Sociology and Social Sciences

The traditional social sciences which have been developed as part of the totality of learning in the West have been brought over to Asia. It is now becoming increasingly evident that the validity of such social sciences, whether in the realm of research theory or of action policy, can no longer be accepted uncritically. An appreciation of what is valid or invalid, applicable or inapplicable, is therefore imperative.Such analysis is necessary not only as an academic venture; social change is basic to the Asian aspiration for modernization and the need is urgent for such change to be directed towards the achievement of what may well be Asian as distinguished from non-Asian goals. CULTURE The problem is clear and present. The Asian academic world, until now, has been staffed with many scholars whose training has been, for the most part, in Western universities and institutions. At the same time, the political and intellectual leadership in the larger life of its society is held to a sig nificant degree of Western-trained leaders.The orientation of many of these leaders has been conditioned by the predominantly Western culture. Trained to think in Western terms through the medium of Western languages, some are experiencing a reawakening to the reality of their situation. Asian intellectuals are undergoing an agonizing period of soul-searching. Their system of values, developed through years of training in, and broad exposure to, Western philosophies, is being shattered by a realization that these values may not be suitable to the Asian environment.Recently, Professor Ruben Santos-Cuyugan of the University of the Philippines expressed misgivings about the movement towards the unification of all knowledge, including the assumption of â€Å"universal categories of culture† and the universality of value judgment. This movement, according to him, makes the social scientist evade one of his fundamental responsibilities which is â€Å"to examine the ways by which h is science and thought, indeed his very perceptions, are rooted in the matrix of his own culture† (Santos-Cuyugan 1967). POLITICSIn the meantime, in the realm of politics, the postwar leaders of Asia have discovered that independence has not automatically ushered in the Utopia. Thus, they are not seeking the nature and structure of government that will best meet their needs, the political philosophies their peoples should embrace or adopt, and the policies that will bring about the good society by their indigenous standards and values. A starting point is the fact that with a few exceptions, the developing countries of Asia profess belief in freedom and human rights, the rule of law and constitutional government.These concepts and maxims are manifested in their constitutions. However, in spite of guarantees enshrined in their constitutions, these countries find it difficult to achieve real constitutional democracy. For the constitutions of the West have, in many cases, been tr ansplanted to Asian soil without the historical experience that nurtured them in the West, where they were the products of a long period of evolution and development. Democracy implies mass participation by the people in the political process.But if the people are not sufficiently educated in the processes of democracy, or have not sufficiently imbibed its spirit, how can it flourish? In fact, one wonders whether or not the structure of government of the Philippines, patterned as it is after the outlined in the American Constitution, is not really a hindrance to, rather than an instrument for, national development. In any case, it has become quite clear that Western-style democracy has to be modified so as to satisfy the urgent Asian desire for economic progress and social justice.Liberty, as this term is used in the West, has mainly the negative connotation of freedom from arbitrary restraint. In the Asian setting, it must be given a positive content; governments have to assume a g reater responsibility for providing opportunities for the growth and self-realization of citizens. In the same manner, â€Å"justice† has had mainly a political connotation in the West, where it is usually associated with law and social behavior. In Asia, if political justice were not integrally related to economic justice, it would be almost peripheral to the real problems.In so far as Asians are concerned, economic justice is the more relevant concept because it touches the heart of the existing social order. In this sense, it is associated with the eradication of poverty and the alleviation of human suffering. Another qualification should be made. There is so much lip-service to the concept of â€Å"rule of law† in many Asian societies. By this, people are supposed to be guided by certain legal precepts in their social relations. However, in the Philippine experience, despite the fact that most Filipinos are professed and vocal adherents of the â€Å"rule of law.