Children of Today are Better Off Than Those of The Past
English Essay on "Children of Today are Better Off Than Those of The Past"
Some people have the habit of praising everything belonging to the past and condemning whatever the present has to give, It is not seldom that we meet some old people full of praise for the times when they were young. They are full of pity for the fate of the children to today. Let us consider if facts justify their views.
Records will bear me out that even less than a hundred years ago, in many countries including our own, many mothers died in childbirth, leaving their children at the' mercy of stepmothers, or with no women at all to lock after them, A very small percentage of children born alive reached adulthood. Many were deformed by smallpox, measles and other diseases which wrought havoc among children in particular, Modern medicine and ante-natal and post-natal care have vastly reduced the risk of death and ill-health.
In the past, only a negligible proportion of the child population went to school. Either the parents would not give them an opportunity to do so or the schools were so far away from most places that it was physically impossible for them to travel daily to school and back. Even the schools in the immediate neighbourhood of some places were, sometimes, not easily accessible. They lay on the far sides of rivers, which lacked bridges to span them, or were hidden from their view by thick forests too difficult and dangerous for small children to cross alone.
And a word about the schools they went to. A vast majority of them were unhygienic ally situated, poorly ventilated, inadequately furnished and staffed by teachers who were not trained for their profession and could little boast of an academic career. In those days, only a few years, schooling qualified a person for a teacher's job.
And as the teachers had acquired their own knowledge for no love or need for it, but for fear of rod, they made use of it to instill learning into the minds of their wards. Perhaps a reference to the various modes of punishment and torture by Munshi Abdullah Will convince the critics of the present-day conditions of children, that their views are ill founded.(4essay.blogspot.com) In order to realize that the children in the West were not better off than those in the East, one should read Charles Dickens' novels like 'Oliver Twist' and 'David Copper-field ' and find for oneself how poorly the children were treated in that great city of London.
Modern research in educational psychology has proved that in most cases punishment of pupils is altogether unnecessary, and that, even where it must be given, it should be given in such a way that it will correct the offender rather than wreak vengeance upon him. Not only is education made available to all young people now, but it is made to suit the learners' tendencies and ability. No wonder then that it interests all school-goers.
Few girls, if any, had a chance to go to school in the days of Munshi Abdullah or Charles Dickens. This was unfair not only to the girls of those days, but to the children whose mothers they would become later in life.
Child labor is still practiced in some backward countries but a hundred years ago it was current all over the world, there being then, no laws to safeguard the genuine interests of the children. They were entirely at the mercy of their parents and the people who would pay the parents for the work that the children did. Nobody did then realize that the children of the poor had the same right to live and learn as those of the rich enjoyed. Nor did the parents and educators ever think that their children and pupils would one day be the leaders, guardians, and rulers of their nations. In England, for example, the children of young ages and small sizes were employed as human brooms to sweep factory chimneys. Special measures including underfeeding might have been employed to keep them from growing fat and big.
Better medical care, better food, better and more schools, convenient, fast and safe means of transport, abolition of child-labor, compulsory universal education for boys and girls, and introduction of numberless means of amusement and other convenience made possible by modern science, have made life pleasant for the children of today.
Records will bear me out that even less than a hundred years ago, in many countries including our own, many mothers died in childbirth, leaving their children at the' mercy of stepmothers, or with no women at all to lock after them, A very small percentage of children born alive reached adulthood. Many were deformed by smallpox, measles and other diseases which wrought havoc among children in particular, Modern medicine and ante-natal and post-natal care have vastly reduced the risk of death and ill-health.
In the past, only a negligible proportion of the child population went to school. Either the parents would not give them an opportunity to do so or the schools were so far away from most places that it was physically impossible for them to travel daily to school and back. Even the schools in the immediate neighbourhood of some places were, sometimes, not easily accessible. They lay on the far sides of rivers, which lacked bridges to span them, or were hidden from their view by thick forests too difficult and dangerous for small children to cross alone.
And a word about the schools they went to. A vast majority of them were unhygienic ally situated, poorly ventilated, inadequately furnished and staffed by teachers who were not trained for their profession and could little boast of an academic career. In those days, only a few years, schooling qualified a person for a teacher's job.
And as the teachers had acquired their own knowledge for no love or need for it, but for fear of rod, they made use of it to instill learning into the minds of their wards. Perhaps a reference to the various modes of punishment and torture by Munshi Abdullah Will convince the critics of the present-day conditions of children, that their views are ill founded.(4essay.blogspot.com) In order to realize that the children in the West were not better off than those in the East, one should read Charles Dickens' novels like 'Oliver Twist' and 'David Copper-field ' and find for oneself how poorly the children were treated in that great city of London.
Modern research in educational psychology has proved that in most cases punishment of pupils is altogether unnecessary, and that, even where it must be given, it should be given in such a way that it will correct the offender rather than wreak vengeance upon him. Not only is education made available to all young people now, but it is made to suit the learners' tendencies and ability. No wonder then that it interests all school-goers.
Few girls, if any, had a chance to go to school in the days of Munshi Abdullah or Charles Dickens. This was unfair not only to the girls of those days, but to the children whose mothers they would become later in life.
Child labor is still practiced in some backward countries but a hundred years ago it was current all over the world, there being then, no laws to safeguard the genuine interests of the children. They were entirely at the mercy of their parents and the people who would pay the parents for the work that the children did. Nobody did then realize that the children of the poor had the same right to live and learn as those of the rich enjoyed. Nor did the parents and educators ever think that their children and pupils would one day be the leaders, guardians, and rulers of their nations. In England, for example, the children of young ages and small sizes were employed as human brooms to sweep factory chimneys. Special measures including underfeeding might have been employed to keep them from growing fat and big.
Better medical care, better food, better and more schools, convenient, fast and safe means of transport, abolition of child-labor, compulsory universal education for boys and girls, and introduction of numberless means of amusement and other convenience made possible by modern science, have made life pleasant for the children of today.
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