The knowledge how to print books was invented in the 1500´s by a German called Johannes Gutenberg. Before the invention of printing books, monastery monks had been written books by hand. Those books reached only a small amount of the population. Those who read books at that time were a privileged group of people. Not may had the knowledge of reading and among those people stories were told orally. The invention of printing books also led to that one book could be copied into several examples. As time went by, more and more books were printed and more people were taught how to read. I think it’s important to take time to read books, but why? Read my blog and see if you buy my arguments for reading books.
First of all, I think reading books gives you a lot of experiences, adventure and knowledge about things you mightn’t otherwise have got if you didn’t read. It broadens the mind. While reading books, you get the opportunity to visit places in the world, places that you mightn’t afford to visit in real life. Also, you get the opportunity to “be” with people you normally don’t spend time with.
In fact, my personal opinion is that there are few things that is so wonderful as to put my nose in a book which never has been opened before, knowing that I had a wonderful time in front of me with an unread book that would soon be read. I remember when I was a child and visited the bookstore in our community. The first thing I did, after having opened the door to the bookstore, was to take a deep breath because I wanted to feel the smell of new books in my whole body. It felt great to walk around in the bookstore, browsing among children and youth books and decide which book I would buy this time and which book I would buy at my next visit to the bookstore.
Some people think they don’t have the time to read books. They have other things to do in their spare time. For instance, they may have children who occupy their free time. Another reason could be that they have other interests which take time. I mean, on the contrary, that it’s important in our busy world to find moments to rest and let the thoughts of everyday trivialities fade for a moment.
Other people might think that books are too expensive to buy. I can agree on that but there are alternatives. You can buy pocket books. They are cheaper than a bound book. Buying books on sale is also an alternative but if you want to read books and think you can’t afford it, you can always go to the library. The first time my mother took me to the library I was so young so I couldn’t even pronounce the word in a proper manner. The following years to come I was a faithful borrower of books.
When I’ve got children of my own we visited the library a lot of times but in the beginning of the 80´s I became a member of book clubs and the visits to the library stopped. It’s sad though. I sometimes miss the library and I have recently decided to start visiting it again. My bookshelves are overflowing and I have come to the conclusion that I read the books only once and I don’t need to keep all the books that I’ve read. After I have read them they only stand on the bookshelf and collect dust.
Another reason why people don’t read books might be that they have difficulties in reading and writing. I really understand if you avoid reading books if you have dyslexia but there are other ways you can use in order to take you into the world of books. For example, you can listen to recorded books. In that case you need a CD player. If you have a computer you can download books. As you can see, there is always a way if you want to come into contact with the contents of books.
Finally, I wonder if you have bought my arguments for reading books. Maybe you already read books but if you don’t, have I convinced you? Why am I so eager on this issue? Well, that’s because I think that reading books have enriched my life in a positive way and I also wish that others´ lives gets the opportunity to become enriched.
Britt-Marie
onsdag 6 maj 2009
måndag 20 april 2009
Big Brother Is Watching Me – Is That Bad Or Good?
Actually, I was reading the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell in the very year 1984. I thought it was a scary and a strange book. My conclusion was that this will never happen in reality, that someone would be able to control us so much. In my opinion, I thought it was a utopian world Orwell painted in his novel. Today I read in NWT that Swedes are registered in a variety of databases and registers. Not even the data inspection knows how many there are but they think it’s a hundred.
One has to remember that the society in 1984 was quite different than today. We still used money when we were shopping instead of paying with cards, as we more or less, do today. If we wanted to buy, for example, some kind of tickets we went to the place were they sold tickets and bought what we wanted. Today, a lot of people buy tickets through the Internet. As a matter of fact a lot of things are bought and sold through the Internet. Computers and mobiles development had not yet begun and the fear of terrorists was in its infancy. Nobody had heard of the words SMS, MSN, YouTube or reality shows.
