Ron B

Peace Keeping for sure, to stamp our any armed conflicts that might crop up.

Member states would keep many of their own laws, etc., like the individual states in USA.

WHAT OTHER FUNCTIONS WOULD YOU EXPECT?

What is the chance of the United Nations eventually performing this function?

Peace Keeping for sure, to stamp our any armed conflicts that might crop up.

Member states would keep many of their own laws, etc., like the individual states in USA.

WHAT OTHER FUNTIONS WOULD YOU EXPECT?

Confucious for Childten.

His sayings about gentlemanly and ethical behavior have been written down by several of his followers and translated from old Chinese to modern Chinese and now into English versions. Some of these are too compicated for many young people to understand, so we are planning a book specially for younger people. Many of his sayings, or analects, as they are usually called, will certainly help to guide young people on how to act in certain situations.

Confucious' analects come in twenty sections, called "books", and each book consists of about 20 sayings; that's apploximatly 400 in all. Don't worry, our book will not include all 400, probably less than a 100. Just the ones that we think young people would find interesting. It would be nice for you to learn the Chinese characters for numbers, from one to twenty. (They are quite easy.)

Anyone with an interest in Confucious is invited to comment on this project, and possibly make suggestions on the meanings of some of the analects, and how they might be expressed in very simple English. (Any of these taken up will be acknowledged in the book when it is printed.) We'd love to hear from teachers to see if some exposure to Confucious and some basic Chinese characters might fit in with their corriculum.

31 August 2008

In most African countries more than 30% never enroll in primary school, and are deprived of a proper education.

How can a poor country with under 70% of the population going to school ever become reasonably prosperous?

UN members have come up with 8 Millennium Development Goals that should be achieved by 2015, such as eliminating extreme poverty, preventing serious diseases, and equality for women, etc. Of course, these goals will be met on time, but .....

MDG goal No 2, universal primary school for all, is the one we must tackle most forcefully. Get 'em educated, and everything else will follow.

I would like to hear your opinions on:

1. Why is education so neglected in Africa?

2. How would you suggest that education could be improved. I would like to see ideas of actual projects, and not just saying the government should do it, or outside money should be given.

I am part of a group devoted to the Millennium Development Gaols, and we have an Education Team. Please check it out by clicking on:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OXFORDWORL...

Do you agree that the world will never be safe until the gap between the rich and poor is reduced.

Ron

29 August 2008

In most African countries more than 30% never enroll in primary school, and are deprived of a proper education.

How can a poor country with under 70% of the population going to school ever become reasonably prosperous?

UN members have come up with 8 Millennium Development Goals that should be achieved by 2015, such as eliminating extreme poverty, preventing serious diseases, and equality for women, etc. Of course, these goals will be met on time, but .....

MDG goal No 2, universal primary school for all is the one we must tackle most forcefully. Get 'em educated, and everything else will follow.

I would like to hear your opinions on:

1. Why is education so neglected in Africa?

2. How would you suggest that education could be improved. I would like to see ideas of actual projects, and not just saying the government should do it, or outside money should be given.

I am part of a group devoted to the Millennium Development Gaols, and we have an Education Team. Please check it out by clicking on:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OXFORDWORLDLINK.

The world will never be safe until the gap between the rich and poor is lessened.

Ron

I recently asked the question, "Do you care about poverty in the world, especially Africa", and almost all the answers were negative.

I thought I'd ask my question in the Psychology section to see of anyone could throw some light on what makes some people concerned about the unfortunates in the world?

I'm not too concerned about religious answers, but of course that occurs, and it's good that it does.

Did you know that the Sub-Sahara has by far the highest number of people living on less that 50 pence a day, compared with any other region?

Would you be willing to forgo an increase in your income for a couple of years to help aleviate this poverty?

I'm not talking about reducing your standard of living, but just to keep it static for a while.

Please, I'm presuming any increase in aid will be well-spent, and will get to the people who need it.

"God gave all men all earth to love,

But since our hearts are so small,

Ordained for each one spot should prove

Beloved over all; ......."

(The opening lines of R. Kipling's Sussex by the sea.)

What do you think this means?

Should we all be concened about about all peoples in the world, and its resourses?

And is it OK for us to love one spot above all? (Our own country, our own culture?)

I would say, both, wouldn't you?

It's not much good saying we love all people, if we do nothing about trying to improve the lot of the most deprived and suffering people on earth. Is it?

Do you think that a reformed United Nations might help with this? If so, do you think you should get yourself informed about all aspects of the UN?

In the short run, do you think that achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals would go some way to help?

Are you prepared to study these Goals inside out and see if there is some small way where you could personally help?

Here's the link for the Millennium Goals:

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Here's the link for the 2007/2008 UN Human Development Report which gives more details for each Goal:

http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/hdr_20072008_en_compl...

Please give your second and third choise also if you like.

We're talking about povery, undernourishment, lack of education, health problems, child mortailty, gender inequality and many more issues. Some countries have certain problems, and others have diffent ones.

Please tell us what aspects bother you the most!

You can guess, or you can look up detailed statistics on the 2007/8 UN Human Development Report, (Tables 15, 28 to 33):

hptt://undp.org.

Please click on this link to see the list of the Millennium goals:

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

You can get even more details on their progress (or lack of) by going to the UN Annual Human Development Report for 2007/2008.

http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/hdr_20072008_en_compl...

See the Tables starting on Page 229. What countries are getting worse?