Against School essay

Rhetoric and Composition 1020 18 September 2012 Ask any student in public high school what they like and dislike about school. Odds are, they will say that what they enjoy most about school is the social interactions it allows them to take part in, and what they dislike about school is the classes. John Taylor Gatto, in â€Å"Against School: How Public Education Cripples our Kids, and Why,† discusses the reasons for such boredom in an in depth manner. Most of the time, nowadays, it is not the amount of work that they have developed a disliking for, it is the time that being in class wastes.Sitting in a class doing busy work is not something that interests people. The problem with schooling in this day in age, is that many of the students attending public schools are not being challenged and brought to their full potential. Teachers get bored of teaching and students get bored of doing work that is not going to benefit them in any way after they graduate high school. John Taylo r Gatto gives a brief summary of the history of schooling and a suggestion that, in order to better our children academically, teachers need to urge their students to take on the work that may seem more â€Å"grown up. Schooling first started taking off in the United States between 1905 and 1915. American adapted its idea of public schooling from the Prussians, much like other parts of its culture. John Taylor Gatto states that the three reasons schooling came about was â€Å"to make good people, to make good citizens, and to make each person his or her personal best. † In all reality, however, Gatto says that the worst thing taken from the Prussians was the schooling system. John Taylor Gatto brings about the question of â€Å"why is forced school necessary? The â€Å"six classes a day, five days a week, nine months out of the year. † He proves his point by saying that â€Å"two million homeschool students turned out just fine, along with many other names that Amer icans can recognize such as: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. † Gatto states that forced schooling only enforces a deadly routine. He also argues that while most people associate the term â€Å"success† with â€Å"schooling† there are many people who are just as successful as the next who have not had as much schooling as expected.He probes the questions: â€Å"why, then, do Americans confuse education with just such a system? What exactly is the purpose of our public schools? † John Taylor Gatto explains that we â€Å"so eagerly have adopted one of the very worst aspects of Prussian culture: an educational system deliberately designed to produce mediocre intellects, to hamstring the inner life, to deny students appreciable leadership skills, and to ensure docile and incomplete citizens—all in order to render the populace â€Å"manageable. † While schooling is provided to enhance the intellects, it really is only designed to create mediocre ones.Parents and students should not have to go through the schooling proccess if it is not going to push them to be their absolute best. Without the proper schooling, it is harder for anyone to begin a career. Gatto explains that teachers do not guide their students to reach their full potential, but rather just give them the information to reach it. Whether they choose to strive for excellence is their choice, but teachers in this century do not push them towards their goals. Ultimately, teachers need to care more about their students futures and academic success.Next, John Taylor Gatto introduces the logistics of public schooling and the actual purpose of forced schooling in six basic functions. These functions are â€Å"the adjustive or adaptive function† which establishes reactions to authority. Teachers have the ability to teach their children to do anything, whether that is to learn or to do reckless things. Children look up to the teachers because they know that they are superior to them, therefore they react and respond to everything they say and do. It is difficult for parents to send their children to school because they are putting their trust in adults they have never met.Within forced schooling, it is likely that students and teachers disagree, and even more likely that a parent will intervene when they do not feel as if the teacher is responding adequately to the students needs. The second function is the â€Å"integrating† function. The schooling system is the definition of conformity. Children come to school everyday at the same time and preform almost identical basic functions in each classroom. They are taught when to talk, when to learn, when to eat, when to socialize, and they all listen and do what they are told and what is normal for them.Students see how other people are acting to certain situations, and then mimic those actions to blend in with the rest of the school. The  "diagnostic and directive† function deals with social roles. During their schooling, children realize what role they play and where they fit in socially. Specifically, high school is the institution where students realize the kind of people they are and what groups they will belong to, what friends they will have, and what everyone else will think of them. The â€Å"differentiating† function sorts the students according to their role and they are only taught as far as they can be as a group and no further.Gatto states here that this undermines the purpose of pushing students to their personal best. The â€Å"selective† function is exactly what it sounds like – selection, like Darwinism. If a student falls short of academic expectations, they receive poor grades and other punishments. The purpose of school is to enrich the students minds, and if they cannot do what is expected of them, they do not receive the benefits of those who do. The final function is the â€Å"propaedeutic† function. This function states that ultimately some of the students who attend school for the full twelve years will cary out the roles of authority some day.Ultimately what John Taylor Gatto argues throughout this essay, is the idea that boredom derives from the source. If a student is bored, it is because he or she is not doing anything the excite themselves, and same goes for the teachers. He suggests that in order to improve the lives of both, teachers need to introduce harder materials to the students. Not only will it keep them occupied and far from boredom, it will encourage them to reach beyond what is easy. Work Cited Gatto, John Taylor. â€Å"Against School: How Public Education Cripples our Kids, and Why. † Harper’s Magazine. Sep. 2003: 33-38. Print.

