PENSION, WHY NOT ?

As hard as a hard worker would work, there must be a time when they will take so much breath at the final. It may be a finish line for them at the rest of their life. This situation, frequently called retirement or pension, is a kind of a situation that some people would have waited for this time so long, but some of them just don’t even want to put their duty for infinity. I think the way someone worry about his or her retirement is influential to how they will face it next.

Pension, usually linked by age, often considered as the worst reality that everyone has to look out on it. On this modern era, occupation is a one of several necessary factors that can raise your social position, self-esteem, and obviously your fund income. So it won’t be that shocking if we heard that some pensions does take their retirement day too badly, instead, they should have enjoy their relaxed atmosphere. This situation also causes someone will be late in preparing their retirement day.(Jacinta, 2008)

Retirement day has to be well-prepared so it won’t be a problem for the pensions. In Indonesia, generally, someone would take their retirement day on 49 years old. If we compare with Singapore or India, they are far much earlier in preparing retirement, that is on 34 – 44 years old. Indonesian people seem afraid of ‘retirement day’ word, while maybe they have not known before that retirement precisely could reduce our maximum capacity of our brain(Tarie, 2008). Moreover, we will gain so much quality time with our family, because we have so many spare time in enjoying the benefit of our employment before.

Finally, we can conclude that retirement is a process that we should manage before we decide when will it be happened. we also should change our point of view on seeing the concrete of a retirement day.
If we still have enough power and spirit to work, why not? But we have to remember that there are some generations below us that someday, they supposed to change our position.
We have throw away the suggestion that says whether retirement is a boring thing because retirement day is the time when we will realized that what we have done is totally meaningful to our future.

References

Pensiun. Wikipedia Indonesia home page. Retrieved May 16, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pensiun

Siapkan Kebutuhan Masa Pensiun Sekarang. HARIAN UMUM SORE SINAR HARAPAN homepage. Retrieved May 16, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.sinarharapan.co.id/ekonomi/eureka/2005/0506/eur1.html

Perlunya Training Pensiunan. Retrieved May 16, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://pancaroba.com/2008/05/05/perlunya-training-pensiunan/

Retirement Age

According to Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. Retirement happens when someone reaches his retirement age, which is determined depends to the country, or disability to continue working because of several reason, such as illness, accident, and personal choice (because there are an adequate savings or pension funds).

Retirement age is different from country to country. The idea of fixed retirement age is being introduced in 19th and 20th century. Before that, there were no limit for workers to work, they usually do the job until death (Anon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement). The age is varies, but it is in range 55-70.
In Indonesia, there are three groups that classified employees (pegawai negeri sipil, in Indonesian) to his retirement age. Group I, retired at 65 for dean, researchers, and scientist (there is a term in Indonesian for this group, it is pangkat eselon I). Group II ( II), retired at 60 for lecturer, teacher, and sometimes scientist too. Last group, group III (it is for pangkat eselon III and IV), retired at 55 for common staff (Amirudin. www.kompas.com/kompas-cetak/opini). That rule still available in 2005, until a year after, Indonesian's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono claimed that retirement age for group III is raised 5 years, which become 60. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that it's a pity to retire the employee in 55. He thought in 55-60, somebody in that age is in the peak of maturity, wisdom, and lots of experiences. Raising the retirement age means increasing the quality of life in Indonesia, where its people have hope to life. The president said he is going to increase "the number of life-hoping" from 66 to 70, so at age 60, somebody still in a good condition.
Besides, at 55, some people are still enjoying their job and do it nicely (Wiguna. http://excuico.multiply.com/journal/item/9). In other case, people at 55 whose child still in school or in college, need money for pay the school. So, it is quite wise to raising the retirement age of employee.

What happens in one country is diferrent from others. While in Indonesia retirement age is in range 60-65, In United States, it is fixed 65 for retirement age and 62 for its earliest retirement age. In France, retirement age for teachers is thirty eight years after employment and age 50 for train engineers in its national railways. In India, retirement age is enhanced from 58 to 60 for public sector employees. In Malaysia, the retirement age is recently been raised from 55 to 56 (Anon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement). Retirement also include it supports fund and it's varies from country to country. Using that fund (also called pension), people who has retired can support his family or for support his own life.
However, retirement age listed above is commonly for employees. Politicians, lawyers, some scientists, television anchors, and professors still work at their 70. It may be considered for their research, wisdom, and knowledge they have is still used and lot of advantages if they still working. While actors, athletes, musicians, and models retire at their 30s. It is because they work with their body and the body has a limit for active, being in a very good condition for do somekind like catwalk, backhand force, running, standing, and many more that is done by those who retire at 30s. The conclusion is, in my opinion, retirement age is depending by its job, what kind of job that somebody does. It is quite wise to let people still work as long as that people do something related to his job that useful for mankind.

