Is there an aspect of identity in your culture that is shifting? Are there things you notice your generation doing differently than your parents’ generation? Things your class is doing differently than the classes at your school a few years ago?
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In my opinion there are a lot of things in our cultures which have changed during the time. In present we, the teenagers have totally different interests and thoughts from these of our parents. For example, in the past the realtionships between a child and a parent have been much more different. The children have been obliged to be much more respectful to their parents. Another example is that in the past one of the main hobbies of the children has been reading of books. Today the youth prefers to go out with friends, playing computer games, etc. I think all of these changes are propmped by the development of the world at all. There are much more places where today one teenager could go or things which to take your attention.- Joan
ReplyDeleteI agree with Joan that parents had different interests than us, but I think that in Bulgaria there is an even bigger difference. The system in Bulgaria was quite different before 1989 and technology was very undeveloped. Now it's totally different and therefore people's interests will change. Parents are now more liberal. There are also many things that teenagers can do now that they couldn't do before- cinemas are now much better and much more, there are all kinds of music that they can listen to, there are lots of shops and malls that they can go to. So many things have shifted.
ReplyDeleteVesko K., ACS 10/3
I asked my dad about teenagers and children before, and all the things he told me sounded so strange.. He told me that:
ReplyDelete1) if you're a child and you're walking down the street, then everyone was able to slap you - the explanation was that "there's always something the child have done wrong".
2) jeans weren't popular and everyone was jealous if someone had jeans. If you were eating sausages or chocolate, then you were rich. If you had colourful tights, then you were rich. If you have somehow different clothes (colourful or decorated), then you were rich.
3) students were going to disco from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
4) It was not normal to just have any love relationships with a boy (girl) without being your boy(girl)friend - everyone was so shy and having a boy(girl)friend was such a big deal.
5) some people didn't even knew about the existence of drugs - the "coolest" teenagers were drinking wine and that was making them so popular and unattainable.
All those things sound strange to me, because I know the things that teenagers tofay do - they get high when they're 12, have sex around the same age, go to night clubs all night long, beat other people, and at the end the parents don't know about all those illegal things. Some of them don't even care, because today there are more irresponsible parents. On the other hand, children doesn't care too about the things their parents give them - not only clothes and accessories, but also home and love. People today lie to each other, they're much more independant, but also doesn't deserve this independance.
Mariya Dimitrova, 10/7
My main conclusion from the conversations, which I and my father had spoken is that life for teenagers in Bulgaria now is a lot different than the life of teenagers 30 years ago. I agree with Vesko and Mariya that one of the main changes is in technology and the numerous new things, imported in our country. But I think that the main difference is that now kids have more independence and freedom- the can do so much things and try to develop partly on their own. This can be both positive and negative in the same time, because it will create more strong individuals but in the same time, some teenagers may take the "wrong" road and end up in a difficult situation.
ReplyDeleteDimitar Satchansky 10/3 ACS
One big difference between my life as a teenager and my mom's life as a teenager is sports. When she was a kid, there weren't any girls sports teams for her to play on, whereas I tried almost all the sports in existence - dance, gymnastics, karate, swimming, basketball, volleyball, golf, softball, tennis, figure skating. I think I would be really different today if I hadn't played serious tennis for twelve years.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really interesting what Mariya said about the difference between her dad's experience and her own. I've been wondering what it's like for parents in Bulgaria right now to figure out how to raise kids in such a different political environment than the one they grew up in. It seems like Bulgarian teenagers have a lot more social freedom than teenagers in the U.S., and I don't know which leads to more happiness and security for the teenagers.
Betsy Potash, ACS
I agree with Dimitar that the major change for teenagers in Bulgaria which has occurred during the last decades is the greater freedom of choice. One can now choose what clothes to wear, what music to listen to, what beliefs to express, etc. The situation was much different when out parents were 15 or 16 years old - we now have much more opportunities to choose for ourselves. This has led to our generation looking quite different from previous ones. For example, teenagers today wear clothes similar to those in the USA, while our parents were comparatively restricted in this aspect of their lives.
