Band 7+: Schools are spending more time teaching traditional subjects such as history. Some people think they should rather spend more time in teaching skills that can help students find a job. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.

Conventional subjects such as history have been taught for long hours, however, a number of people believe that students should have more time to learn about skills that are beneficial for their work career. This essay supports this point of view, to reduce the gap between academic knowledge and job requirements after graduation, and to prepare them for the competitive job market.

Firstly, one of the primary reasons to teach pupils’ work skills is to prepare them to meet the needs of professional life. This is to say that minimizing the monumental difference between the theoretical knowledge in their academic life for 16 or 17 years and the practical requirements that they have no idea about. For example, thousands of students graduate with basic knowledge about math, science, or history, when applying for a job they struggle to find a suitable job that is parallel to their abilities and may experience negative feelings about their potential. Therefore, fostering the notion of integrating modern subjects to teach work skills in the education system is mandatory to make students ready for their future life.

Additionally, the job market is highly competitive and requires highly skilled employees with some experience. To explain, large corporations have limited job offers for persons with specific criteria to hire them, which makes searching for a suitable job with an accepted salary challenging. For instance, if a job applicant with high grades and no practical skills in his CV and another one has basic skills for working but has lower results in school subjects, the job vacancy would be in favour of the last one. This means we should guide our students from an early age to be prepared for practical life by teaching them the required tools for a better career.

In conclusion, although teaching standard school subjects is important, professional qualifications should also be introduced in the school years to decrease the difference between the required knowledge before and after graduation and to cope with the competition in the job market.