You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Some children can learn efficiently by watching TV. Therefore, they should be encouraged to watch TV both at home and at school. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer:
TV, as a learning tool, is quite useful if children watch the right programmes for a certain duration of time each day. Though some people regard watching the TV as a waste of time, I do believe that this can be a very powerful learning tool for children and that is why they should be allowed to watch TV programmes both at home and school, but within the teacher’s and parent’s watch.
To begin with, though I am no longer a student, I can still learn better by watching TV rather than reading books. Whenever I tune on to the History Channel, BBC or National Geographic Channel, I can learn new things. This is also true for the school going children. My younger brother, who is a college student with history major, heavily relies on History Channel documentaries to enhance his knowledge in history. TV programmes are the audio-visual presentation of an event, story or fact and thus have lasting impressions on our brain. If the right programmes are chosen for a child, he/she will learn faster by watching TV. For instance, one of our neighbours allow her 3 years old daughter to watch Rhymes on the internet TV channels and she can recite most of those rhymes. According to her mother, the girl has learned more effectively by watching those animated cartoons that have the rhymes than reading books. Since TV is a powerful learning tool, why not use it in a school for educational purpose?
On the contrary, people who opine that TV programmes are a waste of valuable time has their own reasons. People cannot control the time they spend on watching TV. Moreover, many TV programmes are not suitable for the children and thus can have detrimental effects on their immature mind. They can mimic the bad habits of their favourite heroes and can become violent in many cases. However, this can only happen when we don’t have control over our children’s’ activity. For instance, scientific research shows that a certain amount of chocolate is good for a child’s health and cognitive development. However, if a child eats too much chocolate, he will surely suffer from many problems. In the same way, certain hours of TV watching can actually help students learn many things but uncontrolled TV watching habit would actually ruin his life.
In conclusion, as parents and teachers, we must pick the suitable and educational programmes for our kids both in school and at home. My final opinion is that TV is a good pedagogical tool and hence its use in the school for both educational and recreational purposes should be allowed.