Essay Prompts: School and Identity | 50 Essay Topics for EmSAT Achieve PDF Download

Family

Essay 43: Who Is Your Family?

As the nation prepares to celebrate Thanksgiving, a new Science Times special feature shows how American households have never been “more diverse, more surprising, more baffling.”

In “The Changing American Family,” Natalie Angier writes an introduction to a special report on the dizzying demographic changes in the American family in recent years:

Kristi and Michael Burns have a lot in common. They love crossword puzzles, football, going to museums and reading five or six books at a time. They describe themselves as mild-mannered introverts who suffer from an array of chronic medical problems. The two share similar marital résumés, too. On their wedding day in 2011, the groom was 43 years old and the bride 39, yet it was marriage No. 3 for both.

Today, their blended family is a sprawling, sometimes uneasy ensemble of two sharp-eyed sons from her two previous husbands, a daughter and son from his second marriage, ex-spouses of varying degrees of involvement, the partners of ex-spouses, the bemused in-laws and a kitten named Agnes that likes to sleep on computer keyboards.

If the Burnses seem atypical as an American nuclear family, how about the Schulte-Waysers, a merry band of two married dads, six kids and two dogs? Or the Indrakrishnans, a successful immigrant couple in Atlanta whose teenage daughter divides her time between prosaic homework and the precision footwork of ancient Hindu dance; the Glusacs of Los Angeles, with their two nearly grown children and their litany of middle-class challenges that seem like minor sagas; Ana Perez and Julian Hill of Harlem, unmarried and just getting by, but with Warren Buffett-size dreams for their three young children; and the alarming number of families with incarcerated parents, a sorry byproduct of America’s status as the world’s leading jailer.

The typical American family, if it ever lived anywhere but on Norman Rockwell’s Thanksgiving canvas, has become as multilayered and full of surprises as a holiday turducken — the all-American seasonal portmanteau of deboned turkey, duck and chicken.

Researchers who study the structure and evolution of the American family express unsullied astonishment at how rapidly the family has changed in recent years, the transformations often exceeding or capsizing those same experts’ predictions of just a few journal articles ago.

“This churning, this turnover in our intimate partnerships is creating complex families on a scale we’ve not seen before,” said Andrew J. Cherlin, a professor of public policy at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s a mistake to think this is the endpoint of enormous change. We are still very much in the midst of it.”

Yet for all the restless shape-shifting of the American family, researchers who comb through census, survey and historical data and conduct field studies of ordinary home life have identified a number of key emerging themes.

Families, they say, are becoming more socially egalitarian over all, even as economic disparities widen. Families are more ethnically, racially, religiously and stylistically diverse than half a generation ago — than even half a year ago.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …

• What is the first thought that came to mind on hearing the word “family”? Why?
• How would you describe your family?
  Does it more closely fit what Ms. Angier describes as the traditional Norman Rockwell depiction (two married parents, of the same race, ethnicity and religion, with children), or is it more like some of the examples she gives of changing families? Why?
• What communities or individuals play a family-like role in your life, even if they’re not connected to you by legal or blood ties? Why?
• Look at the slide show of images readers sent in.
  Which of those families reminds you of yours? Why?
• Overall, what role does your family, however you define it, play in your life?

Childhood Memories

Essay 44: What Is Your Earliest Memory?

Ask a few friends, parents, siblings or teachers about their earliest memories.

How old were they when they remembered their earliest memory? And how old were they when the remembered event took place?

In “Recalling Early Childhood Memories, or Not,” C. Claiborne Ray writes:

Q. When four of us shared memories of our very young lives, not one of us could recall events before the age of 4 or possibly 3. Is this common?

A. Yes. For adults, remembering events only after age 3½ or 4 is typical, studies have found. The phenomenon was named childhood amnesia by Freud and identified late in the 19th century by the pioneering French researcher Victor Henri and his wife, Catherine.

The Henris published a questionnaire on early memories in 1895, and the results from 123 people were published in 1897. Most of the participants’ earliest memories came from when they were 2 to 4 years old; the average was age 3. Very few participants recalled events from the first year of life. Many subsequent studies found similar results.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

• Do you agree with the research that suggests the formation of children’s earliest memories are linked to when they begin talking about past events with a parent? Why or why not?

• Do you have any early memories? What are they?
  Did someone else confirm the memory, or do you have a photograph of it? How do you know it actually happened and wasn’t just a dream?

