Kath & Kim:"Party" (Season 1, Episode 7)
Kath, Kim and Sharon are getting ready for Kath's hen night. Note how"You're not just a pretty face" can go from compliment to insult with the omission of just one word.
Panos Athanasopoulos is professor of linguistics and English language at Lancaster University, who believes that the the language you speak in reality can affect the way you think. Do you agree? Read the article on the link above and post your thoughts in the comments section.
Michael Sandel presents a special BBC Democracy Day edition of The Public Philosopher, recorded in the Palace of Westminster with an audience of MPs, peers and the public. This is an extended version of the recording broadcast on Radio 4's Today programme.
Group 7 C1 2:00pm Class Language Leader Advanced Unit 1.1
Employment and Education
Discussion, Reading, Listening & Vocabulary
Homework
Read over the audio-script (p.170) and note down any new collocations, expressions or verb structures.
With public holidays falling over the next two weekends, our next lesson won't be until Saturday 9th May. In the meantime though, you can practice your English by completing the following assignment. Read the articles in the links below and listen to the podcast from The Public Philosopher. We can discuss your answers, views and observations when we meet again in May - by which time we will know the result.
The U.K. Election (May 7th 2015)
Discussion:
What do you know about this year’s U.K. Election (the parties/the leaders/the issues)?
Will the outcome have any effect here in Europe/Italy (politically/economically)?
Michael Sandel presents a special BBC Democracy Day edition of The Public Philosopher, recorded in the Palace of Westminster with an audience of MPs, peers and the public. This is an extended version of the recording broadcast on Radio 4's Today programme. See also: http://seansstudypage.blogspot.it/2015/04/election-time-english.html
Income inequality is not good for wellbeing (Jonathan 3:15)
Luck - social class - not hard work (Alice 3:50)
Image of a banker - overweight man behind a desk (4:25)
Fair pay should reflect hard work (5:00)
Against
Creativity and intelligence also important (Wes 5:25)
Football players (6:00)
Aggregate choice - Market (7:00)
People who create the most deserve the highest pay
Kaley’s (8:09) counter argument - it’s about the size of the pay difference.
soccer/football player
Harry (9:40) accident of birth argument - income inequality shouldn’t respond to these things in such a dramatic way. Effort can also be affected by upbringing. The justice of the universe - luck - the lottery of life. How can the lucky deserve this vast advantage (12:00) Moral arbitrariness.
Ceilia (13:00) intrinsic value of the work - choosing from behind the veil of ignorance (Theory argued by John Rawls in his book A Theory of Justice).
Different from the market argument as markets don’t pass judgment on the intrinsic importance of the activities.
Charles (15:30) counter argument - nurse/doctor theoretically should be paid more in a free market as the rich would pay anything to to be cured but better to be in a society that sees health as a right. Huge banker’s pay doesn’t reflect risk therefore unfair. Intrinsic value should be one factor but not the only one.
Michael (19:00) best way to put an intrinsic value on something because it is the most efficient otherwise - hard to define. Redistribution - through tax?
Jonathan (21:00) Why people go into the profession - non pecuniary benefits. (22:00 - unsatisfying job joke)
Harry’s Question (24:00) To what extent do the pay differences we observe today reflect luck?/effort and other things we can control?
Thomas (25:00) poor boy made good argument. Steve Jobs example need luck + effort
Zariff (28:00) In Western Economies there are fewer obstacles to advancement therefore a lot of opportunities.
29:30 If we had a perfect meritocracy society (perfect equality of opportunity) then would the results of the market economy be fair? (Zariff - agrees, Harry - disagrees - effort/willingness also depends on circumstance and luck)
Lillian (32:40) Yugoslavian experience - distinctions still appear when people capture the choice - access to the market/executive/media.
Neer (34:00) Even if we had equal opportunity there would still be differential rewards and those differences still might exist because of luck (i.e. being born into a society that values and prizes (in renumeration and status) certain skills and jobs is a matter of luck)
(36:00) 2 Dimensions to luck in a meritocracy (1) Whether we deserve the talents and skills that we use to get ahead (2) Whether we deserve to live in a society that values the skills that we have in abundance.
Conclusion
Identified the competing philosophical principles of fairness in defining what is fair pay:
contribution?
effort?
markets?
Market “fairness” skewered by inequality of opportunity
Perfect Meritocracy would still be influenced by luck
Looking for a film (on DVD or at the cinema) to stimulate the brain cells over the two consecutive holiday weekends? This article from The Guardian "I watch therefore I am", offers some interesting choices:
I am a freelance teacher based at the British Council in Rome. This is a Blog for my students, not only to keep up with what we are doing in class but also to ask questions, share ideas and practise English.
