Young People’s Protests Are Easy to Mock- But Ignore Them at Your Own Peril (’08)

Do you agree that hardship allows children to mature better? Why?

I agree that hardship allows children to mature better. A child who does not experience hardship will find that everything goes smoothly for him. If the child chances upon a difficulty he will remain stationary (not make any progress) and think that the problem will somehow or rather be solved. For example, the effect of global warming is obvious, however if he does not experience what global warming does he will remain ignorant and expect the problem to solved by itself. In addition, a child who experienced hardship will tend to treasure life more than a child who does not. A child living in less developed countries such as Africa where water is a scarce resource, the child will value every drop of water that is available to him or her. On the other hand, in Singapore where water is accessible to all, children may have the mindset that wasting water is normal. Only when there is a drought in Singapore, may the child mature better to value the true cost of water. Furthermore, a rich child will not feel the importance of saving money and may continue to spend money freely till he experiences financial difficulties or when he starts to work and realize how difficult it is to earn money.

Are Singaporean youths mature?

I feel that majority of Singaporean youths are immature. The majority of Singaporean youths today are born when Singapore is very developed. They do not get to experience any hardship brought about from the Japanese invasion into Singapore or the poor and developing years of Singapore to what success it has today. We are born in a time where there is accessibility to every need. For example every household has access to drinkable water straight from their tap. This result in youths to take for guaranteed that water is free as the water bill is not shown to the youths. In addition, youths tend to follow their friend’s decisions rather than make their own decisions. For example when choosing a tertiary education path, youths will try to stick together and not choosing their future path.


-Toby