Televisual media has become a pervasive force in the lives of families around the world today.  Yet, a central question remains regarding whether watching television is harmful or beneficial for children.  An analysis of this question reveals that television programs present three major concerns in the case of children, including depictions of violence, the use of profane language, and the representation of poor moral role models.

Television programs that portray violence are a paramount concern for parents nowadays.  Recent research has shown that children may commit acts of violence because they wish to emulate the behavior that they see on television.  This is especially true when violent acts are committed by well-known action “heroes.”  In addition, television programs show cartoon figures, as well as actors, committing violent acts.  Using comic situations to depict violent themes causes further problems with the way in which young people view violence.

Television programs that contain profane or disrespectful language also worry parents with young children.  Because censorship laws have relaxed over the past few decades, it has become very common for television programs of each and every kind to show characters expressing impolite, rude, and insulting utterances to one another.  Bearing resemblance to the case of portrayals of violence, children unfortunately often try to imitate these actions they watch on their television screens.

Finally, some parents are upset about the moral behavior depicted on television.  As they struggle to teach their children moral and ethical values, parents might despair about the lack of morals and ethics represented in some of the so-called role models on television.  For instance, certain characters not only have no remorse for their immoral actions, but also frequently go unpunished by larger society.

Because of these factors, many parents believe that television programs send their youth the wrong kinds of messages. The emulation of this poor behavior by their children is something they wish to avoid at all costs, and they have accordingly decided to ban television in their households for these reasons.

SAMPLE ESSAY 1 COMMENTS:

The essay above is high level for four main reasons:

1)  It demonstrates excellent topic development.  Each paragraph contains reasons and examples to support the student's point of view.

2)  It is well organized.  Notice the words and phrases in red, which the student uses to make the essay flow well.

3)  The essay is grammatically correct.  Notice that opinion essays usually require verbs in the simple present or present perfect tenses.  These tenses are needed because you will be asked to write about a topic of recent importance.

4)  The essay contains high-level academic vocabulary.  Please notice the words in blue.  Try to learn these words if you don't know them already!

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