Fhazel Johnnesse †A Young Man’s Thoughts Before June 16th Essay

Summary: The poem communicates the thoughts and feelings of one of the students in 1976 who would lose his life during the protests of June 16th This was the protest of bantu education by thousands of black schoolchildren, many of whom were shot and killed by the police. The poem concentrates on the human aspects rather than political convictions. The student has no feelings of bitterness toward anyone and expresses an acceptance of his impending fate. Tone: nostalgia melancholy longing acceptance Enjambment: Reflects natural speech patterns and adds to the conversational mood of the poem. Structure: Lack of punctuation and free verse: Reflects flow of thoughts. Breaks from normal format – protest for change (see synopsis). Suggests inferior education. A lack of control over the situation. Interpretation: Key: Green – important connotation Yellow – alliteration Line 1 The student looks to tomorrow; the day of the protest. ‘i’ suggests the student’s insignificance in the perspective of improving education for all non-white school goers and his acceptance of the sacrifice he will make to achieve this. That the student will ‘travel on a road’ suggests the well-known metaphor of life being a journey. Line 2 The student’s journey in life is full of difficulty, as suggested by ‘winds’ and ‘hill’. It also suggests the student’s determination as persistence is needed to navigate a winding, uphill road. The student’s life is aimed at achieving a specific goal or summative achievement, in this case the improvement of non-white education. Line 3 – 4 The student takes only his memories on the winding road for comfort. The memories are clearly important to the speaker which emphasises the importance of the human aspects of the protest rather than the political (see synopsis). Line 5 The student realises the heartache and grief his death will bring to his mother. Line 6 The student longs for a time when his life was simpler, and for the social presence of his friends. This shows the student to possess strong interpersonal bonds. Line 7 The student recollects a simple instance with friends. This further emphasises that the student is merely a normal young man. Line 8 In remembrance the student asks only that he be mourned with a song. This may suggest that he wishes his friends and family not to grieve for long over his passing. Line 9 The women who is to sing for him (assumedly his mother) has downturned eyes. This could either be seen as a way to hide her grief or as a sign of submission to the oppressor (the apartheid government). Line 10 The student would also have an old man (assumedly his father) to grieve by means of the song. Line 11 The man has a ‘broken brow’. This may suggest physical scarring but may also suggest that it is furrowed from emotion. This may be from the grief of the student’s death or from the years of oppression suffered under apartheid. Line 12 The student asks others to sing for him which may suggest that he is already dead, as he cannot sing for himself. Line 13 The student describes the end of his life (‘sunset’) as red. Red has connotations of anger, passion, blood and violence, all of which detail the occurrences during the protest. ‘Drenched’ suggests his complete hopelessness of escape from the violence and bloodshed. It also adds to the image of blood and suggests a large number of death. Alliteration: ‘B’ (line 7)- Links with belching onomatopoeia. ‘S’ (line 8-9, 12)- Creates mood- hushed, mellow, sorrowful.

The Killer Angels Book Review

I believe that the author wrote this book because he wanted people to view the Battle of Gettysburg from not Just the view point that we receive in our textbooks but from different points of views so that we may interpret the battle as a whole instead of bits and pieces. This book, in my opinion, was written for both informative and entertainment for those who enjoy learning about history and the Civil War. This novel began with a person spying on the Union army then goes back to report o General Longest that he had found that an Union army was seen moving nearby where he was located.When the spy told Longest that information, it seemed to shock him a little bit. In Longitude's mind he believed that another general, General Stuart, was supposed to be tracking the Union army's movement. Now that he has received this information, he thought that he should move the Confederate army north to cut off the Union army. While heading north, the Confederate's come across a small town in Pennsy lvania known as Gettysburg. While patrolling the town of Gettysburg on his horse, a Union general had noticed that the Confederate soldiers were close.The general who saw the confederate army, General Afford, was under the impression that the two armies would start to battle inside the town. So he set up to brigades along the hills outside of town. His way of thinking was that the higher ground the Union army was, the better it was to fight the Confederate army. He believed using the geography of the north was a good idea. I agree with his thinking because it is certainly an advantage when it comes to warfare. As General Afford is aging arrangements to make that happen, General Longest was meeting with other generals to discuss strategy and tactic.The book then turns to the date of July 1st. It starts as General Lee is waking up and discovering General Stuart absence from camp. Without the absent man, Lee had no idea where the Union army was located and that troubled him. Not knowin g where the enemy was is never a good thing because you have no idea what your next plan or step would be. While at camp, he met with Longest. Longest was confident that the Confederates can use defensive tactics that has helped them in revises battles to help them win this one.He believes that the Confederacy would have a much better chance of winning because of their defensive skills that have proven to be top notch. General Lee refused Longitude's way of thinking because he wanted to smash the Union army aggressively in one blow. The book then transitions to where the battle was beginning when the confederate soldiers attacked the men who were station amongst the hills due to Brood's command. Reinforcements soon arrived to help out Brood's men since they were getting killed.The reinforcement quad was led by General Reynolds whom was later killed in the battle. As Lee arrives to the battleground, the battle is in full swing. He is ordering his men to attack since some Union troops were coming from the South to help out. As the first day ends, Union forces retreated back into the hills to take cover and get some rest for the upcoming day when they would continue to battle. Longest becomes nervous because he knew that the hills were a good defensive position. He knew that they would have the advantage if they went to attack them within the hills.He was also ware that General Lee would attack them instead of retreating to another location and wait for them to attack. On the second day of the battle, Chamberlain is the one who makes the first move this time by moving toward Gettysburg once again. As they were walking, they discovered an escaped slave. This gets Chamberlain into thinking about the reasoning for this war that has caused so many causalities of fellow Americans and what he believed in about different races. While that was happening, two confederate generals were suggesting to lee that they should attack the opposing army to weaken it.Lee likes the p lan, but Longest still wants to move to another location. Once again Lee had refused. As Lee and Longest lead the troops toward the hills, they discover that the army has come off of the hills and into the lowland where an orchard of some sort lied. They attack which causes a blood bath. Chamberlain and his men had to hold the ground against the Confederate attacks, but eventually they run out of bullets. They had followed by a motto to never retreat and fight while standing their ground. As day two came to an end, Lee decided on a Lana for the next day.As the final day approaches, Longest, for the final time, tries to convince Lee to move the army to another location, but Lee again refuses. Lee was determined to attack his enemy at this certain place. Longest had tried to convince him but he refused while launching an attack known as Picket's charge. After the failure of Picket's charge, the Confederates soon retreated, and the Battle of Gettysburg had finally come to an end. Perso nally, I believe Michael Sahara is the type of person who found this battle to be absolutely fascinating.I also believe that the author had done his research on the matter by using personal letters of these generals and other primary sources to help him write this book. This novel is an excellent example of a bloody battle fought on the US soil between the people of the US. To be honest, I really enjoyed this book. I like who the point of views changed to get the full coverage the battle and to have an insight on what was actually happening. I also happen to love learning about wars and the presidents so that helped a lot knowing some outside information.

Guarding Efficiency of Emergency Informational Systems to Protect Essay

Guarding Efficiency of Emergency Informational Systems to Protect Citizens - Essay Example With the ever-changing advancements in technology, however, many of its operations, including its 911 operations system, require improvements for efficient communication to adequately accommodate the needs and provide sufficient safety for all citizens. According to former fire Lieutenant Michael Pena, information sharing is an essential component of any rescue operation. Without proper information sharing, a rescue operation could be frustrating (Golden, 2006). Thus, a centralized source of information offers efficient communication, which is critical for the operations of many organizations (ISACA). A centralized source is even more effective when it has the capabilities to quickly relay information to other sources. Of FLPD's three major bureaus, the Support Services Bureau contains The Information Services Division, which handles all communication functions (SafirRosetti, 2006).Within the Information Services Division is the Information Systems Unit (ISU). The ISU is connected to many important systems to support and manage numerous critical functions. For example, the ISU's informational contribution to Florida Crime Information Center Systems adds pertinent information to The National Crime Information Center Systems. The Information Services Division also includes the Public Safety Communications Center, which is responsible for processing incoming calls, dispatching, and teletype (SafirRosetti, 2006). Since 1925, FLPD's communication system has upgraded from one telephone to a center that provides 911 computer and radio communications for approximately 700 police and 300 fire employees (flpd.org). Each year the center handles approximately 500,000 phone calls, which at times require that the dispatcher rely upon information from other informational sources. In response, a dispatcher must evaluate a call before dispatching the appropriate unit. A phone call requiring a police response is entered into the Computer Aided Dispatch System (CAD) before forwarded to the dispatch section. Managed and supported by the ISU, the CAD matches and relays pertinent information. Thus, a dispatcher could consult the ISU via the CAD and warn a responding officer of much need information prior to his or her arrival on a crime scene. Without knowing the priors of a violent criminal from another state, an officer responding to a 911 call would be ill prepared and vulnerable. On the other hand, an aware officer could better assess the criminal and situation and handle them accordingly. Thus, the interconnectivity of systems provides invaluable information and should be preserved and protected. Adequacy in Systems Protection Preservation and protection for vital information is essential. Further, reliability of the information retrieved from the system assures deciding officers and equips them with confidence when making decisions. Faulty information from the system could result in an officer making a grave mistake. In addition, faulty information results in time lost when a department tries to recover from

Lack of Written Constitution in U.K Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Lack of Written Constitution in U.K - Essay Example Britain is regarded as the homeland of the democracy. Further, politically, U.K has been steady and stable for long period. Unlike Germany and France, Britain has not been compelled to draw its constitution due to famous revolt like French revolution or through war. U.K has a cool political weather without any turmoil contrary to revolutionary inflammation that traversed the European continent in the nineteenth century. Rather than in one big bang, U.K constitution has been transformed incrementally over centuries. Whereas, in case of Australia and U.S.A, which are very young nations as compared to UU.K, it is easy to codify their subject’s fundamental rights and political system as a significant step immediately after attaining independence. It is to be noted that majority of world’s democratic countries have structured their written constitutions on the footprints of unwritten version of the British constitution. U.K is perusing a constitutional monarchy with a two-chambered parliament comprises of Houses of Lords and Commons. Informally, though the executive power is headed by the Crown but in actual life, it is being carried out by the ruling government in the name of Crown. The powers vested with the Crown and Sovereign is derived from the Acts of Parliament or from the common law. Virtually, in U.K, there is no separation of power between executive and legislature. The legislative authority is given authority in the sovereign in parliament, cabinet ministers are empowered to enact new acts who are also given power in the process of legislation. Likewise, Lords not only have taken part in the legislative business of the upper house but also sit as judges in the Appellate Committee.

