Public Administration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Public Administration - Essay Example Other contract based facilities housed a total of 12,558 inmates according to the latest statistics (BOP, 2012). A majority of the offenders are confined in correctional facilities and detention centers run by the Bureau while the rest are confined in local and private correctional facilities in accordance with the agreements entered into by these institutions with the BOP. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) aims to safeguard the interests of the society by confining offenders in controlled environments of prisons and other correctional facilities which are safe, cost-effective and secure and which offer the inmates an opportunity to strive for self-improvement and become law-abiding citizens post their term. However, the prison system in the U.S. despite its noble mission is plagued with several setbacks such as overcrowding, racial and ethnic disparities, persistence of unhealthy living environment of the inmates, issues related to health and inmate care, insufficient staffing, et c among others (Department of Justice, 2012). Key Policy Issues: The American Prison system has persistently faced the problem of overcrowding resulting in a rapid deterioration of conditions of confinement for the prisoners, rise in staffing issues, and a significant negative impact on the state budget. According to Sidlow and Henschen (2008) one of the key causes responsible for overcrowding in American prisons is the war on drugs and the legislations following the same. In a desperate move by the government to curb illegal substance abuse laws regarding incarceration of the offenders were strengthened, which ultimately resulted in a rapid rise in number of inmates arrested for the said offence. The rise in number of inmates in turn lead to a subsequent rise in budget spending required for construction and maintenance of correctional facilities as well as staffing. According to latest statistics America holds the record for housing the world’s largest number of inmates and the highest per capita rate of incarceration (The Economist, 2012). The excessive incarceration rates in the country triggered a humanitarian crisis due to ever increasing prisoners and shortage of space. Another persistent problem faced by the prison system is the racial and ethnic disparity in incarceration. The wide racial divide is far more apparent in the American justice system with African Americans having the largest incarceration rates and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders as the lowest (Hartney & Vuong, 2009; Mauer, 2009). Comprehensive Review: For the purpose of this study three articles are reviewed which are discussed below: 1. Dead or Alive? The Federalism Revolution and Its Meaning for Public Administration by Robert K. Christensen, Charles R. Wise Prisons in the United States operate under laws framed by the respective states and the offenders are punished and incarcerated in accordance with the laws applicable under their jurisprudence. However, a clash between state and federal laws, may significantly influence the decision making by the public managers and affect the system of public administration in general. The authors have cited the historical 2005 Raich decision whereby the court held that "federal controlled Substances Act did not exceed the Congress's power to prohibit the use of medicinal marijuana, which was otherwise legal under the California law" (Christensen & Wise,

Checks and Balances Essay Example for Free

Checks and Balances Essay This essay will discuss the Constitutional principle of Checks and Balances. It will explain the concept and effectiveness of the separation of power. As an example, the case of Brown v. The Board of Education will be used to explain the concept and effectiveness of the separation of power. Brown v. The Board of Education is a famous case that ended segregation in schools in 1954 during the Civil Rights Movement. First, lets start with what the definition of Checks and Balances is as it pertains to the Constitution. The definition according to Merriam-Webster is: â€Å"a system that allows each branch of a government to amend or veto acts of another branch so as to prevent any one branch from exerting too much power. †. The legislative power is vested in the Congress, the executive power rests with the President and the judicial power is granted to the Supreme Court and other federal courts. Each branch of government has separate and particular powers as listed in the Constitution, each branch is also given the power, duty and ability to control and balance the other(s) in a system of checks and balances. The Constitution grants all legislative power to the Congress. The Congress is bicameral and a bill has to pass both houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate. In this way the houses check and balance each other. Both the executive and the judicial branch check and balance the Congress legislative power. Although only the Congress can make laws, the President has the power to veto bills, in which case the bill can only pass with a 2/3 majority in both houses. Finally, if the Congress and the President agree on a law, the Supreme Court has the power of interpreting the laws and a power of review, i. . the Supreme Court can declare a law unconstitutional and therefore void. As chief administrator the President is required to see that laws are carried out, to enforce existing politics and to managing the bureaucracy. The president nominates the heads of the executive branchs departments, but these appointments are subject to the Congress approval. The constitution makes the president and Congress share powers in matters such as foreign policy and the US armed forces. In the case of Brown v.  The Board of Education, the legal defense of Oliver L. Brown stated, â€Å"the discriminatory nature of racial segregation violates the 14th amendment to the U. S. Constitution, which guarantees all citizens equal protection of the laws,. Because of this Brown v. The Board of Education laid the foundation for shaping future national and international policies regarding human rights. At the time, the state of Kansas had segregated schools, meaning that black and white children could not go to school at the same place. At the end of the case, Brown and his legal defense had argued that it was not fair to the children because they may or may not get the best education if they were segregated. The United States Supreme Court ruled that no state should segregate any child in public schools. White and Black children would go to school together and be offered the same rights. Anything less would be unconstitutional. This is a perfect example of how the state legislature was overturned by the Supreme Court and they were able to keep a check and balance on each other. The state of Kansas did not have a law stating that the schools must be segregated, but they also did not have a law saying that they couldn’t be segregated. The Browns first took their case to the state in 1951. After the case was dismissed, Brown and four other lawsuits made an appeal to the United States Supreme Court were the state ruling was overruled. The Supreme Court had checked and agreed that it was a violation of the Constitution to segregate schools. To this day, a public school can not discriminate against any child, black or white, male or female, smart or special ed. The decision made by the Supreme Court was a unanimous ruling that was issued on May 17, 1954. At that time Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote that segregated schools are not equal and cannot be made equal, and hence they are deprived of the equal protection of the laws. He continued, We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of separate but equal has no place. †. Thank goodness for checks and balances, without them, the country would be a much different place to live.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory Essay -- Essays Papers

Cognitive Dissonance Theory Leon Festinger shared his brilliance with the world when he, opposing all previous psychological behaviorist work, created the Cognitive Dissonance Theory. In his own words, he quickly sums up this quite complex theory: "If you change a person’s behavior, his thoughts and feelings will change to minimize the dissonance" (Groenveld, 1999, p.1). In order to decode this dense statement, we must first be aware that Festinger held to be true that humans have a deep abiding need in their psyche to be consistent in our attitudes and behaviors; we want to feel in agreement and unified in thought and action. Inner harmony sounds good to everyone, and so it was Festinger’s view that when we feel a disharmony, or dissonance, within ourselves, between two factors, we strive to decrease this tension by either changing our original thought, giving strength to the opposing thought, or letting go of the behavior. All three techniques are in the name of decreasing dissonance because it is threatening to experience such a large crack in our rationale that dissonance often creates. Say I realized the college I am attending is not offering me the classes I’m interested in. I am feeling a post-decision dissonance, now that I’ve chosen my school, within myself due to this logical inconsistency: I value a college that offers classes interesting to me. I am not attending a college that offers classes interesting to me. I really want to work it out because otherwise I feel scattered like a "schizophrenic" as Festinger put it. Since my belief and behavior conflict, I seek to eliminate and reconcile the difference by choosing one of three paths (TIP:Theories, 1999): 1. I can devalue my belief and say, "Classes ar... ...ns that women find they love guys that use or abuse them, which is an unhealthy extreme of the minimal justification theory. It happens very frequently in college. References Griffin, E. (1997). A first look at communication theory. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Groenveld, J. (1999). Totalism & group dynamics [online]. Available: http://www.crl.com/~tzimon/General/cult_tot.html . Kearsley, G.(1999). Cognitive dissonance. Theory into Practice (TIP) Database [online] Available: http://www.gwu.edu/~tip/festinge.htm. Neilands, T. (1995 Dec). The time course of the self-concept threat reduction process among low and high self-esteem individuals (dissertation). [Online]. Available: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~neilands/psych/research/bigd/ch6.htm. Trenholm, S. & Jensen, A. (1996). Interpersonal communication. New York: Wadworth Publishing Company.

Augustine and Skepticism Essay

Though considered one of the founders of theology, specifically in terms of Christianity, it is also widely accepted that St. Augustine played a large role in philosophy as well. In being familiar with total skepticism, the idea that nothing can be known, Augustine advised that this thought could be disproven in at least three distinct ways. According to Augustine, these â€Å"three refutations† of skepticism are the principle of non-contradiction, the act of doubting and refutation relating to perception. The first refutation illustrated by Augustine is that of non-contradiction. This principle explains that when examining and presenting an idea, only the suggestion or the contradiction may be true, but in no instance, can both be true. For example, if one were to state that â€Å"I am here,† the idea presented is that the statement is true. As a result, it would be impossible to follow that idea up with the statement â€Å"It is not true that I am here.† According to Augustine, the idea may be true or the contradiction of that idea may be true, but never both. This refutation is an attempt to prove that although total skepticism dictates that nothing can be known, its nearly impossible to argue with both the proposition and the contradiction-surely, one of them must be known as truth. This seems to be a fairly valid principle, as it leaves little room for argument in the idea that something is either true, or it is false, but rarely ever is there an alternative that cou ld be true. The second refutation is the act of doubting, an idea arguing that through doubting, we ultimately defeat the purpose of total skepticism. For example, if one was to argue that through total skepticism, it is impossible to know anything or that they â€Å"doubt† something to be true, in essence they are conceding to the idea that at the very least they are certain of their own existence-otherwise, how would their be any validity in their doubts? A â€Å"non-existent† person, would not be able to illustrate doubt or explain that nothing can be known, therefore, Augustine attempted to state that one’s existence negates the act of doubting anything can be known, because at least the idea of their existence is known. While this concept is an interesting one, the validity of it seems to be questionable because it does  not take into consideration that ultimately the concept of existence is not being disputed, but rather the idea of what can truly be known is in question. The act of doubting, does not seem to disprove total skepticism as much, but rather seems to be a blanket contradiction against it. The final refutation of Augustine revolves around perception, especially sense perception, and the idea that perception in its most basic form is a type of knowledge. While we may not be able to conclude the essence of an object or concept, we can describe our own perception of it, in which case, we make no error in judgment. If we saw a pond that seemed shallow and assert that it only seems shallow, we make no mistake. Only when we conclude that the pond is shallow, with no certainty or proof to support that idea, are we mistaken. This opposes the idea of total skepticism, in that we can know at least what our perceptions allow us to determine. In my opinion, this is a valid argument because ultimately it does not profess what we know or do not know fully, but rather states that our knowledge of anything is based on our own perception of it. Although the ideas of academic and total skeptic ism sought to disprove a need or even the logic behind philosophy, scholars such as St. Augustine attempted to prove that despite the fact that we do not have total knowledge in everything, we are not totally void of knowledge. The three refutations of Augustine serve to help us remember that just as there is an opposite to nearly everything, the concept of skepticism can always be rebutted when it comes to knowledge and our understanding of the world.

