IELTS Writing Task 2 Education Insructions: In some countries, school subjects and course contents are decided by the authorities such as the government. Some people think that teachers should make the choices. To what extent do you agree or disagree? My essay: It can be seen in certain countries that the government decides school subjects and course contents. Some education experts hold the view that it should be better if teachers have the right to make those choices. In my opinion, contents in primary and secondary education or concerning vocational education should be decided by the government whilst teachers should be allowed to make choices in tertiary education. In terms of low-level or vocational education, government’s control on contents has many advantages. Since the aim of primary education is to make citizens literate and equip them with basic knowledge, different and personalized contents may not have much difference on a student’s later studying and career. On the contrary, it could increase the government’s budget on education without significant rewards. Besides, it may lead to parents’ concerns about whether teachers are qualified to make those choices, especially in some deprived areas. For vocational education, it is not necessary as well because the top priority of vocational education is to enable students to have a good command of certain skills. However, in tertiary or higher level education, I strongly recommend that teachers should have control over the contents. It’s also because of the aim. Tertiary education is aimed to educate students and equip them with something like critical thinking and creativity. Those things couldn’t be learnt from same textbooks. So if teachers can control the contents, they can teach that to students more easily. Apart from that, an individual student’s performance in certain fields is largely related to his teachers. It means that personalized contents would help him more than same and government-decided contents. In conclusion, a government should decide the contents in primary education and vocational education and lessen the control on tertiary education. In that way, the country can enjoy both high literate rate and lasting innovation in science.