rodgers white
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2016
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- China
- Current Location
- China
*********************************************************
Technological change is everywhere and affects every aspect of life, mostly for the better. However, social changes are brought about by new technology are often mistaken for a change in attitudes.
An example at hand is the involvement of parents in the lives of their children who are attending college. Surveys on this topic suggests that parents today continue to be “very” or “somewhat”overly-protective even after their children move into college dormitories. The same surveys also indicate that the rate of parental involvement is greater today than it was a generation ago. This is usually interpreted as a sign that today’s parents are trying to manage their children’s lives past the point where this behavior is appropriate.
However, greater parental involvement does not necessarily indicate that parents are failing to let go of their “adult” children. In the context of this discussion, it seems valuable to first find out the cause of change in the case of parents’ involvement with their grown children. If parents of earlier generations had wanted to be in touch with their college-age children frequently, would this have been possible? Probably not. On the other hand, does the possibility of frequent communication today mean that the urge to do so wasn’t present a generation ago? Many studies show that older parents—today’s grandparents—would have called their children more often if the means and cost of doing so had not been a barrier. Furthermore, studies show that finances are the most frequent subject of communication between parents and their college children. The fact that college students are financially dependent on their parents is nothing new; nor are requests for more money to be sent from home. This phenomenon is neither good nor bad; it is a fact of college life, today and in the past.
Thanks to the advanced technology, we live in an age of bettered communication. This has many implications well beyond the role that parents seem to play in the lives of their children who have left for college. But it is useful to bear in mind that all such changes come from the technology and not some imagined desire by parents to keep their children under their wings.
*************************************************************
The task is : Please summarise the article above in your own words, using between 40 and 80 words.
The following is just my attempt at summarizing and I hope someone would proofread it and polish it. It serves as an example for my students to follow after I finish checking their summaries.
**************************************************************
Technological change affects people’s behavior, but not their own attitude. For example, today’s parents are considered to be overly-protective or involve too much in their children’s life, but the studies show that parents of both today and the past are eager to communicate with their children frequently if the means and cost allowed, and college students’ financial dependence also accounted for their more frequent communication. In a word, it is not the attitude but advanced technology that explains greater parental involvement.
Technological change is everywhere and affects every aspect of life, mostly for the better. However, social changes are brought about by new technology are often mistaken for a change in attitudes.
An example at hand is the involvement of parents in the lives of their children who are attending college. Surveys on this topic suggests that parents today continue to be “very” or “somewhat”overly-protective even after their children move into college dormitories. The same surveys also indicate that the rate of parental involvement is greater today than it was a generation ago. This is usually interpreted as a sign that today’s parents are trying to manage their children’s lives past the point where this behavior is appropriate.
However, greater parental involvement does not necessarily indicate that parents are failing to let go of their “adult” children. In the context of this discussion, it seems valuable to first find out the cause of change in the case of parents’ involvement with their grown children. If parents of earlier generations had wanted to be in touch with their college-age children frequently, would this have been possible? Probably not. On the other hand, does the possibility of frequent communication today mean that the urge to do so wasn’t present a generation ago? Many studies show that older parents—today’s grandparents—would have called their children more often if the means and cost of doing so had not been a barrier. Furthermore, studies show that finances are the most frequent subject of communication between parents and their college children. The fact that college students are financially dependent on their parents is nothing new; nor are requests for more money to be sent from home. This phenomenon is neither good nor bad; it is a fact of college life, today and in the past.
Thanks to the advanced technology, we live in an age of bettered communication. This has many implications well beyond the role that parents seem to play in the lives of their children who have left for college. But it is useful to bear in mind that all such changes come from the technology and not some imagined desire by parents to keep their children under their wings.
*************************************************************
The task is : Please summarise the article above in your own words, using between 40 and 80 words.
The following is just my attempt at summarizing and I hope someone would proofread it and polish it. It serves as an example for my students to follow after I finish checking their summaries.
**************************************************************
Technological change affects people’s behavior, but not their own attitude. For example, today’s parents are considered to be overly-protective or involve too much in their children’s life, but the studies show that parents of both today and the past are eager to communicate with their children frequently if the means and cost allowed, and college students’ financial dependence also accounted for their more frequent communication. In a word, it is not the attitude but advanced technology that explains greater parental involvement.
Last edited:
