Article IV

" Eduacation is Important "

Education in its broadest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another.

Teachers in educational institutions direct the education of students and might draw on many subjects, including reading, writing, mathematics, science and history. This process is sometimes called schooling when referring to the education of teaching only a certain subject, usually as professors at institutions of higher learning. There is also education in fields for those who want specific vocational skills, such as those required to be a pilot. In addition there is an array of education possible at the informal level, such as, in museums and libraries, with the Internet and in life experience.

Main article: Education theory
Education theory is the theory of the purpose, application and interpretation of education and learning. Its history begins with classical Greek educationalists and sophists and includes, since the 18th century, pedagogy and andragogy. In the 20th century, "theory" has become an umbrella term for a variety of scholarly approaches to teaching, assessment and education law, most of which are informed by various academic fields, which can be seen in the below sections.


Main article: Economics of education

It has been argued that high rates of education are essential for countries to be able to achieve high levels of economic growth. Empirical analyses tend to support the theoretical prediction that poor countries should grow faster than rich countries because they can adopt cutting edge technologies already tried and tested by rich countries. However, technology transfer requires knowledgeable managers and engineers who are able to operate new machines or production practices borrowed from the leader in order to close the gap through imitation. Therefore, a country's ability to learn from the leader is a function of its stock of "human capital." Recent study of the determinants of aggregate economic growth have stressed the importance of fundamental economic institutions and the role of cognitive skills.

At the individual level, there is a large literature, generally related back to the work of Jacob Mincer, on how earnings are related to the schooling and other human capital of the individual. This work has motivated a large number of studies, but is also controversial. The chief controversies revolve around how to interpret the impact of schooling.

Economists Samuel Bowles and Herbert Ginits famously argued in 1976 that there was a fundamental conflict in American schooling between the egalitarian goal of democratic participation and the inequalities implied by the continued profitability of capitalist production on the other.

Article III

" Going, going, gone: How global warming could kill off our best loved species "


The British countryside could see many of its most iconic species vanish forever if temperatures continue to rise, the Environment Agency has warned.

An army of alien African toads and choking South American weeds will replace trout and salmon in our rivers, according to the agency's report.

The prediction comes as campaigners paint a bleak future for native species such as dormice and bluebells.

Lord Smith, chairman at the Environsincement Agency, said: 'There is a danger that we think of climate change as something that is happening in other countries. But it's not just polar bears and rainforests that are at risk.
Dormouse

The common dormouse could soon be edged out by other species as global warming gets worse

'What we see in our rivers, gardens, seas and skies here is already changing and delays in reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions will lead to more severe impacts.'

According to the Met Office, the past decade saw the warmest years

records began in 1850, with temperatures likely to rise as manmade carbon dioxide continues to pour into the atmosphere.

Fish such as salmon and trout, which need cool water, may struggle to adapt. The agency says evidence suggests the fish are already declining in southern England.

Insects will see numbers fall by a fifth for every 1c rise in temperatures in upland streams, the report warns.

And it says rising sea levels could swamp salt marshes and mudflats used by migrating birds such as redshanks and ringed plovers.

Warmer summers and milder winters could encourage invasive species such as African clawed toads, which carry a fungus deadly to other amphibians.

While fast-growing weeds such as South American water primrose would thrive, choking rivers and bringing the risk of floods, the agency claims.

The agency's report comes as the Wildlife Trust says species such as hazel dormice and bluebells are under increased pressure from habitat changes caused by the climate.

But warmer temperatures will also see new arrivals to British shores. Spoonbills, wasp spiders and loose-flowered orchids could all colonise for the first time