â € They do not find difficulty in transgressing legal rules because in the business of everyday living, non-legal rules oftentimes command greater obedience than legal ones, especially when values such as family and kinship ties are involved. This is part of the explanation of such phenomenon as nepotism. Which is certainly frowned upon by the formal laws of society, but which is carried out in practice by almost everyone in political authority. Finally, bureaucracy, as an institution, is in external forms and manifestations similar to its prototype in the West.The same formal methods of recruitment, of organizational charts, of job descriptions, etc. , are utilized. But the ethos that animates Asian bureaucracy is obviously quite different from what animates Western bureaucracy. ECONOMICS The discipline of economics fives many illustrations of the limits of applicability of Western concepts, values and methods. The most evident at the moment is the emergence of new branches of st udy, such as development economics, and of a more socio-psychological approach to the study of economic systems than Keynesian economics allowed at an earlier period.Thus even in the West, there is a growing recognition (e. g. , Hagen 1962), that if economic growth is to occur, a country’s cultural patterns must be such as to produce â€Å"high need-achievement† directed towards â€Å"clusters of followers† once innovations are made. In fact, to achieve substantial economic development, it is suggested that the number of individuals with the entrepreneurial-motivational complex, and particularly with high achievement drives, will have to be significantly increased.Again, many Western economists have been laboring under the assumption of conventional analysis that the missing elements in developing societies are modern technical knowledge, capital, specially trained manpower, and a sound plan for using capital, manpower and technical knowledge. Once these element s were made available, they assumed, progress will automatically ensue. The international economic policy of the Western nations have therefore generally been geared towards providing these missing elements, with perhaps the strongest bias being in the provision of capital as the principal agent of development.The view is still widespread that if Asian countries can only obtain, through their own efforts or through foreign assistance, as sufficient amount of capital, they would be able to â€Å"finish the job† of development. The truth is that investment, whether public or private is subject to the risks, uncertainties and eccentricities of the poor public administration. Since development is a process, it is subject at every stage to how effectively the government can execute its plans.Moreover, it is now clear that traditional marginal analysis, however useful it may be as a basis for the understanding of advanced economics, can be very misleading for underdeveloped ones. W hen such factors as population growth and technological progress are made an integral part of analysis, instead of being left out altogether as in traditional equilibrium theory, out analysis can lead to policy conclusions exactly the reverse of what orthodox equilibrium theory might suggest.Even with the emergence in the West of development economics as a new field for the study of developing countries, certain biases continue to show. An example is the fact that in the West, economic development as a goal has been reckoned almost exclusively in terms of increases in annual national income. The corollary problem of income distribution has been merely glossed over. This is a serious omission because of the existing wide disparities in incomes among the peoples of the developing nations. This is illustrated in Philippine society.For this society may be likened to a social pyramid with an acute apex and a very broad base. At the apex is a very small segment of society, the rich and th e very rich; at the base are the broad masses of those who are poor and very poor. The constellation of power in our society has traditionally consisted of the hacendero-politico class at the apex of the social pyramid, which held sway over the lives of human beings. More recently, a new industrial class has appeared to increase their numerically few but historically powerful ranks.The elite class enjoys the benefits of modern technology and the affluence that it makes possible while the vast mass of the population lives close to the subsistence level. There is this a distressing and ever-widening gap in the process to goods and services. It is clear, therefore, that to be relevant to the realities of the Asian situation, economic development should not be reckoned only in terms of annual rates of economic growth, or of doubling national incomes in a decade.It should be vitally concerned with promoting economic justice, in spreading more widely the benefits of economic progress, and in continuously opening up new opportunities to an ever-widening circle of entrepreneurs and investors in the developing countries. In short, the achievement of economic democracy has to be a primordial goal, alongside the acceleration of the growth process. SOCIOLOGY In the realm of rural sociology, many practical limits to Western social research concepts and methods have been actually discovered in the Philippines. Methods and TechniquesTo begin with, planning a research project on the Western pattern is often not warranted by the amount and quality of available resources. There is, for instance, the problem of shortage of local professional social researchers compounded by the attitude which rural folks have for those social researchers. In the West, its rural folks are used to extension workers, welfare-agency