Does it really lead to better academic performance? Comment below.
(Opinion Essays practice in preparation for my Toeic writing test)
Topic: Violence in the media promotes violence in society. To what extent do you agree?
Answer: Violence occurs in different types of ways and forms, with physical violence being the mass majority. Although society was never a stranger to violence, the media seemingly promotes such acts subconsciously, spreading many misleading examples that affect our younger generations. In many cases, parents fail to recognize the harm that their children had been exposed to, resulting in children’s rebellious behaviors that sometimes lead to much worse outcomes in their teenage years.
Based on my own experience, living with my father who believes in the tiger parent strategy was not easy. One of the tactics that comes with such an education system is spanking. I believe such a system was supposedly brought to him by his own father, but I also noticed my father reading other peoples’ success stories of giving physical punishments to their children as a form of care for their academic performance. To my understanding, the sources of such materials are usually magazines that came with our monthly newsletter subscription. I also recall our family movie nights being extremely violent with movies such as Shaolin Temple, The Grandmaster, Ip Man etc. Some may say these movies are far from violent, but in my opinion, the praise that was formed from such movies lure watchers into mimicking their actions, there is no way that the “Fight till you win!” mindset hasn’t heavily affected my father’s, more so my brother’s mind.
Just to set an example, every time my brother and I fail our tests, he would tell us to kneel down on our knees and beg for his forgiveness. If we refuse to follow his orders, he would kick us as if we are students from the Shaolin Temple! The discouragement from not being able to reach our own goal in the test is already so frustrating, only for another person to blame us for our failures. It’s not only physical harm but also emotional wreckage, never in my youth years did I ever understand the “educational purpose’’ of my father’s actions.
To conclude my discussion, I absolutely agree with the theory of media affecting one’s act of violence toward people, I think not only young kids should be monitored on what was presented to them but I also think violent materials should be restricted to certain types of people. If only there is somebody who cares enough, our society will become a better place.
