Lucas 's whole essay

Topic: City life or rural life，which is better?

City life and rural life are distinguished by the area where people live in. Nowadays, as we know, life style choice relates to people’s destiny for whole life. More and more choose come back to village to continue their lives, but there are still a lot of people live in cities .So which life style is better, city life or rural life? This essay will divide four parts: introduction, reasons why city life is popular, negatives of city life, reasons why choose rural is better and conclusion .In the body of essay, I compare and discuss the advantage and disadvantage between city life and rural life, which including education, economic, medical and social problem. At last, in conclusion I will give some suggestion for people and government.

1. Why city life is popular
As we can see from the 2001 census about population distribution in North Ireland (Chart 1), there are more than 7000,000 people live in urban area but there is only less than 50,000 people live in rural. The serious non-regular population distribution show us the serious problem, why people choose life in cities but not in rural. City life has following obviously positives.
(1) City life can enjoy various entertainments
There are so many entertainment progresses in the city, like cinema, pub and bar. Citizens can have a good leisure time if they wanted to make relax or make friends. You can get a beer in the pub with your friends and the music company you.
(2) Live in city can get good education facilities
People who live in the cities can get a better education when they were young, because there have better schools in the town than in the rural. As we know, early education is very important for children. Some research shows that most of good student has already formed their way of thinking in primary schools. So good books and good teachers make good education facilities in urban.
(3)Information service in city is very comprehensive and immediate
Cities are also the financial center of the country. Most of newest business information usually starts from the city. So people can get the newest information immediately if they live in the city, and then maybe start their business with that important information, so there are more opportunities to progress.
(4)City life share advanced medical service
When a person gets disease, citizens can go to the government or private hospitals in the city to get best treatment. Because a lot of advanced medical equipment concentrate in urban hospitals

2. City life face to serious problems now
Although live in city have so many benefits, but the huge influx of population lead the city are not comfortable again. Because of traffic jam, crimes and environment pollution become more and more serious problems in cities.
(1) Citizen suffer traffic jam everyday
The statistics (reference 1) show us there are more than 32,001,477 cars drive on England road, and more than two thirds cars drive on city’s road. So you can imagine how busy the road is. Particularly London, drivers may cost two or more hours a day on waiting in the traffic jams. Do we want to continue waste our lives on those busy roads? Obviously is not.
(2)Lack of trust between citizens
Years ago in America, it was customary for families to leave their doors unlocked, day and night. In urban civilization, however, nowadays people can no longer trust each other and have to resort to elaborate security systems to protect themselves and their possessions. What’s more, statistics (chart 2) show that crime rate in urban areas is now rising faster and faster in the cities in the UK. The murder crime rate in Nottingham reaches 115 in 100,000 people, which mean every 1000 people have one murder. It is very dangerous percentage. No longer is it safe anywhere to go out leaving the door on the latch (there is nowhere to be left on the latch). We all feel vulnerable and seek to strengthen the barriers. We use to hold criminals at bay. These can range from old fashion bolts and bars to the latest electronic devices. A moment’s reflection, however, is enough to bring us face to face with the following puzzle: we may have locked the evils out. But in doing so, we have locked ourselves in. This hardly seems a civilized way of life.
(3)Serious environment pollution influence citizens
Because of the fast development of modern industry, more and more environment pollution is occurring to coming out in cities. Citizens have to face to noise, smoke, garbage and dioxide gases from industry factories. The air is not clean enough for people, especially in the downtown areas. The majority of citizens are tired of overcrowded conditions and bad environments. So it is very difficult to keep a healthy life in the city.

3. Why encourage people transfer from city to life
(1). Life is very simple in rural
Live in the rural can keep away from the stressful and blatant. People can get very simple life and live less competition with each other. They usually reach a good position and they have more sincere friends in the community since it is small. What is more, rural life provides you more free time to do what your interest and achieve people’s dream. This is very important for meaning of life, which better than money and vanity.

(2). Green environment brings healthy and happiness
Because of no human pollution, it is very beautiful and healthy in the rural. The natural environment has clean air and pure water. All people’s food and fruits are planted by themselves, so rural people can be away from chemistry pollution in food. What is more, you just only along with your lovely family, green plants and wild animals, which make your feel more happiness to enjoy your life in the village.

4. Conclusion
Although the life in the city is more comfortable than village, but the worse negatives in the city make urban life seems to not as good as before. More and more people are willing to live in the rural, which is the worldwide trend, including in UK, USA and China. But I still want to give my suggestions for government to focus on improving the serious problems in the city life and encourage more and more people change their life-style choose from urban to rural.












