101 model answers for ielts writing task 2 set 3

As I am generally in favour of raising children to be more independent– even if this causes problems – I think that parents should play the main role inraising them... Many young people

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Table of Contents

Family (Essays 1 to 8)

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About the Author

Family

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

In this short essay, I shall explain why I disagree with the suggestion that all newparents should do a parenting course

Ask a hundred parents about parenting and you will get a hundred differentanswers Who is to say that one method is better than the others or that onemethod works and the others do not? Consequently, any parenting course isgoing to focus on only one method, skim several methods, or be extremely long(and expensive!) Furthermore, who is going to decide the content? Expertsdisagree on parenting Many people think the government should decide, butgiven that governments around the world struggle with even the simplest of tasksthat they already have, can we really expect this to be a good solution?

Besides, parenting courses are already available in two forms First, parents caneasily get help and advice from friends and relatives This is already the case inmore traditional societies where grandparents live near to or even with othergenerations Second, there is a plethora of books on the subject, providingparents with a wide range of options to try until they find what works for them.Both of these options are available at little cost to parents and at no cost toeveryone else in society

To conclude, I cannot see why parents should have to do a parenting course.Parents in my country didn’t do them in the past and the overwhelming majorityof kids turned out fine My suspicion is that this suggestion is a way to exertmore control over people’s lives rather than improve parenting skills

2 Some people say that there is less communication between familymembers today than there was in the past.

Do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

A lot of people think that family members communicate with each other lessthan in the past, which may seem strange considering that we now have suchwonders of communication as mobile phones and computers However, I thinkthat those people may be right in many cases

Just because we have computers and mobiles, it doesn’t automatically mean thatwe use them to communicate with family members more In fact, the oppositemay be true as we use frequently use them to communicate with people webarely know, such as people we have only ever met online or people we haveonly met briefly socially As a result, we may have less time to communicatewith those physically closest to us

Another factor that many people point to is greater work and studyresponsibilities If parents work longer hours and encourage their children tostudy more, this reduces opportunities for communication between familymembers However, I am not as convinced by this argument as by others, as Isuspect that many people exaggerate the hours they spend working and studying

A more likely reason is that family members find people outside the family more

facilitated However, parents and children may often have mutual interests, sothis is not something that is bound to happen

To summarise, I think that there may be less communication between familymembers than in the past, but that does not mean that it is true in all cases

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3 Mothers who stay at home to look after their children should be paid asalary by the government To what extent do you agree or disagree?

I disagree with the idea that mothers who stay at home should be paid a salaryand will outline my reasons in this short essay

First of all, I do not believe that most governments have the financial resourcesto do this – unless the salary we are talking about is very small The Britishgovernment, for instance, already has massive debts that it is attempting toreduce Introducing salaries for mothers who stay at home to look after theirchildren would not help this situation

Secondly, many people in Britain and other countries have fought – sometimesliterally – for women to be recognised as equal to men Paying women to takecare of their children seems to me to be a step back to the old days when womenstayed at home and men went out to work

Finally, the statement only refers to mothers In many families, the primary careris not the mother, but the father, grandparents or even an older brother or sister.Would we pay these people a salary too? Would the government be prepared forneighbours to care for other people’s kids? It is not difficult to see how suchsituations could be open to abuse

To conclude, paying mothers when they stay at home to care for their childrenmay sound like a good idea, but there are considerable problems with

introducing it

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4 In some countries, children are raised mainly by parents In othercountries, the extended family is also closely involved Discuss both ways ofraising children and say which you think is better.

One of the clearest distinctions between traditional societies and modern ones isthe way in which children are raised There is now a debate regarding whichmethod is better

Traditionally, children were, and are, raised in an extended family environment

However, the development of a modern economy has seen many or most youngpeople seeking lives that are substantially different to those of previous

generations As these young people move to cities, they frequently loosen tieswith their home towns, traditions and extended families These become evenlooser with succeeding generations, leaving parents to raise their children withless support from relatives

Does this matter? It could be argued that many young people miss out on greatopportunities as a result of being brought up by an extended family Girls inparticular find that their lives are strictly controlled, notably lest they “bringshame on the family” One cannot help noticing that this same “shame” is rarelyapplied to male offspring Having said that, raising children in an extendedfamily provide a level of supervision that is missing in many modern families,where the parents are frequently working overtime Many point to this as asource of juvenile crime

Overall, I can see that raising children in extended families has advantages.However, the key disadvantage – that children can find this stifling – cannot beignored As I am generally in favour of raising children to be more independent– even if this causes problems – I think that parents should play the main role inraising them

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What are the advantages and disadvantages of these two situations? Whichsituation would you prefer to be in?