What is the significance of parthenogenesis in her underground Term Paper

What is the significance of parthenogenesis in her underground - Term Paper Example From the biological point of view this is a significant word that defies scientific principles and highlights the processes created naturally. The biological situation about Jesus during embryological development is the issue to be taken note of and all the process till His birth are known as parthenogenetic. God arrived to the human race, not through the normal sexual processes. Parthenogenesis is reproduction by a virgin. This supports the natural processes happening in the world though the physical aspects of Incarnations. Virgin births among the animals are known for centuries, but parthenogenesis is occasional amongst human beings. Knowledge about parthenogenesis has developed extensively and it covers most of the groups of multicellular animals and they reveal unisexual reproduction of one type or another. â€Å"But parthenogenesis is genuine sexual reproduction because it also uses sex cells,† (Kessel) yet is different from the normal union of

Biostatistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Biostatistics - Essay Example From our calculation, our odds ratio is skewed in nature and therefore it is not possible to make a direct calculation of the standard error. We have a 95% confidence level and the population odds ratio for heart disease associated with smokers lies within 1.21 (an increased odd of 1.21 fold) and 1.99 (an increased odd of 1.99) fold. When a confidence interval does not include the value of 1, we know that the odds of the measured outcome are different for both attributes even without a significance test. In this case, the confidence interval does not contain value 1.0, hence there is significant association between smoking and heart disease. The Odd’s ratio is 1.55, the smokers are having 1.55 times more risk of having heart disease on the other hand, the risk ratio is 1.2939, means for smokers there is 29.39% more chance to having risk of heart disease. Both the confidence intervals do not contain the value 1, hence the results of both Odd’s ratio and risk ratio are significant. Observe that for both Odd’s ratio and Risk ratio, the p value is 0, hence both the measures are equally significant. The odds ratio value is skewed and therefore it is not possible to directly calculate the standard error of the statistics. The no difference value for this statistics is 1 and therefore when a confidence interval includes the value of 1, we know that the odds of the measured outcome are the same even without a significance test. To evaluate the p value, we can use the chi-square approach but in this case, it is not appropriate therefore it would be proper to use Fisher’s exact solution. Odd’s ratio is preferred in case of a nested control study because it is an efficient method of analysis in terms of both time and cost. It also makes it possible to investigate a wide range of possible risk factors. Odd’s ratio is also particularly suitable to investigate rare diseases with a long induction period. Odd ratio is also preferred because it a

Treatment of Autism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Treatment of Autism - Research Paper Example According to Jill Boucher, autism could have existed in human populations since the start (4). However it was not until the mid 19th century when it was recognized as a distinct disorder when Leo Kanner published a scientific paper titled ‘Autistic disturbances of affective contact’ and subsequently another paper by Hans Asperger on the same subject was published (Boucher, 4). People with severe autism were described as â€Å"simpletons†, â€Å"imbeciles† or â€Å"feeble-minded† (Boucher, 4). Those with mild autism or Asperger syndrome were considered withdrawn. The autism spectrum syndromes consist of Asperger syndrome, Rett syndrome, and childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD) (Boucher, 5). Currently, there is no single known cause for autism, however, a collection of factors including – genetic, environmental, and induced causes – are thought to contribute towards autism in children (Mayo Clinic, n.pag.). This paper will aim to creat e a distinction between fact and speculation regarding the causes that are real and those that are not. With the absence of a definitive etiology of the disorder, various theories have been presented that explain the relationship between autism and other factors. Genes are considered to be one causal factor contributing towards autism among children. The involvement of genetics as a causal factor was first made by Kanner in his original documentation of the disorder. In his work, Kanner suggested the involvement of parents in passing it on to children however he strongly proposed the involvement of one’s physiological defects (Schreibman, 90). It took many years before the genetic etiological link was explored and established.

BUDWEISER Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

BUDWEISER - Term Paper Example Anheuser -Busch is a brewing company in America that was started in 19th century. The present company name was adopted in 2004 after a successful merger of the company with Ambev. One of the beer brands that have giant global recognition is Budweiser. The revenues earned from main brands are found to be growing at a rate of 7.8% in each hectoliter. The company produces other 200 brands that are sold locally, internationally and worldwide. It is one among the largest companies in beer industry globally; also Budweiser is popular in United States and other parts in the world. In 20th century, alcohol products were prohibited in America, and this was one challenge that this company faced. This made the founder of this brewing company embark on alcoholic drinks up to 1933 when the prohibition ended. World war contributed to the reduction in performance of the beer firm as it led to economic recession. In strategizing to get back market for Budweiser beer brand, the company argued the customers to dare take this beer for five days. In testing the quality of the brand, the customers were promised that if their test did not shift from the other beers, then they can disregard Budweiser as the best beer. The company management team focuses to ensure the brands meet the consumers’ interests and expectations. The company initiated procedures used in getting customers for company’s brands. In 1936, this brand started being packaged in metallic cans, which made many consumers prefer this beer to others. While most of the brewing companies were collapsing due to competition, this brand was able to bear the situation. Although the sales reduced significantly, Budweiser Company remained to be a leading company in the beer industry. , and it brand has for years maintained lead in the markets although there was competition. Industry Structure and Global Market AB InBev Company gets a lot of competition in the industry from other competing firms that are coming up. Because of rich history of its operation, the well known company’s brands enjoys monopoly although partially. Beer industry is open despite huge costs of operations especially advertising that constrain new investors. This means only the company that are competitive can survive the market conditions, because beer industry has risen by 41% in the world as compared to other sectors. This can be attributed to people’s change of tests in which today people need high quality beer and not just alcohol, because alcohol drinks stock sales are rising at 4.8% rate annually. In this industry, most of the brewing companies are merging with others to form a stronger footprint to get larger market command. Budweiser is one of main alcohol brands with re cognition all over the world (Bamforth & Bamforth 2011). In international market arena, the company has 25% of total world market portion, while in United States, AB InBev company accounts for 48% of the total market in brewing sector. Apart from Budweiser brand, Anheuser –Busch inBev has other 200 types of brews. AB InBev Company is main brewery in United States but it possesses outlets across the world. The company has outlets open in more than twenty countries across the world, thus company can employ over 100, 000 people for different job positions. Three company’s brands get market recognition in various regions of the world globally. Most company’

Criticisms Trafficking Perspective Essay Example for Free

Criticisms Trafficking Perspective Essay The pentameter 1 and 2 and the United Kingdoms government Action plan to tackle trafficking have many deficiencies regarding the ability of the victims to access human rights. First, the victims are given minimum care. However, there is minimal concern for women who are trafficked for other reasons other than sexual abuse. The United Kingdom government, through the provisions of the two articles, has shown very little commitment to provide fully for this category of women. In most cases, they just remain in the Poppy project. There is also very little awareness creation amongst the rescued women about men who demand to buy sex from them. This means that they are not fully protected because despite the fact that the women have been rescued from the initial traffickers, they are still in danger of sexual abuse from men who seek to pay for their sexual services. These women mostly give in to such demands because of their lack of finances and employment (USAID, 2006). Besides, because of limited skills and education, the women lack options and just give in to the demands of the men. The understanding and implementation of victim care is very narrow. The victims have limited access to the services that they require. Aspects of employment, education, recreation, interpretation of languages and legal representation are seldom given priority, however basic they sound to be. These victims are also not assisted during documentation procedures especially those from other nations. Hence, they spend more time than they need to in rehabilitation centers. The United Kingdom lacks specialized care for children and young people relieved from human trafficking. The children usually have special needs making them require special support systems. The rescue process hardly provides for this. Besides, special services like education for this category are not availed. Other services include individualized counseling, protection from harm and providing them with special diets (National Childrens Bureau, 2002) There are no provisions of training, education and employment for the rescued individuals. This is considered unfair especially to school going age children. Besides, one of the contributing factors to human trafficking is poverty. This means that the individual may lack adequate skills needed for employment. The United Kingdom system does not provide funds for training rescued individuals, much as it could be a sure way of addressing poverty. Lack of employment or training opportunities has led to the victims escaping from the rehabilitation centers, at times falling back in to the hands of the traffickers and at times just searching for employment away from the rehabilitation centers (Rosenberg, 2004). The system does not specify clear strategies that would ensure that trafficked individuals are united with their families. Family reunification would reduce congestion in the rehabilitation centers. It is also considered as an immediate measure especially when individuals are United Kingdom citizens. Besides, it is cheaper as compared to keeping the victims in to rehabilitation centers. The victims are also not involved in the process of formulating policies that concern them. These policies address their needs and theoretically, they ought to be very vocal during formulation of such policies. This would ensure that their basic needs are considered and addressed accordingly. Belser (2005) argues that it also gives them a sense of security and ownership. These contribute to the sustainability of projects set up to address their concerns. There is stigma usually associated with the trafficked persons. This includes associating the persons with vices like prostitution. The pentameter 1 and 2 and the UK government action plan on human trafficking fails to give clear measures on how they would address this. Stigmatization of the rescued individuals by the entire public contributes to psychological effects including isolation. Isolation causes stress related complications and affects social cohesion. Lack of social cohesion increases tension amongst the group and this makes coping difficult. Clear strategies need to be initiated to educate the public about this. Stigmatization also discourages the rescued victims from adopting socially acceptable behavior. The system also lacks gender sensitive strategies when rescuing individuals. Men, as well as women have different needs and this should be addressed accordingly (Anderson, 2003). The needs of women especially those basic for survival need to be given priority in order to discourage them from escaping from the rehabilitation centers. The identification procedure is also not clear in the two articles. This has led to the victims of human trafficking being treated as immigration criminals in some instances. This makes the individuals more frustrated and the effects associated with this are significant. For example, they develop psychological illnesses and stress. There is also a gap with respect to the provisions of men who fall victims of human trafficking. The two articles do not give any information on how the needs of men would be met, once they fall victims of sexual harassment and prostitution. The documents focus more on women and children. Despite the fact that the number of men is small, they are also victims and their needs should be given equal priority. The security of the human trafficking individuals, even when they are in the rehabilitation centers is not fully assured. ECPAT UK (2004) explains that this has led to the disappearance of some children from the centers, mainly because they are lured away by the initial traffickers or they go looking for jobs to support themselves. The two articles fail to provide clear procedures that would be used to help change the attitudes of women who are victims but are reluctant abandon the practice due to economic and or behavioral factors. Attitudes have a primary role in changing the behaviors of people. Developing positive attitudes ensures that people do and behave as expected. Efforts therefore would need to be channeled to assisting the rescued victims change their attitude. This will also be instrumental in helping them resist the temptation of falling back to prostitution in extreme cases where they lack finances. In addition, positive attitudes would help the victims recover quickly from the shock of being assaulted. REFERENCE Anderson, B. and Davidson, J. O. (2003). Is Trafficking a Human Beings Demand Driven? A Muilti-country Pilot Study. Geneva: IOM. Belser, P. (2005). Forced Labor and Human Trafficking: Estimating the Profits, Working Paper. Geneva: International Labor Organization Office. ECPAT UK(2004). Cause of Concern? London Social Services and Child Trafficking. London: ECPAT. National Childrens Beaureau, (2002). Is Someone Taking a Part of You? London: NCB. Rossenberg, R. (2004). Best practices for programming to prevent Trafficking in Human Beings in Europe and Eurasia. Maryland: Development Alternatives. USAID. (2006). Trafficking in Person: USAIDs Response. Washington DC: USAID