Chart 1

Resource: http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/urban_rural_reports








Chart 2

Resource: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5006852.stm







Reference


1. http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_transstats/documents/page/dft_transstats_031690.pdf),
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5006852.stm
3. http://ann.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/429/1/115
4. http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=zyR_Ui_YesoC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=negative+of+urban+life&ots=VJXfR8G7A6&sig=Ve034kOiTYT37I9TGupmJcmaIu0#v=onepage&q=negative%20of%20urban%20life&f=true
5. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a783763040&db=all
6. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1048393
7. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a783763040&db=all
8. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/629471.stm
9. http://ajae.oxfordjournals.org/content/83/2/352.abstract
10. http://www.dsdni.gov.uk/urban_rural_reports

Nick's full essay

Topic: Should a penalty for juvenile offenders be reduced?

Introduction

In recent years, the juvenile crime has become a social problem. The number of juvenile delinquency keeps increasing rapidly. In all the crimes of personnel, juvenile delinquency occupied the highest proportion. Especially, comparing with the past, there are some changes which contain the crime types, properties and damage degree. Obviously, this kind of phenomenon is very serious. In most of countries, the penalty for juvenile offenders should be reduced by law. The juvenile before age 18 is experiencing an important stage of physiological and psychological development. These juvenile offenders are allowed to get less punishment than adults. It leads to less scruple while crime. In fact, it is the main reason for the result. Therefore, it is a really serious issue considered how to balance the penalty for juvenile crime. In my essay I am going to talk about the point with agreement and disagreement of reducing a penalty for juvenile crime. And due to the impact of society about juvenile crime, I will support that the penalty for juvenile crime should be reduced.

The reason to support

Most of juvenile offenders are 14 to 18 years old. As juvenile is experiencing a stage of physiological and psychological development, it is not easy to distinguish what is good or bad for them. They have no enough independent ability to live in a society. In this stage, education acts an important role in juvenile’s life. And, it is mainly provided by family and school. When a juvenile commits a crime, his family and school have essential responsibilities. Maybe due to their negligence, an unpredicted crime will happen. For example, when a little boy was beaten by his classmates, they came back home and told his parents what happened. A dangerous result is that his parents may instigate him make reprisals with more violent methods. As lack of the basic judgment ability, and the trust for parents, it is hard to think about what will happen next. If the retaliation breaks the law, that is who will be responsible for this crime, a little boy? The answer is absolutely not. Because of the wrong way to educate, parents have more responsibility for it. Furthermore, in today’s society some phenomenon which is more serious than this example can be seen everywhere. For instance, school only focus on improving younger students’ knowledge level, but forget to concern about their psychological health. In fact, during this stage, school must be responsible for their psychological education. Therefore, if education is not enough for juvenile by family, school or society, it will cause that some juvenile who are lack of judgment ability may be close to crime. According to statistics, some juvenile who live in a split family, the crime rate is 4 times than others living in normal family. Obviously, in some case when a juvenile crimes, the environment where he lives also have an important responsibility. So it is really necessary to reduce the penalty of juvenile offenders.

The reason to against

In recent years, juvenile crime has become a serious issue. According a research, the crime rate has increased 60% which involves murder, robbery, rape and other serious offences. Due to lots of horrible affairs by juvenile, government has been asked whether it needs to amend the law for juvenile offenders. The awful situation has a close relation with lenient punishment for them. Furthermore let us consider a question, why the criminal circumstances by juvenile are more and more serious. Except for subjective factors, such as environment, education and personal qualities, the punishment for crime is also important. For an instance, before committing a crime, most of offenders will consider the result which contains their aim and a possible punishment after doing that. If they ignore the final punishment, they may decide to commit crime. So it is really necessary to aggravate penalty in order to warn every person at any time. Furthermore, keep the penalty as the same as adult is helpful to improve the present education. Family, school and society will pay more attention on this. The possibility of juvenile delinquency will decline. so the penalty for juvenile offenders could not be reduced.

Conclusion
To sum up, there are some benefits and disadvantages of reducing the penalty for juvenile offenders. In a short view, juvenile offenders should be responsible for their crime, especial for those with a serious circumstance. Severe punishment could remind people not to do something which are illegal. Sometimes that is efficiency. But as we all know, even if the death penalty exists in lots of countries, the crime rate never go down. Therefore in a long-term view, severe punishment could not change a lot. In my opinion, the penalty for juvenile offenders should be reduced. Using the penalty as the same as adults for juvenile means that their whole life will be impacted seriously. Their future is dark. There is no opportunity to contribute their family or society. In contrast, if the key is to focus on education, punishment just as a supplementary, these juvenile offenders may remorse and reform so that they could do some meaning things. So what the government should do is to balance the penalty and education for juvenile. A suitable punishment rules should be considered from now.


