Effects of Television

     People are watching more and more television. As a result, television is having an increasing effect on society. Describe the beneficial and harmful effects of television on society. Then indicate what you believe the role of television should be and why. 

     Television is both beneficial and harmful. Its benefits are many. Firstly, it is an inexpensive form of entertainment. Secondly, it imparts news and information. The many documentaries it carries help to spread knowledge alone, or combined with the video cassette recorder, it is a very effective teaching aid widely used in schools.

     Many people also view it as a curse. Many say it wastes the time of housewives who should     be doing housework. It also wastes the time of children who should be revising their lessons or doing their homework. Many also blame television for spreading undesirable western culture and for     eroding moral values. Furthermore, they think it is a curse to healthy living for it discourages people from actively exercising outdoors. Too much television viewing also spoils one's eyesight.

     Actually, television has more advantages than disadvantages. If we choose the programmes carefully television can give us a lot of benefits. It can do harm only if we watch undesirable programmes.

     The main role of television should be to entertain, to inform and to educate. These are worthwhile objectives. All other objectives are of secondary importance. Television should provide inexpensive, wholesome entertainment to its viewers. This is to help them to relax or to forget life's worries temporarily. It should also inform its viewers about what is happening in their own countries    as well as what is happening in other parts of the world. Television should also impart knowledge to     its viewers. This is to help them to fit better in an increasingly complex world. So, we can see that television, if used wisely, can contribute positively to our lives.

Is a University Education Necessary for Success?

     Parents spend thousands of ringgit and even hundreds of thousands of ringgit for their children to get a university degree. They say that a degree will ensure/ guarantee a brighter future for their children. Is this necessarily true?

     First of all, Let us determine the criterion for judging success. Most parents equate a big income with success. They are not interested in the intellectual, spiritual or aesthetic development brought about by tertiary education. They measure success by the quantity of material rewards they can obtain with a university education. To them the bigger your bank account, house or car, the bigger is your success. So, if we judge success in this materialistic manner, does a tertiary education give/ bring you a bigger income? It is not necessarily so.

     Most successful people do not have/ posses a university degree. In fact, one very big success was a local multi-millionaire who did not even finish his primary education and could just write his name and no other words. It seems that the genius which created the world's most famous computer software and who earns millions of dollars each day did not complete his university studies. In fact, the number of successful people who are non-graduates are too numerous to enumerate. Many successful businessmen and women have not stepped inside a university. Still, they are very successful not only in their business but also other aspects of their lives.

     The truth is if you have a degree, you are less likely to succeed than someone who has none. You will only be thinking of working for others if you are a graduate in a certain discipline. Working for others will earn you only a modest fixed income, say RM2.000 per month or even RM5,000 per month. It is only for the man who does not have a university degree, who is willing to take risks and who wants only to be the boss that the sky is the limit. The world does not belong to graduates who are only thinking of working for others. If a man's success is judged by the size of his income, then the lowly educated hawker is even more successful than a university graduate. While a graduate may earn RM300 a day and think that it is a lot of money, there is one lowly-educated woman selling "pasembur" who earns twice that amount in a single day. In fact, any mildly successful hawker will out-earn a university graduate any time. In one of the local newspapers one day, a university professor wryly observed that the fried "keow teow" seller in his housing estate earned four times what he did!

     From all the above examples, we can clearly see that it is not necessary to have a university education to be successful.

Study Abroad or Locally?

     Some people believe that studying in overseas universities is better than studying in local ones. The first reason they give is that degrees from foreign universities are recognized all over the world while local degrees are not. For example, they say that it is better to get an engineering or medical degree from overseas because the standards in foreign universities are higher. It will be easier for these graduates to get jobs at the more reputable institutions and to ask for higher pay. They also claim that degrees from foreign universities are more prestigious and holders of foreign degrees are highly respected. People who prefer studying overseas also say that foreign universities have a much longer tradition than local universities. They have existed for a long, long time. Who has not heard of Oxford and Cambrige in Britain or the Ivy League universities in the eastern United States such as Cornell, Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, the Massahussetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pensylvannia? They all have a reputation for high academic standards and social prestige. Some prefer to study overseas because they are allowed to take courses which they are not allowed to take locally. Another reason they prefer to study overseas is that they will be uisng English in study and this will help them later in their jobs.

     For those who prefer studying locally, the main attraction is the low cost. Studying in Malaysia is much, much cheaper than studying overseas. If one studies locally, one needs to spend only about thirty to forty tousand ringgit whereas one needs to spend a few hundred thousand ringgit if one studies overseas. With the present economic downturn and the drop in the value of the Malaysian ringgit, things are going to be worse. Another advantage is that one need not leave one's country so one can still be close with one's family. Therefore, one would not suffer from homesickness or feel out of place in a strange environment. Degrees from local universities are also recognized worldwide. One would not have any problems when one wants to take an advanced degree or when one wants to work in another country.

     After considering the pros and cons, I think that studying at a local university would be a better choice for me. In the first place, my parents are not rich. They can never afford to sed me to a foreign university. As to finding employment after getting my degree, I think a local degree would suffice as I am never going to work overseas. Since local degrees are also recognized for advanced degrees courses, it is not necessary for me to get an expensive foreign degree. Most importantly, I love my family very much and cannot bear the thought of being far away from them. If I study in a local university, I can be near them.