The United States economic Essay Example for Free

The United States economic Essay In trying to rescue the United States economic financial system there is a possibility of the economy to be affect by massive hangovers from the effort of the government to prevent the accumulation of debt. The government instead has found a swift way of stimulating the economy through the financial bailout. The government wishes to take a mountain of accumulated debts due to bad loans caused by financial institution as a result of subprime mortgage lending. The debt is worth $700 billion of money. To have this debt clear under the bailout bill so that the economy can be stimulated to grow, the united government had no other option other than borrowing. For the borrowing to be successful, it had be done when the there is soaring of the federal budget deficit. The deficit for the year 2008 was expected to increase by $407 billion which was double the imbalance for year 2007 worth $161. 5 which indicated a slowdown in the economy. However, as from 2008 up to now, $168 billion programs of economic stimulus are already doing in the books of government. The passed congress legislation gave authority to have the Fannie and Freddie be rescued which resulted into the boosting of national debt. The legislation the administration late authorized the bailout financial system (Bernanke, 2008, 1). The implementation of the financial bailout as an economic stimulus has caused a lot of concern on what long term affects it poses to the United States economy. The issue here is, as the government is borrowing to offset the already existing debt, the debt instead is expanding from time to time. To pay the national debt interest the government is spending not less that $400 billion each year. As the debt increases, the cost of government borrowing also goes up and therefore leading to some of the indented programs in settling that existing debt to be awarded less money. Due to financial crises of the year 2008 the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has eased the stance of the monetary policy. The FOMC has consistently relaxed the monetary policy which has stabilized the prices giving hopes to increase of economic slack and flattering-out of the energy prices. FOMC after the implementation of the monetary policy anticipates the economic strengthening over this quarter as the previous lagged monetary policy action effects, amid improvement of the conditions of financial market has starts to provide extra spending and stabilization of the housing activities. Despite the implementation of the monetary policy in the year 2007 and up to the early 2008 the economic growth slowed sharply. In 2007 the restrain on activities concentrated on the housing sector, where as in year 2008 the other sectors of economy began to experience this. The prices of commodities have remained high for the whole year causing consumer price inflation (Bernanke, 2008, 23). The demand on houses, construction of residential home and prices of homes have fallen sharply in the year 2008. In the first few months of 2008 the delinquency rate continued to go down across all mortgage loans. New subprime mortgage loans has been highly unavailable for that year making the borrowers to experience high risk of credit which had to go for the guarantee programs offered by the government. Due to this, the Federal Reserve with the other stakeholders is now committed to come up with a solution that will prevent the foreclosure of the houses. The Federal Reserve is committed to offer an environment that gives support to goals of the homeownership of giving loans to borrowers who are creditworthy with ideal protection of the consumer and responsible practices of lending. On the issue of consumer spending has been going down for the whole of 2008 which is an indication of restrained influence. The real labor income growth rate has gone down ass the prices of energy and food, and conditions of labor market continue to weaken. This has affected the consumer purchasing power. In addition to this, it has been difficult for consumers to borrow as the standards and the terms have been tightened. This has led to deterioration of the quality of the overall credit of consumer loans (Bernanke, 2008, 30). On the side of business sector, the financial and economic conditions that influence spending of capital have appreciably deteriorated. During the months of 2008 the real outlay for business software and equipments were flat. The inventories have decreases irrespective of sluggish final sales making the firms to act promptly to prevent the imbalances of inventory from arising. The United States corporate profit during the same time was very low. The weakening of corporate profit and tight conditions of credit has resulted to slow down of business investment. Loans of Commercial and Industrial at banks in the firs months of 2008 briskly expanded. In the same period the quality of credit in nonfinancial corporations remained solid. As a result of this banks tightened the standards of credit on commercial loans of real estates. To conclude, the economic stimulus act is approximated to result to rebates worth $115 billion which will be sent to the households by the end of 2009 (Bernanke, 2008, 35). Work cited Bernanke Ben. Monetary Policy Report to the Congress. Washington, D. C. , July 15, 2008, pp. 1-42

