Newell-Fonda High School

Newell, Iowa

Teacher: Mrs. Doonan

The Ideal Society

By Allie Wells

12^th Grade

Does anyone really know what an ideal society is? Everyone has their own opinion, and everyone wants the society that they live in to be perfect according to his or her own stature. However, is it possible for people to be able to form a perfect society? Consequently, with every person having different desires, no one should even think that they could form a perfect society for everyone. No matter what, you will always have conflict. Many different ways help prove that an ideal society is simply a dream that people hope to achieve.

The common definition of ideal is a standard of absolute perfection, excellence, or beauty. This is what everyone thinks of as ideal. They base their thoughts on this excellence that is supposed to be achieved. However, ideal has yet another definition: existing only in the mind. Everyone dreams about the ideal society, but will this ideal society ever come about? People want an ideal society, but yet they aren’t willing to work for it. The people sit and wait for laws to be made that will form this so-called ideal society for them. However, there are more important things in an ideal society such as: being with those that you love, keeping those that you care about safe, making sure that people are working together, and helping people get what they need and not just what they want.

People need to learn to be happy with the society that they live in. People within a community always want something better than what they have. If people would work together and think about all the good that they already have in their society, they would see some traits that reflect perfection. The communities have good laws, law abiding citizens, safe streets for the children to be on, many organizations and clubs with activities for people of all ages, but they don’t see this when they look at the ideal community. They don’t see the people working together to make the best of everything. Many people simply complain about their misfortunes and those things that they don’t have.

Many people think that having an ideal society is getting all the perks that they want in life. However, are these wanted perks the best things for the community or the best things for certain individual people? A problem many societies have is that people know what they want as an individual in society, but they don’t think about how that will effect everyone else in the society. Say the people get these benefits, well then, how long will it be before those perks, that they have gotten, aren’t enough? When this happens, people will once again want an ideal society with even more benefits than they had already gotten. The problem in the world is that too many people are greedy, and what they have is never enough. People can never be satisfied with what they have, so why would a few certain advantages make an ideal society. If people got away with forming a perfect society with their “benefits” once, then they would just think they can do it again, except this time receive even more and more benefits.

Another reason an ideal society wouldn’t work is because most of the things that people want improved in their society have heavy consequences. When people think of an ideal society, they automatically think of things they want to get away with or that would make things easier for them. They really don’t think about all of the points. After taking a look at several examples, many would see that many of the improvements have consequences. For example, a lot of people don’t like laws. They feel they should be left to do whatever they want. However, this would cause a huge increase in crime. People would be stealing and killing as if it didn’t matter because they can’t get into trouble for it. Also a lot of people think there should be no speed limit. However, if there were no speed limit there would be accidents galore. Everyone would be driving as fast as they could to get places in a short period of time. They don’t realize that fast driving causes you less time to react before a collision or that fast driving makes it harder for you to control your car. The last example is no school. Today it seems that no one wants to go to school. However, if no one went to school, we would have no doctors to treat all our injuries or help the sick and dying. People would think twice after lying at home unable to move without anyone to help them because they wanted to eliminate schooling in order to form their perfect society.

Every society is already great in its own way, yet not ideal. The ideal society is just a dream; the dream that each person has for his or her own society. Yet no two people have the exact same dream for their society. If people look hard enough, they can find good in their society and simply eliminate thinking about what they don’t have. Maybe then they will see an ideal society already being mirrored in their own society. The society that they have already formed, the one made without thought, is better than any society that has to be formed by extra rules. After the people learn to see the goodness that is already in their society, they will realize that they do have an ideal society.

 Questions

Q1 – Number the “fault lines” mentioned in paragraph one, #1 to #7 according to your personal priorities.

            1 - Role of Government

            2 – Gun control

            3 – Abortion

            4 – Welfare Reform

            5 – Environmentalism

            6 – Health Care

            7 - Taxes

Q2 – In paragraph three, what is meant by “defeat of community”?

I would say that it means that it is tearing away the bonds that the community builds between one another. It takes years for each community to build up strength within itself to where all the people can depend on one another, but when you “defeat the community” the people who were once close by and there to depend on, become merely strangers. They begin to only care about themselves, and not about what may happen to anyone else.

