Prompt
As you read the passage below, consider how Dana Gioia uses
evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.
reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.
stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expres...
1/1/2018 Essay Sample 2 Gioia | SAT Suite of Assessments
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Sample Questions
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Essay (/sample-questions/essay/1)
ESSAY
Example 2 of 2
Prompt
As you read the passage below, consider how Dana Gioia uses
evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.
reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.
stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.
[A] strange thing has happened in the American arts during the past quarter century. While income rose to unforeseen levels, college
attendance ballooned, and access to information increased enormously, the interest young Americans showed in the arts—and especially
literature—actually diminished.
According to the 2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, a population study designed and commissioned by the National
Endowment for the Arts (and executed by the US Bureau of the Census), arts participation by Americans has declined for eight of the nine
major forms that are measured....The declines have been most severe among younger adults (ages 18–24). The most worrisome nding
in the 2002 study, however, is the declining percentage of Americans, especially young adults, reading literature.
That individuals at a time of crucial intellectual and emotional development bypass the joys and challenges of literature is a troubling
trend. If it were true that they substituted histories, biographies, or political works for literature, one might not worry. But book reading of
any kind is falling as well.
That such a longstanding and fundamental cultural activity should slip so swiftly, especially among young adults, signi es deep
transformations in contemporary life. To call attention to the trend, the Arts Endowment issued the reading portion of the Survey as a
separate report, “Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America.”
The decline in reading has consequences that go beyond literature. The signi cance of reading has become a persistent theme in the
business world. The February issue of Wired magazine, for example, sketches a new set of mental skills and habits proper to the 21st
century, aptitudes decidedly literary in character: not “linear, logical, analytical talents,” author Daniel Pink states, but “the ability to create
artistic and emotional beauty, to detect patterns and opportunities, to craft a satisfying narrative.” When asked what kind of talents they
like to see in management positions, business leaders consistently set imagination, creativity, and higher-order thinking at the top.
Ironically, the value of reading and the intellectual faculties that it inculcates appear most clearly as active and engaged literacy declines.
There is now a growing awareness of the consequences of nonreading to the workplace. In 2001 the National Association of
Manufacturers polled its members on skill de ciencies among employees. Among hourly workers, poor reading skills ranked second, and
, 1/1/2018 Essay Sample 2 Gioia | SAT Suite of Assessments
38 percent of employers complained that local schools inadequately taught reading comprehension.
The decline of reading is also taking its toll in the civic sphere....A 2003 study of 15- to 26-year-olds’ civic knowledge by the National
Conference of State Legislatures concluded, “Young people do not understand the ideals of citizenship… and their appreciation and
support of American democracy is limited.”
It is probably no surprise that declining rates of literary reading coincide with declining levels of historical and political awareness among
young people. One of the surprising ndings of “Reading at Risk” was that literary readers are markedly more civically engaged than
nonreaders, scoring two to four times more likely to perform charity work, visit a museum, or attend a sporting event. One reason for their
higher social and cultural interactions may lie in the kind of civic and historical knowledge that comes with literary reading....
The evidence of literature’s importance to civic, personal, and economic health is too strong to ignore. The decline of literary reading
foreshadows serious long-term social and economic problems, and it is time to bring literature and the other arts into discussions of
public policy. Libraries, schools, and public agencies do noble work, but addressing the reading issue will require the leadership of
politicians and the business community as well....
Reading is not a timeless, universal capability. Advanced literacy is a speci c intellectual skill and social habit that depends on a great
many educational, cultural, and economic factors. As more Americans lose this capability, our nation becomes less informed, active, and
independent-minded. These are not the qualities that a free, innovative, or productive society can afford to lose.
Write an essay in which you explain how Dana Gioia builds an argument to persuade his audience that the decline of reading in America
will have a negative effect on society. In your essay, analyze how Gioia uses one or more of the features in the directions that precede the
passage (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of his argument. Be sure that your analysis focuses
on the most relevant features of the passage.
Your essay should not explain whether you agree with Gioia’s claims, but rather explain how Gioia builds an argument to persuade his
audience.
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