References
Retirement. (2008, May 13) [Online article]. Retrieved May 14, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement

Amirudin. (2005, April 28). Usia Pensiun PNS. [Online article]. Retrieved May 14, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www2.kompas.com/kompas-cetak/0504/28/opini/1714614.htm

Wiguna, Oktamandjaya. (2006, November 24). Menaikkan Usia Produktif Hingga 60 Tahun. [Online article]. Retrieved May 14, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://exuico.multiply.com/journal/item/9


hawa firdausi. 16107072.

Glass-making Process

The presence of glass is quite essential in our daily life. Glass is basically a liquid, but soon after it appears to be solid. To make glass, there are several steps. First, prepare the raw materials which are sand, limestone, and soda, and the tools which are furnace, removable mould, rollers and connecting pipes. Next, combine all the materials in the furnace, and mixed them with certain composition. After that, the materials heated up in very high temperature so they melted and become easy to be printed in any kind of shape. There are two different pipe channels in the furnace. One of them is the channel to print the glass into the shape of a plate, and the other one has the shape of a bottle. Soon after, the liquid glass mixture will be directed into one of them. To make the glass plate-shaped, it will be placed in a plate-shaped hole and later it'll be pressed by a roller. To make the glass bottle shaped, it will be placed in a bottle-shaped hole, and then the air will be blown into the inside part of the mixture. The air will give pressure to the inside layer of the bottle-shaped mixture becomes soft and smooth surface. In a few hours, the glass mixture will be cooled down and become solid. And finally, it is ready to be used, just try to place your fries and coffee on it maybe.

Roos Haikal Ramadhan. 16107013

When You Should Retire?

For some people, normal retirement age is about 62 until 70 years. Early or late retirement will give you about the same total social security benefits over your lifetime (www.ssa.gov/retire2/). But I do think that you should retire at late 80 years old.

One of the reason is because anti-ageing advances could raise life expectancy by a year each year over the next two decades (http://news.bbc.co.uk). A longer life could mean a longer working life. With the increasing of life expectancy, people would think more about their financial condition. For example, if averagely people live until 80-90 years old, when they reach 60 years old, they would think about retirement because they know that their children would take care of them. But, if averagely people live until 120 years old, maybe they wouldn’t think about retirement when they reach 60 years old, cause they would think about how they feed themselves on the next 60 years.

Another reason is because work on your favorite things would decrease the level of stress. When you have a job and you enjoy it, you would do it as one of your bliss. You wouldn’t get bored in the home, cause you have something to think about and something to do.

And the last is at age 70-80 you getting more wise, and could be a great decision maker in your office. You have more experience and wisdom, so you could be the example for your junior.

It’s not just about the benefits you get from your retirement, but it is also about your bliss in your job.

References:
Retirement benefits by year of birth (Online Article): Retrieved May 11, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/agereduction.htm

Retirement age 'should reach 85' Article): Retrieved May 11, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4726300.stm

(Adiajeng Warastuti 16207003)

Retirement Age - Chastity E. 16207065

Retirement Age

According to www.thefreedictionary.com, retirement is a withdrawal from one's occupation, business, or office. There is a certain age at which a person should retire from his/her job. In my opinion, people should retire at the age of 65, especially those who do hard labor jobs.

First of all, people who do hard labor jobs are less able to continue to work as they reach their late 60's (Griffith 2005). This is due to the fact that people have decreasing mental abilities as they get older. It is harder for them to memorize or even concentrate. Besides, the elderly are no longer physically as fit as they used to be. They tend to get exhausted easily.

Secondly, having a younger retirement age means opening up the work field for the younger, presumably more capable generation. The younger ones are usually stronger and they may have better, more modern techniques in doing a certain jobs so maybe it is time to let them take over and show their abilities. With them taking over, maybe there will be more advantages the company can have, such as an increase in time efficiency and income.

In conclusion, people who have reached their late 60’s better reduce their working time so they can enjoy the rest of their days and let the younger ones have a chance to perform.