ReplyDeleteAlexander Krastev, 10-3, ACS
The times had changed - afcourse we act differently than our parents when they were our age. The style of living differs extremely much. The only things that are the same are the problems with the parents and hating school. Everything else has changed and will continue to change.
ReplyDeleteAs we all know people change. There's nobody on this planet who stays the same his whole life, because everything that happends in our lives makes us as a person and creates our characters. And one time a person can act in one way, and next time completely different, and it is all because of the thigns that happen to him.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dimitar that we live way different than our parents did, and that this is both a bad and a good thing, but all this is partly related to evolution of the world - the world changes -> people who live in it change, their way of life changes and also their way of thinking.
And about the classes ... well of course that the old class and the new class are completely different, because people are different.Consequently things people do are different and everyone has their own way to get to know people and make friends.
Well to be quite honest, all aspects of identity in all cultures are changing. There are no similar periods in our humanity, that is why we refer to them like the 60s, 80s, etc. We all have different periods that define the moment. The period we live in now is something quite different from our grandparents', that is why we see so many elderly people "upset at the way those young kids are acting these days". Obviously as new discoveries are unveiled, the teaching changes. Some teaching systems were controlled completely by the government, where the teaching was directly supervised by the government and was the only form of education permitted. Today, we get to enjoy a diverse world; something that our predecessors were unfortunate enough not to experience. In my mind, I am grateful to live in a quick, developed, modern world quite different from the previous times.
ReplyDeleteI love Blog Discussion Topic #4- Keep your coins I want change. When I first read it I said, "that is powerful." A homeless man that would turn down money for change. I also thought it was quite clever because change and change as in money change. Overall I feel it was a very good discussion topic because it really made me think.
ReplyDelete-Lenneita
Cesar Chavez PCHS
As a biracial female mixed with black and white i have experienced a couple of harsh stereotypes. I have been rased by blacks all my life and yet in school I still am called "White Girl" because of the color i am light skin. I have learned to accept this name because i am light but if someone takes it too far then i will not hessitate to say something. However I do embrace both of my ethnic backgrounds.
ReplyDelete-Gabrielle Gould
Chavez PCHS
Comparing the generations in different periods, there are a lot of things that have changed. For example, my parents hadn't had the things that we have today like iPods, MP3s, computers and so on. But as people say, everything new is actually well-forgotten old, and there are a lot of things in the previous generation that we have today. And not only the things change - the people change, too. They have become wide-awake to the world, more free, more developing.
ReplyDeleteAni Miteva 10/3
I think that the major difference between the generations is the change in the people’s values over time. I agree with the others that the technology and the many advantages of nowadays can influence people’s visions about the world. Today almost everybody is in a hurry and gets nervous or angry easily. This wouldn’t have occurred if the world hadn’t developed that much. The cars on the streets have probably doubled since my parents were my age. There are so many new inventions such as mobile phones, DVD players, laptops, Internet that weren’t exciting 30 years ago. However, my point is that the latest technology advantage is changing our values. It is like it is wrapping around us and giving so many facilities that if we hear our parents saying: “When I was a kid, instead of playing computer games with my friends, we gathered to study”, we will be socked! Everyone think that without the technology the past has been SO boring, but out parents have been happy.
ReplyDeleteLewbina ACS
Hi my name is Duane Umstead and I attend Cesar Chavez PCHS.I do believe that there is a shift in identity and culture because there are certain things i see that my generation does differently from my parents generation. In my generation no one works hard and most people are apathetic,while in my parents generation it seems as if most people work hard for everything they needed. Not only work ethic but also music... My generations music is some what horrible. I honestly would rather listen to "Generation X's" music because it had meaning and told a story. Life during the past generation was a chapter book. My life and generation is an email blurb or excerpt from another persons life. Whatever you want to call it just know my generation bites, at times.
