Why Is the ability to read and write more important today than in the past or why not?

IELTS Writing Task 2 with sample answer.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Is the ability to read and write more important today than in the past? Why or why not?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Sample Answer:
Illiteracy is considered to be curse in this modern era. This is because the ability to read and write plays a pivotal role in this information age. People, particularly in first world countries, have to demonstrate this ability in almost every step they make. In other words, literacy determines the living stand in the current epoch. On the contrary, people can lead a modest life without education in the past. That is why, there is not a single shred of doubt that the reading and writing ability is more crucial today than ever before.

It goes without saying that education has become fabric of modern society. That is to say that our society has been transformed into knowledge-based community. People with the ability to read and write can predict the future in a better way, which in turn helps them lead the society. They can become arbiter of the society determine what is socially acceptable.  On the other hand, these abilities did not necessarily need to lead their community in the yesteryears. An illiterate person can easily lead a society. A very good example here is Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). Although he was illiterate, he led his community successfully.

In addition, nowadays, literacy is the bedrock of our daily lives. Most of the jobs require writing and reading ability as necessary competence, and career conscious executives master these skills in order to have a distinguished career. Besides, due the advance of sophisticated technology, job opportunities in the labour market is shrinking to the illiterate workers day by day. The illiterate people cannot even be a farmer. This is because, global warming is causing climate change incessantly and a farmer consistently need to informed about the change. To do so, he have to have the ability of reading and sometimes writing to ask about information from the concerned agencies. While in the past, farmers did not require the ability to cultivate their lands. Similarly, the world we live in is an automated world. From home to workplace, everywhere we need to operate some kind of appliance or machine. So, people have to be literate to follow the instructions of these machines.

To wrap up, literacy is more important than in the past —- there is no denying that fact. The more ability to reading and writing people have, the more successful they will be in their chosen path. Therefore, everyone should get rid of the curse of illiteracy.