References:

Retirement (Online Article): Retrieved May 11, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/retirement

Dangerous Jobs and Retirement Age (Online Article): Retrieved May 11, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://irrational-woman.blogspot.com/2005/09/dangerous-jobs-and-retirement-age.html

Retirement On Appropriate Age

In 18 years age of my life without working experience, it will be difficult to imagine what would be a 50, 60 or even 70 years old people who have to stop working. I only could learn something from my family. I still have my grandmothers from both sides. They are now on their 80iest, but still capable writing features for a Dutch magazine and the other still making beautiful cross stitch for tablecloths. Two of my aunties and one uncle in their late 50iest have retired from their jobs. From my observation, they are so energetic and keep looking for a spare-time job because they beliefs that they have some capabilities that would be needed.

According to Wikipedia, retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. The retirement age varies from country to country but it is generally between 55 and 70. In some countries this age is different for male and females. Sometimes certain jobs, the most dangerous or fatiguing ones in particular, have an earlier retirement age.

In Indonesia a civil servant have the right to retire if they reach the age of 50 with at least 20 years service experiences (http://www.setneg.go.id). The normal retirement age for a civil servant is 56 years. This could be extended to 58, 60 or even 65 years if the person occupies a certain post. For example, university professor will retire at 65 years. Private company employee’s retirement age is 55-56 years. But we will find that many politicians, scientists, lawyers, television anchors, and professors still work well into their 70s. Meanwhile some actors, models, athletes, and musicians only work until their 30s.

The retirement with a pension is considered a right of the worker in many societies, especially in the developing countries. In many western countries this right is mentioned in national constitutions. In Indonesia the civil servant will get their pension every month in a very small quantity, only about 30 percent of their last take home salaries (http://www.setneg.go.id). For most civil servants, the pension would not be enough to support their retirement life, not to mention the cost of health care in retirement they have to spend, because people tend to be ill more frequently in later life. For a better living, most people have to find another job in their retirement age.

Reaching retirement age would not stop a person to work, especially if they still in a good health and competence to deliver their service to the society. On the other hand, working-age population has increased every year while the working opportunities are limited. Unemployment issue will still be a problem to be solved by the government.

In this perspective as an ITB student, I think we should set up mindset to create job opportunities rather than waiting to be employed by the formal sector, because during our study at the institute we will be trained properly and hopefully should be able to apply our knowledge and skill for the society. So it will be important to always keep up with the progress of the society that needed our services. As we go along we will know when our service is not needed anymore and then we have to stop working but I think it does not always mean stop doing any other activities.

References:

Retirement. The Online Wikipedia. Retrieved May 10, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement

Indonesian Act Number 11 Year 1969 about Pension for Civil Servants and Pension Civil Servants Widow, article 9. Indonesian Office of State Secretary homepage. Retrieved May 10, 2008 from the Wide World Web: http://www.setneg.go.id

Presidential Decree Number 32 Year 1979 about Civil Servants Resignation, article 3. Indonesian Office of State Secretary homepage .Retrieved May 10, 2008 from the Wide World Web: http://www.setneg.go.id

Presidential Decree Number 32 Year 1979 about Civil Servants Resignation, article 4. Indonesian Office of State Secretary homepage .Retrieved May 10, 2008 from the Wide World Web: http://www.setneg.go.id

Siti Amalia Hasnida

16107090

Age of Retirement: an Insight of

Retirement is described as “the point where a person stops employment completely” in Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. Its definition is as vague as it is in reality, since it is so hard to define in what age people should stop working. Normal retirement age is estimated between 55 and 70 (www.wikipedia.org_retirement), but there are people who retire long before them, and there are people whose age far exceed them and still got paid. Because retirement age is closely related to being paid, this became a somewhat serious issue, and I think there are reasons why it is so difficult to decide in what age people should retire.

First of all, there are works that closely related to one’s productive age, which is also linked to the type of work. Productive age itself is a range of age when people can work to get paid productively (Conrad 2004:289). Work like officer, for example can only be done by people who are capable to do that. They must be sharp, active, intuitive, and communicate well with other people. And, those aspects will decrease through time. Since it could affect their performance in doing job—and ultimately affect their company profit—the company will have no choice other than to oblige them to retire.

There are also works that closely related with one’s expertise in that particular job. By “expertise”, I mean “experience”, and that is accumulated with time. In other words, there are works that force people to keep studying, experiencing, and doing it until they exceed normal retirement age. People also think that the older a man, the wiser they become. That’s why, for job like politician and judge, people tend to choose older men so they can do their work justly.

Then again, that way of thinking seems to be shifted nowadays. People don’t seem to believe those “supposed-to-be-old-and-wise” men again. People think that those people are already corrupted and bring misfortune to them. Now, people tend to choose younger men; youngsters are the agent of change, they think. West Java governor election reflect this perfectly: the one chosen to be governor are the youngest candidates.

