Mind the gap!

Are gap years just for spoiled, lazy, rich kids in wealthy countries, or should more students have this experience?  Do gap years hinder academic progress?  If you take a gap year, how should you spend it?  How should it be financed?  Do you agree with this writer’s assessments of the benefits of taking a gap year?

Don’t blame me.  I’m sick.

Here is another article on gambling.  Can gambling addiction be considered a disease?  Does this author do a good job of assessing the pluses and minuses of considering an addiction a disease?  Does it depend on whether you are the person with the addiction or the person who is trying to help someone get over the addiction?

Sportsmen or showmen, athletes or actors?

Does professional sports still have anything to do with sports, or is it mainly a business (and a business based on entertainment at that)?  Do you agree with this writer, who sides with the coach, or does the commissioner have a point?  Would your answer change if you had paid for tickets and did not get to see the star players?

Making them pay

  
How can countries effectively tax multinational corporations, if they should indeed be taxed?  What do you think of the idea of making their tax offences public, perhaps with the aim of informing customers so that they can feel free to boycott or take their business elsewhere?  Do you think Cameron’s claim that this would violate their confidentiality valid, or is this blurring the line too much between individuals and corporations?

Oops.  So maybe that joke wasn’t so funny.

 

There are a lot of interesting points made both in this article and in the comments which follow. (You are free to reference those too.)  A sample:  Do companies have a right to censor their employees?  When is it legitimate to judge others for what they say on social media?  Does this case show that protecting one’s privacy in the world of the internet is a lost cause?  Is this issue about censorship, freedom of expression, or being civil?

Gonny say guid bye to the Sassanachs?

This is the last entry you can comment on for December.

Do you agree with the author that the chances of other countries forming in Europe due to secession are next to none?  Why do these regions want independence?  Is it just emotional, or are there other important motivations?  What would it take for these countries to successfully split off, as Slovakia did about 10 years ago?  Does every nationality have the right to its own nation, and if not, what special privileges and protections should be given to minorities?  If you were from Svidnik, would you be interested in creating an independent Ruthenia? 

No room for great-grandma

Here is a timely article for All Saints Day.   While this article is American (and also talks about the UK and Hong Kong), on the news yesterday I noticed that Bratislava is having trouble as well and that there are discussions afoot about how to expand the Ruzinov cemetary.  Surely expansion cannot go on indefinitely however.  What do you think about the solutions that others have found?

Are you man too much?

Is a desire for toughness natural in men, or is it, as this writer argues, promoted and exploited?  Do you agree with his analysis, or do you think he portrays the desire for toughness in too negative a light?  What do you think about the solutions he proposes?

Diplomatic invulnerability

Is the delimma of security versus accessability and discretion a solvable one?  How well, in your opinion, does the US embassy in Bratislava balance these concerns?  What about other embassies here?  Should embassies be inviolable by their host countries, or can exceptions be made in certain circumstances?

Ah those beautiful windmills

How important is scenery and landscape in our lives and how can it best be preserved?  Should it be regulated, as city-scapes are?  If so, how?  In modern times, when landscapes are changing so rapidly, is the writer′s idea of preserving landscapes through the visual arts a good one?  If wind-turbines destroy the view of landscapes, do their costs outweigh their benefits?  Should Slovakia go the way of our western neighbor and build more of them?

Running in the mud

What do you think of the controversial decision of New York to hold its marathon on the scheduled date despite the circumstances?  Will this help or hurt the image of the city for its citizens?  What about for those outside the city?  Do this writer′s arguments hold water for you?  Is there something she is missing?  (Since the writing of this article, the marathon has been called off.  Good choice?)

The Liberal Arts as an anti-terrorism weapon

This is the last entry you can comment on for the month of November.

Why do you think religious fanatics also tend to be well-educated?   Is the author′s explanation a good one?  Can a liberal arts education, rather than a specialized one, help to increase creative and critical thinking and even better prepare students for being flexible on the job market?  Has the choice between a liberal arts education, such as those in US Universities, and a more specialized one, as is often the case in Slovakia or the UK, played a role in where you have decided you want to go next?

The babies who wead

How can parents best prepare their children to learn to read?  Is the trend towards younger children reading a good one, or does it amount to too much pressure on young minds?  How and when did you learn how to read?  How and when do you think you will teach your children to read?

Chavez, the great democratic leader

Does Venezuala have a good way of ensuring free elections?  Is this writer correct in defending Chavez?  Is it the fault of a biased media and US influence that he has a bad reputation, or is he partly to blame?  And to look at what the author thinks is the main cause of US hatred towards Chavez, if a coutry has a large natural resource like oil, and has a lot of poverty, can nationalization of this resource be a solution?

All you need is love?

Do you have a hard time saying these three words?  If a stranger said them to you, would you respond in kind?  Would the world be a better place if people could say them more often, or at least feel less awkard about expressing their affection towards each other?  Or is there too much touchy-feeliness and too many free hugs going around these days?