Band 6+: Write about the following topic: Some people say that in all levels of education, from primary schools to universities, too much time is spent on learning facts and not enough on learning practical skills. 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.

Be it in school or in college, the amount of time spent in theories is never equivalent to that of practical implementations. I totally agree that in all levels of academia, one spends more time in grasping the theories and less time in practical concepts.

The proportion of time utilised for understanding the facts is usually high among the scholars. In educational institutions, out of 5 working days per week, students allot nearly 4.5 days in studying the concepts of different subjects. The teachers explain the theories during the class and learners are supposed to memorise the respective lessons post to the class. The monthly exams conducted for the learners are purely based on theories and are written tests. So, the pupils focus more on theory concepts and reserve more time in learning those. For example, if we consider the subject named “Engineering Graphics”, the engineering students’ study timing for this course lasts nearly 120 hours in getting the grip of the foundation.

On the contrary, duration scheduled for earning practical knowledge is very low. Every month, nearly 2 to 3 hours are allotted for implementation of the facts. The number of experimental use cases is limited. The weightage of marks from experimental exam is also low. Hence the scholars tend to schedule less period for trying out the practical learnings. For example, in St.Peter’s University, a famous university in Glasgow, the proportion of hands-on test’s score in the main exam is only 5%

To conclude, be it any stage of schooling, the span of duration parked for reading the lessons from the defined books is lengthier than that of trying different hands-on.