Teenage Values in Asia

In the 1950s, Asia Pacific was one of the ___1___ regions in the world.
Just half a century later, Asia contains economics giants such as Japan, and
also some of the fastest growing ___2____, such as China and India, and the
tiger economies of South East Asia. This has lead to real gains in income and
the ___3_____ of a middle class and with it, the surfacing of teenage lifestyles
previously limited to the West.
Many Asian teenagers today are more ___4_____ than their parents’
generation, and they are open to international values due to the speed of the
internet ___5_____. However, parents continue to have a strong influence over
their children’s lives, which affects teenagers’ choices.
In East Asia, the teachings of Confucius are ___6___ , and respecting
the elders is an important element of Asian education. Teenagers’ choices for
the future are strongly influenced by parents, who guide their children towards
their goals. Teenagers’ ___7___are mostly job focused. Security is important,
and competition for top universities continues apace. Not only does it look
good on their __8___, but going to the best universities creates good ‘guanxi’
(relationship and connections). Because of ‘guanxi’, many influential people
help out those from their universities to get good jobs. Therefore, parents and
students spend time and ___9___ to make sure they have a good chance of
getting into exclusive circles, resulting in private tuition becoming a ___10___
business.