This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

Antwerp (English: /ˈæntwɜrp/ ( listen); Dutch: Antwerpen, [ˈɑntˌʋɛrpə(n)] ( listen); French: Anvers, [ɑ̃vɛʁs]) is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp province in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions. Antwerp's total population is 472,071 (as of 1 January 2008)[1] and its total area is 204.51 km2 (78.96 sq mi), giving a population density of 2,308 inhabitants per km². The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of 1,449 km2 (559 sq mi) with a total of 1,190,769 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008.[2] The nickname of inhabitants of Antwerp is Sinjoren, after the Spanish word señor, which means 'mister' or 'gent'. It refers to the leading Spanish noble-men who ruled the city during the 17th century.[3]

Antwerp has long been an important city in the nations of the Benelux both economically and culturally, especially before the Spanish Fury of the Dutch Revolt. It is located on the right bank of the river Scheldt, which is linked to the North Sea by the estuary Westerschelde.

History

[edit]

Origin of the name

According to folklore, and as celebrated by the statue in front of the town hall, the city got its name from a legend involving a mythical giant called Antigoon who lived near the river Scheldt. He exacted a toll from those crossing the river, and for those who refused, he severed one of their hands and threw it into the river Scheldt. Eventually, the giant was slain by a young hero named Brabo, who cut off the giant's own hand and flung it into the river. Hence the name Antwerpen, from Dutch hand werpen—akin to Old English hand and wearpan (= to throw), that has changed to today's warp.[4]

In favour of this folk etymology is the fact that hand-cutting was indeed practised in Europe, the right hand of a man who died without issue being cut off and sent to the feudal lord as proof of main-morte. However, John Lothrop Motley argues that Antwerp's name derives from an 't werf (on the wharf).[5] Aan 't werp (at the warp) is also possible. This 'warp' (thrown ground) would be a man made hill, just high enough to remain dry at high tide, whereupon a farm would be built. Another word for werp is pol (hence polders).

The most prevailing theory is that the name originated in the Gallo-Roman period and comes from the Latin antverpia. Antverpia would come from Ante (before) Verpia (deposition, sedimentation), indicating land that forms by deposition in the inside curve of a river. Note that the river Scheldt, before a transition period between 600 to 750, followed a different track. This must have coincided roughly with the current ringway south of the city, situating the city within a former curve of the river.[6]

[edit]

Pre-1500

Historical Antwerp had its origins in a Gallo-Roman vicus civilization. Excavations carried out in the oldest section near the Scheldt, 1952-1961 (ref. Princeton), produced pottery shards and fragments of glass from mid-2nd century to the end of the 3rd century.

In the 4th century, Antwerp was first named, having been settled by the Germanic Franks.[7] The name was reputed to have been derived from "anda" (at) and "werpum" (wharf).[5]

The Merovingian Antwerp, now fortified, was evangelized by Saint Amand in the 7th century. At the end of the 10th century, the Scheldt became the boundary of the Holy Roman Empire. Antwerp became a margraviate, a border province facing the County of Flanders.

In the 11th century Godfrey of Bouillon was for some years known as the marquis of Antwerp. In the 12th century, Norbert of Xanten established a community of his Premonstratensian canons at St. Michael's Abbey at Caloes. Antwerp was also the headquarters of Edward III during his early negotiations with Jacob van Artevelde, and his son Lionel, the earl of Cambridge, was born there in 1338.

[edit]

16th century

After the silting up of the Zwin and the consequent decline of Bruges, the city of Antwerp, then part of the Duchy of Brabant, became of importance. At the end of the 15th century the foreign trading houses were transferred from Bruges to Antwerp, and the building assigned to the English nation is specifically mentioned in 1510.

Fernand Braudel states that Antwerp became "the center of the entire international economy, something Bruges had never been even at its height."[8] Antwerp was the richest city in Europe at this time.[9] Antwerp's golden age is tightly linked to the "Age of Exploration". Over the first half of the 16th century Antwerp grew to become the second-largest European city north of the Alps by 1560. Many foreign merchants were resident in the city. Francesco Guicciardini, the Venetian envoy, stated that hundreds of ships would pass in a day, and 2,000 carts entered the city each week. Portuguese ships laden with pepper and cinnamon would unload their cargo.

Without a long-distance merchant fleet, and governed by an oligarchy of banker-aristocrats forbidden to engage in trade, the economy of Antwerp was foreigner-controlled, which made the city very cosmopolitan, with merchants and traders from Venice, Ragusa, Spain and Portugal. Antwerp had a policy of toleration, which attracted a large orthodox Jewish community. Antwerp was not a "free" city though, since it had been reabsorbed into the Duchy of Brabant in 1406 and was controlled from Brussels.

Antwerp experienced three booms during its golden age: The first based on the pepper market, a second launched by American silver coming from Seville (ending with the bankruptcy of Spain in 1557), and a third boom, after the stabilising Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, in 1559, based on the textiles industry. The boom-and-bust cycles and inflationary cost-of-living squeezed less-skilled workers.

The religious revolution of the Reformation erupted in violent riots in August 1566, as in other parts of the Low Countries. The regent Margaret, Duchess of Parma, was swept aside when Philip II sent the Duke of Alba at the head of an army the following summer. When the Eighty Years' War broke out in 1572, commercial trading between Antwerp and the Spanish port of Bilbao collapsed and became impossible. On 4 November 1576, Spanish soldiers plundered the city. During the Spanish Fury 6,000 citizens were massacred, 800 houses were burnt down, and over 2 million sterling of damage was done.

Antwerp became the capital of the Dutch revolt. In 1585, Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, captured it after a long siege and as part of the terms of surrender its Protestant citizens were given two years to settle their affairs before quitting the city.[10] Most went to the United Provinces in the north, starting the Dutch Golden Age. Antwerp's banking was controlled for a generation by Genoa, and Amsterdam became the new trading centre.

17th-19th centuries

The recognition of the independence of the United Provinces by the Treaty of Münster in 1648 stipulated that the Scheldt should be closed to navigation, which destroyed Antwerp's trading activities. This impediment remained in force until 1863, although the provisions were relaxed during French rule from 1795 to 1814, and also during the time Belgium formed part of the Kingdom of the United Netherlands (1815 to 1830). Antwerp had reached the lowest point of its fortunes in 1800, and its population had sunk under 40,000, when Napoleon, realizing its strategic importance, assigned two million[clarification needed] to enlarge the harbor by constructing two docks and a mole and deepening the Scheldt to allow for larger ships to approach Antwerp.[9] Napoleon hoped that by making Antwerp's harbor the finest in Europe he would be able to counter London's harbor and stint English growth, but he was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo before he could see the plan through.[11]

In 1830, the city was captured by the Belgian insurgents, but the citadel continued to be held by a Dutch garrison under General David Hendrik Chassé. For a time Chassé subjected the town to periodic bombardment which inflicted much damage, and at the end of 1832 the citadel itself was besieged by a French army. During this attack the town was further damaged. In December 1832, after a gallant defence, Chassé made an honourable surrender.

Later that century, a ring of fortresses was constructed some 10 kilometers from the city center, as Antwerp was considered vital for the survival of the young Belgian state.

20th century

Antwerp was the first city to host the World Gymnastics Championships, in 1903. During World War I, the city became the fallback point of the Belgian Army after the defeat at Liège. It was taken after heavy fighting by the German Army, and the Belgians were forced to retreat westward.

Antwerp hosted the 1920 Summer Olympics. During World War II, the city was an important strategic target because of its port. It was occupied by Germany in May 1940 and liberated by the British 11th Armoured Division on 4 September 1944. After this, the Germans attempted to destroy the Port of Antwerp, which was used by the Allies to bring new material ashore. Thousands of V-1 and V-2 missiles battered the city. The city was hit by more V-2s than all other targets during the entire war combined, but the attack did not succeed in destroying the port since many of the missiles fell upon other parts of the city. As a result, the city itself was severely damaged and rebuilt after the war in a modern style. After the war, Antwerp, which had already had a sizable Jewish population before the war, once again became a major European center of Haredi (and particularly Hasidic) Orthodox Judaism.

Buildings, landmarks and museums

In the 16th century, Antwerp was noted for the wealth of its citizens ("Antwerpia nummis"); the houses of these wealthy merchants and manufacturers have been preserved throughout the city. However fire has destroyed several old buildings, such as the house of the Hanseatic League on the northern quays in 1891. The city also suffered considerable war damage by V-bombs, and in recent years other noteworthy buildings were demolished for new developments.

▪Antwerp Zoo was founded in 1843, and is home to more than 6,000 animals (about 769 species). One of the oldest zoos in the world, it is renowned for of its high level of research and conservation.

▪Central Station is a railway station designed by Louis Delacenserie that was completed in 1905. It has two monumental neo-baroque facades, a large metal and glass dome (60m/197 ft) and a gilt and marble interior

▪Cathedral of Our Lady. This church was begun in the 14th century and finished in 1518. The church has four works by Rubens, viz. "The Descent from the Cross", "The Elevation of the Cross", "The Resurrection of Christ" and "The Assumption"

▪St. James' Church, is more ornate than the cathedral. It contains the tomb of Rubens

▪The Church of St. Paul has a beautiful baroque interior. It is a few hundred yards north of the Grote Markt

▪Plantin-Moretus Museum preserves the house of the printer Christoffel Plantijn and his successor Jan Moretus

▪The Saint-Boniface Church is an Anglican church and headseat of the archdeanery North-West Europe.

▪Boerentoren (Farmers' Tower) or KBC Tower, a 26-storey building built in 1932, is the oldest skyscraper in Europe[21]

▪Royal Museum of Fine Arts, close to the southern quays, has a collection of old masters (Rubens, Van Dyck, Titian) and the leading Dutch masters.

▪Rubenshuis is the former home and studio of Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) in Antwerp. It is now a museum.

▪Exchange or Bourse, one of the earliest institutions in Europe with that title, was built in 1872.

▪Law Courts, designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership, Arup and VK Studio, and opened by King Albert in April 2006. This building is the antithesis of the heavy, dark court building designed by Joseph Poelaert that dominates the skyline of Brussels. The courtrooms sit on top of six fingers that radiate from an airy central hall, and are surmounted by spires which provide north light and resemble oast houses or the sails of barges on the nearby River Scheldt. It is built on the site of the old Zuid ("South") station, at the end of a magnificent 1.5 km perspective at the southern end of Amerikalei. The road neatly disappears into an underpass under oval Bolivarplaats to join the motorway ring. This leaves peaceful surface access by foot, bicycle or tram (routes 8 & 12). The building's highest 'sail' is 51 m (167.32 ft) high, has a floor area of 77,000 m2 (828,821.10 sq ft), and cost €130 million.

Navarino Mansions, Dalston Lane, Hackney, 1988 Built 1905 by the Four Per Cent Industrial Dwellings Company founded by Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild in 1885 for Jewish skilled workers from London's East End.

(for further pictures and information please go to the end of page and by clicking on the link my modest promises will be fulfilled!)

Parliament building

The original intention was to build two separate buildings for the Imperial Council and the House of Representatives of the by the February Patent 1861 established Reichsrat (Imperial Council). After the Compromise with Hungary, however, this plan was dropped and in the year 1869 the architect Theophil von Hansen by the Ministry of the Interior entrusted with the elaboration of the monumental project for a large parliament building. The first cut of the spade followed in June 1874, the foundation stone bears the date "2nd September 1874". At the same time was worked on the erection of the imperial museums, the Town Hall and the University. Theophil Hansen took - as already mentioned - well thought out and in a very meaningful way the style of the Viennese parliament building from ancient Greece; stem important constitutional terms but also from the Greek antiquity - such as "politics", "democracy" and others. Symbolic meaning had also that from nearly all crown lands of the monarchy materials have been used for the construction of the parliament building. Thus, the structure should symbolize the confluence of all the forces "of the in the in the Reichsrat represented kingdoms and countries" in the Vienna parliament building. With the downfall of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy ended the era of the multinational Parliament in Vienna.

Since November 1918, the building is the seat of the parliamentary bodies of the Republic of Austria, first the National Assembly and later the National Council in the until its destruction in 1945 remained unchanged session hall of the former Imperial Council holding meetings. During the Second World War, the parliament building was severely affected, about half of the building fabric were destroyed. On 7th February 1945 the portico by bombing suffered serious damage. Two columns were totally destroyed, the edge ceiling construction with the richly gilded coffered ceiling and a magnificent frieze painting, which was 121 meters long and 2 meters high and the most ideal and economic roles of the Parliament representing allegorically, were seriously damaged. During reconstruction, the rebuilding did not occur in the originally from Hansen originating features: instead of Pavonazzo marble for the wall plate cover Salzburg marble was used. The frieze painting initially not could be recovered, only in the 90s it should be possible to restore single surviving parts. In addition to destructions in the Chancellery Wing at the Ring Road as well as in the portico especially the Imperial Council tract was severely affected by the effects of war. The meeting room of the Imperial Council was completely burned out, in particular the figural jewelry as well as the ruined marble statues of Lycurgus, Solon, Themistocles, Aristides, Sophocles, Socrates, Pericles and Demosthenes appearing hardly recoverable. In this circumstances, it was decided not to reconstruct the old Imperial Council hall, but a new hall with a businesslike but refined and convenient furnishing for the National Council of the Republic of Austria to build. During the reconstruction of the building in the years 1945 to 1956 efforts were also made the yet by Hansen envisaged technical independence further to develop and to perfect. Thus the parliament building now has an emergency generator, which ensures, any time, adequate electricity supply of the house in case of failure of the city network, and a variety of other technical facilities, which guarantee a high supply autonomy. Not only from basic considerations in the sense of seperation of powers but also from the possibility of an extraordinary emergency, is this a compelling need. National Council and the Federal Council as the elected representative bodies of the Austrian people must at all times - especially in case of disaster - the material conditions for their activity have guaranteed. This purpose serve the mentioned facilities and many others, sometimes very complicated ones and the persons entrusted with their maintenance. To the staff of the Parliamentary Administration therefore belong not only academics, stenographers, administrators, secretaries and officials of the room service as in each parliament, but also the with the maintenance of the infrastructure of the parliament building entrusted technicians and skilled workers.

Analogous to other parliaments was for years, even decades tried to acquire or to rent one or the other object near the Parliament building. Finally one was able in 1981 to start with a basic conversion or expansion of the house Reichsratsstrasse 9 under planning by the architect Prof. Dr. Sepp Stein, in this connection was given the order the parliament building through a tunnel with the house in the Reichsratsstrasse to connect. With this tunnel not only a connection for pedestrians should be established, but also a technical integration of the two houses. In the basement of the building in which in early 1985 could be moved in, confluences the road tunnel; furthermore it serves the accommodation of technical rooms as well as of the storage, preparation and staff rooms for a restauration, a main kitchen and a restaurant for about 130 people are housed on the ground floor. On the first floor are located dining rooms for about 110 people; workrooms for MPs are in the second, offices in the third to the sixth floor housed. Ten years after the house Reichsratsstrasse 9 another building could be purchased, the house Reichsratsstrasse 1, and, again under the planning leadership of architect Prof. Dr. Sepp Stein, adapted for the purposes of the Parliament. This house also through an in the basement joining under road tunnel with the Parliament building was connected. The basement houses storage rooms, the ground floor next to an "info-shop" where information materials concerning the Austrian Parlament can be obtained, the Parliament Post Office and the printery. In the six upper floors are offices and other work spaces for different departments of the Parliamentary Administration. The previously by these departments used rooms in the Parliament building were, after it was moved into the house Reichsratsstrasse in 1994, mostly the parliamentary clubs made available. Already in 1992 by the rental of rooms in a building in the Schenkenstraße for the parliamentary staff of the deputies office premises had been created.

Pallas Athene

Parliament Vienna

The 5.5 meter high monumental statue of Pallas Athena in front of the parliament building in Vienna gives not only the outside appearance of this building a striking sculptural accent, but has almost become a symbolic figure of the Austrian parliamentarism. The Danish architect Theophil Hansen, according to which draft in the years 1874-1884 the parliament building has been built, has designed this as a "work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk)"; thus, his planning also including the figural decoration of the building. The in front of the Parliament ramp to be built monumental fountain should according to Hansen's original planning be crowned of an allegoric representation of the Austria, that is, a symbolization of Austria. In the definitive, in 1878 by Hansen submitted figure program took its place Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. The monumental statue was realized only after Hansen's death, but according to his design by sculptor Carl Kundmann in 1902.

Meeting room of the former House of Representatives

The meeting room of the former House of Representatives is largely preserved faithfully and now serves the meetings of the Federal Assembly as well as ceremonies and commemorative meetings of the National Council and the Federal Council. Architecturally, the hall is modeled on a Greek theater. Before the end wall is the presidium with the lectern and the Government Bench, in the semicircle the seats of the deputies are arranged. The from Carrara marble carved statues on the front wall - between the ​​of Unterberger marble manufactured columns and pilasters - represent Roman statesmen, the by Friedrich Eisenmenger realised frieze painting depicts the emergence of political life, and the pediment group above it should symbolize the daily routine.

Portico

The large portico, in its proportions recreating the Parthenon of the Acropolis of Athens, forms the central chamber of the parliament building and should according to the original intention serve as a meeting place between members of the House of Representatives and of the Imperial Council. Today it functions as a venue, such as for the annual reception of the President of the National Council and the President of the Federal Council for the Diplomatic Corps. When choosing materials for the parliament building, Theophil Hansen strove to use marbles and stones from the crown lands of the monarchy, thus expressing their attachment to their Parliament. For example, consist the 24 monolithic, that is, produced from one-piece, columns, each more than 16 tons of weight, of the great hypostyle hall of Adnet marble, the floor panels of Istrian karst marble. When in the last months of the Second World War the Parliament building was severely affected by bomb hits, also the portico suffered severe damage, and the two columns in the north-west corner of the hall were destroyed, the edge ceiling construction with the richly gilded coffered ceiling and below the ceiling running frieze painting by Eduard Lebiedzki have been severely damaged. The two destroyed columns in 1950 were replaced by two new ones, broken from the same quarry as the originals, but not exhibiting the same pattern. The parts of the Lebiedzki frieze which have been restorable only in the 90s could be restored.

www.wien-vienna.at/index.php?ID=1102

The Integrated Policy Exercise provides students with a week-long opportunity to work intensively on a policy issue. All students participate as part of a team representing different constituencies with an interest in the problem being studied. Working in groups of 7 to 10, students are assigned a role such as lobbying firm, public official, or economic group. Groups develop policy positions and prepare a political strategy to achieve their goal(s). More on IPE: fordschool.umich.edu/ipe

The Winter 2015 IPE, “Bolstering Detroit's Economic Renewal through Skilled Workers: Implementing Governor Snyder's Visa Plan” took place on January 5, 6, and 9, 2015 at the Ford School’s Joan and Sanford Weill Hall, and at the Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, MI. More on the 2015 topic and simulated media coverage: sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/fordschool-ipe-2015/home

Central control room of the Tianjin Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle Power Plant. With new technology for generating power by using coal in a cleaner and more efficient way, millions of residents in Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, will have sufficient electricity and live in cleaner air.

Read more on:

People's Republic of China

Energy

Tianjin Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle Power Plant Project

Secondary general education school (1957-1976)

Školu vyprojektoval v roce 1954 významný představitel československého funkcionalismu Akad. arch. Čeněk Mužík (*15. 12. 1906 Morašice – †5. 3. 1988 Choceň). Výrazně se podepsal na podobě meziválečné Chocně a celého východočeského regionu. Navrhoval vily, školní, divadelní, církevní a správní budovy.

_________________________________________________

PROBLÉMY POSLÁNÍ A OBSAHU STŘEDNÍ VŠEOBECNĚ VZDĚLÁVACÍ ŠKOLY

Výzkumný ústav pedagogický, Praha, Dr. Stanislav Mařan, 1960

V usnesení XI. sjezdu KSČ je vyjádřena perspektiva úplného středoškolského vzdélání pro většinu mládeže. Tato perspektiva odpovídá rostoucím potřebám vzdělaných a kvalifikovaných pracovníků v národním hospodářství a kultuře a požadavkům rozvoje socialistické demokracie v období dovršení výstavby socialismu a přechodu ke komunismu. Ve vztahu k prudkému rozvoji techniky a výroby nelze otálet s realizací tohoto požadavku a usneseni sjezdu dává nám lhůtu 10 let, to je do roku 1970, kdy má většina mládeže získávat plné středoškolské vzdělání.

Obsah a charakter tohoto vzdělání a úkoly i struktura škol, které je mají dávat, stanovilo usnesení ÚV KSČ i 23. dubna 1959. Usnesení upozorňuje, že musíme překonat nesprávné názory na vzdělání, které vyvěrají z podceňování tělesné práce a vidí v něm pouze cestu k práci duševní. Při hodnocení významu středního vzdělání „nesmíme vycházet jen ze současného stavu a potřeb, nýbrž musíme zaměřovat své úsilí do budoucnosti, se zřetelem k bouřlivému rozvoji techniky a kultury“.

