Homosexuality in China Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Homosexuality in China - Research Paper Example As a result, there is a possibility that the number of such relationships may be increasing in the country. In recognition of this fact, this paper will examine the issue of homosexuality in China. This will be done with a close reference to the short story "The Bridegroom" by Ha Jin. The story is about a strange marriage between Beina and Baowen Huang who unexpectedly proposes to her to the shock of everyone who did not expect such a handsome young man would think of marrying her despite her â€Å"stocky and stout† figure as her guardian and the narrator describes (p 472). However, as months go by in their marriage, there are no signs of her having a child. It is only after eight months that Beina’s guardian discovers that her daughter married a man with homosexual orientations without feelings for women. It is also surprising that her daughter was seemingly comfortable with this situation. From this story, we are able to discover that homosexuality was an ancient practice in China but because of various issues, the men and women involved did not come out openly with it. One of the major challenges that the gay society faced in the story by Jin is that of a legal perspective towards their sexual orientation as will be discussed below. The legal environment was not favorable for the survival of the homosexuals. It is even to the surprise of the family members of Beina when it is discovered that Baowen and his â€Å"Buddies† were meeting at night in a club (Jin 474). The fear by the men or members of the gay community in the country to come out in the open was founded on the fact that they knew that their practice had legal implications. As a matter of fact, when the inspector of police in the story breaks the news of arrest to the families of the men in the story, he talks of sentencing the men â€Å"from six months to five years...†

The Three Little Pigs. James, sit still Essay Example for Free

The Three Little Pigs. James, sit still Essay My first graders took a seat on the carpet for our first story time, and I began to read, The Three Little Pigs. James, sit still. The children looked around. Was the books title Three Little Pigs James Sit Still? They realized I was talking to one of their classmates, who was rolling on the floor. I continued, The first little pig built his house of†¦James, stop wiggling, stop touching that. What should have been a simple task of reading the book, showing the pictures and stopping to discuss each problem the pigs faced was becoming increasingly difficult. I read on, trying to ignore the disruptions. CRASH! The chair James had been rolling under had fallen over and knocked a crayon box off of my desk. The loud noise interrupted the story and the children complained, James, Miss Gigout cant even finish a page. Youre messing up the story. Miss Gigout, does he have to be in our class? James pulled the chair off himself as the crayons rained down from the desk. His face burned deep red and he began to cry. He turned his back to the class, trying to pick up the mess hed caused, and I felt his shame. A special student. In the first hour and a half of our first day of school I saw clearly that James had the classic symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). He was inattentive, lacked concentration, stared into space, was impulsive and hyper. When James mother arrived to pick him up after school, we talked about his behavior. She informed me that James had indeed been diagnosed with ADHD but was not taking any type of medication because the family just couldnt afford it. I realized that something had to be done; I couldnt ignore his behavior, hope for the best and basically let this little boy fall through the cracks for the next nine months of school. A style versus a disorder. For the next few days I researched ADHD, trying to find a solution for our problem. I read books, searched the Internet, talked with the nurse at our school and to one of our special education teachers. No one seemed to really know how to teach a student with ADHD. They knew the symptoms and what type of medication to give, but really had no advice in the area of teaching. Richard Restak asserts in The New Brain (Rodale Books, 2003) that ADD/ADHD isnt so much a disorder as it is a cognitive style. With this in mind, through much trial  and error, I found my way through the next nine months. Along the way I came up with these suggestions to keep in mind when one has a James in the classroom: 1.Set a consistent daily schedule. The most important trick I found to work was keeping James on a regular schedule. By being consistent with our class schedule, James could regulate his day. He learned to watch the clock and tell just how much longer he had to sit still while I read. He knew how much time he had left to finish his assignment and what the clear consequences were if he did not finish. I found that by setting these clear consequences and rewards for his behavior, both good and bad, there were no miscommunications and he became responsible for his actions. Any time the schedule changed, I discussed the changes with James ahead of time so he was aware some things would be different that day. 2.Limit distractions around the students work area. James desk was slightly turned away from the rest of class to cut down on distractions. I didnt move his desk completely away from the other desks; I didnt want him to feel shut out or different. When it came time to work he could turn his desk away if he felt he was having trouble concentrating. On some days he had a hard time concentrating even if his desk was turned to the wall, but sitting on the floor close to my desk or in the classroom library would help him stay on task. I also had James keep only the necessary supplies at this desk; getting up for additional supplies gave him the opportunity to take a break, walk around and get rid of a little bit of energy. Sometimes James would stand while he worked at his desk; as long as the standing wasnt distracting to anyone around him, I let him do so. 3.Explain directions at least twice and have the child repeat them. I would tell the class the directions for an assignment, retell the directions to James one-on-one, then have him repeat the directions to me. By making sure James had three opportunities to get directions, he had a better chance of finishing the task. As the year progressed and projects got more detailed, I would explain two directions first; when those steps were complete we would discuss the rest of the task. I tried to keep the directions simple, limiting them to one or two tasks at a time. 4.Give silent cues that only you and the child know. Story time seemed to be the hardest task for James. He had to sit still on the carpet with his classmates and try to focus on what I was reading. I found that by asking James to sit close to me while I read I could give him a signal – a small tap on the shoulder or a little cough – to get his attention and bring him back to concentration. Even while working, these subtle cues would call him back without letting the rest of the class know I was talking to him. 5.Limit the amount of work given at one time. Instead of giving James a worksheet with 25 addition problems, I gave him five problems at a time. Hed finish those five, then take a break to get a drink of water or walk around, then come back for five more. Sometimes not all of the problems would be finished, but at least he worked without being frustrated and I didnt have to continually remind him to get busy. 6.And most importantly, be positive! With James it was important to focus on the effort, not the end-product. Praising him for completing part of a worksheet, even though some of the answers were wrong, gave him a sense of pride and made him try even harder. As we entered May, James had learned to read, add, subtract and even write paragraphs. He went from missing recess all week due to conduct to missing five minutes of it every few weeks for an occasional outburst. Eventually the students in my class noticed a change in James behavior and wanted to be friends with him. He was happier in school and more eager to learn. He no longer felt the embarrassment of being in trouble or not being able to control his actions. I did my best to embrace James cognitive style rather than fight it. I took the time to work in a partnership with James on his concentration instead of restricting him to what works for other children, which was far more rewarding for us both.

Welfare to Work Advertisement :: Advertising Marketing

Welfare to work This advertisement claims that most people on welfare truly do not wish to be living this way. The advertisement claims that the new welfare reform laws have helped to get many people off of welfare and into jobs. With the help of companies who will employ these job-seekers, the advertisement states that million of others can do the same. People who receive welfare according to this advertisement, are not looking for a handout, but are actively seeking jobs, so they can become more self-sufficient. This advertisement implies that the public perception of welfare recipients is a negative one. Unfortunately, in our society, there is an attitude toward welfare clients because many people apparently believe, according to the Ad council, that these clients are taking money from those who work hard for it themselves, calling this a hand-out. Our society appears to believe that welfare clients wish for, and have, an easy life, free of having to work. The reality of this concept is that people on welfare are not content to just get a check. This service announcement works toward changing this close-minded suggesting that most welfare clients wish to take control of their lives. They paint a very different picture of what these clients truly wish to achieve, rather than what is apparently expected of them by the public. In addition, they try to place a human face on the problem by stating from the beginning that most people on welfare want jobs and being sympathetic but direct. Supporting their claims, the advertisement present factual evidence of the millions of people who, last year alone, worked to get themselves off of welfare and into working for a regular paycheck. These people believe that even more companies and welfare clients would benefit if everyone would open their doors to those not seeking just a handout. The most effective part of this advertisement may be its use of a common message, scratched out in order to be replaced with a more positive message. By showing the difference between perception and reality, the writers of this advertisement hope to encourage others to change their views. Their primary focus on the companies who can benefit by hiring someone off of welfare. The goal is to help change public perception and to open new doors for welfare clients, targeting companies who presently do not hire these clients. Welfare to Work Advertisement :: Advertising Marketing Welfare to work This advertisement claims that most people on welfare truly do not wish to be living this way. The advertisement claims that the new welfare reform laws have helped to get many people off of welfare and into jobs. With the help of companies who will employ these job-seekers, the advertisement states that million of others can do the same. People who receive welfare according to this advertisement, are not looking for a handout, but are actively seeking jobs, so they can become more self-sufficient. This advertisement implies that the public perception of welfare recipients is a negative one. Unfortunately, in our society, there is an attitude toward welfare clients because many people apparently believe, according to the Ad council, that these clients are taking money from those who work hard for it themselves, calling this a hand-out. Our society appears to believe that welfare clients wish for, and have, an easy life, free of having to work. The reality of this concept is that people on welfare are not content to just get a check. This service announcement works toward changing this close-minded suggesting that most welfare clients wish to take control of their lives. They paint a very different picture of what these clients truly wish to achieve, rather than what is apparently expected of them by the public. In addition, they try to place a human face on the problem by stating from the beginning that most people on welfare want jobs and being sympathetic but direct. Supporting their claims, the advertisement present factual evidence of the millions of people who, last year alone, worked to get themselves off of welfare and into working for a regular paycheck. These people believe that even more companies and welfare clients would benefit if everyone would open their doors to those not seeking just a handout. The most effective part of this advertisement may be its use of a common message, scratched out in order to be replaced with a more positive message. By showing the difference between perception and reality, the writers of this advertisement hope to encourage others to change their views. Their primary focus on the companies who can benefit by hiring someone off of welfare. The goal is to help change public perception and to open new doors for welfare clients, targeting companies who presently do not hire these clients.

Totalitarian Society As Showed Essay -- essays research papers

Totaliterainism found in Animal Farm George Orwell ¹s story, Animal Farm, is a satire of Soviet Russia. In a more general sense, however, the story traces the rise and fall of any totalitarian regime. All of the animals on Animal Farm somehow contribute to either the creation, destruction, or temporary success of the totalitarian government. The original goal of the Animal Farm society is a socialist society, but it turns bad. As the animals begin the Animal Farm society, everyone is equal. As time passes, it is realized that of all the animals, the pigs are the smartest. This is slowly the beginning of Animal Farm moving froma socialistic socoety to a totalitarian society. Snowball and Napolean are two pigs who are constantly arguing over issues; they compete for power. Snowball is a good speaker and can easily persuade people, whereas Napolean is not a very good speaker. Napolean was jealous of Snowball, and he was power hungry. One day, he had his nine enourmouis dogs chase Snowball off the farm. Now Napolean was in complete control, and he made it seem like he was putting a hardship on himself by doing so. Squealer was sent around and said,  ³I trust that every animal here appreciates the sacrifice that Comrade Napolean has made in taking this extra labor upon himself. Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure! ² (69) It was here that the shift to totalitarianism became rapid. Aside from the pigs and dogs on Animal Farm, the other animals were not that smart....

