Early Childhood Essay

Discusses the numerous options that students have when it comes to choosing the right school for them. Because every student is different from each other, it is only enough that schools become as diverse as they could be. The schools are not only diverse in terms of their geographical locations but also in terms of the programs they offer, the standards they maintain, and the population. It is important that children and families be given the freedom to choose the school they want to apply to because of the need to grow and learn in a place where the student is most comfortable in. The freedom to choose what school to go to is also vital in contributing to the child’s future because there might be some schools where certain programs that the child need are not available. If the law would not allow families to choose the schools their children should go to, it might limit the children’s development and, ultimately, their overall success in life. However, as with all other things, the freedom to choose also has its own negative effects, and both families and educators should be aware of these effects to be able to provide a better education to the children. Freedom is a good thing, especially if it means success. Still, people should keep in mind that if they abuse the freedom they have in their hands, nothing good would ever come out. In choosing the right school, students should think about what they want to achieve and what they want to become in life. They should also consider practical things like the cost of studying in a particular school. For educators, they should remember to give every student the chance to experience the education of their institution no matter what the student’s status in life may be.

A Critical Analsysis Cultural Event Essay

School shootings has been a popularized term in both the United States and Canada for describing gun violence at educational institutions around the country. This especially applies to mass killings or shooting sprees perpetuated by the students or members of the faculty. School shootings are differentiated from acts of terrorism in that they are usually randomly targeted victims and involve students, faculty or alumni of the institution involved. This marked difference can be seen when we differentiate the Beslan School Hostage Taking (BBC News, 2004) from the Columbine Massacre. For our purposes, we would use the Columbine Massacre as our cultural event to be analyzed. This massacre has been well documented by a mountain of resources and has been extensively analyzed by researchers, law enforcement officers and medical practitioners. The Columbine Massacre is a well-known tragedy in the United States. It was a tragic day where two students who attended Columbine High School shot at their fellow students and teachers. This tragedy ended with more tragedy when the two students took their own lives. The abrupt and sudden death of the two students gave rise to more questions regarding this tragic incident. After the death of so many lives, no one was left to answer what motivated these two seemingly common boys to do such inhumane acts. Main Argument The purpose of writing a critical analysis of this event is to uncover the â€Å"deeper† implications of the event of school shootings on culture as a whole and on the writer as an individual. We will delve at the issue of school shooting from different angles that would show issues in our culture. It is the argument of this writer that school shootings can be prevented. To do this, we must pass stricter laws in gun control, prevent school violence, and reduce the amount of violence in multimedia and the Internet. Our effort to handle this tragedy has led to a valiant effort to rationalize and find solutions to prevent another Columbine. We must use this information and take responsibility by taking adequate measures in law and in practice. School shootings then as an event has brought to light the following issues: gun control, school violence, violence in multimedia and the internet, our culture on handling tragedies and our own responsibility towards preventing future killings. Support for Argument – Different Angles Gun Control The issue of gun control has been front and center in the debate regarding prevention of another Columbine Massacre. To support my main argument that stricter gun control laws can prevent another Columbine, it is argued that our laws on gun control are too lax. The access by which the shooters had to guns of high caliber and quantity of explosives prove the inherent laxity of our country’s gun control laws. In his movie, â€Å"Bowling for Columbine†, Michael Moore illustrates how guns are given away even when you open bank accounts in America. Even in Wal-Mart stores, guns were readily available. It has only been recently that Wal-Mart has pulled out guns from a third of its US stores. Even then, the company cites marketing decisions rather than lawful restrictions in its decision. (Pioneer Press, 2006) Stricter gun control laws will ensure that access and availability of guns will only be reserved for law enforcement. The consuming public, much less our children, must not be able to readily access guns without adequate reason. This reason must be well-defined in law and properly implemented to prevent young children from getting their hands on high-caliber weapons. Violence in Multimedia and the Internet The role of violence in multimedia and the Internet was a critical issue in determining what could be done to prevent another Columbine. Both shooters played violent games and were taking active part in online communities that catered to such games. Henry Jenkins, director of Comparative Media Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, cautioned the Senate Commerce Committee from totally shunning the Multimedia and the Internet. In his testimony before the senate, he reminds us that media consumption is active and not passive. They are tools that we can use and mold to our advantage. It must also be remembered that media content is a process that is developed over a period of time. Different consumers react to media in different ways. When all else fails, real life would always trump media. It is read against our perception of the world. It is in this light that the writer argues that meaningful recommendations for law making can be legislated in order to control media to lessen the amount of violence available to our youth. Such legislated can be done without trampling on our bill of rights by asking media content providers to be more creative and our schools to use media in K-12 education. These are just some of the recommendations by Jenkins in order to prevent violence in media use for institutions. More will be discussed with regard to school violence in the succeeding paragraph. School Violence The issue of school violence had come front and center as one of the reasons for the Columbine Massacre. After the event, every circumstance surrounding the life of the two shooters was examined. They were part of â€Å"goth† groups and were not considered generally popular with the students in early reports. Some of the myths would even say that they were loners and only a few students knew them. The truth however, cannot be farther. Even though they were part of â€Å"goth† groups, both shooters had a steady group of friends and were not exactly alienated from the student populace. Recent studies have cautioned on inciting a sense of â€Å"moral panic† in reacting to the problem of School Violence. â€Å"Moral Panic† is a reaction to school shootings where teachers and other students would view fellow students and