Idea of progress - BAC anglais

Idea of Progress :

Introduction :

Hello, my name is Lou-Anne and I'm going to talk about the Idea of Progress.

To begin with, I’d like to state a definition of progress.

 Progress can be scientific (medicine ) technical (the internet) or social (women's rights ) and must make our lives easier or our world a better place to live in.

 For me, we can only call something progress  if it is an improvement on a previous situation.

Also, what is an improvement for some people often means negative consequences for other people.

To illustrate this notion,  I have chosen to talk about  the social progress of the end of slavery   in the USA  with Martin Luther King.

In other part, I have chosen to bring out  the advantages and disadvantages of the technical progress  on teenagers in our society, like Internet for example.

1. I- First of all, thanks to the social advances, equality has become better established.  

• For example, the movie « Selma » by Ava DuVernay we saw in class, counts the historic fight of Dr Martin Luther King to guarantee civil right at all the american citizens.

A dangerous campaign achieved by a  long walk , which conducted the president Jonhson to sign the law of the civil right in 1965.

• This movie, based on real facts and characters, well shows the complexity of the « black problem » in the USA in 1960's : The pressure between different black communities,  leaders's difficulty ( including Martin Luther King) , white power's position.

 It allows to realize  the violence that the black Americans suffered.

• In addition, with  the raise of racism  and  intolerance, this could affect the youth and show them that  whatever the skin color or another difference , a human deserves respect and equality.

To bring out the slavery in the USA,I can also think of the movie «  12 years a slave » by Steve Mac Queen.

1. II- Then, thanks to advances in sciences, communication has become much more accessible.

•  For example, in a recording  we listened in class called «  My Facebook Page », a teenager explain her utilisation of Facebook. This interview show us the evolution of today's society and the fact that technology has progressed :

Indeed, she indicates that  she can control   information on her profile, she knows if people are dating other people or if they went on a trip and she can see their photos  or what they're doing.  

→  The journalist draws our attention to the fact that people can control what they want on Internet : now, there isn't a real confidentiality anymore and there is more accessibility. Because of this huge accessibility and the low confidentiality, more problems appear.

• Cyberbullying  is an interesting example to illustrate those problems and

 the notion of « Idea of progress ». It shows how  technological progress of Internet changed our relationships with others.

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