Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Neil Dead Poets Society ( Dps ) From Mr. Keating Essay

On another day, Neil found out about Dead Poets Society (DPS) from Mr. Keating. DPS was a secret club that members would read poems to each other in a cave to strengthen their lives and appreciation of literature. The purpose of the DPS was to seek for the meaning of life. Neil eventually assembled the boys to join DPS. Todd mentioned that he would go to the meeting, but he would not read poems out loud. Knox showed up at the meeting so that he could gain more courage and confidence to impress who he thought was the most beautiful girl, Christine Danburry, who he met during a dinner with his father’s friend. Each boy had their own ways to seize the day. Charlie wrote an anonymous letter on the behalf of DPS to school stating that girls should be admitted to Welton Academy. Knox initiated to go see Christine. Although he only saw her, interacted with her boyfriend, he did not give up. He called her, was invited to a party, went to the party, was beaten by Christine’s boy friend, went to her school to read her his poem and invited her to Neil’s play. Neil was determined to try to act and got an important part of the play, â€Å"A Midsummer Night’s Dream,† without his father knowing. With Mr. Keating’s help, Todd was able to make up a poem about Walt Whiteman on the wall and speak it out loud in front of his classmates. Although Neil’s father refused to let him participate in the play, Neil gave a fantastic performance in the play. His father was disappointed about his decision andShow MoreRelatedThe Dead Poets Society : Honor, Discipline, And Excellence1258 Words   |  6 PagesThe Dead Poets Society, which takes place at Welton Academy, a prep school located in Vermont, 1959. The Headmaster of the school is Mr. Nolan, who is very strict and traditional leader. The film focuses around a group of boys that attend Welton, who later reinstate the Dead Poets Society (DPS). The boys are Neil Perry, Todd Anderson, Charlie Dalton, Richard Cameron, Pitts, Meeks, and Knox Overstreet. Two of the lead boys are Neil Perry and Todd Anderson. Another main character is Mr. Keating, whoRead MoreTranscendentalism In Peter Weirs Dead Poet Society1017 Words   |  5 Pagesshying away from societal conformity, valuing intuition instead of reason and logic. The Dead Poets Society follows the lives of seven hi gh schoolers and their English teacher, Mr. Keating, while they battle the social conformity expected within their prestigious school, versus expressing their individuality and true feelings. With the help of their teacher, Knox and Neil learn to think differently and for themselves for the first time in their lives. In Peter Weir’s Dead Poet society transcendentalistRead MoreEssay on Dead Poets Society Character Analysis1074 Words   |  5 PagesIn the film, Dead Poets Society, students at Welton Academy (who are accustomed to strict discipline) are suddenly experiencing change when a new teacher, John Keating(a former student and a member of the Dead Poets Society), arrives to teach them English with unorthodox methods, opening up a new world for the students. The students all react differently to Keating: some resist while others do not change at all. Charlie Dalton (a rebellious and rich boy) becomes even further rebellious and getsRead MoreEssay On Transcendentalism In Dead Poets Society1344 Words   |  6 Pagesaccording to Dead Poets Society, that pretty much sums up what writing consists of. That seems to be why the class is writing this, to complete the whole lesson on uniqueness. In general, transcendentalists seem to be very inspirational toward anyone who ventures to read their work. As in the words of Emerson, â€Å"To great is to be misunderstood† (Emerson 370). This quote is the main idea of transcendentalism. After reading many pieces from this movement and watching the movie Dead Poets Society, I haveRead MoreThe Transcendentalist Movement Shaped America1603 Words   |  7 Pagesthe transcendentalists in the 1860s are also preached 100 years later in the movie â€Å"Dead Poet’s Society†, by Mr. Keating, an unorthodox literature teacher at an oppressive boarding school. It is clear that, throughout the film, Mr. Keating is effective in teaching the oppressed boys the ideas of Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman wh en the boys begin to reflect transcendental principles in their bold choices. Mr. Keating thoroughly inspires the boys to adapt the ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson by stressing

Monday, December 16, 2019

Huntington’s Argument Free Essays

In his work The Clash of Civilizations Samuel P. Huntington presents a new challenging vision of cultural conflicts in the modern world. In his view, the growing role of civilization identity is likely to become the source of the major cultural conflicts. We will write a custom essay sample on Huntington’s Argument or any similar topic only for you Order Now Certainly, it is difficult to reject the truth: we are all different in our religious, cultural, and social beliefs. Simultaneously, these differences may not be as dramatic as Huntington (1997) describes them. Neither India, nor China would have become the sources of miraculous economic transformation, if not for the cultural change; and Huntington seems to make a mistake, when separating culture from economic and social areas of global human performance. Huntington’s Argument In his work The Clash of Civilizations Samuel P. Huntington presents a new challenging vision of cultural conflicts in the modern world. In his view, the growing role of civilization identity is likely to become the source of the major cultural conflicts. Huntington (1997) is confident that â€Å"differences among civilizations are not only real; they are basic. Civilizations are differentiated from each other by history, language, culture, tradition and, most important religion†. The author suggests that North African immigration to France and the process of Asianization in Japan are the bright examples of the ways culture changes civilizations and generates irreversible cultural conflicts at micro- and macro- levels. At first glance, Huntington’s arguments seem rather plausible, but at deeper levels, they generate a whole set of relevant and reasonable objections. Certainly, it is difficult to reject the truth: we are all different in our religious, cultural, and social beliefs. Simultaneously, these differences may not be as dramatic as Huntington (1997) describes them. â€Å"In the past, the elites of non-Western societies were usually the people who were most involved with the West, had been educated at Oxford, the Sorbonne or Sandhurst† (Huntington, 1997); and the current situation is not different from the way it used to be a couple of centuries ago. The simple fact that Islamic extremists come to the U. S. to study and learn suggests that knowledge and education can serve the basis for global unification of ideas, regardless the religion and culture to which specific learning groups adhere. Huntington (1997) writes that â€Å"cultural characteristics and differences are less mutable and hence less easily compromised and resolved than political and economic ones†; but what about the cultural changes brought into Eastern countries from the West? India and China are the two countries that have been able to adapt to the new cultural environments, and to utilize the best features of global culture for the promotion of their social, economic and cultural growth. Obviously, neither India, nor China would have become the sources of miraculous economic transformation, if not for the cultural change; and Huntington seems to make a mistake, when separating culture from economic and social areas of global human performance. How to cite Huntington’s Argument, Papers

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Narration free essay sample

Narration (1) The narrator ?Who speaks? The narrator as a link between the author and the reader. Author Narrator Reader Reality Fiction The complete narrative chain Real author Implied Narrator Narrate Implied Real author reader reader Reality Fiction Fiction Fiction Fiction Reality Types of narration 3 ways to analyses narration: Relationship narrator story Relationship narrator characters Relationship narrator time scheme of the story Relationship narrator story Narrator TAKES PART in the story 0 intransigents narrator Narrator PART in the story 0 Extraditing narrator Relationship narrator characters Narrator IS a character in the story 0 homogeneity narrator Narrator IS NOT a character in the story 0 heterogeneity narrator Narrator TELLS HIS/HER OWN story 0 autosuggestion narrator Relationship narrator time scheme Ulterior narration: Narrator tells events after they happen (most common case) Simultaneous narration: Narrator tells events as they happen (Faceable) narration: Narrator tells events before they happen (prophecy) The narrators functions (1) As narrating agent Anterior Relates what happens Establishes the setting Reports the characters words/ thoughts Direct discourse Free direct discourse Indirect discourse Free indirect discourse Narrative report The narrators functions (2)