Reference:
http://www.cwla.org/programs/juvenilejustice/juveniledeathpenalty.pdf
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2846263/Child-crime-rate-reaches-crisis.html
http://socialissues.wiseto.com/Articles/FO3020630074/
http://criminal.findlaw.com/crimes/juvenile-justice/when-minor-commits-crime.html
http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/kjpp5&div=14&g_sent=1#137

FIRST DRAFT ---Sophie

Title: Does the mass media have good or bad effects on the growth of kids ?

As things stand, it is scientific growth that can benefits human beings; meanwhile, it may as well pose a potential threat to mankind, esp, concerning the youngsters' behaviours. Seemingly, there exits a contingent trend that an epidemic of "Television Children"(Maccoby,1951,P422) is under way within teenage population. According to the recent survey in UK, it is detrimental for toddles to sit tight before TV for more than three hours per day. Such babies are more likely to suffer vertigo, dim sight or backache, compared with those who are seldom exposed to TV bombards.(BBC News, May 2010) Notwithstanding, this issue presumably deserves thorough meditation in light of the physical, psycho biological development of young adults. Hence, the key purposes in this essay will unveil into three stages: Initially, equally important is multitudinous merits can be obviously found, mainly shown on diversion, knowledge and family-reunion; while some shortcomings should not yet be ignored, particularly with regards to the crisis of mete rial, mental and social communication. Thirdly, despite all of above, therefore, It is conceivable that the new mass media does have negative influence upon juvenile outweighing the benefits.



Admittedly, the TV box holds abundant benefits from some extend to the growing children as far as the positive functions of diversion, knowledge and family union. It may be, first of all, considered as the most economic "civilian pleasure"(G. T. Gentry, p57,2007), which means the young adults do not need to afford the high expenditures to tickets of the cinema and playhouse, only to find out, in all likelihood, that the programme is disappointing. Surely, with such small screen of moving pictures, these kids can be free to enjoy their amusement or even more. It is the best relief way that all they can do is just press the buttons as well as sitting in the sofa comfortably. Secondly, Television's various programmes are constantly playing the essential role to broaden the horizons and expand the outlooks of adolescence. On the average, the majority of young people regarded the television images as the most useful and interesting tools to gain the universal information or current events rather than the continuous indoctrination with these principles and precepts by teachers' direction. As for the family union, last but not least, some sociologists treasure it very significantly in terms of holding family together. A case in point goes to the American families especially the working-class families are often sit around the tables and enjoyed the funny TV shows since 1990s till now, which can fully manifest the merits of this new emerged technology in the United States. (Williams.M, 2009)



In spite of the above TV benefits of amusement, information and family user-friendly for teenagers, nevertheless, we should attach a lot more importance to profuse drawbacks of health, spirit and social relationship insofar as the physical and psychological aspects of juvenile. As anyone will attest, television goes with the sort of lifestyle which leaves the viewers nothing to spare just killing their precious time, to begin with, long term exposing in front of the twinkling screen, more often than not, do harm to kids' eye sights. Moreover, these "couch potatoes"(The Online Slang Dictionary ) may become TV addicts eventually. According to the recent national health survey in the United States: "The proportion of youth meeting the U.S. objective for TV viewing is less than the target of 75%. Time spent in sedentary behaviors such as viewing TV may contribute to overweight and obesity among U.S. Youth."(Fulton JE and Wang X ET AL, p2, 2009) Additionally, take the peer pressure as well as social communication into account, more centrally, one who keeps him fixed on the moving images all day long is likely to be less sociable between family members and friends. For instance, it seems that some television shows may give rise to false values because these immature kids usually do not acknowledge much about the real world. Finally, by virtue of the spiritual factor, if the younger generations are not so indulge in violent and pornographic pictures that they will rarely acquire the disorders of mentality or even will imitate the actions, more worryingly, embarking on the road of crime downright.