Beside these factors, there are lot more factors. For example, one’s determination to retire and starts his/her own job or sudden accident that cause disability for work.

In conclusion, the age of retirement is difficult to be generalized. Too many factors affect it. But, one thing for sure, a person is encouraged to be in paid employment (in short, to get paid) as long as he/she doing his/her job optimally. Government and companies should (and possibly had) consider this statement to decide people’s retirement age.

References:

1. Retirement. Wikipedia the Online Encyclopedia.[Online Article]. Retrieved 8 May 2008 from the World Wide Web:www.wikipedia.com_retirement

2. Conrad, Rownan (Ed 3). (2004). Economic Encyclopedia. New Castle: Wadsworth Inc.

M. Ferdyansyah Sechan 16107056

Cellular Phone : Good or Bad ?

Nowadays, communication becomes the most important thing to connect people around the world. After the development of cellular phone, the need of communication was increased along the increase of time. And also, the price to make a call, or usually called pulse, become cheaper. So people more often and longer to use the cellular phone. But, the use of cellular phone can be dangerous because it can produce radiation that can disturb our health, so cellular phone must be used wisely.

People, especially in Indonesia, from a city transportation driver until a president director of a company, have needs of communication. Even an elementary school need a cellular phone to call his/her parents to pick up after school. But, besides all of the advantages that offered, the use of cellular phone can be dangerous because it produce a radiation that can affect our health. For example, if we use the cellular phone in along duration, it would deliver heat that can “sting” our ear. Moreover, a group of people try to proofing the danger of cellular phone radiation with an egg putted on the frying pan, and a cellular phone in call condition put beside it. The result, after sixty-five minutes the egg become cooked! Imagine that this condition appear on our ear and our hearing system. That would be so dangerous.

Yet, it can not be deny that cellular phone make our life easier. A lot of thing we can handle on our hand. We can know the condition of our friends around the world or just order our meal by calling. And the other example, if we go somewhere, and we still want everyone can know our condition, we can bring the cellular phone to realize it. And a lot of the advantages of communication, especially the develop of cellular phone that can make our live better.

After we knew the advantages and the disadvantages of using cellular phone, we must wise to use it. Consider of its radiation, we should make a call not in a long duration, or if we still want to call with a long duration we can use the cellular phone with optional application or device such as loudspeaker and headset, in order to minimize the radiation that can affect our health. Basically, a technology was developed to make people live better, not to destroy the human being. So we must control the technology and use it wisely in order to reach the goal of the technology development reason: to make people live better.

Productive Age, Limit for Paid Employment

Peoples should work on productive age for paid employment. “Productive age is a range of age when people can work for paid employment optimally” (Conrad 2004:289). Before peoples reach productive age, they are reputed as peoples that have not enough skill. But after peoples pass their productive age, they are too old to work optimally. For example, Indonesia has a specific range of productive age that is from 18 until 55 years old. It means that people should work for paid in range of age 18 until 55 years old to work optimally. But, in some cases the range of productive age depend on the kinds of job and someone skills.

Each kind of job has a different requirement of age. A scientist can work for paid employment until 60 years old, but many sportsmen only work until 35 years old for their job. It is happens because a scientist and a sportsmen have a different requirement of optimal age for their job. Some one can be a great scientist after he finishes his study in doctoral level and does some researches. Therefore, maybe he will become a great scientist in 40 years old. On the other hand, sportsmen must be a young and strong man on 20 until 30 years old of age. So, those two different jobs will require a different range of productive age.

Skillful people have longer productive age. Each kind of job not only have a requirement of age, but also have some requirements of someone skills. People with some certain skill can apply for a job earlier. For example, vocational school’s students those have more certain skill than senior high school’s students are more ready for a job when they graduate. So they are ready for paid employment earlier and have longer productive age.

In conclusion, people has a limitation of age for work optimally that is called productive age, but the range of productive age is different for one to another people. It is depends on his or her jobs and skills.

Reference

- Conrad, Rownan. (2004). Economic Encyclopedia 3^rd ed. New Castle :Wadsworth Inc.

Determining the Right Retiring Age

In some countries the average worker is obliged to retire at the age of 50, while in others people can work until they are 65 or 70. Meanwhile, we see some politicians enjoying power well into their eighties. Clearly, there is little agreement on an appropriate retirement age. In my thought, the ideal age of retirement should be differed based on the kind of job that people are doing. There are some jobs which require prime physical condition, while other jobs “merely” require experience or charisma.