Role of Self Assessment in Learning

Role of Self Assessment in Learning My interest in self-assessment stems from personal experiences of being assessed and the frustration felt when most assessed work was simply awarded a grade, contained minimum feedback if any and was then expected to be filed away despite the many questions I may have had. However, many years later, while attended a language teaching training course, I was given a self-evaluation sheet to complete by the instructor. Uncomfortable as this was, I realised that this was the first time that I had been presented a format to self-assess/reflect on my work. After completing the sheet and the subsequent discussion about the contents, the instructor provided feedback of a type that I could use, in a context which was supportive and which respected my goals as a language teacher. Since then I have developed an interest in how self-assessment can be used to promote learning in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. During my teaching in Asia I have seen the need for learners to take greater responsibility for their own learning in order to move away from the more traditional teacher-led, didactic approach. I have found that using self-assessment as part of reflective learning can lead to greater ownership and autonomous learning as more attention is paid to how learners acquire knowledge. This essay evaluates the role of assessments, particularly self-assessment as a tool for promoting learning, as I recount the journey taken with my Chinese learners on an English Pathways Program (EPP) and what has led to the decision for using a range of formative tasks contained in a portfolio of written work, with learners ultimately taking ownership of their learning. What is the role of assessments? Assessment according to Gipps (1994, p. vii) is: a wide range of methods for evaluating student performance and attainment including formal testing and examinations, practical and oral assessment, and classroom based assessment carried out by teachers and portfolios. Many curricula in language schools reflect Tylers (1949) classical model that specified objectives, content, and means of achieving and assessing pre-determined learning outcomes. This model of behaviourism views the learner as a passive absorber of information provided by the teacher and in this way learning becomes an incidental rather than an intentional process. Gipps (1994) argues that the dominance of this model in the classroom, has meant that teachers have focused their instruction on discrete skills and on decontextualized test items, with continued practice until mastery is achieved. Black and Wiliam (1998a) found this type of testing encourages superficial or shallow rote learning, as learning isolated facts, quickly disappear from the memory because they have no meaning and do not fit into the learners conceptual map. This has been witnessed many time in our classrooms where on one day students are able to recite easily a list of vocabulary or grammatical rules, as they have just done that in class or in a test, but are unable to recall the same information, a few days later. An alternative to this behaviourist/objectives model comes from constructivist psychology which argues that knowledge is not directly transmittable from person to person, but rather is individually constructed or discovered. Glasersfeld (1989) argues that the responsibility of learning should reside increasingly with the learner and constructivism emphasizes the importance of the learner being actively involved in the learning process, unlike previous educational viewpoints where as we noted above the responsibility rested with the instructor to teach and where the learner played a passive, receptive role. Glasersf eld (1989) urges that learners be taught how to learn by engaging their metacognitive functions, resulting in learning being an intentional process and leading to deep learning. Sadler (1989) supports this by saying that developments in metacognition tell us students need to become competent assessors of their own work. McDonald and Boud (2003) have argued that the formal development of self-assessment skills is an important part of the curriculum at all levels (p. 210) with Black and Wiliam (1998b) stating that self-assessment is an essential component of formative assessment. In support of this active learning approach, Gipps (1994) advocates for more frequent and a greater range of assessments, such as essays, performance assessments, small group tasks and projects. Bould (1991) defines self-assessment as the involvement of students in identifying standards and/or criteria to apply to their work and making judgements about the extent to which they have met these criteria and standards. (Boud, 1991, p.5). The latter stage, often called self-grading or self-testing is only one aspect of self-assessment and Bould (1995) warns against an overemphasis on this aspect as it can direct attention away from involving learners in identifying and engaging with criteria, a stage which he says is both difficult and often neglected. In China today, assessments give all the power to the teacher, to make unilateral and final judgements on a students work. However, if we want our students to become independent, active learners, then this relationship between student and teacher needs to be changed and by incorporating self-assessment into classroom learning, students as well as teachers acknowledge assessment as a mutual responsibility, and not as the sole respon sibility of the teacher (Oscarson, 1989). Other relevant issues concerning assessments noted by Black and Wiliam (1998a) were: the filling in of records rather than analysing students work to identify their learning needs; and the over-emphasis on awarding marks and grades, often using normative referencing, which encourages competition rather than personal improvement. Many of our learners experience of normative referencing in their previous schools led them to believe that they lacked ability and as a result they had lost confidence in their own capacity to learn. Therefore, as a result of this, we adopted a more ipsative approach where learners are more focussed on their own gains rather than others grades. In support of this Hounsell et al. (2008) noted that awarding grades often comes at the expense of giving useful advice or feedback, which needs to be integral to the ongoing teaching and learning cycle, as achievement gains from formative assessment are amongst the most substantive of all pedagogical interventions. E llery (2008, p. 422) elaborates on this by saying that, the opportunities for learning are greatest in formative assignments requiring drafts where students receive feedback and have the occasion to actively engage with the feedback to improve the product in its subsequent draft(s), such as in essays. Gipps (1994) argues for the use of qualitative descriptors believing that collapsing or aggregating all results to provide a single figure for reporting is to lose detailed information. When scores must be aggregated for reporting then we need to use models which result in the least loss of information and to make the rules explicit. To summarise, I feel the program should consider the learner as an active participant, use a range of formative assessments, with a focus on self-assessments, feedback and leaners progress rather than awarding grades. What are the benefits, issues of using self-assessments and are they reliable? To evaluate self-assessments, the literature was reviewed to establish the associated benefits and issues, in addition to the reliability of the tool for sour situation. Several benefits of using self-assessment have been identified. A number of language researchers have found self-assessment to be a reliable method of improving students language skills and abilities (Ekbatani, 2000; Nunan, 1988), developing learner autonomy and metacognitive engagement (Andrade and Du 2007; Cassidy 2007), enhancing learning, including deep and lifelong learning (Taras 2008) and it contributes to student achievement (Hughes, Sullivan Mosley 1985; Schunk, 1996; Ross 2006). Studies have also shown that self-assessments has a positive effect on students learning motivation (Pope, 2001) and learning performance (McDonald Boud, 2003). However, several issues with self-assessment have also been identified. Some students are reluctant to self-assess, feeling they lack the necessary skills, confidence or ability to judge their own work or simply are afraid of being wrong (Leach 2012), preferring and expecting to be assessed by experts (Evans, McKenna, and Oliver 2005) or students may see it as the teachers responsibility (Brown and Knight 1994). In addition, in many Asian countries the very concept of self-assessment goes against deep-rooted cultural expectations about learning and giving themselves a good grade is considered inappropriate, boasting (Leach 2012), resulting in individuals from Eastern cultures generally displaying a modesty bias, and thereby underrating their performance (Yik, Bond, and Paulhus, 1998). Therefore, it is important to explain the rationale to the learners and demonstrate that as learners we daily self-evaluate (e.g. reciting a list of words). To address cultural issues it may require ind ividual consultations to allay concerns. Although self-assessment is being used in a range of settings: science, maths, and language classes; primary, secondary and tertiary education; there is still some doubt about its reliability which Gipps defines as the extent to which an assessment would produce the same, or similar, score on two occasions or if given by two assessors (1994: p. vii). Bachman and Palmer (1989) found that a group of EFL learners in the US were able to reliably self-rate themselves for their communicative language abilities. Boud and Falchikov (1989) found there was no consistent tendency to over or underestimate performance by students. Some students in some circumstances tended towards one di ­rection, others in the same or different situations towards the other. However, they found the ability of self-assessors was a noticeable variable, with the more able students making more accurate self-assessments than their less able peers. Weaker and less mature students also tended to overrate themselves an d the weaker they are, in terms of teacher ratings, the greater the degree of overrating. One explanation offered by Boud and Falchikov (1989) for this was learners not being aware of, or choosing not to subscribe to, the standards set by teachers, erred on the side of optimism. Boud and Falchikov (1989) also found that over-estimates are more likely to be found if the self-assessments contribute to the students grade in a course and young children may over-estimate due to a lack of cognitive skills to integrate information about their abilities and are more vulnerable to wishful thinking. Ross, et. al (1999) found that agreement of teacher and student assessments is higher when teachers provide direct instruction to students on how to self-assess their work, Ross (2006) says that the strengths of self-assessment can be enhanced and weaknesses addressed through training students how to assess their work thereby placing training as central to the successful implementation of self-ass essment. According to Ross (2006), one other factor which may be overlooked by teachers is that students may include in their self-assessments information that is not available or obvious to the teacher, such as effort. We have found that discussing with the students their grade helps to draw out underlying beliefs of the students on their work, rather than relying totally on the physical evidence presented. Issues identified with previous studies Ross (2006) and Boud and Falchikov (1989) after extensive review, both found a lack of sufficient studies looking at improvement over time, to draw any firm conclusions and there is particularly a lack of studies on the influence of practice on self-marking over time. They also expressed some concern about the quality, especially regarding the lack of definition in the criteria used by teachers and students, something we address later in the essay. What needs to be consider before Implementing Self-Assessment Considering what the literature provided, outlined below is the approach taken on implementing self-assessment in EPP. Firstly, as identified by Boud (1995, p.189), an effective program needs to gain student commitment, link well with the subject matter, and encourage students to take greater responsibility for learning. A common issue on many language courses which follow the objectives approach, is only the products of learning are assessed which is insufficient to guide learning. However, on the EPP the process of learning is often of greater importance than specifically what is learned as not all learning is evident in a final product, no matter how well thought out the assessment tool may be. We will look at now how negotiating criteria and the selection of evidence can involve learners more in the assessment process. Negotiating the Criteria Boud (1986), maintains that the involvement of learners in making decisions about the criteria which are appropriately applied to their work and their making of judgements about achievements is the key characteristic of self-assessment. He further says that engagement in such activities helps to stimulate metacognitive skills and wean students from dependence on the assessments of others. Boud (1995) suggests two approaches to generating criteria; structured group activities and structured written schedules. The former is used to generate common criteria for a class, and I have found it a good way to start the process as the class generates and discusses potential criteria for inclusion. This can address some of the issues identified earlier such as; students reluctance to self-assess, supporting less able students, and poorly defined criteria. In general, for writing tasks there are four areas that are looked at, Grammar, Lexis, Coherency and Content. The discussion can help student s to become more aware of the criteria and assist them in the structured written schedules, which consists of three steps to guide each student in individualising the process. These steps are as follows: identifying the criteria which they consider appropriate to apply to their work, for example they may choose a number of the four areas or another such as format, thereby taking responsibility for learning and personalising it; clarifying these criteria, what specific area for example are they examining; and assessing the priority or emphasis which they wish to give to each criteria, encouraging deeper thinking and learning Once satisfactory criteria have been generated, students then use them to judge their own performance. From a checklist of the criteria, students may simply award themselves a mark with respect to each criterion chosen, and then make a statement justifying that mark (e.g. on format, I have written four paragraphs, including a clear introduction and conclusion). The emphasis on which criteria is important to the learner will change over time as they identify additional areas of weakness or choose to challenge themselves. The initial negotiation of the criteria occurs within the first two weeks of the program so learners can become familiar and start using them as quickly as possible. Learners discuss with teachers the criteria that they have chosen to be used in assessments, to eliminate potential confusion and to avail of support. The selection of evidence. The learners are involved in deciding on the form and quantity of evidence to be used in assessment, which allows for individuals to take more responsibility, by selecting from their own work and creating a portfolio, which will be explained in greater detail later. Learners indicate what evidence they have chosen, for the attainment of their goals, including essays written, as well as feedback received, and reflections. The negotiation of learning goals. Historically, the majority of assessment tools have been created based on external goals and imposed on the learners usually by the curriculum. However, it is important and appropriate that students are actively involved in setting class or personal goals and assessing themselves so that through this, they are more invested in learning and develop the skills required in how to learn, leading to the development of independent learners and critical thinkers. Self-assessment can provide a very personal and detailed record of learning. This negotiating of goals occurs early in the program so that the purposes and directions of the program are set to meet the learners self-perceived needs. Initially these are quite general but over time become more refined and individualistic as they are reviewed or change during the course. Goals may relate to the process as well as the outcomes of the course. Goals should be of a personal or context-specific nature (e.g. I want to be able to write a per sonal statement). Assessment approach on EPP On the EPP we have endeavoured to compile an assessment for learning approach, which supports the teaching/learning process, rather than assessments of learning which, simply measures student performance by tests and examinations. Tasks, which support higher order skills and support learners learning goals are utilised. Examples of tasks used are as follows; written essays, role plays, maintaining vocabulary and reflective learning journals. Some of the characteristics, and underlying reasons for the tasks are as follows: a clear rationale for the activity, so that learners can be actively engaged with a task which they accept is for learning (not passively following a set of instructions); explicit procedures so learners know what is expected of them, both in carrying out the tasks and in self-assessing; given that these were mainly new experiences for them, and that lack of training was identified as a major failing in previous studies; the task is constructed to allow significant elements of choice by the learners so that they can begin to own it and make it meaningful and worthwhile for them, taking greater responsibility for their own learning and learn to become independent of their teachers (Boud 1988); selection and reflection elements which reinforce student responsibility in taking charge of their learning and it provides a more valid, individualised assessment (Boud, 1995); reassurance so that learners can be honest about their own performance without the fear that they will expose information which can be used against them, and to address and cultural sensitivities or bias; tasks contribute to the final grade, although, based on the findings of previous studies, there is the potential for learners to overestimate or underestimating due to cultural bias, it was deemed necessary to do this to because of the general need for recognition by learners and to comply with external bodies; allocation of class time to complete the tasks and to enable learners to get assistance, this alleviates time pressures on the leaners and to also allow for sufficient training/retraining to take place so learners gain confidence in the process; Finally there was an emphasis on the process rather than just the product of assessment (Boud 1995). Students on the program are allowed to work and re-work their written drafts, based upon multiple sources of feedback, until such time that it is ready to be submitted allowing for students writing ability to be assessed in an ongoing, authentic context. Teachers were advised to exercise caution as tasks are usually completed over a period of time, both inside and outside the class and the degree students are assisted with feedback has the potential to affect validity (Boud, 1995). To address reliability, moderation where teachers and students scores are compared, can be used. However, if teachers moderate students results excessively, then students do not put much effort into being objective but simply rely on the teacher to do the assessing. At the same time, if teachers place the full responsibility on students, the danger is that there will always be some students whose self-assessment is not justified, however, the payoff is that the majority of students undertake their self-assessment much more seriously, and therefore learn a great deal more in the process of doing it (Boud, 1995). Portfolios of Evidence A recent trend in language assessment advocated by Boud (1995) and Race (2001) is the inclusion of portfolios in a course. A portfolio allows students to track their progress by compiling a selection of their work, selected from larger body of work. The portfolio is then presented with feedback comments and a reflective piece written by the student to justify the selection. Race (2001) points out that while most other forms of assessment are like snapshots of particular levels of development, portfolios can illustrate progression, reflecting how quickly students can learn from and implement feedback. The involvement of the student in reviewing and selecting is central, helping student-centred learning to become a reality (Calfee Freedman, 1996). Kathpalia and Heah (2008), stress the importance of reflection stating that a writing portfolio without reflection is merely a collection of written work which does not contribute to real learning. Portfolio Procedure At the beginning of the program, time is taken to ensure learners are provided with instructions on how to reflect on activities as well as filling self-assessment checklists through which they could improve their autonomy in writing. As identified earlier, training is key to the successful implementation of self-assessment. After the first two weeks, a simple class checklist was created for the purposes of self-assessment. An exemplar piece of writing was then given to the individual learners and they were asked to use the self-assessment checklist with this writing. The results were discussed with the class along with individual consultations. This process was then repeated with another piece of writing. Once learners were familiar with using the checklists, they could create their own, using the individual criteria chosen by themselves. After that, learners were then given a list of topics to choose from and were required to write one task during class and one outside the classroo m. Learners then had to assess their work using their individual checklists. Again, the general results were discussed with the whole class in addition to individual feedback sessions. After one month learners showed significant improvement in self-assessing as confidence grew and could begin to self-evaluate their own work independently, using their own checklists, and to add them to their body of work. Grades were awarded by the learner based on their individual, agreed negotiated criteria. Initially, each student awarded themselves a grade together with a justification for it based upon the evidence submitted. Students are encouraged to consult with their peers if they are lacking confidence and to focus on the process of evaluation rather than simply the grade. Independently of this, a teacher assessment is made using the agreed criteria on the evidence available but without knowledge of the students proposed grade. If the two proposed grades did not fall within the same band, a discussion took place during which each party justifies their grade. Agreement generally resulted, but there is provision for final arbitration by a third party if needed. Race (2001) argues that portfolios can be high on validity as it is possible to assess appropriate evidence of achievement relating more directly to intended learning outcomes, than (for example) can be achieved just with written exams. Race continues by saying that portfolios contain evidence reflecting a wide range of skills and attributes, and can reflect students work at its best, rather than just a cross-section on a particular occasion, such as one-off exams. He cautions that ownership of the work can sometimes be in doubt and the inclusion of an oral assessment or interview, can validate the origin of the contents of portfolios. There are however, some issues with portfolio use, with McMillan (2004) and Race (2001) highlighting that assessing portfolios is time-consuming, requiring time for both designing the portfolio and preparing rubrics for scoring. In addition to that, the teacher has to train learners to self-assess their work adequately, which often entails a one-to-one conference with each student so that portfolio implementation is done properly. As McMillan puts it, portfolio assessment requires time, expertise, and commitment (2004, p. 238), all of which are not always available. Reflective Learning Journals Reflective learning journals are another important aspect of self-assessment and the EPP, with evidence showing that good learners have better metacognitive processes than poor learners (Ertmer and Newby, 1996). Developing reflective skills is an important aspect of self-assessment, leading to a reflective practitioner which according to Schà ¶n (1987), includes: reflection-in-action that is immediate, short term, concerned with a devising a new strategy for approaching the situation; and reflection-on-action, typically undertaken some time after an event has occurred. The challenge we had was ways of incorporating reflective activities in the course. Boud et al, (1983) suggests that learners maintain a journal, to reflect on their learning, over a sustained period, maintained with the intention of improving or supporting learning. Records can include both academic as well as personal development with students generating records on such items as: their objectives and how these have been addressed and achieved; expectations, attitudes, values, beliefs, and skills. The records can start off structured but may become more unstructured as learners take ownership. Morrison (1996) identified some matters which need to be considered regarding the reflective activity: not all students find reflection easy; there may also be cultural issues where the concept is particularly difficult to grasp; and what is the depth of reflection required. A means of addressing these is to provide real examples of reflective writing, as well as some structured questions to the learners. Allowing for adequate practice and providing opportunities for feedback can also alleviate any potential problems. In terms of assessing the work, initially a journal may be considered satisfactory and passed, or not yet satisfactory and not yet passed, avoiding some of the difficult judgements about work that may be very diverse and / or creative (Morrison 1996). We found that this can also encourage gr eater participation as leaners feel that they are not being scrutinised about what they are writing. Evaluation of using Self-assessment in EPP One of the greatest challenges was with the concept of criteria where both the teachers and learners preferred to rely on well-known externally imposed criteria rather than take ownership of self-generated criteria, negotiated in the classroom. Indeed, there was also a strong resistance from the institute itself, however the future success of this approach the acceptance and willingness of all the participants. From an learners perspective Each term, a survey concerning the course in general and the use of the self-assessments is conducted to gather the views of the learners. For the most part, after the initial introductory phase, learners find self-assessment a useful tool which helps them focus on their own learning: I found it very difficult in the beginning but now I know it will be good for my future study. Difficult to start but then I started to enjoy it when I realised what I had achieved. Students commented on the tasks in general (reflective journal; self-assessment): A very interesting and different experience for me. I learned how disorganised I am and that I need to change. I now have more confidence in my work before I submit it. Students were very positive on the experience: Amazing, I had no idea that I had achieved so much until I reviewed my journal at the end. I now really enjoy reflecting on what I have done not just memorising information. Students rarely, if ever find the task of self-assessment easy, especially in a Chinese society where the teacher is traditionally viewed as having ultimate control. Some learners are naturally more self-reflective or self-critical than others, and some are more willing to share their learning than others. It provides an opportunity for students to reflect on their learning and think about the applications of ideas in their own situations. It is common for them to report that they only start to become aware of what they have learned when they looked back on the course in a systematic fashion, in preparing to submit their portfolios. Two major obstacles that learners had difficulty overcoming was the doubt in their ability to assess themselves and the objection to the concept of self-grading, arguing that grading should be the sole responsibility of the teacher, which is similar to studies mentioned earlier (Leach 2012, Brown and Knight 1994) however, we feel this has been addressed. From the Teachers Perspective Despite the increase in using self-assessment, Ross (2006) explains that teachers still retain doubts about the value and accuracy of the technique, saying many teachers holding the view that learners are incapable of self-assessment believing that learners are unable to appreciate or understand the process. In our situation some of the more senior teachers resisted the change in the power dynamic that self-assessment entails as it not only changes the role of the teacher but also the relationship between the teacher and learner. A secondary issue we experienced was when the teachers themselves are unsure of or are having difficulty in interpreting criteria and are therefore reluctant to negotiate with the learners. However, I have found that through the process of discussion the criteria ultimately become clearer. From my perspective Producing a portfolio of evidence has the advantage of students summarised and demonstrating their learning at many different stages of learning and has been a valuable takeaway from the program for the learners. Now before submitting a written piece of work, many learners have gone through the process of self-assessing and therefore have formed an educated opinion of how good they think the work is which leads to reduced anxiety. Overall, assessment portfolios are beneficial to students. They give them the opportunity to reflect, and to develop their abilities in assessing their own work and understanding. Thus, learners end up eventually taking responsibility for their own learning and have continuing opportunities for using their creativity and imagination and increasing the quality of their work (Barton and Collins 1997). On reflection, I believe that although portfolios require considerable work on the part of both the students and the teacher, they provide a much more effective assessment tool than those used traditionally because the ongoing and developing nature of the portfolio provides a much clearer indication not only of what the learners have achieved (the learning process) but also what the teacher has enabled the learners to achieve (the teaching process