faculty as â€Å"threats† to public safety. This is not the environment that will lead to the prevention of School Violence. (Jenkins, Part I, 1999) In preventing school violence, the National Association of Independent Schools have come up with the following measures: 1) more support for the youth using digital communities, 2) use media education in K-12 institutions, 3) more respect and knowledge by adults for popular culture of children, 4) more tolerance in the school environment 5) establishing parental discussion groups on appropriate media content, 6) illicit more creative responses from media producers. (Jenkins, Part IV, 1999) Our Culture on Handling Tragedies The deeper implication of this event to our culture is that it is reflective of the way we handle tragedy. It shows the need of our culture to rationalize and put blame. But more so, it shows the resilience of our culture to heal, move on and adapt to the changing times. The event itself as described above shows two things. The first part of our description culled from the CNN report is a depiction of the extent of violence imparted by the two boys. What happened in Columbine was distinctly violent and ruthless. The second part of our description culled from the Jefferson County report is a depiction of our need as culture to rationalize such violence. The process of compiling, examining and connecting all the 4,400 leads to more than 80 investigators from the federal and local government to piece together. It took 10 months to complete and amounted to painstaking work and expense. Yet, it was needed for a sense of closure to most of the families of the victims. It is clear from the 10 different findings of the Jefferson County Report that no stone was left unturned. Myths were formed regarding a third shooter or another boy who has principally induced the shooters. A lot of these myths were debunked by the official Jefferson County report. The need to rationalize by our culture does not end there. We hope to do better the next time around. We hope that tragedy will not be repeated. We rationalize and we move on. The mountain of sources that pile up to rationalize, prevent and defend our schools abound. Our psychiatrists (Block, 2007), law enforcement officers (US Secret Service, 2002), and brother citizens (Cullen, 2004) have all come up with their ways and means to justify and contribute to the growing number of literature meant to keep the discussion alive. Some have even sued gaming manufacturers of violent games and are seeking financial damages they allege that: â€Å"Absent the combination of extremely violent video games and these boys’ incredibly deep involvement, use of and addiction to these games and the boys’ basic personalities, these murders and this massacre would not have occurred. † (Wade, 2001) For the psychiatrists who have reviewed the cases, some have even suggested being careful in removing restrictions to virtual outlets of rage. It is notable that the boys who perpetuated the violence were deprived abruptly of these virtual outlets. (Block, 2007) These are all indicative of the ways we cope up with tragedy. These are ways we rationalize and learn from our mistakes. As a culture, the event has deep implications with how we handle seemingly irrational events by acting human in all respects. We pride our rationale as a civilized nation and try to make it prevail over all odds and tragedies. In the end, whether or not there is a rationale explanation to the shootings, it would be hard to know. Adding insult to injury, the shooters in this tragedy also killed themselves. This is perhaps why the Columbine School shooting has left such a distinct memory in all those touched by it. There is seemingly a distinct lack of closure because no one can be held to blame. Our Responsibility in Preventing Future killings As an individual, the writer is very much affected to reflect on what is happening with his own life. The deeper implication of this event is to cause the writer to pause and reflect his actions and his responsibility. Any other student in our society can easily relate to the deaths of these students. We have all lived a rigid classroom to classroom, day and night existence. Everyday, we do our work, travel to school and sleep towards the next day to come. Those who died in the tragedy never got the chance to finish their lives as students or graduate into adulthood. Reading all these accounts and reflections about the lives of these students has made the writer focus more on living rather than continuing on the never ending effort to rationalize. Human life seemed to be less significant in light of the quick and abrupt way the lives of thirteen people were ended. School shootings as a phenomenon did not end with Columbine. Recent school shooting such as the one by Pekka-Eric Auvinen in Tuusuola High School happened only this year. (Xinhua, 2007) The greatest implication to the writer as an individual is to live a life of responsibility. The mountain of information available to implement ways of preventing another Columbine is there. With the rationalization done by our culture and the efforts we have made to move on, it is but proper that live a life of responsibility by implementing all studies made to prevent more shootings in law through gun control measures and in practice by guiding future generations to be more tolerant of other people. Conclusion The tragedy of the Columbine is only illuminated by the facts that can be culled from the events. However, the deeper problems that lie beneath can only be solved by careful and patient assessment of these facts and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. It is the argument of this writer that school shootings can be prevented. To do this, we must pass stricter laws in gun control, prevent school violence, and reduce the amount of violence in multimedia and the Internet. Our effort to handle this tragedy has led to a valiant effort to rationalize and find solutions to prevent another Columbine. We must use this information and take responsibility by taking adequate measures in law and in practice. The implementation of the suggestions by the National Association of Independent Schools through Henry Jenkins would be a good start in harnessing the power of media to lessen violence in school institutions. References CNN. com. â€Å"In depth Specials: Columbine† (n. d. ) Columbine. Retrieved 15 November 2007, from . Ward, Mark. â€Å"Columbine Families sue Computer Game Makers†. 1 May 2001. BBC News. Retrieved 15 November 2007, from Block, Jerald. â€Å"Lessons from Columbine: Virtual and Real Rage† American Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, Volume 28, Issue 2 (July, 2007) United States Secret Service. â€Å"The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States† May 2002. United States Department of Treasury. Retrieved 15 November 2007, from < http://www. treas. gov/usss/ntac/ssi_final_report. pdf> Xinhua. â€Å"US Teenager chats with Finnish School Shooter about Massacre† 13 November 2007. English-Xinhua. Retrieved 15 November 2007, from < http://news. xinhuanet. com/english/2007-11/13/content_7060867. htm> BBC News. â€Å"Attackers Storm Russian School† (1 September 2004) BBC NEWS EUROPE. Retrieved 15 November 2007, from < http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/europe/3616868. stm> Pioneer Press. â€Å"Wal-Mart halting Gun Sales by Area† (15 April 2006) Free Republic. Retrieved 15 November 2007, from < http://www. freerepublic. com/focus/f-news/1615500/posts> Jenkins, Henry. â€Å"Lessons from Littleton† (1999) National Association of Independent Schools. Retrieved 15 November 2007.

