National income measures monetary value of all goods that were produced within the country. To measure national income there were generated three different accounts:
Total expenditure, total output of goods and services and total amount of income.

GDP
Gross Domestic Product measures the value of output produced within the domestic industries. However there are a lot of factories which are located abroad and if we add to GDP income from firms abroad owned by the particular country, so final output of this country will be called Gross National Product. So, GNP = GDP + Net Property Income from Abroad
There are three ways in calculating GDP:
1) Output method which takes into account adding the value for each stage in the production of goods. This method is usually used in manufacturing, construction, agriculture
2) Aggregate demand method. This uses the formula of AD in order to count GDP. 
AD = C+I+G+X-M, where C is consumption by households, I is investment, G is government spending, X is exports and M is Imports. 
3) The Income method, where GDP = sum of different incomes such as Income of Employed and self-employed, profits of firms and rent income. 

When measuring the level of national income and whether it grows or declines it is important to look at some factors such as overall economic growth, changes in living standards distribution of income and also purchasing power of money to compare with other countries.

Comparative advantage exists when one country has lower opportunity cost of production a particular product than another. For example if country X produces 100 of pineapples and 200 of sweet potato and country Y produces 300 pineapple and 900 sweet potatoes. For country X the opportunity of producing extra pineapple will be 2 sweet potatoes, however for the country Y the opportunity cost of producing extra pineapple will be 3 sweet potatoes. So the country X has a comparative advantage in producing pineapples. However if the country Y shifts to producing more sweet potatoes, the opportunity cost will be 1/3, while for the country X it will 1/2, so the country Y in this situation will have a comparative advantage. 
Factors that create the concept of comparative advantage are ability of switching to another industry without losses in efficiency, returns to scale (if increase in inputs in one industry leads to an increase in total output), if no externalities arise from consumption/producing.

There are also factors which determine the cost of production:
- Quantity and quality of labour available (more educated and skilled labor will provide bigger advantage for the country)
- Investment and improvements in technology which also lead to an increase in advantage
- Import controls which limit international trade and create advantage for domestic producers
- Exchange rates: high exchange rates will make exports more expensive and less competitive and thereby country might loose its advantage

(tried to explain this topic, but not sure if im right:)

If price elasticity of demand showed how demand responds to a change in different economic conditions, Price Elasticity of Supply shows the responsiveness of the quantity supplied to a change in the price of product. As firms are usually aimed to make a profit, this relationship will be always positive, because as price for a product increase,more suppliers are willing to sell their goods and so supply will increase. In the short run, PES is usually inelastic as suppliers can't react to changes in the market so fast, but in the long run supply will decrease as prices fall.             Factors that affect PES may be increases in costs of production such as rise in the prices of raw materials, or introducing by trade partners import controls and so it will be more expensive for firms to buy materials from abroad, or rise in wages which are also costs of production. With rise in prices, PES will be more elastic, because supply will also increase.

Elasticity of demand

Elasticity is an extent to which buyers and sellers are responsive to change in market conditions. There are three elasticities which shows the responsiveness of the quantity demanded to a change in price of the product, that is Price Elasticity of Demand, change in income of consumers, that is Income Elasticity of Demand and change is price of another product, that is Cross Elasticity of Demand. 
Price Elasticity of demand helps to determine which of good is it. If PED is negative and less than 1, this is normal good and demand is not really responsive to a change in price and price is inelastic in this situation. If PED negative and more than 1, this is normal good and demand for it is responsive to a change in price, so price is elastic. If PED is positive, that means that there is a snob good or good of ostentation, that is when consumers’ demand increases as price of the good rises. 
The determinants of PED are:
 the availability of substitutes: if there are any goods that can be alternative for a particular product. Generally, the greater the amount of substitutes, the greater chance that price will be elastic for the product;
the expense of the product with respect to the income: if the product takes a big proportion of income, then it is more likely that price will be elastic for it.
Time: sometimes changes in prices don’t affect demand, because consumers have to have time to understand whether it is still worth buying this good or better to switch on substitutes;
Habits: for some products, such as tobacco or alcohol, price is usually inelastic, because if people are addicted and can’t give up, they will still buy products even if prices rise.