How is Elizabeth Bennet Presented & How Does she Change in the Novel ? Essay

Elizabeth Bennet is second eldest daughter of the Bennet sisters. Although the novel doesn’t have a specific narrator she is used more than any other character as a centre of consciousness, meaning she is the main focus of the reader’s interest. In the novel she is a heroine, however she does make a few mistakes and doesn’t have the characteristics of one. We can tell from how Mr. Bennet’s speaks of Lizzy that she is his favourite daughter, â€Å"I must throw in a good word for my little Lizzy† and when Mrs. Bennet says he will not do such a thing, that she is less good looking than Jane and not half as good-humoured as Lydia, he replies â€Å"They have none of them much to recommend them†¦ they are all silly and ignorant, like other girls; but Lizzy has something more of quickness than her sisters.† She has many witty and tantalizing conversations, where she likes to drop in her strong and independent views. When Jane is ill at Netherfield, Lizzy goes to visit her, with Jane in bed, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley, Lizzy and the Bingley sisters are talking, Darcy and Bingley listing what makes up an ‘accomplished woman’ Elizabeth declares that she â€Å"never saw such capacity, and taste, and application, and elegance, as you describe, united,† implying that Darcy is far too demanding. Most of the interactions between Darcy and Elizabeth take the forms of banter or agrument, with Lizzy’s words making Darcy’s admiration towards her stronger, once he moves past his initial prejudice. She is a very playful and spirited women who enjoys to laugh at people, including herself. We are told after Darcy refuses to dance with her that, â€Å"she told the story with great spirit among her friends; for she had a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous.† As I said before this is the humour that attracts Darcy. It is not only her wit that Darcy admires, for when she remarks â€Å"Mr. Darcy is all politeness† as a way of avoiding to dance with him, we can she is also hitting back at his rudeness with this sarcastic comment. Elizabeth is one of the most active and strong characters in the novel. â€Å"Elizabeth continued her walk alone †¦ springing over puddles with impatient activity and finding herself at last within view of the house, with weary ankles, dirty stockings and a face glowing with the warmth of exercise.† She walks into the huge house of Netherfield not worrying about what she looks like or what others think of her. Miss Bingley is shocked at her dirty petticoat whereas Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley find this vigour attractive. Chapter 36 is an essential passage as it marks the turnaround in Elizabeth’s opinion. From Elizabeth’s first aquaintance with Darcy she thought him to be a proud and disagreeable, especially when he repiled to Bingley’s comment of how Elizabeth is just as pretty as Jane with â€Å"She (Lizzy) is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me†. She could never figure out why he was such good friends with Bingley as theyare the complete opersite. Although, Darcy’s ignorance and pride doesn’t change Lizzy eventually comes to see his kindness and his nobility through his actions towards his sister, towards her sisters (Jane and Lydia) as well as the way he comes to not only love her, but to respect her and see her as an equal as well. This is helped majorly by the letter she re-reads a few times until she fully understands what she thought she had sussed out, realizing that she has much less able to understand the natures of people around her than she thought, especially being prejudice towards Darcy and in favor of Wickham. As well as misreading Darcy and Wickham she also recognizes that when Darcy described her family, she at first thought it as rude but then remembers how embarressed she was by her mother, Mrs. Bennet boasting so incredible loud about Mr. Bingley and Jane that Mr. Darcy could over hear and with her sister playing too long on the piano. She understands how wrong she has been and is very humiliated, â€Å"She grew absolutely ashamed of herself †¦ How despicably have I acted †¦ till this moment I never knew my self’’

Ideas on Completing a Proposal Essay

Ideas on Completing a Proposal Essay Ideas on Completing a Proposal Essay A proposal essay is quite an interesting assignment, which often causes lots of troubles and misunderstandings. However, it is quite simple and aims to propose a certain idea, which needs to be backed with arguments. The main goal is to persuade the reader that this idea is good or bad, depending on the task you have. To get a better understanding of the assignment, you can consider yourself a seller: you need to convince a person to buy an item even it is not so necessary. If you don’t think that you have a persuasive talent or don’t possess proper writing skills, just go on reading and we assure you that you will be able to complete a proposal essay without any difficulties. Content of a proposal essay Any proposal essay has the same structure, so you only need to remember it and stick to the outline, when completing another essay: This section gives basic information on the subject and provides important issues to catch the reader’s interest. It should make the audience want to go on reading, so introduction is one of the most important parts of your essay. The last sentence needs to contain a thesis statement; This section should be very brief and clear. All you need to do is to give the reader information on the idea you want to describe. Avoid providing any details on the research itself; Action plans. This section can be considered the key one, as it aims to persuade the reader that your ideas are good. Create a separate paragraph for every evidence or action plan and write how you are going to achieve your proposal; As always, this section aims to provide readers with the summary of your proposal ideas. This section should paraphrase all you have mentioned before and encourage the reader for more research if possible. Useful tips Always pay attention to the research. Collecting valid information is crucial in persuading the reader; Use only credible sources, when backing your ideas. If you use internet forums or doubtful websites, be ready that your tutor will ask you to redo the essay; Always do a proper citing and never plagiarize someone else’s works. It is quite easy to check whether you have completed the essay on your own; Work on your writing skills. Your lexis should be full and professional, without slang or shortenings; Always try to be specific. Develop a few ideas thoroughly instead of covering a wide range of topics and subjects. When you already know how a proposal essay looks like and what tips you need to follow to create an outstanding paper, you need to think on a winning topic. If your tutor doesn’t give you any recommendations, you may feel a bit stressed, as choosing a proper topic can make up to 50% of your success. Don’t panic! We can provide you with a great solution. Proposal essay topics Can euthanasia be considered an assisted suicide? Should it be allowed or prohibited? What makes up traditional family values? Main rules you need to teach your children before it is too late; How same-sex marriages can affect birth rates? Does free speech have any limits and restrictions? What should the government do to reduce drug usage among teenagers? Reasons of violence among high school students; Can parents’ divorce influence future love life of a child? Bullying: effective measures to eliminate it; Will online games eventually replace physical activity and social interactions? How can parents help their children in choosing a career? How can parents help their children resist pressure? What one needs to know about a healthy lifestyle; Reducing dependence on fast-food: main tools; Should sex education be compulsory at schools? How the world will benefit if all countries unite? International terrorism: who is the grey cardinal? Can internet usage be safe? How to minimize the number of smoking adults? How to protect small enterprises? Can childhood obesity influence the rate of heart attacks among adults? What are the measures to prevent racism and fascistic approach? How can we become a tolerate society? Sexual abuse online: modern trend or an alarming situation? Is the modern grading system effective? How US veterans should be treated? Is it right to give all prisoners a voting right or should it be a privilege for a good behavior? Can veganism protect rights of animals? What are the ways to reduce animal abuse? Morality in media: myth or reality? What a regular citizen can do to reduce the development of global warming? How can we save ecology on daily basis? Should a foreign language be compulsory at schools? Conclusions The main goal of a proposal essay is to propose your own ideas on a certain matter, issue or event, along with convincing the reader to accept your point of view. The best way to perform such a task is to imagine yourself a salesperson, who needs to sell something. The ideas, which were mentioned above, can be a great way to choose a proper topic for your proposal essay.

What Is Personality, and Is It Predictive Of Human Behavior

What Is Personality, and Is It Predictive Of Human Behavior Personality Personality, according to Harrà © Lamb (1986, p .1), is the entirety of feature and traits, as of manners or qualities that are particular per person. Personality is all about a person’s mind-sets, dispositions, performing, opinions, and method of thoughts, perceiving, and verbal communication. Hypothesis concerning personality or individuality have been formulated and existed in the majority of traditions and all through recorded history.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on What Is Personality, and Is It Predictive Of Human Behavior? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Many people have studied personality and have come up with discoveries and explanations on the subject. For instance, Giambattista, Charles-Louis Montesquieu, and Vico Immanuel Kant all of them put forward ways of comprehending person and group differences. Others include Carl Jung, psychiatrics therapist Sigmund Freud, Ernst Kr etschmer, and Alfred Adler who presented contending personality hypothesis. Freud’s hypothesis was founded on â€Å"psychosexual drives that had the components of the id, ego, and super ego and the interplay of the conscious, sub-conscious and unconscious† (Shane, 2007, p.3) Carl Jung, his student and follower emphasized unconscious motives but de-emphasized sexuality. Instead, he advanced a typical theory that classified people as either introverts or extroverts. He claimed that individual personalities were from the unconscious, inherited memories. Later on, we still had theories brought forward by other psychologists like Gordon. W. Allport, Erik H. Erikson, and Carl R. Rogers, which were all influential. Gordon wanted to find out common ideology that could be functional to a complete category of persons. It was called personality trait theory. He discovered 4000 words that could be applied to personality traits and categorized them into three classes. These were ca rdinal, central, and secondary traits. Cardinal traits are strong dispositions that shape behaviors and experiences and develop later in life. By definition, â€Å"Central traits are dispositions that manifest to some degree in all individuals, comprising the basic repertoire of personality expressions† (Barrick Mount, 1991, p.15). Secondary personalities are dispositions that are not straight away noticeable, manifesting as a result of precise sets of conditions in a human being’s life. Later on Raymond Cattell and Hans Eysenck expanded on this theory. They reduced the list of four thousand to sixteen. Later on Eysenck reduced them to three. Skeptical psychoanalysts said this were too few and came up with five traits, which were inconclusive as they did not prove to be effective predictors of human behavior and did not shed any light onto how they developed. These traits were known as the big 5 and they are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeable and neu roticism (Barrick Mount, 1991). Personality character is thought to be as a result of â€Å"both experience and genetic predisposition† (Harrà © Lamb, 1986, p.2). It has been severally discussed and researched to find out what influences behavior in human beings. Some strongly believe it is a particular situation while others believe it is character type.Advertising Looking for research paper on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More According to Kenrick funder (2001), personality is a predictor of personality across all situations but not at a specific time or situation, for instance, personality more accurately predicts how happy one will be over the next year than it. People choose their situations, which reflect their personality. For example, people choose where to work according to how comfortable they feel with their environment; with the best performance occurring when there is a positive matc h between the two otherwise mediocre results will be the order of the day. A type of personality refers to categories that are distinct and discontinuous (patterns of relatively enduring characteristics of behavior) whereby one is either one or the other e.g. one is either an introvert or an extrovert (Ornstein, 1993). Today, several scientists have all come up with their different personality types and model systems that classify them. Some are categorized into 4, 9, 16, and many more. This essay has categorizes personalities or individuality into four categories that is: The extroverts and the introverts The thinking and feeling types Sensitive and intuitive types Perceiving and judging types Extroverts and introverts Extroverts concentrate on the globe and acquire their power from it, are conversational and frank, evaluate their views with the rest, they make new friends with no trouble and become accustomed to a fresh assembly, they express their thoughts, are keen on new comm unity and effortlessly smash unnecessary relations. Introverts in contrast concentrate on their belief and feelings, produce their energy from within and consequently call for their own territory or region, frequently emerge as reserved, silent and thoughtful, typically they have less associates, have troubles in creating new links, and never want to work in group. They are generally very difficult to deal with and therefore this can be a predictive of their behavior (Shane, 2007). Sensitive and intuitive types Sensitive kind notice every person and are sensitive to everything around them, are realistic and lively, are reasonable and self-assured, they love enjoyments derived from physical feeling, swiftly become accustomed to whichever the circumstances and exist at this time. Intuitive or instinctive categories in contrast are more often than not â€Å"in the past or the present, rely on their inner voice, worry about the future than they do of the present, are attracted more to the theory than to the practice, often have doubts and do not like routine†( Ornstein, 1993, p.12).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on What Is Personality, and Is It Predictive Of Human Behavior? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Thinking and feeling types The thinking kind of people are keen on organizations, compositions and prototypes, renders all to rational investigation, are comparatively unfriendly and unresponsive, assess everything by mental power and true or false, have complexities discussing on feelings and do not get to the bottom of a row or squabbles. The feeling category are keen on human beings and their thoughts, effortlessly pass their personal feelings or moods to people around them, give immense concentration to love and fervor, weigh up issues by moral values and excellent or poor, they can get touchy and employ sensational exploitation and regularly give admiring comments to make ha ppy people. Perceiving and judging types The perceiving sort of people operate on impulse following the state of affairs, can initiate numerous projects at the same time with no concluding any of the project accurately. They have a preference to have liberty from responsibilities, are inquisitive and akin to a new appearance at things, work efficiency is dependent on their frame of mind, and habitually do something with no any groundwork or preparation. The judging type on the other hand does not like to leave unanswered questions, plan work ahead, and tend to finish it, do not like to change their decisions, have relative stable workability, and easily follow rules and discipline (Gross, 2010). Therefore based on the above four personality models, we see that personality is predictive of individuals’ behaviors. For instance, extroverts who are open to ideas and express their minds explains the ease with which someone can deal with these kind of people and generally well beha ved . On the other hand, introverts are directly opposite of this and are generally considered ill mannered. Individuals behavior determines whether you will interact freely with them or not and as we see, it is easy to deal with people who have personalities such as being sensitive and outgoing for instance as compared to those with opposite traits. For that reason, personality is predictive of human behavior. References Barrick, M. R., Mount, M. K. (1991). The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44, 1–26.Advertising Looking for research paper on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Gross, R.D. (2010). Psychology. The science of mind and behavior. London: Hodder Arnold. Harrà ©, R. Lamb, R. (1986). The dictionary of personality and social psychology. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Kenrick, D. T., Funder, D. C. (1991). The person-situation debate: Do personality traits really exist? In V. J. Derlega, B. A. Winstead, W. H. Jones, W. H. (Eds.) Personality: Contemporary Theory and Research (Chapter 6) Ornstein, R. (1993). The Roots of the Self: Unraveling the mystery of who we  are. New York, NY: Harper Collins. Shane, P. (2007). The Model of human behavior: Understanding personality.  Contemporary Theory, 2, 1-5.