ReplyDeleteIf one lives in the United States, then identity and culture does tend to shift because the US is a diverse country. Every generation is different from the previous one. My generation tends to get pregnant in their teens and dropout of school. However, my generation has more options/ privileges. The previous generation earned what they got and my generation lives off it, thinking it is enough for their lifetime, but is not. No one cares for the minority community! To start the waves of changes, one must settle their differences and identity aside.
ReplyDeleteMaria
In Sofia (and not only) there is this not so new (but also not so old) so called Americanization. It started at the end of last century and is slowly spreading everywhere throughout the world. In Bulgaria we say "shopping","extra","O.K","Hot Dog", etc. My point is that people have changed drastically over the past couple of years and their way of thinking and speaking has shaped in a different way. A lot of young people try to look like "hip-hop-american-gangster-..." while the previous generations are acting like typical ... Bulgarians (although there are some people at the age of 40+ that also have accepted the Americanization). How do you think - Is Americanization of people our age a good or a bad thing and why?
ReplyDeletePeter Ivanov
American College of Sofia
I disagree with the point of Mina that years ago people liked their schools, or that they didn't want to have any freedom. There were nerds like my mother (that's what my aunt told me about my mum) who never went to school without homework and who were crying if they have only a 5 (or a B), and there are nerds like that today too. They always were obeying the rules and so on. But there were also people who were breaking the rules like my aunt and my dad - people, who were drinking wine or even illegally bought whiskey from corecoms (shops which weren't working with bulgarian money - only with american money and in which it was extremely hard to buy something if you are a bulgarian person. There were whiskeys like Jack Daniels or chocolate Nutella). Teenagers were smoking, they were cheating on tests and all those things that were banned. Today it's the same - we are breaking rules, just the rules gives us more freedom. People are always trying to be more and more independant and not to follow the laws. The thing that has changed during years is the level of strictness of the rules, not the level of violating them. ~Mariya Dimirova, ACS, 10/7
ReplyDeleteEverything in life changes and it cannot stay the same forever. In many cases people are the one who change things and of course they also change all the time. When parents are arguing with their kids some of them begin with the sentence,"When I was your age I wasn't the same as you are." This might be true but not only people change through generations, everything around them is not the same either. So I believe that the environment and circumstances influence people's development. It's true that many things are worse now than they were in the past but there are also many others that have become better. Our generation lives under greater pressure and I think that our life is faster and more complicated than the life of the past generations.
ReplyDeleteSiyana Markova ACS
Of cource that there is a defference. The times are different and the people are different too. For instance, when our parents were teenagers, there was comunusm in bulgaria. Consequently the way they behaved was different. During that time you did not have that much freedom of speach and rebellion and beople behaved differently. Another reason is that we are different people from them, we cant live like they did. Moreover technology plays a big role in this change. Nowaday we can do things our parents couldnt do. For them it was books or sports outside, it is not bad, but now the posibilities areinfinite with microprocessor, internet and etc. And of course it all a part from our evolution Bobby
ReplyDeleteI think that there is a huge difference between our life's as teenagers and the life's of our parents as teenagers. For example, nowadays we have malls, many shops, choice, cell phones, cinemas and other. While our parents didn't have all these previlages. They had strict rules about uniforms, clothes were something with lower choice, there were no advanced techoologies as cell phones and listening to music portable devices. But maybe this is the way it works. Maybe our kids would have 1000 times more things than we have today and they would think similar to us. And hte way we think is the way our parents used to think Dimitar Drumev ACS
ReplyDeleteThere are some changes in school but they are not so drastical. The big difference in Bulgarian schools is between most of the public schools and ACS. In most of the public schools nobody even notice the teachers, there is no respect and almost nobody study. Also as Dimitar Drumev I also think that there is huge difference between our teenage years and our parents teenage years. The government was different at their teenage years, so there life had almost nothing in common with our lifes. At that time in Bulgaria the political system was comunism, so the people had less freedom. Also the technologies wasn't so developed as now.
ReplyDelete