It is argued that whether the youngters should be expected to take responsibility of preserving traditional values of their mother nations. While some people disagree with this statement, I personally advocate it due to its important role in conserving national identity.
On the one hand, those who believe that the young’s lives should not be stick to traditions past down through generations argue that in the modern society, this traditions are seemingly outdated and no longer suitable for the contemporary lifestyle. Therefore, forcing the young to follow exactly what happened in the past can put heavy pressure on them. For example, the majority of Vietnamese students agree that the law wearing Ao dai, a Vietnamese traditional custom features a long, tapered collar, in all schooldays is exemtremely inconvenient and unrealistic, since it prevents students from freely conducting outdoor activities as well as it is time consuming to completely eliminate dirts when washing it by hands.
However, I personally believe that children should be insisted with following societal traditions. Indeed, national traditions are accumulated from living experiences of older generations, which hold numerous spiritual values as well as meaningful lessons. As the next inheritors, youngsters are understandably expected to be responsible to restore and preserve them as the way of national identity conservation. For instance, the tradition of worshipping ancestors in Vietnam reminds the next generation to appreciate their forefather’s sacrifice, thus naturally nurturing in them gratitudes and motivations to strive for becoming a well-mannered person who positively contribute to the family and society. This tradition is considered a root to the well-known patriotism tradition of Vietnamese people.
In conclusion, while acknowledging the reason why people emphasis on individualism development, I am still convinced that youngsters should preserve social customs as the way to conserve their cultural values.