School Essays

Essay 1: Geo(Migration to the Netherlands)

Migration Project Part 2A:

After World War II, many immigrants came to the Netherlands, either guest workers, or from former colonies. The first group of immigrant to come to the Netherlands came from the former colony Indonesia. The Indonesian immigrants had fought in the Royal Dutch East Indies Army with the Dutch against the Indonesian nationalists, during the Indonesian National Revolution. The Netherlands formally recognised Indonesian independence on December 27, 1949. After this, many of the Indonesian soldiers from the Royal Dutch East Indies Army came to live in the Netherlands, as they were seen as traitors and enemies back in Indonesia. There also came

Moroccans to the Netherlands, because they also fought in the Royal Dutch East Indies Army against Indonesia. They didn't want to submit themselves to Indonesia, and that's why they came to the Netherlands.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Dutch economy was growing - called the post–World War II boom. After WOII, the Netherlands was left in ruins, and many cities had to be rebuilt. The demand for labor was so strong, that immigration was actively encouraged, first from Italy and Spain; then later on from Portugal, Greece, Yugoslavia, and later on, in larger numbers, from Turkey and Morocco. The Dutch population no longer wanted to do low-qualified jobs, while the immigrant guest workers happily accepted these kind of jobs. These immigrants came because of economical reasons. Surinamese and Antilleans also came to the Netherlands because of economical reasons, but they were few in numbers. But between 1974 and 1975, more Surinamese came to the Netherlands. Because of Suriname's independence, they had both economical and political reasons to come to the Netherlands.

Around the 1970s,  the immigrant guestworkers who initially had intended only to stay in the Netherlands  temporary, decided to stay in the Netherlands permanently. Many of them then decided to have their wives and children come over to live in the Netherlands for family reunifications. Also, some of these immigrant guestworkers or their children would bring someone to marry from their home-country. This kind of immigration was for more personal and family reasons.

Refugees and Asylum seekers also came to the Netherlands. They came from countries such as Irak, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Angola, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia-Montenegro. These immigrants were people who often had no choice, they were in danger, fleeing for civil wars, or prosecuted, and in search of safety. These immigrants were often high-educated, and had no economical reasons to come to the Netherlands. The reasons were political or based on safety reasons.

The last group of people to come to the Netherlands are people who live in the Europian Union. Starting from 2006, mostly people from Poland came to work in the Netherlands. They do mostly low-qualified jobs, and their reason to come to the Netherlands is economical. Over time, various people immigrated to the Netherlands for various reasons. Some people only stayed temporary, and some permanently.

Migration Project 2B:

The push and pull theory is about dividing factors causing migrations into two groups of factors: push and pull factors. Push and pull factors are those factors which either forcefully push people into migration or attract them to an area. This theory can be applied to Western Europe and the Netherlands in particular. If you look at immigration to the netherlands from 1945, you'll notice that the most common push factors for them to immigrate to the Netherlands were:

Safety.They weren't safe in their own countries, because they fought for the Netherlands. They were considered as traitors or enemies in their country.(Indonesians and molukkers)

Politics. In various countries, there were tyranic leaders. If someone was against their ideals or policies, they were prosecuted. If people were threatened, they often migrated.

Economics. In many countries, the living standards were bad. To have a better life, the people chose to immigrate. People often migrate because they can get a better, well-paid job in a different country.

Civil wars. In some countries, there were civil wars, and to save their lives, the people had to leave their country.

The most common pull factors for people to migrate to the Netherlands are:

Living standards. The Netherlands has good living standards. People are well-educated, and often have very high-paying jobs. Most of the time, they have enough money to afford themselves luxuries like a TV, computer, vacations, etc, etc.

Safety. The Netherlands is a stable country, with no civil wars, and stable politics. It is a safe country to live in.

Multi-cultural.The Netherlands have been known for a long time, to be very tolerant of multiculture. The Netherlands is viewed as a country where you can be free to be yourself, regardless of race, gender, or religion.

Family reunification. There were a lot of people who migrated to the Netherlands in the sixties and seventies, in search of work. Originally, they came to work here temporary, but the decided to stay and let their family come over to life in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands is viewed as a country where you can be free to be yourself, regardless of race, gender, or religion.

People from all kinds of countries migrate to the Netherlands. The push factors for people to migrate from their countries and the pull factors the make them immigrate to the netherlands are often opposite of eachother.

Migration Project Part 3:

Right now, we have an ageing population within the Netherlands. This means the balance of young and old people is disturbed. There are more older people than young people. The result of this is lesser people to work. I have the following three arguments to solve this issue:

1. More babies

One way to solve this issue is to encourage people to have more children. More children                  means more younger people, which will restore the balance between young and old. This will lead to more people working. But it will take a while for the children to mature and start working, and right now, i don't think the Dutch government is really encouraging people to have more children, because it's very expensive to raise a child in the Netherlands.

2. Stimulate women to work more full-time instead of part-time

In the Netherlands, many women work part-time. The government is cutting back the contribution they give to parents for child-daycare, which leads to a lot of women staying home to care for their children, instead of working and bringing them to the daycare. If daycare for children was cheaper, probaly more women would choose to work full-time instead of part-time, or at least more hours than they do now.

3. Encourage immigration to the Netherlands.

When you have an ageing population, and you don't have enough young people, you have to encourage young people from other countries to come to live and work in the Netherlands. The negative part of this is that right now, a large part of the Dutch population is unemployed. It's very hard for young people to find a job. In a few years time, this will be solved, because lot's of older people will retire from their jobs, which will create more job opportunities for young people.