Annual Editions Questions

The following questions are to be completed on the assigned date.  Most of these guiding questions are designed to facilitate discussion during the prep sessions.  Do not make your responses too lengthy; rather, consolidate your responses and get to the point.  Work on the skills of summarizing the information, and focusing on the main idea.  Note: these articles represent opinions published by individual authors in most cases.  Read them to gain knowledge and understanding, however, keep an open mind and think for yourself.

Article 31: Before the Next Doubling

1) Discuss why Bangladesh has been able to control its population growth compared to Pakistan.
2)  What are the three dimensions of population explosion?  Which one do you think has the greatest impact?  Explain.
3) What was the Cairo Conference, what were its goals, and why have these goals been difficult to attain (what obstacles face many of the countries that confront the problem of high growth rates)?
4) How can governments change the attitudes of people toward family planning, as suggested by the article?
5) Explain why there is less fear of a population explosion today as there was in 1998 when this article was first published.

Article 40: Gray Dawn: The Global Aging Crisis

1) Briefly discuss why the graying of the developed world's population may be a significant crisis.  Where is the threat the worst?
2) Illustrate the potential crisis using life expectancy, the ratio of workers to non-workers, and total fertility rate.  Use data and facts to support your claims.
3) Briefly discuss the role immigration would play in a graying world.
4) Briefly discuss TWO solutions to the problem of securing benefits and entitlements for the future (such as Social Security).
5) Identify FOUR strategies that could be enacted to avoid military, cultural, or other confrontations in the future.

Article 36: The Longest Journey

1) How does technology aid migration?  Discuss at least TWO reasons.
2) In what ways are the attitudes toward immigration in countries like the U.S. and Australia different from the attitudes in countries in Europe and Japan?
3) Discuss the differences in needs and concerns between skilled and unskilled labor when dealing with immigration.
4) Identify and discuss the THREE forces that combine to drive people abroad.