Proto „vzdělaný člověk, který se má účastnit budování socialismu a komunismu, musí znát nejen základy věd, ale i vědecké základy výroby, její technologii a organizaci, musí znát základní výrobní odvětví, získat určité pracovní dovednosti a současně musí mít základní odbornou přípravu pro práci v některém odvětví národního hospodářství a kultury. Všeobecné a polytechnické vzdělání bude i nadále tvořit základ, avšak na vyšším stupni bude spojeno s odborným vzděláním různého zaměření a rozsahu“.

V novém výchovně vzdělávacím systému se mají absolventi základní devítileté školy různými způsoby podle svých zájmů a schopností a v souladu s potřebami rozvoje národního hospodářství zapojit do výrobní práce, při čemž se mohou dále vzdělávat na školách II. cyklu a dosahovat stále vyššího vzdělání. Mohou vstoupit do odborných a učňovských škol, středních škol pro pracující, středních všeobecně vzdělávacích škol (SVVŠ) a odborných škol. Usnesení v souhlase s názory klasiků marxismuleninismu a se sovětskou pedagogikou činí tedy účast veškeré mládeže starší 15 let ve výrobní práci základním principem její výchovy a vzdělávání na školách II. cyklu.

V rozsáhlém komplexu problémů, které vyvolává pedagogické rozpracování a ztvárnění zásadních myšlenek stranických dokumentů, zvlášť složité a obtížné je řešení úkolu, obsahu á organizace střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy. Působí zde především staré tradice a zakořeněné představy o postavení střední školy v soustavě škol i o jejím poslání a obsahu spolu se všemi problémy, které za dlouhou dobu jejich existence buržoasní společnost nevyřešila. Rovněž zdrojem obtíží je dosud nedostatečné rozpracování otázek poměru všeobecného a polytechnického vzdělání ke vzdělání odbornému, jejich obsahu, metod práce při uskutečňování zásady spojení školy se životem atd. Odrazem těchto nevyřešených pedagogických problémů je skutečnost, že naše veřejnost dnes někdy ztrácí představu o pravém významu a poslání těchto škol. Svědčí o tom např. mnohem větší zájem absolventů základní povinné školy o odborné školy než' o střední školu všeobecné vzdělávací.

Proto je dnes zvl. důležité ujasnit základní otázky poslání a obsahu střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy, zvi. ve vztahu k ostatním školám II. cyklu i ke školám vysokým. Kompasem pro toto rozpracování jsou zásady výchovy a vzdělání vyslovené ve stranických dokumentech, podávajících řešení pro etapu dovršení socialismu a přechodu ke komunismu.

Problémy střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy poutaly pozornost pedagogů již po celou existenci střední školy, zvláště pak od té doby, kdy přestaly existovat latinské střední školy. V 19. stol. vedle klasického gymnasia — dědice latinských škol, s výhradně klasickým humanitním základem a s přípravou pro universitu, vznikla sedmitřídní reálka, která vedle obecného vzdělání bez klasických řečí měla poskytnout přípravu pro další technické studium. Tak byl vytvořen dualismus středního vzdělání, k jehož překonání mělo sloužit reálné a reformní reálné gymnasium s moderními jazyky, ale i zachováním latinského jazyka, byť i v omezené míře, s důrazem, na matematicko-přírodovědných předmětech. Klasické gymnasium postupné mizelo, ještě r. 1918/19 bylo jich v CSR 111, v r. 1937 již jen 29 ze 311 středních škol, to je necelých 10 %. Naproti tomu reálná gymnasia převládla a v r. 1937 jejich počet činil téměř dvě třetiny všech středních škol v (CSR (204 reál. gymn.). V posledních dvou třídách mohli žáci volit mezi deskriptivní geometrií a moderním cizím jazykem. Také počet reálek v buržoasní ČSR klesal, z 85 v r. l918 na 40 v r. 1937. Kromě toho se v kapitalistické ČSR postupně sbližovaly nižší ročníky, přičemž trval rozdíl mezi střední školou a měšťanskou, který spočíval na třídním základě. Střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy byly stále hlavní cestou přípravy k vysokoškolskému studiu. Jejich úkolem bylo vychovávat inteligenci oddanou buržoazii a tento úkol plnily poskytováním všeobecného vzdělání pokud možno odtrženého od současného života a za naprostého podceňování fyzické práce. Studovalo v nich poměrně malé procento mládeže, kdežto převážné většině mládeže sloužila povinná škola a měšťanská škola.

Vývoj střední školy byl předmětem četných teoretických úvah i rozmanitých anket v Rakousko-Uhersku i v ČSR (1908, 1919, 1927). V teorii byly sledovány hlavně myšlenky sblížení různých typů středních škol. V tom směru byly konány u nás i četné pokusy. Reformní ruch buržoasní pedagogiky se však středních škol dotýkal velmi nepatrně.

Zásadní změna nastala v lidově demokratické ČSR,. Reformou v r. 1949 byla vytvořena jednotná všeobecně vzdělávací škola pro všechnu mládež do 15 let. Jediným typem vyšší střední školy se stalo 4třídní gymnasium (I.—IV. roč.), v němž diferenciace provedena volitelnými předměty (latina a deskriptivní geometrie po 11 hodinách týdně za 4 roky). Jinak byly stejné počty hodin ostatních učebních předmětů.

Naprosto nové řešení střední školy znamená vznik jedenáctileté střední školy z r. 1953, určené perspektivně pro všechnu mládež. Přechod mezi nižším a vyšším stupněm tím ztratil na rozhodujícím významu a mohl být posunut zpět do 14 let, poněvadž všechna mládež měla pokračovat ve vzdělání. Poslední tři ročníky JSŠ (9.—11.) zůstaly ještě výběrové a měly jednotný učební plán bez diferenciace. Vznik JSŠ neobyčejně přispěl k demokratisaci vzdélání a v několika letech počet JSŠ se zdvojnásobil. Tato JSŠ však ještě neřešila otázku účasti žáků ve výrobní práci. Proto dajší zásadně novou etapu ve vývoji střední školy znamená po XI, sjezdu KSČ zavedení výrobní práce do jejího obsahu. Stalo se tak nejprve na 15 pokusných dvanáctiletkách v r. 1958/59, rok nato na desítkách dalších škol, které zavedly pokusný učební plán, v němž byl zaveden 1 den práce ve výrobě a k tomu 4 hodiny odborné teorie. Pokusný učební plán je jednotný se dvěma volitelnými předměty (deskriptivní geometrií a konversací). Také otázka jednotnosti byla na XI. sjezdu a v usnesení ÚV KSČ z dubna 1959 nově vyřešena v pojetí škol II. cyklu v tom smyslu, že byly odstraněny slepé uličky ve vzdělání a organizačně i obsahově zajištěno veškeré mládeži další studium. V tomto systému je střední všeobecně vzdělávací škola pouze jednou z cest k dosažení úplného středoškolského vzdělání. V systému škol II. cyklu má vedle střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy, navazující bezprostředně na základní devítiletou školu, významné místo střední škola pro pracující. Problémy střední školy se řeší nyní ve všech socialistických státech. Spolu s rozvojem socialistického hospodářství a kultury rok od roku roste a upevňuje se socialistická škola a je vytyčován cíl zavedení všeobecného středoškolského vzdělání pro většinu mládeže. Přestavba obsahu a i metod se děje realisací zásady spojení školy se životem a výrobou. V řešení nejdále pokročil SSSR, kde, již od r, 1959 byly zavedeny v 1.—5. ročř. nové učební plány a osnovy střední školy s výrobním vyučováním. V SSSR jedenáctiletá střední škola podržuje jednotný učební plán. Diferencované učební plány (viz stať N. K. Gončarova v Sovětské pedagogice, č. 6 z r. 1958) se pokusně realizují na několika školách. V plánu vědeckovýzkumných prací APN zkoumá tuto otázku ústav teorie a dějin pedagogiky (5. téma: Diferencované vyučování na vyšším stupni všeobecně vzdělávací školy) za vedení akademika M. A. Mělnikova.

V Bulharsku mají jednotný učební plán, ale uvažuje se o návrzích diferencovaných učebních plánů, V Polsku existují tři větve lyceí, humanitní (latina a jazyky), matematicko-přírodovědná a klasická (s latinou a řečtinou). Jsou návrhy na čtyři větve obdobné návrhu N, K, Gončarova, V Rumunsku byla od r, 1957/58 zřízena jedenáctiletá škola, jejíž vyšší stupeň (4-letý) se dělí v posledních dvou třídách na větev reálnou a humanitní. NDR má osobité řešení. Vedle jednotné desetileté střední školy pro mládež má ještě tzv. prodlouženou střední školu, jejíž čtyři ročníky jsou diferencovány na 3 větve:

A s moderními jazyky (ruština a ještě 2 cizí jazyky, matematika po 3, fyzika po 2 hod., biologie po 2 hod. atd.)

B matematicko-přírodovědná (matematika 5 ,4 ,6 ,5 hod., fyzika po 3 hod., chemie 2, 3, 3, 3 hod., biologie 2, 2, 3, 3 hod.)

C s klasickými jazyky (latina a řetina jsou 2. a 3. cizí jazyk, jinak je učební plán téměř shodný s větví A).

V kapitalistických zemích zůstává nejen vysokoškolské, ale i střední vzdělání výhradně monopolem majetných tříd. Reformy, prováděné např. ve Francii, Itálii a jinde, neřeší demokratizaci středního školství ani obohacení jeho obsahu zavedením účasti na práci. Pro kapitalistické státy jsou příznačné bohatě diferencované učební plány středních škol. Zvláště výrazně je princip diferenciace uplatněn v učebních plánech středních škol v USA. V učebních plánech jsou povinné předměty, základní volitelné předměty a doplňkové volitelné předměty. Žáci si vyberou určitý počet předmětů, aby dosáhli určitého počtu hodin. V poslední době je tento systém spolu s obsahem i metodami střední školy velmi vážně kritizován. Vztah střední školy k základní devítileté škole bude těsnější než vztah ostatních škol II. cyklu, neboť je také školou všeobecně vzdělávací, polytechnickou a pracovní.

V sovětském pojetí se rozumí střední Školou 1.—11. eventuálně 5.—11. ročník. Vedle toho se mluví o neúplné a úplné střední škole, V našem pojetí střední školu tvoří tři vyšší ročníky (1,—3. nebo 10,—12. ročník), tedy to, co bylo nazýváno vyšším stupněm střední školy. Dřívější dvoj stupňovitost střední školy se mění tak, že první tzv. nižší stupeň patří do povinné nediferencované základní školy pro všechnu mládež. V obsahu střední školy většina předmětů pokračuje, ovšem na vyšší úrovni. Organisačně mohou tvořit obě školy jeden celek. Základní devítiletá škola prodloužením o jeden rok znamená lepší přípravu a starší věk žactva, než tomu bylo v osmiletce.

Úkoly střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy

_________________________________

Podle usnesení ÚV KSČ z dubna 1959 má střední všeobecně vzdělávací škola poskytnout žákům plné středoškolské vzdělání všeobecné a polytechnické a základní odbornou přípravu k práci v některém odvětví národního hospodářství a kultury.

Absolventi střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy mají tedy před sebou otevřeny tři cesty, vstoupit na vysokou školu, získat odbornou kvalifikaci středních technických a jiných pracovníků zkráceným studiem na odborných školách nebo získat kvalifikaci pro dělnické povolání (počínajíc třetí třídou tarifního kvalifikačního katalogu).

Ať se absolvent střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy stane vysokoškolsky vzdělaným odborníkem nebo středním technikem či kvalifikovaným dělníkem, vzdělání podávané na střední škole má mu umožnit spolu s dalším studiem, aby se stal pracovníkem nového typu se znalostí vědeckých základů výroby, se širokým rozhledem a aby mohl dosáhnout vysoké kvalifikace. Je třeba pamatovat při stanovení úkolu a obsahu školy také na to, že absolvent střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy bude plnit funkce ve správě společnosti, v účasti na řízení výrobních a jiných podniků a institucí, že se bude ve svém volném čase tvořivě účastnit kulturního života. Kromě toho všichni občané socialistické společnosti mají výchovné úkoly jak ve vlastní rodině, tak i v účasti na veřejné výchově.

Příprava pro vysokoškolské studium

Střední všeobecně vzdělávací škola měla vždy hlavní úkol připravovat pro studium na vysokých školách s různým zaměřením. V kapitalistické ČSR žáci různých typů středních škol se připravovali ke vstupu jen na určité vysoké školy. Absolventi klasického gymnasia mohli bez zkoušek vstoupit na fakulty imiversitní, na vysokou školu obchodní, báňskou, zvěrolékařskou a zemědělskou. Když chtěli vstoupit, na vysoké školy technické museli vykonat přijímací zkoušku z kreslení a rýsování.

Absolventi reálných gymnasií mohli vstoupit bez zkoušky na světské fakulty imyersitý, na vysokou školu technickou, obchodní, báňskou, zemědělskou, zvěrolékařskou.

Absolventi reformních reálných gymnasií při vstupu na techniku museli konat zkoušku z rýsování, při vstupu na universitu z latiny. Absolventi reálek mohli být zapsáni na vysoké školy technické, báňské, zemědělské, zvěrolékařské, kdežto na universitu museli doplnit zkoušku z latiny.

Absolventi dnešní JSŠ mohou být přijati po přijímacím pohovoru na kteroukoliv vysokou školu. Tvoří dosud hlavní zdroj uchazečů na vysoké školy, neboť z jedenáctiletek se např. letos hlásí do 1. ročníků vysokých škol tři čtvrtiny uchazečů, kdežto na odborné školy a pracoviště připadá jen jedna čtvrtina počtu přihlášených.

Také v usnesení ÚV KSČ z dubna 1959 se pokládá příprava pro vysokou školu za jeden z hlavních úkolů střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy. V blízké budoucnosti se rozvine studium na středních školách pro pracující, v nichž vyučení dělníci a rolníci dosáhnou úplného středního vzdělání a možnosti postoupit na vysokou školu. Ale i pak zůstane patrně především úkolem střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy připravovat pro vysokou školu. Rozhodně to bude nejkratší cesta pro přístup na vysokou školu. Proto potřeby této přípravy budou mít vždy silný vliv na obsah střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy. Otázky střední školy úzce souvisejí s obsahem vysokých škol, které také jsou nyní v přestavbě. Jde o vysoké školy universitní, technické, pedagogické instituty a umělecké školy. University připravují vysokoškolsky vzdělané odborníky v oborech společenských a přírodních věd a v jejich aplikacích. Zahrnují studium filosofie, filologie, historie, práv, lékařství, přírodních věd, matematiky, tělesné výchovy, politické ekonomie aj. Vysoké školy technické připravují v řadě fakult inženýrské kádry pro průmysl, stavebnictví, dopravu, zemědělství a jiná odvětví národního hospodářství. Na většině vysokých škol technických procházejí študenti v prvních třech letech základním studiem teoretických a průpravných předmětů, v dalších letech je studium členěno na specialisace. Ve většině škol se již realizuje spojení vyučování s výrobní praxí. V prvých dvou letech projdou studenti výrobní prací v různých oborech národního hospodářství a ve vyšších ročnících odbornou praxí.

Nároky těchto vysokých škol na středoškolské vzdělání jsou jistě rozmanité podle zaměření školy. Ukazatelem pro směr požadavků jednotlivých vysokých škol mohou být předměty, na které se soustřeďují přijímací pohovory. Vcelku jsou patrné 2—3 skupiny předmětů, a to matematika a fyzika, chemie a biologie, čeština a dějepis. Matematika a fyzika na fakultě matematicko-fyzikální na universitě, matematika, fyzika, chemie na fakultách přírodovědeckých, na fakultách

technických oborů, stavebních, strojních atd., matematika chemie na vysokých školách chemicko technologických, chemie, fyzika, biologie na lékařských, chemie, biologie na zemědělských, čeština, dějepis, matematika na vysokých školách ekonomických, čeština, dějepis na filosofických, právnických fakultách a na uměleckých školách. Na pedagogických institutech se při pohovorech též zjišťují schopnosti k hudební, výtvarné a tělesné výchově. Na uměleckých školách musí uchazeči při přijímacích zkouškách prokázat nesporné nadání.

Srovnáme-li číselné poměry uchazečů např. v r. 1959/60, vidíme, že přes 40 % (nečítáme pedagogické instituty) vysokoškoláků bylo přijato do 1. roč. technických škol s požadavky na matematiku a fyziku, na matematicko-fyzikální a přírodovědecké fakulty university asi 10 %, (popř. na chemii), asi 15 % na lékařské studium a 15 % na vysoké školy zemědělské a lesnické, a na ostatní, tj. filosofické, právnické, umělecké. Institut tělesné výchovy a sportu připadl zbytek, asi 20 %. Z tohoto přehledu vysvítá jasná početní převaha uchazečů do oborů technických s požadavky matematicko-přírodovědnými.

Vysokoškolští profesoři většinou celkem nepříznivě hodnotili v minulosti výsledky práce středních škol, jak se o tom můžeme přesvědčit v materiálech různých anket pořádaných o středních školách. Zvláště však se ozývají kritické hlasy o malé připravenosti absolventů jedenáctiletých škol, ač ovšem nutno konstatovat, že v posledních letech se také objevují názory o jejich stoupající úrovni. Jistě působí příznivě rozšíření počtu jedenáctiletých škol a tím i mnohem širší základna pro výběr na vysoké školy.

Nová střední škola spolu se základní devítiletou školou musí dát žákům lepší úplné středoškolské vzdělání, než dávala jedenáctiletá střední škola. Z průběhu pohovorů je patrné, že často nejde o rozsah vědomostí, jako spíše o stupeň rozvoje rozumových schopností. Požadavky vysokých škol jen zřídka, např. v matematice, jsou vyšší, než byl obsah v JSŠ, avšak přitom pracovníci vysokých škol často kritizovali obsah vzdělání JSŠ jako nedostatečný pro přípravu na vysokou školu. Požadavky vysokých škol nesoustřeďují se jen na předmět, který bude základem dalšího studia, nýbrž také na předměty pomocné, které se žák na vysoké škole již nemůže plně věnovat, a to zvi. na matematiku a cizí jazyky.

Vysoké školy žádají na studentech, aby byli schopni samostatné práce, aby uměli samostatně si osvojovat poznatky, dovedli pracovat s knihou, konat rozmanité práce, aplikovat získané poznatky a aby měli hlavně vypěstované některé charakterové vlastnosti, především volní, aby byli ukáznění a vytrvalí. Proto v realizaci úkolů střední školy má velký význam zřetel k rozvoji myšlení žáků i k rozvoji jejich citových a volních vlastností. Tyto zřetele ještě více se budou uplatňovat u žáků studujících vysokou školu při zaměstnání. Pro studium na vysokých školách bude prospěšná také výrobní práce žáků.

Získáni střední odborné kvalifikace

Abiturienti dnešní JSŠ mohou získat odbornou kvalifikaci středních techniků a odborných pracovníků studiem na středních odborných školách. Studium trvá dva roky. Vyučuje se převážně odborným předmětům a absolventi obdrží závěrečné vysvědčení čtyřleté odborné školy. Uchazeči se podrobují přijímacímu pohovoru, při němž se zjišťují studijní předpoklady a zájem. Toto studium v r. 1960/61 není na všech odborných školách, např. není na jaderné technice, energetice, hutnictví.' V brožuře Výběrové školy, informace o řádném studiu 1960/61 (SPN 1959) je toto studium uvedeno celkem na 26 druzích odborných škol s převážně technickým charakterem. Proto jsou požadovány na absolventech střední školy především vědomosti matematicko-přírodovědné.

Podle statistické ročenky ČSR 1959-(s. 414-415) asi 3000 absolventů JSŠ přešlo v r. 1957/58 do těchto kursů, to je asi 13 % absolventů střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy. Perspektiva rozvoje tohoto studia záleží na pojetí odborných škol. V SSSR dávají přednost studiu na všeobecně vzdělávací škole a mistrovským kursům na odborných školách „technikumech“, u nás při dobré tradici odborných škol se zdá potřebné udržovat nynější stav. Další rozšiřování počtu abiturientů středních všeobecně vzdělávacích škol v těchto nástavbových kursech záleží také na úpravě středního odborného školství. Je zřejmé, že v některých oborech bude nabývat nástavbové studium převahy nad čtyřletým studiem, navazujícím na základní devítiletou školu.

