Second Chance free essay sample

â€Å"I regret to inform you that you were not chosen as one of the 18 students to go on to the Emerging Youth Leadership trip,† said Brady Rhodes. I could feel my heart plummet into my stomach. My mouth went dry and I completely froze, not knowing what to say or think. â€Å"However, you are our first male alternate if anyone drops out.† I sensed the faux reassurance in his voice. Who in their right mind would pass up a free, month-long trip to Central Europe? I did not want to be the alternate, I wanted to go. I put all of my abilities and efforts into getting accepted. The countless hours I’d spent practicing what to say in my interview were wasted. My mind was flooded with questions. â€Å"What did I do wrong? Why wasn’t I chosen? Who was better than me?† I have always strived to be the best. We will write a custom essay sample on Second Chance or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page If I am not, I find out why and change it. Only this time I did not have a second chance. I’ve only gotten two B’s in my high school career. They were white hot daggers of failure to me. I felt the same way with this. The only thing I could do was learn from it and move on. That is exactly what I did. A trip to five European countries would have been a blast, but I wasn’t going. My summer was open and thousands of possibilities awaited me. Maybe I could get a job; people hire desperate 16-year-olds. Basketball season was over, but my school had an off-season team during the spring. We were playing to gain chemistry and flow with each other. We also were a very small team. As just under 6 feet, I was our biggest guy. We needed all of the practice we could get. This is why our coach signed us up for a basketball camp at Mesa State. Mesa state was more than just a camp; it was a week of nothing but basketball and hanging out with your friends on the team. Our team needed this more than anything. I was very excited to go with our team. The weeks passed by and summer was coming fast. One day, with a week left in school, I got a voicemail to call Brady Rhodes. I didn’t want to think about someone not going on the trip and jinx my chances. I called, using every neuron in my body to contain the anxious rumble in my stomach. â€Å"This will either be a great opportunity for you or a bitter disappointment,† he said. â€Å"One of our students must drop out of the trip. Are you still up for going to Europe Ari?† Hundreds of feelings flowed through me at once. Then came a sinking feeling, the Mesa State basketball camp was during the same time. â€Å"Can I get some time to think?† I had a great battle of choices going on in my head. That night I debated and debated. A thought came into my head. â€Å"This is Europe we are talking about! I can’t let this experience slip away.† I decided to go! In less than a month I would be in Central Europe on a leadership exploration. I have the rest of the year to practice with my team. I would add Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Austria to the list of countries I have been; the United States was the only one so far. On my trip I experienced many things and expanded my being. I became a strong leader through activities such as; a community project for the Roma people, city challenges and navigating in a different country not knowing the language, leading a group on a hike in a new environment, and becoming a family with 17 complete strangers. Going on this trip was the best experience of my life and the best choice I could have made. Ever since my trip, I have been thinking in whole new ways and I am always expanding my horizons. I am now a more productive and prominent leader in anything I do. Whether I am leading my basketball team or a small group of classmates in a project, I lead them to success. I also learned; when given an opportunity to do something great, take it. I would have regretted not going to Europe. I don’t want to live my life with regrets of not going someplace, or not doing something awesome.

Paralympic Games and Sledge Hockey Essay

Paralympic Games and Sledge Hockey Essay Paralympic Games and Sledge Hockey Essay Igneous rocks which form by the crystallization of magma at a depth within the Earth are called intrusive rocks. Intrusive rocks are characterized by large crystal sizes, their visual appearance shows individual crystals interlocked together to form the rock mass. The cooling of magma deep in the Earth is typically much slower than the cooling process at the surface, so larger crystals can grow. Rocks with visible crystals of roughly the same size are said to have a phaneritic texture. Ice Sledge Hockey Sledge hockey (known as sled hockey in the United States) is a sport that was designed to allow participants who have a physical disability to play the game of ice hockey. Ice sledge hockey was invented in the early 1960s in Stockholm, Sweden at a rehabilitation centre. It is currently one of the most popular sports in the Paralympic Games. There is no classification points system dictating who can be involved in play within Inline Sledge Hockey unlike other team sports such as Wheelchair Basketball and Wheelchair Rugby. Inline Sledge Hockey is being developed to allow everyone, regardless of whether they have a disability or not, to compete up to the World Championship level based solely on talent and ability. This makes Inline Sledge Hockey truly inclusive. Equipment is exactly the same as for inline hockey with the exception of the sledge and an additional stick. Essentially all of the regular ice hockey rules in able-bodied ice hockey leagues apply to ice

Ethics and Governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 5

Ethics and Governance - Essay Example According to Kant, it is morally wrong to lie. He argued, in general, business lies and it makes it difficult to obtain a balance credit if everyone lies. Kant also argued that ethics is irrelevant in the business because most business lies and behave immorally (ibid). In order to be ethical business, one must believe that shareholders and customer have dignity. They are valuable human beings and worth more than the stock or the price of the goods (ibid). Kant’s recipe for business management is (1) to treat people respectfully and consider they have dignity. Commercial transaction is not prohibited but one has to treat the others as an end not merely as a means. Acting deceptive in commercial transaction indicates dishonesty and lack of ethics, even without rational and moral capacities. This requires businesses not to coerce or deceive their shareholders or customers. Asymmetric information is common in business. Too often, managers or individuals with more information tend to consider themselves powerful and yet, are abusive to others. Kant suggested that (2) to reduce power abuse in business management, it is necessary there is open book management or transparency relationship between employers and employees. Said Bowie, when employees have full information, they have the incentive to behave responsibly. Case (1995) agreed with Kant concerning open book management. He said, open book management gives the opportunity to employees to take â€Å"a chance and act to take responsibility, rather than just doing their job†¦ gets people on the job doing things right†¦ teaches them to make smart decisions†¦ because they can see the impact of their decisions on the relevant numbers† (p. 45-46). The practice of open management would correct asymmetrical information the managers have (Bowie, 1999). Since managers have more information, they tend to abuse

Popular Culture Today Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Popular Culture Today - Essay Example No country seems to be free from the rapid growth of popular culture. The only difference is that in advanced countries the growth of popular culture may takes place much rapidly than in underdeveloped countries. For example, soft drinks were signs of lavish life styles earlier and it was available in western countries only. However, it is available in all parts of the world at present. In other words, cultural changes or life style changes are taking place in all the corners of the world. Even the tribal people or the people living in rural areas are changing their life styles periodically. Even in some of the most patriarchal societies like Saudi Arabia, one can visualize pop culture changes. America is a country which is striving for changes. Many people are of the view that cultural changes or the development of new popular culture normally originates from America. Since America is a liberal society, it can accommodate any changes. Religion has not much role in politics or social life of the people and therefore America can welcome or accommodate any changes in pop culture easily. This paper analyses the trends in changing popular culture in America. Students may not be typical of the population as a whole, though jeans are widely popular among nonstudents of same age group, and only slightly less widespread among older age groups. So thinking about jeans is a good way to begin a discussion on popular culture (Fiske, p.1). Clothing is one area in which one can witness huge changes as part of the pop culture changes. Earlier, Americans used pants stitched in different ways. Tight pants, loos pants and bell bottom pants were the symbols of fashion at some periods of time in the past. However, the present era is the era of jeans, especially blue jeans. Majority of the celebrities, not only in America, but all over the world are fans of blue jeans at present. Even though jeans provide a rough look, even the soft hearted females are currently fans of jeans. One of the unique characteristics of jeans is the fact that it attracts all people irrespective of their religion, race, culture, gender, socioeconomic status, age etc. Apart from jeans, T shirts also attract Americans very much. Half pants is another major way through which Americans express their fashion concepts. Only on formal occasions, Americans use formal dressings like pants and coats. On all other occasions they like to wear jeans, T shirts, half pants etc. The gap between two different fashion trends has been reduced completely over the past few years. â€Å"Apparel designers used to have an eighteen-month lead time between concept and sale. Now they're reducing that to a year, or even six months, in order to react faster to new ideas from the street† (Who decides what's cool? Certain kids in certain places-- and only the cool hunters know who they are). Current generation is always looking for new ideas and concepts. The better living standards and advancements in scie nce and technology helped them in doing so. For example, the advancements in computer technologies or digital electronics brought huge changes in America and other parts of the word. The size of the computer has come down gradually and as a result of that, laptops, palmtops and gadgets entered the market. Now a mobile phone like Samsung Galaxy S2 or iPhone can perform the activities of a computer without many problems. It is difficult to see an American without a

The actual economic bailout of Wall Street and the individual Essay

The actual economic bailout of Wall Street and the individual homeowner bailout by Jeffrey Fu - Essay Example The federal regulation kept the interest on the loans low, which gave room for Fannie Mae. Its counterpart, Freddie Mac, bought billions of dollars and then fed the market to feed them, of which they were risky mortgages bought. The subprime mortgages initially aimed at borrowers who had low or poor credit cases or histories. A great number of people invested and went into a great deal of debt, since the house prices were high till when they started dropping, which brought about the huge losses (NRCC 1). This paper is a comparison and contrast of the actual economic bailout plan of Wall Street and the individual home owner bailout plan. Mortgage meltdown is a common term used to mean subprime mortgage crisis due to the credit crisis in 2008 (Bianco & Pachkowski 1). There were two proposed bailout plans. First was the Economic Bailout Plan of Wall Street announced by Henry Paulson, that holds reverse auctions (Miron 5). A newer expanded version of the bill passed included the buying o f equity positions in the banks, reducing the interest rates and expansion of the deposition insurance. The other plan is Individual Homeowner’s Bailout Plan that has two versions where in one version, the government helps by giving a loan paid as soon as one is financially stable, and the other comes in form of a government grant. In both cases, they don’t involve the principal reduction on the value of the house, and payment is done directly to the mortgage provider. The government share is the same as the percentage reduction in the income of the home owner and it ceases when the financial state is restored. The economic bailout plan has the reverse auctions whereby they buy the assets troubled or in debt of the home financial institutions. Also, the use of taxpayer money to buy equity positions in the country’s biggest banks. All these are aimed to try to stabilize the financial markets and avoid the eventual bank failures and credit freeze that comes with i t (Miron 7). This approach is aimed at taking the taxpayers money to the investors and insured depositors. The home owners on the other hand will keep on plunging into deeper debts. The individual home owner’s bailout plan uses the taxpayer’s money just as the economic bailout plan, but in this case, the government uses the money to try to keep the house with the home owner in either giving a loan or as grant. In case of failure to pay up, the house is put up for foreclosure (Foote, Fuhrer, Mauskopf & Willen 2). At the end of 2005, the housing industry became expensive and this in turn would trickle down to the banks, hence the need to make a plan to avoid the collapse of the major banks came to play. The economic plan stated the buying of equity positions in the major or bigger banks using the taxpayer’s money. The plan allowed for the buying of equity positions to Freddie and Fannie in case of a collapse or destruction, using the taxpayer’s money. This will create a separate entity that is a regulator to Freddie and Fannie, and Federal Home Loan Bank system (NRCC 2). This in turn raises the debt pool. These government institutions enjoy a great deal of bailout money, but there is also the fact that cannot stop the decline of these institutions, and still need an increase in the bailout money (Weiss & Larson 1). The individual bailout plan focuses on the home owner and uses a different approach to get the same results. This approach is designed to help the home owner raise money for the mortgage, and the fact that it is directly paid to the mortgage providers, makes it easier to meet this

