How We Are Teaching Children to Think Inside the Box Essay Example for Free

How We Are Teaching Children to Think Inside the Box Essay When children come home from school, parents usually sit down with them, go through their homework folders and ask their child, â€Å"so, what did you learn at school today?† Twenty years ago, the child may have commented on what they learned in art, music, social studies or geography. Now, a child will comment only on what they learned in their reading circle or in their math book. The fault for this lies within the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Standardized testing has turned teachers into test proctors and schools into testing facilities. Students are no longer receiving a broad education that covers many subjects; instead, their learning is streamlined to fit the content that is on the standardized tests. The NCLB Act is not working as it was intended, and as a result the American children are falling even further behind other developed nations. In fact, American students are ranked 19th out of 21 countries in math, 16th in science and last in physics (DeWeese 2). The No Child Left Behind Act needs to be tossed out before we do irreversible damage to the education system. It is not too late – we can turn everything around by getting rid of costly standardized tests, ensure students receive a broad education that includes classes in arts and music, which will better prepare them for higher education, and give control back to the individual states. In 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act was enacted by Congress, which was intended to close the learning gap between Caucasian students and minority students. The NCLB promised to promote accountability amongst teachers and school administrators, as well as assuring that all children would be proficient – according to standards set by the individual states – in reading and math by the end of the 2013-2014 school year (Ravitch 2). In addition, NCLB stated that by the end of the 2005-2006 school-year every classroom in America would have a highly qualified teacher (Paige 2). The most reliable way that the drafters of No Child Left Behind proposed collecting the data that they needed in order to keep track of accountability and proficiency was by mandating that each state issue their  students in grades 3 through 12 a standardized test annually that covers the subjects of reading, writing and math (Beveridge 1). The test that is issued is given to all students, whether they are Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, disabled, etc. and schools are graded based on the proficiency of their students. Each state sets a yearly goal that increases each year based on the mandates of the NCLB Act, in which all students will be 100 percent proficient in those three subjects by the year 2014 (Ravitch 2). On paper, the NCLB Act looked like a blessing to schools that are located in areas of low-income, minority areas and advocates for children with learning disabilities because these tests were meant to highlight the schools that are doing poorly and ensure they receive funding and training in order to turn the scores around (Darling-Hammond 1). In a letter that is addressed to parents on their website, the U.S. Department of Education explains that the NCLB Act provides â€Å"more resources to schools† through funding and â€Å"allows more flexibility† when allocating the funds (3). According to Linda Darling-Hammond, a Professor of Education at Stanford University, â€Å"the funding allocated by NCLB – less than 10 percent of most schools’ budgets – does not meet the needs of the under-resourced schools, where many students currently struggle to learn† (2). Another way schools get their funding is through the taxes that we pay. It makes sense that schools located in an area that has higher income would receive more funds than schools located in a low-income area. What happens is that with the limited funding, schools in low-income areas need to prioritize funding to raise the standardized test scores of their students because once a school fails to show improvement in their standar dized test scores, they are placed on probation the second year and parents are given a choice to leave the failing school, taking their child and the funding attached to that child to a school that is rated better. â€Å"In the third year of a school’s failure, students are entitled to free tutoring after school† according to Diane Ravitch, a research professor of education at New York University (2). The funding provided by NCLB is supposed to help pay for the free tutoring, but, like was stated before, the funding provided is not enough. What happens when a school is mandated by law to provide resources, but it cannot find room in their budget? That’s  right, they cut funding elsewhere. In an article written by Angela Pascopella, the Austin Independent School District superintendent Pascal D. Forgione explains that â€Å"NCLB also requires that schools in need of improvement set aside 10 percent of their local Title 1 funds for professional development †¦ this creates no flexibility in budgeting† (1). When schools need to restructure their budget in order to pay for tutoring and retraining teachers, the arts and music programs are the ones that suffer most. NCLB places so much emphasis on the outcome of the standardized tests. Can you really blame the school districts for re-emphasizing the importance of standardized tests when their funding relies on it? States were put in charge of providing their own assessment tests in order to provide a more focused education to their students and ensure that the students meet the state’s standards of proficiency. Tina Beveridge explains that â€Å"in 2007, the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) cost the state $113 million †¦ [and] many districts eliminated teaching positions as a result, despite the use of stimulus money. As budgets are cut nationwide, the funding for nontested subjects are affected first† (1). The fact that the distribution of funds is based on the outcome of the standardized test scores mea ns that we are blatantly failing the inner-city schools. A school will be placed on probation if they fail just one category ranging from proficiency of Caucasian students all the way down to the proficiency of the students who are just learning the English language. Schools located in higher income areas don’t really have to worry as much about budget cuts because those schools are located in areas that are predominately white and with parents who are active in their children’s education. On the other hand, schools in low income areas have to provide tutoring and other mandated actions in order to improve their proficiency rates, all the while their students are learning in â€Å"crumbling facilities, overcrowded classrooms, out-of-date textbooks, no science labs, no art or music courses and a revolving door of untrained teachers† (Darling-Hammond 2). After a few years of a school not showing improvement through their test scores, their entire teaching staff could be fired. We just saw this happen last year in Providence, Rhode Island. The school board terminated 1,976 teachers because of insufficient results and the need to make budget cuts (Chivvis 1). The turnover rate for  teachers is already extremely high, as much as 50 percent leave within 5 years in urban areas (McKinney et al 1) and the pressure of working in a low-income school district where schools are lacking basic teaching necessities is not all that appealing. The inability of low-income schools to offer teachers incentives because of funding, and with the added stress of job security, it makes one wonder how any highly qualified teachers are in the classroom. On top of that, the curriculum for students has gotten so narrow that it has taken a lot of the creativity and individualization that once attracted the best of the best to the teaching profession. Susan J. Hobart is an example of one of those teachers who used to love doing her job because she was leaving her mark on her students, in a positive way. In Hobart’s article, she tells of a letter she received from one of her students prior to the NCLB Act. The letter explained that Hobart was â€Å"differen t than other teachers, in a good way. [They] didn’t learn just from a textbook; [they] experienced the topics by ‘jumping into the textbook.’ [They] got to construct a rainforest in [their] classroom, have a fancy lunch on the Queen Elizabeth II, and go on a safari through Africa† (3). The student goes on to explain that the style of teaching she experienced during that time is what she hopes she can do when she becomes a teacher too. Unfortunately, that student’s dream will most likely not come true because the fact is that when schools are placed on probation, like Hobart’s school, they â€Å"teach test-taking strategies similar to those taught in Stanley Kaplan prep courses †¦ and spend an inordinate amount of time showing students how to ‘bubble up’† (1). With all the time and energy being placed on teaching children to read and write, you would think that they would be proficient by the time they enroll in college, right? Wrong. â€Å"42 percent of community college freshmen and 20 percent of freshmen in four-year institutions enroll in at least one remedial course †¦ 35 percent were enrolled in math, 23 percent in writing, and 20 percent in reading,† according to the Alliance for Excellent Education (1). Scho ols are so reliant on the standardized tests in order to gauge how students are understanding material that they have slacked-off in other areas like teaching basic study skills and critical thinking skills. When most of these kids graduate from high school and enter into a college setting, especially the ones who need to take remedial courses to catch-up to where  they should be when they graduate, they’re taken completely off guard with the course load and they will either succeed in managing it or struggle for the first few semesters, but the majority will drop out without a degree (Alliance for Excellent Education 1). High school is meant to prepare students for higher education or to enter the workforce, but the government is spending millions of dollars in order to remediate students and doing what high school teachers were meant to do (Alliance for Excellent Education 3). So, who is to blame? The supporters of No Child Left Behind acknowledge that there are some