volunteers, missionaries and the like. On the other hand, Philippine researchers and interviewers have been looked upon as philanthropists, as some sort of Rockefeller o f Ford Foundation representatives ready to give out material aid (Feliciano 1965).The establishment of concepts and definitions has not been easy. Social research is built around a framework which requires certain concepts such as household, family, literacy, religion, cooperation, and the like. But a research group, led by Professor Gloria D. Feliciano of the University of the Philippines, has recently concluded that in diagnostic studies wherein these concepts need to be stated in more refined or precise terms, an adaptation is necessary to avoid getting inaccurate data (Feliciano 1965).The term â€Å"religious affiliation. † For instance, has a connotation in the Philippines different from that in the West, where individualism and not â€Å"familism† prevails. In the West, it implies not only membership of an individual in a religious group. But usually religious preferences as well. In the Philippines, where close family and community ties are predominant, religiou s affiliation becomes a family or community matter. Hence, the term does not necessarily imply the religious preference of the individual.Another example mention by a Philippine research group has to do with family types: In this country (Philippines), one may not find a simple or nuclear family defined and interpreted according to Western standards. For, although it may appear simple nuclear structurally, functionally it usually partakes of the character of the extended type. Studies in recent years have exploded the myth that structurally the Filipino family is of the extended type. Rather, they showed that although the majority of the nuclear families live apart from one another, this did not deter them from helping one another in times of need or crisis.  (Castillo 1963 and Feliciano 1964, cited in Feliciano 1965).In reporting one of his studies, a Filipino researcher expounded on the problem he encountered in regard to the concept of cooperation: In the West, where this term gave rise to cooperatives, one usually thinks of it in terms of a disciplined, highly ordered code of behavior, de-emphasized family loyalties, rigid business principles, and a high degree of rationalized behavior. In short, the term has come to be associated with individual independence.In the Philippines, however, where the practice is deeply rooted in familiar or family ties, it is a matter of interdependence among indivuals. (Provinse 1960, cited in Feliciano 1965). Finally, insofar as the concept of literacy is concerned, a further refinement of sub-types is needed in the Philippines. It has been discovered that very often one encounters people who could literally read and write but who do not fully understand what they read or write.Role of Women, Role of Education In another report, Professor Gelia T.  Castillo, a pioneer rural research scholar in the Philippines, has found it necessary to reexamine the role of women in the development scheme (Castillo 1964). Her findings s howed such strong female influence in family and farm decision-making that for purposes of development work, it would be more fruitful to classify the Filipino woman in the rural scene as an active initiator, legitimizer, and decision-maker in her own right, rather than just a person who plays a mere supportive role to her husband, her father, or her barrio.A closer examination of the role of education has likewise been suggested because, while it is a potent instrument for effecting change in agricultural production, education acquires a different dimension when it â€Å"rules out mud on educated hands. † This view has been corroborated by another rural researcher, Professor Juan F. Jamias (1967). Who has an interesting explanation for the effectiveness of the â€Å"verbal culture† (education, research and extension) in increasing agricultural productivity in the Philippines.He states that the agricultural college degree in the Philippines has been â€Å"white-collar ized. † He cites data on the employment distribution of graduates of the College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines, which show that except for 8 percent engaged in farming, all the rest may be classified as white-collar workers. A later and more comprehensive survey revealed that only 1. 3 percent were actually engaged in private farming or business. Most of the graduates were actively involved in teaching and extension work. There are other examples of generalization that need closer scrutiny.In community leadership, does youth versus age necessarily mean change versus status quo? Is the mutual self-help circle, often regarded as an existing resource for cohesive community action, coterminous with the village unit of operations? The problem of concepts and definitions aside, the Feliciano research group has found out, too, that Western scientific sampling techniques are quite difficult to apply because, oftentimes, sampling universes such as geographic, or politic al subdivision lines are not definitely established.Furthermore, in many places, the basic socio-economic structure of the occupational groups, ethnic and religious groups, and types of land-use and land ownership have not been objectively defined. Raw Materials