Fa Mu Lan: Equal Rights for Women in China Essay -- Asian History

Despite the oppression women were subjected to in China, they still occasionally overcame it and accomplished something extraordinary. Some worked, and helped to earn the family living, some were extremely honorable in their efforts to uphold their chastity or their family's honor, and some accomplished even more influential feats. Fa Mu Lan trained for fifteen years in order to become a woman warrior. She became as strong as a man, but swifter and more graceful. After saving her father from the draft by dressing up as a man, she assembled an army. Her army never lost, because Kuan Kung, the god of war and literature, would always ride before her into battle. Interestingly enough, another of the more extraordinary feats was that of women writing and studying literature, also apparently under the god, Kuan Kung. Writing women worked around the rules. Men thought that women had no real use for writing, and so writing to the detriment of the household duties was greatly frowned upon, a problem easily solved. Both woman warriors and writers were amazing achievements, but one had some benefits the other did not. In the case of the woman warrior, Fa Mu Lan overcame many disadvantages of women. Biologically, women are disadvantaged from the start when it comes to physical strength and limits. Men are built more for hunting and killing than women. Male hormones force the growth of more muscle than female hormones do, and due to this women are often weaker. This is one of the great many barriers Fa Mu Lan overcame on her way to becoming a warrior. She trained hard enough that she was just as strong as a man. Mann says, "Through reading and writing, elite women developed new spheres of influence," which empowered wome... ...ving it all to your elders, which just serves to perpetuate the mistreatment of women, with the justification of Confusion thought. The pleasantries of the tales of Fa Mu Lan are quite interesting and fun to read, but they lack much significance. The lives of women in China were not improved through the tellings and re-tellings of folk lore. It is for the women writers unto whom the real respect can be given, as not only did they receive the same education as men at that time, but they excelled with the knowledge they gleaned from it. Women writers embraced their femininity and used it to their full advantage, creating better works of art and literature than their male counterparts. Works Cited Kingston, Maxine Hong. Woman Warrior. (1975), New York: Vintage International. Mann, Susan. Precious Records. (1997), Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Abortion Can Never Be Justified :: Papers

Abortion Can Never Be Justified Christians all react differently to the issue of abortion. Some would say that abortion is murder because they would believe that life starts from the moment of conception. This follows a Roman Catholic Church view but not all Roman Catholics would agree. The mainstream Roman Catholic view is that life is sacred. They would say that life is God given and the only person who has the right to take life is the one who created it (God). If God has created all life then God is the only person who can take it away. So if a woman was raped then the Roman Catholic view would be to raise the child by "loving her enemies" Mark 12:29-31. This would mean that she would be loving her enemy, which would be the baby from her oppressor and love the child to give it a healthy way of life. Roman Catholics would support giving her help and aid to raise the child by giving the mother money and if needed a secure living environment. Even if she could not look after it herself most Roman Catholics would accept her putting the child into adoption, that way the child is not murdered and can be loved and cared for. But not all Roman Catholics as I mentioned before have this opinion on abortion. Some would adopt their own opinions or those of other churches. The Church of England say that abortion is wrong unless having the child is putting anybody's life in danger. They see that life does not begin until birth. Anything before that is only potential life, therefore to have an abortion is not murder but it is still not acceptable to have one for any other reasons. They would explain in the case of rape that abortion of the oppressor's child would be seen as the lesser of two evils and should be accepted. The Church of England still recognise that human life is valuable as it is created in the image of God but they would argue that life does not start at

Metaphysical Language: Does it have any Meaning?

