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Paper 1
Section C. Essay
Question
Should parents be held responsible for their children’s misdeeds?
Score: 27 [满分30]
A story once told of an old woman visiting her son who was in jail. The son spat on his mother and accused her of being the instigator of his terrible crimes; the mother exclaimed that she was wronged by the son because she had not done anything except indulging his every whim. “It is exactly your indulgence that landed me in this quagmire!” the son cried, “for if you stop me before I make any wrong move, instead of turning a blind eye to my ever-wilder misdeeds, I would not have gone so stray on this dark path!” This story points to the heavy responsibility parents have for their children’s education – especially that on morality and law – because without proper guidance, children may fall into the trap of committing wrongful acts, and even horrible crimes. Since parents’ instructions play such a crucial role in directing their children to the right path, parents should be held accountable for their failure in doing so – that is, to be held responsible for their children’s wrongs. Yet some may argue that children are themselves individuals with free choices to decide their action, and their active will and agency determine their courses – as such, parents’ education is but a minor factor in children’s right or wrong acts, and therefore it is not parents who should shoulder main responsibility for their children’s misdeeds but children themselves.
It is understandable why some may want to explain away the responsibility parents are expected to take for their children’s misdeeds. Indeed, children are free individuals who are often outside their parents’ control – they are free to think, speak and act as they wish, independent of their parents’ wishes. Some may argue that even if parents have actually made the effort to properly guide their children to act in a moral and righteous way, children themselves can rebel against what they are taught, and act in the opposite manner. Try as they may to restrain their children from breaking social conventions or laws, parents may not be able to hold a tight control over their children at all times – children may escape their notice and commit wrongs. This is especially so if children share an unhealthy, antagonistic relationship with their parents – these children are often inherently resistant towards their parents’ instructions– which means they usually act in adverse to what they are told just to show their disobedience without seriously considering the merits of such advice. Given that parents could do little to direct their children’s actions, and even the best moral education may fail in bringing about rightful deeds, parents should not be held accountable for their children’s own evils.
Yet it is too simplistic to dismiss the responsibility of parents in their children’s wrongs completely, because parents do play an important, if not fundamental, role in shaping their children’s moral compass and legal knowledge. It is true that children are free individuals with thoughts of their own which consequently direct their action; but parents’ responsibility in guiding those thoughts, especially in children’s formative years, is irreplaceable.
Undoubtedly, parents should be held responsible for children’s moral education. Confucius, the famed Chinese sage, has once said: “it is the fault of the father if the son does not turn out well because he has not received proper education.” Indeed, if schools and other education institutions have taken over the role of teaching children academic knowledge and career skills, and even integrated moral education into the syllabus, parents are still the major educators of their children. This is because parents spend the largest amount of time with their children, especially pre-school, and such a wealth of quality time presents ample opportunities for them to impart crucial social and moral knowledge to shape their children’s morality. Psychology research has time and again indicated the pivotal role early years play in formation of children’s basic knowledge of the society and themselves, which affirms parents’ huge responsibility in building a firm foundation of moral rectitude and instilling an impeccable sense of righteousness in their children from their very young age. If parents can tirelessly correct children’s mistakes and nurture right habits in their children from childhood, children would likely grow into morally-right adults that avert crimes. Conversely, if parents fail to teach children what is right and what is wrong, children would not be prone to tell the difference between moral and immoral acts and therefore become individuals in danger of committing wrongful deeds. In fact, not only do parents hold responsibility for telling children the distinction between the morally rightful and the morally questionable, they are all the more useful in teaching moral lessons by example. If parents can lead their children in doing good things, such as helping the elderly and paying full fees even without supervision, they can show children what act is to be followed – as such, children can simply learn by emulating their moral models. On the other hand, if parents fail to act morally themselves, often stealing from others, gambling or cursing, it is impossible to expect their children to form the right impressions of morality. Naturally, they would mimic their parents and leave behind a trail of misdeeds. Henceforth, parents should shoulder responsibility if their children make mistakes because they fail to educate them in the right way.
To give an example, George Washington had once accidentally felled the cherry tree that his father cherished. After much internal struggle, he decided to tell his father the truth despite the latter’s anger. Yet instead of remaining in rage and punishing his child, the elder Washington suppressed his anger and praised his son for his honesty. It was Washington’s tolerance, and his regard for integrity, that taught George the value of being genuine and honest. Such moral education effectively shaped George’s personality and enabled him to win the hearts of men who follow him – eventually he became the first President of the United States. Imagine the alternative direction history might go – if the elder Washington failed to recognise young George’s moral courage in admitting his misdeed, the child might think that honesty is wrong – because it yields no benefits. Then the child would grow up thinking that hiding the truth for his own benefits is the preferred course and become just a selfish, even deceptive individual fitting for jail. It is the morality of the parent (in this case the elder Washington) that changes the history of USA and even that of humankind – for without such a clear sense of moral righteousness and a deep appreciation for virtuous values such as honesty and bravery in the parent, the child would not have developed similar attachments to right values and we might have a criminal instead of a great man.
To conclude, free as children may be in charting their own life and making decisions that are right or wrong, parents still play a huge role in shaping their moral perspectives which underline all those decisions. Should parents fail in injecting a sense of moral rightfulness in their children, children are prone to stray in their life. Parents are not expected to take full responsibility for the misdeeds which are after all committed by their children at their own active will, but at the same time, they cannot escape scrutiny if we were to analyse the underlying factors behind children’s moral development.
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老师评语
Although you did not adopt the PEEL method in presenting your ideas, you have done great work in organising your points intotightly-structured paragraphs which allow your readers to follow the flow of arguments.
It’s preferable to see more specific examples, but your strong logic and effective arguments complement the lack of example.
You use a wide range of vocabulary adeptly, which enriches your logical reasoning.
Overall, good job!
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