In this essay, I will look at the advantages and disadvantages of leaving home at18 and of living with your parents until you marry

Many young people want to leave home at 18 because they feel that living athome stops them, or partially prevents them, from doing what they want to do.Many parents have rules about behaviour in the family home that teenagers don’tappreciate The main disadvantage in most cases is financial Teenagers typicallydon’t earn much money or they may be students with a part-time job or no job atall One solution is to share a house or a large apartment with other young peoplein a similar situation

From those points, it is easy to see the main pros and cons of living with yourparents until you marry You can save money on rent, helping you to purchase ahouse or apartment when you get married In more ‘traditional’ cultures wheredating prior to marriage is less common, parents might want their children tostay at home until marriage However, you will sacrifice a great deal ofindependence and, if you don’t marry, you could find yourself spending a lot oftime on the same bedroom as when you were a child

I left home to go to university in a different city when I was 18 and I have livedoutside the family home since then I value my independence and the freedom todo what I want more than the extra money it has cost me to have that lifestyle.Luckily, my family has supported my decision and I still have my room in the

To summarise, I think that the choice depends on your personality and yourfinancial situation If you are lucky, your parents will accept your decision andnot infringe on your freedom too much if you stay at home and provide you witha place to return to if your attempt at an independent life at the age of 18 doesn’twork out

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6 In some parts of the world it is becoming increasingly popular to find outabout the history of one's own family.

Why do you think people do that? Do you think this is a positive or negativedevelopment?

I think that there are various reasons why people might decide to discover theirfamily histories and I believe that, in general, it is a positive development

One reason that people might decide to find out about their family history is thatit can help them to discover a sense of their identity – where they came from.This might be because they (or their ancestors) emigrated from another country.Another possibility is that they are simply interested in history and feel thatdiscovering their family history is a logical extension of this interest Perhapssome people hope that they can discover some juicy stories about their ancestors.Others might hope to find some connection with famous people or families.Their efforts may well help historians with their more academic studies ofhistory

having some of their relatives success rub off on them

To summarise, I think it is a positive development that more people are lookinginto their family histories However, they should do so for the right reasons andshould be prepared to find both good and bad things

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7 In some countries, more people are choosing to live alone.

Do you think it has positive or negative effects on them?

I think that living alone generally has more positive effects on people thannegative ones Of course, the situation varies considerably from person toperson

I have frequently heard people say that if you live alone, it makes it difficult foryou to meet and socialise with new people This is not my experience Quite theopposite, in fact If you live alone, you can do more of what you want at a time

Living alone also gives you plenty of your own space I firmly believe that thisfeeling of freedom is beneficial for most people You can enjoy guilty pleasuressuch as playing computer games for a few hours or watching a film that youknow everyone in your social circle hates There's no-one to point at you and tellyou that you will be fat when you scoff a tub of ice cream

I think the big problem arises when someone who has been living alone for along time decides to live with another person (e.g when getting married andstarting a family) Then, they have to change lifestyle quite dramatically If theycannot quickly get used to fitting in with the routines and lifestyle of anotherperson, it can easily ruin the relationship Therefore, living alone for an extendedperiod might not be a good idea for a lot of people

To conclude, I think that living alone has positive effects, but that a latertransition to living with others can create problems People who live alone needto be honest with themselves about this and considerate when moving in withanother person

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8 In childhood, children should spend more time doing housework thanenjoying themselves To what extent do you agree or disagree?

When I was a kid, I spent some time doing housework most days, but I certainly

Doing housework is good for children, in my opinion It teaches them somediscipline and it helps them to understand that their parents are merely their'slaves' In particular, I think that children should clean up after themselves – andtheir pets if they have any Nowadays, many households have various appliancesto help with the housework and so it is not unreasonable to ask children to dosome vacuum cleaning or to put their dirty clothes into the washing machinewhen appropriate

On the other hand, I firmly believe that children should enjoy their childhoods.Children should be free from the responsibility to provide for their families or tobe the housekeeper I know that this is not always the case Many families areforced into situations where the children have to work or where an older childhas to take care of his or her younger siblings It is our job as a society to help inthese situations It may not be an easy goal to achieve, especially in poorer

societies, but that should not prevent it from being our aim

To conclude, I very strongly disagree with the suggestion that children shouldspend less time enjoying their childhoods than doing housework, or any otherkind of work

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Education

Is the length of the school year important and how long do you think itshould be?