Coping With School Failure and School Achievement

Coping With School Failure and School Achievement DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS OF SCHOOL FAILURE Tony JREIGE Abstract (100 to 150 words) he present study examined the relationship between goal orientation, coping with school failure and school achievement. Two questionnaires, Goal Orientation (Niemivirta, 1996a) and The School Failure Coping Scale (Rijavec Brdar, 1997), were administered to 1057 high school students (aged from 15 to 17 years). The first goal of this study was to explore whether students can be classified in groups according to their goal orientation. The results identified four clusters of students with different achievement profiles: learning oriented, work-avoidance oriented, both performance and learning oriented and both performance and work-avoidance oriented group. Learning oriented group used emotion-focused coping the least frequently while students with combined performance and work avoidanc orientation used this kind of coping the most frequently. The second goal was to test the relationship between goal orientation patterns and the adoption of emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies, and academic achievement. It was hypothesized that goal orientation could predict school achievement directly and indirectly through coping strategies. Coping strategies were considered as mediators between goal orientation and school achievement. Path analysis demonstrated that direct effects of goal orientation on school achievement were not significant. The relationship between goal orientation and school achievement was mediated by coping strategies. Key Words: School failure, Depression, Anxiety, Coping. The problem of school failure is of great importance, as it affects students’ lives and future. In some cases, it leads to marginalization, rejection, alienation and exclusion; hence, the risk of a variety of other problems such as psychological and behavioral may emerge. Patterson and his colleagues (1989) point to an anti-social behavior as a consequence of such marginalization. We say that students who are marginalized and cannot easily adjust tend to drop out school. Although the importance of this topic, unfortunately, literature on the phenomenon of school failure of normally intelligent children and adolescents is still poor. There is a shortage of research that might offer an understanding of school failure in terms of psychological disorders. As a response to this fact, the main objective of this study is to look deep for emotional and psychological disorders accused to be guilty of this failure and, consequently, remove the stigma of being failure and irresponsible from students who lie behind their classmates. The main question we ask is: Do children and adolescents, who fail at school, really suffer from any psychological disorder, particularly depressive and anxiety disorders? And yet, another question emerges: Are females more susceptible to these disorders than males? As potential answers the above formulated questions, the following hypotheses were set up for the study: Children and adolescents who fail at school suffer from depressive disorders Children and adolescents who fail at school show evidence of anxiety disorders There is a gender significant difference in depressive disorders There is a gender significant difference in anxiety disorders LITERATURE REVIEW School failure The term â€Å"school failure† is difficult to define clearly; for some, it would include any kind of failure, repetition or delay in finishing school which usually leads the student to disqualification, and even to being stigmatized, especially because of the segregation between high and low achievers (Bourdieu,1994). On the other hand, researchers advanced several approaches to elucidate school failure, among these approaches we mention: Intelligence based on IQ scores. Supporters of this theory blame low IQs for school failure. Socio-economic status with children’s academic achievement: Supporters of this theory blame the poverty for school failure (Herbert, 1996; Turkheimer et al., 2003; Thomson Harris, 2004; Berliner, 2006, 2009). Interaction theory: Keddie (1973) and many others reproach the teacher for school failure. For them, teachers have a pre-defined opinion of how a student should talk and react and accordingly students are evaluated. Although all the above mentioned approaches, school failure may occur among students of high socio-economic status, beloved by their teachers, and have the ability and intelligence to succeed. Thus, these children get is a stigma of being a failure, a worthless, stupid and irresponsible person, while hidden emotional psychologicaldisorders are often the roots of their inability to meet the school’s standards. For us, several factors may lead to school failure, among these factors we mention depression and anxiety and the incapacity of using appropriate coping strategies. Depression Depression in children and adolescents is often a recurrent and very serious public health problem, it can occur with comorbid behavioral problems, suicidal risk, and psychiatric disorders, touching their whole life by impairing their social, emotional and physical health as well as their learning. Depression in children and adolescents may be expressed differently