GMAT考试写作指导：Issue写作范文十二

　　Which factor offers more opportunities for success in our society: education or

　　money and property? In my view, education has replaced money and property as the

　　main provider of such opportunities today. I base my view on two reasons. First,

　　education―particularly higher education―used to be available only to the wealthy but

　　now is accessible to almost anyone. Second, because of the civil-rights movement and

　　resulting laws, businesses are now required to hire on the basis of merit rather than the

　　kinds of personal connections traditionally common among the wealthy.

　　Education probably always played a key role in determining ones opportunities

　　for success. But in the past, good post-secondary education was available mainly to the

　　privileged classes. Because money and property largely determined ones access to

　　higher education, money and property really were the critical factors in opening doors to

　　success. However, higher education is more egalitarian today. Given our vast numbers

　　of state universities and financial-aid programs, virtually anyone who meets entrance

　　requirements for college can obtain an excellent college education and open up

　　windows of opportunity in life.

　　Another reason those opportunities will be open to educated young people from

　　middle-class and poorer backgrounds is that hiring is more meritocratic today than ever

　　before. In principle, at least, we have always been a society where all people are equal;

　　yet in the past, children of the wealthy and the well connected could expect to obtain

　　higher-status jobs and to receive better pay. But the laws and programs resulting from

　　our civil-rights struggles have produced a modern business climate in which jobs are

　　available on an equal-opportunity basis, and in which candidates have a legal right to be

　　judged on the merit of their educational background and experience.

　　In conclusion, education is probably the main factor in opening doors to success

　　for young people in our society. The fact that education has supplanted money and

　　property in this role is owing to a more egalitarian system of higher education, as well

　　as to more merit-based hiring practices mat generally value individual education over

　　family fortune or connections.