• How old were you when you remembered your earliest memory? And how old were you when the remembered event took place?
  What details do you recall?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment.

All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Growing Up

Essay 45: Is It Harder to Grow Up in the 21st Century Than It Was in the Past?

In your opinion, what is it like to be a teenager today?

In “A Generation Emerging From the Wreckage,” David Brooks writes:

I’ve been going around to campuses asking undergraduate and graduate students how they see the world. Most of the students I’ve met with so far are at super-competitive schools — Harvard, Yale, the University of Chicago and Davidson — so this is a tiny slice of the rising generation. Still, their comments are striking.

The first thing to say is that this is a generation with diminished expectations. Their lived experience includes the Iraq war, the financial crisis, police brutality and Donald Trump — a series of moments when the big institutions failed to provide basic security, competence and accountability. “We’re the school shooting generation,” one Harvard student told me. Another said: “Wall Street tanked the country and no one got punished. The same with government.”

I found little faith in large organizations. “I don’t believe in politicians; they have been corrupted. I don’t believe in intellectuals; they have been corrupted,” said one young woman at Yale. I asked a group of students from about 30 countries which of them believed that the people running their country were basically competent. Only one young man, from Germany, raised a hand. “The utopia of our parents is the dystopia of our age,” a Harvard student said, summarizing the general distemper.

It’s not that the students are hopeless. They are dedicating their lives to social change. It’s just that they have trouble naming institutions that work. A number said they used to have a lot of faith in the tech industry, but they have lost much of it. “The Occupy strategy was such a visible failure, it left everyone else feeling disillusioned,” one lamented. “We don’t even have a common truth. A common set of facts,” added another.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

• In your own experience as a young person growing up today, does Mr. Brooks’s understanding of your generation ring true for you? Why or why not?

• In what people, organizations or institutions do you place your faith and hope for the future, if any at all?
  Why do you think these groups have the power to make positive changes in our society and culture?

• What particular issues do you think are unique to your era — things that previous generations did not have to deal with as teenagers?
  Which of these do you consider to be the “defining challenge” of your generation and why?

• Overall, do you think it is harder to grow up in the 21st century than it was in the past?
  Why or why not?

• Have you ever talked with older adults — like your parents, relatives or teachers — about their childhood?
  Do they think it is harder to grow up today than it was when they were children or teenagers? Why or why not?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment.

All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Overcoming Adversity 

Essay 46: What Challenges Have You Overcome?

The Times is full of articles every week about people who have overcome challenges of all kinds and have learned from failure.

What challenges have you overcome? Maybe they haven’t been as outwardly dramatic as that of this teenager, who runs track even though her multiple sclerosis causes her to collapse after every race, but perhaps they have felt dramatic and difficult to you.

In “For Runner With M.S., No Pain While Racing, No Feeling at the Finish,” Lindsay Crouse writes:

• When a pack of whip-thin girls zipped across the finish of the 1,600-meter race at a recent track meet here, the smallest runner’s legs wobbled like rubber, and she flopped into her waiting coach’s arms. She collapses every time she races.

Kayla Montgomery, 18, was found to have multiple sclerosis three years ago. Defying most logic, she has gone on to become one of the fastest young distance runners in the country — one who cannot stay on her feet after crossing the finish line.

Because M.S. blocks nerve signals from Montgomery’s legs to her brain, particularly as her body temperature increases, she can move at steady speeds that cause other runners pain she cannot sense, creating the peculiar circumstance in which the symptoms of a disease might confer an athletic advantage.

But intense exercise can also trigger weakness and instability; as Montgomery goes numb in races, she can continue moving forward as if on autopilot, but any disruption, like stopping, makes her lose control.

“When I finish, it feels like there’s nothing underneath me,” Montgomery said. “I start out feeling normal and then my legs gradually go numb. I’ve trained myself to think about other things while I race, to get through. But when I break the motion, I can’t control them and I fall.”

At the finish of every race, she staggers and crumples. Before momentum sends her flying to the ground, her coach braces to catch her, carrying her aside as her competitors finish and her parents swoop in to ice her legs. Minutes later, sensation returns and she rises, ready for another chance at forestalling a disease that one day may force her to trade the track for a wheelchair. M.S. has no cure.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …

• What do you think about Kayla Montgomery’s determination to run, even if she collapses after every race?

• Whom else do you admire who has confronted a challenge and overcome it?

