Tradition and Modernization

Nowadays, some undeveloped countries and traditional regions try to find the most appropriate way to accelerate the growth of domestic development. While some people agree that these areas should take advantage of appropriate technology with the guidance of traditional ideas, others disagree and argue that more modern ideas and advanced technologies can stimulate greater improvement of regional development. In my opinion, I agree that adopting more modern ideas, values and technologies are the best way for Third World Nations to facilitate their development.

It is true that depending on traditional values and introducing appropriate technologies could boost the local development. The value of sustainable agricultural development educate people stay away from over-farming and reduce the consumption of natural non-renewable resource, such as land, coal and metal as only nature-based exploitation and utilization do meet the requirements of long-term development for all nations. Also, intermediate technologies lay great emphasis upon meeting the basic needs for locals, as security of water supply, sanitary conditions and convenient transportation. Obviously, the construction of infrastructure is the root of the further improvement for poorer nations, because they will stay apart from other states without transportation.

Although there seems some reasonable reasons for Third World citizens to choice the traditional way, it is undeniable that adopting modern ideas and higher technologies could exert greater effects in traditional cities. Civilized ideas are beneficial to the reform of traditional education system. Despite in modern society people claim the equality and non-discrimination between different genders, there are still some women who cannot get the equal rights to study because of poverty, discrimination and harmful practices in parts of old countries. However, giving females the same opportunities to receive education is the best way to eliminate the cycle of poverty as well as reject random violence and abuse against women in poor areas. Educated women with high diploma and capabilities are prone to make more money to support their families and make greater contribution to their whole societies, particularly in some female-dominated sectors, such as teaching and nursery professions.

Moreover, people cannot ignore the significant impact of modern technologies, particularly, the modern technology, by contrasting the level of public health between developed and undeveloped nations. For one thing, in recent decades, due to the huge improvement of medical technique level in scientific field and sanitary conditions in hospital, the average rate of infant mortality has decreased dramatically around the world. However, the infant mortality in less developed countries was about 10 times high as it was in developed countries in 2001, as lack of the essential medical service (The World Factbook, 2001). As a result, governments in backward nations should import advanced western medicines and master medical technologies to improve the quality of healthcare. For another, the introduction of healthy lifestyles and medical operations make it possible for people in traditional countries to avoid dying from to extend life expectancy (Norberg-Hodge, 1996). Scientists have proved that regular exercise and a healthy diet are beneficial to maintain a high level of fitness. Meanwhile, some diseases, such as tumor, which is an incurable disease in old times by traditional herbal medicine or acupuncture, could be removed accurately through surgery.

In addition, the advent of farming high-technologies could benefit people a lot in traditional nations. Bides the widespread utility of high-effective and efficient agricultural machines for farmers to enjoy more convenience and leisure time, the application of man-made satellite to predict climates is an remarkable progress in farming field. For instance, taking advantage of satellite to forecast the extreme climate disaster, as typhoons, tornados and storms, could alert farmers to prepare accordingly earlier in order to avoid suffering overwhelming losses. What’s more, another obvious product of modern agriculture which contributes to eliminate extreme hunger and improve the people's living standards in poor countries is the high-yielding hybrid rice invented by Yuan Longping. The production of hybrid rice is 30 percent higher than those of common rice (Wikipedia). As the number of global population are increasingly booming, especially in developing countries, therefore, importing farm-related higher technologies to ensure that rises in population are matched by rise in crop yields is vital important to the development of traditional countries.

In conclusion, both traditional and modern methods have advantages and disadvantages. Based on the essay I write above, it is clear that the significant strength of technologies and modern ideas far outweigh the traditional ways. As a result, I strongly suggest that the best way for traditional countries to take to promote their development is to introducing modern ideas, values and technologies.