Income Elasticity of Demand also helps to determine the kind of product and often YED is positive which means that good is normal, and as income of consumers increases, demand for this good will also increase. And again if YED less than 1, demand is income inelastic and not responsive to a change in income and if YED more than 1, demand is income elastic. 
Sometimes YED can be negative which means that this is an inferior good and as income rises, demand for this good will decrease. Examples of inferior goods are supermarket’s own-label products or just some cheap products.

Cross elasticity of demand shows the relationship between two different goods and determine whether they are substitutes of complements. Positive XED shows that two products are substitutes: as price of one good rises, demand for another product will rise, e.g. apple and banana. The higher the value of XED, the closer substitutes they are and visa versa. If XED is negative, two goods are complements: if price for one product rises, demand for another product will fall, e.g. petrol and cars.

Economic growth is increase in total output in the short run and increase in productive capacity in the long run. One of the objectives of governments is to have sustainable economic growth that is the growth which can continue over time. Sustainable growth helps to achieve trend growth that is expected increase in the output over time. There are many causes of economic growth in the short run and long run. Economic growth in the short run means that there is an increase in AD because of increases in components of it. For example, if there is a fall in the exchange rates, exports will be cheaper and more competitive and so the economy will have export-led growth. Or if government increased its spending on subsidies for firms, this means that prices might go down and consumption will increase. This leads to economic growth. In order to stimulate it government might use monetary or fiscal policies such as reduce interest rates or lower exchange rates, or reduce taxes, etc. In order to achieve long run economic growth government has to spend a big amount of money for supply side policies such as education or training, promoting new firms, because increase in productive capacity can be achieved through the increase in quality and quantity of labour, resources and improvements in capital goods.

Interest rates.

Interest rate is a charge for borrowing money and the amount paid for lending money. There are many factors that affect rates of interest such as national savings, AD and others. Central Bank set the base rate first and this rate varies. If an economy is overheating that is when AD increases more quickly that AS, in order to avoid demand pull inflation, Bank will set high base rates. Because if interest rate is high, people tend to save more in order to get benefits from greater dividends. If AD is relatively low, Bank will set low base rates and this will discourage people to save and their average propensity to consume will increase. 

There is a close link between rate of interest and exchange rate. If interest rates are low, that means that people from overseas are less likely to save money in English banks because they are not gaining a lot. As we know exchange rate is determined by supply and demand, therefore when demand for currency goes down, price decreases too, so consequently exchange rate for that particular currency falls.

Balance of payments.

Balance of payments is a record of flow of money coming in and going out of the country. Balance of payments consists of current account, capital account and net errors. Current account tend to play the most significant role and it includes trade in goods, services, transfer payments and income investments. Trade in goods is also known as visible balance, because there is a trade of real physical goods between countries, trade in services is invisible balance because it is a trade in education, information, health services. Investment income shows how much UK residents earn from their dividends, interests from abroad in comparison to income of foreigners from the country. And transfers are transfer of money made by government or individuals. Capital account shows the movement of direct investment such as loans and purchase of financial assets from abroad. Net errors section is aimed to ensure that balance of payments is balanced. 
There might occur current account deficit, which means that money outflow for buying imports are greater the amount of money coming into the country from exports. To reduce current account deficit, government might encourage exports by depreciating the currency or devalue, or discourage imports using different types of import restrictions such as quotas, tariffs, and so on. Capital account deficit occurs when government lent more money than received. To solve this problem government might increase interest rates and so it will get more money from dividends. 


Budget deficit.

Budget deficit arises when government spending exceeds taxation revenue. Why does this occur? Government spends it’s budget on providing public goods and services such as health, education, defense or intervening into free market mechanism in order to prevent market failure and subsidise prices. These expenses are covered by revenue from taxation. That’s why when budget deficit is rising, government might decide to increase rates of taxes or borrow money from other countries which will lead to a capital account surplus or increase rate of interest and so savings will increase and government will have more money in banks. 

Even if in the country there is no budget deficit, there might be some situations when government has to increase its spending for wars, protecting from terrorists and ets. That’s why it is very seldom when country experiences balanced budget that is government spending = tax revenue.