• When have you ever faced a challenge of some kind?
  Consider not just physical challenges, but emotional, academic, interpersonal or artistic challenges as well. What did you do? What happened in the end?

• If you’ll be applying to college sometime soon, you may be interested to know that one Common Application prompt reads:
  “Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?”
  You might consider answering those questions here, too, perhaps as practice for your college essay.

Your Personality

Essay 47: What Makes You Happy?

What makes you happy?

Have you figured out the things in life that truly make you happy? Have those things changed as you’ve gotten older?

In “The Keys to Happiness,” Victoria Shannon reports on what we know about how to achieve happiness, according to recent research and expert advice:

Make Friends and Family a Priority

One of the longest-running studies on living well and happily emphasizes the importance of your relationships with family, friends and spouses.

… Especially on Weekends

Busy lives can get in the way of happiness. Our feeling of well-being peaks on weekends, largely because of more time spent with friends and family, this academic says.

Income Equality Helps (So Move to Scandinavia)

National unhappiness is strongly associated with a country’s social inequality, research shows. One index finds that Scandinavia, a place with a wide and broad social net, is the location of the world’s happiest countries.

Gratitude Does, Too

Pharrell Williams, the star behind the 2014 hit music video “Happy,” on the happiness phenomenon: “If you’re grateful, you can find happiness in everything.”

The Health Factor

A correlation between happiness and good health has been evident for centuries. But which comes first? Does robust health lead to a good mood or the reverse?

It’s Really Good for Kids

Happy kids learn faster, think more creatively, tend to be more resilient in the face of failures, have stronger relationships and make friends more easily.

Well, most of them. Fifteen-year-old girls were found to be the unhappiest group in this report last month on boys and girls.

Don’t Overdo It

Happiness engineers, chief fun officers, ministers of happiness … there’s evidence that “fungineering” at work might have precisely the opposite effect: making people miserable.

And Don’t Obsess About It

Four academics discuss whether the pursuit of happiness is an unhealthy preoccupation.

If All Else Fails, Fake It

Can you fake your way to confidence and happiness? You can, if you “just say yes,” advise self-help books by Amy Cuddy and Shonda Rhimes.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

• What recent moments of happiness have you experienced, whether large or small?
  What do you think made them so satisfying?

• Have you figured out a “magic formula” for happiness that works for you?
  What are the ingredients? Do you think those ingredients will change as you get older?

• Look through the list that Ms. Shannon compiled?
  What is your reaction? Did anything surprise you?

Religion & Morality

Essay 48: What Is the Role of Religion or Spirituality in Your Life?

How important is a spiritual life to you?

Do you identify yourself as a member of a particular religion or spiritual tradition, or are you one of the growing group of young people who consider themselves “nothing in particular”?

In “Big Drop in Share of Americans Calling Themselves Christian,” Nate Cohn writes:

The Christian share of adults in the United States has declined sharply since 2007, affecting nearly all major Christian traditions and denominations, and crossing age, race and region, according to an extensive survey by the Pew Research Center.

Seventy-one percent of American adults were Christian in 2014, the lowest estimate from any sizable survey to date, and a decline of 5 million adults and 8 percentage points since a similar Pew survey in 2007.

The Christian share of the population has been declining for decades, but the pace rivals or even exceeds that of the country’s most significant demographic trends, like the growing Hispanic population. It is not confined to the coasts, the cities, the young or the other liberal and more secular groups where one might expect it, either.

“The decline is taking place in every region of the country, including the Bible Belt,” said Alan Cooperman, the director of religion research at the Pew Research Center and the lead editor of the report.

The decline has been propelled in part by generational change, as relatively non-Christian millennials reach adulthood and gradually replace the oldest and most Christian adults. But it is also because many former Christians, of all ages, have joined the rapidly growing ranks of the religiously unaffiliated or “nones”: a broad category including atheists, agnostics and those who adhere to “nothing in particular.”

… The report does not offer an explanation for the decline of the Christian population, but the low levels of Christian affiliation among the young, well educated and affluent are consistent with prevailing theories for the rise of the unaffiliated, like the politicization of religion by American conservatives, a broader disengagement from all traditional institutions and labels, the combination of delayed and interreligious marriage, and economic development.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …

• What information in this article surprised you? What details rang true from your own experience? Why?

• What role does religion or spirituality play in your family? In your larger community? Among your friends?
  How do you think this has affected you?

• How would you describe the role of religion in your own life?

• Why do you think young adults are particularly likely to join the ranks of the unaffiliated?

• How do you feel about the decline in religious affiliation among Americans in general? Why?
  How do you think it could affect the nation culturally, politically or in any other way?

Role Models

Essay 49: Who Are the People – Famous or Not – You Admire Most

Do you admire the people behind these actions? Who have impressed and inspired you in the last year?

In “‘Black-ish’ Star Yara Shahidi Is a Role Model Off-Screen,” Hannah Seligson writes:

“Life as a teenager can be down right chaotic,” the actress Yara Shahidi, 15, told an audience last month at Cipriani 42nd Street, where she was being honored by the Young Women’s Leadership Network. “We must also realize that it is up to us whether these years will feel like a melancholy struggle or an opportunity for growth or experiences of a lifetime.”

For Ms. Shahidi, it’s certainly the latter.

As the actress who plays Zoey, the smart but entitled daughter on ABC’s “Black-ish,” a situation comedy about a prosperous black family wrestling with racial issues, Ms. Shahidi certainly has a platform to be heard. But she has not stopped there.

When she’s not taping “Black-ish,” she is a full-time social activist, inspiring young women to excel academically, volunteering at medical clinics and starting her own mentoring club.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …

• Do you think celebrities have an obligation to be role models? Why or why not?

• What do you think of Ms. Shahidi’s idea that “giving back is not just something you do as an adult”?

• Who has inspired you to pursue something important?

• What qualities do the people you admire share?

Gender

Essay 50: Have You Ever Been Told You Couldn’t Do Something Because of Your Gender?

Have you ever been teased or chastised because you dressed or spoke the “wrong” way for the same reason?

Have you ever been told you couldn’t do something simply because of your gender?

In “Because I Was a Girl, I Was Told...,” Mary Jo Murphy and Sona Patel write:

There will be no female president come January. But in the days leading up to the election, there was a distinct possibility that this 227-year-old gender barrier would be hurdled, and so we asked women to tell us about their own vividly recalled barriers. Almost 1,200 of you responded. Here are some of your stories.

Alyssa Furukawa

18, Los Angeles

I was 16 and a junior in high school. I had been appointed co-captain of my school’s robotics team. Two boys who applied weren’t selected. One was a friend. He didn’t talk to me for a week. My victory felt like a loss. A few months later, we were having a conversation and he said, “Well, you’re only a captain because you’re a girl.” I felt utterly invalidated, and crushed that a peer saw me that way. He didn’t think I had earned my title. I cried in the bathroom. I shared this story during an English class discussion on gender. Many classmates sat in disbelief, and one simply said: “I can’t believe someone would say that to you. Especially you.” I thanked that boy for his kind words. I thought about that discussion later, and was saddened because I knew how little the boys in my school knew about the way girls are treated every day, and how it deeply affects us. I really think if we had more conversations about gender, and began to talk about this unacceptable treatment, maybe things could be different. That was when I first became a feminist.

Jayda Imanlihen

32, Washington

When I was in college I went to a learning center to find out how I could purchase a student version of Final Cut Pro, the video editing software. The man who ran the center was usually very helpful to me. I said, I think I’ve grown past iMovie, how can I purchase the student version of Final Cut Pro? He looked at me and said, I don’t know, that program has a really high learning curve; it’s really hard. I ended up with a master’s degree from Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts, where I studied film. Now I am an award-winning independent producer.

Lt. Cmdr. Onege Maroadi

43, Washington

As kids, my brothers and I were a boisterous trio. Our bedtime ritual was to don our bedsheets as capes, yelling “Supermaaan” as we “flew” from the tallest closets and slammed onto our beds below. Our favorite daytime event was an epic truck race down the steep sidewalk, which always ended in a delightful pile of steel, knees, elbows, joy and laughter.

Twenty years later, I thought my U.S. Navy mentor, a former Blue Angel, could not have been serious when he suggested that I request a pilot slot asmy top career choice. A job obviously for people like … him! From my fearless childhood had emerged an adult who held on to the limitations of cultural norms. I embraced gender barriers, forgetting that once upon a time, I was superman.