Sunday, December 1, 2019

My Sedimentary Rock free essay sample

My room is a sedimentary rock. The surrounding high-paced, high-stress environment provides the pressure necessary to compress each day into a new layer of clothing: Monday’s T-shirt lies beneath Tuesday’s fuzzy socks, Wednesday’s jeans, Thursday’s oversized sweater, and Friday’s sun dress. Scattered beside the fashion time-capsule are colorful scraps of construction paper from Saturday’s Spanish project, and a heap of Sunday’s freshly washed laundry. My room is an archeological site, full of age-old fossils, damp towels, power cords, and, somewhere, a desk. It is a specially designed obstacle course; only I know where to step to avoid serious injury. My mind has devised a detailed map, marking the safest routes to my bed and drawers. Drawn in red are the high-danger zones of my open laptop, my half-completed poster board, and my softball bat, allowing me to gingerly avoid a broken keyboard or a twisted ankle. We will write a custom essay sample on My Sedimentary Rock or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page My room is a booby trap for an unknowing invader, a personalized alarm for a clumsy intruder, and a hideaway from organized society. Every weekend, I begin to clean. I relive the week’s clothing, mail, projects, and homework, belting alongside my hodgepodge of music and dancing clumsily around my room. In the last 168 hours I have accrued so much dirty laundry that my new laundry basket cracks, accumulated so much trash that both of my modestly-sized garbage cans overflow. My dresser has raised the world’s strongest army of half-empty tea mugs, who have begun to ponder the ethics of herbal warfare. My hairbrushes have convened in a corner to spread the latest gossip, and an assembly of candy wrappers have gone on hunger strike. It’s an hour-long, exhilarating adventure with a twist ending: rediscovering the color of my Ikea-brand carpet. In walking past my room each day, my parents’ reactions have slowly evolved from perturbed to apathetic. At first, they would grimace, shutting the door tightly to block out the unwanted mess: a secret blemish on an otherwise eminently tidy household. They’d pressure me to clean the â€Å"foul and fetid environment,† claiming they could sense the uncontrolled chaos escaping from the crack beneath my door. They’d devise horror stories of my impending doom, hypothesizing that my room was in fact a ravenous monster, bound to swallow me whole. But as the years have passed, they have grown progressively complacent. Now they just laugh, making the occasional joke as they wonder to themselves how I live like this, how it is possible that the mess doesn’t bother me. Truly, it doesn’t. Every day I challenge myself to augment my knowledge, heighten my academic performance, and increase my prowess as an athlete. I pressure myself to achieve perfection in the classroom, perfection on the softball diamond, and perfection on the recital stage. But in my room, this pressure is off. I don’t have to be perfect. Among the chaos and clutter, I am comfortable, content. Free from the stress of maintaining a certain standard of excellence, I am able to take a breath. Unhindered by the unrelenting burden of self-motivation and the unwavering desire for utmost achievement, I am finally able to relax. And so, I don’t just let the mess live: I crave it. I embrace it. In at least one facet of my life, I welcomeimperfection. But the door to my room remains permanently shut.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

drinking essays

drinking essays In 1997, the nation was shaken by the death of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) student, Scott Krueger. Krueger, a freshman, has died from alcohol poisoning with his blood-alcohol level was at five times the legal limit in Massachusetts. Reports from his fraternity brothers showed that he had multiple drinks in a short period of time otherwise known as binge drinking. (Kellogg) This particular situation, along with incidents from other different colleges and universities, has urged a national discussion about college alcohol abuse and to be more specific binge drinking. The Journal of the American Medical Association has done a study that demonstrated how frequent binge drinkers have a much higher occurrence of problems than even those who occasionally binge and much greater rate than those who drink fairly moderately. (Buddy T) According to Primary Influence, frequent binge drinkers at college were 22 times more likely than non-binge drinkers to have problems, such as m issed classes, falling behind in school work, drinking and driving, and engaging in unplanned sexual activity. (Primary Influence) But the question is, who and what exactly is a binge drinker? Binge drinking is defined as the usage of four or more drinks for women, and five or more drinks for men in two hour setting. This is the estimated amount of alcohol needed to increase the standard sized persons blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to about 0.10%, which is the amount of alcohol consumption that would raise the presumption of intoxication. (College Binge Drinking) The profile of binge drinkers are hard to categorize, but however, there are several factors that can predict which students are most likely to be binge drinkers. The most important factor is if the student were binge drinkers back in high school, because they are almost three times more likely to be binge drinkers in college. The other predictors are included in the following: R ...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Essay on Socialization