from that in adults, with manifest behavioral disorders (e.g. irritability, verbal aggression and misconduct), substance abuse and/or comorbid psychiatric disorders. In children aged between 6 and 12 years, the most common signs are classified into are school difficulties, somatic disorders (e.g. Recurrent abdominal pain, headaches), fatigue, apathy, eating disorders, lack of motivation, loss of concentration, irritability, restlessness which often lead professionals to misdiagnose the child with ADHD instead of depression (Melnyk et al.,2003). As for adolescents, the most common signs and symptoms are mood swings, social isolation, hypersomnia, feeling of hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders and drug or alcohol abuse (Richardson et al., 1996). Risk factors for suicide in young people are: previous suicide attempts; a close family member who has committed suicide; past psychiatric hospitalization; recent loss of a significant figure (through death, divorce or separation); social isolation; drug or alcohol abuse; exposure to violence in the home or the social environment; and handguns in the home. Early warnings for suicide are talking about it, preoccupation with death and dying, giving away special possessions, and making arrangements to take care of unfinished business. Williams (2009), offers a description to identifying depressed adolescents, such as: Somatic symptoms with features of anxiety. Sometimes poor functioning at school, socially, or at home. Bad behavior, particularly in boys. Rapid mood swings often occur. The fact that children are able to enjoy some aspects of their life shouldnt preclude the diagnosis of depression. Anxiety Anxiety is a normal part of living, it’s a biological reaction. Anxiety keeps us away from harm and prepares us to act quickly when facing a danger; it is a normal reaction to a stressful situation, thus it can help us cope with it. Yet we may find it sometimes in the core of the development of psychological disorders especially when anxiety becomes an excessive irrational worry of everyday situations, and a disabling condition severe enough to interfere with a persons ability to focus and concentrate where it becomes a disorder. Helfinstein (2009) believes that â€Å"anxiety refers to the brain response to danger, stimuli that an organism will actively attempt to avoid. This brain response is a basic emotion already present in infancy and childhood, with expressions falling on a continuum from mild to severe. Anxiety is not typically pathological as it is adaptive in many scenarios when it facilitates avoidance of danger. Strong cross-species parallels—both in organisms’ responses to danger and in the underlying brain circuitry engaged by threats—likely reflect these adaptive aspects of anxiety†. Half a century ago, Grinker (1959, p.56) believed that normal anxiety could be objective and real when we face natural situations that generate anxiety, e.g. child before his exams, parents in front of their child’s illness. Almost a century ago, in his â€Å"A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis† (1920), Freud believed that anxiety was used â€Å"in connection with a condition regardless of any objective†, it’s â€Å"a subjective condition, caused by the perception that an â€Å"evolution of fear† has been consummated†. †¦ Nowadays, for the American Psychologists Association (2013) describe Social Anxiety Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder among the anxiety disorders include where METHOD Sample The sample of this study comprised of 187 children and young adolescents (Males = 122 and Females = 65) aged between 10 and 15 years suffering of school failure and enrolled in the fourth to the eighth grades, randomly drawn from 10 schools located in Mount Lebanon Caza (5 governmental and 5 private). Tools Anxiety The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC) developed by Speilberger in 1970 was used. It consists of two 20-item scales that measure state and trait anxiety in children between the ages of 8 and 14. The A-State scale examines the shorter-term state anxiety that is commonly specific to situations. It prompts respondents to indicate how they feel ‘right now’ (e.g. calm, upset) on a 3-point scale ranging from 1 to 3. Summing responses creates a total score that can range from 20 to 60. The A-Trait scale measures longer-term trait anxiety, which addresses how the child generally feels. It asks respondents to choose the best word that describes them in general (e.g. rarely, sometimes, and often) on a 3-point scale ranging from 1 to 3. Summing responses creates a total score that can range from 20 to 60. A separate score is produced for the State scale and the Trait scale to determine which type of anxiety is dominant and which type of treatment is the most appropriate. In 2001, we standardized this scale for the Lebanese children aged between 8 and 17; the cut points for normal children were: A-State scale: 33.36 The A-Trait scale: 37.26 The PROMIS Anxiety scale (AS) is the 13-item Short Form that assesses the pure domain of anxiety in children and adolescents. The PROMIS Anxiety scale was developed for and can be used with children ages 8–17. Each item asks the child receiving care to rate the severity of his or her anxiety during the past 7 days, and is rated on a 5-point scale (1=never; 