How to E ngage S tudents in C lass Essays - FoolProof,

How to E ngage S tudents in C lass Without question, a major classroom challenge facing today's educators is getting their students to put down their phones and pick up their level of engagement. While a generation ago educators might find their students getting sidetracked by an attractive classmate, an enchanting daydream or passing notes about an upcoming tailgate party, today's smartphones present educators with a whole new array of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. After much trial and error, I have come to the conclusion that engaging my students is best accomplished by making them feel a bit anxious while keeping them in relatively close proximity to their comfort zone. I've had a great deal of success simply by rearranging the chairs in my classroom, making my students give pop oral reports on the previous night's reading assignment and, when assigning collaborative writing assignments, pairing up two students who are exceedingly different from each other. Although these three pedagogical methods are far from foolproof, they have generally proven effective. All or most of my students suffer from what Professor Sherry Turkle at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology describes as being "alone together." For example, before my class starts, my students will be texting with their friends instead of bantering with the person seated next to them. The nature of the pairings, combined with the complex topic of the assignment, forces my students to meet and work with someone from a vastly different peer group and thus escape from this insidious ostracizing malaise. While it would be easier for me to let my students choose whom they wanted to work with on this assignment, watching these inscrutable duos collaborate on a complex research question makes this assignment very rewarding -- at least, to me. Although sometimes the circle of debate fails to produce valuable discourse, the pop oral reports cause my students to question my fairness and the crossover pairings result in students opting to write the essay themselves, more often than not, I have found that these three strategies can change the energy in my classroom from disengagement to engagement without my ever touching the thermostat.

The Great Depression of the 1930s Essays

The Great Depression of the 1930s Essays The Great Depression of the 1930s Essay The Great Depression of the 1930s Essay THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF THE 1930S In the 1930s, the United States lived a terrible economic period. But, before the Stock Market Crash, of 1929 the USA lived the best economic period. This was a prosperous period with many economics? advances. But, everyone feltBlack Friday?, during October with the Crash of 1929, which started a crisis not only in the United States, but also around the world. The reason that this occur was that the United States had stopped exportation and this affected some countries good relations with the USA. Capitalisms, along with the political system that the USA possessed, as a big powerful nation of the world, decayed. Unemployment went up considerably 11% around the world. In the United States the total number of people without work was at four millions in 1930, then in 1931 eight million and 12 million in 1932 . There was not enough work for all the people. The exportations market reduced because the lack of money. During the 19 20s the credits were one of the best innovations in the USA, but they had to be suspended. The 60% off all cars and 80% off all radios were bought with credits. In 1925 the amount of credit was from 1.38 billon dollars and in 1929 this increased considerably. The debt was of 3 billions dollars . Other industries like the automobile industries their sales went down and in general the industries produced the middle that they produced before the Stock Market Crash. The banks lived the worst consequences of the Depression. All the credits that had not been pay, affected the situation. With the debts, that had accumulated, the banks did not have another option better than demand, but the demands did not make effects and the interests continued rising. The deflation reached to big levels during the Great Depression. The prizes fell about 50% . Finally six thousand banks crashed. All these big sales falls originated because the economics? politic that USA de

Why was the Nile River Important for the Rise of Successful States in Essay

Why was the Nile River Important for the Rise of Successful States in North Africa - Essay Example Scholars from the modern world have to piece together what they can find in order to make educated guesses about what happened before history books started to be written. One factor seems to be significant in several quarters of the world in early human history and that is the existence of particular regions that ideally meet the needs of human society. River deltas have been established as the earliest recorded locations of major civilizations in ancient times, such as the Persians, the Greco-Roman civilization, the Indians, the ancient Egyptians and the Chinese (Sherman, 2003). Archaeologists believe that human beings first shifted from a nomadic, hunter gatherer lifestyle, to a more settled, agriculture based lifestyle in regions that were fed by great river systems. The nutrients from fresh water rivers were gathered over millennia and over time they created fertile plains which were ideal for growing crops. As early humans learned to plant and harvest crops, rather than just gat her fruits and seeds that grew in the wild, they soon developed technologies like irrigation and long term storage facilities. The Nile provided a constant the supply of water so that the planted fields were irrigated, and food became plentiful. Cities grew up to store this food, and with increasing food surpluses humans gained the ability to have specialized professions. People were no longer living from hand to mouth, having to hunt or gather the next meal every day, because stored grain provided a certain security. New skills and trades developed in these cities, and the region around the Nile is one of these great early centers of human development. Much of the land in central and northern Africa is marginally habitable, with many areas of mountain and desert. The long river bank of the Nile provides the possibility of regular water supply and the development of trade between towns from the interior right to the edge of the Mediterranean. Land travel was difficult and slow in an cient times, and so the navigable waters of the Nile were like an ancient highway, allowing goods, people and ideas to be transported back and forth. The great Egyptian civilisation was highly dependent on the Nile as a channel of communication as well as a source of water for all human needs. Two great commodities were also available in the Nile region: vast quantities of clay, and also the reeds that could be soaked, fermented, and made into papyrus. So it was that the Nile provided the basics for writing, first using clay tablets that had marks pushed into them with a sharp, wedge-shaped implement, giving mankind the early cuneiform writing format. The tablets could be baked in the sun, making them a more permanent record. The disadvantage of clay is that it is heavy and it breaks easily. The invention of papyrus for writing on was an important technology that facilitated the transfer of ideas through scrolls that were passed along ancient trade routes. In the two millennia befor e the common era, the people living along the river Nile, and around its delta, were much more advanced than all of Northern Europe, thanks to the way that they learned to make use of the natural commodities that were available in this particular geographical context. It would be impossible to imagine the glorious ancient Egyptian civilization without the impact of the river Nile. The great monuments that exist even today such as the pyramids and the ancient town ruins would not have been possible without the availability of the slave workers, a great many of whom who came from central Africa and were transported in barges down the Nile towards the coastal region. Many of the stone quarries that provided the raw materials for building were also located upstream. It

