Mikayla Clements Essays (3489 words) - , Term Papers

Mikayla Clements Kristi Loberg Introduction to Social work Concordia college Abstract Teen pregnancy is common in America, we see a stigma around teen parents needing extra help. However, there are programs in our welfare system that are specifically for teen parents. The main program set up for teen parents is TANF ( Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) . This program has its positives as well as its negatives when it comes to helping teen parents. Within this paper, I will go into more detail about TANF and how it benefits teens parents but also how there is still some work to do. There is also a real case assessment regarding a teen mother and her experiences used within this paper to show the social worker approach to cases such as teen pregnancy. Teen pregnancy is a topic that does deserve more attention in the social work field because it will always be something we must help with. Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and Tee n Parents The American Public never loved social welfare programs, but it did not necessarily want them dismantled according to The Encyclopedia of S ocial Welfare H istory . In fact, by the early 1990s, nearly 50 percent of all households drew on government benefits from Food stamps to social security to mor tgage interest tax deductions. To convince the public that it stood to gain from smaller government and weaker social programs, the reformers had to undermine the longstanding belief that government should play a large role in society. Abramovitz (1996) suggest that Civil rights gains were called reverse discrimination and the victories of the women's and gay rights movement were a threat to "family values." Having set the stage, the welfare reformers began the attack on the welfare state by targeting AFDC (Aid to Families w/Dependent Children) , the most vulnerable and least popular welfare program. Drawing on social science theories that blamed poverty on the values and behavior of the poor, the reformers put forward the belief that social problems stemmed from a "culture of poverty" that promoted "defective" values and "deviant" behavior. In 1996, Congress passed and the President signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (P.L. 104-93). It combined AFD C jobs , and Emergency Assistance into block grants of single capped entitlement to states and placed federal childcare funding into a separate block grant for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). The new federal law known as TANF was implemented in most states within the year. Reflecting the "work first" approach, TANF placed a lifetime limit of five years on welfare eligibility. The new approach to welfare funding made numerous changes to the provision of health and social services and gave states more freedom in designing their own social programs and defining their own eligibility requirements. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act also shifted the spotlight of welfare from family maintenance through government-supported financial assistance to family economic self-sufficiency through paid employment. This federal welfare reform policy known as TANF encourages employment and personal responsibility by mandating states to provide financial benefits to families on a temporary basis, having recipients participate in a work requirement while receiving aid, and providing incentives for recipients to transition off welfare. The programs name indicated its purpose and the social mess age to the recipient. U nder federal l aw, families are required to: (1) Work after two years on financial assistance, (2) Adhere to behavioral criteria to continue receiving benefits, and (3) Only be eligible for aid for up to five years. The new public assistance program did retain many of the eligibility standards, benefits, services and requirements of the former program. All an indication of the national change in objectives f rom welfa re to work for TANF recipients . If the teen maintains a "B" average in school a bonus of $50.00 will be granted for each report card, and the money is paid directly to the teens. However, the teens will be penalized for not turning the report cards into the case worker on or before the dead line. For example: A teen turned in her report card, one-day after the deadline and she did not get her

Humors in Medieval Medicine essays

Humors in Medieval Medicine essays During the Medieval time period, few advances were made in the field of medicine and surgery. The belief in humors affecting ones health during the Middle Ages was responsible for the way health care was carried out. Practitioners in Medieval Europe believed in the existence of four humors: sanguine, choler, phlegm, and melancholy. The physicians thought that illness was caused, primarily, by an imbalance of the humors (Wallace). Each of the four humors was given specific qualities. Choler was dry and hot, melancholy was dry and cold, sanguine was moist and hot, and phlegm was moist and cold. Another property sometimes associated with the humors was color. Such as red for sanguine, and yellow for choler. This association of color and humors eventually became known as the Doctrine of Signatures which taught that the color of flowers and other properties of plants indicated their usefulness in treating particular diseases (Wallace). One example of this would be using yellow buttercups to control choler, to cure jaundice (Wallace). The physician and practitioners believed that balance of humors in humans was achieved by diet, medicines, and phlebotomy (Krzywicka). Changing diet was very popular in the lower classes while real medicine and phlebotomy were reserved for people of higher social standing (Krzywicka). Eating habits of an individual in Medieval Europe depended greatly on his financial status and, many times, his geographic location. When the change of diet was used to balance humors, the Doctrine of Signatures was put into use. For example, if one had too much sanguine in his system, he would give up foods red in color until everything was back in balance (Krzywicka). If a change of diet did not suit the patient, medicine would be administered. The type of medicine used would depend entirely on the ill persons social class. Someone of an upper class would get...

