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Towson University’s 2023-24 Essay Prompts
Select-A-Prompt Essay
Please upload a 500-750 word essay that answers one of the questions listed below:
Option 1
Over a decade ago, 40 of America‘s wealthiest individuals signed the Giving Pledge, and made a commitment to give away most of their fortunes to various charities throughout the remainder of their lifetime or upon death. Over 200 billionaires from around the world have followed suit and committed most of their fortunes to philanthropies from research and education to environmental causes. Do the extremely wealthy have a social responsibility to share much of their wealth? What social issues or ethical questions arise if great wealth is handed on to family heirs across multiple generations? Assuming an individual acquired a great fortune legally, what ethical questions are involved in the question of how those resources are ultimately distributed?
Option 2
Sometimes food gains a seasoning of cultural meanings. People crave hot dogs at a ballpark who might otherwise disdain them. In the 1970s, one company tried to identify their brand with patriotic Americanism using the jingle “Baseball, Hotdogs, Apple Pie, and Chevrolet.” Marcel Proust wrote his seven-volume novel Remembrance of Things Past (the English title) to probe a whole cultural experience and the idea of involuntary memory, for which the emblematic example early in the first volume was a powerful reaction to the taste of a madeleine (a small cake) that called forth a rush of memories from his childhood. Is there a food in your personal experience or in the larger communities of which you are a part that carries important cultural meaning for you or for your networks? Why? What is involved in such a connection? What meaning could you attribute to it that reaches beyond an individual experience? Be bold and speculative in thinking about what that food connection might embody.
Option 3
Sometimes food gains a seasoning of cultural meanings. People crave hot dogs at a ballpark who might otherwise disdain them. In the 1970s, one company tried to identify their brand with patriotic Americanism using the jingle “Baseball, Hotdogs, Apple Pie, and Chevrolet.” Marcel Proust wrote his seven-volume novel Remembrance of Things Past (the English title) to probe a whole cultural experience and the idea of involuntary memory, for which the emblematic example early in the first volume was a powerful reaction to the taste of a madeleine (a small cake) that called forth a rush of memories from his childhood. Is there a food in your personal experience or in the larger communities of which you are a part that carries important cultural meaning for you or for your networks? Why? What is involved in such a connection? What meaning could you attribute to it that reaches beyond an individual experience? Be bold and speculative in thinking about what that food connection might embody.
Option 4
The sixteenth-century English philosopher Francis Bacon is credited with originating the phrase “knowledge is power.” The accumulation of knowledge by an individual has, historically, conferred upon that person the credential of expertise. In recent years, that historical process and its biases have come under scrutiny, since they have helped to concentrate knowledge, and therefore power, into the hands of a minority. As an aspiring college student and therefore implicitly someone seeking to accumulate knowledge, what do you feel the role of expertise is in your life? Are some kinds of knowledge/expertise, or categories of seekers of knowledge/expertise more susceptible to approval or criticism than others? Cite relevant examples and explain your thinking.
Option 5
Public outcry against individual actions, beliefs, or their negative consequences has taken many forms across history. One form unique to contemporary society is the phenomenon of cancel culture, sometimes now referred to as call-out culture. Craft an essay describing your position on cancel/call-out culture, using a specific instance of this phenomenon in public discourse as an example. Are there any unforeseen consequences that this example creates that might shape future such cases? Is it legitimate for people across the entire political spectrum to assert their values or beliefs through the processes associated with cancel culture?
Option 6
Within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a curious dichotomy separates two power objects. While Mjölnir, the enchanted hammer wielded primarily by Thor, has a magical failsafe that prevents anyone who is not “worthy” from picking it up and being endowed with the power of Thor, the Infinity Stones, whether by themselves or united in the Infinity Gauntlet, only require a user to be able to withstand their power for repeated use. Mjölnir and the Infinity Stones are neither infinitely powerful nor indestructible, and each has seen relatively few characters capable of wielding them. Choose one of these objects and consider, if it existed as a real source of power in the contemporary world, who, in your opinion, could actually use it. Why do you believe the person you’ve selected meets the use requirements? Are there any situations wherein this person would refuse to use this object and its associated power? What are they and why would the user make that choice?
