【B1】 【B8】

Recently a group of Swedish research scientists carried out a survey of children’s attitudes to the future. They worked with 10-and 11-year-old children from ten schools located in rural and urban areas over the whole of Sweden.
    There were two main steps of the project. First, all the children were asked to write an essay on the topic "The Future: 2000 AD". Then the scientists went round to the different schools to talk to the children, basing their discussions on the general questions "What problems are we facing now?" and "What will the future be like?"
    A pattern soon emerged. It showed that there was considerable agreement about which problems were important and how the problems should be dealt with. These problems were: pollution and environment, energy and power, violence and war.
    The children showed a strong feeling of helplessness in the face of adult stupidity. Summing up the results of the project, one of its leaders said, "We’ve obviously got to pay more attention to our children. After all, apart from being the scientists of the future, they are also the people who have got to live in the world we are creating."