Writing Tips Shortening Sentences - Proofread My Papers Blog

Writing Tips Shortening Sentences - Proofread My Papers Blog Writing Tips: Shortening Sentences Brevity is famously the soul of wit, but it’s also highly valued in academia and the business world. Why? Because writing succinctly will help you get your point across clearly, making your work more impactful. Perhaps the simplest way to make your writing more succinct is to shorten your sentences. Handily, we have a few top tips for doing exactly that! 1. Avoid Redundancy â€Å"Redundancy† means using additional words that don’t add anything meaningful to a sentence. The phrase â€Å"twelve midnight,† for instance, means exactly the same thing as â€Å"midnight,† so the â€Å"twelve† is redundant. It’s therefore a good idea to check your sentences for unnecessary words, as cutting these out will make a long sentences shorter. For example: In actual fact, every single nurse worked from 3 am in the morning to twelve midnight. Could be easily rewritten to say the same thing with fewer words: In fact, every nurse worked from 3 am to midnight. Must be why Florence Nightingale always looked so tired. 2. Break Up Long Sentences Sometimes, long sentences are easier to follow if broken down into two or more statements. The following, for instance: Making a sentence too long can be confusing because it is easy to lose track of what was said at the beginning, since they do not give the reader enough time to process what they are reading and by the end of the sentence you might have forgotten where it started! That’s 51 words with barely a pause for breath. It would make sense to break it down into three shorter sentences: Making a sentence too long can be confusing. It is easy to lose track of what was said at the beginning, since they do not give the reader enough time to process what they are reading. By the end of the sentence you might have forgotten where it started! 3. Beware Padding Words Padding words and phrases are things like â€Å"in my opinion† or â€Å"as a matter of fact,† which make a sentence longer but don’t usually add much meaning. Saying â€Å"In my opinion, the political atmosphere is toxic,† for instance, means exactly the same as â€Å"The political atmosphere is toxic.† If you need to shorten a sentence, try looking for padding phrases you could remove. 4. Use the Active Voice We’re often taught to avoid the active voice in academic writing, but sometimes using the passive voice makes sentences unwieldy. For example, the passive sentence: The hypothesis was supported by the results. Could be made a little simpler by using the active voice: The results support the hypothesis. 5. A Final Thought†¦ Using only short sentences can make your writing lack fluency. To make your work engaging, the best thing to do is vary sentence length. You can then save shorter, punchier sentences for when you need to make a forceful point or ensure clarity.

Is the capacity to acquire language also available for acquiring an Term Paper

Is the capacity to acquire language also available for acquiring an additional language - Term Paper Example It is more effective in children due to the concept of tabula rasa that portrays the brain as an empty slate of content which can be educated accordingly. Linguistic ability develops uniquely in every child depending on the real circumstances of the situation. It is implied by a number of argumentative theories that putting in place certain considerations such as innateness of a person to language and the extent to which it upholds. Second language acquisition theories Second language acquisition involves a number of ideas both from the theories of nativism by Noam Chomsky to conflicting notions against it. These theories, woven into one aspect of secondary language acquisition, explain need for education in acquiring a second language. It emphasizes that language cannot be achieved without further tutelage. The nativists argue that acquisition of a language is determined by inherent factors of human ability to learn language. These skills are ‘programed’ and well-struct ured in the minds of human beings before they are born. It implies that we can learn language entirely by ourselves after birth and express ourselves. However, linguistic knowledge requires communion for expression to be meaningful and for communication to be achieved. Need for such supportive factors as other people to converse with in a language beckons ideas of second language acquisition. It requires further that individuals be informed more and educated on language. These factors revolve around a built in ability that human beings gain before birth and that pre-disposes us to language acquisition. Noam Chomsky proposed that this language is achieved by a genetic provision. Every human being therefore is born with an LAD language acquisition device that provides them with knowledge of a language. It is therefore possible for children, according to Noam’s theory, to acquire their native language with ease and without any training. He argues further that second language can be adapted with no difficulty through the same LAD mechanism.The LAD disregards the language to be deciphered and provides comprehension despite the tongue being adapted whether it is English, Chinese or any other known dialect. LAD aids their comprehension and pragmatic interpretation of words they have not heard before. The human capacity to acquire linguistic knowledge as per Noam Chomsky is fervently countered by other theories of acquisition. Such theories emphasize that while an infant’s mind may possess leaning abilities; such ability is developed from the period before its birth by development of its auditoria system. This development allows the child to learn language while they are still unborn. Its brain is therefore as an empty slate in the process of formation that learns and unlearns matters. The brain is dependent on training in order to learn any language and does not depend on a natural device to gain linguistic wisdom. Such arguments persist that Noamâ€⠄¢s nativism is not necessarily wrong but it is obscured by vagueness and assumptions. Thus, the human mind indeed has learning potential but no actual content in it. Any linguistic content or skill obtained is learned in the womb as soon as hearing features begin to develop. The infant is trained by its mother’s own voice and that of the people around him in the period of gestation. Moreover, ability acquired in the womb is barely language itself but hearing skills

Critically assess whether ecological modernisation is essential, or Outline

Critically assess whether ecological modernisation is essential, or not, for the achievement of sustainable development - Outline Example much agreement among all stakeholders that this is a necessity that cannot be overlooked.2 The problem however arises when talks of approach to attaining sustainable development is made.3 This is the core problem that the research paper will seek to address, by outlining the place of ecological modernisation as an important modern day approach to achieving sustainable development. Ecological modernisation is selected as the approach to sustainable development due to the clear and distinct differentiation the concept makes between ecology and economy, and how these two cannot be used together if sustainable development can be achieved.4 A. The evolution of sustainable development shall be taken from the perspective of the Brundtland Report, which defines sustainable development as a state of â€Å"Global economic development sufficient to meet current needs while allowing future generations to achieve their needs†.5 B. The need for an evolution on the approach to sustainable development has largely been influenced by rising activities of humans that pose great threat to the sustainability of the environment and for that matter the economy of the future.6 The evolution of sustainable development shall also stress on various global interventions that have been put in place to achieve sustainable development. Examples of such discussions include the Stockholm Declaration Principle 1, Nairobi Declaration (1982), World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg (2002), and Rio +20 (2012). C. From the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development, 3 pillars of evolutionary sustainable development are identified, which are economy, environment and social7. All these pillars shall be discussed by the writer in the evolution of sustainable development. B. An underpinning claim and pragmatic approach to ecological modernisation emphasises that economic growth and environmental protection are not compatible and thus the need to use a modernised approach that

