Realistic vs Possible

A number of people have made this mistake with the question,

“Is the elimination of global poverty a realistic aim?”

The error was that arguments considered the possibility of eliminating global poverty, rather than assessing whether it is realistic.

A classic sign of this error was the use of “if” in the topic sentence. For example, “Poverty can be eliminated if the poor are willing to accept education programmes.” This merely proves that it’s possible. In order to show that it’s a realistic aim, one would have to show that current education programmes ARE being accepted by the poor.

On Poverty: Chicken a la carte

The Maid Trade – Singapore

Caroline (not her real name) has worked in Singapore for more than four years. Her employer only gave her a day off after two years.

“We need the day off [to] relax the mind for the hard work [we do] every day… but they didn’t give. Even when I asked, they said cannot. ‘Because you’re Indonesian’, he said. If you’re Fillipino, I think you could [take the day off]‘. What’s the difference between Indonesians and Filipinos? We’re all human.”

- Caroline, Indonesian maid working in Singapore.

Check out the video on the Maid Trade in Singapore, which centers on the plight of maids. It includes issues such as the training of maids, the differences in wages between maids of different nationalities, their living conditions, cases of abuse and the lack of avenues to turn to for help: