Gre analytical Writing issue essay Topic 101

GRE Analytical Writing ISSUE Essay Topic - 200 
"It is often asserted that the purpose of education is to free the mind and the spirit. In reality, 
however, formal education tends to restrain our minds and spirits rather than set them free." 
GRE AWA Analytical Writing ISSUE Essay Sample 
Solution - 200 
A child learns whatever is taught to him by either his parents or his teachers. The knowledge 
being imparted to a child conforms to the facts and figures which have already been established. 
It is seldom seen that children are given the time or the space to explore their inner selves and 
free their minds. This is because the pressure of doing well in school in order to earn high grades 
is so much that children often have no option but to stick to their school books. When the same 
children grow up into adults and they are well settled in their careers, the formal education 
imparted to them plays on their minds all the time and they are unable to think outside the realms 
of formal education. Therefore, formal education that has been acquired over a period of time 
succeeds in restraining our minds and spirits instead of setting them free. 
The importance of learning in a formal classroom environment has assumed a great significance 
in the modern world because the grades that you get in your high school or college can determine 
how your future will shape up. Children do not have the freedom to learn aspects that interest 
them as they are under constant pressure from their parents to get good grades in school. 
Moreover, the children themselves are conscious of the performance of their peers in school and 
so they try their best to keep in step with their friends who may be doing better than them. The 
fear of failing to score the passing grade makes them concentrate on their studies. 
Even if students are able to secure good grades in school, the story does not end there. After 
completing high school, there is stiff competition for securing admissions to reputed professional 
courses and only a few students are able to join a program of study of their choice. This is 
because there are various standardized tests which test your competence in the field in which you 
wish to carry out your higher studies. If you want to succeed in a career of your choice, then it is 
essential for you to earn degrees that endorse your skills in the fields related to your career. 
Once you are settled in a career of your choice, you are again limited to utilizing the information 
gained from your formal education because it is this knowledge that will help you rise in the 
hierarchy of your career. Therefore, it is evident that the life of an individual constantly revolves 
around his formal education. A person's thinking ability is largely influenced by the formal 
education that he has received and this education restrains him from thinking otherwise, unless 
he does so by risking his career and a successful future. A person will have to make a substantial 
effort to tear himself away from the norms of formal education if he wants to free his mind. The 
rewards for doing well in your formal education are manifold and these rewards deprive people 
of the motivation to set their minds free. The end result is that people do not have the incentive to 

---

set their minds free as their minds are restrained by the formal education that has been imparted 
to them. 
In view of the above, it is evident that formal education assumes immense importance in the 
early years of life. The pressure exerted by the importance of formal education is such that there 
is little or no time left for anyone to allow their minds to be free and to think of something 
outside the realms of formal education. 

---