doomed

The ten key mistakes made by candidates

2010-01-04T23:58:00.002Z

To make this I had to read through 6 Examiners' Reports:

1. Rubric error was mentioned in all of them - sometimes candidates answer on more than one question in section B, which is not asked, so it's a simple waste of time.

2. Inability to apply economic concepts to the answer was mentioned in reports in Jan-Jun 07 and Jan-Jun 08

3. lack of judgment and analysis in the answers, "being descriptive rather than analytical" (Jan 08, Jan 09, Jun 09)

4. Spending too much time\writing too much on questions worth 2-4 marks (Jan 07)

5. Lack of essay planning was mentioned in Examiner's Report in Jan 08

6. Application of AS knowledge rather than A2 concepts (Jan and June 08)

7. "Candidates should write less but more coherent answers" (Jan 09)

8. No context reference (Jan 09)

9. Time management (all reports, however, a minor problem)

10. Candidates attempt to answer a question from a base of knowledge rather than using economics theory (June 07)

Days 3 & 4 are completed

2010-01-03T05:07:00.000Z

you haven't expected that, have you? :D

Day 2 is completed

2010-01-01T21:55:00.000Z

though day 1 is still on it's way

Why demand for transport is a derived demand

2009-12-31T10:39:00.002Z

Well, first of all:

Derived demand - demand for a good or service not for its own sake, but for what it produces.

In case of transport we can see 2 types of derived demand for transport:

1st is passenger demand, usually we need transportation to our workplaces, shops, schools, red bull factories etc. we need no ride on bus\car\train\whatever itself but we need to be somewhere. this is the final product of transport - getting somewhere you need to get.

2nd is freight transport demand. The companies usually transport all sorts of goods around the world not because they like how lots of boxes with Red Bull cans look in the vehicles\huge containers, but because their consumers want to get it. Or somebody needs raw materials to produce their good, let's say, books. Transportation itself is not doing anything to the product, but eventually the raw materials get from A to B - and that is what demanded, that is what the final product of transport.

Characteristics of the main modes of transport

2009-12-31T10:25:00.002Z

Passenger transport:

Private car.
Advantages: most flexible and convenient, the only mode of transport that is able to give door to door service, is used for all types of journey purpose, can carry luggage and shopping stuff
Disadvantages: the least environmentally friendly type mode

Bus.
Advantages: most effective on the main corridors in large towns and cities, most attractive (when there are short waiting times)
Disadvantages: users are limited by the service provided

Rail.
Advantages: speedy carrier of large volumes of passengers, very effective on middle and long distances, has a good access to the cities
Disadvantages: may not be so effective on short distances

Air.
Advantages: moving passengers over longer distances at speed
Disadvantages: limited use for internal transport in th UK, but widely used elsewhere

Freight transport:

Road vehicles.
Advantages: convenience, flexibility, connectivity + is suitable for carriage of the most goods
Disadvantages: environmental problems arise, dependence on congestion levels

Rail.
Advantages: best suited for moving bulk loads, efficient and speedy for transporting over distance
Disadvantages: the problems of interchange can reduce its efficiency

Air.
Advantages: appropriate for moving time-sensitive and expensive cargo, mainly over long distances
Disadvantages: not so effective on short distances (?)

Sea.
Advantages: cheap, moves bulk cargoes & containers
Disadvantages: quite slow, efficient mainly on long distances

Happy Halloween 2009

2009-11-01T21:04:00.001Z

learn russian

2009-10-17T20:13:00.002+01:00

The suffix ka (as in Mashka) may express familiarity or “anti-respect” but it becomes diminutive and even caressing in Mashenka.

Maria = Masha = Mashka = Mashen'ka

that's my name, but you, weird foreign people, cant pronounce it right, that's why you call me Mary. and I also like Mary more than my real name :P

omg lol a video

2009-10-12T06:29:00.000+01:00

and along comes Mary.. (Mary, Mary!!)

2009-10-11T21:17:00.000+01:00

art

2009-10-06T01:37:00.000+01:00

drew it today in 20 mins
i think it's kinda nice

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

2009-10-06T01:07:00.000+01:00

i hate Tom. thank you for your audience.

Market failure in transport economics

2009-10-05T20:50:00.002+01:00

yeah, blah blah blah, I was going on and on about the market failure topic last year and you probably know all about it. but yeah, I need to remind myself.

So, market failure itself is inefficiency of the price mechanism in markets, or, in other words, when allocative and\or productive efficiencies are not achieved.
Allocative effciency is when the consumer's needs are satisfied and price equals marginal cost.
Productive efficiency is when the resources are used effectively, eg the least possible amount of scarce resources are used to produce the maximum output.

There are several types of market failure:
- existance of positive and\or negative externalities, which are quite difficult to calculate in order to include their value in the price.
- information failure
- government failure
- possibly smth else, but i dun remember actually, lol, I have to revise

So, in case of transport, what kind of market failure might arise.
Lots of negative externalities, negative effects on the third party, obviously, such as:
- atmospheric pollution
- noise pollution
- accidents
- congestion (traffic jams)
- visual intrusion
- blight

The government is trying to deal with those by different methods, but there still is one main problem - how to estimate those external costs, which arise from pollution, congestion, accidents, etc.
Even though the costs ARE estimated, another problem is how to include them in the price. The government tends to do it through different types of indirect taxation, as well as applying other methods like road pricing, various regulations, subsidies to support public transport, information provision.
Or introdcuing shadow price - a relative price that is proportional to the opportunity cost for the economy, as so much time is lost in traffic jams, for instance.
The revenue from tax could be allocated to different purposes, such as improvement of infrastructure, extendind roads etc.

For further info, for God's sake, read the freaking texbook!

ps, yeah, I would have commented on that efficent road pricing diagram, but I have already done it in my mock, which I did on Friday. so lol, sorry, no boring diagrams for today.

Oligopoly

2009-10-01T20:06:00.002+01:00

An oligopoly is another type of market structure. It means that there are several firms in the market, which are dominating. The concentration ratio is high.
The other characteristics would be:
- high barriers to entry - the dominant firms are not likely to give away their market share to other firms, as this might lead to the loss of their position as price makers.
- price stability for long periods. this is because of the kinked demand curve, which actually explains the behaviour of dominating firms in an oligopolistic market. if a firm rises the price, it is likely to lose its customers, who will probably switch to a cheaper service\product provided by its competitor. this will lead to a loss in a firm's market share. lowering the price will lead to a war price, where eventually all the firms will lose out. The behaviour of oligopolistic firms is difficult to predict, that's why the game theory concept, which models the behaviour of firms. It is also know as prisoners dilemma, which is easier to understand for nom-economists. Also I suggest you to read this post, which talks about the main idea of the game theory and its founder, John Nash.
now, coming back to the kinked demand curve:

lol this diagram, nicely presented by tutor2u website, is actually wrong! the marginal revenue curve, which is under an oligopolists' demand curve, should continue starting from Q1 point, not higher that point.
On the diagram we can see that firstly the demand curve is relatively elastic, and the, at a certain point, where the price is set, it becomes relatively inelastic. This actually illustrates what I've said before about pricing strategies of an oligopolistic market.
However, firms might agree with each other about pricing in order to gain higher levels of profits, but it's illegal and restricted by the Competition Commission. Although the firms can still tacticly raise the prices with an unwritten agreement with each other. This is called a collusion, and it's really difficult to prove its existance so the firms cant actually be fined.
- because of inability to play with the price, firms usually have a non-price competition, which includes branding, location, ASS (After Sales Service), product range etc. Everything that might attract customers except for price.

Monopoly

2009-09-30T18:42:00.003+01:00

A theory suggests that a monopoly in its purest form has total control of a market. A firm itself becomes an industry in this case, this means that we can assume that average revenue curve is actually the market's demand curve.

The equillibrium of a monopoly is at the point where MC=MR. In this case the firm will be a price maker, which will enable it to make abnormal profits and, well, be the only one. As it is assumed, one of the main firms' target is profit maximisation. On the picture above, we can see that at the price P1 a pure monopoly generates the amount of revenue which exceeds the amount of costs, hence, making a supernormal profit (shaded in grey). In a competitive market everything would be different, but if we assume that a competitive market has the same costs as a monopolistic market, then the equillibrium would be at the point where AR=MC. it is obvious, that in this case a firm would have to supply more but at a lower price, which means much less profit than in a monopolistic market.
Of course, no firm likes competitors, so one of the main features of a monopolistic market are high barriers to entry, which prevent new firms from entering the market. There are several types of barriers to entry, such as:
Structural barriers (innocent entry barriers) – arising from differences in production costs
Strategic barriers (see the notes below on strategic entry deterrence)
Statutory barriers - entry barriers given force of law (e.g. patent protection of franchises such as the National Lottery or television and radio broadcasting licences)

However, we should remember that a pure monopoly does not exist in the real life, although some firms are using the same principles, because they, not completely, but dominate the market.
The UK recognises any firm that has more than 25% of market share is able to act like a monopoly, according to the Competition Act of 1998. A firm with more than 40% of market share is seen as dominant in the market.
The power of monopoly gives a firm an opportunity to make supernormal profits by setting a high price and having a resticred output at the same time. Although the Competition Act seeks to prevent such firms from setting unreasonable high prices by intervening in markets.

quick notice

2009-09-29T21:05:00.001+01:00

i'm going to give my summary on this as soon as i finish my essays for tmr

DAILY BLOG

2009-09-28T18:05:00.007+01:00

A2 Socio - Crime Stats

2009-09-27T23:34:00.003+01:00

There are two main measures of crime in Britain:
1) Police recorded crime - those recorded by the police from which official stats on crime are drawn.
2) the British Crime Survey - a number of interviews with adults, in which people are asked whether they have been a victims of any crime during previous year. The sample group is very representative.

However, these statistics are not as representative and as valid as they should be. We can say that many of the crimes are not reported or are just not recorded by the police. These crimes are called 'dark-figure' or 'hidden-figure'. The existance of such numbers is due to the following reasons:
- the official stats does not record all known types of crime. Summary offences - those crime, which were dealt with by Magistrates' Courts as opposed to Crown Courts. they were not involved in official stats until 1998. For instance, the crimes involving driving after consuming alcohol over the legal limits. Or the cases when businesses did not included all the sales information in order to avoid paying high tax rates. also Summary offences - those crime, which were dealt with by Magistrates' Courts as opposed to Crown Courts. they were not involved in official stats until 1998.
- according to Simmons & Dodd (2003), over 30% of commited crime was not recorded in 2002\03 period. Even though that the police has an obligation to record crimes, some of the crimes are not recorded because they are seen as not worth the attention of a policeman. Because of this discretion, some areas may appear much more criminal than the others. An example would be a fact that Nottingamshire was named the most criminal area in the contry in 1981, simply because the police forces recorded all the crimes, even those which included 10 pounds or less (Holdaway, 1988). also, a crime might be committed several times but only the most serious offence is counted (Maguire, 2002). For instance, domestic violence.
- police might prioritise the crimes in order to have a better detection rate and not record some of the 'unsolved' crimes. as well as the police might have been forced to pay special attention to a particular type of crime, because local authoritites or mass media are expecially conserned about this type of crime.
- some cases might not be recorded. some types of crimes are more likely to be reported than others (Kershaw et al., 2008).
or, maybe, not realising that the crime has been committed - fraud, for instance.
the victim might also be too scared or powerless to actually report about the crime, it usually happens with child abuse and domestic violence.
the triviality of the crime might also be the issue - vandalism.
prostitution is obviously not reported much because there's no victim.
also people might not trust the police or think that nothing can be done - so what's the point in reporting anyway?
or the matter was dealt with privately, because some people don't want the police to be involved.

But a relative quantity of a particular crime committed doesn't mean that it shouldn't be dealt with or they are not significant. For instance, sexual offences make a small proportion of overall crimes, but they still have a very negative effect on the victim.

Crime statistics are a social construction - they are constructed during the process of social interaction and are based on a series of interpretations, definitions and decisions, which are influenced by a variety of factors and differ from situation to situation.

If we tax petrol, this does not efficiently internalise the externalities that are attributed to motor vehicle transport.

2009-09-27T19:21:00.001+01:00

Internalising either positive or negative effect on the third party, also known as internalizing the externalities, is an attempt to deal with the externalities by bringing an external cost or benefit into the price system. The main problems with internalising is a relative difficulty of calculating an approximal ‘value’ of the externalities as well as taking into account all the possible externalities, which is quite difficult and requires a lot of analysis.
Transport industries create a market failure in considerable amounts. In particular, there are many externalities related to petrol, both positive and negative. The most obvious one is pollution, because cars run on petrol produce a lot of exhaust fumes, which harm the nature and people’s health. Closing our eyes on out coming global problems such as global warming, there are still many other related problems. Worsening health of people who live in big and medium size cities means that more money is needed to be spent on National Health Insurance. More money spent on the health of citizens means that something else on the list of government to spent money on would be sacrificed, for example, educational sphere, hence it is an opportunity cost. On the other hand, petrol runs most of the transport in the world, which enables to freely trade all over the world. Through transport petrol provides an opportunity to develop businesses, international relationships, increasing living standards over the world, not to mention moving towards higher levels of productivity every day, etc. The transport system itself provides an infinite number of positive externalities as well as negative externalities. If we consider only the externalities from motor vehicle transport, it would still have an enormous impact on people and the nature. The fact that there are 426 motor vehicles per 1000 people in the UK clearly shows - this is a quite serious issue for the United Kingdom. Traffic congestion is already a big problem in cities such as London, Manchester and Birmingham.
If a tax is put on petrol prices, first thing that should be considered is not whether it will be effective in dealing with externalities but the size of the tax. We should remember that the demand for transport is a derived demand, which means that it depends upon the final output produced. Therefore, many industries are highly dependent on transport, hence, on the petrol and its price, as well as just citizens of the country using private vehicles. If the tax is relatively high, many people would still buy petrol, as the demand for petrol is highly inelastic, though some people would switch to public transport, such as buses and trains. Those transport companies are likely to raise ticket prices as well, as the demand for public transport is likely to raise and also because of the increased cost of running the motor vehicles. Freight transport companies are likely to increase the price as well, which may lead to a reduction of supply in a number of industries. Sole traders and small transport companies even can go bankrupt because of the suddenly raised costs and fallen demand. Will the money collected from the taxation internalize the externalities? Not likely. Traffic congestion will still be an issue in the big cities, as the taxation is not likely to bring a huge reduction in the number of cars used – big transport companies may expand and more buses and freight transports will fill the roads, while the number of private cars will still be bigger that the maximum capacity of the roads. In addition to that, the money raised from taxation is not going to reduce the pollution. However, the people who would have to switch to public transport may become less productive because they would still have to spend time in traffic jams and also because of waiting for buses, possible stress from overcrowded public transport, so the growth of overall human productivity is likely to become slower or even negative. Obviously, a big tax on petrol will not be able to cover up all the costs and benefits. Even if that money would be spent on improving the infrastructure or environmental situation, the country may not be able to handle the consequences of an unnecessary big raise in petrol prices. Hypothecation, redirecting the tax revenue on particular purposes, would have simplified the process of internatianolising externalities, but still wouldn’t have given any impressive results.
On the other hand, a small raise in price is not likely to scare off the users of motor vehicle cars, as this is almost an essential good for a modern British person. Freight and passenger companies are likely to deal with the rise in costs by a small increase in the price for their services. Hence, demand patterns are not likely to be changed by a small tax imposed on the price of petrol. A small raise in price of petrol is not likely to have big affects on the numbers of motor vehicles cars used, even though that the revenue from this taxation is likely to be very high, but still not enough to even be close to covering up external costs and benefits.
However, there are other ways of internationalising externalities created by transport industries. For instance, road pricings or congestion charges, direct charges for the use of a road space, could be used. This would reduce the number of vehicles on the roads and also bring some revenue to the government, which could be spent on reducing the negative effects – preventing from all kinds of pollution like noise pollution, air pollution etc. Another example would be subsidizing in order to encourage greater use of public transport, which would also reduce the number of vehicles on the road and therefore reduce the amounts of pollution.
Overall, petrol tax, whenever it’s a high tax or a low tax, would bring the government much more revenue, which means increased government spending. This would lead to improvements in infrastructure and reducing the externalities, but not completely. The value of all the externalities brought by the transport industry just cannot be included in a petrol price simply because it cannot be calculated completely.

