Civil Rights Breached in The Trial by Franz Kafka essays

Civil Rights Breached in The Trial by Franz Kafka essays The Trial by Franz Kafka is a remarkable study of the effects of a dictatorship upon freedoms granted in most democracies of today. Throughout the book, Josef K. experiences numerous violations of the principles of law that we take for granted in daily life. Kafka takes this idea of a corrupt and omnipresent justice system and tells us of the life of a man that did nothing wrong. Even at the conclusion of the book, when Josef K. is executed, there is still no indication of the nature of the crime with which he was accused. This is the first, and most heinous, violation of the principles of justice. When Josef K. is first arrested, the reader assumes that K. has committed some sort of crime that makes him deserving of the arrest. It is soon found out, however, that the guards arresting K. have no idea of why he is being arrested. K. is then forced to wait, held prisoner in his apartment, for an inspector to arrive, presumably to inform him of what crime he was arrested for and to take him away. In fact, upon the inspectors arrival, K. is simply told, yet again, that he is to be arrested. This continues throughout the book until its conclusion. Yet, throughout the proceedings of the trial, Josef K. and his temporary lawyer were able to submit petitions for evidence to defend K. against a crime that neither of them knew. There is obviously no fairness in this act at all. How is the accused supposed to put up a defense against a charge they do not know of? Evidence is meaningless because there is no idea of what will actually be useful. On top of this, it becomes eviden t to the reader that evidence made no difference in the trial, and instead, the outcome was solely based on connections, contacts, and acquaintances. Even if the right people were known, which seemed to be nearly impossible in the court, the odds of swaying their opinions seemed to be futile because there were so many people involved. Thus it can be...

Grace Kelly - Actress and Princess of Monaco

Grace Kelly - Actress and Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly was a beautiful, classy stage actress who became an Oscar-winning movie star. In five years she starred in 11 motion pictures and, while at the top of her popularity, she left stardom to marry Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956. Dates: November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982 Also Known As: Grace Patricia Kelly; Princess Grace of Monaco Growing Up On November 12, 1929, Grace Patricia Kelly was born the daughter of Margaret Katherine (nà ©e Majer) and John Brendan Kelly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Kelly’s father was a successful construction company owner and former triple Olympic gold medalist in rowing.  Her mother had been the first coach of womens athletic teams at the University of Pennsylvania. Kelly’s siblings included an older sister, older brother, and a younger sister. Although the family did not come from â€Å"old money,† they were successful in business, athletics, and politics. Grace Kelly grew up in a 17-room brick mansion with plenty of recreational features for active children; plus, she spent summers in her family’s vacation home in Ocean City, Maryland. Unlike the rest of her athletic family, Kelly was introverted and always seemed to be fighting a cold. She enjoyed making up stories and reading, feeling like a misfit in the sporty household. As a child, Kelly was taught by her mother to never publicly show emotions and her father taught her to strive for perfection. After Ravenhill Academy elementary school, Kelly attended the private Stevens School for young matrons, where, to the astonishment of her parents, she excelled in the school’s drama society. Grace Kelly wanted to continue studying drama in college; thus, she applied to Bennington College in Vermont due to their outstanding drama department. With low scores in math, however, Kelly was turned down. Her father was against her second choice, which was to audition for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. Kelly’s mother intervened, telling her husband to let Grace go; she was confident their daughter would be home in a week. Grace Kelly Becomes an Actress In 1947, Grace Kelly was accepted into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She took off for New York, lived at the Barbizon Hotel for Women, and earned extra money by modeling for the John Robert Powers modeling agency. With her blonde hair, porcelain complexion, blue-green eyes, and 5’8† perfect poise, Grace Kelly became one of the highest-paid models in New York City at the time. After graduation from the Academy in 1949, Kelly appeared in two plays at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania, and then in her first Broadway play, The Father. Kelly received good reviews for her â€Å"essence of freshness.† She retained an agent, Edith Van Cleve, and began acting in television dramas in 1950, including the Philco Television Playhouse and the Kraft Theatre. Sol C. Siegel, a producer at Twentieth Century Fox, had seen Grace Kelly in The Father and was impressed with her performance. Siegel sent director Henry Hathaway to test Kelly for a small part in the motion picture Fourteen Hours (1951). Kelly passed the reading test and joined the Hollywood cast. Her parents, concerned about her safety, sent Kelly’s younger sister to accompany her to the West Coast. The shooting for Kelly’s part, a cool wife seeking a divorce, only took two days; after which she returned back east. Continuing to act in off-Broadway plays in Ann Arbor and Denver in 1951, Kelly received a call from Hollywood producer Stanley Kramer to play the part of a young Quaker wife in the Western film High Noon. Kelly jumped at the chance to work with the experienced leading man, Gary Cooper. High Noon (1952) went on to win four Academy Awards; however, Grace Kelly was not nominated. Kelly returned to acting on live television dramas and Broadway plays. She took more acting classes in New York with Sanford Meisner to work on her voice. In the autumn of 1952, Grace Kelly tested for the film Mogambo (1953), enticed by it being filmed in Africa and starring legendary film star Clark Gable. After the test, Kelly was offered the part and a seven-year contract at MGM. The film was nominated for two Oscars: Best Actress for Ava Gardner and Best Supporting Actress for Grace Kelly. Neither actress won, but Kelly won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Hitchcock Uncovers Kellys Warmth By the 1950s, director Alfred Hitchcock had made a name for himself in Hollywood making suspenseful motion pictures that featured very cool blondes as his leading ladies. In June 1953, Kelly got a call to meet Hitchcock. After their meeting, Grace Kelly was cast as the female star in Hitchcock’s next motion picture, Dial M for Murder (1954). To rival television in the 50s, Warner Brothers decided the movie would be shot in 3-D, to Hitchcock’s dismay. The cumbersome camera made routine filming difficult and scenes had to be shot over and over, especially the murder scene in which Kelly’s character turns from victim to victor with a pair of scissors. Despite Hitchcock’s irritation over the 3-D frustration, Kelly enjoyed working with him. He had a way of exploiting her cool exterior while unearthing her warm passionate interior. When filming for Dial M for Murder finished, Kelly returned to New York. Soon she was offered two screenplays and had to make up her mind which movie to star in. On the Waterfront (1954) was to be filmed in New York, where Kelly could continue dating her boyfriend, the famous clothing designer Oleg Cassini. The other was another Hitchcock picture, Rear Window (1954), to be filmed in Hollywood. Feeling that she better understood the fashion model character in Rear Window, Kelly opted to go back to Hollywood and work with Hitchcock. Kelly Wins Academy Award and Meets a Prince In 1954, Grace Kelly was handed the script for The Country Girl, a role that was completely different from anything she had played before, that of the wearied wife of an alcoholic. She wanted the part badly, but MGM wanted her to star in Green Fire, a film she felt was full of clichà ©s. Kelly never found enchantment or contentment in Hollywood and wrestled with MGM with firm resolve, threatening to retire. The studio and Kelly compromised and she starred in both movies. Green Fire (1954) was a box-office failure. The Country Girl (1954) was a box-office success and Grace Kelly won the Academy Award for Best Actress. While Grace Kelly turned down multiple motion picture offers, to the studio’s displeasure, audiences revered her everywhere. One film she did not turn down was Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief (1955), filmed on the French Riviera with Cary Grant. Kelly’s boyfriend, Oleg Cassini, followed her to France and when the film finished, she introduced him to her family. They did not hide their disdain for him. He was divorced twice and seemed to be interested in more women than just their daughter, which was true, and the romance ended several months later. In spring 1955, while at the Cannes Film Festival, Grace Kelly was asked to appear in a photo session at the Palace of Monaco with Prince Rainier III. She obliged and met the prince. They chatted lightly while photos were taken. The photos sold magazines worldwide. After being a bridesmaid in her younger sister’s wedding during the summer of 1955, Kelly wanted marriage and a family of her own all the more. Prince Rainier, who was actively seeking a wife, began corresponding with her, finding out that they had a lot in common; they were both uncomfortable celebrities, devout Catholics, and desired a family. Grace Kelly Exits Stardom and Enters Royalty Prince Rainier arrived in the States to woo his future princess during the holidays of 1955 before asking Grace Kelly for her hand in marriage. Kelly’s family was very proud and the official proclamation of the couple’s engagement was made in January 1956, which became front-page international news. To finish her contract, Kelly starred in two final movies: The Swan (1956) and High Society (1956). She then left stardom behind to become a princess. (No one was more melancholy about her leaving Hollywood than Hitchcock for he had her in mind as his leading lady for several more of his movies if not all of them.) The royal wedding of 26-year-old Miss Grace Patricia Kelly to 32-year-old His Serene Highness Prince Rainier III of Monaco was held in Monaco on April 19, 1956. Then began Kelly’s most challenging role of all, fitting into a foreign country while feeling like an unwelcome visitor. She had left the States, her family, friends, and her acting career behind to enter the unknown. She became homesick. Sensing his wife’s unease, the prince began to ask her opinions and include her in state projects, which seemed to improve Kelly’s outlook as well as Monaco’s tourism. Kelly surrendered her former acting desires, settled into life in Monaco, and revitalized the principality as a center for opera, ballet, concerts, plays, flower festivals, and cultural conferences. She also opened the palace for guided tours during the summer when she and the prince were away at their summer home, Roc-Agel in France. The Prince and Princess of Monaco had three children: Princess Caroline, born 1957; Prince Albert, born in 1958; and Princess Stà ©phanie, born in 1965. In addition to motherhood, Princess Grace, as she was known, supervised the renovation of a crumbling medical facility into a first-rate hospital and founded the Princess Grace Foundation in 1964 to help those with special needs. Princess Grace of Monaco became loved and cherished by the people of her adopted homeland. Death of the Princess Princess Grace began suffering from severe headaches and abnormally high blood pressure in 1982. On September 13th of that year, Grace and 17-year-old Stà ©phanie were returning to Monaco from their country home, Roc-Agel, when Grace, who was driving, blacked out for a second. When she came to, she accidentally pressed her foot on the accelerator instead of the brake, driving the car over an embankment. As the women were pulled from the wreckage, it was discovered that Stà ©phanie had sustained minor injuries (a hairline cervical fracture), but Princess Grace was unresponsive. She was placed on mechanical life support at the hospital in Monaco. Doctors concluded that she had suffered a massive stroke, which had caused irreversible brain damage. The day following the accident, Princess Grace’s family made the decision to remove her from the artificial devices that were keeping her heart and lungs going. Grace Kelly died on September 14, 1982, at the age of 52.