The jobs which require prime physical condition should have an earlier retirement age. Blue collar jobs such as brick layer, miner, athlete, and porter are some jobs that need early retirement. Those jobs take a lot of stamina, and therefore, doing those jobs in old age has the risk of deteriorating one’s health. The risk of injury and accident is also increased along with the growth of worker’s age. Mohammad Ali for example, suffers Parkinson’s disease after retiring. Parkinson is one of age-related diseases (http://www.aphroditewomenshealth.com/news/20030418225016_health_news.shtml), but the doctors suspected that Ali’s got too much impact in his head while boxing. So, it is understandable, that jobs like Mohammad Ali’s should have an earlier retirement age.

However, many countries still have the same retirement age for every job. Singapore for example, has set the regulation of workers’ retirement age at 62 (Anon. http://www.mom.gov.sg/publish/momportal/en/communities/workplace_standards/employment_standards/The_Retirement_Age_Act.html). Many countries other than Singapore have set the same retirement age.

But, there are some jobs which require experience and charisma, which should have a late retirement age. The best example of this kind of job is politician, CEO, and senior doctors. They may not have the best physical condition, but their experience, wisdom, and charisma are needed by the new cadets to be set for example, or for the people led by him/her to get a dependable figure. One may replace their position with a better physical condition, but maybe not with better, even the same experience and skill. The minimum age for a president in United States is 35 (http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A2Sec1.html ). John McCain, the republican candidate for president of United States, is 72 at age. It proves that some jobs need a late retirement age.

In conclusion, the ideal retirement age differs from one job to another. Each job has its own physical and intellectual requirements. Some jobs need high level of stamina, while others need charisma and intelligence. These factors should be considered to determine the ideal retirement age.

References

Parkinson [Online Article] : Retrieved May 3, 2008 from the World Wide Web:http://www.aphroditewomenshealth.com/news/20030418225016_health_news.shtml)

Singapore’s retirement age [ Online Article] : Retrieved May 3, 2008 from the World Wide Web:http://www.mom.gov.sg/publish/momportal/en/communities/workplace_standards/employment_standards/The_Retirement_Age_Act.html)

US’ minimum president age [Online Article]: Retrieved May 3, 2008 from the World Wide Web: (http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A2Sec1.html )

Classical Jazz Eternity

We all know that music has many types, or we may call it genres. A music genre (or sub-genre) could be defined by the techniques, the styles, the context and the themes (content, spirit). Ge origin is sometimes used to define the music genre, though a single geographical category will normally include a wide variety of sub-genres. Every genre has its own specialities. It’s not only from the sound-type which is produced or the artist’s style, but also the class of the genre itself. We may like it or not, but there are certain kind of stereotypes about kinds of people who can listen to a specific genre while the others can’t. For example, when you’re among the socialite people, maybe you’ll feel unclassy or even unintelligent if you tell those people that you’re so into punk.

In many genres, there are 2 main special genres that has never ending stories, classical and jazz music. Classical music is probably more familiar than we might at first imagine. Indeed, nowadays it is all around us, whether it be in restaurants, supermarkets, lifts, for advertising or as theme and incidental music on television. A great deal of film music either directly uses or draws from the 'classical' tradition. Classical music can also take on the form of the concerto, symphony, opera, dance music, suite, etude, symphonic poem, and others.

But it can be understood that not everyone in this world love classical music, and not everybody can understand how beautiful it is. Classical composers often aspire to imbue their music with a very complex relationship between its affective (emotional) content and the intellectual means by which it is achieved. Many of the most esteemed works of classical music make use of musical development the process by which a musical germ, idea or motif is repeated in different contexts or in altered form. Along with a certain desire for composers to attain high technical achievement in writing their music, performers of classical music are faced with similar goals of technical mastery. As demonstrated by the proportionately high amount of schooling and private study most successful classical musicians have had when compared to popular genre musicians, and the large number of secondary schools, including the conservatories, dedicated to the study of classical music. The only other genre in the Western world with comparable secondary education opportunities is jazz.

Jazz is quite complicated actually. But it has several differences in express the music. Sometimes the classical player has a problem in how they can express their style. It is different with jazz that aim the player that they should express their expression all out. Today, Jazz music is played, studied and taught at private and public institutions around the globe. However, as lower budgets force public schools to cut back, private lessons will not only supplement the school, but may eventually replace it in many areas. This is especially true for Jazz education.

Both jazz and classic have special interest, including how difficult they are, that make people never stop to explore this kind of music. However, classical music and jazz are two genres of music that would never unforgettable.