faults to the Act, but those like Kati Haycock believes that â€Å"although NCLB isn’t perfect, the Bush administration and Congress did something important by passing it. They called on educators to embrace a new challenge – not just access for all, but achievement for all †¦ there are no more invisible kids† (1). Supporters feel as though benefits such as holding teachers accountable for all students, including those with disabilities, and weeding out the schools that have a long history of doing poorly outweighs the negatives and that with time, the NCLB Act can be reformed to work as efficiently as it was enacted to work. Ravitch disagrees, stating that â€Å"Washington has neither the knowledge nor the capacity to micromanage the nation’s schools† (3). We have to agree with her as concerned citizens and parents. While the NCLB Act meant well when it was passed, it’s time to acknowledge that the government has spent billions of dollars trying to improve the education of America’s youth, yet 10 years later American students are still falling behind the mark set by other industrialized nations and the 201 3-2014 school year is quickly coming upon us. Not only are we falling behind globally, but minorities are still struggling behind Caucasian students. The gap between Caucasian students and minority students, that was intended to close through the NCLB Act, has remained just as far apart. E.E. Miller Elementary School, located here in Fayetteville, NC, just released their annual report card to parents. The chart below shows the break-down of students who passed both the reading and math tests provided at the end of the 2010-2011 school year. African American children, Hispanic children, and children with disabilities are still lagging far behind their Caucasian peers. African American children passed at 49.4 percent, 25.5 percent of students with disabilities passed and Hispanic children passed at rate of  56.9 percent. Remember that the NCLB expects this school, along with every other school in the Nation, to be at 100 percent proficiency by the end of the 2013-2014 school year. Source: Education First NC School Report Cards, E. E. Miller Elementary: 2010-11 School Year, Public Schools of North Carolina State Board of Education, Web, 26 Oct. 2011. In order to put this chart more in perspective, below is the 3-year trend for E.E. Miller. [pic] Source: Education First NC School Report Cards, E. E. Miller Elementary: 2010-11 School Year, Public Schools of North Carolina State Board of Education, Web, 26 Oct. 2011. While math scores are steadily improving, reading scores (the solid line) are declining. E.E. Miller has been on probation for at least 3 years, having provided tutoring to children who were struggling last year. Even with those efforts, the end of the year test suggests those students are still struggling in reading. These mandates are not working. States are spending millions of dollars per year to fulfill all of the required obligations without any fruition. We need to put education spending back into the hands of the states with more substantial federal funding. The federal government cannot expect every public elementary school, middle school and high school in this nation to fix a problem that has been prevalent for many, many years with this one-size-fits-all approach to learning. It will not happen with No Child Left Behind, and it definitely will not happen by the end of the 2013-2014 school year. We can no longer sit and watch while students in America struggle to compete o n a global level in nearly all subjects. Teachers are not educating our nation’s students to think critically and to form their own ideas or opinions; instead, teachers in failing schools are stuck teaching a curriculum that directly corresponds to what is being tested, and we are failing to prepare them for higher education. The future citizens we are molding will be of no use to society if they cannot think for themselves, which will happen if they remain in the current system. We need to undo this one-size-fits-all curriculum and re-broaden our children’s education to include subjects that will teach them think outside the box. Works Cited Alliance for Excellence in Education. â€Å"Paying Double: Inadequate High Schools and Community College Remediation.† Issue Brief: August (2006). All4Ed.Org. Web. 30 Oct. 2011. Beveridge, Tina. No Child Left Behind and Fine Arts Classes. Arts Education Policy Review 111.1 (2010): 4. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. Chivvis, Dana. â€Å"Providence, RI, School Board Votes to Lay Off All Teachers.† AOL News (2011). Web. 28 Oct. 2011. Darling-Hammond, Lisa. â€Å"No Child Left Behind is a Bad Law.† Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 14 Oct. 2011. DeWeese, Tom. â€Å"Public Education is Failing.† Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 14 Oct. 2011. Education First NC School Report Cards. â€Å"E. E. Miller Elementary: 2010-11 School Year.† Public Schools of North Carolina State Board of Education. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. McKinney, Sueanne E., et al. â€Å"Addressing Urban High-Poverty School Teacher Attrition by Addressing Urban High-Poverty School Teacher Retention: Why Effective Teachers Persevere.† Educational Research and Review Vol. 3 (1) pp. 001-009 (2007). Academic Journals. Web. 28 Oct. 2011. Paige, Rod. â€Å"No Child Left Behind: A Parent’s Guide.† U.S. Department of Education (2002). PDF File. 28 Oct. 2011. Pascopella, Angela. Talking Details on NCLB. District Administration 43.7 (2007): 22. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 28 Oct. 2011. Ravitch, Diane. Time to Kill No Child Left Behind. Education Digest 75.1 (2009): 4. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 20 Oct. 2011.

Sylvia Plath And Her Poem Daddy

Sylvia Plath And Her Poem Daddy Sylvia Plath was an American poet and novelist, but also a mother, teacher and wife (Plath, p.2). She was born in Boston Massachusetts on October 27, 1932 (Ibid, p.2). Her mother Aurelia Schober Plath was a first generation American of Austrian descent. Her father Otto Emile Plath was an immigrant from Grabow, Germany (Ibid.). Sylvia Plaths father died of complications of diabetes on November 1940 a month after her eighth birthday (Wikipedia.org/Sylvia Plath). Sylvia Plaths father was not a German Nazi, as readers of the poem Daddy are made to believe. Otto Plath was a distinguished professor of biology and German language at Boston University (Plath, p.3). He was known throughout the world as an authority on bees as well (Ibid.). In Sylvia Plaths poem titled Daddy, a theory exists the poet speaker is addressing both her dead father, but for the most part her husband and father figure, English poet Ted Hughes. To understand this theory, one must recall the meaning of the Oedipus complex as well as the Electra complex. The Oedipus complex is defined as a transition in a male childs life, where the child has a psychological desire to sleep with the mother and kill the father (From Sigmund Freud). The Electra complex, on the other hand, states that a female child has a romantic desire toward the father and rejection of the mother. Psychologically, as an adult, the female looks for a husband that provides the father figure for her; that is, a man that will takes over all the roles of the real father (From Sigmund Freud). The poem Daddy by Sylvia Plath is a fantasy poem rebuking not her dead father but the father figure in her husband Ted Hughes. The poem, Daddy, was written on October 12, 1962 before Sylvia Plath committed suicide (Wikipedia). Almost all of Sylvia Plaths poems were written during the second part of the feminist struggle of the 60s and 70s (Wikipedia.org/Feminism). The poem was posthumously published in a collection of poems under the heading of Ariel, which was submitted with a Forward by her daughter Frieda Hughes Plath (Plath, p. 16). That collection of poems contained in the Ariel collection made Sylvia Plath a household name (Ibid.). In her poem Daddy, Plath uses the Holocaust as a pivot point to rebuke her husband and father figure, and laments her father who died when she was eight years old. Listening to Sylvia Plath read her own poem Daddy, the listener detects a childs tone filled with considerate, unselfish love and affection when she reads and pronounces the word Daddy. The listener also detects the difference in tone when she recites the rest of the lines in the poem. The tone is more harsh and filled with hate, rage and anger (YouTube, http://www.youtube.com). The form of the poem is Free Verse with sixteen Cinquain stanzas. The poem also contains intermittent iambic verse throughout with no continuous pattern. The use of metaphors, symbolism and similes, throughout the stanzas gives the poem a semblance of balance. The entire poem in itself, however, is a metaphor. The speaker uses the first person descriptive voice. The theme of the poem is feminist in nature; that is, a female persona climbing to freedom from dominance of the father figure. She desires to be free from male domination, authority and control in order to be able to have the right to be her own persona. The mood of the poem is conversational (Aird, p. 82). The poem does not follow a rhyming scheme, but it does follow a nursery rhyming type of sound throughout the poem. In addition, a rhyme oo sound is predominant on the first Cinquain stanza as well as on the last stanza of the poem (Strand and Boland, pp. 274-276, Lines 1-5 and 76-80). Examples of internal rhyme are in lines, 1, 23, 49 and 50. An example of alliteration exists in line 49. There are various repetitions in this poem as follows: You do not do, you do not do (Ibid. Line 1), Of wars, wars, wars. (Line 18), Ich, ich, ich, ich, (Ibid. Line 27 which means I want to, I want to). In addition, An engine, an engine (Ibid. Line 31), And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack (Ibid. Line 39), Panzer-man, panzer-man, O Youà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ (Ibid. Line 45) And get back, back, back to you, (Ibid. Line 59). Also Daddy, daddy, you bastard, Im through. (Ibid. Line 80) The speaker used figurative language throughout the poem. In addition, there are several similes in (Ibid. Lines 3, 32, and 34). The speaker uses hyperbole in lines 6, 11, 12, 49, 62, 69, 72, 73 and 76. Figurative language as an apostrophe is included in lines, 8, 9, 10, 46, 70, and 72. In addition, personification is included