Essay on Socialization Essay on Socialization This is a free example essay on Socialization: Nature versus nurture: According to one side of the debate, individuals and social behavior are a product of heredity or nature. The others say that individual and social behavior are a product of experience and learning or nurture. Darwin pushed the nature viewpoint in his theory of evolution. â€Å"Humans are a product of natural processes†, he said. Evolutionary theorist used his theory to explain cross cultural differences and social inequalities. According to this, the dominant positions the Europeans occupied in the world was a result of natural selection – Asian, African and other people were regarded as biologically inferior. Within a group, people were believed to be rich and poor due to â€Å"survival of the fittest†. The concept of survival of the fittest was used to justify genocide. In the 20th century the pendulum swayed toward â€Å"nurture†. Pavlov experimented to show that dogs could be taught to salivate even at the sound of a bell, Skinner showed that pigeons could be taught ping-pong. The experiments were done through â€Å"reward† and â€Å"punishment†. These social scientists argued that human mind is equally malleable. It was believed that human mind is tabula rasa, upon which experience writes. Watson wrote: Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-informed, and my own specified world, to bring them up in, and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant chief and, yes, even beggar man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race.(1924). In other words, for behaviorists, socialization is everything. According to sociobiology, biological principles may be used to explain social activities of social animals including humans. According to sociobiology, human sexual behavior and courtship are based on inborn traits. They point out that in most animals, males are much larger and more aggressive and tend to dominate the â€Å"weaker† sex and that is the reason in all human societies, males tend to hold positions of greater authority. However, these issues have remained highly controversial and have been much debated about. Usually animals placed low on the evolutionary scale grow with little or no help from adults. Behavior of the â€Å"young† is more or less similar to the behavior of the â€Å"adults†. However, â€Å"higher† animals need to learn appropriate behavior. A human infant is most dependent of all. A child can not survive unaided for at least the first four to five years. Socialization is the process whereby people learn the attitudes, actions and values appropriate to individuals as members of a particular culture. Ways in which people learn to conform to their society’s norms, values and roles. People learn to behave according to the norms of their culture. For example in the U.S., people grow up to view wealth as desirable and to blame the poor for their condition. Socialization occurs through human interaction, family members, teachers, best friends and also the media and the Internet. Socialization helps us acquire a sense of personal identity and learn what people in the surrounding culture believe and how they expect one to behave. Socialization connects different generations to one another (Turnbull 1983). Birth of a child alters the lives of those who bring up the child. Thus learning and adjustment go on throughout the life cycle. The process of socialization Freud viewed socialization as a confrontation between the child and society. According to him there is constant struggle between the child driven by powerful, inborn sexual and aggressive urges and elders who try to impose on the child appropriate behavior. Other sociologists like Cooley and Herbert Mead view it as collaboration between the child and society. Freud’s theory has been largely criticized. Some have rejected the idea that infants have erotic wishes and that what happens during infancy and childhood has its impact throughout life and the feminists have criticized him for directing his theories too much toward male experience. Mead’s ideas focus on symbolic interactionism. This is the notion that interactions between humans take place though symbols and interpretations of meanings. According to Mead, young children develop as social beings by imitating the action of those around them. In their play, small children often imitate the adults. Mead called this, â€Å"taking the role of another† – learning what it is like to be in the shoes of another. At this stage they acquire a sense of self. Agents of Socialization In all cultures, the family is the main source of socialization. Later in life, other agencies come into play. In modern societies, children spend most of their early years within a domestic unit consisting of mother, father and maybe siblings. In many cultures, uncles, aunts and grandparents do the caretaking of infants. Another agency of socialization is peer group. This is a friendship group of children of a similar age (peer means equal). Peer relations are founded upon mutual consent and the relations are reasonable egalitarian. Schools are another agency of socialization. Alongside the formal curriculum there is also hidden curriculum. Children learn discipline. Mass media – newspapers, magazines, radio and TV have become important to our lives and hence important socializing agencies. Television violence leads to violence in some children but educational programs also teach children prosocial behaviors like sharing and getting along with others – Sesame Street, The Cosby show etc. Children are as susceptible to good TV messages as they are to bad ones. Work place involves learning to behave appropriately within a work environment. Socialization at work place represents the harsh reality and realization of an ambition. Sesame Street Workshop for children This is a TV workshop that brings certain messages to children and help bring about change in people’s attitudes. The messages help break stereotypes and bridge understanding between people. It teaches them to be respectful and tolerant of others. CapeTown version of Sesame street is called Takalani Sesame. It has introduced an HIV positive character who is talented but tires very fast. This is done to ensure that kids do not demonize people with AIDS, to destigmatize AIDS victims and to make them socially acceptable. In an episode, when the muppet is asked what she wishes for, she says, â€Å"I wish that my mom was alive, that people were kind and that people were healthy†. The Middle East version of Sesame Street is called Sesame Story. It emphasizes on peace education by connecting Palestinian and Israeli muppets. It narrates stories that humanize people around the world and enhances understanding between people. â€Å"Unsocialized† children (feral or â€Å"untamed† children) What would children be like if they were raised in the absence of adult humans. The story of â€Å"the wild boy of Aveyron† goes as follows – In early 1800, a strange creature emerged from the woods in southern France. He walked erect, but looked more animal than human. He spoke only strange sounding shrills. He had no sense of hygiene and relieved himself wherever he chose. He wore no clothes. He was brought to a police station and then taken to an orphanage. He refused to wear clothes, tore them off as soon as they were put on him and no parents came to claim him. After a thorough medical examination, no major physical abnormalities were found. Observation revealed that the boy was not completely without intelligence. Later he was toilet-trained and taught to wear clothes. He learned some human speech but made little progress and died around the age of 40 years. In another case, a Californian girl named Genie, born with a defective hip was kept locked by her psychotic father for twelve years. Her mother who was blind and highly dependent was also locked up in isolation. The only contact they had with outside world was through a teenage son who went to school and did grocery shopping. Genie was not toilet trained. She had never heard anyone talk, had no toys and was kept tied up by her father who also beat her frequently. When the girl was around 12 years of age, her mother escaped with her and placed her in a rehabilitation center. Here she was toilet-trained, she learned to eat, talk and walk etc. Her mastery of the language never progressed beyond that of a 3 – 4 year old. She was a case of a child who had been deprived of social learning. She was alive but not a social being. In both the cases of â€Å"feral† children, (raised without adults, and in isolation) by the time they came into contact with humans, children had grown beyond the age of learning language and other behaviors. This goes to show how limited our faculties would be in the absence of an extended period of early socialization. Even the most basic human traits depend upon socialization. Need for love All studies point to the undeniable need for nuturance in early childhood. Extreme isolation is related to profound retardation in acquisition of social and language skills. Cross-cultural variations Cross-cultural studies are also a good indication of the impact of socialization on human behavior. Margaret Mead (1935) conducted a classic study to find out whether women are nurturing by â€Å"nature† and men aggressive by â€Å"nature†? Her study in New Guinea showed that males proved as mild–mannered and nurturing as the females. Little boys treated infant girls like dolls. Men could not stand to hear a baby cry. Members of both sexes behaved in ways that we might call â€Å"feminine†. In another tribe she found that women were as hot-tempered, combative and uncaring as men were. Her work indicated that human behavior is largely learned. Resocialization Many adults and even adolescents experience the need to correct certain patterns of prior social learning that they and others find detrimental. Resocialization is a process whereby individuals undergo intense and deliberate socialization designed to change major beliefs and behaviors. Often aimed at changing behaviors like drinking, drug abuse, overeating etc. ______________ is a professional essay writing service which can provide high school, college and university students with 100% original custom written essays, research papers, term papers, dissertations, courseworks, homeworks, book reviews, book reports, lab reports, projects, presentations and other assignments of top quality. More than 700 professional Ph.D. and Master’s academic writers. Feel free to order a custom written essay on Socialization from our professional essay writing service.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Bhang smoking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Bhang smoking - Essay Example Research has shown that most bhang smokers are affected by it due to the way they inhale the drug. Most of the users tend to retain much the smoke in their lungs while inhaling as a better way of using the drug. This act tends to increase the accumulation of tar which is present in the drug. This tends to cause lung cancer in shorter period than cigarettes.   Research has also shown that bhang smoking can lead to female infertility (Chein). An Australian report indicated that the use of bhang is causing harmful effects during pregnancies and may cause birth failures or miscarriages. This is a long term effect. Research has also put forward that continued use of bhang by males can tamper with the sperm functioning which leads to a negative impact. Study has also proven that this disease leads to psychosis, depression and anxiety (MD Newcomb). These are psychological problems. Sixty percent of mentally ill persons have their illness being related to drug consumption. Most of these pe rsons prefer use of bhang and drinking of alcohol. Psychiatrist then argue that the role played by alcohol in causing these diseases is quite minimal and most probably this issues are mostly related to the inhaling of marijuana. Psychotic diseases are also depicted to affect persons who started to abuse from a young age.The most affected age Group. Teenagers between the age of sixteen and twenty five are the most highly affected group by the psychotic diseases. Study has also shown that bhang smoking causes.... This is a long term effect. Research has also put forward that continued use of bhang by males can tamper with the sperm functioning which leads to a negative impact. Study has also proven that this disease leads to psychosis, depression and anxiety (MD Newcomb). These are psychological problems. Sixty percent of mentally ill persons have their illness being related to drug consumption. Most of these persons prefer use of bhang and drinking of alcohol. Psychiatrist then argue that the role played by alcohol in causing these diseases is quite minimal and most probably this issues are mostly related to the inhaling of marijuana. Psychotic diseases are also depicted to affect persons who started to abuse from a young age. The most affected age Group. Teenagers between the age of sixteen and twenty five are the most highly affected group by the psychotic diseases. Study has also shown that bhang smoking causes unipolar which is a depression disorder. The relation between bhang and depres sion is also prevalent. Statistical research has shown that the number of people affected by depression is almost equal to the people affected by psychosis. However, most of the people affected by depression do not have access to clinical facilities. The most striking attribute of this particular disorder is that the people who are not so much dependent on marijuana have a higher risk of contracting this disease. Studies have also associated many suicide cases with the use of bhang. For instance most bhang users in the United States of America have being documented to have reported most cases of attempted suicide. This data is as shown in the US National Co morbidity Survey (Crewe). This is due

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Communication plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Communication plan - Essay Example that communication with parents is essential if a student is to succeed and, as a new teacher, I feel that I need the suggestions and support of parents and, thus, need a good communications method with students’ parents. Firstly, I plan to keep an email list that shall be updated with email addresses of my students’ parents. The parents will be emailed weekly concerning the covered lessons, as well as those to be covered, work that their children may be missing that is required for grading, upcoming tests, and assignments as I feel that this is essential in the education system. I also feel that this will afford the parents an opportunity to give feedback and students with regards to various issues through email. Studies have reported that students, parents, and teachers are in support of this communication plan (Petrina 17). I also plan to create a class website that parents and students can visit, as well as learn more concerning our class and make suggestions and responses. A class website is useful when communicating with the school community since the community will be able to learn about the class and understand how my students are going about their education. The website will be connected to the school website, which will, however, be dependent on the manner that the school website manages its website. Since there could be parents that are not comfortable with website connections and using email, important events and issues should be explained through the use paper communication. The school could also help by giving training sessions to the parents in order to familiarize them recent technology within the community and the school (Cennamo 238). Personally, as a new teacher, communication with other administrators and teachers will be beneficial in seeking to help in class management and solving upcoming problems. Being part of the school’s network could aid in peering with the other teachers in reflection and collaboration, in practice development,