Gender Essay Example for Free

Gender Essay For most of its history, western political theory has ignored women. Women have seldom appeared in its analyses of who should have power, when it finally decided to notice women it usually defended their exclusion from public affairs and their confinement to the home; only rarely have women been seen as political animals worthy of serious consideration. The inequalities that exist between men and women are seen as of little practical importance and theoretical interest. Feminist political theory however, sees women’s situation as central to political analysis, its focuses on why in most societies men appear to have more power and privilege than women and how can this be changed. The term feminist came into use during the 1880’s, indicating support for women’s equal legal, economic, social and political rights with men. (Bryson, 2003) Feminism reflects the varied needs and perceptions of women in different societies and situations. Feminists argue that all women have the right to education, employment, political participation and full legal equality. Although strongly opposed in the past, they are largely accepted in the west today. However, women still remain disadvantaged despite gaining legal rights. (Bryson, 2003) All feminist do not think alike. Depending on time, culture and country feminism around the world have sometimes had different causes and goals. The labels help mark the range of different approaches, perspectives and frameworks a variety have used to shape both their explanations for women’s oppression and their proposed solutions for its elimination. The three groups of feminist theories I will seek to analyse in order to assess their contributions against what is known about Caribbean women and their realities in this essay are Liberal, Radical and Black feminist perspectives. One thing we know about Caribbean women is that they have always worked. Women’s position in the Caribbean has been characterised by a dual work role, they engage in both household and extra household work, in order to provide for their families. Evidence has shown, that after slavery the tradition of female labour continued. Joycelin Massiah states that black women had no choice but to work, because the idea of man as the breadwinner was unrealistic and unattainable. Women were forced to take the major responsibility of their households because a large number of men had emigrated. Erna Brodber examined the role of women in some Caribbean countries. She states that despite the public image of womanhood which stressed on the abstention from physical work for elite woman, Caribbean women continued to seek work outside the household and support themselves. Brodber also states that images of white women portray them as â€Å"delicate† and â€Å"unassuming†, the black woman is portrayed as â€Å"hardworking to the point of being comical†. (Massiah, 1986) Work outside the household however did not free Caribbean women from their household responsibilities; these women still had to ensure their husbands were still taken care of. Men in the Caribbean societies felt that because of economic circumstances, females should be employed outside the home and should contribute to the expenses. They also believe that domestic duties should still remain the woman’s responsibility, even if she is employed. In the public domain, women defer widely to male authority and decision making, but in the domestic domain, she exercises power. (Massiah, 1986) Radical feminism claimed to go to the roots of women’s oppression, and it proclaimed itself as a theory of, by and for women; as such, it was based firmly in women’s own experiences and perceptions. Secondly, it saw the oppression of women as the most fundamental and universal form of domination, and its aim was to understand and develop strategies for the end of that oppression. Thirdly, women as a group had interests opposed to those of men; these interests united them in a common sisterhood that transcended the division of class and race, and meant that women should struggle together to achieve their own liberation. (Bryson, 2003) Radical feminism names all women as part of an oppressed group, stressing that no woman can walk down the street or even live in her home safely without fear of violation from men. French feminist Christine Delphy points out that like all oppressed people, many women do not like to accept that they are part of an oppressed group, developing various forms of denial in order to avoid identification. To the radical feminists, patriarchy is the oppressing structure of male domination. Radical feminism makes male control visible as it is exercised in every sphere of women’s lives, both public and private. It stresses that ‘emancipation’ or ‘equality’ on male terms is not enough. A total revolution of the social structures and the elimination of the processes of patriarchy are essential. (Rowland Klein, 1991) Patriarchy is the domination of men over women. Kate Millet’s early work (1971) is a good example of the approach that ‘sex is a status category with political implications’. Patriarchy, dominates over class, religion, race and culture. Patriarchy is a system of structures and institutions created by men in order to sustain and recreate male power and female subordination. Institutional structures like the law, religion, the family, have ideologies which perpetuate the naturally inferior position of women; socialisation processes to ensure that women and men develop behaviour and belief systems appropriate to the powerful or powerless group to which they belong. These structures are dominated by men who ensure that they maintain these positions. Within the private domain of the family, men have structured a system whereby woman’s reproductive capacity leaves her vulnerable and powerless, domestically exploited, and entrapped in economic dependence. (Rowland Klein, 1991) The family is maintained through the notion of romantic love between men and women, when in fact marriage contracts traditionally have an economic base. Women’s labour within the family, which has been unpaid and unacknowledged, is defined as ‘labour of love’. Women ‘by nature’ are said to be passive, submissive and willing to be led. Processes like socialisation of children encourage this situation to continue. Patriarchy has a material base in 2 senses. First, the economic systems are structured so that women have difficulty getting paid labour in society which values only paid labour and in which money is the currency of power. Women without economic independence cannot sustain themselves without a breadwinner. They cannot leave a brutal husband, cannot withdraw sexual, emotional and physical servicing from men, they cannot have equal say in decisions affecting their own lives. Radical feminists have therefore stressed the necessity for women to exercise economic power in their own lives. The second material base is the woman’s body. Women in marriage are seen to be ‘owned’ by their husbands and cannot bring a civil case of rape. Women’s bodies are advertised and pornography alike objectified and defined as ‘other’ and available for male use. Rowland Klein, 1991) Radical feminists sees the oppression of women as universal, crossing race and cultural boundaries, as well as those of class and other structures like age and physical ability. One of the basic tenets of radical feminism is that any woman in the world has more in common with any other woman regardless of class, race, age, ethnicity, nationality, than any woman has with any man. In Sisterhood is Global (1984) Robin Morgan draws together contributions from feminists in seventy countries, the majority of which are third world countries. She begins with a quote about the global position of women in the report to the UN Commission on the states of women. ‘While women represent half the global population and one third of the labour force, they receive one tenth of the world income and own less than one percent of the world’s property. They are also responsible for two thirds of all working hours’. In the developing world women are responsible for more than fifty percent of all food production. In the industrial nations women are still paid only half to three quarters of men’s wages. Most of the world are starving are women and children. Women in all countries bear the double burden of unpaid housework in association with any paid work they do. Radical feminists thus hold that women are oppressed primarily and in the first instance as women. But because of differences in their lives created by, for example culture and class, women experience oppression differently. (Rowland Klein, 1991) Black feminist theorising has made critical contributions to feminist epistemology. The theory comprises of a body of work by black feminist intellectuals reacting to the failure