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Levels of youth crime are increasing rapidly in most cities around the world. What are the reasons for this, and suggest some solutions.

Over the last few decades, many cities around the world have seen alarming increases in the levels of youth crime. This essay will discuss the reasons for this and provide some possible solutions.

The first reason is connected with the family. In order for a child to grow up in a balanced way, it is very important that he or she is nurtured well by his or her parents. However, these days, it is often the case that children are neglected. This may be because of the fact that many parents in cities now both have to work so are often not around to give their children support when needed. Another factor is the increasing levels of poverty around the world. We have seen with globalization the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and this inevitably means that those who are poorer will have to resort to illegal means to get what others have. Of course, this will include the children in the poorer families.

However, there are ways to tackle such problems. Firstly, one of the ways to combat the problem is to have stricter punishments.

Although, as discussed above, it can be outside factors that lead to crime, it is still important to have severe punishments to deter teenagers from crime. All too often, because they are young, the courts are too lenient. Parents also have to take more responsibility for their children’s actions. They too should be punished if their children commit crime.

To sum up, several factors have led to increases in youth crime, but

measures are available to tackle this problem.

Many men and women are making the decision to have children later in life. Why is this trend occurring? What are the impacts of this development on both family and society?

In the past, it was a natural step that a couple would get married fairly young, and then start a family. However, this is no longer the case and the delaying of childbirth is becoming very common. This essay will consider the reasons for this trend and the possible effects on families and society.

The driving force behind this trend is changing employment patterns. As more women have pursued an education and entered the workforce, they tend to marry later and have children later in their life. This is unavoidable in many cases because women cannot combine family and work well due to costly childcare. Another factor is all the other opportunities available to everyone. For example, many men and women choose to travel around the world or take the chance to work in another country, thus delaying settling down.

There are a number of possible impacts on families and society. Firstly, with regards to families, it can be more difficult for older women to get pregnant and they may experience more health problems, such as a miscarriage, high blood pressure or diabetes, during pregnancy. Also, the parents may find the whole experience of bringing up children more tiring if they are older. In one respect it may be positive for society because if people are choosing to work for longer, a country will have a productive workforce. On the negative side though, in the long-term falling fertility rates will mean an aging population with a lack of young people to work and take care of the elderly.

In conclusion, there are several reasons that people are having children later in life, and this can have a number of impacts, both positive and negative.

In many parts of the world today there is a profitable market for products which lighten or whiten people’s skin.Outline the reasons for using such products and discuss what effects they have in terms of health and society.

In many countries, particularly places like Asia, skin whitening products are incredibly popular and provide huge profits for the companies involved in their sale. This essay will examine the reasons why people use these products and the effects this has on people’s health and on society.

The principal reason that people use skin whitening products is because whiter skin is seen to be more desirable than darker skin. To understand why, we need to firstly look at history. In ancient times, people of a higher status tended to stay indoors, whilst people of a lower status worked outside, usually farming. As a result, those people who were indoors had much lighter skin, which means that whiter skin is now associated with having a higher status than dark skin. Another reason, which is partly related to this, is the desire for the ‘Western’ look. For example, plastic surgery to create western eyelids and noses is common in Asia, and the white skin is part of this. These beliefs and images are also perpetuated in the media, with adverts showing people with white skin as more successful and attractive.

However, despite the fact that having whiter skin may improve a person’s self-esteem, these products can have negative effects. Regarding health, there are reports that people are harming their skin permanently as some products bought over the counter have prescription-strength ingredients. For instance, some contain steroids or toxins which can severely damage the skin and other parts of the body. In terms of society, there are also detrimental effects. Such behaviour perpetuates the belief that ‘white’ is better than ‘black’, and thus those with darker skin may experience discrimination.

In conclusion, people use whitening products due to the fact that white skin, usually through the media, is portrayed as more desirable.

However, steps should be taken to change this image as the drawbacks of this are clear, with potentially dangerous consequences for people’s future health and society as a whole.

The percentage of overweight children in western society has increased by almost 20% in the last ten years.Discuss the causes and effects of this disturbing trend.

Over the last ten years, western societies have seen close to a 20% rise in the number of children who are overweight. This essay will discuss some reasons why this has occurred and examine the consequences of this worrying trend.

The main cause of this problem is poor diet. Over the last decade there has been a prolific increase in the number of fast food restaurants. For example, on nearly every high street there is a MacDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut. The food in these places has been proven to be very unhealthy, and much of the advertising is targeted at children, thus ensuring that they constitute the bulk of the customers of these establishments. However, it is not only due to eating out, but also the type of diet many children have at home. A lot of food consumed is processed food, especially with regards to ready-made meals which are a quick and easy option for parents who are working hard.

The effects of this have been and will continue to be very serious. Firstly, there has been a large increase in health related diseases amongst children, especially diabetes. This debilitating illness means a child has to be injected with insulin for the rest of their life. Not only this, very overweight children often experience bullying from other children, which may affect their mental health. The negative stigma of being overweight may also affect self-esteem.

To sum up, it is evident that there are several causes of obesity amongst children, and a variety of negative effects. Society must ensure steps are taken to prevent this problem from deteriorating further.

Newspapers have influenced people's ideas and opinions. What are the reasons for this? ls this a positive or a negative situation?