Získáni dělnické kvalifikace

Zásadní obrat v pojetí střední školy spočívá v tom, že úplné středoškolské vzdělání získané ve středili škole má pomáhat vytvářet kvalitní dělnické kádry. Absolventi středních škol, kteří se nedostanou na vysoké školy, nemají se uchylovat jen do úřednických povolání, jak tomu bylo dříve, ani usilovat pouze ó kvalifikaci středních techniků, pokud nepřejdou na vysokou školu, ale mají odejít přímo do výrobního procesu nebo i do služeb a doplnit si kvalifikaci dělnickou. V etapě dovršení socialismu a přechodu ke komunismu, pro niž vychováváme, bude rozvoj techniky a výroby vyžadovat pracovníky nového typu se širokým rozhledem a vysokou kvalifikací. S. G. Strumilin takto charakterisuje požadavky na našeho dělníka: „Zde se již vychovává nový typ dělníka, dělníka širokého profilu, který ovládá funkce fyzické i duševní práce, přičemž duševní práce jasně převládají.

Podobně jako práce inženýrů a vědců, tak ani práce těchto dělníků nevylučuje širokou specialisaci a dělbu funkcí. Avšak tyto funkce již nejsou omezeny rámcem uzavřených povolání. Dnes vykonává dělník jednu funkci, zítra jinou.

A všechny tyto funkce se skládají do zobecňujícího pojmu vědce organisujícího práci, inženýra nebo dělníka-seřizovače automatických soustav, přičemž se stále nepostižitelněji přechází od jedné funkce k jiné.“ (S. G, Strumiliň, Cesty ke komunismu, Praha 1959; str. 14). Je proto přirozené, že lidé, kteří si osvojili íiplné středoškolské vzdělání všeobecné a polytechnické spolu se základní odbornou přípravou, zvládnou nové funkce nebo obory, a to v krátké době a podle potřeb výroby. Je pravda, že pro mnohé pracovní obory v dnešním pojetí, nápř. soustružníka, mechanika, se v očích veřejnosti nezdá absolvování střední školy potřebným. Avšak již třetí pětiletka přinese obrat v posuzování přípravy pro kvalifikované obory. Za dnešních poměrů je možné doplnit si dělnickou kvalifikaci v učebním poměru na učňovské škole nebo odborném učilišti. Doba učebního poměru pro absolventy JSŠ je většinou zkrácena na 1 až 1,5 roku. Vyhláška M sK z 28. II. 1959 o učebních oborech uvádí 15 skupin učebních oborů. Celkem existuje nyní 276 učebních oborů. Dívky mají přístup do 167 učebních oborů. Z toho je několik. oborů vyhrazeno jen pro absolventy JSŠ, např. zkoušeč kovů, laborant pro hutě, laborant pro rudné doly a prodavač knih. U ostatních učebních oborů jsou uvedeni jednak absolventi základní školy (8letky), s průměrně 2—3 letou učební dobou, jednak absolventi JSŠ se zkrácenou učební dobou. Většinu všeobecně vzdělávacích předmětů měli absolventi již ve střední škole (Čj, Ov, M, Fy, Tv, Co), nové pro ně jsou odborné předměty, např. v učebním oboru zámečníka technické kreslení, nauka o materiálu, technologie, organizace a plánování. Hlavně však jim chybí odborný výcvik, který zabírá více času, např. u zámečníka 3472 hodin. Situace absolventů nové střední školy s výrobním vyučováním bude již jiná, poněvadž i v tomto směru budou již aspoň částečně připraveni.

Všeobecné a polytechnické vzdělání

_____________________________

Úplné středoškolské vzdělání, které si mají žáci střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy osvojit, dostává ve školách připravujících pro Život v socialistické společnosti nový charakter a obsah. Hlavním rysem tohoto nového pojetí středoškolského vzdělání je, že se pojem všeobecného vzdělání podstatně rozšiřuje, že má dojít k organickému spojení všeobecného a polytechnického vzdělání a že se vytváří nový vztah mezi nimi a vzděláním odborným. Rozpracování problému spojení všeobecného a polytechnického vzdělání se vzděláním odborným je základním předpokladem pro správné vyřešení cíle, obsahu i metod práce střední školy. Svou podstatou se dotýká otázek spojení vyučování s prací ve výrobě, poměru duševní a tělesné práce a otázek i spojení teorie a praxe.

Všeobecné vzdělání je kategorií historickou a jeho obsah se měnil a mění podle potřeb rozvoje společnosti. V historii naší střední školy za posledních sto let vidíme, jak v něm převládalo vzdělání jazykové a postupně získávalo půdu vzdělání přírodovědné. V buržoasní pedagogice jednostranné chápání všeobecného vzdělání a hluboký rozpor mezi všeobecným a odborným vzděláním má třídní základ a vyvěrá z podceňování tělesné práce. Nedoceňování jednoty všeobecného a odborného vzdělání je také jednou z hlavních příčin nedostatků naší střední školy po r. 1945. Ani gynmasium z r. 1949, ani jedenáctiletá škola z r. 1953 neřešily ještě nově poměr všeobecného a odborného vzdělání. Otázky objektivního vztahu mezi všeobecným, polytechnickým a odborným vzděláním jsou dosud nejlépe propracovány v sovětské pedagogice, poněvadž sovětská společnost pokročila nejdále ve vývoji ekonomickém i politickém. S růstem výroby a s rozvojem jejího technického vybavení se stává tento vzájemný vztah stále těsnější a organičtější a musí nalézt svůj odraz i ve škole, a proto „pouze škola, která poskytuje současně^všeobecné, polytechnické a odborné vzděláni je s to vychovat lidi vzdělané V různých směrech, kteří dobře znají základy věd a zároveň ovládají určité povolání a jsou schopní soustavné práce.“ (J. A. Kairov, Sovětská pedagogika, 1960, č. 2, s. 27—28). Všeobecné a polytechnické vzdělání se uskutečňuje ve střední škole systémem učebních předmětů, jejichž obsahem jsou základy všeho, co lidstvo vytvořilo, tj. základy věd, umění a kultury i techniky a výroby. V tomto systému navazuje střední škola na všeobecné a polytechnické vzdělání základní devítileté školy, které dále rozvíjí a podává na vyšší úrovni.

Didaktickým problémem školy je výběr věd, umění, oborů techniky a výroby, které mají být základem vyučování ve střední škole. Vycházíme-li z třídění věd, které navrhuje B. M. Kedrov („O klasifikaci věd“, Voprosy filosofii, 1955, č. 2, I s. 49—68), rozeznáváme vědy filosofické, matematické, přírodní a technické a společenské. Srovnáme-li učební plány jednotlivých typů střední školy (vyšších tříd) po r. 1945, objeví se nám toto uspořádání: Z oblasti filosofických věd byla pouze v gymnasiu od r. 1949 do 1953 zavedena filosofie, která obsahovala také psychologii, logiku a dialektický materialismus s dějinami filosofie. Na jedenáctileté střední škole tyto předměty postupně zmizely. V matematice a přírodních a technických vědách se ustáleně vyučuje matematice, fyzice, chemii a biologii. K matematice se druží rýsování a deskriptivní geometrie. Z fyziky byla v r. 1953 vydělena astronomie jako samostatný předmět. Jazykové předměty trvale zahrnují jazyk mateřský, ruský a další živý jazyk. Latina postupně ustupovala z volitelného předmětu v r. 1949 na předmět nepovinný. V oblasti společenských věd zůstává trvale dějepis a zeměpis, hlavně hospodářský. V oblasti technické nebylo žádných předmětů. Z oblasti umění byla na IIL stupni pouze v letech 1949—1953 v gymnasiu zavedena hudební výchova v 1. a 2. ročníku a výtvarná výchova ve 3. a 4. ročníku. Tělesná výchova je zastoupena ve všech učebních plánech, v r. 1957 byl připojen předmět civilní obrana.

Vzdělání v oblasti společenských véd

Do oblasti společenských věd se zahrnuje podle B. M. Kedrova historie, archeologie, etnografie, ekonomická geografie, sociálně ekonomická statistika, vědy o základně a nadstavbě, tj.' politická ekonomie, věda o státu a právu, historie umění a literatury atd. Patří sem jazykověda, psychologie, pedagogika aj. V didaktickém systému se tradičně udržuje jazyk mateřský a dva cizí jazyky, dějepis a zeměpis hospodářský, které také jsou uvedeny v pokusném učebním plánu dvanáctiletky. V jejich obsahu jsou zahrnuty také některé prvky jiných věd, např. v dějepisu je poučení o dějinách mnění, v hospodářském zeměpisu mohou se objevovat prvky politické ekonomie. Historie literatury je spojena s vyučováním mateřskému jazyku.

Nynější střední škola nemá ve svém obsahu soustředěné poučení, které by čerpalo z věd oblasti filosofie, etiky, ekonomie, psychologie. Často se v kritice její práce poukazuje právě na nedostatek školy, že neukazuje mládeži cestu k ovládnutí zákonitostí společenského rozvoje a že ve škole, odtržené od života se neobjasňují nejpalčivější otázky "běžného života, V přípravě pro účast žáků ve výrobě a pro zesílení ideologické výchovy má významný úkol předmět „občanská výchova“ na základní devítileté škole. Avšak i na střední škole zůstává potřeba soustředit naukový základ pro ideologickou výchovu do určitého předmětu. Je přirozené, že vzhledem k účasti žáků ve výrobě a jejich vyspělosti na střední škole by měl dostat jinou podobu a obsah a že by se měl opírat o základy některých věd, především filosofie, etiky a ekonomie. V definici obsahu všeobecného vzdělání jsou zahrnuty vedle znalostí o přírodě a společnosti také základy znalostí o myšlení.

Nynější učební plán neposkytuje těmto znalostem samostatný předmět. Zvláště otázka psychologie je vážná, protože absolventi střední školy budou dále studovat, velmi často samostatně při zaměstnání a znalost základů psychologie má pro ně velký význam. Studium logiky bývá navrhováno do obsahu střední školy. Studium politické ekonomie by mělo mít své místo v teoretické části základů výroby a kromě toho by se prvky měly objevit v aplikacích v předmětech.

Matematicko-přírodovědné vzdělání

V oblasti matematických a přírodních a technických věd uvádí B. M. Kedrov tyto vědy: matematická logika, matematika, mechanika, astronomie, astrofyzika, fyzika, chemická fyzika, fyzická chemie, chemie, geochemie, geologie, geografie, biochemie, biologie, fyziologie člověka, antropologie aj. Ve školách tradiční didaktický systém za matematiku, fyziku, chemii, biologii, popř. geologii. K matematice se druží rýsování a deskriptivní geometrie. Rozvíjením techniky nesmírně vzrostl význam matematického vzdělání, které tvoří významnou část všeobecného a polytechnického vzdělání, neboť matematika je účinný nástroj pro poznání skutečnosti a má bohaté užití ve výrobě. Znalosti fyzikálních, chemických a biologických jevů a zákonitostí jsou důležitou částí vědecko-teoretického základu průmyslové a zemědělské výroby a mají proto významné postavení ve všeobecném a polytechnickém vzdělání. Prudký rozvoj techniky, perspektivy uplatnění mechanizace a automatizace, chemizace ve výrobě, zvyšování výsledků zemědělské výroby, klade stále větší nároky na znalosti základů přírodních věd a schopnost jejich aplikace v socialistické výrobě. Do tohoto přírodovědného vzdělání patří i záJkladní polytechnické dovednosti v zacházení s nejrozšířenějšími pracovními nástroji. Poznání základů fyziky, chemie, biologie má význam pro vytvoření vědeckého světového názoru.

Zvláště důležitá je otázka, zda astronomie má být samostatným předmětem či začleněna do fyziky. V době zvýšeného zájmu o problémy astrofyziky a astronautiky se zdá oprávněné věnovat jí samostatný předmět, i když souvislost s fyzikou je velmi těsná. Do základů přírodovědného vzdělání patří ještě fyzická geografie a geologie s mineralogií. Vážný didaktický problém představuje vyučování geologie s mineralogií, která v posledních učebních plánech střední školy nemá samostatný předmět tohoto druhu. Příslušné vědecké instituce upozorňují na to, že základní vědomosti a dovednosti z mineralogie a geologie jsou nutnou součástí obecného vzdělání a že by měly být zastoupeny na střední škole samostatným předmětem. Je to otázka velmi složitá, kterou nelze řešit jen z hlediska zavedení samostatného předmětu.

Dosavadní stav je takový, že se žáci jedenáctiletých škol seznamují s anorganickou přírodou již na národní škole a později v chemii a zeměpise. Určitým doplněním geologických vědomostí slouží řad paleontologických poznatků probíraných v biologii. V novém učebním plánu základní devítileté školy bude učivo z geologie, petrografie a mineralogie zavedeno v přírodopise do 9. ročníku. Toto řešení by mohlo zajistit příslušné poučení pro celou všeobecně vzdělávací školu.

Esteticko-výchovné předměty

V didaktickém obsahu všeobecně vzdělávací školy úkoly estetické výchovy plní především předměty výtvarné a hudební výchovy, které mají významné místo v učebním plánu základní povinné školy. Kromě nich důležitou úlohu má literární výchova a do jisté míry i učební předměty, v nichž se žáci seznamují s uměleckými díly, např. dějepis.

Při hodnocení vyššího všeobecného vzdělání je nutno řešit otázku, zda i střední škola má výrazněji přispívat k rozvíjení estetické výchovy, než činí dosud, především, zda by v ní neměly dále pokračovat jako povinné předměty kreslení a hudební výchova. V zásadě je nutno odpovědět, že ano a že zvláště věk žáků a jejich problémy rozvíjení citového života vyžadoval podporu, kterou člověku dává umění.

Avšak řešení této otázky je složitější. Dnes převládá názor, že za dosavadního stavu metodiky vyučování je třeba upnout pozornost hlavně na ovládnutí základů věd. Na druhé straně nelze se spokojit s převodem estetickovýchovné práce do zájmové mimotřídní a mimoškolní činnosti. Zavedení nepovinných předmětů výtvarné a hudební výchovy řeší problém jen částečně, protože zaměstnání žáků školní prací poskytuje málo možností pro účast v těchto nepovinných předmětech. Jde především o výtvarnou výchovu, která má velký význam i pro odborné vzdělání mládeže a bylo by proto prospěšné aspoň v menší míře zavést do obsahu střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy.

Tělesná výchova

Spojení školy se životem a zavedení výrobní práce žáků staví do nového světla také úkoly péče o tělesný rozvoj žáků a staví do popředí posilovací, rekreační a vyrovnávací význam tělesné výchovy. Výrobní práce žáků v závodech klade značné nároky na fyzickou připravenost žáků. Škola má přispět k jejich všestranné tělesné vyspělosti, odolnosti a hbitosti, ale také má plnit některé speciální úkoly, např. zesilovat u žáků pracovní zručnost, rychlost a hbitost pohybů, správné držení těla, zachovávat rytmus při práci apod. Jde tedy především o to, aby tělesná výchova byla chápána v těsném sepětí s fyzickou prací žactva i s celým výchovně vzdělávacím procesem. Nelze souhlasit s názorem, že výrobní práce žáků nahrazuje soustavnou tělesnou výchovu. Naopak tělesná výchova se má stát určitou protiváhou tělesné práce a učení a má tvořit s nimi organickou jednotu. Obsah, metody i formy tělesné výchovy žáků střední školy musí směřovat k tělesné a morální přípravě pro fyzickou práci a pro obranu vlasti, nikoliv k samoúčelné tělesné výchově.

Základy odborného vzdělání

______________________

Druhým základním úkolem střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy je poskytovat žákům základy odborného vzdělání a tím jim dát základní odbornou přípravu pro práci v některém odvětví národního hospodářství a kultury. Hlavní výrobní úseky našeho národního hospodářství jsou průmysl., zemědělství, stavebnictví a doprava. V průmyslu jsou odvětví těžkého průmyslu, tj. těžba rud a paliv, energetika, hutnictví, strojírenství, chemický průmysl, průmysl stavebních hmot, a odvětví lehkého průmyslu, tj. průmysl textilní a oděvní, sklářský, keramický, dřevařský, potravinářský, polygrafický, filmový atd. V zemědělství rozeznáváme výrobu rostlinnou a živočišnou. Odvětví kultury jsou velmi rozmanitá a nelze je tak zřetelně roztřídit. Kromě toho je třeba ujasnit, která odvětví kultury by byla vhodná pro splnění úkolu dát žákům základní odbornou přípravu.

Výběr odvětví, ve kterém by žáci získali základní odborné vzdělání, se může především říoit místními podmínkami tak, aby žáci v nich skutečně mohli pracovat produktivně. Kromě toho je nutno brát v úvahu nejdůležitější výrobní odvětví, na nichž by bylo možno objasnit obecné principy výroby a která by byla přiměřená tělesným i duševním silám žactva.

Vědecké základy výroby představují složitý komplex poznatků z přírodních a matematických věd, z technických věd, tj. z techniky a technologie různých výrobních odvětví a jejich organizace. Předpokládají znalosti o složení, vlastnostech, úpravě norem a výrobků. Technika obsahuje poučení o strojích, technických zařízeních a přístrojích a o jejich činnosti, o technických počtech. Technologie výroby zahrnuje poučení o materiálu a o jeho zpracování. Základy zemědělské výroby znamenají poučení o rostlinné a živočišné výrobě. Základní odborná příprava znamená jednak základní teoretické poznatky z příslušné oblasti výroby, jednak základní odborný výcvik.

Odborné vzdělání na všeobecně vzdělávací střední škole musí mít širší zaměření a lišit se menší hloubkou učiva i rozsahem odborné teorie a výcviku od odborné vzdělání, které je obsahem odborných škol a učilišť. Na střední škole mohou žáci získat pouze základy odborného vzdělání. Žáci mají získat základní teoretické odborné vědomosti z oblasti výroby, jako je technologie, nauka o materiálu, o strojích apod. Kromě toho mají získat také odborné dovednosti a návyky a mají se naučit pracovat. Tyto úkoly odborného vzdělání nemohou být splněny v tradičních předmětech střední školy, nýbrž do jejího učebního plánu musí být zavedeny nové odborné předměty a výcvik spolu s produktivní prací žactva. Žáci pracují ve výrobě (nebo se zabývají jinou výrobní prací) a současně studují ve škole. Mezi prací žáků a jejich studiem musí být účelný vztah, aby práce byla ve shodě s obsahem studia. Práce, která by se nezakládala na výsledcích studia by se stala samoúčelnou a nesplnila by výchovně vzdělávací úkoly.

Hloubka základní odborné přípravy a její místo v obsahu střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy je vážným problémem. Záleží na cíli, který základní odborné přípravě žactva na této škole dáváme. Základní odborná příprava má význam výchovný, vzdělávací a praktický. Při výrobní práci se žáci začleňují do života socialistického závodu, kde při práci s dospělými poznávají radost z tvořivé práce, seznamují se s organizací práce, učí se pračovní kázni a uvědomují si své povinnosti ke kolektivu a společnosti. Vyučování základům výrobní práce žáků vede k hlubšímu osvojení všeobecného a polytechnického vzdělání. Praktický ekonomický význam základní odborné přípravy spočívá v tom, že umožňuje absolventům školy urychleně získat vyšší, dělnickou kvalifikaci a tím se brzy zapojit do kvalifikované práce.

Sovětská pedagogika došla na základě výzkumných škol k závěru, že výrobnímu vyučování s produktivní prací žáků má být věnována ve střední škole s výrobním vyučováním jedna třetina vyučovací doby, to je 12 hodin týdně. Na našich pokusných školách je počet hodin něco málo menší (10, 10,12), avšak zřetel k všeobecnému a polytechnickému vzdělání vede k závěru, aby byl ještě poněkud snížen.

Je nutné zachovat pravidelně po celý rok jeden den výrobní práce týdně (po 6 hod.) a k tomu ještě asi 2 hod. na odbornou teorii. Z 35 hodin týdně to tedy znamená věnovat 8 hodin výrobnímu vyučování a 27 hodin předmětům všeobecného a polytechnického vzdělání. Celkem tedy mohou mít žáci střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy asi 600 hodin výrobní práce a asi 200 hodin odborné teorie. Zkušenosti z dvanáctiletých středních škol ukazují, že při dosavadním rozsahu výrobní práce mohou žáci střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy'vykonat zkoušku z požadavků třetí třídy popř. i vyšší tarifního kvalifikačního katalogu. Tento rozsah by vyhovoval také ve srovnání s provozní praxí odborných škol a postačoval pro základy odborné přípravy pro vysoké školy.

Návrh učebních osnov je uspořádán tak, aby žáci získali nejdříve znalosti i dovednosti širšího charakteru. V 10. a 11. (v 1. a 2.) ročníku se seznamují s nejdůležitějšími pracemi závodu a teprve ve 12. (ve 3.),ročníku se mají věnovat zvolenému pracovnímu oboru. Za přednost tohoto uspořádání se pokládá to, že žáci poznají základy určitého výrobního odvětví a pak teprve na. těchto základech mohou vytvářet speciální znalosti a dovednosti. Ozývají se však také hlasy, že by žáci měli již dříve se zaměřit na užší obor a tak v kratší době přejít na skutečnou produktivní práci. To je velmi vážný problém, který mohou řešit především závody na základě ekonomických výsledků.

