Midterm Exam Essay

Today in class, we took the essay part of our midterm exam. I think I did okay. Below is the original conclusion from my essay. Mr. Schick didn't want us to use the words in conclusion, and as you can see, so I used the words there will always. The note card was very useful, and I got to put all of my key ideas on it. Hopefully I'll get a good grade on this part of the midterm exam.

There will always be issues with population rates in certain countries, but like issues, there will always be solutions to problems involving overpopulation/underpopulation. India will have to give parents who have 1-2 kids a reward such as promotions or raises. Italy will have to showcase their local attractions for everyone to see. And Lebanon will have to increase their net migration rate dramatically by allowing the people more freedom. If all three countries follow this advice, then their population will stabilize and settle.

Midterm Exam Essay (Option A) Part 2

Today in class, we continued to work on our essay. Mr. Schick told us that we can use an index card to write a couple key facts that we might want to add into our essay. Below is the second part of my essay. I have one more thing to do and that is the ending paragraph.

Second of all, Lebanon’s population is dramatically decreasing. They are currently at the bottom of the list for the net migration rate. More people are leaving the country than they are entering the country. Overtime, their population rate will deteriorate to almost nothing. However, like Italy, they can increase their net migration rate by advertising beautiful local attractions and exotic foods. This way, the country will be able to increase their population rate.

Third of all, India’s population is dramatically increasing. They are currently the second largest country in the world. Since China passed the One child per family law, they have stopped the population rate from rapidly increasing whereas India is doing nothing to slow down their population growth rate. Overtime, India will overtake China as the country with highest population. However, they can pass a law that states that you can only have 2 children instead of 5 per family. This law will stop India from overpopulation.

Midterm Exam Essay (Option A) Part 1

Today in class, we started writing our essays for the midterm exam. Tomorrow, we are finishing up our essays. Below is part of my essay. I will finish my essay tomorrow

Option A: Choose three nations from three different parts of the world. Discuss the challenges they face regarding population and migration, using information we learned during our studies (perhaps including CIA World Factbook data, population pyramids, Net Migration Rates, possible overpopulation or underpopulation). Also, analyze what each nation's leaders need to do to deal with these challenges.

Italy, Lebanon, and India are currently facing challenges such as their population declining and their migration rate dropping. For example: Italy’s population pyramid reveals that there are more people in Italy in the post reproductive age group than there are in the pre and reproductive age group. Lebanon has around the same problem as Italy when it comes to them losing their population. However, unlike Italy who is losing their population due to the reproductive age group compared to the post reproductive age group, Lebanon is losing their population due to their negative net migration (-40.3 migrants/ 1,000 population). India is the complete opposite of Lebanon and Italy right now. India’s population is skyrocketing. In the next couple of paragraphs, you’ll find out why the countries’ population either rises or falls.

First of all, Italy’s population is slowly decreasing. They are in stage 4 of the demographic transition meaning that their birth rate and death rate is low. Overtime, they will reach stage five in the demographic transition which means that their population will be slowly be decreasing over the years until there will be nothing left (but that won’t be for a while). However, their net migration is increasing and if they advertise their local attraction, they might gain more immigrants which can cause their population to slowly rise again.

Test Day!

Today in class, we took a test on the Demographic Transition. I think I did okay. I'm pretty sure that I got the questions that asked us to name countries in stage five wrong. There were 20 questions on the test, and it was a 50-point test. Below are some of the questions that I remember from the test. On Friday, we are taking the essay portion of our exam. He also taught us how to calculate our first, second, and midterm grade into one to see what we need to get to maintain our grade. I will have to get at least an 80% to keep my A.

What are the name of these lines called?
1. Birth Rate
2. Death Rate
3. Population Growth

What video contained information of the 67,000 population that we used to have?

video from Kim Smith, Ph.D. (I think)

What countries are in stage five (besides Japan) of the demographic transition?

My answer- The United States and Russia/ Correct answer- Greece, Ukraine, Portugal, etc.