To crown it all, the drawbacks and advantages of the mass media for the juveniles' development, as mentioned above, which can be apparent with a prismatic comparison and contrast of the two opposite effects. By and large, we can not emphasize the importance of parenting and supervising too much via the great efforts of families, schools and authorities. "Yet a growing body of evidence is now causing governments and health authorities elsewhere to do just that, and we need to as well. "(Sigman.A, p1, 2010) Thus, for the sake of the physical and psychological wholesome of adolescence, the top priority is the encouragement of enlightening and high-quality programmes and inspiring kids' creation in a forthcoming era.



References:
1. ELEANOR E. MACCOBY, Television: Its Impact on School Children, 1951, P4222. Dr Aric Sigman, BBC NEWS, 'Long-term harm' of too much TV for toddlers,MondayMay2010,http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8654963.stm, Page last updated at23:03 GMT, Monday, 3 May 2010 00:03 UK
3. G. T. Gentry,2007,A Bulletproof Life,p57,Xulon press
4. Melissa Drue Williams, February 2009,“Excuse the Mess, But We Live Here”:Class, Gender, and Identity in the Post-Cold War,Working-Class Family Sitcom
5. Fulton JE, Wang X, Yore MM, Carlson SA, Galuska DA, Caspersen CJ.2009;6 Suppl 1:S28-35.Television viewing, computer use, and BMI among U.S. children and adolescents.J Phys Act Health.Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.PMID: 9998847 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
6. The Online Slang Dictionary(American, English and Urban slang)1996-2010 by Walter Rader, http://onlineslangdictionary.com/definition+of/couch+potato

Kamran's Full Essay

Physical Punishment:
Is it a good way to discipline children?

Physical punishment is an act of hitting, beating or using some other ways that cause someone to have physical pain. It is usually enforced to some one due to his/her wrong doings or unacceptable behaviour. Physical punishment exists in many forms in our society. Some times it is legal and at the other times it is illegal. For example law enforcement agency are legally allowed to give physical punishment to criminals at some extent, while punishing children in schools or at home without any strong and unavoidable reason is illegal. Parents usually give physical punishment to their children in order to discipline them. It could be in many forms, such as spanking, slapping, grabbing, and shoving a child roughly with intense force (Wauchope and Straus 1990).

In this essay, I am going to look at physical punishment used in schools by teachers and in homes by parents. I shall look into the effects of physical punishment on the lives of children. Finally, I shall conclude this essay to say whether it is a good way to discipline children through physical punishment or it is an old formula not working any more.

