Model Essay 

You have watched a documentary about young children in poor areas who leave
school to work. Your English teacher has asked you to write an essay.
Write an essay using all the notes and give reasons for your point of view.

Teenagers are dropping out of school to find a job. How can we help them to continue
their education?
Notes
Write about:
 family problems
 financial difficulties
 …………… (your own idea)
 
Dropping out of school early in order to work is a major problem faced by many
children, especially from lesser privileged backgrounds. These days an education is
essential if we are to be competitive in an ever more complex and demanding job
market. There can be many reasons why children choose to drop out of school, from
problems at home, to financial difficulties to lack of faith in the educational system. 
This essay will explore these issues and attempt to put forward some solutions that
may alleviate these problems and help poorer children continue their education for as
long as possible. 
 
One problem that may be motivating kids from poorer backgrounds to drop out of
school are issues faced in the home with their family.  Here they may feel that the only
solution available to them is to start working in order to earn enough money to be able
to move out and become independent. A solution to this may be for governments to
step in and provide shelters to kids from abusive households.  This would mean that
kids had somewhere safe and free to stay while being able to continue their studies. 
They might not even need to stay away for long periods of time but just enough time to
allow whatever conflict was happening at home to cool off. 

Another issue that may be motivating students to drop out of school to find a job are
financial hardships.  Here, some children may be forced to choose between having a
roof over their head or getting an education.  Once again we might ask that the
government step in to do more to help children from poorer backgrounds.  This can
take the form of stable government housing for poorer families as well as free school
meals of decent quality. If the government steps in to provide housing and at least one
decent meal in the child’s day, this has already gone a long way in covering a family’s
fixed costs and therefore significantly reduced the likelihood that a child may feel
pressured to abandon their education prematurely in order to help the family make
ends meet. 

One final reason why children may be dropping out of school earlier than they should to
start working is a perceived lack of utility in what and how they are studying.  This is
particularly true in wealthier countries where much of the syllabus is outdated and
geared towards educating kids for a far more industrial job market than exists currently.
Instead of endless exams and dull assignments designed to test the students’ basic
memorisation skills and to instill, above all, obedience, schools could reengineer their
curricula to focus more on self-discovery, problem-solving and originality. These forms
of thinking are essential to foster the kinds of skills our society needs in the information
era, as well as being far more interesting and fulfilling. 

To conclude, there are many reasons why a child might choose to leave their education
prematurely to look for a job but there are all equally as many good reasons and ways
to keep them in education for a long enough period of time that might complete their
education and therefore be better prepare for the challenging world that awaits them.