Deforestation and Malaria

Stephanie Saperstein ISB 201L 9. 24. 11 Deforestation and Malaria The changes in global environments is expected to affect the rate of malaria cases in humans. Malaria is a serious and at times fatal disease caused by an infectious parasite that can live within a mosquito that feeds on humans. These mosquitos breed in numerous areas and have affected many populations causing many people to suffer from its painful symptoms and effects of the disease. Researchers have been conducting tests on whether deforestation does in fact increase cases of malaria in hopes to increase the ability to control malaria’s outbreaks in certain areas.The increase in population in many areas is causing there to be an increase in deforestation due to the needs for land for settlement, cultivating agriculture and extracting resources. Research has shown that deforestation does increase the rate of malaria because of the environmental changes of breeding sites and humans moving to and from forested ar eas. Malaria’s parasites most commonly and successfully infects the female Anopheles mosquitoes and those humans that are bitten by these mosquitos, however they are both affected by the parasite differently.In humans the parasite begins by infecting the liver where it matures and begins to breed and multiply. After multiplying they begin infecting the blood stream and attacking the host’s red blood cells. These parasites continue this cycle by consistently infecting more and more red blood cells. Unlike humans the mosquito is not harmed when infected by the parasite. When a Anopheles female mosquito feeds on a human carrying this parasite a new cycle of growth and multiplication takes place in the mosquito. The parasite begins in the mosquitos stomach and then travels to the midgut wall of the mosquito where they breed and multiply.After 10-18 days, the parasites are found as â€Å"sporozoites† in the mosquito's salivary glands. (The Malaria Lifecycle 2006) Whe n the Anopheles mosquito feeds on another human, the sporozoites are injected with the mosquito's saliva and start another human infection. The mosquito transfers the parasites to multiple people by biting them and therefore acts as a vector for the disease. In one study it is said that deforestation is the largest contributing factor to malaria out of the many environmental changes and its rates are expected to increase. Where malaria is found depends mainly on factors such as temperature, humidity, and rainfall.Malaria is transmitted in tropical and subtropical areas, where Anopheles mosquitos can survive and multiply and where malaria parasites can complete their growth cycle in the mosquito. Research has recognized that deforestation increases malaria risk in Africa and the Americas and lessens it in South-east Asia. (Guerra, Snow, and Hay 2006) Malaria in the Amazon has been caused by ecosystem changes which were caused by human migration and opening of land for agricultural re asons, cattle, and natural resource extraction as well as deforestation and reforestation.The change in the ecosystems relates to the promotion or suppression of Anopheles darlingi, or the number one malaria vector in the Amazon, is ultimately the most important factor. An. darlingi is the most important malaria vector in the Amazon region. The vector breeds in partly shaded pools found in flooded areas of forests, forest creeks, river edges and pools left after river-level recession during the dry season. When humans colonize forests or near-forest areas in the Amazon it causes an increase of An. arlingi populations by increasing human exposure to this species’ natural breeding habitats and by generating new breeding habitats on the forest fringes. When deforestation takes place there are less trees to shade the given area of land and the acidity and chemical composition of the soil changes. This environmental change often creates favorable conditions for the breeding of An. darlingi and therefore increases the local risk of human malaria. Government sponsored colonization projects and significant migration, which took place with the help of deforestation, have resulted in malaria outbreaks.The â€Å"frontier malaria† phenomenon is exhibited in the Brazilian Amazon, among many other places, which increases the rate of malaria among humans. Frontier malaria is defined as a phenomenon operating at three spatial scales and with a distinctive time path. First