Great Britain - The idea of progress

Progress is an improvement, a development, an advance. Progress contributes to making the world better. It can be seen on different levels :

• Scientific : medical progress, how to cure some illnesses, cloning…
• Technological : new technologies, the Internet, the social networks, phones…
• Social : education, homeless people, unemployment, human rights, women’s rights…

Is great Britain really progressing ?

1. There is indeed some progress

First of all, we can say that Great Britain is progressing. The mentality of the people is changing. Most of the British people would now agree that a member of the royal family marries somebody from another religion. In fact, 71% would agree according to the BBC in 2007. The Queen of England is head of the Anglican Church. So, in the past it wasn’t possible to marry someone from another religion. However, it shows they are more tolerant, yet they don’t speak of other religions.

Furthermore, Queen Elizabeth visited Ireland to cool down the tensions between the two countries. Indeed, there have been anxieties between the UK and Ireland. But thanks to the moral progress of those countries, the conciliation is possible. The Queen also stressed the ties and friendship between the inhabitants of both sides and the common history.    

1. But there are still problems to be solved

We can take as an example the British education system, which is very elitist. On the one hand, 7% of schools or private and selective. The best students come out of those schools with excellent marks at the A levels and go to the best universities. They end up with the best jobs in society. On the other hand, among the rest of students, a lot of them quit school early because they can’t afford good studies. They find themselves without education, training and without a job (unemployment).

Finally, the differences between the social classes make even more differences in education. Students who are poor can’t go to university, they are underprivileged. This is a big problem in England and is a counter-progress. England is one of the most expensive countries when it comes to education.

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