Space in the Future essays

Space in the Future essays From the beginning of time humans have tried to explore and to conquer new assets. The future looks promising to this human characteristic. Humans have lived on this planet for a long time and they are destined to move onto another planet or into another galaxy. We have explored this planet and find no excitement when a family takes a vacation to Hawaii, and does that every year round. In the near future people will travel into space to explore new planets in order for humans to live and replace their vacation spots. People will, however, have to find new ways of getting to these distant dreams, and discover new means of transportation. Once these places are found and reached a number of humans will migrate into that new area and live on. In the future people will explore space with the means of new and sophisticated transportation methods in search of new areas to live and to vacation in. (TS)In the future the planet will become so overcrowded that humans will have to find new residences elsewhere but the earth. (PS)The population is growing rapidly, certain countries try to prevent that from occurring, however nothing can be done. (SS)India for example has set up a law that a family can have no more then a certain number of kids. (SS)Indias attempt to control the population growth will never be a success, for that country is not able to enforce that law. (PS)Some people like change and some think that it is bad, however the future will be a great change for all people that live on new planets, as well as on the earth. (SS)Soon people will travel into space and find new planets that humans could live on, people will move to that planet and start all over again in a new and untraditional way of life. (SS)Life on earth will be also changed for now there is twice the territory to occupy, meaning that houses and cities will become more spread out and the earth will becom e even more spread out then it ever wa ...

Business law report kamaran Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business law report kamaran - Essay Example Rarely do individuals have sufficient bargaining power of their own. Once the terms of employment start rolling, the contractual obligations of the employee are widened by standard terms assumed by courts and employment tribunals to be implied in all employment contracts. By definition, employment contract is the accord between an employer and employee which helps to facilitate smooth relations between the two parties. The contract of employment ought to have specific contents failure to which it might be declared null and void. More often than not, an employment contract must contain: the names of employer and employee; the date when employment began; the scale, rate, and method of calculating remuneration; the pay intervals; pensions scheme details; terms and conditions of hours of work; sickness and incapacity details and entitlements; holiday entitlements; notice entitlement; the expected place of work and address of the employers; job title or brief description of the work; any collective agreements affecting the employment; any grievance and disciplinary rules applicable to the employee; and details of any work abroad lasting more than one month. The employee must be notified of there are changes on the provisions mentioned as soon as they are enacted (Vettori 2007). Companies ought to afford a legal environment that provides managers and directors with maximum protection. Today’s managers and directors are exposed to greater liabilities than insurance coverage alone can address. A manager or director ought to ensure that an organization, which is the, employer, complies with various legal tasks to its employees. These responsibilities include: paying wages; deducting wages on behalf of the government; providing paid time off for holidays; creating a conducive working environment that is devoid of discrimination and harassment; and providing a safe workplace. Managers or directors who do not carry out the duties as expected by law may be held accou ntable. In the corporate world, everything that managers and directors do is open to criticism mainly by those people their actions and decisions as being negative. Corporate governance often requires managers and directors to balance the competing interests of various company constituents. Therefore, managers and directors are required to conform to the duty of obedience; whereby, their own conduct and the corporation’s activities are applicable to specific statutes and the corporate charter. As a result, managers and directors are liable if they cause a corporate decision that is considered to be illegal. Nevertheless, the business judgment rule protects managers and directors who make knowledgeable and unbiased business decisions without any form of ill will. However, this rule does not apply at all a judgment has yet to be issued. This is often the case when the manager or director fails to act (Holland 2013). In the United Kingdom, the exchange of goods and services is g overned by contract law. Therefore, problems that are related to interpreting, assenting, and use of contracts in international transactions may be harmful to the proper running of the internal market. The conduct of business in the United Kingdom is governed by the European law which deals with the conduct and relations between nation-states and international organizations, as well as some of their relations with persons (Pace 2011). Unlike domestic law, European law generally cannot be enforced. Consequently, European courts do not have

Social impact scholarship (MBA Scholarship) Essay

Social impact scholarship (MBA Scholarship) - Essay Example Such collaborations would entail addressing subjects like the flexibility of natural calamities and assessing the accomplishment of solar incentive initiatives. I would also tackle E-waste, deforestation, and global warming by fostering collaboration amongst interested youths on the internet. I would launch a worldwide initiative on the internet to motivate educators and students to partake in solving ecological problems. The initiative would work towards applying new technology towards dealing with critical ecological challenges like E-waste and deforestation. At the same time, the program would aid students in building skills in teamwork, critical thinking, and social accountability. Every phase of the online program would feature researchers with significant contributions in the form of peer-reviewed data. When educators begin a phase, they would link with teachers and students from other parts of the world. This way, teachers and students would form activities that enable them to partake in the fight against E-waste, deforestation, and global warming. My Hult MBA would help me further develop my social impact skills by growing my social impact opportunities. My Hult MBA would serve as a creative cross-industry collaborator that discloses new paths for change in my career. These paths in turn act as working insights of other industries, which would be revelations for me. Today, business paradigms are ever changing and the emerging of B-companies, modern startups, and cross-industry partnerships is adequate proof. With a Hult MBA, my career options for modern incorporation of business skills flourish permanently after graduation. A Hult MBA would integrate ecological issues that offer students like me an opportunity to develop social impact skills. My social impact skills would further develop through the improvement of my influence-making skills. Nonprofit organizations look for leadership, creative thinking,

Discussion board reply Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 10

Discussion board reply - Assignment Example However, having to learn with a group, one is able to participate in a multidimensional learning process. I have observed that I tend to revise my assumptions after learning about others input. And this is a good thing. In the merit-based system, for instance, I learned more insights from others that are culturally-based, information that I would not have been aware of. I understand that several of my classmates come from different backgrounds and this shows in the different attitudes towards the pay system issue. This reflects, for me, a real world workplace scenario typified by multiculturalism, requiring me to continuously negotiate with my own and those of others points of view. Hence, when it was proposed that a balanced performance-based and traditional pay system may be better, I had to look at the issue closer and found validity in the argument. I think this is aligned with the concept of perspective transformation in learning where a dimension in group learning, which I beli eve should be taken advantage of, is how it moves us closer to contractual relationships and away from the constraints of personal presuppositions so that we are able to effectively perceive and learn (Amstutz, 1999, p.

Critical Analysis two Prescribed Journal Articles Essay

Critical Analysis two Prescribed Journal Articles - Essay Example d social norms, or simply because these individuals cannot reach a win-win consensus and one among the conflicting party feels that their needs are being targeted for criticism. This article covers virtually every dimension of conflict, giving it more reliability. The article also involves different aspects of psychology, such as emotional outcomes or using various hostile actions to project one’s emotions on another and, generally, conflict requires a negotiation style in order to resolve it. It also involves sociological elements such as cultural values and how one within the organisation related to cultural symbols and diversity. A secondary article, â€Å"Intraprofessional relations in nursing† describes a primary methodology as an explanatory research case study that measured nurses’ interactions in three different wards of a real-time hospital environment. It describes a rigorous data collection effort and then proposes the consequences of multiple, complex interactions between nurses and their emotional responses to these conflict scenarios. It offers various findings about the nurses involved in the study and how they balance their emotional responses to perceived or actual conflict that occurs in everyday nursing practice. The article entitled â€Å"Conflict within nursing work environments: concept analysis† by J. Almost describes a secondary research effort to uncover the causes of conflict, rather than attempting to use different conflict management theory to come up with a working solution to problems in the nursing workplace. Therefore, it is somewhat exploratory in nature, though through the use of secondary research sources. The target audience for this paper is generally the practicing nurse, any clinical administration team, and the management systems that govern the nursing work environment. It is not aimed at the general public. In its literature review, it describes the idea of concept analysis, using different supporting literature to

