Plasma Membrane and Diffusion Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Plasma Membrane and Diffusion - Case Study Example Diffusion is a means of active transport which results from thermal, random movement of molecular particles from regions of high concentrations to regions of low concentrations(3). There are six factors which influence diffusions in fluids, these includes: Concentration gradient, size of the molecules involved, Distance travelled by the molecules, Temperature of the medium and the molecules, Solubility of the molecule and the surface area of the plasma membrane in which the molecule can carry out its activities, Hence the rate of diffusion is given by the ratio of the product of solubility, gradient, temperature, surface and the product of distance the molecules moves by the square root of the mass of the molecule. Diffusion can be classified into three categories or types, which include; simple diffusion, channel diffusion and facilitated diffusion(3).Simple diffusion occurs when micro or small non-polar molecular particles go through a fluid (liquid or gases) mostly liquids through a lipid bilayer. This diffusion type is characterized by hydrophobic molecules moving to hydrophobic regions without being rejected(3). Hydrophilic molecules do not participate in simple diffusion because they would be rejected when they move into the hydrophobic region of the membrane.Channel diffusion is a type of passive transport which involves channel proteins in which the molecule moves through an open, aqueous pore and it can be regulated. Charged particles and ions can pass through the pore (1).

World Without Public Schools Essay Example for Free

World Without Public Schools Essay Should America have public schools, or would we do better without them? Nothing is more important to this country than the transformation of children into educated American citizens. Thats what public schools are for, and no institutions are better suited to the rolein principle. They used to fill it with distinction. But theres no reason we must have public schools. Granted, the public has a strong interest in educating Americas children, at a cost thats divided equitably among all taxpayers and not borne by the parents of school-age children alone. But these requirements dont imply any need for public schools. We need an Air Force, and the Air Force needs planes. Taxpayers pay for the force and the planes. But the pilots are supplied directly by the government, the airplanes by private companies (with government oversight and assistance). Schooling might be furnished on either model: mainly by public or mainly by private organizations. We know that private schools are perfectly capable of supplying first-class educations. So the question stands: Why have public schools? How should we decide whether to have them or not? Vouchers have been a popular and promising (and controversial) idea for years. Under voucher plans, the public pays part or all of the bill when a child attends private school. But here I am talking about the whole hog, not just the tail and a couple of trotters. If sending some children to private school at public expense is worth discussing, why not sending all children to private school? Why not liberate all the vast resources we spend on public schools to be re-channeled to private schools chosen by the nations parents? Any public school offering an education that parents will actually pay for (of their own free will) would presumably be replaced by a private school offering essentially the same thing. But a vast array of new private schools would germinate also. And a vast number of failed public schools would disappear. I n the system I am picturing, education would continue to be free and accessible to every child, and all taxpayers would continue to pay for it. Parents would be guaranteed access to reasonable schools that cost them nothing beyond what they pay in taxes. It would all be just like todayexcept that public schools would have vanished. Would private organizations be capable of providing enough new schools to replace our gigantic public schools establishment? Private enterprise is alleged to be smarter and more resourceful in America than anywhere else in the world. So lets suppose that private schools can indeed meet the needs of nearly all parents. Do we actually need and want our public schools, or do we keep them around out of fear of the teachers unionsand habit, like a broken childs toy we are too sentimental to throw away? The basic law of public schools Many sources agree that, on the whole, American public schools are rotten. In 2000, a whopping 12 percent of graduating seniors were rated proficient in science, and international surveys rank our graduating seniors 19th overall out of 21 nations. In 2002, the Washington Post summarized a different survey: Nearly six in 10 of the nations high school seniors lack even a basic knowledge of U. S. history. And so on. Our public schools are widely agreed to be in bad shape. But these are only problems of incompetence. Others cut deeper. The basic law of public schools is this: Public schools are first and foremost agents of the public. They exist to transform children into educated citizens as the public understands this termin other words, as a public consensus defines it. Of course the United States is a large country; standards have always differed from state to state. So each state has its own public schools, charged with satisfying the consensus definition of educated citizen in that state. In 1898, Nicholas Murray Butler (soon to be president of Columbia University) described universities in terms that make explicit this connection, one that is almost forgotten today. In order to become greatindeed, in order to exist at all, he wrote, a university [or public school! ] must represent the national life and minister to it. When the universities of any country cease to be in close touch with the social life and institutions of the people, and fail to yield to the efforts of those who would readjust them, their days of influence are numbered. The same is true of any system of educational organization. Public schools even more than universities must represent the national life and minister to it. They must minister to the consensus definition of an educated citizen. And what is a consensus? Unanimity or general agreement on matters of opinion, according to Websters; solid agreement by a large majority. And in states where there is no public consensus or general agreement on the meaning of educated citizen, public schools are in an impossible position. They cant act for the public if the public cant decide how they should act. This is true without regard to whether the schools are working well or badly. Today there are few states or none where a public consensus or general agreement exists on what educated citizen means. Schools exist not only to teach skills but to mold character. (Although many object to this old-fashioned language, few Americans disagree that schools must teach an approach to life, a worldview, a moral framework. ) The culture war that has been underway since the late 60s is precisely a war over approaches to life and worldviews and moral frameworks. Our politics mirror that divide. In the 2004 presidential election, Kerry and Bush differed on politics, but stood also for two different worldviews in the larger senseKerry the globalizing man-of-the-world with his European experience versus the plainspoken, ranch-living, Bible-quoting Bush. In simplest terms, Kerry stood for globalism, Bush for Americanism. As between these divergent visions, the country split down the middle. Its pretty clear that no consensus or general agreement on the nature of education is likely to exist in a country thats so divided. Which suggests in turn that, for now, the age of the American public school is over. Obviously we shouldnt make such judgments on the basis of short-term disagreements or divisions. But Americas culture war has been underway for a generation at least. You might argue that the solution is to have two varieties of public school, roughly moderate left and moderate right, each with its own curriculum, textbooks, and standards, and its own version of a worldview or moral framework to teach children. Every neighborhood or local region would vote on left versus right local schools. In many areas such elections would be extraordinarily hard-fought and bitteryet the solution might work, except that the school establishments bias is so consistently left (and not moderate left either) that it seems unlikely we could trust it to operate moderate right schoolsor even neutral schools, if there were such a thing. (The public schools bias often shows itself in exactly the form of neutrality, as Ill discuss. If you declare yourself neutral as between America and her enemies, or normal sexuality and homosexuality, your neutrality in itself is bias. ) Of course this whole analysis might be wrong. Maybe I misunderstand the point of public schools. Was there ever a consensus in this country on what an educated citizen should be? Maybe we always have been content for the schools to speak for just one section of American society, never the whole. What would the nation look like without public schools? Nearly all existing public school buildings would be leased to private schools. All the private schools in any town or district would discuss programs and fees among themselves (which would not count as illegal price-fixing), and with the public too, via local government or town meetings. Any public school whose staff believes in it would be allowed to keep its building and reorganize on a new basis. Some large public schools, especially high schools, would reorganize as confederacies of separate schools sharing one building: a science and math school, humanities school, arts school, sports school. Many students could attend more than one simultaneously. The Internets most important role might be to help coordinate such complicated arrangements. (Though its also true that a well-designed Internet school might attract students from all over the country. ) One final question: Is there any chance that Abolition will be acted on, or even discussed? Dont hold your breath. Yet it would take just one prominent (even medium-prominent) politician or public figure to get America talking. We desperately need this national discussion. And what could be healthier for Americas public schools than to learn that they might not be immortal after all?

Shakespeares Hamlet Essay: Comparison of Gertrude and Ophelia :: comparison compare contrast essays

Comparison of Gertrude and Ophelia within Hamlet      Ã‚   Shakespeare developed 126 female characters in his dramas. In his tragedy Hamlet there are Ophelia and Gertrude. This essay will explore the similarities or commonality of these two characters.    One obvious feature which both Ophelia and Gertrude have in common is that they are both recipients of Hamlet’s ill-will. T.S. Elliot in his essay, â€Å"Hamlet and His Problems† explains how Gertrude is the object of the protagonist’s disgust:    Hamlet is up against the difficulty that his disgust is occasioned by his mother, but that his mother is not an adequate equivalent for it; his disgust envelops and exceeds her. (25)    L.C. Knight in â€Å"An Approach to Hamlet,† agreeing with T. S. Eliot, comments on the â€Å"obsessive passion† which the prince exercises in his chastisement of Gertrude:    I am of course aware that what Hamlet says to his mother in the Closet scene may be regarded as part of a necessary and proper attempt to break the alliance between her and the smiling murderer; but through it all runs the impure streak of the indulgence of an obsessive passion.[. . .] If with genuine, even with passionate, concern, you want to help someone in great need, someone in desperate ignorance of his true condition, do you, I wonder, say, â€Å"This is what you are: see how ugly you look†? Well, perhaps you may; but certainly not in such a way that you seem about to make an aggressive attack. (70)    In similar fashion, Ophelia is verbally abused by the hero; and this episode is elaborated on in detail later. In the Introduction to Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet, David Bevington enlightens the reader regarding the similarities between Gertrude and Ophelia as the hero sees them:    Yet to Hamlet, Ophelia is no better than another Gertrude: both are tender of heart but submissive to the will of importunate men, and so are forced into uncharacteristic vices. Both would be other than what they are, and both receive Hamlet’s exhortations to begin repentance by abstaining from pleasure. â€Å"Get thee to a nunnery†; â€Å"Assume a virtue if you have it not.† (9)    As Bevington says, both Gertrude and Ophelia are â€Å"tender of heart,† motivated by love and a desire for quiet familial harmony among the members of their courtly society in Elsinore. At the first social function in the play, Gertrude is motivated out of love for her son to advise:

Learning Denied Essay

Controversy over the special education of apprentices with learning inability into usual classrooms provides substantial evidence in favor of special education. Although the heated debate which has risen over the pros and cons of special education remains intense, arguments supporting special education tend to outweigh those against special education. Protesters of special education think only of the children with a high chance of academic success. In my opinion, the apparent query is who has the right to judge that only mentally advantaged children should be afforded the opportunity of a normal classroom education? After all, more than just academics are learned in the classroom. Social interaction skills, for instance, also play a huge role in the education process. Simply because mentally disabled children do not have great academic potential does not mean they should be stripped from the experience of attending a regular classroom. In an investigation done by eight graduate students, ninety-three students from two inner-city public elementary schools were observed. The reason was to scrutinize the dissimilarities amongst apprentices with learning inability, students with little educational accomplishment, and learners with regular educational success. In each of the 22 classrooms involved in the study, two children labeled as learning disabled were mainstreamed. To some extent unexpected outcome of the trial was that the students with education disabilities showed a better school commitment than the learners with small attainment. In addition, the pupils with learning disabilities demonstrated a huge attention in the school lesson and, as a result, established more awareness from their teachers. The data received from the research investigation proves that disabled children, like other children have the desire and self-motivation to learn. This fact contradicts the statements made by opponents of special education, who claim that learning disabled children in the regular classroom will bring down the level of learning of the average students. Instead, it seems from the outcome of the investigation that the opponents of special education need to admit that it could be the children with low academic attainment, rather than the children with learning disabilities, that bring down the average students’ level of learning. Although children with learning disabilities may not fare as well on tests as low or average achievers, their presence in the regular classroom certainly will not hinder the success of the other students. It is a known fact that students will respond according to the expectations placed on them (Denny Taylor, 1990). Another concern of many protesters of special education is that learners with disabilities have social difficulties. They believe that learning-disabled students that are incorporated into the standard classroom will become outcasts. I agree with who claim that the special education of disabled students results in better socialization skills for the disabled children. In a study of the social relationships of students in special education classrooms, researchers found that learners with disabilities were well incorporated into the regular classroom social setting. The results clearly disprove the concern that students with learning disabilities would be outcasts in a regular classroom. Another advantage of special education pointed out by experts is that exceptional children in a mainstreamed classroom will learn to accept people despite their differences. Nondiscrimination is an important life lesson, and special education provides the opportunity for children to learn it. In addition to reducing discrimination among peers, special education promotes a system of cooperation. Students are forced to work together and create a cooperative, not competitive, environment. All of the previous listed advantages of special education are part of the goal of mainstreaming which is to â€Å"create a classroom/community where all children can work together, learn, and develop mutually supportive repertoires with peers and adults. † Realizing mainstream or special needs education depends on many factors outside and inside the school. Mainstreaming or special needs education should be part of an encompassing development in society, in which the concept of disability and the position of people with disabilities and/or special needs are changing. In this perspective, persons with special needs should be seen as citizens who have rights within the society as a whole, and no longer should they be seen primarily in terms of their need for special care and treatment; the last to be treated for reasons of efficiency and convenience in special settings. Regardless of special need (handicap or disability), everybody should be treated as an integral member of society. The particular services essential must be offered inside the structure of the communal, learning, physical condition, and other services accessible to all associates of society. Without a solid inclusion-oriented people, comprehensive schools are not possible. Inclusion in education should be measured as one of the numerous features of inclusion in society (Mary Konya Weishaar, 2000). Solution to the Issues: A main task for the administration is to generate sufficient circumstances for the completion of inclusive or special needs education. Without sufficient government involvement, and without the government playing a leading role in promoting legislation, giving financial support, and developing policies, inclusive education will only receive lip-service. An obvious, complete, and decisive strategy declaration might take steps as a means to all stakeholders in teaching: policymakers, majors, educators, parents, amalgamations, non-government associations, referring organizations, and other experts. Schools and, therefore, principals, teachers, and parents are the active agents in the process of developing and implementing plans for mainstream or special needs education. Special education depends heavily on how schools organize their education and what teachers do in their classrooms. If the uniqueness of every child is the central focus of the school system, then finding manageable ways to meet those specific, individual needs is the main responsibility of the regular classroom teacher. Special education is not just an issue of placement of a special needs student in the regular classroom setting; it means both innovation and changes in regular schools as well as in special education schools (Arlene Sacks, 2001). Conclusion: The focus of the inclusive, special needs approach therefore is to support the regular special education school system, that is, the management, the regular classroom teacher and others involved in the teaching process. It should be part of a total school-wide reform resulting in some fundamental changes of policy, philosophy, structure, organization, curriculum, the instructional process, and the management of resources of the regular school. The most important meaning in this attitude modification ought to be that a regular instructor senses an ethical and societal obligation, and is capable and prepared adequately to offer teaching to learners with special wants, making utmost utilization of the resources that are offered. In order to achieve this attitude change, pre-service and in-service training should be provided, not only for teachers working in the program but also for principals and other personnel involved. The true coordinators of the special education process are the teachers. Each pair of teachers that work together must have the desire to teach all children in the least restrictive environment. The extra time and planning involved in creating such an environment requires an enormous amount of devotion. Jamaicans owe everything to the caring teachers who go out of their way to help our country’s children. If only everyone could see the benefits reaped from special education instead of showing a stubborn resistance to change, more children would gain the opportunity to succeed in life. Children are our future, and each child, regardless of intellectual capability, deserves a fair chance. References: Taylor, Denny. 1990. Learning Denied. Published by Heinemann. Hofstra University Foreword by William L. Wansart Weishaar, Mary Konya. 2000. Inclusive Educational Administration: A Case Study Approach. Published by McGraw Hill Sacks, Arlene. 2001. Special Education: A Reference Handbook. Published by ABC-CLIO

Kantian Ethics concerning human Cloning Essay

Cloning is a procedure conceived to notion in the late 1960s, but it is only recently that it was fully understood and that scientists have started to figure out how to successfully copy the genetic composition of one organism to another. Since science already knows how to do this, the only problems and obstacles that remains is efficiency and the success ratio of each operation. The cloning process consists of taking the nucleus of an organism, and placing it, along with the DNA that contains all the genetic material, in place of the nucleus of the host egg. The egg then forms an embryo and matures into the same exact â€Å"copy†, at least genetically, as the original organism. Already done on mammals, cloning is something that can be extended to utilize humans as subjects. In the future it will be wholly possible to create human clones to serve whatever purpose they were conceived for. However, presently there are numerous ethical issues surrounding cloning and there are pro blems about the implications of the use of cloning for the purpose of medicine. This issue plagues us so much that the constant objections of bioethicists and political and religious leaders have caused the US Government to propose a ban on all research concerning human cloning until a conclusion is reached on the moral and ethical aspects of the process. (Macer, 2) In this paper, I will discuss how Kantian views and ethics help us understand whether it is morally ethical to clone for the purpose of bettering our lives. Two points have to be distinguished. How exactly will human cloning aid medicine and society, and the implications of human worth and dignity when applied to clones. Kantian ethics were proposed by Immanuel Kant in his critical writing of the â€Å"Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals†. Kant argued that â€Å"non-rational things have only a relative value as means and are consequently called things. Rational beings, on the other hand, are called persons because their nature already marks them out as ends in themselves†¦ for unless this is so, nothing at all of absolute value would be found anywhere†. (Britannica, 473) All persons are able to adjust their behavior to what they reason to be moral behavior, but in using this capacity that all humans possess, they must act upon a categorical imperative to treat all similarly situated  people equally. They must uphold to their moral maxims and make their actions universal law, extending it equally to all persons. Kant reformulates this idea and states that we should â€Å"act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same times as an end†. (Britannica, 472) This means that we should never use people as only a means, and that because all persons have intrinsic human worth they should all be considered as ends in themselves. Kant’s vision involves only persons or rational agents. If no ‘person’ or rationality is present then it can be argued that the agent is simply a thing. Something that cannot rationalize and is not conscious of its existence cannot be argued as having human worth. So it is wholly possible, through some applications of science, to create â€Å"headless† clones that are not fully developed in the forebrain and who therefore cannot rationalize or exist consciously. (Friedman, 3) If able to be kept alive after their conception in order to mature, these clones can be used for harvesting of their organs for various medical purposes. Kant would not object to these kinds of clones because his concept of rationality is respected in accordance to the categorical imperative. If only rational agents are to be used as an end, and if no rationality exists, then whatever is left can be used only as a means to further some goal with no ethical wrongdoing involved. Developing a â€Å"headless† clone involves a process that prevents rationality and consciousness from ever being formed. This can be paralleled to other procedures that involve the same block of formation of rationality, particularly any form of birth control. Not allowing the development of â€Å"headless† clones because it is immoral makes any sort of birth control thus immoral too, because they also involve the preventing of the development of consciousness and rational thought. (Friedman, 4) If this imperative were to be upheld to a moral maxim, then we would need to be consistent in our actions and ban birth control just as human cloning is banned now. However, if human clones are developed as persons (with a whole brain and  fully functioning in every aspect) then our perspectives need to be changed to take a more moral view. Is it possible to morally clone a human to become an end in themselves? Suppose the case of a childless family where the mother is unable to conceive for whatever reasons. Somatic cell cloning can provide the family with a way to obtain a child through surrogate birth. (Friedman, 2) Even though copying the genetic composition of one parent and making the child a copy of them is somewhat strange, it is understandable from the parents’ point of view. If they are unable to naturally conceive, they should still be given some sort of chance to have a child. Cloning gives the parents this chance to have a child and have a somewhat normal family as an outcome. In this case the clone is treated as an end. He will grow up to be healthy and hopefully be regarded the same as a naturally conceived child. When he grows up, the clone will not denounce his existence. If asked the question of whether he would have rather not been born, the child would most likely thank cloning for his conception. The similar can be said for a clone that is used as a means for something but eventually becoming an end in themselves. Suppose the case of a family where a serious disease plagues an existing child and that only a specific blood type or a certain type of bone marrow will save him. If no donors are available, the child’s only ticket to survival might be a clone. Using the same genetic composition, his twin can be cloned in order to save his life. If this cloned twin is afterwards discarded, because he no longer serves a purpose or if he dies during the transfusion, this would in turn be highly unethical and immoral. However, if the parents exercise the human right of the clone as a person to exist, they are acting in accordance with the categorical imperative as stated above. They are extending the moral maxim to a universal law, and are treating the clone as a person, justly. The clone then becomes not simply a means to save a child’s life but an end in themselves also . The clone’s rationality and consciousness is not jeopardized. And in the same way as above, the clone would be thankful for having saved someone with his existence and would not regret his life. The immediately foreseeable problems with cloning for the purpose of childbirth might be seen when parents want to dictate the genetic makeup of  their child. They might not only want to eradicate genes that make a person susceptible to certain diseases, but they also might want to eliminate other unfavorable genes. Genes that control a person’s susceptibility to violence or other emotional factors, or genes that control a person’s appearance, such as height, hair and eye color and physical condition. In this way, parents might be able to mold genetically superior children to their liking. This would is most probable to eliminate uniqueness and individuality. There would be no randomness or pureness of nature in humans. Everything would be similar because certain specific qualities would be more favorable and popular. Also gene superiority would label clones as of higher value and might cause discrimination based solely on one’s genetic makeup. Only through tot al anonymity would this be preventable, and this condition is impossible. This problem can be directly related to the categorical imperative so crucial to Kant and Kantian ethics. Because morality must extended to be universal, it is imperative that both the superior clones and regularly genetically endowed humans are treated with similar regard. This however would seem to not be the case; the clones would always be favored in any situation. Therefore, this treatment would be immoral, as it would be immoral to clone human persons for such purposes, which are based only on vanity of people and discrimination of less favored genes. Many ethical issues and moral aspects of human cloning must be observed to get a larger picture of its implications. Kantianism gives us a way of differentiating in which situations will cloning be ethical or, the opposite, immoral. However, Kantian ethics is pretty specific in its situations and it can’t give a much more general and broad understanding of the ethics of cloning. It doesn’t tell us what to do, it only tells us whether something is moral or not. Kantianism is not a guide of morals but it is a very good understanding of them. Bibliography Friedman, Dan. â€Å"Cloning† Macalester Journal of Philosophy Vol. 9, 1999 Gardner, Jennifer. â€Å"To Clone or Not to Clone† http://pages.prodigy.net/darvi/clone.htm (12 Feb, 2001) â€Å"Kant, Immanuel† Encyclopaedia Britannica: In Depth Knowledge 1999 ed. Macer, Darryl R.J., Ph.D. â€Å"Ethical Challenges as we approach the end of the Human Genome Project.† N.p: n.p. 2000 Ruse, Michael, and Sheppard, Aryne. Cloning: Responsible Science or Technomadness? Prometheus Books, December 2000

Battle of Chapultepec in the Mexican-American War

Battle of Chapultepec in the Mexican-American War The Battle of Chapultepec was fought September 12-13, 1847, during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). With the start of the war in May 1846, American troops led by Major General Zachary Taylor scored quick victories at the Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma before crossing the Rio Grande to strike the fortress city of Monterrey. Assaulting Monterrey in September 1846, Taylor captured the city after a costly battle. After the Monterreys capitulation, he annoyed President James K. Polk when he gave the Mexicans an eight-week armistice and permitted Monterreys defeated garrison to go free.   With Taylor and his army holding Monterrey, debate commenced in Washington regarding American strategy moving forward. Following these conversations, it was decided that a campaign against the Mexican capital at Mexico City would be critical to winning the war. As a 500-mile march from Monterrey over difficult terrain was recognized as impractical, the decision was made to land an army on the coast near Veracruz and march inland. This choice made, Polk was next required to select a commander for the campaign. Scotts Army Though popular with his men, Taylor was an ardent Whig who had publicly criticized Polk on several occasions. Polk, a Democrat, would have preferred a member of his own party, but lacking a qualified candidate, he chose Major General Winfield Scott.   A Whig, Scott was seen as posing less of a political threat. To create Scotts army, the bulk of Taylors veteran units were directed to the coast. Left south of Monterrey with a small force, Taylor successfully defeated a much larger Mexican force at the Battle of Buena Vista in February 1847. Landing near Veracruz in March 1847, Scott captured the city and began marching inland. Routing the Mexicans at Cerro Gordo the following month, he drove towards Mexico City winning battles at Contreras and Churubusco in the process. Nearing the edge of the city, Scott attacked the Molino del Rey (Kings Mills) on September 8, 1847, believing there to be a cannon foundry there. After hours of heavy fighting, he captured the mills and destroyed the foundry equipment. The battle was one of the bloodiest of conflict with the Americans suffering 780 killed and wounded and the Mexicans 2,200. Next Steps Having taken Molino del Rey, American forces had effectively cleared many of the Mexican defenses on the western side of the city with the exception of Chapultepec Castle. Situated atop a 200-foot hill, the castle was a strong position and served as the Mexican Military Academy. It was garrisoned by fewer than 1,000 men, including the corps of cadets, led by General Nicols Bravo. While a formidable position, the castle could be approached via a long slope from Molino del Rey. Debating his course of action, Scott called a council of war to discuss the armys next steps. Meeting with his officers, Scott favored assaulting the castle and moving against the city from the west. This was initially resisted as the majority of those present, including Major Robert E. Lee, desired to attack from the south. In the course of the debate, Captain Pierre G.T. Beauregard offered an eloquent argument in favor of the western approach which swung many of the officers into Scotts camp. The decision made, Scott began planning for the assault on the castle. For the attack, he intended to strike from two directions with one column approaching from the west while the other struck from the southeast. Armies Commanders United States Major General Winfield Scott7,180 men Mexico General Antonio Lopez de Santa AnnaGeneral Nicholas Bravoaround 1,000 men near Chapultepec The Assault At dawn on September 12, American artillery began firing on the castle. Firing through the day, it halted at nightfall only to resume the next morning. At 8:00 AM, Scott ordered the firing to stop and directed the attack to move forward. Advancing east from Molino del Rey, Major General Gideon Pillows division pushed up the slope spearheaded by an advance party led by Captain Samuel Mackenzie. Advancing north from Tacubaya, Major General John Quitmans division moved against Chapultepec with Captain Silas Casey leading the advance party. Pushing up the slope, Pillows advance successfully reached the walls of the castle but soon stalled as Mackenzies men had to wait for the storming ladders to be brought forward. To the southeast, Quitmans division encountered a dug-in Mexican brigade at the intersection with the road leading east into the city. Ordering Major General Persifor Smith to swing his brigade east around the Mexican line, he directed Brigadier General James Shields to take his brigade northwest against Chapultepec. Reaching the base of the walls, Caseys men also had to wait for ladders to arrive. Ladders soon arrived on both fronts in large numbers allowing the Americans to storm over the walls and into the castle. The first over the top was Lieutenant George Pickett. Though his men mounted a spirited defense, Bravo was soon overwhelmed as the enemy attacked on both fronts. Pressing the assault, Shields was severely wounded, but his men succeeded in pulling down the Mexican flag and replacing it with the American flag. Seeing little choice, Bravo ordered his men to retreat back to the city but was captured before he could join them (Map). Exploiting the Success Arriving on the scene, Scott moved to exploit the capture of Chapultepec. Ordering Major General William Worths division forward, Scott directed it and elements of Pillows division to move north along the La Verà ³nica Causeway then east to assault the San Cosmà © Gate. As these men moved out, Quitman re-formed his command and was tasked with moving east down the Belà ©n Causeway to conduct a secondary attack against the Belà ©n Gate. Pursuing the retreating Chapultepec garrison, Quitmans men soon encountered Mexican defenders under General Andrà ©s Terrà ©s. Using a stone aqueduct for cover, Quitmans men slowly drove the Mexicans back to the Belà ©n Gate. Under heavy pressure, the Mexicans began to flee and Quitmans men breached the gate around 1:20 PM. Guided by Lee, Worths men did not reach the intersection of the La Verà ³nica and San Cosmà © Causeways until 4:00 PM. Beating back a counterattack by Mexican cavalry, they pushed towards the San Cosmà © Gate but took heavy losses from the Mexican defenders. Fighting up the causeway, American troops knocked holes in the walls between buildings to advance while avoiding Mexican fire. To cover the advance, Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant hoisted a howitzer to the bell tower of the San Cosmà © church and began firing on the Mexicans. This approach was repeated to the north by US Navy Lieutenant Raphael Semmes. The tide turned when Captain George Terrett and a group of US Marines were able to attack the Mexican defenders from the rear. Pushing forward, Worth secured the gate around 6:00 PM. Aftermath In the course of the fighting at the Battle of Chapultepec, Scott suffered around 860 casualties while Mexican losses are estimated at around 1,800 with an additional 823 captured. With the citys defenses breached, Mexican commander General Antonio Là ³pez de Santa Anna elected to abandon the capital that night. The following morning, American forces entered the city. Though Santa Anna conducted a failed siege of Puebla shortly thereafter, large-scale fighting effectively ended with Mexico Citys fall. Entering into negotiations, the conflict was ended by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in early 1848. The active participation in the fighting by the US Marine Corps led to the opening line of the Marines Hymn, From the Halls of Montezuma...

Indo-European Family of Languages

Indo-European Family of Languages Definition Indo-European is a  family of languages (including most of the languages spoken in Europe, India, and Iran) descended from a common tongue spoken in the third millennium B.C. by an agricultural people originating in southeastern Europe. Branches of Indo-European (IE) include Indo-Iranian (Sanskrit and the Iranian languages), Greek, Italic (Latin and related languages), Celtic, Germanic (which includes English), Armenian, Balto-Slavic, Albanian, Anatolian, and Tocharian. The theory that languages as diverse as Sanskrit, Greek, Celtic, Gothic, and Persian had a common ancestor was proposed by Sir William Jones in an address to the Asiatick Society on Feb. 2, 1786. (See below.) The reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages is known as the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). Examples and Observations The ancestor of all the IE languages is called Proto-Indo-European, or PIE for short. . . . Since no documents in reconstructed PIE are preserved or can reasonably hope to be found, the structure of this hypothesized language will always be somewhat controversial. (Benjamin W. Fortson, IV, Indo-European Language and Culture. Wiley, 2009) Englishalong with a whole host of languages spoken in Europe, India, and the Middle Eastcan be traced back to an ancient language that scholars call Proto Indo-European. Now, for all intents and purposes, Proto Indo-European is an imaginary language. Sort of. Its not like Klingon or anything. It is reasonable to believe it once existed. But nobody every wrote it down so we dont know exactly what it really was. Instead, what we know is that there are hundreds of languages that share similarities in syntax and vocabulary, suggesting that they all evolved from a common ancestor. (Maggie Koerth-Baker, Listen to a Story Told in a 6000-Year-Old Extinct Language. Boing Boing, September 30, 2013) Address to the Asiatick Society by Sir William Jones (1786) The Sanscrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure, more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists. There is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the Gothick and the Celtick, though blended with a very different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanscrit, and the old Persian might be added to this family, if this were the place for discussing any question concerning the antiquities of Persia. (Sir William Jones, The Third Anniversary Discourse, on the Hindus, Feb. 2, 1786) A Shared Vocabulary The languages of Europe and those of Northern India, Iran, and part of Western Asia belong to a group known as the Indo-European Languages. They probably originated from a common language-speaking group about 4000 BC and then split up as various subgroups migrated. English shares many words with these Indo-European languages, though some of the similarities may be masked by sound changes. The word moon, for example, appears in recognizable forms in languages as different as German (Mond), Latin (mensis, meaning month), Lithuanian (menuo), and Greek (meis, meaning month). The word yoke is recognizable in German (Joch), Latin (iugum), Russian (igo), and Sanskrit (yugam). (Seth Lerer, Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language. Columbia Univ. Press, 2007) Also See Grimms LawHistorical Linguistics

Blooms Taxonomy - Application Category and Examples

Blooms Taxonomy s Bloom’s Taxonomy  was developed by educational theorist Benjamin Bloom in the 1950s.  The taxonomy, or levels of learning, identify different domains of learning including: cognitive (knowledge), affective (attitudes), and psychomotor (skills).   Application Category Description The application level is where the student moves beyond basic comprehension in order to begin to apply what they have learned. Students are expected to use concepts or tools they have learned in new situations in order to show that they can use what they have learned in increasingly complex ways The use of Blooms Taxonomy in planning can help to move students through the different levels of cognitive development. When planning learning outcomes, teachers should reflect on the different levels of learning. Learning increases when students are introduced to course concepts and then given opportunities to practice applying them. When students apply an abstract idea to a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to prior experience, they are showing their level of proficiency at this level. To make sure that students show they can apply what they learn, teachers should:   Provide opportunities for the student to use ideas, theories, or problem-solving techniques and apply them to new situations. Review the student’s work to ensure that he/she is using problem-solving techniques independently. Provide questions that require the student to define and solve problems. Key Verbs in the Application Category apply. build, calculate, change, choose, classify, construct, complete, demonstrate,  develop, examine, illustrate, interpret, interview, make, make use of, manipulate, modify, organize, experiment with, plan, produce, select, show,  solve, translate, utilize, model, use. Examples of Question Stems for the Application Category These question stems will help teachers develop assessments that allow students to solve problems in situations by applying acquired knowledge, facts, techniques, and rules, perhaps in a different way. How would you make use of ____?How does ____ apply to ____?How would you modify ____?What approach would you use to†¦?Could this have happened in...?Under what conditions would you ____?How could you apply what you have read to construct ____?Do you know another instance where...?Can you group by characteristics such as...?Identify the results if ____?Why does ____ work?What questions would you ask for...?How would you use the facts to investigate ____?Using what you know, how would you design ____?Utilize ____ to ____.Illustrate a way to ____.What elements would you use to change†¦?Is there a way to demonstrate ____?What questions would you ask during ________?Predict what would happen if ____?How would you organize _______ to show†¦?What would result if ____?Is there another way you could plan to†¦?What facts would you select to show†¦?Would this information be useful if you had...?Can you apply the method used to some experience of your own...?Show me a wa y to organize ____.Can you make use of the facts to†¦? Using what you have learned, how would you solve ____?What factors would you change if...? From the information given, can you develop a set of instructions about...?How would you solve ___ using what you’ve learned†¦?How would you show your understanding of†¦?What examples can you find to†¦?How would you apply what you learned to develop†¦? Examples of Assessments That Are Based onthe Application Level of Bloom’s Taxonomy The category of application  is the third level of the Bloom’s taxonomy pyramid. Because it is just above the comprehension level, many teachers use the level of application  in performance-based activities such as those listed below.   Make a storyboard for a film on a book you are reading.Create a script from the book you are reading now; act out a part of the story.Plan a party that one of the main characters would enjoy attending: plan the menu, and activities or games you want to have at the party.Create a scenario in which a character in the story reacts to a problem in your school; write about how he or she would handle the situation differently.Reimagine the characters in a story as a human, animal, or thing.Teleport (space travel) the main character to a new setting.(Re)write lyrics to a ballad for a story you are reading.Construct a model to demonstrate how it will work.Create a diorama to illustrate an important event.Make a yearbook entry for a character you are studying.Stage a tableau of a famous event.Invite famous people to an imaginary dinner and create the seating plan.Make up a board game using the ideas from the study area.Design a market strategy for a character doll.  Create a brochure for a country. Write a textbook about... for others.

Ancient Middle East - Lesson 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Ancient Middle East - Lesson 1 - Essay Example B. repetition of words, phrases, or sentences that have the same grammatical structure or that compare or contrast ideas C. intentional repeating of a sound, word, phrase, line, or idea in order to create a particular literary effect D. a comparison of two things to show that they are alike in certain respects E. a figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent or dead person, a deity, an abstract quality, or something nonhuman as if it were present and capable of responding Question 2 What characteristic of an epic hero does Gilgamesh display when he tells of his plans for the river plant? weakness, since he wants it only for his own use ignorance, since he does not realize it is poisonous kindness, since he intends to give it to the elderly confusion, since he knows it cannot endure Question 3 One of the themes of the Epic of Gilgamesh is the search for immortality, which involves Gilgamesh's traveling to the underworld. Which phrase best describes the Sumerian underworld that Gilgamesh enters as part of his search? a land of dust and darkness a land of hard work and pain a land of abundance and beauty a land of winged creatures and kings Question 4 Which of the following is evidence of the influence of Mesopotamian culture in the Epic of Gilgamesh? Enkidu and Gilgamesh become friends. Gilgamesh encounters many gods in his journey. Gilgamesh is sometimes boastful. Utnapishtim is immortal. ... does not trust her beloved to return. prefers to spend time away from her beloved. worries more about her beloved's happiness than her own.   Ã‚  Question 8    In Most Beautiful Youth Who Ever Happened, the words "love of you goes round and round" reveal that the speaker wishes that her love would stop. worries that her love is hopeless. feels intense, powerful love. sees love as a silly game.   Ã‚  Question 9    The epithet, "O Sole God beside whom there is none!" from The Great Hymn to the Aten, emphasizes Aten's great beauty. supreme power. intense loneliness. extreme isolation.   Ã‚  Question 10    The epithet from The Great Hymn to the Aten, "You rouse them for your son who came from your body, / The King who lives by Maat," implies that worshipers of Aten will rise from the dead. will be like a son to Maat. should fight invaders. should obey the pharaoh.   Ã‚  Question 11    The epithet from The Great Hymn to the Aten, "Lord of all who toils for them," character izes Aten as kind and loving toward his people. caring only toward people who work for him. caring only toward people who work for others. harsh and demanding of his people.   Ã‚  Question 12    Which of these would NOT be appropriate to include in an original praise poem? an epithet: "Ocean, home to sea creatures" an apostrophe: "Little bird, carry my love to my beloved" compliments to the person or object that is the subject of the poem comments on how the subject of the poem has disappointed the speaker   Ã‚  Question 13    The story, In the Beginning, uses repetition to reinforce the important idea that God ended his work and rested on the seventh day. God thought that the things he had made were good. those who sinned against God would be punished. Adam

Employment law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Employment law - Assignment Example Sam was hired as an employee and Arnie was hired as an independent contractor. They both work in the same BRC office under the same supervisor. They both work Monday through Friday during standard business hours. Both are required to report weekly staff meetings. Sam is paid a salary and proper federal and state tax withholdings are made. Arnie does not receive benefits like retirement and health insurance and he is paid by the project with no federal and state withholdings. Arnie signed a contract that clearly stated that he was an independent contractor and not an employee. Answer: the employer has acted to fill a particular position, when the individual has followed the employer’s standard procedures for submitting applications, and when the individual has indicated an interest in the particular position. 8. Under the inevitable disclosure theory, a court may prohibit an employee from working for a former employer’s competitor, if the employer can show that there is imminent threat that a trade secret will be shared and the employee has intent to disclose the secret, and the trade secret would give the former employer’s competitor a significant advantage in the market. 1. Colton Manufacturing shuts down 3 manufacturing facilities without prior notice to its 3000 employees. Colton has graciously offered to provide outsourcing assistance to its displaced employees and informed them of their rights to continue to receive health insurance coverage through COBRA for eighteen months. Colton has to further liability to its former employees. 3. An employer can successfully defend a charge of disparate treatment discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act offering a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for the action taken regarding the charging party. 5. Davis Hosiery Mills has each new employee sign a form acknowledging receipt of the company’s handbook. The handbook states that employees will be terminated for good cause

Analysis of Black History Month Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Analysis of Black History Month - Essay Example Celebrating African American history does a lot more than simply show us the contributions African Americans have made to society; it also promotes the idea of equality and understanding for all races which make up our society. Appreciation for black history does not have to be concerned with events and situations which developed concerning African Americans since they can also focus on individuals. People such as Willie Brown become good examples of how influential African Americans have been in recent history as Willie Brown served for more than three decades in the California State Assembly and remained the speaker of the body for fourteen years. He continued his political career to become the only African American Mayor to govern San Francisco as a Democratic Party member (Wikipedia, 2008). Going further back in time, we have figures such as Malcolm X who started off as a petty thief and ended up being one of the greatest leaders in American history. We can certainly compare his life to other leaders who went through trials and confrontations before coming to terms with their thoughts and their understanding of the world. However, Malcolm X often met opposition from those who respected and admired him once he changed his viewpoints about violence and the use of force. Malcolm was one of the major black leaders to advocate equality and understanding towards peoples of all religions whether they be Muslim or Christian (Wikipedia, 2008). Even further in history, we have Frederick Douglass who is perhaps the greatest African American leader produced by the country. He was a lot more than a mere politician since he was an author, a reformer, an abolitionist and a magnificent orator.  

Creating meaning in TV documentaries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Creating meaning in TV documentaries - Essay Example Thus, documentaries stand for 'Truth'. The three documentaries this write up attempts to analyse, belong to varied sub-genres of themes of documentaries. The first one is titles, the Fallign Man, the second one is Nanking, a documentary on war and the last one is called The Silent World, which is based on nature. Thus, all three documentaries belong to varied set-ups. The treatment of each documentary is different, in spite of the common elements that exist in all three documentaries. The Falling Man is a documentary based on a picture clicked by a photographer, during the September 11 attack on the twin towers. It is basically a depiction of a man falling from the one of the top stories of the twin towers, who chose to escape death caused by the burning fo the story and decided to end his life by jumping down, rather. The very purpose of this documentary is debatable. On one hand, it caused an uproar about how the media portrayed this picture, since it did not attach importance to the sanctity of the dead. On the other hand, as the documentary maker says, it captured the 'life' of a man who is dead now. It captured the very essence of his life, wherein he chose to die a death that was better than what it would have been! On a diverse note, The Falling Man is a revelation into the aftermaths of terrorism, and how society can be devastated and lives destroyed, by a single act of terror. The documentary is an authored one, with a voice-over. Therefore, the sound effects coincide more or less with the intonation and stress in the voice-over artiste's narration. The performers are real-life victims of the terrorist attack, and therefore, the depictions are very heart-rending and hit the audience directly. The images used are controversial, as mentioned above, regarding what the media should permit and what it needs to withhold. The colour used is very natural, since it is a depiction of a real life occurrence. Latest technology has been used to capture the moments, but the editing is very minimal, owing to the fact that the real fall cannot be doctored. NANKING The Documentary film, Nanking is based on the atrocities that are committed during war. The underlying message is certainly regarding the futility of war and how the motive behind war certainly causes distraught in man's life. It is based on the Japanese massacre at Nanjing, the Chinese capital, which killed numerous people. The genocide is the core theme of the documentary. Here again, the picture depiction is realistic. The background sound effects are quite moving, since they depict war. The colour used is black-and-white, since it was set during World War II. The images do depict violence, which is the very negative essence of war. This certainly creates a

The critical race theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The critical race theory - Essay Example However, white privilege is dissimilar from conditions of extreme vestiges of racism and/ or prejudice, whereupon the predominant race actively finds it rational to oppress other racial tribes for their own gain. Similarly, theories of white privilege stipulate that the whites perceive their social, economic and cultural knowledge as a custom that everyone should experience, as opposed to a merit that should be kept at the expense of others (5-9). This normative discernment unreservedly restrains the discourse of racial dissimilarity within the predominate discussion. Ideally, such interpretations are limited certain particulars which are detailed to downgraded racial groups. These disadvantaged groups are assumed as having failed to realize the norm. Ironically, the resort concentrates on what should be done with a view to helping those racial groups accomplish the normal principles experienced by whites (Stefanic 22-24). Stefani argues that the theories of privilege affirm discussi ons on racial dissimilarity do not genuinely discuss variations between Non-white and whites social status. Come to think of it, these theories only converse about the malfunction of non-white racial groups to accomplish normal white status. This supposition on the hand turns the subject of race into a problem which doesn’t involve white racial groups (12-14). Racialization of individuality and ethnic downgrading of blacks and the colored formed the basis for ideological slavery and subjugation. Whiteness satisfies the expansive ideas of property as illustrated by classical theorists. Granted, whiteness stipulated the legal position of a person as free or a slave. White individuality awarded corporeal and valuable privileges. Ownership of property included the privileges of use and enjoyment. If these privileges were essential characteristics of property, it was the individuality of whiteness that had to enjoy them. Whiteness was perceived as an aspect of individuality and pr operty significance because it is something that can be experienced and dispatched as a resource (Stefanic 133-137). The United States is the patron of race subornation. In this context, the dominion of legal associations, judicial explanation of racial individuality primed on the white supremacy replicate that race underestimation at the institutional level. By metamorphosizing white into whiteness, the law disguises the ideological aspect of racial interpretation. The overall assertion of theories of white privilege is that the lack of racial equality can’t be determined only by looking at the life circumstances of the underprivileged groups. In this context, they thus state that imperative solutions to the viable challenges of lack of racial equality can be accomplished by overtly talking about the inherent merits that whites as a privileged racial group uphold in the community (Stefanic 77-76). According to Stefanic in the period of nineteenth century, the retinues of whi te laborers, while they were reimbursed relatively minimal wages, were remunerated in general through a public and psychological wage. These white laborers were also accorded public distinction and titles of honor since they were simply white. They were acknowledged unquestionably well with all other groups of white people of to best public schools, public places, and or public functions. Some of them were recruited into the American police. Additionally, these groups of people were treated with laxity by the American courts with a view to encouraging lawlessness. Besides, they freely voted for American public officials (185-188). However, this had

Emotion and moods in organization behaviour Essay

Emotion and moods in organization behaviour - Essay Example Emotions have been proven to be a significant contributor to our daily mental life influencing the eminence of our being. Researcher and psychologists have pointed out that, emotions make life worth living to people by being making them be receptive to certain environmental stimulus (Giovann, Petrella, Blasi, Zontini, & Nolfe, 66). Emotions help as do determine what people whom we interact with feel towards us. People know how their partners feel about them by looking at their facial expression. Tonal voice is also a key determinant which helps to evaluate a human’s true feelings (Charmine, Neal, Ashkanasy & Zerbe, 46). There are two main categories of emotions. They include the complex and simple emotions. These two categories are further subdivided into positive and negative emotions. Common emotions which are normally depicted by human beings include anger love, hatred, depression, and joy and happiness etcetera. Mood Mood is an expression of emotion which is perceived to b e long lasting state. Moods can take a longer duration of time to last taking even up to a couple of days. As compared to simple emotions, moods are less intensive. Literary, when someone is in a negative emotional condition, the person is said to be in a bad mood. On the other hand, positive emotions induce good moods (Ashkanasy, Neal & Cary, 24). Sources of emotions and moods A variety of studies have been conducted to identify sources of particular emotions evoked to an individual. Positive incidents are bound to have an effect on positive mood and emotions which are positive as well. Conversely, negative occurrences influence the negative moods for those who have emotional imbalance. To make an illustration, let us consider two employees who work in a particular organization Ashkanasy, Neal & Cary, 26). Employee A has a high level of emotional stability while his counterpart B scores low. One day, both the employees are notice that there is a bonus to be granted for each of thei r sale. Soon after, their boss passes by and scolds them for no obvious reason. In this circumstance, it would be expected for the one who is mentally stable to remain solid because he focuses only on then news with helps him achieve maximum happiness Ashkanasy, Neal & Cary, 24). The news with negatively affect employee B due to his emotional disadvantage of emotional instability hence he will get demoralized that faithful day. It has been noted that some people’s emotions depends on the time of the day and day of the week. Weekdays are known to the working days where most people are busy running various errands. Nevertheless weekends are special days of the week where individual getting to relax and take a rest from their busy weekday schedule. This means that you will find a majority of people in their best mood during weekends Ashkanasy, Neal & Cary, 27). Monday is a week day that you will find a bigger section of the populace in their worst mood due to Monday blues. Early in the morning, it is expected to find many individuals lowly spirited. Our moods revive in the course of the day and a projected decrease during the evening hours. What time people go to sleep at night or what time they wake up necessary impact the level of positive implication Positive influence peaks up in the midst of when one wakes up and when one goes to bed? At work place, how well we interact is depicted in midmorning and later in the week. A couple of people

The critical race theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The critical race theory - Essay Example However, white privilege is dissimilar from conditions of extreme vestiges of racism and/ or prejudice, whereupon the predominant race actively finds it rational to oppress other racial tribes for their own gain. Similarly, theories of white privilege stipulate that the whites perceive their social, economic and cultural knowledge as a custom that everyone should experience, as opposed to a merit that should be kept at the expense of others (5-9). This normative discernment unreservedly restrains the discourse of racial dissimilarity within the predominate discussion. Ideally, such interpretations are limited certain particulars which are detailed to downgraded racial groups. These disadvantaged groups are assumed as having failed to realize the norm. Ironically, the resort concentrates on what should be done with a view to helping those racial groups accomplish the normal principles experienced by whites (Stefanic 22-24). Stefani argues that the theories of privilege affirm discussi ons on racial dissimilarity do not genuinely discuss variations between Non-white and whites social status. Come to think of it, these theories only converse about the malfunction of non-white racial groups to accomplish normal white status. This supposition on the hand turns the subject of race into a problem which doesn’t involve white racial groups (12-14). Racialization of individuality and ethnic downgrading of blacks and the colored formed the basis for ideological slavery and subjugation. Whiteness satisfies the expansive ideas of property as illustrated by classical theorists. Granted, whiteness stipulated the legal position of a person as free or a slave. White individuality awarded corporeal and valuable privileges. Ownership of property included the privileges of use and enjoyment. If these privileges were essential characteristics of property, it was the individuality of whiteness that had to enjoy them. Whiteness was perceived as an aspect of individuality and pr operty significance because it is something that can be experienced and dispatched as a resource (Stefanic 133-137). The United States is the patron of race subornation. In this context, the dominion of legal associations, judicial explanation of racial individuality primed on the white supremacy replicate that race underestimation at the institutional level. By metamorphosizing white into whiteness, the law disguises the ideological aspect of racial interpretation. The overall assertion of theories of white privilege is that the lack of racial equality can’t be determined only by looking at the life circumstances of the underprivileged groups. In this context, they thus state that imperative solutions to the viable challenges of lack of racial equality can be accomplished by overtly talking about the inherent merits that whites as a privileged racial group uphold in the community (Stefanic 77-76). According to Stefanic in the period of nineteenth century, the retinues of whi te laborers, while they were reimbursed relatively minimal wages, were remunerated in general through a public and psychological wage. These white laborers were also accorded public distinction and titles of honor since they were simply white. They were acknowledged unquestionably well with all other groups of white people of to best public schools, public places, and or public functions. Some of them were recruited into the American police. Additionally, these groups of people were treated with laxity by the American courts with a view to encouraging lawlessness. Besides, they freely voted for American public officials (185-188). However, this had

U.S. foreign policy on Mexico Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

U.S. foreign policy on Mexico - Essay Example U.S. foreign toward its Mexico can be analyzed as driven by promoting free market reforms and enforcing market prohibitions. This means tightening controls over prohibited cross-border economic flows and at the same time promoting a borderless free trade area.U.S. drug and immigration control strategies focus primordially on curbing the foreign supply and secondarily on identifying the sources of demand: consumers of drugs and employers of migrant workers. In a nutshell, US efforts have confronted the demand side of the problem--America's inherent dependence on both.As US scramble to beef up border controls on Mexico, puny efforts are given to tide down the powerful economic forces that drive so many Mexicans to illegally enter the United States. The Border Patrol can only do so much by making life much harder for illegal border-crossers. The underlying push-pull factors that motivate illegal labor migration remain stronger than ever. On the pull side, important sectors of the U.S. e conomy, such as agriculture and the garment industry, rely on illegal workers. The US government crackdown on employers using illegal aliens is weak, poorly designed, and minimally enforced.The first priority should be to raise and enforce labor standards. Genuine enforcement of existing workplace rules such as the implementation of minimum wages, overtime, and environmental, health, and safety regulations will make it difficult for employers to engage in the exploitation of workers, hence, denying them their most important incentive to hire illegal labor. These efforts should especially target sweatshop employers who are despicable for their abuse of workers and disregard of labor standards. This strict emphasis on raising labor standards by tightening workplace controls would contribute toward addressing the root of the problem than simply tightening border controls. US domestic efforts on the pull side is combined with initiatives to address the conditions in growth of small-and medium-scale labor-intensive industries in rural regions, where most of the job displacement is occurring. These measures require active state intervention in managing the economic transition in the countryside rather than the current laissez-faire approach. The Mexican government had no strategy for handling the millions of workers who are being displaced as a result of market reforms. However, the United States has a strong interest in cooperating with Mexico to devise and promote development programs and social safety nets that minimize the incentive for workers to cross border to the US. Multilateral institutions like the World Bank can assist these efforts by including migration concerns centrally into their programs. The IMF and the World Bank have not considered migration issues in their policy management. Indeed, many of the market-based reforms they support end up fueling migration both in the short and medium term. The main goal of the NAFTA is to spur economic development so that migration pressures will be reduced in the long run. The US can help Mexico manage the difficult process of economic restructuring by helping it cope with the mass displacement of Mexican labor. This requires active government involvement rather than faith in market solutions. The market solution tends to be that of exporting the labor surplus to the United States. For example, Mexico can be encouraged to increase the minimum wage to begin closing the wide wage gap between the two countries. The United States and Mexico can unite to slow down the growth of the border region, since this area has traditionally served as a magnet for northward migration. The United States can encourage Mexico to implement its agricultural reforms to encourage the people to stay in the country. The US can help Mexico through tax incentives and financial and technical assistance. The Mexico experience shows that the free market reforms can also free up the drug

Time stuffs Essay Example for Free

Time stuffs Essay As a Non Commisioned Officer it is extremely important to uphold the standards of exolelnce. It is not enough to just say that you can, you have to actually do it: be it. My Sergeant Major Command Sergeant Mojor Duham told me when I first put on hard stripes, he said,† Corpral everybody is going to be watching you now.. All of your soldiers will see what you do. All of your leaders will be judging you. All eyes are on the Non Commissioned Officer,† I instantly understood what he meant by that. He pined me at the beginning of our deployment to Iraq, towards the end of that deployment I understood very intamately how true those words were. As a soldier it is inherently important to follow the simplest of rules. Be in the right place at ther right time, in the right uniform. How easy is that? To a soldier that is your entire world, and it really is just that easy. It seems like it would be just a s easy for a non comissioned officer to do the same, and by all rights it just be, especially for a veteran thats been doing this for years. Atached to every action of the non commissioned officer is that stigma of excellance. A non commissioned officer should be all means be great a t whot he/she does. There should be an upheld idiology that this person behind those stripes is above the pressure of societal norms, a person that rises above all challenges, a person not berdoned with fear, someone that will consistantly do the right thing no matter how much harder it is to do than the easy thing. The idea of a non commissioned officer should be something almost superhuman, a fucking Jedi. Thia ia thw image of tbhe non commissionaed officer that people actually have. When NCOs perform actions that are anything less than excellent it tants that image. People begin to see that these heros are just assholes that speak a good game. We absolutely need to be men and wemon of integraty , and courage. People dthat uphodlt he standards no matter what. I was late, I was late more thatn once. This councelling that I have agreed to and signed suggest that somebody actually asked my why. That didnt happen. I whould like tto argue that had I ever been talked to about tardyness the first time then there wouldnt have been a second time. There was no conversation that involved myself or any of my leadership implementing. Therer is no excuse my actions are as they were recorded; I was late. I know better, Ive known better, I dont need to have someone consistantly reminding me about soing the right thing. I know very well what the right thing is, what it looks like, and how it is to bwe implemente. Because I know right, I can fully understand why it is unexceptable to have a non commissioned officer consistantly performing bellow the standard. Just the samew it would have been nice to have had a conversation about poor or unsatisfactory performance with my leadership before jumping strait into a written councelling. Gee I hope this doesnt reflect poorly on my NCOER oh wait thats right my leasders have failed to provide my with sufficant councelling and evaluation of my perfaormeance duechbags, Time is said to be eternal. It is said that it has neither a beginning nor an end. Yet men are able to measure it as years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds. They have also given meanings to the words – past, present and future. True, time has a meaning. It moves. What was yesterday is not today. What is today will not be tomorrow. Yesterday is gone. Today is and tomorrow is yet to come. Yet time is said to have no holiday. It exists always. The entire creation moves on according to a time pattern. There is birth, growth and death. There is time for everything. Plants flower and give fruits. Seasons come according to time. A child is born, grows into boyhood, adolescence, youth, middle age and old age according to age and time. Every movement of creation is linked with time. One cannot grow paddy in a month nor can a child become an adult in a year. Everything is fixed to a time-frame. Time is a free force. It does not wait for any one. It is commonly said that time and tide waits for no man. Time is money. A minute not usefully spent is an eternal loss. You can never get back the lost minute. One has to strike the iron when it is hot. The time flies and never returns. If you waste time it wastes you. ‘Time is the best medicine’, says Ovid. It is said that time heals all wounds and it even heals what reason cannot. All human beings are emotional. When negative emotions like fear, anger, envy and jealousy overtake them, they lose reason and act in haste leading to serious consequences. They may repent later, as emotions cool down. But the damage done is done and remains forever. Even that damage can heal with the passage of time. People involved may forget and forgive. That is the importance of time and its healing touch. Time is said to be a wise counselor. Passage of time allows an individual to grow. This growth gives experience. Experience helps decision making. Time reminds you to act and to act wisely. The wisest make use of the time fruitfully. It is said that the wisest grieve the most at the loss of time. Those who do not know the importance of time, waste it or rather they spend it doing nothing. There is a proverb which says that killing time is not a murder; it is a suicide. It means, by wasting time one is not harming others. On the other hand one is harming himself. Ordinary people merely go on thinking how to spend their time. The wise and talented make use of it fruitfully. Some people always complain that there is no time for them to do anything. That is not correct. If one wisely plans his activities, there will be time for everything happening according to time. A man who is a part of nature cannot complain against time. Time is powerful. It conquers all. Men are only to obey it. Man cannot say that he has nothing of his own. Time which is valuable is all his own. If you are not on time and miss the train, you miss it fore-ever. So also the time, once you miss it, it flies off. You can never catch it. Hence it is called fleeting time. Let us learn to use our time fruitfully. This is the key to success. Allow me to begin by stating the Dictionarys definition of Punctual: punctual adj. Acting or arriving exactly at the time appointed; prompt. Scheduling the work day is one of the most important duties any leader in the Army or the Armed Forces for that matter, tackle each and every day. Being at the right place at the right time for any member of the Armed forces is extremely essential to the defense of the entire United States of America. Its because of this that being on time is remarkably important. Dependability, accountability, consistency and discipline are all crucially related to being on time. Furthermore, promptness also shows that the individual Soldier aims high and has their priorities straight. However, being where one needs to be at the appointed time will always be one of the most important aspects of being a Soldier. This is why failure to be on time not only severely hinders mission capability and readiness, but also can without a doubt cost unnecessary loss of life. It is important to realize that it is necessary for those in the Armed Forces are held to a higher standard. While punctuality remains and always will, an extremely vital aspect of military bearing and discipline. It has direct correlation to soldierly appearance, combat readiness, mission effectiveness, and essentially every facet of Military life and responsibility. I cannot place enough emphasis on how important being on time constantly is. For instance; a soldier is late or perhaps does not report at all to a place at the time ordered. That effectively compromises and diminishes the efficiency of which the task is to be completed. In an extreme case a soldier not being on time to relieve the current guards post would cause the combat effectiveness and readiness of the unrelieved guard to be greatly reduced. This would be caused by fatigue, or lack of supplies, etc. Consequently the guard post could be compromised and the security of the area or Forward Operating Base [continues] THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING AT THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME First off, scheduling work is a very important duty of any leader in the Army or the Armed Forces to tackle every day. Being at the right place at the right time for any member of the army is extremely essential to the defense of the entire United States of America. Dependability, accountability, consistency and discipline are all crucially related to being on time. In addition, promptness also shows that the individual Soldier has their priorities straight. However, being where one needs to be at the appointed time will always be one of the most important aspects of being a Soldier. This is why failure to be on time not only severely hinders mission capability and readiness, but also can cost unnecessary death. It is important to see that it is necessary for those in the Army to be held to a higher standard. While being on time remains and always will be an extremely vital aspect of military bearing and discipline. I cannot say enough on how important being on time constantly is and always will be. For instance; a soldier is late or perhaps does not report at all to a place at the time ordered. That effectively compromises and diminishes the efficiency of which the task is to be completed. It is always important to be where you are supposed to be. In the Army, every leader stresses the fact on being on time or being at the right place or being in the right uniform. So if you have to ask yourself is it important to be where you are told to be? Then you should always answer yes. I think most Soldiers and Leaders will tell you that it is very important. It is my responsibility to be where I am supposed to. It is all about accountability. You have to keep track of your Soldiers. It is your responsibility and your leaders responsibility. They are responsible for your actions as well you. If you fail to take responsibility for your actions or do as you please you can and most likely will be punished [continues] Time management is very important in order to be successful in life. As a leader of soldiers time management is extremely important in order to get work to get done but also to make time for leisure activities. The most common motivational cold is the lack of interest in certain subjects. The heart of effective time management is a weekly and daily schedule. Also long term goals must be determined in order for short term goals to be established. Be proactive means taking initiative, not waiting for others to act first, and being responsible for what you do. The opposite of proactive is reactive. Reactive people tend to react to what goes on around them. Proactive people act based on principles and purpose. So think with the end in mind when establishing your schedule. Gathering necessary information is an important factor in time management. Planning ahead is another key factor in managing your time. Consult your things to do with a monthly schedule and hang it up in your room. Be sure while you are making a schedule of â€Å"things to do,† you take into consideration how long it takes you to complete certain task. Also figure out how much time you have to do certain assignments and break them up into several days if that works best for you. By dividing up your assignments it takes the stress off of you and gives you extra leisure time. When planning ahead use some type of calendar or monthly planner to keep track of your things and also to keep them Prioritizing work assignments is crucial to successful time management. Some people do not know how to prioritize and become procrastinators. Deciding which tasks are the [continues] Being late is becoming a more and more common trend among people of all walks of life, especially in the United States Army. This is completely unacceptable and it violates the Army Values, costs the military more money, and reflect very poorly on the soldier and his first line supervisor. There are many methods available to prevent being late as well as proper steps to take once you know you are going to be late and there is nothing else you can do about it. The Army Values, Leadership, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. When you are late to anything, whether it be a formation or appointment, it goes against nearly all of these values that are instilled in all soldiers. All soldiers are supposed to display the ability to be an effective leader at all time. This is impossible if you are late. For example, if you are a Specialist promotable and late to a few formations that is noticed by the privates around you. Once you make Sergeant they are going to remember those times you were late and question your ability as a leader. It is your duty to follow the orders of those appointed above you as long as they are lawful and moral. When you are told to be at a certain location at a certain time then you are expected to be there. If you cant preform the simple task of arriving on time to a formation or keeping an appointment, then responsibility. Respect is the key to a functioning Army all the way around. Respect must be shown from there is no way you can meet the requirements for duties that require more subordinate to leader, and vice versa from leader to subordinate. Not arriving to a formation at the appointed time is blatant disrespect toward your leaders, and if no respect is shown toward the leader it will never be returned to the subordinate. When you chose to be late it shows that you are more worried about yourself than your unit or your career. This is The importance of being on time in the military is probably one of the most stressed responsibilities in the services today. The definition of being on time or punctual is acting or arriving exactly at the time appointed; prompts. Or in military terms being where you are supposed to be when you are supposed to be there. It is the easiest thing to do when it comes to the military but yet many soldiers including myself struggle every day trying to make it to that early morning formation to conduct pt when the civilian world is not awakening for another hour or so. (102) The main reason punctuality is so important is for accountability. Aaccountability is the acknowledgment and assumption of responsibility for actions, products, decisions, and policies including the administration, governance, and implementation within the scope of the role or position and encompassing the obligation to report, explain and be answerable for resulting consequences. As a term related to governance, accountability has been difficult to define. It is frequently described as an account-giving relationship between individuals, e. g. A is accountable to B when A is obliged to inform B about A’s (past or future) actions and decisions, to justify them, and to suffer punishment in the case of eventual misconduct. Accountability cannot exist without proper accounting practices; in other words, an absence of accounting means an absence of accountability. (215) Without any form of accountability there would be no way of knowing where anyone is at any given point of time. Which in turn would lead to utter confusion all the time? No one would know what anyone was doing, who had appointments, who was on leave or tasking, and if someone just did not show up for duty that particular day. (276) In my opinion being punctual is one of the most important traits someone can have it not only shows a great deal of responsibility but it also shows What Is The Importance Of Time In Our Life? Time is extremely important in our life; it helps us structure our daily lives and activities, so that we can live more organized, productive lives. While there are always drawbacks to being too conscious of time (such as the feeling of being ruled by the clock), it is essential that we have this marker to use while we work, play, and grow older. Time may also be viewed in a more philosophical sense; time represents special milestones, including birthdays, anniversaries, and the births of children. This is one of the reasons why our own date of birth is special to us. Many people keep diaries and journals to mark the passing of time these records become rich treasure troves of vital information about every day doings and any special achievements, problems, or activities. The passing of time escapes no one; we are all subject to aging and the fear of mortality. For some, the idea of getting older is a stressful one; others will feel more amiable to changing and passing through the later decades of life. For women, loss of youth may be a concern as time passes; this is one of the reasons why the beauty industry makes billions of dollars. Women seek out special serums and creams touted to reverse the visible signs of aging; however, getting older is natural, and the physical and cosmetic changes that come about through the years cannot really be halted forever. Men may fear loss of virility or strength as they age. Often, people in their forties may experience a mid-life crisis, as they become suddenly aware that they are no longer young, and that half of their life is now over. The best defense against the worries associated with contemplating time is to use the time you have effectively. Living happily and with purpose can be simpler with proper time management. Getting the most out of each day, and enjoying life to the fullest, will help you understand the importance of every moment.

The American Education System Essay -- Education Reform

To understand how to solve a problem, we must first understand what we are trying to fix. For example, can a carpenter without any medical experience repair a heart valve? Of course not, he or she must first obtain the proper education necessary to perform such a complex operation. The same can be said about the American education system. Throughout America’s history parents, educators, and government officials have been debating what changes must be implemented for American children to receive every opportunity possible to gain an education that will prepare them for the future. However, these cries for reform are so demanding that many times the reforms created to please the people are pushed through so fast that consequences are never completely considered. These latest cries for reform came after the annual report by Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) was released in December 2010 stating that 15-year-old American students ranked average in mathematics, reading, writing, and science (Duncan, 2010). â€Å"Average† might not be much of an alarm to many; however, when companies, such as Microsoft, have to hire software engineers from other countries to fill positions because American’s are unqualified, it brings everything to another level (Guggenheim & Chilcott, 2010). The use of standardized, multi-choice, fill in the bubble tests to hold schools accountable for what is taught within their walls has become detrimental to the education system. Standardized testing is designed for a system of equality for which the school system is not. Teachers and schools cannot be held to the same accountability as other schools when there exists no equality in them in regards to budgets, resources, qualifications of teachers, ... ...earning, to be educated by those of a greater understanding. If children are to have the ability to contribute to society, and be able to succeed in life, a proper education must be made available to them. Not an education of learning how to take tests, but one of knowledge - an education given to them that teaches them how to apply mathematics in their lives, to use the sciences to understand the world around them, and to be able to read and be enlightened by its message. The public school is a place that students should want to go, hunger to go. It should not be a place of stress or fear due to an upcoming test. It needs to be a place where all have the freedom and opportunity to learn. Standardized tests had their moment in time; now the focus needs to be turned to a more in-depth education of understanding how to apply their knowledge to their everyday lives.

Microsoft Window Longhorn :: essays research papers

In 2006, Microsoft is slated to release a new version of its Windows operating system. â€Å"Longhorn† is the code name for the next version of Windows. This generation of software will include new versions of Windows, Windows Server, .NET, MSN, Microsoft Office, and other products. Microsoft labels the key new technologies as "The Pillars of Longhorn," which are: †¢ Fundamentals: new developments to the basic structure of the operating system including the .NET framework, further support for digital rights management (DRM), an application deployment engine ("ClickOnce"), improvements to the installation of applications (Windows Installer/MSI 4.0), and the Trustworthy Computing initiative (trusted computing). †¢ Avalon: a new user interface subsystem and API based on XML, .NET, and vector graphics, which will make use of 3D computer graphics hardware and Direct3D technologies. †¢ Indigo: a service-oriented messaging system to allow programs to interoperate as part of the .NET framework. †¢ WinFX: a new API to allow access to these new features, replacing the current "Win32" API Additionally, Longhorn will include many other new features: †¢ a completely re-designed user interface, code-named Aero. The new interface is intended to be cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing than previous Windows interfaces. The most visible addition to the interface is the sidebar, an area at the side of the screen consisting of tiles which display dynamic information about whatever window is currently in the foreground, which is essentially an extension of the "system tray" on the Windows task bar. Note that the sidebar had been removed as part of the WinHEC 2005 release (Build 5048). †¢ a new command-line interface called MSH, and codenamed Monad. It combines the Unix pipes and filters philosophy with that of object-oriented programming. †¢ full support for the "NX" (No-Execute) feature of processors. This feature, present in AMD's AMD64 architecture, as well as Intel's EM64T Architecture, can flag certain parts of memory as containing data instead of executable code, which prevents overflow errors from resulting in arbitrary code execution. This should not be confused with trusted computing facilities provided by a so-called Fritz-chip. †¢ built-in DVD recording capabilities, including Mt. Rainier support. †¢ a new installation program that will install Longhorn in about 15 minutes (which is present in alpha build 4074 of Windows Longhorn). Longhorn will feature a task-based (or "iterative") interface that goes far beyond the task-based interface found today in Windows XP. Microsoft has been working to move beyond the dated desktop metaphor still used by Mac OS X and Linux; This new user interface, or "user experience," is code-named "Aero" and is based on a new .

Suggestions for Beautifying the Pronunciation of Efl Learners

Suggestions for Beautifying the Pronunciation of EFL Learners in Higher Education Hasan Zainnuri, S. Pd. [email  protected] com English Education Department of Postgraduate Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta Abstract This paper firstly stresses that the importance of the spoken form of the language and for that reason foreign language learners should have correct and accurate pronunciation. It summarizes the background of pronunciation teaching, emphasizes the need for incorporating pronunciation into foreign language classes owing to regarding pronunciation as a key to gaining full communicative competence.Most of the people learning a foreign language encounter some problems of pronunciation of the new language, owing to some contributory factors. This paper consists of the presentation of the factors affecting the pronunciation of EFL learners in Indonesia in language learning and teaching process and also it suggests some necessary techniques for the solution of these factors. Some suggestions are also given for how these techniques should be applied for. Key words: foreign language, accurate pronunciation, EFL, higher education A.Introduction One of the general objectives in the foreign language teaching, maybe the most important one, is to teach the learners to speak the target language accurately and intelligibly since to learn a language also means to produce the sounds, utterances, and the words properly and correctly rather than being able to communicate with the people in the target language community. To reach this goal, speaking activities should be done at every stage of the foreign language teaching process.It must be borne in mind that listening and speaking go hand-in-hand in foreign language teaching because speech is very important medium through which communication is achieved. That’s to say, language is primarily speech and it is more basic to language than the written form (Larsen-Freeman, 2000: 44). According to Knowles (1987: 1 ) written language has the advantage that it is permanent so that it can be studied conveniently and at leisure, but spoken language is more ‘elusive’. In other words, written language looks like an imperfect version of the poken language. As individuals, we all learn to speak before we learn to read and write; that is to say, people learn the language by hearing the sounds spoken in their environment. Unlimited numbers of sounds, especially speech sounds, in the language help the learner to understand and to produce the language. In addition, in the world there are still languages which have never been written down and also societies have had speech before written forms of their languages. Needless to say, human talk is the oldest form all of the societies.It should be noted here that language learners always encounter some difficulties and problems while learning a foreign language. One of the most significant difficulties seen in this process happens to be in the pro nunciation of the foreign language vocabulary. So, foreign language learners have lots of problems with pronunciation because of some factors such as native language factor (mother tongue interference), age, environment, personality, etc. affect their motivation in learning.Rivers (1986: 125) urges that all persons had experience when listening to a foreigners’ speaking language, of having great difficulty in understanding what they are trying to say, not because of their lack of knowledge of 1 vocabulary and language structure, but because the sounds they produce seemed strange and the voice rose and fell in unexpected places. This sentence emphasizes a well-known fact that most of the people learning a foreign language encounter some problems of pronunciation of the new language, owing to some contributory factors.Therefore, they fail in oral communication although they are sufficient enough in other skills of the language. B. Factors Affecting the Pronunciation of EFL Lear ners 1. The Native Language Factor Needless to say, learners of a language speak the target language in a different way: sometimes slightly different and sometimes highly different than the native speakers’ do, which we call â€Å"foreign accent†, the nature of which is determined to a large extend by a learner’s native language (Avery and Ehrlich, 1987: 9).This is known as mother tongue interference. That is to say, every language in the world has different 112 varieties and different accents. Therefore, the way we speak is a part of our identity, that is, phonemic differences between languages causes a target language which will be spoken with a foreign accent. As a result, there may not be any difference in the pronunciation of [? ] and [i], and then a foreign accent carries the sound characteristics of the learners’ native language.As known, a language is a part of a culture, thus it is unavoidable that there must be mother tongue interference, which is native language influence, in the pronunciation of the target language. This view had been recognized by Whorfian Hypothesis. According to Sapir and Whorf, peoples’ view of world influences their language and also people adopt the view of the world around them through the experience and categories of their language.As a user of Indonesian language, we have difficulty in some English words and sounds which are not found in our native language. For example, /? /, /? /, /? /, /? / sounds do not exist in Indonesian and that is why Indonesian learners encounter pronunciation difficulties with the words that include those sounds and thus never obtain a native-like accent, so they produce those sound under the influence of their mother tongue.Since English is not a tonic language, Indonesian students have also some problems with stress, intonation, and rhythm which determine the overall rhythm and melody of a language can be transferred from the native language into the target la nguage (Avery and Ehrlich, 1987: 10) because Indonesian learners think that if they speak or pronounce the words with a strong stress, they will be better understood. The other problem occurs when the rules for combining the sounds in forms of syllables are different in two languages.In foreign language learning, the influence of the native language is unavoidable; this happens to be problem of language teachers. A welltrained English teacher in phonetics and phonology can diminish the negative transfers of sounds to a greater extent. So, he should use specially prepared pronunciation teaching techniques. Then, the non-native English teachers are struggling with the negative interference from the mother tongue of the students in all their teaching lives, and they should do so for a decent teaching practice. 2. The Age Factor This is one of the most important factors in the learning of the ronunciation of a foreign language. We can say that if someone pronounces a second language wit h a nativelike accent, s/he must have probably started to learn it during their childhood. For instance, children of immigrants may be given as an example. Since these children start their second language learning process in target language speaking people environment, they have more advantages than the children who try to learn the target language in their motherlands because there are indispensable differences between the language a group uses and the language of mainstream classrooms and workplaces.At the same time, if young children are exposed to 2 more than one language before the age of puberty, they seem to acquire all languages equally well since it has been claimed that children are better at learning than adults. As Krashen (1988: 43) mentioned acquirers who begin to exposure to a second language during childhood generally achieve higher second language proficiency than those beginning as adults. He also stated that lateralization may even be complete by age 4, not by pub erty. Some researchers and neurolinguists have claimed that there is a strong connection between language learning and lateralization.Lenneberg hypothesized that lateralization is a slow process that begins around the age of 2 and is completed around puberty. He had also added that right hemisphere in children is more active in the language function but as child develops the two sides of the brain become specialized for different functions and thus lateralization takes place. The critical age hypothesis claims that there is such a biological timetable (Brown, 1987: 42). It has been claimed that there is a critical age period for language learning, but it is widely discussed whether there is a critical period for language or not.Evidently, foreign language teaching researchers have outlined many views about the critical age hypothesis. Generally speaking, it coincides with the period when lateralization is taking place and ends when it is complete. This was hypothesized by Lenneberg who was one of the wholehearted supporters of critical age hypothesis. In sum, since children are better in learning the language in short run, teaching pronunciation process should be started in puberty because it has been claimed that beyond puberty it is quite difficult to teach the learners to acquire a native-speakers like language accent.As a result, the age of the learner is highly important in the pronunciation learning of a foreign language due to the factors mentioned above. The aged learners pick up the correct pronunciation a little bit late, so the foreign language teachers must be very patient in this sense, and must prepare special pronunciation drills and have the students repeat. They will obtain an acceptable level of good articulation in the long term. 3. The Amount of Exposure Another factor is the amount of exposure to the practice of English. English is not only used in the classroom environment.We can handle this subject from the point of view whether the lear ner has been living in a country where English has been spoken or not. If the learners have been living in an English-speaking country or community, or a country where English is the second language, then the learners will have many opportunities to listen to and to use the target language; that is they will be surrounded by the target language. But, on the contrary, if the learners have been living in a non-English speaking country, like Indonesia, there will be no advantage for them.So these learners will only be exposed to focusedlistening, so they will have no chance or opportunity to use the target language in a real environment. This means that there will be no communication and if there is no communication, there won’t be language learning. Since those learners won’t have any English-speaking environment except their classrooms, they will have to be satisfied with listening, but it is clear that you cannot teach correct and accurate pronunciation by just asking students to listen to artificial listening courses carried out in the classrooms.Krashen in Celce-Murcia (1996: 16-17) states that learners acquire language primarily from the input they receive, and they must receive large amounts of comprrehensible input before they are required to speak. It must not be forgotten that there are many people who live in an English speaking country, but spend much of their time in a non-English speaking environment, maybe any other language is spoken at home or outside. For this reason, it is not merely exposure that matters, but how the learners respond to the opportunities.Briefly, Kenworthy (1987: 6) mentions that exposure can be a contributory factor, but it cannot be a whole and necessary factor for the development of pronunciation. If a learner is aware of the necessity of being exposed to the target language, s/he should make use of its opportunities. 3 If the learner does that, s/he will be more successful in case of improving his/her pronunc iation. The best ways of being exposed would be native speakers, videos shows, films, cds, radio or TV programs, computer assisted language teaching programs, and etc.Also, the amount of exposure is crucial and it must make the students creative and active, not passive and dull. Therefore, the quantity of exposure must be adjusted with caution. 4. Phonetic Ability There is a common view that some people have a better ear capacity for foreign language than some other people. So, they are able to discriminate between the two sounds more accurately than the others and able to imitate sounds better. We can accept these people as those with phonetic abilities.Also, this phonetic ability of the learner affects the development of his/her pronunciation. But it does not mean that people who have a better phonetic ability will be successful but the others won’t be successful. Accordingly language aptitude ability exists in many people, but its degree is variable, therefore some people have more ability but some have less. Besides the factors mentioned above, the influence of age must be stated as an efficient factor for phonetic ability because the beginners start to learn a language, the more they become successful.It is clear that learners may lose some of their abilities when they become older, so it can be difficult for them to pronounce the target language with a native or near native-like accent. At the same time, immigrants, especially their children, have more chance in learning the target language since they have started to their learning process in a target language speaking environment. The poor phonetic ability can be cured again by the foreign language teachers’ patient attempts. There are several devices to motivate the poor pronunciation of the learners such as the phonetic labs and remedial pronunciation teaching techniques.Those learners must not be discoursed but must be treated meticulously. 5. Personality and Attitude This is also anoth er important factor affects the pronunciation of EFL learners in a bad way if the learners have negative attitudes for the target language community or they are introvert learners. For instance, shy or introvert students do not want to take part in classroom activities, so they cannot find any opportunities to make practice and to make use of phonological and/or phonetic activities.Besides, courageous or extrovert students have more chance to improve their pronunciation. On the other hand, attitude of the learners toward the new language has an effective role in pronunciation learning. If the learner has good attitudes for the target culture, s/he can easily develop more accurate, native-like accents. If the learners have some prejudices on the target language and its society, this event will influence his/her approach to the language.For example, some people do not believe in the necessity of learning a second language, and they think that foreign language will influence the learne rs’ cultural development in a negative way, that is to say, their culture will be imposed on the target language community. In this case, it will not be reasonable to teach or try to teach these learners a foreign language. Thus, personal features and attitudes of the learners are also decisive in the learning of pronunciation. The educational pedagogues may be of great help on this issue.They could give some guidelines to the foreign language teachers. 6. Motivation If the learners are highly motivated to have a better pronunciation, they can develop a concern for pronunciation, and become more eager to take part in the activities and pay more attention to discriminate the sounds of the target language, and they try to produce better utterances. Motivation can be the key to learn the target language, and they try to produce 4 better sounds. Here it must be pointed out what the motivation is and how the learners will be motivated.According to Brown (1997: 114-115) the motivat ion is thought of as an inner drive, impulse, emotion, or desire that moves one to a particular action. He also stated that learning a foreign language requires some of all three levels of motivation which can be global, situational, or task-oriented. For example, a learner may possess high global motivation but low task motivation on the written mode of the language. On the one hand, some factors such as intelligence, aptitude, and self-confidence have much contribution to the formation of motivation.For example, to motivate the less intelligent people will be more difficult than the intelligent ones because these people cannot appeal to their needs. Motivation, of course, is a number of different kinds of attitudes and can be divided into two basic types: instrumental and integrative motivation (Brown, 1997: 115-117). First one refers to the instrumental goals such as furthering a career, reading some kinds of materials, translation, etc. An integrative motivation is the one which is employed when the learners want themselves to be in the culture of the second language group, to identify themselves with and become part of the society.Needless to say, teachers may need to discern the source of a student motivation in order to meet particular needs. That is, pronunciation teaching must be directed according to the needs, expectations, attitudes, intelligence, etc. of the learners. If the learners’ main goals are to make translation from the native language to the target language, less time may be needed for pronunciation activities, and therefore teachers will spend less time for motivating them.If the learners are highly motivated to have a better pronunciation, they can develop a concern for pronunciation, and become more eager to take part in the activities, and pay more attention to discriminate the sounds of the target language, so they try to produce better sounds and utterances. At the same time, motivation can be achieved by paying attention to the learners’ concern for pronunciation because learners generally are not aware of that the way they speech is full of irritation and misunderstanding for the hearer. Consequently, some factors that are effective in pronunciation accuracy are examined here.All of these factors exert much influence on the learners. We cannot change and affect some of these factors, for example, it is impossible for us to change the age and phonetic ability of the