How children are socialized today determines the destiny of society. Unfortunately, we have not yet learned how to raise children who can help bring about a better society.

The speaker’s statement is actually a dual claim. First, the destiny of our society is determined by how children are socialized. Second, our educational system fails to help to achieve wholesome development of our children. While having reservations for the first claim, I fundamentally agree with the second.

Declaring that our society’s future depends on children’s socialization is an overstatement at best. Undeniably, children are the future backbone of our society and their proper and wholesome development is vital to the sustenance and flourish of our civilization. However, how they are socialized is only one facet of their development, which also includes other aspects such as genetic variance, parental influence, self conviction, etc. I concede that interaction with the outside world and peers are crucial in helping a child to grow into an effectual and socially accommodating adult. However, the influence of other factors that forge a child’s personality and determine his/her abilities cannot be denied. If regulations banning marriage between genetically close relatives are not enforced, the high birth ratio of intellectually and physically disabled children could hinder the society’s development and undermine its stability in the long run. If a child’s parents are addicted to gambling, alcohol or drugs, or they frequently engage in quarrels or even family violence, no matter how conducive the social environment the child is in, his/her healthy development will be merely an illusion. There are also thousands of other subtle factors that minutely influence the children in various ways that we cannot see. It is the complex interplay of these factors, combined with socialization, that make our children who they are. Because of this, we cannot confidently proclaim that two children living in the same residential area, grow up together and go to the same schools will become two persons similar in temperament, attitude and personalities. All in all, the influence of socialization is overrated. Considering next the second claim that our educational system plays a suboptimal role in facilitating the wholesome development of our children, I fundamentally agree with this claim. Here the “educational system” includes not only schools, but also parental influence, and our society.

In schools and at home, too much emphasis is placed on developing intellectual skills while non-intellectual aspect of intelligence is largely omitted. Current evaluation system and social expectations on children force them to cram in knowledge more than they can absorb, while equally important issues like indoctrinating traditional values, nurturing moral uprightness, reinforcing ethical principles and respecting and monitoring their emotions are placed at the end of our priority list. The end product of this prejudiced education is a generation of high-IQ-low-EQ children, lots of whom are intellectually competent but morally and emotionally crippled. Some show little respect to others and little tolerance to different ideas. Some are selfish, arrogant and dishonest. Some are deficient in managing their own emotions and commits suicides or even vent out their anger and resentments by hurting other people. Our society also isn’t always living up its role in providing a healthy environment for the children. The situation that contemporary cartoons and TV programs for children frequently contain violence and pornographic contents serves as a case in point.

In sum, although children’s socialization plays an important role in their development, which determines our society’s future, it is not the sole determinant. On the other hand, our educational system, to a broader sense, which includes the schools, parents and the society, isn’t doing an unexceptionable job in nurturing the wholesome and balanced development of our children.