The Generation Gap
???What a wonderful life you have! When I was your age, life was so different, like the opposite ends of the spectrum. Why are not you satisfying the things you have now Do not be insatiable, my dear. In the past, although we have a tough life, we did not moan and groan.??? My mother was definitely right. The educational opportunity, social relationship and quality of life are totally different from that of our parents??™ generation.
In the past, our parents??™ generation tends to has less educational opportunity. Some of them already started an undertaking in their career field after completed their SPM due to the financial problem. Those who can afford their studies entered local universities after completed their STPM examination. On that time, there were only three to five public universities available for those who passed their examination with flying colours. Hence, study hard is their only route to get into the universities. The standard of education was seemed to be higher during their generation. Besides, it was appalling that people went for oversea further study that time.
Today, colleges and universities are found everywhere and we are given a boarder choice of courses offered by them. Courses comprise of different field, such as medical, engineering, design, business and so on branches into more specific courses even. Therefore, many of the students in our generation are wavering for their next step after completed SPM as the choices are too wide. Besides, local and overseas scholarships are provided for our courses too. It is very obvious that we are having a better choice of education opportunity compared to our elder generation. However, syllabus in our pre-university level is reduced as the missing syllabus will be learned in the specific field that we chose in university or higher level.
Secondly, social relationship also shows a contrast between the generations. Perhaps, the generation gap can be indicated by the difference of ideas between our young people and our parents??™ generation. Their generation is said to be more conservative. They seemed afraid to voice out their opinion no matter is right or wrong. Their avenue of expression was limited only through their diary. Furthermore, couples in their generation were loyal and stayed in their marriage. There was a small percentage of women divorced their husband just because of infidelity. Yet, some of the women remained silent although they faced marital faithfulness to maintain their family relationship. Another difference that plays a role in generation gap is difference in upbringing. Earlier parents were authoritative and children felt a bit scared to interact with their parents. During their time, respect was invincible and this maybe the factor causes them afraid to voice out.
On the contrary, our generation is more liberal compared to them. We always fight for our rights as we deserved. We dare to challenge the others to prove that we are right. Moreover, we have wide variety of avenues of expression. As for the social networking, we have Facebook, Twitter, Skype and the others just to voice out our disapproval. In addition, for our generation marriage status, it is quite frequent to see couples divorce nowadays and the main reason boils down to incompatibility. This leads to the elder generation judged our behavior upon by disdain. It is quite natural that every age has its own social codes which include the manner of dressing, behavior, thinking, and relationships with others. As an example, bigamy, unwed, cohabitation and same-sex marriage are legal in our generation. We have the perspective that marriage men can stay at the house to be a ???house-men???. According to a childcare recruitment agency, a ???manny??? is keen to be hired to look after children, rather than a young, attractive female nanny. Consecutively, the upbringing in our family now is friendlier. We always threat them as our friend. However, they may not realise this and it is often threated as rude behavior and lack respect.
Thirdly, the technological advances which provides a better quality of life also plays a great role in enlarging the gap. Our parents??™ generation enjoyed a quality of life that was comparatively less comfortable due to less sophiscated amenities. They used to walk, took bicycles, mini busses, trains, or even trishaws to travel from place to place. They did not have a mobile phone for communication but public phones for emergency calls. For entertainment, they used to play mini games like kite, gasing, congkat, watched television with limited local channels or went for a black and white movie at the crowded cinema.
On the other hand, the life we lead in this day and age is more comfortable due to the availability of sophisticated amenities. We enjoy satisfied transportation such as Light Rail Transit, commuter trains and air-conditioned buses. Due to technology, we live in a SMART world and entertainment is available in the form of state-of-the art cineplexes, home theatre system and satellite television. The three dimension (3D) television is also acquainted recently. Surfing the internet, playing online games or PlayStation are also our generations??™ interest and hobbies.
In comparing our lifestyle with that of our parents??™ generation, we realise that we have come a long way within a short time. We should learn to appreciate what we have achieved and not ridicule the lifestyle of our parents??™ generation. Generation gap is a phenomenon not new to our times alone. It is a fact of life that the generation gap is something that has existed and will continue to exist as long as man exists on this earth. It is not restricted but is a fact of life accepted by all generations, all over the world and through all time. Why not we together accept it and together improve the world