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Direct and Indirect Cash Flow Essay Example for Free

Direct and Indirect Cash Flow Essay (According to â€Å"According to What Is The Difference Between The Direct Method And The Indirect Method For The Statement Of Cash Flows? (2004-2014),) â€Å"The main difference between the direct method and the indirect method involves the cash flows from operating activities, the first section of the statement of cash flows. (There is no difference in the cash flows reported in the investing and financing activities sections.) Under the direct method, the cash flows from operating activities will include the amounts for lines such as cash from customers and cash paid to suppliers. In contrast, the indirect method will show net income followed by the adjustments needed to convert the total net income to the cash amount from operating activities. The direct method must also provide a reconciliation of net income to the cash provided by operating activities. This is done automatically under the indirect method. Nearly all corporations prepare the statement of cash flows using the indirect method.† The reason for financial accounting standards board allows both methods are simple. Both statements of cash flow preparation methods are allowable under basic accounting standards. â€Å"The Financial Accounting Standards Board, however, prefers the direct method for the statement of cash flows. FASB prefers the method because business stakeholders find the statement easier to read than the indirect statement of cash flows. Companies prefer the indirect method as it is easier to prepare since the financial information is already at hand. Companies can include disclosures with either the direct or indirect statement of cash flows. These disclosures can detail any non-cash financing and investing activities. FASB often requires disclosures with the statement of cash flows. Companies can prepare a secondary statement noting any significant non-cash activities for stakeholders† (Direct Vs. Indirect Cash Flow Method, 1999-2014). References What is the difference between the direct method and the indirect method for the statement of cash flows? (2004-2014). Retrieved from http://www.accountingcoach.com Direct vs. Indirect Cash Flow Method. (1999-2014). Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Jane Eyre :: essays research papers

In Charlotte Bronte’s, Jane Eyre, Jane goes through numerous self-discoveries, herself-realization and discipline leads her to a life she chooses to make her happy. Jane Eyre has a rough life from the start. Forced to stay with people who despise her, Jane can only help herself. Jane must overcome the odds against her, which add to many. Jane is a woman with no voice, until she changes her destiny. The novel Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte consists of continuous journeys through Jane’s life towards her final happiness and freedom. From the beginning, Jane possesses a sense of her self-confidence and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   contentment. Her integrity is continually tested over the course of the novel, and Jane must learn to balance the frequently conflicting aspects of her so as to find contentment. There are many ways in which Bronte shows Jane’s tribulations, through irony, honor, and tone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Charlotte Bronte includes many different aspects to this novel. â€Å" One of the keys to power of Jane Eyre is Bronte’s deployment of multiple genres† (Clarke 2). Clarke says that there are many levels to the book; the book can have a greater depth than a love story, but as a tale of strength and endurance. 2 Jane Eyre has a rough start to her foundation, to begin she is orphaned at a young age. This sets up many problems for the young girl and her fragile identity. The people around worsen the situation as Jane grows. They challenge her patience, integrity, and intelligence. As a female Jane must deal with the caste system of her time as a threat, and as an orphaned child she must deal with the cast system as an obstacle. The family of Reeds that she lives with reminds her everyday of her low position. â€Å"She suffers precisely because she knows the value of caste; She may be poor, but she does not want to belong to the poor† (Bell 2). This makes Jane want to thrive more because she realizes the odds against her. Originally, Jane comes from a middle-class family but when her father dies she is left to the pity of the Reeds. The Reeds mistreat Jane and she grows to long the outside world. Jane clearly shows her position when she says, â€Å" It is as natural as that I should lov e those who show me affection, as submit to punishment when I feel it is deserved†.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Land Use Changes

