Should I stick to maths?

Reading through some of the recent Medium posts, I was encouraged to experiment with my writing — perhaps stray a little from the well worn path.

Added to that, our maths and English tuition business continues to do well and — as we’re increasingly focussed on national exams — it’s all hands on deck to encourage students to achieve good grades. While most of the time I’m working through quadratics, bar charts, or something else … just occasionally there’s a chance to get involved in a language question.

So here goes. And I’m keen to get your thoughts. It’s an opinion piece and appeared on one of the 2020 exams, with a target time of 45 minutes:

‘People have become obsessed with travelling ever further and faster. However, travel is expensive, dangerous, damaging and a foolish waste of time!’ Write an article for a news website in which you argue your point of view on this statement.

‘Long haul or local?

It seems that there are higher expectations with regards to travelling. In the past a Saturday trip to the seaside was the highlight of the long summer holidays — excitement built for weeks, packed cases stood ready, long lost buckets and spades found again.

But now — perhaps fuelled by social media and the cheap package holiday boom of recent years — a new horizon beckons. Why visit Filey when you can jet to Florida? Be satisfied with Scarborough, when Singapore is only a flight away?

It has become easy to share experiences and photos from around the world, creating an illusion that everyone should be travelling all the time. However, some argue that people have become obsessed with flying ever further and faster, while ignoring the fact that travel is expensive, dangerous, damaging, and (possibly) a foolish waste of time.

Many would agree that ‘travelling is a good thing.’ There’s no doubt that interacting with different cultures is meaningful, and certainly broadens the mind. In today’s stressful world, spending a few days on a beautiful white sandy beach can recharge the batteries, just enough to face next week’s commute to the office …

On the face of it, why not?

Closer to many people’s hearts is just the overwhelming cost. While a week’s local…

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