THE YOUNGER GENERATION KNOWS BEST

 

Old people are always saying that young are not what they were. The same comment is made from generation to generation and it’s always true. It has never been truer than it is today. The younger are better educated. They have a lot more money to spend and enjoy more freedom. They grow up more quickly and are not so dependent on their parents. They think more for themselves and do not blindly accept the ideals of the elders. Events which the older generation remembers vividly are nothing more than past history. This is as it should be. Every new generation is different from the one that preceded it. Today the difference is very marked indeed.

The old always assume that they know best for the simple reason that they have been around a bit longer. They don’t like to feel that their values are being questioned or threatened. And this is precisely what the young are doing. They are questioning the assumptions of their elders and disturbing their complacency. They take leave to doubt that the older generation has created the best of all possible worlds. What they reject more than anything is conformity. Office hours, for instance, are nothing more than enforced slavery. Wouldn’t people work best if they were given complete freedom and responsibility? And what about clothing? Who said that all the men in the world should wear drab grey suits and convict haircuts? If we turn our minds to more serious matters, who said that human differences can best be solved through conventional politics or by violent means? Why have the older generation so often used violence to solve their problems? Why are they so unhappy and guilt-ridden in their personal lives, so obsessed with mean ambitions and the desire to amass more material possessions? Can anything be right with the ratrace? Haven’t the old lost touch with all that is important in life?

These are not questions the older generation can shrug off lightly. Their record over the past forty years or so hasn’t been exactly spotless. Traditionally, the young have turned to their elders for guidance. Today, the situation might be reversed. The old – if they are prepared to admit it – could learn a thing or two from their children. One of the biggest lessons they could learn is that enjoyment is not ‘sinful’. Enjoyment is a principle one could apply to all aspects of life. It is surely not wrong to enjoy your work and enjoy your leisure; to shed restricting inhibitions. It is surely not wrong to live in the present rather than in the past or future. This emphasis on the present is only to be expected because the young have grown up under the shadow of the bomb: the constant threat of complete annihilation. This is their glorious heritage. Can we be surprised that they should so often question the sanity of the generation that bequeathed it?

 

 

1. Read the text and find the sections which contain the answers to the true/false sentences.

 

1) the young are worse educated

2) no one new generation is different from the one that preceded it

3) what the young reject more than anything is conformity

4) traditionally, the young have not turned to their elders for guidance

5) the old can learn nothing from their children

6) enjoyment is not a principle one could apply to all aspects of life end is always sinful.

 

2. Look through the text and give the main idea of it. Choose the sentence of the given 4 to express the main idea.

 

1) the young should be grateful to older generation

2) every generation is different

3) The older generation is too soft and kind with the young

4) Live in the present, not the past or the future.