Diferenciace učebního plánu

______________________

Střední všeobecně vzdělávací škola navazuje na důkladnější přípravu v devítileté škole, která je o rok delší než byla v osmileté škole a má dát hlubší a širší středoškolské vzdělání, než dávala jedenáctiletka. Má tak učinit ve stejně dlouhé učební době, to je ve třech letech, z čehož jedna třetina připadne odborné přípravě. Vzniká otázka, zda střední škola může úkol ve třech letech splnit. Na tuto otázku bude možno naprosto spolehlivě dát odpověď až po určitých zkušenostech. Objevují se obavy o úroveň všeobecného vzdělání v pracovní a polytechnické škole. Zkušenosti sovětské školy i našich výzkumných škol ukazují celkem přesvědčivě, že není třeba mít tyto obavy, neboť zapojení mládeže do společensky užitečné práce zvyšuje její zájem o učení, vytváří odpovědnější vztah ke studiu a tak vede k intensivnějšímu rozumovému vývoji. Spojení vyučování s výrobní prací za podmínek jednoty všeobecného, polytechnického a odborného vzdělání vytváří předpoklady k tomu, dosáhnout zlepšení úrovně všeobecného a polytechnického vzdělání žáků střední školy. Nebylo by správné, aby se střední škola všeobecně vzdělávací stala školou úzce odbornou. Záruka je právě v tom, že v jednotlivých předmětech budou zaváděny vědecké základy výroby a konkrétní poučení o výrobním odvětví a oboru a výrobní práce v nich budou zaměřeny k tomu, aby seznámily žáky se základními principy moderní výroby. Střední škola musí se vyvarovat úzce intelektuálního i úzce profesionálního charakteru. Na druhé straně však kritika výsledků práce střední školy nutí hledat účinnější cesty její práce. Jednou z těchto cest je diferenciace učebního plánu.

V sovětské pedagogice i v referátu na dubnovém zasedání naší strany v r. 1959 se poukazuje, že diferenciace učebního plánu ve střední škole (nikoliv v základní povinné) není nesprávné řešení. Rozhodující jsou výhody diferencovaného učebního plánu a způsob jeho realizace. Již zavedení výrobní práce v různých oborech výroby představuje určitou diferenciaci středoškolského vzdělání ve složce odborné přípravy. Zatím co předměty všeobecného a polytechnického vzdělání jsou pro všechny žáky stejné, ve výrobní práci si žáci mohou volit výrobní odvětví ovšem podle podmínek školy a ve 12. ročníku opět mohou volit užší pracovní obor. Tato diferenciace neomezuje výběr dalšího studia nebo povolání, např. žák s výrobní praxí ve stavebnictví může jít na universitu, techniku nebo do abiturientského zdravotnického kursu atd.

Obtížnější je problém diferenciace neboli větvení v předmětech všeobecného a polytechnického vzdělání. Je možno nastoupit tyto cesty: jednotný nediferencovaný učební plán ve všech ročnících, nebo učební plán s volitelnými předměty nebo diferencovaný učební plán na větve bud ve všech ročnících nebo ve vyšších ročnících. Při použití diferencovaného učebního plánu je nutno stanovit počet a zaměření větví. Diferenciace učebního plánu musí být posuzována jak z hlediska společenského, tak z hlediska psychologického a biologického, tj. z hlediska žáka. Uplatnění společenského hlediska vede k tomu, že nám jde o výchovu člověka všestranně rozvitého, s širokým rozhledem, nikoliv člověka úzce specialisovaného, přitom však dobře připraveného pro další studium. Střední škola musí zajistit hlubší a solidnější přípravu pro vysokou školu, zajistit vysokou úroveň přípravy ve třech letech studia.

Uplatněni hlediska žáka vede k úsilí odstranit přetěžování žáků a zajistit příznivé zdravotní podmínky pro jejich rozvoj, a dále ke snaze vyhovět jejich rozdílným zájmům a sklonům, zřetel k žákům ovšem nemůže být určující pro školu, nýbrž řešení musí nalézt soulad mezi společenskými potřebami a zájmy žactva. Při tom musíme vzít v úvahu jak perspektivu rozvoje společnosti, tak i současné podmínky, zvl. obtíže, které vzniknou z přechodu na nový systém školství a z nedostatečné realizace vůdčích zásad přestavby, zvl. zásady spojení školy se životem. Diferenciaci učebního plánu lze provést buď ve skupinách jedné třídy, v celé třídě nebo v celé škole. Ve skupinách jedné třídy lze provést diferenciaci pomocí volitelných předmětů, diferenciace v celé třídě umožňuje větší rozlišení v některých předmětech. Uskutečnění diferenciace záleží také na velikosti školy a na konkrétních podmínkách v síti škol. Jestliže jedním z hlavních úkolů střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy je příprava na vysokoškolské studium, pak také otázku diferenciace plánu musíme řešit především ze stanoviska potřeb vysokých škol. Rozbor požadavků vysokých škol různého zaměření ukázal, že při různorodosti požadavků je možno nalézt skupiny předmětů, na které se soustřeďuje jejich zájem. Jsou to na prvním místě matematika a fyzika, dále chemie a biologie, český jazyk s literaturou a dějepis. Zvláště pak je možno nalézt rozdíly v nárocích na matematické vzdělání, které jsou vysoké na fakultách technických a strojních, stavebních, jaderné fyziky aj., kdežto zase na jiných fakultách technických např. chemické technologie a universitních např. filosofické, lékařské jsou mnohem nižší. Je jisté, že souhrn vědomostí, které se dnes považují za základy věd, je velmi obsáhlý a že nemohou všichni žáci ve všech vědních oborech získat stejně hluboké vědomosti. Přílišný rozsah vede k povrchnosti a k encyklopedismu. Vysoké školy si stěžují, že musí v prvních ročnících doplňovat vzdělání, které si žáci nepřinesli ze střední školy. Naproti tomu nelze opustit požadavek, aby střední všeobecně vzdělávací škola dávala žákům všestranné vzdělání. Tento požadavek neplní např. diferencovaná americká škola, která nezajišťuje, aby žáci ovládli základy věd. Je však možné zajistit v učebním plánu základní předměty a diferenciaci soustředit na posílení některých předmětů. Hlubší vzdělání v jednom oboru není pak překážkou všestranného rozvoje žákovy osobnosti.

Zástupci vysokých škol se většinou vyslovují pro diferenciaci. Učinili tak na aktivu o otázkách střední školy ve VÚP dne 11. března 1960. Zvláště promyšlené návrhy na diferenciaci učebního plánu podává Jednota čs. matematiků a fyziků. Při stanovení diferencovaných učebních plánů je možno vycházet z těchto zásad:

1. O zaměření a hloubce diferencovaných učebních plánů rozhodují požadavky přípravy pro vysokoškolské studium.

2. V diferencovaném učebním plánu jsou ve všech větvích zastoupeny učební předměty tak, aby byla zajištěna všestrannost vzdělání.

3. Výrobní práce je povinná pro všechny žáky střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy,

Vzniká otázka, na které větve a podle jakých kritérií máme střední školu diferencovat. Při rozhodování nutno uplatnit také zřetel k síti středních všeobecně vzdělávacích škol tak, aby diferencované učební plány byly uskutečněny i na menších školách.

Subkomise pro otázky střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy při ministerstvu školství a kultury zvážila všechny tyto zřetele a vypracovala návrh na diferenciaci učebního plánu ve dvě větve:

A — matematicko-fyzikální a B — společensko-přírodovědnou. Nedostatkem tohoto řešení bylo, že nepřihlíželo dostatečně k síti středních všeobecně vzdělávacích škol. V českých krajích máme nyní přibližně 135 jedenáctiletých a dvanáctiletých středních škol s jedinou třídou v 9. roč., 130 škol se dvěma a asi 30 škol s více než třemi třídami. To znamená, že není možné v každé škole zavést všechny větve učebního plánu. Je pravda, že se počet žactva středních všeobecně vzdělávacích škol poněkud zvýší, ale i tak bude dosti škol bez poboček. Řešení, které by vedlo ke zrušení malých škol a k vytváření velkých škol, by nebylo na prospěch rozšiřování středního vzdělání. Dále byly vyslovovány námitky proti větvi společensko-přírodovědné, které se vytýkalo, že má dvě nesourodé dominanty předmětů. Proto v dalším jednání při přípravě materiálu o pojetí škol II. cyklu byla dána přednost řešení, které zavádělo větev všeobecnou s volitelnými předměty jako větev zaváděnou ve všech školách a vedle ní ještě větve matematicko-fyzikální a chemicko-biologickou. V navrhovaných větvích střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy je všeobecně vzdělávací charakter zajišťován tím, že jsou na nich zastoupeny v zásadě všechny všeobecně vzdělávací předměty, přičemž obsah a rozsah studia českého jazyka a literatury, ruského jazyka, dalšího živého jazyka, občanské výchovy a tělesné výchovy je na všech typech týž. Navrhovaná větev všeobecná má v podstatě upravený učební plán pokusných dvanáctiletých středních škol s volitelnými předměty. Je to tedy částečná diferenciace, která umožňuje i v rámci povinných předmětů vytvořit podmínky pro uspokojování individuálních zájmů a schopností žactva. Výběr volitelných předmětů se navrhuje širší, než byl na pokusné dvanáctileté škole a nestaví se v něm proti sobě deskriptivní geometrie a studium jazyků, neboť zástupci technických vysokých škol důrazně žádají, aby střední škola dala žákům dobré základy dalšího živého jazyka. Toto řešení volitelnými předměty má své didaktické nedostatky. Zkušenosti výzkumných dvanáctiletých škol vykazují obtíže při vyučování některým předmětům, plynoucí z nestejné přípravy žactva třídy získané ve volitelných předmětech, např. v matematice je nestejná úroveň žáků, kteří si volí deskriptivní geometrii a žáků s konverzací. Systém volitelných předmětů neumožňuje výraznější diferenciaci a tím ani hlubší přípravu v některém směru, např. v matematickém vzdělání. Na větvi matematicko-fyzikální se navrhuje posílit vyučování matematice a fyzice, na větvi chemicko-biologické zase studium chemie a biologie. Diferenciace se může prohloubit ještě volbou nepovinného předmětu. Jak je zřejmé z toho návrhu, neuvažuje se o samostatné větvi humanitní, poněvadž jednak se zřetelem k potřebám počtu studentů na příslušných vysokých školách by mohly být zřizovány v malém počtu, jednak se předměty jazykové a společensko-vědné nepokládají za rozlišující předměty.

Celkový počet vyučovacích hodin věnovaných předmětům všeobecného a polytechnického vzdělání v tříleté střední škole je poněkud nižší než byl v učebním plánu jedenáctileté střední školy z r. 1957. Tento nižší počet hodin může být vyvážen rozšířením základního vzdělání o 9. ročník, takže do střední školy přicházejí žáci lépe připraveni a o rok starší. Kromě toho ke zvýšení účinnosti výchovně vzdělávací práce střední školy přispívá zavedení základní odborné přípravy a posílení studia některých předmětů v diferencovaném učebním plánu. Naše socialistická společnost vytváří cílevědomě za vedení KSČ příznivé podmínky pro trvalé zlepšování výchovy a vzdělání mládeže. Uplatnění zásady spojení šk9ly se životem, s výrobou, s praxí socialistické a komunistické výstavby vede k tomu, že se práce školy neuzavírá mezi stěny školy. Široká veřejnost, dělníci, družstevní rolníci, rodiče, zájmové organizace atd. cílevědomě spolupracují s učiteli a vychovateli. Proto i složité otázky poslání a obsahu střední všeobecně vzdělávací školy mohou být správně řešeny jen za tvořivé účasti jak učitelů škol, tak celé naší veřejnosti. Tento postup se osvědčil již při řešení pojetí obsahu základní devítileté školy. Proto v květnu t. r. byl předložen veřejnosti k projednání návrh pojetí škol II. cyklu a podle výsledků bude upraven a postupně realizován ve školách.

SUMMARY

________

Problems Concerning the Tasks and Content of the General Eduction Secondary School

Czecholovakia is now realizing a new system of education and instruction. Under this system the majority of the youth are to acquire, within the next few years, complete secondary education at schools of the second grade (stage). One type of these schools is the Three-Year General Education Secondary School, following the Basic Nine-Year School. This is to give the youth general and polytechnical secondary education and the rudiments of vocational instruction. It prepares for studies at universities, vocational schools or for the acquisition of a skilled worker’s qualification. The article deals with the consequences of these tasks for the school curriculum. It analyses the requirements of universities, vocational studies and the requirements for the acquisition of a skilled worker’s qualification. It deals with the proportion between general and polytechnical education on the hand and vocational instruction on the other hand. It discusses the possibility of differentiating the curriculum. It comes to the conclusion that from the viewpoint of university-level studies it is most suitable for the Czechoslovak secondary school to be differentiated into branches. There should be a general branch with eligible subjects, another branch schould stress instruction in mathematics and physics, and the third one schould stress subjects of social sciences (literature and history) and natural sciences (chemistry, biology). A public discussion on these questions is now going on in Czechoslovakia.

Stanislav Mařan, 1960

Secretary of the Army Dr. Mark T. Esper participated in the Regan National Defense Forum bipartisan annual event as a speaker in the A Defense Industrial & Innovation Base Workforce for the 21ST Century: Winning The Competition For Highly Skilled Workers Inside & Outside the Pentagon panel alongside California Congressman Ken Calvert, Ms. Marillyn Hewson, Chairman, President & CEO, Lockheed, and Florida Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy in Semi Valley, CA, Dec. 1, 2018. Mr. Mike Hammer from Fox News moderated the discussion. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Nicole Mejia)

(for further pictures and information please go to the end of page and by clicking on the link my modest promises will be fulfilled!)

Parliament building

The original intention was to build two separate buildings for the Imperial Council and the House of Representatives of the by the February Patent 1861 established Reichsrat (Imperial Council). After the Compromise with Hungary, however, this plan was dropped and in the year 1869 the architect Theophil von Hansen by the Ministry of the Interior entrusted with the elaboration of the monumental project for a large parliament building. The first cut of the spade followed in June 1874, the foundation stone bears the date "2nd September 1874". At the same time was worked on the erection of the imperial museums, the Town Hall and the University. Theophil Hansen took - as already mentioned - well thought out and in a very meaningful way the style of the Viennese parliament building from ancient Greece; stem important constitutional terms but also from the Greek antiquity - such as "politics", "democracy" and others. Symbolic meaning had also that from nearly all crown lands of the monarchy materials have been used for the construction of the parliament building. Thus, the structure should symbolize the confluence of all the forces "of the in the in the Reichsrat represented kingdoms and countries" in the Vienna parliament building. With the downfall of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy ended the era of the multinational Parliament in Vienna.

Since November 1918, the building is the seat of the parliamentary bodies of the Republic of Austria, first the National Assembly and later the National Council in the until its destruction in 1945 remained unchanged session hall of the former Imperial Council holding meetings. During the Second World War, the parliament building was severely affected, about half of the building fabric were destroyed. On 7th February 1945 the portico by bombing suffered serious damage. Two columns were totally destroyed, the edge ceiling construction with the richly gilded coffered ceiling and a magnificent frieze painting, which was 121 meters long and 2 meters high and the most ideal and economic roles of the Parliament representing allegorically, were seriously damaged. During reconstruction, the rebuilding did not occur in the originally from Hansen originating features: instead of Pavonazzo marble for the wall plate cover Salzburg marble was used. The frieze painting initially not could be recovered, only in the 90s it should be possible to restore single surviving parts. In addition to destructions in the Chancellery Wing at the Ring Road as well as in the portico especially the Imperial Council tract was severely affected by the effects of war. The meeting room of the Imperial Council was completely burned out, in particular the figural jewelry as well as the ruined marble statues of Lycurgus, Solon, Themistocles, Aristides, Sophocles, Socrates, Pericles and Demosthenes appearing hardly recoverable. In this circumstances, it was decided not to reconstruct the old Imperial Council hall, but a new hall with a businesslike but refined and convenient furnishing for the National Council of the Republic of Austria to build. During the reconstruction of the building in the years 1945 to 1956 efforts were also made the yet by Hansen envisaged technical independence further to develop and to perfect. Thus the parliament building now has an emergency generator, which ensures, any time, adequate electricity supply of the house in case of failure of the city network, and a variety of other technical facilities, which guarantee a high supply autonomy. Not only from basic considerations in the sense of seperation of powers but also from the possibility of an extraordinary emergency, is this a compelling need. National Council and the Federal Council as the elected representative bodies of the Austrian people must at all times - especially in case of disaster - the material conditions for their activity have guaranteed. This purpose serve the mentioned facilities and many others, sometimes very complicated ones and the persons entrusted with their maintenance. To the staff of the Parliamentary Administration therefore belong not only academics, stenographers, administrators, secretaries and officials of the room service as in each parliament, but also the with the maintenance of the infrastructure of the parliament building entrusted technicians and skilled workers.

Analogous to other parliaments was for years, even decades tried to acquire or to rent one or the other object near the Parliament building. Finally one was able in 1981 to start with a basic conversion or expansion of the house Reichsratsstrasse 9 under planning by the architect Prof. Dr. Sepp Stein, in this connection was given the order the parliament building through a tunnel with the house in the Reichsratsstrasse to connect. With this tunnel not only a connection for pedestrians should be established, but also a technical integration of the two houses. In the basement of the building in which in early 1985 could be moved in, confluences the road tunnel; furthermore it serves the accommodation of technical rooms as well as of the storage, preparation and staff rooms for a restauration, a main kitchen and a restaurant for about 130 people are housed on the ground floor. On the first floor are located dining rooms for about 110 people; workrooms for MPs are in the second, offices in the third to the sixth floor housed. Ten years after the house Reichsratsstrasse 9 another building could be purchased, the house Reichsratsstrasse 1, and, again under the planning leadership of architect Prof. Dr. Sepp Stein, adapted for the purposes of the Parliament. This house also through an in the basement joining under road tunnel with the Parliament building was connected. The basement houses storage rooms, the ground floor next to an "info-shop" where information materials concerning the Austrian Parlament can be obtained, the Parliament Post Office and the printery. In the six upper floors are offices and other work spaces for different departments of the Parliamentary Administration. The previously by these departments used rooms in the Parliament building were, after it was moved into the house Reichsratsstrasse in 1994, mostly the parliamentary clubs made available. Already in 1992 by the rental of rooms in a building in the Schenkenstraße for the parliamentary staff of the deputies office premises had been created.

Pallas Athene

Parliament Vienna

The 5.5 meter high monumental statue of Pallas Athena in front of the parliament building in Vienna gives not only the outside appearance of this building a striking sculptural accent, but has almost become a symbolic figure of the Austrian parliamentarism. The Danish architect Theophil Hansen, according to which draft in the years 1874-1884 the parliament building has been built, has designed this as a "work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk)"; thus, his planning also including the figural decoration of the building. The in front of the Parliament ramp to be built monumental fountain should according to Hansen's original planning be crowned of an allegoric representation of the Austria, that is, a symbolization of Austria. In the definitive, in 1878 by Hansen submitted figure program took its place Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. The monumental statue was realized only after Hansen's death, but according to his design by sculptor Carl Kundmann in 1902.

Meeting room of the former House of Representatives

The meeting room of the former House of Representatives is largely preserved faithfully and now serves the meetings of the Federal Assembly as well as ceremonies and commemorative meetings of the National Council and the Federal Council. Architecturally, the hall is modeled on a Greek theater. Before the end wall is the presidium with the lectern and the Government Bench, in the semicircle the seats of the deputies are arranged. The from Carrara marble carved statues on the front wall - between the ​​of Unterberger marble manufactured columns and pilasters - represent Roman statesmen, the by Friedrich Eisenmenger realised frieze painting depicts the emergence of political life, and the pediment group above it should symbolize the daily routine.

