托福独立写作题目（20110925ML/20101106NA/20130325ML）：Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?It is easier for parents to raise children today than it was 50 years ago.

 

　　Much has changed in society in the last 50 years.  The advent and proliferation of personal computers, the widespread adoption of cell-phones, and the invention of the internet—not to mention the great abundance of literature of child-rearing—have all had a visible impact on how parents interact with their children.  Not all of the changes have necessarily been positive, but I believe these shifts over the last 50 years have made it easier overall for parents to raise their children.

 

　　Technology has probably been the biggest element to affect the parenting landscape in the last half-century.  Personal computing, for example, has given parents the ability to teach their children in unconventional ways using educational software.  I myself remember reinforcing basic math and science knowledge through poorly-animated, two dimensional computer games in elementary school; nowadays, the software being offered is far more advanced.  In a different vein, cell phones  have provided parents with a means of staying in touch with their children over long distances, so parents no longer have to worry as much about contacting their children during emergencies.  And finally, the internet gives parents a powerful set of tools on both the education and communication fronts: a wealth of information (on not only educational topics for children, but also child-rearing advice for parents) available at one's fingertips, as well as various options for maintaining contact (e-mail, instant messaging, video calls).

 

　　As hinted at above, the vast troves of parenting knowledge available today—as well as just better general parental awareness—also help make parenting easier in the 21st century.  Developmental psychology has made great strides in understanding the mental processes of children as they grow, and many of those scientific theories have trickled down into society to form the basis of a lot of common sense advice—like for example, that parents should try to strike a balance between guiding children and letting them be independent, and between being affectionate and being stern (these characterize the "authoritative" parenting style in psychology).  But even if one could not intuit such theories, there are literally thousands of books written on the subject of parenting, and likely many thousands more worth of articles on the internet.  These take much of the guesswork out of the messy ordeal of raising a child.

 

　　This abundance of technology and information can be somewhat of a double edged sword, of course.   For one thing, parents must now monitor their children's usage of all this new technology—computers, cell phones, and the internet can easily become time-wasting distractions (addictive games) or even life-threatening dangers (unscrupulous strangers) if children are given free reign.  For another thing, parents might feel overwhelmed by how much parenting information if available now—though most theories probably agree on the broad strokes, there are many competing schools of thought that differ on the exact details of how to best raise children.   As all these things become more and more embedded in our daily lives, however, parents should find that navigating these potential difficulties becomes second nature.

 

　　Overall, I believe the changes have been for the better.  Though many new challenges and obstacles have arisen as well, the tools parents have gained have made raising children an easier task than 50 years ago.