Some children can learn more efficiently by watching TV. Therefore, children should watch regular TV

Watching TV and learning effectiveness

Some children can learn more efficiently by watching TV. Therefore, children should watch TV regularly both in school and at home. Do you agree or disagree?

Some students find it more efficient to retain and understand concepts by watching TV. However, I do not believe this is enough to validate and encourage this habit among all children both at home and at school.

On the one hand, children are more captivated and engaged by the colourful pictures and sounds on the television. This is especially true for kids suffering from learning disabilities as they are more susceptible to learn shapes, sizes and alphabets presented in an animated manner rather than through textbooks. The characters and hosts on TV shows are very friendly and have the ability to make studying fun through the use of various props and light and sound effects.

On the hand, young students are also very easily distracted and influenced. For instance, if they are allowed to watch TV, they might keep changing channels and watch different shows instead of studying. Furthermore, it is not always possible to be supervised at home. This may lead to children watching some violent or adult shows which can have very severe impact on their mental health and personality if not depicted in the correct manner.

To give an example, a crime TV show in India which was supposed to warn teenagers on how to protect themselves against various petty crimes had a complete opposite effect. The police caught various juvenile children committing thefts and robberies who revealed they got the idea from that television show. Therefore, this proves how damaging TV can be due to the gullible nature of children.

In conclusion while there are definitely children who greatly benefit from watching TV, its use needs to be supervised and all children should definitely not be given regular access to TV both at school and at home.

Whenever you see the word OR in a prompt, that means this is a single opinion discussion. You cannot score well in the C&C section once you use a C/C or A/D format for your discussion. The word OR indicates a choice must be made regarding your opinion. You cannot say that you disagree with the statement and then go into a comparative discussion of the pros and cons of the presentation in individual paragraph form. If you want to use a C/C format for this type of prompt you should follow the format below to get around the single opinion requirement per paragraph. Your sentences should be composed of:

- Topic sentence (pro topic)
- Reason why you believe this is an incorrect assumption
- An example that proves your reason
- Additional supporting evidence based on your incorrect assumption reason
- Transition sentence

The idea behind this discussion is to prove that you are on the correct side or that your opinion is valid. You can do that and still avoid the C/C discussion using the suggested format above. This will also help your essay remain on point by providing a thoroughly developed discussion focused on the C&C requirements of the paragraph. The only way to properly discuss this topic is to have the writer support and prove his opinion. The examiner will not judge you on the validity of your opinion, just the way that you defend it in clear, understandable English.