Lifeboat Ethics Essay

Life is like a cruise ship†¦ or at least until the engine blows up and your oasis of luxury sinks. Before you know it, you find yourself sitting in one of the few lifeboats, surrounded by hundreds of people who are now accurately portraying survival of the fittest. They are treading water and fearing sharks, all because there are not enough rafts. You are grateful to be in your lifeboat and eventually question if everyone on this earth has an equal right to an equal share in its resources (Hardin 1). Well, if you were not wondering about that, Garrett Hardin was. In his essay â€Å"Lifeboat Ethics: the Case Against Helping the Poor†, Hardin compares the condition of wealthy nations to that of a lifeboat. Hardin’s main idea is that wealthy nations should not offer any kind of assistance or support to people in poor countries because the outcome in doing so would be a catastrophe. Although Hardin’s ideas accurately state the problems of over-population and supporting the poor, he fails to defend his logic by not stating a satisfying compromise between the two extremes of giving all of our resources to the poor and not helping the poor at all. He uses a lifeboat example to show the segregation to show the segregation of the rich people in the boat and the poor people swimming in the surrounding water. Natural instinct is to take in as many poor people as possible even if the raft lacks space, but Hardin argues that the result would be a sinking raft and a disaster. There would be no positive result. If rich people pull poor people in the raft, the raft would then lose its â€Å"safety factor†. In the end, there would be no positive outcome in helping the swimmers and the result would be â€Å"complete justice, complete catastrophe† (Hardin 1). â€Å"In a crowded world of less than perfect human beings, mutual ruin is inevitable if there are no controls. This is the tragedy of the commons† (Hardin 3). The tragedy of the commons is a perfect example as to why there is no advantage in helping the poor. A person’s property or possession is well taken care of because it is his or her own responsibility. But if it is available for everyone it would not be taken care of as much. Hardin uses air and water as examples of commons that have been taken advantage of. Since air and water are both treated as commons, they have become polluted and therefore endanger everyone. Another negative product of helping the poor is that they will never learn from their mistakes. Since poor countries know that the wealthy countries will be there to help and give them aide when needed, they will never learn to save themselves and prepare for future disasters. Why would they? No one would go out of their way to get something if they knew it would be handed to them when needed. â€Å"But they can learn from experience. They may mend their ways, and learn to budget for infrequent but certain emergencies† (Hardin 4). Hardin does not give a neutral idea to this problem. He basically states, either we give the poor everything or we give them nothing at all. This problem could easily be solved by limiting how much we give other countries in their times of need. If they are aware that they will only get x-amount of supplies from us, they will be more likely to stock necessities and other resources. Hardin’s argument is whether we should help poor countries and have them forever depend on us, or not help them and let them learn their lesson in the hopes that it will benefit them in the future. It is understandable that we should help them because we are a rich nation and should not be greedy with our wealth, but people are naturally careless and selfish when tragedy strikes. When people receive aide, they end up depending on it as long as they can. So the answer to the question asked earlier is no, not everyone is entitled to a fair share of resources. â€Å"For the foreseeable future, our survival demands that we govern our action by the ethics of a lifeboat, harsh as though they may be. Posterity will be satisfied with nothing less† (Hardin 8).

Hip Hop’s Betrayal on Black Women Essay Essays

Hip Hop’s Betrayal on Black Women Essay Essays Hip Hop’s Betrayal on Black Women Essay Paper Hip Hop’s Betrayal on Black Women Essay Paper In â€Å"Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women† . McLune addresses the influence of hip hop’s pick of words towards African American adult females and females. McLune’s article is written in response to Powell’s sentiments in â€Å"Notes of a Hip Hop Head† . along with assorted other hip hop creative persons. that black females are the taking cause of poorness and racism why black work forces undertake racism and poorness. as if adult females do non confront these battles from twenty-four hours to twenty-four hours. McLune disagrees with this comment and states that this is merely one of many alibis that work forces use. McLune addresses an audience that is good educated along with informed with the different sexism sentiments towards adult females in our society. though many work forces feel that some of their statements or sentiments are non impacting adult females. Therefore. McLune’s article deserves to be recognized in PopMatters. With all the statements and rejoinders she had. â€Å"Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women† should be considered for the top award for persuasive essays due to the jobs that our African American society faces on a day-to-day footing. The energy of McLune’s statement is its energetic entreaty to African American adult females along with different races. Her statement implied that work forces want adult females to give in to them and accept the fact that they are being degraded. merely so that work forces can hike their assurance and maleness: â€Å"It’s obvious that if these are the winning footings for our creativeness. black adult females are finally the also-rans. And that’s precisely how these self-proclaimed participants. hoods. and hip-hop intellectuals want us- on our dorsums and plighting commitment to the hip hop state. ( Analytic Writing: A Guide to College Composition 300 ) McLune besides covers the fact that even the hip hop creative person â€Å"who have an belowground and witting force in hip hop- like Common. The Roots. Talib Kweli and others- stay inconsistent. excusatory. and even eager to fall in the mainstream player’s club† ( 297 ) She is bothered that they have yet to come frontward and support the adult females who are being belittled by the misogynous hip-hop creative person. By showing this with the African American society of adult females who are ontinuously torched by the demanding words of work forces. McLune entreaties strongly to all American women’s mind of equality and regard. Womans should non hold to be judged by work forces and anticipate to be treated as if they owe anyone something. allow entirely hold to be mistreated and belittled. if that were to be the instance so work forces should be treated the same. therefore McLune’s audience. should understand that that is non how you define a black adult female in any footings. This indication to the soundless calls supports for an emotional entreaty to an illustration of the soundless calls in African American adult females. As stated in the rubric. Powell is cognizant that black adult females are simply being betrayed in the hip-hop industry and merely provinces that the pick of words that hip-hop creative person chose to knap approximately is merely â€Å"the ghetto blues. urban folk art. a call out for aid. † ( 298 ) and it is rubbing off on about every adult male in our American society and giving them a different position of adult females all because adult females refuse to talk out and talk up. As a consequence. female rappers are frequently merely as male-identified. violent. mercenary. and nescient as their male equals. † ( 298 ) . Over 100 old ages ago. adult females were non even allowed to vote. the closest they got to vote was sitting at that place and watching. They were non allowed to work. they were forced to be stay at place ma rried womans while their hubbies went out and worked difficult to supply for the household. They besides didn’t have the chance to talk up for themselves. it was known as a man’s responsibility. As you see in â€Å"Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women† McLune states that adult females still sit back in silence in accept the denigration words that work forces throw at them through their wordss. Hip hop did non germinate from talking down on females. it started out as a manner suppress differences between two competitions or to talk on behalf of defects and bad lucks in the yesteryear. This comes to oppugn our audience why it is that hip hop has transformed into a manner of floging out a man’s choler towards a adult female and how their inventive character dreams to look at adult females. We can look at the past old ages when adult females were non given the chance to do their ain determinations and to talk on behalf of themselves. besides how and why did hip hop alteration its significance behind music. McLune provides a great illustration to the female hip hop creative person as to why they would take to be viewed in the same eyes that the misogynous hip hop male creative person are viewed. Besides as to why after so many old ages why is that work forces still have the upper manus. She does this by conveying up the point from Powell’s socioeconomic account for the sexism in hip-hop is a manner to hush feminist reviews of the civilization. It is to do an apprehension of the misogynous objectification of black adult females in hip-hop so elusive that we can’t hold on it long plenty to contorting the cervix of its power over us ( 297 ) . From this information. we can reason that is really much true. because most females will accept the denigration remarks instead than words of wisdom and motive. Because McLune gives great entreaties to the non merely the African American society. but the assorted races. her article deserves to be one of the top prized persuasive essays in PopMatters. It can be used as an illustration to our approaching coevals of immature work forces to non handle or talk down on a immature lady as something they hear in a blame vocal. McLune’s article demonstrates why adult females. particularly African American adult females should talk up and out irrespective of what the result will be. Her statement would hold been more effectual have she spoke about all the other races seen in picture because it’s non merely black females now.