Explain and critically discuss the pros and cons for a firm in Essay

Explain and critically discuss the pros and cons for a firm in adoption an emergent rather that a deliberate, planning approach to strategy development - Essay Example Unexpected marketing benefits may result from an emergent strategy. A company can design emergent strategy to corporate a business opportunity or something else that competitors have not identified. For example, a firm may set deliberate strategies to become the best supplier of a particular primary product or service in the next five years in a particular city. However, along the way, it may discover that a minor product or service is selling more than the targeted one. The business may decide to set up an emergent strategy to increase the sale of the minor product in order to realize more profits. In essence, emergent strategy helps a business to offer what the market demands rather than what the company believes or thinks the customers want. An emergent business strategy also enhances the advancement of technology and thus development of the product being provided in the market. Emergent strategies mostly spark from individuals in a business reacting directly to shifts in the mark etplace factors and forces. Their decisions thus reflect order sizes, consumer tastes, and practices of competitors. When two or more organizations provide the same products that have almost similar features and technologies, clients will be unable to distinguish one from another. Hence, the firm will begin to refine and develop its product to add new features to survive in the marketplace and stand out. The business will attempt to engage emergent strategy to include the new product developments that could propel it to emerge as a technological leader in the marketplace. However, an emergent strategy plan can go off course and result in completely new and unexpected problems if an organization continually uses it to attempt to capture an attractive idea. Organizations constantly put out fires by dealing with unexpected issues that can cause it problems. Although keeping an eye on emergent strategies is helpful in doing so, the businesses

Common Sense by Thomas Paine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Common Sense by Thomas Paine - Essay Example Still, he helped in reforming the British Reform Act and brought liberty to France. In brief, Common sense is a booklet that advocated an instant declaration of the independence, which in turn would postulate a moral obligation to the Americans and the rest of the world. The writing sparked the American Revolution with its great insights that campaigned on freedom and liberty. The pamphlet challenged the leadership of British Government and its Royal monarchy by openly asking for independence. To date, his documentation inspires many as he presented great ideas of how mankind was originally created to be equal and thus, challenged the British Government that the equality could not be destroyed. The booklet â€Å" Common Sense† has been the most influential tract towards American Revolution ever published in English. The main idea was to encourage the colonists to reinforce their resolve to birth the most successful anti-colonial decision of the modern history. Paine’s W ork represents one or more defining American Characteristics as his arguments enhance significance in the â€Å"American Declaration of Independence.† Paine’s writings created a strong ground to the movement that had seldom worked out in past decades. The writing impacted strongly on the sovereignty of people and printed constitutions, which he declared his interests on freedom, liberty, and equality for all people. Still, he insisted on effective checks along with balances in the government as he thought this would transform the economy and better standards of living. In his writting, he inspired many with great thoughts of defining the American characteristics as discussed. In my opinion, this book has resonated with so many different societies and people over the past decades because it presents great thoughts that regard freedom, liberty, and equality. Many identify themselves with Paine’s ideas that mostly majored on defining human characteristics. In other words, his emphasize was to bring a concept that would transform the world with common sense on the need for freedom. To gain a clear understanding, he outlines how the society by its nature is a blessing but regard government in its best state as evil. Paine affirms that the British government destroyed innocent lives thus it was unanswerable to defy human rights. Following this, the writer advocated for an immediate declaration of independence that would regard the rights of people. Therefore, the booklet becomes the leaven for the past decades as it presents great thoughts of freedom, liberty, and equality that most societies and people find it helpful. In his writting, Paine talks at length about monarchy in general and how the British Monarchy was holding back American’s potential. He was successful into bringing the political debate that the British Government merit the attention of other countries with their own governments to form. He captures readers’ attenti on by successfully persuading them that his ideas simply common sense when he relates his ideas in the scripture that disregard the monarchy government as one of the Jews’ sins. He continues to assert that in every instance the monarchy is popery to the government but not to the ordinary citizens. In this regard, he was successful into bring the concept of monarchy into a real political debate by relating it with biblical doctrines that viewed monarchy as evil. Therefore,