(was writing without notes, and maybe can have mistakes in my explanation)

Taxes

One of the ways of government intervention into free market mechanism is taxation. Government introduces a wide range of taxes in order to allocate tax revenue to various forms of government spending such as education, health, defense. Also government might consider to spend money from tax revenue onto buying capital goods which will generate greater benefits in the future. 
There are two main types of taxes: direct and indirect. Direct tax is a tax which levies on individual’s income. This tax people cannot avoid and paid by everyone who is employed. Income tax can be regressive or progressive. In Uk’s case it is progressive which means that it takes higher percentage from the income of the rich; in other words, as your income rises, percentage of tax will go up. However there are bands exist, that is when your income is higher than a certain amount of money, percentage of tax will not increase anymore and will remain the same. 
Indirect taxes that are taxes levied on goods and services are regressive. This means that tax will take a greater percentage from the income of the poor. Indirect taxes are widely used to discourage people from buying demerit goods or other goods and services that produce negative externalities. 
Indirect tax imposed on sales of goods and services generally is called Value Added Tax. Excise taxes are imposed on specific products producing negative externalities. They are usually take a big proportion in order to decrease demand for them. Corporation tax is levied on corporate profits; inheritance taxes are taxes on transfers of wealth above the certain amount; in the UK there is also Council Tax that is a form of taxation paid by residents to local councils in Egland, Scotland and Wales.

Inflation is a sustained rise in the price level over a period of time. There are two types of inflation: demand pull and cost push. Demand pull inflation occurs when there aggregate demand rises faster than aggregate supply. When firms work close to full capacity and can’t react immediately to increases in demand, this will push price levels up. Cost push inflation arises from the supply side: when there is an increase in costs of production, wage rates, for example, or raw materials, this will also affect prices and it is difficult to reduce this inflation. 
Inflation will affect others sectors of economy such as Balance of payments. With high price levels, exports will be less competitive and demand for them might decrease, this may lead to a budget deficit. 
Also inflation will affect value of money: purchasing power of money will fall and this will reduce people’s real income, which might lead to a decrease in aggregate demand. 
Inflation creates uncertainty about the future and affects business planning and investments. 
Those workers who have fixed income will lose as their average propensity to consume will decrease with higher prices.

Cost push inflation is more harmful as it usually more difficult to reduce it. Government might reduce corporation tax of firms or give them subsidies, however this would affect budget and might lead to a budget deficit. To reduce demand pull inflation, government could raise income taxes in order to decrease aggregate demand or increase interest rates, which means that people will save more instead of spending. 

Unemployment

Unemployment is a situation where people in the working age are out of work but are willing and able to work and get Job Seekers Allowance. There are different types of unemployment.
 Cyclical unemployment occurs because of lack of aggregate demand in the economy. Also this kind of unemployment is called demand deficient. It is usually associated with economic recessions when there is an inflation and economy works in spare capacity and there are many manufactures’ closures and thereby workers’ lay-offs. 
Fricitional unemployment rises when workers are in between jobs. For example, they moved to another area of living or they are graduates and just joined labour market. It takes time while they find appropriate job with a preferred salary. Government might use more information and improve trainings for workers in order to reduce frictional unemployment. However this type of unemployment is not so dangerous like others. 
Structural unemployment occurs because of decline in certain industry or substitution by capital goods of labour. Because of decline in particular industries such as manufacturing (coal, steel, etc.) usually lead to unemployment. However if government will improve its training programs for workers in order to give them opportunity to find job in another sphere might help to reduce unemployment.
Technological unemployment arises from advances in technology which usually leads to an increase in potential output. Measures to correct this type of unemployment are similar with structural. 
International unemployment might appear when some firms decide to move abroad and produce their goods there, and for them it would be cheaper to hire workers in that area; also if households will switch on buying imported goods and so demand for domestic goods will decrease and this will lead to unemployment. Government need to encourage more small firms in order to increase their competitiveness and demand for them. 
Also even if unemployed are those who want and able to work, there will an amount of people who would like to avoid work and live on Job Seekers Allowance. This hidden unemployment might occur because people have been out of work for a long time and lost their motivation and skills needed to apply for a job and they just give up seeking for a job. Also others may think that with their skills they will not be able to find a job with an appropriate salary and JSA is enough for them to live.
To measure unemployment different countries use their own systems. In the UK unemployment is measured by Labour Force Survey and claimant count, that is a measure of unemployment that includes those receiving benefits. However there are lot of difficulties with measuring unemployment such as whom to consider as unemployed because some people are actively seeking for a job but don’t get benefits; others live on Job Seekers Allowance but aren’t interested in finding job. 

