issue11 [0610G-我们的九月] 第十二次作业

juzijuntuanUID: 2231815

TOPIC: ISSUE11 - "All nations should help support the development of a global university designed to engage students in the process of solving the world's most persistent social problems."
WORDS: 716 (太强了 要是按时完成了就太bt了)      TIME:超慢啊         DATE: 2006-8-5

不知道social problem的定义是什么啊~
In the course of human events, every country in the world is confronted with and even haunted by a diverse array of persistent social problems, such as hungry, poverty, environmental pollution算social problem么？不清楚, economic crisis, political conflicts and even wars. However, what is the optimum approach to tackle with and solve these serious and intractable problems? Someone claims that a global university aimed at solving these problems should be established upon the support from all nations. As far as I am concerned, the suggestion is dubious and might be impracticable and infeasible though such problems require international cooperation.

Admittedly, most unmanageable social problems call for an international perspective and endeavors from all nations. It is undeniable that hardly can a country avoid suffering from environmental pollution nowadays. As the atmosphere and water are always in circulation, any job down by a single country or region is easily offset by others' irresponsible pollution. As to the realm of world economy, the globalization makes the world economy as a whole and economies of different countries are mutual related and depending inherently. A good case in point is the Asian economic crisis in 1997, which occurred in Thailand firstly and influenced the economy all over the world drastically at last. In addition, definitely, the conflicts and wars caused by religious or political reasons can not be solved by either side involved. Thus, to deal with these persistent problems with an international perspective and cooperation by all nations is curial and urgent.

However, is a global university supported by all nations necessary to be built or is it the best way to solve the existed problems? Firstly, the initial goal of such university is to cultivate students capable to solve these problems by education, nonetheless, such suggestion is not the only way to achieve this goal. Some top schools such as Harvard, Berkley, or Cambridge, Princeton and so on, all provide an excellent atmosphere for international students to study and international scholars to research. In fact, the accomplishments in these schools greatly catalyze or optimize the process of achieving a more satisfactory society for us to live. Secondly, other approaches are worthy considering and some of them have already played a vital role in our society at present. For instance, UN is dominant in dealing with world political events and WHO contributes a significant part to human health care. Such international organization composed by countries all over the world and targeting to benefit human beings are not rare at present. It is such organizations that benefit us noticeably in several aspects of our society. As a consequence, the ultimate goal to figure out these problems can be solved to some extent not only in educational approach but also other approaches in different fields, take it further, the global university is not so urgent or necessary to be settled.

Finally, it seems not easy and practical to build such a global university. Some factual problems might hinder the settlement of a global university. The primary problem is the high cost of such a university. The organization proceed, the building project, the fees for students and faculty all demand a large amount of money, and the source of the cost remains a unsettled problem. To say the least, one bird in hand is better than two in wood, thus, spending the money on more practical applications might be a superior choice. In addition, several divergences are unavoidably raised up in the factual action. Where to locate it, how to manage it, and which subjects are chiefly concerned are all concrete problems faced. These aspects mentioned are all relevant to the benefits of each country. For instance, the developed countries concern more about environmental problem while the developing countries are struggling to get rid of the poverty. Thus, decisions to solve these controversies and satisfy all nations are difficult to make. Therefore, take into account the discussions above, the suggestion of building a global university is factually dubious and infeasible.

To sum up, in order to crack the hard nut of persistent social problems, whether or not to build a global university upon efforts from all nations is a sophisticated issue to analyze. Without deep consideration and much more detailed information, the affirmation is at risk. Thus, it should be taken a grain of salt.

赞！！ 很欣赏作者的观点！不过有个问题 ：题目的意思是全球大学目的是让学生参与到解决社会问题的过程中，而非去解决，所以觉得第2段的写作有些偏离题目的意思，不过 3 4 端的观点很新颖！另外  希望大家讨论下social problem的含义 不知道pollution是否属于这个范畴

simplearenUID: 2151889

Sociologists usually consider a social problem to be an "alleged situation that is incompatible with the values of a significant number of people who agree that action is needed to alter the situation" (E Rubington et al. The Study of Social Problems, 1981). In this same study five more specific definitions are noted:
www.uia.be/problems/probcom_bodies.php

Refers to impaired social functioning of individuals/groups/communities which affects their capacity to meet their needs or realise their values and to perform their function in society.
www.polity.org.za/html/govdocs/white_papers/social97gloss.html

从这个意义在来讲,社会问题的定义很宽泛,污染没有问题
让学生参与进去和去解决这个没啥好争执的吧, 参与进去当然是为了解决了