GRE Issue Topic 57

Sample 1:

It is generally true that people make important choices in their lives based on deep interest or abiding passion. They may be influenced by a personal connection. A scientist, for example, may have watched his mother die from breast cancer, and, as a result, he dedicates his working life to discovering a cure. Another may have a sibling diagnosed with type I diabetes at an early age and focuses his research on putting an end to that life–long, debilitating condition. A third may have had a beloved neighbor with Down syndrome and dedicates his career to discover a means to repair or prevent chromosomal disorders. On the other hand, when scientists and researchers are required to work only on problems that affect the greatest number of people, they may be less likely to proceed with the required fervor to effect timely and far–reaching results. Scientists and other researchers should focus on areas that enable them to work tirelessly to relieve the ills of humanity, regardless of the number of people who benefit from their endeavors.

Scientists do not have crystal balls. They cannot predict which subject of research may ultimately benefit a great number of people. At one time, autism spectrum disorders were thought to be relatively rare, and little was done to improve the lives of those affected. They were isolated and given a pessimistic prognosis for any improvement in their condition or quality of life. Over the past few years, the rise in the number of those diagnosed with ASD has experienced a meteoric rise. Doctors claim that one in eighty children will be diagnosed with some form of autism, placing enormous burdens on families and schools. No one in the 1970's could have predicted that cases of ASD would increase at such a rapid rate. Once excluded from the world of work and education, most that have some form of autism today complete college and become productive citizens. Had scientists and other researchers ignored autism because it affected a supposedly low number of individuals, the progress that has been made would have been delayed by several decades, and our society would be poorer without the contributions of these people.

In the 1980's a disease emerged that created great concern and controversy around the world. When AIDS first came to the public's attention, it was regarded as a "gay" disease, present almost exclusively in homosexual men who had multiple sexual partners. The poster boy for this plague was Rock Hudson, the once strapping, handsome leading man on both the big and small screens of America. The world watched as images of his haggard and wasted physique appeared in magazines and read of his desperate trips to France to seek any kind of treatment for his illness. His death provided fodder for those who think of homosexuality as an abomination; this plague was God's retribution. These attitudes and the apparently narrow scope of the disease may have delayed research for an effective treatment. When cases of AIDS began showing up in other segments of the population and its spread became rapid, researchers began to accelerate the process of finding a treatment or cure. Had the medical community relegated AIDS research to the back burner because it appeared to affect only people who engaged in risky behavior, the advances in treatment that prolong life and, in some cases, cure the disease might still exist only in the future.

Of great concern to scientists today is climate change. Most believe that human interaction with the environment has created a variety of issues, including the hole in the ozone and the melting of the polar icecaps. Former Vice President, Al Gore, has been an outspoken critic of human practices that have led to global warming and has gone around the world with his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, advocating for change. No other issue has effects as far reaching as this; every living human, animal, and plant is threatened in some way. Droughts, floods, desertification, and extinction challenge every society around the globe. No other issue affects a greater number of people, and failure to correct or reverse these changes spells doom for coastal communities as well as plant and animal species. Failure to focus research on the environment will have a deleterious effect on great numbers of people around the world.

It is easy to identify concerns that currently affect the largest number of people. Focusing on those issues may cause scientists and other researchers to overlook problems that, although small now, may eventually have a negative impact on considerable populations. The world is smaller today. The ability of people to travel quickly and frequently to all corners of the globe makes once isolated issues a concern for everyone on the planet. Scientists and other researchers should be encouraged to perform their work in ways that benefit any group of humans.