Portico

The large portico, in its proportions recreating the Parthenon of the Acropolis of Athens, forms the central chamber of the parliament building and should according to the original intention serve as a meeting place between members of the House of Representatives and of the Imperial Council. Today it functions as a venue, such as for the annual reception of the President of the National Council and the President of the Federal Council for the Diplomatic Corps. When choosing materials for the parliament building, Theophil Hansen strove to use marbles and stones from the crown lands of the monarchy, thus expressing their attachment to their Parliament. For example, consist the 24 monolithic, that is, produced from one-piece, columns, each more than 16 tons of weight, of the great hypostyle hall of Adnet marble, the floor panels of Istrian karst marble. When in the last months of the Second World War the Parliament building was severely affected by bomb hits, also the portico suffered severe damage, and the two columns in the north-west corner of the hall were destroyed, the edge ceiling construction with the richly gilded coffered ceiling and below the ceiling running frieze painting by Eduard Lebiedzki have been severely damaged. The two destroyed columns in 1950 were replaced by two new ones, broken from the same quarry as the originals, but not exhibiting the same pattern. The parts of the Lebiedzki frieze which have been restorable only in the 90s could be restored.

www.wien-vienna.at/index.php?ID=1102

Rear side view: Patio on left, den, bathroom & bedrooms, carport on right (not shown). The Melvyn Maxwell Smith and Sara Stein Smith House also known as Myhaven is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed Usonian home that was constructed in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1949 and 1950. Both were public school teachers living on a tight budget. During the two year construction period, the Smith's combined income was $280.00 per month. The house was to be 1800 square feet and featured radiant heating through hot water pipes installed in the floor slab. Like other Wright home designs, the house relied on passive solar energy. They received a housewarming gift from their friend Irving Goldberg of a maple dining table with eight maple chairs, two coffee tables and six hassocks, all designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright visited the Smith home 3 times after it was constructed (1951, 1953 and 1957), calling the house "my little gem.”

The home is located near the Cranbrook Educational Community, and over the years, the Smiths built an extensive art collection, and the majority their works were by artists associated with Cranbrook. Among them are a massive chest by Paul R. Evans, a gazelle sculpture by Marshall Fredericks, and works by other artists including a sculpture by Sam Apple, exterior sculptures by Mike Calligan, weavings by Barbara Wittenburg, interior sculptures by Jim Messama, and a sculpted bust of Melvyn Smith by Robert Scheffman.[20] Cranbrook president Roy Slade praised the home as exemplifying "the integration of art, architecture and nature”. Architectural photographer Balthazar Korab produced a widely reproduced image of Calligan's "Natural Bridge" sculpture with the house as the backdrop.[11] Later, the Smiths collected works by Glenn Michaels, including an accordion screen, and a triptych mosaic installed above the fireplace. Sounding Sculpture by Harry Bertoia. At Wright's advice, Melvin Maxwell Smith decided to act as his own general contractor, so that he could save money and maintain the quality standards he expected. He recruited skilled workers who wanted to work on a home designed by Wright so much that they would accept lower pay than usual. Suppliers of building materials also provided goods such as 14,000 board feet of red tidewater cypress lumber at discounted prices because of their wish to be involved with a Wright project.[14] Shopping center developer A. Alfred Taubman provided all of the windows at a deep discount[15] because he considered the house a "fantastic structure”. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvyn_Maxwell_and_Sara_Stein_Smith...

www.michiganmodern.org/buildings/melvyn-maxwell-and-sara-...

A technician checking the panel surface temperature at the Sunny Bangchak Solar Farm. The solar farm is part of the Provincial Solar Power Project aimed to diversify Thailand's energy mix through the addition of renewable energy capacity.

Read more on:

Thailand

Energy

Provincial Solar Power Project

(for further pictures and information please go to the end of page and by clicking on the link my modest promises will be fulfilled!)

Parliament building

The original intention was to build two separate buildings for the Imperial Council and the House of Representatives of the by the February Patent 1861 established Reichsrat (Imperial Council). After the Compromise with Hungary, however, this plan was dropped and in the year 1869 the architect Theophil von Hansen by the Ministry of the Interior entrusted with the elaboration of the monumental project for a large parliament building. The first cut of the spade followed in June 1874, the foundation stone bears the date "2nd September 1874". At the same time was worked on the erection of the imperial museums, the Town Hall and the University. Theophil Hansen took - as already mentioned - well thought out and in a very meaningful way the style of the Viennese parliament building from ancient Greece; stem important constitutional terms but also from the Greek antiquity - such as "politics", "democracy" and others. Symbolic meaning had also that from nearly all crown lands of the monarchy materials have been used for the construction of the parliament building. Thus, the structure should symbolize the confluence of all the forces "of the in the in the Reichsrat represented kingdoms and countries" in the Vienna parliament building. With the downfall of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy ended the era of the multinational Parliament in Vienna.

Since November 1918, the building is the seat of the parliamentary bodies of the Republic of Austria, first the National Assembly and later the National Council in the until its destruction in 1945 remained unchanged session hall of the former Imperial Council holding meetings. During the Second World War, the parliament building was severely affected, about half of the building fabric were destroyed. On 7th February 1945 the portico by bombing suffered serious damage. Two columns were totally destroyed, the edge ceiling construction with the richly gilded coffered ceiling and a magnificent frieze painting, which was 121 meters long and 2 meters high and the most ideal and economic roles of the Parliament representing allegorically, were seriously damaged. During reconstruction, the rebuilding did not occur in the originally from Hansen originating features: instead of Pavonazzo marble for the wall plate cover Salzburg marble was used. The frieze painting initially not could be recovered, only in the 90s it should be possible to restore single surviving parts. In addition to destructions in the Chancellery Wing at the Ring Road as well as in the portico especially the Imperial Council tract was severely affected by the effects of war. The meeting room of the Imperial Council was completely burned out, in particular the figural jewelry as well as the ruined marble statues of Lycurgus, Solon, Themistocles, Aristides, Sophocles, Socrates, Pericles and Demosthenes appearing hardly recoverable. In this circumstances, it was decided not to reconstruct the old Imperial Council hall, but a new hall with a businesslike but refined and convenient furnishing for the National Council of the Republic of Austria to build. During the reconstruction of the building in the years 1945 to 1956 efforts were also made the yet by Hansen envisaged technical independence further to develop and to perfect. Thus the parliament building now has an emergency generator, which ensures, any time, adequate electricity supply of the house in case of failure of the city network, and a variety of other technical facilities, which guarantee a high supply autonomy. Not only from basic considerations in the sense of seperation of powers but also from the possibility of an extraordinary emergency, is this a compelling need. National Council and the Federal Council as the elected representative bodies of the Austrian people must at all times - especially in case of disaster - the material conditions for their activity have guaranteed. This purpose serve the mentioned facilities and many others, sometimes very complicated ones and the persons entrusted with their maintenance. To the staff of the Parliamentary Administration therefore belong not only academics, stenographers, administrators, secretaries and officials of the room service as in each parliament, but also the with the maintenance of the infrastructure of the parliament building entrusted technicians and skilled workers.

Analogous to other parliaments was for years, even decades tried to acquire or to rent one or the other object near the Parliament building. Finally one was able in 1981 to start with a basic conversion or expansion of the house Reichsratsstrasse 9 under planning by the architect Prof. Dr. Sepp Stein, in this connection was given the order the parliament building through a tunnel with the house in the Reichsratsstrasse to connect. With this tunnel not only a connection for pedestrians should be established, but also a technical integration of the two houses. In the basement of the building in which in early 1985 could be moved in, confluences the road tunnel; furthermore it serves the accommodation of technical rooms as well as of the storage, preparation and staff rooms for a restauration, a main kitchen and a restaurant for about 130 people are housed on the ground floor. On the first floor are located dining rooms for about 110 people; workrooms for MPs are in the second, offices in the third to the sixth floor housed. Ten years after the house Reichsratsstrasse 9 another building could be purchased, the house Reichsratsstrasse 1, and, again under the planning leadership of architect Prof. Dr. Sepp Stein, adapted for the purposes of the Parliament. This house also through an in the basement joining under road tunnel with the Parliament building was connected. The basement houses storage rooms, the ground floor next to an "info-shop" where information materials concerning the Austrian Parlament can be obtained, the Parliament Post Office and the printery. In the six upper floors are offices and other work spaces for different departments of the Parliamentary Administration. The previously by these departments used rooms in the Parliament building were, after it was moved into the house Reichsratsstrasse in 1994, mostly the parliamentary clubs made available. Already in 1992 by the rental of rooms in a building in the Schenkenstraße for the parliamentary staff of the deputies office premises had been created.

Pallas Athene

Parliament Vienna

The 5.5 meter high monumental statue of Pallas Athena in front of the parliament building in Vienna gives not only the outside appearance of this building a striking sculptural accent, but has almost become a symbolic figure of the Austrian parliamentarism. The Danish architect Theophil Hansen, according to which draft in the years 1874-1884 the parliament building has been built, has designed this as a "work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk)"; thus, his planning also including the figural decoration of the building. The in front of the Parliament ramp to be built monumental fountain should according to Hansen's original planning be crowned of an allegoric representation of the Austria, that is, a symbolization of Austria. In the definitive, in 1878 by Hansen submitted figure program took its place Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. The monumental statue was realized only after Hansen's death, but according to his design by sculptor Carl Kundmann in 1902.

Meeting room of the former House of Representatives

The meeting room of the former House of Representatives is largely preserved faithfully and now serves the meetings of the Federal Assembly as well as ceremonies and commemorative meetings of the National Council and the Federal Council. Architecturally, the hall is modeled on a Greek theater. Before the end wall is the presidium with the lectern and the Government Bench, in the semicircle the seats of the deputies are arranged. The from Carrara marble carved statues on the front wall - between the ​​of Unterberger marble manufactured columns and pilasters - represent Roman statesmen, the by Friedrich Eisenmenger realised frieze painting depicts the emergence of political life, and the pediment group above it should symbolize the daily routine.

Portico

The large portico, in its proportions recreating the Parthenon of the Acropolis of Athens, forms the central chamber of the parliament building and should according to the original intention serve as a meeting place between members of the House of Representatives and of the Imperial Council. Today it functions as a venue, such as for the annual reception of the President of the National Council and the President of the Federal Council for the Diplomatic Corps. When choosing materials for the parliament building, Theophil Hansen strove to use marbles and stones from the crown lands of the monarchy, thus expressing their attachment to their Parliament. For example, consist the 24 monolithic, that is, produced from one-piece, columns, each more than 16 tons of weight, of the great hypostyle hall of Adnet marble, the floor panels of Istrian karst marble. When in the last months of the Second World War the Parliament building was severely affected by bomb hits, also the portico suffered severe damage, and the two columns in the north-west corner of the hall were destroyed, the edge ceiling construction with the richly gilded coffered ceiling and below the ceiling running frieze painting by Eduard Lebiedzki have been severely damaged. The two destroyed columns in 1950 were replaced by two new ones, broken from the same quarry as the originals, but not exhibiting the same pattern. The parts of the Lebiedzki frieze which have been restorable only in the 90s could be restored.

www.wien-vienna.at/index.php?ID=1102

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet

"No border - no control" ?

Borders => Human beings exposed to inhuman living conditions

World | Mon Dec 1, 2014 7:23am EST

Aging Europe needs the migrants it doesn't want

PARIS | By Paul Taylor

Europe is aging faster than any other region of the world. It badly needs immigrants. But many Europeans don't want them.

The "old continent" may be able to offset the impact of a graying workforce until around 2020 by bringing more women and elderly people into work, encouraging mobility within Europe and making better use of existing migrants, EU and OECD experts say.

But in the medium to long term, the European Union will need to attract significant numbers of skilled workers from beyond its borders - and overcome growing public opposition highlighted by the rise of populist anti-immigration parties.

"If you close the door (to immigration), you will pay an economic price," says Jean-Christophe Dumont, an expert on migration at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based intergovernmental think-tank.

"For now, we can make better use of migrants who are already here, matching their skills better to labor market needs. In the longer term, it will not only be about matching skills, it will also be about numbers," he said.

Going by current trends, Europe's industrial powerhouse Germany, along with Spain and Poland, will see its population shrink from now on, slowing potential economic growth.

Germany's 82 million residents will dwindle to 74.7 million by 2050 and their average age will rise to nearly 50, assuming unchanged levels of migration, according to EU statistics agency Eurostat. Some projections are even more dire, putting the German population as low as 65 million by 2060.

That will mean "serious labor supply constraints" in some of the strongest EU economies - Austria, the Netherlands and Finland as well as Germany - according to a European Commission study by Joerg Peschner and Constantinos Fotakis that took a baseline economic recovery of just 1 percent.

By contrast, Britain, France, Ireland and to a lesser extent Italy can expect healthy expansion. Britain will have overtaken the Germans by 2050 as the EU's most populous nation with 77.2 million - if it stays in the bloc - while France will have caught up with Germany on 74.3 million.

Related Coverage

› German population drop spells skills shortage in Europe's powerhouse

Regardless of their place on the scale, many European countries still recovering from six years of economic crisis are being tugged in the opposite direction from demographic realities by a tide of anti-immigration political rhetoric.

Marine Le Pen in France, Nigel Farage in Britain and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands are attracting working-class voters by raging against freedom of movement of workers within the EU, from the poorer east and south to the wealthier north.

They accuse the EU of opening the flood gates to "job stealing" migrants, driving down wages and living standards and raising crime rates.

DEMOGRAPHICS DRIVE DEMAND

The backlash against immigration prompted Pope Francis to appeal in the European Parliament for an "elderly and haggard" continent to show a more welcoming face to those who cross the Mediterranean Sea in search of a better life.

Another pressing argument for rational debate is the growing impact of the demographic reversal on the funding of pensions and healthcare, especially in countries such as Germany and Spain which will have the oldest populations.

As the post-World War Two baby boom generation retires, the ratio of over-65-year-olds to the working age population is set to rise dramatically, while the number of under-15s declines by nearly 15 percent by 2060, according to projections by Eurostat.

At present, the age dependence rate is 27.5 on average in the 28-nation EU, but Germany and Italy are well above that level. The rate is projected to jump to 49.4 in 2050, when there will be only two people of working age for every retiree.

Most EU countries have raised their retirement age to 65 or beyond and are making citizens contribute longer for a full pension - but further increases lie ahead.

Meanwhile there's the impact on Europe's economy of having a big chunk of the population focused on "needs, rather than wants," to consider, as Paul Hodges, co-author of the e-book "Boom, Gloom and The New Normal", explains.

"Demographics drive demand," he said. "Older people have less need for houses, cars and consumer goods and have to make do on lower incomes as they move on to pension age, slowing the wheels of the economy."

Before the financial crisis erupted in 2008, economic growth in the euro zone averaged 2 percent a year, roughly made up of a 1 percent gain in employment and 1 percent in productivity.

That growth potential, regarded as necessary to maintain the current level of European welfare provision, collapsed during the crisis and has yet to return in most countries.

Without employment gains from migration, Europe will need an improbably big boost in productivity to sustain its living standards - or see them decline.

(Editing by Mike Peacock and Sophie Walker)

Source: www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/01/us-europe-demographics...

Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, Sheffield.

Workshops - Left to Right - Crucible Furnace ; Fitting Shop ; Tilt Forge.

Grade l listed.

www.simt.co.uk/abbeydale-industrial-hamlet

Abbeydale Works is an integrated site for the production of steel tools. Dating from c1714, it was mainly built in the period 1785-1830, and remained in continuous use until 1933. It is of outstanding importance as an example of this type of industrial plant and its characteristic design.

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

. . . politics is to continue the war by other means

______________________________________

The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer, pronounced [bɛʁˈliːnɐ ˈmaʊ̯ɐ] (About this sound listen)) was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany), starting on 13 August 1961, the Wall cut off (by land) West Berlin from virtually all of surrounding East Germany and East Berlin until government officials opened it in November 1989. Its demolition officially began on 13 June 1990 and finished in 1992. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, "fakir beds" and other defenses. The Eastern Bloc portrayed the Wall as protecting its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany.

GDR authorities officially referred to the Berlin Wall as the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart (German: Antifaschistischer Schutzwall). The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the "Wall of Shame", a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt in reference to the Wall's restriction on freedom of movement. Along with the separate and much longer Inner German border (IGB), which demarcated the border between East and West Germany, it came to symbolize physically the "Iron Curtain" that separated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War.

Before the Wall's erection, 3.5 million East Germans circumvented Eastern Bloc emigration restrictions and defected from the GDR, many by crossing over the border from East Berlin into West Berlin; from there they could then travel to West Germany and to other Western European countries. Between 1961 and 1989 the Wall prevented almost all such emigrations During this period over 100,000 people attempted to escape and over 5,000 people succeeded in escaping over the Wall, with an estimated death toll ranging from 136 to more than 200 in and around Berlin.

In 1989 a series of revolutions in nearby Eastern Bloc countries - Poland and Hungary in particular - caused a chain reaction in East Germany that ultimately resulted in the demise of the Wall. After several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the Wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, euphoric people and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the Wall; the governments later used industrial equipment to remove most of what was left. The "fall of the Berlin Wall" paved the way for German reunification, which formally took place on 3 October 1990.

BACKGROUND

POST-WAR GERMANY

After the end of World War II in Europe, what remained of pre-war Germany west of the Oder-Neisse line was divided into four occupation zones (as per the Potsdam Agreement), each one controlled by one of the four occupying Allied powers: the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union. The capital of Berlin, as the seat of the Allied Control Council, was similarly subdivided into four sectors despite the city's location, which was fully within the Soviet zone.

Within two years, political divisions increased between the Soviets and the other occupying powers. These included the Soviets' refusal to agree to reconstruction plans making post-war Germany self-sufficient and to a detailed accounting of the industrial plants, goods and infrastructure already removed by the Soviets. France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Benelux countries later met to combine the non-Soviet zones of the country into one zone for reconstruction and to approve the extension of the Marshall Plan.

EASTERN BLOC AND THE BERLIN AIRLIFT

Following World War II, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin headed a group of nations on his Western border, the Eastern Bloc, that then included Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, which he wished to maintain alongside a weakened Soviet-controlled Germany. As early as 1945, Stalin revealed to German communist leaders that he expected to slowly undermine the British position within the British occupation zone, that the United States would withdraw within a year or two, and that nothing would then stand in the way of a united communist Germany within the bloc.

The major task of the ruling communist party in the Soviet zone was to channel Soviet orders down to both the administrative apparatus and the other bloc parties, which in turn would be presented as internal measures. Property and industry was nationalized in the East German zone. If statements or decisions deviated from the described line, reprimands and (for persons outside public attention) punishment would ensue, such as imprisonment, torture and even death.

Indoctrination of Marxism-Leninism became a compulsory part of school curricula, sending professors and students fleeing to the West. The East Germans created an elaborate political police apparatus that kept the population under close surveillance, including Soviet SMERSH secret police.

In 1948, following disagreements regarding reconstruction and a new German currency, Stalin instituted the Berlin Blockade, preventing food, materials and supplies from arriving in West Berlin. The United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several other countries began a massive "airlift", supplying West Berlin with food and other supplies. The Soviets mounted a public relations campaign against the Western policy change. Communists attempted to disrupt the elections of 1948, preceding large losses therein, while 300,000 Berliners demonstrated for the international airlift to continue. In May 1949, Stalin lifted the blockade, permitting the resumption of Western shipments to Berlin.

The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was declared on 7 October 1949. By a secret treaty, the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs accorded the East German state administrative authority, but not autonomy. The Soviets permeated East German administrative, military and secret police structures and had full control.

East Germany differed from West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany), which developed into a Western capitalist country with a social market economy ("Soziale Marktwirtschaft" in German) and a democratic parliamentary government. Continual economic growth starting in the 1950s fuelled a 20-year "economic miracle" ("Wirtschaftswunder"). As West Germany's economy grew, and its standard of living steadily improved, many East Germans wanted to move to West Germany.

EMIGRATION WESTWARD IN THE EARLY 1950s

After the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe at the end of World War II, the majority of those living in the newly acquired areas of the Eastern Bloc aspired to independence and wanted the Soviets to leave. Taking advantage of the zonal border between occupied zones in Germany, the number of GDR citizens moving to West Germany totaled 187,000 in 1950; 165,000 in 1951; 182,000 in 1952; and 331,000 in 1953. One reason for the sharp 1953 increase was fear of potential further Sovietization, given the increasingly paranoid actions of Joseph Stalin in late 1952 and early 1953. 226,000 had fled in just the first six months of 1953.

ERECTION OF THE INNER GERMAN BORDER

By the early 1950s, the Soviet approach to controlling national movement, restricting emigration, was emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc, including East Germany. The restrictions presented a quandary for some Eastern Bloc states, which had been more economically advanced and open than the Soviet Union, such that crossing borders seemed more natural - especially where no prior border existed between East and West Germany.

Up until 1952, the demarcation lines between East Germany and the western occupied zones could be easily crossed in most places. On 1 April 1952, East German leaders met the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in Moscow; during the discussions Stalin's foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov proposed that the East Germans should "introduce a system of passes for visits of West Berlin residents to the territory of East Berlin [so as to stop] free movement of Western agents" in the GDR. Stalin agreed, calling the situation "intolerable". He advised the East Germans to build up their border defenses, telling them that "The demarcation line between East and West Germany should be considered a border - and not just any border, but a dangerous one ... The Germans will guard the line of defence with their lives."