in lines 8, 10, 11, 36, 37, 46, 54, 62, 70, and 72. The imagery used by the speaker is relevant to sight, sound and touch, and it is void of smell and taste. The imagery of sound is present in lines 5, 16, 28, 34, 67, and 70. The imagery of sight is present in lines 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 32, 36, 43, 44, 52, 57, 61, and 76. The touch imagery is present in lines 25, 26, 62, and 78. In the first stanza of the poem Daddy, Plath opens the poem with the affirmation that she no longer accepts the hurtful marriage by saying, You do not do, you do not do (Strand and Boland, pp. 274-276, Line 1). She further claims that she will no longer be bound to the darkness and forlornness of her father figure husband by saying, Any more, black shoe / In which I have lived like a foot (Ibid. Lines 2-3). She feels she has been held captive in a marriage that has gone sour and she has had enough. She agrees to divorce her husband and as a result, she is not restricted to the confines of a bad marriage. Even though she faces economic difficulties, it does not matter since she had been under those circumstances before as she says, For thirty years, poor and white. (Ibid. Line 4) In the second stanza, Sylvia Plath decides to accept her fathers death. She claims he had died before she had a chance to show her love for him (Ibid. Line 7). Her fathers dead body was placed, perhaps, in a body bag as she remembers; was heavy and filled with kindness, goodness and love as she says, Marble-heavy, a bag full of God. (Ibid. Line 8) In the third stanza, she remembers the place where her father was placed after his death. She had hopes her father would come back to her as she proclaims, I used to pray to recover you. (Ibid. Line 14), and she cries aloud, Ach, du. (Ibid. Line 15) hoping for her wish to come true. In the fifth stanza, Sylvia Plath refers to the many extramarital affairs her husband and father figure had. She is not sure who he loves, but she does not confront him since the thought of it was perhaps more hurtful than the action itself. In the sixth stanza, she makes a vivid portrayal of her suffering from her painful marriage and father figure by fantasizing of being à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦stuck in a barb wire snare. (Ibid. Line 26) In the seventh stanza, Sylvia Plath feels her father figure pushed her away as if an engine that has drove her to the brim of her fantasy of being a Jew persecuted by the German Nazis. An engine, an engine // Chuffing me off like a Jew. (Ibid. Lines 31 and 32) The circumstance surrounding her unhappy marriage makes her compare herself to a Jew being sent to the first Nazi concentration camp (Wikipedia.org/ Dachau concentration camp), or to the extermination camp in Auschwitz (http://en.wikipedia.org /Auschwitz concentration camp). The least she could expect from her father figure, was to be sent to the Nazi Belsen concentration camp to be exchanged for German prisoners of war held (http://en.wikipedia.org /Bergen-Belsen concentration camp) overseas. In the eighth stanza, Sylvia Plath considers herself an Aryan Gypsy which in à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦the Nazi minds there were contradictions between what they regarded as the superiority of the Aryan race and their image of the Gypsies Like the Jews, Gypsies were singled out by the Nazis for racial persecution and annihilation. (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org). Sylvia Plath enhances her belief of bad luck and the fantasy of being an Aryan Gypsy by mentioning the Taroc game cards as she says, And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack / I may be a bit of a Jew. (Strand and Boland, pp. 274-276, Lines 39 and 40) She mentions the Taroc pack twice, once to reference her destiny of her bad luck with her husband and the second to reference the destiny of bad luck with her father figure. Regardless, she still considers herself à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦a bit of a Jew. (Ibid. Line 40) In stanza nine and ten, she compares her husband and father figure to Adolf Hitler, With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygook. / And your neat mustache / And your Aryan eye, bright blue. // Not God but a swastika / So black no sky could squeak through. / Every woman adores a Fascist, / The boot in the face, the brute / Brute heart of a brute like you. // (Ibid. Lines 42-50) There is a correlation between the figure of Adolf Hitler and her husband and father figure whom also had extramarital dealings with other women. In addition, Ted Hughes was over six feet tall and always dressed himself from head to toe in black (Ted Hughes: An Introduction, Ann Skea). In stanza eleven, the symbolism for blackboard stands for dualism. On the one hand, Sylvia Plath sees her loving and missed father and on the other, she sees her father figure and husband. She sees her father as having a cleft in his chin instead of his foot. On the other hand, the dual figure she sees is that of her husband and father figure having a cleft in his foot much as a devil has. The eleventh stanza states, You stand at the blackboard, daddy, / In the picture I have of you, / A cleft in your chin instead of your foot / But no less a devil for that, no not / Any less the black man who // (Strand and Boland, pp. 274-276, Lines 51-55). She continues addressing her husband and father figure in stanza twelfth by saying, Bit my pretty red heart in two. / (Ibid. Line 56). Also in the twelfth stanza, Sylvia Plath claims she was ten years old when her father died. Several years later, she tried to commit suicide but was unsuccessful. She had hoped to be back with him and would have been satisfied even if there were no flesh left in his bones. She says in part, I was ten when they buried you. / At twenty I tried to die / And get back, back, back to you. / I thought even the bones would do. // (Ibid. Lines 57-60) In stanza thirteen Sylvia Plath refers to the failed attempt at suicide. She claims they were able to save her and thereafter she decides to make a model of her father; her father figure as she says, But they pulled me out of the sack, / And they stuck me together with glue. / And then I knew what to do. / I made a model of you, / A man in black with a Meinkapmf look // (Ibid. Lines 61-65) In stanza fourteenth, she refers to the rack as the wedding bed and having sex with her father figure after she accepted the marriage vows. Later she realizes the marriage is not working and agrees to dissolve the marriage. She decides not to agree to any calls for reconciliation, and refuses to listen to any communications coming from her father figure. She confesses to her father that her life is over with her father figure as she says in the fourteenth stanza, And a love of the rack and the screw. / And I said I do, I do. / So daddy, Im finally through. / The black telephone off the root, / The voices just cant worm through. // (Ibid. Lines 66-70) Stanza fifteenth is an affirmation that Sylvia Plath has accepted the departure from her marriage from her father figure much as she has accepted the death of her father. Sylvia Plath says, If Ive killed one man, Ive killed two (Ibid. Line 71). She refers to the father figure as a vampire whom has drained her lifes happiness for the seven years she was married to her husband and father figure. She says, The vampire who said he was you / And drank my blood for a year, / Seven years, if you want to know. / (Ibid. Lines72-74) In the last line of the fifteenth stanza, she tells her father he can now rest in peace, Daddy, you can lie back now. (Ibid. Line 75) In the sixteenth and last stanza, Sylvia Plath continues with her fantasy and is able to get rid of the vampire father figure, Theres a stake in your fat black heart (Ibid. Line 76). Sylvia Plath comes to a certain end in her life and tells her father people did not like her father figure. People knew the father figure was to blame for her failures by saying, And the villagers never liked you. / They always knew it was you. / Daddy, daddy, you bastard, Im through. // (Ibid. Lines 77-80) It is important to notice the uppercase D when she addresses her father and the lowercase d when she addresses her father figure. (Ibid. Line 80) Sylvia Plath continued her fantasy of being persecuted as a Jew by the German Nazis, and in particular by her father figure, to the end of her life. In her poem Lady Lazarus, she mentions the many times she tried to commit suicide, but was not successful. Before the first publication of the novel The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath carried with her to the end of her life, a correlation of being a persecuted Jew by her father figure. She committed suicide by turning the gas on in the oven of the house and symbolically placed her head inside the oven. She succeeds in killing herself on the 11th day of February 1963 (Aird, p. 13). Sylvia Plath was thirty years old (Ibid). Before carrying out her suicide, she placed a large bottle of milk in each of her childrens cribs and covered the bottom of the door leading to the childrens room with wet towels. The wet towel would prevent the gas from seeping into their room and keeping them from dying as well (wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia Plath). The next day an inquiry ruled her death was a suicide (Ibid). In her novel, The Bell Jar, which was first published under the pseudonym of Victoria Lucas, Sylvia Plath tells in a semiautobiographical story about her unhappiness. The novel enumerates the various conflicts in her life including her complex mental illness. Even today, Sylvia Plath has many fans. The gravestone, which bears her name, is found in Heptonstall churchyard in England (Wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia Plath # cite note). Some of Plaths supporters who have chiseled the name Hughes off it have repeatedly vandalized it. This practice intensified following the suicide in 1969 of Assia Wevill, the woman for whom Ted Hughes left Plath, which led to claims Hughes had been abusive toward Plath (Ibid). Ted Hughes died October 28, 1998 (Skea, Ann); it seems to be ironic, and perhaps symbolic that Ted Hughes died sixty-six years later and a day before Sylvia Plath birthday of October 27. According to [The] Dictionary of Literary Symbols, the number 666 is considered an imperfect number an d the famous number of the beast; that is, the devil (Ferber, p.141).