Relationship Between The Catholic Church And Chivalry

Relationship Between The Catholic Church And Chivalry Except for the occasional knighting conferred by the Queen of England, actual knights in shining armor are basically extinct. Despite this, the principles that govern chivalry, a defining quality of knighthood, merit closer inspection to understand the relationship between chivalry and the Catholic Church and the sociological impact on the Medieval Era and on society today. In no order of precedence, I will explore the seven of the principles that help to define chivalry as practiced by Epic (definition) or Chivalric Heroes (definition), compare those principles to some of the basic principles of Christianity as practiced by the Catholic Church, and weigh the sociological impact on both the Medieval Era and Society today. The first of the seven principles is fair play. According to dictionary.com fair play is just and honorable treatment, action, or conduct (dictionary.com). It was an expected custom for knights to show chivalry. One way in which a knight demonstrated chivalry was to show fair play when participating in jousting. Under the rules of fairplay knights were expected to show self discipline, practice mercy and justice, and never attack an unarmed enemy. Because jousting, also known as tournament, was a very bloody sport which often resulted in death or dysentery, the Statue of Arms for Tournaments was established in 1292. In the article The Historical Sport of Jousting Dmedley states: they were required to abide by the ideas of chivalry and fair play reducing the abhorrence of the church considerably (Medley). The second principle for consideration is valor. Valor is typically identified with heroism. To further understand valor, it serves to understand who was considered a hero during medieval times. According Anniina Jokinen in the article Heroes of the Middle Ages Morton W. Bloomfield said: the original hero in early literature was probably based on the king who died for his people, the warrior who defeated the tribes enemiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦these men were celebrated in song and story and presented again to the people so that they could participate in their magic (Jokinen). The custom of celebrating heros through song and story gave rise to what we know today as Epic Literature. According to Jokinen, Bloomsfield went on to say: Epic literature is a stately, solemn celebration of national life in the heroic age. Its heroes are simple men, versed in the activities of common lifeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦they are leaders not through class status or wealth or even birth, but through the excellencies of heart and mind and hands. Their motives are linked with the practical necessities of life (Jokinen). Men of valor were expected to inflict harm or pain as an act of revenge on behalf of those who were wronged or in defense of the weak and innocent. They were also expected to be courageous and not to abandon a friend, an ally, or a noble cause. Good examples of heroes who epitomized valor are Beowulf and Sir Gawain of Sir Gawain and the Green Knights. Beowulfs noble cause was the fight for the survival of his tribe or nation. Sir Gawains fight was not for a tribe or nation, but was a fight for his ideal. Though Beowulf knew that he might not return from his fight with the dragon, he did not let that fact sway him from his cause. Though Gawain was weary, he traveled through the land for a year in search of the green knight. Both men showed courage even though the stakes were high with little or no chance of overcoming them, both men worked toward the noble causes without retreating. Next, is the characteristic of honor. It was customary for a man of chivalry to keep his word since any departure from the principles of chivalry was uncharacteristic. Men of chivalry did not betray the trust of a friend. Honor is one of the cornerstones of chivalry. For example in Beowulf and in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, they were both committed to keeping their words. Beowulf took on the challenge of helping King Hrothgar defend against the terror inflected by Grendel. Despite the challenges that Beowulf met, he remained committed to his word. The same is true for Sir Gawain. In his quest to keep his promise and meet the Green Knight a year and a day later, Sir Gawain, though there were temporary setbacks designed to stop him from showing up at the Green Chapel, remained committed to his word. The fourth characteristic of chivalry is Courtesy. Today, we use the word courtesy to characterize the expressions please, thank you, excuse me. We also use it to describe the practice of holding doors open and shaking hands. However, in the 14th Century the word courtesy was used to define much more. According to the article Important Ideas, Concepts and Terms in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight because the root of the word is court the word courtesy is deeper than its modern use as we know it. The article states: To be courteous means to uphold and demonstrate all of the high values and virtues of the Kings court. Therefore, courtesy means to be faithful, virtuous, a defender of truth, a fighter of the devil, and a resister of temptation (Masterworks of British Literature). Interestingly, most people today misinterpret courtly love. In this era, courtly love is commonly associated with basic gentlemenly overtures that are superficial compared to what courtly love represented in medi eval times. For example, today, a man is generally expected to fall in love with a woman who is not already engaged or married. The man will show his intentions by doing nice things for lady. Generally, sexual relations should not take place before the wedding, however, it is customary for the couple to show affection by a kiss or holding hands; some couples engage in sexual activities as part of their courtship. Paradoxically, in medieval times, and during the fourth period of chivalry the knights generally fell in love with ladies who were already taken. These knights showed courtesy by doing nice things for the lady, just as men do today, but these knights could at no time disgrace themselves, the women, or the king, by having any level of sexual contact. Sir Camelot is famously known for violating this principle of chivalry because he had sexual contact with Genevere. It can be surmised that courtesy as a characteristic of chivalry held a strong christian value as it showed the strength of the men to keep themselves from yielding to temptation. The fifth characteristic for evaluation is loyalty. In the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, when the Green Knight showed up in King Arthurs court the Knights around the table were clearly scared. The Green Knight teased the Knights of the Round Table. In Beowulf, Grendel terrorized the King and his people. The teasing by the Green Knight and the terrorizing of Grendel represented tests of loyalty for the Knights. One of the first expectations of loyalty was loyalty to God, the Sovereign Kingdom, and the Code of chivalry. Both Beowulf and Sir Gawain epitomized loyalty when they rose to defend the Sovereignty of the Kingdom. Next, men of chivalry were expected to be generous and to show hospitality to strangers. Lord Bertilak showed hospitality to Sir Gawain. Of course, Sir Gawain did not recognize Lord Bertilak as the Green Knight. So for all intents and purposes, Gawain believed that he was being treated with generosity and kindness because to Lord Bertilak, Sir Gawain was a stranger. Incidentally, the practice to generosity and hospitality to strangers are common to chivalry and to Christianity. The seventh and final principle of chivalry for consideration is Piety. Men of chivalry were grounded in their faith, dependant on God, the saints, and Mary, and opposed the infidel. The Code of Chivalry is a fusion of Christian values and Military practices. Christian values are interwoven in the fiber of chivalry. For example, jousting or tournament was not acceptable until the sport adhered to the Statue of Arms of Tournament which allowed it to garner the favor of the Catholic Church. As with chivalry, the spiritual principles of the Catholic Church are based on their belief in God, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. As a result of their spiritual beliefs the Catholic Church has a strong core of moral values. The value system include the principles of human dignity, respect for human life, association, participation, protecting the poor and needy, solidarity, human equality, common good, stewardship, and subsidiary. Basically all of the moral principles are self explanatory. What may not be so obvious is how some of the principles work in concert for the common good of humanity. For example, the principles of solidarity and subsidiary provide a balance in working for the common good of all the people. Solidarity works best when a higher authority is in control as in the case of law. If every man in a society was left to police himself, undoubtedly that society would be chaotic. However, my having a central law enforcement agency, the common good of