On the one hand, my belief is that the more technology a society develops the more vulnerable it may be. If we return to the credit cards it developed ATM´s, a machine were you can withdraw money from your bank account. This resulted in that people started to be robbed at the ATM,s, which in turns led to that surveillance cameras became important. There are also criminals, who are trying to get over code numbers on credit cards and who empties these peoples personal bank accounts. Also when people disappear, you can make use of surveillance cameras, ATM withdrawals or any purchased the disappeared have done to try to locate the person.
On the other hand there are people who believe that we live in a surveillance society which impinge on human rights and we can’t go anywhere today without being under some form of surveillance. Go to your local store or your large super store, and somewhere there is a camera recording your every movement. Go online to shop, exchange emails, visit web sites, the chances are strong that someone is watching, whether it be your employer, a company seeking to profile online people, or a hacker who might have taken over your computer.
All in all, I think these different aspects leads to a society which needs to take a step forward according to humanity and technology. The technology is here to stay and will be further developed. It’s nothing we can do about that but I think we can discuss what kind of society we want to live in which is important to me because I don’t want our human rights to be forgotten among all surveillance stuff.
However, I’m not really concerned about the surveillance in our society. There are a lot of educated people in the issue and there are laws who protect us, ordinary people. I think it’s rather good if we can catch criminals and personally, I have nothing to hide so, as a matter of fact, this issue is something like a non issue to me.
Britt-Marie
One has to remember that the society in 1984 was quite different than today. We still used money when we were shopping instead of paying with cards, as we more or less, do today. If we wanted to buy, for example, some kind of tickets we went to the place were they sold tickets and bought what we wanted. Today, a lot of people buy tickets through the Internet. As a matter of fact a lot of things are bought and sold through the Internet. Computers and mobiles development had not yet begun and the fear of terrorists was in its infancy. Nobody had heard of the words SMS, MSN, YouTube or reality shows.
On the one hand, my belief is that the more technology a society develops the more vulnerable it may be. If we return to the credit cards it developed ATM´s, a machine were you can withdraw money from your bank account. This resulted in that people started to be robbed at the ATM,s, which in turns led to that surveillance cameras became important. There are also criminals, who are trying to get over code numbers on credit cards and who empties these peoples personal bank accounts. Also when people disappear, you can make use of surveillance cameras, ATM withdrawals or any purchased the disappeared have done to try to locate the person.
On the other hand there are people who believe that we live in a surveillance society which impinge on human rights and we can’t go anywhere today without being under some form of surveillance. Go to your local store or your large super store, and somewhere there is a camera recording your every movement. Go online to shop, exchange emails, visit web sites, the chances are strong that someone is watching, whether it be your employer, a company seeking to profile online people, or a hacker who might have taken over your computer.
All in all, I think these different aspects leads to a society which needs to take a step forward according to humanity and technology. The technology is here to stay and will be further developed. It’s nothing we can do about that but I think we can discuss what kind of society we want to live in which is important to me because I don’t want our human rights to be forgotten among all surveillance stuff.
However, I’m not really concerned about the surveillance in our society. There are a lot of educated people in the issue and there are laws who protect us, ordinary people. I think it’s rather good if we can catch criminals and personally, I have nothing to hide so, as a matter of fact, this issue is something like a non issue to me.
Britt-Marie
tisdag 14 april 2009
At last, perhaps there will be grades in primary school!
The last general election in Sweden gave the country a new government, the Centre-Right Alliance. One of their major issues before the general election was education. They wanted to reform school because they thought the Swedish school was a muddled one, thanks to the Socialist government that has been in Sweden for many years. As soon as they got elected they started to change things in school, among other things they decided that parents have the right to receive written reports of their children’s academic progress, each semester from 1st degree. These written reports may look like grades. That’s up to every school to decide. New for this academic year are goals that students should have attained in the third degree in Swedish and mathematics and there are also national tests in these subjects. One proposal is that school student will receive grades in 6th grade but there has been no decision about it yet. I say; thank God for this proposal and I really hope that the Parliamentary will say yes to it.