The Blue Angel made me clarify my reluctance to other pilots. With conviction, I explained that I was just a mathematics major, to which one pilot retorted that he was just an English major. They were like my brothers after all. Before long, I, too, became a pilot and mentor, encouraging others to rise above their obstacles, even when they own a broken wing — or cape.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

• What memories do you have of being discouraged or even completely prevented from participating in something you wanted to pursue simply because of your gender? Have you ever felt constrained by social norms or conventions, and felt boxed in or limited because of these same “rules?”
• How did you handle it? Did you keep the incident to yourself or did you tell someone? Did you seek help from someone supportive? Who helped you and what did they do? What did you do to help yourself?
• Have you ever witnessed someone else being subjected to this type of discrimination? If so, did you try to help or lend support in any way?

Race & Ethnicity

Essay 51: Is America ‘Backsliding’ on Race

Do you think the presidency of Donald Trump has affected them one way or another? If so, how?

What are some of your recent observations and experiences?

In “In Trump’s Remarks, Black Churches See a Nation Backsliding,” Sabrina Tavernise writes:

On the day before Martin Luther King’s Birthday, African-American churchgoers gathered as they always do, to pray, give thanks and reflect on the state of race in America. But after a disheartening week and an even more disheartening year, black Americans interviewed on Sunday said they were struggling to comprehend what was happening in a country that so recently had an African-American president.

“I’ve been involved in the civil rights movement since my college days, and I’m not sure I’ve ever been more confused than I am right now,” said Sterling Tucker, 94, a civil rights leader in Washington. “There’s not a lot of honesty in the country now about who we are and where we are.”

In interviews at churches in Washington; Atlanta; Kansas City, Mo.; Miami; and Brockton, Mass., black Americans expressed frustration and disappointment about the direction of the country in Donald Trump’s first year in office.

They said they saw America slipping into an earlier, uglier version of itself. And when Mr. Trump used crude words to describe Haiti and African countries in an immigration discussion, they said, he was voicing what many Americans were thinking, even if it was something they no longer felt comfortable saying: America prefers white people.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

• When Sterling Tucker states, “There’s not a lot of honesty in the country now about who we are and where we are,” how do you interpret this?
  What do these words mean to you?

• Do you feel that America is ”slipping into an earlier, uglier version of itself”?
  Why do you think the people quoted in the article feel that way?

• Do you believe, as the article contends, that Donald Trump was voicing what many Americans believe when he used crude language last week to describe African countries as well as Haiti?

• Have you seen, heard or read racist opinions about immigrants or any other groups?

• Do you feel racism is on the rise in the United States? Explain.

Students 13 and older are invited to comment.

All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Neighborhood & Home

Essay 52: How Much Does Your Neighborhood Define Who You Are?

Does your neighborhood shape who you are? Would you be a different person if you grew up someplace else?

According to a recent Op-Ed article, where you live “profoundly shapes who you are.”

In “Here Comes the Neighborhood,” David L. Kirp comments on the results of a study about affordable housing in an affluent suburban community. He argues that having the opportunity to live in a peaceful neighborhood with good schools can transform lives.

Suburbia beckons many poor and working-class families with the promise of better schools, access to non-dead-end jobs and sanctuary from the looming threat of urban violence. But many suburbanites balk at the prospect of affordable housing in their midst.

They fear that when poor people move next door crime, drugs, blight, bad public schools and higher taxes inevitably follow. They worry that the value of their homes will fall and the image of their town will suffer. It does not help that the poor are disproportionately black and Latino. The added racial element adds to the opposition that often emerges in response to initiatives designed to help poor families move to suburbs from inner cities.

Are the fears supported by facts? A comprehensive new analysis of what has transpired in Mount Laurel, N.J., since 140 units of affordable housing were built in that verdant suburb in 2000, answers with a resounding “no.”

Then the Op-Ed article continues:

Where you live profoundly shapes who you are. “I would go as far as to argue that what is truly American is not so much the individual but neighborhood inequality,” concludes the Harvard sociologist Robert J. Sampson in his landmark 2012 book, “Great American City.” The families that migrated to Mount Laurel — earning from 10 to 60 percent of median income — obtained more than a nicer house. They secured a new lease on life, a pathway out of poverty for the adults and a solid education for the children.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …

• How much does your neighborhood define who you are?
  Discuss ways that your neighborhood shapes your identity.

• Would you be a different person if you grew up someplace else?
  Explain.

• Imagine some ways your life might be different if you lived in another kind of neighborhood —
  for example, if it was more peaceful or crime-ridden, with better or worse schools, depending on your circumstances.

Money & Social Class

Essay 53: What Are Your Expectations About Earning, Saving and Spending Money?

