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Claim: The surest indicator of a great nation is not the achievements of its rulers, artists, or scientists. Reason: The surest indicator of a great nation is actually the welfare of all its people. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based. A nation in demographed by its boundaries spread over, and inhabited by its diverse population. To call a nation ‘great’ can be a subjective term. Although, we can agree upon certain baseline standards for judging a nation like population living above the poverty line, healthy population, break-through in scientific research, confidence in the ruler, etc. While it is tempting to say that if the people are happy and doing well, then the nation would be a great one, but this is just not enough. Often, the scientific breakthroughs and individual achievements have in fact made the world to awe and appreciate the nation. Surely, there are various indicators that we see around us that can help in judging a nation. One of them, is United Nations designated parameter called ‘Human Development Index (HDI)’. HDI takes in the key parameters of human well-being like average life expectancy, infant mortality rate, literacy rates, etc. This definitely includes all the strong parameters that reflect the welfare of the people. But, are these sufficient to call a nation ‘great’? What about the military strength which would have to defend the country during the crisis? There are many more subjects above the people’s welfare which a nation’s Government have to think about. We can take the example of a nation like Singapore which has a formidable HDI score compared to its neighbouring nations like Malaysia, Vietnam. But, Singapore relies on its neighbours for defence, because of its low military power. Talking about military power of a nation, it is imperative that a healthy scientific community helps in developing its military. Israel, a small nation, made the world turn its heads, when they successfully developed their first anti-missile defence system called Iron Dome. Although, it is a great invention, can we call Israel a great nation? Israel has produced the highest grossed Hollywood actor like Natalie Portman and Gal Gadot. Its ruler, Benjamin Netanyahu inspires confidence among its people. All these things can make us call Israel a good nation, but not a great nation. To call a nation ‘great’, it would simply have do well in whole package as a lot. At the same time, we have to be realistic in our expectations when looking at the statistical data. Smaller nations like Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway, Denmark tend to do well in ideal statistical data. But, idealism is not realism. In fact, the bigger countries like USA, China, India in spite of their average HDI score can be called the great nations. Great nations have real unsolved problems. But, they know how to get going with their problems. It is difficult to look at indicators in judging a nation. But, if we were to look at indicators – then look for indicators that govern Judicial, bureaucratic, Government, Sports, Arts, Science, etc.

Hi all! I have a phone call with a director of graduate admissions at a school I was recently accepted to and am very excited about. I am wondering what sort of questions would be important to ask. I have many of my own, but don't want to miss out on anything important and thought that reaching out for advice from more experienced applicants would help me to get all the information necessary out of my phone call. Thank you in advance! --Lindsey