Q3 – Do you sense “the pain of isolation” in adults in your community? Explain.

No, the majority of the adults in my community are active in many functions within the community. Many adults are volunteers for organizations that help the many churches, the needy, the elderly, and many of the young students. They are always looking for something new to participate in and always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone in need. There are also many that are involved with organizations that look out for the safety of the community such as, the local fire department and the city ambulance, which are on volunteer basis.

Q4 – Discuss your feelings about the SAT in flight of paragraph six.

I agree with Gabel in saying that standardized tests are not a logical way to evaluate a students intelligence or aptitude. A student may be a really hard worker and study a lot, but those standardized tests have such a wide variety of information there is no way any student can be prepared. Also, the student is put under pressure to get a good score, and to have it completed on time. This can add a lot of extra stress for the student and may result in unclear thinking and a bad test score. This test is what a lot of colleges look at and what a lot of the scholarships are based on. I don’t think it is right that such a imprecise test can have so much effect on a person’s future.

Q5 – In considering a future career, what are your “prime motivations”?

Although many people would say money, that is not a prime concern of mine. I would first look at the things I enjoy doing, and then I would look at what opportunities there are available. I enjoy helping people, so I am therefore looking for a job in the medical field. However, I would only like to be a nurse because I can still help people, without having as much pressure and responsibility as that of a doctor.

Q6 – What do you think about a less “objectified” legal system?

I think that a less objectified legal system would cause chaos within the government. Although some people feel they have a good reason for committing a crime, they feel they are doing it for the better good, it is still not right. There has to be a line between right and wrong, and if we start to bend the law it will continue to bend farther and farther until one day we may be letting someone off of a murder case, who is actually dangerous and should be held in prison. The more crimes that the people commit for the better good, then the easier it becomes to do something more serious.

Q7 – Would you describe yourself as an idealist? Why or why not?

No, I believe that things need to be in black and white, they either have to be right or wrong. A person can’t expect to get away with something just because he or she views it as right. If they are breaking the law, then they are doing wrong. Of course everyone has different inputs on some laws, but those laws should still be followed until they are changed.

Q8 – Share an antidote about a local idealist over age 40.

I think that Mr. Casey, our high school principal, is an idealist. He has to provide the students with rules, so that our high school can run smoothly. However, he knows that he will sometimes have to compromise with the students, or his rules won’t be abided by. He makes the rules less strict, so that the students are more apt to follow them. He realizes that high school students have their own minds, and will only form themselves to the rules that they see fit. However, he also knows when he can bend rules, and when he can’t.

Q9 – How does Scruton describe the differences in political culture of Islam and the west?

He explains how in the western civilization there is a separation between church and state. Contrary to what the church may believe, the people are forced to follow the state’s laws. Islamic on the other hand, has inseparable laws. The laws written by the state are based on what the church believes. They don’t suffer from being torn between what the are taught in the church and what they must follow in the state.

Q10 – What does Scruton suggest are the prerequisites in Western societies for citizenship?

He explains that the prerequisites are a sense of patriotic public spirit and a commitment to the preservation of the social contract. The people have to understand that the government can’t make different laws for each individual based on their beliefs. They understand the government must look at the country as a whole and make laws that are best suitable for everyone.

Q11 – What is the danger to the Western social contract that Scruton identifies in the last paragraph? Do you think the Western social contract involves “patriotic self-sacrifice”? Should it do so, in your opinion? Why or why not?

The danger is that the social contract, that holds the nation together, could be destroyed. Yes, because each person has to set aside their own beliefs and come together and be united as a country for the country’s best interests. Yes, because if there were no self-sacrifice, the social contract would begin to deteriorate because each person fights for his or her own beliefs. This would pull apart the country and they would become less and less united.

Q12 – Comment on the quote taken from Ayn Rand’s book, Atlas Shrugged. Do you agree with it? Why or why not? Have you read Atlas Shrugged?

I disagree because for people to be a community they have to look out for one another. Each person has to give a little every once in awhile to be able to receive a little later. Without working with the others in your community you could be tearing apart the bond that you have with others.
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