What is 'inflation adjusted' and is such an adjustment a valid way of comparing prices?

2009-09-26T22:57:00.003+01:00

Inflation-adjustment of economic indicators and the prices of goods and services from different tie periods to the same price level. To adjust for inflation, an indicator is divided by the inflation index.
OK, so is this a valid way of comparing prices? Well, to answer that we should at other ways of comparing prices. We can look at nominal prices of the goods and services, which do not include inflation changes.

If we look at the graph above, we can see that the blue line stands for the nominal house prices in the US and the red line stands for inflation adjustmestment house prices. As we can see, comparison of these two prices give us an idea of the economic situation in particular years. For instance, in 1977 the inflation adjustment price for houses peaked a lot in comparison with the nominal price of that year which seems to be in a stable growth at that period.
If we are talking about the better way of comparing prices, either nominal or inflation adjusted, we should consider the purposes of this consideration. In this case, i mean the house prices, i think it's better to look at the nominal prices, because inflation doesn't give us a detailed picture of the situation as the inflation adjustment does. Though they both dramatically fall in 2008-09 period. In some other cases, such as oil prices, we should look at the nominal prices as well.
The nominal prices comparison does not, actually, give us an idea of the price in previous years if we are not supplied with the inforation like economic situation and inflation rates. We actually see two different prices which exist in two different economic situations.
The inflation adjustment actually enables us to see how the prices have changed over the period of time. For the graphic above we can clearly see that the house which value would be 150000$ in 1979 in the current economic situation is now approximately 175000$ worth, so we can easily conclude that the value of the house increased by 25000$.

this post is so crappy.

Firms and their objectives: Profit maximisation

2009-09-24T21:23:00.004+01:00

Firm is a unit of decision making, aims of which are:
- profit maximisation
- avoidance of risk
- growth in the long-term

It could be a sole trader or a huge company like Microsoft. In the theory of firms it's an a priori that they are searching for the highest levels of profits possible. Profit maximasation is achieved when MC=MR. More profit can be made by increasing the output if MR>MC. IF MC is greater than MR, that means that the firm's profit is below its maximum.

Though firms cannot actually know the exact profit maximisation point, becaus they are unlikely to know their MR or MC.

Economies of scale

2009-09-24T18:18:00.002+01:00

If over a period of time the short run average cost becomes lower due to a number of reasons, a firm gains benefits through this expansion. These benefits of producing on a larger scale are called economies of scale.

There are internal and external economies of scale. Internal EoS's happen due to decisions made within a firm, and External EoS's happen due to reasons which are not dependant on a firm's actions.

Technical EoS's are internal, they are achieved by improving the technology or increasing capacity. They usually result in LRAC.
Purchasing EoS's are achieved when a firm bulk buys something - a purchase of materials or capital in big quantitites usually gives an opportunity to have a discount, so average variable cost will fall.

Managerial EoS's are due to specialisation of the employees. It's easier to employ a multi-task manager, but it will be more efficient if there is at least one manager in different departments such as finance, human resources, marketing etc. Obviously, this type of EoS is also internal.

Now, about external economies of scale. They are available when the whole industry grows.

Transport and communication links improve, for instance, building of new roads and motorways, which make it easier to get from A to B. Maybe improvement of quality of roads will reduce sunk costs which arise from damages of vechicals on bad roads.

Training and education. For instance, more unis offer courses closely tighted with the transport industry, so more specialists join the industry, so labour supply increases and firms are able to employ specialists in exchange for lower wages, because there will be a competition among the potential job holders. Or the government might provide some support for people going to transport industry by offering special trainin courses etc.

Grow of other industries, which are connected with the industry. Maybe suppliers of the materials extend and have a branch near the firm hence lower material costs. It enables to find a high-quality supplier for a cheaper price.

Revenues

2009-09-24T00:36:00.002+01:00

Revenues are the receipts from sales. As well as costs there are several types:
Total revenue is calculated simply - quantity sold multiplied by the given price.
Average revenue is a revenue per unit.
Marginal revenue is an addition to total revenue from one additional sale - one more passenger, for example.

MR will always be longer than AR because the firm can sell more by reducing the price of all units.
The total revenue curve has an upside-down U-shape, because it indicates how customers react to different prices due to variations in PED. The total revenue is maximised where the PED = 1.

Costs

2009-09-23T19:58:00.003+01:00

Costs are values of inputs. There are several types of costs:
Fixed costs, those are independent of output produced. For transport it is usually rent or interest paid pn loans. With an increase of output, the fixed cost could be spread out across the business.
Variable costs vary with the output produced, for transport we could say that labour and fuel are variable costs.
Total costs are obviously = FC + VC

Average cost is the unit cost of production.
Marginal cost is the change in total cost which will occur when one more unit is produced. In transport it is usually an extra passenger or an extra cargo.

Ok, so in the diagram above:

1) A marginal cost curve (MC)

2) An average cost curve (AC)

3) An average variable cost curve (AVC)

4) An average fixed cost curve (AFC)

Ok, so now some explanations about why the curves are like this. If we look at the AFC, it falls down, because the fixed costs will stay the same when there's an increase in output. So, with more output the average fixed cost will be falling. This is also known as the economies of scale.
As output increases, AVC will initially decline before rising again, which explains the U-shape. With the rise of output, at some point average variable costs will exceed the falling average fixed costs, which will make the average cost curve rise.
A priori, the marginal cost curve will always cross the AVC and AC curves at their lowest points.

A2 Econs Transport

2009-09-22T20:21:00.002+01:00

Transport is the movement of people and goods for personal and business reasons.
It takes an important part in economics, the demand for transport is growing every day, as it is responsible for delivering goods and services, resources and international trade is just impossible without highly developed transport system.

The important aspects if transport are:
- the mode of transport - means of transport such as road, rail, air and sea transport.
- infrastructure - anything needed for the effective functioning of transport.

The function of transport is to meet the needs of people and firms.

There are two types of transport: passenger transoprt is used by individuals and freight transport is used by businesses.

The demand for transport is a derived demand. Derived demand is a demand that depends upon the final output that is produced. In other words, the type or even a need of transport is determined by our needs to be somewhere or to carry something. Or the size of the products or the quantity of the products for businesses.

What are the determinants of a household's demand for transport by any given mode (eg do they have their own car or do they use a bus or a train or a bicycle)? Well,
- the cost of the transport (tickets price, the cost of running a car)
- relative prices of other types of transport
- household income
- availability of transport
- size of household
- journey time\ traffic jams levels\ convenience

So what are the determinants for choosing the right freight transport for a business?
- the costs of transport
- how easy it is to deliver and to collect products
- the type of a product
- the level of transport service provided

And now some small characteristics of transport types:

Passenger transport:
private car - flexible and convenient, widely used for all types of journey purpose, used for carrying shopping things and luggage. the only one which can give a door-to-door service, though is the least enviroment acceptable of main modes.
bus - users are limited by the service, though very effective on main corridors in large towns and cities, attractive by a cheap cost and short waiting times.
train is good for middle and long distances to carry a lot of passengers and products.
air - good for transporting products and passengers overseas and long distances fairly quickly.

Freight transport:
road - convenience, flexibility and connectvity - strong parts. can carry almost any type of a product.
rail - good for transporting bulk loads over many distances, very quick but the problems might occur in interchange.
air - appropriate for moving time-sensitive goods, but only for long distances.
sea - cheap but slow; used for bulk loads over long distances.

A2 Sociology - Crime and Deviance intro

2009-09-21T23:37:00.001+01:00

While the further maths group was away on a maths trip, the first A2 Sociology lesson had a place to be. I'm catching up with the class now, as I missed it.

Deviance is consideres as actions, which deviate from the norms and values of society. In other words, those actions of an individual which are considered as unaproppriate for the society, actions which are against dominant values an norms of the society.
Crime is a form of deviance, which is against the law in a given society. This form of deviance is not only unsupported by a society, but is also punished for.

A crime is determined by relativity - it varies from culture to culture and from time to time. For instance, killing was not always seen as a crime 500 years ago.

There are different types of deviance:
- secret and private ones. the examples could include being a homosexualist but not revealing this to the society.
- open and public ones, the ones that the society is awared of.
- situational deviance, when an action is a deviance only in a given case but not in another.
- societal deviance - behaviour which is seen as unaproppriate by the majority of people in a society.

don't care how, I want it now

2009-09-21T02:30:00.001+01:00

Philosophy AS, Reason and Expirience notes

2009-09-20T23:48:00.004+01:00

'Tabula rasa' theory.

Tabula rasa means 'blank slate', which stand for an idea that every idea of an object or even that we have is built up on experience that we had with that object or event. This idea is supported by philosophers John Locke (1632-1704) and David Hume (1711-76).

Hume's reasons for saying 'every idea ... is copied from a similar impression'.
Hume was developing Locke's idea that everything that we have on our mind is based on our expirience. Without an experience we are unable to correspond to an idea. The following extract proves this Hume's view:
'If it happen, from a detect of the organ, that a man is not suspectible of any species of sensation, we always find that he is as little suspectible of the correspondent ideas. A blind man can form no notion of colours; a deaf man of sounds.'
In this extract it is proved that without a sence of sight or sound you are not able to have an idea of colours or sounds.

How Hume tells difference between 'impressions' and 'ideas'.
An impression is a far more strong feeling than an idea, as it is 'all strong and sensible' and 'admits not of ambiguity', also they may 'throw light on their correspondent ideas'. An idea is a 'lighter' version of what a person felt when having an experience, ideas are 'naturally faint and obscure'. Actually, an idea is based on an impression and to Hume's view it isn't 'easy to fall into any error or mistake with regard to them' (impressions). In other words, it is difficult not to see any difference between an impression and an idea, as only 'disordered by disease or madness' will not be able to do that.

Hume's account on how imagination works and why does Hume need to give an account of the imagination.
Sometimes an idea can appear without having an experience that it was based on. There was an example of 'a golden mountain' - everyone can surely imagine it at some point even though nobody have actually experienced it, simply because such thing does not exist. Yes, we could interpret this as a combination of two ideas of a mountain and a gold, though the idea of a golden mountain would be stringer if we had experienced it. However, we still may have an idea of a golden mountain through an experience happening in our minds and imagination is the key. Imagination 'escapes all human power and authority' and also 'is not restrained within the limits of nature and reality'. But still, if we look at the imagination process in depth, we would see that it's 'confined within narrow limits', because our imagination is still based on what we experienced and sensed.

The philosophical significance Hume draws from his analysis of the origin of ideas.
The perception of the world around us comes from our ideas and experiences. Our mind is a blank page, we fill it with ideas, which we get from our experiences. Experiences provide 'strong and vivid' impressions which clarify an idea, which itself is 'naturally faint and obscure ... apt to be confounded with other resembling ideas; and when we have often employed any term, though without any distinct meaning, we are apt to imagine it has a determined idea annexed to it'. 'Words in their primary or immediate signification, stand for nothing but the ideas in the mind of him that uses them', which simply means that words are created just to indicate an idea. However, the perception is also based on our imagination, which helps us to have an idea of some things that we have not experienced. Though Hume argues that imagination itself is 'no more than the faculty of compounding, transposing, augmenting, or diminishing the materials afforded us by the senses and experience'.

DAILY BLOG

2009-09-19T23:51:00.000+01:00

will be updated tmr.
sorry.

a pair of spectacles

2009-09-09T23:53:00.002+01:00

the ~~monthly~~ DAILY blog is back!!!

today i'm going to summarise an article on a philosophy topic on our perception of "right" and "wrong" things.

The article is started with a weird story about a girl called Virtue, who was taken for a town trip by some random aliens. They observe the city, being invisible to everyone else. The spot a man trying to steal a purse from some random lady and Virtue says that it is wrong. The aliens and Virtue start to talk about how earth beings sort 'right' and 'wrong' things. They came to a conclusion that the five senses have nothing to do with spotting the 'wrongness'. In the end of the story they found out that 'wrongness' neither can be legitialy inferred or seen/heard.

Then there is more hard stuff - the author gives us some solutions.

David Hume (1711 - 1776) has suggested that we detect 'wrong' and 'right' basing on our moral properties, which are created by our emotions. So, we have like a pair of spectacles, where the linses are our moral values. This is called 'the spectacles theory'. But there is a problem - where do we get our moral values and properties then?

G. E. Moore (1873 - 1958) gives a solution - people have the sixth sense called 'intuition'. We accept our values because we feel that way and we think that it should be right for us. But then another problem appears - where does the intuition comes from? And sadly there is no proper answer and it cannot be explained yet.

So, coming back to Hume's spectacles model. The main three versions of how we get these spectacles.

- the first version is Subjectvism. We claim that something is wrong because it seems wrong to us as individuals. the problem with this model is that different people have different views on 'right' and 'wrong' things. So, for one person drinking Red Bull is right cuz she feels like it. She is right, because she bases on her feeling and says the truth which she approves. Yet another person thinks that drinking red bull is wrong cuz it's his opinion. And again, he cannot be wrong: for him things are this way. So two people with different views are both right.

- the second version is Intersubjectivism. It is similar to Subjectivism, but the 'spectacles' were created not by a person, but by a community where he or she exists. Once again, different communities have different views. But the point is.. if a community thinks that something is wrong, surely that doesn't 100% mean that the things are really wrong! There is no proof that it is wrong, so how can people and communities decide?

- the third version is called Emotivism. The principle of Emotivism is that we do not state whether a thing is 'right' or 'wrong'. We don't claim, we express. There is nothing behind what we say. We just say it, there is no fact behind our saying. It's like saying 'Happy Halloween', i'm not saying whether it's true or false, right or wrong, I just express myself. So, if we view the phrase 'drinking red bull is right' in the emotivism way it is the same is 'yaaaay for red bull!'.

All these three versions state that moral value is not a feature of objective reality though.

In the end of the article the 'objective property' is discussed. If we say that our school has 20 floors that doesn't change the fact that it has just 2 floors. But from a view from a plane it could seem that it does have 20 floors. The point is - we can be mistaken anyway, without knowing it, and things are either right or wrong. And it doesnt matter what we think about it - it will still be right or wrong because it's an objective property.

There is also a possibility of an error considered. It could turn out that actually nothing is right or wrong, and even this 'error' point of view is right and wrong.

So, on what do we base our right-wrong feelings? If on moral values, then which ones? How do we decide which values are good enough to base an opinion on?

Or are there any moral values that created all those right-wrong feeling? Maybe it was installed in us by the nature? Where do moral values come from anyway???

All those questions were left by the author to think of by ourselves.

Positivists vs Interpretivists

2009-05-14T00:00:00.002+01:00

Halfpenny (1984) said that there are two main researcg traditions: interpretivism and postivism. Their views on the aims of researches differ, so they prefer different methods of collecting data.

POSITIVISM looks at the institutions in the society - macro sociology.
Positivists are concerned that sociology is scientific and anakyse social facts. Social facts affect individuals' behavour and can be easily measured. These factors are social external, for example, laws.
They look for what has caused a particular relationship and what are the effects of this relationship.
They favour quantitative data which can be easily turned into numbers and statistics.
They prefer using official statistics, structured interviews and questionnaires with close-ended questions.

INTERPRETIVISM (INTERACTIONISM) looks at the individual in the society - micro sociology.
Interpretivists are looking for meanings and motives behind people's actions like behaviour or interaction with others.
They criticise positivists, because statistics and numbers can't tell much about human's behaviour and that sociology is not a science. The methods that positivists used are also criticised - for example, respodents may not understand a question in a questionnaire or lie.
Interpretivists favour qualitative data - they try to analyse human's behaviour in depth and from the point of view of the individual. That's why they prefer unstructured interviews, where you can ask more about the question you are interested in and ask for details, and participant observation, which helps to understand the behaviour of the studied group by doing the same things and being in their atmosphere all the time.