Satire in Huck Finn

Huckleberry Finn Banned†¦or Not? Picture a river; not just any kind of river, the Mississippi River. Now picture yourself on a raft, but you’re not alone. There’re two other people with you, known as Huckleberry Finn and Jim. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is known widely as a satirical novel, but due to the satirical techniques Twain uses all throughout the book has caused it to become controversial on whether it should or should not be banned.Although Twain may appear to be racist in Huckleberry Finn, he actually wrote the book during the Reconstruction Era but based the book during Pre-Civil War to show the â€Å"good ole times† when the white southerners had slaves. Because Twain uses so many satirical techniques to help show readers that slavery is horrible, therefore Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should not be banned. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was and still is considered a satirical novel because of its use of caricature, broadside, irony, and social satire (maybe even a little of parody).Mark Twain uses satire to prove his point on slavery. And in order to accomplish that, he has to use all sorts of satirical techniques. He uses broadside to show the racism in the south, There isn’t any book out there in the world that is known that Mark Twain doesn’t use satire. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck tries to decide whether he should â€Å"commit a sin† to steal back a captured slave, and when he sees that he wants to steal Jim back, he tears up the note and says, â€Å"All right, then, I’ll go to h___†. 208). This is satirical because Twain is using irony to show that Huck thinks he is doing something horrible when he is actually doing a good deed. This is an example of a â€Å"good† satirical technique used in the book. However, there are plenty reasons why many schools have banned the book. For example, Twain uses broadside a lot causing libraries and schools to think of it as being racist making them banning the book.

