e-learning in china

E-learning is a big issue in China and can be a factor for improving many issues concerning resource, economical and social gaps in the society. Retraining people for new and different tasks that follow from the continuously changing markets has become a high priority in China. Educating people in rural areas where children not always have expert help within reach might now have the opportunity to connect with teachers and other co-students through the internet and various e-learning tools. For now this project is located in the 20 major cities in China, but it has passed the crucial seeding and has now grown roots in the chinese educational system and it will be exiting to see how e-learning`s full potential can be exploited in a country with so many differences and variables.

differentiated one child policy - a BBC view.

On BBC news they discuss some of the viewpoints of the one child policy in China. This gives a short overview of some of the issues. Some months ago China once again declared that they would sustain an even stricter one child policy to enforce the development - they say they`ve prevented 400 million births till now since the beginning in 1979 when the policy was first introduced.

Although the rich can afford having more than one child it is unfortunately an arrangement that is hitting the poorest hardest and has lead to further problems such as protests and stripping homes for valuables in order to collect the fines. This has created dislikement amongst the less economic fortunate who are angry with the rich and famous who can write a check each month without noticing much difference in their credit balance and thus plead to the government to stop them from having two and three children. Ironically it has turned out that many of the rich are government officials which doesn`t exactly send out the right message.

The rules are of course not as black and white as most people think. When I was in China I spoke to some of my chinese friends who had siblings who explained to me that if their parents did not have any siblings they could have two or more children. This is just one of the exeptions which most Westerners don`t know about. Thus there are grey areas in this policy which you can read more about here.

One of the major problems China will have to face is that the country will host approx. 40 million single men by 2020 which BBC news has reported on before. What will they do to bring on the next generation? How will this induce sustainable growth within the economy and the future job market?

How will also the low number of young generations be able to take care of the old and elderly? Traditionally families take care of eachother and the elderly are of course provided for by their children. The results are showing already as schools are turned into old people`s homes. As it is getting gradually even more difficult for young people in the cities to move out and get a life of their own due to high living costs and crowded city spaces, they cannot start saving with only their own future in mind.

Traditions haven`t changed in the same pace as the society has changed and so these children still need to attend to many issues by themselves and feeling responsible for the "face" of the family, which previously would be shared on several siblings. The "few" children which the past AND future generations are now relying on, are facing enormous pressure and many fear they cannot live up to this. Many children feel they must live up to an image of the "perfect child", an image arisen due to the fact that the parents only have "one shot" of making it right. It`s a tuff reality.

and so its election day...

...once again, and hopefully the population will be happy when the winner is announced. Of course there is always something to complain about no matter the outcome of an election. As if it really matters in a country like ours, when most of the parties have so similar standing points on so many counts its barely going to be noticed when we change course every fourth year. I am not saying they are all the same, but lets face it: its not the most politically unstable history we have to show to. Luckily! No major surprises will pop up and no tyranns will appear out of nowhere because no one expected them to become leader. I am glad we live in a system that we have in Norway, but I wish I had a party to vote for that dared to think outside the box sometimes, foreseing some greater visions and who didnt devote the entire election campaign to minor details that have been discussed for so long.. Its important yes, to find a solution, but what solution and how do you incorporate it into our future plans for this country? Where do we want to be in ten years?

keeping in touch

I forgot what I wrote on the right hand side of my blog, claiming to keep in touch with my friends through my blog. Ijust read it and wanted to tell you that I am now sick of just doing that. I have decided that I will now do my best to actually go and visit them instead of just calling for them on this web page. So now I have travelled to Copenhagen, Lund and now Uppsala and Stockholm to do just that. I love it! From now on less money will be devoted to surviving and shopping, and more will be spent on travelling, probably mostly throughout Europe for obvious financial reasons. Just my thought of the week.

go!

And so it begins. My journey towards actually rounding off my time at university - namely finishing my masters degree.. And I am once again feeling excited about it though I am not expecting it to be an easy journey. Only two people will be writing their thesis this autumn so we need to stick together to share hours of agony when nothing will stick to the paper.. and you search for the right words and ideas to reveal the next chapter of your thesis. It´ll be great fun and I hope I can share some ideas with others who might be interested in knowledge sharing across cultural barriers with the use of technology. I hope.

lost summer

Many things has happened since the last time I wrote on this blog. First of all, I am now back in Norway and have been for a while, enjoying time with my friends and family. Unfortunately the summer hasnt shown its sunny face for a while and so it doesnt really feel like summer holiday.. BUT I have been so lucky to have friends visiting me throughout the summer and so they have brightened up my days with their smiles! =) I am very grateful for the fact that they have wanted to come here and let me show them my country, especially friends from the far east! =) Back to my studies in Bergen, I have decided to finish my masters and so I will begin to write my thesis this autumn.. I have long been quarrelling with myself whether to continue or not, but Ive come to the conclusion that I dont like to leave things in between places - and so I need to finish them. So this has been a summer of decisions, but also a summer that went by so fast due to visitors and travelling that I simply dont know what happened to all those days..