1. 0 `INTRODUCTION 2. 1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY The trend in property development is not however unconnected with the increased awareness in making the highest and best use of land resources among competing uses. According to Balowe (1978) the term â€Å"landâ€Å" often mean different things depending upon the content in which it is used and the circumstances under which it is considered. Land takes a fundamental significance as a commodity in daily use for multi-various purpose over the years; it has influenced and continues to influence the daily lives of Nigerians as expressed in social, economic and political organization of various communities in Nigeria. However, the property market is an economic mechanism rationing land between competing and occasionally conflicting uses. The mechanism is often modified by State and local Government policies within the context of town planning, social needs and the distribution of income and wealth. As a means of allocating land between different uses, the market has been criticized to be inefficient because it fails to quickly meet up with the urban land uses particularly in the under-developed world. In an increasing cosmopolitan city like Lagos, the state Town Planning and the New Town Development Authority faces an uphill task of responding to the need for a total re-zoning of some residential layout like Lekki phase 1 with a view of increasing the values of private and profitable land uses. The greater the accessibility of a location, the lower the economic cost of movement in terms of distance, time and convenience the greater the comparative advantage and the greater the demand for property in the location. The increasing demand and the decreasing supply of commercial properties are exerting some expected pressure on residential properties in Lagos. Furthermore, the nearness to transport facilities like bus stations, water /sea ways, motorways, good road network services, facilities such as commercial banks, merchant bank, closeness to areas like Victoria Island, Oniru, Ikoyi, Lekki- Epe Expressway and areas on Lagos island where majority of the business activities takes place in Lagos and also its proximity to High income housing has made this area of study(Admiralty way Lekki phase1) more attracting, accessible and thus more profitable for citing of commercial enterprises. This pattern of accessibility is gradually modifying the pattern of Land-use, which is concomitant with the pattern of land values in Lekki. Thus users are able to put the site to its most productive use, would be prepared to pay the highest price or rent to acquire the developed property. The change of residential into commercial land use along the major roads of most government residential layouts in Lagos state has become so inevitable that people are no longer patient enough to wait for the approval of the Planning Authority. With or without approval or rezoning, offices, schools, churches, eateries, retail outlet, event centers etc are spring up in the study area in response to the need for them. The effect of such changes on the property values, its viability and the societal impact of this phenomenon on the area of study (Admiralty Way Lekki Phase1) are the back ground upon which this dissertation is based. 2. 2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM Land resources tends to move to users who bid for the most for their control and to those uses that offers the highest return for their utilization. The value of a residential property will most likely increase when it is partly or wholly changed to commercial use. Those issues that come to mind are as follows: 1. What factors are responsible for the change in use from residential to commercial use in the study area? 2. What are the societal vices in the neighourhood? 3. What are the professional imputes from the Lagos State Town Planning Authority and the New Town Planning Authority that are in charge of Lekki axis? 4. What will be the effect of this change in use on the values of properties in the study area? 5. What is the profitability of such changes and should it be encourage or not? This dissertation attempts to provide answers to the above questions with a view to attract the above reactions of the New Town Development Authority, Property Developers, Estate Surveyors, Land Owners and Tenant towards a better understanding of the dynamics of land use and value in a fast growing city like Lagos. 2. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY As stated earlier, the purpose of this study is to proffer solution to the problem outlined in section 1. 2 above and in doing so; I shall critically examine the genesis and impact of change in use in property values in low density layout (Admiralty Way Lekki Phase1). I shall examine how transfer of land to its most profitable use is often frustrated by factors such as: a) The imperfect knowledge of buyers and sellers of the use to which the given property can be put. ) The impor tance of adequate zoning area for commercial activities within government estate c) The time- absorbing and costly process of seeking and acquiring new locations. d) The cost and legal complexity of acquiring properties e) The monopoly power of Town Planning and New Town Development Authorities. In conclusion, I shall establish if the ever increasing incidence of change in use should be encouraged by government. 2. 4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The outcome of this study is expected to create awareness for Lagos state Government through New Town Development Authorities and attract positive reactions from the Lagos State Government Property Development Commission, Estate surveyors, Landlord`s etc in the beneficial utilization of the dynamic of land use and land values in the fast growing city of Lagos , whilst the authority prepare itself for the task of development control, the property owners and occupiers will also plan strategies of reaping the benefit or otherwise of the phenomenon of change- in – use. 2. SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF STUDY There are numerous residential properties within the Phase1 of Lekki peninsular whose use have been changed from residential to commercial uses but due to time and limitation of words allowed for this thesis, this write up will focus on the effect of change in land use in the value of Government Estate on Admiralty Way Lekki Phase1 Lagos. 2. 6 THE STUDY AREA Admiralty way Lekki phase 1 is one of the Lagos State Government Residential Scheme under Eti-Osa Local Government, is an exclusively reserved low density residential area in Lagos. This Layout is accessible in very meaning of the word and enjoys basic infrastructure such as good roads, water, electricity, telephone etc. It is accessible vide Lekki- Epe Express way†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦with well laid out internal roads and flower hedges in wide set- backs. It has a plain topography with good drainage and the set-backs in most properties are adorned with beautiful flowers. Most courtyards in the layout are paved. The posh buildings are of unique architectural design and inviting scenery ion this layout maintains an appreciable degree of quietness. Most buildings are owner occupiers belonging to Elder State Men, Top Civil Servants and successful Businessmen and Women. The average size of a plot of land in this Layout is 800 square metres. 2. 7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The main instrument of data collection for this research was through primary and secondary sources. The primary sources of data involve a field survey of the study area. It includes direct observation by the researcher and oral interviews with property owners and occupants. The secondary source includes facts, which were obtained from previous documented sources such as text books, journals, seminar papers and unpublished dissertations. This helps to establish the theoretical foundation of this study. CHAPTER TWO 2. 0 REVIEW OF RELATED LITEATURE 3. 8 THE CONCEPT OF CHANGE-IN –USE According to Balowe (1965) property development is not a one-for –all time affairs, but a continuous one. This means that property development is dynamic. It calls for adjustment to changing demand and changing technology toward satisfying the needs of a particular segment of users. Lee (1974) argues that changes occurring over time in the use of a neighbourhood, that aging of the residents and the growth and maturity of their children will eventually cause a turnover in the ownership of housing. Smith and Mccann (1981) argues that residential land uses succession theory is permeated by the â€Å"Life Cycleâ€Å" ideals of social ecology but the leading succession models offer conflicting interpretations of the sequence of change that residential areas are believed to pass through. They stress that models have not been substituted by analysis of the complete land use histories of all site in areas of change. Therefore, in their study of Edmonton, from 1961 to 1971, the study shows that life cycle concept has little value as an explanation of residential change in rapidly growing city like Lagos. A study by global environmental changes (2010) supports the conclusion that neither population nor poverty alone constituted the sole and major underlying causes of land use change worldwide. Rather, people`s responses to economic opportunities and constraints for new land uses are created by local as well as national markets and policies. Therefore, global forces become the main determents of land-use changes; as they amplify local factors. However, Ball et all (1998) argues that when land value rise land owners release land for commercial development and also shows the land owners rationality. 3. 9 THE MEANING OF PROPERTY VALUES The word â€Å"Valueâ€Å" does not have a specific and restricted meaning as it may mean different thing to different people. In the words of justice Brandies (1923) Value is a word of many meanings. The royal Institution of Charted Surveyor (RICS) also define value in the following terms â€Å" the best price of which an interest in property might reasonably be expected to be sold by private treaty at the date of valuation assumingâ€Å" a) A willing seller ) A reasonable period in which to negotiate the sale, taking into account the nature of the property and the state of the market. c) Values will remain static throughout the period d) The property will be freely exposed to the market e) No account is to be of an additional bid by a special purchaser As a result of Nigeria`s Colonial af filiation with Great Britain the above definition by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is adopted by the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) 3. 0 THE CONCEPT OF RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL USES Residential land use has been the oldest and fundamental among all land uses because shelter is one of the basic needs of man. Hornby (1980) defined residential use as â€Å"serving or used as residence in which one residesâ€Å". Residential use are therefore located in an area zoned mainly for living accommodation with some localized commercial centers to sell good and render services needed by the populace that reside in that area. Whist commercial use is a use involving the buying and selling of goods and services and for which profit is realized. It encompasses office, shops and is a predominant urban feature, which tends to be located at areas of greater accessibility from the city center. Lagos State has been a fast growing developing city like any other major city in Nigeria experience stiff competitions in land uses, particularly the demand of commercial users in fast encroaching and outstripping the effective demand for residential use thus creating imbalance for zoned residential neighourhood. . 11 FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR CONVERSION OF RESIDENTIAL USES TO COMMERCIAL USES IN THE STUDY AREA Practical observation as found in different cities in Nigeria indicates the economic factors, social factors, physical factors and high competitiveness in land utilization within the commercial nerve centres which results to uncompetitive users seeking for space within the zone of transition are contributors to the cha nge in use of land use patterns. Other notable factors include: 3. 2. 1 POPULATION INCREASE Lagos State is one of the fast growing city in Nigeria with the location of International Airport and Seaport which attracts people from various part of the country and worldwide and directly increases the total population of the people living in the city and thus the total number of people living in Lekki peninsular phase 1 which is one of the medium housing Estate by Lagos State government which was meant to provide sufficient accommodation for people. However, due to day to day increases in population and the paucity of sufficient accommodation to house them in commercial, industrial, education institution etc and in order to settle down and seek their living, property owners are fast converting most residential units in Lekki phase 1(Admiralty way) into commercial units. A drive down the way shows a drastic change from the usual resident units along the road to huge commercial outlet. 3. 12. 2 INSURFICIENT COMMERCIAL CENTRES An overtime observation shows that availability of commercial center along this way and axis around same was not enough to cater for the needs of the residence. In view of this, commercial centres were developed to meet the daily need of the residents but at a point due to development policies, high cost of development, non- availability of land area and land owner rationality, residential property owners tends to give room for conversion of their developed residential property to commercial property. 3. 12. 3 ECONOMIC GAIN Since commercializing properties yield more returns than residential use and due to property owners rationality, they prefer the commercial users by giving face lift to the fabrics of their building through extension, refurbishments, alterations, modifications. tc. These improvements attract commercial users to take advantage of the new structures by paying the newly negotiated rents to occupy them. The rents are luring, so other property owners follow suit and conversion become the order of the day on Admiralty way Lekki Phase1. 3. 12. 4 LOCATION Admiralty way Lekki Phase 1 is an easily accessible way in Lekki Peninsular and to other island`s were most major commercial activities takes place in Lagos State and due to this, commercial centres tends to expand their activities to the study area in order to move closer to their consumers and workers who resides in this axis. This made property owners to convert their residential properties for commercial uses since the location is well accessed to various routes of movement within the axis. 3. 12. 5 HIGH COST OF CONSTURCTING COMMERCIAL BUILDING Construction of purpose built commercial building usual cost a lot of money due to the high cost of building materials and ever increasing Land value. Going by the concept of highest and best use of property, property owners in the study area now prefer to convert their residential property to commercial properties or lease it out.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Critical Issues For The United States