I think that the length of the school year influences the education of youngpeople profoundly and will outline how in this short essay

One reason that the length of the school year is so important is that if it includeslong holidays, as short academic years are almost bound to, then it means thatchildren may forget what they have previously been taught This is a well-studied and proven phenomenon In many European countries, for instance, theschool years are interrupted by long summer holidays, during which mostchildren do not study This means that what is learnt in one school year is oftennot carried over into the next, which is particularly damaging in subjects such asmaths and science

Another reason is that, if children in some countries are going to school around40% more days per year than in others, those children are probably learningmore Ultimately, having a better educated workforce is bound to result in abetter economy Since one of the primary aims of education is to provide a basisfor getting jobs, it is reasonable to suppose that a longer school year is

beneficial Some people argue that creating a longer school year will put childrenunder too much pressure, but I am not sure this is the case I think that a well-planned curriculum can overcome such problems if they exist

When it comes to the length of the school year, I think that in the region of 280

Saturdays, but they might be persuaded if that day was primarily for remedialwork, sports, and/or creative arts

To conclude, I think that the school year should be around 280 days per year andthat a longer academic year will benefit individual children and the country as awhole

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10 Children’s education is expensive In many countries, governments payeducation fees for children Do the advantages of this outweigh the

disadvantages?

I firmly believe that the advantages of having the government finance theeducation of children outweigh the disadvantages It seems to me that the overallsocial benefits of financing education this way are clear

First of all, if the government did not pay for the education of children, whowould? It would be difficult for many parents to meet the cost and their childrenwould suffer greatly as a result, most likely being held back in terms of theirpersonal development Charities would be able to cover the costs for somechildren, but it is likely that this would be too limited The idea of companiessponsoring children might work, but I fear that education would simply becomeanother way for companies to advertise

There are potential disadvantages of the government paying for children'seducation One of these is that the government might be tempted to indoctrinatethem with propaganda This might include a biased or false view of history, theencouragement of blind nationalism or teaching the children that the governmentis always correct North Korea is an extreme example of this, but there are manyother governments which do it to a significant extent

Overall, however, I think that the benefits of the government financing educationfor children is far greater than the potential drawbacks

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11 Some people say that private schools should not be allowed because theygive students an unfair advantage.

What is your opinion about this?

In this short essay, I shall explain why I disagree with banning private schools,even though they may give students an advantage over those who attend state

Parents in many countries want their children to go to private schools becausethey believe that such academic institutions provide a higher standard ofeducation than government-run state establishments My personal belief is thatnot all private schools do this, but that is a matter for parents to decide Onereason that parents often try to make as much money as possible is so that theycan give their children a better education It is their choice how they spend theirmoney Besides, if these parents cannot send their children to the private schoolof their choice, they will likely hire a private tutor to give their children extrastuition Banning private schools may make no difference

In addition, if parents send their children to private schools, they will still bepaying taxes that go towards state schools This means that the state schools mayreceive the same amount of money, but for fewer students Therefore, this

additional cash can be used to improve standards at state schools, benefittingthose whose parents are not sufficiently wealthy (or do not wish to send theirchildren to private schools on principle) Unfortunately, I doubt that manygovernments actually do this in practise and simply reduce the education budgetaccordingly However, that is a matter for the government and the people

To summarise, I don’t believe that private schools automatically provide anadvantage to their students, but even if they do, they are offering a service thatparents are willing to pay for and there is no difference between this and offeringcheap food and expensive food

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12 Some people think that the only way to learn a foreign languageperfectly is to live in a country where it is widely spoken To what extent do

Whilst I agree that the best way to learn a foreign language perfectly is to live ina country where it is widely spoken, I do not believe that it is the only way

Living in a country in order to learn a foreign language – using the immersionmethod – is an excellent way not only to pick up the language, but to really getto grips with the culture If you want to learn a foreign language perfectly, youmust be finely attuned to the nuances of the language, including the ability torecognise certain collocations, register and accents Becoming cognisant of theculture as well as the language also aids with adopting socially acceptablebehaviour in a foreign country

However, there are other ways in which a person can do this One is to live witha smaller group of people who are native speakers of that language If this groupof people is disparate enough, in social terms, it should be possible to learn itperfectly This method is sometimes used by government in order to traindiplomats and spies This may be a viable option if a country has immigrantcommunities In addition, a person may simply have the knack of being able tohear or see a language and remember it perfectly wither instantly or after a veryshort time

To summarise, I believe that it is not absolutely essential to live in a countrywhere a foreign language is widely spoken in order to learn that languageperfectly However, I do consider it to be generally the fastest and best way toachieve this aim

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What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing this?

