Some people think that teachers should be responsible for teaching students to judge what is right and wrong to grow up as good members of society. Others say that teachers should only teach students academic subjects. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.
Sample Response
Whether educators should be responsible for teaching learners what is right and what is wrong is an ongoing debate with some claiming that it should be a primary responsibility of teachers while others opining that teaching academic lessons is their only responsibility. This essay shall explore both views and opine that teachers should teach academic subjects to learners while parents should take charge of their moral development.
The proponents of teaching ethical lessons to help learners become responsible adults in society believe that the true purpose of education goes beyond academic knowledge and successful careers. Since teachers are the moulder of young learners' character and future, they should also help them become better members of society. For instance, moral values, character education and soft skills have been slowly but gradually added to school curricula in many countries with the aim that teachers would focus on shaping pupils' ethics and morality in schools. If they were expected only to teach academic lessons, the authority would never have added those character and righteousness-building subjects.
On the other hand, those who believe that a teacher's role should be restricted to teaching academic subjects opine that parents are responsible to teach values and moral teaching to children. This is because students should learn important academic subjects in schools while developing good human qualities at home. They keep arguing that if educators focus on building young children's virtues, they would fail to teach other important academic skills to those learners. For instance, many schools already struggle to complete the academic syllabus within the prescribed time. If they are burdened with taking on children's morality-developing responsibilities, they would have to finish the academic calendar without completing the syllabus.
In my opinion, teachers should teach academic stuff while parents should shoulder the responsibility to develop their offspring's character and morality. This way, responsibilities would be shared and properly conducted.
To conclude, I think teachers should only focus on academic studies instead of teaching the learner about righteousness and wrongness. Our parents are better candidates for this responsibility.
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Use finite verb Original: opining Suggested revision: argue Why it matters: The coordinated clause requires a finite verb rather than a participle.
- 2. Use natural reporting verb Original: opine Suggested revision: argue Why it matters: Argue is more natural and precise for presenting a position in this context.
- 3. Match plural subject Original: moulder Suggested revision: moulders Why it matters: The plural subject teachers requires the plural complement moulders.
- 4. Remove redundancy Original: slowly but gradually Suggested revision: gradually Why it matters: Slowly and gradually convey the same meaning here.
- 5. Improve purpose structure Original: with the aim that teachers would focus Suggested revision: so that teachers can focus Why it matters: This clause clearly expresses the present purpose of adding the subjects.
- 6. Use plural authority Original: the authority would never Suggested revision: education authorities would never Why it matters: A general reference to decision-makers requires a plural or otherwise specified noun.
- 7. Use concise terminology Original: those character and righteousness-building subjects Suggested revision: those character-building subjects Why it matters: Character-building already conveys the intended moral-development meaning clearly.
- 8. Use correct preposition Original: responsible to teach Suggested revision: responsible for teaching Why it matters: Responsible is followed by for and a gerund when describing a duty.
- 9. Use parallel nouns Original: values and moral teaching Suggested revision: values and morals Why it matters: Morals is the parallel noun needed alongside values.
- 10. Avoid vague continuity Original: They keep arguing Suggested revision: They argue Why it matters: Keep wrongly suggests repeated argument without any established sequence.
- 11. Remove repetition Original: to those learners Suggested revision: Delete Why it matters: The phrase repeats the already clear reference to young children.
- 12. Correct collocation Original: calendar Suggested revision: year Why it matters: Schools finish an academic year; a calendar is a schedule or document.
Suggested Rewrites
- opining argue
- opine argue
- moulder moulders
- slowly but gradually gradually
- with the aim that teachers would focus so that teachers can focus
- the authority would never education authorities would never
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response’s strongest feature is its balanced, clearly signposted discussion and consistent opinion, with relevant reasoning for both views. Its main weakness is uneven language precision: several formal-sounding expressions are unnatural, and a few grammatical choices reduce polish despite consistently clear meaning. Prioritise natural academic collocations and tighter sentence-level accuracy, while adding slightly more nuanced justification for why parental responsibility should outweigh teachers’ role in moral education.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The essay discusses both positions, states a clear view, and supports each side, although the final preference could be justified more deeply.
Develop the comparative reasoning behind the opinion by explaining why parents are better placed than teachers to provide moral guidance.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument progresses clearly through well-defined paragraphs, with effective signposting and only slight repetition between the opinion and conclusion.
Integrate the personal evaluation more closely with the second main paragraph to avoid restating the same position in consecutive sections.
Lexical Resource
The response shows a good range of education-related vocabulary, but several word choices and collocations sound forced or imprecise.
Prefer natural academic expressions and avoid inflated wording when simpler terms convey the intended meaning more accurately.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentence forms are used with generally good control, though occasional article, complement, agreement, and noun-form errors occur.
Check verb complementation, singular-plural agreement, and article use in sentences containing extended noun phrases.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people think that teachers should be responsible for teaching students to judge what is right and wrong to grow up as good members of society. Others say that teachers should only teach students academic subjects. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.