Issue writing episode 1

With this I begin the part I've neglected most for GRE till now - the Analytical Writing section. Here's a look into what makes a 6-pointer essay (the maximum points you get in essays in GRE)

• The essay develops a position on the issue through the use of incisive reasons and persuasive examples.
• The essay's ideas are conveyed clearly and articulately.
• The essay maintains proper focus on the issue and is well organized.
• The essay demonstrates proficiency, fluency, and maturity in its use of sentence structure, vocabulary, and idiom.
• The essay demonstrates an excellent command of the elements of Standard Written English, including grammar, word usage, spelling, and punctuation—but may contain minor flaws in these areas.

I request you to please give me what you feel I should get out of 6 (with a least count of 0.25). Please see to it that your personal bias to the topic does not come underway in giving points, because the stand we take in GRE hardly has any impact on the score.

Here's the first topic I've taken up -

"No one can possibly achieve success in the world by conforming to conventional practices and conventional ways of thinking."

The statement does sound iconoclastic but I happen to concur with it fundamentally. If not impossible, it's indeed very difficult to achieve success in the world by conforming to conventional practices and conventional ways of thinking.

Undoubtedly, the conventional approach is imperative for the stability and growth of our system. Conventional ways are time-tested and give expected, guaranteed results. But, inspite of this all, conventional practices offer almost no scope of thinking out of the box, to discover, to invent and to venture into unknown territories. Infact, come to think of it, the methods and practices now being considered conventional, were at some point of time a revolutionary idea which brought success to the proposer. Only then, with prevalent usage did it become conventional.

Had no one dared to think beyond established practices, we still would've been in the early-man era. Newton would never have gone one step ahead and asked the question, 'Why did the apple fall down and not up?' We won't have known about Archimedes who broke conventional practices of finding purity of jewellery by his principles of buoyancy. We would still be resorting to age-old simple machines instead of the now available complex ones. Countless examples in the field of research corroborate the fact that a revolutionary approach begets success. The scientific world, infact, can hardly advance if they stuck to the conventional ways of thinking.

A look at the industrial world would tell us how much of a fierce competition exists for survival and successful growth among companies. Conventional practices ill certainly keep them running but only until one of them breaks the norm to do something ambitious and succeeds. Yes, the risk factor is high when one does so, but the dividends that could be reaped far outweigh the risks involved. All the successful names we know - Microsoft, Google, Unilever, Shell - each of them are at the pinnacle of their fields because they dared to think different, to break the conventional trends. There are a number of organizations in the market which follow the conventional ways, but then, do we even know which are they. The slogan of Apple Computers - "Think different" captures the essence of the idea beautifully.

The sphere of art has always thrived on breaking cherished and established trends. Every successful name you take - Picasso, Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, MF Hussain - all of them command reverence only because they have a style of their own, one which distinguishes them from the conventional themes and practices of creating art work. Indeed, their talent was fundamentally raised on established principles and rules guiding art, but success betrothed them only once they chose to define a style of their own.

Even in the social scenario, the ones successful are those who defied prevalent practices and ways of thinking. Martin Luther King is an apt example who made it a point to express his views about the black-white divide openly and fought for the blacks' rights. In a time when seeing blacks as slaves had become a convention, even thinking that blacks could gain equal rights was unthinkable. But Martin Luther King did not only think about it, he made it a reality and recorded his name in the annals of history.

Examples can be sought from every facet of life, and the conclusion would always be the same. Conventional ways of thinking and conventional practices could hardly bring success to one's doorsteps. The quintessential human mind is always on the look out to explore new avenues and improve upon existing ones, and this very quality presses us to break the fetters of conventional wisdom for good.

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That's it. It comes to 607 words. The recommended length being 400-700 words. Though I took a hell lot of time to write this, much more than the time limit. But I've written something like this after a really long time, and hence I believe I should be able to write fast enough after a couple of more such essays.

PS1: Please do not forget to give suggestions to improve the essay. It could be the one I get in the exam
PS2: There are a list of around 240 issue topics given by the examinees. This is one of them.
PS3: This is #100 of the list - suggested by my brother
PS4: Have to wake early tomorrow .. 5 am :O
PS5: Don't forget the 0-6 rating (and be serious about that, chap!)