In this essay, I will look at a few of the advantages and disadvantages of sendingchildren abroad on educational trips

As far as I am concerned, there is one main disadvantage - cost However, it mayonly apply in certain circumstances Most people find that going abroad for ashort while is generally more expensive than staying at home Accommodationis frequently expensive and there is the obvious cost of travel Other things, suchas food, may be more expensive depending on the destination This might not bean issue for some people For example, if you live in Luxembourg and send yourchild on a trip to Germany or France, the cost may not be that high However,the expense of a trip to those countries by many children from Russia may beprohibitive

The main advantage of sending children on educational trips to foreign countriesis that they have the opportunity to broaden their horizons and see how peoplefrom other countries live Most people have a certain degree of pride in theirown culture, but relatively few people are so arrogant as not to recognise thatother cultures have their positive qualities too At the very least, each countryhas something that other countries do not have, such as an historic structure orcultural norm Seeing and experiencing these can (hopefully!) help to givechildren a sense of perspective about the world and their place in it

Personally, I believe that the advantages of sending children abroad outweigh thefinancial cost However, it is clearly impossible for all families to afford this, sosuch trips generally need to be economical in order to be inclusive

14 Children should be forced to read novels from every major genreincluding science fiction, sport, romance, horror and crime Being widelyread will mean children will have a better understanding of the worldaround them.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

I believe that being widely read gives children (and adults!) a far betterunderstanding of the world around them However, I am wary of supporting thesuggestion that children should be forced to read something of every genre

I think it is important for people of all ages to realise that everything in life isinterconnected We cannot entirely separate seemingly disparate subjects aspsychology and geography, for instance If we can instil this in children, Ibelieve that they will be better educated and have a much greater understandingof the world Therefore, encouraging children to read widely is, in my opinion,an excellent idea I don't think that it matters too much if they read fiction ornon-fiction I believe that non-fiction has a greater value for children (andadults) than fiction, but reading fiction often creates a desire to read morewidely, so it not something that should be discouraged Of course, with youngchildren in particular, reading fiction helps them to learn language in a fun way

This leads me to question forcing children to read from every genre If a child isnot interested in something, but is forced to do it anyway, this usually leads toresentment In the case of reading, it could put the child off it for life Of course,at school for example, children are forced to read certain books We need to

To summarise, I hope that children will read as widely as they can, but the realityis that not all children are interested in all types of books Do not force them.Provide them with opportunities to discover

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15 In most countries, schools spend time teaching children traditionalsubjects Some people think that they should spend more time teachingchildren things that will be more useful in the future and help them to findjobs.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

There is an ongoing debate in many countries about the content of the schoolcurriculum, with many people believing that a move towards subjects moreclosely related to the jobs of the future is needed

There is clearly a very strong case for spending more time in school on subjectssuch as computing, science and maths, since these subjects are at the heart of thefuture of humanity The immense technological developments of the past centuryare unlikely to slow down and so a highly-educated workforce in these fields is aclear necessity for any country that wishes to be at the forefront of science andtechnology As well as the possibility of spending more time each week teaching

However, I still think that we need to spend some time teaching studentstraditional subjects History and literature are essential to our cultural identity,and both can provide lessons for modern society The idea that history repeatsitself is more than just a pithy phrase Then there are subjects that are traditional,but have clear roles in the modern world Economics is clearly an importantaspect of modern life Geography might not seem so at first glance, but it relatesto science (climate change, the water cycle) and natural resources (oil, minerals).Besides, I think that we will always need people with different talents and

abilities

To summarise, I am sure that we need both kinds of subjects to be taught atschools, but I see a very strong case for placing more focus on those subjects thatare more directly related to our technological future

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16 Many children do not find school lessons interesting.

Why is this and what can be done to make school lessons more interestingfor children?