Origin Of Cross Cultural Communication English Language Essay

Origin Of Cross Cultural Communication English Language Essay If I have to go and work in Japan, I will have to change and adapt myself to the culture of Japan. But in the course of this adaptation process, I will face many problems, the most important of them being a communication problem. Such communication problems caused by a difference in cultures i.e. mine and Japans, are known as problems in cross cultural communication. Meaning of Cross Cultural Communication Cross cultural communication can be defined as a study of how people belonging to different cultural backgrounds communicate with each other, in ways that are both similar and different. It can also be defined as a study of how people endeavour to communicate across different cultures. Cross cultural communication is also sometimes referred to as inter cultural communication. Origin of cross cultural communication In earlier times, all countries used to just strive for self sufficiency. There was no concept of trading between countries and even if there was some trading, it was done by the traders at an individual level. But advancements in economic growth and technological developments led to breaking down of cultural barriers as businesses looked for ways to expand and started seeking new markets. And it was this need for expansion that gave birth to globalisation. Globalisation refers to integrating our countrys economy with the world economy. In layman terms, globalisation means combining the markets of the different countries and making the world one huge market. Thus, people of different countries have access to products from all over the world. Globalisation was very beneficial for companies also as it gave them new markets to sell their products. Companies opened their branches in other countries. However, with the process of globalisation leading to an increase in global trade, it was impossible to avoid the meeting, conflict and blending of the different cultures. In any organisation, irrespective of what it does (construction, public relations, transportation, production and distribution of beverages, etc.), communication is the most essential ingredient for the survival of the business. People from different cultures found it difficult to communicate not only because of the language barriers but also because of the difference in their cultural styles. e.g. in independent cultures like Western Europe, USA and Canada, an independent figure of self is dominant. People think of themselves as being independent and distinct from others as well as from the environment. However, in interdependent cultures like Southern Europe, Asian and Latin American countries, an interdependent figure of self is dominant. People are more dependent on each other and the environment. There is a greater emphasis on the inter relatedness of the self to others and to the environment. The self is meaningful primarily in the context of social relationships, duties and roles. In some ways, cultural difference is a bigger challenge than the language barrier. Culture can be defined as a way of life of a group of people, their values, beliefs, behaviours, the symbols that they accept unconsciously and that are passed along from one generation to the next. Culture provides people with a way of thinking, it tells them how to see, hear and interpret different words. Thus, even though two people may be speaking the same language, the words used in it may have different meanings for them both. With the cultural differences making their presence felt and the need for translators rising, the chances of the occurrence of miscommunication also increase. Thus, the need to understand these cultural difference has become even greater. Only after crossing these cultural bridges can we hope to achieve effective communication. Hence, there is a need to study cross cultural communication. Need for Cross Cultural Communication Communication is a necessity anywhere and everywhere. The need for cross cultural communication is increasing every day. Given below are some reasons as to why cross cultural communication is so important nowadays Exchange of ideas Communication, as we all know, is the process of exchange of ideas and information between two or more people. Cross cultural communication just adds culture to communication. People from different cultures need a way to communicate their ideas, feelings, etc. to each other. Cross cultural communication provides a means for effective communication between people belonging to different cultures. The Same words with different meanings As mentioned above, two people might be speaking the same language but the meaning of the words might be different to both of them. e.g. in English, the word Mansion means a big house or a castle but in Japanese mansion means an apartment or a condominium. Also, Claim in English means to state something but in Japanese, it means to complain. So, when a Japanese says that he wants to make a claim, it does not mean he wants to make a statement but that he wants to make a complaint about something. Thus, an understanding of the different cultures is necessary to achieve effective cross cultural communication. Avoid Miscommunication It is imperative to learn the correct meanings of the different words and to understand the different cultures so as to avoid miscommunication of any kind. Miscommunication can cause many problems and conflicts between two communicating parties. e.g. In English, gift means present but in German, gift means Poison. So, if we say that we are giving a gift to a German, he might get very offended thinking that we are giving him poison. So, for effective communication, it is necessary to have an understanding of the languages of the different cultures. Make people feel valued When we show people that we know and understand their cultures, they are immediately impressed and feel valued. They understand that we have made an effort to understand their culture. This encourages them to try and return the favour by trying to understand our culture. e.g. In India, people greet each other by folding their hands and saying Namaste, a Hindi word which people use to greet the soul of the other person. On the other hand, the Japanese greet each other by bowing to each other as a sign of giving respect to others. Another example of diversity in cultures is that of the Navajo people. They live in Latin America. To them, touching someone else without their permission means we are insulting the person. Thus, they do not like to shake hands when greeting other people but instead just fold their hands and greet others. But in countries like UK and USA, shaking hands is considered to be totally normal and is done to greet everyone. Interdisciplinary Orientation of Cross Cultural Communication The main aim of cross cultural communication is to bring together relatively unrelated areas like cultural anthropology and established areas of communication. Its core function is to establish an understanding of how people from different cultures can communicate effectively with each other. It also tries to give some guidelines, by following which people can achieve effectiveness in cross cultural communication. Cross cultural communication, like many other scholarly fields, is composed of parts of various other fields. Some of these fields are psychology, business communication, study of different cultures, sociology and anthropology. The field of cross cultural communication has also moved toward the treatment of relations belonging to different ethnicities and the study of strategies used by co-cultural populations to communicate with each other i.e. communication strategies that are used to communicate with the mainstream populations. The study of languages other than our native language not only helps us understand what we have in common with each other as human beings but also assists us in understanding the diversity (and the reasons for it) which underlies not only the languages that we use, but also the means of organizing and constructing knowledge. Also it shows us the many, different realities in which we all live and interact with each other. This understanding has profound implications on the development of a critical awareness of our social relationships. Understanding these social relationships and the way other cultures work lays the groundwork of successful business efforts in this age of globalisation. Language socialization can be defined as the investigation of how language both creates and hypothecates anew, social relations in the context of culture. It is imperative that the speaker understands the grammar of the language that he is speaking, as well as how elements of the language situated in a socially acceptable manner in order to achieve competence in communication. Human experience derives relevance from the culture in which it is obtained, so elements of language also derive their relevance from culture. An individual must make a careful consideration of the semantics and the evaluation of sign language so as to compare the various cross-cultural standards of communication. However, there are several potential problems that are faced by people while participating in language socialization. Sometimes people can indulge in over-generalization i.e. label cultures with subjective and stereotypical characterizations. Another primary concern with making a record of alternative cultural norms is that no social actor uses language in the exact way as has been recorded (as per the normative characterizations). Cross cultural communication provides a methodology for studying how an individual uses language and other semantic activity to use and create new models of conduct and how this varies from the already recorded / documented cultural norms. Aspects of Cross Cultural Communication The aspects o cross cultural communication educate us about the various parameters that