Comparing and Contrasting the United States and China
Tradition Versus Technology:
Comparing and Contrasting the United States and China
A young girl in the People’s Republic of China drops out of school so that she can care for her aging parents. She will stay with them and carry out many of the household chores while her brother is away getting an education. She wanted nothing more than to stay in school and perhaps go on to college, but this is a dream she may as well forget. Besides, if her parents can only afford to educate one of their children, why would it be her? Soon she will probably marry and move into another household with another pair of parents that need tended to anyways. What good would an education do her?
Meanwhile in the United States of America, a young girl – not so very different from the aforementioned girl – leaves her home with her parents to pursue a college degree hundreds of miles away. Her parents could really use someone around the house to help with the housework, but she fervently maintains that this is not her responsibility. She is excited about the amount of independence she will soon be experiencing: namely, she will not have to take care of her parents or her little brother anymore. The only person she has to care about now is herself, and that will only change if she wants it to.
The girl in China is (and likely always will be) living in a way oddly reminiscent of Ancient China. Although the nation as a whole has evolved remarkably throughout the past 4000 years, many centuries old customs and traditions have withstood the test of time and are still visible in modern China. Contrastingly, the old traditions and standards of the United States show little resemblance to what the country has become. Many of the ideals that founded this country just a few hundred years ago have since disintegrated. The underlying point is this: China is a country whose current customs and beliefs are deeply rooted in its ancient history, while the United States has customs and
Comparing and Contrasting the United States and China
A young girl in the People’s Republic of China drops out of school so that she can care for her aging parents. She will stay with them and carry out many of the household chores while her brother is away getting an education. She wanted nothing more than to stay in school and perhaps go on to college, but this is a dream she may as well forget. Besides, if her parents can only afford to educate one of their children, why would it be her? Soon she will probably marry and move into another household with another pair of parents that need tended to anyways. What good would an education do her?
Meanwhile in the United States of America, a young girl – not so very different from the aforementioned girl – leaves her home with her parents to pursue a college degree hundreds of miles away. Her parents could really use someone around the house to help with the housework, but she fervently maintains that this is not her responsibility. She is excited about the amount of independence she will soon be experiencing: namely, she will not have to take care of her parents or her little brother anymore. The only person she has to care about now is herself, and that will only change if she wants it to.
The girl in China is (and likely always will be) living in a way oddly reminiscent of Ancient China. Although the nation as a whole has evolved remarkably throughout the past 4000 years, many centuries old customs and traditions have withstood the test of time and are still visible in modern China. Contrastingly, the old traditions and standards of the United States show little resemblance to what the country has become. Many of the ideals that founded this country just a few hundred years ago have since disintegrated. The underlying point is this: China is a country whose current customs and beliefs are deeply rooted in its ancient history, while the United States has customs and