that society is taken care of by the higher authority. In the case of subsidiary, the people of the society are generally left to make the decisions that would best serve that community. For example, it is the people of a community who generally name a street within their community. Therefore solidarity and subsidiary work to bring about the common good. Another set of Catholic values that work together are those of human dignity, respect for human life, and human equality. While human dignity and human life are derivative of Godly principles that give rights to individuals that humanity should not violate, the principle of human equality are of the laws of the land that should be available to every citizen of the nation. As with the first set of principles mentioned, these three principles work to ensure the overall common good of humanity. For these reasons the Catholic Church is against social issues such as abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty. The principles of association and participation recognize individuality while seeking to promote unity. The principle of association holds that an individual is not only sacred but also social and as such is better off relating to others than being alone. The principle of participation requires that all people take active roles in shaping the socio economic, political and cultural values in their community. Indisputably, there are more similarities between the Catholic Faith and chivalry than there are differences. The similarities are as prominent as they are because the Catholic Church played an important role in the development of chivalry. The role of the Catholic Church is very apparent in the the first two of the four periods of chivalry. The major differences between the Catholic Church and chivalry are in the latter periods of chivalry in which there was a clear departure from many of the ideals of the Catholic Faith. The four periods of chivalry are time of The Crusades , of Military Orders, of Secular Chivalry, and of Court Chivalry. The first period of chivalry, The Crusades, lasted from 1095 to 1099. During this crusade, Knights rescued holy places from Moslem dominiation in Palestine. In exchange for this protection, the church took care of knights by conferring on them special privileges which protected them from the law of the land. The second period is the time of Military Orders which dates from 1147-1149. Out of the necessity of continual protection of the Holy City, knights vowed perpetual warfare against the infidels. Religious and spiritual laws were fused and chivalry reached the level of its highest acclaims. The third period was the era associated with the practice of Secular Chivalry and lasted from 1189 to 1192. In this period chivalry lost its religious ideals and became more of a romantic overture. It is said that Literature contributed to the decay of chivalry. Knights were mo re concerned with the love of a woman than with the love for country or for God. The fourth and final period is that of Court Chivalry . In this final period which lasted from 1202 through 1204, chivalry became a court service. Knights were no longer crusaders, they became courtiers and instead of making oaths in chapels and on crosses, they now made vows on emblemic birds. Chivalry was reduced to a futile pasttime and an empty promise, a staunch departure from the principles that were foundational to the order of chivalry. Undeniably, there is as much irony in the practices of Chivalry and of the Catholic Church as there is in any other practice. The irony of chivalry is woven in some of the very principles that guided Knights. For example, Knights were expected to protect the weak so of course, the peasants were protected. Wrong! The principles of chivalry did not extend to the common people known as peasants. In the Chivalric Code the word weak was a description ascribed to the women and children of nobility not the poor and needy as many might be inclined to believe. As a matter of fact, the relationship between Knights and peasants was that of servant and master or predator and prey. Knights often slaughtered peasant men by the hundreds and young peasant girls were often sexually exploited by Knights. In an article entitled Chivalry during the Reign of King Edward III Rich Larson writes: Between the warlike, religious, and courteous aspects of chivalry, there were many inherent contradictions within the ideals of chivalry. Even though these contradictions existed, it seems as if they were often ignored. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦For example, in his description of the siege of La Reole, Froissart writes that the towns-people suffered greatly, but he does not speak negatively of those attacking the town (Froissart 49). In this, just as in other descriptions of Froissart, the ferocity of warfare and any negative effects it may have do not seem to be attributed to chivalry, even when it was chivalric knights who were contributing to the death and destruction that took place (Larson). The peasants during medieval times were enslaved not only by virtue of their class, but also by virtue of the crippling fear caused by the violence that surrounded them. In exchange for protection, for a very long time, peasants accepted the exploitation of the Lords and of the Knights. Accordingly to the article The Barbarian West on Honolulu.hawaii.edu which states: It is important to understand why people would enter into this kind of unequal relationship. The answer is simple only by giving into the demands of the military elite, only by agreeing to this exploitative reciprocal agreement, could a defenseless peasant hope to survive the violence of this age. To survive, to achieve some kind of stability, millions of people suffered repression, impoverishment and exploitation (honolulu.hawaii.edu). Like the Code of Chivalry, the Catholic Church was also oxymoronic in its virtues. Peasants, the poorest of people, were expected to pay taxes to the church; the tax was called a tithe equal to 10% of their earnings and they also worked the land owned by the church. It seems that the church should be giving to and providing for the needs of the peasants, not taking what little they had from them. Another criticism of the role of the Church during Medieval Times was that the church condoned bloodshed. Heretics and infidels were killed to protect the teaching and the property of the church. Though the end does not justify the means, it was believed that the killing was for the greater good. During Medieval Times the church offered forgiveness of sins and protection to knights for killing in their line of duty to protect the Church and State. Given the irony in the Chivalric Code and in the Catholic Church, It is hard to ignore the sociological impact of both of these establishments during the Medieval Period and how the effects of those principles helped to shape our society today. Both are in some way responsible for the creation and or, the enforcement of the Class System and Slavery, Torture, Unfair Labor Practices, Taxation, and Civil Wars. The Feudal System or the Class System which included military, social, and political power structures had five divisions of people; there were Kings, Bishops, Barons, Lords, and Peasants. Peasants were the farmers of the land and boons that did other manual workers. While the overt practice of the Class System is taboo, there are still remnants of the Feudal System in Germany. The similarities of the Feudal System and the Caste System which exists in places such as in India and in Haiti are remarkably close. Though in todays societies there are laws that abate many of the injustic es of human rights such as unfair labor practices and excessive taxation, and limit the practices of inhumane treatment such as torture, there are many who are still considered second class citizens, many who are overtaxed without proper represented, and just as many who experience torture in more sophisticated manners and by more structured means. In summation, one could argue that the contributions of the Knights under the Chivalric Code and those of the Catholic Church based on its christian values are substantial enough to overlook the misdeeds since the bad practices are no longer condone. Equally, one could argue that because the Catholic Church supported chivalry, and because the Catholic Church is responsible for mass murder by approving the Crusades during which times many lives were lost, and because the church had unfair labor practices by requiring the peasants to pay taxes in the form of tithes, just as the Vassals required them to do, that the church is hypocritical in its teachings that call for respect and protection of human life. It is true that understanding history is important in understanding the present. Undoubtedly, the principles of the Catholic Church and of Chilvary may be compared to a coin, each having two sides. Which ever side of the coin one may examine, one thing is clear, all things considered, in every good there is some bad and in every dark cloud is a silver lining, therefore it is important for one to know what is important to him or her and find a way to keep a balanced perspective.

