In the article written by Nicholas Kristof, he claims that poverty during the 21st century has declined more than 50% from the initial amount over the past 20 years. Unfortunately, based on numerous polls researched by the author, approximately 90% of Americans believe that global poverty is steadily increasing rather than decreasing. To Nicholas, this belief from the Americans is an issue within society and media. He aspires to educate the world on the steady decline of extreme poverty over the 21st century, and also acknowledge those who have contributed greatly in their attempts to eradicate or decrease the rate of poverty.
When writing this article, author Nicholas Kristof understood that most of his audiences or readers were unaware of the steady decline in extreme poverty rates around the world. According to his studies, most of America is unaware of the improvements made towards poverty. Under this assumption, the author bullet-pointed a series of facts to persuade the audience that his claim of a decline in poverty is true. For example, he uses studies shown by World Bank to support his claim. The use of actual evidence may influence the beliefs of readers and shift their perspective on poverty in the 21st Century.
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the author acknowledges that many readers believe in the increase and worsening of poverty. He supports his claim with evidence such as polls and results, but more importantly his insight into why many readers believe in such notions. According to the author, it is because of misperceptions painted by the media. When observing the trends of media, journalists tend to focus on the flaws of humanity and human misery across the world. It leaves readers with the misperception that everything is steadily becoming worse. This insight provided by the author was able to allow us as readers to clearly understand why many Americans and/or foreigners have the misperception that poverty and other global issues are getting worse. His insight also highlights why misperceptions painted by the media is a significant problem amongst society. Upon closer inspection, in this short paragraph, the author wrote analyzing misperceptions also allows us as readers to develop an idea as to why the author chose to write such an article.
When the author mentions journalists focusing so much on human misery creating a misperception among society, it reveals to us as readers as to why he chose to write about the topic of declining poverty. As a journalist himself, Kristof believes that our society nowadays is surrounded by so much negativity presented by journalists, we often misinterpret global issues and tend to perceive these issues as worsening. Through this belief, the aim of this article is to decrease the negativity encircling readers and inform them that there is hope when dealing with global issues like poverty. As mentioned by the author, many journalists focus on the flaws in poverty and the worst cases provided by the issue, but this article was written to show audiences that poverty is not an issue that is worsening as painted by the media. The author intends to educate readers that many articles are written tends to focus on the negatives, or in other words one side of the story.
From the start to the end, the author clearly states his claim that poverty is steadily decreasing unlike the misperception from society who perceives poverty as an issue which is increasing. Not only did he provide factual evidence to support his claim, but he also presented personal insights as to why society perceives poverty in a worsening manner, and how poverty is being changed by individuals who contributed to eradicate poverty.
Reflection:
This being the first time I have ever written or approached an SAT essay, I found this assignment the most challenging and demanding. The time limit placed on this assignment increased the pressure when writing the essay, making this writing more difficult and stressful than it is. Furthermore, being doubtful of my ability to analyze writing and identify writing techniques, I was unable to provide an insightful analysis on the given article. I received a low score for this piece of writing, and it is evident as my essay sounded rushed, the insight and analysis provided was shallow, and there were multiple errors throughout the essay.
Original Copy (With Peer Comments)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KJj4_U8_zx8i_JODHGGqPnoMGMxX7t4lyXSRYK_FFAQ/edit?usp=sharing
Mok, Ho Lam Edwin Writing Block 