LNAT model essay: free internet access

It reshapes a yes-or-no question into a precise claim, which lets it accept the best objection without losing the argument. 510 words.

1. Everyone should be able to get online, and for those who cannot afford it a basic connection should be free. That is narrower than free internet for all. The case rests on what the internet has become: a condition of ordinary life rather than a luxury.

   NoteThe writer answers, then narrows the claim before an opponent can attack the broad version. Precision early saves space later.

2. Applying for jobs, claiming benefits, booking a doctor's appointment and doing homework increasingly happen online, and some can happen nowhere else. Universal Credit, for example, is designed to be claimed and managed online. A family without a connection is not merely missing entertainment; they are cut off from services the state expects every citizen to use. When the state designs its own services on the assumption that people are online, it takes on some responsibility for making sure they can be.

   NoteThe reason is built from examples, then turned into a principle about the state's own choices. That last step is what makes it an argument.

3. Children feel this most. Homework, revision resources and contact with teachers now often assume a connection at home. A pupil who has to finish assignments on a phone with limited data, or in a library that closes at five, starts each day behind classmates with broadband. Teachers can set work that assumes a connection only if every pupil has one. Because education shapes later earnings, a gap in access at school can become a gap in income for life. A free basic connection is a cheap way to stop that gap opening.

   NoteA second reason focused on one group, with a consequence that lasts. Specific detail, such as the library that closes at five, makes the point vivid without exaggeration.

4. The obvious objection is cost. Building and running networks is expensive, and making access free for everyone would mean taxpayers paying for the broadband of people who could easily afford it themselves. Money spent this way is money not spent on hospitals or schools. It is also unclear where a right to free access would stop: at a basic connection, at fast broadband, or at the devices needed to use it. Some households choose not to go online at all, and paying for their connection would achieve nothing.

   NoteA fair objection, stated in practical terms. The writer does not pretend that free things cost nothing.

5. That objection is decisive against universal free access, which is why this essay does not defend it. A guaranteed minimum is different. It could be limited to a basic speed and offered only to households on low incomes, much as broadband and water companies already offer cheaper social tariffs to people on some benefits. Paying for it from general taxation, or through a small charge on providers, would spread the burden widely. The cost would be a small share of the total, and the gain falls on the people with most to lose from being offline. Libraries and community centres could provide devices and help for those who have never used the internet, so that a free connection is actually usable.

   NoteA concession that strengthens the position, because the essay's own claim survives it. The social-tariff comparison shows the idea is workable.

6. The internet is no longer optional for full participation in society, so no one should be shut out by price. A free basic connection for those who need it meets that aim at a cost a society can bear. Free access for those who can pay is a different policy, and a weaker one. The question, properly understood, is not whether the internet should be free, but whether anyone should be shut out of modern life because they cannot pay for it.

   NoteThe conclusion restates the narrow claim and dismisses the broad one in a single line.

What would make it stronger: Say who would decide which households qualify. A sceptical reader wants to see that the targeted scheme could actually be run.