Apply Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to your every day interactions Essay

Apply Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to your every day interactions - Essay Example Maslow suggested that there exists a hierarchy of needs and motives that is the main determinant of human behavior. It has been argued that if the existence of unsatisfied needs drives for higher motivation, then people need to understand and identify those needs which are more important for their successful behavior. In this context, Abraham Maslow proposed a model of human motivation and suggested that the higher-level needs can be satisfied and achieved only after satisfying or achieving the lower-level needs. In this regard, Maslow used a pyramid of needs with five levels, each level depicting each need. In the lowest level there are Psychological needs, such as need for air, water, sleep, and nourishment, which are required for the sustainability of life. In the next level there are Safety needs, such as need for safe area to live, job and financial security, need for medical insurance etc., which are required for safe, secure, and harmless life. In the next level there are Soci al needs, such as need for friends and belongings, need to give as well as receive love, which are required to interact with other people. In the forth level there are esteem needs, such as needs for self-respect, attention, achievement, recognition, reputation etc., which are needed for a person to feel the sense of â€Å"belonging†. In the upper-most level there are Self-actualization needs, such as needs for truth, justice, wisdom etc., which are needed for a person to achieve his full potential in life. The figure below shows the Hierarchy of Needs (Slater and Bremner, 2003, pp. 57-58; Maslows Hierarchy of Needs, n.d., p. 1-3). In my life the need for friends and family is the most. They played most crucial role in motivating me to achieve successes in every sphere of my life. In my life both friendship and love are highly important to achieve potential performances in every section of my life. These needs give me enough strength and

Creative Life Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Creative Life Writing - Essay Example The nighttime was unpleasantly cold. Maureen sat back and remained still on her bed, struggling not to tremble. Any motions or move about could be heard by the other mean convent sisters. She tried to control her breathing, in order not to trigger nausea in the extraordinarily freezing air despite the fact that her heart wanted to beat its way out of her chest. Her body was uneasy, as she had to wait for the morning almost throughout the night. Finally, it was morning, and the chattering and babbling noises of morning birds reverberated throughout the trees. Moreover, she knew she had finally walloped the recognizable gold of her patients. Enthusiasm endangered to compel her gulp of air into an unbalanced struggle for breath, but she tried to remain in control of herself. By now she knew the other sisters were up. She challenged to turn her head over so steadily, to look closely through the spaces between the beds in the dormitory. A pair of shimmering eyes in the narrow glow bounced in her direction. Then she reckoned she would have only seconds. They drew more rapidly, and she allowed her muscles to be overwrought, set for confrontations she would have to face, she thought to herself. Without warning, there was a heavy tap on her shoulder and what followed was the glare of two big eyeballs and a hoarse voice saying, â€Å"Getcha loaf off the bed you muppet!† Maureen starred at Mother Teresa and in her head said to herself, â€Å"I wonder if she knows the Jesus, she preaches about. â€Å"I am having a bad dose, Mother Teresa,† Said Maureen. The look from the gigantic woman made Maureen’s arms move of its individual agreement as she tried to lift her helpless body off the bed. Maureen’s feet reached for the ground. She howled while yawning and gurgled stretching her muscles after a long night. She put on her sandals and walked down the hallway, knowing the routine it was time for morning prayers before taking breakfast. By now, Maureen could not hold her nausea anymore as she headed hurriedly for the bathroom. When there she let it go, and it took all her energy making her sit on the floor despite how unhygienic and unthinkable it was.She slowly opened the door and soon after noticed a shadow below her feet. When she looked up she could see the silhouette of a gigantic woman before her, as the sunlight rays made it difficult to tell who it was. She moved towards Maureen and said, â€Å"Relax my child, it is me, Angela.† Maureen then s tepped back in a manner to hide her face from the blaring sunlight. As she regained her sight, she noticed an elderly woman was staring at her belly. She then said, â€Å"how’s the body me a little child?† Maureen replied, â€Å"Am doing just good sister.† But Angela became persistent and asked, â€Å"And why are ya spoofing off ya mouth here?† Maureen then looked down and said, â€Å"You must not tell anyone of this but am up to the duff Sister.† Angela sat down next to her in astonishment. â€Å"How is that even possible? You are a very young lad!!†