at a micro/individual level, vector densities are high because of changes in the ecosystem that promote habitats for A. darlingi. This also occurs when human exposure is intense, such as at dusk or dawn. The second is at the community level where weak institutions, minimal community cohesion, and high rates of in and out migration characterize the frontier malaria.Third, at the state and national level, there is unplanned development of new settlement areas where agriculture had failed and peop le avoided malaria. However, this only elevates the rate of transmission. This frontier malaria has a time path where at the opening of a settlement area malaria rates rise rapidly and after 6-8 years the unstable in and out human migration and the high level of ecosystem transformations such as land clearing is replaced by urbanization and community cohesion. This frontier malaria then consists of more stable and low rates of transmission of malaria. Singer and Caldas De Castro 2006) Malaria has recently struck in the Peruvian Amazon region and research has shown that deforestation was the main cause. This research states that the risk of being bitten by the primary malaria-carrying mosquito, A. darlingi, is nearly 300 times higher in cleared areas than in those that are largely undisturbed. (Meadows 2006) A study reported in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene shows how deforestation is a contributing factor to the increase in malaria outbreaks.The study was cond ucted in the Loreto district of northeastern Peru, where malaria has risen from 600 cases in 1992 to 120,000 in 1997. Loreto’s population is increasing causing there to be increase is deforestation in order for more settlements such as roads for plantain, cassava, and other subsistence crops. As stated earlier, clearing forest for cropland also often creates better or more breeding sites for the A. darlingi mosquito by providing deep water and short vegetation. Researchers in Loreto experimented by measuring the rate of An. arlingi bites to test whether the population was the primary factor in the increase in malaria cases or whether deforestation was. They found that population size had no effect on the An. darlingi bite rate, but that deforestation had an enormous impact on it. The rate was 278 times higher in areas with the least forest and the most grass/crop land than in areas that were undisturbed. This study proves that areas of slash-and-burn agriculture provides a be tter environment for An. darlingi mosquitos to breed and increase in population, therefore causing more people to be at risk or in contact with the mosquitos that carry the disease.As exhibited in the previous studies and research, deforestation is definitely a contributing factor to the rise of malaria infection. The increase of population and globalization increases the need for land to raise cattle, extract resources, cultivate agriculture, and areas to migrate to. This increase then leads to a need for deforestation which has proven to be a main factor in raising the cases of malaria. In these studies deforestation increased malaria in numerous ways. By destroying forests the climatic factors in areas affecting vector and parasite reproduction and development were significantly changed.Deforestation changed ecological and landscape factors by increasing the amount of sunlight which in turn increases the temperatures of bodies of water, thereby changing the habitats for breeding areas. Overall deforestation is indeed one of the highest contributing factors to the rise in the insect vectored disease around the world. References Guerra, C. A. , R. W. Snow, and S. I. Hay. â€Å"A Global Assessment of Closed Forests, Deforestation and Malaria Risk. † American Journals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 100. 3 (2006): 189-204. Pub Med Central. U. S.National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, Apr. 2006. Web. 24 Jan. 2011. . Meadows, Robin. â€Å"Malaria Linked to Deforestation. † Conservation Magazine. 2006. Web. Sept. 2011. . Singer, Burton, and Marcia Caldas De Castro. â€Å"ENHANCEMENT AND SUPPRESSION OF MALARIA IN THE AMAZON — SINGER and DE CASTRO 74 (1): 1. † ENHANCEMENT AND SUPPRESSION OF MALARIA IN THE AMAZON 74. 1 (2006): 1-2. American Journal of Tropical Medicine â€Å"The Malaria Lifecycle. †Ã‚  TravelHealth. co. uk — the UK Independent Travel Health Site. Travel Health Co, 21 Nov. 2006. Web. 14 Feb. 2011. .