It is still unclear and very difficult to say that what is the origin of physical punishment? From where and who started it first? However, a wikipedia article on corporal punishment suggested that the activity of physical punishment was started in early tenth century BC. Initially, Rome, Greece, and Egypt started this practice for educational and judicial purposes. From then it had been spread all over the world for different purposes. For example, according to the article “Corporal Punishment” last modified 17 May 2010, “Corporal Punishment was encouraged by the attitudes of the medieval church towards the human body, flagellation being a common means of self-discipline. This had an influence on the use of corporal punishment in schools, as educational establishments were closely attached to the church during this period”. The students are given physical punishment due to misbehaving, not completing their homework or poor performance in school, bunking (i.e. getting out of home for school, but not attending classes), and for some other similar reasons by responsible school authorities/teachers. However, the teachers who adopt this method intend to discipline the students and not to destroy them. Therefore, physical punishment in schools and homes differ from judicial or some other physical punishments where the intension is to torture some one to achieve the desired goal.
When we look at the use of physical punishment in schools and homes, we find divided opinion; some people arguing in favor, while the others in against. For example Gershoff studied Bitensky’s work (Bitensky, S. H. 1998) and said in his article (Gershoff .E, 2002) that “Although a growing number of countries have adopted policies or laws that prohibit parents from using corporal punishment as a means of discipline (Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Norway, and Sweden; whereas, (Straus & Stewart) they Stated that, “both support for and use of corporal punishment remain strong in the United States, with 94% of American parents spanking their children by the time they are 3 or 4 years old.” Additionally, Straus and Gelles (Gershoff .E, 2002) observed that, “a majority of U.S. parents use physical punishment, and the percentages of parents who support and use corporal punishment declined only slightly during the 1970s and 1980s”. Moreover, there are number of research studies are carried out to see whether physical punishment is effective or harmful in the view of changing trends regarding behavior of children and parents these days. Some psychologist and other professionals concluded that “corporal punishment is both effective and desirable” (e.g., Baumrind, 1996a,1996b, 1997; Larzelere, 1996, 2000), whereas others have concluded that “corporal punishment is ineffective at best and harmfulat worst” (e.g., American Academy of Pediatrics, 1998; Lytton,1997; J. McCord, 1997; Straus, 1994a). “Psychological Bulletin”. People arguing in favor stated that it is a quicker implementation, cost nothing, and also remembered by the child for some time, because they have experienced the result of wrongdoing. Further, lazy children start learning due to fear of punishment and start behaving in well manner with teachers as well as with parents.
On the other hand, we find numerous negative effects of physical punishment on children, whether punished by parents or school authorities. It may cause suspension from school and lessons due to physical injury or pain and may lead to away from learning along with inconvenience to parents. Moreover, several research works/studies on physical effects of such activity suggested that it is a kind of physical violence training and it also increase aggressiveness in child behavior. According to some researcher, “Corporal punishment has been hypothesized to predict increases in children’s aggression because it models aggression” (e.g., Aronfreed, 1969; Bandura & Walters, 1959; Eron, Walder, & Lefkowitz, 1971; Walters & Grusec, 1977); “promotes hostile attributions, which predict violent behaviour” (Dodge, Pettit, McClaskey, & Brown, 1986); and “initiates coercive cycles of aversive behaviours between parent and child” (Dishion & Patterson, 1999; Patterson, Reid, & Dishion, 1992). There are psychological effects like destructive behaviour. If we look as an educational perspective some people argued that it can create disruptive behaviour of students and poor academic achievement due to lack of concentration in classroom. Additionally, another consequence of Physical punishment is related to mental health of children that included mental depression sometime it come up with feeling of vengeance against teacher and in worst case it end up with suicide attempts. As (Gershoff .E, 2002) studied Baumrind & Black, 1967; Lasky, 1993, they stated that “Coercive techniques have been associated with decreases in children’s feelings of confidence and assertiveness and with increases in feelings of humiliation and helplessness”.
To sum up, after looking at numerous arguments from different people and some researchers, it is obvious that there are more disadvantages of physical punishment on children as compared to advantages. It is also rejected by modern and civilized socities. For example, physical punishement have been prohibited in government schools of UK since 1987 and then same is adopted by all private schools since 2003. Further, an other strong argument against this punishment is that it is not an ultimate solution to discipline children. There exists some other methods, which can be applied and are currently used by modern schools such as, fines (paying certain amount of money as a punishment), sending children on holidays or temporary suspension, and suspension from one or two lessons.
Finally, as far as my opinion is concerned, I think beating, hitting, and causing physical pain to some one is an old formula of imposing and asking to do a job done. It is not going to work any more, because now a days the world, people and children are more independent than ever before. Therefore, teachers and parents should use several psycological methods to teach them how to be a self responsible being. This way, they could avoid physical punishment to disipline them.

References:

Murray A. Straus “Discipline and Deviance: Physical Punishment of Children and Violence and Other Crime in Adulthood” Social Problems, Vol. 38, No. 2 (May, 1991), pp. 133-154

Christopher G. Ellison and Darren E. Sherkat “Conservative Protestantism and Support for Corporal Punishment” American Sociological Review, Vol. 58, No. 1 (Feb., 1993), pp. 131-144

Elizabeth T. Gershoff “Corporal Punishment by Parents and Associated Child Behaviors and Experiences: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review” Psychological Bulletin, 2002, Vol. 128, No. 4, 539–579.

Bitensky, S. H. (1998). “Spare the rod, embrace our humanity: Toward a new legal regime prohibiting corporal punishment of children”. University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 31, 353–474.

Wikipedia.org, Corporal Punishment last accessed on 25-05-2010, url:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_punishment#History_of_corporal_punishment

Jackie's first draft of essay

Does fast food make our life better?
------------the effect on energy, diet and health

Nowadays, the rhythm of a modern life is getting faster and faster, people are trying to figure out a way to save time and make a simpler life, in any fields--such as food! Instead of traditional way of cooking, People today can prepare their food much easier and simpler than has ever been before, just getting clean and ready-to-eat food, spending several minutes in the oven and everything is done, like a time-counting task. It seems to make food preparation entirely different and life as well, however, there are several serious disadvantages of the fast food, some of them are even critical. In my essay, I will talk about the advantages, drawbacks of the fast food and show you whether it is true that the easier-prepared food make our life better.

Fast food like fried chicken, hamburgers, fish and chips, are referred to the foods which are prepared and served easily, quickly (also known as QSR: quick service restaurant). In a survey in 2008 on the number of fast-food restaurant per person, UK got the first title and offered 25% of all categories of fast food in the world. Why fast food is so popular? Obviously, the amazing convenience! All the fast food is designed to be easy-prepared and the outlets are always “take away” or “take out” providers. Normally, there will be a big truck, people can purchase the food from the “drive-through” devices and take them away.