Research Paper on Drinking & Driving Essay

Course Project_Final Draft A real-world problem that I have conducted my research on was drinking and driving in teens. Every day, almost 30 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver (cdc.gov). Each year there are thousands of deaths because teens seem to believe they are invincible even to drinking, they get behind the wheel, and well you can imagine the consequences to that, they don’t know they don’t only put their lives at risk but those on the road as well. This amounts to one death every 48 minutes. The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $51 billion. Conducting research can lead you to so many gateways of knowledge you never could have imaged, this especially includes statistics. You never really know about anything until you are able to see numbers, information, charts or even professional speakers giving presentations based on information that is proven to be true do to these real world problems. Statistics is a math that can give you world-wide range of numbers. Statistical methods that have helped me see my research into a bigger picture were the statistical graphics, such as dot plots, bar graphs, pie graphs, etc. A little bit of describing, exploring and comparing data came in handy as well. Data collection is the best way to be able to see or show an audience your statistics, I couldn’t have looked up a better resource than what I did, I used www.cdc.gov (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). I liked this resource not only because I know it’s a reliable website since it’s a government based website but also because its gives you clear numbers, years, percentages but also visual statistical graphs that display their data. In 2010, 10,228 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States. In that same year, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics, that’s one of the 112 million self-reported assurances of alcohol-impaired driving each year. With all this information it makes you think who is all at risk? The main top categories of people who are at most risk of getting behind the  wheel un der the influence are young people, motorcyclists as well as drivers with prior driving while impaired convictions such as a DUI. Young people are at risk because the levels of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is at greater risk than those of older people. Drivers with levels of 0.08% or higher involved in fatal crashes in 2010 were one of every 3 were between the ages of 21-24 which is 34%. The next two largest groups were the ages of 25-34 and then 35-44 and from 25-44 age group there is a lower percent tile of accidents, which can tell you teens are at great risk. Motorcyclists are at great risk because 28% of fatal crashes in 2010 were alcohol impaired motorcyclists between the ages of 40 or older. For those drivers that have had a prior driving impaired conviction are four times more like to have a BAC of 0.08% or higher of involvement in fatal crashes due to the same fact that they have done the action in their life before. Undergoing such scary and cruel information many of us think what is happening to the world?! What can we do about it?! There are many laws and actions trying to be done but all I can do is to think a little more and see what else can be done besides just increasing the legal drinking age, or taking away driver licenses of those driving while intoxicated. We have the option of parents or friends to not allow your friend to drive their car if they know they will be drinking or if you know you won’t be driving you can indicate yourself as the DD (designated driver). Other options that I believe can really help is have the media promoting more on the NO DRINKING AND DRIVING, instead of just promoting the alcoholic beverages on TV, radio etc. The biggest things that I believe that can make a difference is to come up with some kind of technology that can be installed in the car that can help detect or see if the driver is ok to drive the vehicle. Sprint has this new sort of technology that goes along with the NO TEXTING AND DRIVING, this happens by when the driver getting into the car, the cellphone shuts down automatically and it won’t come on until the car is in a complete none motion and engine off, pretty neat huh? We as Americans need to think about the box and realize there are bigger things out there causing great effects and so we then must build bigger and better.

Subculture, Taste Culture and Counterculture Theory Essay

Subculture, Taste Culture and Counterculture Theory - Essay Example An analysis of subculture, counterculture and taste culture theories must also be thrown into the mix, for they also help explain music scenes and the impact that scenes have on society, and vice versa. Lastly, a broader view may be taken by examining rock and music from a sociological perspective, as scenes are not just emblematic of their localities but are also a part of a larger societal fabric that encompasses larger groups and people, and it is also helpful to place scenes into a certain time as well. Therefore, this paper aims to explicate each of these topics, as well as present examples of particular musical scenes, to show how and why society is impacted by these scenes. Music scenes, and music in general, must be understood as influential by examining the scene’s role in the larger discussion of culture. â€Å"Culture† is a general term for how an individual finds meaning and collectively make sense of his or her world (Cushman, 1996, p. 7). It is how partici pants interpret events and communication to understand the modern world, and is the outcome of concrete experiences of the individual social actors in their social world. It is through making culture that individual and collective identities are formed (Cushman, 1996, p. 7). Culture has its roots in mans relationship to other men and to nature. (Hall, 1964, p. 318).