The Perfect Time to Retire

According to Wikipedia, online dictionary, retirement is the point where the person stops employment completely. This usually happens upon reaching a determined age, when physical conditions don't allow the person to work anymore (by illness or accident), their kind of job or even for personal choice (usually in the presence of an adequate pension or personal savings). Because of all those reasons above, the retirement age of people is different one to another.

In my own opinion, the appropriate age to retire is about 60 to 65 years old. Especially, in the development country like Indonesia. Why? As a development country, Indonesia’s citizen is about 220 billion souls. Because of the tradition, a lot of them have a lot of children. So, most of them are big family, that also have a lot of needs to fulfill. So, in order to fulfill those needs the head of the family, have to work a lot until their children could find their income alone. Furthermore, workers salary in this country is still low, so it will take a long time to fulfill all those needs. That’s why I think time until you reach 60 or 65 years old is enough to fulfill that kind of needs. You are not too early to stop but also not working for the rest of your life.

Secondly, the education situation in this country is not that good. Not all of the young generation has a good education, even the academic or moral education. So, it’s not that easy to give the higher position to the younger. Furthermore, there is an opinion that the elder is the smarter. Because of this situation, I think it is good for someone who has the important position in some companies to work until they reach 60-65 years old. They can use their ability to develop the company where they are working and also could prepare the younger employee in those companies to replace them in the future.

But there still some reasons that makes or forces some people to take their retirement early. Firstly, physical condition. If their health condition is not make possible for them to work, of course automatically they have to retire. Some workers may want to continue working until they reach the normal retirement age, but others may not have that option. Sometimes a worker's health has already deteriorated to a point where working additional years is not possible. This is especially true for low-income and blue-collar workers, women, and African Americans (Weller,2000).

Secondly, kind of job. A different job also lead someone to a different retirement age. The country of the person also influence the retirement age of person. For example: In 2007, retirement age for teachers in France is thirty eight years after employment and age 50 for train engineers on the SNCF, the national railway.The retirement age in India for public sector employees is enhanced from 58-60 years in July 2007. In Malaysia the retirement age has just recently been raised from 55 years to 56 years. Many politicians, scientists, lawyers, television anchors, and professors still work well into their 70s,because they are trusted to have good experience in their life, however some actors, models, athletes, and musicians only work until their 30s. For example: Michael Jordan, world famous basketball player. He retired in 2003, in the age of 40 years old.

In spite of that exceptions above still I think that 60-65 years old is the perfect time to someone to spend the rest of their life to have a good time. To spend their time with their family, or to spend time to do everything they like and many more. So, from those reasons above, I certainly suggest that the right age for someone to retire is about 60-65 years old.

References

Michael Jordan [Online article], Retrieved May 5, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_jordan

Retirement (2008, April 18) [Online article], Retrieved April 19, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.wikipedia.org/Retirement.htm

Weller, Christian E. (2000) Raising the Retirement Age: The Wrong Direction for Social Security

Good Old TV.

Television had been a big part of almost everybody’s life for the past decades; nearly all households own a television for entertainment or informational purposes. There are many opinions about the negative effects of television’s existence in family life, but television could be harmless and improve (both the quality and quantity) the communications among the family members. It all depends on the way the people use the television.

Television does consume time, but it could be positive depends on the situation. When the television is watched together by the family, it adds more quality time for the family. People usually chat with their fellow audience when watching television. In this particular situation television acts as a family unifying media.

Television enriches the communication among family members by supplying information from the outside world. Educational and informational channels are giving the audience information faster than any newspaper or magazine can do, and the information is more diverse. This information given by the television provides excellent topics for conversation with family members.

For the reasons mentioned above, television should not be judged as a family destroyer. Because, despite being addictive, television is highly resourceful and advantageous in family life. It makes the family member gather up to watch it and it provides up to date informations.

arkasha 16107071.

Television Effects

Television nowadays has become a basic needs in people’s live. In this information technology (IT) era, television is a very supportive and helpful device in order to accomodate people with information. Information is needed to support people with direction to keep moving. In every sector such as economy, social, politic, etc, the situation is dinamically changed everyday and everyhour. Television also can entertain people. Sometimes it can be a good hideaway from the exhausting activity, like a coffee shop you’d like to visit in your spare-time. Television changes many things, almost everything, including the lifestyle.

Back then, in our country, Indonesia, people knows almost everybody who lives in their neighborhood. They’re supporting each other, and helping each other. Peoples relationship is closed one to another. Indonesian even have their own words for that, such as “tenggang rasa” and “gotong royong”. In english, we can describe it as fraternity. It’s a very beautiful way of living. Awfully, people is sort of losing this kind of habit now, and television is believed as one of the most responsible in this case.

