WAEC English Language 2016 Theory — Question 2

Model answer

THE NEED TO REVIVE THE CORE VALUES OF OUR SOCIETY Today, we live in a society whose core values and etiquette of virtuous living are now under serious threat of erosion. This is due to the enormous negative impact modernisation has on our society, notwithstanding the goodies it has brought to our world. A cursory look at what currently trends in our society reveals how the heavy wind of modernisation is rapidly sweeping sanity and order away. In terms of fashion, the mode of dressing in the 60°S and 70°S popularised fashion to be about what you put on, and the bigger your clothes were, the more fashionable you would appear; people wore shirts and trousers of big sizes covering their body and living virtually nothing to the open. But today, fashion is about what you don't wear, and in this generation, the less body part you cover, the more fashionable people applaud you to be. Our society is going insane as youth now expose what they should cover and cover what they should expose. Children, given the uncurtail access to the internet, now watch foreign movies that strike blows on moral dressing and behaviour. With the adaptation to foreign cultures, sexual immorality is no more prided the way it was in the pre-modern society. Youth no longer see sense in chastity let alone priding it. People are becoming promiscuous and randy, and civilisation is posing more danger to life. The rate of abortion amidst ladies increases by the day. The rate at which internet scamming is increasing is highly disturbing. This shows that hard work and honesty are not only subconsciously discouraged but also replaced with vices — manipulation, corruption, fraud, dishonesty, etc. People now seek every way possible to get rich, de-emphasising the means to getting wealthy and emphasising the end. Therefore, an urgent attention need to be paid to revive these values. Our curriculum at all level of education should place emphasis on moral and cultural values. Our education and other government policies must frown at anything contrary to this. Children/youth must be taught the dignity in honesty and hard work. The society at large must take pride in our customs and parents need to train and encourage their children to imbibe them. Also, it is imperative for government to place strict censor on foreign movies and musical videos encouraging immorality in the society. There should be zero tolerance for such materials. In addition, the civil society organisations, non-government agencies, faith-based organisations, media outfits and other stake holders could also contribute by using various means including social media, to promote society's core values and discourage misdemeanour among youth and young adult. Finally, most of the government economic policies, law and jurisprudence should be strong enough to raise eye brows against fraudulent acts, scamming and internet robbery, as well as sternly punish such criminal acts without any fear or favour.