IELTS Writing 2 Topic: Levels of Education

Education plays an important role in molding the lives of people and many believe that school and university teaching is dedicated to factual learning rather than practical skills. Although, practical approaches must be incorporated into university and school teaching, I do agree that the majority of basic schooling does not focus on it because it is difficult to assess students on skills rather than facts.

Primary and secondary schools in most countries have a syllabus to be followed by students for basic certification. School and university pupils are graded based on examinations at the end of their semester that involve reproducing facts from books. For example, one moves to high school only if they have passed all the tests in their middle grade. I think this restricts schools from bringing practical training into their syllabus as they cannot be objectively evaluated. Skills one student might have, are not what another possesses so evaluation based on a single objective exam is difficult.

Secondly, subjects like science cannot incorporate training skills due to limitations as to how much one can learn from books in a class. Classroom teaching today, which lays the foundation to gain knowledge, is a one-way process where teachers teach students whereas, practical application can be learned only by interaction with experts and hands-on training in a particular field. For example, a surgeon must not only read about surgeries but also, practice surgical techniques to be able to do his/her duty. Therefore, in my opinion, teaching institutes must include interactive skills training sessions to reinforce theoretical concepts taught in class.

To conclude, teaching institutes focus more on fact-based learning than skill development as believed by most. Though knowledge about facts is easy to examine, I believe institutions must incorporate practical teaching for a more holistic education system.

Reply

Education plays an important role in molding the lives of people and many believe that school and university teaching is dedicated to factual learning rather than practical skills. Although, practical approaches must be incorporated into university and school teaching, I do agree that the majority of basic schooling does not focus on it because it is difficult to assess students on skills rather than facts.
Primary and secondary schools in most countries have a syllabus to be followed by students for basic certification. School and university pupils are graded based on examinations at the end of their semester that involve reproducing facts from books. For example, one moves to high school only if they have passed all the tests in their middle grade. I think this restricts schools from bringing practical training into their syllabus as they cannot be objectively evaluated. Skills one student might have, are not what another possesses so evaluation based on a single objective exam is difficult.
Secondly, subjects like science cannot incorporate training skills due to limitations as to how much one can learn from books in a class. Classroom teaching today, which lays the foundation to gain knowledge, is a one-way process where teachers teach students whereas, practical application can be learned only by interaction with experts and hands-on training in a particular field. For example, a surgeon must not only read about surgeries but also, practice surgical techniques to be able to do his/her duty. Therefore, in my opinion, teaching institutes must include interactive skills training sessions to reinforce theoretical concepts taught in class.
To conclude, teaching institutes focus more on fact-based learning than skill development as believed by most. Though knowledge about facts is easy to examine, I believe institutions must incorporate practical teaching for a more holistic education system.

Reply

There is no doubt that practical exposure is as important as theoretical knowledge. A number of people think that much time is devoted to teaching the facts instead of focusing on hands-on experience in all phases of learning, whether it is school or college. I completely agree with the statement and in this essay, I will support my view with valid arguments and examples.
Most of the institutes follow the conventional method of teaching which includes reading, learning, and writing. By this method, children can only recall concepts for a limited amount of time, and when it is time to apply that knowledge at work they have forgotten it. Consequently, many students who have degrees in physics or electronics cannot even change bulbs. Likewise, many MBAs cannot fill out a tax form. All of this points to the shortcomings of a system of learning that focuses only on theory.
Another example of this is that the current curriculum does not have an equal number of theory and practical classes. To illustrate, while I had one lecture each day on the theoretical aspects of computers), there was only 1 laboratory session in the whole week. Due to this improper division, I could not practice everything being taught and hence lacked a proper understanding of the concepts. If we had an equal proportion of theory and practical classes, I would have gained better skills and confidence. A recent study by the educational department of New Delhi has shown that youngsters who were shown experiments were able to memorize and retain the information for a longer period of time than the ones who read it.
To conclude, I agree with the argument that much time is being spent on cramming instead of experimental learning because of the current structure of teaching. Unfortunately, this overemphasis on theory prevents/stops students from acquiring real-world skills.

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