Early Understanding of HIV and Syphilis :: essays research papers fc

In the last few weeks of class we have looked at several different cases of disease outbreaks throughout the world, and how different cultures have diverse understandings of these outbreaks. Of the sicknesses we have studied, I feel that the HIV and Syphilis outbreaks stand apart from the others because of their massive infections in many different cultures and parts of the world, and also due to the fact that the diseases cannot be cured, along with the unfortunately high rate of death among its victims.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the outbreaks of syphilis and HIV first became present, science at the time was unable to come up with a clear cause for the sicknesses. People witnessing the diseases, however, were quick to assign their own cause. Unfortunately, most put the blame on African Americans. While Syphilis may have been introduced to the western worlds by slave trade according to Philip D. Curtin, inefficient evidence is present to call this fact, and most blame when these diseases first became present were completely racially based. This blind prejudice led to an extremely limited understanding of the diseases. Many felt the diseases were so racially specific that whites were completely immune to the epidemics. Some even felt that Blacks became infected because they were inferior unchristian beings, and as being so, they were being punished by god. (PBS/NOVA â€Å"The Deadly Deception†) As an effect of this logic, many more fell victim to the sicknesses, refusing treatmen t due to these beliefs. This racial attitude of the time also severely hindered the discovery of the real causes of HIV and Syphilis.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many years later, and after a very large progression in medical research, scientists have finally came to a clear agreement on the causes of these diseases. It is now obvious that there are three main causes to an HIV or Syphilis infection. A victim may become infected through blood transfusions or sexual contact with another, or the diseases may be carried from a mother to her child. These conclusions vary greatly from what was first thought as the cause of the epidemics. The incorrect causes initially found by those in early times most likely were based on a lack of knowledge in the areas of sanitary blood transfusions, safe sex, and the extremely racist attitude of the time. This lack of knowledge can be seen in what the diseases first became known as: â€Å"Bad Blood† (CDC).