DANGER Talk/ Khan Academy Video on the Demographic Transition

Today in class, we talked about DANGER and the demographic transition. First, we had a big talk about why the teachers need to keep their doors closed and locked. It's because if someone decided to break in, they would have to unlock it first which will give us time to escape. Mr. Schick told us that he's the one who protects us if something bad like that happens. Then he grabbed the stapler and accidentally stapled his finger. It started bleeding and eventually stopped. Then he tried to do the same thing with a pair of scissors and almost cut himself. Thankfully, he didn't get cut. We suggested that he should throw his drink at them, but he said he wouldn't have anything to drink then. He likes coffee. We also talked about the Khan Academy video. Below are the rest of the notes on the stages in the demographic transition.

Stage 2- The birth rate continues to grow rapidly, but the death rate slowly decreases.
Stage 3- The birth rate starts to fall and the death rate keeps decreases.
Stage 5- The birth rate is very low and the death rate is very low also making the population stabilized. This is when there are fewer young people than there are old people.

Demographic Transition Videos and Notes

Today in class, we took notes on three videos. Below are the notes from the video. My favorite video is from Khan Academy because it gave us drawings of the population pyramids. The pyramids give us a clear image of its stability.


Khan Academy video

• Stabilization of the population in countries often occurs in industrialized countries because less developed countries, because less developed countries tend to rely on and follow other developed countries for advances. 
• The population pyramids in stage 1 have many births as well as many deaths make the overall population percentage stable.
• The population pyramids in stage 4 have low. death rates and low birth rates making the population stabilized.

video from Kim Smith, Ph.D.

• From the agriculture revolution to the industrial revolution, the world's population grew by about 67,000 people every year; now, the population is growing by about 67,000 people every 6-7 hours.
• Because of the plague, famine, and war, most countries were in stage 1 in early history because many people died pretty young after they gave birth to a child (or children) making the crude birth and death rate very high.
• In stage 3, the crude birth rate slowly decreases, and the population becomes more stabilized; women are starting to work and children are becoming liabilities instead of assets.

Why Populations Grow

• One way to measure the growth of the population is to calculate the doubling time- the length of time it takes for the population to double in size- by 70.
• Since the Industrial Revolution, the world's population has increased dramatically from 1800- present day.
• Factors that influenced the falling the death rates include improved health care, improved hygiene, boiling of drinking water, collection of garbage, improved food production, etc.

The Demographic Transition

Today in class, we took notes on the demographic transition. Mr. Schick told us that our essay exam is on Friday December 13, 2019. We will take our demographic transitions quiz on Monday December 9, 2019. Next week, we will be working on our essays. Below are the notes that I thought were key facts.

The demographic transition is a process of change in a society's population from high crude birth and death rates and low rate of natural increase to a condition of low crude birth and death rates, low rate of natural increase, and higher total population. Industrial Revolution, which involved major improvements in manufacturing goods and delivering them to market, caused Europe and North America to enter stage 2. The late-twentieth-century push of developing countries into stage 2 was caused by the medical revolution. The World Health Organization launched a program during the 1970s to immunize children in a number of countries, including The Gambia. This sent The Gambia into stage 2 because the CDR declined rapidly, whereas the CBR remained high, thus raising the NIR. A country moves from stage 2 to stage 3 of the demographic transition when the CBR begins to drop sharply. A country reaches stage 4 of the demographic transition when the CBR declines to the point where it equals the CDR and the NIR approaches zero. This condition is called zero population growth (ZPG). Women in stage 4 societies enter the labor force rather than remain at home as full-time-homemakers. The demographic transition model explains the changes in the natural increase rate as they relate to economic and industrial development. Stage 1 of the demographic transition is one of highest birth rates and death rates and consequently very low growth. Stage 2 is one of high growth because death rates decline, and birth rates remain high. Researchers assume that countries enter stage 2 because they go through the Industrial Revolution. Developing countries have moved into stage 2 because of a medical revolution. Countries will move from stage 2 to stage 3 when their crude birth rates drop sharply as a result of changes in social and economic patterns that will encourage people to have fewer children. Countries will reach stage 4 of the demographic transition because their birth rates will continue to decline until the natural increase rate drops to zero. It could be argued that some countries have entered a stage 5 for which the demographic transition does not account.