IELTS General Writing Task 2 — Practice Draft
Some people believe the aim of university education is to help graduates get better jobs. Others believe there are much wider benefits of university education for both individuals and society. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
A Discussion and Opinion Essay
with a Funnel Approach Introduction
In this day and age, few would deny the importance of the tertiary education in people's lives. And yet, its actual purpose is a matter of controversy. Over the last century, seemingly due to the industrial revolution's reverberations, the need for unskilled jobs have been plummeting almost steadily. And today, apparently after the dawn of the information age, never has the demand for highly skilled professionals been that prominent. This is often cited as a justification of the hypothesis that the main aim of university education is to boost career prospects.
Advocates of this point of view contend that the role played by work in people's lives is such that people have no option other than going to university. This belief seems to stem from the idea that people only attend university for monetary purposes; that is, if given the choice, most would opt for not going to the tertiary term whatsoever. And in a world where both degree and expertise are pivotal to survival, such a choice is a luxury only for the very few, they claim.
Albeit admitting to agree with this argument to some extent, I beg to differ that higher education is to merely increase job opportunities. From thinkers to artists, tertiary education allows the flourishing of a myriad of talents, many of which are not necessarily aiming at fueling the market, all of which are paramount to express the immense diversity of human nature. In fact, many may opt for broadening their knowledge for the sake of knowledge itself whilst others might seek deepening the mysteries of the mind in order to treat mentally ill patients. Either way, that these are far more noble purposes than just fueling the capitalist machine is more than overt.
