Punishment Is Necessary To Help Children Learn The Difference Between Right And Wrong | Band 9 IELTS Essay Sample

It is important for children to learn the difference between right and wrong at an early age. Punishment is necessary to help them learn this distinction. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion? What sort of punishment should parents and teachers be allowed to use to teach good behaviour to children?

Here is a band 9 IELTS essay on this topic submitted by one of our students. Need help with writing? Get your writing samples corrected by me.

Band 9 IELTS essay sample

Children’s behaviour and character almost always reflect what they have been taught by their parents and teachers. Since a person’s character is formed during their childhood, it is important for children to learn the difference between right. Many people opine that punishment is necessary for children to learn appropriate behaviour and values. I agree with this opinion to a great extent.

One of the reasons to punish a child when they do something wrong is to make them aware of the immoral act right away. When they are punished they will realize that their act was unacceptable and this will deter them from repeating the same offence. For example, a child uttering foul language or bullying others, if immediately reprimanded, is less likely to attempt this misbehaviour again.

As for the forms of punishments, in my opinion, parents and teachers should resort to only mild punishments. For example, at school, teachers can ask a child to stand outside the classroom. At home, parents can stop the child from watching their favourite TV show if they do not complete their homework or eat healthy food. Sometimes, an emotional punishment is even more helpful. For instance, parents can stop talking to their child for a while if they do something really bad.

Another way of punishing is to instil in children the fear of loss. Some children are not afraid of getting beaten, but they will definitely not want to lose something dear to them. Parents, for example, can stop giving them their pocket money or prevent them from playing with their pets or friends if they misbehave.

In conclusion, I feel that some sort of punishment is essential to guide the children about the difference between good and bad. However, at the same time, it should be ensured that harsh forms of corporal punishment such as beating or punching are not employed.

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Manjusha Nambiar

Hi, I'm Manjusha. This is my blog where I give IELTS preparation tips.

6 Responses

  1. Teaching difference between right and wrong is one of the most important duties of any parent as this will help them become a good member of society. Punishment is one way of teaching this important lesson but I believe this method is only partially effective as there are other methods parents can adopt to help children differentiate between good and bad in life.
    Punishment can, undoubtedly, teach children how to behave well in class or at home. Teachers can send misbehaved students to detention or they can also lower their grades on basis of their bad behavior in school. Parents can also use punishments as means of teaching good behavior. For example, they can ground their children or restrict the use of gaming devices or internet. Children will surely learn the consequences of their wrong actions but it will fail to teach them the moral side of this lesson.
    Punishment approach comes with some inherent limits. Children will only behave only because of the fear of being caught and being punished. They can still continue bad behavior when they are outside school or home where they are not being monitored. It would be much more effective to teach children about moral values by explaining to them that how their bad actions can hurt someone else’s feelings. Every time a child has done something wrong, he should be described the effects of his action to others. Parents can portray to be a good role model at home. Teachers can arrange counselling to convey such message to students at schools. This will help children learn the true meaning of being a good person without the fear of punishment.
    In my opinion, punishment can only partially serve the purpose. In order to teach good behavior to children, parents and teachers need to explain the impact of one’s bad actions on other members of the society.

  2. princy says:

    Some people believe that punishment is necessary for children to learn the difference between right and wrong at an early age. I largely agree with the statement and my inclination would be justified in the ensuing paragraphs.
    The first and foremost point to support my view is that punishment is universal because when crimes are performed then criminals are given the sentences based on it. This is done so that people either avoid doing crime or to prevent the public from criminals. So children should be punished for their wrong deeds then only they will become a good human being. This helps them to understand what is right for them so that they avoid doing wrong things in later life.
    Furthermore, there are various types of punishment which are followed by parents and teachers to teach good behaviour to students. But, punishment should be given in such a way that children get to learn from it. For example, punishments like, cleaning the community, giving extra assignments or planting trees helps them to become a good person by learning from their mistakes. Additionally, parents can also give punishments such as cutting down the TV time, play hours or pocket money so that they avoid doing it again. At the same time, they should be rewarded when they do good things because that will motivate them to do more of it.
    To conclude, in my opinion, such actions are taken for the betterment of the child. So it is the solemn duty of both parents and teachers to help and guide them to become a compassionate human being.

  3. Ada says:

    Task 2-1

    I agree with the the idea mentioned in the topic. Most children at an early age are confused about right and wrong things in the world. So we, adult people, must help children to figure out these issues more easily.
    The difference between wrong and right would be difficult for children. In this way, we have to teach them how to face these things. To illustrate my cousin is seven years old sometimes she comes to my home and spends her time with me, but periodically she does not have a good relationship with her friends because she thinks they are rude and foul-mouthed with her.
    She asked me what can i do to make them better?!
    I remember my childhood experience when my dad instructs me on how to Behave with people who treated me badly and they don’t want to have me in their group.
    So I told her: you can be nice to them like Luqman, A man profits more by the sight of an idiot.
    Do anything you think is reasonable. Sometimes we need to do the opposite of what people accomplish. Also, we can praise them for the good work they have done!
    By the way, I do not agree with the punishment because it could make children lazy and that work overtime in worse conditions. For instance, once my niece secretly took one of my belongings that was very important to me without permission and lied about it. All I could do was talk to her so that she wouldn’t do it again when she is getting older. and i did something to stop her being lazy about that.!
    She faced the results and consequences of what she had done!
    Generally, punishment is not the best thing to do. The most important thing is to talk about their behavior and face the effects of the wrong side of their work.

    • Manjusha Nambiar says:

      This is not really how you should write an IELTS essay. Grammar wasn’t bad, but the tone and style of this essay was not appropriate. Read the model answer for this topic. This seems band 6 to me.

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