Deliberation suggests careful thought or reflection, consideration of alternatives, but may also imply public discussion, processes working toward collective judgments. For different reasons, liberals and their critics would agree that deliberation is central to citizenship. For liberals, deliberation in the public sphere is instrumental to the purposes and interests of free individuals, combining with other private citizens to articulate and pursue common interests. For those with a more communitarian perspective, public deliberation is part of the process through which citizens are socially constituted and democratic participation is thus intrinsically rather than instrumentally valuable. At Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, we have developed a team-taught, cross-disciplinary social science course which emphasizes public deliberation not only on policy issues, but on the meaning of citizenship itself. Our course entitled Critical Issues for The United States – along with its sister-course, The Global Community – originated with a year-long process of intensive discussion and planning among a group of faculty drawn from the various academic departments and programs of the Maxwell School†¦ The courses we developed were first offered during the 1993-94 academic year, and have undergone annual revisions – some modest, some more substantial – ever since. The fundamental ideas underlying the courses have not changed, however: they remain focused upon citizenship, understood in terms of practices of public deliberation. Our courses were designed as multidisciplinary survey courses which would, in the process of discussing issues important to the lives of our students, introduce them to some of the major concepts and modes of analysis employed in the various social science disciplines represented at the Maxwell School. There was from the outset, then, a sense of multiplicity of perspective built into the core concept of these courses. They would not present a single seamless vision of social life or seek to find the one right answer. Rather, they would present multiple interpretations of each issue we dealt with, some convergent, some in direct conflict. We would try to link these interpretations to fundamental assumptions about the nature of social life, and to show how these basic conceptual frameworks were related to different normative orientations and political positions — that is, to different practices of citizenship. We would invite students to ponder the implications of the various perspectives we discussed, to consider the consequences for their lives as citizens, but we would not push for closure or consensus. We would emphasize the process of deliberation, rather than any particular result. We expose students to different ways of knowing social reality: the hypothesis-testing approach of orthodox social science, rudimentary rational choice theory, more interpretive understandings of social action, and critical theory models which seek organic links between knowing the world and recreating the world. We try to underscore the idea that different ways of knowing are associated with different modes of action and, ultimately, with alternative possible worlds. How knowledge is socially constructed is thus a crucial dimension of citizenship, and an important aspect of this course. FormatAs part of our emphasis on processes of deliberation, we wanted to move away from the passive, lecture-based format typical of introductory survey courses at larger universities. In many such courses, if students are involved in smaller discussion sections at all, they are typically led by graduate teaching assistants and are at best an adjunct to the primary, lecture-driven substance of the course. In contrast, the Maxwell courses were designed so that two-thirds of students’ class time would be spent in discussion sections of no more than fifteen, led by members of a team representing a cross-section of the Maxwell School faculty. To underscore for students that these discussion sections were not merely the caboose on a lecture-driven train, but were rather the motor of this course, a substantial part of their final course grade (currently 25 percent) is directly linked to their level of participation in these discussions. Particular faculty members meet twice each week with the same discussion groups so that a sense of mutual familiarity and group identity could develop, fostering candor in discussion and a willingness to think out loud. Once a week, rotating pairs of faculty share the responsibility of lecturing to a â€Å"plenary† in which all the discussion sections meet together. These lectures typically present alternative perspectives or ways of thinking about some general question or issue area. Faculty attempt to â€Å"model† intellectual activity for students, thinking through the strengths and weaknesses of various perspectives, underscoring their implications for politics and social life. Often, faculty will present perspectives with which they do not agree, and will state so at the outset. In this way, they may illustrate for students that there is an intelligible train of reasoning behind each position, and that our fist task as critical thinkers and citizens is to try to understand that reasoning. Implicitly we pose the question: why would reasonable people hold such a view? In the first instance, then, our objective is to help students to feel the attraction which draws scholars and citizens to a particular perspective, its intellectual power, its political promise, its vitality. We then try to explore the tensions or limits of each perspective. Again, the emphasis is on deliberation rather than mastery of a given fund of â€Å"knowledge†, but we do expect students to understand key concepts, arguments and supporting evidence for each of the major positions we deal with, and ultimately to be able to incorporate these into their own critical judgments and deliberations. To deemphasize rote learning, we abandoned conventional exams altogether. Instead, frequent writing assignments are integrated into the course as one more mode of deliberation and discussion. Students contribute regularly to a computerized â€Å"citizenship log† in which they are asked to exchange comments on a particular issue or idea in the course material. To encourage students to come to class prepared to actively discuss the material at hand, we may ask them to write a brief paragraph responding to each day’s readings and perhaps to post this response on the electronic log for other members of the class to see. In addition to addressing regular prompts from the faculty, students may also engage each other on the electronic log, continuing or anticipating classroom discussions. Often, faculty will review students’ e-log entries prior to class and use them to construct an agenda for more focused group discussion. We also employ more traditional forms of writing. From time to time, we ask students to write very brief (1-2 page) response papers which focus their attention directly upon substantive points judged by the faculty team to be especially significant. Frequently these will be concepts or issues which will be important for future deliberative essays. This helps students early on to begin come to grips with key claims or ideas, and enables the faculty to gauge their success in doing so. This may be a useful diagnostic tool: disappointing performance on response papers may then signal to us that particular students need additional help with key concepts, or they may reveal that the entire class needs to spend more time collectively working through some especially difficult points. Finally, each major unit of the course culminates in a somewhat longer â€Å"deliberative essay† in which students are asked to critically assess various perspectives and formulate a position relative to the major theme or issue of that unit. These essays are kept short (typically around five pages) in order to encourage students to be as concise as possible, to make deliberate decisions about what material is most significant, to develop summarization skills and to preclude the â€Å"kitchen sink† approach to paper writing. To aid students in the development of essay writing skills, the faculty have prepared extensive writing guidelines which include such fundamentals as how to construct and support a reasoned argument, how such arguments differ from assertions of opinion, how to use sources and avoid plagiarism. To reinforce our seriousness about the development of analytical writing skills, our grading criteria are keyed to these guidelines and we provide extensive written feedback on essays pointing out where there is significant room for improvement. We also make available to students annotated examples of especially strong essays so that students can see for themselves the kinds of work they are capable of producing and what faculty graders are looking for in student writing. Altogether, students would write 5-8 papers of various lengths, and anywhere from a dozen to several dozen computer log entries. To aid faculty in designing these writing assignments, and to advise students on how to construct them, our faculty team includes an instructor from the university’s writing program who has been involved in course planning from the outset, is familiar with the readings, attends all our lectures, and participates actively in faculty meetings. We have found the writing instructor to be especially valuable in helping us to design writing assignments which balance the open-endedness necessary for real deliberation with the concreteness required to hold student interest. In keeping with this relatively open-ended format, we avoided adopting any standard textbooks, and instead assembled a custom reader which presents students with the challenge of interpreting multiple voices and engaging a variety of perspectives. In addition to our reader, we assign three books representing particular positions on each of the major issues under discussion. To maintain creative tension and space for deliberation, we are careful to include in our reader several counterpoints to each of the books we assign. Our goal is to provide students with enough material to construct a critical and also a supportive position with regard to each major reading. We have also developed a home page on the World Wide Web in order to give students the opportunity to explore the vast array of resources available in cyber-space. Our home page contains all the materials which would be found in a syllabus, together with guidelines for the different kinds of writing assignments students will encounter, annotated examples of strong student essays, information about members of the faculty team, links to computerized discussion forums for each class section, and links to a variety of resources external to the university. Newspapers and magazines, government agencies, political parties, advocacy groups, think tanks, data bases and archives are made accessible through our web page. Our hope is that this array of electronic resources will not just facilitate learning through the classroom experience, but will also prompt students to consider the links between issues and perspectives discussed in class and those they encounter in the media and on the web. To further encourage this, we directly incorporate web materials into some of our class sessions: for example, we used material from the web sites of industry, environmental, and citizens’ groups to facilitate a role-playing exercise in which groups of students were asked to interpret the position of a