Site assembly and development Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Site assembly and development - Dissertation Example II. The Definition of An Easement Basically, someone who has an easement is someone who can tread on someone else’s property. That person is called the servient. â€Å"The holder of an easement has the right to use a tract of land, called the servient tenement†¦Ã¢â‚¬  but has very little rights otherwise.1 Easements come in an inexhaustible amount of forms, and, for example, adjacent properties might come into play, such as was the case in Bailey v Stevens (1862). Sometimes there are implied easements, as in the case of Wheeldon v Burrows. Whatever the case, it is quite possible that the definition of who owns an easement should actually be defined better. For example, instead of having four requirements for the definition of an easement to be met—basically stating who owns an easement—an easement should be clearly defined in a one-sentence statement or paragraph. This would thus put to rest all the haggling behind what an easement consists of and that of which it does not consist. Easements present a problem, not only in English law, but all over the world. People disagree all the time as to what constitutes an easement, and who has a right to share what. As such, the definition of what an easement is, and why it begs to be defined, are partially societal problems. If English society were more communal rather than individual in nature, most likely there would not be such a problem with the idea of having to share space. But, since like the West, the UK has been â€Å"enlightened† in terms of having to have at least 10 metres of space per person even in office space, it so follows that it would probably be only natural for someone from England demanding justice if a neighbour came to fish in his or her pond, swim in a backyard pool, or use the lavatory at one’s whim. As such, it can be very difficult to actually define an easement, especially if the person using the easement does not want to formally admit that he or sh e is using the other person’s property illegally. Also, the dominant may not want to admit that there is an easement between both the dominant and the servient, as the dominant may feel that, legitimating that relationship might therefore give the servient some type of rights or ownership to his or her property—which it does, but that is almost entirely beside the point. The person who holds the easement doesn’t exactly own the property. It’s more like, they are borrowing it or using it for a certain time and then won’t be there anymore. Usage of an easement is, for the majority, not continuous. Thus, these facts should be taken into account when one is considering either making an easement formal or doing something in order to make the process of acquiring an easement possible. In all circumstances, paperwork should always be filled out so there is no misunderstanding between the dominant and the servient. This is essential for the relationship. I II. What Can Be Done with an Easement Although an easement itself is defined by four strict necessities by law, what can be done with an easement should definitely be clarified. It has been said that â€Å"†¦an easement is extinguished if the dominant and servient tenements come into the same ownership†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 2 That may be true, but unless it was expressly written into the law in such a like manner, one might never know that that had been the case. Even so, there are such things as

Transferable skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Transferable skills - Essay Example DuBrin, Ireland, and Williams (1989) indicated that effective organizational leaders are generally consistent in the way they try to influence the behaviour of group members, with this consistent pattern of behaviour being the leadership style of a given manager. Shangon is the Executive Director of a non profit organization. She started it with a dream of giving a new dimension to development communications by empowering and orienting language journalists towards development issues. She aspired to create a niche for development communication in the print media. This organization was started by her in support with her husband in 1998. There was only a group of 4 people initially which later expanded to 12 people and with greater number of projects and assignments. After five years, her husband died of heart attack and she had to manage the organization only by herself. The organization deals with four major areas which were Training, Documentation, Issue Based Journalism and Theatre for social cause. The NGO incorporate communication and empowerment as the work strategy. The work in the organization involved great deal of creativity and decision making of course in various areas. It involved a lot of supervision from her side. She had to keep her eye on the status of every single project. She always encourages participation an... For decisions minor to major she involves every single person and tries to take input from each person and makes the entire decision making process participative. Shangon takes collaborative, responsive and interactive actions with participants concerning the work and the work environment. (Nelson & Quick, 2006). Every time a new proposal is approached to the funding agencies, she keeps the communication open for the employees and facilitates discussion with them and involves them in setting goals. Also after the discussion, she seeks input regarding determination of policy and procedures. Her interactions are always focused, when any employee face problem in doing a particular task, she provides suggestions and alternatives for the completion of tasks. Every Saturday morning, she would come to office carrying stuffs like crackers, cookies and some nutritious snacks to share with the employees. This gesture always boosts staff morale and helped build a strong bond between her and the employees. Shangon always motivates employees to work to their competencies and to work as a team. She also exhibits effective listening skills and mediates conflict for group gain provides frequent positive feedback, rewards good work and uses punishment only as a last resort. Actually, she knows best, what style works for her staff. The dream of a well flourished organization has been successfully fulfilled by her because she has been able to put her thoughts into action and has managed it really well through her Leadership skills which she acquired through her own experience. According to me, she is a good leader and she developed a style conducive to her work