of existing feminist explanatory framework to adequately comprehend the realities of black women. Feminists like Sojourner Truth, Audre Lorde, Patricia Bell, Patricia Hill Collins as well as many others interrogated existing feminist theories and found them lacking, as they fully ignored or denied black women’s specific experiences. For instance Sojourner Truth’s powerful statement on racial inequalities ‘Ain’t I A Woman’ was a 19th Century deconstruction of the notion of a global, common womanhood and an insistence on inserting black womanhood in the concept of what it meant to be a woman. In her speech Truth argued that white women were placed on a pedestal and gave them certain privileges (mostly that of not working), this attitude was not extended to black women. Speaking of the U. S. A in the 1970’s Audre Lorde stated, â€Å"by and large, within the women’s movement today, white women focus upon their oppression as woman and ignore differences of race, sexual preference, class and age. (Barriteau, 2006) The work of black feminists reveals hierarchies of power within categories of race, class, gender, patriarchal relations, sexuality and sexual orientation. Black feminism demonstrates that white or other feminist theorising refuses or fails to recognise race as a social relation of domination within feminism and society. Radical, socialist and liberal feminist had examined other oppressive social relations but none had made race central to their analysis, black feminist theory exposes racism. They focus on difference in order to understand problems of oppression. Audre Lorde points out that white radical feminist Mary Daly images white women as Goddesses, with African women entering her analysis ‘only as victims and preyers upon each other’. Here Lorde exposes a key distortion that is similar to how early development discourses constructed women in the Caribbean. Women in the south, whether Caribbean, or African were seen as helpless victims in need of international development intervention. (Barriteau, 2006) This theory holds that the constructed invisibility if black women’s lives must be challenged. For example, much of the history of the West Indies was based on the activities of black men. Black feminist thinkers underline the importance of using lived experiences as a criterion for generating knowledge. Deborah King’s concept of multiple jeopardy or multiple consciousness shifted the conception of women’s oppression as confined within ethnic and racial boundaries. She was concerned with the invisibility of black women. She noted that class inequality compounded the problem of racism and sexism for black women and felt that class constituted a third jeopardy. She therefore defined multiple jeopardy as, a way to understand the ways in which various forms of oppression interact in ways that negatively affect the lives of black women. Much of feminist theory represents white ethnocentric feminist theorising and is therefore inadequate in not addressing the concerns of other women, especially black women. (Barriteau, 2006) Unlike radical feminism, black feminism goes on to demonstrate how racist relations follow black women into the private realm. Experiences of relations of oppression within households differ for black or minority women in a racist state. Central to black feminist theorising is the knowledge that patriarchal relations structure women’s lives very differently to their male peers. The ‘rule of the father’ enforces men’s power in the family and society. In the Caribbean, men have assumed the role of patriarchs. Black feminist theory reveals that there are other dimensions to black women’s experiences of the home that are not captured by other feminist theories, especially for those black women who for centuries have been obliged to work outside the home, whether in fields, factories or the homes of others. Many of these women instead of longing to be liberated from the home, they yearn for the opportunity to go home or stay at home. Hazel Carby noted that ideologies of black female domesticity and motherhood have been constructed through black women’s employment in chattel positions as domestic workers and surrogate mothers to white families rather than in relation to their own families. (Barriteau, 2006) In terms of sexuality, black women have been stereotyped as having wild and uncontrollable sexual urges. Black women were presented as either whorish or unsexed; they were either nanny or jezebel. Evelyn Hammond has argued that black women’s sexuality is constructed in opposition to that of white women. In the struggle for sexual liberation, many white women demanded reproductive technologies in order to say yes to sex, while black women wanted autonomy and freedom from a racist and intrusive state in order to say no. (Barriteau, 2006) Criticisms of black feminist theory are that sometimes there is the impression that all oppressions are equal, and it has been critiqued for assuming that black women have a superior standpoint in the world. There is also a sense in which persons of African descent are privileged in black feminist thought. (Bryson, 2003) The final theory I will analyse is the liberal feminist theory. Liberalism is based on the principle of individual liberty, in which every person should be allowed to exercise freedom of choice. Each individual should be given equal opportunities and civil rights, but that was conceived of as a privilege that should extend to European men. When it comes to state interventions in the private sphere, liberals agree that the less we see of Big brother in our homes the better. (Tong, 2009) Liberal feminist Mary Wollstonecraft has been very influential in her writing, ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’. She wrote at a time when the economic and social position of European women was in decline. These women were left at home with little productive work to do, and they were married to relatively wealthy professional men. These women had no incentive to work outside the home or, if they had several servants inside it. (Tong, 2009) Middle class ladies were, in Wollstonecraft’s estimation, ‘kept’ women who sacrificed health, liberty and virtue for whatever prestige, pleasure and power their husbands could provide. She denied that women are, by nature, more pleasure seeking and pleasure giving than men. She reasoned that if men were confined to the same cages that trap women, men would develop the same flawed characters. She stated that women lacked the power of reason because they were encouraged to indulge themselves and please others. She believed that women should have the same access to education as men. She believed that women should experience full personhood. Other liberalists John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill believed women needed suffrage in order to become men’s equals. They claimed the vote gave people the power to express their own political views but also change those systems, structures, and attitudes that contribute to their own and others oppression. (Tong, 2009) Betty Friedan in the Feminist Mystique, studies the lives of white middle class housewives living in the suburbs. She described the dissatisfaction of these women as the problem with no name. She claimed that these women led unfulfilling lives in their traditional roles as mother and wives. She argued that a more meaningful course for these women was to have the opportunity of full time work in the public sphere. She believed that the absence from the home would make children and husbands more self sufficient. She felt that by limiting women to being wives and mothers was limiting their full human development. She also believed that women would always have to work harder than men. (Bryson, 2003) The main critique of liberal feminism is that of racism and classism, they focused primarily on white, middle class women. They also privileged so called male values. They also continue to distinguish between the private and public lives of people without understanding that the private and public sphere often intersect. In conclusion, feminist epistemology has transformed the world for many Caribbean women, as it questions women’s lived experiences and their roles in identity formation. Caribbean women in their roles have mostly preached a strong work ethic and promoted a strong social identity. The Caribbean has a legacy of race and colonial legacies, therefore the experiences and history of Caribbean women has been different. Unlike some the white middle class women in European societies that the liberal feminist talk about, Caribbean women have always had to work and frequently they have been the principal breadwinners in their households. But because of all the earlier groups of feminist theories about women, it paved a way for the new knowledge about Caribbean women and their realities.