may be perceived differently by people belonging to different cultures. By keeping these parameters in mind, the chances of miscommunication can be minimised. These parameters are as follows :- Context Context is the most important dimension of culture. It is also very difficult to define. It was Edward T. Hall, an anthropologist, who first put forth the ideology of context in culture. He defined context as the stimuli or environment or the ambience surrounding it. Depending on how much a culture relies on these three (stimuli, environment, ambience surrounding it), he divided this context into two main groups :- Low Context Cultures High Context Cultures Low Context Cultures These assume that the individuals must be given a lot of background information as they know very little about what is told or being told to them. High Context Cultures These assume that the individual has to be given very little background information as he already possesses adequate knowledge about the subject. Non Verbal, Oral and Written The major factor behind improvement of cross cultural communication is paying more attention to specific areas of communication so as to enhance the effectiveness of the same. These specific areas have been broken down into three sub categories Non-Verbal Contact Oral Contact Written Contact Non-Verbal Contact This includes eye contact, facial expressions, use of space, etc Communication through body movement is known as Kinesics. The two most prominent ways of communication through Kinesics are facial expressions and eye contact. Facial expressions are a language unto themselves and are universal to all cultures. Our facial expressions can tell other people whether we are happy, sad, confused, etc. Irrespective of the culture, the facial expressions of a person for expressing these emotions, essentially remains the same. Eye contact, on the other hand, plays a key role in setting the tone between two individuals. Its meaning differs greatly in different cultures. In Western Europe and USA, eye contact conveys honesty and interest in what the other person is saying. People who avoid eye contact while speaking are thought to be lying, withholding information or lacking in self confidence. However, in Africa, Middle East and Asian counties, maintaining eye contact is interpreted as being disrespectful and / or challenging ones authority. People who only briefly make eye contact are thought to be courteous and respectful. Non verbal communication is also composed of our gestures. These gestures can be divided into five sub categories :- Emblems Illustrators Regulators Affect Displays Adaptors Emblems These refer to sign language (such as the Thumbs Up sign which is one of the most recognized symbols for all is good). Illustrators These mimic what we speak (e.g. showing how much time is left by holding up a particular number of fingers) and are sometimes used in place of verbal speech. Emblems and illustrators are the easiest ways of non verbal communication. Regulators These provide a way of conveying meaning through gestures (e.g. raising up ones hand indicates that one has some doubt(s) about what has just been said). These are more complicated than emblems and illustrators since the same regulator can have different meanings in different cultures (e.g. making a circle with ones hand in UK means OK but in Japan, this gesture is used as a symbol for money, in France, it conveys the notion of worthlessness and in Brazil, it is taken as an insult. http://www.1000ventures.com/design_elements/selfmade/ccd_example_ok-gesture.gif Affect Displays These reveal emotions such as happiness (a smile) or sadness (crying, lips trembling), etc. Adaptors These are more subtle e.g. yawning when we are bored or clenching our fists when we are angry. Adapters and affect displays are the two modes of non verbal communication over which the individual has very little control. The last non verbal type of communication is proxemics. It involves communicating by making use of the space around us. Hall identified three kinds of space :- Feature Fixed Space Semi Fixed Feature Space Informal Space Feature Fixed Space It deals with how various cultures make use of their space on a large scale e.g. by making buildings, parks, etc. Semi Fixed Feature Space It deals with how people belonging to different cultures arrange the space inside said buildings, e.g. the placement of plants, chairs, desks, etc. Informal Space It is the space that is most important to us e.g. how close people sit to one another, office space, etc. A production line worker has to make an appointment to visit his supervisor, however, the supervisor can come and meet the production line workers as and when he wishes. Oral Communication It is easier to learn than non verbal communication. The only problem in oral communication is Para Language i.e. how something is said. Even though words should convey the same meaning to everybody, the rate, volume and emphasis placed on them can completely change their meaning. e.g. In the sentence, I would like to help you, by placing emphasis on the words I, Like, Help and You one at a time while saying the same phrase conveys a different meaning of this same phrase all four times. Written Communication It is usually easier to adapt, learn and deal with in the business world (as compared to non verbal communication) because of the simple fact that each language is unique in itself. e.g. hair and hare are pronounced in the same way but written in a different way and also have very different meanings. Another example can be of the word minute in the sentence The button was so minute that it was a minute before I found it. Thus, written communication also must be done with great care lest we convey the wrong meaning to the recipient of the message. CHALLENGES OF CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION International businesses are, nowadays, facing new obstacles in their internal communication structures because of major reforms brought about in the internal communication structure through acquisitions, mergers, internationalization, downsizing, etc. Lack of investment in teaching language socialisation and cross cultural communication training often leads to deficiency in the internal cohesion of the company. Some of the by products of poor cross cultural communication are poor working relations, poor retention of staff, loss of customers, internal power struggles, low productivity, lack of co operation and loss of competitive edge by the company. Cross cultural communications consultants work with international companies to minimise in order to maximise cross cultural awareness and the consequences thereof among the employees. Given below are some hurdles to cross cultural communication 1) Lack of Communication Even though lack of communication seems to be a very obvious problem in miscommunication, it also continues to be a major reason behind poor cross cultural communication. Lack of communication with staff refers not only to lack of spoken dialogue but also to access to information. e.g. Some ways of withholding information from the staff are not informing the staff about actions and decisions that will affect their roles, not giving feedback (positive or negative), failure to properly communicate to the staff what is expected of them, etc. This eventually results in alienating the staff base which feels divided from its superiors and the management. If managers are too selective about the information that they provide to the staff, the staff starts feeling suspicious and jealous. This in turn, leads to internal strife rather than the cohesion that the managers were striving for. A management which foes not interact physically with its staff shows that it is not interested in its staff and that it does not trust or respect the staff. In the West, it has been observed that usually there is only downward communication. The staff reports to the managers and the managers report to senior managers and so on. Ideally, communication should br both ways (upward as well as downward). The seniors should take feedback from their subordinates. In the absence of such a system, the subordinates start feeling indifferent, estranged and sometimes even belligerent. Lack of communication is unhealthy, irrespective of what form or situation it may occur in. Managers and companies must have awareness of why, what, to whom and how they are communicating. 2) Language Language can be an obstacle to communication in two ways a) Use of inappropriate language Language carries with it imperceptible messages and meanings transmitted through stress, tone and vocabulary. The wrong use of words and / or emotions hidden behind phrases can send messages that affect the attitude, confidence and self-perception of the staff. Use of critical language gives rise to low self confidence of the staff (at the individual and group level) and poor interpersonal relationships whereas supportive tones and language have the opposite effect. Body language of the speaker and the listener must also be appropriate. Body language can be said to be composed of facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, etc.Facial expressions are a language unto themselves and are universal to all cultures. Our facial expressions can tell other people whether we are happy, sad, confused, etc. Irrespective of the culture, the facial expressions of a person for expressing these emotions, essentially remains the same. Eye contact, on the other hand, plays a key role in setting the tone between two individuals. Its meaning differs greatly in different cultures. In Western Europe and USA, eye contact conveys honesty and interest in what the other person is saying. People who avoid eye contact while speaking are thought to be lying, withholding information or lacking in self confidence. However, in Africa, Middle East and Asian counties, maintaining eye contact is interpreted as being disrespectful and / or challenging ones authority. People who only briefly make eye contact are thought to be courteous and respectful. b) Foreign Languages These days, companies may have indigenous speakers of over 50 different languages all under one roof.   