Consequently, the inner German border between the two German states was closed, and a barbed-wire fence erected. The border between the Western and Eastern sectors of Berlin, however, remained open, although traffic between the Soviet and the Western sectors was somewhat restricted. This resulted in Berlin becoming a magnet for East Germans desperate to escape life in the GDR, and also a flashpoint for tension between the United States and the Soviet Union.

In 1955, the Soviets gave East Germany authority over civilian movement in Berlin, passing control to a regime not recognized in the West. Initially, East Germany granted "visits" to allow its residents access to West Germany. However, following the defection of large numbers of East Germans under this regime, the new East German state legally restricted virtually all travel to the West in 1956. Soviet East German ambassador Mikhail Pervukhin observed that "the presence in Berlin of an open and essentially uncontrolled border between the socialist and capitalist worlds unwittingly prompts the population to make a comparison between both parts of the city, which unfortunately does not always turn out in favour of Democratic [East] Berlin."

BERLIN EMIGRATION LOOPHOLE

With the closing of the inner German border officially in 1952, the border in Berlin remained considerably more accessible because it was administered by all four occupying powers. Accordingly, Berlin became the main route by which East Germans left for the West. On 11 December 1957, East Germany introduced a new passport law that reduced the overall number of refugees leaving Eastern Germany.

It had the unintended result of drastically increasing the percentage of those leaving through West Berlin from 60% to well over 90% by the end of 1958. Those caught trying to leave East Berlin were subjected to heavy penalties, but with no physical barrier and subway train access still available to West Berlin, such measures were ineffective. The Berlin sector border was essentially a "loophole" through which Eastern Bloc citizens could still escape. The 3.5 million East Germans who had left by 1961 totalled approximately 20% of the entire East German population.

An important reason that crossing the inner German border was not stopped earlier was that doing so would cut off much of the railway traffic in East Germany. Construction of a new railway bypassing West Berlin, the Berlin outer ring, commenced in 1951. Following the completion of the railway in 1961, closing the border became a more practical proposition. (See History of rail transport in Germany.)

BRAIN DRAIN

The emigrants tended to be young and well-educated, leading to the "brain drain" feared by officials in East Germany.[28] Yuri Andropov, then the CPSU Director on Relations with Communist and Workers' Parties of Socialist Countries, wrote an urgent letter on 28 August 1958, to the Central Committee about the significant 50% increase in the number of East German intelligentsia among the refugees. Andropov reported that, while the East German leadership stated that they were leaving for economic reasons, testimony from refugees indicated that the reasons were more political than material. He stated "the flight of the intelligentsia has reached a particularly critical phase."

An East German SED propaganda booklet published in 1955 dramatically described the serious nature of 'flight from the republic':

Both from the moral standpoint as well as in terms of the interests of the whole German nation, leaving the GDR is an act of political and moral backwardness and depravity.

Those who let themselves be recruited objectively serve West German Reaction and militarism, whether they know it or not. Is it not despicable when for the sake of a few alluring job offers or other false promises about a "guaranteed future" one leaves a country in which the seed for a new and more beautiful life is sprouting, and is already showing the first fruits, for the place that favours a new war and destruction?

Is it not an act of political depravity when citizens, whether young people, workers, or members of the intelligentsia, leave and betray what our people have created through common labour in our republic to offer themselves to the American or British secret services or work for the West German factory owners, Junkers, or militarists? Does not leaving the land of progress for the morass of an historically outdated social order demonstrate political backwardness and blindness? ...

Workers throughout Germany will demand punishment for those who today leave the German Democratic Republic, the strong bastion of the fight for peace, to serve the deadly enemy of the German people, the imperialists and militarists.

By 1960, the combination of World War II and the massive emigration westward left East Germany with only 61% of its population of working age, compared to 70.5% before the war. The loss was disproportionately heavy among professionals: engineers, technicians, physicians, teachers, lawyers and skilled workers. The direct cost of manpower losses to East Germany (and corresponding gain to the West) has been estimated at $7 billion to $9 billion, with East German party leader Walter Ulbricht later claiming that West Germany owed him $17 billion in compensation, including reparations as well as manpower losses. In addition, the drain of East Germany's young population potentially cost it over 22.5 billion marks in lost educational investment. The brain drain of professionals had become so damaging to the political credibility and economic viability of East Germany that the re-securing of the German communist frontier was imperative.

The exodus of emigrants from East Germany presented two minor potential benefits: an easy opportunity to smuggle East German secret agents to West Germany, and a reduction in the number of citizens hostile to the communist regime. Neither of these advantages, however, proved particularly useful.

HOW KHRUSHEV-KENNEDY RELATIONS AFFECTED THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE WALL

In April 1961 , Khrushchev gained an impression that Kennedy is not very smart when he saw Washington supporting the failed invasion of Cuba by anti-communist exiles which were than left to their fate. Khrushchev decided to alarm rather than appease the president. He soon revealed his intention of signing the separate peace treaty with East Germany that would abolish allied rights in West Berlin. One of his intentions was therefore to get whole of the Berlin. However, this action had risks behind it. The risks that we are taking is justified. If we look at it in the terms of a percentage, there is more than a 95% chance that there will be no war. It meant that 5% was an actual chance of having a war. Khrushchev's assumptions about Kennedy were false. He made clear that the chance of having a war was bigger that 5%. He showed the unpredictability of US's policy. All though Soviet forces were not on high alert, the plans were nonetheless changed to deal with the consequences of the Kennedy's actions. It was then decided to block the access of the West Berlin from the East. That is when the construction of the wall started.

1961 - CONSTRUCTION BEGINS

On 15 June 1961, First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party and GDR State Council chairman Walter Ulbricht stated in an international press conference, "Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten!" (No one has the intention of erecting a wall!). It was the first time the colloquial term Mauer (wall) had been used in this context.

The transcript of a telephone call between Nikita Khrushchev and Ulbricht on 1 August in the same year, suggests that the initiative for the construction of the Wall came from Khrushchev. However, other sources suggest that Khrushchev had initially been wary about building a wall, fearing negative Western reaction. What is beyond dispute, though, is that Ulbricht had pushed for a border closure for quite some time, arguing that East Germany's very existence was at stake.

Khrushchev had become emboldened upon seeing US President John F. Kennedy's youth and inexperience show as weakness against Khrushchev's brutal, undiplomatic aggression. This feeling of miscalculation and failure is admitted by Kennedy in the U.S. ambassador's residence with New York Times columnist James "Scotty" Reston. Kennedy made the regrettable error of admitting that the US would not actively oppose this action in the Soviet sector of Berlin. On Saturday, 12 August 1961, the leaders of the GDR attended a garden party at a government guesthouse in Döllnsee, in a wooded area to the north of East Berlin. There Ulbricht signed the order to close the border and erect a wall.

At midnight, the police and units of the East German army began to close the border and, by Sunday morning, 13 August, the border with West Berlin was closed. East German troops and workers had begun to tear up streets running alongside the border to make them impassable to most vehicles and to install barbed wire entanglements and fences along the 156 kilometres around the three western sectors, and the 43 kilometres that divided West and East Berlin. The date of 13 August became commonly referred to as Barbed Wire Sunday in Germany.

The barrier was built inside East Berlin or East German territory to ensure that it did not encroach on West Berlin at any point. Generally, the Wall was only slightly inside East Berlin, but in a few places it was some distance from the legal border, most notably at Potsdamer Bahnhof and the Lenné Triangle that is now much of the Potsdamer Platz development.

Later, the initial barrier was built up into the Wall proper, the first concrete elements and large blocks being put in place on 17 August. During the construction of the Wall, National People's Army (NVA) and Combat Groups of the Working Class (KdA) soldiers stood in front of it with orders to shoot anyone who attempted to defect. Additionally, chain fences, walls, minefields and other obstacles were installed along the length of East Germany's western border with West Germany proper. A huge no man's land was cleared to provide a clear line of fire at fleeing refugees.

IMMEDIATE EFFECTS

With the closing of the East-West sector boundary in Berlin, the vast majority of East Germans could no longer travel or emigrate to West Germany. Berlin soon went from being the easiest place to make an unauthorized crossing between East and West Germany to being the most difficult Many families were split, while East Berliners employed in the West were cut off from their jobs. West Berlin became an isolated exclave in a hostile land. West Berliners demonstrated against the Wall, led by their Mayor (Oberbürgermeister) Willy Brandt, who strongly criticized the United States for failing to respond. Allied intelligence agencies had hypothesized about a wall to stop the flood of refugees, but the main candidate for its location was around the perimeter of the city. In 1961, Secretary of State Dean Rusk proclaimed, "The Wall certainly ought not to be a permanent feature of the European landscape. I see no reason why the Soviet Union should think it is - it is to their advantage in any way to leave there that monument to communist failure."

United States and UK sources had expected the Soviet sector to be sealed off from West Berlin, but were surprised by how long the East Germans took for such a move. They considered the Wall as an end to concerns about a GDR/Soviet retaking or capture of the whole of Berlin; the Wall would presumably have been an unnecessary project if such plans were afloat. Thus they concluded that the possibility of a Soviet military conflict over Berlin had decreased.

The East German government claimed that the Wall was an "anti-fascist protective rampart" (German: "antifaschistischer Schutzwall") intended to dissuade aggression from the West. Another official justification was the activities of Western agents in Eastern Europe. The Eastern German government also claimed that West Berliners were buying out state-subsidized goods in East Berlin. East Germans and others greeted such statements with skepticism, as most of the time, the border was only closed for citizens of East Germany traveling to the West, but not for residents of West Berlin travelling to the East. The construction of the Wall had caused considerable hardship to families divided by it. Most people believed that the Wall was mainly a means of preventing the citizens of East Germany from entering or fleeing to West Berlin.

SECONDARY RESPONSE

The National Security Agency was the only American intelligence agency that was aware that East Germany was to take action to deal with the brain drain problem. On 9 August 1961, the NSA intercepted an advance warning information of the Socialist Unity Party's plan to close the intra-Berlin border between East and West Berlin completely for foot traffic. The interagency intelligence Berlin Watch Committee assessed that this intercept "might be the first step in a plan to close the border." This warning did not reach U.S. President John F. Kennedy until noon on 13 August 1961, while he was vacationing in his yacht off the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. While Kennedy was angry that he had no advance warning, he was relieved that the East Germans and the Soviets had only divided Berlin without taking any action against West Berlin's access to the West. However, he denounced the Berlin Wall, whose erection worsened the relations between the United States and the Soviet Union.

In response to the erection of the Berlin Wall, a retired general, Lucius D. Clay, was appointed by Kennedy as his special advisor and sent to Berlin with ambassadorial rank. Clay had been the Military Governor of the US Zone of Occupation in Germany during the period of the Berlin Blockade and had ordered the first measures in what became the Berlin Airlift. He was immensely popular with the residents of West Berlin, and his appointment was an unambiguous sign that Kennedy would not compromise on the status of West Berlin. Clay and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson arrived at Tempelhof Airport on the afternoon of Saturday, 19 August 1961.

They arrived in a city defended by three Allied brigades—one each from the UK, the US, and France (the Forces Françaises à Berlin). On 16 August, Kennedy had given the order for them to be reinforced. Early on 19 August, the 1st Battle Group, 18th Infantry (commanded by Colonel Glover S. Johns Jr.) was alerted.

On Sunday morning, U.S. troops marched from West Germany through East Germany, bound for West Berlin. Lead elements - arranged in a column of 491 vehicles and trailers carrying 1,500 men, divided into five march units - left the Helmstedt-Marienborn checkpoint at 06:34. At Marienborn, the Soviet checkpoint next to Helmstedt on the West German-East German border, US personnel were counted by guards. The column was 160 kilometres long, and covered 177 kilometres from Marienborn to Berlin in full battle gear. East German police watched from beside trees next to the autobahn all the way along.

The front of the convoy arrived at the outskirts of Berlin just before noon, to be met by Clay and Johnson, before parading through the streets of Berlin in front of a large crowd. At 04:00 on 21 August, Lyndon Johnson left West Berlin in the hands of General Frederick O. Hartel and his brigade of 4,224 officers and men. "For the next three and a half years, American battalions would rotate into West Berlin, by autobahn, at three month intervals to demonstrate Allied rights to the city".

The creation of the Wall had important implications for both German states. By stemming the exodus of people from East Germany, the East German government was able to reassert its control over the country: in spite of discontent with the Wall, economic problems caused by dual currency and the black market were largely eliminated. The economy in the GDR began to grow. But, the Wall proved a public relations disaster for the communist bloc as a whole. Western powers portrayed it as a symbol of communist tyranny, particularly after East German border guards shot and killed would-be defectors. Such fatalities were later treated as acts of murder by the reunified Germany.

WIKIPEDIA

___________

. . . space here is limited - so for further reading go to Wikipedia

I’m sure all my UK contacts know what ‘rock’ is, but I don’t know about those from over the pond. Rock must be the most tooth damaging confectionery ever invented. Heaven knows what my parents were thinking when they bought me this stuff. There used to be a rock maker in Folkestone and it was fascinating to see it made. The whole family were involved in the making, but when ‘dad’ retired, nobody wanted to carry on the business. For those that don’t know, it’s a type of hard stick-shaped confectionery made using boiled granulated sugar and glucose syrup most usually flavoured with peppermint or spearmint. The sticks usually have a name running through it like "BLACKPOOL ROCK". To make stick rock with the lettering running through it is pretty much a task done by hand by skilled workers using various mechanical aids. The whole process is rather complicated. Smaller sticks of rock, without letters can be machine manufactured.

As you can see in the photo, rock doesn’t have to come in the form of sticks. This rock shop in Whitby must make dentists very happy….

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

Tianjin Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle Power Plant Project. With new technology for generating power by using coal in a cleaner and more efficient way, millions of residents in Tianjin, People’s Republic of China, will have sufficient electricity and live in cleaner air.

Read more on:

People's Republic of China

Energy

Tianjin Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle Power Plant Project

"Will make anything you want- work day and night if necessary, and ship by rail", read the telegram to the Confederate government at the start of the Civil War. Joseph R. Anderson, the brilliant industrialist who was owner and manager of the Tredegar Iron Works, was pledging his talents and his company's production to the service of his new country. He honored his pledge tenfold.

The Tredegar Iron Works, located on the bank of the James River at Richmond, was the only major foundry and rolling mill in the South. In 1860 this first-class operation employed 900 slaves and skilled workers and was producing cannon and gun carriages for the U.S. government, as well as locomotives, boilers, cables, and naval hardware. But after the start of the Civil War, Tredegar became the major arsenal for the South, specializing in heavy coastal cannon, 12-pounder Napoleons, and three-inch ordnance guns. The company made almost half the cannon produced domestically, along with artillery projectiles, naval mines, experimental submersible vessels, armor plating for ironclads, and heavy equipment for other arsenals and powder mills.

The company also operated nine canal boats, a sawmill, and a firebrick factory. Anderson bought coal mines and blast furnaces to help ensure a supply of raw materials. To clothe his 2,500-man work force, Anderson built a tannery and shoe factory and brought cloth in through the blockade in his own boats. He also sent agents into other states to purchase livestock that he then butchered and sold to his workers at cost to help relieve the food shortage.

As the Union armies swallowed more and more Confederate territory and other centers of manufacturing, Tredegar became increasingly important to the Rebel war effort. The iron works faced shortages of raw materials and transportation problems, and as more and more of the workers were drafted into the military, a severe shortage of skilled workers.

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer, pronounced [bɛʁˈliːnɐ ˈmaʊ̯ɐ] (About this sound listen)) was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany), starting on 13 August 1961, the Wall cut off (by land) West Berlin from virtually all of surrounding East Germany and East Berlin until government officials opened it in November 1989. Its demolition officially began on 13 June 1990 and finished in 1992. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, "fakir beds" and other defenses. The Eastern Bloc portrayed the Wall as protecting its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany.

GDR authorities officially referred to the Berlin Wall as the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart (German: Antifaschistischer Schutzwall). The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the "Wall of Shame", a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt in reference to the Wall's restriction on freedom of movement. Along with the separate and much longer Inner German border (IGB), which demarcated the border between East and West Germany, it came to symbolize physically the "Iron Curtain" that separated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War.

Before the Wall's erection, 3.5 million East Germans circumvented Eastern Bloc emigration restrictions and defected from the GDR, many by crossing over the border from East Berlin into West Berlin; from there they could then travel to West Germany and to other Western European countries. Between 1961 and 1989 the Wall prevented almost all such emigrations During this period over 100,000 people attempted to escape and over 5,000 people succeeded in escaping over the Wall, with an estimated death toll ranging from 136 to more than 200 in and around Berlin.

In 1989 a series of revolutions in nearby Eastern Bloc countries - Poland and Hungary in particular - caused a chain reaction in East Germany that ultimately resulted in the demise of the Wall. After several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the Wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, euphoric people and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the Wall; the governments later used industrial equipment to remove most of what was left. The "fall of the Berlin Wall" paved the way for German reunification, which formally took place on 3 October 1990.

BACKGROUND

POST-WAR GERMANY

After the end of World War II in Europe, what remained of pre-war Germany west of the Oder-Neisse line was divided into four occupation zones (as per the Potsdam Agreement), each one controlled by one of the four occupying Allied powers: the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union. The capital of Berlin, as the seat of the Allied Control Council, was similarly subdivided into four sectors despite the city's location, which was fully within the Soviet zone.

Within two years, political divisions increased between the Soviets and the other occupying powers. These included the Soviets' refusal to agree to reconstruction plans making post-war Germany self-sufficient and to a detailed accounting of the industrial plants, goods and infrastructure already removed by the Soviets. France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Benelux countries later met to combine the non-Soviet zones of the country into one zone for reconstruction and to approve the extension of the Marshall Plan.

EASTERN BLOC AND THE BERLIN AIRLIFT

Following World War II, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin headed a group of nations on his Western border, the Eastern Bloc, that then included Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, which he wished to maintain alongside a weakened Soviet-controlled Germany. As early as 1945, Stalin revealed to German communist leaders that he expected to slowly undermine the British position within the British occupation zone, that the United States would withdraw within a year or two, and that nothing would then stand in the way of a united communist Germany within the bloc.

The major task of the ruling communist party in the Soviet zone was to channel Soviet orders down to both the administrative apparatus and the other bloc parties, which in turn would be presented as internal measures. Property and industry was nationalized in the East German zone. If statements or decisions deviated from the described line, reprimands and (for persons outside public attention) punishment would ensue, such as imprisonment, torture and even death.

Indoctrination of Marxism-Leninism became a compulsory part of school curricula, sending professors and students fleeing to the West. The East Germans created an elaborate political police apparatus that kept the population under close surveillance, including Soviet SMERSH secret police.

In 1948, following disagreements regarding reconstruction and a new German currency, Stalin instituted the Berlin Blockade, preventing food, materials and supplies from arriving in West Berlin. The United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several other countries began a massive "airlift", supplying West Berlin with food and other supplies. The Soviets mounted a public relations campaign against the Western policy change. Communists attempted to disrupt the elections of 1948, preceding large losses therein, while 300,000 Berliners demonstrated for the international airlift to continue. In May 1949, Stalin lifted the blockade, permitting the resumption of Western shipments to Berlin.

The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was declared on 7 October 1949. By a secret treaty, the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs accorded the East German state administrative authority, but not autonomy. The Soviets permeated East German administrative, military and secret police structures and had full control.

East Germany differed from West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany), which developed into a Western capitalist country with a social market economy ("Soziale Marktwirtschaft" in German) and a democratic parliamentary government. Continual economic growth starting in the 1950s fuelled a 20-year "economic miracle" ("Wirtschaftswunder"). As West Germany's economy grew, and its standard of living steadily improved, many East Germans wanted to move to West Germany.

EMIGRATION WESTWARD IN THE EARLY 1950s

After the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe at the end of World War II, the majority of those living in the newly acquired areas of the Eastern Bloc aspired to independence and wanted the Soviets to leave. Taking advantage of the zonal border between occupied zones in Germany, the number of GDR citizens moving to West Germany totaled 187,000 in 1950; 165,000 in 1951; 182,000 in 1952; and 331,000 in 1953. One reason for the sharp 1953 increase was fear of potential further Sovietization, given the increasingly paranoid actions of Joseph Stalin in late 1952 and early 1953. 226,000 had fled in just the first six months of 1953.

ERECTION OF THE INNER GERMAN BORDER

By the early 1950s, the Soviet approach to controlling national movement, restricting emigration, was emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc, including East Germany. The restrictions presented a quandary for some Eastern Bloc states, which had been more economically advanced and open than the Soviet Union, such that crossing borders seemed more natural - especially where no prior border existed between East and West Germany.

Up until 1952, the demarcation lines between East Germany and the western occupied zones could be easily crossed in most places. On 1 April 1952, East German leaders met the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in Moscow; during the discussions Stalin's foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov proposed that the East Germans should "introduce a system of passes for visits of West Berlin residents to the territory of East Berlin [so as to stop] free movement of Western agents" in the GDR. Stalin agreed, calling the situation "intolerable". He advised the East Germans to build up their border defenses, telling them that "The demarcation line between East and West Germany should be considered a border - and not just any border, but a dangerous one ... The Germans will guard the line of defence with their lives."

