GRE® essay: Practical vs Idealistic

[Konstantin]

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Question:
"In any realm of life—whether academic, social, business, or political—the only way to succeed is to take a practical, rather than an idealistic, point of view. Pragmatic behavior guarantees survival, whereas idealistic views tend to be superseded by simpler, more immediate options."
Answer:
Practicality is a necessary attribute of success in any realm of life. Nevertheless, I tend to disagree with the speaker that it is possible to achieve great results using merely a pragmatic approach. Idealistic views guarantee not ephemeral success, provided by pragmatic behavior, but rather long-term prosperity and satisfaction.

At first, solely practical approach could provide a person with temporary success; however the final result might be disastrous. When we try to behave practically everywhere, we are becoming too confined and we are unable to think about broader things any more. For instance, it is a widespread practice among universities in some countries to teach students as very narrow specialists with few attainments except their major field of studies. Of course, it is practical, because these students will be able to take a job with ease. Unfortunately, they know nothing about any related discipline, so promotion for leading position will be unlikely. Moreover, students themselves could be too pragmatic, trying to improve their scores, not their actual knowledge. But even if they have possessed a great GPA, they might not find their place in the leading companies, looking for young idealists with eager for pure knowledge.

At the same time, a person could simpler understand the basic principles of pragmatic behavior in any business. A politician knows that he could rise, blaming his opponents; a businessman appreciate the possibility to earn easy money without respect for the community. Admittedly, such behavior is unproductive for the entire society. For example, a business, lead by the pragmatic man neglecting government regulations, damages environment and cause various deceases among citizenry. The pragmatic politician worries more about temporal success, but not about perspectives of nation’s development. As the result, without thoughts about others and about future, which are idealistic by nature, no one is able to be truly successful, because the real measure of the success is a public recognition.

One might argue that merely idealistic approach also can not bring prosperity. And I would agree with him; being too idealistic means that one thinks a lot and does nothing. Thinking about abstract matter, a person could forget about everyday activities and finally become an idler. There are two opposing approaches in philosophy: idealists believe that the idea is a basis of the being, materialists are speaking similar about matter. However, there is a third trend – dualism; and its proponents believe in the balance among two extremes. And I tend to agree with the latter band, because pragmatic behavior is essential in near-term outlook and idealistic behavior is crucial for long-term prosperity.

In sum, I conclude that the statement is too narrow. On the one hand it correctly reflects an idea that practical approach guarantees survival; on the other, it fails to acknowledge the fact that without idealistic thoughts all these efforts are wasted.

TOEFL listening lectures: A university lecture by a professor of Social History