Taking the GRE soon--please give feedback

[H10okie]

I'm taking the GRE within the next few weeks so any feedback would be helpful! Thanks!

 

Governments should focus on solving the immediate problems of today rather than on trying to solve the anticipated problems of the future.

 

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.

 

Governments are often faced with the problems of today as well as the anticipated problems of the future. Although the government should solve the immediate problems of today to the best of their ability, the government should try to solve the anticipated problems of the future. Ignoring anticipated problems of the future at the expense of immediate problems would not be advantageous to society.

 

First the government must solve not immediate problems but try to solve the anticipated problems of the future. If it were to ignore the immediate problems or the anticipated future problems, the problems may worsen and the situations become austere. The rise of sexual transmitted infections in the South is alarming especially in rural areas. In the state of Mississippi, school districts were not required to teach students sexual education until the 2012-2013 school year. Yet the Mississippi Delta region boasts the highest teen pregnancy and sexual transmitted infections rates in the country. To combat this problem, the Mississippi government must not only solve the immediate problems but try to solve the anticipated problems of the future if it wishes to improve the lives of its residents.

 

The Mississippi government cannot ignore the current problems of teen pregnancy and STI rates. If it ignores the current problems, then the anticipated problems of the future, such as even higher teen pregnancy and STI rates, become more dangerous to society. For example one city located in the Mississippi Delta region boasts a high number of HIV positive residents who continue to have unprotected sex with HIV negative residents. Since sexual education has not been taught in schools and the area is very rural without access to adequate health care, residents do not understand the dangers of HIV and continue to spread it to others. The city not only has a current problem that must be solved but a new set of future problems that need to be analyzed and solved with an action plan.

 

Additionally governments must analyze both immediate problems and future problems if it seeks to destroy the problems completely. Education is another example where government and school officials must think about immediate and future problems if it wants to improve the education system. Right now certain areas in the United States are experiencing teacher shortages. Permanent substitutes are being used to teach multiple grades at multiple schools. I teach in a high needs rural school that cannot recruit enough teachers to accommodate our growing student population. Therefore some students are taught by unlicensed personnel while others are packed into classrooms that exceed the state limits on class sizes. School officials must solve this immediate problem of teacher scarcity but also anticipate future teacher shortages and devise action plans. Because my school is short teachers for a second year in a row, school officials are devising an action plan that involves recruiting teachers earlier and providing more incentives for retaining teachers and attracting new teachers. Furthermore because we are experiencing a teacher shortage, we also face the immediate problem of not finding effective teachers.

 

Thus governments must deal with immediate and future anticipated problems if they desire to improve life for its citizens. By ignoring either the immediate problems or the future anticipated problems, governments create a more austere environment that gives way to even more problems.