Supply – side policies.

If monetary and fiscal policies are aimed to influence on demand, supply side policies are long run and aimed to increase aggregate supply. The main target of supply side policies is to increase potential output and achieve major economic objectives. 
Some supply side policies are designed to reduce government intervention in free market mechanism such as privatization or deregulation, where the former is to reduce government influence in market and increase competition between firms by transferring assets from public sector to private; the latter means removing rules and regulations that limit firms in free market. Deregulation can help increase competitiveness, increase efficiency and productivity. 
Other policies mean increase in government intervention in order to stabilize economic activity and correct market failure. They include education/training, encouraging infant industries, reduction in taxes and other benefits… if they are well thought they can all lead to an increase in capacity and move long run supply curve outwards. However all these policies might cost a lot of money for government.

Monetary policy

Monetary policies include Central Bank/government decisions on the rate of interest, the money supply and exchange rate. Monetary policies as fiscal can be two types: reflationary and deflationary. So both these policies are aimed to influence AD and its components. If government is seeking to increase AD, it is more likely to cut interest rates, because with low rates of interest, people will save less and so their marginal propensity to consume will increase, this will lead to an increase in a component of AD. Also low interest rates mean that it is cheaper to firms to borrow money and invest and so Investment is also might increase. With low interest rates foreign investors will not be interested in investing into the country because returns will be small and thereby this will make national currency less competitive and will lead to a fall in the exchange rates. With lower exchange rates exports will become more competitive and another component of AD might increase, while Imports will decrease because they become more expensive.
So, as we can see, monetary policies might influence all the components of aggregate demand and stabilize balance of payments by lowering or raising exchange rates. Another type of monetary policy is changes in money supply. By printing more money, government might make AD to rise, because people will have more money to spend. 

In the UK there is Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England which sets base rates with the main objective of achieving government’s target annual rate of inflation of 2%

Fiscal policy

Fiscal policy is a policy connected with government spending and taxation decisions. By using fiscal policies, government influence aggregate demand. It can raise AD by reducing income taxes, for example, and increasing government spending. AD consists of different components, such as Investment, Government spending, consumption and trade balance. If government decided to reduce corporation tax and thereby increase firms’ profit, it can affect Investment, because more firms would be able to invest. If government reduces income tax, disposable income of people will increase and this will lead to an increase in AD because of another component. Government might increase it’s spending on capital goods or public, create more workplaces and so, unemployment rates will go down and this injection is likely to have multiplier effect, causing AD to rise. 

But not all the policies are created to increase an AD, which is known as reflationary policy, sometimes government might decide to reduce AD in order not to have high inflation rates and reduce consumption of demerit goods. This policy is known as deflationary. By increasing taxes or reducing government spending government might achieve this objective.

There are two rules in the UK which government introduced by itself and has to follow them. One of them is ‘golden rule’ which states that government might borrow only for investment purposes. And so this borrowing in the future will be cancelled out by government surpluses arising from investment. Another rule is ‘sustainable investment rule’ according to which government borrowing should never exceed 40% of GDP. These are self-imposed rules however government shouldn’t break them because following them will give international markets confidence about the UK’s market.

labeling theory

Labeling theory which is also known as theory of social interaction was developed by sociologist Howard Becker. According to this theory, we can see changes in behavior and self-identity of the human influenced by the terms used to describe them by others. It was widely used in explaining criminals’ behavior; however this concept is suitable for pupils. Teachers usually are tend to classify their students more by subjective opinion rather than objective. There is a tendency that they label students from middle-class as bright and optimistic and so pupils from working-class as less able, lacking motivation and difficult to control. And usually these labels accompany students for a long time even if they don’t want it. This is because of concepts of self-fulfiling prophecy and stereotyping. Self-fulfiling prophecy is a “prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true”. The concept of self-fulfiling prophecy was developed by Rosenthal and Jacobson when they showed in an example how this concept works: “They selected a random sample of 20 per cent of the student population and informed the teachers that these children could be expected to show rapid intellectual growth. They tested all pupils for IQ at the beginning of the experiment. After the year the children were re-tested and, in general, the sample population showed greater gains in IQ. In addition, report cards indicated that teachers believed that this group had made greater advances in reading skills.”
This example shows us how teachers’ relation and expectations can influence mind and future of the pupil. 