Toddlers in Tiaras

Moriah Gates 5/3/12 CPC Research paper Beauty, Money, â€Å"Sexy† Too Soon! Young girls are like a sponge, they soak up anything they see or hear. They are vulnerable and young. Mothers are hurting their children by putting them through beauty pageants–they are setting them up for life’s insecurities like, self esteem issues and eating disorders. â€Å"Mommy please no†¦. Mommy no it hurts. I don’t want to do this†¦NOO mommy! † â€Å"I don’t wanna dance, I’m not doing that! † These cries come from young girls who compete in beauty pageants.The most recent pageant that has caused a lot fuss with some parents and others is the TV show TLC Toddlers in Tiaras. Toddlers in Tiaras is a show that is centered on beauty and wining the crown. Beauty, clothes, makeup, hair, pretty dresses, long eyelashes, spray tans, Botox, waxing, the list goes on. It’s just the beginning of many of the girl’s list they must fallow become â€Å"pretty enough† to compete. Pageants are where young girls are primped and primed to look pretty and much older than they really are, and are made to dance and parade around on stage.Girls as young as two are being put into these competitions learning how to dance and act and look like a teenager. These pageants are teaching girls at a very young age to dress, look and be â€Å"sexy† the way to win. Parents also start doing pageants for money, and the beauty. When girls start dressing in â€Å"grown up† looking clothes, it is taking away their chance to be a child. Children should be allowed to play in the mud and on the play grounds not made to wear loads of makeup, fake hair, and flippers for their smile, and act like a grown up.Mothers express their desire for their daughters to win, and to be the best. One mother said in an interview, how her daughter is on stage. â€Å"My daughter is the Triple F, five, fearless, and ferocious. Her daughter als o chimed with an answer to her mother’s question, asking her about how she like money and modeling. The daughter says she loves money, and money is her favorite thing! With pageants pushed to the side this mother and daughter have been doing modeling and the mother said has made $30,000 in modeling her daughter.The little girl said, â€Å"With modeling, you have to take pictures, be on commercials, and get paid, that’s my favorite part, it’s all about the money! † CNN article wrote, they interviewed a Toddlers in Tiaras, mother who flat out said, â€Å"I love living vicariously through my three year old daughter, Paisley†. That seems to be the common answer for why these mothers are putting their daughters through these pageants. When watching some of the shows, a majority of the mothers of the girls are overweight, don’t have a good job, and have health problems.The mothers use their young vulnerable daughters, to live their dreams of fame and recognition. Some mothers say they will do anything to put their daughter in to competition, some mothers’ say they will take out a second lone if it means having her daughter win. The family somehow finds the money to make the pageant happen for their girls, yet really they see themselves up there in the spotlight doing all the moves not their four year old daughter. What are we doing to our children when we teach them that they have to be â€Å"sexy† to be pretty, and have to look like x,y and z to be pretty.Mothers are putting four year olds into stripper outfits, they dress their girls up as famous actresses like Julia Roberts in the move â€Å"Pretty Woman. † Julia wore a stripper outfit in the movie, and the mother dressed her three year old to be her look alike. † An article, by Fox News says: â€Å"As a treatment of professional sex offenders as well as victims of sexual abuse, I would like the parents of these little girls to assume responsib ility for their choices. They are sexualizing their young children.Do not be surprised if your child is preyed upon as a result of this high degree of visibility,† said Dr. Nancy Irwin, a Los Angeles-based psychotherapist. â€Å"Men can pose as agents/managers and track you/your girl down through the show. Further, know that they will be pleasuring themselves while looking at your daughter’s YouTube clip. † We are grossed out by pedophiles and people who take advantage of our kids, yet we are ok letting our kids run around in out fits that are very sexual.Some say that it’s just a title ‘child beauty pageant’ but it’s much more! It’s a sexualization pageant. Young girls are put in skimpy clothes and taught to do dance moves like bumps and grinds, this not looking at beauty, its teaching girls that beauty is highly sexualized and they have to be sexual to be beautiful. Just thinking about the pressure that is put on the girls is h ard to imagine, they are four and younger, they should not be worried about how their hair is or how â€Å"pretty† they look, yet mothers stress the very factor of beauty.They get professional photographers to take model pictures and when they get the pictures back the girls are modified so much they look like a china doll. They are photo-shopped to the point where the child begins to like they way they look in photos. When the pictures young girls see are photo-shopped selves, they don’t see their true beauty. Girls already have pressure on them to look a certain way and then, when they start pageants, they are pressured into having beauty treatments done. With pageant shows, there is only one winner, and they are the only ones who get the crown.The others are not rewarded and not recognized for their hard work. The pageant girls grow up with attention fully on her, all the time and then, when it goes away, what happens? These girls are going to grow up with eating di sorders and self esteem problems. They are going to feel like they are never good enough, or pretty enough to get the judge’s approval. The judges, judge and score the girls physical features and talent, looking for something that stands out from the rest of the girls. They are not looking at the girl, or how young and venerable she is.Nor do they think of the effects that this pageant will have on her. For example, when the girls forget the dance move and mess up, the mother might berate the child for her forgetting her part. The girls feel hurt and broken because they didn’t do well enough for their mother. Most parents in the show Toddlers in Tiaras tell their children â€Å"If you do really good in this pageant what will this mean? The child, Mommy and daddy will be happy cause I will bring home lots of money. † â€Å"That’s right, mommy and daddy will be proud if you win because it means lots of money! Money is what parents push on them and that the y must win. What is it doing to their children when the pressure is money, if they do not the child doesn’t feel love or important to their parents and they feel worthless. Children pick up on things and can read their parents actions; if the parents are not happy with them then the child feels afraid. They soak up anything they hear and see. We should be protecting our children not endanger them by our carless wants. Bibliography (I forgot to do the right way to do the bibliography, I will fix it next essay)

