English Oral, the idea of Progress

We are going to tackle the idea of progress. To begin, I’d like to give a definition of what progress is. It is a steady evolution toward a better stage, it is an improvement, a development or a change toward advanced condition. Progress is thus the idea that the world can become a better place to live in terms of science, technologies and living conditions even though it is sometimes used in a negative way. To illustrate this notion I’ve chosen to approach the issue of women’s rights, the installation of video surveillance equipments in schools and the conflict between the British press and on-line journalism.

We may wonder: Does progress bring everyone’s satisfaction?

In recent years , the question of women’s rights have been tackled whereas women were until then considered as the weaker vessel. Weaker because then, people thought women were fragile by nature and couldn’t bear the weight of outside world without their husband and vessel because it refers to the one whom manages a household. Women were thus deprived of some rights men do have and it’s why several associations have been created like “Global Fund for Women” which is a foundation that claims Women’s Humans

Rights. Created seventy years ago, Global Fund for Women call for a female status as equal as men in every country of the planet. In class, we were given a poster on which is represented an african woman saying “I don’t break down. I break stereotypes.”. This poster aims to raise awareness, women aren’t fragiles and they aren’t unable to do things as good as men, it is time to erase those stereotypes. By this poster, the association wants women no longer to break down and to submit to unfounded received ideas but to break stereotypes and to show their worth. Mentalities had evolve because the question of gender equality have been approached while then the man was considered as the breadwinner and the only one who can hold a family. Here, this initiative is very positive because it permits women to assert themselves as humans, as equal as men.

However, it can’t be denied that progress usually used in a positive way is sometimes used in a more negative manner. Indeed, whereas surveillance equipment has been used for the first time in Great Britain, during the end of the twentieth century to forestall crime and terrorism; some schools were given the possibility to set cameras into their premises. How does an invention initially used to prevent terrorist attack can be used in a place such as a school ? According to a text from the telegraph named “Government allows problem schools to take up free camera surveillance trial”, cameras in school aim to monitor students and reduce or even eradicate drug traffic. Such a decision is for many people a wrong utilization of progress because in accordance with an article from the Boston Globe named “Walpole students petition against school surveillance cameras”, cameras in schools are useless, costly, intrusive and they create a feeling of distrust between the students and the administrators. Imagine all those students who aren’t implicated in drug traffics, how do they feel ? Being filmed every second is probably disturbing for them because school is a place said to be a supportive environment and not a place to monitor as well as a prison. With those cameras, students are tracked as well as all sorts of

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