1. How can we say that something belongs to popular culture and some other phenomenon does not? Where is the borderline beyond which high culture begins? Do you think that one has to be controversial to be popular? (think of TV shows etc.)
In my opinion something belongs to popular culture when it's recognizable to lots of people in province or country or around the world and diffrent types of media talking about it. For instance the music band called Weekend composed the song named: “Ona tańczy dla mnie” and it is very popular song played in every disco in whole Poland and some days ago there was a TV show with Weekend band and they are describing the genesis of this song and the whole music band. This song have about 40 million hits on youtube, it is playing in radio, so we can certainly says that this song belong to popular culture. Another example but on the worldwide scale is song called “Gangnam Style” from PSY. This song conquer the whole internet in less than three months. It is played in TV shows, radio and it has over 1,1 billion hits on youtube. It means that one-fifth of whole human rase has seen or hear this song. It has simply words, cathy melody and everyone loves it. Why someone phenomenons doesn't belongs to popular culture? It is simple, people want to something that is funny and make him laugh and make a distraction from everyday life. As I say before it must be cathy and not complicated. Another important thing is the border line between popular and high culture. I think the high culture begins when we need to start behave appropriately, wear proper clothes. This kind of high culture can be a theatre play, opera or business meetings. Many people says that something is popular because it is controversial. I agree with that because people expect things which make them shocked, drove people to it and I repeat that it must be simply because simply is the best.
2. What do you know about unemployment in Poland? Why is unemployment a serious problem? What measures should the government take to counteract unemployment? What are the possibilities of finding a job? Where can you look for a job?
The unemployment in Poland is one of the most in whole Europe and it is about 12%. The unemployment rate is higher only in Spain, Croatria, Serbia and Montenegro. In my opinion unemployment is a serious problem because people whose lost their job cannot earns for monthly expenses and they are starting to reduce theirs expectations and ambitious. Unemployment starting to decrease Gross National Product (GNP) it means that people stop to buying luxuries like cars, houses, jewelleries and other things thats moving uptown (podwyższyć swój status społeczny), so peoples starting to waste that luxury products and it is more dangerous that interposing (wprowadzenie) duties. Government to reduce unemployment should practice active and passive counter-mesures like organizing public works, protection of current workplaces, building new workplaces, organizing retraining camps, reduce retirement age. There are many other ways to fight with unemployment buy those are common. There are many possibilities to finding a job but most common are: answering to vacancies posted in media like TV, radio, newspapers, assembling CV in companies or institutions or you can just post work offer in different kind of media. We can look for a job in many different ways. Nowadays the most common is internet where we looking for interesting job and sending virtual CV to company e-mail box. The second is looking job in newspapers like “Gazeta praca” or similar to. On the third place we looking job in TV and it is called teletext. Finally we just talking with friend and asking them about vacancy in their workplaces.
3. Is technology a blessing or a curse? Justify. Which inventions do you think were the most important ones in the history of humankind?
4. Is consumerism only a temporary trend or are we already a consumer society ? What are the advantages and disadvantages of rising consumption of goods? What is its effect on an individual, family, business etc.?
5. What is advertising? Do you think it is necessary at all or you would call it an unproductive industry? Do you think that advertisements distort the truth?
6. What is nuclear power? Are you for or against it? Justify. What are the dangers of relying on nuclear energy? Suggest some alternative sources of energy.
7. In what situations are we most subject to stress? What are the consequences of adopting a stressful lifestyle? How to cope with stress most effectively?
8. Are books a thing of the past? Why are e-books so popular? Compare advantages and disadvantages of traditional books and e-books.
9. What is `cyber-addiction'? What are the negative consequences of “webaholism”? What makes on-liners addicted to the Net? Are you addicted to the Internet?
10. What do you know about the European Union? Are you satisfied with the fact that Poland joined EU? Why/ Why not? What are the advantages and disadvantages of being the EU member?
11. Genetic modification is a new technology and therefore not very well researched yet. To what extent could it be dangerous? In what ways may GMF (genetically modified food) affect people's health and lives?
12. What would you like to do when you leave university? What would you take into account when looking for a job? Do you consider working abroad? Why /why not? What are the expectations of Polish students as far as career prospects are concerned?
13. What are the so called community websites? Why do you think they've grown so popular? How do you think they've changed human communication and interaction? What are the advantages of such websites? Do they have any drawbacks? How do they work? How are they similar to and different from one another? Choose 2-3 community websites and compare them (e.g. www.myspace.com, www.nasza-klasa.pl, www.facebook.com, www.twitter.com, www.lastfm.com, www.goldenline.pl). Are you an active user of any of them? Why/Why not?
14. Define what multiculturalism is. What challenges do multicultural countries face? Do you think it is difficult to live in a multicultural society? (Are there any ethnic minorities in Poland? How do they assimilate? How are they perceived by local community?)
15. Sport events have become more commercial over the last few decades. Do you agree? In what ways can they help to promote host countries? What are the advantages and disadvantages of organizing sports events in your country?