When we speak of something as metaphysical, we speak of something that is usually characterized as supernatural or something that is not perceptible by our senses.   When we talk about the things that our minds’ eyes see and not the things that our physical eyes see, we are talking in the language that is metaphysical. This is one of the things that the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein looks into in his book Tractatus Logico Philosophicus.   Wittgenstein argues that metaphysical language does not have any meaning.   They are as good as words that do not signify anything.   He even contends that the metaphysical statements should not be said: The right method in philosophy would be this. To say nothing except what can be said, i.e. ,the propositions of natural science, i.e. something that has nothing to do with philosophy: and then always, when someone else wished to say something metaphysical, to demonstrate to him that he had given a meaning to certain signs in his propositions. This method would not be satisfying to the other –he would not have the feeling that we were teaching him philosophy—but it would be the only strictly correct method. †¦ Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. (Wittgenstein, 6.53-7) This does not mean that metaphysical propositions are all automatically false.   What Wittgenstein means is that it is beyond the realm of logic for us to understand metaphysical language.   This is not because they are profound or beyond our reality or beyond our senses but because, for Wittgenstein, they have no sense. To illuminate, let us take for example this scenario.   I saw a huge Blue Heron flying in front of me and the next day, my neighbor won the lottery.   Another day, I saw a Blue Heron again and two days after that, an accident happened in front of my house.   Now, I see a Blue Heron the third time and I conclude that the Blue Heron is a sign of something will happen.   Nobody knows what will happen but I am sure that the sign means that something will happen because I see it in my mind’s eyes, my soul.   My metaphysical statement is that the Blue Heron is a sign that things will happen.   It is like saying that when we see a black cat, bad things will happen to us. For Wittgenstein, it does not have any sense to say that a situation is a result of my perception of a Blue Heron or a bad luck is the result of my seeing a black cat.   He says that sentences like these work like a picture.   Since it is very difficult to explain, let me explain it through an example.   A map of the United States, for example, is a picture that points to the land of the United States.   The map shows that New York is more or less in the Eastern side of the map and Washington is in the Western side of the map. If we are in the Central part of the United States and we want to go to Seattle, we will fly eastward.   We will not fly westward because the map which pictures for us the location of Seattle tells us that Seattle lies east of the United States.   Ã‚  This is what Wittgenstein means when he says that â€Å"there must be something identical in a picture and what it depicts† (Wittgenstein 2.161).   The map mimics the way reality is structured.   It mimics the way the real locations in the US are placed beside each other. Language works like a picture.   It tells us what the situation is.   Wittgenstein says, â€Å"We picture facts to ourselves† (2.1).   For him, the meaning of a statement is whatever it pictures.   The meaning of the statement tells the situation of the world but like the picture, it can not tell us if it is actually true of false.   When we make a statement for example and we feel that it is meaningful, what the sentence is doing is that it is just pointing to a possible situation in the reality but it may be true or false. When we say, for example that a Blue Heron causes things to happen like it is the cause of our neighbor’s winning in the lottery or accident, the statement’s meaning pictures to us situations that can be true but we cannot be really sure because there is nothing in the sentence that makes it true.   Wittgenstein says, â€Å"In order to tell whether a picture is true or false we must compare it with reality† (Wittgenstein, 2.223). If we apply this with the statement, â€Å"The Blue Heron causes things to happen, things like winning a lottery or being the cause of people’s car accident†.   A Blue Heron is a big bird that lazes around the shallow part of water.   By definition, it has wings.   It can fly.   It has a beak, it can catch fish.   It can walk for a few steps.   It can swim.   These are the capabilities of a Blue Heron.   In reality, nothing in its definition or physical make-up can tell us that it can make a man win a lottery or be in a car accident. So the statement that â€Å"The Blue Heron causes things to happen, things like winning a lottery or being the cause of people’s car accident† does not have any sense.   As Wittgenstein says, â€Å"There is no compulsion making on thing happen because another has happened.   The only necessity that exists is logical necessity† (Wittegenstein 6.37).   We can understand the statement but it is nonsensical if we analyze it following Wittgenstein. In the same way, Wittgenstein would say that it does not have any sense to talk about a ‘soul’ or ‘a good life’.   We do not know what a soul is.   Nobody has seen a soul.   Nobody has reported that he or she sees a soul getting out of the body of a person who has just died.   We cannot find a correspondence for the world ‘soul’ in reality.   We have a sign for soul but we do not have a referent for the sign. When somebody dies and we say that he/she has lived a ‘good life’, it is also nonsensical.   What is a good life to one is not automatically the good life to another.   There is no single referent for what the sign ‘good life’.   It is also nonsensical when people at the funeral say about the dead person that lives were changed because of him.   Again, value statements like these are subjective and are not verifiable.   How can this statement be analyzed if there nothing that can be the referent for the sign.   The referent has died.   For Wittgenstein says, â€Å"The world of the happy man is a different one from that of the unhappy man. . .   Soo too at death the world does not alter, but comes to an end† (Wittgenstein 6.43-6.431).      

Psychological Aspects of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism Essay