Character of Blanche in Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire Es

Character of Blanche in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire One of the best-known plays of our time, Tennessee Williams’s â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire† tells the story of fading Southern belle Blanche DuBois and her struggles during the South’s post-war changes. Although the play is widely remembered due to its 1951 film version and Marlon Brando’s famous bare-chested cry of â€Å"Stella!,† it is also a story of a changing South containing characters struggling with the loss of aristocracy to the new American immigrant, the fallout of chivalry to a new mindset of sex and desire, and a woman grasping desperately at the last bit of fantasy she can muster. Throughout â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire,† Williams uses Blanche as a way to critique Southern â€Å"progress† by using her as a symbol for a dark, underlying existence. When fading Southern belle Blanche Dubois first arrives at her sister Stella’s apartment, she is already internally dealing with the struggle between desire and gentility. The end of the play is foreshadowed early on as Blanche states, â€Å"They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields† (15). This statement serves as a metaphor for Blanche’s life as the mentions of desire, cemeteries, and the Elysian Fields (which symbolize the land of the dead in Greek mythology) describe how her sexual desire serves as the catalyst for her social death and expulsion. Blanche’s vanity and dependence on men also culminate as the play nears its end, as she is taken away from the fantasy she so desperately clings to and dragged into a new world of reality and a New South. Blanche’s struggle with fantasy and reality serves as on... ... in everyone’s lives. This statement holds true for progress as well; without fantasy and dreams there would be no progress. After all, progress is the product of someone’s fantasy- an idea that was thought up on a whim. Like Blanche though, progress often has an underlying existence that is very dark. Not all progress is good and Blanche symbolizes this. Williams’s comparisons between Blanche and progress serve to show how progress can be a force that precipitates each individual’s desperate choices; that is, their ability to throw ideas, love, etc. out into the world in the hopes of moving forward. By unveiling a theme that is still pertinent today, â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire† makes its mark as a piece of classic literature, which will be read for generations to come. Works Cited Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. New York: Signet Printing, 1980.

