雅思口语话题：批评年轻人

没好处

First off, criticism brings pressure to young people. To wake them up and feel the reality of competition in the society and the hardship they have to face in order to survive. This is good; but sometimes, giving young people too much stress can lead them astray. In the worst case scenario, the youth may act out their pressure by doing something irresponsible, such as drug abuse and proneness to violence.

Young people are usually counter-reactional to their parents constructive advice. They tend to rebel against their parents’ wish. Their parents may go one way and they would go exactly the opposite way in order to show their identity and their disobedience to their parents’ authority.

Sometimes too much criticism will deprive the young people of their self-confidence in life. They become doubtful of their ability and this is harmful. I think the western idea of education for young people is always to encourage them, to build up their confidence, to recognize their achievement and overlook some of the small demerits. And through this, young people become more sure of their life and will cope with difficulties in life with more certainty. This is without a doubt beneficial to young people as it improves their chances of becoming successful and useful.

Young people are great at imitating their parents. So when parents set up an example, they follow suits. When a parent constantly criticizes a kid, the child begins to think this is normal and common practice. And when he or she grows up, he / she will perform the same thing on his or her child. As a result, this bad habit will continue into the next generation, carrying with it bitterness in the relationship between parent and child and loss of confidence in life in the next generation. An unhealthy parenting tradition is formed in the family. That’s tragic.

Young people, especially those with higher Emotional Quotient, often feel insulted, ashamed and insecure when they’re criticized. They understand their own feelings and are more acute to others’ opinions about them. They begin to think they’re unwanted and useless when they receive too much negative comments on their behavior. Such young people will thrive in a healthy and positive environment; and could wither under pressure and negative karma.

 

有好处

When young people receive criticism they’re absorbing experience from the critic. This will be beneficial to them because they’re told of what’s right and what’s wrong by a senior fellow.

When young people get over their heads and become overambitious and arrogant, we need some kind of a wake-up-call to make them sober and alert to the reality again. Criticism is right there to help them out in this category. Life is not just sunshine and roses, the bitterness can be provided by some harsh words. Instead of hurting the young person’s feeling, if controlled nicely, criticism can serve as a tool to restore the balance in our mind, and return us to what we really are. True words hurt, but they’re notwithstanding helpful.

Young people lack self-control. They may do what they enjoy excessively, such as internet games, drinking, watching too much TV or playing too much sports. We need someone to discipline them and help them plan their time. So in this sense, in-time criticism can prevent the young from squandering time. We only live in this world for an average of 75 years or so. If criticism can save you from wasting your time, it’s just as saving part of your life.

Young people should get used to criticism in the early part of their life because, very likely, later in their life, say when they’re 30 or 40, there may still be criticism. If parents never criticize a kid, even when he or she has done something wrong, this is being over-protective. And the kid, consequently, will be spoiled by the over-indulgence from the parents. Is that really responsible for the kid’s development? When the kid becomes touchy at other’s criticism, then he may lose a lot of chances for progress. No one would dare approach him with the right advice, just because he’s too sensitive about it. The ability to accept criticism, as a good habit of self-improvement, should be formed when a person is still young. The benefit of it will go on increasing throughout his / her life.

Criticism, as a reality-check, will make the young people more aware of the seriousness of their problems. And some youth may develop their potential rapidly under proper amount of criticism. They begin to take things seriously and take matters into their own hands. Under such a feeling, they begin to think, “How can I solve this problem more creatively.” And in the process, they may even hit a big idea. If I remember correctly, the founders of Youtube, were only trying to solve a little problem in their life—sharing videos among international students. And the result is a multi-billion dollar business belonging currently to the biggest search engine in the world, “Google”.

Socrates once said, a life without self-reflection is a not worth living. Criticism is such a self-reflecting tool. It’s without-a-shadow-of-a-doubt beneficial to young people.