IELTS Writing Task 2

Band 8 model answer (~260 words)

Opinions differ as to whether university students should be free to choose any subject or should be restricted to fields deemed useful, such as science and technology. This essay will consider both positions before arguing that students should ultimately be allowed to follow their own interests.

Those who favour limiting choice to practical subjects point to the needs of the economy. Nations require engineers, doctors and computer scientists to remain competitive, and public money spent on higher education, they argue, should produce graduates who can fill these roles. From this perspective, funding a degree with poor employment prospects is a waste of scarce resources, both for the individual and the state.

On the other hand, supporters of free choice emphasise motivation and the wider value of knowledge. Students who study a subject they love tend to work harder and achieve more than those pushed into a field for purely economic reasons. Moreover, disciplines such as history, art and philosophy enrich society and develop the critical thinking that employers increasingly demand; a purely technical workforce would be intellectually poorer.

In my view, while the economic argument has merit, the right to choose one's own path is more important. Predicting which skills the future will need is notoriously difficult, and forcing young people into unwanted subjects is likely to produce demotivated graduates rather than productive ones.

In conclusion, although society clearly benefits from graduates in useful fields, I believe universities should allow students to study whatever genuinely inspires them, as passion and breadth of knowledge ultimately serve society best.