Though the most of the teachings followed by the different sects of Buddhism vary and conflict with each other, the general core values set by Buddha are still followed by all Buddhists. In regard to this we examine two Buddhism sects namely Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism. Whilst Theravada is psychologically oriented, Mahayana is idealistically oriented. The two sects have varying perceptions of the reality and the world besides the concept of being. There are many inherent differences between the two sects of Buddhism though the two seem to broadly agree on the original teachings of Buddha. Firstly, Theravada Buddhism denies the existence of any true being behind any given phenomenon and consequently avoids making metaphysical statements unlike Mahayana which teaches an Eternal Absolute included in many names. In this sense, Mahayana holds that all beings in all forms are identical with the absolute in their cores. Moreover, Mahayana sees Gautama as seeing through the projection of the absolute though it holds or possess a mortal frame of illusion which is frail. On the other hand, Theravada consider Gautama as a natural teacher or a superman at most. In the teachings of Theravada, liberation can only be achieved through an individual’s effort as opposed to the teaching of Mahayana which holds that liberation can be achieved through the help of outside assistance and deliverance through the power of others (Paul, 1999, 45). Moreover, Theravada Buddhism teaches it followers to set their ultimate goal to be the achievement of nirvana as opposed to the case of Mahayana which its ultimate goal is defined in following the ways of bodhisattva in leading all other human beings especially the sentient beings to liberation. In addition, Theravada Buddhism sees Hinayana as the final exit from the world while the same to Mahayana Buddhism is considered as achieving consciousness of an individual absolute nature and gaining mental aloofness state from all suffering. As seen in the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, it attitudes are organized in such a way that an individual or a follower should endeavor to help the world and unselfish to it. On the contrary, Theravada attitudes are such that it followers should always endeavor to defeat the world through analysis strategies employed on its elements and through using knowledge and experience of an individual conduct. Mahayana Buddhism sometimes referred to as Northern Buddhism or the great wheel (vehicle) is mostly found in china, Vietnam, Japan, Korea and Nepal. It is usually followed by monks and lay. In essence, the Monks follow the rules set by Vinayas and which constitutes the prescriptions for monastic life in the Tipitaka also known to be Theravada sacred canon. However, they do this via the interpretation of Mahayana. In addition, the Monks also take vows to strive attain bodhisattva, with those who pursue esoteric practices of Tantric Buddhism taking Tantric initiations and vows (Michael, 2003, 56). In essence, Mahayana Buddhism is founded on speculations of metaphysical nature in respect to the nature of reality or what can be termed as enlightenment in addition to the core values set by Buddha. The general idea of Mahayana Buddhism is that when one achieves enlightenment, such a person returns to the world as a Bodhisattva to join other human beings. In this context, this branch of Buddhism emphasizes that the duty of a Buddhist who has achieved enlightenment is compassionately work in an effort to help end the sufferings of other Buddhists. In addition, Mahayana Buddhism holds the argument that through enlightenment, all creatures which can be considered as sentiment will finally achieve Buddhahood (Christopher, 1999, 23). Mahayana Buddhism is commonly divided into philosophical schools which are known to be influential not only to the Mahayana Buddhism but also to the Shankara and Advaita Vedanta as well. In this regard, the dialectic school also known as Madhyamika constitute one of the two schools of Mahayana. In essence, this school emphasizes negation of every possible phenomenological reality through logical reducto-ad-absurdum means in an effort to achieve Shunyata which can be seen as ineffable absolute or void and which is considered as the only reality. The concept of Shunyata was introduced in an effort to refute the delusions caused by separate enduring egos. Moreover, the concept was adopted to emphasize the ways in which everything in the universe is connected to each other. The second school is a consciousness doctrine also known as Vijnanavada. This school uses mediation process in an effort to prove that consciousness constitutes the ultimate reality. Unlike the other school, Vijnanavada has a number of occult and metaphysical conceptions including an emanationist which psychologically oriented but similar to Samkhya which is on the contrary cosmologically oriented. Mahayana Buddhism is centered on the noble Bodhisattva ideal which guides the enlightened Buddhists while dealing with the sentimental beings. In definition, a bodhisattva can be seen as a being who is in constant search of means of achieving or attaining Buddhahood in order to benefit sentiment beings. The conception of bodhisattva was developed from the idea of a Buddhist who differs with the ultimate goal of extinction also referred to as nirvana so that such a person can often make his or her way back to the world of suffering and help end the suffering of sentient beings (Michael, 2003, 59). In essence, the idea of bodhisattva is considered as demonstrating selfishness in the doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism largely because a bodhisattva having not reached nirvana, postpone enlightenment so as to help the sentient beings. On the other hand, Theravada Buddhism is seen as the oldest surviving school of Buddhist school and began first in India. It is also known as Hinayana and is relatively close to original Buddhism and conservative as compared to Mahayana Buddhism. Different from the teachings offered by Mahayana, Theravada emphasizes on the concept of Vibhajjavada or Pali which is literally used to mean the teaching of Analysis. According to this teaching, insight comes from the experience of the aspirant coupled by reasoning instead of by blind faith and critical investigation. Despite this teaching, the scriptures adopted by Theravada Buddhism emphasizes on the need to heed to the advice of the elders or the wise. In essence, heeding to the advice given by the elders and evaluation of one’s experience are considered to be the two vital tests on which the judgment of practices adopted by any given follower should be based. In Theravada Buddhism, the cause of human suffering and existence is identified as tanha or a craving which constitutes all the defilements inclusive of sensual desires, anger, ill will, jealousy, fear, hatred among others. In this context, the level of defilement can be coarse, subtle or medium. In essence, the phenomenon of defilement in Theravada Buddhism is seen as arising temporary, taking hold for a short time and then vanishing all together. In this respect, the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism believes that defilements are harmful not only to the person who commits them but also to others and that they are the force behind all the inhumanities committed by any given human being. Moreover, the followers of Theravada Buddhism holds the believe that defilements constitutes habits which are born out of ignorance afflicting the minds of the unenlightened human beings. Being under the influence of defilements, human beings are believed to cling to them by ignoring the established truth. On the other hand, these defilements are considered to be nothing but taints afflicting the mind of human beings consequently creating stress and suffering. Furthermore, the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism believes that the unenlightened human beings tends to cling to their bodies with the assumption that it is their self while on the contrary it present itself as an impermanent phenomenon which is formed on air, fire, water and earth. In this context, it is believed that the body will decompose and disperse after death. Moreover, it is believed that the mental defilements’ continuous and frequent manipulation and instigation of human mind prevents it from seeing the true nature of reality. These defilements according to Theravada Buddhism are further strengthened by unskillful behavior and that if a human being follow a noble eightfold path, he or she can weaken or overcome these defilements. The doctrine of Theravada Buddhism believe that those who are unenlightened experience the world through imperfect six senses inclusive of the ears, the eyes, nose, tongue, mind and tactile sense. They then goes on to use the mind which is by then clouded by much defilement in forming their interpretations, perceptions of reality and conclusions. In essence, the conclusion reached is based on the perceptions of these individuals in regard to the reality. On the other hand, the five physical senses are inactive to unenlightened person and consequently, the defilements are further strengthened unlike in the case of an enlightened person where the senses are wholly active thus suppressing any defilement. In order for any human being to overcome the stress and suffering caused by these defilements one must strive to overcome the defilements first. The defilements in this context are believed to be initially restrained through mindfulness in regard to preventing them from taking over the bodily and mind action. To uproot them therefore, one need to undertake internal investigation and to analyze and at the same time understand the experience and the true nature of such defilements through the use of jhana. The process of uprooting the defilements need to be performed on each kind of defilement if optimal results are to be achieved. Consequently, the mediator will realize four noble truths as believed by the Theravada doctrine which will help him in achieving enlightenment and overcome the defilements completely (Prebish, 1994, 67). In essence, the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism consider enlightenment and Nibbana as their ultimate goals. In this sense, Nibbana is thought of as the perfect bliss through which a person is freed from the cycle of birth, illness, aging and death. The doctrine believe that each and every person should be held personally responsible for their own liberation and self-awakening. In this context, every individual is the one responsible for the consequences of his or her actions as well as those specific actions. As such, by simply believing and striving to learn the truth as provided for by the original Buddhism, an individual cannot fully be awakened but rather he or she must strive to know and conceptualize such reality through direct experience. In this regard, the individual has to follow the teachings of Buddha in respect to the noble eightfold path in an effort to individually discover the truth. According to the doctrine of Theravada, gods, Buddhas, or even deities are not capable of offering awakening to any human being and as such are incapable of lifting from freeing them from the samsara cycle of birth, ageing and death. According to the beliefs held by followers of Theravada Buddhism, Buddhas are only teachers while the gods and deities are subject to anger and other forms of defilements (Robinson, 2005, 46). Theologically, Theravada Buddhism is founded on the four noble truths which are also referred to as the four sublime truths. In essence this can be disseminated as defining the problem, the cause of the problem, the solution to such a problem and the methods and ways that must be followed to attain that solution. Firstly, Theravada Doctrine takes suffering or Dukkha as one of the four noble truths. In this regard, we can have inherent suffering which includes all forms of suffering undergone by an individual as a result of worldly things . On the other extreme, we can have suffering that results from change and finally suffering that is caused by one’s failure of recognizing that he or she is an aggregate definite with an identity that is unsusceptible to change. Secondly, we have the cause of the suffering referred to as Dukkha Samudaya and which can be defined as a craving that leads an individual to worldly bondage and attachment thus causing suffering for such an individual. In this regard, Kama Tanha is the act of craving for any given pleasurable object as a result of the body senses. On the other hand, Bhava Tanha is when an individual crave to be attached to a particular ongoing process such as the longing for existence. Still, Vibhava Tanha is when an individual crave to be detached from any given ongoing process such as the longing for self annihilation. The third truth called Dukkha Nirodha can be seen as a cessation for suffering. According to this truth, it is impossible for one to adjust the entire world in order to fit in his or her taste in an effort to free from suffering. On the other hand, one must adjust his or her mind through detachment process so that any occurring change will have no effect on the peace of mind of such an individual. In other words, the elimination of the craving or the cause will help in eliminating the result. The final truth is a pathway to freedom from suffering and is known as Dukkha Nirodha Gamini Patipata. It is commonly known as the noble eightfold pathway towards Nibbana or freedom. It constitutes the right intention, speech, actions livelihood among other right things that an individual needs to do to free from suffering. According to the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism, all conditioned phenomena including physical qualities, knowledge, theories adopted and the physical characteristics are subject to change with time. This is referred to as Anicca which can also be taken to mean impermanence. Moreover, the teachings of Theravada holds that suffering or Dukkha is caused by craving in the sense that whatever is craved for is subjected to change, transition and perishing. In this regard, the impermanence of the craving object causes sorrow and disappointment in the long run. Since individuals are the one involved in labeling the objects to be liked and those to be disliked on one hand and the comforts and discomforts in the world on the other hand, they are the ones who create suffering in the first place. In this context, if an individual succeeds in overcoming the tendency to label thing in the world, he or she will be free from suffering (Prebish, 1994, 68). Still, Theravada Buddhism uses the concept of anatta in referring to the lack of unchanging and fixed identity. In this regard no specific phenomenon constitutes any individuals’ essential and permanent self. In essence, any human being is composed of five aggregate elements. First, there is the rupa which includes the feelings and other forms of sensations also known as vedana, sanna which includes all the perceptions held by an individual, sankhara which is the mental formations arising from the perceptions and vinnana or the consciousness. All of this cannot be identified as ones’ self but rather together forms the core of an individual. The realization of anatta, dukkha and anica enables one to achieve freedom and to reach nibbana, a state in which one is complete and ultimately free. In regard to meditation, Theravada Buddhism sees it as a way of positively reinforcing the mind of the individual in question. In this respect, mediation is categorized into two. Samatha which in literal terms mean making something skillful includes the acts of achieving visualizing or tranquilizing reality through meditation. Vipassana can be defined as insight or abstract understanding through meditation. In essence, samatha helps one to skillfully concentrate the mind while vipassana helps in seeing through the veil of ignorance (Paul, 1999, 47). In conclusion, while it is easy to disseminate the psychological orientation and aspects of Theravada Buddhism, it is hard to identify the psychological perspectives of Mahayana Buddhism. This is because as stated earlier Mahayana is idealism as opposed to Theravada Buddhism which is psychologically oriented. The teachings of Mahayana Buddhism are those of metaphysically assisting other human beings to achieve enlightenment though the one helping need not have fully achieved it himself. In other words, it teaches it followers to be unselfish to the others and to the world as a whole. It teaches its followers to strive to attain enlightenment and to help others who have not attained it do so. On the other hand, Theravada teaches its followers to strive to overcome the world through individual efforts other than relying on external assistance. In essence, Theravada Buddhism encourages its followers to find effective means of overcoming their defilements and thus to free themselves from sufferings. It holds that the suffering undergone by any individual starts with that individual himself and thus he or she is the only one who can liberate himself from such suffering. Work Cited: Christopher Brown. Can Buddhism Save? Finding Resonance in Incommensurability. Cross Currents, Vol. 49, Summer 1999, pp. 23 Michael Pye. Skilful Means: A Concept in Mahayana Buddhism. London, Routledge Publishers, 2003, pp. 56, 59 Paul Groner. A History of Indian Buddhism: From Sakyamuni to Early Mahayana. China, University of Hawaii Press, 1999, pp. 45, 47 Prebish Charles. Buddhism: A Modern Perspective. United States, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994, pp. 67, 78 Robinson R. Buddhist Religions: A Historical Introduction. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 2005, pp. 46.