It is important, in such cases to establish one common language for the entire office, whether it be French, r Spanish or English. It is not necessary that this common language must be some language that is common to everyone; it can be the language of the country in which the company is operating or the language spoken and understood by the majority of the employees. In the absence of such a language, everyone will keep speaking but no one will understand anything, leading to chaos in the company. Once the common language is established, all the employees should only converse in this language. This avoids exclusion of staff who cannot understand other languages. The company should also ensure that all its employees are able to converse in the common language. Language tuition should be regarded as a necessity, not a luxury. Culture International businesses equipped with a highly diverse workforce in terms of cultural background and nationality face challenges due to the differences in business practices, ethics, belief system, values, expectations, behaviour and etiquette. Consider the following conversation A soda marketer was glumly sitting at the bar. His friend approaches and asks, Why so serious? He replies, I created this left to right comic strip for a campaign. It showed a famished man crawling across the desert who finds a bottle of soda, chugs it down, and walks away with a cheerful smile. Sales tanked after it ran in the Middle East. Why? Everyone read it from right to left! Now, normally this would make a very good joke. But this is an excellent example of how culture can affect communication. Had the soda marketer been aware that people in the Middle East read from right to left, he could have planned the advertisement accordingly and his business would not have suffered. Cross cultural differences can have a negative impact on a business in a number of ways, whether it may be on team cohesion or on the productivity of the staff. In such multicultural companies, objective help may be needed through a cross cultural consultant who will be able to show individuals and teams how to manage communication and work together in a more productive and cohesive manner. 4) Company Culture Company culture refers to the internal culture of a firm in terms of how it is managed. e.g. Does it view its different departments i.e. Administration, Human Resources, Sales, Production, Accounts, etc. as open systems or closed systems? A closed system is one in which there is a total lack of synergy between the sales and the production department due to the absence of communication lines and structure between them both. A consequence of such compartmentalization is that managers of the various departments have a tendency to become territorial. This is eventually harmful for the organization as its objectives can only be achieved if these departments work together as one unit rather than start functioning as separate, individual units. Thus, it is vital that team building, team spirit and team work are encouraged so as to create open systems. Such measures are particularly valid in mergers and joint ventures wherein co operation between two or more companies requires their total commitment to an open system. Understandably most companies are mainly focused on the strategic and financial side of company operations. International businesses are now realising that many of their business problems have their roots in man management and communication. Stereotyping . It refers to putting someone or something in a certain category based on our own and / others experiences and opinions. Stereotyping has a negative impact on communication. It inhibits communication as it alters our perception and results in us making pre-selected interpretations thus hindering an objective understanding of the communication by us. Perception of information Another challenge of cross cultural communication is how the communication is perceived. In this case, attention is mainly given to body language. Different cultures have different ways of interpreting body language. e.g. in the Chinese culture, waving at a person is intended to indicate to that person to come where you are unlike in the western culture where it is used as a gesture to say goodbye. Such a small gesture can result in miscommunication due to the cross cultural differences. Thus, such gestures should be carefully observed and learned by the speaker as well as the listener. Behavioural Constraints Each culture has its own set of laws on proper behaviour that affect both verbal and non verbal communication. Such behavioural constraints include making eye contact. Where, in some cultures (Asian, African, etc.), it is interpreted as a lack of respect especially when addressing the elderly, in others (like that of USA, UK) it shows that the person is honest and has confidence in himself. Other behavioural constraints include how close one stands to another person while talking to him / her, the tonal variation, etc. All these differences in behavioural constraints make cross cultural communication difficult and ineffective. GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION Strategies to make cross- cultural communication effective are given below :- 1) Flexibility Flexibility in character is an important strategy to make cross cultural communication effective. An individual has to deal with different people belonging to many different cultures. One should not be rigid and stick to ones normal character, way of speech, etc. The individual has to change according to the culture he is working in so as to make the communication more effective. One should be flexible while communicating, i.e. people should change their way of speech and behaviour according to the character of other party and make the other party join in on the conversation so as to facilitate a smooth flow of the same. This will also help in creating a cool and friendly atmosphere between communicating parties. If an individual is flexible, he can change / adapt according to the situation. 2) Honesty This is very much needed in cross cultural communication. Being honest will make the communication better and successful. If one person is honest and the other person is not, the communication will not proceed in a smooth manner. Honest communication also strengthens the relationship between the communicating parties, especially if they belong to different cultures. While participating in cross cultural communication, both parties should be honest in what they are saying, otherwise they will not get the desired result. An honest communication can result in a perfect deal for both the parties involved in the communication. If an important business matter is being discussed, honesty shown by both parties will go a long way in making some important and successful decisions and deals. 3) Listening Listening skills are an important part of cross cultural communication. A person who has low concentration and poor listening skills will be unable to achieve effectiveness in cross cultural communication. Cross cultural communication involves dealing with people belonging to different cultures wherein importance is given only to the communication process without engaging in any other activities. An individual should be calm and quiet while listening to what the other person is saying so as to facilitate a smooth communication process. 4) Mutual Respect Respecting each other is an important strategy of making make cross cultural communication effective. Respect should be given in all talks and forms in cross cultural communication. Both parties should give equal respect, in all their talks and opinions, to each other. In case of someone having a different opinion, the individual should respect the other persons opinion even though it might not agree with his own opinion. An individual should not be rigid about his opinions and should keep an open mind and give equal opportunity to the other party also to give their opinions on the subject and if an agreement is reached, a decision can be made, thus making the communication effective between the parties belonging to different cultures. 5) Understanding each other While communicating with people belonging to different cultures, understanding each other is an important skill to make cross cultural communication effective. Asking questions helps in getting a better idea and understand what the other person is saying.. A better understanding of the situation, the other party, their opinions and suggestions will give more confidence in tackling the problem and finding its solution. Both communicating parties should have skills in recognizing complexity of the talks and decisions. This will help in a better settlement of the matter and that too, without any conflicts. 6) Building Self Awareness and Confidence Both parties should be self aware for making cross cultural communication a success. Self awareness can only be developed by dealing with people belonging to different cultures and backgrounds. People should think twice before making any statement or decision. Self-awareness can be developed by asking others questions about oneself and getting the answers to the same. This helps us in getting a better idea about ourselves. Self-awareness also increases confidence in making cross cultural communication effective and successful. 7) Avoid Stereotyping Stereotyping inhibits communication. Individual should keep an open mind while communicating with other people. He should not entertain any pre conceived notions about the other party as these will cloud his judgement and decisions and lead to conflicts. Keeping an open mind will help the individual to think objectively and make accurate decisions.

