TERM 3 WEEK 8 BLOGGING TASK.
Can poverty ever be eradicated?
Write a response of at least 300 words and 2 content paragraphs, and include materials from both articles as well as your own knowledge and experience.
Poverty, in my opinion, can never be eradicated. Efforts to relieve poverty in poverty-stricken countries can only aim to ameliorate the situation, but curbing the problem, I feel, is range of impossibility.
In countries stricken with extreme poverty, such as Africa and Cambodia, help rendered by the United Nations assembly has not stopped since time immemorial. Yet, every time help is rendered in the form of financial aid, and also labour aid, we see the countries falling back into depression. Why is this so? I agree with Sarup's point of view; that it is only a vicious cycle. With aims of eradicating poverty in our minds, do we really know if what we are doing helps the country? Yes, we save lives by pouring financial aid into the country. But our efforts do not affect the following generation of people living in that country. When poverty has affected a country for such a long period of time, it is difficult to change the mindsets of citizens. They have learnt to accept the fact that they are poor and since most of them will not be affected by humanitarian efforts, they rarely do concern themselves with the idea that they can be saved from poverty by grace. With mindsets like these, it is impossible to completely eradicate poverty.
Also, I believe that the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer. Its a rat race that never cedes. Due to the uneven income distribution, we cannot hope that all the poor people can manage to dig themselves out of this trench so deeply dug. Whereas people can associate with others passing into the different classes by chance or luck or pure inheritance, we should all be aware that this system is actually in dynamic equilibrium and the input and output are as defined by vice versa. People are selfish, its human nature. We cannot expect the rich to give without expecting to take. It is a cynical point of view, but, let's face it. Reality bites.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Term 3 Week 4: READING TASK 4
In your view, what are the likely political and socio-economic impacts of the demographic changes we see in the world today?
Write a response of at least 300 words and 2 content paragraphs, and include materials from the video “World in the Balance” as well as your own knowledge and experience.
Due to demographic changes such as ageing populations, pestilences and spread of life-threatening diseases such as AIDS, countries suffer backlashes on their economies, and citizens also lose their confidence in a country's ability to handle problems. We all know that such problems are the reasons why world leaders, for one, are those that were chosen due to their great foresight. Perspicacious leaders ensure that the impacts of demographic changes are kept to a minimum, and also place measures in order to curb problems as soon as they occur. Why? Because demographic changes impact the country in ways that war cannot. Epidemics, diseases, gender imbalance, all these factors are subversive to a country's well-being.
Diseases such as AIDS have plagued third-world countries since they first surfaced. The reason for which is simple. The country is so poor that it cannot afford to improve living conditions for the citizens, which leads to problems such as poor sanitization and housing conditions. These, coupled with the fact that the citizens are poorly-educated and thus do not understand the implications of contracting the disease, lead to an exacerbation of the problems which come down twice as hard on the government. It is imperative for the problems to be solved, but at times, this is as tough as trying to achieve the impossible. Therefore, we can see that demographic changes affects the society by manifesting the weaknesses of a country such as its financial capabilities and also, its leadership.
Political impact is obvious. When a country is set back by a problem such as the ageing population in Britain, it is up to the government to handle the problem. From the way it is managed, the abilities of the leader can be seen. How does it affect the politics in a country? For instance, Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin drew flak from his citizens for several wrong decisions he made regarding the country's SARS outbreak. It placed his position and life in jeopardy, and he had to resign as a result.
In your view, what are the likely political and socio-economic impacts of the demographic changes we see in the world today?
Write a response of at least 300 words and 2 content paragraphs, and include materials from the video “World in the Balance” as well as your own knowledge and experience.
Due to demographic changes such as ageing populations, pestilences and spread of life-threatening diseases such as AIDS, countries suffer backlashes on their economies, and citizens also lose their confidence in a country's ability to handle problems. We all know that such problems are the reasons why world leaders, for one, are those that were chosen due to their great foresight. Perspicacious leaders ensure that the impacts of demographic changes are kept to a minimum, and also place measures in order to curb problems as soon as they occur. Why? Because demographic changes impact the country in ways that war cannot. Epidemics, diseases, gender imbalance, all these factors are subversive to a country's well-being.
Diseases such as AIDS have plagued third-world countries since they first surfaced. The reason for which is simple. The country is so poor that it cannot afford to improve living conditions for the citizens, which leads to problems such as poor sanitization and housing conditions. These, coupled with the fact that the citizens are poorly-educated and thus do not understand the implications of contracting the disease, lead to an exacerbation of the problems which come down twice as hard on the government. It is imperative for the problems to be solved, but at times, this is as tough as trying to achieve the impossible. Therefore, we can see that demographic changes affects the society by manifesting the weaknesses of a country such as its financial capabilities and also, its leadership.
Political impact is obvious. When a country is set back by a problem such as the ageing population in Britain, it is up to the government to handle the problem. From the way it is managed, the abilities of the leader can be seen. How does it affect the politics in a country? For instance, Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin drew flak from his citizens for several wrong decisions he made regarding the country's SARS outbreak. It placed his position and life in jeopardy, and he had to resign as a result.
READING TASK 4 : Week (?)
Referring to the article : Gender Inequality in the Workforce
In the light of the author's views that gender inequality in the workforce is imaginary and founded on premises of medieval history, I find that the reason why we still think that men and women are unequally treated in our societal workforce is because we have always viewed them as such. It is enlightening to read that gender inequality in the workforce does not seem as serious as people might view it to be, because I believe, like many others do, that being egalitarian is the way to go.
The author brought up many interesting points worthy of note, such as the 'glass ceiling' that women consider a stumbling block in their professional career. Such an example is an epitome of being too pessimistic about prejudicial treatment in the workforce. I concur with the author's view that assertions of women being treated unequally in the workforce are exaggerated. We should, as teenagers, not be too quick to make a judgement about prejudicial treatment in the workforce simply because we have not experienced a working life.
Elizabeth Fox Genovese also articulated her views that "the differences between paychecks have more to do with the differences between social classes--and, increasingly, the education that, more than anything else today, determines class membership--than with the differences between the sexes. Within classes, differences between men and women persist, although they are steadily lessening. And, in the end, the best explanation for them remains women's ability to bear children--the inequality that no amount of social policy can erase." A good point to note, don't you think?
Referring to the article : Gender Inequality in the Workforce
In the light of the author's views that gender inequality in the workforce is imaginary and founded on premises of medieval history, I find that the reason why we still think that men and women are unequally treated in our societal workforce is because we have always viewed them as such. It is enlightening to read that gender inequality in the workforce does not seem as serious as people might view it to be, because I believe, like many others do, that being egalitarian is the way to go.
The author brought up many interesting points worthy of note, such as the 'glass ceiling' that women consider a stumbling block in their professional career. Such an example is an epitome of being too pessimistic about prejudicial treatment in the workforce. I concur with the author's view that assertions of women being treated unequally in the workforce are exaggerated. We should, as teenagers, not be too quick to make a judgement about prejudicial treatment in the workforce simply because we have not experienced a working life.
Elizabeth Fox Genovese also articulated her views that "the differences between paychecks have more to do with the differences between social classes--and, increasingly, the education that, more than anything else today, determines class membership--than with the differences between the sexes. Within classes, differences between men and women persist, although they are steadily lessening. And, in the end, the best explanation for them remains women's ability to bear children--the inequality that no amount of social policy can erase." A good point to note, don't you think?
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