Instructional Design Theory According to M. David Merrill

There are many ways by which an educator can look at learning and the teaching process. M. David Merrill, Patricia Smith and Dr. Tillman J. Ragan are three educators who believe that instruction may be done more effectively with given the proper approach and pacing that students may be able to follow. Merrill sought to change the way instruction is done following theories of cognitive learning by integrating consideration for the learner's background and requirements. Smith and Ragan on the other hand, favor an approach to instruction that is more audience centered and based on real-life experiences of their students. Instructional Design Theory According to M. David Merrill, Patricia Smith and Tillman Ragan. An educational psychologist, M. David Merrill has written numerous books and articles on the field of instructional technology and has taken part in the development of various educational materials including instructional computer products.   Merrill has been cited as being among the most productive Educational Psychologists (Gordon, 1984), among the most frequently cited authors in the computer-based instruction literature (Wedman, 1987), and ranked among the most influential people in the field of Instructional Technology (Moore & Braden, 1988). A co-author of the leading book â€Å"Instructional Design,† Patricia Smith is an assistant professor at Cy-Fair College in the North Harris Montgomery Community College District. She holds a doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the Louisiana State University. Smith’s co-author is Tillman J. Ragan, Ph.D. a Professor Emeritus on Instructional Psychology and Technology from the University of Oklahoma. Basic Beliefs Merrill is a proponent of the Component Display Theory or CDT.   Under CDT, learning is classified by two dimensions: content and performance.   Merrill lists four types of information that falls under â€Å"Content:† 1. Facts which consist of statements and information 2. Concepts that establish relationships between symbols and objects to form a single unit 3. Procedures or ordered/chronological steps required in problem solving 4. Principles that deal with causal relationships Performance on the other hand refers to the way content is used by the learner.   Applications is demonstrated through remembering (information recall), using (practical application) and generalities (finding or development of new abstract concept from given information). CDT presents data in four major forms: rules, examples, recall and practice. Information is further qualified by secondary forms such as are prerequisites, objectives, help, mnemonics and feedback. Merrill believes that based on CDT, effective instruction is achieved when it contains all necessary primary and secondary forms that a learner may use as standards. (Merrill, 1983) The pace of learning is dictated by the accomplishment of the objectives of each task. Evaluation is limited to determining whether the criterion for that particular task is met. What makes CDT different from other cognitive learning theories is that it takes into consideration the capabilities of the learner.   The presentation of information as well as the graduation to the next level/step is determined by what the learner has already accomplished. Also central to the concept of CDT is the empowerment of the learner wherein learners select by themselves their own instructional strategies.   Merrill believes that instructional material becomes highly individualized when done along the CDT guidelines. While Merrill places huge emphasis on course structures rather than the lesson itself, Smith and Ragan believe that creating instructional material starts in determining the needs, experience and capabilities of its intended users. â€Å"As you design instruction, it is critical that you have a particular audience in mind, rather than centering the design around the content and then searching for an audience that is appropriate† (Smith & Regan, 1999). They believed that if an instructor knew about the learning background of their students as well as their capability of assimilating new information, he or she would be better equipped to speak or instruct the students in a way that they can understand. In their book Smith and Ragan summarized thousands of studies in the hope of identifying which steps to take and instructional techniques to use to achieve each type of learning objective. Smith and Ragan also presented the ideas of authentic learning and case based learning. â€Å"Authentic learning refers to the idea that learners should be presented problems from realistic situations and found in everyday applications of knowledge while case-based learning is based on using case studies to present learners with a realistic situation and require them to respond as the person who must solve a problem.† (Smith & Ragan, 1999). Merrill for his part has presented a newer version of the CDT wherein advisor strategies have taken the place of learner control strategies.   Merrill also subscribes to a more macro view which gives more emphasis on course structures and instructional transactions rather than presentation forms. (Merrill, 1994) Cognitive vs. Constructivist Learning Merrill belongs to the theorists who based their ideas on cognitive learning. He believed a systematic and structural approach to learning by using repetition and consistency makes the instruction method more effective. The weakness in cognitive learning lies in its perceived inflexibility in adapting to new situations or methods or accomplishing things. Merrill sought to address this by proposing structured instruction tailored to the requirements and situation of the learner. Smith and Ragan takes a more constructivist or individualistic approach where learning is based on interaction with real-life situations. Adjustment to new situations would be easier and the learner is capable of interpreting multiple realities and individual choice of method in solving a problem or accomplishing a task. The flaw in this design however is that there are situations wherein a degree of conformity is expected and â€Å"individual approaches† will not be acceptable. References Gordon, et al.   (1984, Aug/Sep). Educational Researcher. American Educational Research Association. Merrill, M.D. (1983). Component Display Theory. In C. Reigeluth (ed.), Instructional Design Theories and Models.   Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates. Merrill, M.D. (1994). Instructional Design Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications. Moore, D. M., & Braden, R. A. (1988, March).Prestige and influence in the field of educational technology. Performance & Instruction 21(2): 15-23. Smith & Ragan. (1999). Instructional Design (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Young, M. Wedman, J.M., Wedman, J.F., & Heller, M.O. (1987). A computer-prompted system for objective-driven instructional planning. Journal of Computer-Based Instruction, 14 (1), 31-34.      

