Generation Gap
A few years
ago, it was fashionable to speak of a generation gap, a division between young
people and their elders. Parents complained that children did not show them
proper re spect and obedience, while children complained that their parents did
not understand them at all. What had gone wrong Why had the generation gap
suddenly appeared Actually, the generation gap has been around for a long time.
Many critics argue that it is built into the fabric of our society.
One important cause of the generation gap is the opportunity that young
people have to choose their own life-styles. In more traditional societies, when
children grow up, they are expected to live in the same area as their parents,
to marry people that their parents know and approve of, and often to continue
the family occupation. In our society, young people often travel great distances
for their education, most out of the family home at an early age, marry or live
or choose occupations different from those of their parents.
In
our upwardly mobile society, parents often expect their children to do better
than they did: to find better jobs, to make more money, and to do all the things
that they were unable to do. Often, however, the ambitions that parents have for
their children are another cause of the division between them. Often they
discover that they have very little in common with each other.
Finally, the speed at which changes take place in our society is another
cause of the gap between the generations. In a traditional culture, elderly
people are valued for their wisdom, but in our society the knowledge of a
lifetime may become obsolete overnight.
The young and the old
seem to live in two very different worlds, separated by different skills and
abilities.
No doubt, the generation gap will continue to be a
feature of American life for some time to come. Its causes are rooted in the
freedoms and opportunities of our society, and in the rapid pace at which
society changes. |