Assess a market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Assess a market - Essay Example In above connection, Peattie asserted that the consumer purchase decision may not be influence by green marketing alone but also by other factors such as; Price, comfort, lifestyle, quality to name just but a few(Nobel, Teisl & Rubin, 2006). Therefore, emotive of green marketing may not be very effective because consumers are unlikely to forgo the above mentioned factors for the sake of purchasing eco-friendly products (Nobel, Teisl & Rubin, 2006). Peattie developed a useful tool for products and market analysis called Peattie framework that may help marketers to assess the performance of a product in the market (Bradley, 2007). The framework may be used in this case to evaluate where the two model of vehicles (Volkswagen and BMW vehicles) lies within Peattie framework. Additionally, the effects of having less foot print among the two vehicles selected have also been discussed in detail as well as how footprint may be eradicated (Nobel, Teisl & Rubin, 2006).The eradication of footpri nt may help to ensure that problem of global warming has been reduced significantly (Bishop, 2008). Assessment of where Volkswagen and BMW cars lie within the Peattie framework Peattie provided a substantial basis of evaluation of products with respect to how consumers make choices on the products that they may want to buy (Rakshita, 2011). It can be scrutinized that, much of online green marketing may not be very effective if other factors such as quality, convenience and prices are not taken into consideration (Rakshita, 2011).The two products selected for this assessment were Volkswagen vehicle manufactured in Japan and BMW vehicle manufactured in the United States. (Inderwildi & David, 20120). Research indicates that Volkswagen vehicle have been reported to release a lot of green house emission as compared to BMW (Inderwildi & David, 2012). Necessary measures have been put forth to reduce green house emission in order to make those vehicles more environmentally friendly (Inderwi ldi & David, 2012). In terms of quality and convenience Volkswagen car are more suitable though very expensive (Nobel, Teisl & Rubin, 2006). On the other hand in terms of prettiness and comfort BMW vehicles are more efficient and effective (Inderwildi & David, 2012). It can be observed that the consumer choice of a product depend not only on whether a product is environmentally friendly but also based on the factors within Peattie frame work as discussed herein(Inderwildi & David, 2012). Whether there are products which are better within Peattie framework? Patties framework indicate that the likelihood of a product to be in a better position depend on whether a product fulfills what the customer is looking for in product (Bradley, 2007). Therefore, between BMW and Volkswagen, BMW stand a better position within Peattie framework because the vehicle is not only ecological friendly but also provide what customers are looking for (Bradley, 2007). What should happen if Volkswagen and BMW cars have less foot print? Foot print may be defined as the product of car or a vehicle wheel base in square feet (Sim, 2009). The carbon footprint may help to determine an estimate of the annual world green house effect (Sim, 2009). Additionally, the model of a vehicle and carbon content of fuel used and annual driving mileage of each vehicle is taken into consideration when determining the carbon foot prints (Sim, 2009). The

Critical Analysis two Prescribed Journal Articles Essay

Critical Analysis two Prescribed Journal Articles - Essay Example d social norms, or simply because these individuals cannot reach a win-win consensus and one among the conflicting party feels that their needs are being targeted for criticism. This article covers virtually every dimension of conflict, giving it more reliability. The article also involves different aspects of psychology, such as emotional outcomes or using various hostile actions to project one’s emotions on another and, generally, conflict requires a negotiation style in order to resolve it. It also involves sociological elements such as cultural values and how one within the organisation related to cultural symbols and diversity. A secondary article, â€Å"Intraprofessional relations in nursing† describes a primary methodology as an explanatory research case study that measured nurses’ interactions in three different wards of a real-time hospital environment. It describes a rigorous data collection effort and then proposes the consequences of multiple, complex interactions between nurses and their emotional responses to these conflict scenarios. It offers various findings about the nurses involved in the study and how they balance their emotional responses to perceived or actual conflict that occurs in everyday nursing practice. The article entitled â€Å"Conflict within nursing work environments: concept analysis† by J. Almost describes a secondary research effort to uncover the causes of conflict, rather than attempting to use different conflict management theory to come up with a working solution to problems in the nursing workplace. Therefore, it is somewhat exploratory in nature, though through the use of secondary research sources. The target audience for this paper is generally the practicing nurse, any clinical administration team, and the management systems that govern the nursing work environment. It is not aimed at the general public. In its literature review, it describes the idea of concept analysis, using different supporting literature to

The impact of competitive strategy on culture and organizational Essay

The impact of competitive strategy on culture and organizational behavior - Essay Example Organizations have to be conscious of their effect on their workers’ behavior both within as well as in their personal lives outside the company. This is especially true where multinational corporations such as ‘Xerox’ which have foreign subsidiaries are concerned. Xerox, a $22 billion firm which was founded in 1906, is a multinational corporation which operates in 160 nations, and has 160, 000 employees. Companies of such magnitude naturally have to tackle different issues concerning organizational behavior so as to inspire members of staff from different cultural backgrounds and remain relevant in the competitive business industry. The success of Xerox is actually dependent on the productivity of its workers. Levels of the Analysis of Organizational Behavior The main objective of seeking to comprehend principles concerning organizational behavior is to acquire a better understanding of concepts that affect group as well as individual dynamics in the workplace. S tudying organizational behavior consists of conducting three levels of evaluation on corporate resources. In the first level of analysis, which considers the individual, the study of organizational behavior will take into account factors such as the learning patterns of the individual, the individual’s creativity, turnover, motivation, cooperative behavior, cognition, and ethics. The psychology of the individual, and how it affects his or her decisions in the workplace, is considered (Schermerhorn, Hung, and Osborn, 2005). Individual personality plays a big role in determining if organizational behavior will be based on being cooperative or portraying deviant behavior. Workers are suited to different types of organizations because of their personalities (Schermerhorn, Hung, and Osborn, 2005). For example, individualistic workers tend to be openness to new experience, self-monitoring, and possess other proactive qualities. Workers who are more individualistic in nature will re adily take risks, generate different forms of communication, and engage in proactive socialization. In the second level of analysis, which takes into account the significance of groups in organizations, the subjects that are evaluated have to do with dynamics such as cohesion, intra- and intergroup conflict, power, leadership, networks, interpersonal communication, and roles (La pierre and Hackett, 2007). What is emphasized in this stage is the function of sociological processes within the workforce in an organization. In the third level of analysis, what is emphasized on is the dynamics concerning the organization. These could include organizational structure, corporate culture, inter-organizational cooperation, cultural diversity, and external environmental forces. In organizational analysis, the investigation of corporate behavior is based on office politics and anthropology. The Role of Workers in determining organizational Behavior In order for a company to assess the success o f organizational behavior within its workforce, it has to conduct a number of internal examinations. According to Luthans and Youssef (2004) ten percent of workforce behaviors in nearly all organizations are responsible for 80% of organizational performance. It is therefore important for an organization to ensure that it identifies these critical behaviors. People who work

Prejudice in Of Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

Prejudice in Of Mice and Men Essay Prejudices are the chains forged by ignorance to keep men apart. Marguerite Gardiner. In society, both modern and in the past, prejudice has been a tool of thinking and labeling a group of race, people, class and culture in order to distinguish ones superiority and dominance from one another, but is simply a way to judge without gathering valid facts. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, we see that prejudice was just as rampant in the 1930s. In the novel, prejudice is demonstrated on 3 different levels: racial, sexual and social. It is shown how these prejudices generate false perceptions that although meant to aid, do no such good as their end result is clouding the truth. Racial prejudice is most significant when describing Crooks, who happens to be the stable buck for the farm. Crooks is also a Black man with a back disability, hence the reason he is called Crooks. While most of the other workers live in the same area and attend to jobs that are quite similar, Crooks is forced to live by himself, work alone in the stables and is almost never in contact with any of the other characters. People such as Curlys Wife go as far as to ridicule Crooks and even look down at him simply for the fact that he is a Black man with a disability who is a laborer. In one instance, Curlys Wife threatens Crooks by telling him Listen, Nigger, you know what I can do if you open your trap, I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it aint funny (Steinbeck, 98). The open brutality of this comment shows that even a woman, who would normally not have much or any say during this time in the 1930s, is still considered higher in social class than an African-American man. Nothing is known about him as a person by any of the other farm attendants, but the prejudices that in this case are completely false help propel a gap between them, when one does not need to be. Although he may be physically handicap, he is just as capable as any of the others. As a result of being an outcast at the farm, Crooks has become very isolated and disengaged with the other members. When Lennie enters Crooks cabin in order retrieve the puppies, Crooks lashes out and tells Lennie I aint wanted in the bunk room and you aint wanted in my room (Steinbeck,124). This comment shows that Crooks has become bitter and alone because of the prejudice constantly being aimed at him when there is no reason for the way he is treated. He is a great overall example of racial prejudice in Of Mice and Men and society, both past and present, in which a African-American male, who is as capable as any man of another color is denied the same opportunities because of stereotypes and perceptions which can only be supported with biased false facts. Sexual prejudice is strong when Curlys Wife is a part of a scene. Curlys Wife also happens to be the only female that is currently occupying the place of work that the novel is set in. Curlys Wife is presented as a character who tends to be very friendly with all the men on the farm and enjoys the attention she gets because her husband, Curly does not give her the amount of attention that she wants, so she finds it with others. Curlys Wife is often avoided by all other who work at the farm because she is a woman who could get them in a lot of trouble. Curly is the boss son and Curlys Wife being the daughter-in-law always gets her way and can have any man in the farm fired without reason. She got the eye goin all the time on everybody. I bet she even gives the stable buck they eye. I dont know what the hell she wants (Steinbeck,51). Being a woman, there is already significant amount of sexual prejudice directed to her and the fact that she is very flirtatious with the other men further strengthens their perception of her. They all try to remain as calm as possible, careful not to give her the wrong idea cause they know the trouble that she could get them in. In actuality it appears that Curlys Wife only craves attention from the other men and nothing sexual because of the lack of her husband to give her the attention that she wants. The idea of her wanting something only sexual and not spiritual shows the prejudice associated with gender in this novel and how its falsehood prevents a lonely woman from engaging and connecting with others on a mental level. Equally important is the Social prejudice towards characters such as Candy and Lennie in Of Mice and Men. Candy is very old and not capable of doing much around the farm but is still kept around to do the simple chores that the others are seen as more of a waste of time for others. These simple chores are envied by others and this jealousy helps create a division between Candy and the others. Candy also has a dog that in many ways is similar to him [The] dog aint no good to himself. I wisht somebodyd shoot me if I got old an a cripple (pg. 45). They are both described as being old, withered, confused and in many ways more of a nuisance who would do more good dead than alive. Socially being hated by the majority of the men at the ranch shows the prejudice that is directed without any reason, but simply motivated by jealousy. In the instance of Lennie, social prejudice is strongest evident in the perception others have of him because in their eyes, all they see is a big oaf incapable of accomplishing anything intelligent and only kept around for his strength. Before meeting Lennie and even engaging him in conversation, his position has already been established at the Ranch. With Curly we see that [Hes] like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. Hes alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like hes mad at em because he aint a big guy (pg. 26). Regardless of his ability to be of help at the farm, Curly already establishes his position on Lennie even though he has had no significant direct contact or enough time to accurately depict Lennie as a person and not just a big man physically. Not only Curly, but other members of the farm also have decided Lennies place at work before fully knowing him. He is left out of card games, left back at the ranch when George and the others go out to hand more important jobs. Being considered a simple minded men with little use who spend their days playing with and day dreaming about rabbits or sweeping after others, Lennie and Candy have become outcasts in the sense that one of them is perceived to be mentally unstable and added to the fact that he is physically strong, while the other one is a nuisance who many could live without, make them both isolated and all the more reason to be avoid and singled out. Of Mice and Men is a brilliant novel in demonstrating that prejudice is a tool that people use to become more familiar with other individuals in order to overcome the fear of uncertainty. However, the ending result is that it puts distance between the person and the one they judge because it is not fact, but perception that is completely untrue. Prejudice is simply the reasoning of a fool to make themselves feel secure.