How to write a methodology (2018) Dissertation Help

How to write a methodologyDissertation Help To address how to write a methodology, in the Methodology section of your dissertation you have to justify and explain your choice of methodologies employed in your research. You don’t however have to explain the methodological approaches that you could have used. In other words, say why you chose the ones you did and don’t say why you didn’t choose the others that were at your disposal.How to write a methodology?You may consider whether or not someone else could easily replicate your study based on what you have included in this section and in the appendices. In this section you have to explain very clearly how you arrived at your findings and state clearly why they are reliable and how they answer your research questions or test the hypotheses on which your research was based.How to Structure the Methodology Chapter?Section I PhilosophyThis will deal with the philosophy which underpins your research. You will set out the research paradigm here. While there are many different research philosophies you can adopt, three of the most popular are positivism, post-positivism and interpretivism. Each is suitable for a different sort of study, and each involves different assumptions about the world (ontology), how we know that world (epistemology) and the nature of knowledge. You may also be interested in: What is dissertation and why is it important? The following table sums up key details about each philosophy, and should help you decide which is most useful for your area of study. PHILOSOPHYBRIEF DESCRIPTIONTYPE OF DATA/DATA COLLECTIONONTOLOGYEPISTEMOLOGY PositivismAims to mirror scientific method. Uses deductive reasoning, empirical evidence and hypothesis testingQuantitative data, surveys based on scientific methods, larger sample sets, numericThe world is objective and independent of our subjective experienceThe world is knowable, and this knowledge is communicable between agents InterpretivismAn approach to studying people, particularly in social sciences, that starts from position that the subject matter is inherently different from non-human subjects.Qualitative data, subjective experience, small numbers of respondents, detailed examinations, textualThe world is dependent on the many subjective experiences of that world, and does not exist independently of experienceThere is no possibility of ‘objective’ knowledge of the world, all we have are different experiences. Post-PositivismShares the main assumptions of positivism, but takes a more relativistic perspectiveQuantitative, qualitative, mixed methodsThere is an objective world, but knowledge of it is filtered through the subjective experience of individuals. Knowledge is by its nature partial and bound by individual experienceSection II: ApproachHow to write a methodology Research Onion, Source: Saunders et al (2012) Here you will need to explain the context of your research, its limitations and specifically answer the â€Å"w-† questions, which include How, Why, What Where and WhenThe main decision you are likely to make is whether you will be using qualitative or quantitative methods (or methods which combine both). Each method is associated with a different approach to gathering data. In general (there’s lots more material available online if you want to learn more) you first need to decide whether you are going to work along broadly positivist, scientific lines, starting with a defined hypothesis and testing this against reality. If so, you are likely to be collecting numerical data in reasonably large quantities (30 or more) and running statistical tests on this data. In other words, you’ll be using a quantitative approach (to do with collecting and manipulating data).On the other hand, you might be more interested in exploring broad areas, probably to do with people’s experiences of, perceptions of or emotional reactions to a subject, and looking in detail at these responses in all their richness. By looking at broad areas of interest, you are aiming to generate theories about the area you are investigating. If this is the case, you will be adopting a qualitative approach (concerned with analysing textual responses in detail).Finally, you might want to use a mixture of both methods, and indeed ‘mixed methods’ research is becoming increasingly popular. It’s particularly useful when you want to reflect different perspectives on a subject, or put quantitative information into a robust real-world context. Other Relevant Articles: 1. Should I use Primary or Secondary Research? 2. The Steps involved in writing a Dissertation.Section III: Strategy and Research DesignIn this section you will outline how you collected your data; and you will have to explain your choice for using the methods you did, such as online surveys, phone surveys, face-to-face-interviews and so on. How did you choose your sampleExplain the choice of age group and ethnicity of your respondents. What questions did you ask and how have these contributed towards answering your research question or how did these test your hypothesis which formed the basis of your researchIt is actually better to write this at the start of your research, so that it can be changed if your methods are not producing the results you need. However as this is not usually how dissertations are written- they are written in hindsight, then you will have to be honest about the flaws in the design. When writing or planning this section, it’s good practice to refer back to your research questions, aims and objectives, and ask yourself whether what you are planning to do is the best way to answer the questions and achieve the objectives. It’s best to do this at an early stage, rather than look at the data you collected and find it doesn’t throw any light on the topics you wanted to ask about. Another thing to remember is that you need to convince the reader that the results you obtain are valid and reliable. When discussing why you selected the methods you did, you should be convincing that these methods are the best ones available given what you want to achieve.Section IV: Data Collection and Analysis MethodsYou will have to explain how the data was collected (by what means) and then explain the analysis tools you used. For example, if you were sampling texts, or have a lot of qualitative data are you using semiotics analysis, discourse analysis and so on. If you used software tools then you will have to say what these were and why you chose to use these particular ones. In this section you have to explain very clearly how you arrived at your findings and state clearly why they are reliable and how they answer your research questions or test the hypotheses on which your research was based. . The choices you made at the beginning of your research study should have been aided by contributions from your supervisor. That being so, writing the Methodology section will be the easiest part of your dissertation.Section V: Ethics, Reliability, Validity, Generalizability and LimitationsFinally, your methodology should discuss the following: Ethics – you need to explain how you have taken into account the ethics of your research, particularly if it includes human subjects. What steps did you take to make sure no one involved is harmed in any way (even very minor ways) This discussion should include how you dealt with issues of confidentiality of data, and data protection Reliability – that is, the extent to which your study is reliable, in that the results can be repeated by other researchers at other times. To be informative, studies should be both reliable and valid Validity – that is, does the study test what it sets out to testAre the measures you use able to accurately assess what you want to look at Generalizability – to what extent are the particular results you obtained true of other populationsNot all studies are as generalizable as others, but you need to discuss how generalizable your results are likely to be, and why. Limitations – finally, you need to acknowledge any ways i n which the study was limited. Was it restricted to only one country, when data from other regions would be usefulOr were only people of a certain age interviewed, when a more representative cross-section of the population would have yielded more informative results Continue Reading: 1. Sample Dissertation Methodology: Mixed Method Deductive Research 2. How to Structure a Dissertation: Chapters & Subchapters 3. Understanding Mixed Research Methods 4. Flawless Tips on Selecting your PhD Thesis Topic Summary Reviewer John- our site Admin Review Date 2017-08-20 Reviewed Item How to write a methodologyDissertation Help Author Rating 5

Communist Party in China essays

Communist Party in China essays First, I strongly feel that Mao was stupid. He was destroying Chinese ¡s thought and knowledge. No one will work hard if everybody is equal. But, most of people were poor after the war. It is the reason why they kicked Kuomintang out of China and stayed with Mao. If they know the history; they would change their mind. It sounds like Mao made the communist system worse than before. There is one thing that still in my mind. That is  ¡The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution ¡. It was the most stupid idea that came out from his mind. I remembered when I was young I watched the news that they use tank to smash on the university students. They also killed many of them. It was the reason why no body wants to go on strike. Can you image a tank smash on your face? Now, the Chinese people just want to have food can eat and safe place to live because they don ¡t want to have any fighting with their government anymore. They don ¡t care anything else unlike America. When people get ri ch and have enough food, they will be asking something else to make them feel happier; just like salary, freedom, right. I just saw funny news last week. Two American girls went on strike in China about Chinese kill a lot of animals. Lately, police came and took them to the police car, so the news reporter asked a man  ¡What do you feel about them? ¡ He said, ¡ They ate too full and have nothing to do ¡. You can tell that Chinese doesn ¡t want to against with their communist government, so every bill can process easy and fast. ...