Stereotyping another important concept, according to which one who gets a label usually will be associated with this label and so if he was labeled as lacking motivation and with ‘laddish’ behavior, it would be very difficult for him to change people’s mind about him and more likely that he would continue to behave in a way he was labeled. However there are many exceptions and Margaret Fuller in her research tried to show that it is not always when students behave according to their labels: “In a study of a group of black girls in a London comprehensive school the girls resented the negative stereotypes associated with being both female and black. They felt that many people expected them to fail, but far from living up to their expectations they tried to prove them wrong. The girls devoted themselves to school work in order to try to ensure their success.”

Also labeling theory is strongly connected with streaming and setting. If somebody passed a test and was set to an ability group which is considered to be the brightest one, it usually will affect his progress. One of the researchers who were evaluating this idea was Nell Keddie. She as Becker argued that in schools there is a tendency of creating an image of ‘ideal pupil’ to pupils from middle-class: “Teachers perceived students from non-manual backgrounds as closest to this ideal; those from lower working-class origins as farthest from it.”
So as we can see, teachers have a big power in influencing on educational process of their students. And all these examples show that inequalities start already from school, when students with ‘low abilities’ from working class families deny schools and studying which are essential for educational future and their career..

The tripartite system

The tripartite system was introduced by The 1944 Education Act. This Act was aimed to give everybody equal chance. But after evaluating the effectiveness of this act, it was strongly criticized. All pupils at the age 11 had to pass a national test; according to its results, pupils were being allocated into three different types of secondary school. First type was grammar schools which was considered to be the most prestigious and aimed to the brightest students. Second type is technical school which “provided a general education with special emphasis on technical subjects.” And the most popular school was secondary modern for mostly working class students. As we can see there weren’t equal opportunities for everyone. Also it became clear that it is impossible to say about person’s educational future at the age of 11, as he is too small and his attainment might change over time. And if somebody, for example, was located into the secondary modern school, he had fewer opportunities to get a well paid job and achieve more than others even if he had abilities. 

There are two forms of data which is used bi sociologists in evaluating educational or any other systems: qualitative and quantitative. 
Quantitative data is a data in the forms of numbers. It is widely used by researches because it enables them to give the whole picture of the situation in any section and prove their point of view by using some statistics or facts. Another way of using the quantitative data is comparing and measuring relations between different factors affecting education. If, for example we are given ages and time spent on doing homework of the group of people we can conclude which age group spend most of their time on doing homework and which the least. There are many examples of quantitative data.
Another type of data is qualitative which refers to all other types of data excluding numbers. It gives richer and clearer image of the situation. Qualitative data has different types. It includes: data from direct observations, interviews, photos and videos, written documents. By examining this data’s resources we will provide not only the whole picture of social life, but also will give variable sources of information.


There are two methods of making a research: positivism and interpretivism. Both these methods are suitable for evaluating educational system and explaining some inconsistencies.
Interpretivists believe that to understand and explain behavior of people and to have clearer picture of them it is necessary to study the way they think, their ideas. For these researches the most factual and significant type of data is qualitative. Participant observation, that is observation which involves researchers in participating in activities of those who are being observed. Interviews are also very useful kind of data as it gives an opportunity to talk to people about their norms, behavior as they see it. 
While positivists believe that the most significant data is quantitative. Use of statistics, comparisons explaining the behavior of people who were being observed, easier as we make a comparisons and state facts about the past to prove our point of view. Questionnaires are very useful way of interpreting data and explain human behavior.


The official statistics are the data which is produced by national and local governments. Official statistics provide a wide range of quantitative data, however researchers before using these statistics should know how the statistics are constructed, which surveys they are based on. And if statistics don’t say about their sources of data, researchers might make wrong conclusion of their research. Another limitation of official statistics is that as they are constructed by government, so the government must provide data according to its political purpose and priorities. However there are many advantages of Official Statistics, such as they are well planned and organized and usually take into account different types of data; also they are up to dated and so it gives to researchers opportunities to make comparisons: for example, comparing exam results in the school this year and last year.