learners. It is clear that the influence of age is undeniable in language learning process. Children are more successful than the adults. When we take into consideration the children of immigrants, we see the difference between their counterparts. Since they start their learning process in their early ages in the target language spoken country, they can be able to speak the target language with a native like accent. So, f a learner starts his/her foreign language learning period abroad, in other words, in a place where the target lan guage has been spoken, s/he will get a better pronunciation because there are differences between the language learning environments, that is to say, to learn a foreign language in classrooms is different than to learn it abroad. So, if we don’t have any chance to change the conditions mentioned above, cannot we do anything to train our learners with a near-native like pronunciation? Is it impossible to help them to well-trained learners having good pronunciation? Of course the answers of these questions are â€Å"No†.For that reason, here we will state some useful techniques to eliminate these negative factors over the pronunciation of EFL learners in our country and suggest some possible solutions. C. Techniques for Eliminating Pronunciation Problems of EFL Learners It is important for the learners to acquire an accurate pronunciation. According to Baker and Sharon (1990), pronunciation is very important and learners should pay close attention to pronunciation as ear ly as possible. Scarcella and Oxford (1994) similarly assume that pronunciation should be taught in all second/foreign language classes through a variety of activities.The obvious argument in favor of pronunciation teaching branches from the 5 techniques adopted by linguists in making a phonological analysis. When we look at the contrast between a minimal pair like bit and beat, we can see that mastery of the difference between the phonemes /? / and /i/ is necessary if the two words are to be adequately differentiated. Thus, the learner must learn the differences in the pronunciation of these two sounds because if he does not learn, he will be misunderstood. For example, ‘Hit the ball! ’ or ‘Heat the ball! ’. We can increase the number of this type of example.Teaching of pronunciation should be an integral part of an English teaching program from the early stages, and it must not be a luxury to be left to the advanced level studies of the language. It must be borne in mind that during pronunciation teaching, some certain methods or techniques should be applied because teaching of pronunciation is not a simple task, on the contrary it must be the essential part of language teaching program. Here, some methods and types of teaching pronunciation will be handled to determine its importance in language teaching process. 1.Initial Teaching Technique This technique focuses on areas which are the essential to basic communications such as introducing stress and intonation, the fall or rise as the difference between spoken questions and answers, the development of a polite and interested way of speaking. Hubbard et al. (1983: 209) explain this: ‘It is a PEN’ always precedes ‘It is a BLUE PEN’ and initial presentation of the present continuous tense is often with intransitive verbs, therefore, there is no object, which would mean a second stress (i. e. He’s running / She’s sleeping, etc. ).This example sh ows this method fits well with a structural syllabus (Demirezen, 1986: 108-125) symbolizes the sustained, rising, and falling intonation with the following signs: > , ^ , v, and give some examples and activities for classroom application. He uses [>] for incomplete sentences and statements wherein the speaker intends to say something. [^] is used for yes/no questions in statement forms, yes/no questions in interrogative forms, when phrases or clauses precede the main clause as a breath-group often heard in lectures and speeches, special calls for children, and stressed word, phrase or clause in a series.Lastly [v] is used for questions with ‘or’, asking questions with question words, declarative statements, in giving commands, and some emphatic statements. Here are some examples and activities. > In sum Since 1999 If you wait She is a nice girl It is doubtful ^ v What I am trying to say I don’t understand you Mary Who is it? Are you interested in Do you want an a pple or music? orange? Do you love her? He looked under the desk in the kitchen and in the closet I am crazy She fell into the lake 2. Remedial Teaching Technique This is a systematic approach and deals with the problems of individual sounds (Hubbard et al. 1983: 209-210). It can be considered as consisting of two separate approaches – Instant Remedial and Planned Remedial. For Instant Remedial, the strategy will divide into four parts: (1) imitation, (2) demonstration, (3) association, and (4) explanation. For example, teacher first of all draws attention to the ‘offending’ sound and pronounces it in isolation to be imitated by the learners. If this becomes inefficient, then teacher shows the students how the sound is formed by putting his tongue between his teeth to produce /? / or /d/ by using demonstration part.However, certain sounds are not easily made visible, so the 6 teacher may adopt the process of association. In this process, sounds must be isolated a nd attention must be drawn to the similarities between two sounds in terms of whether they are voiced, lateral, and dental, etc. Finally, explanation may help as the teacher explains in the mother tongue if necessary, how the sound is formed and gives instruction to the students to move their tongue forward, round their lips, etc. If, despite instant remedial works, the ‘offending’ sound still causes problems for the learners, then Planned Remedial work is needed.In this section, teacher should not insist, but make a note of the problem and plan a short remedial drill for the lesson. (Some of these drills will be explained in the following sections). Remedial teaching can easily be applied to individual sounds by using a similar technique used by the TPR Method. Teacher may use a board and colored board-marker to indicate a sound which is represented by different spelling. For example, the three possible pronunciation of the regular [-ed] ending /t/ and /d/ and /? / can be represented by different colorful board-marker, and words can be written in three columns on the white board: blue is for /-t/, red is for /-d/, and green is for /-id/. The [-ed] ending is the item written in the appropriate color while everything else is written in normal black. For example, BLUE RED GREEN jumped saved waited washed begged folded That is to say, the color coding can be used over and over as the teacher can indicate the pronunciation of the [-ed] ending by writing it in appropriate color. 3. Drilling TechniqueFor drilling technique there are many useful drills for purifying and teaching the correct and accurate pronunciation of the utterances and words. Here we will handle some of the common ones. a. Word – association Drill This is one of the easiest ways to give the students practice on specific problem sounds while the manifest purpose of the drill appears to be vocabulary study. Concentrating on the phonemes /? / and /e/, teacher may ask the students for antonyms of the following words: sick, sit, thin, and more. The students would respons with well, stand, fat, and less.In this type of drill it is useful to call the students’ attention to the fact that the words they will select all contain /? / or /e/. For example, 1. In which of the following word, do we have /? / sound? a. bed b. bad c. but d. bear e. beer 2. In which of the following word, do we have /e/ sound? a. bag b. mail c. get d. lake e. feet 3. In of the following words do we have two /? / sounds? a. handicap b. butterfly c. breakfast d. bankrupt e. walkman b. Saturation Drill This type of drill is suitable for all positions of the problematic sound. For example, let’s take / s / sound as a problem sound.It can be drilled in its three positions by means of saturation drill. Initial see seep seem seed Medial leasing pistol classic faucet 7 Final peace niece purse curse c. Illustrating A Learned Sound In this type of drill, students give examples of the s ound being studied. For example, to practice the diphthong /? / first, students listen to the sound pronounced by the therapist. Then, they are challenged to listen discriminatingly by indicating whether the sound pronounced by the therapist as ‘ right ’ or ‘ wrong ’ in a series of correct and incorrect pronunciations such as /a? , /a? / , /o? / , /e? / , etc. When the sound has been set, the first student starts a chain with a phrase ‘I try ’. The second student repeats the phrase, and adds his own, ‘I try but I cry’. The third one picks up the last part and says ‘I cry but I sigh ’, and goes on. d. Mobility Drill As Rochmis and Doob mentioned (1970: 29), achieving lightness of utterance and mobility of the tongue at conversational speech is a very important aspect of drilling. It is often neglected on the general belief that a student can make and hear the sound at the conversational speech.The following drill is an example for flexibility of the /? / sound. Step 1: Ask your students to suggest 5 simple words beginning with /b/ such as: bat – boat – bike – ball – boy Step 2: Encourage them to pronounce these words with a strong emphasis, and then add the word ‘the’, maintaining the pattern of stress. the bat – the boat – the bike – the ball – the boy Step 3: Substitute the words ‘to the †¦. ’ maintaining the pattern. to the bat†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ , to the boat†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. , etc. Step 4: Continue to amplify the phrase, holding the pattern, but changing its drill. rom the†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ there is the†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. with and without the†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. because of the†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ e. Comparative Drill In this type of drill, words almost similar in every respect except the one el ement to be drilled are placed in juxtaposition. Since we tend to confuse sounds that are similar these drills with stimulate accuracy in hearing, performance, and judgment. Most standard texts in voice and diction are excellent sources of such drill material. For example, this drill may be effective if two sounds are confused such as /f-v/, /p-b/, /? ? /, /? -e/, etc. For example, 1 . A sample comparative drill for /f-v/ and /p-b/ sounds fee – bee feat – peat freeze – visa – pisa breeze freed – breed fly – ply fled – bled fact – pact 2. A sample comparative drill for /? -e/ sounds sat – set band – bend sand – send bad – bed fig – pig fester – pester pan – pen It will readily be seen that above drills have certain fringe benefits in that the words are arranged according to the vowel scale. Vowels that are commonly confused are best drilled in this type of drill.The studentsâ€⠄¢ own participation in composing such drills is worth the time it takes because he will drill more intelligently and therefore establish new patterns more firmly and quickly. At the same time, it will give him/her a technique to apply to other areas where drill may be needed (Rochmis and Doob, 1970: 27-28). 8 f. Substitution Drill This type of drilling may be applied by substituting any sound instead of the other sound. For example, /t/ instead of /? / or /d/ instead of /? /, etc. Here are some exercises for classroom application. 1. This is thin / tin. . Did you see her lunge / lunch? 3. Was it a brand / bland reporting? 4. He is our king / kin. 5. It is cheap / chip. 6. Don’t tape / tap. Number of these activities may be increased and it is also possible to apply ‘practicesounds’ and ‘contrast-sounds’ exercises such as, 1. Exercises to practice / / sound a. The dog gave a sharp bark. b. The argument started when the guard refused them entrance c. The yard was so dark. 2. Exercise to contrast / / and /? / sounds. a. That hut was certainly hot. b. Did he rub or rob? c. Hand this cup to the cop. . Tongue Twisters This type of activity is known as a word or phrase which is difficult to say quickly. In the literature there are different ideas about the applicability and the usability of this activity. Celce-Murcia (1996: 5) states that there is a little transfer from practice to natural communication. But, if it is needed and necessary, they can be used. Here are some sample of tongue twisters taken from Dalton and Seidlhofer (1994: 132-133). 1. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. 2. Did peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers? . If Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers 4. Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked? 4. Computer Aided Pronunciation Teaching (CAPT) As stated by Park in Hasan (2011: 45), that the extreme assumptions embedded in Computer Aided Pronunciation Teaching (CAPT): â€Å"tec hnology can solve the educational problems†, speech technology brings forward to EFL. With proper adaptation, speech technology allows beginning language students to practice speaking the langu age outside the classroom. TELL ME MORE Communication ® byAuralog is one of the speech recognition software, which uses speech recognition to provide conversational practice, visual feedback on prosody, and scoring of pronunciation. It contains dialogue-based software using fixedresponse Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) which lets learners have a simulated conversation with a computer. Practicing with such programs should help students improve fluency and confidence in pronouncing English words. Using phonetic exercise, included in the TELL ME MORE Communication ®, is a great way to learn how to pronounce words.Furthermore, the software can provide individual feedback on pronunciation, which is something that is often lacking in the language classroom. Related to the statement abo ve, learning pronunciation using TELL ME MORE Communication ® offers some advantages compared with conventional media being used nowadays. It also offers interesting activities when learning process as follows: (1) role play, (2) dialogue, (3) video and questions, (4) sentence pronunciation, (5) word pronunciation, (6) phonetics exercise, (7) picture/word association, (8) word searches, (9) crossword puzzles, 9 10) word order, and (11) dictation. Hasan (2011: 50-52) states that tips for improving learner’s pronunciation offered by TELL ME MORE Communication ® are as follows: 1) Imitation of teacher or recorded model of sounds, words, and sentences 2) Recording of learner speech, contrasted with native model 3) Systematic explanation and instruction (including details of the structure and movement of parts of the mouth) 4) Immitation drills: repetition of sounds, words, and sentences 5) Varied repetition of drills (varied speed, volume, mood) ) Learning and performing dial ogues (as with drills, using choral work, and varied speed, volume, mood) 7) Self-correction through listening to recordings of own speech. D. Conclusion and Suggestions We can say that the techniques mentioned above may be used to ensure that the EFL learners in higher education will be able to pronounce the target language accurately. As mentioned before, teaching pronunciation is one of the significant aspects of foreign language teaching and at the same it is a very serious task.Therefore, it should be studied in the early stages of the language teaching program in order to eliminate the factors affecting the pronunciation of the learners in a negative way and also to overcome the negative influence of mother tongue interference, fear, making mistakes, etc. While doing this, the techniques mentioned above may be applied to language teaching program in higher education during the teaching process. As a result, language teachers must be aware of these techniques or methods and sho uld apply any of them while teaching pronunciation.It must be borne in mind that teachers are the models for their learners, so first of all they should have good pronunciation; otherwise, they can harm their students. References Avery, P. and Susan Ehrlich. 1987. Preliminary Considerations in the Teaching of Pronunciation. London: TESL Center. Avery, P. and Susan Ehrlich. 1992. The Teaching American English Pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Baker, Ann and Goldstein, Sharon. 1990. Pronunciation Pairs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Brown, D. H. 997. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. (3rd ed. ) New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents. Celce-Murcia, Donald M. Brinton & Janet M. Goodwin. 1996. Teaching Pronunciation: A Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. New York: Cambridge University Press. Dalton, C. and Barbara Seidlhofer. 1994. Pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Demirezen, M. 1986. Phonemics and Phonology. Ankar a: Bizim Buro. Hubbard et al. 1983. A Training Course for TEFL. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Krashen, S. D. 1988. Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. New York: Prentice Hall Regents. Krashen, S. D. 1988. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. New York: Prentice Hall Regents. Kenworthy, J. 1987. Teaching English Pronunciation. London: Longman. Knowles, G. 1987. Patterns of Spoken English: An Introduction to English Phonetics. London: Longman. Larsen-Freeman, D. 2000. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10 Rivers, W. M. 1968.Teaching Foreign Language Skills. (2nd ed. ) Chicago: Chicago University Press. Rochmis, L. and D. Doob. 1970. Speech Therapy. New York: The John Day Company. Scarcella, R. & Oxford, R. L. 1994. Second Language Pronunciation: State of the Art in Instruction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Zainnuri, Hasan. 2011. A Thesis: The Effectiveness of Using TELL ME MORE Communication ® to Improve Students’ Pronunciation Skill (An Experimental Study on The Tenth Grade Students at SMA Negeri 7 Surakarta in The Academic Year of 20102011). 11