Not only the preparing and purchasing are convenient, fast food is also designed easily for eating. Most of the fast food doesn’t require a traditional tool, like a spoon or a fork, people can take this food at any place even “on the go” just with their fingers. In addition, the easy food liberates many housewives. In a sense, food preparation is no longer a tough work for women, they could have more time to do what they really want to do, for instance, a meaningful job or enjoying the leisure life.

It seems that fast food brings us more leisure time and it does make our life better, however, there is a huge hidden risk in having fast food. I will move on to show you some serious drawbacks. Foods like pizza, French fries, hamburgers are often covered a thick layer of cheese, which is extremely high in salt, fat or calories and very low in fiber or nutrients. What is more, these foods are always served with high-energy beverages like sugar soft drinks or creamy milk. From one counting survey by Department of Agriculture which shows the comparison of mean intake of energy and some other nutrients between children who have fast food and those without fast food (Figure 1), we can clearly find out that children having fast food take more total fat, energy, carbohydrate and more sugar as well. Consumption of fast food among children is proofed to have a very bad effect on dietary quality in ways that could dramatically increase risk for obesity----being too fat, also could contribute to influence health which can lead to a critical disease or even death. As we know these substances are all used to provide energy for our body, when if we overtake too much energy, the part which we can not use up in time will be transferred to fat and stored in our body, that’s the main reason to cause so many children are growing fatter and fatter.

To make matter worse, fast food not only causes obesity, it also plays a major role of causing some health problem. Since the fast food become more and more popular, according to the CDC, unfortunately, it also has become a main factor of a series of serious diseases. It is suggested to cause Heart disease, diabetes, sleep Apnea, liver damage and stroke. All these disease are critical to health, bringing a huge potential risk to people. With taking more and more fast food, people are in danger.

In addition, food preparation is an important family event. What a delightful thing that after a day’s hard working, people go home and have a nice warm food preparation with family. In the modern busy society, people under greater stress spend less time at home. For one couple, maybe the only thing they can do together before going to bed is cooking. They cooperate and help each other which always can bond their moment and relationship. This honey time means a lot to all the member of family and should be treasured. Besides, cooking is also a cultural and traditional thing. The skill of cooking tradition food stands for the spirit and the life style, which is worthy being passed on to next generation instead of having the simple easy-prepared fast food. Otherwise, people in the future could only know how to heat ready-to-eat meals which looks like just a stupid time-consuming task.

To sum up, as I discussed, although fast food has a little positive effect and did bring the convenience, it is still considered as unhealthy junk food for its huge potential risk. We need to care about ourselves and family, friends as well. Not only should people learn to pay more attention to health, but also treasure and protect the culture and tradition, not just try to save time in an inappropriate way. Only with a healthy body and successful time management, we can live a real better life. (total 921 words)

First Draft----Iris

topic: Can money buy happiness?

Introduction:

The pursuit of happiness is an everlasting human endeavor in all societies. Whether money can buy happiness or not is a controversial issue triggering a heated discussion. Some people say that money could bring us a lot, particularly because we are now in the world with greater material wealth. Therefore, they hold that material possession is very helpful in bringing us happiness because money can cover your physical needs, improve your life standard. As well, with money , you may own a high social status. That’s the very reason why the accumulation of wealth becomes the single most important goal in many people’s lives. However, the other people hold that only contribution can bring you large happiness rather than acquisition. They firmly believe that only contribution, helping others, achieving dreams and sharing with friends can bring you large happiness. According to survey, money can affect people to some extent. Research shows that income has a positive relationship with happiness, although it is not straight line. ( Christopher Peterson, 2008). This essay would be divided into three parts. Firstly, it will discuss what money could bring, then analyze the relationship between money and happiness. After that, it will move on to another part to explore the source of happiness. At last I would reach my conclusion.

What money could bring us?

