2009_02_Session_B_sample speeches

1. Does the government interfere too much in people’s lives?

In 21st century, if we look around the developed countries, government has less interferences and impact on our lives. So, I don’t think it is too much.

Excessive interferences lead a country to brainwash of its citizen, which happened in Japan for the time of world war II. As of the world now, we can see it in North Korea. I believe through these kind of experiences, countries learned excessive interferences can not be any good for a nation.

However, If a country is in amid of development, it would require some protection and interferences from a government for the prosperous of the country. For example, Tata is an automotive company in India. Tata wouldn’t be able to survive without support or consideration of CO2 emission regulation from the government in the country, since its technology is far behind from automotive majors such as Daimler, GM and Toyota. If the government want to have automotive companies in its country, moderate interferences are required.

As I described interferences by government is not preventable in some cases. However, in 21st century, we don’t see much interferences.

2. Which is the bigger threat to society, crime or environmental destruction?

The sudden springing up of more environmental issues have been very alarming recently. Several catastrophes related to nature have caught a many peoples attention – a warning that an impending bigger catastrophe would possibly occur if we don’t do anything to stop it now.

Five years before Hurricane Katrina struck the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the US. More recently, a couple of mammoth quakes struck Haiti and Chile and destroyed the lives of many people. And even Pakistan has not escaped the ire of mature nature, for the country is currently battling a disastrous flooding that crippled the inhabitants ability to sustain themselves. All these issues brought about by nature have caused immense damages not only to the livelihood of mankind but to their lives as well. Toxins, waste, pollution, nuclear issues, environmental issues, and climate change have all stirred a great amount of debate and controversies on how to prevent it from futhering the damages these have done to the Earth.

If mother nature strikes, not even the richest nor the strongest man alive can ever stop her wrath, thus, it is high time for us to try to fix what we’ve damaged. A single tree could make a difference for the future generation, and to make a little remedy to the environmental issues mankind is facing.

(221 words)

3. Has commercialization had a negative effect on professional sports?

In some sense, it is very true to have negative impact. However, over all commercialization has positive effect rather than negative one.

Professional sports without commercialization such as advertisements do not have any source for revenue. As almost all of people agree performances by professional athletes sometimes really move people. If there is no source of earning money for professional athletes, they need to find another source for their salary and can not focus on their strength. This could be a huge loss if professional sports are not commercialized.

Of course it also has negative impact in some sense. For example, professional baseball player can earn a lot of money due to the popularity and successful commercialization. On the other hand, top Judo athletes can not earn as much as professional baseball player. If you can choose one, which one would you choose? This causes to less popularity of Judo and it will be difficult to make our national sport popular.

So, as stated, of course negative impact of commercialization of professional sports is unpreventable, it also has huge benefit to professional athletes and provide throb of pleasure.

4. Is the family becoming less important in today’s world?

The father, mother, and children are what comprise a family. A family is a basic unit that provides significant contributions to the well-being and development of an individual no matter what the color of the skin he wears.

Long before, people find strength in their family. The family serves as a fortress that keeps them away from danger and other unwanted negative turnout of events in life. It is also the family that molds a persons individuality, making him ready to face the unknown and be the person that he is. In general sense, the family is a very essential part of life that provides not just the basic needs of an individual but also a sense of belongingness and security. Not much has changed today, people still view their family as an important part of their life. Contemporary times have portrayed families no less than how it was portrayed in the past. Still important, still a necessity, and still the place where people first build their personality and learn their first education.

Despite the busy world of today, most people still find good enough reasons to spend a fraction of their time with their family, hence, this shows how families are still valued and highly appreciated even in this modern society.

5. Should large corporations take their social responsibilities more seriously?

Each large corporation's vision and mission creates an impact on the society in many aspects like the economy, ethical standards, and international norms, thus, they have to take corporate social conscience to a much higher level of responsibility.

Firstly, in the era of capitalism, the net income is the only thing that the CEO of a company and the share holders care about. But currently, people have changed their views on how to do their purchases which aren't necessarily pure pursuit of prices or efficiency but rather choosing fair trade products. These changes depict how companies are presently being evaluated by the consumers. These corporations must focus on product quality as well because consumers want reasons before they purchase certain products. Secondly, large corporations must take on community-based approach and work with local communities to better themselves. For instance, ensuring stability of the company to provide quality products for the people as well as offering them better quality of life by participating in education facilities for children and adults and HIV education programs for instance.

Large corporations should not only focus on profitability and company growth, but they also have to make sure that they embrace responsibility for the company's actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders, and all other members of the public sphere.