Assignment 4 : Felicia Yee (4B) and Leandra Nair (4B)

Summarise from Paragraphs 2-4 why ecological modernism believes that technology is the solution to environmental problems in about 100 words.

Ecological modernization believes that harnessing innovation and entrepreneurship can save the planet, and while modernists are still all for being environmentally friendly, they are all for making use of nuclear energy, genetically modified crops, urbanisation and geoengineering to help solve the problem of climate change. They state that they embrace these technologies to give nature room, to allow nature to rest while we are able to narrow our human activity through more efficient technology. With technology, more land can be freed up, and modernists want to  restore large spaces of habitats and reintroduce species that once lived in those habitats.

READER RESPONSE QN: Do you think technology is going to help Mankind solve all environmental problems? Your response should be between 200 and 250 words.

I do not think that technology is going to help Mankind solve all environmental problems as it might lead to other problems, and might cause the sustainability of the industry to decrease. For example, one of the biggest technological innovations in aquaculture and fishing in the last half century has led to a near total breakdown of all saltwater fisheries worldwide. Instead of increasing the stocks and providing greater resource management, it has done the exact opposite. In this case, technology has not made life easier for the fish, but has made life easier for the fishermen. With mile long nets, city-sized drag lines, sonar fish-finders and huge commercial harvesting boats, the stocks have been reduced to the point where they could be reaching total collapse. This shows that even though technology can indeed solve some environmental problems, it could lead to more problems in the same industry. With technology, there is decreased sustainability as well, when there is an increased rate at which the fishermen catch the types of fish they catch, what will happen to the other organisms that feed on the fish or the organisms that the fishes feed on? There will be an imbalance in the ecosystem and the ecosystem might not be able to sustain itself any longer. Therefore, I do not think that technology can solve all environmental problems as it will inevitably lead to other problems, and affect the sustainability of the industry as well.

Assignment 4 Ri Zhao and Zheng Qian 4C

Summarise from Paragraphs 6-9 why education might not be the best solution to poverty in about 100 to 150 words.

A research done presents a new look that contradicts traditional views of education enabling social mobility. Students believed that diligence is the main factor in deciding academic and career achievements. It is obvious however the opportunities, options and future of each pupil depend on the social class they are born into and their affluence. Education put up clearer border between each level of the social hierarchy. Students are categorized according to their abilities the day they arrived at schools. This is so even in top schools, whereby less affluent students are more likely to get lower GCSE grades than their compatriots.  The level of education parents have and the careers they are in have a great impact on the options taken up by their children. They welcome the idea of taking up jobs their parents once did instead of preferring to become much more affluent.

145 words

Do you think the author’s views on why education might not be the best solution is applicable to Singapore? Provide your reasons in 1 paragraph of no more than 200 words.

The author’s view on education is applicable to Singapore. Singapore’s education system is shaped to endorse the brighter minds. Higher ability students are sent to better schools with more resources and better learning environment to enable them to achieve their fullest potential. Students are separated according to their abilities since the start of secondary school after their PSLEs. This creates a social gap due to the fact that the higher ability students in top schools generally come a more affluent social class. These students inherited their richer parents’ “better” genes and have more opportunities for expensive tuition classes to be better academically than their poorer peers. With a better education received and more interaction with fellow bright minds in their elite schools presenting them better working opportunities in the future, students belonging to this exclusive group grows up be like their parents becoming richer than the average. The less affluent students stay in their social class as their families are unable to provide them with enrichment classes and also because poorer families generally care less about academics and advancing up the social class as they can be happy living in their social class given the high standard of living experienced by all Singaporeans regardless of their social status. This poorer group of students also have less opportunities in the future as their fellow schoolmates also belong to these less ambitious groups due to the segregation at the start of their secondary school lives. Hence education is not a tool to solve the problem of social immobility in Singapore and in fact may even encourage it to further develop. The author’s view on education might not be the best solution enable social mobility is thus true in the Singapore context.

198 words