2=almost never; 3=sometimes; 4=often; and 5=almost always) with a range in score from 13 to 65 with higher scores indicating greater severity of anxiety. The raw scores on the 13 items should be summed to obtain a total raw score. Next, the T-score table should be used to identify the T-score associated with the child’s total raw score and the information entered in the T-score row on the measure. The T-scores are interpreted as follows: Less than 55 = None to slight; 55.0—59.9 = Mild; 60.0—69.9 = Moderate; 70 and over = Severe Depression The Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI), first published by Maria Kovacs in 1992, assesses the severity of symptoms related to depressionand/ordysthymicdisorder. The CDI is a 27-item self-rated and symptom-oriented scale suitable for childrenandadolescents aged between 7 and 17. It asks respondents to choose the best sentences that describe their state during the last two weeks,on a 3-point scale ranging from zero to 2. Summing responses creates a total score that can range from zero to 54. The cut-point of 19 is able to differentiate between normal and depressive children (Doerfler, 1998; Ø ¬ÃƒËœÃ‚ ±Ãƒâ„¢Ã…  ÃƒËœÃ‚ ¬, 2001) The PROMIS Depression scale (DS) is the 14-item Short Form that assesses the pure domain of depression in children and adolescents. The PROMIS Depression scale was developed for and can be used with children ages 8–17; however, it was tested only in children ages 11–17 in the DSM-5 Field Trials. Each item asks the child receiving care to rate the severity of his or her depression during the past 7 days, and is rated on a 5-point scale (1=never; 2=almost never; 3=sometimes; 4=often; and 5=almost always) with a range in score from 11 to 55 with higher scores indicating greater severity of depression. The raw scores on the 11 items should be summed to obtain a total raw score. Next, the T-score table should be used to identify the T-score associated with the total raw score and the information entered in the T-score row on the measure. The T-scores are interpreted as follows: Less than 55 = None to slight; 55.0—59.9 = Mild; 60.0—69.9 = Moderate; 70 and over = Severe RESULTS SPSS for Windows (Version 17) was used for all analyses. The One-Sample T-Test was used to compare our sample’s levels of anxiety and depression with the means of normal children and adolescents of their ages. The Independent-Samples T-Test was used to understand whether anxiety and depression differed based on gender. Overall, Table 1 illustrates a general view Means and standard deviations of our of the study’s participants for STAIC, Anxiety Scale, CDI and Depression Scale where we can notice high means in comparison with their cut-points. These findings are proved by the T-test (Table 2) where the One-Sample T-Test was run to determine whether our psychological variables scores in our participants were different to normal. Defined as a Astate cut-point of 33.36, mean score (38.11 ± 3.06) (see Table 1) was higher than the normal cut-point; a statistically significant difference of 4.75 (99% CI, 4.16 to 5.33),t(186) = 21.21, p= .000. As for the Atrait, mean score (42.08 ± 3.82) was higher than the normal cut-point (37.26); a statistically significant difference of 4.82 (99% CI, 4.09 to 5.55),t(186) = 17.24, p= .000. The Anxiety Scale where the cut-point is 55, mean score (60.23 ± 2.46) was higher; a statistically significant difference of 5.23 (99% CI, 4.76 to 5.70),t(186) = 28.99, p= .000. These result are also noticed in depression scales as the CDI cut-point is 33.36, while mean score (20.02 ± 2.23) was higher; a statistically significant difference of 1.02 (99% CI,0.59 to 1.44),t(186) = 6.24, p= .000. Nevertheless, results on the Depression Scale revealed a mean score (58.79 ± 2.27) higher than the normal cut-point (55); a statistically significant difference of 3.79 (99% CI, 3.36 to 4.22),t(186) = 22.82, p= .000. Table 1. Means and standard deviations for the participants on psychological variables Table 2. T-test for the participants on psychological variables On the other hand, this study found no statistically significant difference on the Astate Checklist between males (37.95  ± 2.98) and females (38.40  ± 3.22) (Table 3),t(185) = -0.956,p= 0.341 > 0.05 (Table 4). Nevertheless, male participants had statistically significantly lower mean (41.61  ± 4.10) than females’ (42.95  ± 3.07),t(185) = -2.308,p= 0.022 On the Anxiety Scale, both males (59.78  ± 2.73) and females (61.06  ± 1.58) differ significantly in their perception of anxiety, t(185) = -3.481,p= 0.001 The main effect was also significant for the CDI, male participants had statistically significantly lower mean (19.71  ± 2.25) than females’ (20.58  ± 2.09),t(185) = -2.586,p= 0.01. This result was also observed for the Depression Scale where males mean score was (58.43  ± 2.42) and females’ was (59.46  ± 1.79) , t(185) = -3.027,p= 0.003 Table 3. Gender differences on psychological variables Table 4. Independant Sample T Test by gender on psychological variables DISCUSSION CONCLUSION The study calls for a fundamental change of attitudes in educational development and policy making and a redefinition of school failure as a consequence not so much of the child’s unwillingness to study, but of his inability to perform well. As a school dropout explained his decision to drop out:

Essay --

Some people should keep away from all material things as they distort a person’s wellbeing. As a transcendentalist, I strongly believe that people should not be influenced by material things. These are some of the reasons which create a rotten culture in the society. A good example is a case where someone desires to have a certain commodity that belongs to their friends, they end up stealing. The love for material things is responsible for the deterioration of good cultural practices in the society. It is important for people to live simple lifestyles without any form of complications or desire for big things. It is necessary to acquire a high self-esteem as well as morals. The three major fields which involve the participation of human beings should be characterized by the good character of the people involved. These include religion, literature and culture. In order to achieve the success of creating a stable personal state, it is necessary to consider intuition. As a transcendentalist, I have a strong value for nature based on the way it is. Nature happens to be so pure unlike the things mankind engages in creating on a daily basis. Some of these unnatural materials are contributing to the worsening of the society. Self-reliance is another very significant personal attribute I support. An independent person does whatever they can in the most possible way. This is not the person who has to wait for favors from others. The personal wellbeing and responsibility, as well as usefulness are enhanced by self-reliance. I desire to live the simplest form of life one can ever imagine thus living a happy life. Young states that simple lifestyles are not faced by numerous stresses of life or any form of complications. The more one aspir... ... the idea of people moving away from cultural and traditional practices. Most of these factors are good at taking people away from Godliness thus ruining the personal wellbeing. Some cultural practices employ the practice of wrongful deeds, which should not be conducted at all. Engaging in cultural practices helps in ruining the relationship between people because there are different customs in the society. Transcendentalism is helpful in the creation of simple lifestyles which do not cause problems in people’s lives. I have a strong belief in this movement because it enables people to live better lives. This is what everybody ought to practice in order to live less stressful lives. The benefits are numerous as one’s wellbeing enables them to develop strong connections with God. As well as themselves. After all, one's character is defined by what they believe.

Reconstruction After the American Civil War Essay

The civil war is considered by many the most important war that our country has endured. During the 5 year Civil War, not only did 620,000 men die, but our nation was left in ruins. It was necessary that our country be rebuilt from bottom up. Abraham Lincoln, said to be the brightest president of his time, had plans and ideas for reconstruction. Unfortunately, these plans were failed to be put in place due to the fact of his assassination on April 14, 1865. Throughout some of the most politically tough years our nation has experienced (1865-1877) lousy presidents were elected, plans and bills failed and succeeded, and struggles with civil rights were prominent everywhere. The United State’s hopeful plans for reconstructing and reuniting slowly faded until it was all gone The most important part of reconstruction would probably have to be the beginning, or where it all started. Reconstruction of our nation began unofficially in 1863 with Lincoln’s 10% plan. Because Lincoln wanted a reunited nation as easily and quickly as possible, he entailed that only 10% of the confederates in each state would have to swear allegiance in order for the state to be accepted back into the union. Because of the small number of confederates needed to swear allegiance, the radical republicans in congress were angered and proposed the Wade-Davis Bill. The Wade-Davis bill was intended to make congress responsible for reconstruction rather than the president, and also stated that the majority (not 10%) would have to swear allegiance in each state to be re-accepted into the union. For the good of the united states, not for selfish reasons, Lincoln vetoed (or declined) the bill. Because Lincoln was assassinated, the rest of his plans and hopes for reconstruction were n ever put to use, and his vice-president, Andrew Johnson, took the Presidential role. As reconstruction continued on, it brought many major achievements that greatly benefited our country. One of the greatest accomplishments of reconstruction was the Fifteenth Amendment. The Fifteenth Amendment stated that everyone has a right to vote no matter what â€Å"race, color, or previous condition of servitude† was. Because many whites didn’t like this, they wouldn’t cooperate with the amendment and would go as far as using violence to make blacks not vote. Because of this congress used the Enforcement Act of 1870 which entailed that federal governments would be able to punish those that were causing problems for the African Americans. Going along with the fifteenth amendment, reconstruction brought another achievement, a new life and society for former slaves. Supported by the government, former slaves were able to create new lives for themselves. Although it took hard work and dedication, African Americans were able to create schooling systems, churches and volunteer groups and fight against segregation. Former slaves were able to reunite with their families, and blacks were even finally allowed a spot in politics. The final greatest achievement of reconstruction was reuniting our country. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and the other four states all re-entered the union by 1870. By originally initiating reconstruction, this is what Lincoln was shooting for. Although they still had political and economic differences, they were once again a reunited nation. With every great movement and political plan, lasting effects come along with it. During reconstruction many things were accomplished, which means that our nation was faced with many positive and negative effects. Some of the positive effects included new opportunities for the common public and former slaves. For example, the common public was presented with its first public school system, new roads and railroads, as well as orphanages for children and institutions for the mentally ill. One of the negative effects of the war was the physically and economically drained south. After the war, the south was in extremely poor physical condition and most everything had to be either rebuilt or restored. This was going to cost sufficient amounts of money that the south did not have. To get the money, the taxes rose and the wages lowered. Many people were without family members that died in the civil war, and the south’s population had decreased drastically. Another lasting effect that reconstruction left on our nation was a dent on the farms and plantations in the south. Many farms and plantations in the south had been ruined. Poor whites and African Americans were at disagreement with rich whites on what the farm land should be used as. Rich whites wanted to restore the plantation system and poor whites and African Americans wanted to create small farms and subsistence farming. Labor was also down. With many men dying in the war, not as many people were left to work on the farms. When the plantations were reopened, many African Americans and poor whites worked on the plantations in exchange for housing, food, clothing, etc. Many good and bad effects were left on our nation from reconstruction. Although reconstruction was a good recovery point for our nation, it was slowly ended in 1877 for a collection of reasons. One of the largest problems was whites inflicting violence on African Americans to prevent them from exercising their rights. During reconstruction, Americans struggled with anti-black radicals such as the Ku Klux Klan. They destroyed buildings, personal property, harmed the African Americans, and even went as far as killing them. The goal of the Ku Klux Klan was to restore white supremacy. By 1880 terrorist groups had restored white supremacy in the south. Along with terrorist groups, political troubles were also in the nation’s way. General Ulysses S. Grant was elected president in 1872. Because Grant was inexperienced, he brought his friends into high positions and many scandals resulted. Because of all of the scandals, many people became irritated and more conflict arose. Last but not least, the United States was experiencing economic turmoil. The panic of 1873 was one of the main reasons that focus was turned away from reconstruction. A man named Jay Cooke invested a grand amount of money in railroads and not enough investors bought shares, causing Cooke to spiral into debt. Because of this Cooke’s banking firm (largest in the nation) went bankrupt. Many small banks and businesses closed and the stock market closed. Millions lost their jobs. Because of this five year depression, the focus of the country was turned away from reconstruction. Reconstruction lasted a solid 13 years that were filled with many great improvements and countless lasting effects on our country. While enduring many severe losses and challenges brought on by the Civil War, the United States pushed through and reunited. We will always be affected by this era in our country’s history. Throughout many failed presidencies, failed and passed bills and movements, and continuous struggles with civil rights, America became the country it is tod ay. From the achievements to the collapse of reconstruction, I believe it was completely necessary and left many lasting effects, good and bad, on our country.