Paul Willis ‘Profane culture’

Willis’s research is based on evaluating two different minority cultures: the motor-bike boys and hippies in early 1960. Even if the research has made long time ago, these cultures are still appear but in other forms. 
“Both cultures reproduced –even creatively-the weaknesses, brutality and limitations of their own structural locations and parent class cultures”. Of course, both these cultures were excluded from the society and created their own rules, norms and values. The main difference were in their locating parent cultures. The motor bike boys were mostly from working class families, while hippies from middle class. Another difference is that motor bike boys didn’t create their cultures despite hippies wanted to be excluded and so they did that.
Motor bike boys are those who accept masculinity and relied on the strength. They ignored all the rules and norms by creating their own. ”Their appearance was aggressively masculine. They did not make demands, or pioneer changes there for more humanized systems of work – or even see any connections between technology in their leisure and the most massive application of technology of all: machinery in work.” Hippies behaved in another way, they had more cultural capital and accepted rules of the society. However: “Hippies did indeed reject existing attitudes and practices: they did not work. But even here there was no attack on the basis of work (as motor bike boys did). The culture privately maintained its own rhythms and sense of time which constituted a profound exposure and criticism of industrial time.” This gave an opportunity for hippy to spread their culture faster and have an influence on the society. The culture had a real purpose of its appearance. 

If we look at the world nowadays, almost every society has their own ‘motor bike boys’ but in new appearance. Their tastes, living styles, preferences, views have changed but the whole idea hasn’t. Still there are ‘lads’ reject hidden curriculum and creates new generation of working class, while ‘hippies’ seem to be disappeared as their main points of view were based on rejection industrial society and in some cases supporting capitalists:"You look for a Hippie today where are they? They are living in nice apartments and houses, or dead of drug overdoses, with flat screen TV’s and fancy stereos. They still read the writings of Karl Marx and will usually be at the rallies for liberal politicians, or protesting conservative politicians."

However, macho lads now have more risk than they used because of a big reduction in masculinity work, so it is difficult to forecast what cultures we will have in future.

(source:Paul willis, Profane culture, issued by Routledge & Kegan Paul)

about racism

Every society has a problem of racism and it will never be wiped out completely as soon as there will be different races. There are might occur many types of racism, but still the meaning will be the same: discrimination, abusive/aggressive behavior towards the person of another race. Almost every social group might experience racism: teachers, students, workers, etc.
Racism in schools is widespread and only among students but also in relations teacher and student. Even if a teacher tries to treat all the students fairly and in the same way, discrimination occurs. Usually racism is seen towards black race and Asians. Young black people, especially boys, considered to be badly behaved and so teachers paid more negative attention to them. One of the reasons of their ‘laddish behavior’, in opinion of Tony Sewell, is that they lack of role models: “One of the major problems is a lack of sympathetic adults, whether they are role models or just sounding boards.”. They didn’t have a good example of a male behavior and so when they grow up they try to show off and by rejecting the curriculum and not paying attention, make themselves look more independently and serious. Another reason is a stereotype. Many teachers are afraid of black students as even if they don’t know the person they already expect laddish behavior from him and so already act negatively towards him by not giving him a chance to show his abilities: "The boys complain that there is very little discipline because teachers seem afraid to challenge them. These boys are not in an environment where there are consequences for their actions and we should be asking questions about the lack of ethos, expectations and discipline in some schools." And so this racism will affect his future educational attainment and discourage from working
If we look at the statistics, racism is very strong and unemployment among non-white races is high as a result of not getting higher degrees and low educational achievement in school. Racism might occur from white race because of many reasons: differences in skin, behavior, norms, values or just misunderstanding. 

There are some other statistics about black students:
- they are more often subject to ’permanent exclusion’ from school (DfE 1992)
- black students are between four and six times are more likely to be excluded than their white peers (Gillborn and Gipps, 1996)
- African-Caribbean are seen ‘as having “low ability” and potential discipline problems’ (Mac an Ghalil, 1988)

These are examples of stereotyping within the society and it is unlikely that these stereotypes disappear but they might become insignificant. The problem is that the myth of a black challenge is handed down from one generation to another and teachers also transmit this myth by believing in it and trying to find rove for it. For example, ‘some students with family origins in the Caribbean turn their eyes away from teacher’s gaze; it has been argued that this is a cultural trait signifying respect. ’(Driver 1979). However, teachers don’t want to accept others’ values and see this action as a rejection of the authority and all this creates racism. 