Choosing a topic

2009-05-13T23:48:00.002+01:00

This is the first thing you have to do when you decided to conduct a sociological research.
You should consider the following factors:

- Who is funding your research? The source of funding is very important. Charitable foundations (for example, Joseph Rowntree Foundation) will favour researches of lone-parent families or healthcare. Government organisations (Economic and Social Research Council) will support researches on political and economic views and on living conditions researches. Industries will fund market researches etc.
- Availability of the data on chosen topic, FBI is difficult to interview lol.
- Theoretical issues - Marxists will concentrate on the class, Feminists - on women etc.
- Researcher's values - what he thinks is important to study.
- Society's values - researcher might aim to change so stereotype views and therefore change society's views and values. Ann Oakley made the society to pay more attention to women's rights and equality with men, for instance.

Choosing a research method

2009-05-13T23:17:00.001+01:00

When choosing an appropriate research method for a chosen topic, sociologists consider the following issues:

1. PRACTICAL
- Is it dangerous?
For example, studying gangs and crime authorities.
- How much will it cost?
- How much time will you have to spend on the research?
- How big will the sample be? Will it represent the population? Will it be easy to generalise the collected data?
- Is enough data available? Obviously, it's almost impossible to study FBI.

2. THEORETICAL
- Positivists tend to concentrate on the quantitative, 'hard', data like statistics. They are looking for causes and effects and prefer scientific approach. They will prefer questionnaires with close-ended questions and structured interviews.
- Interpretivists prefer qualitative data as it shows the meanings beyond the actions. They are more likely to use observation and unstructured interviews to get the data.

3. ETHICAL
- Privacy. The respondents might regret about giving particular info during unstructured interview, for example.
- Confidentiality. Should the identity of the respondents be revealed? The Statement of Ethical Practise (1996) says that confidentiality must be honoured 'unless there are clear and overriding reasons to do otherwise'. For example, Homan (1991) says that the identity of people in powerful positions should be named if they misuse their power.
- Protection. The collected data might bring harm to someone. For example, Ditton's study (1977) of workers in a bread factoty revealed petty thefts - the publication his research might have affected them.
- Informed consent\deception. Should the respondents be informed that they are studied?
Many sociologists argue that the respondents should be informed about the research, its aims and process. However, awareness of the respondents might affect their behaviour thus provide inreliable or invalid results. This is known as the Hawthorne Effect.
On the other hand, there is deception - not informing respondents about a research or providing wrong information about the purpose of the study. This might be considered as unethical, but sometimes it's the only way to collect data. Cover observation includes deception. Or another example - Humphreys (1970) gathered info about gay men pretending that he was doing a health survey.

Primary data

2009-05-13T02:15:00.001+01:00

Primary data is collected by researches. This includes:
- interviews
- questionnaires
- observations
- ethnography
- experiments

Both qualitative and quantative data can be collected.

You don't rely on other sociologists, you choose the most suitable method for you in order to make data valid and reliable. Primary data is up to date.
Some methods of collecting primary data are expensive and time-consuming, also dangerous.
You have to consider practical and ethical issues of your research, including the solution of the informed consent question (or your choice will be deception? isn't it unethical?).
Bias can occur if the reseacher is unobjective and his values might affect the result of the process.
Sometimes you cannot access the group you want to study.

Secondary data

2009-05-13T02:08:00.002+01:00

Secondary data includes:

- official stats

- diaries

- letters

- memoirs

- emails

- TV documentaries

- newspapers

It's quickly collectable and easily comparable.

It gives info about the past therefore the past and the present can be compared.

No need to worry about informed consent (making people awared that they are a part of a research or study)

HOWEVER:

- the data might be unreliable or invalid

- official stats might be biased

- sometimes the area you are particularly interested has not been studies before

- the original researcher's values might affect the way the data is presented - possiblity of misinterpretations is high

Content analysis

2009-05-13T01:54:00.004+01:00

Quantitative content analysis - a research method which seeks to classify and quantify the content of a document.

- it can effectively measure simple straigtforward aspects of content

- it is easy to obtain and to make comparisons

- it's reliable

- however, researchers' interpretations might be biased or they might not agree with the content

- further explanation and interpretation of the data is needed

Qualitative content analysis looks for themes and meanings in media and documents. Interpretivists prefer this method because it uncovers hidden meanings.

- it's valid

- however, because of different interpretations of the data, it's unreliable

John Scott (1990) says that sociologists should be very careful when analysing secondary data:

- the data might be fake

- the data might be not creditable - the researcher is lying

- the data might not be representative

- the data might be too old-fashioned and thus lots of old-fashioned meanings might affect the understanding of the content

Triangulation

2009-05-13T01:49:00.002+01:00

Triangulation is when sociologists try to combine different methods or data to get the best out of all of them.

- it gives a more detailed picture and it's more valid

- it's reliable, because you can check different sets of data against each other

- it can be expensive and time-consuming

- sometimes triangulation cannot be done - not enough sources of data available, for example

7 hours 49 minutes until the sociology unit 1 exam

2009-05-12T01:10:00.003+01:00

Criticisms of Murdock's view on the family:
- Morgan (1975): Murdock makes no reference to alternative households to the family or to disharmony and problems in family relatioships
---
Marxists ignore that the family flourishes is non-capitalist or communist societies. Also they ignore alternatives to the family and that not only the capitalism benefits from the family.
---
Marxist feminists:
Benston (1972): women's unpaid domestic labour is invaluable to capitalism
Ansley (1972): men take out their frustruation and stress from work on women, instead of challenging the capitalist system
---
Liberal feminism:
The cultural norms and valuas are patriarchal. The family is sexist because it supports the mainstream patriarchal culture. However, social change is possible through putting pressure on the legal system and government - to change laws and social policies which discriminate against women.
---
The New Right:
Murray (1989)^ welfare benefits are too high and create "culture of dependency' where an individual finds it easy and acceptable to take benefits rather than work.
---
POSTMODERNISTS
- there is a much wider range of living options available
- Stacey (1990): there is such diversity of family types, relatioships and lifestyles that there will never be one dominant type of family in Western culture again. Western family arrangements are diverse, fluid and unresolved
- they see flexibility and diversity as positive - more choice depending on what suits your needs and lifestyle
- the emphasis is less on having kids and more om self-expression and emotional fulfillment
- CRITICISMS: O'Brien and Jones (1996): less variety in family types than Stacey suggested. Most individuals expirienced only 1-2 family types in their lifetime.
---
Parsons (specialised roles):
- instrumental (practical\planning) - men leaders in the family
- expressive (emotional) - women leaders in the family
---
the percentage of households that are nuclear families:
1971: 33%
2002: 35%
stepfamilies:
2002: 8%
---
ETNICITY
Modood (1997):
- Afro-Caribbean are more likely to be divorced
- Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, African Asians are likely to be married
- Caribbean households are likely to be single parent families
- South Asian - extended families (however, there are more nuclear families now than in the past)
---
Conjugal roles.
Edgell (1980): none of his sample families had joint conjugal roles in relation to housework. however, there is increased sharing of childcare.
Oakley (1974): dual burden (no male domestication!!!)
Duncombe and Marsden (1993, 1995): triple shift (with 'f')
---
Domestic violence
Dobash & Dobash (1992): 25% of all serious assaults were on women by their husbands
Phillips (2003): women abuse men too, male victims are often ignored by society and the police.
----
The Children Act 1989 - the state can intervene with families if social workers are concerned about children's safety.
The Child Support Act 1991 Established Child Support Agency. This gave children the legal right to be financially supported by their parents whether the parents are living with the child or not. The court has to ask for child's view in custody cases and take it into consideration.
The Divorce Reform Act 1969 - no need to prove the guilty of the partner, have to be married 3 years before divorce
The Family Law Act 1996 - 1 year waiting period before a couple can divorce

there is nothing else I can do now.
good luck to everyone doing socio today!

Marilyn Monroe

2009-05-11T21:26:00.004+01:00

The death of Marilyn Monroe is arguably one of the most debated conspiracy theories of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Marilyn Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood, California home by her live-in housekeeper Eunice Murray on August 5, 1962. She was 36 years old at the time of her death.

The official cause of Monroe's death was classified by Dr. Thomas Noguchi of the Los Angeles County Coroners office as "acute barbiturate poisoning", which he recorded as an accidental overdose. Eight milligram percent of chloral hydrate and 4.5 milligram percent of Nembutal were found in her system after the autopsy. Her death was rumored to be a "probable suicide", but because of a lack of evidence, investigators could not classify her death as suicide or homicide. Also, some conspiracy theories involve John and Robert Kennedy with her death, while other theories suggest CIA or mafia complicity.
Her death was ruled to be "acute barbiturate poisoning" by Dr. Thomas Noguchi of the Los Angeles County Coroners office and listed as "probable suicide." Many individuals, including Jack Clemmons, the first Los Angeles Police Department officer to arrive at the death scene, believe that she was murdered. No murder charges were ever filed.

In April 2006, CBS's 48 Hours presented an updated report by Anthony Summers on Monroe's death. Through Summers, 48 Hours gained access to audio tapes of interviews conducted by the Los Angeles District Attorney's office in 1982.

According to Summers' sources, Monroe attended social events at actor Peter Lawford's beach home in Santa Monica, California, in the months before her death that also included President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. The 48 Hours report quoted a former Secret Service agent as stating that it was "common knowledge" among his colleagues that there was an affair between Monroe and John Kennedy. Rumors of a relationship with Robert Kennedy were not confirmed.

According to newly released FBI documents, Monroe was considered to be a security risk. In March 1962 Monroe visited Mexico on a vacation, where she socialized with Americans who were openly communist. Subsequently the FBI maintained a file about Monroe. Summers stated that, contrary to her public image as a dumb blonde, Monroe was passionate about politics and discussed atomic testing issues with President Kennedy just three months before the Cuban Missile Crisis.

According to the broadcast, Lawford told police that he spoke to Monroe on the phone shortly before her death, that she sounded groggy and depressed, and that she said to him, "Say goodbye to Jack," and "Say goodbye to yourself." Phone records of her long distance calls that evening were lost, which was a cause of suspicion.

The funeral arrangements for Monroe were made by her second husband, baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. They were re-connecting at the time of her death, and it is rumored that, at the time of her death, he was preparing to ask her to marry him again.
DiMaggio had a half-dozen red roses delivered to her crypt three times a week for the next 20 years and never remarried.

sociology notes on education

2009-05-10T16:35:00.003+01:00

today I will talk about labelling and self-fulfilling prophecy.

If people are defined in a certain way, this definition includes a prediction of their future behaviour. If others act as if the prophecy is true, then there is a tendency for it to come to fulfill itself.

In education there is a very common thing - labelling. If someone is labelled is as a certain kind of person, others will respond to them in terms of label.

I will give you some examples.
A student called D is labelled as the best one in class. The teacher puts this label on the student because of the student's abilities in a particular subject (simply because he has learned the subject in depth before). The teacher builds up his relationships with the student basing on this label, paying more attention to his progress etc.
A student called R is labelled as lazy and not working at all. The labelling happened after a certain period of time, when the student actually didn't show any interest or effort. Of course the teacher didn't realise that this might be because the student R saw how the student D was treated and understood that he is not able to achieve the same level (students are praised ONLY if they are at the same level with D), so he gives up.
Student K and L feel pretty the same as R and therefore don't do their best as they don't see any point in that.
Some students, like B, who tried to go against the label of the student D, were said to be angry and distruptive.
The student M is labelled as a troublemaker. Because of this label, he is never praised (label does not allow him to be praised), so the only thing he can do is actually.. deal with it. However, the student is accused of being the cause of the class's overall underachievement, just because of the label.

Or another example.
Students E and D are performing exactly the same in subject S - just perfect.
However, only one of them is frequently praised. Why is that? Maybe because of labelling.
Another student, M (do not confuse with the other one, who is an awful troublemaker and the cause of all problems), gave up after only one student in her class was praised. he was treated as a weak and confused student and in the end he gave up 2 weeks before the exams.

3.30 am

2009-05-08T03:27:00.000+01:00

Happy Birthday!!!

2009-05-03T10:24:00.001+01:00

Dear Mr Chris, Happy Birthday to you!
We love you so much, please stay the way you are!!!

<333333333333333

uh huh

2009-05-01T03:57:00.002+01:00

my roommate has just come back from May Night or something and tries to make me drink something very strong.
oh God give me powers to finish my economics revision and wake up on time in the morning

uh whatever, I moving to a single room tomorrow anyway

Costs, revenues and profits

2009-04-28T02:05:00.002+01:00

Brief notes on econs

Costs
Fixed cost - a cost that do not vary with output.
Average Fixed Cost (AFC) = total FC/output

Variable cost - a cost that varies with output
Average Variable Cost (AVC) = total VC/output

Average Total Cost = TC/output

Marginal cost - the change in Total Cost from an increase in output by one extra unit. It's linked with marginal productivity of labour
If Marginal Cost raises then Average Total Cost increases (on condition that an increase in Average Variable Coxt is more than a decrease in Average Fixed cost when there is an increase in output

Revenues
Revenue (turnover) - the income generated from the sale of output in product markets

Average Revenue (AR) is a price per unit = Total Revenue/output

Marginal Revenue (MR) is a change in revenue from selling one extra unit of output

Profits
Normal profit - the minimum level of profit required to keed the factors of production in their current use in the long-run (AR=AC)

Sub-normal profit - any profit which is more than normal profit (the price is less than Average Total Cost)

Abnormal (a.k.a supernormal) profit - any profit achieved in excess of normal profit (persists in the long-run imperfectly competitive markets)

Profits are maximised at the point where MR=MC

friends

2009-04-27T20:48:00.002+01:00

today I was talking to my friends in Russia and they told me how much they miss me
I suddenly realised that I miss them a lot as well

Sociology notes (part 1) might be updated.

2009-04-26T18:43:00.002+01:00

Murdock (1949):
Nuclear family - a basic nucleus of husband + wife and one or more children. Nuclear family is a universal social grouping - can be found in all societies.
Extended families contain kin - relatives based on 'blood' or marriage. (polygamy, 3rd generations, uncles\aunts)
Family - a universal institution with universal functions, which are vital for the well-being society:
- sexual
- economic
- reproduction
- educational

Felicity Edholm (1982):
Nuclear family and kinship relationships are socially constructed. Relatives are not born but made.
She argues that the family is a social construction based on culture rather than biology. She rejects the view that the nuclear family is universal. Cross-cultural evidence indicates that family forms vary considerably.

Scanzoni (1989): term 'family' should be replaced with 'primary relationships' in order to include diversity in family systems.

Parsons (1955):
He focuses on the nuclear famil in modern industrial society. According to him, the family has become increasingly specialised. Parsons claims that the family retains two 'basic and irreducible' functions:
- the primary socialisation of children
- the stabilisation of adult personalities
Industrialisation has led to the isolated nuclear family (isolated from wider kinship). This is because of:
- loss of functions
- the status is now achieved rather than ascribed
- geographical mobility

Dennis & Erdos (2000):
Lots of children are born outside marriage and raised by single mothers. On average, those children have poorer health and lower educational attainment than children from two-parent families. Families without fathers are not an adequate alternative to the nuclear families, because they fail to give adequate primary socialisation.

Friedrich Engels:
- the modern nuclear family developed in capitalist society
- monogamous nuclear family gave men control over women

Delphy & Leonard (1992):
Women make the main contribution to family life, men recieve the main benefits.
Wives rather than husbands provide emotional support (they are more likely to symphatise, to understand, to exuse and to flatter)

Benston (1972):
Wife's unpaid labour is invaluable to capitalism

Hopkins (2000):
Domestic violence is widespread and the majority if victims is women.

Saunders (2000) (New Right):
Explicitly favour married parenthood over all other choices for raising children.
Family diversity should be discouraged.

Bernardes (1997):
Government policy should support all family types.

Lewis (2001) on Labour policies:
There was no 'back to basics' but no 'anything goes' either. Labour has been careful not to condemn alternatives to the nuclear family.
Labour's policies focus on money & work - children money, parents have a responsibility to work.

Peter Laslett (1965, 1977):
He claims that his research shows that nuclear families were the norm in pre-industrial England. It's not possible to discover how much cooperation occured between kin who lived in different households.

Michael Anderson (1971):
The early stages of industrialisation may have encouraged the development of extended families.

Ann Oakley (1974):
Women were seen by many men as a threat to their employment since 1819.
Industialisation had the following effects on the role of women:
- the separation of men from the daily routines of domestic life
- the economic dependence of women and children on men
- isolation of housework and childcare from other work.
The mother-housewife role became the primary role for all women.