Analysis Study Of Colonial Discourse In Literature

Analysis Study Of Colonial Discourse In Literature Colonial discourse has been defined by many writers such as Diniz (1996:126) who points out hat Colonial discourse usually refers to the writing which runs from five hundred years, through the days of European mercantile expansion, to our own time (1996:126). This definition suggests that the era of Colonialism in literature began in the 17th C. with the publication of Shakespeares The Tempest (1611-12). In this paper, however, the term is used to refer to the literature written in English, but confined to the century of British Colonialism and the decades of anti- or post colonial activity which followed. Saids Orientalism (1978) uses the concept of colonial discourse to re-order the study of colonialism. So it can be said to inaugurate a new kind of study of colonialism. Saids Orientalism examines how the East, including the Middle East, is represented in the history and the literature written by the West. The West always looks at the East as inferior people without religion or morals. Saids projecttries to show how knowledge about the non-Europeans was part of the process of maintaining power over them. In short, Orientalism is primarily concerned with how the Orient was constructed by Western Literature and not with how such construction was received by colonial subjects. It examines the Western attitudes toward the East. Said concludes that the Western writers depict the Orient as irrational, week and feminised other. This depiction can be contrasted with the depiction of the West as rational, strong and masculine. Saids Culture and Imperialism (1994) Colonial discourse is a concept popularized by Edward Said. In this paper, it refers also to the knowledge of Africa constructed by the West (colonial writers: as Defoe and Conrad) to bolster its colonizing interests, and the reaction of the East (colonized writers as: Achebe). Colonial discourse has not been the product of a certain age and it has attracted the attention of several writers and critics. Those celebrated authors as Conrad and Defoe created remarkable works out of the subject of Colonialism. Nowadays, Colonial discourse is one of the most current issues in literary criticism. 1.2. Life and Works of Defoe, Conrad and Achebe 1.2.1. Life and Works of Defoe: Danial Defoe was born about 1660 in London. His father, James Foe, was poor but hard working butcher. Defoe was not able to attend traditional institutions like Oxford and Cambridge because of his fathers opposition. Defoe is often considered the father of English novel. He is a master of simple prose and powerful narrative with a love of realistic detail. He is a great imaginative writer who creates one of the most familiar resonant myths of modern literature. He is influenced by the writings of Addison, Steel and Swift. Defoes important works are: Robinson Crusoe (1719), Moll Flanders (1722), Capitan Singleton (1720) and The History of Peter the Great and Colonel Jack (1722). Defoe died in London on April 24, 1731. 1.2.2. Life and Works of Conrad Joseph Conrad was born in December 3, 1857. His childhood was affected by his homelands struggle for independence. He is a Polish novelist and short story writer. Conrad is one of the English languages greatest stylists. He becomes one of the greatest writers in the world. His major works include Heart of Darkness (1902), Lord Jim (1900), The Secret Agent (1907), Under the Western Eyes (1911) and Nostrome (1904). He died of heart failure on August 3, 1924. 1.2.3. Life and Works of Achebe Chinua Achebe was born in Ogidi in eastern Nigeria on November 16, 1930. His parents instill in him many of the values of their traditional culture. He is one of most well-known post colonial writers. He has become renewed as a father of modern African literature. After publishing Things Fall Apart, he became one of the founders of the new Nigerian literature. Achebes important novels are: Things fall Apart (1959), No Longer at Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964) and A Man of people (1966). His novels are primarily directed to an African audience, but their psychological insights have gained them universal acceptance. His education in English allows him to capture both the European and the African perspectives on colonial expansion, race, religion and culture. 1.3. The Relevance of the Study There are many writers who have tackled the concept of colonialism in their works. It is customary to read Shakespeares The Tempest as the first important major work to present colonial discourse: the way the colonizer and the colonized portrayed in the characters of Prospero and Caliban. In The Tempest, Shakespeares major addition to the story is to make the island inhabited before Prosperos arrived. That single addition turns the adventure story into an allegory of the colonial encounter. There are two ways of representing colonialism in literature. The first one is represented by the colonizers point of view; the European writers. Those colonial writers are Shakespeare, Defoe, Conard and J.M. Cotezee. Those writers have written plays and novels which deal with the theme of colonialism as Defoes with the them of colonialism as Defoes Robinson Crusoe (1719), Corads Heart of Darkness (1902), Carys Mister Johnson ( ) and Cotezees Foe (1986). Those writers give a negative picture of Africa in particular and the East in general. Africans are depicted as primitrue, savages, uncivilized, inferior and ignorant. As a result of this negative representation of Africa in particular and the East, including the Middle East, which is seen as sub-human in general several critics criticized this subject. Among the critics who criticized this subject are Edward Said, Achebe and other African critics like Ngugiwa, Chinwerza and Nkruma. Those African critics provide a theoritcal frame work to examine the representation of the colonized in the literature produced by the writers belonging to the countries of the colonizer. They have re-written the representation of the colonized from non-Euro. centric perspective. So their writing is a mean of re-writing the history, the culture from their cultural perspective which is called Afro-centric point of view. Saids Orientalism(1978) one of the first works which examines how the East, including the Middle East, is represented in the history and the literature written by the West. The West always looks at the East as an inferior people without religion or morals. Saids projects tries to show how knowledge about the non-European was part of the process of maintaining power over them. It also examines the Western attitudes toward the East. In short, Orientalism is primarily concerned with how the Orient was constructed by Western literature and not how such construction was received by colonial subjects. Said concludes that the Western writers depict the Orient as irrational, weak and feminized other. This depiction can be contrasted with the depiction of the West as rational, strong and masculine. Saids Culture and Imperialism (1994) is another work to explain the complex and the ongoing relationships between the East and the West, the colonizer and the colonized, the white and the black. Said specifically addresses the way in which subjugated people are represented within literature and how it has affected not only these people but also the cultures in which they live. Achebes Things Fall Apart (1959) is one of the first books to represent the African image from an Afro-centric perspective. This novel is always seen as a response to the image created by Conrad and Cary. In this novel, Achebe writes the story of colonization of the Ibo society from an African point of view. In his essay An Image of Africa: Racism in Heart of Darkness, Achebe views that Conrads treatment of native Africans in Heart of Darkness as racist. Achebe focuses on Conrads treatment of Africa as an other world, an antithesis at Europe and therefore at civilization (9th. In Achebe, 3). Achebe specifically criticizes Conrads racism which is expressed through the choice of words, ignorance, fiction, comparison and imagery of the writer. Achebe argues that the choice of words Conrad uses is very limited. He repeats words like inscrutable and frenzy too many times and at several occasions. Conrad changes these for their synonyms. (Ibid). According to him, the image of darkness pointed in the book is just the stereotyped view of Europeans towards African as whole. Achebe believes that Conrad is just pleasing the readers by telling them what they want to hear. In his conclusion, Achebe calls Conrad a bloody racist who mock both African land and African people. 1.4. The Method of the Study This term paper is based on an analytical method. The analysis includes the themes, the characters and the techniques of each novel. Chapter II: 2.1. The Purpose of the Study The principle aims of this research are as follows: To examine the them of colonialism and how its consequences are reflected through Defoes Robinson Crusoe, Conrads Heart of Darkness and Achebes Things fall Apart. To examine how three different writers of two different cultures, races, countries and religions represent the colonizer and the colonized in these three novels. To compare and contrast literary pieces written from the point of view of European imperialists and the African/colonized perspectives. To compare and contrast these two negative and positive representations of the colonized (Africa) [both as land and people] as it was presented in these three novels. 2.2. The Significance/ Importance of the Study Chapter III: section 1 (Defoes Robinson Crusoe) 3.1.1. Plot Summary of Defoes Robinson Crusoe from the perspective of Colonial Discourse Defoes Robinson Crusoe (1719) takes place in the second half of the 17thC. when European companies vied for control and exploitation of colonized lands around the world. Crusoe, the central character, appears to represent his imperialist spirit: first when he goes to Guniea, next when he travels to Brazil and opens plantation, and finally when he becomes king of an island. Crusoe colonizes the island by building houses, taking Friday as his servant after meeting him and refereeing to the mountaineers as his subjects. 3.1.2. Understanding Colonialism in Defoes Robinson Crusoe: Analysis of the Theme and the Characters Defoes Robinson Crusoe (1719) was written when the people of the 18thC. were traveling abroad, discovering new lands and spreading Christianity. They were colonizing lands and imposing their culture and language there. The powerful nation controls the economy, and the territory of a week country. Africa was one of the main colonies of the British Empire and the British were at the centre of power whereas the Other were at the margin of power. In other words, the colonizer suppressed the Other, his language and his culture too. Robinson Crusoe is the second important work to present colonial discourse; the way the colonizer and the colonized are portrayed in the figures/ characters of Crusoe, Friday, non whiteman, and Xury, a servant of Crusoe. The roles of Crusoe, Friday, Xury and the mountaineers have been discussed in terms of rules and subjects in close connection to the treatment of those people by Crusoe. Defoes Robinson Crusoe is often read in modern times as an allegory of colonialism, and there is much in the last chapters to defend this view. Fridays subjection, servitude and submission to Crusoe reflects colonial race relations (Defoe: 185). This is clear when Crusoe thinks that he is helping Friday by making him his servant. Moreover, Colonial terms appear when dealing with the host he mountaineers. Crusoe and the Captain terrify them by referring to a fictional governor of the island who will punish Hem severely. This fiction of governor for shadows the very governor who will no doubt be installed on the island eventually. Because Crusoe has claimed the territory for England. Indeed, Crusoe refers to this community as my colony in the island, which makes us, the readers, wander whether he really consider it his own or it is officially a colony or figuratively so. As the novel sheds light upon the theme of colonialism, the reader observes the way the colonizer and the colonized are portrayed in it. In the novel, Crusoe, the central character, is the representative of colonialism whereas Friday is the symbol of the subjects races. Friday is instructed, given language and converted to Christianity, Crusoes religion. Crusoes instructions on Friday are examples of his attitudes towards human beings who he trained to do his work. As a colonizer, Crusoe wants to spread his religion. He refers to Christianity and to the Bible in order to convert Friday to Christianity. Crusoe teaches Friday the word master even before teaching him yes or no and lets him know that was to be Crusoes name (Defoe:185). Crusoe refers to himself as king over the natives and Europeans, who are his subjects. Moreover, Friday is an example of the self and the other. Crusoe instructs him, gives him language, in order to help him to run his Empire on the island. He is an example of the Other because he is only servant. Pennycook suggest that Colonialism is probably the context without equal of contractions of Self and Other (2002:10). We can observe the process of this construction in the dialogues between Crusoe and Friday: Master: Well, Friday, and what does your nation do with the men they take? Do they carry them a way and eat them, as these did? Friday: yes, my nation eat mans up too; eat all up. (Defoe: P.192). In such dialogues, we can see the relationship not only between Self and Other as constructed by colonialism but also between these and English. Friday has been given a very particular, colonizing English words to expenses his cultural background, besides his speaking in Crusoes own language. Phillispsons discussion (1992) of Crusoes lessons to Friday is one of the earliest instances of English linguistic imperialism which he calls as the locus-classical of the start of English linguistic imperialism to Crusoe, and he has no right to disobey him. Phillipson states that Crusoes-Fridays relationship reflects the racial structure of Western society at the hey day of slavery (P.109). Phillipson sees Crusoe as the epitome of imperialist slavery, i.e. a key figure in the European attempt to gain political and economic mastery over the large areas of the world. According to Brantlinger, what Crusoe cants master- or get to call him master- he sees only as savagery and desert island. (1990:P.2). Crusoes relationship with Friday comes in several layers. At one point in the novel, Crusoe refers to Fridays people as blinded, ignorant pagans (Defoe:170). The relationship between them is like that between Crusoe and Xury. Earlier, Crusoe has told Xury that if he will be faithful to him, he will make him a great man. As soon as the Captain offers 60 pieces of gold for Exury, Crusoe accepts it and sells him for the sake of economic gain. Crusoe stands for the colonizer who occupies the other countries under the pretext that he educates and develops the nation. Crusoe, as a colonizer, changes Fridays language, religion, habits, culture and even his name. This is how the colonizer imposes his own language, religion, culture and identity on the occupied nations. The banishment of Fridays religions beliefs emphasizes the colonization theme. Crusoes attitude towards Friday is reflected in his description. His attitude is that of a master-servant. He requires a complete subservience and faith fullness from Friday. Crusoe looks upon Friday as a creature when he will care for, giving him water, food and clothing. Crusoe does not even try to learn Friday actual name which shows the European supremacy theme in the novel. Crusoe gives Friday his name as he has done with his parrot, Poll. Regarding the Euro-centric attitude of the time, Defoe ensures that Friday is not Crusoes equal in the novel. Friday is clearly a servant and inferior in rank, power and respect. Crusoes vocabulary reveals much about how he imagines his role on the island. He starts to describe himself as generalissimo of an army with Friday as his lieutenant-general. At the very opening of the novel, he is a mere castaway but towards the end, he openly refers to himself as a national leader of military forces. We sense how deeply ingrained Crusoes imagined national role as a king of this island when he refers to his new guests as his subjects. Friday is probably the first non white character to be given a realistic, individualized and human portrayal in the English novel. Friday has a huge literary and cultural importance. If Crusoe represents the first colonial mind in fiction, then Friday represents not only a Caribbean tribes man but also all the natives of Asia, Africa, and America who would later be oppressed in the age of European colonialism. When Crusoe teaches Friday to call him master, Friday becomes an enduring political symbol of racial injustice in modern world and critical of imperialist expansion. Recent rewritings of the story of Crusoe, like Cotezees Foe and Tourniers Friday, emphasize the consequences of Crusoes failure to understand Friday and suggest how the tales might be told very different from the natives perspective. In any case, Crusoe has turned his story of one mans survival into a political tale replete with its own ideas about imperialism. In short, it is not surprising that contemporary readers regard Defoes novel as the prototypical colonial novel of the 18thC. if not in all of English literature. To conclude, this novel is not only a reflection of colonialist practices, but part of large discourse concerned with the colonial customs of the British Empire. 