Essay on Love vs. Society in Pride and Prejudice -- Pride Prejudice Es

Love vs. Society in Pride and Prejudice    Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice explores the English social standards during the early 1800's. It shows the emphasis on marriage, or, namely, whom you marry. This story consists of three marriages. The first is socially based, the second is based on mutual admiration between two people, and the third represents one man's love and fight for a woman. This novel shows how marriage and love can arrest or improve social status and how love overcomes adversity. The first marriage is that of the youngest Bennet, Miss Lydia. She is imprudent and spontaneous. On a trip to the home of her aunt and uncle, she elopes with Mr. Wickham, a militia man. Mr. Wickham has no intention of marrying her. This is a tragic social step. It is thought that the real motive for this elopement is not of love. To this Mrs. Gardiner then says, "It is really too great a violation of decency, honor, and interest, for him to be guilty of it" (Austen 375). Only a few chapters later, Mr. Wickham is persuaded financially to marry Miss Bennet. Neither has any way of supporting the intemperate lives they live. These two extravagant young people do not, however, end happily. Mr. Bennet refuses to see his daughter after her marriage. Despite the financial help occasionally given by Jane Bingley and Elizabeth Darcy, they are rarely invited to see their family, as they often overstay their welcome. In the final chapter it is said, ". . . His affections for her soon sunk into i ndifference; hers lasted a little longer"(Austen 520). This marriage based entirely on an attraction between a good-looking, charming man and an impetuous, stupid girl of sixteen resulted in a poor social appearance and exclusion from many close f... ... society will be improved, but when love is found for society, society will fail the lovers. Works Cited Auerbach, Nina. "Waiting Together: Pride and Prejudice." Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen. Ed. Donald Gray. New York: Norton and Co., 1993. pp. 336-348. Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. 1813. Ed. Donald Gray. New York: Norton and Co., 1993. Harding, D. W. "Regulated Hatred: An Aspect in the Work of Jane Austen." Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen. Ed. Donald Gray. New York: Norton and Co., 1993. pp. 291-295. Johnson, Claudia L. "Pride and Prejudice and the Pursuit of Happiness." Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen. Ed. Donald Gray. New York: Norton and Co., 1993. pp. 367-376. Mudrick, Marvin."Irony as Discovery in Pride and Prejudice." Pride and Prejudice. By Jane Austen. Ed. Donald Gray. New York: Norton and Co., 1993. pp. 295-303.

chlamydia :: essays research papers

Chlamydia (STD) Æ’Ã ¦ Chlamydia trachoma is a sexually transmitted disease that is transmitted by direct contact through oral, vaginal and anal intercourse and is also transmitted to newborns through vaginal birth by an infected mother. This disease is not passed on by indirect contact, such as a toilet seat. Æ’Ã ¦ Chlamydia trachoma is biologically active in vaginal and penile secretions and fluids. Æ’Ã ¦ The usual reservoir for C. trachoma is the mucous membranes of the body found in the genital region, throat, and eyes. Æ’Ã ¦ The etiological agent of Chlamydia is C. trachomatis which has the following general characteristics: obligate intracellular parasite gram negative coccoid bacteria nonmotile intracellular does not possess a peptidoglycan layer unable to produce its own ATP. Æ’Ã ¦ The following tests are used to identify C. trachomatis: 1) ELISA test and FA test may be effective only when the bacterium is metabolically active (not infectious), these tests are used to detect group specific LPS and strain-specific outer membrane proteins 2) gram staining (negative, coccoid) 3) culture and iodine staining for inclusion bodies (used because the trachoma species of Chlamydia cannot be stained with iodine because it does not contain glycogen) 4) Serological tests that detect high titer IgM antibodies indicates a recent infection (used in adults, cannot distinguish between current and previous infections, not very useful) 5) nucleic acid probes (these are currently new and further info was not available) Æ’Ã ¦ The bacterium C. trachomatis was first discovered in 1907 by Stanislaus von Prowazek in Berlin. The genus part of the name, Chlalmydia, comes from the Greek word chlamys, which means cloak and the species part of the name, trachomatis is also Greek and means rough or harsh. This name is perfectly associated with the actions of this disease. Æ’Ã ¦ A cloak is meant to hide, conceal or even disguise; and that is what C. trachomatis does on the inside of the body, it hides, it is usually asymptomatic (no symptoms). It enters the body through mucous membranes on the body as elementary bodies that bind to receptors on the host cells and are taken in by endocytosis or phagocytosis. The elementary bodies become reticulate bodies that do not combine with the lysosome and are able to resist being digested and killed. The reticulate bodies reproduce by binary fission and change back into elementary bodies which leave by reverse endocytosis. The elementary bodies have a rough outer membrane that allows them to be resistant against  ¡Ã‚ §harsh ¡Ã‚ ¨ environmental conditions which is associated with the name trachomatis.

Political and Economic Changes After the War of 1812 Essay

Andrew Jackson looked on toward a new democracy after his victory at New Orleans. The changes in this time period, after the war of 1812, would send America into a troubled future. The Post war political and economic changes would prove to be another stepping stone in America’s evolving democracy. The political changes after the War of 1812 would redefine America’s newly founded Democracy and contribute to a greater national government. Andrew Jackson gained America’s respect after his victory at New Orleans and was later elected President in 1829. Jackson and his cabinet invested power into an powerful Executive Branch. The Jackson democrats tended to exaggerate the puissance of the lower class poor while decreasing the influence of the rich and potent and aristocracy. Andrew Jackson abolished restrictions on voting and increased active participation in the government by the lower and middle classes. Jackson also made the government more directly responsible to the people without the use of federally funded improvements. After the war of 1812, the federal government not only grew domestically but also internationally. The Monroe Doctrine shifted America’s foreign policy. The Monroe Doctrine stated that European nations may not interfere or influence nations or colonies in the Western Hemisphere. Although at the time America lacked the military capacity to enforce this Doctrine, this policy was a major shift away from George Washington’s policy of neutrality. The U.S. continued its policy of non involvement in European wars, but Europe now was expected to stay away from the Western Hemisphere. The U.S. continued to enforce this Doctrine to this day, with perhaps the most famous example being President Kennedy’s Cuban Blockade. After the War of 1812, America’s nationalism and unification began to fade in the face of sectionalism. The North and the South soon began to dispute over controversial issues. The South depended on an agricultural, slave based economy. The North saw slavery as immoral. This issue split the South and North creating tension and strong sectionalism. Protective tariffs also divided the country. The North, whose industry was based on manufacturing and trade, produced products more expensive than Europe’s. In order to compete with Europe, the North wished to institute protective tariffs as an incentive to buy Northern products. They desired to purchase cheaper European products. Also, the South feared Europe would tax Southern agricultural products sold to  European factories. The South saw the tariff as a way for the North to profit while the South to bore the burden. Economic changes also occurred after the War of 1812. Eli Whitney introduced the cotton gin, which enabled mass production of cotton, and led to an increased dependence by the South on a slave based Cotton society. The South’s economic system became so dependant on slavery, that by the 1850’s one out of every three persons in the South was a slave. The North also went through an economic change. When the British blockaded the US during the War of 1812, wealthy Northern men invested in new technology. The North soon entered the industrial age after the introduction of interchangeable parts by Eli Whitney. The North began manufacturing products such as cloth and textile. In order produce their goods workers were needed. Young girls soon filled these openings delighted to be able to support themselves and to be around other people their age. In addition, the influence of banks sparked economic growth. A second national bank was introduced at this time providing even more cash for entrepreneurs and speculators. In conclusion, the years after the War of 1812 saw a redefinition of America’s democracy. Jacksonian Democracy expanded the powers of the Executive Branch, decreased the power of aristocracy, and increased popular participation in the government. The economic changes led to sectional crisis between the North and South which would prove to be a role and reoccurring theme throughout the 1800’s. The Industrial Revolution would enable America to survive and thrive without Europe, while the Monroe Doctrine would lead us to eventually defy and overwhelm European influence in the Western Hemisphere. The years after the War of 1812 would see a stronger, and yet, paradoxically more divided nation.

