and wealth. Furthermore, success also changes with the passing of time and eras. In the Great Depression of the early 20th century, simply having a roof over your head was considered a success. Today, nearly every person has the opportunity to be housed with a roof over their head. Those are only a few of the varied examples of success.
When questioning whether individualism is a key to success as opposed to conforming to external expectations, one must also note that expectations are not measurable, because they too can vary greatly from nation to nation and culture to culture. Thus, there can be no clear definition of what defines a person who is an individual and those who have conformed to society.
There is no question, however, that individualism, when self directed, can be a good thing in any society because it is that very issue that creates the mosaic of culture. Without individualism much of the world would not have advanced and would remain in a sociological and industrially stagnant state.
In conclusion, there can be no direct link to individualism versus conformity in defining success because of the vast definitions of all the factors. But individuality has indeed displayed that it can be a great thing in advancing any person and culture.
