Question

Some people believe that children are given too much free time. They feel that this time should be used to do more school work. How do you think children should spend their free time?

Model Answer

In general, children these days are required to do fewer chores than in the past and as a result have more free time. Some people feel that this time should be utilised for school work while other believe it should be up to the child to decide what they do. Personally, I believe that forcing young children to study more is generally counterproductive as there are limits on how much they can learn.

The common sense belief is that the more homework a child does the better. This would seem to make sense as generally the more time you dedicate to something, the better you become. So, if a child spends many hours at home completing quadratic equations then they are likely to ace the test the following week. Adherents of this view would likely feel that time dedicated to relaxing is wasted and could be put to more productive use.

Research, however, has shown that school work is subject to a law of diminishing returns. There is a finite amount of information that a child's brain can absorb in a short amount of time. Rather than doing schoolwork, children benefit more from engaging in activities they enjoy. Free time activities such as playing video games can nourish a child's imagination and have been shown to help with their overall cognitive and social development.

In conclusion, I believe children should spend their free time doing activities that they enjoy as these can be beneficial in ways school work cannot.

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