Name : BRIDGET TAN SU TING

ID : 0318370

Module : English 1 [ENGL0105]

Session : January, 2014

PRE-WRITING

In some countries young people

have little leisure time and are

under a lot of pressure to work hard

Parental pressure

High expectations

Arrange too many tuition classes

Compare children with

Heavy education system

Heavy workload Difficulty in

concentrating Teachers don’t

pay attention to less academically-inclined students

Competition for university placement

Large number of students applying for top universities

Compete with highly-ranked competitors

In this modern era, the competitiveness of society, perceived similar to a rat

race, is increasing drastically due to everyone – mainly youngsters - being highly

obsessed in trying to excel themselves in various aspects such as academics as well

as sports activities. This is because they constantly want to be ahead of others and

stand an opportunity in getting a job, be it enjoyable or demanding. As a result,

young people in some countries face a lot of pressure to continuously work hard to

be one of the top achievers in their institutions. With this, they also lack free time to

indulge in leisure activities (Essayforum.com, 2014). As we all know, high achievers

are awarded with scholarships and are given the chance to enter better universities –

maybe even Ivy League. So, what causes them to be highly strung in their journey

towards success? The main causes of young people being pressured to work hard

are the heavy education system, parental pressure, and the competition for

university placement.

One of the factors as to why young people have minimal leisure time and are

greatly pressured to work hard is the heavy education system implemented

(ielts.StudyHorror.com, 2014). As a college student myself, I realised that most of my

time is dedicated to the mountainous pile of assignments given. On the other hand,

secondary school students not only find it hard to juggle academics and sports, but

they also try to fit tuition classes into their tight schedule along with their homework.

Sometimes it gets to a point where they are left with no choice but to complete their

homework in school itself, even with the distractions (chatters of classmates).

Although avoidable, it is not easy to evade these chit-chats as one person would find

it hard to control a crowd. Not only that, some teachers also don’t give adequate

attention to poorly-graded students during lessons. Due to the lack of attention paid

to them, they are forced to enrol for extra tuition classes. It is not because they can

afford the extra payment which some distinguish as unnecessary, but they are given

no other option if they want to improve their grades in order to succeed.

Next, parental pressure also contributes to the lack of leisure time and the

struggle young people face to achieve success (Essayforum.com, 2014), (Fog,

2014), (Testbig.com, 2012). Some parents have high expectations for their children

to excel with outstanding academic achievements and for them to have a successful

career in the future. This is why they exert unnecessary pressure on their children by

arranging extra tuition classes and forcing them to spend hours each day studying at

home. Some parents expect their children to advance in higher educations. Hence,

their children who find themselves in competence with their counterparts try to

increase their chances by over-studying. They study until late at night and wake up

early at dawn to continue. As a consequence, their leisure time is extremely

expressage and the pressure on them is considerable (Griffin, 2013). Most parents

also compare their children with their colleagues’ children. If the expectations are not

met, the child is given a lecture and probably a lesson to buck up on their studies.

This causes the young to be extremely stressed and eventually their health is

deteriorated.

Besides that, the level of competitiveness between each student intensifies

and brings upon a vast amount of pressure (Nurlela, 2012). Students with diverse

skills and soft skills go very far whereas students with just enough skills only last

throughout their institutional period. They are the ones who are obliged to more

hardships and to devote more of their time to improve. Thus, the young people face

the challenges of dealing with the high competitors who have the same aim of

possessing high achievements. Hence, students hardly find the time to rest as they

feel that it is more important to develop their skills in order to succeed. Lately, there

have been a large number of applicants applying for the best universities. The limited

number of accepted applications leads to an increase in pressure on students,

knowing that they have to work harder to be guaranteed a place in their desired

university.

To conclude, young people seldom find the leisure time to rest and are highly

pressured to work hard due to the implementation of the heavy education system,

parental pressure and the competition among counterparts for university placement

(Fog, 2014). To avoid this, youngsters need to practise proper time management.

They should complete assignments given within the time span and not procrastinate

until the very last minute. It is advisable to manage a schedule and jot down all

assignments accompanied with their respective due dates. This way, one can never

miss out on any assignments. Parents should show more likeness towards their

children and devote their time to their children so that they lead a balanced life with

equalised leisure time (English-test.net, 2014), (Testbig.com, 2012).

(798 words)

References:

[1] English-test.net. (2014). In some countries young people have little leisure time

and are under a lot of.... [Website] Retrieved from: http://www.english-

test.net/forum/ftopic54760.html

[2] Essayforum.com. (2014). Young people have little leisure time and work hard

with their studies_ielts task 2. [Website] Retrieved from:

http://www.essayforum.com/writing-feedback-3/young-people-have-little-leisure-time-

work-hard-studies-task-48091/

[3] Fog, R. (2014). In some countries the youth have little leisure time and are

under a lot of pressure. [Website] Retrieved from:

http://www.essayforum.com/writing-feedback-3/some-countries-youth-have-little-

leisure-time-under-lot-28230/

[4] Griffin, E. (2013). Term paper format: cause of having little leisure time.

[Website] Retrieved from: http://term-paper-format.blogspot.com/2013/05/cause-of-

having-little-leisure-time.html

[5] Nurlela, M. (2012). 'in some countries young people have little leisure time and

under a lot of pressure to work hard on their studies'. [Website] Retrieved from:

http://borumalau.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/in-some-contries-young-people-have-

little-leasure-time-and-under-a-lot-of-pressure-to-work-hard-on-their-studies/

[6] Ozagac, O. (2014). Cause and effect essay. [Website] Retrieved from:

http://www.buowl.boun.edu.tr/students/types%20of%20essays/Cause%20and

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[7] Testbig.com. (2012). Ielts essays | in some countries young people have little

leisure time and are under a lot of pressure to work hard in their studies. what do you

think are the causes of this? what solutions can you suggest?- may 2, 2012 |.

[Website] Retrieved from: http://www.testbig.com/ielts-essays/some-countries-

young-people-have-little-leisure-time-and-are-under-lot-pressure-work

[8] ielts.StudyHorror.com. (2014). Writing task 2 - study pressure for young people.

[Website] Retrieved from: http://ielts.studyhorror.com/writings/IELTS-Writing-Task-2-

Study-Pressure-For-Young-People/12 [Accessed: 15 Mar 2014].