Declining Event Attendance For many years the only way to see a large public event a concert a movie a baseball game was to attend in person More than just a function of necessity though physically attending a large event was seen as an opportunity to bui

Declining Event Attendance

For many years, the only way to see a large public event-a concert, a movie, a baseball game-was to attend in person. More than just a function of necessity, though, physically attending a large event was seen as an opportunity to build community and fellowship through shared experience. In recent years, however, attendance at public events has declined steadily. Given the long-standing cultural role of public events, it is worth considering what declining attendance might indicate about our shifting cultural values.

Read and carefully consider these perspectives. Each suggests a particular way of thinking about declining event attendance as a reflection of shifting cultural values.

Perspective One

People these days value convenience over community. It's easier to watch a game from home than to attend in person, so we do it, even though it keeps us isolated from one another.

Perspective Two

For many people, attending an event is a luxury they can't afford. When time and resources are scarce, we choose what's most practical first, even if that means sacrificing community participation.

Perspective Three

Today, physical presence isn't necessary for participating in an event and building community. TV, the Internet, and social media offer shared experience to more people than large public events ever could before.

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Essay Task

Write a unified, coherent essay in which you evaluate multiple perspectives on declining event attendance as a reflection of shifting cultural values. In your essay, be sure to:

• analyze and evaluate the perspectives given
• state and develop your own perspective on the issue
• explain the relationship between your perspective and those given

Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of the others, in partial agreement, or wholly different. Whatever the case, support your ideas with logical reasoning and detailed, persuasive examples.