(Source of statistics: Race and Higher education, Tariq Modood and Tony Acland, issued by Policies Studies Institute)

i've found just these two conferences in sociology but they are far away from Oxford =)in Uni of Essex and Sussex

balance of payments. questions

633. The current account of the UK balance of payments records
a)Transactions in financial assets such as stock and bonds
b)Trade in goods only
c)Trade in services only
d) Trade in goods and services, investment income and transfers
ANSWER: D
634. An economist might argue that a current account deficit can be consistent with a healthy economy
a)when the economy is not growing so fast -- wrong, because even if an economy is not growing so fast, because there is no connection and with a slow growth in economy there can be both deficit and surplus
b)when the deficit is partly due to a rise in imports of new technology - right, because if there is an import of new technology, it might affect production and productivity in future by increasing capacity utilisation
c)when the deficit is partly due to a rise in standards of living of consumers - wrong, because rise in standards of living of consumers might and so increase in demand of imported goods will mean that there will be no expand in production and productivity in domestic goods and services
d)all of the above - wrong
ANSWER: B
635. Which one of the following would appear as a credit item in the UK balance of payments?
a)the purchase by a French company of a UK insurance business - money coming into the country
b)money sent by UK residents to their relatives overseas - money going out
c)expenditure by the british government in maintaining foreign embassies overseas - money going out
d)the expenditure of Japanese tourists on holiday in Britain - I don’t know
ANSWER: D
636. ANSWER: C
637. Which one of the following is a debit item on the current account of the UK’s balance of payments?
a) foreign tourists choosing to spend money in London whilst on holiday - money spent in country
b)sales of Sky televison programmes to the US - money coming in
c)exports from UK ports transported on UK merchant ships - money coming in
d)the costs of supporting UK armed forces in overseas counties - money going out
ANSWER: D
638. A government may seek to improve the current account of the balance of payments by introducing either expenditure-reducing or expenditure-switching policies. Which of the following expenditure-reducing policy?
a)a rise in income tax- right- reduces expenditure by domestic residents
b)devaluation of the currency - wrong, will not reduce expenditure
c)the introduction of an export subsidy - increase in government expenditure
d)the introduction of an import tariff - expenditure-switching policy
ANSWER: A
639. “Increase in imports causes the UK’s current account deficit to worsen by 4 billion” Which of the following is most likely to have the situation described in the headline? An increase in the UK’s
a)exchange rate - right, with a rise in the exchange rate exports are less competitive and imports prices decrease and so Import volume increasing
b)aggregate supply
c)level f taxation
d)rate of productivity growth
ANSWER: A
640. Which one of the following items would appear as a credit item on the UK balance of payments?
a)the purchase of wine from a French vineyard by a British wine merchant - money going out
b)a group of american tourists flying to Britain using concorde - money not coming into
c)the purchase of UK produced digital cameras by a german company - money coming in
d)the purchase of shares in a british oil company by Japanese investors - private industry
ANSWER: C
641. ANSWER: B

Rhubarb

so what is rhubarb?
"A relative of buckwheat, the fruit has an earthy and acerbic flavor. In fact, the acidity of rhubarb is so high that you need sugar, honey or fruit juice to balance it completely.It is native to western China and is usually cultivated in cold climates. Since rhubarb is mainly used for the purpose of making pies, its plant is often known as ‘pie plant’. Though the fruit is also available in fresh form, it is the frozen variety that is more commonly used. In the following lines, we have provided information on the health and nutrition benefits of eating rhubarb.


Studies have shown that rhubarb has anti-cancer properties and might help in cutting down the risk of cancer.
Fresh rhubarb stalk is a very good source of dietary fiber and is beneficial for those suffering from indigestion.
Eating a cold piece of rhubarb stalk can help counterbalance stomach acid and thus, restore health.
Regular consumption of fresh rhubarb has been seen to have a positive effect on lowering of blood pressure.
It is believed that regular intake of rhubarb extract can help in diminishing the problem of hot flashes.
Rhubarb has anti-bacterial properties and when applied topically, can inhibit the problem of staphylococcus aureus.
Researches have suggested that rhubarb can prove to be beneficial for those suffering from high cholesterol.
Rhubarb has been found to have anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergy properties. "