Function/S of Space in Sandra Cisneros’ the House on Mango Street

Function/s of Space in Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street Space occupies a central role in Sandra Cisneros’ coming-of-age novel The House on Mango Street. Using the example of the house shows this very plainly. This can be seen at the very beginning of the book, namely the title. Although it is a female Bildungsroman, the novel is not named after its protagonist Esperanza Cordero, but her residence. It shows that Cisneros attached much importance to the house on Mango Street and the reader also learns that it is of central significance for the development of the young girl. On Mango Street, she develops not only physically, but also in terms of her character and her own identity. That is why I will concentrate on the function of the house rather than on other different settings in the novel. Usually, the house is a symbol for warmth and shelter. It represents the place of the family and where one belongs to. But the first sentence of the initial vignette shows, that this does not apply to the house on Mango Street. Esperanza’s family has been constantly on the move and they lived in several apartments in different cities. The feeling of being rooted therefore never existed, just as little as the feeling of comfort. For Esperanza, the house on Mango Street does not symbolize shelter, but shame. In the first vignette Esperanza depicts the family’s house in a very negative way, run down and with cramped confines. It is neither â€Å"[†¦] the house Papa talked about when he held a lottery ticket [†¦]†, nor â€Å"[†¦] the house Mama dreamed up in the stories she told us before we went to bed. † (Cisneros 4). The house on Mango Street is at last their own, but not the one Esperanza and her family have longed for. It symbolizes â€Å"[t]he conflict between the promised land and the harsh reality† (Valdes â€Å"Canadian Review† 57). Especially for Esperanza, who is in quest of her own identity, reality and hope (Spanish: esperanza) diverge here, which means that Esperanza has not found her personal reality yet. She wishes to have â€Å"[a] real house. One I could point to. † (Cisneros 5). This desire shows that the house also symbolizes the â€Å"American Dream† of having a comfortable home of one’s own, something the people of Esperanza’s community will probably never attain. Esperanza experiences that instead, they are often confronted with the fact that the house also functions as a symbol of female restriction. This proves the given traditional role of a Chicana, whose business concentrates on the household and on being wife and mother. In the novel, female restriction is also depicted in a more extreme way: Several women like Marin and Rafaela are restricted physically because they are locked indoors by their husbands. Esperanza clearly comes out against such a male-dominated home. Although she is not sure who she is and still searches for her own identity, she clearly knows what she wants: a house all on her own, â€Å"Not a man’s house. Not a daddy’s. A house all my own. † (Cisneros 108). According to that, having her own house stands for her longing for a self-determined space as an independent woman, in which she can be free to be herself, unconfined by either a husband or a father and without any social expectations. There is something, Esperanza didn’t realize yet: the fact â€Å"[†¦] that the house she seeks is, in reality, her person. (Valdes â€Å"Canadian Review† 58). Thus, the house functions as a metaphor for Esperanza’s identity formation. Apart from its importance for self-identification, the image of the house functions as a synecdoche: it is part of the community, a place of one’s own amidst the whole community and barrio. By interacting with the community, meaning communication and observat ion, Esperanza learns that she can only define herself through her relationship to the other people of her community. She orientates herself by some positive role models like Aunt Lupe or Minerva, but she also distances herself from Sally or the â€Å"women sitting by the window† like her great-grandmother or Mamacita. Nevertheless, Esperanza learns through their experience. This shows Esperanza’s ability to distinguish between the different role models. She recognizes that she does not want to be a copy of somebody and this is why she sees others just as partial role models. The social interaction with the community actually is of utter importance for Esperanza’s identity formation. The fact that she defines herself through people she lives with shows the close interaction between community and Individual. The house stands for the community because it is part of it and thus functions as a synecdoche: pars pro toto – the term â€Å"community† is replaced by a narrower one, thus the â€Å"house†. This also works vice versa, totum pro parte means here that the house is used to represent the community. For Esperanza, the relationship between individual and community is a mutual one. She recognizes that there is a lot she learned and experienced while living in the house on Mango Street and in the ommunity. At the end of the novel, both what the three sisters and Alicia say to her â€Å"[†¦] induce Esperanza to acknowledge her indebtedness to the community and her role as mediator and negotiator between worlds. † (Rukwied 63). So she decides to give something back, to help others with her experience. In the vignette â€Å"Bums in the Attic† she states: One day I’ll own my own house, but I won’t forget who I am or where I came from. Passing bums will ask, Can I come in? I’ll offer them the attic, ask them to stay, because I know how it is to be without a house. Cisneros 87) Esperanza shows great sympathy for other people who are, by some means or other, lost like she was when wondering who she is. She describes this state with the word â€Å"homeless† (Cisneros 87). Having no home means having no house or apartment. And as I argued before, the house is the central metaphor for self-identification. In the end, Esperanza finally finds her voice by beginning with writing. She now has a clear vision of how her promised house should be: â€Å"Only a house quiet as snow, a space for myself to go, clean as paper before the poem. (Cisneros 108). This is another way of contributing something to the community: she writes about it. As I argued, the house is of central importance in The Ho use on Mango Street. Esperenza first refuses to accept that she belongs to Mango Street and thus to the whole community. But in the end she recognizes that it was there her identity fully developed because our environment always shapes our identity. I focused on the function of the house, but there are further reasons for the importance of space in general. In my opinion, one of them is â€Å"highly visible† indeed: The fact that Sandra Cisneros left a lot of space on the pages of the novel. In chapter 7 for example, there is both recto and verso in a large part unprinted. Works Cited List: Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books, 1991. McCracken, Ellen. â€Å"The House on Mango Street: Community-oriented Introspection and the Demystification of Patriarchal Violence. † In: Horno-Delgado, Asuncion et al (eds). Breaking Boundaries: Latina Writing and Critical Readings. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. 7-71. Rukwied, Annette L. The search for identity in two Chicana novels : Sandra Cisneros' The house on Mango Street & Ana Castillo's the mixquiahuala letters. Stuttgart: Universitat, Magisterarbeit, 1998. Valdes, Maria Elena de: â€Å"In Search of Identity in Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street†, Canadian Review of American Studies, Vol. 23, No. 1, Fall 1992. 55-69. Valdes, Maria Elena de. â€Å"The Critical Reception of Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street. † Gender, Self, and Society. Ed. Renate von Bardeleben. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1993. 287-300. (7. 01. 2008) (7. 01. 2008)