I think there are two main reasons why many children find school lessons boringand I also think that there are things schools and teachers can do to make themmore interesting

Second, many children do not find the content of the curriculum to be relevant.Some children want to know why they are expected to know what they are beingtaught How is the material relevant to their future lives? Again, this will requirean update to the curriculum with, perhaps, the introduction of subjects that aremore in tune with the modern world and the future job market For instance, ithas been suggested in the U.K that all children learn coding, since computing isat the heart of tomorrow’s world Other children may be more interested inpractical subjects, so changing the balance of the curriculum to reflect thatshould result in children taking more of an interest in learning

I am sure that there are other factors and solutions, but it seems to me that doingthese two things would be an excellent way to get more children interested inwhat they do at school and maintain the enthusiasm that so many show in theirearly years of schooling

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17 Some people think what children learn in school is a waste of time.Other people think the knowledge is useful.

Generally speaking, I think that what children learn in school is useful, but Iwould certainly not say that everything that every child learns there in classes isuseful

Often, you can hear people point to successful people and note that they didn'tdo well at school However, I think that very often these arguments are notentirely fair For instance, there are many successful people who dropped out ofschool because they saw other opportunities open to them This doesn't meanthat school educations are 'a waste of time' It simply means that there is more tosuccess than a formal education

Many students will not use the science that they learned in school in their laterlives However, sometimes it is not learning the actual information that isimportant, but learning how to think and how to act Writing essays might seemboring and time wasting, but learning to communicate effectively is not Justbecause there is no direct relationship between what students learn and itsusefulness in life, we cannot conclude that something is 'a waste of time'.Perhaps teachers could explain the connection better

Many people would like to see more practical subjects and relevant subjectmatter in schools Many students find academic subjects boring It may be agood idea for schools to provide alternative learning experiences for them Manystudents might find that it is more beneficial to learn about personal finance orthey might prefer to focus more on a practical skill that leads directly to

employment, such as carpentry However, it might be difficult for all schools toprovide all these subjects, so it will not be possible to satisfy everyone

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18 It is generally believed that education is of vital importance to thedevelopment of individuals and the well-being of societies What shouldeducation consist of to fulfil both these functions?

In this short essay, I will explain what I believe education should consist of inorder to contribute both to individual development and to society as a whole

First of all, I think that education requires individuals to acquire a wide range offactual information This means that people should have a solid basic knowledgeof a variety of fields, such as technology, science, language, mathematics,

history, geography and current affairs These are useful to individuals becausethey need such subjects in order to live, work and communicate with a widevariety of people Society benefits because the population is well-informed andcan use such knowledge to improve social conditions and work better

Secondly, I believe that education should include some non-academic features,such as handicrafts, music and sports I think that these fields can broaden thehorizons of individuals and provide a physical aspect to becoming a well-rounded person Sports can help people to stay healthy and handicrafts canencourage creativity Socially these are beneficial for various reasons Forinstance, prowess at sports can lead to success at international sporting events,such as the Olympics, raising national prestige and pride

To summarise, I think that education should comprise the aforementioned threeparts so as to benefit individuals and society

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19 Some children can learn better by watching TV Therefore childrenshould watch TV regularly at home and at school To what extent do youagree or disagree?

In this short essay, I shall explain why I believe that we should be careful aboutrecommending that children should watch TV regularly at home and at school

The fact that some children can learn better through watching TV does not meanthat all children – or even most of them – can learn better from it It is well-known that different children learn better using a variety of differing methods.For instance, some learn better by making things and others learn better bylistening to their teachers This means that schools should employ a variety ofteaching methods in order to give all children a fairly equal opportunity to learn

So, watching TV regularly at school could disadvantage those children who donot learn well via this method Watching TV regularly at home or at school could

Of course, there is one major problem with allowing or encouraging children towatch TV regularly at home and at school, and that is that it might succeed,resulting in children watching too much TV, including programmes that are noteducational, such as cartoons or soap operas At school, children are almostcertainly going to watch TV with their teachers, but at home parental supervisionmay be non-existent and is likely to be intermittent at best

To conclude, certain TV programmes can help educate children, but I doubt thatwe need to actually encourage children to watch TV regularly at home or atschool

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20 Some people think that children should play competitive team sports atschool to help them at work in the future.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