Concepts And Definitions Of Disability Essay Example for Free

Concepts And Definitions Of Disability Essay The contemporary conception of disability proposed in the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) views disability as an umbrella term for impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. Disability is the interaction between individuals with a health condition (e.g. cerebral palsy, Down syndrome or depression) and personal and environmental factors (e.g. negative attitudes, inaccessible transportation, or limited social supports). Long ago there was great confusion over the meaning of terms such as impairment, handicap, or disability. Then, in 1980, the WHO provided great service by offering a clear way of thinking about it all in a little book called International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps. All these terms refer to the consequences of disease, but consider the consequences at different levels. The disease produces some form of pathology, and then the individual may become aware of this: they experience symptoms. Later, the performance or behaviour of the person may be affected, and because of this the person may suffer consequences such as being unable to work. In this general scenario, Impairment was defined as any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure or function. Impairment is a deviation from normal organ function; it may be visible or invisible (screening tests generally seek to identify impairments). Disability was defined as any restriction or lack (resulting from an impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being. Impairment does not necessarily lead to a disability, for the impairment may be corrected. I am, for example, wearing eye glasses, but do not perceive that any disability arises from my impaired vision. A disability refers to the function of the individual (rather than of an organ, as with impairment). In turn, Handicap was defined as a disadvantage for a given individual, resulting from impairment or a disability that limits or prevents the fulfillment of a role that is normal (depending on age, sex, and social and cultural factors) for that individual. Handicap considers the persons participation in their social context. For example, if there is a wheel-chair access ramp at work, a disabled person may not be handicapped in coming to work there. Here are some examples: Impairment Speech production; Disability Speaking clearly enough to be understood; Handicap Communication I Hearing; D Understanding; H Communication I Vision; D Seeing; H Orientation I Motor control, balance, joint stiffness; D Dressing, feeding, walking; H Independence, mobility I Affective, cognitive limitations; D Behaving, interacting, supporting; H Social interaction, reasonableness Here is a diagram that suggests possible parallels between the impairment, disability handicap triad, and the disease, illness and sickness triad. (The squiggly arrows are intended to indicate a rough correspondence) Patients do not come to their physicians to find out what ICD code they have, they come to get help for what is bothering them. A Positive Perspective? Quality of Life and the International Classification of Function The focus on disability takes a somewhat negative approach to health, perhaps not unreasonable since doctors are supposed to cure diseases. But starting in the 1980s clinicians began to set goals to achieve when the disease could not be cured, beyong merely controlling symptoms. The notion of Quality of Life gained prominence as a way to emphasize a positive perspective on health health as a capacity to function and to live, even if the patient has a chronic condition. A central aim of care was to enhance the quality of the patients function, and hence their ability to life as normal a life as possible, even if the disorder could not be cured. This notion was a further extension of handicap, covering maintenance of normal function, but adding psychological well-being and, if possible, positive feelings of engagement. Measurements of quality of life extend the disability focus beyond the ability to perform activities of daily living to include a broad range of functioning (work, home, play) and also the persons feelings of satisfaction and well-being. This is necessarily a qualitative and subjective concept, judged by the patient in terms of the extent to which they are able to do the things they wish to do. In this medical context, quality of life is distinct from wealth or possessions, and to amke this clear you may see the term health-related quality of life. Reflecting these evolving ideas, the WHO revised its  Impairment, Disability and Handicap triad in 2001, re-naming it the International Classification of Function (ICF). This classification system provides codes for the complete range of functional states; codes cover body structures and functions, impairments, activities and participation in society. The ICF also considers contextual factors that may influence activity levels, so function is viewed as an interaction between health conditions (a disease or injury) and the context in which the person lives (both physical environment and cultural norms relevant to the disease). It establishes a common language for describing functional states that can be used in comparing across diseases and countries. The ICF therefore uses positive language, so that activity and participation replace disability and handicap. The ICF is described on the WHO web site. Impairment, Disability and Handicap Sheena L. Carter, Ph.D. The words â€Å"impairment,† â€Å"disability,† and â€Å"handicap,† are often used interchangeably. They have very different meanings, however. The differences in meaning are important for understanding the effects of neurological injury on development. The most commonly cited definitions are those provided by the World Health Organization (1980) in The International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps: Impairment: any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological or anatomical structure or function. Disability: any restriction or lack (resulting from an impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being. Handicap: a disadvantage for a given individual that limits or prevents the fulfillment of a role that is normal As traditionally used, impairment refers to a problem with a structure or  organ of the body; disability is a functional limitation with regard to a particular activity; and handicap refers to a disadvantage in filling a role in life relative to a peer group. Examples to illustrate the differences among the terms impairment, disability, and handicap. 1. CP example: David is a 4-yr.-old who has a form of cerebral palsy (CP) called spastic diplegia. Davids CP causes his legs to be stiff, tight, and difficult to move. He cannot stand or walk. Impairment: The inability to move the legs easily at the joints and inability to bear weight on the feet is an impairment. Without orthotics and surgery to release abnormally contracted muscles, Davids level of impairment may increase as imbalanced muscle contraction over a period of time can cause hip dislocation and deformed bone growth. No treatment may be currently available to lessen Davids impairment. Disability: Davids inability to walk is a disability. His level of disability can be improved with physical therapy and special equipment. For example, if he learns to use a walker, with braces, his level of disability will improve considerably. Handicap: Davids cerebral palsy is handicapping to the extent that it prevents him from fulfilling a normal role at home, in preschool, and in the community. His level of handicap has been only very mild in the early years as he has been well-supported to be able to play with other children, interact normally with family members and participate fully in family and community activities. As he gets older, his handicap will increase where certain sports and physical activities are considered normal activities for children of the same age. He has little handicap in his preschool classroom, though he needs some assistance to move about the classroom and from one activity to another outside the classroom. Appropriate services and equipment can reduce the extent to which cerebral palsy prevents David from fulfilling a normal role in the home, school and community as he grows. 2. LD example: Cindy is an 8-year-old who has extreme difficulty with reading (severe dyslexia). She has good vision and hearing and scores well on tests of intelligence. She went to an excellent preschool and several different special reading programs have been tried since early in kindergarten. Impairment: While no brain injury or malformation has been identified, some impairment is presumed to exist in how Cindys brain puts together visual and auditory information. The impairment may be inability to associate sounds with symbols, for example. Disability: In Cindys case, the inability to read is a disability. The disability can probably be improved by trying different teaching methods and using those that seem most effective with Cindy. If the impairment can be explained, it may be possible to dramatically improve the disability by using a method of teaching that does not require skills that are impaired (That is, if the difficulty involves learning sounds for letters, a sight-reading approach can improve her level of disability). Handicap: Cindy already experiences a handicap as compared with other children in her class at school, and she may fail third grade. Her condition will become more handicapping as she gets older if an effective approach is not found to improve her reading or to teach her to compensate for her reading difficulties. Even if the level of disability stays severe (that is, she never learns to read well), this will be less handicapping if she learns to tape lectures and read books on audiotapes. Using such approaches, even in elementary school, can prevent her reading disability from interfering with her progress in other academic areas (increasing her handicap). Gale Encyclopedia of Education: History of Special Education Top Home Library History, Politics Society Education Encyclopedia Special education, as its name suggests, is a specialized branch of education. Claiming lineage to such persons as Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard (1775 1838), the physician who tamed the wild boy of Aveyron, and Anne Sullivan Macy (1866 1936), the teacher who worked miracles with Helen Keller, special educators teach those students who have physical, cognitive, language, learning, sensory, and/or emotional abilities that deviate from those of the general population. Special educators provide instruction specifically tailored to meet individualized needs, making education available to students who otherwise would have limited access to education. In 2001, special education in the United States was serving over five million students. Although federally mandated special education is relatively new in the United States, students with disabilities have been present in every era and in every society. Historical records have consistently documented the most severe disabilities those that transcend task and setting. Itards description of the wild boy of Aveyron documents a variety of behaviors consistent with both mental retardation and behavioral disorders. Nineteenth-century reports of deviant behavior describe conditions that could easily be interpreted as severe mental retardation, autism, or schizophrenia. Milder forms of disability became apparent only after the advent of universal public education. When literacy became a goal for all children, teachers began observing disabilities specific to task and setting that is, less severe disabilities. After decades of research and legislation, special education now provides services to students with varying degrees and forms of disabilities, including mental retardation, emotional disturbance, learning disabilities, speech-language (communication) disabilities, impaired hearing and deafness, low vision and blindness, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, and severe and multiple disabilities. Development of the Field of Special Education At its inception in the early nineteenth century, leaders of social change set out to cure many ills of society. Physicians and clergy, including Itard, Edouard O. Seguin (1812 1880), Samuel Gridley Howe (1801 1876), and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (1787 1851), wanted to ameliorate the neglectful, often abusive treatment of individuals with disabilities. A rich  literature describes the treatment provided to individuals with disabilities in the 1800s: They were often confined in jails and almshouses without decent food, clothing, personal hygiene, and exercise. During much of the nineteenth century, and early in the twentieth, professionals believed individuals with disabilities were best treated in residential facilities in rural environments. Advocates of these institutions argued that environmental conditions such as urban poverty and vices induced behavioral problems. Reformers such as Dorothea Dix (1802 1887) prevailed upon state governments to provide funds for bigger and mo re specialized institutions. These facilities focused more on a particular disability, such as mental retardation, then known as feeble-mindedness or idiocy; mental illness, then labeled insanity or madness; sensory