Young & Willmott:
Extended family - a combination of families who to some degree form one domestic unit but do not share the same household.
Stages of the family:
- the pre-industrial family - production family, cottage industries.
- the early industrial family - unity of the family is distrupted by industrial revolution. Kinship networks are extended. Men went into industrial employment. Poverty is widespread.
- the symmetrical family. 3 main characteristics: 1) nuclear, 2) home-centered and privatised, 3) the roles of husband and wife are increasingly similar. Occured through a process of stratified diffusion - new ideas of family life were started by the higher social classes and gradually filtered down to the lower classes.
- the assymetrical family, men - into work. women - into domestic responsibilities. couples spend less time in joint activities.

Goldthrope and Lockwood:
Criticisms of stratified diffusion - manual workers still retained a distinctive working-class outlook on life.

McMahon (1999):
Against the concept of symmetrical family - women are still mainly responsible for cooking\cleaning.

McRae (1999):
Love is the most common reason people give for cohabiting.
The rise of divorce means that the view of marriage as a 'union for life' has less power. Some people actually give 'fear of divorce' as a reason for cohabiting.

Allan & Crow (2001):
Effective contraception made it possible for couples to cohabit with little fear of pregnancy.

Robert Chester (1984):
An increase in divorce rates reflects an increase in marital breakdown. (though he admits this cannot be proved)

Ronald Fletcher (1966):
A higher divorce rate reflects a higher value placed on marriage.

Anthony Giddens (1992):
'Confluent love' trend. This form of love focuses on intimacy, closeness and emotion,

Coontz (2006):
Less close relationships with friends and relatives means demanding more from partners - leads to 'overloading' marriage.

2009-04-26T02:08:00.003+01:00

EF A-levels webpage

I feel like our school doesn't exist
neither do Torquay

look at the locations

upd: hell no. they DO mention Torquay:
The Brittin College A-Level Programme is a one or two year intensive programme designed specifically to help foreign students transition to the UK educational system and maximise their A-Level scores. The programme is rigorous and results orientated and Brittin College students regularly attend top UK universities. The programme takes place at our newly renovated school in Torquay in southern England.

We are studying at non-existing school. How motivating and inspiring!

16 days until first exam

2009-04-25T01:31:00.003+01:00

I have just finished my huuuuuge notes on family and households for sociology unit 1. over the weekend I'm going to work through the workbook and also to do some work in econs (workbook) and BS (notes making).
and I really need to work on statistics, as it is my 3rd exam (after 2 sociology ones).

failure is only for losers, surely not for G&T people, right?

daily blog

2009-04-22T01:07:00.000+01:00

I've lost my UCAS folder - has anyone seen it?(

I think mr Ian will kill me

US unis admissions, SATs and Harvard

2009-04-20T03:39:00.000+01:00

just copying myself some stuff to read sometime later.. obviously, not now, I need to sleep lol
maybe someone will find it helpful

how to apply to US unis:
1. intro from TSR Wiki
2. TSR tread (external links provided)

SATs info:
1. TSR's SATs short intro
2. College Admissions Requirements - SAT Subject Tests

NB: Yale does not require SAT II, they can be replaced by A-level results. => to do a research on Yale

Harvard:
1. TSR Harvard thread
+ Bonus, Factors influencing ur admission to Harvard:

Most important factors
- Strong SAT/ACT scores
- Rigorous transcript with good grades/results
- Strong dedication to a few extracurricular activities
- Excellent essays (read On Writing the College Application Essay by Harry Bauld)
- Excellent letters of recommendation from teachers who know you well
- Special talents/abilities, also known as a "hook" (e.g. gold medalist in IMO)

Important factors
- Employment/volunteer experience
- Interview
- Minority status
- First generation status
- Legacy status

Command words

2009-04-19T16:18:00.005+01:00

Account for:
Asks students to explain a particular situation or a particular outcome. Students are expected to present a reasoned case for the existence of something. For example: Account for the rise in unemployment shown in the table of data.

Analyse: Here you are being asked to provide a comparison in detail of the causes and any possible effects of how the thing under consideration has developed or happened. Wherever it is possible ,try to give examples, this is especially true if the material offered has examples within it. If the term “critically" is prior to the term analyse. This is telling you that you need to make suggestions as to possibly why or why not something may or may not, in your own opinion, be appropriate considering the issue or event being analysed. Always try to offer support to your findings and/or opinions. For example: Analyse the extent to which foreign aid promotes economic development.

Apply: This as the word suggests is asking you to apply your knowledge of a particular thing, say the monetary or fiscal policy, to a given situation. It is asking you to relate your own specific knowledge of the issue from the syllabus area to the particular situation that has been given to you.

Assess: Asks students to measure and judge the magnitude or quality of something. Students may offer differing assessments as they present the reasoning for their conclusion. For example: Assess the economic implications of the movement of many eastern and central European countries from planned economies to market economies.

Calculate: This type of question is normally asking you to use specific knowledge' that you should have i.e. a formula. When doing a question like this it is important to show each step or stage of an calculation used. For example: Calculate the PED for a price change of $4.00 to $4.40.

Comment: A comment question requires you to draw some conclusions about the issue under consideration. This is often from the result of your considerations, workings and/or calculations have told you about the problem that you have been given.

Compare/Compare and contrast: Asks students to describe two situations and present the similarities and differences between them. A description of the two situations does not on its own meet the requirements of this key term. For example: Compare the effectiveness of demand-side policies to supply-side policies in reducing the level of unemployment.

Consider: A consider question is asking for reflections on the different options/alternatives that may exist to resolve / solve / defeat or possibly correct the problem that has been posed.

Define: When asked to define it is essential that a very clear and correct definition is given of a specific word or concept. For example: Define what is meant by a free-trade area.

Describe: Asks students to provide a description of a given situation. It is a neutral request to present a detailed picture. For example: Describe the main roles of the IMF and the World Bank.

Discuss: Asks students to consider a statement or to offer a considered review of or balanced argument about a particular topic. For example: Discus the view that trade is more effective than aid in promoting economic development.

Distinguish: Asks students to make clear their understanding of similar terms. For example: Distinguish between normal and supernormal profit.

Evaluate: Invites students to make an appraisal of a situation. Students should weigh the nature of the evidence available and discuss the convincing aspects of an argument as well as its implications and limitations, and the less convincing elements within an argument. For example: Evaluate alternative policies designed to reduce inflation.

Evaluation occurs when a judgment is made. It is the weighing or measuring of factors followed by an attempt to give relative weight to those factors. Questions that begin "evaluate", "assess", "critically assess", "discuss" or "to what extent" require students to show their skills of evaluation in order to reach the highest achievement levels.

There are many ways that students can be encouraged to improve their skills of evaluation.

- When factors such as causes, consequences or remedies are asked for, students should attempt to identify the most important ones and then to justify the reason for the choice.

- When advantages and disadvantages are asked for, students should attempt to identify the most important advantage (or disadvantage) and then justify the reason for the choice.

- When strategies are asked for, students should attempt to assess the short term and long term implications.

- When data is offered, students may question its validity, in terms of whether it is appropriate, whether it is reliable, or whether it is still relevant

- When summarizing a theory, students may question its validity, in terms of whether it is appropriate, whether it is reliable, or whether it is still relevant.

Explain: Directs students to describe clearly, make intelligible and give reasons for a concept or idea. For example: Explain why a monopolist may charge different prices to different customers for the same service.

How: A how question requires the details be explained about how something is achieved or has been stopped or whatever other exercise the question is asking you to perform.

Justify: A justify question is asking a student to explain the reasons why or for what reason something is happening or maybe not happening.

Outline: Outline really only requires the main features relating to the issue to be given. Try to say the reason why a thing may or may not happen.

To what extent: Asks students to evaluate the success or otherwise of one argument or concept over another. Students should present a conclusion, supported by arguments. For example: To what extent should LDCs adopt outward-oriented strategies rather than inward-oriented strategies to promote economic development?

What: Asks students to clarify the nature of something, in contrast to either a temporal dimension (when?) or a spatial dimension (where?) For example: What is the difference between a tariff and a quota? .

What is: This question calls for the student to give an explanation about something. It should be fairly obvious as to what is the central theme or part of a question and the topic you are being asked to address.

Which: This question is asking you to make a decision from the range of choices, decisions or methods etc. You must offer reasons as to why you chose to support the decision that you did.

Why: Invites students to present reasons for the existence of something. This command word implies a powerful requirement to present a judgment. It is similar to the Invitation "account for". For example: Why do prices tend to be stable in an oligopolistic industry?

it's almost May - 6 months until UCAS applications

2009-04-19T04:30:00.002+01:00

i've continued my research on universities.

i think it would be interesting to share what I've found out.

first of all, here you will find helpful advice from LSE about writing your personal statement. Durham university also gives you some hints about writing a PS.

It might be a good idea to even mention your blog in your personal statement - who knows, it might impress a tutor if you go to an interview.

maybe someone is also thinking of applying to an American university like I do. however, I consider only Harvard.

and, by the way, the university of Oxford has updated the website - check out new info and even admisson statistics of 2008!

Examine the reasons for changes in the position of children in the last 200 years.

2009-04-18T20:41:00.003+01:00

Children were treated in a completely different way 200 years ago. Accoring to Phillipe Aries (1962), whose research was based on analysis of letters and other documents of that time in Medieval Europe, children were not seen as a different part of the society and were mostly treated like adults - they were wearing adult clothes, they were working in the same conditions with adults and their behaviour was similar to adults'.
The changes in the position of children began when the upper class started to send their children to schools in order to educate them. During the process of industrialisation, this tendency in the upper classes was developing, while children from lower classes were still treated like adults and didn't have any privilleges or special conditions - they were working side by side with adults. In the 19th century, a series of Labour Acts restricted children from work in factories and mines, as well as education of children was becoming more and more common - elementary state education was compulsory in many European countries.
Then the experts specialising in children in medicine, education and psychology started to develop, and since then, according to Aries, children were seen as different from adults. Children have their own needs and interests.
Stainton Rogers (2001) identified two images of children in the 20th century: 'the sinful and wicked child', whose behaviour is anti-social and, therefore, it should be controlled and disciplined; and 'the innocent child', who should be protected from the violence of the adult world. This 'welfare view' was supported by many social policies, such as the Children Act of 1989, where court is obliged to make decisions based on interests and benefits of children.
However, nowadays the position of children is changing as well. Neil Postman (1983) suggests that the childhood is disappearing because today children are not protected from the adult world and this is mostly because of mass media, which destroyes the boundaries between childhood and adulthood. Nick Lee (2001), objects that point view saying that childhood is not disappearing, but becoming more complex and ambiguous. Children are still dependent on their parents, but have their own opinions and views, which makes them independent to some extend.

Examine the effects of urbanisation and industrialisation on the family and household structure.

2009-04-17T22:51:00.004+01:00

The family and household structure has changed a lot since 18th century, mostly because of many changes in society and technology.
Before the industrialisation the family members were performing some production functions as a unit in order to provide the family with vital goods and services. This type of production is often called 'cottage industry'. As it was very difficult to provide the whole family with essential goods and services, the society was kin-based - the extended nuclear family type was dominating as well as kin-based relationships were very strong even if the relatives didn't live 'under one roof' - more people were needed so that a family could successfully perform as a production unit.
The move to the production of manufactured goods in factories changed these trends. Families didn't need to perform the functions of production unit anymore, they became units of consumption. This affected the relationships of kin-based relatives and families have become more independent from their relatives. Talcott Parsons (1951) describes this new type of family as the 'isolated' nuclear family, which was formed due to the process of industrialisation, because married couples and their children were isolated from wider kinship. Also, many men left to work on factories, and the industrial society requires family mobility - an ability to change the location of the family to meet the demand for labour force in area where it is needed. For big families with strong connections with their kin it's very difficult to perform this function. The development of technology and use of these technologies in factories made the cottage industries' businesses uncompetitive, which also made strong kinship relationships unnecessary.
The process of industrialisation caused another process - urbanisation - families became to concentrate in large urban areas rather than in small town in countryside. The large urban areas has developed because of close location of factories nearby.
The government also has developed its functions and started to offer some important services like education and healthcare, which also made wider kinship connections not so important.
The feminists, particularly Ann Oakley (1974) argue that at the times of the industrial societies women's and children's rights were neglected and the series of Acts prohibited them from working at the factories, making them dependent on men - they were restricted to home. This is when the 'traditional' family images appeared - the male bread-winner and the mother-housewife.
The further developments of family during the industrialisation process were proposed by Young and Willmott, who identified three stages of family: pre-industrial, early industrial and symmetrical. With the development of industrial societies, the difference between social levels started to grow, dividing the ruling class from the subject class. The Marxists started to develop their theories about family being shaped to fit the needs of capitalism. Young and Willmott proposed the concept of the stratified diffusion, where all the changes in family standards of the ruling class were adopted by the middle class. That's why the symmetrical family type has appeared, where men and women share their domestic responsibilities and are becoming more equal in rights and opportunities. However, the feminists, according to McMahon, have criticised this view because women still are mainly responsible for childcare and most of the housework.

AQA Jan Unit 1 exam questions for Sociology

2009-04-08T17:25:00.000+01:00

Found on TSR:

Family and Households Questions.

a) Explain what is ment by the expressive role?
b) Suggest two ways in which 'family life may have a harmful effect on women'
c) Suggests three reasons for the decrease in the death rate since the 1900
d) Examine the ways in which childhood can be said to be socially constructed.
e) Use material from Item 2B and elsewhere, assess the view that the nuclear family is no longer the norm.

2B item -
A popular image of the family has been the 'cereal pakcet' nuclear family norm of a married couple and two children who are the couple's biological offspring. The husband is the main breadwinner and the wife is primarily oncerned with housework and childcare.

It could be aruged that this nuclear family is no longer the norm. A number of changes have taken place, such as the rise in the number of same-sex couples and of lone parents. these have resulted in families becoming much more diverse.

However Somerville (2000) argues that these changes are exaggerated. The apparent diversity of family life is based on a snapshot at any one time and, if a life cycle approach is taken, many people have a famirly conventional experience of the family.

TQM

2009-03-24T23:43:00.002Z

TQM is a specific approach to quality assurance that aims to develop a quality culture throughout the firm. Each sphere of the business is broken into quality chains, which makes it easier to look after each sphere and provide the right enviroment, support, training and supervision in order to achieve zero defect target and products being made 'right first time'.

TQM:
- reduces waste in production and, therefore, reduces costs of production
- quality is improved as well as productivity which is likely to improve selling price, revenues and sales volume
- makes workers feel as a part of the team, therefore, they are more motivated which is likely to reduce labour turnover rates ans increase output and productivity
- improves the image of the business

Japanese management

2009-03-24T23:25:00.002Z

Japanese management includes:
1. TQM - Total Quality Management, a business quality culture which means approaching high quality in all spheres of a business from finance to management.
2. Theory Z by Ouchy. "A company for life", which trains you, educates you, provides you with a home and you stay with this company all your life.
3. Just in Time approach, which enables to have high stock, because everything is supplied just in time, so you won't feel lack of any materials\products.
4. Production Quality Circle.
5. ~~Ken~~ ~~I D I O T~~ Kaizen - continious improvement. Can be applied to evrything in a business.
6. Lean production improves quality and reduces costs, because it minimised waste.

Video evaluation

2009-03-24T22:42:00.004Z

The video is weird.
Okok.
The picture. As we can see in this video, it is obviously divided into three different types of video: beautiful scenery, EF facilities\accomodation\study and interviews.
Beutiful scenery is EF Oxford's USP - they are so proud of being located near Oxford university. Yes, the atmosphere, nice views of parks and colleges do their job. Customers like this flaffy stuff. How did you like the girl who was reading dictionary as if it was the latest bestseller from Borders or Waterstones? Lol yeah right, let's show London and Cambridge - they will reduce time that EF will have to spend on talking about studying and EF. Omg, spending more than 40 seconds on showing the dinning hall in Christ Church! lol lol lol brainwashers.
EF Oxford is presented as a big modern school with lots of facilities and great learning opportunities. I got really angry when they showed the rooms in the residence: they filmed them that way that the rooms looked actually much bigger than they are in the real life. And, wow, roommates are nice and clean (lol, how ironical). Look at the activities rooms - wow, a not broken pool table! wow, there are no loud or not very intelligent spanish speaking people in the lounge! And, ahahaha, I like how they presented the 'delicious' cafeteria food - "fish and chips and other international food". I cannot argue with this - cereal is international as well as burger. How on Earth can any food be called not-international?? Hey, look at the grass in the yard! It actually exists lol!
The interviews. Well, ok, teachers are obviously well-prepared. The girl spoke in English really good and I think EF actually paid her.