Consequently, the inner German border between the two German states was closed, and a barbed-wire fence erected. The border between the Western and Eastern sectors of Berlin, however, remained open, although traffic between the Soviet and the Western sectors was somewhat restricted. This resulted in Berlin becoming a magnet for East Germans desperate to escape life in the GDR, and also a flashpoint for tension between the United States and the Soviet Union.

In 1955, the Soviets gave East Germany authority over civilian movement in Berlin, passing control to a regime not recognized in the West. Initially, East Germany granted "visits" to allow its residents access to West Germany. However, following the defection of large numbers of East Germans under this regime, the new East German state legally restricted virtually all travel to the West in 1956. Soviet East German ambassador Mikhail Pervukhin observed that "the presence in Berlin of an open and essentially uncontrolled border between the socialist and capitalist worlds unwittingly prompts the population to make a comparison between both parts of the city, which unfortunately does not always turn out in favour of Democratic [East] Berlin."

BERLIN EMIGRATION LOOPHOLE

With the closing of the inner German border officially in 1952, the border in Berlin remained considerably more accessible because it was administered by all four occupying powers. Accordingly, Berlin became the main route by which East Germans left for the West. On 11 December 1957, East Germany introduced a new passport law that reduced the overall number of refugees leaving Eastern Germany.

It had the unintended result of drastically increasing the percentage of those leaving through West Berlin from 60% to well over 90% by the end of 1958. Those caught trying to leave East Berlin were subjected to heavy penalties, but with no physical barrier and subway train access still available to West Berlin, such measures were ineffective. The Berlin sector border was essentially a "loophole" through which Eastern Bloc citizens could still escape. The 3.5 million East Germans who had left by 1961 totalled approximately 20% of the entire East German population.

An important reason that crossing the inner German border was not stopped earlier was that doing so would cut off much of the railway traffic in East Germany. Construction of a new railway bypassing West Berlin, the Berlin outer ring, commenced in 1951. Following the completion of the railway in 1961, closing the border became a more practical proposition. (See History of rail transport in Germany.)

BRAIN DRAIN

The emigrants tended to be young and well-educated, leading to the "brain drain" feared by officials in East Germany.[28] Yuri Andropov, then the CPSU Director on Relations with Communist and Workers' Parties of Socialist Countries, wrote an urgent letter on 28 August 1958, to the Central Committee about the significant 50% increase in the number of East German intelligentsia among the refugees. Andropov reported that, while the East German leadership stated that they were leaving for economic reasons, testimony from refugees indicated that the reasons were more political than material. He stated "the flight of the intelligentsia has reached a particularly critical phase."

An East German SED propaganda booklet published in 1955 dramatically described the serious nature of 'flight from the republic':

Both from the moral standpoint as well as in terms of the interests of the whole German nation, leaving the GDR is an act of political and moral backwardness and depravity.

Those who let themselves be recruited objectively serve West German Reaction and militarism, whether they know it or not. Is it not despicable when for the sake of a few alluring job offers or other false promises about a "guaranteed future" one leaves a country in which the seed for a new and more beautiful life is sprouting, and is already showing the first fruits, for the place that favours a new war and destruction?

Is it not an act of political depravity when citizens, whether young people, workers, or members of the intelligentsia, leave and betray what our people have created through common labour in our republic to offer themselves to the American or British secret services or work for the West German factory owners, Junkers, or militarists? Does not leaving the land of progress for the morass of an historically outdated social order demonstrate political backwardness and blindness? ...

Workers throughout Germany will demand punishment for those who today leave the German Democratic Republic, the strong bastion of the fight for peace, to serve the deadly enemy of the German people, the imperialists and militarists.

By 1960, the combination of World War II and the massive emigration westward left East Germany with only 61% of its population of working age, compared to 70.5% before the war. The loss was disproportionately heavy among professionals: engineers, technicians, physicians, teachers, lawyers and skilled workers. The direct cost of manpower losses to East Germany (and corresponding gain to the West) has been estimated at $7 billion to $9 billion, with East German party leader Walter Ulbricht later claiming that West Germany owed him $17 billion in compensation, including reparations as well as manpower losses. In addition, the drain of East Germany's young population potentially cost it over 22.5 billion marks in lost educational investment. The brain drain of professionals had become so damaging to the political credibility and economic viability of East Germany that the re-securing of the German communist frontier was imperative.

The exodus of emigrants from East Germany presented two minor potential benefits: an easy opportunity to smuggle East German secret agents to West Germany, and a reduction in the number of citizens hostile to the communist regime. Neither of these advantages, however, proved particularly useful.

HOW KHRUSHEV-KENNEDY RELATIONS AFFECTED THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE WALL

In April 1961 , Khrushchev gained an impression that Kennedy is not very smart when he saw Washington supporting the failed invasion of Cuba by anti-communist exiles which were than left to their fate. Khrushchev decided to alarm rather than appease the president. He soon revealed his intention of signing the separate peace treaty with East Germany that would abolish allied rights in West Berlin. One of his intentions was therefore to get whole of the Berlin. However, this action had risks behind it. The risks that we are taking is justified. If we look at it in the terms of a percentage, there is more than a 95% chance that there will be no war. It meant that 5% was an actual chance of having a war. Khrushchev's assumptions about Kennedy were false. He made clear that the chance of having a war was bigger that 5%. He showed the unpredictability of US's policy. All though Soviet forces were not on high alert, the plans were nonetheless changed to deal with the consequences of the Kennedy's actions. It was then decided to block the access of the West Berlin from the East. That is when the construction of the wall started.

1961 - CONSTRUCTION BEGINS

On 15 June 1961, First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party and GDR State Council chairman Walter Ulbricht stated in an international press conference, "Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten!" (No one has the intention of erecting a wall!). It was the first time the colloquial term Mauer (wall) had been used in this context.

The transcript of a telephone call between Nikita Khrushchev and Ulbricht on 1 August in the same year, suggests that the initiative for the construction of the Wall came from Khrushchev. However, other sources suggest that Khrushchev had initially been wary about building a wall, fearing negative Western reaction. What is beyond dispute, though, is that Ulbricht had pushed for a border closure for quite some time, arguing that East Germany's very existence was at stake.

Khrushchev had become emboldened upon seeing US President John F. Kennedy's youth and inexperience show as weakness against Khrushchev's brutal, undiplomatic aggression. This feeling of miscalculation and failure is admitted by Kennedy in the U.S. ambassador's residence with New York Times columnist James "Scotty" Reston. Kennedy made the regrettable error of admitting that the US would not actively oppose this action in the Soviet sector of Berlin. On Saturday, 12 August 1961, the leaders of the GDR attended a garden party at a government guesthouse in Döllnsee, in a wooded area to the north of East Berlin. There Ulbricht signed the order to close the border and erect a wall.

At midnight, the police and units of the East German army began to close the border and, by Sunday morning, 13 August, the border with West Berlin was closed. East German troops and workers had begun to tear up streets running alongside the border to make them impassable to most vehicles and to install barbed wire entanglements and fences along the 156 kilometres around the three western sectors, and the 43 kilometres that divided West and East Berlin. The date of 13 August became commonly referred to as Barbed Wire Sunday in Germany.

The barrier was built inside East Berlin or East German territory to ensure that it did not encroach on West Berlin at any point. Generally, the Wall was only slightly inside East Berlin, but in a few places it was some distance from the legal border, most notably at Potsdamer Bahnhof and the Lenné Triangle that is now much of the Potsdamer Platz development.

Later, the initial barrier was built up into the Wall proper, the first concrete elements and large blocks being put in place on 17 August. During the construction of the Wall, National People's Army (NVA) and Combat Groups of the Working Class (KdA) soldiers stood in front of it with orders to shoot anyone who attempted to defect. Additionally, chain fences, walls, minefields and other obstacles were installed along the length of East Germany's western border with West Germany proper. A huge no man's land was cleared to provide a clear line of fire at fleeing refugees.

IMMEDIATE EFFECTS

With the closing of the East-West sector boundary in Berlin, the vast majority of East Germans could no longer travel or emigrate to West Germany. Berlin soon went from being the easiest place to make an unauthorized crossing between East and West Germany to being the most difficult Many families were split, while East Berliners employed in the West were cut off from their jobs. West Berlin became an isolated exclave in a hostile land. West Berliners demonstrated against the Wall, led by their Mayor (Oberbürgermeister) Willy Brandt, who strongly criticized the United States for failing to respond. Allied intelligence agencies had hypothesized about a wall to stop the flood of refugees, but the main candidate for its location was around the perimeter of the city. In 1961, Secretary of State Dean Rusk proclaimed, "The Wall certainly ought not to be a permanent feature of the European landscape. I see no reason why the Soviet Union should think it is - it is to their advantage in any way to leave there that monument to communist failure."

United States and UK sources had expected the Soviet sector to be sealed off from West Berlin, but were surprised by how long the East Germans took for such a move. They considered the Wall as an end to concerns about a GDR/Soviet retaking or capture of the whole of Berlin; the Wall would presumably have been an unnecessary project if such plans were afloat. Thus they concluded that the possibility of a Soviet military conflict over Berlin had decreased.

The East German government claimed that the Wall was an "anti-fascist protective rampart" (German: "antifaschistischer Schutzwall") intended to dissuade aggression from the West. Another official justification was the activities of Western agents in Eastern Europe. The Eastern German government also claimed that West Berliners were buying out state-subsidized goods in East Berlin. East Germans and others greeted such statements with skepticism, as most of the time, the border was only closed for citizens of East Germany traveling to the West, but not for residents of West Berlin travelling to the East. The construction of the Wall had caused considerable hardship to families divided by it. Most people believed that the Wall was mainly a means of preventing the citizens of East Germany from entering or fleeing to West Berlin.

SECONDARY RESPONSE

The National Security Agency was the only American intelligence agency that was aware that East Germany was to take action to deal with the brain drain problem. On 9 August 1961, the NSA intercepted an advance warning information of the Socialist Unity Party's plan to close the intra-Berlin border between East and West Berlin completely for foot traffic. The interagency intelligence Berlin Watch Committee assessed that this intercept "might be the first step in a plan to close the border." This warning did not reach U.S. President John F. Kennedy until noon on 13 August 1961, while he was vacationing in his yacht off the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. While Kennedy was angry that he had no advance warning, he was relieved that the East Germans and the Soviets had only divided Berlin without taking any action against West Berlin's access to the West. However, he denounced the Berlin Wall, whose erection worsened the relations between the United States and the Soviet Union.

In response to the erection of the Berlin Wall, a retired general, Lucius D. Clay, was appointed by Kennedy as his special advisor and sent to Berlin with ambassadorial rank. Clay had been the Military Governor of the US Zone of Occupation in Germany during the period of the Berlin Blockade and had ordered the first measures in what became the Berlin Airlift. He was immensely popular with the residents of West Berlin, and his appointment was an unambiguous sign that Kennedy would not compromise on the status of West Berlin. Clay and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson arrived at Tempelhof Airport on the afternoon of Saturday, 19 August 1961.

They arrived in a city defended by three Allied brigades—one each from the UK, the US, and France (the Forces Françaises à Berlin). On 16 August, Kennedy had given the order for them to be reinforced. Early on 19 August, the 1st Battle Group, 18th Infantry (commanded by Colonel Glover S. Johns Jr.) was alerted.

On Sunday morning, U.S. troops marched from West Germany through East Germany, bound for West Berlin. Lead elements - arranged in a column of 491 vehicles and trailers carrying 1,500 men, divided into five march units - left the Helmstedt-Marienborn checkpoint at 06:34. At Marienborn, the Soviet checkpoint next to Helmstedt on the West German-East German border, US personnel were counted by guards. The column was 160 kilometres long, and covered 177 kilometres from Marienborn to Berlin in full battle gear. East German police watched from beside trees next to the autobahn all the way along.

The front of the convoy arrived at the outskirts of Berlin just before noon, to be met by Clay and Johnson, before parading through the streets of Berlin in front of a large crowd. At 04:00 on 21 August, Lyndon Johnson left West Berlin in the hands of General Frederick O. Hartel and his brigade of 4,224 officers and men. "For the next three and a half years, American battalions would rotate into West Berlin, by autobahn, at three month intervals to demonstrate Allied rights to the city".

The creation of the Wall had important implications for both German states. By stemming the exodus of people from East Germany, the East German government was able to reassert its control over the country: in spite of discontent with the Wall, economic problems caused by dual currency and the black market were largely eliminated. The economy in the GDR began to grow. But, the Wall proved a public relations disaster for the communist bloc as a whole. Western powers portrayed it as a symbol of communist tyranny, particularly after East German border guards shot and killed would-be defectors. Such fatalities were later treated as acts of murder by the reunified Germany.

WIKIPEDIA

___________

. . . space here is limited - so for further reading go to Wikipedia

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

Following the Second World War, Minerva could not design and produce a brand new car by itself and so, following their experience of building under licence, the Standard Motor Company were approached and their Vanguard model was soon being assembled in Belgium.

Aware of the Belgian army's search for a new lightweight 4×4 vehicle, Minerva approached the Rover company in the Spring of 1951. In June 1951 the Rover company learned that a total of 2500 vehicles would be required and that Rover were competing against jeep manufacturer Willys for the contract. In October 1951 the deal was agreed, with documentation being finalised on 7th May 1952.

Under this deal it was agreed that Rover would supply full technical assistance to Minerva who would be granted permission to manufacture Land-Rovers under licence. Rover would supply Completely Knocked Down kits (with CKD chassis numbers) consisting of the chassis, engine, axle, transmission and other parts to the Minerva company in Antwerp who would then build its own steel body to suit the Belgian army.

The Minerva sales literature stated that 63% of the parts used in the vehicles were of Belgian origin. The chassis were later built in Belgium as they are different in a number of ways to the Land-Rover chassis, being box welded and lacking the PTO hole provision in the rear crossmember.

The Minerva assembly line employed about 500 skilled workers who could produce 50 vehicles a day. These vehicles produced were left hand drive, 80 inch wheelbase models, with the 2 litre Rover IoE engine. The most obvious differences between the Minerva and the Land-Rover Series one being that the front wings that are squared off and sloping. The bodywork, including the doors, were all steel and a narrower front grille was used with the Minerva badge affixed. Two styles of badges were used, the earlier version stating 'Land-Rover - manufactured under licence by Minerva' and the later having the oval Land-Rover badge at the bottom of the Minerva name (top pic). Slatted oval panels on either side of the grille cover the apertures and the front bumper was fitted with a single "pigtail" towing eye on the drivers side. The side lights were located at the bottom of the wings and the headlights were larger than usual. Smaller brake lights were fitted to the rear panels.

Other differences include the exhaust being emitted from beneath the drivers door and the door handles. The 80 inch army Minerva door handles were like those of its British counterpart with the canvas flap - although the door locks are slightly different. However, the civilian Minervas had external door handles.

The military vehicles look quite different from the rear; a three quarter height fixed tailgate being fitted. The police and military versions had the spare wheel mounted on the right and a jerry can holder mounted on the left hand side (the Minerva petrol tanks are a little smaller than the Land-Rover equivalent).

No centre seat was provided, a toolbox being fitted in its place which was about the same size as a seat base cushion. (The space under the seat which Series Ones often use as a toolbox housed one of two 6-volt batteries, the second being under the bonnet).

It is thought that the Belgian army stockpiled the vehicles and thus effectively brand new vehicles were, until quite recently, still entering service. They simply had the mileage of occasional trips around the warehouse which prevented them from seizing up!

An armoured / assault vehicle version was also produced, with heavy plating, armoured glass screens and machine gun mounts at both the front and back. The spare wheel for these was mounted on the front, in front of the grille. Field ambulance versions were produced, being basically the same as the standard vehicle but with the tilt extended at the rear to cover the overhanging stretchers. It is thought that this tilt could in fact be the same as used by the ambulance version of the Jeep.

In October 1953 a civilian version of the Minerva Land-Rover was announced. This new vehicle was different in a number of ways from the previously produced military versions. The new vehicle was fitted with three seats, a drop down tailgate and provision in the rear cross member for a rear PTO to be fitted. A choice of colours was also offered.

The brochure for the civilian model describes a central PTO from the main gear box to drive belts and describes the vehicle being useful for any portable apparatus - including generators, welders and water pumps. Indeed, the scenes used for the Minerva literature are virtually identical to those that Land-Rover were using - with the obvious exception of slightly different vehicles. Like our own Series Ones, Minerva versions included station wagons, hard tops, truck cabs, and tilt versions; the tilt uniquely being fitted with side windows. These vehicles were apparently well received by construction companies and farmers but are now very rare.

In 1954, the new 86 inch version was introduced, (as in the UK replacing the 80 inch). This vehicle was produced for the next two years, until 1956 when all contracts between Minerva and the Rover Company were terminated. During this time, only 1,100 86 inch vehicles were produced, and these are now extremely rare.

It is likely that these 86 inch vehicles were primarily only available as civilian models. The 86 inch model had 3 seats and rear PTO hole. The rear agricultural plate was also fitted. These vehicles had tailgates and the external door handles as fitted to the 80 inch civilian vehicles.

The original Belgian army order was for 2,500 vehicles although a further 3,421 were subsequently ordered. As a result, despatches for 1952 and 1953 totalled 7,859 Completely Knocked Down vehicles. However, only 200 CKD 86 inch vehicles were despatched during 1954 and this may well have contributed to the dispute between the two companies and agreement that all contracts would be terminated after a further 900 vehicles had been despatched.

Thus, from May 1952 until the contract between the two companies was terminated at the end of June 1956, a total of 8,959 CKD vehicles were despatched from the Rover Company to SA Societe Nouvelle Minerva of Belgium.

In 1956 Minerva announced the C-20 and M-20 (Civilian and Military) Tout Terrain vehicles but very few of these are believed to have been produced and the company soon experienced financial difficulties.

The Minerva company finally went into liquidation in 1958.

Edmonson sisters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mary Edmonson (1832–1853) and Emily Edmonson (1835–1895), "two respectable young women of light complexion", were African Americans who became celebrities in the United States abolitionist movement after gaining their freedom from slavery. On April 15, 1848, they were among the seventy-seven slaves who tried to escape from Washington, DC on the schooner The Pearl to sail up the Chesapeake Bay to freedom in New Jersey.

Although that effort failed, they were freed from slavery by funds raised by the Congregational Church in Brooklyn, New York, whose pastor was Henry Ward Beecher, an abolitionist. After gaining freedom, the Edmonsons were supported to go to school; they also worked. They campaigned with Beecher throughout the North for the end of slavery in the United States.[1][2]

The Edmonson sisters were the daughters of Paul and Amelia Edmonson, a free black man and an enslaved woman in Montgomery County, Maryland. Mary and Emily were two of thirteen or fourteen children who survived to adulthood, all of whom were born into slavery. Since the 17th century, law common to all slave states decreed that the children of an enslaved mother inherited their mother's legal status, by the principle of partus sequitur ventrem.[3][4]

Their father, Paul Edmonson, was set free by his owner's will. Maryland was a state with a high percentage of free blacks. Most descended from slaves freed in the first two decades after the American Revolution, when slaveholders were encouraged to manumission by the principles of the war and activist Quaker and Methodist preachers. By 1810, more than 10 percent of blacks in the Upper South were free, with most of them in Maryland and Delaware.[5] By 1860, 49.7 percent of the blacks in Maryland were free.[6]

Edmonson purchased land in the Norbeck area of Montgomery County, where he farmed and established his family. Amelia was allowed to live with her husband, but continued to work for her master. The couple's children began work at an early age as servants, laborers and skilled workers. Beginning about age 13 or 14, they were "hired out" to work in elite private homes in nearby Washington, D.C. under a type of lease arrangement, where their wages went to the slaveholder.[3] This practice of "hiring out" grew from the shift away from the formerly labor-intensive tobacco plantation system, leaving planters in this part of the United States with surplus slaves. They hired out slaves or sold them to traders for the Deep South. Many slaves worked as servants in homes and hotels of the capital. Men were sometimes hired out as craftsmen, artisans or to work at the ports on the Potomac River.

