IELTS Writing Task 2 with sample answer.
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
Individual greed and selfishness has been the basis of the modern society. Some people think that we must return to the older and more traditional values of respect for the family and the local community in order to build a better world to live in.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and give any relevant example or experience you might have to support your answer.
Write at least 250 words.
Model Answer:
Modernity has lost its moral compass with society plagued by avarice and egoism. In modern society, everything is judged by the money and owing things. The more you have, the more successful you are. Consequently, people are racing with each other in which there is no place for common interest. This modern attitude of self-interest has ruined the traditional, shared values and left people feeling a deep sense of despair. That is why, I agree with the given view that we must retrace the golden times when we valued traditions and respected the family and community so that we can build a happier world and a happier tomorrow.
We live in a world where selfishness and excessive desire is pervaded everywhere. Everybody is competing with each other in order to please himself with material acquisitions and possessions. There is nothing wrong with acquiring wealth enough but there is always a pressure on people to go for more and more and as a result we have no time for family and friends. Each and everybody is busy in his own thirst for more. So, both the individual and the society are being affected by this greedy psychic pattern. For example, since the parents cannot spend quality time with their children due to their busy life, children are very often deprived from love and affection of their parents. As a result, they cannot learn ethics properly from their parents that results in anti-social behavior, violence, binge-drinking, bullying, and so on. To add to it, when greed and individualism becomes the cornerstone of the society, it contributes to the growing gulf between the rich and poor.
In contrast, life in the past was simpler and happier. Everybody love and respected each other. The elder is respected by the younger and the younger is loved by the elder. Not only the older members of the family but also members of the community looked after the children and their advice was valued. Marriage was deemed as the core institution of the society that the divorce somewhat unknown to them. In addition, society was seemed like a big family that everybody knows each. Everyone shared each other weal and woe. They lived for each other that sharpened man’s feelings of sympathy, and so bred notions of obligation and consideration. Thus, the values of respect for family and society glued everybody that led a happy life.
To recapitulate, living in this society of consumer culture, we are all being succumbing to the greed that is fueling conflict, inequality, and poverty. From what has been discussed above it can be said easily that the traditional value-based society can be the best remedy for this suffocating world and make a heaven like world to live in. since we cannot return from the computer-based automated world to the manual world but we can definitely revert to these traditional values to try to create a new society which has both material wealth and prosperity, and respect for the family and community as well.