from Research in Action Programs The traditional social research method, which has come down to us from the West, calls for empirical evidence to support existing ideas. Our experience shows that rural research theory in the Philippines, in fact, being enriched by various experiences in research in action programs.The findings of Professor Gelia Castillo show that the researcher in action setting â€Å"has a unique advantage in obtaining substantive and methodological insights while actually participating in real life events which are part of the process of bringing about change. † At times, she says the problem which defies any design except the kind which involves a faithful description of down-to-earth happenings, is the most fertile source of insights. Examples to support this view have been cited.In the Philippines, many extension workers have claimed that most of the researches done are not practical and economically feasible under village conditions (From The Innovator, 1965). In the Philippines, experience, new theories in rural sociology are arising from empirical evidence. And the existing facts and data gathered are quite interesting because they are the results of pioneer efforts, empirically identified with their meanings laid bare rather than assumed by the conceptualizer. Truly, the agents of change in rural Philippines are breaking virgin ground. Knowing One’s AudienceAs we have said, in effecting directed social change, Western social scientists have focused their attention on knowing one’s audience. Even in the voluminous literature on diffusion studies in the United States, rarely have investigators addressed themselves to the nature of the innovation and the cha racter of the carriers of change. Among the advocates of change, there is an unchallenged assumption that the change being introduced is good, that the change agent is effective and that, therefore, the farmer who refuses to accept the innovation is irrational (Castillo). To be sure, the audience should be known.Who is the Asian farmer, for instance, whose ways are sought to be changed? This is an extremely important question. Again, one should know his audience in order to evaluate his data. It has been found that the reliability of farmers’ responses depends upon the respondent’s image of the researcher or interviewer and their expectations from the project. The Role of the Change Agent Be that as it may, to understand the subsistence farmer’s response or lack of response to the innovations sought to be introduced, the innovation itself must be proved, and the role of the change agent fully studied.On the latter point, one of the findings is that oftentimes a change agency is as rigid as the farmers it seeks to change. A former consultant has been quoted as saying that â€Å"the problems of development exist just as much in the organization charged with instituting change schemes as they do in the populace they are trying to change. † (Kumata 1960) To other findings have come out of the Philippine experiments. One is that a change agent can hardly expect to be effective unless his roles is accepted by his clientele.Rapport with the villagers, therefore, becomes a key factor. The other is that the agent of change in the Philippines should have a versatility unmatched by his counterpart in the West. The enormity and diversity of problem situations he comes to grips with require an interdisciplinary thinking, especially when he is the only social scientist within a radius of many kilometers. He should not be just a rural sociologist or an agricultural economist but a social scientist with expert preparation in his own discipline.He n eeds sophistication in social theory, mastery of research methodology, adequate comprehension of bureaucracy and political behavior, and intensive exposure to the world of village action, administration and policy. Towards a Theory for Developing Asian Nations It is of the highest priority that the teachers and practitioners in the social sciences in Asia emancipate themselves from the value-bias of Western concepts and postulates of reasoning. There is need for escaping the universalizing that characterizes much of the social sciences as they have developed in Western academic circles.Asian social scientists should undergo a truly creative engagement with their own culture and society, making use, in the process, of frameworks that provide standards of relevance to the experiences and aspirations of their own people. It should be constantly borne in the mind that there are limits to the applicability of Western concepts, values and method to Asian realities. It is important therefo re, that organized efforts be undertaken to compile and codify the vast amount of scattered data on particular subjects of social research in the different countries which are to be found in research offices and libraries of universities.With a commitment to intellectual efforts with a decidedly Asian value base, more genuine works of scholarships in the social sciences should come out of the academic world. With the growing data from field works and social sciences which enable d us to verify the referents of concepts in our respective countries, we may usefully embark on the ambitious project of setting up a theory for the developing Asian nations, and in the process, hopefully, understand ourselves.