First of all, the Swedish Curriculum and Syllabuses for compulsory school are based on goals. There are two kinds of goals, goals to aim for and goals that pupils should have attained by the end of the fifth and ninth year in school. These goals have teachers not been very good to talk about earlier. Neither the children nor their parents have had knowledge about them, or very little, despite that we have had this Curriculum since 1994. If the politics decide that there will be grades from 6th degree (and I hope so) it will force teachers to clarify the goals to parents and children, the goals then the grades are based on. Since schools now have national tests in the third degree it contributes to the effort to clarify the goals must start early, already in 1st degree. I have seen these tests and I have also experience from national tests in the 5th degree and I can tell you that the tests from third degree are much more detailed then the tests in the 5th degree and my belief is that when we have a new curriculum it will be much more detailed compared to the one we have today.
On the other hand I believe that grades also help students who are in need of special support. If a student may fail getting his or hers grades, the teacher must notify the parents and put into action all the way to help the student in getting his/hers grades. My experience of this is that school often wait far too long before students get extra help, in fact there are studies which shows this. School believes that students will be mature in their individual pace when in fact, for many students, there isn’t a maturity issue but a learning difficulty.
In fact, investigations shows that students wish to have grades earlier than today and that is another aspect why I want grades in earlier degrees. Furthermore, I think that students want grades earlier because then they will become aware of the goals they are supposed to study to. They think no different than grown ups on this issue. If you don’t know why you are doing what you are doing then it’s very likely that you feel confused which doesn’t facilitate knowledge learning.
However there are other methods which already today help teachers to clarify student’s academically progress. I have already mentioned the written report but there is also a document that each student should have, not just the students who are in need of special support. This document is called IUP (individual development plan). According to me, all methods which clarify students´ learning are good but despite that I’m convinced that grades in 6th degree will support students´ development better, because grades have a greater value comparing to other methods.
Finally, I believe we should ask ourselves the question, why we have schools? Is it not in order for students to learn?
First of all, the Swedish Curriculum and Syllabuses for compulsory school are based on goals. There are two kinds of goals, goals to aim for and goals that pupils should have attained by the end of the fifth and ninth year in school. These goals have teachers not been very good to talk about earlier. Neither the children nor their parents have had knowledge about them, or very little, despite that we have had this Curriculum since 1994. If the politics decide that there will be grades from 6th degree (and I hope so) it will force teachers to clarify the goals to parents and children, the goals then the grades are based on. Since schools now have national tests in the third degree it contributes to the effort to clarify the goals must start early, already in 1st degree. I have seen these tests and I have also experience from national tests in the 5th degree and I can tell you that the tests from third degree are much more detailed then the tests in the 5th degree and my belief is that when we have a new curriculum it will be much more detailed compared to the one we have today.
On the other hand I believe that grades also help students who are in need of special support. If a student may fail getting his or hers grades, the teacher must notify the parents and put into action all the way to help the student in getting his/hers grades. My experience of this is that school often wait far too long before students get extra help, in fact there are studies which shows this. School believes that students will be mature in their individual pace when in fact, for many students, there isn’t a maturity issue but a learning difficulty.
In fact, investigations shows that students wish to have grades earlier than today and that is another aspect why I want grades in earlier degrees. Furthermore, I think that students want grades earlier because then they will become aware of the goals they are supposed to study to. They think no different than grown ups on this issue. If you don’t know why you are doing what you are doing then it’s very likely that you feel confused which doesn’t facilitate knowledge learning.
However there are other methods which already today help teachers to clarify student’s academically progress. I have already mentioned the written report but there is also a document that each student should have, not just the students who are in need of special support. This document is called IUP (individual development plan). According to me, all methods which clarify students´ learning are good but despite that I’m convinced that grades in 6th degree will support students´ development better, because grades have a greater value comparing to other methods.