Television channels is responsible to make social relationships less interesting compared to watching them. There is less of talking among family members. Although people can watch television together, it is usually just happen a little chat between them. Usually, there is not much interaction happen. Many of the programs is produced by the country that have a very different culture with the viewers, and people from every level of age can watch. Sometimes it brings bad effect. It means, television provide people with not only information they need, but also they don’t. It flows away the time unconsciously, so people don’t have enough time to socialize. And it leads peoples relationship to become widened one and another.

Beside of social, television also affect people in personal. The information technology is developing so fast, but human physical ability and endurance is not. Before the era of information technology, children have needs to go out and play games outside the house with friends. The playing activity gives good effect to the children. It involves more physical movement, which is healthy. But now, children rarely move out of their homes. So they are not only losing crucial interaction with the friends of their age, but also the physical exercise that they gain from the games. The result, you often find many child obese and having health problems. In many other case, it also happen to adults. People’s lifestyle is getting more and more unhealthy.

Although there are some things that have to be regretted, it is basically impossible to get rid of television from peoples live. Peoples have huge needs of information. What people can do is minimize the negative effect with their proper self-control. More exercise and outdoor activity have to be done in the spare-time. And also, most important, it must be reassured that social aspect of human lives is precious, and not to be forgotten.

Roos Haikal Ramadhan. 16107013

Child Labor

Child labor is employment of children under age. It still happens in many countries, although most of them have stated that it’s illegal. According to the International Labor Organization, the estimation of child labourer is 218 million children aged 5 to 17 in child labor worldwide, excluding child domestic labor. Basically, the parents permit their children to work because of economical reason, their struggling effort to keep living their lives. But often, they’ve been forced to that.

Despite their young age and undeveloped mind, child is also a human. They have rights to live as what they want, what they need, appropriately, although still under the adults supervision. In my opinion, it’s not a problem if the children works because of their own will. As long as the parents can keep them educated, eventhough they can’t afford to pay school. If both of of it, experience and education, succesfully accomplished, there is a big chance that the children will grow up and become productive adults and live longer, healthier, and wealthier lives.

Roos Haikal Ramadhan. 16107013

Nectar

According to online wikipedia, nectar is a sugar-liquid that produced by plants, especially flowers. It is attractive to insects and other kind of animals which soon will pollinate them so they can reproduce. Nectar produced in glands called nectaries. It’s a sugar source for honey. Nectar is a vital part of biological cycle of life. It’s existence is very important to all being, human, plants, and animals. The Bee Movie, a cartoon movies produced by Hollywood moviemaker , use the ideas about the importance of nectar as their main ideas of the film.

Roos Haikal Ramadhan. 16107013

When is the Right Time for Us to Retire?

According to Wikipedia, retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. The retirement age varies from country to country, each country have their own standard of retirement age for their employees. In our country, the retirement ages in Indonesia is mostly from 55 to 56 (Leoi. 2008). In my opinion, employees may retire from their job in the age about 60 to 65 which must be appropriate with the type of their job. There are several reason that may be
influential for the retirement age.

Firstly, the type of the job very related with employee productivity period. Certain jobs, the most dangerous or fatiguing ones in particular, such as firefighters, police officers, etc, have an earlier retirement age. But actually the case is the longer someone has dedicated to his/ her job, the more experiments he/ she get, and the more professional he/ she will be. Many professions have mandatory retirement ages for example: pilots, military, education, and other professions. Education professions; many are required to retire at 60 or 65. Although these educators are fully capable of working in the areas of their expertise, they are forced into mandatory retirement (Rincon. 2007). Many politicians, scientists, lawyers, television anchors, and professors still work well into their 70s, however some actors, models, athletes, and musicians only work until their 30s (Anon. 2007).

Yet, some people believe that if the retirement age for social security keeps moving backward, it will make room at the top for younger employees to move up the corporate ladder so they may bring fresh ideas for a sustaining the company in a global economy.

Second factor for the retirement age is the personal factors, such as the worker’s health, family situation, or personal aspirations. The most important personal factor is the worker’s health. Until the age of 60 to 65, people are probably experienced and will give a perfect performance. Besides, the physical condition of Indonesian people will decrease in the age about 65, and we can get sick more easily in this age. Other reasons that people are forced into retirement are mainly meeting the physical requirements of the job (Rincon 2007).

In conclusion, the retirement age is not only depends on one factor. It depend on the type of the job we do, it may take a longer time than usual if the job need a lot of experience. The condition of our physic is also important to decide when is the best time for us to retire, and the other factor which are related.

