is it a good idea to control the world’s population growth?

    arguments

    1. in modern times, a family with few children, or even with no children at all, is still a happy family.
    2. with fewer children in a family, parents spend less time on household chores and concentrate more on their own interests, and their children enjoy better material and educational opportunities than those in bigger families.
    3. the most pressing problem created by the rapid increase in population is a shortage¹ of food. at present a large proportion of the existing population is not getting enough of the right kind of food.
    4. the rapid rise in world population is creating problems for all countries on earth because there simply aren’t enough resources.
    5. both rich and poor countries of the world should take united action to deal with the population explosion. otherwise, there will be more people fighting for less land and fewer resources, and the future will bring poverty, misery² and war to us all.
    6. population increase in developing countries has wiped out the material benefits that they have achieved.
    7. statistics³ show that where the population rate is high, people’s living standards are jow. this means, people’s living conditions cannot improve unless there is a reduction in the increased rate of population.
    8. overpopulation creates a shortage of schools, teachers, hospitals and doctors.
    9. overpopulation causes problems in housing and employment, especially in cities.
    10. just imagine how much better life would be if the world population were cut by half!

    counter-arguments

    1. people in agricultural areas need more children to help them with the work in the fields.
    2. whether to have children or not is a private matter and nobody should interfere⁴ with it.
    3. it is unfair to blame all the problems on the increase in population. it is those greedy manufacturers and businessmen in developed countries that make the heaviest demands on the world’s resources and cause the most pollution.
    4. if population control were a must, it should be carried out in developed countries as well because a baby born in usa will use in his lifetime 30 times more of the world’s resources than a baby born in india.
    5. children are the most important in life. with fewer children around, life will be dull, meaningless and unhappy. it is incredible⁵ for a couple to have no children at all.
    6. children in a family give the parents a sense of responsibihty and pride. they are very important to the stability⁶ of a family.
    7. population control does greater harm than we realize. for instance, if the one-child pohcy is still in practice in 100 years, people then will have little idea of kinship~ ties, for most of them will have no brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, or cousins.
    8. with the govermnent’s family planning policy in operation we now have a generation of "only child" families: most of them are arrogant⁷, selfish, and spoilt.
    9. a big family offers children a chance to learn how to cope with and care for other people.
    10. children in big families have the chance to compete with each other, in terms of their manners at home, their study at school, their performance at their place of work, etc. older children usually have a great influence on the younger one.