WRITING TASK 2 You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Some people think that schools are too competitive and that this has a negative impact on children. Others believe the competitive environment encourages children to achieve. Discuss both these views and give your opinion. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.

While

failure is the mother of success, competition must be the father of improvement. In order to encourage

students

to improve, schools are getting more competitive than ever before. Some laud its creation of a learning environment that encourages achievement;

however

, I intend to argue that

this

competitive atmosphere is detrimental. In

this

essay, I will explore the rationale of both points of belief and proffer the justification for my own viewpoint. First of all, it is an undeniable fact that better academic results are the end product of a competitive learning environment. Seeing their classmates getting compliments and certificates,

students

are motivated to accomplish the same academic achievement. Indeed, they will dedicate more

time

and effort to studying.

Although

, in return, schoolers may have better school performance, since investing more

time

and effort to study is the only key to success, they are putting their health at risk. Spending more

time

for revision means less

time

is spent on leisure and physical activities which puts schoolers at a higher risk of having health problems,

such

as obesity. Even more disturbing, though, is the mental health problem that they might get. One point that I believe to be absolutely pivotal is that the stress

students

will get from the competitive environment is enormous. Pupils with lower academic performance might

also

want to try the taste of achievement;

however

, they especially those with special education needs, are lost at the starting line. No matter how much

time

and leisure they sacrificed, they still couldn't get the results they expected which pushes these

students

into corners. One particularly salient example of

this

is the

students

in Hong Kong.

As a result

of having a highly competitive education system, at least one student commits suicide every month. By way of conclusion,

although

competitions might motivate pupils to achieve better results, I once again reaffirm my position that the education system, nowadays, has put too much stress on schoolers which is detrimental to them physically and psychologically.