The irony of life is that it takes a life time to learn about life Essay

The irony of life is that it takes a life time to learn about life - Essay Example Consider the example of a businessperson who puts their business before everything else, they spend or their time working, ignore their family and probably end up in terrible health since they hardly ever made time to take care of their health. Like many wealth people with his characteristics, the richer he gets the more self-entered he becomes (Grewal 1). Thirty years down the line, the same individual, is contemplating his vast business empire from his deathbed with no one to visit him expect those interested in inheriting his wealth. His critical health and poor social relations result to his being alone in his last hours, and he realizes that, the most important thing in this life is not how much money you make, but how you use it to change your life and others for the better. A clichà ©, but nonetheless, a common moral lesson that has taken him a lifetime to learn, and when he finally gets it, he has no life left in which to practice it. Considering this analogy and many similar ones that can be drawn from life the irony of it all becomes clear, stuff takes a lifetime to learn, but that is all the time anyone

Security Solution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Security Solution - Essay Example The critical point of the matter is that some of the company’s key competitors have already hacked the company’s strategies and that they are already using their techniques. No one knows anything about the source of the attack. However, the management is suspicious that some greedy employees could be associated with the attack and that they reveal vital information to its competitors. The network administrator of the ABC Company has limited understanding of attack methodologies while the company lacks valid security measures. Information regarding the company’s products, the raw materials available, quantity of finished goods, and their prices has been disclosed through a database which has been open for users from across the company. All company’s information has been easily accessible and modifiable by every user in the organization. This has been the key problem to the company security and has resulted to the attack and has lead to leaking and hacking o f data on their laptops. In order to protect the internal data of the company, adequate security measures should be taken with critical observation of the laid down strategies to ensure success in the attainment of security within the company (Essaaidi et al., 2006). The storage of data should be structured in an appendix whereby each department can have an access only to its information. A specific file saver should contain folders which contain specific information for each department with a ‘login’ option while personnel from a particular department should not be able to access information from another department’s folder. The encryption mechanism should be devised to ensure that data belonging to a particular user is accessible to that user only. The installed OS in the company computers should be updated with the latest patches and fixes while modification on information on each database should only be done by the head of department. Not even the network adm inistrator should have the right to modify information on the database but should, however, access the information in a ‘read only’ mode. In order to ensure that the computers are not accessed from outside the organization, which has greatly contributed to the hacking, the available OS in the computers should be updated and configured. The outdated OS present in the computers need to be updated to ensure that no outsider can access the computers. The company should also consider installing an anti-spyware tool. This tool monitors all activities on the computer. The tool can be accidentally installed within program downloads and other files while their use is often cruel. They can capture passwords credit card details as well as banking credentials and relay them back to cheaters. Anti-spyware will help in monitoring and protecting the computers from spyware threats and is free to update and use (Stamatellos, 2007).   On the implementation of the solutions, the organiz ation will require to inform all employees on the changes and possibly train the relevant authorities on how to operate the installed devices in their computers. The organization should also give briefings to all employees, department heads and the network administrators on the need to have such amendments at such a time. The briefings should be meant to declare the attack an organizational disaster which calls for responsibilities from all partners for its termination. The solutions would ensure that the c

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Essay

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis - Essay Example Stevenson uses an innovative approach to portray the human soul as a battlefield for an â€Å"angel† and a â€Å"fiend† who are foes in a battle for the possession of the human soul. Every human being contains these opposite forces within him, an alter ego that hides behind a social and polite everyday facade. Jekyll asserts that â€Å"man is not truly one, but truly two,† that one is never black nor white and that the situation at hand always brings out more of one side or the other. Jekyll’s potion that was initially meant to separate and purify these two elements, the angel from the fiend, only manages to bring out the dark side into being. Hyde emerges from the depths of Jekyll, but he brings forth no angelic counterpart. It is left to be argued whether or not this role of the angelic counterpart is left for Jekyll. It is more than obvious that his demeanor is outright moral and decent, and he enjoys the repute of a benevolent, well-mannered and genial man, yet he never embodies the virtue of good equally as Hyde embodies the very opposite from it. He merely portrays civilized behavior and morals, leaning towards good. In his bold and philanthropic efforts, he takes it upon himself to purify the good, but he ends up liberating the darkness from the shackles of conscience.

