Society and public life

Time allowed: 40 minutes. Write one essay in English. First read the brief introduction to the issue and the three perspectives that follow it. Essay Task: Answer the question posed in the introduction in a single, well-organized essay. Make your own perspective on the issue clear and develop it, and analyze how your perspective relates to at least one of the perspectives given (it may agree with one fully or partly, combine elements of several, or differ from all three). Support your ideas with sound reasoning and specific examples, present them in a logical order, and write in clear, correct standard written English. The position you choose does not affect how your essay is evaluated. Planning Your Essay (optional; notes are not scored): What problems is a curfew meant to prevent, and would it actually prevent them? Who is affected by a curfew besides the young people who cause trouble? Who is best placed to decide how late a teenager may stay out?

Curfews for Young People

Some towns have curfew laws that forbid people under a certain age, often seventeen, from being in public places such as streets, parks and parking lots late at night unless they are with a parent, going to or from work, or returning from an organized event. Supporters say curfews keep teenagers safe and reduce late-night vandalism and fights. Critics say curfews punish young people who have done nothing wrong. Should towns set curfews for young people?

Perspective One Late at night, teenagers are more likely to be hurt or to get into trouble. A curfew gives police a simple way to send young people home before problems start, and it backs up parents who are trying to enforce limits of their own.

Perspective Two A curfew treats every teenager as a suspect. Most young people who are out late are walking home from work, practice or a friend's house. Restricting all of them because of the actions of a few is unfair.

Perspective Three Decisions about when teenagers come home belong to families, not to the town. Parents know their own children, and a single town-wide rule cannot tell the difference between a responsible sixteen-year-old and one who needs closer supervision.