I agree that instilling a certain amount of competitiveness in children throughsport can be helpful in their future working lives However, this is unlikely to betrue for all children or in all fields of work

together The accounts department keeps the sales force happy by paying themcorrectly and on time The sales team generates revenue that pays the salaries ofthe accounts team Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that playing team sportscan help children to grasp the value of teamwork which will be of value in theirfuture work lives

However, some children may prefer not to play team sports They might feel thatthey can achieve more as individuals Plenty of sports offer this opportunity –tennis, athletics, swimming, to name just a few This may well help to preparethem for jobs that involve more time working alone, such as an artist or

photographer Even in these individual sports, the element of teamwork is notentirely removed Athletes and swimmers still need advice from coaches Ofcourse, it is not necessary for children to play sport at all in order to learn aboutcompetitiveness Debates, science projects and artistic endeavours all offer suchopportunities

To conclude, I am sure that playing competitive sports can help children to learnskills required at work, but so can individual sports and other activities

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21 Some people think that high school students should be given lesshomework and allowed to use the time to develop non-academic skills.

Discuss both sides and give your own opinion.

Some people think that students at secondary schools should be given (evenmore!) homework because it will help them to pass the various exams that theyface when they are 18 and leave school, perhaps to continue with tertiary

education Given that a couple of marks can make the difference between a gooduniversity and a top one, this may seem perfectly reasonable In some cases, Iam sure that it is

However, there are – at least in the majority of cases – strong arguments againstthis First of all, we have the large number of students who are less interested inacademic studies and more interested in developing other skills These couldrange from playing sport to practical (and socially useful) skills such ascarpentry, plumbing and car mechanics Giving these students more homeworkabout Tudor Britain is hardly going to have a great beneficial impact on theirlives

Then there are the students who want to continue their education but wouldbenefit from having a wider range of skills I know so many people of my agewho, when they see someone with non-academic, practical, skills say that theywish they could do that I’m one of them!

To summarise, it seems to me that the argument in favour of plenty of homeworkis predicated on the assumption that all secondary school students want to go touniversity and that a university education is the only way to make a successfullife Anyone who thinks that really needs to get acquainted with the reality of themodern world

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Work

Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Many people think that young people are too immature to make career decisionsand that such decisions should be made by others, such as parents or teachers Inthis short essay, I shall outline why I disagree with this idea

In the past, it was quite common for young people to be pressured into a careerof their parents’ or teachers’ choosing I think that there may have been a fewreasons for this, but, often young people were not educated and hence it seemednormal for them to follow in their parents’ footsteps If a man was a farmer andhad a son, the son would learn about farming from a young age and be likely totake over the farming later in life

These kinds of situations are not prevalent in most modern societies Youngpeople have a wider choice of careers, including in numerous that simply did notexist in the past Examples of this include careers in such disparate fields as ITand marketing – careers that their parents or teachers may know nothing about,and thus be unable to provide advice on In addition, it is much easier for mostyoung people to get an education and to choose subjects that interest them

This has also led to greater social mobility, as there are now more pathways towealth Moreover, when coupled with better transport infrastructure, if a job isnot available in a village, most young people can make the move to a city whereit is However, it is still advisable for young people to seek advice from their

To conclude, I think that young people should be free to choose their owncareers, but that does not mean that parents and teachers cannot offer advice

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23 Job interviews are very important meetings.

How can people prepare for job interviews and how should they behaveduring them?

In this short essay, I will examine how people can get ready for job interviewsand how they should behave whilst attending one

One way of preparing for a job interview is to have a good idea of the kind ofquestions that you are likely to be asked This generally means being able to talkabout your qualifications, work experience and your personal qualities A personshould be capable of discussing these fluently, without pausing too often andthereby sounding nervous or unprepared It is worth remembering that manyinterviewers throw in unexpected or unusual questions in order to get an idea ofinterviewees’ real thoughts, since obviously most candidates will have preparedanswers to routine questions

In addition, it is important to dress well for a job interview For professional

During the interview, it is important to speak clearly This shows confidence andgives a strong indication of how you will interact with others It is also a goodidea not to fidget or move your hands around too much In addition, it is good tomaintain some eye contact with the interviewer, though not to excess, as this canappear aggressive Naturally, interviewees must speak politely and generally in aformal manner

To summarise, there are several things that people preparing for a job interviewcan do and there are generally accepted social rules regarding behaviour duringthem

