People and culture

The people of England are a mixture of many different ethnic groups. The original residents of the area were Celtic peoples. Anglo-Saxon invaders from northern Germany arrived in the 5th and 6th centuries AD and established what became the English language. Invaders from other northern European countries came later, including the Norse and the Danes. The Normans from France conquered England in the 11th century.

Most of the people of England are Christian. The Church of England, which is Protestant, is the country's official church. Immigrants from Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean have created communities of Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus. England also has a large Jewish population.

The majority of England's population lives in cities. The Greater London area, in the southeast, is by far the largest city area. Other major English cities include Birmingham, in the center of the country, and Leeds, in the northeast. Liverpool and Manchester are the main industrial cities of the northwest.

England has a long, great history of producing literature and many other works of art. Among the towering figures of English literature are Geoffrey Chaucer, John Milton, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, and Charles Dickens. English music has also had wide influence. The country's great composers include George Frideric Handel, Edward Elgar, and Benjamin Britten. In the 1960s, English rock bands such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Who became popular throughout the world.

In addition, England has influenced the development of English-speaking cultures in many countries outside the United Kingdom. England is also home to Oxford and Cambridge universities, which are among the world's oldest centers of advanced education.

Mass Media

What is news? The kind of event that becomes news depends on several factors. Accidents, murders, awful fires - do only sad events make news? On certain bad days that may be true, but if you look through the typical newspaper, you may be surprised at the amount of good information on its pages.

Events make news because they are out of ordinary. To most people, a story that describes an unusual happening is far more interesting than one about what's happening and if an important event happens, it's news, good or bad.

Radio. One of the souses of information is radio. It may follow you everywhere: in the car, at home, even in shower. Nowadays we can choose the favorite way and listen, listen and listen to it. The quality and plenty of information and music depends on the wave you prefer.

Press. There is a wide range of newspapers and magazines in our country. With so many modern forms of communication such as radio, TV and the Internet, newspaper companies now find it difficult to sell enough copies of their papers to survive. Many papers have a low circulation. They use many methods to increase their circulation and to decrease the circulation of the other papers. Such strong competition has created the paper wars. Newspaper companies use many methods to increase their circulation, one of them is to offer cheap annual subscription, another is to sell a paper at a very low price for a month or two. Newspapers also try to introduce new ideas. The problem is, however, that every time one company introduces a new idea, the other company simply copies it!

The Internet. It is a global network which embraces millions of users all over the world, began in the United States in 1969 as a military experiment. Using the internet, one can easily find necessary information, read about hot event, facing people. Nobody knows exactly how many people use the Internet, there are millions worldwide, and their number is growing by thousands each month.

TV. How does television affect our lives? It can be very helpful to people who carefully choose the shows that they watch. Television can increase our knowledge of the outside world. It provides us with a pleasant way to relax and spend our free time.

London

London, the capital of the UK, was founded in AD 43 by Roman invaders as a settlement and a fortress. At first it had the name of Londinium. Due to its convenient position in the mouth of the river Thames the settlement grew and developed into a city. In the 11th century London became the capital of England. For centuries it was a prominent port through which wealth and prosperity came to the country.

Being an important trade and political centre, the city enjoyed greater independence than the other cities of the medieval England and even had the right to elect the head of the city, Lord Mayor. The picturesque ceremony of the elections of Lord Mayor of London is still held every year and attracts thousands of tourists.

The city was built rather chaotically, the streets being narrow and dirty. It grew and developed together with the developing of the nation. In 1666 the Great Fire of London destroyed the most part of the city, which was rebuilt, but the old planning remained untouched.

Historically and geographically London can be divided into three parts: the City, the West End and the East End. The City is the financial centre of the country, with offices of large firms and banks and the Stock Exchange.

The West End has always been considered a place where aristocrats lived. There is a great number of sights and attractions: the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, Nelson’s Column, to mention just few of them. London’s beautiful parks are also there: Hyde Park, St. James’ Park, Regent’s Park are favourite places for Londoners to visit and relax. One may also go shopping in the West End – Piccadilly Street and Oxford Street both present a wide choice of expensive shops and boutiques.

The East End was previously considered the place where not well-to-do people lived. The identity of the East End as a place of deprivation and poverty persisted until well after the Second World War, becoming overlaid with certain gangster glamour in the 1960s. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, London east of the City is still seen as having a different character, claiming a certain independence of look from the rest of metropolis; but its cultural status has been transformed. Parts of the East End are believed to house the highest population of the artists in Europe, and the East End is now considered a bohemian district. The ugly docks, which for years distinguished the face of the East End, are now closed, and new hotels, stadiums and apartment houses are being built.

Now London extends much more than the City, the West End and the East End. Its suburbs grow rapidly. London and its suburbs are called Greater London.

As well as it is impossible to say that Moscow is a typical Russian city, nobody can call London a typical British one. In fact, it has become a multinational metropolis, being inhabited by people from all over the world. It is always busy and crowded. It certainly has its own face – millions of faces. Maybe, this is the reason why people say: “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.”