3.1.3. Analysis of the Narrative Techniques in Defoes Robinson Crusoe Defoe combines many narrative methods in Robinson Crusoe to make the novel authentic and realistic. These techniques are narration (point of view), the use of irony, attention to details, symbols and the use of dates and names of places. Robinson Crusoe is both the narrator and the main character of the novel. He narrates the story in both the first and the third person, presenting only what he himself observes. He describes his feelings occasionally but only when they are over whelming. He usually favors a more factual narrative style focused on actions and events. Another important narrative device is the use of symbols and irony. As for the symbols, the author uses three symbols like the foot print, the cross and the bower. The foot print stands for Crusoes conflicted feelings about human companionship in whole he interprets it negatively as the print of all the devil. The cross symbolizes Crusoes new existence on the island and the power stands for the radical improvement in Crusoes attitude toward his time on the island. As for the irony, it is a literary device for Defoe. There are several examples of its use in the novel, but the best example are the discovery of the foot print and the warning of Crusoes father. First, Crusoe ignores his fathers advice; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦if he goes abroad, he will be the most miserable wretch that was ever born, (Defoe. P.4) Second, Crusoe wishes for human beings to come because he was alone, but when he sees the foot print of a naked man, he is afraid. Crusoe comments on this irony: How strange a checker work of providence is the life of a manà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Today we love what tomorrow we hate; today we seek what tomorrow we shun; today we desire what tomorrow we fear. (Defoe: P140). The third narrative technique is the use of a circumstantial method which tells us not only what Crusoe did but how he did it. There are numerous examples of the uses of details such as Crusoes project in raising of the crops of barley and rice on the island, killing the gouts and making a sieve, and the description of the ship wrecks and Crusoes adventures. Such details produce the effect of realism. The last method is the use of dates and geographical place-names. All of these devices add to the realistic effect of the novel. Chapter Three: Section Three: Achebes Things Fall Apart 3.3.1. Plot Summary of Things Fall Apart from the perspective of Colonial Discourse. Achebes Things Fall Apart (1959) traces the life in the Ibo village of Umuofia just before and after its initial contact with European colonialists and their Christian religion. The novel is divided into three parts: the first part deals with the life of the Ibo people before the arrival of the while man, illustrating various aspects of Ibos way of life. The second part deals with Okonkwos exile and the arrival of the missionaries and the effect of their arrival, including the conversation of Nwoye to Christianity. The third part deals with the effects of the white mans religion, education, power, laws and economics on the tribes culture. The first signs of colonization come to Abame when the first white man appears. He is killed by the people of Abame on the order of the Oracle who tells them that the white man would be soon followed by others and he would destroy their way of life. As a result, the village has been destroyed by other white men. During Okonkwos exile, the white man comes to both Umuofia and Mbanta and wins many converts. When Okonkwo returns to Umuofia, he finds that life begins to change. Therefore, he stands up to the colonizers in an attempt to protect his culture. When he kills a British messenger, Okonkwo realizes that he stands alone, and he hangs himself. 3.3.2. Understanding Colonialism in Things Fall Apart: Analysis of the Theme and the Characters Achebes Things Fall Apart relates the story of disintegration falling apart of an African society that came in contact with Western values as a result of the colonization. The novel explores the coming of the white man and its effects on the culture of the people of Umuofia. The coming of the white man brought about culture conflict which affects the people of Umuofias religion, their agriculture, their judicial system and their social life. The collapse of a society that was strongly united is told through the story of Okonkwo and the village Umuofia. The novel shows the general disintegration of this culture when it is attacked by another culture. The incursion of the colonizer is changing every aspect of the Ibo society such as religion, family structure, gender roles, relations and trade. The colonizers bring language, religion, education, commerce, government and law to Umuofia which are unquestionably disruptive. Okonkwo, the representative of the Ibo culture, realizes that the white man has been too successful in his ways to change the tribes ways. He grieves the loss of his tribe and the life he once knew. Okonkwo feels betrayed by his son who joins the white missionaries and his à ©lan who have not stood up against the white intruders. The arrival of the white man and his culture heralds the death of the Ibo culture. The while man does not honor the tribes customs and strives to convince the tribes men that their ways are better. As a result of colonialism, the tribe is split, pitting brother against brother and father against son. Many of the tribes leaders have joined the missionaries and the tribal beliefs and customs are being ignored. Okonkwos final act of resistance exemplifies how Africans and other colonized people have courageously resisted colonialism instead of passively accepting it. In Things Fall Apart, the representatives of the colonizer are Mr. Brown, Mr. Smith and the District commissioner and the colonized are Okonkwo and the entire Ibo society. Achebe gives the reader a dramatic contrast between the first white missionary Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith who replaces him. As his name suggests, Mr. Brown is able to navigate successfully the racial division between the colonizer and the colonized. Mr. Brown appears reasonable, respectful, kind, patient and an open-minded man who is willing to make effort to respect and understand the Ibo beliefs. Mr. Brown succeeds in winning a large number of converts because he listens to the villagers stories, beliefs, and opinions. He be friends many great men of the à ©lan and discusses religious beliefs with them. He accepts the converts unconditionally. Mr. Brown is the most influential character in the novel who does not encourage the conflict between the old and the new faith. Mr. Brown realizes that the direct attack with Ibo is useless. Therefore, he adapts a very clever policy by building a school, hospital and finally a church. Achebe states: In this way Mr. Brown learnt a good deal about the religion of the à ©lan and he came to the conclusion that a fro natal attack on it would not success. (Achebe: 163). Then he asks the people to send their children to the school and argues that the leaders of Umuofia will be men and women who can read and write. It is Mr. Brown who warns them that strangers like the District commissioner will come from other places to rule them. Actually, Mr. Brown is a man who loves peace and respects the traditional culture. So there was no conflict between the Ibo culture and the Western culture during his period. He has a real interest in the welfare of the Ibo people. As an individual, he is a good representative of his society. Mr. Brown stands for the bright side of the colonizer. Another representative of the colonizer is Reverend Smith who replaces Mr. Brown as the new head of the Christian Church. Mr. Smith is strict and uncompromising, the opposite of Mr. Brown who was kind and compassionate. Unlike Mr. brown, Mr. Smith encourages people to hate the traditional people and their religion. Mr. Smith is the stereotypical white colonist. He has no respect for the culture or the traditions of the Ibo. Mr. Smith remains ignorant of all the traditions and therefore has no hope of being respected enough. Mr. Smith thinks he is superior and others are inferior. Mr. Smith sees things as black and white and black [is] evil. (Achebe: 166). Smiths black and white thinking leads to the destruction of the church and the clash between both cultures. As a result of this new missionary, the Christians attack the Ibo belief and culture and insult the tribes traditional customs. One of their victims Okonkwo, whose return co-insides with the arrival of Mr. Smith, the new faith divide father from son. Smiths policy and treatment of the Ibo people show that the colonialist system is more primitive than the Ibo system. The District Commissioner is another figure of the colonizer. He seems more inhuman because he takes interest in Okonkwos suicide only because it will give him a new material for his book. He decides to title his book The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger. This decision demonstrates his knowledge about African as primitive and his inability to recognize how he has brought violence instead of peace to the Lower Niger. By concluding his novel with the District Commissioners misinterpretation and misinterpretation writing of the scene of colonial encounter, Achebe suggests that his novel is not simply about the colonial encounter between two different cultures. By drawing the attention to the District Commissioners erroneous sense of history. Achebe reminds the realer that the Western descriptions of Africa have largely been written by men like the District Commissioner. Consequently, Things Fall Apart seek to correct such erroneous historical records by retelling African history from an African perspective. In brief, Achebes Things Fall Apart illustrates what happened to the Ibo society at the time of its colonization by the British and how the colonialism affects the Ibo in many different ways; their religion, family, children and their dead. Achebe describes what happens when different cultures works against each other. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Now he [the white man] has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us tpgether and we have Fallen apart. (Achebe: 160). In this lines Oberika seems to voice Achebes own thought on colonialism. Okonkwos suicide at the end of the novel represents the end of the Clans ancient way of life because he represents the clansman. 3.3.3. Analysis of the Narrative Techniques in Achebes Things Fall Apart Achebe uses a number of techniques un Things Fall Apart such as the mixture between English language and Ibo vocabularies, use of proverbs and folk tales, symbolism, use of similes and metaphors, comparisons and contrasts and the shift from present tense to past and again to present. The first method that Achebe uses is to develop a hybrid language that mixes Ibo and English words by introducing numerous African terms thought the novel like Chie (personal God-Fate), Obi (hut), Agbala (a man without title) and Osu (outcast). Achebe uses English language as a model of communication between people and to convince the Europeans that Nigeria is a nation with great potential. Achebe uses his language to draw the readers attention to his own language. Another important method is the use if Ibo proverbs as well as traditional folk tales which bring to life the oral culture of Ibo and indicate their intelligence, knowledge, morals, the strong religion and the culture of the country. Early in the novel, Achebe says: if a child washed his hands, he could eat with the kings. Referring to Okonkwo (Achebe:8). This implies that if Nigerians washed their hands, the country could be just as important as Britian. The third method is Achebes use of similes and metaphors to bring the narrative to life and his use of different kinds of comparisons that are related to the Ibo experience as proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten. (Achebe: 6). The novel is developed in terms of comparison and contrast between the characters like the comparisons between father and son; Unoka and Okonkwo and between friends like Nwoye and Ikemefuna, Unoka and Okoye Oberika and Okonkwo. Fourth, Achebe provides considerable detail about many aspects of traditional African life like family and clan relation, ceremonies and rituals, social structure (gender relations), political and religions practices and the role of nature in their world. This digression helps the reader to understand the daily activities and religious beliefs of the Ibo people. Achebe shifts from present to past then to present while describing the events and the characters. The best method is the narrative voice. May critics see Things fall Apart as a book with two narrative voices: the traditional which dominates the first two/third of the book, and the modern which takes over the last third. Other critics see the book as narrated by a single narrator, whose tone changes and adopts overtime. The narrator mediates between the individual and the community, between the present and the past. All the previous devices make the novel authentic and realistic. 3.3.4. Comparisons and Contrasts between these three texts Conrads Heart of Darkness, Defoes Robinson Crusoe and Acheb