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24 Employers sometimes ask potential employees for personal information,such as their hobbies and marital status Some people say that this

information is relevant and useful.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

I think that there is some personal information that employers should not beallowed to ask potential employees about, although it is sometimes difficult toascertain which information is relevant and which is not

It can be argued, however, that this is perfectly reasonable Companies are notcharities They are in the business of making money, not catering to the wishesof employees who wish to have families Whilst I agree with this point, I thinkthat companies are part of society and, as such, they reflect our general attitudestowards people, their lifestyles and choices Continuing the example outlinedabove, if companies are permitted to fail to employ women because they wantchildren, this reflects badly on our attitude to women and having children

To summarise, in a purely business sense, it may be important for employers toknow certain personal information about potential employees However, I thinkthat this is outweighed by the need for businesses to be part of how we want oursociety to behave

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25 The performance of employees can have a big effect on the success of acompany.

Pay us more money! I suspect that most employees would suggest this ifemployers or managers asked them how companies could improve employeeperformance However, there may be other ways which employers might findmore palatable

Surveys in Western countries have consistently shown that the main reasonpeople leave companies is because they do not like their managers or bosses.The fact that this factor is cited more often than salary may surprise somepeople When we consider that people spend a significant proportion of theirtime at work, and therefore dealing with managers and bosses, a poor

relationship can severely impact the ability of a person to do their job well.Therefore, I think that companies need to look at the interpersonal skills of theirmanagement teams and perhaps consider appropriate training courses

Another thing that employers might consider is improving the workenvironment Simple things such as ensuring that workplaces have sufficientnatural light and adding plants have been shown to improve employees’ moodsand thereby increase performance Relatively few employers have the resourcesto go as far as certain tech companies as Google and provide table tennis orvideo games for employees, but this does not mean that they cannot do anythingat all

As far as financial incentives are concerned, I think that performance basedbonuses may be generally better than higher salaries However, the systems forawarding these need to be transparent and fair for all employees, from thebottom to the top As a result, and in order to avoid arguments over whocontributed what, companies might consider offering shares or simply sharing aportion of any profits equally

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26 Many companies employ workers when they are needed and reduce thenumber of workers when they are no longer needed.

Does this situation have more advantages or more disadvantages?

Many people oppose the fundamentally capitalist idea that companies should beable to hire and fire workers as and when necessary Although they have solidarguments on their side, I believe that a situation allowing companies to employworkers and make them redundant as required is better overall

The main argument against allowing companies to increase and, particularly, todecrease their workforces is that it creates unemployment if the laid off workerscannot find alternative employment This can be a great cost to the state if thegovernment provides unemployment benefits and/or other welfare programmessuch as state housing or housing benefits As this argument focuses largely onthe fact that companies might reduce the number of employees, it tends to ignorethe fact that many companies might not employ more workers as they expand,out of fear that if they need to reduce their workforces they will not be able to

Another argument is that workers who have been made redundant might not beable to find suitable work – jobs that they have the necessary skills for Thiscould be a big issue in the future, for example, as driverless vehicles take over

To conclude, I know that people who want to limit the ability of companies torecruit and lay off workers have good arguments, but I believe that the points infavour of allowing companies to do these things are stronger and more beneficialto the whole economy in the long term

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27 Nowadays, some workplaces tend to employ equal numbers of men andwomen workers Do you think it is a positive or negative development?

Though I do not have a particularly strong opinion on the subject, I generallybelieve that having more women in the workplace is a good thing

If a society wants strong economic development, one thing that it is practicallyessential to do is to ensure that its women are given education to the samestandards as men Many people – myself included – would argue that this shouldbe done simply on the basis of gender equality However, it has also been

demonstrated that women who are better educated raise children who are bettereducated This has a n obvious benefit for a society seeking economic

development Once there are better educated women in society, it is logical tosuggest that these women should work This is a trend that it has provenimpossible to prevent except through extreme coercion

To summarise, I think that employing women is normal and that it benefitssociety and individuals If companies and organisations aim to employ equalnumbers of men and women, I don't mind, so long as the best person gets the joband they are not forced to employ less qualified people

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28 Some people say that younger people are not suitable for importantpositions in government while others think it is a good idea.

Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

I think that there are persuasive arguments in favour of having younger people inimportant positions in government, thought I can see that there may be

disadvantages

In my opinion, many governments suffer from a lack of fresh ideas for policies.Part of the problem seems to me to be that older members of the governments