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Each Issue topic consists of an issue statement or statements followed by specific task instructions that tell you how to respond to the issue. The wording of some topics in the test might vary slightly from what is presented here. Also, because there may be multiple versions of some topics with similar or identical wording but with different task instructions, it is very important to read your test topic and its specific task directions carefully and respond to the wording as it appears in the actual test. To understand the most important characteristics of a society, one must study its major cities. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position. Many societies in the past and present are largely unknown to other parts of the world. Hence, there is strong motivation to study these foreign societies. Various approaches can be recommended to the study of a society, one being the study of a society’s major cities. While this is important for gaining certain insights, there are many other factors to consider specifically through examining the rural aspect of society. This alternative consideration can be engaged through understanding the historical development of that society in relation to urban and rural settings, questioning the cultural formation of society can be reducible to major cities, and attending to an accurate political representation of the population beyond city life. Many major cities throughout the world are massive cultural, political, and economic centers for their respective societies. America’s largest and most prominent cities are beacons of history, politics, and trade. Despite this concession to the importance of major cities, many societies in the past have been primarily agricultural. A counter-example to American society could Navajo society or even ancient Middle Eastern nomadic societies in the biblical era. Many of these groups did not have central centers of population clustering that characterize certain parts of America, but their rich history and cultural markers are found elsewhere in agrarian life. Attending to the life outside of major cities can also provide insight into a society through particular history and developments found therein. Native American tribes developed many central religious beliefs tied to nature due to their connection to natural life outside of Western civilization’s major cities. Major cities can still serve as a helpful site of investigating and understanding a society as many new ideas and development come from city life in particular whether it be trade as important discovery points of cultural styles and influences on a globalized society. Examining major cities on a broad population-based level can run into issues when examining the the moral and political landscape of a society. America can be a helpful example in this case. Those who vote for the liberal, Democratic party’s president at many times are clustered in the cities. In many rural areas, the population is largely conservative. There are exceptions that are present in America giving way to possibly more politically diverse cities, but largely urbanized areas still don’t serve to exemplify the complex ethos of a nation like America. Studying the important traits of a certain society can be done by examining large cosmopolitan centers. However, this approach is deficient when it cannot attend to the larger landscape of rural life wherein a large amount of human life has developed in history, populations may be more prevalent ther in a dispersed manner, and the political divisions in a particular society may run along those lines.

Woven baskets characterized by a particular distinctive pattern have previously been found only in the immediate vicinity of the prehistoric village of Palea and therefore were believed to have been made only by the Palean people. Recently, however, archaeologists discovered such a "Palean" basket in Lithos, an ancient village across the Brim River from Palea. The Brim River is very deep and broad, and so the ancient Paleans could have crossed it only by boat, and no Palean boats have been found. Thus it follows that the so-called Palean baskets were not uniquely Palean. Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument. The following argument is flawed for various reasons. More specifically, it is grounded on the assumption of no geological variation along neighboring villages of Palea and Lithos. Also, it fails to attend to the fact that the Brim River may divide the two villages now, but that may not have been the case in ancient times. Lastly, the author is vague on the actual historical age of the Palea in comparison to Lithos which leaves room for the historical relation between the two villages. The author states that the Brim River was not crossable without using boats, but this argument is incomplete because it assumes that the Palean village was not connected to the Lithos by some other means. Many cultures found ways of either building bridges, using landbridges to cross over bodies of water, and chosen to walk long distances to move around them. To improve upon this argument, the author must show that there was no point in along the river or region that allowed the crossing and sharing of the particular pattern design for the baskets. Researchers assumed that since the Brim Rvier is deep and broad, there is a separation between Ltihos and Palean village. However, this argument is not sufficient because the river is mentioned to be very deep and broad now, but that may not have been the case in prehistoric times when the Palean baskets were weaved. It is possible that the river was crossable by Palean without boats and hence both villages shared the same weaving design for their baskets. To improve upon this point, the author would need to cite evidence that the Brim River has always been separated the two villages to the point of inaccessibility from each other except via boat. The author assumes that Palean village and Litho are contemporaneous settlements in ancient society, but this observation is vague. Palea is noted to be a prehistoric village while Lithos is an ancient one. Various historical facts could explain the distinctive pattern being shared by both villages. It may be the case that the villages were united either in neighborly fashion or as single village before the development of the Brim river due to some unforeseen events. This river could have caused the premature ending of the Palea and the continue development and weaving of the basket pattern in Lithos for centuries to come. To strengthen the author’s claim, he or she must attend to more historical and geological data on the history of the regions encompassing Palea and Lithos. The argument that the baskets in Palea are not unique because a separate, isolated village is weak because it does not attend to geographical differences and historical change. Therefore, the author fails to be convincing on the point of non-uniqueness of the Palean baskets.