You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Present a written argument or case to an educated reader with no specialist knowledge of the following topic:
In many countries, children are engaged in some kind of paid work. Some people regard this as completely wrong, while others consider it as valuable work experience, important for learning and taking responsibility.
What are your opinions on this?
You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience and support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence.
You should write at least 250 words.
Model Answer 1:
The issue of children doing paid work is a complex and sensitive one. It is difficult to say who has the right to judge whether children working is ‘wrong’ or ‘valuable’. Opinions will also differ as to ‘learning’ benefits: no doubt teachers and factory owners, for example, would have varying concerns.
An important consideration is the kind of work undertaken. Young children doing arduous and repetitive tasks on a factory production line, for example, are less likely to be ‘learning’ than older children helping in an old people’s home. There are health and safety issues to be considered as well. It is an unfortunate fact that many employers may prefer to use the services of children simply to save money by paying them less than adults and it is this type of exploitation that should be discouraged. There is a big possibility that those working kids are influenced by different types of people they are working with and some lead them to a malevolent way. For example, most of the working kids in the factory start smoking and even abuse drugs at a very early age. Some kids are engaged in full-time jobs to support their family and thus how completely destroying their education.
However, in many countries children work because their families need the additional income, no matter how small. This was certainly the case in the past in many industrialised countries, and it is very difficult to judge that it is wrong for children today to contribute to the family income in this way. A working child in many cases is the only earning member for many families. So their support is invaluable and they can’t leave the jobs no matter how hazardous the job is.
Nevertheless, I would like to conclude that, in better economic circumstances, few parents would choose to send their children out to full-time paid work. If learning responsibilities and work experience are considered to be important, then children can acquire these by having light, part-time jobs or even doing tasks such as helping their parents around the family home, which are unpaid, but undoubtedly of value in children development.
(Approximately 350 words)
(This model answer has been prepared by the site developer. However, please note that this is just one example out of many possible answers.)
Model Answer 2:
In the past few years, life has become really tough for many people and because of the ever increasing living expenses some people send their children to earn to lessen the load. In some cases, children of fatherless families have no other choice but to start working for a living and supporting the family.
In fact, children going to work has become a very common issue that has been discussed by many human rights organisations. In my opinion, the young children must be brought up to be responsible and be able to face the difficulties of life and hence they should start working from the early ages.
I strongly recommend the tradition of working for children who are not intending to participate in academic institutions, those who want to work in trade and business, carpentry, blacksmithing or any other craft-related jobs. It’s very useful to be engaged in paid work from the early age as it would increase the skill and experience they need to run a successful business. Imagine that a young child whose parents want him to the run the family business as a blacksmith and send him to school to have a good education, and can’t support the expense, would actually do more harm than good to the children. Eventually, he would become more frustrated and won’t be able to run the business the way he should have been.
So why go to school and university if your parents can’t afford it? In my belief, it’s less expensive and more effective to learn this craft works from the young age by going to learn and work practically, and that, of course, will give him valuable experience. On the other hand, working from the early age teaches people to become more responsible and practical. We might go against the idea of child labour in first world country but the scenarios in a third world country are completely different. In those countries, there are thousands of families where children are the primary earner. The country can’t ensure the education and living of these families and hence they do not have the right to abolish the early childhood working trends.
In conclusion, I am not with the idea of children’s work in all the circumstances, but in certain situations as I have illustrated. If the child is looking forward to having a good profession in a large organisation, I don’t think that going to early work is a good idea.
(Approximately 400 words)
(Submitted by Abdullah Hassan)
Model Answer 3:
I personally think, engaging children in some sorts of paid works is always open for debate. This is a topical question nowadays. Both education and job are essential for children in which successful job is obtained through the quality of education. “Children engaged in some kinds of paid works” is similar to a coin which has two sides.
On one hand, every child must be educated firstly, so that the child may have exposed to all types of subjects like Mathematics, Science, Social-Science etc. So when children grow, they may have the right to choose the field they are most interested in and may enhance the knowledge that supports to implement the skills learned to create miracles in the challenging world. If a child was not educated and engaged in some paid works results in no exposure to such fields and adheres to chores child indulged.
On the other hand, it is always rudimentary to have responsibilities for a child if he comes up with poor background or poverty. So, here the financial condition of a family forces the child to get involved in paid works. Fortunately having a job in childhood, adds huge valuable experience to the personality. If the child was gifted with some entrepreneurship skills, this experience helps a lot to establish own industry and will have an opportunity to provide jobs for other people in need. Apart from that learning helps a lot and plays a vital role here. For instance, he can solve any problem on his own through learning and experience.
Finally, to conclude, education is essential for every child to gain knowledge regarding various aspects and implementing them in the desired field though paid works add experience at that young age.
(Approximately 282 words)
(Submitted by Kalyan Chakravarthy)
Model Answer 4:
It is universally agreed that work is very crucial and vital element in life. There are many people who believe that children should be involved in paid work. Others believe that children should carry no burden and be empty of any responsibility. In my opinion, children have to be engaged in some types of paid work in their daily lives. There are many benefits of paid work, which will be discussed in this essay, that widen the vision of the child towards life and make him a man of responsibility.
Firstly, it is an indisputable fact that any kind of work for a child will give him a broad view of life. The child will begin to recognise that life is not an easy journey and one should struggle in order to be a successful person. Moreover, such work will make the child feel that he is like young people. In other words, he will endeavour and do his best to get what he wants. This is because such works broaden his vision and open the doors of life for him. Consequently, the child’s thinking will be changed by a great mind and he will become like young people in terms of thinking.