particular group and to come to class prepared to assume their identity and negotiate with others based upon what they had learned from the web sites we assigned. Substantive VehicleCritical Issues for The United States began as a series of debates on issues which faculty planning teams thought to be important ones for students as citizens. Early versions of the course focused upon such issues as: individual rights and the responsibilities of citizenship; the size and scope of federal government as well as the relative merits of governmental centralization and decentralization; unequal access to quality education; race and affirmative action; and the environment. However, over successive semesters, student evaluations suggested that these issues and the arguments relevant to them were being perceived as separate and disconnected. The course was not providing students with a way to connect these discussions to contested visions of civic life, to see that positions on different issues might be linked by similar understandings of citizenship, to understand that policy debates are also debates about the kind of society we wish to live in and the kinds of citizens we want to be. To provide a substantive vehicle which would refocus the course on contested meanings of civic life and citizenship, and to help students see more clearly the linkages between these visions and particular political positions, we introduced a new integrative theme for the course as a whole: â€Å"the American Dream reconsidered†. We ask students to deliberate on questions such as the following: What has the American Dream meant historically? What meanings does it have for people today? How do visions of the American Dream help us to think about ourselves as citizens, and what difference does it make if we think about the Dream in one way or another? How have issues of race, class, and gender figured in various interpretations of the Dream? Are there nationalist or nativist undertones in some or all versions of the Dream? Can, or should, the prevailing interpretation of the American Dream survive into the 21st century? To engage students on issues where they feel they have some stake and where they already know something, we approach these questions not in the abstract but as they have confronted us in three major areas of public controversy. EconomyWe ask whether the American Dream has been associated with the rise of a large and prosperous â€Å"middle class†, and if that version of the Dream is threatened by economic changes currently underway. What kinds of economic conditions are needed to support the Dream? Who can, or should, participate in such prosperity? What is the meaning of participation in an economy, and how is that participation related to different notions of citizenship and community? This unit of the course introduces the basic market model, emphasizing individual choice and the role of prices as transmitters of both information and incentives. We present the case for the proposition that, in the absence of external intervention, individuals acting in pursuit of their own self-interest will realize through market institutions the most efficient allocation of resources. This implies a limited role for government and a tolerance for the economic and political inequalities which are intrinsic to a system of individualized incentives. We present the classic critique of governmental policies aimed at fostering greater equality: such policies are counterproductive insofar as they distort price signals and undermine incentives for the efficient allocation of resources, and are undesirable since they restrict individual liberty. On this view, then, the American Dream entails the protection of individual rights and liberties and a system of opportunity in which individuals are rewarded in proportion to their hard work and merit. America became a wealthy and powerful world leader through the pursuit of this vision of the Dream and, to the extent that we have in recent decades experienced diminished opportunity, prosperity and power, it is because we have strayed from the original version of the Dream. We also present in this unit a view of the American Dream of individual reward and prosperity as embedded in sets of social institutions which unequally allocate power, wealth and knowledge, and which limit opportunities for meaningful self-government. These inequalities are woven through relations of class, race, and gender, and have intensified in recent years as the American economy has become more polarized in terms of power, income and wealth. This view offers its own vision of the American Dream, one which has markedly different political implications from the first view. The political horizon projected by this vision of the Dream constitutes a community of actively self-governing citizens. To the extent that economic institutions foster inequalities which preclude the realization of this Dream of participatory democracy for all citizens, institutional reforms aimed at equalization and democratization are warranted. We then explore some of the reforms proposed by critics of the contemporary American political economy, as well as the concerns which a more individualistic perspective would raise about those proposed reforms. EducationWe look at education as a pathway to a better life for individuals, or as a prerequisite of an actively self-governing community. What kind of educational system do we need in order to fulfill different versions of the Dream? How are different visions of citizenship implicated in contemporary debates about educational reform? We explore problems of unequal access to quality education, both in K-12 public schools and at the college level. We examine analyses which argue that some Americans receive first-rate education at public expense, while there are entire classes of citizens who are not provided with education adequate to enable effective participation in public deliberations, and thereby become disempowered, second-class citizens. Accordingly, some prescribe a more centralized and uniform administration of public education in order to eliminate the grossest inequalities and insure for all citizens the â€Å"equal protection of the laws† promised by the Fourteenth Amendment. We also explore arguments which locate the problems of public school systems in over-centralized and bureaucratized administrations, and which prescribe institutional reforms which move education closer to a competitive market model based upon consumer sovereignty and choice. Finally, we grapple with the dilemmas of affirmative action in college admissions, and ask how a liberal individualist society can cope with persistent inequalities of race in higher education. EnvironmentWe look at the relationship between the natural environment and the American Dream. Can the prevailing vision of the Dream coexist with a healthy environment? Can we imagine more environmentally friendly versions of the Dream? What would be the broader social and political implications of enacting a more environmentally sustainable vision of the American Dream? We examine the anthropocentric view of nature as having value only insofar as it serves human purposes, and which further suggests that the market mechanism is the best way to determine to what extent humans should exploit the natural environment. Establishing property rights over natural resources creates a direct incentive for their wise management. Further, the price signals and incentives of the market will call forth effective substitutes in response to resource shortages and new technologies which may minimize or eliminate our costliest environmental problems. This â€Å"free market environmentalism† is entirely consistent with the individualistic vision of the American Dream, promising consumers a world in which self-interested market behavior continues to generate high standards of living into the indefinite future. This view is encapsulated in Jay Lenno’s snack chip advertisement: â€Å"Eat all you want; we’ll make more†. In contrast to this market-based view, we also examine the perspective of environmentalists who suggest that our relationship with nature is best viewed not in terms of the instrumental exploitation of an external object, but rather as a necessary aspect of any sustainable human community. On this view, then, our obligation as citizens of the community extends to future generations, and we must make environmental decisions based upon social norms of long-term sustainability. Such decisions cannot be made through the instrumental calculus of the market, but must instead be made through processes of public deliberation. This, in turn, requires institutions to support such processes of democratic deliberation and citizens competent to participate in them, and thus also suggests certain linkages to the other units of our course. In addressing each of these critical issues we hope to lead students to ask: What does the American Dream promise? Does it mean individual liberty? Does it mean democracy? Does it mean equality? Does it mean opportunity for material success? A â€Å"middle class† standard of living for most, if not all, citizens? The freedom to succeed or to fail? Freedom from oppression or poverty? Is it a promise of a better life for individuals? A better society in which all of us can live? Is mass consumption a necessary centerpiece of the Dream, or might it involve a more harmonious and balanced relationship with nature? What can, or should, we expect from the American Dream now and in the future? And what do those expectations mean for our own practices of citizenship? In these ways, we try to encourage our students to see this course as being about themselves, their political community and their future. In that sense, the course as a whole represents an invitation to enter into the public deliberations which are at the heart of various understandings of citizenship. ReflectionsI came to these special courses with some modest experience of teaching discussion-oriented and writing-intensive courses. After an introduction to the teaching profession which involved lecturing three times a week to faceless crowds of 250 or so students, I was fortunate to be able to teach international relations for several years in the Syracuse University Honors Program. These were some of the best students at Syracuse, accustomed to putting serious effort into their education and expecting a more intensive learning experience. It was exhilarating, a whole new kind of teaching for me: the students were eager to learn and it seemed as though all I had to do was present them with some challenging material and prompt them with a few provocative questions and off they went, teaching each other and, in the process, teaching me about teaching. Eventually, though, I began to feel a nagging sense of guilt, inchoate at first, increasingly clear later on. I was doing my best teaching with those students who least needed my help. In that sense, I began to feel that I wasn’t really doing my job. Then I was offered the opportunity to join the Maxwell courses. Reflecting back now on five years of continuous teaching with these very special courses, the thing from which I derive the greatest satisfaction is that we have been able to create for a cross-section of first and second year students a learning experience very much like that which was previously the privilege of Honors students. In that sense, our courses have been about the democratization of education, as well as the education of democratization.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

