Anthropologists who study orangutans, distant cousins of the
human race, find in the animals behavior hints of how our earliest ancestors
may have lived. It has long been accepted that primates originally dwelt in the
treetops and only migrated to the ground as forests began to dwindle. While to
a certain extent, all primates except humans spend at least some time dwelling
in trees, the orangutans, can grow as heavy as 330 pounds and live for decades,
requiring copious amounts of fruits simply to stay alive. Thus, they become
very jealous of the territory where they find their food. Compounding his
territoriality are the breeding habits of orangulants, since females can only
breed every few years and, like humans, give birth not to litters but single
off-spring.
Consequently, orangutans are solitary, territorial animals
who have difficulty foraging in an part of the forest where they were not raised.
Orangutans take from poachers by costums agents undergo incredible hardship on
their return to the wild. Incorrectly relocating a male orangutan is especially
problematic, often ending in the animal’s death at the hands of a rival who
sees not only his territory but also the females of his loosely knit community
under threat from an outsider. While humans, like chimpanzees, are more
gregarious and resourceful then orangutans, the latter provide anthropologists
with useful information about the behavior of prehominid primates and how
apelike behavior influenced out ancestors search for the food and family
beneath the forest canopy.
The primary purpose of this passage is to
Democratic societies from the earliest times have expected their government to protect the weak against the strong. No ‘era of good feeling’ can justify discharging the police force or giving up the idea of public control over concentrated private wealth. On the other hand, it is obvious that a sprirt of self-denial and moderation on the part of those who hold economic power will greatly soften the demand for absolute equality. Men are more interested in freedom and security than in an equal distribution of wealth. The extent to which Government must interfere with business, therefore, is not exactly measured by the extent to which economic power is concentrated into a few hands. The required degree of government inference depends mainly on whether economic powers are oppressively used, and on the necessity of keeping economic factors in a tolerable state of balance.
However, with necessity of meeting all these dangers and threats to liberty, the powers of government are unavoidably increased, regardless of the political party in power. The growth of government is a necessary result of the growth of technology and of the problems that go with the use of machines and science. Since the government must take on more powers to meet the problems of the nations, there is no way to preserve freedom except by making democracy more powerful.
Q: The growth of government is necessitated to
A great deal of discussion continues as to the real extent
of global environment degradation and its implications. What few people
challenge however is that the renewable natural resources of developing countries
are today subject to stresses of unprecedented magnitude. These pressures are
brought about, in part, by increased population and the quest for an ever
expanding food supply. Because the health, nutrition and general well-being of
the poor majority are directly dependent on the integrity and productivity of
their natural resources, the capability of government to manage them
effectively over the long term becomes of paramount important.
Developing countries are becoming more aware of the ways in
which present and future economic development must built upon a sound and
sustainable natural resource base. Some are looking at our long tradition in
environmental protection and are receptive to U.S. assistance which recognizes
the uniqueness of the social and ecological system in these tropical countries.
Developing countries recognize the need to improve their capability to analyze
issues and their own natural resource management. In February 1981, for
example, AID funded a national Academy of Sciences panel to advise Nepal on its
severe natural resource degradation problems. Some countries such as Senegal,
India, Indonesia and Thailand, are now including conservation concerns in their
economic development planning process.
Because so many governments of developing nations have
recognized the importance of these issues, the need today is not merely one of
raising additional consciousness, but for carefully designed and sharply
focused activities aimed at management regimes that are essential to the
achievement of sustained development.
Q: The poor people of the developing world can lead a happy and contented life if
Educational planning should aim at meeting the educational needs of the entire population of all age groups. While the traditional structure of education as a three layer hierarchy from the primary stage to the university represents the core, we should not overlook the periphery which is equally important. Under modern conditions, workers need to rewind, or renew their professor. The retired and the aged have their needs as well. Educational planning, in their words, should take care of the needs of everyone.
Our structures of education have been built up on the assumption that there is a terminal point to education. This basic defect has become all the more harmful today. A UNESCO report, titled “Learning to be” prepared by Edgar Faure and others in 1973 asserts that the education of children must prepare the future adult for various forms of self-learning. A viable education system of the future should consist of modules with different kinds of functions serving a diversity of constituents. And performance, not the period of study, should be the basis for credentials. The writing is already on the wall.
In view of the fact that the significance of a commitment of lifelong learning and lifetime education is being discussed only in recent years even in educationally advanced countries, the possibility of the idea becoming an integral part of educational thinking seems to be a far cry. For, to move in that direction means much more than some simple rearrangement of the present organization of education. But a good beginning can be made by developing Open University programs for older learners of different categories and introducing extension services in the conventional colleges and schools. Also, these institutions should learn to cooperate with numerous community organizations such as libraries, museums, municipal recreational programs, health services etc.
Q: According to the author, educational planning should attempt to
