Is freedom of speech necessary in a free society? – IELTS Writing Task 2

Kasturika Samanta

13 min read

Updated On Feb 09, 2024

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This article contains Is freedom of speech necessary in a free society? sample essays.

Given below is a real IELTS Writing Part 2 Essay question. We have provided sample essays as well as an essay outline so that you can practice writing your own!

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Read the sample essay for Is freedom of speech necessary in a free society? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

In IELTS Writing Task 2, students are asked to write a formal essay of at least 250 words, in 4-5 paragraphs based on the given writing task 2 essay topics. The task is similar for both Academic and General Training with regards to the type of questions and the scoring, but the topics given for General Training will be slightly easier than Academic. Given below is an essay with sample answers that will help you to practise and get a good score.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

IELTS Writing Infographic

Model Essay 01 :

Human beings have an unquestionable need to express themselves and their needs through various forms, the most common of which is speech. Therefore, my opinion is that the freedom of speech is of vital importance in order for a society to be called “free”.

Freedom of speech brings about numerous benefits which can be put into two aspects. The first one is for a nation. Freedom of speech, provided that it is protected by law, enables the press or a citizen to show the wrongdoings of one or some specific authorities. This gives a chance for careful inquiries to ensure the transparency of the authority. Thus, corruption can be hampered. Another consequent outcome is that the nation becomes appealing to both domestic and foreign investors, which boosts its economic growth a great deal. Given the freedom of speech, the press, or broadly speaking, the media, can also assist people in elections. Citizens can have a clearer view of the nominees through information from the media besides their campaigns to pick up the best person to lead the country. The other aspect is for each individual living in a society. Any citizen should be free to say what she believes is right and helpful for her life and her community. It means that people can speak up their opinion when there is something wrong, illegal, or negatively affect their lives. For instance, a group of citizens can show disapproval with an unfair policy on tax payment publicly through a demonstration or on the media. This can put pressure on the government to consider their request and work out a solution. If people’s voice is respected, they will feel that their need of self expression is satisfied. Thus, the community becomes worth-living with people with a high sense of well-being.

In a nutshell, freedom of speech, once respected and guaranteed by law, is essential for a healthy society as it helps adjust the quality of the government and protect people from injustice. That is why it should be encouraged more widely.

Goal: 9.0

Model Essay 02 :

Freedom of speech is very important for a citizen to upgrade himself and society. Freedom is a key point to initiate development and bring people closer, start networking and move forward for a mission like, Mission of change, Mission of independence etc.

Freedom of speaking is necessary for anyone either he is 2 years old kid or 60 years old man. It gives people courage to communicate to make decisions and work on that. For Example Politician: they speak in public places to make the commitments and plans to develop the country. Audience listen to them patiently, analyse their words and gives approval in the form of vote to win, so that he can get a chance to work on his promises and commitments.

Furthermore, Freedom is fragrance of beautiful society. It makes you extrovert and nourishes you to achieve defined goal. Whereas this privilege is only limited to politicians these days. Those who are not politicians and if they speak something true about someone, they can be killed or murdered, if the opponent party is stronger than them. It also limits anyone to take decisions and forces you to think 100 times before speaking in public place. Hence we become slaves in our own country.

Therefore, I truly believe that citizen should have freedom to speak in favour or against of anyone. Facing the problems and keeping quiet can bring disaster and put us in soup. Instead of giving up the problems we need to become unite and work together. Likewise, makes the hey when sun shines.

Model Essay 03 :

In the last decade, there has been considerable debate over the role of free speech in a free society. Some object to absolute freedom of speech. Others advocate free speech, arguing that the freedom of speech is the single most important political right of citizens in a civilized society. Whilst I believe that there are strong arguments on both sides, I would suggest that freedom of speech should be protected in all but extreme circumstances.

The freedom of speech is important at all levels in a society. Yet it is most important for government. A government which does not know what the people feel and think is in a dangerous position. This is how the communist regimes of Eastern Europe were toppled in the 1980s. The same is happening again in other regions of the world today. The governments that muzzle free speech run a risk of pushing their people to behave destructively or to rebel.

Furthermore, without free speech no political action is possible and no resistance to injustice and oppression is possible. Without free speech elections would have no meaning at all. Policies of contestants become known to the public and become responsive to public opinion only by virtue of free speech. Between elections the freely expressed opinions of citizens help restrain oppressive rule. Without this freedom it is futile to expect political freedom or consequently economic freedom.

