ISSUE130

"How children are socialized today determines the destiny of society. Unfortunately, we have not yet learned how to raise children who can help bring about a better society."

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Does how children are socialized determine the destiny of society and we nowadays have few great ideas about how to raise children who can help bring about a better society, as the statement suggests? Admittedly, the children nowadays are not well socialized which will exert an undesirable influence on the future of society. However, I fundamentally disagree with statement because it overstates the importance of socializing children and neglect the circumstance nowadays.

First and foremost, there is no denying the fact that socializing children is crucial and necessary for the children’s development. To demonstrate the importance of socializing children, it is vital to give a definition to socialization. In my view, socialization means foster the cooperation consciousness, communication skills and awareness of responsibility. Obviously, all factors that socialization embraces are part and parcel of children’s growth and development. Additionally, along with the development of society and improvement of living quality, children nowadays get more attention and are provided a better environment for growth than before; but simultaneously, the present children mostly lack cooperation consciousness, communication skill and awareness of responsibility in virtue of the fact that most them are only-child in family. Thus, it is essential for children, especially nowadays, to be socialized well.

Despite the merits of the statement, however, I disagree with the statement because it seems to imply two claims:

(1) Socialization of children is the most important factor determining the future of society.(2) Nowadays, we haven’t found an effective way to socialize the children well.

Considering the author’s first claim, it is troubling in two respects. Firstly, there is no denying the fact that socialization of children is significant and necessary, but it doesn’t mean that socialization is the only and most important factor influencing the growth of children. One apt illustration of this point involves the story about Roosevelt. In retrospect, Roosevelt, a former U.S. president, was disabled from his childhood which gave him few opportunities to cooperate and communicate with other children, thus he was not socialized well at that time. However, he clang tenaciously to his ideal and immerged himself in efforts to achieve his dreams. As a result, he became one of the greatest presidents of America. Therefore, there are many factors to exert a profound influence on children’s future other than socialization, such as the persistent in one’s ideal. Secondly, the growth of children is neither the only factor nor the most important one determining the destiny of society. Justice of law, health of social psychology, scientific development strategies and so forth, are all vital and essential to influence the future of society.

Considering the author’s next claim, to judge if we have learned to raise children for developing the society, it is crucial to figure out what a “better society” is. In my view, a better society means a society with greater tolerance of different culture and viewpoints, greater democracy for the public and greater economic in stable and long-range progress. As a matter of fact, our society advances and thrives in the race to the achievement of a better society. Consequently, if we have not found effective approaches to raise children for the future of society, how could we enjoy the fruits of a better society at the present time?

From analysis made above, I concede that socializing children plays a vital and essential role in the development of society. Aside from this, as a matter of fact, we have already learned how to raise children to boost the development of the society, upon which we human beings depended to advance and thrive in the race to achieve a better society nowadays.

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