Generation Gap 38342c

Generation Gap -argumentative essay-

Society is trying to bridge the generation gap since ever, but none of the sides seems to surrender. Whilst the old generation sustains its conservative moral values, the young generation s the evolution of society. Firstly, one of the main causes of the conflict between generations is evolution, especially the evolution of technology, which causes massive change in people's lifestyle. For instance, for an adult, staying six hours in front of the computer, playing games or surfing the internet, is incomprehensible, whereas for a teenager is a wonderful and entertaining activity.Also, there are a few persons, old people or just adults, who don't want to accept the help that machines and technology offer us. The dishwashing machine or the vacuum cleaner are considered awkward or even dangerous by the older generation. This situation is caused by the fact that they consider their own hands more trustworthy than a machine. Moreover, it is generally held that the widely different mentalities are an important cause of this social conflict. Traditions, in particular, are much respected by the older generation, whilst youngsters are barely even believing in their own religion. While young people are open-minded and live by their own rules, the older people are more superstitious and religious, therefore they refuse to adapt to the new. One typical example of this situation is Charles Darwin's theory of evolutionism. The young generation rapidly embraced this belief and even vehemtly ed it, whereas the old generation considered it a scandalous and absurd idea which stained and threatened their religion. Another aspect of this problem is age, which is, naturally, impossible to solve. An old, overrated telling states that silver hair is a sign of wisdom. This widely-spread misconception has been the subject of many discussions. The representatives of the old generation state that wisdom and intelligence are based on life experience, on learning from your own mistakes over the years, which is, obviously, a long and gruelling process. On the other hand, young people firmly believe that scholar and moral educational are the key to both wisdom and intelligence. Learning about life, culture and science from books is far more efficient than the old method, thus leading to a more rapid evolution. However, the generation gap is as old as mankind itself, thus following, generally, the same pattern : society is changing too fast, people are not hoe they used to be in the past and evolution is leaving the old and weak ones behind. In most of the cases, the old generationlooks down on the young because they feel frustrated for not being able to be youthful and lively and participate in the evolution. What is more, this conflict could be solved if the old show more empathy to the young, and that they were young too and maybe used to think and act the same way. As a result, accepting the evolution would be much easier. Furthermore, the old generation's ignorance of youngster's culture and vice-versa is a huge obstacle. If the two would try to learn from each other, the gap would be rapidly bridged : representatives of the two sides would be able to exchange ideas, the old would adapt to the change much easier, and the young would appreciate more their cultural and historical heritage. Also, there are a lot of prejudices which are constantly feeding this conflict. For example, the old strongly believe that the young are disrespectful, spoiled and selfish because their life is too easy and, therefore, they arent's able to cope with real life. Another typical example is the fact that the young consider their predecesors narrow-minded, obstinate and also mean. The best course of action would be denying these prejudices and trying to know people better before labelling them.

Taking everything into consideration, I therefore conclude that the conflict between generations is tremendously hard to solve, but it's not impossible. However, when building a bridge over the sea, both sides must participate simultaneosly.

Ionita Adela Clasa a XI-a A