Parents say that children do not show them proper respect and obedience, while children complain that their parents do not understand them. This phenomenon is often referred to as the generation gap. What then are the causes of the generation gap?
One important cause of the generation gap is the chance that young people have to choose their way of life. In more traditional societies, when children grow up, they are expected to live in the same area as their parents, to marry people that their parents know and aGREe to, and to continue the family occupation. In modern society, young people often travel a great distance for their education, move out of the family at an early age, marry or live with people whom their parents have never met, and choose occupations different from those of their parents.
In the easily changing society, parents often expect their children to do better than they did: to find better jobs, to make more money; and to do all the things that they were unable to do. Often, however, the strong desire that parents have for their children are another cause of the disagreement between them. Often, they discover that they have very little in comMon with each other.
Finally, the speed at which changes take place in modern society is another cause of the gap between the generations. In a traditional culture, elderly people are valued for their wisdom, but in modern society, the knowledge of a lifetime may become out of date overnight. The young and the old seem to live in two very different worlds, separated by different skills and abilities.
No doubt, the generation gap will continue to be a future of our life for some time to come. Its causes are rooted in the changes of our society, and in the rapid speed at which society changes.
