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Topic 126 Can young people teach older people?

To my ear this statement sounds false and a little too fare-fetched. It is truth universally acknowledged that the old people have volumes of experience, while the young have the energy and lots of creative power. Therefore I think that it's not suitable to take sides in this situation. Because in my view there is no way to determine who is better - the old or the young.

Obviously, each of these groups has its own positives and negatives. I suppose they should co-operate and be helpful to one another rather than try to rival. The exchange should be done for their own mutual benefits. Even though the old people possess a great deal of experience, it is sometimes not enough for surviving in the changing modern world. That's why they often get stuck with their dated information, without being able to break free from their own prejudice.

In many cases the old people are used to their old ways and, I imagine, it must be really hard for them to get adjusted to the new environment. But one should always remember that, like it or not, only the fittest survive. Therefore, if the old people don't want to become extinct as dinosaurs did, they should rather learn some ways from the young. The thing is that the young people are way more flexible to all of the little changes happening in their everyday life. It is easier for them to get up-to-date and to face the fact that some old ways are no longer valid. For them it is not a difficult thing to come to terms with. I guess that this is something that could be of some use for the elder people as well. If they have lots of experience to give, the young can teach them lots of flexibility in return.

In fact, I personally think that there are many things that the young can teach older people and flexibility is just one of them. But the problem is sometimes that the old are very unlikely to be willing to accept this kind of searching with their arms wide open. Most of the times they are conservative and prefer to stick to their old ways.

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Answers to All toefl Essay Questions

Topic 126 Can young people teach older people?

An English proverb goes, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." With all due respect to this folk wisdom, I have to admit that it sounds somewhat dated to me. At the same time I agree that almost every saying has a grain of truth to it, and this one is no exception. Nor is another one? There is no fool like an old fool. As it can easily be seen, the two sayings contradict each other, which may seem terribly confusing. Nevertheless I would like to pursue the subject at some length and try to find out which one is in the right.

It goes without saying that the old dog has quite a lot of experience. During its lifetime it has learnt a lot of different tricks that now make it feel happy and content with itself. I believe it deserves all kind of respect and admiration, since it has done a pretty good job. But one should always remember that the kind of tricks it has been doing up to now are old-fashioned and not up-to-date anymore. There now exists a marvelous opportunity to do all of them over again in a better, more sophisticated way. It is not surprising that a young dog would be way more dexterous in performing those tricks.

Moreover, it can create some innovative, brand-new ways that an old dog has never even dreamed about. Therefore I suppose that the old dog should appreciate this never-ending source of energy and ideas, and maybe even pick up some of them. If the old dogs don't want to be considered off-the-shelf, they should rather be flexible and get with the times. "You are never too old to learn" shrewdly reminds them another popular saying. But still there is no way for the mature dogs to humbly imitate their own puppies. It is advisable for them to share the accumulated knowledge with the young, to be more helpful and willing to co-operate.

At the same time, all of this will be accepted more easily if the old dogs don't try to impose their experience on the young. Then the latter would undoubtedly greet their teachings with their arms wide open. Both the old and the young should never forget that they are living in the same world that belongs equally to the first group as to the second. Even though the modern world is changing all the time, there still are ways to get adjusted to it for both.

All metaphors aside, I guess that the young and the old must be very loyal to each other. They should exchange their experience and whatever else they have to give to each other. To get back to where I started? Nor the first nor the second saying is totally correct. As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

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