Poverty and education

-Of the 100 schools with the highest proportions of pupils eligible for free school meals in England, only three attained the national average GCSE point score
-Schools in the poorest areas have 10-25 % of pupils achieving 5 GCSE at grade A*-C against national average of 50%
-In 2002, 13% of 18 year olds and 7% of 16 year olds in England and Wales were not in any education, training or employment; 30% of these 16 year olds children had no reported GCSE; one third of them at age 18 were not in paid work, training or education
(Poverty: the Facts, Jan Flaherty, John Veit-Wilson, Paul Dornan, 5th edition)
These statistics are examples of how the poverty influence on educational achievement. Children who live in poverty tend to be culturally and materially deprived, which means that they are lack of motivation, parental encouragement in case of cultural deprivation and lack of money and basic necessities, equipment in case of material deprivation. Research of Jan Flaherty showed that lack of material resources such as space to work, books, computers, money are the key factors in children’s low performance. They get low scores and have very low attainment, this may lead to excluding from schools: “Children, excluded from school are unlikely to return to mainstream education.”(G Palmer, M Rahman, R Kenway, Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2002) They are not only educationally disadvantaged but also excluded socially as they don’t participate in different kinds of activities and support trips, excursions because of their financial exclusion.
Usually children who grow up in poor families leave schools at the lowest age to find a job and to get paid, even if they go to schools, they don’t do any homework because of lack of equipment and stressful environment at home. Also research of Jan Flaherty has shown that those children tend to help their parents and protect them from total poverty by doing simple things for others for money or helping somebody.
Research showed that children who grew up in a low income families are more likely to be economically inactive, “have lower self-esteem and have a fatalistic attitude to health” because of financial exclusion of their parents: children start to behave in similar way and they usually have a little knowledge of the role of banks and building societies and they disadvantaged in terms of financial skills as their parents don’t show them an appropriate example of making a profit and earning money.
Also children in poverty tend to have more health problems and so they miss more classes and worse master classes.
“In general, children of poverty are more likely to form lower expectations about their succes at school or work and they in fact turn out to be less successful in achieving higher levels of education or getting jobs or avoiding getting pregnant” (J Ermisch, M Francesconi, D J Pevalin Outcomes for children poverty, Research Report 158, Department for Work and Pension, 2001)

(All the research results of Jan Flaherty are taken from the book: Poverty: the Facts, Jan Flaherty, John Veit-Wilson, Paul Dornan, 5th edition)

IB vs A level

“The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme is a challenging two-year curriculum, primarily aimed at students aged 16 to 19. It leads to a qualification that is widely recognized by the world’s leading universities.” while “AS (Advanced Subsidiary) and A (Advanced) level qualifications focus on traditional study skills. They normally take two years to complete full-time, although they're also available to study part-time.”. So the first difference between them is that A levels are courses and so they can be part time, while IB Diploma is full independent programme which for some advantages increases its popularity last years. One of the reasons of it is that A levels was designed more as a set of single subject examinations, but IB “is
designed to be a full-time course for highly-committed and internationally-minded students, between
the ages of 16 and 18. Its nature is highlighted by the fact that it includes a compulsory element of
what in the A level world are called enrichment activities.” Also there are some features in the curriculum of IB programme such as extended essays where students improve their writing and research skills, CAS programmes when students should participate in activities and share their knowledge with others. IB Diploma offers theory of knowledge which is “central to the educational philosophy of the Diploma Programme.
It offers students and their teachers the opportunity to:
reflect critically on diverse ways of knowing and on areas of knowledge
consider the role and nature of knowledge in their own culture, in the cultures of others and in the wider world.
In addition, it prompts students to:
be aware of themselves as thinkers, encouraging them to become more acquainted with the complexity of knowledge
recognize the need to act responsibly in an increasingly interconnected but uncertain world.”
It is a stated aim of TOK that students should become aware of the interpretative nature of knowledge, including personal ideological biases, regardless of whether, ultimately, these biases are retained, revised or rejected.
TOK also has an important role to play in providing coherence for the student as it transcends and links academic subject areas, thus demonstrating the ways in which they can apply their knowledge with greater awareness and credibility."
A big advantage of A levels programmes is that students are more sure about their choice and can concentrate on the subject they would like to study in future and still for British Universities A levels is very necessary. But for international Universities it is better to choose IB programme, in my opinion.
IB Programme is much newer than A levels and its increasing popularity might make think us that IB will have better future and as head one of the schools said: "They've become much narrower, atomized and rigid; the IB is much more interesting."