Diabetic Retinopathy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Diabetic Retinopathy - Essay Example Results from numerous clinical trials of laser photocoagulation and various other treatments and a good understanding of the pathogenesis would have a huge impact on blindness in the diabetic population. [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] The prevalence of retinopathy is strongly linked to the duration of diabetes. A stringent control of blood sugar levels delays the onset of diabetes. Vision loss with diabetic retinopathy may occur from several different mechanisms such as Macular oedema or ischemia which may impair central vision. Extensive studies have reported the cost effectiveness of screening for diabetic retinopathy as it saves vision at reduced costs. The cost of screening modalities depends largely on various factors such as trained professionals and accessibility of screening equipment. Current management of diabetic retinopathy includes systematic control of blood pressure and glucose levels, surgery including laser photocoagulation or pars plana vitrectomy; and currently developed pharmacologic interventions. Vitrectomy is capable of restoring useful vision to patients suffering from severe diabetic retinopathy and vitreous hemorrhage either with or without an accompanying traction retinal detachment. [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Systemic Control: Development and progression of diabetic retinopathyis delayed by glycemic control. Laser photocoagulation, which represents the only treatment modality in large, controlled, prospective randomized, clinical trials, shows limited efficacy. Currently, new pharmacologic modalities now being evaluated show promise, but should undergo rigorous prospective randomized clinical trial in order to gain widespread acceptance. Intensive therapy brought down the risk of developing diabetic retinopathy by 76% and reduced the risk of progression of already existing retinopathy by 54%. Maintaining a strict and systematic control of blood pressure and glucose has proven to be difficult for many patients with diabetes. A good number of them will still develop progressive retinopathy and would require either vitrectomy or laser photocoagulation [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Surgery: The latest in surgical techniques is the use of the "Pulse Electron Avalanche Knife" (PEAK-fc, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Jena, Germany) (British Journal of Ophthalmology 2007;91:949-954) which is a new pulsed electrosurgical device that helps in the precise "cold" traction- free tissue dissection. It is very useful in all complicated eye surgeries. For late stages of retinopathy, current laser or surgical treatments are applicable. It also includes proliferative diabetic retinopathy or sight-threatening ME. The study that was conducted proved that photocoagulation can reduce the risk of severe visual loss by about 50%. [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]In this process, laser photocoagulation leads to decreased oxygen levels by the retina due to the destruction of the photoreceptor. Anakinra, which is a drug used in arthritis has tested favorably for reducing blood sugar levels. Benfotiamine is a fat-soluble form of vitamin B1 has proved effective by reversing the damage done to the retina due to high blood sugar in the cells. Another surgical research is the

Desire2learn (D2L) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Desire2learn (D2L) - Essay Example Current data is converted according to the new system and transferred into the new database. This phase will further facilitate any additional feature is required by the user of the system (Anonymous, 2007). Even after intense analysis during system development and implementation there is a change of some feature might have been left out. The importance of these requests should be analyzed carefully to make any decisions to implement the changes instantly or to record them for future development. This activity will be performed occasionally to check the system in an operational environment. A representative from all the relevant departments will submit progress reports to discuss about the project status, problem reports (if required) and one technical specifications report after the end of the testing phase. The following reports must be submitted within the mentioned period: Staff in all of the departments are co-operating with the TUI team in order to transfer of data, information about data requirements, establishment of new policy procedures, application support, information about working procedures, etc. Steering Committee members should meet at the beginning of the project implementation and every quarter hereafter. This will assure that all stakeholders are agreed with the outcome of the project (Anonymous, 2007). As we all know that implementation is the key process of the analyzing phase of the software. Planners are assisted with planning software for the implementation of the projects. Project Desk planning software is an option to difficult planning tools. Project Desk reduces overfed unnecessary complications and entirely eliminates the requirements to install and manage hard to understand, implement and maintain project management tools.  Its benefits include cost effectiveness, team management, no specific hardware requirement, enhanced communication and free technical

