Over to You

Are you interested in one week's work placement in The Irish Times? Transition Year students can learn first-hand about the workings of this newspaper if their submission is published in Media Scope's weekly

Over to You column. Just send us a 200-word piece on a media-related topic.

Shalini Columb, The High School, Rathgar, Dublin

The ancient Olympics and, until a couple of decades ago, the modern Olympics were honourable events. Drugs, professionalism and partiality have debased these games. They have become veritable caricatures of what they once were.

One reason for this degeneracy is the use of illegal drugs. In Sydney, the abrupt withdrawal of several entrants, the disqualification of others and the attempts by competitors to hide from the drug inspectors attest to how prevalent the taking of prohibited drugs is.

When Baron Pierre Coubertin revived the Olympics, Initially only amateur performers were allowed to compete. Any hint of professionalism meant disqualification. Now in several sporting spheres performers at professional world championship level are allowed to compete.

In the course of a revealing feature in The Irish Times, "The Boxing Great", it was revealed how prejudiced judging is destroying Olympic boxing. This partisanship extends to other events. Emperor Theodosius banned the Games in 394 AD because of a great decline in their quality; perhaps this should be their fate once again. In the instance of the Olympics, history should be allowed to repeat itself.

Fiona Shine, Muckross Park College, Donnybrook, Dublin

After reading a news article on increasing street violence, I began to wonder if tomorrow's children will inherit a world any better than the one we live in now. After much deliberation I have come to the conclusion that despite not inheriting a perfect world, they will definitely inherit a better one.

For example, thanks to improved medical research, death rates are falling and continue to fall, increasing our children's lifespan by up to seven years. Imagine. That's seven more years of watching Coronation Street!

As well as that, after breaking the human genetic code, doctors are on their way to finding cures for cancer, Alzheimers and even AIDS, and the common cold may soon be a thing of the past.

In the area of technology advances are also being made, such as in communication and the acquiring of information, and these are only some of the many improvements the future holds. Already there is a considerable reduction in the use of polluting fuels. Starvation-related deaths are decreasing and school enrolment both in the developed and the developing world is rising.

As you can see, things can only get better - and tomorrow's children definitely face a better world.

Write to media scope by posting your comments to Newspaper in the Classroom, The Irish Times, 11-16 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2, or faxing them to (01) 679 2789. Be sure to include your name, address and school, plus phone numbers for home and school. Or you can use the Internet and e-mail us at mediapage@irishtimes.ie media scope is a weekly media studies page for use in schools. Group rates and a special worksheet service (see `faxback', right) are available: FREEPHONE 1-800-798884.