In conclusion, I believe that the importance of free speech as a basic and valuable characteristic of a free society cannot be underestimated. It may be challenging for society to allow differences of opinion out into the open; however, the consequences of restricting free speech are likely to be more damaging in the longer term.

Model Essay 04 :

Freedom of speech is an origins freedom of liberal world. However, many people argue that sometimes we should restrict this right in order to maintain social harmony or state security. This point of view occurred even in free societies. For example, some countries denied people to express favor of Nazi ideologies. This essay describes why I totally refuse this opinion.

There were three main reasons for free societies to not abandon freedom of expression. Firstly, freedom of speech is a pillar of free societies itself because it have made another kind of freedom possible. For example, we hardly to imagine how people can stop authorities to abuse their bodies or properties if the not even have the right to speak that they don’t prefer it. It is not necessary to say that people participation or free election cannot be occurred if people not have the right to critic policies or candidates. We can do all of these only when we have freedom to speak as a precondition.

The following reason, some people may argue that even free societies have laws to protect people from harmful; however, speech is not an action. In other words, even hardest words harm nothing. Therefore, I accept that free societies have the right to stop dangerous action coming from speech, but it not has the right to blind the right to speak. It is undeniable that people have ability to said stupid words but free societies civilize enough to deal with it by neglect, tolerate, or social punishments like banned that people from communities.

For the last reason, worse speech still can give benefits to societies. Like scholar said: the function of bad idea is to make us know what is good idea look like. For instance, when some people speak support Nazi regime, public will turned to critics it and demonstrates why we should not listen to them, and, this will make children know how holocaust was terrible. Moreover, it is not necessary to say that some dangerous words in the past like Christian gospel can turn to be valuable words when the time was past. Thus, why we not leave the speech test its value by time instead of act like roman soldiers who execute Jesus.

All in all, freedom of expression is an important component of free societies. Moreover, we have another ways to deal with bad word in particular let it is experimented its value by time.

Model Essay 05 :

In the process of building the democracy in a fee society, there have been lots of tense debates over the vital role of free speech in the building of a democratic society. Some people object to absolute freedom of speech. Others advocate free speech, arguing that the freedom of speech is the most essential political right of citizens in a civilized society.

From my personal view point, I strongly opine that freedom of speech is not only essential for individuals in a society but also for governments as well for the reasons mentioned below: On the one hand, as responsible citizens, the people have the justifiable rights to contribute their opinions freely about the policies and the executions of the governments without any hindrances. For example: Martin Luther King strongly voiced his opinions to protest the discrimination against the skin color and urged the government to quickly apply what had been written in American Constitution, creating an equality to benefit the black community and the people as well. Moreover, a right leader should be chosen in free and fair election where he can present his opinions and policy which might be against the direction of the government . The tolerance of the ruling authority to accept opposing view-points possibly create a democratic atmosphere in political life of a country, promoting social development. On the other hand, the governments need to hear open voice to adjust their policies in accordance people’s ambitions while the governments that muzzle free speech definitely run the risk of being overthrown. For instance: During the period of 1980s, Vietnamese leaders have highly appreciated the opinions of the think tank consisting of intellectuals and launched the process of renovation, bringing about many brilliant achievements in the stabilizing of the political and economic situation. Contrarily, many Eastern European countries fell into collapse due to governing the country following outdated doctrines without listening to the people’s desires.

In conclusion, freedom of speech is extremely necessary to instill inspirations among the people in the society to contribute their opinions to improve and enhance all aspects of the country . It plays an important part in forcing the governments to incessantly improve their governing ways to better serve their people with the supervision and criticizing of public opinion.

Goal: 8.0

Model Essay 06 :

Whether people should be allowed to raise their voice freely or not has long been of a debate. Some people say that freedom of speech is a right of human while others believe that this could lead to unexpected consequences for societies. I myself support the authorization of freedom of speech, especially in a free society.