Is Heathcliff a typical literary hero? Essay -- English Literature

Is Heathcliff a typical literary hero? Heathcliff is introduced to the reader as anything but a hero in the beginning. He is bullied by Hindley and looked down upon by the rest of the household, including Cathy and Nelly to start with -"hardened, perhaps, to ill-treatment: he would stand Hindley's blows", "spitting at the stupid little thing;". Heathcliff does not show himself to be terribly helpful, kind or brave although he does seem to show an air of strength and resilience when Hindley decides to throw a heavy weight at him. But instead of throwing it back or running away he just picks himself up and carries on with what he was doing- "and down he fell, but staggered up immediately,...". As a child Heathcliff was quite patient and irritable and did not have any real background or education. He is supposedly handsome and loyal (to Cathy) but has very low morals (he tried to kill Isabella's dog when they ran off to Wuthering Heights)- . He is strong and athletic but is in no way good-natured as the way he acts throughout the whole book shows you; like- "Don't torture me till I am as mad as yourself!" The heroic qualities we see today in our popular super heroes and other more original characters like Sherlock Holmes, all originated from Greek legends like Hercules and Perseus and from Bible stories like David and Goliath. Heathcliff does not seem to follow any of the patterns in these other heroes or act like them, but more like the opposite. Heathcliff could be analysed as a anti or Byronic hero; Heathcliff does show himself to have the same qualities as a Byronic hero because he is wild and passionate and has many dark qualities, Heathcliff is very remorse-torn and moody; these qualities may have ... ... without any emotion in his life. She shows this when she talks of Heathcliff and contrasts the both of them- "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire." Both Edgar and Heathcliff do not have what it takes to be a heros, Edgar is too nice and emotionless and Heathcliff is too full of emotion, anger and hate. Together their qualities could make a hero, but on there own they are two different things. Heathcliff's qualities show him to be the opposite to a classic literary hero, so he could be the Byronic hero who is wild, passionate and possesses many hidden darker qualities. Heathcliff is passionate, he is slightly evil and he does represent the opposite side of a hero, he possesses all the bad qualities and mysterious qualities that make him a Byronic hero.

Memory and the Quest for Family History in One Hundred Years of Solitud

Memory and the Quest for Family History in One Hundred Years of Solitude and Song of Solomon Pierre Nora proposes that "the quest for memory is the search for one's history" (289). In their attempt to reconstruct the communal histories of their people, Toni Morrison and Gabriel Garcà ­a Mà ¡rquez rely heavily on the use of memory as a means to rewrite the history of those oppressed because of race, class and/or gender in a world where historiography has been dominated by the white man. Memory is closely related to the reclamation of identity and history -- both personal and collective. Both memory and history dominate Cien Aà ±os de Soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude) from the very beginning, where the character Aureliano Buendà ­a is introduced through his own recollections: "Muchos aà ±os despuà ©s, frente al pelotà ³n de fusilamiento, el coronel Aureliano Buendà ­a habà ­a de recordar aquella tarde remota en que su padre lo llevà ³ a conocer el hielo" (9) / "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendà ­a was to remember that dis tant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice" (9). Like Garcà ­a Mà ¡rquez, Toni Morrison claims memory -- as well as imagination -- as an essential part of the narrative act: "The act of imagination is bound up with memory. You know, they straightened out the Mississippi River in places, to make room for houses and livable acreage. Occasionally the river floods these places. 'Floods' is the word they use, but in fact it is not flooding; it is remembering. Remembering where it used to be. All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was. Writers are like that: Remembering where we were, what valley we ran through, what the banks were like, the light... ...tive Literature Courses." Approaches to Teaching Garcà ­a Mà ¡rquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Marà ­a Elena de Valdà ©s and Mario J. Valdà ©s. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1990. 21-32. Parkinson Zamora, Lois. "The Usable Past: The Idea of History in Modern U.S. and Latin American Fiction." Do the Americas Have a Common Literature? Ed. Gustavo Pà ©rez Firmat. Durham: Duke UP, 1990. 7-41. Pierce, Robert N. "Fact or Fiction?: The Developmental Journalism of Gabriel Garcà ­a Mà ¡rquez." Journal of Popular Culture 22.1 (1988): 63-71. Ricci Della Grisa, Graciela N. Realismo Mà ¡gico y Conciencia Mà ­tica en Amà ©rica Latina. Buenos Aires: Fernando Garcà ­a Cambeiro, 1985. Strouse, Jean. "Toni Morrison's Black Magic." Newsweek (30 March 1981): 52-57. Watkins, Mel. "Interview with Toni Morrison." New York Times Book Review (11 September 1977): 50.