References

Anonim. 2007. Retirement. The Online Wikipedia. Retrieved May 4, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement

Leoi, Sim. 2008. Government extends civil servants’ retirement age to 60. 3 Stocks You Need To Retire Rich. Free Report. Retrieved May 4, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/18/nation/20988451&sec=nation

Rincon, Paul. 2007. Retirement age 'should reach 85' . BBC News Article. Retrieved May 4, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4726300.stm

Andriani Oktadianti
16107065

Super-skinny Models

According to online dictionary, a model is a person who is employed to wear clothing for the purpose of advertising or display, or who poses with a product for the same purpose. That's why appearance is the most important thing that found in models. In the fashion industry, size of a cloth is numbered from 0 to 22. Models usually wear size 0, which means they have to be very skinny in order to walk the runway or photographed well in the designer clothes. But that fact brings us to one question: Do they really need to be so skinny?

There is absolutely a problem with underweight models shown by the death of several models that caused by anorexic. But it hasn't seemed to faze the industry that still uses girls severely underweight and sometimes sick-looking. Not all models are Anorexic, sick, and have body image problems. There are small percentage of women who are the size of the "ideal" catwalkers, naturally. As much as overweight individuals should never be discriminated against because of their size, so too should people who are naturally thin not be excluded.

The problem arises when the industry that hires, casts and publishes the images of models will only use ones who fit into a size 0. Many designers are quoted as saying that they feel they have to follow the lead of the "thin" industry, otherwise they lose exposure. For example, most magazines will only hire women who fit into the lower sizes, so if a designer doesn't have samples for those models, they don't get into that phtoshoot.

People start to notice and act about it. This unprecedented outbreak of common sense began in Spain, where organisers of the Madrid fashion show took the extraordinary step of banning models with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of less than 18. Your BMI is the figure you get when you divide your weight in kilograms by height in metres squared. A healthy BMI is between 18.5 and 25, so the Madrid limit – which still allows underweight women to model - can hardly be described as draconian. Spain has disallowed models to walk down the runway this year if their BMI (Body Mass Index) was lower than 18. The country wants to promote a healthier image of models to the young girls who idolize them.
London's Fashion Week has refused to follow suite, the organizers stating that it was a move that, not only violates the designers right to choose their models, but is also a place that they shouldn't be controlling.

It is fair to demand that when they see young women dying, starving themselves and looking like death beneath their make up, like several models who recently died, to stand up and speak their mind. Some models did, with much support from those in and out of the industry, but others need to take some responsibility, too. They have to make changes from within.

In conclusion, for those of us outside the fashion world, we can also do our small part. When companies or designers do make a positive statement, support them with letters to the media or the organization they are standing up to, spread the word about their actions and find out more about their clothing- maybe it's a line available in your area that can be purchased instead of a company who has no interest in developing a positive body image in its customers. There's always something we can do to affect change.

High School National Examination

National School Examination is considered to be the main indicator of student’s competence in Indonesia.

The word “national examination” will always remind me of my experience last year. The teachers - especially the school master - bombarded us with reminders that we must work hard since I joint my third year class. The teachers even had regular meetings with our parents in order to “push” us to work harder and harder. At home I heard my father complain about how the school scared us. “They don’t really care about the students, they only care about the prestige of the school”, said my father. My world is shaped into extra-school lessons and try-outs. No time for fun!

Last year, the national examination was set only for three subjects: Bahasa Indonesia, mathematics, and English. The rest of curriculum’s exam conducted by each school. Since our competence will be only decided on those three subjects, we tend to focus our effort on those subjects. Other subjects are not that important for the total national exam score. We all know that competence of the students is not appropriate if only measured by the national exam score.

This year government changes its policy of high school examination. The subjects for national exam have increased from 3 to 6 subjects. The IPA students should also pass physics, biology and chemistry besides Bahasa Indonesia, mathematics, and English. I could not imagine how tense the students were.

From the news I also learn how strict the local government carries out the exam. Not only education employees being busy, but they also ask help from security personnel - especially national police - to guard the examination papers from the distribution center to each school. The police also present at the school-gate examining students ID card. The Jakarta Post (April 23, 2008, collum 1-2) report that the first day of three-day nationwide exams for senior high school and vocational students ran smoothly. But as we all read from newspapers, most of the students complains about how difficult it was, especially mathematics and physics. Some students were even so desperate so they cried.

With all this condition, I think that national school examination will more look like a terror for the students than a test how they mastered all the subjects during school days, not even an indicator of a complete competence as a high school graduate.

Siti Amalia Hasnida

16107090