Vinyl or CD the age old debate essays

Vinyl or CD the age old debate essays At the beginning of the last decade of the Twentieth century a new media for the storage and playback of music came into the picture. The compact disc was a phenomenon of sorts, causing people to completely rebuild record collections that had taken years to build. It was a situation of, out with the old in with the new. There seemed to be no place for the vinyl records that had been so true to so many for so long. Compact discs do have several benefits over the vinyl records of the past, but there is also something about a record on vinyl that sets it apart from its digital counterpart. Convenience is likely the most noticeable benefit that compact discs have over vinyl records. They are easily stored in a binder or on a small shelf. You can load some stereos up with several at a time and have continuous play of music for hours with out having to deal with changing anything. The compact disk also brought the concept of quality sound out of the home and into the cars and walkways of the world, something the cassette never quite managed to do. Essentially for the busy lifestyle that was embodied by the nineties in America the compact disc made sense convenience wise. Before too long the major record companies stopped producing vinyl releases of many of the albums they released in favor of the new cheaper to produce compact discs. Less and less could you buy new releases on vinyl and even more rarely could you buy reissues of older albums. If you wanted to listen to new music or a copy of past favorite you were left with compact disc as the only quality choice. Therefore availability of new music became a strong benefit of compact discs. Another commonly mentioned benefit of compact discs is there durability and easy of care. You can play a compact disc millions of times and it will sound the same each and every time. They are susceptible to scratches and finger prints, but both are easily avoided ...

Free Essays on The Use Of Plot In The Play Uncle Vanya

The use of plot in Uncle Vanya In every play there is a plot, the plot acts a sort of box that holds all the other elements in it. The plot helps to hold together the characters, the spectacle and the language of the play. There are three main types of plots, climatic, episodic and absurd. In his play Uncle Vanya, Chekhov chooses to combine the climatic and episodic plot types together to tell his story. There are many characteristics of a climactic plot in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. One of the most important is that Unlce Vanya has a late point of attack, meaning that in order to understand the more significant parts of the play the audience needs a little background information early on. In the opening act of Uncle Vanya we learn about Astrov’s connection to the family, that life on the Serebryakov estate has been â€Å"topsy-turvy† ever since the arrival of the professor and his wife and most importantly about Vonitsky’s feelings of contempt and â€Å"envy† toward the professor. Without this information the audience may not have understood many of the conflicts taking place during the play. For example, the background information helps to explain the shaky relationship between the professor and the doctor. We can assume that Astrov was also the doctor to the professor’s late wife, and that the professor may blame the doctor for her death. Voinitsky’s speech in the opening act about the professor’s waste of twenty five years helps the audience realize why he has no love lost for the professor and that is why he tries to kill him later on in the play. A climactic plot is usually also a linear plot. Meaning that each of the scenes in the play only move forward in time. There are no instances in Uncle Vanya where we are taken back to relive first hand any experiences from any of the charaters pasts. The climatic play typically only covers a short amount of time. Although some parts of the character’s pasts are revealed ... Free Essays on The Use Of Plot In The Play Uncle Vanya Free Essays on The Use Of Plot In The Play Uncle Vanya The use of plot in Uncle Vanya In every play there is a plot, the plot acts a sort of box that holds all the other elements in it. The plot helps to hold together the characters, the spectacle and the language of the play. There are three main types of plots, climatic, episodic and absurd. In his play Uncle Vanya, Chekhov chooses to combine the climatic and episodic plot types together to tell his story. There are many characteristics of a climactic plot in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. One of the most important is that Unlce Vanya has a late point of attack, meaning that in order to understand the more significant parts of the play the audience needs a little background information early on. In the opening act of Uncle Vanya we learn about Astrov’s connection to the family, that life on the Serebryakov estate has been â€Å"topsy-turvy† ever since the arrival of the professor and his wife and most importantly about Vonitsky’s feelings of contempt and â€Å"envy† toward the professor. Without this information the audience may not have understood many of the conflicts taking place during the play. For example, the background information helps to explain the shaky relationship between the professor and the doctor. We can assume that Astrov was also the doctor to the professor’s late wife, and that the professor may blame the doctor for her death. Voinitsky’s speech in the opening act about the professor’s waste of twenty five years helps the audience realize why he has no love lost for the professor and that is why he tries to kill him later on in the play. A climactic plot is usually also a linear plot. Meaning that each of the scenes in the play only move forward in time. There are no instances in Uncle Vanya where we are taken back to relive first hand any experiences from any of the charaters pasts. The climatic play typically only covers a short amount of time. Although some parts of the character’s pasts are revealed ...