By 1848 four of the older Edmonson sisters had bought their freedom (with the help of husbands and family), but the master had decided against allowing any more of the siblings to do so. Six were hired out for his benefit, including the two youngest sisters.[7]

On April 15, 1848, the schooner Pearl docked at a Washington wharf. The Edmonson sisters and four of their brothers joined a large group of slaves (a total of 77) in an attempt to escape on the Pearl to freedom in New Jersey. Starting as a modest attempt of escape for seven slaves, the effort had been widely communicated and organized within the communities of free blacks and slaves, changing it to a major and unified effort, without the knowledge of the white organizers or crew. In 1848 free blacks outnumbered slaves in the District of Columbia by three to one; the community demonstrated it could act in a unified way.[8] Seventy-seven slaves boarded the Pearl, which was to sail down the Potomac River and up the Chesapeake Bay to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, from where they would travel up the Delaware River to freedom in New Jersey, a total of 225 miles. At the time, Emily was 13 years old and Mary was 15 or 16.[3]

The Pearl, with the fugitives hidden among boxes, began its way down the Potomac. It was delayed overnight by the shift in tides and then had to wait out rough weather from its anchor down the bay. In Washington the alarm was raised in the morning, as numerous slaveholders found their slaves had escaped. Historical accounts conflict and are not clear as to what details were known. Slaveholders put together an armed posse that went downriver on a steamboat. The steamboat caught up with the Pearl at Point Lookout, Maryland; and the posse seized it, towing the ship and its valuable cargo back to Washington, DC. If the posse had gone north to Baltimore, another likely escape route, the Pearl might have gotten away and reached its destination.[9]

When the Pearl arrived in Washington, a mob awaited the ship. Daniel Drayton and Edward Sayres, the two white captains, had to be taken into safety as pro-slavery people attacked them for threatening their control of property. The fugitive slaves were taken to a local jail. It was later reported that when somebody from the crowd asked the Edmonson girls if they were ashamed for what they had done, Emily replied proudly that they would do exactly the same thing again.[9] Three days of riots and disturbances followed, as pro-slavery agitators attacked anti-slavery offices and presses in the city in an attempt to suppress the abolitionist movement. Most of the masters of the fugitive slaves decided to sell them quickly to slave traders, rather than provide another chance to escape. Fifty of the slaves were transported by train to Baltimore, from where they were sold and transported to the Deep South.[9]

New Orleans[edit]

Despite Paul Edmonson's desperate efforts to delay the sale of his children so he could raise sufficient money to purchase their freedom, the slave trading partners Bruin & Hill from Alexandria, Virginia bought the six Edmonson siblings. Under inhumane conditions, the siblings were transported by ship to New Orleans. New Orleans was the largest slave market in the nation, and well known for selling "fancy girls" (pretty light-skinned enslaved young women) as sex slaves.[3][10]

Hamilton Edmonson, the eldest of the siblings, had already been living as a freeman for several years. He worked as a cooper. With the help of donations from a Methodist minister arranged by their father, Hamilton arranged for the purchase of his brother Samuel Edmonson by a prosperous New Orleans cotton merchant to work as his butler. When the merchant died in 1853, Samuel moved with that family and its other slaves to what is now the 1850 House in the Pontalba Buildings on Jackson Square.[3][11][12][13]

In New Orleans, the other siblings were forced to stay for days in an open porch facing the street waiting for buyers. The sisters were handled brusquely and exposed to obscene comments. Before the family could rescue the remainder of its members, a yellow fever epidemic erupted in New Orleans. The slave traders transported the Edmonson sisters back to Alexandria as a measure to protect their investments.[3][12]

Ephraim Edmonson and John Edmonson, two other brothers who had tried to escape on the Pearl, were kept in New Orleans. Their brother Hamilton worked for and eventually obtained their purchase and freedom.[12]

In Alexandria, the Edmonson sisters were hired out to do laundering, ironing and sewing, with wages going to the slave traders. They were locked up at night. Paul Edmonson continued his campaign to free his daughters while Bruin & Hill demanded $2,250 for their release.[3]

With letters from Washington-area supporters, Paul Edmonson met Henry Ward Beecher, a young Congregationalist preacher with a church in Brooklyn, New York who was known to support abolitionism. Beecher's church members raised the funds to purchase the Edmonson sisters and give them freedom. Accompanied by William Chaplin, a white abolitionist who had helped pay for the Pearl for the escape attempt, Beecher went to Washington to arrange the transaction.[3]

Mary Edmonson and Emily Edmonson were emancipated on November 4, 1848. The family gathered for a celebration at another sister's house in Washington. Beecher's church continued to contribute money to send the sisters to school for their education. They first enrolled at New York Central College, an interracial institution in Cortland, New York. They also worked as cleaning servants to support themselves.[3]

While studying, the sisters participated in anti-slavery rallies around New York state. The story of their slavery, escape attempt, and suffering was often repeated. Beecher's son and biographer recorded that "this case at the time attracted wide attention."[1][3] At the rallies, the Edmonson sisters participated in mock slave auctions designed by Beecher to attract publicity to the abolitionist cause. In describing the role that women such as the Edmonson sisters played in such well-publicized political theater, a scholar at the University of Maryland asserted in 2002:

“Beecher staged his most successful auctions using attractive mulatto women or female children (such as the Edmonson sisters, or the beautiful little girl, Pinky, who, according to Beecher, "No one would know from a white child"), making a material choice in "casting" his political protest that was calculated to arouse the audience's interest. As he displayed the women's bodies on the stage, Beecher exhorted his audience to imagine the fate that awaited these young women, or "marketable commodities", as he termed them, in the fancy girl auctions of New Orleans. His casting choices could only work with beautiful, fair-skinned women.[10]”

Fugitive Slave Law convention[edit]

Daguerreotype taken by Ezra Greenleaf Weld at the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law Convention, Cazenovia, New York. The Edmonson sisters are standing wearing bonnets and shawls in the row behind the seated speakers. Frederick Douglass is seated, with Gerritt Smith standing behind him and with Abby Kelley Foster the person likely seated on Douglass's left.

In summer 1850, the Edmonson sisters attended the Slave Law Convention, an anti-slavery meeting in Cazenovia, New York organized by local abolitionist Theodore Dwight Weld and others, to demonstrate against the Fugitive Slave Act soon to be passed by the U.S. Congress. Under this act, slave owners had powers to arrest fugitive slaves in the North. The convention declared all slaves to be prisoners of war and warned the nation of an unavoidable insurrection of slaves unless they were emancipated.[3][14]

At this convention, the sisters were included in a historic daguerreotype photograph taken by Theodore Dwight Weld's brother, Ezra Greenleaf Weld. Also included in the picture are abolitionist Abby Kelley Foster and the legendary orator Frederick Douglass.[3][14][15]

While there were many slaves "whom it was impossible to tell from a white", the Edmonson sisters' mixed-race appearance may have well suited their role as two of the "public faces" of American slavery.[1]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonson_sisters

Engineers from Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd. working at the Talimarjan Power Plant construction site. ADB is helping Uzbekistan boost the efficiency of its electricity supply by building an 800-megawatt combined cycle gas turbine power plant in Talimarjan, Uzbekistan. Sunday, 3 July 2016.

ADB Photo | Nikita Makarenko

Read more on:

Uzbekistan

Energy

Talimarjan Power Project

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

This shot on in my room.

Portfolio flic.kr/s/aHsk7LUokY

Facebook fb.com/tatsuya.ouchi.5

Linkedin www.linkedin.com/in/tatsuyaouchi

Instagram instagram.com/tatsuya_ouchi/

500px 500px.com/tatsuyaouchi

I have a great experience for pre production. Since I came in LA, I have been working as a Camera Operator, Camera assistant, Key Grip and G/E for more than 60 shooting production. The reason why a lots of production call me on set is I could communicate with my team, then could find out the solution in limited time and has a patient for that. Also I have a knowledge for Final Cut Pro 7 and Premiere Pro. Which is involving principle color grading and data management skill. In addition, I can do photo shooting and editing. One of the thing is my photograph had shown on the Louvre Museum Digital display. Therefore, I would say I am a multi skilled worker.

Experience

・ARRI 435, 16ST, 16SR, 16SR2, 16SR3, ALEXA

・CANON XH-A1, CANON EOS 60D, 7D, 5D Mark Ⅱ

・PANASONIC AJ-HDC27F, PANASONIC AG-AF105

・SONY F900, SONY FS700, SONY F3, SONY F5

・RED ONE, RED EPIC

・Blackmagic Cinema Camera

Languages

Japanese(Native), English

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused less health impacts in Laos and the region with 557 confirmed cases and 5 deaths among 40,766 cases and 34 deaths in South East Asia (27th April). However, livelihood of millions of workers is heavily affected. The most vulnerable are those in the informal employment sector who do not have access to social welfare and the low-skilled workers especially women and migrant working in affected industrial sectors, who are first to be suspended or laid off in the pandemic. Such as home-based workers, street vendors, tuk-tuk drivers, waste collectors, domestic and cross border migrant workers. The income of street vendors in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos has decreased by 60-70%. Thousands of cross border Lao workers have returned home with the border closings, facing no means of earing income. Across South East Asia, homebased workers are concerned that tourism will not return to the region, leaving them no market for their products.

CAREC Corridor 2 Road Investment Program financed the rehabilitation of key highway linking Uzbekistan to its neighbors in Central Asia.

Read more on:

Uzbekistan

Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program

Regional Cooperation and Integration

Transport

CAREC Corridor 2 Road Investment Program - Tranche 2

CAREC Corridor 2 Road Investment Program - Tranche 3

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

Pictured: Kathy Wendle, President of the Southwest Detroit Business Association

The Integrated Policy Exercise provides students with a week-long opportunity to work intensively on a policy issue. All students participate as part of a team representing different constituencies with an interest in the problem being studied. Working in groups of 7 to 10, students are assigned a role such as lobbying firm, public official, or economic group. Groups develop policy positions and prepare a political strategy to achieve their goal(s). More on IPE: fordschool.umich.edu/ipe

The Winter 2015 IPE, “Bolstering Detroit's Economic Renewal through Skilled Workers: Implementing Governor Snyder's Visa Plan” took place on January 5, 6, and 9, 2015 at the Ford School’s Joan and Sanford Weill Hall, and at the Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, MI. More on the 2015 topic and simulated media coverage: sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/fordschool-ipe-2015/home

This photo is part of a selection taken at the graduation of the first batch of newly skilled sewing machine operators in the TVET Reform Project pilot programme. They have just finished their off-the-job training and will now enter a ready made garments (RMG) factory for their on-the-job training.

The pilot focused on developing a model which demonstrates that underprivileged women and persons with disabilities can be mainstreamed into skills development programs, and that people with low formal education can become skilled workers.

The TVET Reform Project is working towards reforming technical and vocational education and training in Bangladesh. For more information please visit ilo.org/tvet. © ILO/Sarah-Jane Saltmarsh

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.

The Melvyn Maxwell Smith and Sara Stein Smith House also known as Myhaven is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed Usonian home that was constructed in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1949 and 1950. Both were public school teachers living on a tight budget. During the two year construction period, the Smith's combined income was $280.00 per month. The house was to be 1800 square feet and featured radiant heating through hot water pipes installed in the floor slab. Like other Wright home designs, the house relied on passive solar energy. They received a housewarming gift from their friend Irving Goldberg of a maple dining table with eight maple chairs, two coffee tables and six hassocks, all designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright called it "my little gem.”

The home is located near the Cranbrook Educational Community, and over the years, the Smiths built an extensive art collection, and the majority their works were by artists associated with Cranbrook. Among them are a massive chest by Paul R. Evans, a gazelle sculpture by Marshall Fredericks, and works by other artists including a sculpture by Sam Apple, exterior sculptures by Mike Calligan, weavings by Barbara Wittenburg, interior sculptures by Jim Messama, and a sculpted bust of Melvyn Smith by Robert Scheffman. Cranbrook president Roy Slade praised the home as exemplifying "the integration of art, architecture and nature”. Architectural photographer Balthazar Korab produced a widely reproduced image of Calligan's "Natural Bridge" sculpture with the house as the backdrop. Later, the Smiths collected works by Glenn Michaels, including an accordion screen, and a triptych mosaic installed above the fireplace. Sounding Sculpture by Harry Bertoia. At Wright's advice, Melvin Maxwell Smith decided to act as his own general contractor, so that he could save money and maintain the quality standards he expected. He recruited skilled workers who wanted to work on a home designed by Wright so much that they would accept lower pay than usual. Suppliers of building materials also provided goods such as 14,000 board feet of red tidewater cypress lumber at discounted prices because of their wish to be involved with a Wright project. Shopping center developer A. Alfred Taubman provided all of the windows at a deep discount because he considered the house a "fantastic structure”. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvyn_Maxwell_and_Sara_Stein_Smith...

www.michiganmodern.org/buildings/melvyn-maxwell-and-sara-...

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some Background:

The Ki-38 fighter was designed by the Tachikawa Aircraft Company Limited (立川飛行機株式会社, Tachikawa Hikōki Kabushiki Kaisha) near Tokyo, an aircraft manufacturer in the Empire of Japan, specializing primarily in aircraft for the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. The Ki-38 prototype was produced in response to a December 1937 specification for a successor to the popular fixed-gear Nakajima Ki-27 Nate. The specification called for a top speed of 500 km/h (310 mph), a climb rate of 5,000 m (16,000 ft) in five minutes and a range of 800 km (500 mi). Maneuverability was to be at least as good as that of Ki-27.

As the war progressed, however, the fighter suffered from the same weaknesses as its slower, fixed-gear Ki-27 "Nate" predecessor and the more advanced naval A6M Zero: light armor and less-than-effective self-sealing fuel tanks, which caused high casualties in combat. Its armament of four light machine guns also proved inadequate against the more heavily armored Allied aircraft. Both issues were more or less mended with improved versions, but the Ki-38 could never keep up with the enemy fighters’ development and potential. And as newer Allied aircraft were introduced, the Japanese were forced into a defensive war and most aircraft were flown by inexperienced pilots.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 8.96 m (29 ft 4 in)

Wingspan: 10.54 m (34 ft 7 in)

Height: 3.03 m (9 ft 11 in)

Wing area: 17.32 m² (186.4 sq ft)

Empty weight: 2,158 kg (4,758 lb)

Gross weight: 2,693 kg (5,937 lb)

Max takeoff weight: 2,800 kg (6,173 lb)

Powerplant:

1× Mitsubishi Ha-102 14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine with 1,050hp (755 kW),

driving a 3-bladed variable-pitch propeller

Performance

Maximum speed: 509 km/h (316 mph, 275 kn)

Cruise speed: 450 km/h (280 mph, 240 kn)

Range: 600 km (370 mi, 320 nmi)

Service ceiling: 10,000 m (33,000 ft)

Time to altitude: 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in 3 minutes 24 seconds

Wing loading: 155.4 kg/m2 (31.8 lb/sq ft)

Power/mass: 0.182 hp/lb (0.299 kW/kg)

Armament:

2× 20 mm (0.787 in) Ho-5 cannon with 150 rpg

2× 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Type 89 machine guns with 500 rpg

2× underwing hardpoints for single 30 kg (66 lb) or 2 × 250 kg (550 lb) bombs

1× ventral hardpoint for a 200 l (53 US gal; 44 imp gal) drop tank

The kit and its assembly:

I always thought that the French Bloch MB 150 had some early WWII Japanese look to it, and with this idea I recently procured a relatively cheap Heller kit for this conversion project that would yield the purely fictional Tachikawa Ki-38 for the IJA – even though the Ki-38 existed as a Kawasaki project and eventually became the Ki-45, so that the 38 as kitai number was never actively used.

The Heller MB 150 is a vintage kit, and it is not a good one. You get raised panel lines, poor details (the engine is a joke) and mediocre fit. If you want a good MB 150 in 1:72, look IMHO elsewhere.

For the Ki-38 I wanted to retain most of the hull, the first basic change was the integration of a cowling from a Japanese Mitsubishi Ha-102 two-row radial (left over from an Airfix Ki-46 “Dinah”), which also received a new three-blade propeller with a different spinner on a metal axis inside. The engine also received some more interior details, even though the spinner blocks most sight.

The next, more radical move was to replace the MB 150’s spinal cockpit fairing with a bubble canopy and a lowered back – I found a very old and glue-tinted canopy from a Matchbox A6M in the spares box, and it turned out to be very suitable for the Ki-38. However, cleaning the clear piece was quite challenging, because all raised struts had to be sanded away to get rid of the old glue and paint residues, and re-polishing it back to a more or less translucent state took several turns with ever finer sandpaper, polishing paste and soft polishing mops on a mini drill. The spine was re-created with 2C-putty and the canopy was blended into it and into the fuselage with several PSR turns.

Inside, I used a different pilot figure (which would later be hard to see, though), added a fuel tank behind the seat with some supporting struts and inserted a piece of styrene sheet to separate the landing gear well from the cockpit – OOB it’s simply open.

The landing gear was basically taken OOB, I just replaced the original tail skid with a wheel and modified the wheels with hub covers, because the old kit wants you to push them onto long axis’ with knobs at their tips so that they remain turnable. Meh!

The fairings under the guns in the wings (barrels scratched from the MB 150’s OOB parts) are conformal underwing fuel tanks from a late Seafire (Special Hobby kit).

Painting and markings:

The initial plan was a simple green/grey IJA livery, but the model looked SO much like an A6M that I rather decided to give it a more elaborate paint scheme. I eventually found an interesting camouflage on a Mitsubishi Ki-51 “Sonia” attack plane, even though without indications concerning its unit, time frame or theater of operations (even though I assume that it was used in the China-Burma-India theater): an overall light grey base, onto which opaque green contrast fields/stripes had been added, and the remaining light grey upper areas were overpainted with thin sinuous lines of the same green. This was adapted onto the Ki-38 with a basis in Humbrol 167 (RAF Barley Grey) and FS 34102 (Humbrol 117) for the green cammo. I also wanted to weather the model considerably, as a measure to hide some hardware flaws, so that a partial “primer coat” with Aluminum (Revell 99) was added to several areas, to shine through later. The yellow ID markings on the wings’ leading edges were painted with Humbrol 69. The propeller blades were painted with Humbrol 180, the spinner in a slightly lighter mix of 180 and 160.

Interior surfaces were painted with a dull yellowish green, a mix of Revell 16 and 42, just the inside of the landing gear covers became grey as the outside, in a fashion very similar to early Ki-43s.

The decals came form various sources, including a Hasegawa Ki-61 sheet for the unit markings and some stencils and hinomaru in suitable sizes from a generic roundel sheet.

Some dry-brushing with light grey was done to emphasize edges and details, and some soot stains were added with graphite to the exhausts and the guns. Finally, the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish, some more dry-brushing with aluminum was done, esp. around the cockpit, and position lights were added with translucent paint.

An unexpected result – I was not prepared that the modified MB 150 looks THAT much like a Mitsubishi A6M or the Ki-43! There’s even an Fw 190-ish feel to it, from certain angles. O.K., the canopy actually comes from a Zero and the cowling looks very similar, too. But the overall similarity is baffling, just the tail is the most distinguishing feature! However, due to the poor basis and the almost blind canopy donor, the model is far from stellar or presentable – but some in-flight shots look pretty convincing, and even the camouflage appears to be quite effective over wooded terrain.

The funeral caisson of Samuel Gompers, late president of the American Federation of Labor, crosses Pennsylvania Avenue December 15, 1924 on its way to the U.S. Capitol where the body would lie in state. Gompers was accorded military honors.

Gompers began his union career in 1864 sympathetic to socialism and rose through the ranks of the cigar makers union to become its vice president.

As late as 1893 he wrote, “Why should the wealth of the country be stored in banks and elevators while the idle workman wanders homeless about the streets and the idle loafers who hoard the gold only to spend it on riotous living are rolling about in fine carriages from which they look out on peaceful meetings and call them riots?” according to Erik Larsen.

He helped found the predecessor organization to the American Federation of Labor in 1881 and in 1886 became president of the newly formed AFL.

He led the organization away from socialism and toward an accommodation with capitalism and largely defeated his socialist enemies within the AFL by 1895.

By this time the AFL had also largely supplanted the Knights of Labor, an organization during the late 1880s and early 1890s had vast membership and influence.

He was defeated as president of the AFL by populist mine workers leader John McBride, but regained the presidency the following year.

During World War I, he supported the war effort while the left wing of the labor movement including the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and most of the Socialist Party opposed it.

He was responsible for erecting the AFL building at 9th and Massachusetts Ave. NW that still stands today and has been incorporated into the Marriott hotel on the site.

Gompers brand of unionism emphasized skilled workers organized into craft unions. This philosophy would be challenged first by the IWW and later by the Congress of Industrial Organization that sought to organize workers on a broader scale.

Gompers was born January 27, 1850 and died December 13, 1924.

For more information and related images, see www.flickr.com/gp/washington_area_spark/b5508j

The photographer is unknown. The image is an auction find.

Located in the northeast of Heilongjiang Province with a winter heating period of at least six months per year, Jiamusi introduced Europe's largest heating company – French Dalkia Urban Heating Co., Ltd. in 2007, which adopts the globally recognized regional energy systems' high technologies and advanced operation modes to effectively improve energy efficiency and significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Read more on:

People's Republic of China

Energy

Municipal District Energy Infrastructure Development Project