Children should only start formal education after being graduated from an informal school

Children's education question

"In some countries it is thought advisable that children begin formal education at four years old, while in other they do not have to start school until they are seven or eight. How far do you agree with either of these views?"

Children´s education is a long-term discussion among pedagogues and parents. For some, informal tuition plays an important role at children development, more than its formal aspects. One of the most argued topics from that contest is the age that schooling should begin. In my opinion I disagree with early formal education but I also believe that late formal education does not fit into our modern life.

At an early age, our brain works as a sponge, absorbing any information from the environment that surround us. This is the time when children should live a large number of experiences by themselves, always oriented by adults. Those experiences are what will impact later their´s formation and character. Children are born to play and learn by having fun with their peers. Until my 7th birthday I had never walked into a kindergarten and all my knowledges at that age came from my own experiences with my little friends and family. My parents have always told me that I loved to discover new things and listen to their stories.

In some countries, parents have become encouraged to start their' s children formal education earlier, by the age of four. This is a world tendency that have no turn back. Our modern life has increased the competitiveness among person and formal education plays a very important aspect in that game. Today's market labor has set high standards for professionals who should carry as many higher education degrees as possible. This exigency leaves no option then to force kids to start school before their parents did. A negative point of this trend is that today´s kids will have short childhood with an unmeasurable harm to the society and themselves in the future.

To conclude, besides being part of that modern society which value money and work more than anything, I defend the idea that children should only start formal education after being graduated from informal schools, what happens around the age of seven.

Juliano, the essay prompt uses the word "either" in the question response instruction. Therefore, you cannot discuss both points of view in the essay. The term either is used to indicate alternative responses. That means you can only use one of the two. It's either you agree that children should begin formal education at the age of 4 or, you agree that they should start schooling at the age of 7 or 8. You can't sit on the fence and say you see the benefits of both or that you disagree with early format education because the keyword in the instruction you were given is "agree". Therefore, you cannot "disagree" as that is not provided as an option.

This is a variation of the "extent" essay and as such, requires you to support only one given opinion with regards to which age to start school. Defend it with applicable reasons. Do not discuss the other option because this is not a comparison essay.

Based on the way that you created your own prompt to respond to, you would fail in the TA section and receive a score of 1 due to an unrelated response. A prompt deviation is always the worst kind of mistake that a student can make because this means you totally misunderstood the question. This proves that you are not capable of understanding an English discussion and also, are unable to follow English based instructions. Once you fail the TA section, it stands to reason that you will not be scored highly for the rest of the criteria and as such, could end up getting a score that is nowhere near a passing score. Your tendency will be to fail the test at this point.

More important than understanding what the discussion topic is, you are also scored on your ability to understand the given discussion instruction. You need to depict your English comprehension abilities in a positive manner. Fail to do that and you will risk failing the whole test.