2005 Ap Question 1

Every person has their place. Society will morph you into whatever it wants you to be. None oppose its rulings; not children; not adults; not even government.
Schools through out the world are acting as a training ground, teaching students to conform. Dress codes allow students to fit in, to blend, to find their slot in the hierarchy of life. Classrooms are major, yet seldom thought of, places of conformity. The many rules and constant bombardment of classmate and teacher opinion hamper our ability, as humans, to choose and be comfortable with a certain way of living so instead of being outcast we tailor ourselves to society's stipulations.
The way we dress is not only regulated in schools but as well as in many workplaces. Companies that do not issue a specific attire that is to be worn at work generally have very strict guidelines to which your dress must comply. When speaking with anyone you are expected to have good social behavior, referring to everyone using honorifics. Your appearance is regulated, your attitude is monitored, your actions are adapted, and your vocabulary is governed.
Citizens of this country are not the only ones that are forced to conform. Our government is as well a major conformist. Republicans and Democrats alike, though they would not care to admit, conform to their party's beliefs even though they may sometimes question whether or not those beliefs are just. Conjointly our government is so concerned with conforming to the educational exam scores of other countries that they are overlooking the fact that by just graduating with a high school diploma you are already in the top ten percent of the world educationally.
Conformity is a way of life, "for reasons highly complex, we Americans place upon ourselves quite extraordinary obligations of conformity to the group in utterance and behavior, and this feature of our national life seems to be growing rather than declining." Conformity can be a good way of regulation, but it can also be...