Organizational Change Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Organizational Change Paper - Essay Example This vision must encompass a vision for future - a vision which can virtually transforms people to be more enthusiastic. Further, to achieve transformation of an organization, it is critical that the same vision must be successfully sold to all stakeholders i.e. to employees as well as shareholders and consumers who must accept how their future is going to look like if that vision is going to be followed. It is also critical that the transformational change must find its way i.e. strategies must be developed to realize that vision and change besides ensuring that leadership must take charge of the transformation taking place within the organization. Apple Computers or Apple is one such company which completely transformed itself during last 10 years by adopting innovative and transformation business practices. This paper will analyze how the transformational changes impacted its workforce and external stakeholders besides analyzing how those changes took place within the context of transformation. Apple has a very troubled history as it failed to achieve market share despite being one of the early pioneers in computer hardware and software manufacturing. With the removal of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computers, company further plunged into crisis and were virtually on the brink of collapse when return of Steve Jobs resurrected the company and transformed it into one of the best consumer brands in the world. Apple's transformation is the result of visionary leadership and a marked change in the way company was operating. It transformed itself from a mere computer manufacturing firm to a firm which is now more of a consumer electronics goods manufacturer. This transformation was the result of drastic changes into cost cutting and control, rationalization of existing product lines, improving upon the distribution system of the company as well as introducing new products. (Hays, 2007). However, above all there was complete transformation into two of the following key areas: Employee Skills & Stakeholders One of the earliest impacts of such transformation at Apple was the fact that employees of the organizations were taken on-board regarding the change i.e. they were involved in the whole process of bringing that change. One of the actions which Apple took while starting transformation was the fact that they radically changed the designs of its products to make them more sleek and attractive. This was done basically to create luxurious products for masses however, what is most important is the fact that employees were part of that whole process of design especially engineers at the firm were involved heavily in the process. Therefore, the skills required by management and employees to accommodate change were to be part of that process. Steve Jobs achieved the same by involving employees into this supposed transformation. Further, as a leader and manger, Steve Jobs communicated that change internally as well as externally i.e. to external stakeholders such as shareholders and consumers where as employees as internal stakeholders. Further, it is also critical to understand that as a transformational process was under its way, Apple also implemented programs to continuously grow and learn in order to anticipate market changes more easily. Support Systems In order to accommodate ch

Economics thoughts and history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Economics thoughts and history - Essay Example and real median family income seem to go in different directions, productivity soaring up, with a cumulative change rate of over 300%, while the real median family income going down from 150-100% (Economic Policy Institute, 2012). This situation can be explained using a neo classical framework. The high levels of productivity in relation to lower real income values for median families can have tremendous effects both in the long and short run. In the short run, the middle class, which consists of the majority of citizens, will not have enough income to cater for savings. They will be less motivated to work since they do not feel the impact of their efforts at a national level. In the long run, the demonization of these people would mean productivity is affected. Using the labor theory, the situation captured by the graph has a lot of implications on labor from the middle class in America. In as much as the middle class contributes their labor to the national growth of the economy, they do not reap the benefits. More people will be less motivated to work, making labor a rare factor of production. The cost of labor is bound to increase in the long run. From a Keynesian perspective, the government needs to provide motivation to the middle class by ensuring they also benefit from the increase I productivity. The government can do this by investing in infrastructure and other fixed capital expenditure as well as changing tax laws to reduce the pain felt by middle class families. This will lead to increased productivity and real median family income in the long run. Using the institutional methodology, the situation portrayed in the graph can be remedied by changing institutions that serve the middle class. The cost of services and goods ought to be reduced so as to increase the amount of disposable income among the middle class. The theory of marginal productivity of distribution has various economical assumptions, most of which have highly been criticized. One of