Secondly, all of us know that work is responsibility. If the child becomes engaged in any kind of work, he, without a doubt, will be a great personality. Additionally, he will endure all obstacles and hindrances which life throws at him. His work will make him accustomed to all trouble and difficulty which he faces. Undoubtedly, the child will gain many benefits from such responsibility. Chiefs among them are patience and endurance. This indicates that he will become a perfect person when he grows up. Hence, his life will be an easy and happy thing because he gained all experiences of life in his early age.
To conclude, it cannot be denied that paid work must be a part and a parcel in the life of the children. Such work will dramatically benefit them and make life easy and will make them responsible children. If the above is applied, we will surely get a promising and reliable child.
(Approximately 360 words)
(Submitted by Abdulaziz Alharthi)
Life is a journey; in which people has to overcome certain circumstances which make them flourish or perish in their battle of life. In one view, if a child of a family is doing some kind of paid work for which their living circumstances might be responsible, where children get to know the value of money, work. Whereas on the other hand, making the children do the paid work is not more than misleading their career instead of holding the looks in a hand, they are working for their daily wages. So on this issue, there is a positive side and a negative side.
Nowadays, people are intentionally encouraging their children to do some works and get money for their daily needs. They are working in the restaurants as waiters, servers in a shop, in the shops etc instead of going to the school and getting some knowledge. Though there is a massive development in technology, awareness in the society, there are some children who are completely unaware of their surrounding things which are happening.
However, the circumstances of a family make their children work for money, which brings food for their family by working at the early age children will come to know about many things, for instance, the responsibility of a family, the value of money and work experience which makes them tackle any kind of situation.
Therefore, it is not possible to judge a child who performs paid work. But, a change can be brought in the children’s perspective and his/her family by offering them some kind of jobs or farm lands, which should be done by the government.
(Approximately 360 words)
(Submitted by Vamshi)
Model Answer 6:
Nowadays child labour is not an uncommon thing and due to the growing economy more and more children are involved in paid work. It is hard to identify if it is right or wrong without considering every tiny fact. Such as the kind of work children do, whether they work part time or full time, labour conditions etc.
Many people hold the opinion that child labour causes only bad things. These include an increased high school dropout rate, drug and alcohol abuse. Employers, however, are the only one who benefits from hiring an under-aged person, enjoying a cheap and effective labour. They also opine that child labour is always dangerous and harmful for the next generations. Because of child labour, children will fail to get proper education and other activities of a child.
Nevertheless, child work has a lot of advantages along with it. Apart from getting paid, the child can gain an important experience and prepare for the work world. Young people also learn to take responsibility and organise themselves. For instance, many successful businessmen in the US send their kids to do any kind of job by their 16th summer. Currently, this is popular not only in the US but among many nations as well. In developing countries, the majority of teenagers work in order to help their families. For young people, it becomes a necessity rather than a choice.
Eventually, work brings much more positive experience however it is more useful when the working experience is accompanied by the college or university studies.
(Approximately 255 words)
(Submitted by – Oleg Gorbatenko)
It is the 21st century and it is a modern epoch. In this epoch, people want to change their lifestyle by buying a luxury car or so many items. But for fulfilling these aspirations they should work and earn money. Every age group does work for earning money, even children in many countries work to support their families. I believe that children should not work as this is the time for education, not the job but some people are contrasted to this.
Firstly, in my perspective, children should not do work for earning money because they should only concentrate on their study instead of work. Moreover, I think childhood is only time when they can enjoy anything with their parents or friends instead of earning money because that time they should not need to think about the responsibility of paying bills, fees etc. In addition, children are not capable of doing all types of work in their childhood. Most of the work would be proven to be risky for them. But if they do so I think they may face a lot of problems regarding study or knowledge which is very useful to improve their career goals.
Secondly, some people think that children should work for work experience which is helpful to lead their career. Moreover, they think that it also plays an important role for learning and taking responsibility for them. For instance, in Canada, mostly children work earning lucre and for their school fees which help to make them aware of their responsibility. So that’s why they think children should work.
To sum up, I rigorously believe that children should get involved in paid work because they may get distracted from their study by work which creates several hindrances.
(Approximately 289 words)
(Submitted by – Sabby Multani)
Model Answer 8:
Child labour has significantly increased in developing countries over the last few years. Due to the high inflation, more people are susceptible to send their children to paid activities. Some people argue that children involvement in work could lead to severe problems. Others state that paid world could help enormously in developing skills, confidence and other essentials traits of professional lives. I believe that children involvement in work has dire consequences.
It is often seen that children are more opted towards bad activities, those start working in their childhood. They have to interact with various types of peoples in order to perform their daily job. These people can take advantage of their innocence by involving them in suspicious activities. Children have been rewarded against that, this increases their hunger for money and thus they become criminals.
However paid work plays a pivotal role in improving living conditions of peoples. Children start doing work in order to support their families financially. In recent years, life has become very difficult due to inflation. That is why the majority of poor people indulge their children in paid work. Furthermore, it could help immensely in their future. Learning skills open a new horizon of opportunities. In addition to this, individuals learn other essential skills such as teamwork, handling pressure situation and leadership. These skills could be beneficial for their future job.
It is not unusual that many children are dropped out from their schools because of their need to work and earn. The jobs done by children are often risky and unsuitable for health. The owners often offer a fewer wage to child labours and behave badly with them. This has a very detrimental effect on children’s psychology.
In conclusion, I believe that the disadvantages if paid work overweighs its advantages. The government should take necessary measures to eradicate this sin from society; youth are the future of any country and should not be deprived of their basic rights.
(Approximately 320 words)
(Submitted by – Fahad Sultan)