impairment such as deafness or blindness; and behavioral disorders such as criminality and juvenile delinquency. Children who were judged to be delinquent or aggressive, but not insane, were sent to houses ofrefuge or reform schools, whereas children and adults judged to be mad were admitted to psychiatric hospitals. Dix and her followers believed that institutionalization of individuals with disabilities would end their abuse (confinement without treatment in jails and poorhouses) and provide effective treatment. Moral treatment was the dominant approach of the early nineteenth century in psychiatric hospitals, the aim being cure. Moral treatment employed methods analogous to todays occupational therapy, systematic instruction, and positive reinforcement. Evidence suggests this approach was humane and effective in some cases, but the treatment was generally abandoned by the late nineteenth century, due largely to the failure of moral therapists to train others in their techniques and the rise of the belief that mental illness was always a result of brain disease. By the end of the nineteenth c entury, pessimism about cure and emphasis on physiological causes led to a change in orientation that would later bring about the warehouse-like institutions that have become a symbol for abuse and neglect of societys most vulnerable citizens. The practice of moral treatment was replaced by the belief that most disabilities were incurable. This led to keeping individuals with disabilities ininstitutions both for their own protection and for the betterment of society. Although the transformation took many years, by the end of the nineteenth century the size of institutions had increased so  dramatically that the goal of rehabilitation was no longer possible. Institutions became instruments for permanent segregation. Many special education professionals became critics of institutions. Howe, one of the first to argue for in stitutions for people with disabilities, began advocating placing out residents into families. Unfortunately this practice became a logistical and pragmatic problem before it could become a viable alternative to institutionalization. At the close of the nineteenth century, state governments established juvenile courts and social welfare programs, including foster homes, for children and adolescents. The child study movement became prominent in the early twentieth century. Using the approach pioneered by G. Stanley Hall (1844 1924; considered the founder of child psychology), researchers attempted to study child development scientifically in relation to education and in so doing established a place for psychology within public schools. In 1931, the Bradley Home, the first psychiatric hospital for children in the United States, was established in East Providence, Rhode Island. The treatment offered in this hospital, as well as most of the other hospitals of the early twentieth century, was psychodynamic. Psychodynamic ideas fanned interest in the diagnosis and classification of disabili ties. In 1951 the first institution for research on exceptional children opened at the University of Illinois and began what was to become the newest focus of the field of special education: the slow learner and, eventually, what we know today as learning disability. The Development of Special Education in Institutions and Schools Although Itard failed to normalize Victor, the wild boy of Averyon, he did produce dramatic changes in Victors behavior through education. Modern special education practices can be traced to Itard, and his work marks the beginning of widespread attempts to instruct students with disabilities. In 1817 the first special education school in the United States, the American Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb (now called the American School for the Deaf), was established in Hartford, Connecticut, by Gallaudet. By the middle of the nineteenth century, special educational programs were being provided in many asylums. Education was a prominent part of moral therapy. By the close of the nineteenth century, special classes within regular public schools had been launched in major cities. These special classes were initially established for immigrant students who were  not proficient in English and stude nts who had mild mental retardation or behavioral disorders. Descriptions of these children included terms such as steamer children, backward, truant, and incorrigible. Procedures for identifying defectives were included in the Worlds Fair of 1904. By the 1920s special classes for students judged unsuitable for regular classes had become common in major cities. In 1840 Rhode Island passed a law mandating compulsory education for children, but not all states had compulsory education until 1918. With compulsory schooling and the swelling tide of anti-institution sentiment in the twentieth century, many children with disabilities were moved out of institutional settings and into public schools. However, by the mid-twentieth century children with disabilities were still often excluded from public schools and kept at home if not institutionalized. In order to respond to the new population of students with special needs entering schools, school officials created still more special classes in public schools. The number of special classes and compleme ntary support services (assistance given to teachers in managing behavior and learning problems) increased dramatically after World War II. During the early 1900s there was also an increased attention to mental health and a consequent interest in establishing child guidance clinics. By 1930 child guidance clinics and counseling services were relatively common features of major cities, and by 1950 special education had become an identifiable part of urban public education in nearly every school district. By 1960 special educators were instructing their students in a continuum of settings that included hospital schools for those with the most severe disabilities, specialized day schools for students with severe disabilities who were able to live at home, and special classes in regular public schools for students whose disabilities could be managed in small groups. During this period special educators also began to take on the role of consultant, assisting other teachers in instructing students with disabilities. Thus, by 1970 the field of special education was offering a variety of educational placements to students with varying disabilities and needs; however, public schools were not yet required to educate all students regardless of their disabilities. During the middle decades of the twentieth century, instruction of children with disabilities often was based on process training which involves attempts to improve childrens academic  performance by teaching them cognitive or motor processes, such as perceptualmotor skills, visual memory, auditory memory, or auditory-vocal processing. These are ancient ideas that found twentieth-century proponents. Process training enthusiasts taught children various perceptual skills (e.g., identifying different sounds or objects by touch) or perceptual motor skills (e.g., balancing) with the notion that fluency in these skills would generalize to reading, writing, arithmetic, and other basic academic tasks. After many years of research, however, such training was shown not to be effective in improving academic skills. Many of these same ideas were recycled in the late twentieth century as learning styles, multiple intelligences, and other notions that the underlying process of learning varies with gender, ethnicity, or other physiological differences. None of these theories has found much support in reliable research, although direct instruction, mnemonic (memory) devices, and a few other instructional strategies have been supported reliably by research. The History of Legislation in Special Education Although many contend that special education was born with the passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) in 1975, it is clear that special educators were beginning to respond to the needs of children with disabilities in public schools nearly a century earlier. It is also clear that EAHCA did not spring from a vacuum. This landmark law naturally evolved from events in both special education and the larger society and came about in large part due to the work of grass roots organizations composed of both parents and professionals. These groups dated back to the 1870s, when the American Association of Instructors of the Blind and the American Association on Mental Deficiency (the latter is now the American Association on Mental Retardation) were formed. In 1922 the Council for Exceptional Children, now the major professional organization of special educators, was organized. In the 1930s and 1940s parent groups began to band together on a national level. These groups worked to make changes in their own communities and, consequently, set the stage for changes on a national level. Two of the most influential parent advocacy groups were the National Association for Retarded Citizens (now ARC/USA), organized in 1950, and the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities, organized in 1963. Throughout the first  half of the twentieth century, advocacy groups were securing local ordinances that would protect and serve individuals with disabilities in their communities. For example, in 1930, in Peoria, Illinois, the first white cane ordinance gave individuals with blindness the right-of-way when crossing the street. By mid-century all states had legislation providing for education of students with disabilities. However, legislation was still noncompulsory. In the late 1950s federal money was allocated for educating children with disabilities and for the training of special educators. Thus the federal government became formally involved in research and in training special education professionals, but limited its involvement to these functions until the 1970s. In 1971, this support was reinforced and extended to the state level when the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (PARC) filed a class action suit against their Commonwealth. This suit, resolved by consent agreement, specified that all children age six through twenty-one were to be provided free public education in the least restrictive alternative (LRA, which would later become the least restrictive environment [LRE] clause in EAHCA). In 1973 the Rehabilitation Act prohibited discriminatory practices in programs receiving federal financial assistance but imposed no affirmative obligations with respect to special education. In 1975 the legal action begun under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations resulted in EAHCA, which was signed into law by President Gerald Ford. EAHCA reached full implementation in 1977 and required school districts to provide free and appropriate education to all of their students with disabilities. In return for federal funding, each state was to ensure that students with disabilities received non-discriminatory testing, evaluation, and placement; the right to due process; education in the least restrictive environment; and a fre e and appropriate education. The centerpiece of this public law (known since 1990 as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA) was, and is, a free appropriate public education (FAPE). To ensure FAPE, the law mandated that each student receiving special education receive an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Under EAHCA, students with identified disabilities were to receive FAPE and an IEP that included relevant instructional goals and objectives, specifications as to length of school year, determination of the most appropriate educational placement, and descriptions of criteria to be used  in evaluation and measurement. The IEP was designed to ensure that all students with disabilities received educational programs specific to their unique needs. Thus, the education of students with disabilities became federally controlled. In the 1982 case of Board of Education of the Hendrick Hudson Central School District v. Rowley, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified the level of services to be afforded students with special needs and ruled that special education services need only provide some educational benefit to students public schools were not required to maximize the educational progress of students with disabilities. In so doing the Supreme Court further defined what was meant by a free and appropriate education. In 1990 EAHCA was amended to include a change to person-first language, replacing the term handicapped student with student with disabilities. The 1990 amendments also added new classification categories for students with autism and traumatic brain injury and transition plans within IEPs for students age fourteen or older. In 1997, IDEA was reauthorized under President Clinton and amended to require the inclusion of students with disabilities in statewide and districtwide assessments, measurable IEP goals and objectives, and functional behavioral assessment and behavior intervention plans for students with emotional or behavioral needs. Because IDEA is amended and reauthorized every few years, it is impossible to predict the future of this law. It is possible that it will be repealed or altered dramatically by a future Congress. The special education story, both past and future, can be written in many different ways.

Euthanasia Essay - Assisted Suicide as an Unethical Option :: Free Euthanasia Essay

Euthanasia as an Unethical Option Should a question of right and wrong be compromised for a question of convenience? "When I regained consciousness 3 days later, I was in Portland Hospital paralyzed (at first) from the neck down. I also had a severe concussion, collapsed left lung and crushed left collarbone. A pair of metal tongs had been drilled in my skull and attached to weights to stabilize my neck and I was on a slab of bed that turned me from back to front every 4 hours....After I surprised the doctors and lived to get into rehab, they told me, at that time, the average lifespan of a male quadriplegic was 36 years... I am now 45 now and could look back on that laughingly... During that period there were MANY times when I didn't know if I wanted to go on" (How Physician...). This is the story of a quadriplegic man who has been paralyzed from the chest down for over 24 years from an extreme car accident in 1975. His life seemed unbearable. These hopeless thoughts made him consider physician assisted suicide or e uthanasia as the easy way out of a tragic situation. Although the doctors had confirmed that he would shortly pass away, he kept fighting and is still alive now, living as a successful journalist. He is incredibly grateful that physician assisted suicide or euthanasia was not an option at that time. This case and many others show how euthanasia or assisted suicide is a bad idea. Euthanasia is the act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition, as by lethal injection or the suspension of extraordinary medical treatment. But euthanasia cannot be just rolled up into one definition. There are many different ways and instances in which euthanasia can be preformed. There is passive euthanasia and active euthanasia. Passive euthanasia is withdrawing medical treatment from a patient with the intention of a patient's death. For example, if a patient needs some kind of respirator or machine to survive, and a doctor disconnects that machine, the patient will probably die soon. Another example of passive euthanasia is the "do not resuscitate order." Basically, in passive euthanasia nothing is done to preserve a patient's life. Active euthanasia is when precise steps are taken to cause a patient's death, such as a doctor giving a patient a lethal injection or suffocating them with a plastic bag.

Fundamental Rights of Education

1. Purpose of the Report The purpose of this report is to describe and then provide an evaluation of each stage of the programme in order to give recommendations for follow up activities and further professional development for Master Trainers and teachers. 2. Introduction 2. 1. Three organisations, The British Council (BC), UNICEF and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Tamil Nadu collaborated on an ambitious programme to develop the skills of English language teachers in government primary schools. The project aimed to improve the English language teaching methodology of over 40,000 Class 5 teachers across the state. To this end, 600 Block Resource Teacher Educators (BRTEs), 60 District Institution of Education and Training (DIET) Teacher Trainers and 240 standard V teachers were to be trained and they would in turn cascade training to the standard V teachers at district and block levels. 2. 2. Following a needs analysis carried out in November 2008 by two British Council Senior Training Consultants (STCs) a proposal was made to SSA Tamil Nadu. The proposal detailed the results of the needs analysis and took into account discussions made between the three partner organisations regarding the needs of the primary school teachers working across the state. . 3. The British Council was invited by Tamil Nadu SSA to provide the following outputs: †¢ diagnostic assessment of up to 450 teachers with the purpose of determining the level of spoken English amongst teachers in primary schools in Tamil Nadu. †¢ needs assessment for development of training materials, a bench mark in order to measure p rogress and used as a selection tool for entry onto the programme. †¢ design and deliver 2 x 30 hour courses for 900 Master Trainers, which would be cascaded to 40,000 standard V primary English teachers in Tamil Nadu. organise monitoring and evaluation of the Master Trainer programme and subsequent cascade programmes. 2. 4. The cascade training model is generally applied in large scale training programmes where sheer numbers and geographical reach prohibit direct training. In India, where a single state may have as many as 150,000 teachers, it enables large numbers of teachers to be trained. We recognize that the model has limitations, critics have pointed out that as training flows through the layers a certain amount of quality andeducation is must

Ethics of eating meat Essay

Have you ever wondered why people become vegetarians? People who are vegetarians choose to become so for a wide variety of reasons. Being a vegetarian has become a popular and trendy during the past few decades. However, according to Alan Beardsworth and Alan Bryman authors of â€Å"Meat Consumption and Meat Avoidance Among Young People: An 11-year Longitudinal Study,† people have started to eat more meat rather than avoid it. Whether vegetarianism is on the rise or not, it is interesting to discover what drives a person to choose a vegetarian lifestyle. John Lawrence Hill, professor of law at St. Thomas University, School of Law, and author of The Case for Vegetarianism, holds that about nine million Americans are vegetarians, which is about four percent of the entire population of the United States. Reasons for why people of this group become vegetarians include health, not liking the taste of meat, compassion for animals, and religious reasons. According to Karen Iacobbo, professor at Johnson and Wales University, and Michael Iacobbo, a journalist for the Associated Press and the Providence Pheonix, who are both the authors of Vegetarians and Vegans in America Today, people even become vegetarians in order to end world hunger. When people decide to become vegetarians, they are usually motivated by a single reason. Iacobbo goes on to say that the person who decided to become a vegetarian usually adds other reasons why they became one (Iacobbo). Read Also: Exploratory Essay Topics for College Students I think this is true, because one thing might finally convince someone to become a vegetarian, but as they learn more about vegetarianism and meet other vegetarians, their reason for becoming a vegetarian will become many reasons. In their book, Karen and Michael Iacobbo include a survey taken by the Vegetarian Times in 1992 that stated that the majority of people become vegetarians â€Å"for health reasons, followed by ethical, religious, environmental, and other reasons† (74). Conversely, Hill points out that 67 percent of people who become vegetarians did so because of animal suffering concerns, followed by 38 percent who were concerned with health. Either way, health and animal suffering are the two largest concerns for people who decide to become vegetarians. Only four percent of the entire United States is vegetarian? This really is not much of the population at all. If vegetarianism was so much better for you than being an omnivore, shouldn’t the number be much greater? If it is so easy to become a vegetarian, wouldn’t there be more people converting? The answer should be yes, but why is this not the case? Those against the idea of becoming vegetarians have the answers. They claim that vegetarianism is not as healthy as it claims to be. People choose not to become vegetarians so that they can get all the vitamins that are essential for healthy life, because they are pregnant, or so that they can keep a healthy bone density. All these reasons are to promote health. It is interesting to learn that most people become vegetarians for health reasons, while most people say they stay omnivores for health reasons too. Additionally, people are meat-eaters because it is inconvenient to be a vegetarian. It can be very difficult for people who are accustomed to eating meat their whole life to make the switch to vegetarianism. Another reason people do not want to be vegetarians is so they do not have to deal with social situations that may arise because they are vegetarians. In this exploratory research paper I aim to learn the reasons why people choose or choose not to be vegetarians and to explain both sides of the vegetarian/anti-vegetarian argument. Health reasons are a major factor that makes people want to become vegetarians. Iacobbo claims that studies show that a vegetarian diet can help prevent or reverse arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Prevention or reversal of diseases and cancer are great, reasonable, and productive reasons to become a vegetarian. Suzanne Havala Hobbs, D.Ph., RD, clinical assistant professor at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, tells us â€Å"sticking to a vegetarian diet can be challenging†¦ especially†¦ if your motivation for going vegetarian is health† (qtd. in Iacobbo 74). Becoming a vegetarian is difficult enough, and if someone doesn’t feel like they are making a difference or feel like they have a strong enough motivation, he or she is likely to fail. An interesting quote that I found in my research is â€Å"the fat you eat is the fat you wear,† as stated by John McDougall, MD, (qtd. in Iacobbo 75). In other words, eating meat is apparently an unhealthy diet and makes you fat. So, in order to not get fat, people become vegetarians because that diet is lower in fat. According to Iacobbo’s book, Neal Bernard and his Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine have done studies that demonstrate that a vegan diet can result in a reversal of disease. His study is very significant because a diet without meat that can reverse disease is remarkable. More people should want to become vegetarians just because of studies like this. Some people choose to be vegetarians because they dislike the taste of meat. According to Hill, twelve percent of vegetarians are so because they do not like the taste of meat. This argument for becoming a vegetarian is quite simple because if a person does not like meat, they will not eat it. Meat-eaters cannot argue with the dislike of meat because it is just personal preference. I do not really understand why people dislike meat though. Possibly they have never had meat cooked correctly so that it tastes delicious. Maybe they have grown up most of their life without eating meat, and after they taste it, it’s just different from what they are used to. In any situation, you can’t really change someone’s mind to not be a vegetarian if they just don’t like the taste of meat. Although some don’t like the taste of eating meat, some are completely against it for the animals’ sakes. Animal cruelty and factory farming are two of the most popular reasons for becoming a vegetarian. Factory farming is â€Å"a system of large-scale industrialized and intensive agriculture that is focused on profit with animals kept indoors and restricted in mobility† (Dictionary.com). Hill claims that factory farms do not care about the animals’ living conditions; all factory farms care about is the profit they make off the animals they sell. Because there are places like factory farms, choosing meat can pose a problem for everyday omnivores. An interesting quote I came upon during my explorations was a quote about choosing to eat meat: â€Å"if you eat meat today, your typical choice is between animals raised with either more (chicken, turkey, fish, and pork) or less (beef) cruelty† (Foer 243). I thought this quote was valuable because it explicitly states that there is no good way to choose meat. Any type of meat you could choose is bad because the animals were treated terribly. Foer also mentions that â€Å"contributing to the suffering of billions of animals that live miserable lives and (quite often) die in horrific ways† is a great influence to potential vegetarians (243). Foer puts it quite plainly that the meat we eat every day comes from animals who were treated in cruel ways. People sometimes choose not to eat meat because they care about the way animals are treated before and at the time of death. People don’t just become vegetarians for feeling sorry for animals. Some people have to be vegetarians because of their religion. Iacobbo states that for thousands of years, vegetarianism has been practiced for such religions as Judaism, Christianity, Catholicism, Seventh Day Adventism, Mormonism, and Paganism. According to Hill, vegetarianism is also customary in Hinayana Buddhism. Hill goes on to state that Hinduism is â€Å"known for its strict adherence to vegetarianism†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (32). So, vegetarian is extraordinarily popular throughout many religions all over the world. Although some people like to be vegetarians for various other reasons, these religious people are required or suggested to be because of their religions. It is perfectly understandable for people to believe that they should be vegetarians because their religion requires them to be. Surprisingly to some, people sometimes choose to become vegetarians in order to help end world hunger. This reason for becoming vegetarian was surprising to me because I had never heard of this reason before engaging in my research. Hill states that the problem is that a third of the world’s grain harvest is used to feed livestock, but about a billion people in the world are malnourished. He then proposes that the solution to this problem is to rework the system to better use the resources to help eradicate world hunger. An unnamed writer in Hill’s book calls this misuse of the resources â€Å"unfair distribution† and states that â€Å"if everyone†¦ became a vegetarian, it would be possible to give four tons of edible grain to every starving person† (qtd. in Hill 128). So, the less meat people eat, the more grains there are for the rest of the world to eat. If the cows, pigs, and chickens don’t eat those grains, it gives more to the people who really need it. Essentially, if the world were comprised of vegetarians, people would not suffer from starvation. Meat eating has been practiced for thousands and thousands of years. This alone for some is reason enough for being omnivorous. There are also other reasons to be a meat-eater though. Some of them are being pregnant, being a baby or toddler, getting all the vitamins and minerals necessary for a healthy life, inconvenience of being a vegetarian, and to avoid social situations and dealing with one’s vegetarianism. A large portion of today’s vegetarians is women. Women who are vegetarians or women who might want to become vegetarians might decide to not be vegetarians for their pregnancy. According to Nina Planck, author of â€Å"Real Food: What to Eat and Why,† a woman who was expecting stated that before she became pregnant, she â€Å"[†¦] concluded that a vegan pregnancy was irresponsible. You cannot create and nourish a robust baby merely on foods from plants.† Planck goes on to state that vegetarians who have babies that they would like to be vegetarians sometimes allow the babies to eat a non-vegan diet. She also argues that breast milk is the best nourishment for babies. She adds that sometimes vegans try to use soymilk as a replacement for breast milk, but that soymilk stunts growth and also decreases the absorption of protein and minerals. I agree that breast milk is the best source of nutrients for babies. Women were designed to make the milk for the babies to drink, so it should be the ideal nourishment for the babies. In addition, Planks claims that â€Å"a vegan diet is equally dangerous for weaned babies and toddlers, who need plenty of protein and calcium.† From her arguments we can deduce that for babies to have a vegetarian diet is unhealthy because they will not get enough protein, and will end up unhealthy. In summation, babies need to be omnivorous or at least be able to eat dairy products in order to have the healthiest lifestyle. Babies are not the only ones that need all their nutrients. Many people choose to be omnivores in order to get all the vitamins and nutrients they need. According to the article â€Å"To Meat or Not to Eat,† cutting out meat does not necessarily mean being healthy. [†¦] Kids also could be cutting out key nutrients, especially if they go vegan.† A vegetarian diet could be detrimental by itself, and I certainly agree that it could be even worse for young adults to be vegan. Winston J. Craig of the Department of Nutrition and Wellness at Andrews University declares that diets without eggs, fish, or seaweed do not have n-3 fatty acids that help with the cardiovascular system. Vegans do not eat eggs or fish, so they are likely to have more problems with their heart since these foods are not in their diet. Craig states that vegetarians and especially vegans have lower blood concentrations of n-3 fatty acids compared to meat eaters. Craig’s article includes an EPIC-Oxford study, in which it was observed that vegans have a quarter of the amount of vitamin D that non-vegetarians have. Penney explains that Vitamin D enables our bodies to use calcium. Without sufficient vitamin D, people will not be able to absorb and use the calcium they may or may not intake. Penney later adds that calcium is important for people to absorb for bone mass. Craig claims vegans tend to have lower concentrations of vitamin B-12, therefore creating vitamin B-12 deficiencies. So vegans will tend to have more vitamin B-12 deficiencies than non-vegans or non-vegetarians. Craig also argues that vegetarians have low intakes of calcium because of their diets. As Craig explains, a vitamin B-12 deficiency creates neurological and psychiatric complications. He adds that vegetarians consume less zinc than non-vegetarians, but evidence for this being a problem is lacking. However, some people are likely to not become vegetarians anyway so that if a lower intake of zinc turns out to be a problem, they will not have to worry. So, people are likely not to choose a vegetarian diet in order to gain all the n-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, vitamin B-12, and zinc their bodies require. According to Hill, the inconvenience of being a vegetarian is â€Å"the most important reason, as a practical matter, that many people do not become vegetarians† (154). Hill states that twenty-seven percent of vegetarians found not eating meat very hard to do. Hill understands why vegetarianism can be difficult to adopt, stating that eating meat is easier, more enjoyable, and more convenient than eating a vegetarian diet. He calls starting a vegetarian diet downright â€Å"burdensome.† So even according to a vegetarian, starting vegetarianism can be a difficult task to undertake. Non-vegetarians may decide to stay vegetarians for social reasons. A common belief among meat-eaters is, according to Hill, if they become a vegetarian, they will â€Å"become a hermit, a recluse, or social outcast† (155). Facing situations where people have to admit to being a vegetarian can stop people from becoming vegetarians altogether. Hill adds that it is especially a popular decision to stay omnivorous if the person has to go to many outings at restaurants with clients or business partners. They may feel ashamed or shy to admit that they are vegetarians, so they will just stay meat eaters instead. An interesting bit of information that I found during my research was a list of notable people who were vegetarians. Hill lists them; they are people such as â€Å"Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy, Thomas Edison, George Bernard Shaw, Albert Schweitzer, and Mahatma Gandhi† (xiv). Also mentioned by Hill as vegetarians were ancient philosophers and writers such as Socrates, â€Å"the father of ancient rationalism and humanism;† Plato; and Ovid (xiv). When I read these names, it made me feel like I should become a vegetarian too because these people are such amazing people in history, and becoming a vegetarian would make me feel like I am more notable like them. If some of the biggest names in history were vegetarians, shouldn’t we take note and become vegetarians as well? Possibly. But I don’t think that I could ever give up my meat for good. Being a vegetarian means to give up all meat, and to not eat it consistently. Vegetarians may choose to be so because of health reasons or for concerns for the treatment of animals. They may decide to take up vegetarianism to help end world hunger or for their religion. More simply, some people become vegetarians because they just don’t like the taste of meat. However, non-vegetarians decide against vegetarianism for health reasons as well. It may be safer and healthier for pregnant mothers to be omnivores and for their babies or toddlers to be omnivores as well. Many people choose to stay omnivores because they would like to obtain all the vitamins a diet with meat brings. Others may be meat-eaters because it is inconvenient to be a vegetarian or to avoid social situations they don’t wish to face. After my research, I have concerns if vegetarians take vitamin supplements to supply all the vitamins they would get if they ate meat, if they are as effective as the meat. I also wonder if vegetarianism became more successful, how would a widespread participation in vegetarianism affect the economy of the United States? And finally, how do vegetarians feel about the genetic manipulation of crops? Works Cited Anti-Vegetarian T-Shirt 156790. N.d. JPEG. Eshirts.com. 7 Oct. 2011. Web. Beardsworth, Alan, and Alan Bryman. â€Å"Meat Consumption and Meat Avoidance Among Young People: An 11-year Longitudinal Study.† British Food Journal 106.4 (2004). 14 Oct. 2011. Web. Criag, Winston J. â€Å"Health Effects of Vegan Diets.† The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 89.5 (May 2009). 14 Oct. 2011. Web. â€Å"Factory Farming.† Dictionary.com’s 21st Century Lexicon. Dictionary.com, LLC. 09 Nov. 2011. Web. Foer, Jonathan Safran. Eating Animals. New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 2009. Print. Hill, John Lawrence. The Case for Vegetarianism. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1996. Print. Iacobbo Karen, and Michael Iacobbo. Vegetarians and Vegans in America Today. Connecticut: Praeger, 2006. Print. Penney, Debra S. â€Å"Nutritional Counseling for Vegetarians During Pregnancy and Lactation.† SciVerse: Science Direct 53.1 (Jan. – Feb. 2008): 31 Oct. 2011. Web. Planck, Nina. â€Å"Death by Veganism.† New York Times 21 May 2007. 31 October 2011. Web. Protein? N.d. JPEG. Vegetarian Fighters. 7 Oct. 2011. Web. â€Å"To Meat or Not to Meat.† Current Events 108.16 (2009): 7. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. 14 Oct. 2011. Web.

