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).