Are there any common expectations that you have identified regarding the types of jobs and salaries you will one day have and the kinds of lifestyles you hope to have?

Are these attitudes and expectations in line with what older people say about your generation? What exactly do they say?

In “Fact-Checking a Mogul’s Claims About Avocado Toast, Millennials and Home Buying,” Linda Qiu and Daniel Victor write:

In an interview with Australia’s “60 Minutes” on Monday, Tim Gurner, a 35-year-old real estate mogul in Melbourne, suggested that young adults would be more likely to be able to buy a home if they curbed their discretionary spending, citing that expensive brunch item.

“When I was trying to buy my first home, I wasn’t buying smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees at $4 each,” he said. “We’re at a point now where the expectations of younger people are very, very high. They want to eat out every day; they want travel to Europe every year.

“The people that own homes today worked very, very hard for it,” he said, adding that they “saved every dollar, did everything they could to get up the property investment ladder.”

The advice spread on social media, and it was not well received. Some found the statement impractical or insulting.

In fact, research suggests that people from 18 to 34, a group often referred to as millennials, are no more freewheeling with their spending on travel and dining than other generations. And it would take a lot of skipped avocados to put a dent in the heavy costs of homeownership, which is not always a prudent financial goal.

According to the Food Institute, which analyzed Bureau of Labor Statistics expenditure data from 2015, people from 25 to 34 spent, on average, $3,097 on eating out. Data for this age group through the decades was not readily available. But the bureau’s report indicated that this group spent $305 more than people from 55 to 64 — a group that encompasses some baby boomers — and $89 more than the overall average, including spending among people ages 35 to 54.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us:

• Do you agree with Tim Gurner’s statement that “the expectations of younger people are very, very high”?
  Explain.

• Why do you think he blames the purchasing of avocado toast and annual European trips as why young people aren’t buying more houses?
  Could there be other reasons they are buying fewer houses?

• Learning that young adults spend only slightly more money on going out to eat than people in other age groups do, how do you feel about Mr. Gurner’s statements?
  Do you think stereotyping is at work here?

• What assumptions have you observed people making about your generation in regard to things like work, money, possessions and expectations about what your lives will be like when you are grown and on your own?

• Do any of those assumptions seem to ring true?
  Explain.

• How do you explain the differences, if there are any, between your generation’s and your parents’ generation’s attitudes toward earning and spending money?

What If...

Essay 54: What Would You Do if You Won the Lottery

What would you do if you won?

In “The Case for Buying a Powerball Ticket,” Neil Irwin writes:

Financially literate people like to complain that buying lottery tickets is among the silliest decisions a person could make. And it is true that the odds of winning anything substantial, let alone the estimated $500 million that could be given away if there is a winning ticket in the Powerball lottery Wednesday, are very much stacked against you.

There is no doubt that people should not spend money on lottery tickets that they can’t afford to lose. If you have a gambling problem, or are financially destitute, it is a terrible idea. And for anyone to stake his or her financial future on lottery tickets is beyond foolish.

But there are a couple of dimensions that these tut-tutted warnings miss, perhaps fueled by a class divide between those who commonly buy lottery tickets and those who choose to throw away money on other things like expensive wine or mansions. As long as one thinks about the purchase of lottery tickets the right way — again, purely a consumption good, not an investment — it can be a completely rational decision.

And if you’re going to ever think about buying lottery tickets, a moment like this — when the Powerball jackpot has reached remarkable highs — is the best possible time.

The biggest and most generally applicable reason buying lottery tickets is a non-terrible idea is this: It is fun to imagine one’s future after arriving at vast wealth.

Who doesn’t daydream about what sorts of houses and cars and airplanes one would buy with the half-billion-dollar Powerball grand prize? (It’s more like around $340 million in cash value terms; the larger number is if the prize is taken as an annual payment.)

Fantasizing about what you would do if you suddenly encountered great wealth is fun, and it is more fun if there is some chance, however minuscule, that it could happen. The $2 price for a ticket is a relatively small one to pay for the enjoyment of thinking through how you might organize your life differently if you had all those millions.

Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …

• What would you do if you won the lottery?

• How much of the money would you save, spend and give away?

• How do you think your life would change?

• Do you know anyone who plays the lottery regularly?
  Will you play the lottery when you get older? What do you think of Mr. Irwin’s reasoning, that buying a lottery ticket is usually a terrible financial investment, but that it can be a completely rational decision if you enjoy dreaming of winning?