Informative Essay Sample on McCarthyism

Informative Essay Sample on McCarthyism What is more important national security or individual rights? This question has been posed many times throughout our nation’s history. One of the most memorable times when this became an issue was the McCarthy era. Did Communism threaten America’s internal security in the 1940’s and early 1950’s or did Joseph McCarthy and the House of Un-American Activities Committee create a Red Scare and abuse their powers? The answer to this question is yes to both parts. After World War II, it was obvious that the three world powers were the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the United States. Even before the War ended, Joseph Stalin was attempting both to become the most superior power and to possibly spread Communism through espionage. Soviet spies had infiltrated into the American government and established a liable threat to our national security. In reaction to this, Joseph McCarthy and the HUAC promoted a sense of political fear throughout the United States and t hreatened to destroy the balance between national security and individual freedom. Soviet espionage threatened national security and brought about the second Red Scare in which McCarthy not only destroyed the lives and careers of many Americans but also the innocent image of the country. Espionage In the 1940s Communists spies penetrated the U. S. government and were supplying government secrets to foreign countries. The first revealed case of espionage is known as the Amerasia case. In this case, several State Department officials including John Stewart Service had given materials to Amerasia, a small magazine dealing with East Asian Affairs. The spies had stolen the documents in order to publish them. The Amerasia spies were arrested, but their case was dropped before there could be a trail. The materials that Service supplied to Amerasia did not actually endanger our national security, but it is claimed to be a major reason we â€Å"lost† China to Communism. However, they found no link between the Amerasia spies and the Soviet Union. With the help of a former Soviet agent and the Venona Project, the U. S. government was able to expose numerous spies loyal to the Soviet Union. Several ex-Soviet agents warned the government about Communism and their underground espionage. Whittaker Chambers and Elizabeth Bentley were two well-known former spies who began working with the government. Another huge resource of information about uncovering Soviet agent came along with the Venona Project. The Venona project was originally an attempt to decode messages between Soviet diplomats and the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs in Moscow. These messages turned out to be going between field agents and the directorate of the KGB. â€Å"The deciphered Venona messages also showed that a disturbing number of high-ranking U. S. government officials consciously maintained a clandestine relationship with Soviet intelligence agencies and had passed extraordinarily sensitive information to the Soviet Union that had seriously damaged American interest.† (Haynes p. 51) The Venona Project uncovered several hundred agents associated with the Soviets. However, the decoders were only able to decode a portion of the messages, meaning there could have been thousands of more traitors working with the Soviet Union. One of the first espionage cases involving the Soviet Union was the Hiss case. The Hiss case established the credibility of the charges that Communists had infiltrated the New Deal. McCarthy and the HUAC had been accusing New Deal supporters as being Communists or Communists sympathizers. The charges against Alger Hiss ended his career in the State Department as Chambers was able to produce written documents from Hiss to the KGB. However, a bigger spy in the government was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Harry Dexter White. White was the highest ranked official to be named as a traitor, yet he died of a heart attack before his trial. The Hiss case proved that the HUAC had a valid argument for seeking Soviet spies. In 1949, the Soviet Union had built an atomic bomb, which led the HUAC into another spy hunt. Not long after, authorities found Klaus Fuchs, an ex-Communist in Great Britain who worked on the Manhattan Project. In search for an American contact, the FBI stumbled upon Harry Gold. Fuchs and Gold both confessed to passing secrets to the Soviet agents. Gold also gave up the name of another spy named David Greenglass, who in turn gave up his sister and brother-in-law Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. However, the confessions and giving-up of other spies ended there. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg denied that they were Communists, but later they were tried, found guilty, and executed. Several decades later with the release of the Venona Project, the American public was informed that the Rosenbergs were truly Soviet Spies. The Soviet Union was now able to develop an atomic bomb several years earlier than without the American secrets. Indeed, without such successful espionage, â€Å"the Soviet Union might not have developed the bomb until after Stalin’s death, and the early Cold War might have proceeded on a far less frightening path.† (Klehr p. 53) Many other spies were present within the American government. A personal assistant to President Franklin Roosevelt, Lauchlin Currie, who warned the KGB that the FBI had started an investigation of one of their agents, Gregory Silvermaster. This allowed Silvermaster to escape and continue spying. Another, William Perl, gave the Soviet Union secret test and design experiments for American jet engines and jet aircraft. His actions led to the Soviets fighter jets being far more superior to American fighter jets in the Korean War. Maurice Halperin, who was America’s chief intelligence arm, transferred hundreds of pages of secret American Diplomatic cables to the KGB. Of the 347 Soviet agents in America, only around half were ever discovered. It seems obvious that this was a huge national security crisis. The Soviet espionage was very successful in the United States. Although not every Communist was a spy, a large number were involved in KGB efforts to gather intelligence. Nevertheless, in the same manner, not every spy was a Communist. Fear Truman and his administration started to get attacked by many conservative Republicans for being to soft on the espionage and Communist threat within America. In reaction to these attacks, Truman established an anti-Communist loyalty-security program in March of 1947 and set up the Central Intelligence Agency in November. In 1948, the Truman administration followed up these actions by indicating the leaders of the CPUSA under the sedition sections of the 1940 Smith Act. The Smith Act states that It shall be unlawful for any person: 1) to knowingly or willfully advocate, abet, advise, or teach the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; 2) with the intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any government in the United States, to print, publish, edit, issue, circulate, sell, distribute, or publicly display any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence; 3) to organize or help to organized any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrowing or destruction of any government in the United States by force or violence; or to become a member of, or affiliate with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof. (Fried, p. 15) The Republican senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy took this Act to the full effect. When he cried Communism, the world seemed to listen. McCarthy installed fear in the U. S. citizens, but people feared tremendously the loss of their jobs. They feared that their political afflictions would reflect on their job status. McCarthy and his ways challenged the Bill of Rights. Peoples’ First and Fifth Amendment rights were suspended when on trail. By trying to keep America from becoming a Communist nation, McCarthy and his followers turned the country into an anti-Communist nation. Many Americans lives and careers were lost due to McCarthy and his accusations. Hollywoods leaders resisted allowing politicians to regulate their hiring practices, but, following the HUAC hearings, the blacklists began in Hollywood. No one who was known to be a communist would be employed (Fried, 77-78). This mainly listed teachers, writers, and Hollywood stars. Producers started questioning their employees on many topics including politics and affiliations. Mist who were â€Å"caught† or accused of Communism confessed, and in order to be spared, gave the names of other â€Å"Communists.† In 1950, McCarthy claimed he had a list of 205 members of the Communist Party of the US, who worked for the State Department. The HUAC summoned 2,375 men and women, which was enough to cost them their jobs. Accused individuals were at the true mercy of the government, â€Å"because congressional hearings were immune from the due process requirements that accompanied criminal prosecutions, the committees had more leeway to denounce and accuse† (Schrecker 54). Over 400 Americans went to jail, some without a fair trial. McCarthy bullied, threatened and abused witnesses while he accused them of Communist sympathies. Without a doubt, McCarthy created an era of fear and conformity. Soviet Espionage threatened America’s national security, which led to the House of Un-American Activities suspending citizens’ rights and creating fear in the hearts of many Americans. Whenever national security is threatened, the government is forced to tighten security and infringe on many people’s rights. This is even seen today after September 11, 2001. So it appears during times of national strife, crisis or threat, national security comes before individual rights. You can order a custom essay, term paper, research paper, thesis or dissertation on McCarthyism topics at our professional custom essay writing service which provides students with custom papers written by highly qualified academic writers. High quality and no plagiarism guarantee! Get professional essay writing help at an affordable cost.