How to Use Wikipedia in Writing Your Academic Paper

How to Use Wikipedia in Writing Your Academic Paper Wikipedia is arguably world’s largest knowledge repository, with millions of entries on every thinkable subject. It is arranged in a quasi-scholarly manner and at first glance raises no doubt about the credibility and quality of the information. Many students take the information presented there at its face value and often get penalized by their teaching institutions. The matter is that Wikipedia is called a ‘free encyclopedia’ meaning that anyone in the world can sit down at his or her own computer and contribute to the general body of information there. Here is what Wikipedia says about contributing articles to it: â€Å"Just about anyone can edit almost any article at any given time, even without logging in†. Consequently, the biggest problem with using this source is information credibility. The credibility of information is one of the cornerstones of academic writing – every claim that is being made in an article needs to be backed up with an evidence. Such evidence, in turn, should rely on the research data obtained in the course of an academic inquiry that has to be realized according to fixed rules. Now, getting back to the ‘free encyclopedia’ there have been numerous cases when students got misguided by using information that was freely available online. As a result, teaching institutions have blacklisted this resource from credible sources of information, tagging it as ‘inappropriate for scholarly writing’. If your school hasn’t made an explicit ban on this source of information, most likely there is an unspoken agreement to avoid it, so double check on it before commencing your writing. The fact that Wiki has been banned from academia appears to be bad, yet everything is not as bad as it may seem. You may also like these articles: Research Paper Term Paper Help Writing a Book Report Cover Letter Writing Service Curriculum Vitae Writing Custom Essay Writing Dissertation Writing Service Know How to Use It: Look for Primary Sources Just like about a ‘regular’ encyclopedia, Wiki attempts to back up its claims with references for greater credibility. The vast majority of articles there contain a special â€Å"References† section that is quite similar to the â€Å"References† page of any scholarly entry. However, unlike a recognized scholarly source of information, the â€Å"References† section of the ‘free encyclopedia’ contains references to various sources of information, including both scholarly books (articles, research etc) and less reputable sources like blogs, websites, forums etc. While doing preliminary research for your assignment, you should be able to easily collect some primary data by just looking at the â€Å"References† section of Wiki. It will most likely give you a good list of primary sources to work with. Primary sources – are those sources of information that contain results of the actual research, and usually contain all attributes of a scholarly piece of writing, including abstract, literature review, methods, results, discussion etc. This is the kind of information you should be looking at – open the references and look at their abstracts to determine whether they meet your needs.   Once you find what you need, you should take a look at the â€Å"References† section of the article you are interested in and try to look them up online. It will be the second iteration of the reference analysis in your paper that will give you the information you will need for writing your paper. It often happens the references are made in text format as opposed to the convenient hypertext format. In that case, go ahead and copy such information as the name of the author, date and name of the publication and try to search it online. Chances are – in 8 cases out of 10 you will find the article you need. How to Cite Wikipedia If you are writing a scholarly paper, you are not allowed to cite Wikipedia – full stop. The trick to citing this information is citing the actual primary source of information, but not the Wikipedia entry itself. For example, if you are writing about Diabetes Mellitus and need to mention the role of Statin as the trigger of Diabetes, go ahead and select the reference that stands next to the word â€Å"Statins† – you will see it has a reference to a piece of research by Sattar, Price et al. (2010). By doing so you are backing all your claims with references to reliable sources of information. The â€Å"free online encyclopedia† is a reliable source of secondary information and should be avoided in your academic writing. It can be of tremendous help when you are doing some preliminary research and are looking for research results and scholarly investigations that scholars did earlier. By simply looking at the references section of the Wiki article, you will be able to get a good number of reliable ‘first hand’ information with consistent results and credible authors. Citing Wikipedia directly is not allowed, however citing primary sources is a nice workaround that will cause no objections.

Taking another Pass at Passed

Taking another Pass at Passed Taking another Pass at â€Å"Passed† Taking another Pass at â€Å"Passed† By Maeve Maddox In my early days as a classroom teacher, I would occasionally finish giving a lesson on some aspect of English grammar or punctuation with the feeling that it had been so clear and so filled with wonderful examples that my students would never commit a related error again. It didn’t take me long to learn that common errors are common for a reason. Minds differ. Not everyone perceives things in quite the same way. A case in point is the problem that many writers have with the words past and passed. So far we’ve had two DWT posts on the past/passed usage: Alis Passed vs Past and my Confusing Passed with Past A recent e-mail question sent me back to read the comments and questions prompted by these posts. The comments indicate the extent and nature of the confusion that exists concerning the use of passed and past. Even some of the commentators who felt they understood the usage gave incorrect information in the explanations they offered. Some remarks suggest that the writer is trying to read more into the choice between passed and past than is warranted by a choice between a verb form and an adverb or a preposition. Dr. Babosar, the founder of GHB BioMedical Inc. who dedicates his life in the XXX industry for the Passed/Past 20 years. (the fact is he is still in this industry and still running the company) It doesn’t matter if the man is still in the industry or not. The word needed is an adjective: the past 20 years. It was the sound of horses being ridden past.†¨It was the sound of horses being ridden passed. The latter makes sense [says the commentator]. The horses pass the person, so they passed the person, therefore it is the sound they make as they approach and then pass the person. It more correctly describes the sounds. Again, too much ratiocination is going into this writer’s choice between past and passed. The function of the word in the sentence determines which form is called for. Ridden is a verb form. The word that follows it is an adverb. Passed cannot be used as an adverb. Past can. Precise Edit made this observation in one of the comments: In my experience, second-language learners are less likely to make this mistake [between passed and past] than native English speakers, perhaps because language learners write and speak from a background of training and not natural language use. I’m speculating, of course, but I wonder if direct training in usage and grammar affects this. It’s not speculation. From what I can tell, not much â€Å"direct training in usage and grammar† is going on in U.S. English classes these days. The teaching of formal grammar and rules of spelling and punctuation is perhaps seen as too much akin to that dreaded concept â€Å"rote learning.† Rules of standard usage are often arbitrary and confusing to an individual’s way of looking at things. For that reason they must be taught in the English classroom. Taught, not merely mentioned. The complicated efforts to determine whether to use past or passed in a sentence is a symptom of the way U.S. children are taught to approach all learning. What do you think? How do you feel? Such appeals to the individual have their place, but not when it comes to basic information. Some things need to be memorized and drilled. The parts of speech and the parts of the sentence fall into this category. One more time: passed is the past tense form of the verb to pass: to pass: transitive verb meaning â€Å"to go beyond a point or place† The principal parts are pass, passed, (have) passed, passing Examples: I pass my evenings alone. Please pass the potatoes. I am passing my days in the garden. I am passing all my courses in college. The truck passed the house. His uncle passed away. I have passed my driving test. Charlie has passed out the papers. The cat had passed beyond the fence before we noticed she was out. The word past can be used as more than one part of speech, but never as a verb. past: noun meaning â€Å"that which has happened in past time.† Ex. That’s all in the past. It’s usually preceded by the word â€Å"the.† past: adjective meaning â€Å"gone by in time; elapsed.† Ex. I haven’t seen him for the past month. past: adverb meaning â€Å"beyond.† Usually the point of reference is supplied by the context. Ex. I cowered as the bullets whizzed past. past: preposition meaning â€Å"beyond.† It differs from an adverb because it is followed by an object. Ex. The bullet whizzed past my head. Two more handy tips: The only verb that belongs in front of passed is some form of have: The days have passed quickly. He had passed his exams before his father lost his job. The horse has passed the finish line. If the verb is is, don’t use passed: For, lo, the winter is past. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Greek Words You Should KnowIn Search of a 4-Dot EllipsisPunctuation Is Powerful

The case of Granite Construction Industry Plc Study

The of Granite Construction Industry Plc - Case Study Example This paper focuses on Granite Construction Company. The paper is aimed at carrying out financial analyses of Granite Construction Plc with particular focus on the liquidity, profitability and solvency ratio so as to gain a reasonable basis for providing recommendations to investors and suppliers on whether to invest or continue business for the company, and finally see the various methods through which the company access the capital market. Having said this, the sections that follow will be structured as follows. Section two provides an overview of the company. Part three provide a table of the various ratios, section four compares these ratios to the industry benchmark, while the next section examine the capital structure of the company and provides recommendations to various interest groups. Granite Construction Inc is a heavy civil construction contractor in the United States. The Company operates nationwide, serving both public and private sector clients. In the public sector, th e company primarily focuses on infrastructure projects, including the construction of roads, highways, bridges, dams, canals, mass transit facilities and airport infrastructure. (Annual report 2007). In the private sector, Granite Construction Inc performs site preparation and infrastructure services for residential development, commercial and industrial buildings, plants and other facilities (www.graniteconstruction.com). According to the (2007), the company owns and leases substantial aggregate reserves and own a number of construction materials processing plants. The Company also have a contractor-owned heavy construction equipment fleets in the United States (www.graniteconstruction.com). Bodie et al (2002), defines the macro economy as the environment in which all firms operate. According to Bodie et al (2002), based on a study on the S&P 500, stock price tends to rise with earnings per share. Although ones ability to forecast the macro economy environment can lead to speculative investment performance, it is not enough to forecast the m

Corporate Social Responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example In order to evaluate the CSR of multinational companies, some quality assurance organizations conduct surveys and determine which companies are most ethical in terms of doing businesses. Recently, on March 2012, Forbes released a list of most ethical companies of the world. In this paper, ethical evaluation of a large multinational business of hospitality industry has been provided which is Marriot International Hotels. Categories of CSR For CSR, companies are generally categorized in the three main categories. They include 1. Neutral CSR This category describes that companies possess neutral characteristics for practicing CSR obligations. Companies operating under this head are obliged for not lying, stealing or cheating, adhering to economic activities etc. A large number of companies fall under this category. 2. Negative CSR CSR Negative states that some companies for a certain period of time break the legal laws and act in negative ways. These practices often put the welfare of s ociety at stake. A recent example of such organization is British Petroleum. The case of oil spill of BP caused great danger to the environment and also ruptured the image of the company. 3. Positive CSR This category includes all those companies which satisfies a large number of stakeholders just like Marriot International. ... Marriot International Hotels have made profound progress in areas such as environmental and social, economic and sustainability. Marriot International has got â€Å"spirit to serve† their associates, customers, communities, environment and they consider these stakeholders as integral part of the culture of the company and therefore they have incorporated these stakeholders into their businesses. Marriot International persistently invests a great deal in their associates and provides opportunities of personal and professional growth to their associates. Marriot International is committed in establishing and pursuing the uncompromising and highest legal standards. The company’s Business Conduct Guides provides a comprehensive detail on incompliance with legal and ethical standards, unfair competition, abuse of purchasing power, antitrust issues, political and commercial bribery, equal employment opportunity, conflict of interests, human rights, lawsuit policies etc. In th e first quarter of 2010, the company launched a program of Business Ethics Awareness. This programs intended to guide the associates about how to comply with legal and ethical issues with relevant tools and information and how to raise them with suitable leaders of the company. Apart from this, Marriot continually involves in developing programs for children’s rights and protection. It developed program named as â€Å"Marriot Human Rights and Protection of Children†. Marriott International consider this as their priority. As far as their loyalty with their guests is concerned, Marriot International provides best possible and exceptional quality to its customers so that

Brief the UK company on business and national cultural norms in the Assignment

Brief the UK company on business and national cultural norms in the host country - Assignment Example Within an organization, the way how members interconnect, plan and make choices is largely influenced by beliefs, rules of conduct, attitudes, values and norms. Every organization has its own norms, customs, values, expectations and cultures that effect the interaction or behavior of the employees towards administration, associates, colleagues and collaboration between one another to achieve organizational goals. Norms are guidelines set by organizations to workers to be recognized and help them to accomplish its objectives. Members of the organization are directed to learn and follow various proceedings that occur at work and answer to them that expose businesses guiding norms and values (Gannon and Pillai, 2010) There are number of aspects that effect business success and offer its more development and growth. Business activity is directly affected by the values people follow and culture is demonstrated as the edge where certain set of values work. Values, beliefs and attitudes that are occasionally donated to as â€Å"Culture†, has an unchallengeable role in human actions and growth. It appears that in order to contribute in nation’s economic wealth and happiness, there must be a certain set of moral codes and values that assist in doing business (Chang, 2006). Certainly, values play the chief role in decision-building, as they direct attitude to one condition or another. Business success can be influenced by the values of individuals, their attitudes and principles as these features direct their action and behavior. Cultural elements have an important influence on the growth of business. Each society has its own elements of culture (Czinkota and Ronkainen, 2007). These factors of culture are demonstrated through: verbal, Nonverbal, religion, Language, manners, actions, education, aesthetics, social society and material elements. Adjustment of these essentials for an international company governs on its degree in

Urban music and youth gang culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Urban music and youth gang culture - Essay Example Urban music is a prominently used term but the nature of its origin is not clear. Today, it is popularly known as a term used in referring to black music or music of black origin made by artists regardless of nationality or descent. Debates and arguments about the term and its wide scope is an ongoing topic among the music industry, music fans and artists across the countries.Urban music is a genre that is very broad. If you look underneath urban music, there are a number of core elements that include hip-hop, R&B, garage and into that obviously comes soul music. Urban music also includes reggae, rock n roll, blues and jazz but the term is most popularly attached or instantly linked to hip-hop. According to J. Decibel, urban music is a cultural movement among African Americans that began in New York City in the early 1970s but it was in the 1980s that urban music or hip-hop became popular1. In Hip-Hop and Youth Culture, Hip-hop is defined as mostly rhyming, rhythmic spoken word art-f orm known as rapping2. It includes a whole larger culture that involves rap, baggy clothing, break-dancing, graffiti, language and a lifestyle.Urban music or hip-hop in particular has become a common form of communication and enjoyed by young adults and children relatively throughout the world. Unlike in the earlier days, this music genre is no longer limited to plain art of music and dancing. In Hip-Hop and Youth Culture, it was mentioned that urban music has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry that has greatly manipulated a lot of industries like automotive design, fashion, television programming, collegiate and professional sports, media marketing and advertising3 . Music is essential in youth culture and in that sense urban music's potential to influence is rampant that it has stringed its way into young people's lifestyles particularly because it is a form of recreation that promotes creativity and self expression. Rapping in particular is a way of pronouncing one's pr ide in his/her community that also becomes a form of competition where a rapper can display his skills and support or defend their respective communities. It is unquestionable that adults tend to defer acceptance of this culture in comparison to young adults. Young adults are more inclined in adopting the culture when they are being reprimanded and especially when they know that adults don't understand nor like what they were into. Young black people embrace the culture because they sympathize to the music that is singing their lives. For young people that do not have any connection to the urban community or urban culture, there is still a lot of question as to why hip-hop or urban music fascinates them and this is nothing new especially for middle and upper-middle class young people. One apparent reason could be fascination to what is prohibited. Another could be that hip-hop music is exciting and offers a brutally honest view of life that embodied the prevailing values of society. Hip-hop and rap music started out as an art form to express social awareness and it did gather success in inspiring a certain amount of activism. It did not achieve the attention of the music industry and the music cable television program MTV though until it turned violent and unpredictable. The music industry became interested on the business possibilities that the music genre's hype could bring. Today with the upsurge of the billion dollar industry that this music genre has produced; unsettled prevalent consequences are emerging. One is the youth gang culture that is said to have influences from the "gangsta" life portrayed in violent lyrics and in the lives of some artists themselves. Violent lyrics pertain to offensive language, chauvinism, sexual promiscuity, fear and discrimination of homosexuals, parental and domestic abuse and the "gangsta" pride of refusing authority. As a result, popular culture readily identifies "gangsta" rap, hip-hop and in effect urban music as glorifying violence, rape, murder and drug

Learning Mentoring Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Learning Mentoring - Assignment Example In as much as adults benefit from the support and guidance of peers, friends, and supervisors, children too benefit greatly from having another person around to guide them in as they face their issues and difficulties. Children value the guidance of an adult because they look up to adults as their role models. Most of the time, children follow the footsteps of adults as they grow up. Therefore, it is vital for children to have an adult around that will guide them in their journey towards growth and development. Most people can easily identify one person who has had great influence on how they have lived their lives. The relationship that they form with this particular individual contributed greatly to how the manage their affairs. Some may find such a person in his workplace while there are those who may find such a person in school. However, in both cases, this influential person is considered a mentor. Moreover, the relationship that has been formed between the two parties may be considered as mentoring. Basically, all the scenarios described above are examples of the mentoring process. Mentoring is defined as: ..A partnership between two people built upon trust. It is a process in which the mentor offers ongoing support and developmental opportunities to the mentee. Addressing issues and blockages identified by the mentee, the mentor offers guidance, counselling and support in the form of pragmatic and objective assistance. Both share a common purpose of developing a strong two-way learning relationship (Clutterbuck, 2001). Mentoring, as shown above, can be used in several ways. Some employees have mentors that help them uplift their professional careers. Some people with problems have mentors that help them overcome their issues. Also, there is a specific type of mentoring that applies in the realm of education and learning. This is called learning mentoring. In this paper, the process of learning mentoring as well as mentoring in general will be critically analyzed. More importantly, a particular mentoring programme will be assessed and analyzed. This will be done in order to determine whether mentoring was suitable to the given situation. Also, the discussion od the said mentoring programme will help explain how the mentoring process works and how beneficial it is in a given situation. As the mentoring process is discussed, the author's experience in the menotring programme will be used to supplement the discussion. Background of the Study Learning mentoring was used to help a key stage two child (mentee). The said child has specific education needs (SEN). Particularly, she has the learning disability known as dyslexia. Also, it must be noted that the said child is the niece of the author (mentor). Dyslexia is one of the most common causes of learning difficulties. It is estimated to affect approximately 10% of the population. Unfortunately pupils struggling with disabilities such as dyslexia are labelled negatively, and teachers may not recognise it resulting in low self-esteem. The mentoring programme was undertaken over an eight-month period. The mentor and the mentee met at the former's home. This was to ensure that an environment free from distraction, away from other adult/child interaction, and motivating was given to the mentee. There was no particular schedule followed for the programme since the mentee was often at the mentor's house due to their family

Urban music and youth gang culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Urban music and youth gang culture - Essay Example Urban music is a prominently used term but the nature of its origin is not clear. Today, it is popularly known as a term used in referring to black music or music of black origin made by artists regardless of nationality or descent. Debates and arguments about the term and its wide scope is an ongoing topic among the music industry, music fans and artists across the countries.Urban music is a genre that is very broad. If you look underneath urban music, there are a number of core elements that include hip-hop, R&B, garage and into that obviously comes soul music. Urban music also includes reggae, rock n roll, blues and jazz but the term is most popularly attached or instantly linked to hip-hop. According to J. Decibel, urban music is a cultural movement among African Americans that began in New York City in the early 1970s but it was in the 1980s that urban music or hip-hop became popular1. In Hip-Hop and Youth Culture, Hip-hop is defined as mostly rhyming, rhythmic spoken word art-f orm known as rapping2. It includes a whole larger culture that involves rap, baggy clothing, break-dancing, graffiti, language and a lifestyle.Urban music or hip-hop in particular has become a common form of communication and enjoyed by young adults and children relatively throughout the world. Unlike in the earlier days, this music genre is no longer limited to plain art of music and dancing. In Hip-Hop and Youth Culture, it was mentioned that urban music has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry that has greatly manipulated a lot of industries like automotive design, fashion, television programming, collegiate and professional sports, media marketing and advertising3 . Music is essential in youth culture and in that sense urban music's potential to influence is rampant that it has stringed its way into young people's lifestyles particularly because it is a form of recreation that promotes creativity and self expression. Rapping in particular is a way of pronouncing one's pr ide in his/her community that also becomes a form of competition where a rapper can display his skills and support or defend their respective communities. It is unquestionable that adults tend to defer acceptance of this culture in comparison to young adults. Young adults are more inclined in adopting the culture when they are being reprimanded and especially when they know that adults don't understand nor like what they were into. Young black people embrace the culture because they sympathize to the music that is singing their lives. For young people that do not have any connection to the urban community or urban culture, there is still a lot of question as to why hip-hop or urban music fascinates them and this is nothing new especially for middle and upper-middle class young people. One apparent reason could be fascination to what is prohibited. Another could be that hip-hop music is exciting and offers a brutally honest view of life that embodied the prevailing values of society. Hip-hop and rap music started out as an art form to express social awareness and it did gather success in inspiring a certain amount of activism. It did not achieve the attention of the music industry and the music cable television program MTV though until it turned violent and unpredictable. The music industry became interested on the business possibilities that the music genre's hype could bring. Today with the upsurge of the billion dollar industry that this music genre has produced; unsettled prevalent consequences are emerging. One is the youth gang culture that is said to have influences from the "gangsta" life portrayed in violent lyrics and in the lives of some artists themselves. Violent lyrics pertain to offensive language, chauvinism, sexual promiscuity, fear and discrimination of homosexuals, parental and domestic abuse and the "gangsta" pride of refusing authority. As a result, popular culture readily identifies "gangsta" rap, hip-hop and in effect urban music as glorifying violence, rape, murder and drug

The Comprehensive Meaning of Yoga Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Comprehensive Meaning of Yoga - Essay Example It may be compared with the Trojan War or War of Troy in Greek mythology. During war Lord Krishna was the charioteer of Arjuna, who was a great warrior and the most skilled person in archery. It was a time when he had to wage the dreadful war against his own siblings and his close relatives. Among them were his teachers, his cousin brothers, and his great grandfather.Footnote: *Ishwar: Ishwar is a broad term and that is why instead of calling Him God, we should call Him Ishwar i.e. Supreme Lord.When they encountered face to face on the battlefield, Arjuna was so dejected that he put down his weapons on the ground and surrendered himself. He started lamenting and told Lord Krishna that he could not fight against his close people. He does not want victory, nor does he want status, reputation and kingdom by killing his own people. And thus emerged Geeta; to counsel Arjuna, Lord Krishna explains the universal mystery and the mortal appearance of body and infinite existence of soul, which is non perishable. It teaches us to overcome the dejection and sorrow and be stoic even in the most troublesome period of our life. It is one of the truths of human birth explained by Geeta; that the life of human being is very special and differs from other species on the earth. Rosen Steven in his Bhagavad Geeta analysis says, â€Å"Man is meant to be thoughtful. Human life is meant for more than merely eating, sleeping, mating, and defending – the basic animalistic propensities.†

Poisonwood Bible Essay Example for Free

Poisonwood Bible Essay Adahs Development In Barbara Kingsolvers novel The Poisonwood Bible, the Price family, Nathan and Orleanna Price and their four daughters, travel to the Congo to convert the locals to Christianity. Kingsolver constructs a multi-voice narrative and in doing so Kingsolver constructs five different personalities: Orleanna Price, Rachel Price, Leah Price, Adah Price, and Ruth May Price. As the novel progresses, each of the characters experiences a dramatic change throughout the book and through the use of textual evidence and deep analysis of the diction and rhetoric used for the character Adah Price; leading us to discover how she transforms in the novel and what this variation is exactly. Adah, who is a cripple since birth, has never been able to move the left side of her body and is psychologically a mute. This enables her to see the world from a different perspective and strangely views things backwards. She believes that her life has no value to her or anyone else. Adah has a twin sister Leah who is perfectly normal and Adah carries a lot of hatred toward Leah because its her fault that she is handicapped. Oh, I can easily imagine the fetal mishap: we were inside he womb together dum-de-dum when Leah suddenly turned and declared, Adah you are Just too slow. I am taking all the nourishment here and going on ahead. She grew strong as I grew weak. And so it came to pass was cannibalized by my sister (Kingsolver 34). This view held by Adah comes into play many times in the novel and even Leah can tell that here is some hostility between them. Young Adah also has this fascinating plan. She is believed to be mute because of what doctors had told her parents, but in fact she is very intelligent and she insists on not talking in order to simplify her life and act more as an observer rather than a doer. Her naturally detail-oriented nature is well illustrated by the diction and tone she uses. the women working their field will stand up one after another, unwrap the pagne of bright cloth stretch it out wide before retying it. They resemble flocks of butterflies opening and closing their wings (Kingsolver 137). The initial observation of the way these women work the field is unlike the other girls who merely comment that the women pound the manioc. Adah observes and analyzes the women in a factual manner and yet that last sentence reveals more about her character. She oes from making a remark that almost scientifically evaluates the womens movements to making a statement that brings an artistic form of examining the actions and uses powerful imagery for the reader to associate with. However, Adah does not stay like this throughout the whole novel. She experiences an event that shifts her character in such a way that although it does not have an immediate impact, it changes her completely in the long run. Live was I ere I saw evil (Kingsolver 305). On the frightful night when Kilanga, the village were the Price family was living, was swarmed by a massive group of ants known as Nsongonya Adah was left behind. She woke to the sound of screams and felt ants all over her. Her mother ran into the room, baby Ruth May bundled in her arms. Adah, for the first time perhaps pleaded for help. Help me (Kingsolver 305). Orleanna stared at her crippled daughter and turned away. This was a huge turning point for the young girl. In the simple plea alone, the way Kingsolver phrased it l [Adan] spoke out loud, tn only time: help me (Kingsolver 305), one could see that this was a simple phrase; not shouted or screamed, simply stated. When Adahs plea was not answered she was left dumbstruck and proceeded to fght for her life. Although Adah originally believed that everyone found her life to be of no value she was still horror struck when her mother did not come to her aid, but she still decided to save herself because she realized her own self-worth. No longer was she an idle observer, she became a doer. If her mother would not save her, then Adah would do it on her own because she knew her life was worth saving. This fateful night carries on into the rest of her days, perhaps not immediately, but it does affect her character in the end. When Adah finally returns to the US with her mother, Orleanna, she has almost completely ndergone her transformation. The Journey from Africa alone had left a great mark on Adah because of her mothers tenacity to bring her daughter home safe and sound. Adah was astounded by her mothers ferocious protection of her. When they finally do get home however, Adah immediately applies to Emory University and studies the medical sciences which she takes up as her religion. However, much has changed. Adah finds that without anyone to speak for her she must get used to speaking rather than observing and is shocked at first by the sound of her voice, but this is not the greatest change. The most dramatic alteration is one that she only picks up on for a moment in the final part. She states that she has always sacrificed life and limb and half a brain to save the other half (Kingsolver 410). Adah finds it unusual to now owe her mother something when her own life has been a constant struggle. My habit is to drag myself imperiously through a world that owes me unpayable debts. I have long relied on the comforts of martyrdom (Kingsolver 410). The very tone of this phrase represents beautifully the realization that has struck Adah like a lightning bolt in this moment. The word imperiously gives the reader perfect imagery of a disgruntled and displeased Adah who hates the world and yet that second sentence reveals something else. She has come to know what it feels like to owe someone an unpayable debt and that her whole life has been driven from this one disability. The words comfort and martyrdom are so opposite that they balance out the sentence and give the reader an understanding of how Adah felt about her handicap. What is even greater is the physical transformation that follows this mental one. Adah meets a neurologist who informs her that he can help er overcome her limp. This intrigues her and after several months Adah no longer has to bear her physical disability. She is at first amazed that this cross she has born all these years could somehow be taken care of like that. However, as she progresses through the novel she finds that this recovery is balanced out by the inability to see words and phrases backwards and in a completely different perspective like she used too. At times she limps purposefully around [her] apartment trying to recover [her] old ways of seeing and thinking (Kingsolver 492). This sentence shows ow she still longs for the days when she was different and had something to wield against the world. The imagery provided allows the reader to vividly imagine Adah trying with all her might to limp and be as she once was, but away from the public eye. She continues to live as the recovered individual that she is now and only seems to regret the loss of an edge that she once held. Adahs transformation in the novel was one ot a seemingly helpless child into a tully tunctioning adult who nad experienced things that no one in her community could top. She realized a self worth that she did not possess at the beginning of the novel. Adah Price was a cripple. Adah Price is a cripple. The genius girl that went to the Congo is not the same one that returned and lived the rest of her life in the US. She no longer has a physical handicap that got her mocked and looked down upon, but she does not have that special outlook on the world either. Adah now knows people whom she can work with and share time with because she will talk now, but she owes her mother an unsettled debt, that may never be resolved in her heart and mind. Adah has changed for better or worse is uncertain. In the end experiences add up and the results always balance each other out.

Globalization And Nation State Essay

Globalization And Nation State Essay Since the beginning of the 1990s, globalization has become a high frequency word in our daily life. Actually, globalization is not a strange word since the sixteen-century and Europe as the original source of globalization. It has some simple international trade at that time. People realize the importance of multinational communication and trade; therefore make globalization become the main trend in todays world. In 21st century, globalization has become more and more common in the whole world, no matter people, organizations, or government, both can see the changes which globalization brings them. Globalization has deeply influence peoples life and working style, globalization make world integrity closely and makes peoples life become more and more convenient, it brings many benefits to people. Not only have deeply impact on peoples life, but also influence the nation-state more or less. It influences the nation-states sovereignty integrity, impact on their economic development and their national culture. Although it changes the nation-state original condition, it still brings them some positive influence. It helps nation-state develop better and better. Therefore, globalization both give them chances and challenges, restructuring politics, economic penetration and communication between multinational culture and national culture. In this essay, the purpose is to explain the relationship between the globalization and nation-state. Firstly, it will explain the academic definition of globalization and nation-state, and state the process of globalization and the characters of nation-state. Then, it will put forward the academic debate about the relationship between globalization and nation-state and explain it briefly. Thirdly, it will discuss the globalization influences the nation-state through political, economic and cultural aspects. Media globalization also brings benefits to nation-state because media is the key linking bridge which connects the nation-state with other countries. Lastly, it will make a conclusion and provide the opinion for this essay. Globalization and nation-state Globalization has become a major feature of contemporary social life. Globalization is penetration into different aspects like business, politics, economics, cultural identity, law, the environment and music. It almost exists in every corner of peoples life. Robertson gives the academic definition of globalization as follows: Globalization as a concept refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a wholeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦both concrete global interdependence and consciousness of the global whole (1992:8). This definition refers to the increasing of interdependence in different countries, it means the world is unified and standardization, there is close relationship in each country through politics, economics and cultural areas. The more important of this definition is the intensification of global consciousness, it means globalization infuse people the conscious of integrity and unified in their mind, make people think there is one world, and the world is unified. Also this is the common idea that the world is becoming more and more uniform and standardization through the cultural and technological development from the West. After World War II, the high speed development of communications technology and transportation make people come into the new world. More and more people can travel anywhere they want, and make migrate to other countries more easily. Satellite broadcasts make people become globally audience; they can hear different kinds of information through different countries. The world is becoming a single place, people sharing the common understanding of living together in one place (Lechner, F.J.& Boli, J, 2000). Moreover, in some critical view of globalization, Pieterse, J.N.(1995) state that the globalization as a process of hybridization, and the globalization in the plural. Globalization can be described from four aspects, political, economical, international relations and cultural. In political, social arrangements for the application of power which control the territories, populations and others. In economics, globalization refers to internationalization of economic, and expands of the market. The appearance of some international institutions intended to supervise the process of globalization, these international institutions includes International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) (wzeu.ask.com). It keeps the balance in the international trade. In international relations, the importance is the inc reasing consistency of the relations between nations and their global politics. In cultural aspect, it is focus on global communications and cultural homogenization, like the spread of the American culture and McDonalds culture, those culture both the symbol of the cultural globalization. As for nation-state, it can be defined as a certain form of state that derives its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit (en.wikipedia.org) The nations is refers a cultural and ethnic entity, and the state is for political and geopolitical entity. The nation-state combine those two characters then composing the nation-state. Also there are different numbers of ways of understanding the nation-state. One is to focus on the issue of sovereignty. In this perspective, it can be date back to 17th century Europe, to the emergence of concentrated monarchical power and to the development of a system of nation-states sovereign in relation to eac h other (Holton,R.J.) Also the nation-state has own characteristics, differ from pre-national states. Nation-state has strong idea that about their territory, they think the territory cannot be destroyed and non-transferable, it cannot easily exchange to other nations. The crucial character of nation-state is they use ethic entity as the nation policy through the economics, cultural and social life activities. Nation-state promote the economic unity, they abolish the doll and internal customs. They focus on infrastructure the transportation and they also concentrate on construct the motorway network, both of these policies is for better trade and travelling between nations. Compared with non-national predecessors, the most obvious impact of nation-state is the creation of uniform of a nation cultural through nations policy. The model of nation-state is that the residents is constitutes a nation, integrity together by common descent, a common language and many shard cultures. If the nation loses this unity, it tends to create it. It promotes the national language unity through the language policy (baike.baidu.com). Therefore, nation-state has their particular characters which others cannot easily destroy. Debate between nation-state and globalization With the world become globally, the relationship between nation-state and globalization has raised the many scholars attention. It may use other way to explain this issue which does globalization destroyed the nation-state? Many scholars provide their opinion towards this hot issue. According to Ohmae,K.(2000) opinion, he think the globalization has deeply weaken the nation-state through political, economic and international trade aspects. Ohmae,K.(2000) think the nation-state sovereignty is deeply threatened by globalization, nation-state begun to lose their dominance. Also author think the nation-state is lose their control in economics because of the penetration of globalization. The nations cannot protect their currency and capital market, it become more and more vulnerable. Also from the daily goods and services now produced in todays world, Ohame, K. think the nation-state has already lose their national label. Other scholars also indicate the challenges towards the nation-stat e when facing the globalization. Mann,M(1997) put forward their opinion towards this issue, he analyst four threats to nation-state which is global capitalism, the dangerous of environment change, post-nuclear geopolitics and identity politics. All four factors influence the nation-state in different regions. Capitalist transformation is mildly weakening the north of the nation-state, with the development of industrialization, environment pollution also threat the whole world, the problems of environment is hard to solve by nation-state alone; post-nuclearism weakening state sovereignty. For this argument, some other people state opposite opinion, Thus, Mann(1993a, 1997) indicate that the rise of the nation-state does not influence by globalization; Hirst and Thompson (1996) state that the nation-state still remain the strong status. Different people have divergent opinion toward this question. As for personal view, I agree the moderate view, it can combine different scholars opinio ns because everything both has positive and negative sides. It is no doubt that the globalization plays the dominant role in nation-state, it brings them huge change, but it can act these change as both chance and challenges. Globalization has impact on nation-state in political, economical and socio-cultural areas in positive and negative sides. The impact of the globalization on nation-state Globalization is changing the world step by step, it also has profound influence on nation-state, it changing and threatening the nation-state through three aspects like political, economical and socio-cultural. It is both chances and challenges to nation-state. In nation-state, their main thing is to protect the sovereignty and territory integrity. It cannot be easily destroyed. However, the world in nowadays is the Economic Globalizaiton (Holton,R.J.), the economic integrity connect todays world, it also threaten the nation-states sovereignty, supranational institutions deeply influence the national political activities, like the appearance of United Nations, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and WTO (Held,D,1991), both of these economic regulatory bodies control and monitor the nation-state political structure. The strengthen power of the international institutions make nation-state sovereignty more and more vulnerable. Multinational companies not only manipulate the pro cess of economic globalization, but also influence the internal polity in nation-state. The flow of global capital and the multinational companies activities need to burst the territory and sovereigntys restriction in order to better develop themselves. Moreover, the nation-state traditional function is threaten and restricted by globalization. Due to the development of global market, nation-state has to cooperate with transnational organizations because they have no other ways to protest the economic globalization. Some national taxes issues, the regulation of financial rules and the investment strategy cannot decide by nation-state alone. All of these issues make nation-state more and more weakening and threatened by globalization. In economics, the global economy is characterized by massive flows of money and capital across political boundaries. Integrated global finance markets shift billions of dollars around the world daily in a manner (Holton,R.J.). These changes have profoun d effect on nation-states foreign exchange, tax revenues, interest rate, the stability of currency, the employment level and the stock markets. Also the multinational companies improved by developed information technology and communications. These huge changes is undoubtedly challenge the nation-state develop. As I discussed above, those international institutions not only influence the nation-state sovereignty, but also control the national economic activities more or less. These international institutions like WTO, World Bank regulate the nation-state economy and then it will make their national foreign exchange and interest rate fluctuated; due to the increasingly multinational companies, they come into the national market and doing the international trade between other countries, the flow of capital and money impair their internal economy in some degrees. In addition, globalization makes people can migrant to other countries, this change influence the nation-state local labor ma rket, it may increase their unemployment rate because the flow of the labor market make the local market cannot keep balance. In market, when people look closely at the products and services, they can find most of them are not made by themselves. Thats the result of economic globalization, international trade makes nation-state lose their market share and influence their government income and GDP. In socio-cultural area, there are different views about the relationship between global culture and national culture. Global culture is the main part of globalization, like globalization, with the evolution of information technology and communication, predict the developing trend of global culture. Herbert Schiller(1976) advance that the global culture is a kind of cultural homogenization, also seen the global culture as the Americanization cultural imperialism. However, cultural globalization does not mean the Americanization or absolute homogenization (studa.net). In the process of cultu ral globally, there is connection between homogenization and heterogenization, like different nation-state have different consciousness towards the ecological culture and environment culture. Therefore, this kind of consciousness is the cultural heterogenization. For instance, you can buy KFC fast food in Beijing, you can listen the Madonna tape, but it does not mean you will give up the traditional culture of the nation-state. Americanization is a kind of diversification in cultural homogenization, America culture is the combination of different countries culture factors because America culture is a kind of immigrant culture (studa.net). Therefore, people cannot say that global culture is Americanization homogenization. In nation-state, there is a clash between the foreign culture and national culture. With expand of internet technology and communications, it creates the clash to nation-state, also bring the challenges. Firstly, it will generate the cultural war, this war is betwee n the English language country and non-English language country, in internet, people always can see lot of English language articles appearing in the national website. Therefore, some nations think it is necessary to protect their language culture. Then, the internet communication technologies originally come from USA, lot of multinational media companies dig other countries cultural resources and then act these as the commodity to sell. It means culture is becoming a kind of consumer goods, not the culture itself; it will create negative influence towards the nation-state traditional culture. Moreover, entertainment culture is the main feature of contemporary globalization (Hafez,K. 2007). Due to the media globalization and the evolution of communication technologies, entertainment culture has become the common and popular circumstances in this world. Film and Programme imports are the crucial part in every country. In nation-state, in their TV programme, it has lots of internation al programmes, people can get the information and learn the different countrys culture, however, if there are too many foreign programmes, it will influence the local peoples mind especially for younger people. It will make younger people ignore their national culture. Therefore, media globalization is also the key feature of the cultural globalization. Due to the evolution of communication technologies and the media globalization, it can spread the culture through these platforms to other countries. It make the culture become globally and increase the communications between different countries. Overall, globalization has profound influence on nation-state in political, economical and cultural fields. These three aspects both threatened the nation-state, it weaken their sovereignty and make their economic activities unstable and easy to undermine their national culture due to the cultural globalization. Nevertheless, not only economic globalization brings the challenges to nation-st ate, but also have some positive changes in nation-state through these influential factors. Globalization bring more chances to nation-state, nation-state still play the crucial role in todays world, it cannot easily destroyed or undermine by economic globalization. Positive effect on nation-state in globalization world Nation-state still has profound functions in todays global world, territory still the symbol of distinguishing nations, globalization creates many new political groups, but the nation-state still the most important political group in todays world. Globalization does not destroy the territory and sovereignty totally, only influence it. Although many international institutions existing in nation-state, the nation identity still play the dominant role in nation-state and they are decide the national rules and policies (news.xinhuanet.com). Economic globalization brings many chances to nation-state although it threatens in some ways. In national market, multinational companies give nation-state more benefits due to the international trade, it also enhance their national companys competitive advantages. It can bring more chance to trade with other international organizations. Then, more and more multinational companies, it can reduce their unemployment rate though it has many foreign labo rs. It can create more job vacancies to the nation-state labor market. Cultural unified is the main part as for nation-state, however, cultural globalization cannot guarantee the nation-state cultural unity. In one hand, cultural globalization threaten the national culture development, on the other hand, national cultural also integrate into the global culture. National still keep own cultural characters even better developed. Cultural communication is important to nation-state because they also need to improve their cultural weakness, nation-state can learn and absorb multinational culture to enhance their culture. Also other countries people can absorb and learn the nation-states cultural through cultural communication. It is a good way to promote their nations culture advantages, make more and more people know their nations. Overall, the evolution of globalization not only threatens the nation-state in some ways, there are more benefits which they can gain through globalization. Chances are more than challenges, nation-state has their policy to protect their country, it cannot easily be destroyed. Nation-state just needs to adapt to this economic globalization world in order to better develop their nations because globalization is the whole world phenomena it cannot reverse it. Conclusion In conclusion, from what I discussed above, economic globalization is the main trend in todays world, the world is become unity and closely. It has a long history since the appearance of early globalization, therefore, globalization is not a strange word in nowadays. The world is changing rapidly since the globalization become more and more dominant; it can be feel through the economical, political and socio-cultural aspects. These changes make people feel the world is a united world, people living in a common planet. Also as for nation-state, they have own nation characters and own living habits, culture habit and economic activities, nation-state is focus on their sovereignty, they try their best to protect their territory and sovereignty. However, the economic globalization cannot make nation-state feel safety forever. There is a drastic debate about the relationship between globalization and nation-state, some scholars indicate the globalization is demise the nation-state and thr eatened their sovereignty, the nation-state will be disappear after several decades. It still have other people state the globalization have profound influence on nation-state but not destroy it. As far as I know, I prefer the latter view, globalization plays the dominant role in todays world, however, it does not undermine the nation-state. It is the fact that the economic globalization brings both challenges and chances to nation-state, not only threat the nation-state, it still create some benefits for nation-state. It can be seen from political, economical and cultural areas. Although the appearance of international institutions like World Bank, IMF etc make nation-state feel the challenges towards their sovereignty and territory, it still have positive effect on nation-state. Due to the existing of these institutions and many multinational companies come into nation-state, it makes national economic activities become confusion, in some degrees, nation-state loses their power an d threats their local industry. Nevertheless, it also give nation-state more chance to develop them, multinational companies enhance and improve the international trade, make nation-state have more opportunities to develop their economics, also decrease their unemployment rate. In cultural aspects, nation-state also takes lot effort to maintain their cultural unity, however, cultural globalization make cultural integrate and spread to all over the world, it also shock the nation-state national culture. Moreover, due to the development of media technologies and internet widespread, every nations can see more and more TV programmes in television or through different broadcasting. Nation-state have more chances to widen their eyesight to absorb other countries culture and then it can improve their culture weakness. Overall, not only globalization threats the nation-state in some ways, but also give them more opportunities to develop and improve. It can be seen as opportunities more tha n challenges. Therefore, nation-state cannot undermine by globalization, it just change it in some areas. There is a close relationship between nation-state and globalization, they depend on each other.

The Friendly Friar :: essays research papers

The Friendly Friar   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the drama Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Friar Lawrence is a kind, knowledgeable, peacekeeping, and wise character. He also acts as a foil to the Montaques, Capulets, and the nurse. He is a priest to both the Montaque and Capulet houses. He is a well-liked person in the town of Verona. The Friar is a positive figure in the community and serves as a good role model for the children of Verona.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Friar Lawrence is wise, educated kind, and peace loving. When Romeo comes to tell Friar Lawrence about his engagement the Friar offers many wise pieces of advice. Such as when he says that young men's love lies in their eyes he means for Romeo to make sure he loves Juliet for who she is and not how she looks. He also tells Romeo that women may fall when there is no strength in men. This means that if he is not stable and constant Juliet may become inconstant herself. His knowledge of Greek mythology and his great understanding of plants show Friar Lawrence's high level of education. When he is collecting plants in the beginning of scene three he speaks of the Greek god Titan. His reference to Titan shows he has had some background in mythology. Friar Lawrence also has a vast knowledge of plants and flowers. Friar Lawrence grows a magnificent garden which he tends to during the time in which he is not fulfilling his church duties. He speaks to Romeo about a plant t hat can be used for healing or as poison. This discussion leads into a speech by Friar Lawrence about people having a good side and a bad side like the flower he spoke of. This suggests that he has a background in philosophy. The friar is also very kind and peace loving. He is speaks to Romeo as if they are best friends and Romeo seems to really enjoy being around the friar. They laugh, joke, and discuss Romeo's love life showing that Romeo is very comfortable around the friar. The friar is an all-around good guy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the drama Friar Lawrence acts as a foil to both the Capulets and the Montaques. The two houses show no signs of attempting to make peace with one another they don't even seem to really know what their feud is about. Friar Lawrence states that he hopes the marriage of Romeo and Juliet will bring an end to their quarrel.

Reading is Important

At the same time, technology like pods and cell phones may distract potential readers from books. Caleb Grain's and Stephen Kings arguments were both professional and compelling for the readers which Grain talks about how a decline in reading might be affecting the culture by providing statistics and evidence to back up his assertion; conversely, Kings argument was more entertainment and descriptive by including the Harry Potter series into his article, and at the same time, reassuring that the kids are alright.Exemplification is the essential key that Grain used to convince his audience that a decline in reading might be affecting the culture; his several examples were given in each of his paragraphs which make his point more clearly and logical to the readers. Grain writes, â€Å"In 1970, according to Editor & Publisher International Year Book, there were 62. 1 million weekday newspapers in circulation? about 0. 3 papers per person. Since 1990, circulation has declined steadily, a nd in 2006 there were Just 52. 3 million weekday papers?about 0. 7 per person†¦ † (308). Indeed, facts and comparisons about how reading is on decline in our contemporary ultra, and how it used to be back in the day was the main point in his article, not only in this paragraph. The author relied on testimony that would make a large percentage of people realize the effect of ignorance and how books are falling down because they aren't interactive enough. In his first example, he says, â€Å"In the fourth millennium B. C. E, the Sumerians developed cuneiform and the Egyptians hieroglyphs†¦ Traders had to recognize hundreds of symbols†¦ † (311). Likewise, this paragraph gives examples of how people used to read hundreds of symbols to get informed and educated, but on the contrary, nowadays, fewer children and adults are reading. By emphasizing exemplification, Grain uses results and statistics to convince his readers to support his specific opinion. He combi nes statistics with other kinds of evidence when he states a statistic, and then he gives an example reinforcing the number.Statistics can always be powerful evidence and command the attention of the audience. Grain warned, â€Å"During the next two decades, reading continued to fall and television watching to rise, though more slowly. By 1995, adding which had occupied twenty-one per cent of people's spare time in 1995, accounted for Just nine per cent†¦ † (309). According to these statistics, reading for pleasure is continuing to decline, and people's leisure time will be eroded by television, computer games, and internet activities.Equally important, Grain also depended on results to convince and encourages his readers to take the passion and enjoy reading with using the comparisons between the non-readers and readers. Grain says, â€Å"The N. E. A reports that readers are more likely than non-readers to play sports, exercise, and visit art museums†¦ (318). Whic h would give the readers the motivation to read more efficiently. Stephen king looked critically into J. K. Railings â€Å"Ministry of Magic,† which is a fascinating book for children, who became focused on reading the Harry Porter's story.King, however, presented his view that Railings book was not perfect since most of the sections in it were too long in the narrations. On the other hand, King uses entertainment as a rhetorical strategy to explain the lifestyle of Harry Potter, which creates a sense of rich and elegant content whereby the reader gets to concentrate more. King writes, â€Å"And sometimes she falls prey to the Robinson Crusoe syndrome. In Crusoe, whenever the marooned hero requires something, he ventures out to his ship-which has conveniently run aground on the reef surrounding his desert island†¦ † (324).Entertainment as a rhetorical strategy plays a vital role in ensuring the reader is not bored. King uses creative spells like the Cruse's ship t hat brings out an astonishing level of fantasy. Entertainment sets a scenario whereby the reader opens up to think critically while analyzing and evaluating the purpose of the story. Entertainment ensures that the reader becomes vitiated by the story; hence it increases the level of concentration and interest in reading the story. Description is another crucial aspect of rhetorical strategy used to create vivid images in the minds of readers.King has used subjective description to keep the readers intense, since he emphasizes on the reader's feelings. The author writes, â€Å"One day in my hometown of Bangor, I was walking up the street and observed a dirty-face boy of about 3 with scabbed knees and a look of extreme concentration on his face†¦ † (322). He uses words that give a description, which illustrates a picture in the reader's view. Also, King describes how Harry and his friends get into a tight corner and create a new spell, turning into a slide, thus making a c hild react gleefully.He used this strategy to capture the attention of his readers. Critically speaking, King did not succeed in compelling and convincing other people that Railings book was long. King himself comes to acknowledge that Roiling is a talented author that had an amusing story to tell and conveys her ideas without talking down. Further on, King compliments Roiling for setting standards which today's writers cannot achieve as easily as she can. Society's seeming disinterest in books and literature projects negative impacts on not only education and literacy, but on the general future as well.Inspiring people to read stories and articles about movies will increase literacy and would re-establish reading for pleasure in society once again and would lead the path to reading being the main medium for information and knowledge. In addition, non-readers lack the analytical and comprehensive skills of fluent readers, whereas the latter will most probably have built themselves a stronger vocabulary, impressive communication skills, and a rater knowledge of literature and composition.Reading is an integral part of culture, and human literacy is what primarily set us apart. It is crucial that it be re- introduced so that generations to come will be able to benefit from reading. In fact, school is the primary source of education that comes after parents' duty. Nowadays, many parents ignore and neglect their children in many different aspects, focusing on their Jobs and businesses, and they forget about their children, whom they depend on schools to teach them everything, starting with education and ending with social life.

American studies

Parrington is credited to be the person who founded American studies due to his winning Pulitzer Prize in the American thought. American studies are an interdisciplinary discipline which deals with the studies of united stated. Incorporated in the American studies are disciplines like economics, literature, history and women’s culture. Also included in the American studies are the film and urban studies as well as the culture of United States. Traditionally, it was believed that knowledge was meant for men and thus was discriminatory.The modern American studies have challenged that in that in today’s culture and practice, women have been given equal opportunity to pursue careers in all fields which were earlier male dominated. Also, the traditional setting of studies segregated the aliens on basis of race and color. The modern studies have challenged this believe by incorporating all individuals in the scholarship arrangements. Critics in favor of traditional approach a rgue that incorporating multiculturalism in American studies may deny the students from experiencing their real culture.This has been challenged by modern studies with scholars arguing that multiculturalism would lead to democracy in America thus is beneficial. Traditional studies also had dismissed some scholarly projects which have been lately accepted by the modern studies. Modern studies also allows interdisciplinary work and which has led to more women being accepted as equal partners by their male counterparts (Kessler-Harris Alice, para 2). This paper will thus focus on the patterns the American studies have taken and the importance of multicultural integrated studies to both the students and the United States.American studies history, patterns and its implications American studies dates back to the 1920s and 1930s but was more profound during the Second World War and also during the post war era which fostered a climate of patriotism and nationalism. The war led to the need of defending the values of the United States which led to the alteration of most of the careers and this also altered the view of the whole world on academics. The traditional method of the American studies was explained by the use of myth and symbol.Scholars advocating for this form of system claimed to have identified some recurring themes which were being used in American texts. Such recurring texts were meant to illuminate and esteem the American culture which was unique (Levander Caroline, para 3). During the myth and symbol era which was in led to innovation of American studies, white men Protestants were the scholars. Their aim was to try to understand and single out the American exceptionalism. In so doing, they left out everybody else.This mode of studies emerged during the cold war period and was seen as an effort to justify the dominance of America after the Second World War and also to celebrate the exceptionalism of America. This was the first shape the American studies took in the 1950s. However, the politics of 1960s led to the transformation of the academic field as well as the society at large. After this transformation, women and racial diversity as well as other workers were recognized. This creation story is criticized on the ground that it failed too acknowledge the scholarships which characterized the post war years.Also this traditional approach of studies does not acknowledge the fact that American studies were invented long before the cold war era. American studies emerged in 1930s and was being practiced by many scholars both within and outside the myth and symbol academy. The concerns of these scholars paved way for today’s American studies (Maddox Lucy, pp 12). The Marxism school of thoughts helps in explaining the different patterns that the American studies have gone through to the currents multicultural form of scholarship.However, they are not distinct and tend to overlap at various intervals. The first school of thought is that of Karl Marxism. This school focused on the struggle existing between capitol and labor as well as the tradition of politics which engaged in scholarship and which motivated people to pursue their craft. Scholarship in this period was founded on recognition of the negative impacts of the industrial capitalism and class divisions which were profound in United States. The practitioners of those days were the public intellectuals and were involved in both the politics and social matters.This group of scholars advocated for a socialist tradition as they termed industrial capitalist to be hostile and against democracy (May Elaine Tyler, para 4). These academic practitioners engaged in fields which were emerging known as the academic mavericks challenged the state of the studies in practice and also expanded the scope of the study both in method and also in content. In doing this, they first explored the unique characteristic of American culture. During this era, America was thoug ht to be an inferior extension of Europe.The intellectuals of the time had ignored the literature of America since it was viewed to be of low standards. The practitioners had a task to retrieve and restore American literature from the set academic considerations margin. American literature was legitimized and instituted within the academy of learning. Post war critics however focused their analysis on the text but the researchers sought to base their analysis on the literature’s history as well as the cultural changes. Focusing on the cultural diversity led to emergence of the modern multicultural American studies (May Elaine Tyler, para 6).Evolution of American studies is also credited to the historians of the 1920s and 1930s. Unlike their counterparts in literature, these historians focused their study on government, politics and the prevailing wars. Some of the historians focused their attention on the democratic spirit exhibited by American people as they were fighting th e aristocracy of the Europeans and also the monopoly of the American capital. A study by Mary Beard acknowledged the role of women in history making unlike in traditional setting where women were not recognized.Democracy which emerged in United States at this era led to more minorities being given a chance to exercise their abilities thus the emergence of American studies (Kessler-Harris Alicev, para 5). Another school which explains the pattern the American studies have taken is the Leo Marxism School which takes a myth and symbol approach. This school emerged during the cold war time. The political and intellectual culture which had earlier developed started to wane after the Second World War. During the cold war, Americanism and democracy as well as capitalism and established institutions were classified together.During this era, international affairs and official activities took the central stage of the United States. This in turn led to the destruction and elimination of capita lism which in turn led to United States being described as classless by some intellectuals and policy makers. Elimination of social classes led to the cohesion of America thus setting it apart from all other states (May Elaine Tyler, para 9). The effects of post war period led to many changes occurring in the American studies.This era was characterized by institutions building and full institution of interdisciplinary fledging enterprises. Interdisciplinary field was more visible during this period which saw most of the scholars identifying with it. American studies were incorporated in the universities, at home as well as abroad during this period. During this period, regional associations emerged which were managed through grants from the public and also from private funding. The need for an informed nation and the values the country was deriving from this informed nation led to an increase in interest in the studies.This saw United States becoming the market leader in offering st udies (Guernsey Lisa, para 3). The traditional believe about scholarship was that only the people considered to be ‘intellectuals’ were in a position to make important decisions concerning the direction the state was to take. This was meant to esteem the uniqueness of the United States and in doing so, the intellectuals left out all other people. The minority groups mostly the blacks were also not considered as being capable of contributing to the overall development of the country.With the current or modern American studies program, this has been challenged in that America is a multicultural country and as such the contribution of every person is necessary to ensure its growth. Introduction of American studies program led to a more informed people in the country thus more development making the United States to be ahead of all other states in terms of development (May Elaine Tyler, para 11). Traditional approach to scholarship also advocated for maintenance of a nation al identity by ensuring that all minor groups and aliens were alienated from the American studies.However, this has been proved to be erroneous in that the introduction of black history has not so far been troublesome in the country. Such inclusion has also led to changing and shaping and avoiding dominance by one particular group especially the whites and has helped in promoting the notion of a common vision in the country. Also, the traditional believe was that women were a minority and could not contribute to the general growth of the economy. This is erroneous since accomplishments of great women such as Jane Addams have not posed any threat in terms of gender and class divisions.Whereas the traditional approach to studies fostered divisions and racism, the modern form of study program fosters more unity in the country (Guernsey Lisa, para 7). Conclusion American studies have evolved over long period from the time when it was believed that the minorities and women were not to be integrated into the country’s form of scholarship to the modern integrative form of scholarship program. American studies have also been adopted by different countries and thus has helped in forging more cooperation and understanding among nations.Recognition that all individuals have a right to pursue their careers without any form of discrimination on either gender, racial or even color and integration of multiculturalism in American studies have helped in shaping and the superiority of the modern American studies. Work cited: Guernsey Lisa: A Movement in the Mirror: American Studies in the 1970s. Retrieved on 5th January 2009 from, http://xroads. virginia. edu/%7EMA95/guernsey/chap1_1. html Kessler-Harris Alice: Cultural Locations: Positioning American Studies in the Great Debate. (1992). Retrieved on 5th January 2009 from,http://xroads. virginia. edu/%7EMA95/guernsey/kharris. html Levander Caroline: The Changing Landscape of American Studies in a Global Era. Retrieved on 5th January 2009 from, http://www. clir. org/activities/digitalscholar2/levander11_11. pdf. Maddox Lucy: Locating American Studies: The Evolution of a Discipline. 1999. Published by JHU Press, ISBN 0801860563 May Elaine Tyler: The Radical Roots of American Studies†: Presidential Address to the American Studies Association. 1995. Retrieved on 5th January 2009 from, http://academics. eckerd. edu/instructor/junkinwf/SyllabiF06/griggscm/AM401/May. htm