You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
The older generations tend to have very traditional ideas about how people should live, think and behave. However, some people believe that these ideas are not helpful in preparing younger generations for modern life. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this view?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
You should write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer 1:
It is true that the older generation, in most of the cases, adheres to many traditional values, belief and old way of thinking and many of these are not suitable to make the youngsters ready to take challenges in this modern era. There are still some values and traditions that are useful and older generation should pass
those values to the young people.
To begin with, many ideas that older generation still finds unavoidable have become less relevant for the young generation and it is a good thing that the youngsters have less faith on the superstitions our forefathers believed in. Besides, the traditional belief of educating a boy and upbringing a girl so that he becomes the breadwinner and she can become a good housewife is no longer accepted by the modern era. The traditional belief of fixed role for men and women are no longer applicable to this advance era where people believe in gender equity. Furthermore, the modern generation no longer agrees to take the fact that a student has to study to become either a doctor or an engineer. According to the old belief, these two are the careers someone must have. With the time, study and career have become quite different and the older tradition is no longer acceptable now. Moreover, young adults these days choose their life partners and decide when to marry which contradicts with the old tradition.
However, there are some traditional values that the youngsters should foster as those views are still beneficial and useful in this modern era. For instance, old generation strongly believes in the importance of being honest and they would rather die than to surrender to the corruption. If this generation can adapt to this single traditional value, the world would be a much better place. Our forefathers also valued the importance of working hard and taking pride in one’s dignity and work. These characteristics are ageless and should be passed to the new generation as well. We have become more materialistic and selfish these days while out older generation teaches us the value of family and society. The sense of community the senior people had are exemplary and would establish better family, social and cultural bonding.
To conclude, youngsters have to be ready to embrace the changed of the modern era while nurturing the traditional values that teaches them to have better future.
Sample Answer 2:
It is sometimes argued that traditional lifestyles and behaviours which are favoured by the old generation have nothing to do with the training of youngsters in a way that may require living in a fast-paced world. I completely agree with this statement.
In my opinion, traditions that had been settled by our ancestors are absurd to get considered in this revolutionised world. To take a living style of our predecessors as an example, teenagers in past centuries were bound to remain in nucleus families. However, younger generations are more likely to live independently nowadays which helps them to develop a variety of attributes in their personalities ranging from a higher level of confidence and a sense of responsibility to deal with the real world. These hands-on experiences help them to be better trained and prepared for the challenges in the real world. If these offspring were forced to follow the conventional ideology, they would have missed these much-needed traits which are crucial in becoming a successful member of an egalitarian society.
It is also argued that conventional values can restrict teenagers from thinking globally. So, it will make them the narrow-minded adults in terms of accepting different people from different cultures and backgrounds. For instance, our forefathers were highly reluctant to do shared business with traders of different ethnic groups of people in their time period. This ended up in limited trades. Therefore, I would argue that teenagers should be given the broader view of this universe with immense awareness of global issues, different languages as well as conflict resolution. It will allow them to broaden their horizons in regard to the understanding of this increasingly interconnected world. As a result, a prestigious place in the job market and a prosperous future will be assured for them.
In conclusion, I believe that traditional ethics should be ignored as it cannot assist in making our younger generation the productive members of a competitive society.
[ Written by – Shamaila Afzal ]
Sample Answer 3:
It is true that many older people believe in traditional values that often seem incompatible with the needs of younger people. While I agree that some traditional ideas are outdated, I believe that others are still useful and should not be forgotten.
On the one hand, many of the ideas that elderly people have about life are becoming less relevant for younger people. In the past, for example, people were advised to learn a profession and find a secure job for life, but today’s workers expect much more variety and diversity from their careers. At the same time, the ‘rules’ around relationships are being eroded as young adults make their own choices about who and when to marry. But perhaps the greatest disparity between the generations can be seen in their attitudes towards gender roles. The traditional roles of men and women, as breadwinners and housewives, are no longer accepted as necessary or appropriate by the most of the younger people.
