DIRECTIONS: You will have a total of 75 minutes to respond to the topic bet warning will be announced 10 minutes prior to the end of the test.

You will not be allowed to leave early.

• Write an analytical essay in which you express your thoughts carefully, logically, and effectively.
• Be sure to respond to all parts of the assignment.
• Provide examples and evidence to support your ideas.

Several years ago, futurists predicted that, as a result of developing technology and automation, people in the U.S. would have much more leisure than in the future. However, a recent survey indicates that since the early 1980s the median number of hours worked by Americans has increased by 20 percent while the amount of leisure time available to the average person has dropped by 32 percent. According to the survey, this trend toward less and less leisure time has been steady and unwavering.

o Discuss some possible causes and consequences of this trend

o Support your response with examples form your own experience, observation, or reading

NOTE:

The following six sample answers were written in response to the writing assignment above.

Based on your reading of the previously scored essays and the commentary explaining why they received the grade they did, read the following essays and, using the scoring guide, assign them a score of 6 to 1, with 6 being highest. Then try to explain why you assigned the scores you did.

Scores given by the Test Development Committee are at the end of this file.

As the development of technology, futurists predicted that the time available for leisure should be increased. However, that is not the case in their recent survey. There are several reasons that cause the increasing hours of work and the decreasing hours of leisure time.
First of all, the development of technology are also including the advancement of consumer goods. I can see how people are so amazed by the speed of personal computer, the internet, digital cell phone and digital camara just to name a few. Therefore, the only way for people to have all the latest technology of goods is to work more hours.
Secondly, people do not stop working when they have free time intead they find more work to make more money. At my work place for example, due to the hours change on the working schedule people that work in the first shift can leave work an hour earlier than usual. A lot of them I know are now working two jobs.
Lastly, the raising of women in the work place definitely have some affect on society. More women are working now than ever before. For that reason, society become a more competitive place between men and women in the work force. They both try to put more hours at work to find their place in the corporation.
Work and technology are surely increase the economy. Technology alone would increase people knowledge and intelligence. However, the advancement of technology and the increasing hours in the workplace can have a negative affect. The most serious problem that we are facing now is stress.

The continual development of technology and automation has brought about many studies and predictions on the future of Americans. It is especially interesting to not that although technological advances, on the surface, appear to make life easier, they also add to the complications in trying to live a happy and successful life. Rather than allowing for more free time, technology and automation in the U. S. has begun to increase the median number of hours worked and decrease leisure time.
First, one can analyze some of the causes of this unexpected outcome. The technology of the 20th century has allowed for more time. Even the microwave cuts the time spent on deciding and making meals for the family. Doing things faster and having the extra time has actually caused individuals to work more. It has made people realize that their dreams of having more money and obtaining that financial stability can be made real if they simply work more. Americans have always enjoyed material possessions and the status that comes with it. When they noticed that new technology gave them more time, they asked themselves what makes them the happiest. Most people want to be successful, and in the U. S. that is defined by monetary success, material possessions, and higher status. So the extra time, naturally, began to be used as time for work - more time to get ahead.
The computer has added numerous advantages when looking at it from this work more to get ahead approach. It has allowed individuals to work from home, as well as the office. Teachers, professors, counselors, etc. can be reached at any time. The excuse that work cannot be completed because the office is only open from 8 - 5 pm no longer exists. The added extra time allows for some people to catch up with an overload of work. In some of these cases extra work time is done of free will. In other cases, however, management may pressure employees to work some extra time from home so they stay on top of things.
Another aspect of the technology advancement is that people can even work when they travel. So that weekend spent skiing in the mountains may actually include several working hours on the laptop.
So these factors mentioned about allowing for more time to work in order to get ahead, as well as having no more excuses for not completing assignments has led to the decrease in leisure time.
So what type of consequences had this created for the American society? When one looks closely the causes and consequences to the increased focus on work are closely related.
The focus on the material and status symbol has increased. If working more makes that kind of success more possible, and it is now possible to work more, than that final goal is wanted now more than ever before. More people believe it can be reached. Status has become increasingly more important.
As mentioned previously, there are no excuses for not getting work done. So now employers expect more from their employees. This has also led to more competition. Companies want to stay on top, and if some companies are available to their clients more often then the others have to work harder as well. Today, with computers and web sites, a company cannot fall behind. Leisure time spent away from precious work time may cause this type of setback.
Another consequence is that those who do put aside leisure time may be looked down upon. They may be seen as not committed to their work, and selfish.
It has been said that another consequence that can occur is people begin to take "virtual" trips. Individuals may take several minutes or hours out of the week or month and sit behind a computer and see it all as though they are sightseeing somewhere. Then they can simply switch it all off and go right back to work.
Hopefully all of these changes brought by technology and automation take a positive turn and don't cause people to lose perspective on the importance of "family time." It is all still new to the U. S. and maybe once the "newness" has diminished, people will realize that they are happiest when having a good time and will stop overutilizing leisure time. Then maybe the earlier predictions will be made a reality.

Working is a very importance thing for people who live in this world. Because our life we need every things for example goods, clothes and transportation so on. So that why we need people to work to supply our life more successfully. Nowaday we are living in the United States of America which is a country has the most highest technology and automation, so there more require the number hours of hours worked to supply for our life.
According to a recenty survey indicates that since the early 1980s the median number of hours work by Americans has increased by 20 percent. In the other hand, the amount of leisure time available to the average person has dropped 32 percent. And according to the survey, this situation trend toward less and less leisure time. My experience, I think we are trending less and less leisure time by living in the country that is right.
Because everybody all agreed that United States is a country which is the most strongest, and has highest technology. So people living in this country are trying to follow with the high technology that mean the trend toward less and less their leisure time, while the number of hours worked has been increased. At this point I I quite agreed with the survey, because based on my experience, my self I always demaind to increas my number hours of worked, because I need more money to pay rent, food, insurance and everything. . . Why do I need to work more and get more money, because I am living in the country with a highest technology on the world. So how about some people els in the other country? When I lived in Viet Nam I don't need worked more like here because there are a low technology country, most regular people don't have electrical car. They could buid their own homes and they don't have to pay insurance. All they need to do is worked for food and other utilyties for llife. Their life very simple, so there are not trending to increase their hour of worked.
Base on the according the survey I totally agreed people living in the United States are trending toward less and less leisure time while the amount number of hours worked will increase. I think that right and will happend.