HMS Venturer Sinks U-864 - World War II Submarines HMS Venturer and U-864 -

HMS Venturer Sinks U-864 - World War II Submarines HMS Venturer and U-864 - Conflict: The engagement between HMS Venturer and U-864 took place during World War II. Date: Lt. Jimmy Launders and HMS Venturer sank U-864 on February 9, 1945. Ships Commanders: British Lieutenant Jimmy LaundersHMS Venturer (V-Class Submarine)37 men Germans Korvettenkapitn Ralf-Reimar Wolfram U-864 (Type IX U-boat)73 men Battle Summary: In late 1944, U-864 was dispatched from Germany under the command of Korvettenkapitn Ralf-Reimar Wolfram to take part in Operation Caesar. This mission called for the submarine to transport advanced technology, such as Me-262 jet fighter parts and V-2 missile guidance systems, to Japan for use against American forces. Also on board was 65 tons of mercury which was needed for the production of detonators. While passing through the Kiel Canal, U-864 grounded damaging its hull. To address this issue, Wolfram sailed north to the U-boat pens at Bergen, Norway. On January 12, 1945, while U-864 was undergoing repairs, the pens were attacked by British bombers further delaying the submarines departure. With repairs complete, Wolfram finally sailed in early February. In Britain, code breakers at Bletchley Park were alerted to U-864s mission and location through Enigma radio intercepts. To prevent the German boat from completing its mission, the Admiralty diverted the fast attack submarine, HMS Venturer to search for U-864 in the area of Fedje, Norway. Commanded by rising star Lieutenant James Launders, HMS Venturer had recently departed its base at Lerwick. On February 6, Wolfram passed Fedje the area however issues soon began to arise with one of U-864s engines. Despite the repairs at Bergen, one of the engines began to misfire, greatly increasing the noise the submarine produced. Radioing Bergen that they would be returning to port, Wolfram was told that an escort would be waiting for them at Hellisoy on the 10th. Arriving in the Fedje area, Launders made a calculated decision to turn off Venturers ASDIC (an advanced sonar) system. While use of the ASDIC would make locating U-864 easier, it risked giving away Venturers position. Relying solely on Venturers hydrophone, Launders began searching the waters around Fedje. On February 9, Venturers hydrophone operator detected an unidentified noise that sounded like a diesel engine. After tracking the sound, Venturer approached and raised its periscope. Surveying the horizon, Launders spotted another periscope. Lowering Venturers, Launders correctly guessed that the other periscope belonged to his quarry. Slowly following U-864, Launders planned to attack the German u-boat when it surfaced. As Venturer stalked U-864 it became clear that it had been detected as the German began following an evasive zigzag course. After pursuing Wolfram for three hours, and with Bergen approaching, Launders decided that he needed to act. Anticipating U-864s course, Launders and his men computed a firing solution in three dimensions. While this type of calculation had been practiced in theory, it had never been attempted at sea in combat conditions. With this work done, Launders fired all four of Venturers torpedoes, at varying depths, with 17.5 seconds between each. After firing the last torpedo, Venturer dove quickly to prevent any counterattack. Hearing the torpedoes approach, Wolfram ordered U-864 to dive deeper and turn to avoid them. While U-864 successfully evaded the first three, the fourth torpedo struck the submarine, sinking it with all hands. Aftermath: The loss of U-864 cost the Kriegsmarine the U-boats entire 73-man crew as well as the vessel. For his actions off Fedje, Launders was awarded a bar for his Distinguished Service Order. HMS Venturers fight with U-864 is the only known, publicly acknowledged battle where one submerged submarine sank another.

In Depth Audience Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

In Depth Audience Analysis - Essay Example It has a membership of around one thousand and one hundred active members. The analysis will involve all the persons who are interested and deal with Greater Jackson Partnership Chamber and these include members themselves and people in the Jackson Community. The study will look into the demographics, sociographics and psychographics of the Jackson Community who form the audience for the messages from Greater Jackson Partnership Chamber (Greater Jackson Partnership Chambers, 2014). The Greater Jackson Partnership Chambers is a community oriented organization that fosters trade and business among its members in Downtown Jackson. Over half of the audience here are white with slightly less than half being African Americans. The rest of the groups are Native Americans, Pacific Islanders and Asians. Jackson’s cosmopolitan population works to grow the town and though the partnership they are able to get the necessary connections for business. Most of the population that is in business is in the age bracket of between twenty years to fifty one years. The messages that appeal to this age group include those that are business oriented. The larger population consists of Christian faith a evidenced by the presence of numerous episcopal churches and bible colleges. The population is also highly educated as evidenced by the large number of learning institutions. Some of these institutions include Jackson State University and Mississippi College. There are also public district schools which offer different systems of education. The high levels of literacy have favoured the existence of local media which as a very influential role in both Jackson District and the entire state. Jackson is also home to several industries which provide employment to its population. These industries help in boosting business and economic growth. Some of the industries have created partnerships with Greater Jackson Partnership Chamber to create business opportunities for its

Economy of Germany Nowadays Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Economy of Germany Nowadays - Assignment Example Germany is one such country whose economy was largely affected by the economic recession leading to inflations and a drop in currency value. The economy has since stabilized as it continues to invest in its economy. The value of the euro has since stabilized and the trend is approaching upward exponential growth. The current biggest hurdle facing the country is an ever-increasing rate of unemployment facing young youths who are joining the job market. This has been cited to arise from the high number of foreign labor infiltrating the market due to the competitive, lucrative industrial wage rate that attracts labor from all over the world to the disadvantage of its native labor force (Wall, 2010). Germany has since maintained its competitive labor market as compared to its neighboring states owing to a well-crafted wage rate with a competent and productive pool of labor. The economy of the country has been slowed down by post-German wars that incapacitated the state and brought down the economy to ground level as everything came to a halt. It took time for Germany to recover but even then, they could not restore their resources and degraded infrastructure to their previous state. Such setbacks are what impacted the economy. The other factor affecting the economy is the high rate of unemployment as earlier mentioned. The country has no setbacks absorb its labor force into developing the economy due to the increased growth rates and frequent infiltration of labor forces from the neighboring states.