Sample TOEFL Agree/Disagree Essay – Respecting Teachers

The Question

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Students do not respect their teachers as much as they did in the past. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. Note:  This essay uses our new TOEFL essay templates.

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The Sample Essay

It is critically important that students learn as much as possible and thrive in all of their classes. Personally, I believe that young people do not have as much respect for their teachers as in the past. I feel this way for two reasons, which I will explore in the following essay.

To begin with, there are many more ways for students to learn nowadays, which means they are less reliant on teachers than in the past. A few years ago, children could only acquire new skills by going to school and attending classes, so they respected their teachers a lot. In contrast, now they can easily use technology to learn independently. My personal experience is a compelling illustration of this.  For the past five years, I have studied English almost every single day. Although my native language is Korean, I am able to easily communicate in English without feeling any anxiety.  I expand my vocabulary by using a smartphone application that teaches me new phrases twice per day, and I practice pronunciation by watching videos on the Internet.  Consequently, I feel like old-fashioned classes with a teacher are not as important as they used to be.  If I had tried to become proficient in English twenty years ago, I would have depended on a teacher and respected her a lot.

Furthermore, teachers are no longer strict, which means children don’t fear them at all. If teachers fail to discipline students when they misbehave, they do not feel obligated to respect them. This problem is very common nowadays. For instance, a few months ago my little brother used profanity when addressing his math teacher.  Surprisingly, he wasn’t punished for this terrible behavior. His teacher was afraid of how our parents would react to my brother being punished, so he just ignored it. Since then, my brother hasn’t respected that teacher at all, and is often quite rude. In addition, a lot of his classmates have picked up on the fact that they can get away with impolite behavior and have started acting up as well. Based on this experience, I strongly feel that young people do not respect educators like they did in the past.

In conclusion, I strongly feel that children do not respect their teachers as much as they used to. This is because teachers are not as essential as they were a few decades ago, and they are too nervous to enforce rules. (406 Words)