Gre analytical Writing issue essay Topic 101

GRE Analytical Writing ISSUE Essay Topic - 164 
"Most people think that their deeply held values are the result of rational choice, but reason often 
has little to do with the way people form values." 
GRE AWA Analytical Writing ISSUE Essay Sample 
Solution - 164 
Social values are taught to a child from the time he learns to understand his environment. As 
time passes by and the child grows into an adult, he may have the perception that his deep rooted 
values have a rational backing, but the real truth is that values have little to do with rationale and 
more to do with the society that one has been brought up in. Therefore, it is true to a large extent 
that reason has nothing to do with an individual's deeply held values. 
Man is a social animal and he cannot survive without the assistance of a society. For living in a 
society, everyone has to follow the ideologies that are being followed by the rest of the people in 
the society. There will always be some people who choose to rebel against the norms laid down 
by society, but when seen in the larger perspective, people form their values because of 
socializing with other people either from their own society or from other societies across the 
world. There are a number of societies that have orthodox rituals and traditions. Such societies 
may have stressed upon their youth to carry forward their customs and traditions either by force 
or by advocating the good that will come by adhering to those values. For instance, almost all 
societies stand by values that advocate giving respect to the elders. Most people of the society 
following these values would think that this is a result of their rational choice, but the truth is that 
these values would have risen with no apparent reason behind them. There is nothing that will 
happen if someone chooses not to respect his elders. He will probably be scorned upon by the 
other members of his society, but beyond that there are likely to be no other repercussions. 
Despite this, people have deep rooted values that prompt them to respect their elders. 
Values that are integral to a particular society may not be of any consequence to another society. 
Does this mean that the people who form part of the second society have a reason for not 
following the same set of values? The values of most societies are patriarchal when it comes to 
matrimony. What about the matriarchal societies? Is there a valid reason for them to decide that 
the name of the mother, and not the father, will be carried forward? The societies themselves will 
be able to cite several reasons in favor of a matriarchal society, but does that mean that the 
patriarchal society is inconsistent? 
There is no rationale behind the religious beliefs followed by most people. Numerous societies 
have associated superstition and fear of the unknown with naturally occurring events like solar 
and lunar eclipses. There are customs like not stepping out of homes on the day of an eclipse. 
People blindly follow the rituals that are recommended to be done whenever there is an eclipse 
without bothering to look for a reason behind carrying out those particular actions. Atheists lead 

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perfectly normal lives despite the fact that they do not believe in any of the values propagated 
either by their societies or their religions. 
Therefore, we can see that there is actually no reason behind the values upheld by a society, 
which is further substantiated by the fact that not adhering to these values will not affect your 
lives in any way, apart from a possible ostracism from society. Even if you consistently question 
the system that has instilled these sets of values, it is unlikely that you will be able to unearth any 
valid reasons behind the implementation of these values. This is because the values that are 
deeply held by most people rarely have any reasoning behind them. 

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