Issue Essay 5: Colleges and universities should specify all required courses and eliminate elective courses in order to provide clear guidance for students.

Reason: College students—like people in general—prefer to follow directions rather than make their own decisions.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claims is based.

The author states that limited courses should be predefined for the students in order to avoid them to make their own choices. However I don’t agree with the author because every body’s interest varies from one another. For this reason, it is essential to put an open end of the choices for the students.

I would support my point of view with the help of example out of my own life. When I was at university, several numbers of courses were taught. The main subjects which were taught us were the main branches of the economics as compulsory subjects. However after I have been graduated from university I choose one of the subjects from electives for my specialization. Labor Economics was one of the electives at the university. Currently I am conducting macro as well micro research on youth unemployment in Pakistan. It is worth mentioning that youth unemployment is a part of Labor Economics.  These way universities provide a great opportunity for the students to choose one of subject according to their own interest from several subjects.

One of the other things which we observe in our daily lives is that of professions people choose which are not according to the interest of the students. Many of them choose it because of the force by their parents. Later in their lives, they are forced to change their field when they realize their interest. Therefore it is essential for universities to give many other options for the students.

Well as the author mentions that since the college students make their own decisions therefore it is required to not keep an open end, which I disagree, because making one’s own decision is really important to have a successful career. If some people take decision for us, in one or the other we are going to be in trouble in later stages. Therefore it is essential for everybody take subjects of their own choices.

It has also been observed that as long as people want to do something as a passion they invest their every effort, moreover it is also said that, if you are able to find our passion there would not be need to work hard. Which does not mean not to do any work in actual sense; however that means that you will enjoy the work you will do according to your passion.

Similarly, suppose if Mark Zuckerburg was supposed to study medical or  arts probably there won’t made a facebook, the widely used social media network. And probably he won’t be the youngest billionaire. But since he chooses such a field in which he was interested therefore he was able to make a difference.

To sum up with students must be given variety of choices, so that they can choose a course or subject according to their own interest. 

Issue Essay 3:True success can be measured primarily in terms of the goals one sets for oneself

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

Planning is one of the major aspects which would leads to success. Setting goals through proper planning plays an important role in leading an individual to the path of success.

Firstly, let me take example of the GRE, you will only be able to take GRE if you make proper plan and you set your goal. In this way you won’t be timorous about the losing the deadlines, as a result you will be able to take admission in your dream country. Conversely, if you don’t set a goal, you would fail to prepare your exam in time. Therefore proper planning and setting a goal is essential to score very good in exams.

Secondly, in order to be successful one need to set up short term as well as long term goals. In this respect, let me clarify example above. Suppose your long time term to be a world class economist. In order to be an economist you need to get admission in one of best universities in the world which offer best Economics Courses. In order to achieve the long term long you need to work hard, so that you can achieve your goal. For this long term you firstly need to fulfill the initial requirements to get into the university. Among which getting a good GRE score is one of them which are your short term goals. Successful achievement of short term goals would lead to the achievement of long term goal.

Additionally, in order to be successful one need to go through rigorous process, however it could be easier if you set up short term goals. So that, as long as you move step by step things get easier. Contrarily, if you get start with many things all long, they will mess up and finally you will not be able to get whatever you want.

Defining your goals means defining your home. Here defining your home does not mean your family and siblings, however it means to find what you love to do and to achieve. If you are unable to find what you love, and what you want to do, there is less probability of being successful. Because you will put your efforts in unnecessary things, and at the end you will not be able to define your future.

The above principle does not hold in some exceptional cases. For example, although Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook and internet entrepreneur planned to get a degree from Harvard University which we can classify as a short term goal but he was dropped out. Albeit he does not hold any degree; but he is the youngest billionaire and is successful person. Same case is with Steve Jobs again his goal was not to be dropped out, but due to unforeseen circumstances he was again drop out.  But still he is again billionaire and a very successful person. The above examples show that it is not a rule of thumb to have goals to be successful. Although we witness such cases, however on average we need to have pre-planning and to set goals in order to be successful, because every second person can be intelligent like Mark Zukerburg. in order to be successful.

Therefore we can say, setting goals can help one to be successful, but in some exceptional cases failure of setting and achieving goals does not mean to be unsuccessful however success can be defined in the long term. Initially you may be failed to get your short term goal but in the long term you can be successful.