Education Sector Essay

The typical Indian classroom was once characterized by students sitting through hour-long teacher monologues. Now, technology is making life easier for both students and educators. Schools are increasingly adopting digital teaching solutions to engage with a generation of pupils well-versed with the likes of PlayStations and iPads, and trying to make the classroom environment more inclusive and participatory. Take Smartclass from Educomp Solutions, one of the first Indian companies in this space. Smartclass is essentially a digital content library of curriculum-mapped, multimedia-rich, 3D content. It also enables teachers to quickly assess how much of a particular lesson students have been able to assimilate during the class. Once a topic is covered, the teacher gives the class a set of questions on a large screen. Each student then answers via a personal answering device or the smart assessment system. The teacher gets the scores right away and based on that, she repeats parts of the lesson that the students don’t appear to have grasped. â€Å"Technology makes the teaching-learning process very easy and interesting,† says Harish Arora, a chemistry teacher at the Bal Bharti Public School in New Delhi who has been using Smartclass since 2004. â€Å"For instance, [earlier] it would easily take me one full lecture to just draw an electromagnetic cell on the blackboard. Though I could explain the cell structure, there was no way I could have managed to show them how it really functions. This is where technology comes to our aid — now I can show the students a 3D model of the cell and how it functions. Instead of wasting precious time drawing the diagram on the blackboard, I can invest it in building the conceptual clarity of my students. † According to Abhinav Dhar, director for K-12 at Educomp Solutions, more than 12,000 schools across 560 districts in India have adopted Smartclass. More importantly, the number is growing at almost 20 schools a day. On average, in each of these schools eight classrooms are using Smartclass. â€Å"When we launched Smartclass in 2004 as the first-ever digital classroom program, it was an uphill task convincing schools to adopt it,† Dhar notes. â€Å"These schools had not witnessed any change in a century†¦. It is a completely different scenario now. Private schools across India today see [technology] as an imperative. A digital classroom is set to become the bare-minimum teaching accessory in schools, just like a blackboard is today. † Dhar recalls that one major roadblock for Educomp’s proposition in the early days was on the price front. At US$4,000 (at the exchange rate of Rs. 50 to a U. S. dollar) per classroom, schools found the product very expensive. To get over this hurdle, Educomp quickly decided to make the initial investment and gave the schools an option to pay over a period of three to five years. The strategy worked. Enthused by the market response, in January Educomp launched an upgraded version — the Smartclass Class Transformation System — with more features, including simulations, mind maps, worksheets, web links, a diagram maker, graphic organizers and assessment tools. Huge Potential According to the â€Å"Indian Education Sector Outlook — Insights on Schooling Segment,† a report released by New Delhi–based research and consultancy firm Technopak Advisors in May, the total number of schools in India stands at 1. 3 million. Of these, private schools account for 20%. Educomp’s Dhar points out that only around 10% of the private schools have tapped the potential of multimedia classroom teaching whereas in government schools, it has barely made any inroads. â€Å"The current market size for digitized school products in private schools is around US$500 million,† says Enayet Kabir, associate director for education at Technopak. â€Å"This is expected to grow at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 20% to reach the over US$2 billion mark by 2020. However, the market potential then might get as big as US$4 billion [i. e.if the total population of private schools that could adopt multimedia actually adopt it. ] Apart from this, the current market size for ICT [information and communications technology] in government schools is US$750 million. We expect this to grow five times by 2020 due to the current low level of penetration in government schools. † Kabir lists Educomp Solutions, Everonn Education, NIIT, Core Education & Technologies, IL&FS and Compucom as dominant players in this sector. New entrants include HCL Infosystems, Learn Next, Tata Interactive Systems, Mexus Education, S.Chand Harcourt (India) and iDiscoveri Education. Except for S. Chand Harcourt, which is a joint venture between S. Chand and US-based Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, all the others are Indian firms. A recent trend is that schools in tier two and tier three cities are increasingly adopting the latest technology. Rajesh Shethia, head of sales and marketing at Tata Interactive Systems, which launched Tata ClassEdge in early 2011 and has partnered up with more than 900 schools, says that â€Å"more than half of the demand for digital classrooms is from tier two and tier three cities. † According to Shethia, schools in these smaller cities realize that it is difficult for their students to get as much exposure as students from tier one cities. â€Å"[So] they proactively subscribe to solutions such as ours, which richly benefit both teachers and students by simplifying the syllabus†¦. Even parents want the best for their wards and are not averse to paying a little extra. They see value in these initiatives by schools to modernize the way teaching is imparted today. † Making some back-of-the-envelope calculations Shethia adds: â€Å"If we consider the top 100,000 private schools in India as the captive market, the potential is approximately two million classrooms of which currently just about 80,000 have been digitized. † Srikanth B. Iyer, COO of Pearson Education Services, also sees tremendous potential in the smaller cities. Pearson provides end-to-end education solutions in the K-12 segment. Its multimedia tool, DigitALly, has been adopted in more than 3,000 private schools across India since 2004. â€Å"DigitALly installations have been growing at three times the market for the past two years,† Iyer says. â€Å"Currently, more than 60% of our customers are from tier two and tier three towns, such as Barpeta (in the state of Assam), Sohagpur (in Madhya Pradesh) and Balia (in Uttar Pradesh). † In order to make its offering attractive to the schools, Pearson has devised a monthly payment model under which a school pays around US$2 per student per month. â€Å"As the price point is affordable, schools across all locations and fee structures find it viable to opt for our solution,† Iyer notes. â€Å"We focus on tier two and tier three towns and cities where penetration is relatively low and desire for adoption of technology is high. † HCL’s Digischool program, which launched about 18 months ago, has also made a strong beginning, with a client base of more than 2,500 schools. Partnering with State Governments Meanwhile, state governments are also giving a boost to the adoption of technology in schools. Edureach, a divison of Educomp, has partnered with 16 state governments and more than 30 education departments and boards in the country, covering over 36,000 government schools and reaching out to more than 10. 60 million students. â€Å"Edureach leads the market with 27% of the total schools where ICT projects have been implemented,† says Soumya Kanti, president of Edureach. â€Å"We are looking [to add] 3,000 more schools this fiscal year and 20,000 to 25,000 additional schools in the next five years. † As of now, Edureach has created digital learning content in more than 14 regional languages for these projects. In the northern state of Haryana, CORE Education and Technologies is implementing a US$59 million ICT project that aims to benefit 5 million students across 2,622 schools. Five of these schools will be developed as â€Å"Smart† schools. CORE is also implementing ICT projects in the states of Gujarat, Meghalaya, Punjab, Maharashtra and Nagaland. The scope of work in these projects ranges from implementation of computer-aided learning in schools, installing bio-metric devices to monitor attendance of teachers, and setting up computer hardware, software and other allied accessories and equipments. â€Å"The task has not been an easy one,† admits Anshul Sonak, president of CORE. â€Å"There are several logistical issues. Delivery of equipment to rural areas is a big challenge in itself†¦. There is lack of basic infrastructure — either there are no classrooms or there are ones with no windows†¦. Some schools don’t even have toilets. Moreover, the power availability in these areas is often poor and we have had to deploy generator sets in many schools. † But despite the challenges, educationists are optimistic. Rahul De, professor of quantitative methods and information systems area at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore (IIM-B) believes that â€Å"ICT can have a huge impact on our education system. † He points out that ICT can result in increasing the reach [of education] and in keeping the costs low. â€Å"With increasing penetration of mobile phones and Internet kiosks, the potential is indeed immense,† he adds. A study conducted by De in 2009 on the economic impact of free and open source software (FOSS) in India found that it resulted in significant cost savings. â€Å"FOSS can play a huge role in education,† De notes. â€Å"In the state of Kerala, it has already had a huge impact in both saving costs and providing state-of-the-art access computing to students in government schools. FOSS has a huge number of packages for school students, many of which can be ported to local languages and used in schools. It is also helping disabled students in a big way, by enabling them to access digital resources using audio-visual aids. † Edureach’s Kanti adds that a study by the Centre for Multi-Disciplinary Development Research in Dharwad in Karnataka in 2006 revealed significant improvement in student enrolment and attendance, as well as a reduction of student dropouts due to ICT interventions. â€Å"Yet another study conducted by the Xavier Institute of Management in Bhubaneswar in 2007 revealed that computer-aided education has improved the performance of children in subjects such as English, mathematics and science, which are taught through computers using multimedia-based educational content. † All in a Tab In line with this increasing interest in technology for school education, there has been a rush of education-focused tablet computers in the market. The most high-profile of these has been Aakash, which was launched by Kapil Sibal, union minister for human resource development, in October 2011. The Aakash project is part of the ministry’s National Mission on Education through Information & Communication Technology (NME-ICT). It aims to eliminate digital illiteracy by distributing the Aakash tablets to students across India at subsidized rates. While the project itself has become mired in delays and controversy, it has generated a lot of awareness and interest among students around the educational tablet. Meanwhile, DataWind, the Canada-based firm that partnered with the union government for the Aakash project, has also launched UbiSlate7, the commercial version of Aakash. â€Å"The opportunity for low-cost tablets in India is huge. In the next two years, it will exceed the size of the computer market in India i. e. 10 million units per year,† says Suneet Singh Tuli, president and CEO of DataWind. In April, technology firm HCL Infosystems launched the MyEdu Tab, which is priced at around US$230 for the K-12 version. The device comes preloaded with educational applications and also books from the National Council of Educational Research and Training, a government organization. Anand Ekambaram, senior vice-president and head of learning at HCL Infosystems, is in the process of partnering with more than 30 educational institutes across India for MyEdu Tab. â€Å"MyEdu Tab has content offline and can be accessed over the cloud. It allows students to learn at their own pace,† Ekambaram notes. â€Å"With a topic revision application and a self-assessment engine, students can evaluate their skills and knowledge on their own. Teachers can upload content, which can be accessed by students and parents for tasks such as homework and progress reports on their respective devices. The parent can monitor the progress of his or her child through the cloud-based ecosystem. † Earlier this year, Micromax, a leading Indian handset manufacturer, also launched an edutainment device called Funbook. Micromax has also partnered with Pearson and Everonn to make available relevant content for students. Susha John, director and CEO at Everonn, was upbeat at the launch. â€Å"Digital learning facilitated through tablets will revolutionize the educational space,† John said. â€Å"Everonn has invested in developing content and services targeted toward tablet audiences. To start with, we will offer our school curriculum-learning modules †¦ and at home live tuition products on the Funbook. Students can now have access to good teachers, educational content and a great learning experience anytime, anywhere. † At Pearson, Max Gabriel, senior vice-president and chief technology officer, is â€Å"focusing on K-12 content in English to begin with. We are sitting on a huge repository of existing content. Adding the right level of interactivity and richer experience will be our priority. † Meanwhile, Educomp is gearing up to launch content that is device agnostic and can be run on any tablet. But even as schools in India are going through this transformation powered by technology, one key question is how big a role technology will play in the education sector. In an earlier interview with India Knowledge@Wharton, S. Sadagopan, founder-director at the International Institute of Information Technology in Bangalore, pointed out that there are four parts to learning — lectures, library, laboratory and life — noting that, â€Å"Technology plays a critical role in all these. † Kabir of Technopak adds another perspective. â€Å"Despite numerous studies on the impact of ICT in education, the outcomes remain difficult to measure and open to much debate. It needs to be understood that technology is only an enabler and a force multiplier and cannot be treated as a panacea. We believe that impressive gains in teaching-learning outcomes are possible only through an integrated approach rather than a piecemeal intervention. † Don Huesman, managing director of Wharton’s innovation group, recommends caution in considering potential investments in educational technologies. â€Å"These are very exciting times for online and distance education technologies, but there are risks facing parents, educators and policy makers in evaluating the opportunities these new technologies, and their proponents, represent. † Huesman points to the recent growth in high-quality, free, online educational courseware offered on websites like the Khan Academy and the Math Forum, as well as the work of the Open Learning Initiative in developing intelligent cognitive tutors and learning analytics. â€Å"But such technologies, available from a global network of resources, only provide value when understood, chosen and integrated into a local educational community,† he says. As an illustration, Huesman offers the example of cyber kiosks, provided in recent years by foundations at no cost to rural communities in India, exacerbating the â€Å"gender divide† in many traditional communities in which young women congregating at public cyber cafes, also frequented by young men, would be considered taboo. â€Å"Interventions by governments and NGOs must be inclusive of local community concerns and aware of local political complications,† Huesman notes. Globalization: Impact on Education by Satish Tandon, September 2005 The principal objective of education has been the development of the whole individual. The minimum level of education that was necessary to achieve this goal in the agrarian society was basic or primary and in the industrial age, secondary. In the present borderless information society, education needs to be able to respond to additional demands of a rapidly globalizing world by raising awareness of environment, peace, cultural and social diversity, increased competitiveness, and the concept of a global village. Such education is to a knowledge or information society what secondary education was to an industrial economy. Education prepares the individual to connect – and live in harmony – with the environment around him. Globalization has changed the size, nature and quality of that environment. The challenge for higher education, therefore, is to reform, create and develop systems that prepare the individual to work in a borderless economy and live in a global society. In other words, our educational institutions need to produce global citizens. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 allowed liberal democracies to claim victory for the capitalist system and contributed to increasing the pace of globalization that was already under way. As globalization gained momentum, market substituted political ideology as the dominant force guiding national and global policies. What followed next, therefore, does not seem so illogical. National governments everywhere – partly in deference to the ascendancy of the market and partly in response to pressure from the private sector to expand their sphere of activities – began to relinquish control over the delivery of social goods. Everything began to be viewed as a commodity that could be produced and delivered by the private sector in line with market forces and according to the principles of supply and demand. One by one – water, electricity, postal services, health, and now education, have been turned into a commodity. The withdrawal of state from higher education has also been helped by economists, who have had an overly simple way of assessing the return on investments in higher education. The basic problem is that they have measured the return on education exclusively through wage differentials. With reference to someone who has no education, someone who has been to primary school, someone who has completed secondary school, and someone with a university degree, one can ask how much more each earns than the previous. These differences are then compared to the incremental amounts invested in their education to find the return. The results generally suggest that higher education yields a lower return than primary or secondary education – and they have been used to justify the skewing of government budgets and development funds away from higher education institutions. The rate of return calculations are flawed because they do not take account of the full range of benefits to those who receive higher education. For example, higher education can enhance health, openness, peace, and social development, and at the same time reduce disease, bigotry and blind nationalism – so the private benefits to the individual and to society are not just the direct labour productivity benefits, as the rate of return analysis suggests. Higher education confers benefits above and beyond enhancing the incomes of those who receive it. And many of these benefits take the form of public goods, such as the contribution of higher education to enterprise, leadership, governance, culture, and participatory democracy, and its potential for lifting the disadvantaged out of poverty. These are all vital building blocks for stronger economies and societies and all routes by which the benefit of investment in higher education multiplies throughout society. Liberal democracies have traditionally operated on the principle of separation of activities in the social sphere just as they have on the principle of separation of powers in the political sphere. The private sector had been given a relatively free hand in the production and delivery of economic goods while the state concentrated on the provision of healthcare, education and other infrastructure goods, also known as public goods. Globalization has changed all that. The rapid expansion of the influence of the private sector at the global level necessitated a corresponding expansion in their sphere of activities by diversifying into the production and delivery of public goods that had always been within the purview of the state. The takeover was swift and remarkable in the sense that the effort did not meet much resistance. One of the major consequences of the globalization of education has been commodification and the corporatization of institutions of higher learning. It is said that the for-profit education market in the United States is worth more than $500 billion in revenue for the involved corporates. More than one thousand state schools have been handed over to corporations to be run as businesses. But there is a fundamental problem with the way business models have been applied to the delivery of education and other public goods. Unthinking adoption of the private sector model prevents the development of a meaningful approach to management in the public services in general or to the social services in particular based on their distinctive purposes, conditions and objectives. There is another, more serious, problem with corporatization of education. Corporations operate on the principles of cost reduction and profit maximization. These require introducing standardization and the packaging of product in compact, measurable, byte-like, configuration. Applied to education, these approaches would possibly negate its basic fabric and purpose. Education has always encouraged and represents openness, inquiry, diversity, research and limitless learning. Corporatization of education would make it elitist – the one provided by corporations for the masses and the poor who cannot afford going to the traditional institutions of learning, and the other for the rich and the affluent. The delivery of public goods and services is and should remain the primary responsibility of the state. Representative government may not be the ideal or perfect arrangement for governance but it represents the best that is available, and certainly more desirable than the private sector management of public services such as education. If the state relinquishes its control over education and education policy, we run the risk of diminishing it to the status of a packaged for-profit product which it is not. Openness, diversity, scholarship, research and disinterested learning will be its biggest victims.