Well, obviously, EF won't tell anything bad about the school but..
Their advertisement is very good as they turned their disadvantages into advantages and paid a lot og attention to their USP.

Blog summary-6

2009-03-23T00:39:00.002Z

tutor2u econs blog, "Business Economics"

That ought to be a huge topic - economics and business are really close and have lots of things in common. recession affected all the businesses in the world, even gartantum companies collapsed. surely there will be something to discuss.

yeah, I'm right, lots of things. the most interesting ones in my brief explanations:

First of all, a collection of newspapers' business reviews 2008. really good for expanding your knowledge both in economics and business.

SPEW! Haahahaha, it's a mnemonics to remember some of the effects of monopoly power in markets! So funny)

This choconomics post states that there are counter-cyclical products, the demand for these rises at economic downturns. As an example they presented chocolates, which were really popular at the times of the Great Depression (1929-1934).

This is a post made last summer about Starbucks closing every 20th shop in US, this means -600 shops. The reasons are unprofitable locations and inability to make any profits in future. This happened BEFORE the recession. Now people tend to spend their money in cheaper coffee shops, so I dare to say that Starbucks might close even more shops around the world. It is very sad, because their USP was perfect service and quality. I still love them, I'm a loyal customer, who, despite the recession, will still buy a medium caramel frappuchino every Saturday)

Blog summary-5

2009-03-23T00:24:00.003Z

tutor2u econs blog, tag "Russia economy"..

omg that is much more complicated. I read news about russian economy every day on russian news sites.. well, the only difference here will be the language then. ....uh, surprisingly, not so many posts on this topic.

This post simply states that Moscow is the most expensive city in the world. Well, thanks for that, I didn't know lol. They make comparisons on an example of the price for a cup of coffee:
The survey found that one cup of coffee including service would cost on average £2.20 in London, compared with £5.19 in Moscow and £2.57 in Tokyo
Well, I can add something about that from my own experience. You can get drunk in Moscow by just buying a low alcohol drink in a bottle (1 litre) for 50 rubles (0.90 pounds), but then you will be fined 1000 rubles (almost 20 pounds) by local police lol.

And this post using an example of Russian roadbuilding shows how it might affect economic growth, and also applies many AS and A2 topics (multiplier\accelerator\cost-benefit analysis etc)

Blog summary-4

2009-03-23T00:08:00.002Z

tutor2u econs blog, Game theory tag.

this is becoming one of the most interesting topics in economics for me. it is a part of behavioural economics and I have already written a lot about it. tomorrow we are going to LSE on a lecture on behavioural economics, and the game theory will be discussed there as well.

There are not so many posts with this tag on this blog, and I have already commented on the most of them in my previous blog summaries.

The most interesting post is this one, I would say that it is a small intoduction into the game theory and then some discussions on socio-biology themes: are our emotions irrational? are our actions always determined by our aiming for self well-being? All those topics are briefly outlined in this post, discussing Robert Frank's works on that.

still not sleeping

2009-03-18T03:50:00.001Z

doing maths lol

Business Studies revision. Chapter 24

2009-03-18T02:22:00.001Z

Quality

Business Studies revision. Chapter 23

2009-03-18T01:12:00.002Z

Marketing operational decisions

Blog summary-3

2009-03-18T00:38:00.002Z

once again, tutor2u econs blog. ag "behavioural economics"

First of all, behavioural economics - a field that specialises in studying how our emotions and biases effect our day to day decisions. Behavioural economics is a much more interesting topic than BoP boring stuff, this section is full of examples from real life and you can clearly understand that economics is everywhere. I just couldn't pick the most interesting topics..there were so many of those! I also liked book reviews and advice for further reading.

- for example, they mention a new book "The Mind of the Market", in which it is stated that markets have a collective mind, which drives them. They also provide us an extract from that book. And, surprise-surprise!, it works with the game theory! uhhh I start to like this theory.

- then I found this interesting video. Tim Harford explains the principles of segregation, also known as chessboard experiments of Tomas Schelling. Tim states that the world we live in is sometimes irrational, but people are not:

- then there is more on the game theory

- and here is a post about the book from which Mr. Chris took all those questions about fridges, kamikadze pilots and international model that he gave us in September. by the way, I have a copy of that book and it's really funny.

- and in the end I would like to talk about some more serious stuff. This post is about expectations in economics. Expectations are predictions of people about future market situations, prices, taxes, interest rates etc. Expectations are a really powerful tool and if enough people believe in these expectations they may become real, e.g. become a "self-fulfilling prophecy". From speculative behaviour in commodity markets, to the carry trade in foreign exchange and to expectations of changes in tax policy, how our expectations are formed and the factors that might cause them to change matter a great deal. Students can score higher marks for critical evaluation if they bring in the concept of expectations into their discussions.

Blog summary-2

2009-03-17T23:59:00.003Z

tutor2u econs blog, tag "Balance of Payments".

I don't know why, but this is my least favourite topic in the whole AS econs syllabus.. oh well, work is work, it has to be done.

- this post is about UK's biggest trade deficit in goods in services since the records were started in 1657. The deficit exceeds £8.238bn. As it can be seen from the graph below, the gap has been growing since 1998, but now because of the crisis the speed of growth has increased dramatically. Despite the competitive boost given by a depreciating currency, weakening demand in many of the UK’s major export markets is providing an important dampener on the ability of export businesses to provide a rebalancing of aggegate demand in the UK. Imports are also falling as the national belt is collectively tightened.

- another pretty interesting post helps us to answer an essay economics question: "Explain the factors which may help to determine an economy’s export performance". They provide the revision notes which will be helpful when writing an aswer. First of all they define exports and mention the UK's exports, which shows their UK's economy knowledge. After that they say how exports perfomance is measured (% change in volume of exports (real value at constant prices) OR % share of international markets / global trade). Then they provide a list of factors influencing exports perfomance (cost price factors and non-price factors). I think it will be useful for everybody if I copy it here:

Cost and price factors:

1. Unit labour costs: labour costs per unit of output, determined by wages relative to productivity. Thus wage inflation and productivity growth are becoming important
2. Average production costs – driven in the long run by exploiting increasing returns / economies of scale
3. Much depends on the scale of capital investment in export sectors – to drive unit costs down and to build the productive capacity for selling output overseas
4. Export subsidies – can reduce the overseas price of exports – a form of protectionism
5. Changes in the exchange rate
a. A depreciation reduces the foreign price of exported output (cet par) and increases the profitability of exporting
b. Assumes exporters change their prices when the currency moves
c. Appreciation has the opposite effect
d. Much depends on the price elasticity of demand for X and the elasticity of supply of the export sector (i.e. is there sufficient spare capacity)
6. Impact of tariffs and other forms of import control on the prices of exports

Non-price factors (i.e. non-price competitiveness)

1. Quality of product, reliability, after-sales service, design
2. Marketing and branding – ability to sell in different countries and different cultures
3. Importance of innovation, research and development in developing new products, extending brands

Blog summary

2009-03-17T23:22:00.002Z

tutor2u econs blog, tag "AS Micro".

This is a pretty big part of the blog: many things can be reffered to as AS Micro. Microeconomics deals with the processes of consumption and production on the level of households and firms.

I've read 4-5 first pages..

- this post is talking abou classification of luxury cars according to demand elasticity. they were thought to be veblen goods (when price goes up, demand goes up as well), however, it is no truth any longer as it is proved in this the Times article. then tutor2u blog discusses the impact that the recession has on luxury cars companies' profits.

- moving on with types of goods, this post discusses an increased demand for inferior goods. inferior goods are those goods that have a negative relationship between quantity demanded and income. in other words, people buy those goods when their real income is low. however, it doesn't mean that those goods are poor quality, they just have more competitive and popular substitutes.

- this post describes a Wispa phenomenon - it was launched 25 years ago and left the market at the beginning of its third decade. people were saying that Wispa had passed all the stages of the product life cycle and now it was in history. however, the power of technology and consumer demand successfully brought it back. actually its producers who decide on marketing and development of a product, but in this case the consumers initiated Wispa's return - they used Facebook to show Cadbury that they want Wispa back. and they didn't lie - the sales of Wispa in 2007 were incredibly high. Cadbury even entered into a joint venture with McDonald’s to sell a Wispa McFlurry, which also brought profits. yay for chocolates!

Sociology notes-4

2009-03-17T23:12:00.002Z

Comparative method, also known as grounded theory, is a systematic qualitative research methodology in the social sciences emphasizing generation of theory from data in the process of conducting research. It was developed by two sociologists, Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss.
The structutre of comparative method is completely opposite to a scientific method of a research.
First of all, all the various data is collected. After that some key points are taken from the data and they are marked with a series of codes. The codes are grouped into similar concepts, in order to make them more workable. From these concepts categories are formed, which are the basis for the creation of a theory.

Sociology notes-3

2009-03-17T23:04:00.002Z

Close-ended questions.
Close-ended question means that the choice of answers on this question is limited. Close-ended questions are usually used for collecting data for a statistical survey in a structured interview.
A structured interview is a type of an interview when each interviwee is asked the same questions in the same order.

Researches:
Structured interviews can also be used as a qualitative research methodology (Kvale, 1996). These types of interviews are best suited for engaging in respondent or focus group studies in which it would be beneficial to compare/contrast participant responses in order to answer a research question (Lindlof & Taylor, 2002). For structured qualitative interviews, it is usually necessary for researchers to develop an interview schedule which lists the wording and sequencing of questions (Patton, 1990). Interview schedules are sometimes considered a means by which researchers can increase the reliability and credibility of research data (Lindlof & Taylor, 2002).

Sociology notes-2

2009-03-17T22:57:00.002Z

Bourgeoisie. The term bourgeoisie is widely used in many non-English speaking countries as an approximate equivalent of upper class under capitalism.

Marxism defines the bourgeoisie as the social class which owns the means of production in a capitalist society. Marxism sees the proletariat (wage labourers) and bourgeoisie as directly waging an ongoing class struggle, in that capitalists exploit workers and workers try to resist exploitation. This exploitation takes place as follows: the workers, who own no means of production of their own, must seek employment in order to make a living. They get hired by a capitalist and work for him, producing some sort of goods or services.

Sociology notes

2009-03-17T20:24:00.002Z

Banding. Also known as tracking, streaming or ability grouping, is a practise in education when students are divided into academic groups according to their abilities. Though the terms “tracking” and “ability grouping” are often used interchangeably, Gamoran (1992) differentiates between the two. He uses the term “tracking” to describe the manner by which students are separated into groups for all academic subjects, but “ability grouping,” on the other hand, is the within-class separation of students into groups, based on academic ability. High ability groups are often assigned special work that is more advanced than that of the other students in the class.

Advantages:
- it allows teachers to better direct lessons toward the specific ability level of the students in each class
- it separates students by ability, students’ work is only compared to that of similar-ability peers, preventing a possible lowering of their self-esteem
- it helps direct students into specific areas of the labor market
- encourage low-ability students to participate in class since tracking separates them from intimidation of the high-ability students
Disadvantages:
- low-track classes tend to be primarily composed of low-income students, usually minorities, while upper-track classes are usually dominated by students from socioeconomically successful groups. this might be due to labelling of students and judging by their social status
- in practise it's very difficult to divide students into correct groups and find real potentials
- the curriculum will differ a lot in different streams

Researches:
Kulik and Kulik (1992) found that high-ability students in tracked classes achieved more highly than similar-ability students in non-tracked classes.
Argys, Rees, and Brewer (1996) found that high-track students’ achievement dropped when lower-ability students were integrated into the same class.
Oakes (1985) found that in high-track classes, teachers often used course materials and taught concepts which required extensive critical-thinking skills, whereas teachers in low-track classes tended to draw heavily from workbooks and rarely assign work that required critical thinking.
Gamoran’s study (1992) shows that students are more likely to form friendships with other students in the same tracks than students outside of their tracks. Jeannie Oakes theorizes that the disproportionate placement of poor and minority students into low tracks does not reflect their actual learning abilities.

I want an A - so I will work until I have powers to type

2009-03-17T01:50:00.003Z

Sociology homework.
The problems in researching schools and teachers and the opportunities that the internet offers for sociologists carrying out such research

As we all know, the internet offers us almost unlimited amount of information - new information is uploaded every minute or even every second. If you have an internet connection, you have an access to all of that info. Yes, this is great and helps us to learn and develop faster. It helps us to do a range of different researches, including researches on schools and teachers, but there are problems when doing a research based on the internet data.
First of all, you don't know WHO exactly uploaded that information. If you don't know the person, how can you know that the information is correct? Anybody can easily hide his or her identity under a nickname or even may try to fool you..
Secondly, some schools\teachers might write anonymously about themselves in order to look better than they actually are. Also some angry\stupid students might write some bad things about a teacher\school. So - inaccuracy is a very big problem.
While doing a research, you have to visit lots of sites, most of them you will visit for the first time. Therefore, you know nothing about the site's content. Maybe it's a porno site with the address like blablablateacherresearch.tr or it might even download a virus on your computer. When carrying out an online research, make sure that your computer's security level is good enough.
However, there are some reliable sources which are well known among the sociologists (I'm not a sociologist so I can't give a site as an example. smth like a sociological wikipedia maybe). Many universities\local governments\educational structures\official sites supply enough information to carry out a very interesting sociological research. Using the internet, people are now able to compare different educational systems in different countries just by clicking different links. It opens new doors for researches in education and its future. However, the problems that I have mentioned already should be awared of and solved.

Notes-4

2009-03-17T01:24:00.002Z

tutor2u econs blog, topic AS Macro.

OMG. more than 3 pages of blogs on that topic. I have read through a half of them (my head starts to ache a little bit and eyes are closing cuz I haven't drunk any red bull today, but I have to do some work more), so I will comment on 3 the most interesting (in my opinion) posts. Most of them are presentations and graph sets anyway.. I looked at a couple of presentations, btw, liked the supply-side one, but it's too big, I have to leave time for the first-timer blog..

1. This helped me to understand exchange rate topic a little bit better and, therefore, know how to give exmaples in the real life
2. The Black Wednesday videos, 16/09/92. hey, the current crisis' 'official' start is the middle of September.. hmm, only co-accident?
3. 'EMPTY VESSELS'. Sorry, I just couldn't ignore those words lol.. empty vessels make the most noise, right?

at laaaaaaaaast! uh, I will do first-timer approximately at 8am cuz now I even can't type normally..next time I will buy Red Bull before studying at night.

Notes-3

2009-03-17T01:08:00.003Z

tutor2u econs blog again, this time the topic is "Questions and Answers - Markets".

Unfortunately, I founf out that there is only one post under this tag. Uh, what a pity lol.

So, this post discusses the market for iPod. The post starts from a brief introduction, from which we learn that iPod has more than 80% of market share, therefore, it's a huuuuuge monopoly. Their profits are incredible even now, in the centre of financial crisis. After that they start to evaluate iPod's market position. The success of iPod is obvious - at the beginning of the 21st century Apple spotted a niche market and successfully built up a million-profit business. The post states that iPod has built up a vertical monopoly, as it is not only players - it is also iTunes (special software and online music shop), a special barrier to entry in the market - digital rights management system, which prevents people from listening iTunes music on non-Apple mp3 player. It's very hard to compete with such a giant like Apple\iPod.
Another argument is that iPod is an oligopoly, but I disagree with this, to be frank. An oligopoly is a market dominated by a few producers, each of which has some control over the market. This is the definition!!!! But the authors of that post say that behaviour of firms in oligopoly is more important and that iPod's market behaviour is pretty oligopolistic.
- strong investment in research and development
- agressive price competition
- also non-price competition
- existance of enty\exit barriers to the market
All of these are common things between oligopolistic companies' behaviour and Apple's iPod behaviour.

Notes-2

2009-03-17T00:39:00.004Z

Econs Blog from tutor2u review.

