JE55 Public Interest

Respond to the quotation below. It is not necessary to research, read, or refer to the texts from which these quotations are taken; we are looking for original, personal responses to these short excerpts. Remember that your essay should be personal in nature and not simply an argumentative essay.

“It seems to me incumbent upon this and other schools’ graduates to recognize their responsibility to the public interest...unless the graduates of this college...are willing to put back into our society those talents, the broad sympathy, the understanding, the compassion...then obviously the presuppositions upon which our democracy are based are bound to be fallible.”

--John F. Kennedy, at the ground breaking for the Amherst College Frost Library, October 26, 1963

             Education, besides absorbing knowledge, is also a process of consuming society’s resources. It is not an easy thing to go to school without any other resources, such as food, transportation, teachers, books, electricity, etc. Because we want to continue our education, we need to consume resources from the society. Therefore, we should definitely pay back by contributing the knowledge we learned into the society. Many people, including parents, work hard for us so that we have the knowledge today. We should return them by making their lives better and easier. Working is not just about money; it’s for our passion. Our passion should include the part of giving something back to the society. It is useless for people to advance their skills just because they can earn money and live good lives. It is also important to pay back to the societies. I think public interest is a duty that everyone has.