Finally, I believe we should ask ourselves the question, why we have schools? Is it not in order for students to learn?
tisdag 31 mars 2009
Blog Assignment #3
Slow reaction on the climate change.
The last couple of years the awareness of climate change has increased and became top priority among politicians round the world. As an ordinary human being at grass roots level it might seem a little bit late for the politicians to react on the climate change. Why has it been such a slow reaction on this important issue?
I think one of the reasons why the message has been slow in coming across is that politicians didn’t have sufficient knowledge on the subject from the beginning and that they had other priorities on the political agenda such as world peace and world hunger. But since the climate change seems to accelerate they have had to react. Scientists increasingly alarming reports about how the world feels has led to that politicians realized the importance of climate discussions. The Prime Minister of Sweden, Fredrik Reinfeldt, said just before he was elected in 2006 that the environmental issue was not on his party’s agenda. I know his party now has the environmental issue on its agenda. Maybe he also regrets what he said to the reporter.
Another additional reason why the awareness of the earth's condition has gone so slow is, from my view economic factors. There is greed, at least among one group of people in the world that exceeds the fear that the earth will be destroyed if we don’t do something about it. They are not a large group. They are the owners of industries handling with fossil fuels. Once, I was at a lecture about this, where the lecturer said that the individual environmental selective waste collection didn’t contribute to environmental improvement unless those who handled with fossil fuels stopped doing that since emissions of fossil fuels is affecting the environment most negative. His suggestion was that ordinary people should stop using fossil fuels. Then we would force those who work with fossil fuels to stop that which would contribute to a better environment.
Finally, I believe that it is in human nature to “bury our heads in the sand” (as we say in Sweden) which also affect the level of awareness on climate change. I think we have a difficulty to understand that the state of the world can change for the worse because our brains can’t imagine it. We have a belief that the world should remain as it always has been. Otherwise, I can’t explain why we don’t listen more to the experts. For it may well not be that the truth is that we are less intelligent than we think?
Britt-Marie Melin
Slow reaction on the climate change.
The last couple of years the awareness of climate change has increased and became top priority among politicians round the world. As an ordinary human being at grass roots level it might seem a little bit late for the politicians to react on the climate change. Why has it been such a slow reaction on this important issue?
I think one of the reasons why the message has been slow in coming across is that politicians didn’t have sufficient knowledge on the subject from the beginning and that they had other priorities on the political agenda such as world peace and world hunger. But since the climate change seems to accelerate they have had to react. Scientists increasingly alarming reports about how the world feels has led to that politicians realized the importance of climate discussions. The Prime Minister of Sweden, Fredrik Reinfeldt, said just before he was elected in 2006 that the environmental issue was not on his party’s agenda. I know his party now has the environmental issue on its agenda. Maybe he also regrets what he said to the reporter.
Another additional reason why the awareness of the earth's condition has gone so slow is, from my view economic factors. There is greed, at least among one group of people in the world that exceeds the fear that the earth will be destroyed if we don’t do something about it. They are not a large group. They are the owners of industries handling with fossil fuels. Once, I was at a lecture about this, where the lecturer said that the individual environmental selective waste collection didn’t contribute to environmental improvement unless those who handled with fossil fuels stopped doing that since emissions of fossil fuels is affecting the environment most negative. His suggestion was that ordinary people should stop using fossil fuels. Then we would force those who work with fossil fuels to stop that which would contribute to a better environment.
Finally, I believe that it is in human nature to “bury our heads in the sand” (as we say in Sweden) which also affect the level of awareness on climate change. I think we have a difficulty to understand that the state of the world can change for the worse because our brains can’t imagine it. We have a belief that the world should remain as it always has been. Otherwise, I can’t explain why we don’t listen more to the experts. For it may well not be that the truth is that we are less intelligent than we think?
Britt-Marie Melin
måndag 9 mars 2009
Blog Assignment #2: The fascination of a TV Series.
