Writing Task 2 - Sample 9: Education Cost (Band 8.5)

Topic: Educating children is expensive and in some countries the government pays some or all of the costs. Do the advantages of the government paying for children's education outweigh the disadvantages?

Investing in education is investing in human intellectual capital, which in turn is vital to the creation of high-skilled workforce and the long-run development of a nation, however the question arises as to who should pay for this. To be more specific, should the government subsidise some or all of the costs or should we leave the cost to be funded privately?

Some people claim that partial or completely subsidised primary and secondary school education, if it is entirely funded by the government, may diminish the incentive for students to strive harder. However this is not the case, as low cost or free education in fact offers significant opportunities for children from low-socio-economic groups or from rural areas, whom might not have access to academic schooling otherwise. There are numerous benefits stemming from this, namely bridging the gap between urban and rural areas, the rich and the poor, along with bringing more equal opportunities for people and creating a larger more highly qualified workforce for our society.

On the other hand, there are some that allege that government subsidised public schools tend to be of poorer quality, both in facilities and teaching staff compared to private schools, and that they may suffer to a greater extent in an economic downturn, when the government needs to cut spending. This argument becomes quite lacking in the face of evidence of a consistently good level of quality public education in many countries over long periods of time. Although private education may provide a better educational environment on the whole, people still have the freedom of choice, from both tiers of private and public schooling, based on their finances and the type of education they need for their children.

Taking all the views above into consideration, publicly funded education has overwhelming advantages as it makes learning available to the more disadvantaged groups in our society, hence contributing to equality of opportunities and utilisation of human resources in an economy. Therefore, it can be argued that the cost is justified in the light of present and future benefits.

(343 words) - This is a very good sample written by student Ha Ly at Pathways (with assistance from her 1-1 teacher).

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