Five hundred words is a joke. By the time I write an introduction and a conclusion, I have maybe 300 words left for an actual argument. That's three paragraphs. My history professor assigned a 500-word essay on the causes of World War I. I couldn't even list them in 500 words. Short essays don't teach you how to think. They teach you how to cut. I spend more time trying to cut words than I do actually writing. Give me 1,500 words. Let me actually say something meaningful for once. 
