Model Exemplar for AQA Paper 2 AQA English Language: Question 5
Are young people becoming increasingly violent and if so, what are causes of this?
“Maybe when there’s nothing else, we will finally be free from ourselves”. These are
words that I repeatedly recite to myself hoping that one day, one special day, we as a
society will finally understand the consequences of our actions and if we can truly
deem our surroundings as a civilised society. How can it be an organised community
when skyrocketing cases of violence are being reported on the news? The usual
scenario being: ‘Teenager stabbed by another’. This is greeted with sympathy from
myriads of individuals who resonate with this case. However, what exactly is being
done about these worrying events? Nothing. We have become desensitised to these
crimes that we have now accepted and normalised routine stabbings. We have reached
a conclusion that violence, cruelty, belligerence... are vices that play an integral role in
every individual daily lives. But, why do we have to accept it? Why do we have to enforce
this in society? Why do we have to be so rebellious against the norms of society? Just,
why?
Pardon my insensitivity, but this question needs an answer. What would you do if it was
your mother? Your father? Your sister? Your brother? Your aunt? Your uncle? What
exactly would you do? Personally, I don’t know what I would do, although what I do
know is that I wouldn’t stay quiet. No! I wouldn’t stand by and watch the youth’s
increasing violence affect me, my friends, my family, innocent people, the city, the
state, the nation!
Especially when the media has a huge role to play in this. I would provide an example
for you. Imagine this: A usual evening where I am scrolling through Instagram, de-
stressing until I stumble upon ruthless insults concerning a person’s physical
appearance and I am thinking “How monstruous can you be to spread hate”, not
realising that this is just how social media is. A cruel beast that causes cataclysmic
events. Even though you might believe that my thoughts are too deterministic, just
envision a scenario where the person that was disgraced online takes out their anger on
a random person who has nothing to do with this. Ask yourself, where did we go wrong?
Where did we fail the youth? According to me, the prime example is social media. If that
isn’t enough to prove my perspective, then let’s focus on a real case, a recent case. I
am sure you are already enlightened about this case. “The murder in Croydon”. School
day. Bus stop. People going to school. A boy. Two girls. A knife. Girl stabbed. Terror.
Fear. Screams. This is it! This is the end of humanity. Thinking logically, now school
children cannot even go to their source of education without being protected; a part of
their brain registering that they might not come home again, might not see their
Are young people becoming increasingly violent and if so, what are causes of this?
“Maybe when there’s nothing else, we will finally be free from ourselves”. These are
words that I repeatedly recite to myself hoping that one day, one special day, we as a
society will finally understand the consequences of our actions and if we can truly
deem our surroundings as a civilised society. How can it be an organised community
when skyrocketing cases of violence are being reported on the news? The usual
scenario being: ‘Teenager stabbed by another’. This is greeted with sympathy from
myriads of individuals who resonate with this case. However, what exactly is being
done about these worrying events? Nothing. We have become desensitised to these
crimes that we have now accepted and normalised routine stabbings. We have reached
a conclusion that violence, cruelty, belligerence... are vices that play an integral role in
every individual daily lives. But, why do we have to accept it? Why do we have to enforce
this in society? Why do we have to be so rebellious against the norms of society? Just,
why?
Pardon my insensitivity, but this question needs an answer. What would you do if it was
your mother? Your father? Your sister? Your brother? Your aunt? Your uncle? What
exactly would you do? Personally, I don’t know what I would do, although what I do
know is that I wouldn’t stay quiet. No! I wouldn’t stand by and watch the youth’s
increasing violence affect me, my friends, my family, innocent people, the city, the
state, the nation!
Especially when the media has a huge role to play in this. I would provide an example
for you. Imagine this: A usual evening where I am scrolling through Instagram, de-
stressing until I stumble upon ruthless insults concerning a person’s physical
appearance and I am thinking “How monstruous can you be to spread hate”, not
realising that this is just how social media is. A cruel beast that causes cataclysmic
events. Even though you might believe that my thoughts are too deterministic, just
envision a scenario where the person that was disgraced online takes out their anger on
a random person who has nothing to do with this. Ask yourself, where did we go wrong?
Where did we fail the youth? According to me, the prime example is social media. If that
isn’t enough to prove my perspective, then let’s focus on a real case, a recent case. I
am sure you are already enlightened about this case. “The murder in Croydon”. School
day. Bus stop. People going to school. A boy. Two girls. A knife. Girl stabbed. Terror.
Fear. Screams. This is it! This is the end of humanity. Thinking logically, now school
children cannot even go to their source of education without being protected; a part of
their brain registering that they might not come home again, might not see their
