Examples of Informative Quiz Answers

On your quiz last Friday, one of the questions said: We discussed three reasons that Sargon was an effective leader. Which of these three reasons do you think was the most important?

Here are excerpts from four students' answers (these are not the complete answers, all of which included more details).

I chose these four answers to share because they (1) showed a deep level of thinking, (2) were especially well written, and/or (3) clearly compared the importance of the three reasons.

Will: The most important reason Sargon was an effective leader is how he inspired loyalty to his people. I think this is the most important reason because his people probably got attached to him, because he made them feel important. They would trust him and support him in the decisions he made. This was also important because it made him unique. There were few (if any) leaders who treated their people as well as Sargon treated his people.

Meg: I first thought that inspiring loyalty was most important, because if your army doesn't trust you, the war is already half-way over. But now I think it's making good decisions [like expanding irrigation], because if a leader doesn't make good decisions and his/her whole nation doesn't trust them, the integrity of the nation starts crumbling at its very foundation, and that I believe is worse than losing a war.

Henry: The best reason is that Sargon improved people's lives because he expanded the irrigation system, and without that the people could soon possibly die out. How he improved technology can't be the best, because that only really helped with war. When he got loyalty from common soldiers, that couldn't be the best because that is only loyalty, and you need food more than loyalty to survive.

Sofia: You could argue that it's more important to make decisions that improve people's lives or to use technology in a smart way, but inspiring loyalty is what's going to give you the power to make those decisions. Nobody is going to want to take orders from a tyrant. If Sargon hadn't dined with his soldiers and tried to get to know them, he would have been a lot less popular and a less effective leader.