19. Should school attendance be mandatory? In your answer, be sure to explore what the function of education is, and what our nation would look like if the masses were less educated.

     

     I firmly believe that school attendance should be mandatory. Education is easily one of the most important aspects in anyone's life. Without education, the world would be completely different from what it was today. A comparison between a man with no education and a man with a great education is unbelievable. The educated man will typically be well-dressed, successful, almost intimidating with his serious manner and bussiness-like appearance; whereas the uneducated man will be unclean, homeless, poor, and desperate. This is a very sad truth. I do believe there are much more important things to learn in life than just academics, but unfortunately, they play a huge part in society. It would rely greatly on imagination and stereotypes to determine how our nation would appear today without education. It would probably be much like centuries ago, without electricity and cars and planes and giant skyscrapers. There would be much more chaos, people not having the ability to communicate with each other as well, and would lead to much confusion and disaster. While I do believe that technology plays a bit too much into our current society, it is difficult to imagine a world without it.

20. If you had the ability to talk to one species of animal, which animal would you choose to communicate with? Why? 


     If I had the ability to talk to one species of animal, I would choose to communicate with tortoises. The reasoning is simple, they are the oldest and wisest of all living creatures. Their average life span is over 100 years old, and the oldest tortoise ever recorded, an Aldabra giant tortoise named Adwaita, died of natural causes at 255 years old. While many people believe them to be some of the dullest of all animals, I find them to be one of the most fascinating. They are one of the four most revered creatures in China, being the only non-fictional among the four as well. Their age is a clear sign of their wiseness, patience, peacefulness, and calmness. A real conversation with a tortoise would probably be nothing like talking to Crush from Finding Nemo. A basic conversation with a tortoise would probably change your entire insight on life, and fill your head with wonders and possibilities and much more knowledge, on many different levels. This is why I long for the ability to speak to them.