To commence with, I think it is necessary that freedom of speech become part of people’s life for several reasons. First of all, there is no doubt that people benefit a lot from this policy. There would be more space for people to express what they think instead of keeping it for their own. Accordingly, people can voice their concerns and thinking on issues in societies regardless of ages, religions, complexions, social and political parties, etc. This might make them feel more and more liberate. Moreover, others might enrich their knowledge, cognition on different aspects of life thanks to the innovative and straightforward ideas that has been considered trivial or even illegal in several countries. Second of all, freedom of speech might, indirectly, help the development of any country. The fact is that there is more freedom granted for ordinary people in developed countries. It seems that people in these countries are free to raise their voice over matters or policies that they think are not for their interests. As their voices are heard by leaders of the countries, those problems might be corrected in a right way. In contrast, if there is limitation on the right of speech, people are not willing to speak out in a fear of possible punishments from authorities. This does not help to change the wrongdoings or inadequate policies that are introduced by relevant agencies. Nevertheless, some people fear that allowing freedom of speech might result in the chaos of society. They argue that as it is legal to say freely, some people abuse the free mass media to incite the disorder or disagreement of a society in order to support their political purposes. This is partly true, then again it does not represent the mass but only some dissidents who have opposing ideology and want to challenge legal governments. Also, freedom of speech does not mean ability to challenge the stability of any community. Therefore, similar acts like protest incitements will not be tolerated by authorities.

In general, there are still differences between those who support and oppose the authorization of freedom of speech. From my perspective, I believe that it is necessary to grant people this right in a free society. Governments should both legalize this policy and make sure that they can control adverse consequences.

Goal 8.0

Model Essay 07 :

Freedom of speech is a global problem and has become a controversial topic across the world recently. The raised question is that whether speaking freely is really needed in the liberal world. In my opinion, freedom of speech is an indispensable part of our lives but limited.

Foremost, freedom of speech is the demonstration of human rights and the demand of social development. By dint of speaking freely, people can express their will and aspiration, opinion and thought; and hence they are able to protect their own legitimate rights and interests in the individual or social issues. For instance, the citizens have the right to vote and veto, criticize and comment a law draft, decree or policy of their country. Moreover, thanks to freedom of speech the habitants are courageous to expose crime or illegal acts of some authorities such as corruption, bribery or abuse of power. Simultaneously, the residents also appraise the righteous deeds like charity. Consequently, an equitable, civilized and developed society is established, in which human rights has always been highly respected. However, freedom of speech is not only human right but obligation also. In fact, many habitants bribed by some political groups abused of free speech in order to overthrow their national government and make riots. In some cases, excessive free speech provoked, offended or insulted belief and ideology of the others. For example, Charlie Hebdo satirical French magazine has recently continued to post caricature of the prophet Mohammed of Islam, which led to the attack the publisher of two extremist Islamic militants, killed 12 people including general editor Mr. Stephane Charbonnie.

Thus, freedom of speech should be limited within the framework of the law to avoid the negative events. Concisely, freedom of expression is essential for the civilized and free society today, but should have certain limitation for a prosperous, stable and peaceful world.

Goal 8.0

Model Essay 08 :

Freedom of speech is very important in humans lives and in every era, it is also essential. In the past, people were not allowed to express their thoughts freely because of peremptory domination, caste discrimination, religious beliefs,…Nowadays, we need to improve this right for everyone.

Firstly, if people could express what they think and do not have to conceal their feelings, the society would develop positively. For example, if in the past,outrage and violence of some husbands in the family were usually be concealed because of some backward ideologies; in present, the wives have the rights to denounce the crimes and demand their rights. Or through facebook social networking site, users could post what they think and spread it to other people. They can be experience, knowledge, feeling or even questions for people to seek to answer. Clearly that when bad things are brought to light and boycott, good things are spread and share, our society would be an ideal and wonderful place to live. In addition, people should be given the right of feeling that they have the position in the society because they have their voice. One person would soon be stressful and vexatious when most of their thoughts are restrictive in the house. However, in contrast to the benefits that freedom of speech brings about, there are some bad effects. If the people are allowed all the things, they can spread untrue things or exaggerate everything up; as a result, we could not recognize what are true and what are false because there are a lot of information available by a lot of people. Sometimes, some political criminals abuse the right to disseminate bad information or spread untrue rumours that affect the government or officials.

In conclusion, I think freedom of speech should always be attached to every era and the way we think or say will affect our society considerably. Despite some harm effects, freedom of speech is still essential in free society.

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