I was born in the late 50´s and my parents’ didn’t have any TV, in fact my grandparents were the first persons in my nearness that bought one. I have read letters written by my aunt to my mother (my aunt was at that time in the late 50´s just 15 years old) that they were going to show TV programmes in “Folkets Hus” since the people who was in charge of “Folkets Hus” recently had bought a TV. That was really a topic to talk about at that time. In those letters she also wrote which families had bought a TV since the last time she wrote. Everybody wanted a TV at that time but not everyone could afford one.
My early memories of TV programmes are The Flintstones and Bonanza (Bröderna Cartwright), both American programmes. I thought The Flintstones was a nice programme because it was cartooned and Bonanza was very exiting as it was about cowboys and Indians. When I watched Bonanza I thought it became too exiting, I ran out from the room were the TV was, into the hall and there I was jumping and holding my ears. A couple of years ago they re-ran Bonanza. I saw a programme of nostalgic reasons and then I understood what TV does to our brains. The more you look at TV, the blunter you became as the years pass. Watching the programme now made me nearly laugh. Bonanza was mostly recorded in a studio. You could hear the echo when they spoke, it was not exiting at all and the acting was not either good.
In the 80´s there was a couple of TV series that I watched regularly e.g. Dallas, Falcon Crest and some series from Australia which was very good. The one I liked most was The Thorn Birds from Australia, a TV series based on a book written by Colleen McCullough. I loved the book when it came. I even read the book while I was cooking because I couldn’t stop reading until the book was finished.
Although we today have a lot of TV channels to choose among, I think the programmes aren’t any better comparing to when we had two (or only one) channel-s. It’s just more of the same. There is still a lot of TV series from America but a new aspect of TV Series today is they so called “reality shows” with people who want to become famous and they do anything in these programmes to stay in the viewers’ mind after the programme is over. I just can’t induce myself to waste time on these programmes. Maybe I’m too old.
I consider myself watching TV less than before. There is so much else to do in spare time. I have lot of interests to fill the evenings with. I sing in a choir and I go to gym. I have also grandchildren which I love to spend time with. When I watch TV nowadays I choose carefully which programmes I want to look at. If I want to watch a TV series I often choose English ones because to my opinion they are of higher quality than e.g. American TV series and they are also more down to earth which I like.
I was born in the late 50´s and my parents’ didn’t have any TV, in fact my grandparents were the first persons in my nearness that bought one. I have read letters written by my aunt to my mother (my aunt was at that time in the late 50´s just 15 years old) that they were going to show TV programmes in “Folkets Hus” since the people who was in charge of “Folkets Hus” recently had bought a TV. That was really a topic to talk about at that time. In those letters she also wrote which families had bought a TV since the last time she wrote. Everybody wanted a TV at that time but not everyone could afford one.
My early memories of TV programmes are The Flintstones and Bonanza (Bröderna Cartwright), both American programmes. I thought The Flintstones was a nice programme because it was cartooned and Bonanza was very exiting as it was about cowboys and Indians. When I watched Bonanza I thought it became too exiting, I ran out from the room were the TV was, into the hall and there I was jumping and holding my ears. A couple of years ago they re-ran Bonanza. I saw a programme of nostalgic reasons and then I understood what TV does to our brains. The more you look at TV, the blunter you became as the years pass. Watching the programme now made me nearly laugh. Bonanza was mostly recorded in a studio. You could hear the echo when they spoke, it was not exiting at all and the acting was not either good.
In the 80´s there was a couple of TV series that I watched regularly e.g. Dallas, Falcon Crest and some series from Australia which was very good. The one I liked most was The Thorn Birds from Australia, a TV series based on a book written by Colleen McCullough. I loved the book when it came. I even read the book while I was cooking because I couldn’t stop reading until the book was finished.
Although we today have a lot of TV channels to choose among, I think the programmes aren’t any better comparing to when we had two (or only one) channel-s. It’s just more of the same. There is still a lot of TV series from America but a new aspect of TV Series today is they so called “reality shows” with people who want to become famous and they do anything in these programmes to stay in the viewers’ mind after the programme is over. I just can’t induce myself to waste time on these programmes. Maybe I’m too old.