Ever since the invention of currency, humans have been both enjoying economic benefits and the delight of shopping. First of all, it is undeniable that earning more money ensures higher standards of living. Typically, rapid economic development has allowed a greater variety of commodities to be produced, displayed and sold. The various kinds of goods stimulate people’s eyeball. Many people feel an impulse to go shopping, especially online stores no matter when they are in good or bad mood. People use money to exchange the goods, not only just to cover daily life’s needs, but also live as a popular leisure activity. For instance, people planning to buy food in the supermarket may instead bring home clothes and many other things that they like rather than they need. It is hard to resist the temptation of the advertisement everywhere. People are attracted by new functions and new style displayed from the advertisement. There are some tempting logans to make people not thinking when making decisions, such as : come on, buy it , just small money you can own it, then you can live in the new life style. It seems to imply that if you own the goods, then your life would be changed. Such a promotion are used particularly in electronic markets such as mobile phones, MP3 and computers , due to their amazing speed of updating. At the beginning , the function of mobile phone is limited to telecommunication. Step by step , phone carry more and more other functions like text messaging, palying music , playing game. . The updates of products improve your image, therefore , people pursue the new goods ,such as new phones. People tend to pursue the latest versions , especially young people. The more money you earn , the more you could afford. Due to this reason, earning more and more money becoming people’s single goal in their life.

What is the relationship between money and happiness?

Why cannot people stop shopping? It is no doubt that shopping could bring them happiness. However, happiness is just brief pleasure, which could not last for long time. This is especially evident in the shift of the role that women play in the modern society. No longer satisfied with the traditional responsibilities of housewives, many females have entered the workforce by taking a full-time job. Thus , with high and double income, the couple could afford an expensive house and all the luxuries they desire , such as a splendid racing car and LV. However, even if they get more, happiness would not always accumulate. Comparing to their parents , they didn’t get more happiness although they own more than their parents. According to the research, money definitely could bring happiness in some extent. Along with the salary increase , the happiness go up. Your nerve system is stimulated, then you feel pleasure, but this could not always work. There exists some related coefficient between money and happiness. (Christopher Peterson, 2008). For example , some millionaires posses huge wealth ,however, they are still not happy. Some of them even suffer from depression. Sometimes, money is straining interpersonal relationship and even causing tragedies . It is not news that we often hear that one guy won the lottery, but just one or two years later, he was sent to the jail. Due to the sudden huge wealth, he cannot control himself,. Then he started to gamble, excessively drink, and even take drugs. Money did not bring happiness to him. Instead money brings him disaster. In China, the anti-rich backlash is becoming more and more popular. Obviously, some of the rich men are becoming the target of jealousy. Therefore, they are not happy because they are always worrying about their personal safety.

What is the source of happiness?

If the money could not bring the lasting happiness, what was the source of happiness? What is the real happiness? Some people hold that through helping others and contributing to the whole society, you would get the peace of mind, and then you can own the lasting happiness. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, people have different needs in their mind. At the bottom, it is basic needs like food, clothing and shelter, which are essential for people to survive. It is not doubt that money could meet these needs. However, people also need love, safety and belonging . Money could not necessarily buy these things. Only through personal efforts, you can obtain confidence, self-esteem and self-actualization. This is the source of happiness.


Conclusion:

Based on the discussion above, we know that money is important. Without money, it is hard to live. As well, due to the gap of rich and poor, lacking of money would make people feel of the lower society status and probably feel depressed. However, it is not the true essence of happiness. The source of happiness lies in becoming more and more confident, trying best to achieve goals , and helping other people. From my point of view, the key factor of happiness is through personal efforts to obtain your goal, to own a spirit of philanthropy, and try your best to help each other. This is the true source of true happiness, which would be lasting for long time.



References:
1. David Futrelle (2006) Can money buy happiness ? CNN. Money
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/2006/08/01/8382225/index.htm
2. http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2010/04/12/trading-happiness-for-money-a-bad-bargain/
3. Christopher Peterson (2008). Money and happiness, The good life positive psychology and what make life worth living. (June 6, 2008)

Draft 1.Essay.Shantanu

Topic: Advertising should be an important consideration of ethical business.


We are totally surrounded with advertisements. Now if we can see in an advertisement that someone is drinking some kind of energy drink and doing crazy things all day with a lot of energy then what will be the impact on consumers? The impact will be if any one drinks that energy drink then that person would be able to be that much energetic. But in the real life is it true? May be or maybe not. But the question is showing this kind of advert is how ethical? Now a day’s ethics had being a big issue in the business world. Everybody is talking about doing ethical business. Business ethics means what is right and wrong in the business. Though it has been still a vague definition of business ethics that what is right or wrong but it is vey much clear to all that no one can show wrong, puffed up or unclear information in their advertisement. If any one does so then it would be nothing but a deceitful doing with the consumers. Now people are talking about environment friendly product, donation or other kind of social welfare jobs by the companies as the ethical business. But advertising is the most common and efficient way to communicate with the consumers. Advertisements represent a company. So that should be the most ethical part of the business. But still we don’t relate advertisements and ethics together. In the essay it will be discussed both for and against arguments of that how important is this to take advertisements under consideration of doing ethical business.

