Gre analytical Writing issue essay Topic 101

GRE Analytical Writing ISSUE Essay Topic - 176 
"The study of history has value only to the extent that it is relevant to our daily lives." 
GRE AWA Analytical Writing ISSUE Essay Sample 
Solution - 176 
History is a great teacher. We not only have many things to learn from the experiences of people 
in the past, but history is a guiding light for our actions. These may be the actions of our daily 
lives, or actions to be carried out in future. The given statement takes only one aspect of the 
effect of history. I believe that along with being relevant to our daily lives, history has a lot more 
to offer as a guiding principle to our decisions in future as well. 
When a student studies history, he might feel that it is no use digging out old graves. However, 
he would realize the importance of history when he begins to correlate his present with the 
events in the past. As it is said that history repeats itself, it can be observed that there are many 
things that happen today which may have a reflection in the past. What we are today is only a 
transformation of the past. The civilized society of today has its origin in the ancient 
civilizations, the only difference being that with time there has been advancement and 
development. However, if you come to think of it, we learnt to live in a civilized society much 
before there was any development. 
Apart from having its origin in the past, our present is greatly effected by events and happenings 
of the past. We have learnt to stay in harmony with each other only because a history of conflict 
and hostility has proved to be dangerous for everyone. We have seen that the wars in the past 
have been extremely devastating. The world wars have not only caused great losses to life and 
property, but they have also made irreparable damages to the existence of mankind on earth. The 
formation of peace treaties and alliances in the present amongst various nations is due to these 
lessons learnt from history. It is clear from a study of history how a nation becomes easy to 
conquer if it is not united. The British had conquered many nations and made them their colonies 
by adopting the policy of divide and rule. This teaches us that in order to keep a foreign power 
from overpowering the nation, it must remain united and strong. 
Similarly, since people have known a dictator like Hitler in the past, there is increased awareness 
amongst them about their rights. It is only because we understand how dangerous dictatorship 
can be for the common man that we can prevent a situation leading to dictatorship today. That is 
why, every move and action of the governing body is observed and questioned by all the citizens 
who want their rights to remain protected. 
History guides us for the decisions to be taken for our future as well. For example, it has been 
seen that deforestation and pollution has led to a great environmental imbalance. The life-saving 
ozone layer is depleting. There are fewer rains and the increase in the global temperatures has 
resulted in the melting of ice caps. All of this is but the result of human actions of increased 

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pollution and cutting down of trees. Contemplating that the result of this human behavior can be 
dangerous for the existence of life on earth, it is being advocated to plant more trees and refrain 
from polluting the environment further. Even if life continues today with the amount of 
pollution, such decisions are made so that we can have a better and secure future. Therefore, it is 
the past that teaches us the effect of deforestation and pollution on the environment. 
In the end I would like to affirm my stand by saying that history not only has great relevance in 
the present, but also it is a guiding principle for our future. We can see the reflection of our 
present in the past and can also predict the outcome of our actions in the future by keeping in 
mind the similar situations in history. 

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