Leadership practices Essay

The same situation applies to Technical know-how, I generally understand the technical know-how of my Job and maybe not clear with Just a few policies and procedures because I haven’t had the chance to deal with them. The interpersonal competence need to be developed further as I have not developed anything in that area in the business sense and some of the skills have been acquired in social groups such as the church. The Social-emotional competence also scored quite high which is really a true reflection as I am a person who is really concerned about emotional and wellbeing of the people where work is involved. The anagerial and entrepreneurial competences had average scores which are actually true, maybe because I am not really in a managerial level at work and I do believe that more need to be developed in this area. The intellectual competence had the lowest percentage score of 40% and I also do believe that I need the chance to develop and show my intellectual skills. B. The Managerial competence scored 50% which is Just an average value. According to Daft (2008, p. 15) Management focuses on establishing detailed plans and schedules for achieving specific results. This has similar characteristics to quadrant C of the whole brain model. What is whole brain thinking) shows that a person who has quadrant B (green) dominance has the following characteristics: organised, sequential, planned and detailed. The managerial competence has similar characteristics with the quadrant B and these two score sheets gave similar results. They showed average competence as a manager and the need to improve in this area. The inter-personal competence gives an average percentage which also when compared to the whole brain, the quadrant C (Red) is also has moderate results. The whole brain quadrant A (blue) had the highest results which confirmed the Job competence and technical know-how. I am an engineer by professional and hence so mathematical by nature of my Job. C. The ways of improving leadership effectiveness include From the Managerial competence, the percentage was 50% which implies there is more to be done in the area hence need to improve as a leader by learning to be a leader who should move from stability to change and Crisis Management (Daft 2008, p. 8). The whole competence analysis had varying percentages, Leadership effectiveness can be improved by becoming a learning leader thus â€Å"a leader who is open to learning and change and encourages the growth and development of thers† (Daft 2008, p. 2). Need to improve on intellectual competences by getting the big picture, a leader who is up to date with what is happening in the core area of business.

The Rise of Public Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Rise of Public Education - Essay Example If any schooling was required, learning was best through father and son interaction. The system of education for the citizens (the professionals) is to learn under a reputable master, through experience, observation and experimentation. The best students are to progress on to higher learning. Aristotle, like Plato, believed that learning by experience is the better, and preferred, teaching method. They differ, however, on the government’s role. For Plato, government intervention begins when the citizen performs military or civil service at the age of twenty-five. Aristotle believed in a broader role for government. He proposed that children be commonly instructed, in publicly provided places, by government-appointed teachers. (Rit Nosotro) Americans assume that there have always been public schools in the US. Public education presupposes equal access for all, and converges with the democratic ideals that created the republic. Contrary to public belief, there was no public school system set up when the American Revolution triumphed. The people did not place the provision of education in the hands of government. There is even no mention of education in the Constitution. (Blumenfield 1999) American education historians consider the New England colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire as the cradle of public education. Seventeenth century New England towns maintained common schools for children to learn to read. These common schools however differ from the present-day public schools because attendance was not compulsory, they were not publicly funded, and the more prevalent forms of learning was through private tutors and parents. Nevertheless, the New England common schools are considered as the precursor of public schools because law required them. Massachusetts had a law in 1647 that required providing education. Insuring that children learn to read and write were required for towns that had fifty

No preference Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

No preference - Research Paper Example It was used in brewing beer, making soups and stews, and barley bread in various cultures. Ships and vessels transported it across city-states in cases of warfare or trade activities. If someone found my pottery today, I would want the pottery itself to reflect on the revolutionary element of Greek society. The artistic movements of Greek, as a society, should focus on narrating the story of the birth of the first democracy, ancient Athens, through an artistically based kind of life. In the brutal world of the 5th Century BC, there emerged a society of equals in Greek, which was the ultimate reflection of the pottery artistic work if it were to be seen today. The aspects of life in Athens that encouraged cultural contribution of various philosophers, writers and artists include the following factors; firstly, the inbuilt spirits of Greek inhabitants is of an ever formulated trial and era aspect of the society. Secondly, Athens gave rise to various philosophers because of the emergence of educational activities through artistry. For instance, the Greek revolution overly began at the dawn of a simplified democracy in 508 B.C. with the revolution of common people against the aristocratic rule. This shows the complex nature of Greek subjects towards their leaders and the epistemological view of the world. The Greeks defeated the Persian Empire through an extraordinary self-sacrifice. When the Persians confidently arrived in the battlefield to tackle their Greek counterparts, their courier Phidipphides had already sought a 140 mile run to Sparta in two days. This was done in order to solicit help from Sparta’s army. The outnumbered Athenians henceforth fought to uphold their freedom rights, defeat the Persians and send them to Asia. The institution of ostracism was a formally implemented Athenian democracy. This democracy had a function of expelling defiant citizens from the

