Issue 130 Thank you for your comments!

[procrastinator1357]

Topic “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.”

Word count: 556
Time: Unlimited

Answer:

The future of a society is in the hands of its young. Through socialization, children acquire the languages, culture, moral norms and values of the society in which they are brought up. Meanwhile, they are prepared for the adult roles that the society has in store for them. How children are socialized, therefore, determines the destiny of society. Even though issues concerning socialization have long been focus of public debate and heated controversy, a careful examination of various socializing agents reveals that contemporary socialization practices, for the most part, help bring a better society.

Families tend to prepare healthy individuals for society. Not only responsible for a child’s physical health, parents and/or other senior members of its family also provide most intense early socialization shortly after it is born. They teach what they believe to be most beneficial for the child’s survival within a given society. It is through this crucial process that a child develops personality, establishes career goals, learns socially accepted behaviours and acquires the fundamentals of its culture. Although the techniques, expectations and even goals of socialization may vary from family to family, they ultimately serve one common purpose: to transform the next generation to fulfill the standards and demands of the society.

Formal education tends to provide qualified individuals for society. Most commonly seen in the form of schools, formal education equips children with empirical knowledge and its application for the maintenance and development of society’s material well-being. For example, numerous students graduate from colleges and universities and become productive workers of the society every year. In addition, schools also transmit values and beliefs to children. Not to mention religious schools, almost all public ones teach their students values such as peace, tolerance, love and respect. In fact, by deciding what to teach and how to teach, a society can tune formal education based on its needs. This, in turn, encourages children to think, behave and develop professional skills for the benefit of the society, although resulting in uniformity to some extent.

Mass media enlarges children’s exposure to the social world. Unlike families and schools, it can present children with detailed and systematic description and analysis of worldwide societies. Therefore, young people are more knowledgeable and tolerant to “deviant behaviours”, and they begin to understand how different societies function and interact at earlier ages. Through films, televisions, radios, magazines and internet, children are aware of large social forces such as religion, politics, economy and technological development. They are exposed to debates and experts’ comments on various aspects of contemporary life. All those mentioned above enable children to be better decision makers of society.

Admittedly, there are still many problems about child-raising, such as juvenile delinquency and youth suicide. To solve problems of this, numerous studies have been done and prompt actions have been taken. For example, motion picture rating systems have been introduced in many countries to shield children from sexual, violent, profane and morally offensive contents.

To sum up, socialization of children is crucially important to the future of society. As most powerful socializing agents, families, schools and mass media all transform children into individuals who can bring about a better society. Although contemporary practices of socialization are not perfect, people have been actively seeking solutions to any existing problems, and improvements to child-raising methodologies are and will still be made.