On the other hand, some traditional views and values are certainly applicable to the modern world. For example, older generations attach great importance to working hard, doing one’s best, and taking pride in one’s work, and these behaviours can surely benefit young people as they enter today’s competitive job market. Other characteristics that are perhaps seen as traditional are politeness and good manners. In our globalised world, young adults can expect to come into contact with people from a huge variety of backgrounds, and it is more important than ever to treat others with respect. Finally, I believe that young people would lead happier lives if they had a more ‘old-fashioned’ sense of community and neighbourliness.
In conclusion, although the views of older people may sometimes seem unhelpful in today’s world, we should not dismiss all traditional ideas as irrelevant.
[ Written by – Ram Karki ]
Sample Answer 4:
Nowadays, life has changed dramatically due to technological developments and globalizations. Many orthodox ways of spending lives have become obsolete and outdated. Some people still adhere to their traditions and cultures and are very reluctant to accept new and modern ways of lives. However, some people state that in order to compete with the current challenges, we should train our younger generation with the latest and trendy ideas.
Firstly, people used to live in the joint family system in the past decades. This gave them the opportunity to learn from their ancestors about various aspects of life. There was always a special place for elder people of the family and younger used to obey and respect them and followed their instructions in every possible. Such kind of love and respect is hard to see in modern lifestyle. Adults nowadays have become more independent, and are showing less respect towards their parents’ decisions and other aspects of life.
Secondly, there has been an element of care for their family and other members of the society in the past. Now, everyone first thinks about their own benefit and less likely to care about others. By this, I mean that new ideas contribute in making our generation selfish and egoist.
Thirdly, there is a significant change in people’s behaviour in the modern world; they have less patience while doing any work. They have become less active and more opted towards shortcuts and less mean of work.
Finally, I strongly believe that traditional ways for preparing younger generation is idle and have many in-deniable benefits than modern ways of handling youngsters.
[ Written by – Fahad Sultan]
Sample Answer 5:
The human being, due to the globalisation, undoubtedly have experienced a rapid change in recent years and that has impacted the way people live, interact and value old traditions to name aq few. In the bygone days, citizens adhered to the traditional ways of life and old ideas about how to face life in a different circumstance. But now, it is assumed that these ways are not very utilitarian for the adolescents in entering the modern life. Personally, I quite agree with the statement that these old ideas are not helpful in preparing the new generation to face an ever changing world in most of the cases and I have some reasons to support it which are explained in the following paragraphs.
It is believed by many that technology in the past was not as same as it is right now. This made the older generations to usually learnt how to live, think and behave in the society through the available books or by the parents and teachers. On the contrary, now, the youngsters can learn those from provided technology such as television and the internet. This causes the idea created among them are very different in which the oldest usually has traditional thinking. For instance, the old generation has an inclination to the early marriage which is no longer a better option in modern society. The older generation also despised the use of modern technology which is quite opposite among the modern generations.
On the other hand, nowadays, the world seems like experiencing an alteration not only in technology but also in the way people solve the occurring problem. To illustrate, the older are likely to cope the issues with sitting together and discussing but now some of the youngers have a tendency to deal with that problem via technology offered like telephone, the internet etc. This illustration makes clear that modern life is likely to use modern idea also. There is no harm in adopting and following good traditions but if that restricts the new generation from exploring potential areas, that should be avoided. For example respecting someone senior is a tradition is that young generation should still follow but accepting superstitious ideas and old traditions that deter new generations to proceed ahead should be avoided by all means. Since the people from past generation had been surrounded by the older traditions and they do not easily accept changes, I would say most of their ideas are not helpful for the upbringing and preparing a new generation to face a whole list of new challenges in life that were not present in the past.
In a nutshell, because the older generation lived in a different time and faced different types of challenges in life from that of the youngsters today, they tend to have very traditional ways to live their life and ideas which seem not convenient anymore to be utilised in the new era.
[ Written by – Tita]