Q&A - Macro
Tutor2u has only a few posts having this tag. However, they are all pretty interesting. The first one discusses the accelerator effect: it describes a principle where how much a business chooses to spend on capital investment will be influenced by how quickly demand is growing for their products. After this definiton a further explanation follows, which after that is supported by the most current example (in this article it's investments in turbines due to very high prices of oil and gas). After that they provide some data and graphs:

Accelerator effect helps to show that the business cycle does exist. Just look at the graph!!

The second post is about monetary policy. The question was about the relatioship between changes in the base rate and other banks' interest rates.
There is no guarantee that a change in base rates will cause all other interest rates to move too. That depends on the commercial decisions taken by the banks, building societies and other financial institutions.
This post also explains the mechanism of setting different rates (mortgage rates, LIBOR) and how base rates might influence interest rates changes in other banks. To cut a long story short, the base rate doesn't mean that all banks should set it. The base rate helps banks to understand in which direction their interest rates should move, however, it's up to banks - what to do with their interest rates.

The third post is about international trade, being more precise - about the correction of balance of payments current account deficit. The post distinguishes two different ways of reducing the amount of deficit:
- expenditure-switching (changing the prices of exports and imports, making exports more cheaper and imports more expensive). This can be done using the following methods:
*A depreciation of the exchange rate
*Export subsidies
*Import tariffs
*Policies to lower the rate of inflation in the home economy

- expenditure-reducing (reducing AD, which will slow down spending on imports). Methods:
*Higher taxation
*A fall in government spending
*A rise in interest rates or a fall in the availability of credit

Also they suggest a number of supply-side policies in order to solve this problem.

The fourth post discusses reasons for a sustained surplus on a current account. Briefly I will write those reasons:
- Export-oriented growth
- Undervalued exchange rate
- High domestic savings rates
- Closed economy
- Strong investment income from overseas investments
Use the link to get the full explanations on these reasons.

The last one is a great way to look at an evaluation process. The topic is whether transport capital investment should be increased in order to reduce the rate of unemployment. They mention a couple of obvious points like acceletator effect and reducing cyclical unemployment, however, there are plenty of thoughts and ideas that might help you guys with your studies.

Notes on blogs

2009-03-17T00:15:00.002Z

As a part of my dynamic econs\bs\sociology revision, I will be reviewing a couple of blog bosts.

So, Business Ethics and CSR from tutor2u Business Studies blog..
As we all know, ethics is an important part of any business. Entrepreneurs must respect their customers, competitors, suppliers, cultures etc. They also shoul be responsible for their goods and services and make sure that they apply to all rules and do not cross any limitations (legal, ethical, cultural). CSR stands for Corporate Social Responsibility and thus is discussed with Business Ethics. Further explanation of arguments about CSR can be found here.
These things are mentioned a lot when people are talking about externalities or demerit goods or any type of discrimination in business. A good example of a discussion connected with business ethics and csr is a topic of fair trade - when people argue about whether should be suppliers from poor countries\areas be supported and paid a reasonable share of profits. No doubt that exploitation in farms and factories in Asia or Africa or even Russia DOES exist as people are not paid enough for the work they do.
At tutor2u BS blog they usually try to refer to some articles in leading UK newspapers and info sources in order to explain this topic.

2009-03-16T23:26:00.004Z

heh, I have just finished the whole AQA AS BS workbook.. took me 2 and a half hours to do it.. I should have worked more in it before -___- in that case I wouldn't have had so much to do.. uh.. whatever actually.

The Marketing chapters were the most fun, however, they took me a lot of time to complete.. and refering to case studies is not the best thing in that workbook as well.

The motivation chapters were so boring. Kinda ironic, isn't it? I was the least motivated on the motivation chapters lol.

The calculus questions for sure will be in my nightmares for the next 3-5 days.

Anyway, now I have some sociology to do in order to finish my brain completely (FATALITY!!! Academic Mortal Kombat lol)

UH

2009-03-16T20:40:00.003Z

I'm really disappointed in myself..
yeah I did pretty well in BS and econs, but they are not the best results I could have got.
Maths.. uh... Maths is Maths ><

Instead of killin myself, getting totally drunk or not giving a ****, I will studystudystudy even more than I did.
I'm starting from now on. All the revision.
I hope my friends will help me with my maths (but they should be veeery patient - today I asked James to solve an equation and he couldn't.. in the end he checked the textbook and told me that I had copied the equation WRONGLY) and I will not waste my time at all. I know that I can do much better lol..

and yeah lol I'm washing the cars..

Public announcement-2

2009-03-16T00:10:00.002Z

Mr. Chris will create a revision guide for Monday. I will follow this to the letter (unless it is impossible!). If I fail to follow it I will pay 20 pounds for charity on the first day of next term. The guide is until the end of this term.

good idea lol

2009-03-14T20:42:00.002Z

a2 econs

2009-03-10T22:41:00.003Z

Explain how deregulation has sought to produce competitive markets for local bus services in Britain and for European air transport services.

De-regulation is a government policy, a proccess of opening up markets and encouraging the entry of new suppliers in idustries where welfare and efficiency might be affected by dominant market power of some suppliers. The trasport industry is one of those to which de-regulation is widely applied.
In order to avoid a monopolistic situation in many important industries, which provide essential goods and services, the government has introduced de-regulation, which is aimed to break up existing statutory power of some monopolies and create competition through the process of market liberasation.
How de-regulation might affect competition in the markets for local bus services? Well, first of all, we should take into account the possibility of appearance of imperfectly competitive markets, where existing firms have genuine market power in setting prices for consumers. According to Adam Smith, the price in the perfect competition must be the lowest that can be taken. Assuming that the demand for bus tickets is more likely to be price elastic, as there are many other substitues, the setting of the correct price is the only way to increase profits for the companies. So, even without de-regulation process, the market situation can be stabiliased. However, the bus companies in the UK are not nationalised (eg they belong to the private sector), which means that this market is free to be entered. The only problem could be barriers to entry, if the market is dominated by 2-3 firms. The process of de-regulation should low these barrier in order to achieve perfect competition.

The European Air transport services market is highly competitive for a number of reasons. First of all, the ticket prices for air services are price inelastic because there are no close substitutes. Secondly, the European air services industry is likely to be an oligopolistic industry, where few dominant firms have the market power and try to take over the market. Because of this the prices tend to be high. De-regulation process is aimed to make entrance to the market easier for other firms, which will mean more fair competition, increase in services' quality and price stabilisation.

A Beautiful Mind

2009-03-10T21:43:00.002Z

If we all go for the blonde and block each other, not a single one of us is going to get her. So then we go for her friends, but they will all give us the cold shoulder because no on likes to be second choice. But what if none of us goes for the blonde? We won't get in each other's way and we won't insult the other girls. It's the only way to win. It's the only way we all get laid (c) John Nash, from a film "A Beautiful Mind".

John Forbes Nash, Jr. (born June 13, 1928), is an American mathematician and economist whose works in game theory, differential geometry, and partial differential equations provided insight into the forces that govern chance and events inside complex systems in daily life. His theories are still used today in market economics, computing, accounting and military theory. Serving as a Senior Research Mathematician at Princeton University during the later part of his life, he shared the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with game theorists Reinhard Selten and John Harsanyi.

In game theory, Nash equilibrium is a solution concept of a game involving two or more players, in which each player is assumed to know the equilibrium strategies of the other players, and no player has anything to gain by changing only his or her own strategy unilaterally. If each player has chosen a strategy and no player can benefit by changing his or her strategy while the other players keep theirs unchanged, then the current set of strategy choices and the corresponding payoffs constitute a Nash equilibrium.

The Nash equillibrium concept can be applied in economics.Economists have long used game theory to analyze a wide array of economic phenomena, including auctions, bargaining, duopolies, fair division, oligopolies, social network formation, and voting systems. This research usually focuses on particular sets of strategies known as equilibria in games. These "solution concepts" are usually based on what is required by norms of rationality. In non-cooperative games, the most famous of these is the Nash equilibrium. A set of strategies is a Nash equilibrium if each represents a best response to the other strategies. So, if all the players are playing the strategies in a Nash equilibrium, they have no unilateral incentive to deviate, since their strategy is the best they can do given what others are doing.

So, to keep it simple, the game theory (on which the Nash equillibrum concept is based on) is an analysis of optimal decision in competitive situations. John Nash proposed that the optimal decision would not be the best decision for one person, but a decision based on predicting decisions of others as well and taking them into account. This concept is widely used in many spheres of life, including economics and business. Many companies are planning their strategies, using the Nash equillibrium concept.

Source:
Wikipedia

The debates

2009-03-10T19:39:00.002Z

Hey guys, I swear, you were the best!
Your speaches were far more structured and much better presented, and the question response part made it clear who was the winner.
You know why they let those losers win? I mean come on! One of the even couldn't pronounce the word 'society' correct! They let them win because they just couldn't accept that some guys, who were much younger and better, win to EF Language school. I mean come on, you obviously won!
The only strong point that they had about the red nose day wasn't even their idea! A teacher from the audience suggested mentioning it!
The judges were not objective at all!

You are the winners and everybody know that. If you don't believe me - ask anybody else!

another essay

2009-03-10T01:08:00.004Z

Explain how increased use of transport leads to negative externalities and market failure.

Market failure is the situation in the market when resources are allocated inefficiently (productive and/or allocative efficiencies are not achieved). Negative externalities, negative effects on the so called 'third party', who are not involved in the process of consumption or production, are an example of market failure.

Increased use of trasport may cause a range of different negative externalities.
The first and the most obvious negative externality is pollution. Exhausted fumes from the cars pollute the air and might even destroy the ozon layer, which will affect the health of many people, who may even live miles away from the transport system. It might also affect the local eco-system and this might have an effect on the local supply of natural resources. Another type of pollution is noise pollution, which may disrupt people and low local labour productivty levels.
An overconsumption of a local infrastucture is another negative externality, because it is likely to lead to an increase in traffic jams in the area. Once again, it will affect people's productivity and, therefore, local companies' production.
All these negative externalities are likely to cause market failure because it is almost impossible to take them all into account and, therefore, include them in the market price. The equality MPC=MSC is not achieved, therefore, the market failure exists.

NOOO cries

2009-03-10T00:54:00.000Z

YouTube to block UK music videos

YouTube is blocking all premium music videos to UK users after failing to reach a new licensing agreement with the Performing Right Society (PRS).

Thousands of videos will be unavailable to YouTube users from later on Monday.

Patrick Walker, YouTube's director of video partnerships, told BBC News that the move was "regrettable".

Steve Porter, head of the PRS, said he was "outraged... shocked and disappointed" by YouTube's decision.

In a statement, Mr Porter said the move "punishes British consumers and the songwriters whose interests we protect and represent".

The PRS has asked YouTube to reconsider its decision as a "matter of urgency".

Source: BBC News

My room (M13)

2009-03-09T23:36:00.003Z

I love my room. If it was a single room, it would be the most comfortable room in the world. But, unfortunately, I have a female analog of Lex's roommate, who doesn't know the meaning of the word 'clean'. Oh well.. Ok, this is my gorgeous bed! And my favourite bed linen.. As you can see, I sleep on the upper bed which is very good - I have more space.. I do all my homework on my bed because our table is.. well, you will see. My laptop is ALWAYS on my bed, I sleep with it near me. And I also have a notice board which helps me not to forget about some hw.. Have you noticed that my wall is not naked? yeah, I decorated it myself!

Take a closer look:

Yes, it used to be a montly calendar 2009, My Chemical Romance, but I made a nice wallpaper which inspires me all the time (and helps me to realise what day it is when I wake up). Ok, now moving on.. it is my small cupboard.. I keep most of my files on the top of it so I can reach them from my bed. There are also some books on the left, under the pencil case. If you will look closer, on the left of the cupboard there is my roommates...ew.. something. I don't want to know what is it, neither do you, guys.

As I said before, the cupboard's surface is not enough for all of my books and files, so I use the surface near the window as well.. I also keep my coffee there <3

And this is our table. I strongly insisted on dividing it into to equal parts.. As you can guess, my side is the left one.. It is impossible to do any hw there cuz my roommate's stuff is everywhere..

And this is under our table. Once again, my stuff is on the left - 4 pairs of shoes (omg I need to clean the black ones)

Ok, and this is our window and stuff. Nothing interesting. Ps, the chair is mine.

The door and the sink.. omg our rubbish bin is awful lol.

Anyway, I'm moving next week to a room downstairs with my russian (clean!!!) friend. I think it will be even nicer there..

A2 econs

2009-03-09T01:48:00.002Z

Explain how the government uses cost benefit analysis to allocate resources in transport and why this method of appraisal has some limitations.

Cost benefit analysis is a technique for assessing the monetary social costs and benefits of a capital investment project over a given time period. It is used to plan many different types of government investments and analyse whether they are worth the money spent on it. CBA includes calculating tangible costs and benefits, intangible costs and benefits (in other words externalities) and also discounting - a prediction of future costs and benefits.
Allocation of resources in the most effective way is the main aim in any economic process, including investments in transport. In this context allocating resources means spending a particular amount of money on improving the infrustructure. Exspenditure is based on a detailed analysis of costs and benefits, which helps to understand on what parts of work more money should be spent, how much to spend on insurance and security and also taking into account possible future changes and external effects on the infrastructure. The analysis is started with an appraisal of the project (should the government invest in transport development) and only after that an accounting of costs and benefits is started. The government counts all the tangible costs and benefits (labour costs, building and repairing costs, profits from developed transport\infrastructure), after that it counts possible negative and positive externalities (pollution, people living near roads etc) and compares them to determine the net social rate of return (on the subject whether the project is worth investing). After that they start discounting of future costs and benefits - how it will work in the future years, will the transport need improvement or reconstruction etc.
What are the possible limitations of CBA in transport?
- it is very difficult to value some externalities. How will a new road affect the enviroment? How much this effect will cost? Analytics may only guess basing on some trends or formulae, but there is no proof that their guess will be accurate.
- when doing CBA, all costs and benefits should be included for completing an accurate analysis, but it is impossible to include all the third parties into analysis. future events are unpredictable, therefore, cannot be included into the CBA.
- for some people a particular change in the infrastructure might be a benefit while for others it's a cost. some will recieve more benefits than others. how to compensate those who gain less?
- impossible to predict all the impacts on the enviroment and humans' lifes.

A2 Business Studies essay

2009-03-09T00:23:00.002Z

With reference to organisations, markets or industries that you know, to what extent do you think that the internet is a threat rather than an opportunity for business?

We live in the age of a digital progress, which is spreading all over the world with an unbelievable speed. Every day thousands of people get access to the internet and, therefore, are able to shop online. This makes running an online business very attractive to many entrepreneurs: the internet gives them many opportnities, which are unavailable for the so called 'offline' businesses. Online businesses are easier to start up and manage, the costs are much lower (no need to pay for the rent or electricity, labour costs are also low compared to real businesses) and the internet by itself means more extended market. With a correct and successful marketing campaign, any online business can fastly develop, cover all start up costs and start to make actual profits. That's why the number of online businesses grows each day. For some businesses switching to 'online' mode may help avoiding failure. The famous example of this is the network of shops Woolworths, which became bancrupt over Christmas, but after that 'reincarnated' online. It seems that online businesses are much better than the real ones. But is this actually the truth?
Online businesses have their 'dark sides'. Shopping online means that customers have to leave their confidentional info like address, phone numbers and other contact information as well as credit card numbers and bank accounts information. Online shops are trying to protect this information, however, they do not succeed all the time. As a result, the customers may find that somebody is using their credit card or their e-mails are full of spam and viruses. If a business wants to succeed online, it has to provide a high level of security to protect their customer's information or they will lose all customers and may even be closed down. Other security problem is hackers, which may take over the website and all the stock, account and customer information, and there is nothing that an entrepreneur can do with this. Providing a high level of security costs a lot. However, hackers and virus programmes are becoming stronger and more complecated, therefore, no-one's information is safe in the internet. Other thing that may stop businesses from developing and making profits is very tough competition. No doubt that all online markets are taken over by monopolies like microsoft, amazon or e-bay, because they were started a long time ago and had a huge place to develop as they were first online. Competing with those online giants might be impossible for small unnoticable businesses. Even very interesting business find it difficult to take a small part of market share just because of consumers' lack of information. Also it is difficult to do an accurate market research, as online people tend to use fake identitites and lie about their interests.
The internet might be a threat for many ambitious businesses which aim to make profits because of tough competition, lack of security provision and information failure about an online market that they want to enter.