Definition and Examples of Expletives in English

Definition and Examples of Expletives in English In English grammar, expletive (pronounced EX-pli-tiv, from Latin, to fill) is a traditional term for a word- such as there  or  it- that serves to shift the emphasis in a sentence or embed one sentence in another.  Sometimes called a syntactic expletive or  (because the expletive has no  apparent  lexical meaning) an  empty word. There is also a second definition. In general usage, an expletive is an exclamatory word or expression, often one thats profane or obscene. In the book Expletive Deleted: A Good Look at Bad Language (2005), Ruth Wajnryb points out that expletives are frequently uttered without addressing anyone specifically. In this sense, they are reflexive- that is, turned in on the user. Examples and Observations of the First Definition Rather than providing a grammatical or structural meaning as the other structure-word classes do, the expletives- sometimes defined as empty words- generally act simply as operators that allow us to manipulate sentences in a variety of ways. (Martha Kolln, Understanding English Grammar, 1998) Full (Content) Words and  Empty (Form) Words It is now generally accepted that the absolute terms (full words and empty  words) and the rigid division of the dichotomy are misleading: on the one hand, there is no agreed way of quantifying the degrees of fullness which exist; on the other hand, the only words which seem to qualify as empty are the forms of be, to, there, and it- but only in certain of their uses, of course, viz. be as copula, infinitival to, there and it as unstressed subject props. . . . Most of the words commonly adduced as empty (e.g., of, the) can be shown to contain meaning, definable in terms other than stating grammatical contexts . . .. (David Crystal, English Word Classes. Fuzzy Grammar: A Reader,  ed by Bas Aarts et al. Oxford University Press, 2004)I dont believe them, Buttercup thought. There are no sharks in the water and there is  no blood in his cup. (William Goldman,  The Princess Bride, 1973)When youre not here to look at me I have to laugh at  your absurd powers. (Rosellen Brown, How to Win. The Massachusetts Review, 1975) Its  a pity that Kattie couldnt be here tonight. (Penelope Fitzgerald,  The Bookshop. Gerald Duckworth, 1978)There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. (attributed to Albert Einstein) Expletive Constructions: Stylistic Advice [A] device for emphasizing a particular word (whether the normal complement or the normal subject) is the so-called expletive construction, in which we begin the sentence with It is or There is. Thus, we can write: It was a book that John gave (or simply It was a book). But we can also write, throwing stress on the normal subject: It was John who gave the book. . . .Be on your guard against drifting into expletive or passive constructions. Obviously we achieve no emphasis if . . . we begin a good half of our sentences with It is or There is . . .. All emphasis or haphazard emphasis is no emphasis. (Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren, Modern Rhetoric, 3rd ed. Harcourt, 1972) Examples and Observations of Definition #2 Oh, my goodness! Oh,  my gracious! Oh, my  golly! What a narrow escape! What a near miss! What good fortune for our friends! (Roald Dahl,  Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, 1972)Holy mackerel.  Youre Aaron Maguires son? Good grief.  Good heavens. Your familys practically a dynasty in South Bend. Everybody knows theyre wallowing in money. (Jennifer Greene, Blame It on Paris. HQN, 2012)His arms give way and he crumples onto the grass, shrieking and laughing and rolling down the hill. But he lands on a stiff little thorn branch.  Shit bugger  bloody,  shit bugger  bloody. (Mark Haddon, The Red House. Vintage, 2012) Expletive Deleted (1) Originally, an expression used to fill out a line of verse or a sentence, without adding anything to the sense. (2) An interjected word, especially an oath or a swearword. At the time of the Watergate hearings in the U.S. in the 1970s, during the presidency of Richard Nixon, the phrase expletive deleted occurred frequently in the transcript of the White House tapes. The connection between original and derived meaning is caught in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1987), explaining the expletive use of f-ing as an adjective in I got my f-ing foot caught in the f-ing door: it is used as an almost meaningless addition to speech. Here, it is meaningless at the level of ideas but hardly at the level of emotion. (R. F. Ilson, Expletive. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press, 1992) Infixes The places where expletives may be inserted, as a matter of emphasis, are closely related to (but not necessarily identical to) the places where a speaker may pause.  Expletives are  normally positioned at word boundaries (at positions which are the boundary for  grammatical  word and also for phonological word). But there are exceptions- for instance the sergeant-majors protest that I wont have no more insu blood ordination from you lot or such things as Cindy bloody rella . . .. McCarthy (1982) shows that expletives may only be positioned immediately before a stressed  syllable. What was one unit now becomes two phonological words (and the expletive is a further word).(R.M.W. Dixon and Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, Words: A Typological Framework. Word: A Cross-Linguistic Typology, ed. by  Dixon and Aikhenvald. Cambridge University Press, 2003)

Philosophical Thoughts and Issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Philosophical Thoughts and Issues - Essay Example I am an existentialist, and I highly regard people’s choices and decisions. I listen to other people’s views and I am flexible when making decisions. I value my interests greatly. With regard to reality, I believe that it is subjective, and determined by an individual. Reality is the existence of things in a certain state. This does not involve imaginations, instead, real things are things which are there at the moment, or have been there in the past. They can be observable or not observable. Moreover, reality involves things that can be easily comprehended and those that are difficult to understand (Hay 41). Individuals must be free to make their own decisions and choices in life. As an individual, I do not live by the predetermined choices of other people. I make my own decisions depending on my conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind. Epistemology gives us a basis for discussing the nature as well as the scope of knowledge. It helps us to know how knowledge is acquired (Hay 5). We acquire knowledge through experience. As people grow up, they face many situations some of which are happy moments whereas others are sad moments. Results from these situations help people to uncover the knowledge presented by these situations. We cannot claim to know everything with absolute certainty, because we only believe some things to be true. We have no complete proof that they are true; for instance, we believe that we will die but we do not know our fate after death. We use our senses to make assumptions of what is certain, but we cannot claim to know everything. Ethics or moral principles that guide society, an organization or professionals, are essential in life. Ethics is mainly concerned with leading individuals towards doing good things for colleagues or peers. They are seen as universal, with acceptance from all the people governed by them. Ethics affect people’s behavior as well as judgments and decisions. Ethics guide people on  how to establish and lead good lives. They also teach us our rights and responsibilities as members of a certain community (Hay 57).