1. Television Program and Their Effect on children
Television programs regularly entertain, educate, effect and even frighten the majority of our children. Most children are allowed to watch whatever program is on, with little thought on the effect that particular show will have on a child. Most programs can be classed as beneficial or harmful, according to what effect the program might have on a child.
The beneficial television programs are mainly thouse that educate the young. There are often specials on animal life. A few regular children’s programs develop the child’s interest in school-type learning by stressing numbers and the alphablt, and that encourages him or her to be creative. The beneficial commercials, such as those on anti-smoking, anti-litter, and health, should be included in this category.
On the opposite side are the shows, which are generally harmful to children. Many commercials, especially those sponsoring the children’s programs, are deliberately written to create a desire for an unnecessary product such as sugar coated cereals and candy. All adult programs that include violence or sex scenes can at best fill a child’s mind with confusing or misleading ideas, and could possib ly harden the child to violence.
Thoughtful parents will definitely not allow their children to view the bad programs. A child’s viewing time should be limited to watching educationlly benefical programs.
2. How to Solve the Housing Problem in Big Cities
With the development of modern industryu, more and more people are flowing into big cities. Accordingly, the housing problem in big cities is becoming more and more serious.
People have offered many solutions to this problem. I think building satellite cities in the suburbs is more practical. The fresh air and beautiful secnery in the suburbs will be appealing to the city citizens, who suffer from air pollution, noises, etc. in the overcrowded city. With more people leaving the city, more space will be available for those remaining. The housinmg problem in big cities will thus be solved.
3. “The younger generaton knows best”
Old people are always saying that the young are not what they were. The same comments is made from generation to generation and it is always true. It has never been truer than ti is today. The young are better educated. They have a lot more money to spend and enjoy more freedom. They grow up more quickly and are not so dependent on their parents. They think more for themselves and do not blindly accept the ideas of their elders. Events, which the older generation remembers vividly, are nothing more than past history. This is as it should be. Every new generation is different from the one preceded it. Today the difference is very marked indeed.
The old always assume thaty they know best for the simple reason that they have been around a bit longer. They don’t like to feel that their values are being questioned or threatened. And this precisely what the young are doing. They are questioning the assumptions of their elders and disturbing their complacency. They take leave to doubt that the older generation has created the best of all possible worlds. What they reject more than anything is conformity. Office hours, for instance, are nothing more than enforced slavery. Wouldn’t people work best if they were given complete freedom and responsibility? And what about clothing? Who said that all the men in the world should wear drab grey suits and convict haircuts? If we turn our minds to more serious matters, who said that human differences can best be solved through conventional politics or by violent means? Who said that human differences can best be solved through conventional politics or by violent means? Who said that human differences can best be solved through conventional politics or by violent means? Why have the older generation so often used violence to solven their problems? Why are they so unhappy and guilt-ridden in their personal lives, so obsessed with mean ambitions and the desire to amass more and more material possessions? Can anything be right with the rat —race? Haven’t the old lost touch with all that is important in life?
There are not questions the older generation can shrug off lightly. Their record over the past forty years or so hasn’t been exactly spotless. Traditionally, the young have turned to their elders for guilance. Today, the situation might reversed. The old—if they are prepared to admit it — could learn a thing or two from their children. One of the biggest lessons they could learn is that enjoyment is not “sinful”. Enjoyment is a principle one could apply to all aspects of life. It is surely not wrong to enjoy your work and enjoy your leisure to shed restricting inhibitions. It is surely not wrong to live in the present rather than in the past or future. This emphasis on the present is only to be expressed because the young have grown up under the shadow of the bomb: the constant threat of complete annihilation. This is their glorious heritage. Can we be surprised that they should so often question the sanity of the generation that bequeathed it ?
4. Public Transportation
As part of domestic modernization, public transportation needs to be developed urgently in China. I can illustrate some examples.
There does not only exist serious traffic jams but also crowded buses, underground and railways. Commuters find it hard to get to work on time due to overcrowded buses or tubes.
Travelers could hardly get on buses in big cities during weedends owing to fewer buses and more people. When Spring Festival is drawing near, there is much greater –ressure on public transportation since it has to deal with a large number of travelers rushing home. And travelers need special arrangements to go home. In a word, public transportation has become bottleneck to the advanc of Chinese economy.
To solve the above-mentioned problems, the departments concerned should carry out the following steps: to build more roads, highways or railways and to add buses or trains to the original lines. But ther funds have to be raised both from the government and the public.
There are three sources for fund raising. One is to raise the fares for all kinds of all transportation vehicles. Another is to increase the prices for various vehicles on sale. The third is to raise the prices of petrol and diesel oil in addtion to the governmental funds. If all this money to raise the prices of petrol and diesel oiil in addtion to the governmental funds. If all this money collected is used to improve transportation services, the situation will be bettered and favorable.
The third step to take is to introduce new technology in order to raise the efficiency of vehicles. For instance, the speed of trains can be increased as much as two times so that two times as many people can be held. In this way, the pressure on public transportation can be dramatically alleviated. So in a word, we need to introduce new technology to raise the speed of vehicles while having built even wider roads and added more efficient trains and huses.
5. Human Education
The other day, a professor from Peking University gave a lecture “Chinese Intellectuals and Written Cultural Text”. In his lecture, he held that Chinese intellectuals have lost the written cultural text since the May 4th movement. His opinion set us thinking that the loss of traditional humane education resulted in a crisis of cultural education.
With the rapid development of economy, the living standard of the Chinese people has improved a lot in terms of material wealth. In a period when economics take priority, people pay more aned more attention to profit. At present, moneymaking and pleasure seeking are becoming a popular fashion. On the other hand, there appears a barren field of spirit in today’s society. It has become unexpectedly hard to rebuild the paradise of traditional culture.Ideological confusion, moral decline and a chaotic cultural market, all this shows that it is the high time to have something done in order to tackle the problem of cultural orientation. Our times call for an ideal humane education.
It is unwise to discard traditional Chinese culture as a whole. Some of the elements of this culture can be made use of in the reconstruction of our spiritual civilizaiton directly or wit5h some adaptation. Our attitude towards tradition should be “discarding the dross and selecting the essence”. The humane education of the past can serve as a supplement to our Marxist education. It should start from primary school. In this way, our children will get educated so as to be possessed of a perfect personality. The national morale will be deeply rooted in people’s mind, and will help push forward the growth of economy.
To sum up, we can find it badly necessary to build up an ideal humane education. We should find an efficient way to develop our humane education and dig out5 more resources form traditional Chinese culture.