Clinical Interview Questions

Learning is usually a challenge for most, what learning technique and approach works the best for you? 2. There are many different roles in life, usually there is a more dominant position people fit best in. Your strongest strengths would get you farther if you were more of a soldier or a leader? 3. When life becomes stressful and negative events unfold, is there anything that usually helps the situation? Such as eating something, thinking of good thoughts, or talking to someone special? 4.For our daily life, are generally satisfied with how your life is today? 5. Is there a lack of people in your life? Is there anyone particular? 6. How would you describe your family and friend relationships with how you grew up and how you were raised? How would you describe them currently? 7. If you were to look at yourself and the life you have lived so far, would you say you are and have been at least 50% positive about life and the choices you have made? 8. Do you feel there is anyone who contr olled your life at any point in time? Do you blame anyone for any event?Do you have any regrets about the choices you have made? 9. Regardless of how much time people have been alive for, people still remember things about their life. What would you say is the best memory you have framed in your mind? What is the worst memory that you would like to forget? 10. Some people accept memories because the override the old with the new. Other people accept memories because they talk about them comfortably. 11. If you could change a characteristic, an ability, an achieved long-term goal, and a lifestyle feature about your life dealing with one of each what would they be?

Pol 202 Notes

POL 202: Introduction to International Relations Study Questions for Exam 3 Networks What role do transnational organizations and networks play in the boomerang model? In the boomerang model NGOs in one state are able to activate transnational linkage to bring pressure from other states on their own governments. When NGOs are blocked from influencing their own government they can activate their transnational networks and bring their plight to the attention of NGOs to other countries. TANs will mobilize opinions and voters in other counties. What is a Transnational Advocacy Network? Give an actual example.A Transnational Advocacy Network is a set of individual and nongovernmental organizations acting in pursuit of a normative objective. EX- Planned Parenthood Federation of America What do Transnational Advocacy Networks and Transnational Terrorist Networks have in common? They both aim to alter a behavior of a (foreign) government. Try to bring about social and political change What a re the stages of the norms life cycle? First Stage- Actors attempt to convince an important population to accept and embrace their belief. Second Stage -Norm becomes near universal standard of behavior.During the second stage, the idea becomes a universal standard of behavior. Third Stage- Norm is internalized. Once a norm is internalized, certain actions become â€Å"taboo,† while others are viewed as â€Å"correct† or appropriate. What do we mean when we say that terrorists are rational? Because to be rational a person/group has to have purposive behavior or the stategies by which individuals or groups pursue their interest which terrorist have. Rational is not a statement about the substance of a person/groups belief or idea and have having an alternative perspective from the majority does not make them irrational.What is the difference between the terrorist strategies of coercion and provocation? Coercion- The threat or imposition of costs on other actors in order to change their behavior. Means of international include military force, economic, sanctions, and embargoes. Provocation- A strategy terrorists attacks intended to provoke the targets government into making a disproportionate response that alienates moderates in terrorists' home society or in other sympathetic audiences. What is the difference between the terrorist strategies of spoiling and outbidding?Spoiling- A strategy of terrorist attacks intended to sabotage a prospective peace between the target and moderate leadership from the terrorists' home society. Outbidding- A strategy of terrorists attacks designed to demonstrate a capability for leadership and commitment a capability for relative to another, similar terrorist groups. Identify two limitations that will likely prevent Transnational Advocacy Networks from replacing national governments. 1. Cannot legally bind their members. 2. Must rely on voluntary compliance from their targets 3. Depend on benign treatment from states .Human Rights Identify three specific civil and political rights recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human rights. 1. ) life and liberty. 2. ) prohibition of slavery. 3. ) freedom from arbitrary arrest. 4. ) prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. 5. ) right to privacy. 6. ) right of assembly. Identify three specific economic and social rights recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human rights. 1. ) right to marry and have a family. 2. ) right to own property. 3. ) right to social security. 4. ) right to education. 5. ) right to work. 6. ) right to have rest and leisure.What is the principal legal difference between the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the two subsequent covenants? The other two are legal binding and internationally enforceable treaties. What documents comprise what is frequently called the International Bill of Rights? Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and The Internati onal Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). What is the most common reason that governments violate the human rights of their citizens?Some governments violate human rights not because they are attacked, but in order to preserve their own rule. EX- After a military coup in Argentina in 1976: The Dirty War, a 7-year campaign against opponents of the regime, immediately began Almost 10,000 people were killed What is the purpose of the International Criminal Court? What type of international institutions was it intended to replace? the International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal its purpose is to to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes. The ICC is a court of â€Å"last resort. †. It replaced international ad hoc tribunals.Identify two important innovations in human rights institutions that are likely to have implications for the future. Individual Petition- Individuals are allowed to petition the Court directly if they claim a state has violated rights that are denoted in the ECHR. Individual petitions make it harder for states to block international courts from hearing cases they fear they might lose. Universal Jurisdiction- Countries may claim the right to prosecute perpetrators of crimes against humanity. This means that the location of the crime and the citizenship of the individuals involved are irrelevant.Universal jurisdiction is useful for war crimes, genocide, torture, and other serious offenses. What is universal jurisdiction. Give an actual historical example of its use. It is a principle in which countries claim the right to prosecute perpetrators of crimes against humanity regardless of the citizenship of the individual involved and the location where the crime occurred. EX-Case of Augusto Pinochet he ruled Chile in 1973-1990 and was indicted by Spanish court on numerous and charged with human rights violations in 1998. Arrested in UK in 1998 and detained.He Returned to Chile in 2000 †¢ Indicted or implicated in > 300 crimes in Chile†¢ Died in 2006 prior to trial What is individual petition? Why is it significant in international relations? A right that permits individuals to petition appropriate international legal bodies directly if they believe a state has violated their rights. Significance is that individual petitions make it harder for states to block international courts from hearing cases they fear they might lose and Individuals are allowed to petition the Court directly if they claim a state has violated rights that are denoted in the ECHR.Global Environment Why does addressing global environmental problems resemble a Prisoners' Dilemma situation? Because although a state might want to help it is in their interest to defect and have all the other state cooperating. Want cleaner environment but seek to achieve it by free riding. `What is an externality? Give an example. An externality is the cost or benefits for stakeholders other than th e actor undertaking an action. When an externality exists, the decision maker does not bear all the costs or reap all the gains from his or her action.EX- if a firm decides to dump waste into a river, others bear the costs of either using contaminated water or purifying it themselves. Explain how the European Emissions Trading Scheme has managed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses. It has done that by giving the 5 dirtiest industries a tradable allowances for greenhouse gases up to the level of its existing emissions. Firms that want to exceed those levels now have to purchase credits from other European firms thus the emission levels don't rise over all they are simply shifted from one country to another.How do common pool resources differ from pure public goods. Given an example of global common pool resources. Common pool resources are goods that are available to everyone, such as open ocean fisheries ; it is difficult to exclude anyone from using the common pool, but one us er's consumption reduces the amount available for others unlike public good where the quantity of the good can not be diminished. What was the purpose of the Montreal Protocol of 1989? It was an international treaty that is designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of a number of CFCs and other chemical compounds.What is the most common role of Transnational Advocacy Networks in dealing with global environment problems? They monitor compliance with the environmental agreements. Environmental TANs often play the role of â€Å"fire alarm† and call attention to governments who violate agreements. Identify two reasons why ozone depletion has been an easier problem to deal with than climate change. There has been greater cooperation on ozone depletion, whereas reductions in CO2 are highly controversial. 1. ) In ozone's case the gains from the ban on CFC far exceeded the costs of change.IN the case of climate change the are large costs to reducing CO2 and on ly long term benefits. Fossil fuel is way more important in the world economy and reducing it by 50% would cost the world 2 to 8 percent of the world's GDP. 2. )Since the CFC industry was highly concentrated and small it was easier for states to cooperate (the fossil fuel industry is the opposite)- collective action problem. The Future What states are known to currently posses nuclear weapons. Untied States, Russia, United Kingdom (? ), France (? ), China (? ), India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel is also suspected to have them.Name the five states recognized as nuclear weapons states under the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Untied States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, and China. Identify the three â€Å"pillars† of the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and explain the aim or goal of each. Non-Proliferation- Prohibited from assisting in nuclear weapons capability Disarmament- NWS agree to seek to eliminate nuclear weapons Right to peaceful use nuclear technology- All have â€Å"inalienable right† to peaceful use of nuclear technology What is the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) under the 1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty?To inspect non-nuclear states in the treaty to make sure they are not developing nuclear weapons like the promised. The IAEA inspections ensure that non-nuclear states do not divert enriched uranium or plutonium from their reactors and use those fissle materials to build nuclear weapons. State that are part of the treaty promise to submit to these inspections. In terms of the bargaining framework first introduced in Chapter 3, is a substantial shift in power likely to be more dangerous if the cost of war is high or if the cost of war is low? Why?It will be more dangerous if the cost of war is low because the state that is declining in power would expect to gain more from going to war than from bargaining and also all out comes that can be achieved by bargaining are farther away from that states ideal point than the ones that can be achieved by going to war. While when the cost of war is high both states have an increased bargaining ranged which is closer to their ideal points. Is the continuation of globalization inevitable? If so why? If not, what might slow or reverse it? No, history tells us that globalization is neither inevitable nor irreversible.Political conflict can slow or even reverse seemingly inevitable economic processes. For example: a period of globalization in 1913 was suddenly halted by the start of World War. How does the spread of information and communication technology increase income inequality? The spread of information and communication technology increase income inequality by making it easier for free trade and capital to flow which as increase the use of both in the process and since free trade and capital flows create both winners and losers it causes a greater increase in income inequality. What was the â€Å"Battle of Seattle†?In Novemb er 1999, delegates to a conference of the WTO met in Seattle. There were so many people protesting the conference that it became known as the â€Å"Battle of Seattle† and the meeting adjourned without an agreement. In the context of economic globalization, what is meant by the phrase â€Å"race to the bottom†? Each government sets its own rules, so governments may lower their standards in the competition to attract investment. Why is voting in the IMF said to be undemocratic Because states voting power in the IMF is based on currency rather than population. States with more money have a greater share of voting power.