The End of Poverty

The End of Poverty Philippe Diaz’s documentary, The End of Poverty, is a piece that attempts to dissect the causes of the huge economic inequalities that exist between countries in the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The End of Poverty specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The documentary, through the narrator Martin Sheen, gives a graphic description of the years of exploitation that have turned American and European countries into economic superpowers while, at the same time, impoverishing the weak economies of the developing world. The poverty, suffering and misery in the Third World are brought to life in the documentary. A central argument that the documentary focuses on is the supply of raw materials to the developed countries. Diaz explains that the ever hungry industries of the developed world import raw materials from the developing countries at a very low cost and use the raw materials to convert their own countries into export economies for finished products. The producers of these raw materials in Africa and Latin America continue wallowing in untold poverty despite the effort they put into production (Diaz, 2009). What makes this documentary especially poignant is the realization that the exploitation of these economies has been going on for many centuries. Lack of technology and means of value addition mean that the miners and the farmers do not get the true value of their efforts. Bolivian miners and sugarcane farmers in Brazil are shown in graphic detail toiling daily with no commensurate reward while the world economy continues to be controlled by the rich economies. The colonial legacy that is all too evident in the developing countries is also illuminated in the documentary. It documents how the impoverished countries pay huge amounts of money to their former colonial masters to repay debts that were built up in the course of the colonial perio d. The independence governments of the developing countries are forced to shoulder the burden of their colonial masters who accumulated these debts during the colonial period. As these countries repay these huge debts, their citizens continue to suffer under the burden of social inefficiencies. The issues explored in the documentary have been the subjects of debate in many social and economic forums, with the poor countries attempting in vain to highlight the serious issues that confront them.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The point that Diaz makes is that poor nations are not seeking for aid and financial assistance but justice over the exploitation that they have endured over the centuries (Diaz, 2009). Financial institutions such as the World Bank come under intense criticism for this state of affairs with Diaz castigating their lopsided economic policies regarding the poor nations. However, the documentary fails in one critical area: the prescription it gives in solving the problem of poverty. Towards the end, the film delves into what is obviously an unworkable solution to the problem of poverty. Diaz prescribes the nationalization of resources in the developing countries as a way of solving a complex historical problem. This prescription obviously falls short of expectations considering the powerful theme being presented in the documentary. However, the way the documentary uses experts, such as author John Perkins to dissect the problem is a major strength. Other experts featured in the film include Economics Nobel prize winner, Joseph Stiglitz, and other social activists. At the end of the film, one agrees with the theme, which essentially points out that people are poor by design and not by any accident of nature. Reference Diaz, P. (Director) (2009). The End of Poverty, (Documentary). Cinema Libre studio, Robert Schalkenbach Foundation. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903943/

Statistical Techniques, Sample, and Data Collection Research Paper

Statistical Techniques, Sample, and Data Collection - Research Paper Example In a quantitative research, the sample refers to a group of people among the population with who the researcher has direct interaction or encounter with as part of the data collection process. The population can therefore be said to be a very large set made up of several people but the sample a subset within the larger set from who data is collected. Reading through reading through the work of Gall, Gall and Borg, one gets the understanding that having a sample is important for several reasons. In the first place, having a sample is very important to ensure that the researcher can have a group of people who can be handled well in relation to the time available for the study. What this means is that when there are so many people to deal with at a time, it may be difficult to perform an in-depth data collection. What is more, sample can be used to ensure that the researcher uses only people with the right form of information that the researcher seeks for the study. After the sample has been developed, a researcher may go ahead to collect data from the respondents or participants within the sample. Performing data collection can be very difficult for researchers and can even impact on the outcome of the study if the right data collection procedure is not selected. With this, Gall, Gall and Borg (2008) noted that there are several data collection procedures which are often defined under the research strategy that the researcher uses. For most quantitative research, the use of survey is used as the most preferred data collection procedure.

Genetic Modification of Human Beings is unaaceptable it strips the Research Paper

Genetic Modification of Human Beings is unaaceptable it strips the human race of individuality and human rights - Research Paper Example This takes place through manipulation of DNA in different ways to adjust to the intended purpose. This has made it possible to put traits of almost any organism (Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy 1). Most of the organisms are produced in large quantities after the process of transformation and improvement is done. On the other hand, the process has made it possible to create foods, pesticides, cells, tissues, and organs (Uzogara 180). The technique has been used mainly to change or alter the plants and animals we use today as food. On the other hand, there has been advancement of genetic modification in humans. In human, it is usually done to change non-functional or malfunctioning genes (Isasi, Nguyen and Knoppers 2). Moreover, such genes are manipulated or supplemented with health genes. In human, two categories of genetic modification are involved. These categories include somatic and germline modification (Isasi et al. 2). In somatic gene therapy, a gene or a gen e element is introduced into a tissue or organ in a human subject with the purpose of curing a disease (Isasi et al. 2). This process does not alter the genetic structure of future generations, as the altered genes do not exist in sexual eggs or sperms. On the other hand, there is germline gene therapy. This process involves the introduction of gene into germline cells (Isasi et al. 2). As a result, there is heritable changes and thus alters the resulting offspring (Gold and Carbone 1). For this reason, this technique has generated a serious debate due to its implementation in humans. Genetic Modification of Human Beings is unacceptable; it strips the human race of free choices, treats human as a commodity, loss of uniqueness and individuality, and leads to increased inequalities. Proofs Genetic modification leads to interference of freedom to make choices. This means that such person has no control making free choices in relation to the modified trait. This makes its inevitable for the person to avoid expressing such trait. The person who initiated the modification process controls the human future (Resnik and Vorhaus 5). For example, if the person is given the gene for specific skill such as football, he or she has no choice but to become a footballer. Moreover, the process limits the options of the person who is modified by limiting their scope of behaviors and life plans (Resnik and Vorhaus 5). This means that the life choices of such people are limited. For example, if there is a modification of a person height to increased height, such a person cannot become a jockey. Additionally, the person’s ability to make free choices is interfered with as the process increase parental expectations and demands (Resnik and Vorhaus 5). This means that their parents in a large percentage inherently limit their destiny. This is because such person life is artificially molded in the way that they could not have chosen (Seck 1). For example, a person with a gene fo r football talent will be under pressure from the parent to become a footballer. Secondly, genetic modification treats human as commodities. This is seen through children arising from the modification process. Such children are treated like products to be designed, perfected, manipulated, and controlled (Resnik and Vorhaus 8). This goes against the basic principle of having children as gifts. Therefore, the parents exercise control over their children to fulfill their own desires. The parent believes that this is possible through genetic control of their