I suddenly realised that I have not enough knowledge of online industries and failures to write a good essay. But it's a good practise anyway.

Exam Results

2009-03-08T20:33:00.000Z

I know I will be exactly like these guys on Thursday..

Merton vs Brasenose

2009-03-08T15:59:00.001Z

A couple of days ago I did a research of three famous private schools for boys in the UK. I was comparing their fees, facilities, opportunities they offer for students and many other things.

Today I will do a research of 2 Oxford colleges, because this topic is very important for me as I want to apply to the university of Oxford. I hope this research will help me to do the final choice of the right college. So, I will be looking at 2 most attractive to me colleges: Merton and Brasenose.

Merton College

Brasenose College:

1) History
Merton: Merton College, the first fully self-governing College in the University, was founded in 1264 by Walter de Merton, sometime Chancellor of England and later Bishop of Rochester. Mob Quadrangle, the oldest quadrangle in the University, was built in three phases: the Treasury c.1288-91, the north and east ranges and the Sacristy c.1304-11, and the Library on the south and west sides 1373-8.

Brasenose: The transformation of Brasenose Hall into Brasenose College was so smooth that it is difficult to give an exact date to the change. A quarry in Headington was leased to provide stone for the new buildings on 19 June 1509 and this is the year which Brasenose keeps as its foundation. <...> The founders of Brasenose College were Sir Richard Sutton, a lawyer, and William Smyth, Bishop of Lincoln.

2) Facilities
Merton:
- two libaries (for the use of College members only—including the oldest continuously functioning library for university academics and students in the world!)
- free internet access + computer room with free printing and cheap photocopying
- Dining Hall with high-quality, low-cost food for students
- The Junior Common Room, where students can relax, watch movies, and play pool
- The College Bar, with a nice range of affordable beverages and regular quiz nights
- A TV Room with video and DVD equipment
- Access to a Games Room, complete with a free pool table, table football, darts and games machines
- The Fellows Garden, an idyllic place to read, work or relax
- Merton College Sports Ground, including sports pitches, pavilion, grass and hard tennis courts, squash courts and weight-training facilities
- Merton College Boathouse on the River Isis (Thames)
- Real Tennis Court in Merton Street which can be used by the college Real Tennis Club
- 4 pianos and 2 chapel organs available for students for practice
- Chapel services
- Welfare Officers from the student body as well the Chaplain, Welfare Dean and University support services
- College Nurse
- Venues which can be booked without charge by students for club or society events and performances or recitals

Brasenose:
- The Brasenose sports ground is near the river, about ten minutes walk from the College. There are rugby, hockey and football pitches, netball and squash courts and in the summer, there is a beautiful cricket pitch and both grass and hard tennis courts. The clubhouse has a small bar for drinks and snacks, which can be put on a tab and settled at the start of the next term.
- The flourishing College Music Society arranges concerts both by students and visiting professionals. Students can practise in the music room and the Chapel. The College has an orchestra, choir, jazz band, rock band, a number of chamber groups and many fine musicians.
- A College drama club puts on plays in the College and the City.
- A College bar
- Open to members of all denominations, the Chapel is an important part of Brasenose College's community facilities
- Brasenose has three excellent libraries which members can access 24 hours a day. There are collections in all subject areas covered by the College. The Library holds approximately 50,000 titles and subscribes to around 75 periodicals. It is also just a short distance from the University's Bodleian Library and many of the faculty and departmental libraries.

3) Fees:
Uni of Oxford main fee (for overseas, social sciences and humanities): £11,205
+

Merton:
College fee (only for overseas students): £5,212
Accomodation: £2,361 for a bed sitting room
Food: £7.21 (breakfast+lunch+dinner) a day

Brasenose:
College fee: £5,212
Accomodation: not stated
Food: not stated

4) Extra. Pros and cons
Merton:
The Good Bits
- Merton was founded in 1264, so we can boast about being 'arguably the oldest Oxford college'.
- Beautiful architecture and gardens (bonus: wireless internet is available in the Fellows' Garden).
- As one of the smaller colleges with around 90 undergraduates a year and 300 graduate students altogether, Merton has a very friendly atmosphere.
- Our JCR receives a lot of money from the college to pay for welfare, entertainment and whatever else we decide we want.
- A Nintendo Wii in the JCR.
- The food is amongst the best in the university, and very good value at £1.40 for breakfast, £2.55 for lunch and £3.20 for an evening meal (including formal hall). You only pay for the meals you go to, rather than a termly rate.
- Wonderful brunch on a Sunday.
- Merton can provide accommodation for every year of your degree, with very nice rooms and one of the lowest rents in the university.
- Excellent academic reputation. We receive very good teaching and have repeatedly come top of the Norrington table (which ranks Oxford colleges on their degree results) in the last few years.
- Located close to the centre of town but set back from the High Street, backing on to Christ Church Meadows. The location is both peaceful and convenient.
- Our fortnightly Bops (big fancy-dress parties) are held in the sports pavilion on Manor Road (near St. Catz), so they are bigger and go on much later than most colleges'.
- Our games room has free pool and free table football. Our bar is really cheap and Dave the barman is brilliant (and he provides excellent toasties).
From January 2009, the college will have a fully-equipped fitness room on the main college site.
- Crazy traditions like the Time Ceremony.
- It's one of the richer colleges, which means cheap rents that are the same for all rooms, book tokens and other achievement prizes are abundant, and you know you can fall back on them financially if something goes badly wrong with your life.
- The academic support is excellent if you are having difficulties with your work.

The Bad Bits
- The provision of kitchens isn't that good compared with other colleges. Most second year accommodation has kitchens, but most 1st year and 3rd year accommodation doesn't. There is a JCR kitchen in college, and you can usually get a kitchen in 2nd and 3rd year if you are willing to sacrifice other factors like location or room size.
- We are stereotyped as workaholics who never leave the library. Like most stereotypes, this is rubbish. We go out, party and get involved in societies as much as any other college. Our tutors do have high expectations though, and we get good results.
- We have some silly rules (mostly ignored but sometimes people are fined for them) about where you can walk on the grass, and not being allowed to gather in groups of more than ten people at a time.
- Being opposite exam schools. This is actually a pro if you are an arts student because your lectures are right next door, but in the summer term the after-exam celebrations are really noisy and messy, which is annoying if you still need to revise. (Mainly applies to first year scientists)
- The Warden - she's not that bad though!
- Pressure: some subjects are very pressured and this has a number of negative effects on students. Certain subjects are very trigger-happy when it comes to rustication on academic grounds.

Brasenose:
The Good Bits
- Excellent location, possibly the best in Oxford being the only undergraduate college on Radcliffe Square (considered by many the world's prettiest square) as well as being on the High Street. Nothing in Oxford is more than about a 15 minute walk away. Frewin is situated next to Oxford Union just off Cornmarket street.
- Pretty, old "Castle-style" buildings (and no 'rubbish quad' like some colleges)
One of the richer colleges, so food is reasonably cheap and accommodation is quite nice.
- Cheap formal (£3.60 for a 3 course meal) and not overdone, only 3 times a week
- Small, cosy atmosphere, all freshers live very close to each other
- Accomodation 1st, 3rds and 4th years is guaranteed, and in past few years usually provided for all second years (a few people opt to live out each year) with 2nd/some 3rd years living in frewin annex which is nearby and even more central (next to the Union)
- Big JCR, with pool, arcade machines, vending machinge and Sky TV (including skysports)
- Not excessively academic, can be a bit more relaxed and enjoyable compared to some (not as many essays to do per week as some colleges e.g. merton)
- Very Cosy feel to it - Since everyone lives so close there is very much a community feel and everyone knows everyone in college
- No great sense of hierarchy and formality like in other colleges. You can wear pretty much anything under a gown in formal and even the Principal (former head of research at CERN) will try to get to know students (you can frequently spot him in the boathouse during races and down the bar)
- Good at sports, and has a long sporting tradition
- World's oldest boatclub (just so you can say you were a member of it) Also rapidly growing. This year there will be 4 novice crews at Ch Ch Regatta, last year it was just 2.
- 24/7 Library
-Big and cheap Bar (1.40 a pint)

The Bad Bits
- No kitchens in college so no ovens, only microwaves and fridges in 1st year
- The college does not provide "internal phones" as some colleges do - but if you have a mobile/skype then this is rarely an issue
- Not overly academic (but that means less pressure and its not rubbish, just average)
- Food is sometimes average (but mostly really good, never poor)
- High street rooms can be noisy.
- No toasters in your room (though scouts can be pretty lenient about this but it's easiest just to hide it).
- Not very active JCR, and people seem reasonably apathetic towards college politics
- Considering wealth of college accommodation could be cheaper
- No gym, though they provide membership to iffley road gym, (which is far better equipped than college gyms) and are in the process of refurbishing the current gym.
- Not much in terms of big gardens and lawns
- Small grounds compared to some colleges

Conclusions: I think all the information I need is in this post. As for me academic achivements are far more important than Sky TV in the common room, I think Merton would be much nicer for me. I also looked at online tour of Merton and I shall say that it's a very nice place to live and study in. Furthermore, JRR Tolkien was Mertonian and even worked there as the Professor of English in 1945.
Brasenose is still a good option, though.

Sources:
Merton College
Brasenose College
Wikipedia
TSR

sociology

2009-03-08T13:27:00.003Z

this music video is very good for analysis of family relationships and their impact on the society and development.
as we can see, it all happens in a low-income single-parent family. the father left when Marshall was a couple of months old, and his mother obviously didn't have any job. domestic violence happened in this family a lot, which explains why Marshall hates his mother so much. possible reasons for this domestic violence:
- the child was unwanted
- no money for bringing him up
- the mother was taking drugs (we can see the scene where she takes some pills)
etc.
as a result of all this, the boy had to steal money (possibly to eat something normal or just because his mother's behaviour had had a negative effect on him) and was likely to perform badly at school. as we can see, he has no educational toys or books and no motivation. he was scared of his mother, however, he couldn't do anything with it.

2009-03-08T04:15:00.000Z

I wonder where is my roommate at the moment.

Watch the video!

2009-03-08T02:43:00.001Z

hey, I'm thinking of making similar video just for fun.
Exam results are out in 4 days. ******* nervious.

And my feelings about exams are exactly like his.

Should the UK join the Euro?

2009-03-05T20:38:00.004Z

Tomorrow on our 3rd economics lesson me and Dima will be giving a talk on this topic. He will present the reasons for joining, I will be for saving the GBP currency.
So, in order to help myself with the preparations, I'm writing this post.

So, what is euro?
Euro is the currency used in 16 countries from the European Union. On 1st January 2002 is replaced such currencies such as franc (in France) and lira (in Italy). Euro was created to achive economic efficiency, to remove the exchange rate problem which would enable consumption of previously unprofitable because of the tariffs goods and to reduce the difference of prices for the same goods and services in different countries. Not any country, even being a member of EU, can adopt the euro. A country must prove that it is economically strong country, with a stable inflation rate, have suffisient flexiility to deal with problems, the rate of investment must be high and also a country must consuder the effects on trade competitiveness that the change may cause. No doubt that for many countries the adoption of the euro will be a new level of economy and have more advantages than disadvantages.

But is the UK one of those countries? GBP is a very strong currency, it is the fourth-most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the US dollar, the euro, and the Japanese yen. <...> Sterling is used as a reserve currency around the world and is presently ranked third in amount held as reserves.
The government of former Prime Minister Tony Blair had pledged to hold a public referendum for deciding membership should "five economic tests" be met to ensure that adoption of the euro would be in the national interest. In addition to this own internal (national) criteria, the UK has to meet the EU's economic convergence criteria (Maastricht criteria), before being allowed to adopt the euro. Currently, the UK's annual government deficit to the GDP is above the defined threshold. In February 2005, 55% of British citizens were against adopting the currency, with 30% in favour. The idea of replacing the pound with the euro has been controversial with the British public because of its identity as a symbol of British sovereignty and because it would, according to critics, lead to suboptimal interest rates, harming the British economy. In December 2008 the results of a BBC poll of 1000 people suggested that 71% would vote "no", 23% would vote "yes" to joining the European single currency, while 6% said they were unsure.

So, despite the euro was created to help and stabiliase, many british are agains adapting this currency.

Will the change to the euro bring more harm than good to the UK? Well, this is a quite difficult question.

Ok, now, why shouldn't the UK join the euro?
Well, there are many reasons:
- the UK government and the Bank of England will partly lose their control over the country's economic situation: the will not be able to set their own interst rates and be dependent on ECB (Eropean Central Bank) decisions on the general price lebel positions. maybe some decisions would be good for the Eurozone but at the same time they might have a negative effect on the UK's economy
- in the Eurozone there is geographical immobilty of labour and also there is insuffisient wage flexibility inside European labour markets. Therefore, the Eurozone doesn't meet the conditions required for an optimal currency area.
- current economic situation is not the best time to adopt the euro. that's obvious: extra costs and possible negative things like price instability, interest rate changes inefficiency and possible collapses of businesses. with current mortgage problems the change to the euro might make the situation even worse.
- fiscal transfers are required to reduce structural economic inequalities. Britian can't afford this at the moment.
- Britian will not be able to attract capital investment inflows from other countries if it doesn't join the euro
- as it was mentioned in the quote above, many british are agains joining the Eurozone, so this might cause the lack of confidence in the UK government among the citizens.

However, there are many positive sides in joining the Eurozone, but, to my opinion, they are not comparable to disadvantages of this truly unpopular decision.

Source:
Wikipedia

To read:
why the UK doesn't join the euro (2003)

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

2009-03-04T21:44:00.002Z

I promised Mr. Chris that...

IF I don't get my grade A for January exam in BS, I will give 20 pounds on charity AND wash all the A-level teachers' cars!

so now you guys know..)))

but it won't happen anyway)))

Sociological research on schools and colleges

2009-03-03T22:34:00.007Z

I have visited the websites of three british colleges in order to compare them. These colleges are Eton (not Ethan!) College, Harrow School and Westmisnster School. First of all, some photos:
Eton College:

Harrow school:

Westminster school:

a. fees

Eton: really high fees - £9,360 per term (3 terms a year) for an oppidan (oppidan is an Eton College student living in a flat)

Harrow School: £9,335 per term + other fees

Westminster School: £ 9,172 per term

b. how to gain admission (I was researching Six Form Entries (for A-level programme))

Eton: most of the boys enter Eton at the age 13, however, it is possible to enter at 16 for some students. For a schoolarship you should submit an entrance before the second week of December, then Eton will frequently ask for a student's current perfomance on GSCE. On the basis of these reports, short-listed candidates will be asked to come to Eton in February (bringing examples of recent work with them) for interviews in their likely AS-level subjects, an aptitude test, and a general paper. A confidential medical report will also be required before a candidate can be accepted, which may on occasion include specified medical tests. For just an entry there is no admission form, but a student must show high achievements in his studies and convince the college that he will take an active part of the college life. He migh also be interviewed and tested and he must check at Eton's doctor office. A parent or a guardian of a student is asked to sign a document, confirming that all fees and charges will be payed.

Harrow: complete a registration form or a schoolarship form, then present a reference from a student's current school and then, if an application is strong enough, sit a test and complete a couple of interviews with the teachers of the subjects a student intends to study.
Westminster: for getting entry information the school suggest to contact their office.

c. school facilities
Eton:

- a boy lives within the college, he is sorted to one of the houses (50 boys in each approx) or in the College (70 boys) and is supervised by a housemaster and his assistents.
- school libary, departamental libaries and a college libary, all have all needed equipment and materials
- 24 science laboratories, 3 language laboratories
- audio-visual resource centre (serves the audio-visual needs of the school), computer-based resource centre (exists to help masters incorporate computers into their teaching, and in particular to make the best use of the school network)
- a big list of societies that students can join

Harrow:

- music school
- one of the best school theatres in the UK
- the latest IT infrastructure
- the best school golf courses
- top-quality all-weather pitches
- a farm (dunno why they need this)

Westminster:

- a libary
- a science centre (laboratories on eight floors, together with offices, and project and research rooms. all these laboratories are undergoing refurbishment as part of the Science Centre’s programme of development)
- an IT department (also offers a range of optional advanced computing courses)

d. sports, arts and expeditions available
Eton:

- different expeditions during the terms and the holidays
- There is a vast range of sports available, from the familiar, like soccer, rugby, hockey, cricket, rowing, athletics, squash, to the less familiar like rackets and fives. There are some games which can only be played at Eton, namely the Wall and Field Games. In all there are nearly 30 different games on offer, all coached by Eton masters and professional coaches.
- The Drawing Schools have facilities for painting, drawing, printmaking, computer graphics and digital photography.
- Students can take part in any play production process they want to. Drama can be also a part of the curriculum
- The new building consists of a purpose-built orchestral rehearsal room, recording studio, computer room with twelve PC workstations, a pre/post-production suite, rock band studio, electric guitar teaching room, and twelve other teaching and practice rooms. <...> Over 1,000 music lessons are taught each week by a music staff of seven full-time masters and over fifty visiting teachers; instruments range from sitar and tabla to the full range of orchestral and solo instruments.
Harrow:

- Harrow aims to provide a very high standard of coaching and competition for the best sportsmen while enabling the less gifted to find something they can enjoy. Pupils can play sport every day if they wish, and for the enthusiast there are outstanding opportunities to play and excel.
- Over half our pupils learn an instrument and most of these boys are involved in ensemble work through participation in choirs, bands, orchestras and drama productions.
- In most academic years there are about eleven plays, in addition to the Shell drama festival and the AS and A-level productions.
Westminster:

For sixth-form pupils, the Options programme encompasses a diverse number of activities including a Film Society, Debating and Model United Nations (MUN), and a Community Service option that arranges visits to Primary Schools and Drop in Centres.

e. range of subjects
Eton: The subjects on offer vary in small measure from year to year, but the following are those currently on offer: English Literature; English with theatre studies; mathematics; mathematics with further mathematics; biology; chemistry; physics; French, German; Italian; Japanese; Spanish; Russian; Portuguese; Chinese (Mandarin); history (one chosen from modern or early modern or mediaeval); history of art; geography; divinity; economics; government and politics; art; design
Harrow: In the Sixth Forms all pupils are expected to take AS-level in four main subjects, going on to A-level in at least three. There are many to choose from including English Literature, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Greek, History, Geography, Economics, Business Studies, Ancient History, Classical Civilisation, Political Studies, Religious Studies, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Design Technology, Physical Education, Music, Music Technology, Art, History of Art, Theatre Studies, Statistics and Photography.
Westminster: no particular list of subjects is posted.

f. examination results
Eton: GCE A-LEVEL STATISTICS — SUMMER 2008: 100% grades A in A-levels in languages (Russian, Japanese, German), 90%> grades A in English Literature, Greek, History of Art, Italian, Latin and Religious Studies, 80%> grades A in Art, French, Government and Politics, Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Spanish. 72% got a grade A in Economics, Sociology and BS are not presented.
Harrow: results are not presented at the website
Westminster: since 1995 % of pass is 100, with more than 80% getting grades A and B and more than 70% getting a grade A. For exact data look here.

Conclusions: all three research objects are approximately the same price, Eton and Harrow are boys schools complteley and Westminster offers places for girls only for Six Form Education. All three provide accomodation and a wide range of subjects, emphasising on extra curriculum and discipline. All three have a high rate of achievements and provid high-quality education.

a research question

2009-03-03T19:45:00.005Z

I asked three different economics help sites whether the phillips curve was still valid.
I asked it at tutor2u, About: Economics and economicshelp.org

Only one site has responded yet, however, other two might answer it later, so maybe I will post the answers on my blog.

So, the answer from economicshelp.org:
The Phillips curve originated out of analysis comparing money wage growth with unemployment. The findings of A.W. Phillips in The Relationship between Unemployment and the Rate of Change of Money Wages in the United Kingdom 1861–1957 suggested there was an inverse correlation between the rate of change in money wages and unemployment. For example a rise in unemployment was associated with declining wage growth and vice versa

Original Phillips Curve
This analysis was later extended to look at relationship between inflation and unemployment. Again the 1950s and 1960s showed there was evidence of this inverse trade off between unemployment and inflation.

Phillips Curve Diagram

However, Monetarists have always been critical of this Phillips curve trade off. They argue that in the long run there is no trade off as LRAS is inelastic.

Is there still a Phillips Curve Trade Off?

Evidence from the 1970s suggested the trade off had broken down. The 1970s witnessed a rise in stagflation - rising unemployment and inflation.

However, others argued there was still a trade off - the phillips curve had just shifted to the right giving a worse trade off.

In the early 2000s, the trade off seemed to improve. Helped with low global inflation. Unemployment in UK fell without any rise in inflation. Some argued this period of stability had ended boom and bust cycles with the classic trade off between inflation and unemployment.

Since the mid 2008s we have seen a rise in the unemployment rate and a fall in inflation. Part of this fall in inflation is the drop in oil prices. But, it also reflects the fact as the economy enters into recession we get a rise in unemployment and inflationary pressures fall away.

There are many factors affecting inflation and unemployment. At the very least the Phillips curve is not stable. The trade offs between inflation and unemployment are often changing due to supply side factors.

I think most economists would agree there is a trade off, at least in the short term. If you boost aggregate demand then unemployment will fall, but at the cost of higher inflation.

Arc Elasticity

2009-03-03T00:40:00.004Z

Let us calculate an easy PED:

Price(OLD)=10
Price(NEW)=9
QDemand(OLD)=110
QDemand(NEW)=150

PED formula: (%change in quantity demanded)\(%change in price)

the change in quantity demanded is 0.3636 (trust me, I use calculator) and the change in price is -0.1

PED = (0.3636)/(-0.1) = -3.636

ok, now lets do it opposite way:
Price(NEW)=10
Price(OLD)=9
QDemand(NEW)=110
QDemand(OLD)=150

the change in quantity demanded is -0.2667 (calculator is love) and the change in price is 0.1111

PED = (-0.2667)/(0.1111) = -2.4005

Wait a second, elasticities differ, but the data is the same!
When calculating a price elasticity, we drop the negative sign, so our final value is 3.636. Obviously 3.6 is a lot different from 2.4, so we see that this way of measuring price elasticity is quite sensitive to which of your two points you choose as your new point, and which you choose as your old point. Arc elasticities are a way of removing this problem.

Ok, using arc elasticity formula, we would calculate the percentage change in Quantity Demand the following way:

[[QDemand(NEW) - QDemand(OLD)] / [QDemand(OLD) + QDemand(NEW)]]*2

This formula takes an average of the old quantity demanded and the new quantity demanded on the denominator. By doing so, we will get the same answer (in absolute terms) by choosing $9 as old and $10 as new, as we would choosing $10 as old and $9 as new.

The same transformations are happening with the price changes calculations when using arc elsticity:
[[Price(NEW) - Price(OLD)] / [Price(OLD) + Price(NEW)]] *2]

Therefore the formula of Arc Price Elasticity of Demand is:
[[Price(NEW) - Price(OLD)] / [Price(OLD) + Price(NEW)]] *2] over [[Price(NEW) - Price(OLD)] / [Price(OLD) + Price(NEW)]] *2]

or, to make you imagine that, I found a fraction pic:

You can also count Arc Price Elasticity of Supply, Arc Income Elasticity of Demand, Arc Cross Elasticity of Demand of good X.

APES = [[QSupply(NEW) - QSupply(OLD)] / [QSupply(OLD) + QSupply(NEW)]] *2] over [[Price(NEW) - Price(OLD)] / [Price(OLD) + Price(NEW)]] *2]

or

_________

AIED = [[QDemand(NEW) - QDemand(OLD)] / [QDemand(OLD) + QDemand(NEW)]] *2] over [[Income(NEW) - Income(OLD)] / [Income(OLD) + Income(NEW)]] *2]

AXED = [[QDemand(NEW) - QDemand(OLD)] / [QDemand(OLD) + QDemand(NEW)]] *2] over [[Price(NEW) - Price(OLD)] / [Price(OLD) + Price(NEW)]] *2]

Don't worry, it all looks scary and enormous just because I'm typing on my laptop and obviously I cannot use fractions - it would look much clearer and very nice!
If you want, I can explain it to you at school at any time, just ask (:

Source:
About: Economics

Further reading:
Wikipedia

Secondary socialisation in education

2009-03-02T20:29:00.004Z

Explain how education is an agent of secondary socialisation

First of all, what is a socialisation process? The term socialization is used by sociologists, social psychologists and educationalists to refer to the process of learning one’s culture and how to live within it. For the individual it provides the skills and habits necessary for acting and participating within their society. For the society, inducting all individual members into its moral norms, attitudes, values, motives, social roles, language and symbols is the ‘means by which social and cultural continuity are attained’
There are two types of socialisation: primary and secondary. Primary education is usually a process conducted by parents of a child in order to show what values and actions are appropriate for individuals.
Secondary specialisation is the process of teaching a child norms, values, social accepted behaviour and social limitations and barriers. Children learn all these from their friends, mass media, teachers at school and many other sources outside a family.
But wait, at schools children are taught to use basic skills and to apply knowledge in a range of different subjects, officially it is not such a big part of secondary socialisation. However, sociologists see two types of curriculum at schools and colleges: formal and hidden. The formal curriculum is an amount of knowldge a student should learn about the subjects he or she is studying, while the hidden curriculum is the messages schools transmit to pupils without directly teaching them or spelling them out. It consists of ideas, beliefs, norms and values which are often taken for granted and transmitted as part of the normal routines and procedures of school life. It includes the unwritten and often unstated rules and regulations which guide and direct everyday school behaviour.
So, as it can be seen from the given definition, the hidden curriculum completely accomplishes the task of the secondary socialisation. However, some may argue that some schools (state schools in low-income regions, for example), fail to provide this to their students.

Sources:
Wikipedia
Sociology in focus textbook.

Further reading:
Differences between norms and values
Hidden Curriculum

Sociology hw

2009-03-02T18:27:00.004Z

Assess the benefits and limitations of the 'new vocationalism'

New vocalionalism, also known as vocational education/training, is an educational process relevant to a particular job or career, usually non-academical and and based on practical activities. This kind of education is also called technical. Up until the end of the twentieth century, vocational education focused on specific trades such as for example, an automobile mechanic or welder, and was therefore associated with the activities of lower social classes. (source)
Many people argue whether new vocationalism is a legitimate response to the needs of a modern economy or it is an attempt to recreate a compliant working class.
Theorists in vocational training have emphasized that its aim is to improve the worker's general culture as well as to further his or her technical training. That policy is evident in the academic requirements of public vocational schools and in the work of public continuation and evening schools. Various academic courses are provided so that workers who have not completed the public school requirements may do so while engaged in regular jobs. In some localities attendance at continuation schools is compulsory for those who are of school age. While continuation and evening schools are often primarily vocational, they frequently include general courses that attract older workers. (source)
Despite all this, it may mean that people, who are involved in new vocationalism education, may become docile and accept low wages, bad working conditions and, in fact, being exploited. That's why the majority prefers usual education and a degree achievemnt, as they think that vocational education is for those, who are not bright enough to use their brains and are able only for hard production work.
Children from working class families or low-income families are more likely to have such an education simply because their parents have it. They see it as an obvious solution, as these colleges are not as expensive as universities and give them opportunity to start working earlier and have experience.
New vocationalism was extremely popular at the times of the industrialised society, however, changes have come. Nowadays more people doubt about the importance of new vocationalism: with technologies being developed really fast, such profeccionals are demanded less and, therefore, are paid less. However, it's too early to discuss the possibility of the disappearence of new vocationalism and for many people this type of education is the only way to avoid poverty.

Further reading: How Global Market Forces Drive the New Vocationalism

Is the IB Diploma Programme a realistic alternative to A levels?

2009-03-02T01:06:00.002Z

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is an educational programme for students 15-17 years old, which now is competing with Advanced levels (or A-levels for short) for the popularity. As well as an A-level course, the IB Programme is a two-year course and its results are also accepted by universities as ‘an entrance ticket’, as the IB is a recognised pre-university programme. Nowadays the Programme is becoming more and more popular all over the world, and, for example, in 2007 the number of schools in the UK, which offer the IB programme, had doubled since 2004. Some people see it as much more challenging programme for gifted and bright students as opposed to A-levels, which become easier and easier each year. There are many differences between A-levels and IB programme and, in order to answer the question, first of all we should compare those courses.
The IB Programme is a two-year international programme, which is taught in more than 125 countries in three available languages: English, French and Spanish. The structure of the course completely differs from A-level’s one and it is more expanded and, I would say, it is a multi-area course whether a student wants it or not. A student is supposed to pick a subject from each of six areas of the educational programme such as two languages, social studies sphere, experimental studies, mathematics and arts. Each area gives a student an opportunity to pick a subject, however, no subject area can be ignored or replaced by a subject from another group (the only exception is the arts area, which can be replaced by another language or a science or a social study). Three of the picked subjects are studied at a high level (210 teaching hours), the other three are studied at a standard level (150 teaching hours). In addition to six subjects, an IB student is required to complete a four-thousand-word extended essay, take the Theory of Knowledge course and complete one hundred fifty hours of work in CAS (Creativity Action Service). If a student ignores one of those, he will not get the IB diploma. CAS is one of the most interesting features of the IB programme – it is an extracurricular aspect, which requires a student to participate in sports, show his or her creativity and do some community work. Theory of Knowledge course can be described as a critical thinking course for IB students and it takes 100 teaching hours. Extended essay can be written in any subject that a student studies and any topic can be picked if it is approved by a student’s essay supervisor. The IB programme is a successful programme, maybe it is the main reason why its analogies like the European Baccalaureate, the French Baccalaureate and the Welsh Baccalaureate have already appeared. The UK government is now thinking of introducing the British Baccalaureate based on the IB programme.
A-level programme is also a pre-university programme, however, it is taught mainly in the UK and Commonwealth countries and British Overseas Territories and some international schools all over the world, which makes it as widespread as International Baccalaureate. As we all know, A-level is also a two-year educational programme and has its pros and cons as well as an IB programme. The first year of A-level programme is called Lower Six (AS level) and the second year is Upper Six (A2 level). A-levels are usually taught in the so called Six Form Colleges and International Schools and Academies. At A-level (which is Years 12 and 13 at school) a student is able to choose any subjects he wants to study (however, he should take in account whether his or her school offer it) and study them for two years on advanced level. A student is able to drop one or two of his subjects on the second year. Usually students take 4-5 subjects at AS level and keep 3-4 subjects at A2 level. The results of A-levels are recognised by the all universities in the UK and other countries. The analogy of A-level is the American Advanced Placements.
It is obvious that each programme has its strong and weak points. The IB offers a bigger range of subjects and a student will probably have knowledge in all the areas of his study, which will help him with his future studies and life, however, it is difficult to concentrate on one or two subjects that you are really interested in. Also, on the IB programme some people will have to deal with subjects they cannot understand (for example, a student is really bad at sciences but has to pick biology or chemistry), it will distract from other studies and take extra time to understand. In this case, A-levels leave all the decisions up to a student, which means that he or she can either fully concentrate on a particular area of studies or pick some other subjects to develop knowledge in different areas. On the other hand, A-level finishes only with 3-4 subjects that student knows and no extra skills, while studying the IB programme means developing a set of skills and participating in activities, which is a helpful experience for any person’s life and study.
In terms of the University and College Admission System (UCAS), studying the IB is more effective than studying A-levels. For example, gaining three grades A on A-level subjects gives 360 UCAS points, while score 30 out of 45 on the IB is 419 UCAS points. Many IB students are predicted to obtain 40-45 points, which is 650-770 UCAS points (5-6 grades A on A-levels), which makes them more competitive when it comes to university applications. Pretty unfair, isn’t it? Many people argue that A-level knowledge is much deeper than the IB High level knowledge, while others are talking about grade inflation, too low passing rates for A-levels and that the A-level curriculum is becoming easier each year.
So, is the IB a realistic alternative to A-levels? It definitely is. It has many advantages and encourages personal knowledge development in all spheres as well as social and sport activities, from all of which a student only benefits. A-levels have strong points as well, but no doubt that soon the IB will be even more popular around the world as it opens the doors to the best universities.