Saturday, February 27, 2021

 

A speech on Equity - and equality

 I was asked to give a speech on equity. What is equity? Is it the same as equality? No.

I wrote on Facebook:

On a personal level, leaving your money to both your children equally is equality. Equal shares.

Equity is more like positive discrimination, to make everybody equal at the end.

A diagram sent to me on Facebook shows it clearly.

Three children of different heights stand behind a fence trying to watch a baseball game. Give them all equal help, a box to stand on. The one tall enough to see over the fence gets an unnecesary box. The one in the middle is lifted up and can see. The smallest one still cannot see.

The next picture shows the smallest being given two boxes so he can see over the fence.

As an illustration of vocbulary this illustration works well.

What could go wrong? Of course, this assumes that somebody else has enough boxes for all. That the other two don't care. Nor try to steal boxes to sell. That the short boy won't sell the box and still not see the game.

Let's take a couple of real life examples. A family will.

My Great Grandfather's Will

My great grandfather left more money to the boys than to the girls. This caused uproar. The sisters did not speak to their brothers for the rest of their lives.

My Paternal Grandmother's Will

Equity would be giving to the poorest to bring their finances nearer their wealthier sibling. However, the wealthier one could argue that they would make better use of the money. The poorer person might have no financial sense. He might gamble the money away. He could overspend and lose the lot, like the football pools lottery winner featured in the TV play Spend, Spend, Spend. He could lose it, . be murdered for it.

Beggars

Some people say don't give money to beggars, which goes to gang leaders. Offer food. If the beggar won't eat, they are not hungry.

The poor person might be unworldly and vulnerable; they might and give the money away to others with sob stories.

At first sight the reaction of the richer borther getting less from the parnet's will looks to some like self-centred greed.

My Maternal Grandmother's Will

You could leave the money to the richer one to distribute to the poorer one when the poorer one has need, not to be cheated and give away to their begging friends. take another scenario.

The Maid's Sons

A friend's Filipina maid worked on her day off, Sundays, to earn extra money. She had been sending her son to college to earn a skill and paying for his accommodation.

Then her other son demanded that she send him an equal sum. So he could sit around doing nothing.

She worked seven days a week to support her layabout son who did nothing for seven days. Because he demanded equality. Maybe if she had given the son at college a loan, the layabout son likewise, that would have solved the problem.

Communism

So the situation is not always as simple as it seems. Communism seemed a great idea at the start. What went wrong?

One incentives. Why work when you don't earn any more money.

Secondly, if the administrative area is too big. all the rewards go the capital and the regions and distant sities get nothing.

Recently, a Scottish island demanded millions so they could have a grand school in the middle of nowhere. My husbands said, They should relocate to the city. Earn money. Spend their holiday on the remote island."

Sometimes the answer is not to grab a piece of cake from one person to give to another, nor to gi ve everybody the same size of cake. The answer could be to give everyone enough, to rward those who go beyond the minimum, fewer people, or more cakes.

The important thing is to decide on your goal, and to have everybody working towards the same goal. As Jeeremy Bentham said, the greatest happiness of the greatest number. What any parent, grandparent, or ruler, or citizen, would want for their country.

Author

About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 
She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com


 Please share links to your favourite posts.

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Saturday, February 20, 2021

 

Evaluations - should you say you, or the speaker's name and then he/she?

 I have seen evaluators literally look at the speaker in an in person meeting and lean towards them or walk towards them. If the evaluator uses 'you' it sounds as if everybody else is eavesdropping on a private conversation. As an audience member I would go off and make a cup of tea. 

Include the rest of the room. Furthermore, another bonus to using third person: if you tell the speaker that he or she did well, that's just flattery from a friend. If you tell the entire room the speaker did well, the speaker will feel much prouder at being praised in front of everybody.

If you need to remember the name or pronunciation of somebody you are interviewing, write it on the back of a fan.

Author

About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 
She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

To buy silk fans

http://silkfans.com/

 Please share links to your favourite posts.



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