There are a lot of arguments for not making ethics an issue in advertisements. Some of the main arguments are discussed below:
In business there are four steps of consumer’s perception before buy anything. These four steps actually help business to understand about the factors that influences consumers or it helps businesses to understand consumer’s psychological thinking steps before buy any product or services. The first step is,
Problem/Need Recognition:
Before buying anything consumer first has to have the need or problem of the product or service. If anyone is very happy with what he/she has got then buying desire will never come to his or her mind. So for the first step consumer need to feel the need of the product. For example: one has got a cell phone and accidently it has been broken. Then the owner of the cell phone will feel to buy another cell phone. This is called problem/need recognition.
Information Search:
After recognizing the problem or need to buy new product, consumer will begin to search about the information’s about the product or service. From the previous example that person will search in the market that what kind of cell phones are available and what he/she actually needs. He/she will search information about the product to make the decision of buying.
Evaluation of Different Purchase Options:
After searching the information consumer will try to evaluate the purchase options or alternatives. May be he/she can think about getting the old one fixed rather than buying a new one. In this step consumers try to find the best combination of price, quality and features. Brand image also effects consumer’s evaluation.
Purchase Decision:
After the evaluation stage consumers make the final decision to purchase the product. In this step consumer think about what will be the way of buying, what will be the way payment and after sales service.
Generally consumers go through these four steps before their purchasing decision. So business people say that it is not easy to change their decision just with the advertisements. Consumers make their own decision. No business can survive without having the quality in their product or service. And if any company shows advertisements for their quality products or services then there is nothing wrong with that.
Another argument is that there are rules and regulations by the governments for making advertisements in every country. So there cannot be any unethical advertisements because every advertisement has to obey the rules, which are provided by the government and get the permission before facing the consumers. For example, CAP is UK. CAP means committee of advertising policy. They maintain the code of conduct of the advertisements, which are shown in UK. Even anyone can complain about any advertisements in their website or contact them and they will recheck again that the accused advert is in the right track or not. They always keep updating the rules and regulations to protect the consumers.
Some business people say that if they want to pay too much attention on the ethics of advertisements then showing advertisements will not be cost effective. Moreover they would not be able to transfer the proper message about their product to the consumers accurately. This will not just affect the profit only, this will affect consumers to get the right product or services as well.
Now we are going to talk about the real picture and role of advertisements in the society and our life. We can divide the harms of unethical advertisements in four categories as the arguments for. Those are:
Advertisements can mislead consumers by misrepresent or hiding the fact about the product. Not only this, advertisements can convince people to buy instead of persuade or motivate. Companies are focusing on the other factors in their product like brand image, not the quality. So basically by doing all these advertisements are making needs those are not natural. It harms the basic balance of the economy. It affects the poorer and weaker members of the society and the market as well.
To reach more audiences advertisers often ignore the basic social needs of the consumers and they target very young, very old or poor people of the society who don’t even fulfill the demographic market segmentation. By doing so advertisers take the moral responsibility to a lower position. Moreover sometimes advertisements can be a cross-cultural issue. All advertisements can’t be acceptable by all cultures.
To make advertisements it needs a lot of money. Naturally wealthier candidate remains in the advantage position. But it doesn’t mean that, that candidate is the perfect choice. So it harms the democracy in a country. Moreover advertising one political body often can be offensive to other one. That is not also ethical.
Sometimes advertisements can be offensive from a religious view. Moreover advertisers sometimes use religious body to sell products, which is also not ethical.

Advertisements are the most efficient and prominent way to communicate with the consumers. A company can be represented by the advertisements. So if misrepresentation, unethical matters remain in this most efficient communication media then consumer right will be hampered. Though there are rules and regulations to make adverts but still some of them can bypass the real truth. One positive sign is that people are getting careful and that is why business ethics has been a big issue now days. But communication media is not that much included. We should be more careful about including advertisements into an important consideration of business ethics and protect the consumer’s rights.

Ref:
Phillip V. Lewis, October, 1985, Journal of Business Ethics, Defining ‘business ethics’: Like nailing jello to a wall
http://www.springerlink.com/content/9604533j32rl1n5m/
http://hubpages.com/hub/Mass-Media-Influence-on-Society 
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_22021997_ethics-in-ad_en.html 
http://www.learnmarketing.net/consumer.htm