Convincing that the same sex adoption morally wrong Essay

Convincing that the same sex adoption morally wrong - Essay Example I shall present both sides of the issue using information from various credible sources, including my opinion on the matter as well towards the end of this paper. In order to understand the morally and socially acceptable reasons against same sex adoptions, I wish to first present the arguments that are normally presented by same sex couples in support of their cause. These are arguments that, although seemingly acceptable, places the child in question in the center of a psychologically traumatic experience that could carry life long consequences for the child if not dealt with in a proper manner. The first argument that is often presented in support of same sex adoption is that the traditional family unit as we know it is based upon a shaky foundation that often times end up in divorce and a traumatic existence for the child. It is their belief that there is no difference in raising a child in the same sex household because they can provide a more stable household for the child base d upon a mutual love and respect for the family unit that seems to now be sorely lacking among the traditional couples (â€Å"Pros and Cons of Gay Adoption†). Same sex couples claim that the high rate of divorce among the heterosexual couples makes them a bad example for the children who are traumatized by what could often times turn out to be messy divorces that put the child in the middle of an ugly custody battle. Their second argument is that advances in medical science have allowed them to conceive children artificially. Therefore, it is their right to have children born of their own flesh and blood, even if they were the result of a surrogate mother or the sperm of a man unknown to the child's mothers. What is important is that the child is a living part of their own DNA strain. Therefore, not allowing them to adopt a child who badly needs the love and care of strangers willing to give him or her a better life would be robbing the child of the right to live with all the good chances that the â€Å"modern family† can afford him (â€Å"Pros and Cons of Gay Adoption†). After all, there is one thing of the utmost importance in any adoption proceeding and that is what will be in the best interests of the child. They believe, that they can best represent that interest as the normal families seem to have a hard time providing such for their children and adopted children. In accordance with this belief, the International Adoption Database has even mentioned that the sexual orientation of a parent should not be considered when setting up a child for adoption. The organization believes that; â€Å"Good parenting is not influenced by sexual orientation. Rather, it is influenced most profoundly by a parent's ability to create a loving and nurturing home -- an ability that does not depend on whether a parent is gay or straight.† (Marquardt, Maddie â€Å"Who Sets Standards of a Suitable Parent?†). They also argue that preventing them from adopting children can be taken as an act of sexual discrimination, an act which is prohibited under the laws of the United States. They also make important note of the fact that there is a shortage of qualified adoptive heterosexual parents these days.

Freedom of Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Freedom of Religion - Essay Example Freedom of Religion changed drastic over the years in the Colonies. Before the European came to America they obtained their own religion, but with the coming of the new pioneers and pilgrims a lot changed. In the period of the Religious wars in Europe many went to the new land to seek their religious freedom in America. From 1607 till now many came to build new settlements. Not to build the new perfect church as had happened in the UK (Church of England) but to establish to worship freely. For the Native there was a lot to achieved from this. Since the Spanish and French they where confronted with the force upon them to be baptized as Catholic. Therefor many events happened over the centuries to regain the religious freedom as we know it today. We can find them in the following headings: 1. Native Americans and the European religions; 2. Pilgrims arrive in the Colonies of America; 3. Bill of Rights, the freedom of religion in the First Amendment; 4. Freedom of religion today; ... If you can reconsider the facts it is not short from Genocide. They suffered hard under the strict religious regimes. Tribes where separated, they had no skills to write down their own history and white men to advantage of it. The history written by the white men most of the times makes it difficult to obtain information the religions of the Native Americans. Many of the knowledge is lost. Ruvolo (2008) mentions in his article the Iroquois as one Nation that had A highly intelligent culture, well organized that where living as well in the South Colonies as the North Colonies. Ruvolo (2008) calls them as surpassed in greatness only by the advanced civilizations as the Mayas, Aztecs and the Incas. There religion was based on the High Spirit and evil was not denied. Their rituals contained worship services which occurred in according seasonal periods over the year. The religion saved them from being wiped out because of the similarities. It is a rare sample. 14089 4 Pilgrims arrive in the Colonies of America After the Spanish, the English and the French the first settlers arrived around 1620. A journey taken by the pilgrims in a search for the perfect religion that could indeed satisfy the need of the people. In Europe wars drove the believers other then Catholic to the New World. While Marten Luther had translated the Bible, the Catholic where totally against the knowledge obtained from the translation. Europe tore apart when people could read for themselves. The article of Students from the University of North Carolina (2001) takes us to the first settlers, the Quakers and the Puritans who started the first thirteen Colonies based on their religious beliefs. They wanted to escape persecution yet some of it already