School Lunches Essay Example for Free

School Lunches Essay Studying at school takes much energy from millions of students all over the world. Pupils spend at school approximately 8 hours per day. Therefore many pupils have chronic illnesses, according to that 80 % of school leavers are limited in a profession choice. These problems arise due to malnutrition in school canteens. Consequently this problem worried minds of society. The aim of the report is to explore level of food which submit in Latvia and other camps of the world. â€Å"We can do a tremendous amount of good for kids across the country if we change school lunches,† says Chef Ann Cooper, the self proclaimed â€Å"renegade lunch lady†. Chef Ann Cooper is a celebrated author, chef, educator, and enduring advocate for better food for all children (Insite, 2010) It was established that one of the causes of various â€Å"school† diseases such as dental caries, stunting, disease of the gastrointenstinal tract as well as obesity occur due to the poor quality of food, which is provided by the school administrators, assert Hutton (2011). The author claims that students who chose eating lunch which was proposed by school tended to have excess weight in comparison with those students who chose taking lunch from home. Read more:  Essay About School Canteen   As a rule, students prefer eating fatty meals, for instance, burgers, french fries, chips, drinking sugary lemonades than fruits, vegetables and drinking still water. (Suddath, 2009) It means that the school administration should ban to sell fast food which contain high level of fats. Lucy Komisar is an investigative reporter and author of articles in â€Å"The New York Times† newspaper contend, that schools get food for lunches free of charge from the Agricultural Department and then some schools cook it on site but unfortunately majority schools prefer to turn these qualitative and fresh products into fried chicken nuggets, fruit pastries and others. It means that food loses the nutrition qualities after being processed. Many schools continue to exceed the standards for fat, saturated fat and sodium. (Komisar 2011) The author consider that it occurs because the school administration aspires to save money, because they not want to pay a salary to kitchen workers. Such situation occurs at present in United States of America. The problem of unhealthy food is actual not only in United States of America, but also in European countries. The statistic shows that an obesity epidemic reigns in Great Britain as well, because 25% of young people being classified as obese or overweight (Oliver 2012). Oliver (2012) believes that a school meal is vital for children`s health,  because it is one-third of a child’s daily nutritional intake. It is badly that parents of some children are too busy to cook for their children or they cook – ready meals, thus the only one possibility to eat nutritious meal for children is a school canteen, notes Oliver. Hence government should do everything to encourage children to make healthy choice, otherwise â€Å"children will continue to suffer† wrote author. Finally, compare existing situation in Latvia. The government of Latvia banned to sale in the school canteens and kindergartens unhealthy food and beverages such as: ships, coloured fizzy drinks, dye – containing chewing gums, report Leta (2006). The author state that instead of lemonades school canteen offers more healthier drinks, such as fruit or vegetable juices, water or milk. Milk and dairy products contain many valuable nutrients – calcium and protein, which should be acquired by an organism in childhood and adolescence, recommend doctors. Latvian reform of transformation school`s food, shows good results. The research shows that majority of pupils consider that the most healthier food is dairy products, soups and grain as well, ascertained the research participants. Pupils admitted that at their daily diet there are many vegetables and fruit, which helps them to restore energy (Leta, 2012). Thus the situation in Latvia is encouraging that our children will be healthy and the most cleverer in the world.