3. Claim: Governments must ensure that their major cities receive the financial support they need in order to thrive.
Reason: It is primarily in cities that a nation's cultural traditions are preserved and generated.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.
With money comes services, universities, museums, highways and clean streets. Therefore, governments should financially support the nation’s major cities in order for them to thrive. Major cities are not only the nation’s source of economic power, they are also cultural centers and residential places. However, what the statement seems to assume is not entirely true: a nation’s cultural traditions are not better preserved and generated in major cities. On the contrary, rural areas tend to change less than capitals and therefore preserve old traditions better. Although governments must support major cities, the reason for it is not the conservation of traditions.
First, major cities require more funds because a larger amount of people inhabit them. From the 44 million people that live in Spain, 4 live in the city of Madrid. They need more funds for schools, parks and hospitals than a city like Burgos (170.000 inhabitants) needs. As in other major cities, Madrid’s inhabitants come from different regions within the country and also from different neighboring countries. And generally, the ones who move to larger cities are young people. This variety results in a melting pot, where the traditions of Spain are diluted. In Burgos and other Castilian small towns live older people who teach the traditions to their youngsters. For example, dancing jotas is more common in smaller towns and rural areas than it is in Madrid.
In addition, the government should provide financial support to major cities in order for them to create more employment and improve businesses. Spain relies on cities like Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao for the creation of wealth. Therefore, it should also invest in them to promote new enterprises and industries. The counterpart is that this economic power persuades international companies to establish stores in major cities. Whereas there is just one McDonalds in Burgos, there are hundreds in Madrid. This inhibits the preservation of cultural traditions. Local restaurants cannot compete with the mass force of international enterprises.
Finally, major cities are cultural centers with good universities and museums. In big cities, there are more people that demand these cultural goods. Government should assign funds for major cities so they can culturally thrive. Museums and universities do provide new input to create cultures and traditions, but not necessarily to preserve them. They bring along international students, faculty and expositions, which may endanger national traditions or may foster them (if there are museums and classes dedicated to them). It could be both ways.
Major cities are a nation’s center, and governments should invest in them because of the population that they have, the economic growth they bring and the cultural goods they provide. But in major cities cultural traditions are not better preserved than in small towns or in the countryside. It is generally the contrary, because in small towns there is less change than in capitals.
