Essay topic:
With the pressures on today's young people to succeed academically, some people believe that non-academic subjects at school (eg: physical education and cookery) should be removed from the syllabus so that children can concentrate wholly on academic subjects.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
The job market today is becoming more and more competitive. This has led some to believe that students must devote their entire energy in preparing themselves for a successful career. Hard-line views have emerged that call for the abolishment of non-academic subjects at school. In this essay, these views will be briefly explored for further analysis.
Certain groups of concerned parents are beginning to advocate for the removal of non-academic subjects from the school curriculum. These subjects include physical education, cookery, as well as arts and crafts. It is perceived that these subjects take away time from an already busy school curriculum that could be further devoted to academic study. It can be argued that decreased time for academics may decrease the knowledge base required for tertiary education such as university or college. A decreased knowledge base could translate into decreased academic performance, which could put a scholar at a disadvantage in landing the appropriate certifications and experience for jobs in highly competitive fields.
However, in my opinion, this is a very narrow-minded approach. The reality is that the job market looks not only for academics, but for well-rounded individuals. Exposure to non-academic areas of life, such as fitness and crafts, are very important in distinguishing candidates in the job market. Additionally, it enables students to pick up skills that improve their quality of life. For example, exposure to physical education enables individuals to adequately make use of gym equipment and to help them eat healthy. Similarly, arts and crafts can enable one to nurture creativity, which may come in handy for fields in design, architecture, and programming.
In conclusion, both academic and non-academic subjects are an integral part of one's education. They are not mutually exclusive when it comes to the job market. Adequate exposure to both is necessary to ensure competitiveness after graduation.
Full essay evaluations
Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 7.5 out of 9
Category: Very Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 18 15
No. of Words: 305 350
No. of Characters: 1635 1500
No. of Different Words: 177 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.179 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.361 4.6
Word Length SD: 3.005 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 128 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 105 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 79 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 53 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 16.944 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 5.652 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.5 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.288 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.489 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.05 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 4 5
Score: 7.5 out of 9
Category: Very Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 18 15
No. of Words: 305 350
No. of Characters: 1635 1500
No. of Different Words: 177 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.179 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.361 4.6
Word Length SD: 3.005 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 128 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 105 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 79 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 53 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 16.944 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 5.652 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.5 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.288 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.489 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.05 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 4 5