-[Harpreet Singh Dhillon]

Media has an indubitable role in refining the outlook of people. This essay intends to analyze the reasons for this. Admittedly, the influence created by media is largely positive, although there is a slight negative effect also.

Firstly, the diverse news in print media brings out huge responses and emotions in people. Newspapers have a wide coverage and manage to fetch the latest happenings around the globe. The way news items are reported influences the way people think and act. Moreover, media always presents the news in an appealing way, which catches people's attention and they want to dig into it deeper. People find such news hard to be neglected. The quest of people to know more about the world is undoubtedly well looked after by the media. lt is the media because of which the people are aware about what the government is doing for them, and through letters to the editor they can reach out their voice to be heard by the government. People realize that media is a link between them and the government, and so it influences their opinions even more.

The influence created by the media is undoubtedly positive as knowledge about one's fellow beings makes one more empathetic and alert. The fact that media update people with both good and bad latest happenings is a helpful influence. For example, media's wide coverage of rapes and murders in surrounding areas creates sympathy as well as alertness in people. The live television of instances like earthquakes and floods helps people to be pro active. For example, when tsunami hit Japan in 2011, people from all over the world came out to help. The varied other information like entertainment, sports and arts is good enough to ease the stress level.

On the other hand, although there are some unhealthy practices like gutter-press journalism, cheque-book journalism and libel writing, people today are mature enough to take it all with a pinch of salt, and use their own analytical ability to shape their judgement. Such media, which takes the help of ill-founded news and other wrong means cannot sustain long. On the whole, media always act as custodians of the interest of the general public.

To conclude, media is powerful enough to influence ones attitudes and thought process because of many reasons. However, such changes always act positively despite some drawbacks.

Environmental problems such as pollution and climatic variations are increasing nowadays. The governments have taken some measures at a global level. But they got only few solutions. Why is it so? How can this problem be solved?

-[Harpreet Singh Dhillon]

Saving the environment has become the top priority across the world. No country in the world disagrees with the fact that the Earth is at the brink of a climatic disaster, but the measures taken neither have legs nor the lengths to address the issue. This essay intends to look into why the measures have always fallen short of the mark, and suggest some solutions to mitigate the problem.

The first reason why global measures have failed is that the developed world is shying away from the burden it needs to bear for the damage it did to the environment in the colonial industrial revolution times. Hence we are stuck in a limbo of bipolar world of developing nations on one side and the developed on the other. And the compromises reached between the two have always been far from satisfactory. lf we need to see a real positive change, the developed world has to do more than the developing world. lt cannot just say that everyone should play an equal role. lt can do so by providing wealth and technology related to renewable sources of energy to the developing and the least developed countries.

The second major reason of not being able to do for the environment is that our governments are acting in the interests of powerful lobbies and corporations. For example, the fossil fuel industries are trillion dollar businesses. lf clean energy succeeds, these giants would lose. The clout of these is so strong that instead of acting with ambition and urgency, the governments are making feeble efforts. The solution, for this would be to create awareness that fossil fuel industries have to step down to let the greener energies succeed.

Finally, development and environment are always seen at loggerheads with each other. Environment always ends up taking a back seat to development. Thus, looking at the two as separate entities has delayed and brought us to our current position. The answer to this is sustainable development, which is development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the environment.

To sum up, it can be seen clearly, why the steps taken so far have failed to save the environment. However, the time has come to do some soul-searching and take pro-active steps for the environment.

Children are facing more pressures nowadays from academic, social and commercial perspectives. What are the causes of these pressures and what measures should be taken to reduce these pressures?

-[Harpreet Singh Dhillon]

It is commonly said that today's children are pressurized and face harder and harder academic, social and commercial challenges. This essay intends to debate the causes of those pressures and suggest some measures to alleviate the matter . I believe that children must be shielded from such mounting pressures.

There are many academic pressures on children. Today's child is not competing with the kid nearby , or maybe of one's town or country. He is competing with the kid of the global village. The big planet Earth of yesteryear may be a small well-linked global village of today. Parents want their children to excel in every field.
They send their children to the simplest schools, where the varsity bag is usually heavier than the kid himself. Even after school hours there are private tuition. Children do not have time to bloom and convey out their hidden talents.

There are also many social and commercial pressures. Socially, the children of today are in a huge dilemma' They want to adopt the global culture, whereas their parents force them to confine themselves to the traditions. This sometimes makes them rebel against the principles laid by their elders. Then, they also face peer
pressure, which may be good if their peers are good, and bad if their peers are not disciplined. This peer pressure including the consumerist society of today can cause tons of stress and strain on children. They see the newest models of cell phones and other items with their peers and need to shop for them. When they are unable to try to to so, they get stressed.

The solutions are not simple. Children have to be handled with great care. Parents should have realistic expectations from their children. They should have a pro-active approach and provides time to their children. The biggest onus is on the faculties and teachers. They should strive to bring out the best in every child and
competition and co-operation should both be taught simultaneously. The aim of competition should not be to win in the least cost. Children have to be taught to win with modesty and lose with grace.

To summarise, there is little question that the youngsters of today face numerous pressures, but steps should be taken on a war footing to guard their innocent childhood. Otherwise, these pressures will stifle the physical and psychological growth of youngsters .