I consider myself watching TV less than before. There is so much else to do in spare time. I have lot of interests to fill the evenings with. I sing in a choir and I go to gym. I have also grandchildren which I love to spend time with. When I watch TV nowadays I choose carefully which programmes I want to look at. If I want to watch a TV series I often choose English ones because to my opinion they are of higher quality than e.g. American TV series and they are also more down to earth which I like.
torsdag 26 februari 2009
Blog Assignment 1, Childhood memories
I grew up in the sixities and early seventies. I was the eldest of three children, my mother was a housewife and my father earned the money for the family necessities. And that was the case for most families during that time. I didn´t have many activities on leisure time. Before I started school at the age of seven I didn´t go to any organizes activity for children. I knew a classmate who was in a dancing class once a week and I was very jealous of her. As an aside, I can tell you that both my own girls have danced since they were four years old. Talk about to re experience their mother´s dreams!
When I got older I joined a couple of leisure activites e.g. I started to sing in a choir which is an activity I still do. A big difference between now and then is that children nowadays. neraly always are driven to their activities by their parents. In my time, children usually take themselves to their activities. An other difference is that today children have more than one activity in fact a lot of children have something to do in their spare time several times a week and even during the weekends.
Food is also something that is different. I was 16-17 years old when I ate my first pizza. There was one pizza restaurant newly opened in Karlstad at that time and everybody was eager to go there. When my own son was between 15 and 19 years old I used to say that he had punch ticket on our nearest pizzeria. He could eat pizza two to three times a week.
I think it´s natural that things change over time. If I compare my childhood with my mother´s childhood there will be differences as well as similarities in fact even the Old Greeks complained about "the youth of today". The world developes faster and faster and it seems to me that the world also "gets smaller". More people today travel round the world, especially young people. I think that is very good because if you get knowledge of other cultures you also get a better understanding of other cultures which promotes human perception positive and xenophobia negative in our society.
I think the most importent thing for children is to feel loved and safe. As a parent your responsibility is to respect your child and your child´s feelings. You don´t own your child you take care of the child and raise it. I think that one of the goals of parenting is to nurture the children to feel proud of themselves and that they have an intrinsic value.
Finally I think it´s important that children learn about themselves so they can say no to drugs when they grow up. This is not an easy task for a parent but I think it facilitated if the parents give their children respect for their views.
When I got older I joined a couple of leisure activites e.g. I started to sing in a choir which is an activity I still do. A big difference between now and then is that children nowadays. neraly always are driven to their activities by their parents. In my time, children usually take themselves to their activities. An other difference is that today children have more than one activity in fact a lot of children have something to do in their spare time several times a week and even during the weekends.
Food is also something that is different. I was 16-17 years old when I ate my first pizza. There was one pizza restaurant newly opened in Karlstad at that time and everybody was eager to go there. When my own son was between 15 and 19 years old I used to say that he had punch ticket on our nearest pizzeria. He could eat pizza two to three times a week.
I think it´s natural that things change over time. If I compare my childhood with my mother´s childhood there will be differences as well as similarities in fact even the Old Greeks complained about "the youth of today". The world developes faster and faster and it seems to me that the world also "gets smaller". More people today travel round the world, especially young people. I think that is very good because if you get knowledge of other cultures you also get a better understanding of other cultures which promotes human perception positive and xenophobia negative in our society.
I think the most importent thing for children is to feel loved and safe. As a parent your responsibility is to respect your child and your child´s feelings. You don´t own your child you take care of the child and raise it. I think that one of the goals of parenting is to nurture the children to feel proud of themselves and that they have an intrinsic value.
Finally I think it´s important that children learn about themselves so they can say no to drugs when they grow up. This is not an easy task for a parent but I think it facilitated if the parents give their children respect for their views.
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