You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
Children brought up in families with less money are better prepared for life than those from wealthy families. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
You should write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer 1: (Better parenting, regardless of family wealth, is more important.)
Childhood “experience” and “learning” determine someone’s personality and ascertainment to prosper in life. Some people believe that children in wealthy families are over-indulged and do not learn many important lessons to face future challenges while middle-class and lower-middle-class families better prepare their offsprings. Personally, I believe that better parenting, regardless of family wealth or status, is more important.
To begin with, children from less wealthy families learn to face difficulties in life from early childhood. They know that they need to work hard to succeed in life, and they start to appreciate the value of money and time. It gives them a competitive advantage to face life in the future. For instance, the highest scorer in our college was from a lower-middle-class family and he devoted most of his time to study. He valued excellent academic results more than most students from wealthy families. He was convinced that the only way to get out of their financial problems was to become the top scorer and have a better career in the future. No doubt, this determination, hard work and mind-setup will help him become successful in life.
Reversely, children from wealthy families, most of the time, get better facilities, education and career opportunities. Despite being an average student, Patrick, one of my classmates, got admitted to the best private university in our country. This exemplifies that he has a better career prospect than the top scorer in our college. So, the connection, influence and money that rich families own often help them better educate their children while also giving them a head start in life.
Personally, I believe that parenting is more important than having and spending money on children. It is not always the money that makes someone successful and a good citizen. When parents implant good qualities among children, these qualities alone can make a difference in their life.
To conclude, though it is generally believed that children from less fortunate families are better prepared for the future, I believe that proper parenting is far more important than any other factor.
Sample Answer 2: (Disagreement)
Money plays a pivotal role in people’s social and family life, and it influences the way a child grows up and prepares to meet future challenges. Usually, rich families compensate better life for their children, but some people argue that children who are brought up in less wealthy families are often better prepared to face difficulties in life. However, I strongly believe that children from affluent families get better opportunities and better prepared for future challenges.
On the one hand, many believe that families with less money prepare their children more realistically. Those children admittedly learn to face obstacles in their childhood that gives them an advantage when they grow up. They also learn to appreciate the value of money, savings, time and hard work, and the importance of family tie. They are not pampered for everything they want or need, rather they need to earn them through hard work. Therefore they automatically prepare for setting a target in life and make plans for pursuing them.
On the other hand, children from wealthier families are sometimes a little behind in terms of learning many important lessons in childhood when compared with the mindset of their counterparts. However, they have all the facilities they need for their education and future career. For instance, they are well adorned to go to the best schools, have the best teachers to teach them, money and connections to start a business or join a job, and affluent family to support them whenever needed. Furthermore, those families build the foundation for their children to begin their life- a much-needed push to have a better career. These rich children eventually learn the most important aspects of life, maybe a little later than the poor children, but they have far greater facilities that ultimately give them advantages in life.
To conclude, money and education build a better future life. Because of that, wealthier children have a much better and flexible life than poor children. Therefore, I believe children from wealthy families get a competitive advantage over children from poor families in terms of education and preparation for the future.
[Written by – Romesh Rodrigo]
Sample Answer 3: (Agreement)
Who get better prepared to face life – people who were raised lavishly or in a destitute condition, is debatable. I agree that children who were raised in a low-income family are better at facing life than those who came from an ultra-rich family.
For several reasons, many believe that children who are brought up in middle and low-income families are better prepared to face life. Firstly, these children are accustomed to living a simple lifestyle and they know the value of time, money and relationship. Instead of having their own room, with all the toys and comfortable beds in the room, they had to sleep with their siblings in a small room with a limited number of toys and facilities. They learn how to share important things, take care of others, manage the budgets and most importantly become contented with whatever they have. As these children do not have many luxuries in life, they would easily adapt to the harsh conditions. Secondly, these children are already taught to be independent at an early age. Many of their parents could not afford to pay school tuition fees, therefore they have to have a part-time job to pay the fees. Thus they learn to be independent at an early age.
Moreover, children who are raised in rich families will face difficulties when they grow up and face the real world. One of the reasons is that their parents have always provided them with all the materials they wanted and needed. They get fancy clothes, expensive toys and the latest gadgets without having to work hard. As they rely heavily on their parent’s wealth, they will face problems if there is a financial crisis.
To conclude, the upbringing of children defines who they will become in the future. Since families with less money have to teach children to work hard, save money and become satisfied with thing things they have, they are better prepared in life than their rich counterparts who got everything ready for them by their family.
[Written by – Darwin Sugiharto]