Children today find it difficult to concentrate or pay attention at school

IELTS Writing Task 2 with sample answer.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Many children today find it difficult to concentrate or pay attention at school. What could you think are the main causes? What are the possible solutions?

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

You should write at least 250 words.


Sample Answer:
It seemed that many children have difficulties with focusing and paying attention at school. This is because our modern lifestyle and the role it plays in the lifestyle of today’s kid. That is to say that the children live in a world that moves faster than ever before. They are exposed to cutting-edge technologies, more media images, faster sound bites, and are able to use multiple media outlets simultaneously. Thereby, they can no longer pay attention to a particular task for long time.

There is not a single shade of doubt that the world of today’s kids is fast-paced and ever-changing. It jumps around from sound to sound, image to image, thought to thought, never lingering long in one idea or thought. There is no break in the stream of ideas, images, sounds, or conversations. There is no breathing moment. In the classroom where the kids are expected to sit still and concentrate on a single thought, matter, person, or image for a long stretch of time is a major downshift for the children. For instance, many recent studies revealed that 70 percent kids, who are exposed to more technology, have difficulties with concentrating or paying attention. This is really an awfully high number.

Attention has a highly malleable quality and most directly induced by the atmosphere in which it is used. That is why, it is parents’ responsibility to ensure a conducive environment so that the children can practice how to pay attention. To do so, parents should establish a routine. When kids know that they are expected spend at least 30 minutes after getting home from school on studying, school projects or homework, they are less likely to be distracted by all the things they feel more interest. Besides, parents should make sure that their kids know when they are expected to be still and quiet. Apart from that, clearing television, laptop, smart phone and other distractions out of the room is an effective way to reinforce kids’ attention.

To sum up, the fast-paced lifestyle is a double-edged sword as it has both pros and cons. The bottom line of my argument is that parents should properly handle their children that when to stop them and when to set them free.