System of Education

Education in the United Kingdom is compulsory from the age of five to sixteen. Children under five go either to nursery schools, or to playgroups.

Compulsory education for all children begins at the age of five. There are 35,000 state schools in Britain. All of them are the responsibility of the Local Educational Authorities (LEA). the LEA caters for the curriculum and exams in each region,; they also appoint head teachers.

Primary school is for children from five to eleven. At first the studies are more like playing than working. Lessons usually last from nine in the morning till four or five in the afternoon with long break at the lunchtime.

At the age of eleven pupils go to comprehensive schools. Children usually wear a uniform; it is different in different schools. They study Maths, English, Arts, English Literature, Geography, one or two foreign languages, PE (Physical Education), IT (Information Technology), Religion, Sciences, Biology, Sex Education, and other subjects.

At the end of their studies they take General Certificate of Secondary Education examinations (GCSE) 0-level, and then they either leave school and start working or continue their studies at school or at college for two more years. This is called the sixth form at school or the sixth form college, and the students take only the subjects they need for entering the university of their choice.

At the age of eighteen they take GCSE A-level. They usually take three or four A-levels. There are no entrance exams to universities, so the students can enter a university or a college on the results of their A-level examinations.

In Russia children start school at the age of six. The course of study at school is eleven years: four years of primary school and seven years of secondary school.

In primary school there are three or four lessons a day, they usually are Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. The list of subjects under study is further extended during second, third and fourth years and includes Handicrafts, Music, Arts, Drawing, Physical Education, History, Geography and others.

At the age of ten children pass to the second stage of education. In secondary school there is a wide variety of subjects.

After finishing the ninth form and getting the Certificate of Basic Secondary Education, schoolchildren may either continue their education in the tenth form, or leave school and go to technical schools and colleges.

After eleven years at school the school leavers take examinations and get the Certificate of Complete Secondary Education. Those who have only excellent marks in the Certificate get a gold medal, which gives the right to enter higher school taking only one examination.

The admission to higher school is competitive and based on the system of entrance examinations. Among higher educational establishments are institutes (colleges), academies and universities. The term of studying is from four to six years. At the end of their final year students take final exams and get a diploma. Besides, they can take postgraduate course in the chosen field.

Youth is the timewhen a person is trying to find his place in the world. And during this searchhe or she comes across different problemswhich are as important as those of the adults. The youth of the 21stcentury face almost the same problems whichwere acute to their parents when they were young. One of them is a generation gap. Every generation is uniquein its experience. It has its own ideals and a system of values concerningevery aspect of human life. Adults always complain that the young people do not blindly accept theideals of their parents. And this is inevitable as different generations takedifferent directions. Grown-ups always teach the young how to live. But the latter want to live theirown life. And it generates the conflict of the generations. Anotherproblem of the youth is the problem of love. Young people fall in love when they reach the age of Romeo andJuliet. Romanticism and idealism very often accompany the love of the young. It is regrettable, but the young are not always ready to havestable relations. For a happy family life two people must understand andrespect each other. It should be said, that the young have other problems aswell. They are concerned with education (which is rather expensive), money,employment, hobby, spending, their free time, communication and the like. Andof course, one of the most urgent problemsis the accommodations problem. Not many young people in our country have their own apartments. In themain, they share the apartments with their parents even after getting married.As far as I know, many young Americansdo not live with their families. They prefer to live in apartment blocks orresidential areas where everyone is more or less of the same age. One moreproblem should be stressed. It's the problem of the youth unemployment. Thenumber of young people lookingfor job is constantly increasing. They are looking for job not only for thesake of earning money, but because they want to be independent from theirparents. Job gives the young peoplea chance to adjust themselves to the real life of adults and stir theirambitions. School-leavers can be part-time workers, seasonal workers and so on.In general, their job is not welcomed. Very often preference is given to adultpeople. I think that our government should work out some social employmentprogrammers. Our young peoplecan be considered only a part of our society. So just the same problems our society is facingnowadays, are typical of the young people.They are drug-taking, alcohol, smoking, prostitution, hi­jacking, murders,stealing, kid-napping, robberies and the like. Young people are more violent then ever. Many people say thattheir lives have been made miserable by youngpeople out on the street late at night. All those groups or subculturesare awful, because all of their members are violent. They only think aboutrebellion against society, its laws, they reject everything, they protestagainst their parents and school. As for the American youth, their problems are connected with theirbeliefs and values. Hard work is part of the American Dream. To be a success isimportant in America. Society doesn't like those who have achieved nothing.That's why all young Americanswant to work hard and be a success. The first step to it is a high diploma.Without it, it's almost impossible to be successful. In order to get it youshould compete. And of course, communication can be one of the most important problems not only of the young Americans, but of all young people of today. If you don'tlike noisy clubs and other places of entertainment, you can make friendswithout leaving your apartment. The Internet gives such an opportunity. But theproblem is that people can sit at the displays for 24 hours without eating,sleeping, having a rest, working orlearning properly. I am sure, that it's a great problem of the presentand future.

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