"Teenagers today are slowly losing interests in celebrating festivals." What are your views?

Secondary School Expository Essay, 2016 (chosen as model essay)

Although I hate to admit it, teenagers today are slowly losing interest in celebrating festivals. It is sad but true. However, I do not feel that the reason behind this trend is an issue of indifference or the stereotypical rebellious attitude associated with teenagers. I feel that the problems go much deeper than that, especially in Singapore.

The first issue is a lack of time. With the ever-increasing pressure and demands from family and society to excel in their studies, teenagers in Singapore are tortured with such long hours of nonstop learning in school, followed by intensive marathons of tuition and supplementary classes, that they usually end the day drained of all their energy. If one considers the time needed to get homework done and participate in co-curricular activities, it leaves them almost no time to breathe. It would make sense that during periods of festivity such as the Mid-Autumn Festival, they would much rather have a quick dinner so that they still have time to do things after, instead of family reunions that last for hours one end, uninteresting enough as they are without adding in the concept of fatigue.

Then there are foreign influences to deal with. Perhaps, with strong roots in their culture, teenagers would feel more inclined to celebrate festivals, but it is not that easy. These days, it only takes a tap of a finger to have an inside scoop on who wore what for Paris Fashion Week. Indeed, with this increasingly globalised world, the dilution of local culture is simple inevitable. Influence from the West is rampant and foreign worlds often appear far more glamorous and appealing than our seemingly mundane festivals. Without well-established feelings of their own culture like a deep rooted tree, many teenagers' attitude towards local festivals resembles a weak sapling that is fragile and vulnerable to being trampled over by something that seems far more exciting.

Teenagers who do celebrate festivals usually do so only as creatures of habit. Perhaps it is an annual family tradition or a routine that they have to endure, so celebrating festivals usually takes the form of an obligation or a duty to their parents instead of an actual celebration, and becomes a negative experience, a chore. This is usually brought about by a lack of understanding of the customs. As children, they may have been taught to follow whatever their elders did without questioning the importance of the actions. Thus Chinese New Year for my younger cousins has been reduced to visiting Grandmother to offer oranges in exchange for money – a mere "business transaction" which is not only superficial but incredibly distressing.

The lack of understanding of the meanings behind festivals makes their observance shallow and plastic, but this is precisely how culture is being inculcated in the minds of children by their ignorant parents, who think they are instilling obedience, only to have their children grow into teenagers who quickly take advantage of every opportunity to escape an obligation. Can one blame teenagers, then? It would not make sense to continue celebrating a festival when one does not even know what the celebration is for, more so when it feels like a home imprisonment.

It is heartbreaking to see the new generation lose their interest in painstaking nurtured traditions, and there is something poetically poignant and melancholy in watching the vibrant culture of a previous generation fade into a metallic shade of grey. Hopefully, one day, we will find a cure to reverse the damage and bring to life a generation with hearts newly fired, willing to carry on celebrating the festivals of their people, their blood ablaze with passion and enthusiasm. Till then, however, all we can do is pray that somehow these meaningful festivals will be kept alive – even if it is by those who feel chained by family obligation to uphold their duty and pride.