Introduction: This assignment is finished on October 25, 2013. I finish this assignment because we learn and research some topic about generation differences. Therefore, to put them together, I write this essay.
Conclusion: The hardest part of this assignment is to summarize the detail part of interview and research into some short paragraphs. I done well by adding some quotation from interview and books. I need to improve by making a work cited page for my research.
Zhijian Drew Yao
English Ⅱ
Mr. Ward
Date: 2013/10/25
Generational
Differences
PartⅠ:
Introduction:
Generational difference causes a lot of
problem nowadays. For example, the parents always complain that their children
don’t do the things they want them to do. This is a big problem that happens
every day. There is a generation gap between two different generations. They
have different life and have different thinking about the same thing. So I
think this must be a good topic to talk about.
I know that my parents’ generation had a
hard time when they are young. They didn’t have enough money to buy what they
want and the technology isn’t so good at that time. But in my generation, I
don’t have to worry about we don’t have enough money to buy what we eat compare
to my parent generation. But there is a lot of pressure of study in my
generation which my parent doesn’t meet.
Part
Ⅱ: What I want to find
out:
I hope to learn 3 main points after
finishing my research:
1. What was my parents’ life like when they are
young?
2. How does my life now compare with theirs when
they were my age?
3. What are the causes of problems I have with my
parents.
Part
Ⅲ: The story of my
search:
I choose 3 main resources. the first one
is from the interview with my parents, I do that at home, the second one is
from the book named Tuesdays with Morrie and the third one is from an article
named Generation, it is given by my teacher.
First, I make an
interview with my parents.I do the interview
in 2013/10/05.I use it because what my parents say is a direct opinion
about the life in their generation. I hope
that I will get the answer of my question after this interview. I asked about
20 questions at this interview. The main questions are three. First, I ask
about when my parents were my age, 5 things that they really liked or liked to
do were?My father said: “Chinese new year,
traveling, sports meeting, bicycle and science fiction novels were the five
things that I really liked or liked to do.” Then I asked about when my parents were my age, they were not
allowed to do what because their parents believed what. He said: “My parents didn’t allow me to watch TV too much at
that time because they thought that will influence my work efficiency.”At last, I asked about how were my parents like my
grandparents? In what ways were they different? And
he said: “I liked my mother more because my father was a factory director so he
always worked busy and the time he stayed at home was too short.” After
this interview, I learned that the China doesn’t develop so well at that time.
People were poor at that time. They thought they work for the country not for
themselves. The relationship between the neighbors was good. They didn’t have a
future plan in my father generation. They didn’t have video games to play at
that time; they used some common things in their life to play, such as snow,
bottle cap, rubber band and so on. The environment was good at that time
although they didn’t have high technology.
Secondly,
I read the book Tuesday with Morrie, written by Mitch Albom. I used it from
2013/09/15 to 2013/10/25. I use it because I think Mitch and Morrie have a
different generation and when the talk with each other, we can see the
difference of the generation. That will help me to get more resource to
analyze. I hope to find the difference of
the two generation and the main point of view that Morrie makes about the
generation. His belief in generation is everybody just does the things
that follows the others and do the things that we think we have to do. He thinks
that become old doesn’t mean become bad. He believes that in the time that we
become old, we will learn more. Young people can do what they want but they
don’t know what they should do. They need old people to guide. I found two
quotes in Tuesday with Morrie. The first one is “As you grow, you learn more...aging is not just decay, you know.
It is growth. It’s more than the negative that you’re going to die, it’s also the positive that you understand you’re going to die, and
that you live a better life because of it.”(p118, Tuesday with
Morrie, Mitch Albom). I learned that we
shouldn’t care so much about being old from this quote. Being old shows that
you are being knowledgeable and you understand more about the life. You
understand more when you know when you will die. So young people should listen
what the old people suggest because they have more experience. And the second
one is “I
envy them being able to go to the health club, or go for a swim. Or dance.”(p119, Tuesday
with Morrie, Mitch Albom). I learned that we should do our best
and create our own culture in life instead of following other and do the thing
we don’t like to do from this quote. We should value the time that we are young
to do something useful instead of working for money and power.
The
third resource I find is an article that talks about generation. It is given by the teacher.I use it in 2013/10/25.I use it because the topic is
generation.I hope to find the difference of
generations in China through reading this paper. It mainly talks about
three different generations in China. There are three people; they are Li Wu,
who lives in 1950s of china, Li Wang, who live in 1980s of china and Li Pan,
who live in 2000s of china. I find some important quotes of that paper. It mainly talks about that Li Wu hold traditional Chinese
values. Li Wang grew up after the introduction of the one child policy. It has
been a struggle trying to keep up with a rapidly changing economy and Li Pan
grew up knowing only a very prosperous China. He has also been heavily doted on
by his family but more influenced by western culture. I also know that Li
Wang’s marriage was arranged for him when he finished his education and this
was quite common in China. Also there is a lot of pressure on children in Li
Pan Generation that they have to do well since they are an only child and
competition is fierce. (The paper of
generation, given by teacher.)Through these quotes, I learned that the
people who are born in 1940s of china are really poor; they need to worry about
the food and clothes. They have a lot of traditional values such as man has the
duty to earn money for the family. The people who are born in 1970s of china
are not worried so much about the foods. Because the high speed of development
of china at that time, so it is difficult for them to find a job. The people
who are born in 1990s of china don’t worry about food and clothes at all.
Instead, they started to eat some western food and they don’t have the
traditional Chinese value, they started to learn western things and language.
They go to school when they are young and they get a lot of pressure from their
parents because they are the only child in one family.
Part
Ⅳ: Reflection on my
search:
I learned there are a lot of differences
between generations. They have different belief, lives, dreams and culture.
There are also a lot of conflicts between two generations. Elder people always
have more experience, when they know when they will die; they will know how to
have a better life. So we should learn from the elder people. We should value
our times when we are young to do something useful.
There is also something that surprised
me. I learn that my grandparents didn’t have enough food to eat and enough
clothes to wear. I don’t know they were that poor when they were young. Also,
when I know everybody wanted to work for the country instead themselves, that
surprised me a lot because that was the traditional Chinese value, everybody had
the duty to work for the country. The farms at that time were all owned by
government, so they should give the things they planted to the government. That
is a great difference than my generation.
Also, after this experience, I learn that
my parents had a poor time when they are young. They didn’t have the high
technology product that I have now. So I should value these things now instead
of waste time and use these things to do something useless. I also learn that I
should try to hear the advice from my parents because they have more experience
than I have. It also helps me to learn the importance of learning the foreigner
culture in my generation.