Every day, predictions are made as to how new technological advancements will affect the quality and state of people's lives in the future. These predictions are hypotheses, merely educated guesses or estimates, that in hindsight can often be disproved. This seems to be the case with a prediction made several years ago regarding the results of the ever-increasing development of technology and automation. Futurists predicted that as a result of technological advancement people in the Unites states would have much more leisure time in the future. On the contrary, a recent survey indicated that since the early 1980's the median number of hours worked by American has increased by 20% while the amount of leisure time available to the average person has dropped by 32%. The steady and unwavering trend contradicts the futurists earlier predictions. This leads one to wonder why the prediction was false. Many reasons correlated together to provide this unforeseen outcome. First, the price of goods and services increased on a large scale (and there was more demand for the forementioned high priced technology.) Second, the American dream changed in the 1980's, the "me" decade. Finally, another factor is the changing state of the economy from the pseudo-booming eighties to the reality of impending depression and then resurgent growth in the nineties.
As technology and automation increased the prices of some goods and services went down in response to cheaper production. Concurrently, this allowed more advanced products to be marketed to the general public. These goods were, of course, expensive and required more liquid capital from the consumer. Hence, the consumer's previously sufficient income no longer sufficed. Instead, his weekends and nights might be spent working overtime to bring his family over the top of this economic hurdle thus decreasing this leisure time and filling up his time card.
Another possible factor concerning the studies' statistics is the nature of the decade of the "80's." Many label the decade as the "me" decade, a time filled with power suits, fast cars, and junk bonds. The onslaught of new technology coupled with a selfish, possibly too harsh a work, generation of baby boomers led to an increased demand for more technologically advanced goods. At least for status sake the workers of that generation wanted the latest toys and they were willing to go to great extents to fulfill their midlife crisis desires.
Finally, the economy of the "80's" while it seemed great at the time, in retrospect, was the beginning of an economic downward spiral brought out by none other than President Ronald Reagan and his programs. With a slew of tax cuts and one of the largest increases in government spending ever a looming deficit was created. Ironically, much of this deficit can be blamed on Reagan's program for technological advancement in the area of cold war relations specifically a huge increase in military buildup of missiles and with the new never finished illusion of "star wars." This deficit commingled with a nation in recession as the 90's approached led to a country in crisis. People were getting second jobs to make ends meet and a single income family came to be a thing of the past.
The combination of increasing demand for new technological goods, the effects of the "me" decade," and the fiscal idiocy of 1980's governmental programs were but a few of the factors in the nullification of the prediction for decreased work hours and increased leisure time. The problem with predicting the future is we can not always correctly predict corresponding global or domestic situations which might alter the original logic for the prediction. An increase in technology and automation would seem to point to increased productivity resulting in more leisure time but a multitude of other factors altered this situation. IN hindsight, one can look back on this experiment in prediction and understand that a "control" and "variables" are necessary, as in any experiment, but the changing world environment can not be "controlled" and the variables are too many to make an accurate prediction.

One would think that because of technology and automation life would be easier and more enjoyable. It has made some aspects of our life easier, like the microwave, which heats up our food faster. But other technology has not been as great such as computers, cellphones, beepers, and faxes. At work these products are very necessary but when it comes to leisure time they are a burden. Due to all of the new technology we have to spend longer hours at work. It is also necessary to be constantly attending classes in order not to get behind. This is why we spend less time on the things we like such as leisure activities and more time in the office.
In my office we used to do our work at terminals, that was easy nothing else except for maybe a typewriter. Now we have PC's and that means we have to use a lot of software. The work has not changed its still data entry, but now we have to use more applications and such. Before I use to leave at five on the dot. Now its always past that time. So I get home later. That shortens my time, so I have to limit everything else. For example my time at the gym, watching TV, cleaning my house, and dinner. Technology like the microwave, cordless phone, and remote control help out a lot by allowing for more free movement and less wasted time. The computer well its not my favorite thing because even though they say its user friendly its really not.
I enjoy going to the gym Monday thru Thursday for about and hour and a half in the evening, but I have to now rush through it in order to make it to a computer class. With increasing technology there is also a need to increase education. Simple technology like cell phones, faxes, pagers, stereos, TV's, VCR's and so on have instruction manuals and that is enough. Computers and software require a little more education. So people spend more time learning about it than on leisure activities like going to a movie, a concert, a date, and spending time with the family. I try dealing with it, but it is hard to say no to a concert, so I just miss class. Which means that I get behind, and that's not good.
Technology and automation provide many services for all people. Without it we would not be able to function, its very necessary. Unfortunately we have to give it more time and maintance than in the past. Our leisure time is just the price we have to pay. In the long run, I think, our benefits will outweigh our costs.

In order for anyone to get good leisure and work is focus to their life. To me it take a leisure is important for everyone but isn't good enough to do well so because everything developing with technology, so people can't create their own leisure. I have my own experience to create how to take and use leisure time in this century.
First, when people want to have good leisure and work, has to be focus their life. In our generation, technology developing a lot, so people spend a time to work to get money for leisure. However, leisure always can't buy for money. People has to use their brain to create leisure.