The eNotes Blog Night and 10 Other Must-ReadMemoirs

Night and 10 Other Must-ReadMemoirs While  Nobel  Peace Prize recipient  Elie  Wiesel  penned  several  autobiographies and works of fiction, his  best-known work is  Night- a memoir based  on his experiences as a prisoner in WWII  concentration camps, specifically  Auschwitz and Buchenwald. A harrowing read  offering a  firsthand account of one of  our  worlds most tragic  time periods, Night  helped shine a light on the Holocaust and to this day is regarded as one of the worlds most important works of literature. A fact that is not as widely known as the work itself is that  Night is part one of a trilogy:  Night,  Dawn, and  Day.  Each book focuses on specific parts of Wiesels transformative renaissance- darkness to light, horror to healing. With  Night, we know of Wiesels intent: I wanted to show the end, the finality of the event. Everything came to an end- man, history, literature, religion, God. There was nothing left. And yet we begin again with night. For the trilogys subsequent works, Wiesel took a different approach, saying, In Night it is the ‘I who speaks. In the other two, it is the ‘I who listens and questions. The final book,  Day (not a memoir but a work of  fiction), completes the transformation arc: an injured man reflects on his relationships and experiences during WWII and comes to grips with his survival and the deaths of loved ones. Memoirs, like Night, offer a clear window into the thoughts and experiences of others, especially those who write them. They are also a subgenre of autobiography- though the exact categorizations of memoir and autobiography are a bit fuzzy and at times almost entirely overlapping. Essentially, a memoir is autobiographical, while not all autobiographies meet the criteria  for a memoir. Loosely, autobiographies will encompass the subjects entire lifespan, whereas memoirs- depending on the work- tend to be more flexible and focused on a specific point in time or subject matter, like WWII. Though there has been some debate over the years about  Nights designation as a memoir, most publishers agree that the story speaks to Wiesels personal experiences- something we can all learn from. Night  will surely live on as part of the historical canon and as a must-read memoir for generations to come. Keep reading for ten more memorable, must-read memoirs handpicked by our staff. Some are new, some are old, and many you may not have heard of just yet (but should definitely check out now!). 1. When Breath Becomes Air Paul Kalanithis poignant memoir When Breath Becomes Air recounts his fight against Stage IV lung cancer. A brilliant medical student, Kalanithi had a bright future in neurosurgery ahead of him when he received his diagnosis. His New York Times op-ed How Long Have I Got Left? led him to write this memoir. Continue reading When Breath Becomes Air summary → 2. The Lost Boy The Lost Boy is the sequel to Dave Pelzers bestselling memoir A Child Called It.  The story opens in Daly City, California in 1973, when Davids teachers call the police to report their suspicions of child abuse.  Continue reading The Lost Boy summary → 3. Between the World and Me Between the World and Me is a book-length letter from author Ta-Nehisi Coates to his fifteen-year-old son, Samori. It was written shortly after his son learned that Michael Browns killers would go free- the same year that Tamir Rice and Eric Garner were killed by police officers. Coates wanted to explain to his son what it means to be a black man in America.  Continue reading Between the World and Me summary → 4. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis Hillbilly Elegy is J. D. Vances illuminating memoir of life in Appalachia, a region of the Eastern United States stretching from Alabama in the South to New York in the North. Appalachia used to be an industrial haven, home to the coal and steel industries, but the decline in manufacturing has resulted in widespread economic hardship.  Continue reading Hillbilly Elegy  summary → 5. Man’s Search for Meaning In Mans Search for Meaning, psychologist Victor Frankl draws on his experiences in Auschwitz to develop his method of logotherapy. In the concentration camp, he discovered that the desire to find meaning is essential to the human experience. He uses this knowledge in his psychoanalytic practice.  Continue reading Mans Search for Meaning  summary → 6. The Fire Next Time James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, according to writer William Styron, is â€Å"one of the great documents of the twentieth century.† It articulates the anger, frustration, and hope felt by African Americans during the 1960s. The two essays composing this work were published in 1963, selling more than one million copies, making Baldwin- according to The New York Times- the widest read African American writer of his time.  Continue reading The Fire Next Time summary → 7. The Story of My Life In The Story of My Life, author and activist Helen Keller recounts her early education with Anne Sullivan from the Perkins Institute for the Blind. An illness left Keller deaf and blind at eighteen months, and shes unable to communicate until Sullivan teaches her the manual alphabet.  Continue reading The Story of My Life  summary → 8. The Last Lecture In The Last Lecture, professor Randy Pausch expands on a speech that he delivered at Carnegie Mellon University in September 2007. Pausch, who had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, addressed his book primarily to young adults and children hoping to fulfill their dreams.  Continue reading The Last Lecture  summary → 9. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou recounts the story of her life up to the birth of her child. Though she faces many hardships in her life, including being raped and living in a junkyard, shes able to find love and happiness as a mother.  Continue reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings  summary → 10. This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen In his introduction to the English translation of This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, Jan Kott writes of Tadeusz Borowskis decision to render his Auschwitz stories in the first person: The identification of the author with the narrator was the moral decision of a prisoner who had lived through Auschwitz- an acceptance of mutual responsibility, mutual participation, and mutual guilt for the concentration camp.  Continue reading This Way for the Gas  summary →

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Hash libraries for C Programmers

Hash libraries for C Programmers This page lists a collection of libraries that will help you in programming in C. Libraries here are open source and used to help you store data, without having to roll your own linked list etc data structures. uthash Developed by Troy D. Hanson, any C structure can be stored in a hash table using uthash. Just include #include uthash.h then add a UT_hash_handle to the structure and choose one or more fields in your structure to act as the key. Then use HASH_ADD_INT, HASH_FIND_INT and macros to store, retrieve or delete items from the hash table. It uses int, string and binary keys. Judy Judy is a C library that implements a sparse dynamic array. Judy arrays are declared simply with a null pointer and consume  memory only when populated. They can grow to use all available memory if desired. Judys key benefits are scalability, high performance, and memory efficiency. It can be used for dynamically sized arrays, associative arrays or a simple-to-use interface that requires no rework for expansion or contraction and can replace many common data structures, such as arrays, sparse arrays, hash tables, B-trees, binary trees, linear lists, skiplists, other sort and search algorithms, and counting functions. SGLIB SGLIB is short for  Simple Generic Library and consists of a single header file sglib.h that provides generic implementation of most common algorithms for arrays, lists, sorted lists and red-black trees. The library is generic and it does not define its own data structures. Rather it acts on existing user-defined data structures via a generic interface. It also does not allocate or deallocate any memory and does not depend on any particular memory management. All algorithms are implemented in form of macros parametrized by the type of data structure and comparator function (or comparator macro). Several further generic parameters such as the name of next field for linked lists may be required for some algorithms and data structures.

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Writing assignments Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Writing assignments - Assignment Example There must be relevance in statistical analysis. The researcher should also guard against predisposition of the analytic result by investigators. Always remain current in dynamically evolving statistical methodology. The subject matter expertise and adequate statistical is both applied to any planned study. Ensure that methodologies that are used are suitable to the data and to obtaining results that are valid. The statistics given are unreliable because each study should be based on a very competent understanding of the issues in the subject matter and also the statistical protocol that are defined clearly but then this discussion did not meet that. The methods used were ancient hence the data received cannot be proved valid. The statistical methodology of yesterday cannot be accepted today. The criterion of getting expertise in statistics and the subject matter if not met then it means that the results are not valid. I rate the statistics given as