Personal Statement Example

I was born and raised in a third-world country: Ethiopia. Even though Ethiopia is mainly known for her poverty and destitution, my life there was not that bad. Since my dad has lived in the USA since long before I arrived, I was able to go to private school in Ethiopia and get a good education. I came to the USA when I was fourteen years old. Nothing was as easy as I thought it would be. New country, new language, new home, new school, new friends: everything was new for me. Being a high school student made it even harder.It is obvious that all teens face typical problems during their high school life, like bullying, peer pressure, teen pregnancy, and boyfriend/girlfriend problems. Well, imagine how hard it is for foreign students to get used to a new country and new school on top of all those problems. It was not easy for me to make new friends, to get used to the new school, and, most importantly, to develop my English. However, those obstacles didn’t stop me from getting ou tstanding grades in my classes, even the ones that seemed like they might be beyond my level. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to go to college in Boston. When I was in Ethiopia, I always used to tell my friends that I was going to graduate from Boston University one day. After I came here, I realized that it is extremely competitive to go to college in the United States, especially top-tier colleges like Boston University. But that didn’t stop me from dreaming and working hard to accomplish my lifelong goal. As Gail Devers once said, â€Å"Keep your dreams alive, understand that to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard-work, determination and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe. So, I believe in myself and I know I can fulfill my dreams as long as I work hard. I believe Success is the son of Hard Work, so even if I have to suffer a lot to reach the top of the success ladder, I am willing to face any challenges. Without suffering, and without obstacles, life wouldn’t make any sense. The main reason I wanted to attend the summer high school honors program at Boston University is, as I mentioned above, that Boston University is my dream college. Attending the summer program at one of the world’s top universities would be an extraordinary experience for me. Also, taking ourses that are not available at my high school and earning up to eight college credits is a great opportunity for me to open the door into success. Since I am a junior right now, next year would be my last year in a high school. I wanted to take Precalculus and Calculus during my high school years. Because I want to major in pre-med paired with math, since i have passion for both science and math. But the problem is that I can only take precalculus next year. But if I attend the summer high school program, I would be able to take precalculus which it will allow me to take calculus during my senior year. My dream is to be a doctor, and I believe Boston University will help me to become a well-rounded, generally educated, and most importantly, the best doctor. I am very thrilled and excited to attend the summer high school program at BU, because BU fits my kind of personality which is, capacious, conscientious, agile and orthodox. so for an imaginative girl like me, Boston University is the perfect place, and I am eager to meet like-minded students from different parts of the country. to broaden my experience of American Academic landscape beyond Orange,NJ. Personal Statement Example Photography is law-breaking. The possibilities are endless. Why should we stick with fashion existing notions when we can challenge them? Our world is our oyster and is there for us to use it. I find amazing how fashion is an ever-changing issue. Fashion analyzes the history of our world and re-invents it in a contemporary way (e. g the Dior Spring 2004 collection inspired in the Ancient Egypt). Fashion is not just what we wear; it changes attitudes, personalities, manners, the effects it has are unbelievable (e. g James Dean teenage look and making denim fashionable) this is why my passion for it is dazzling.My aim is to produce an original response to fashion photography which is edge-cutting & convey something more than a standard image. Since I was 4, I started to admire beauty; I drew portraits of my mother & started developing an awareness of what beauty & fashion is. During my childhood, I was attached to a pencil; my arising curiosity & admiration for the female form grew as I kept developing my art skills; specially drawing women. These activities started to hook me to fashion, photography & make-up. I have been lucky to have a close group of 7 girls. My amusement with photography started when I began to shoot them.Suddenly, photography started to fascinate me & I became really devoted & dedicated; always eager to learn a& keep doing photo shoots frequently. In my photography, I try to unearth the raw beauty with make-up, angles, lightning & directing model properly. I cherish observing at people; how the light reflects on them, their face, eyes and I imagine poses; my mind is a non-stop rollercoaster of ideas. My ambition & determination made me start working with clients when I was 15. These clients were other girls who saw photographs on social networks & started to want me to shoot them & I began to gain money.I prepared a portfolio and went to Carmen Duran (model agency) and they offered me a job as a photographer. I realized this is what I wanted to do with my life & to further develop myself I decided to study in London which is a global hub that will definitely give me creativity & inspiration. I then applied to fashion photography courses & LCF rejected me so I got a place in the SSU studying Fashion with Photography which I really enjoy but I think LCF is where I want to get taught this is why I decided to take the â€Å"Fashion Photography 1† course starting this February to keep broaden my knowledge and be more repared if I received the opportunity to study in this prestigious university. In the fashion industry, I worked for Marta Stella which designed hats for the â€Å"The Skin I Live† directed by Almodovar. Julian Mateo Atelier, Vicente Gracia, etc. I shoot the accessories campaign of Amparo Chorda, a designer who appeared on the NY Fashion Week & my work has appeared in press and TV. I photographed an event in London Cuckoo Club. This work experiences enable me to develop professional skills, meet d eadlines & work as a team.In my free time, I enjoy viewing contemporary magazines & sites: 125 magazine, Love, Tank, Let them Eat Cake, Lula, Self Service, Purple, and V Mag. Furthermore, blogs like Alice Point & websties like fashiongonerogue are a source of ideas for me. Furthermore, I enjoy researching & watching documentaries about photographers e. g: Bailey & the movement of the swinging London, I admire his tightly cropped high-contrast images. However, I appreciate fashion photography from Corinne Day style to Vadukul.Demarchelier is probably my favorite photographer; I adore the Pirelli Calendar 2008, is awesome: the Asian influence, styling, cold tones, etc. This is a clear e. g of what I want to do. Styling & make-up are others of my passions. I admire Babeth because of her minimalism & masculinity, C. Roitfeld and K. Grand. Finally, I know I am not the best applicant but I just feel sparkling emotions when I am doing a shoot, when I am styling & when I direct models which completely fulfills me. Personal Statement Example I was born and raised in a third-world country: Ethiopia. Even though Ethiopia is mainly known for her poverty and destitution, my life there was not that bad. Since my dad has lived in the USA since long before I arrived, I was able to go to private school in Ethiopia and get a good education. I came to the USA when I was fourteen years old. Nothing was as easy as I thought it would be. New country, new language, new home, new school, new friends: everything was new for me. Being a high school student made it even harder.It is obvious that all teens face typical problems during their high school life, like bullying, peer pressure, teen pregnancy, and boyfriend/girlfriend problems. Well, imagine how hard it is for foreign students to get used to a new country and new school on top of all those problems. It was not easy for me to make new friends, to get used to the new school, and, most importantly, to develop my English. However, those obstacles didn’t stop me from getting ou tstanding grades in my classes, even the ones that seemed like they might be beyond my level. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to go to college in Boston. When I was in Ethiopia, I always used to tell my friends that I was going to graduate from Boston University one day. After I came here, I realized that it is extremely competitive to go to college in the United States, especially top-tier colleges like Boston University. But that didn’t stop me from dreaming and working hard to accomplish my lifelong goal. As Gail Devers once said, â€Å"Keep your dreams alive, understand that to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard-work, determination and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe. So, I believe in myself and I know I can fulfill my dreams as long as I work hard. I believe Success is the son of Hard Work, so even if I have to suffer a lot to reach the top of the success ladder, I am willing to face any challenges. Without suffering, and without obstacles, life wouldn’t make any sense. The main reason I wanted to attend the summer high school honors program at Boston University is, as I mentioned above, that Boston University is my dream college. Attending the summer program at one of the world’s top universities would be an extraordinary experience for me. Also, taking ourses that are not available at my high school and earning up to eight college credits is a great opportunity for me to open the door into success. Since I am a junior right now, next year would be my last year in a high school. I wanted to take Precalculus and Calculus during my high school years. Because I want to major in pre-med paired with math, since i have passion for both science and math. But the problem is that I can only take precalculus next year. But if I attend the summer high school program, I would be able to take precalculus which it will allow me to take calculus during my senior year. My dream is to be a doctor, and I believe Boston University will help me to become a well-rounded, generally educated, and most importantly, the best doctor. I am very thrilled and excited to attend the summer high school program at BU, because BU fits my kind of personality which is, capacious, conscientious, agile and orthodox. so for an imaginative girl like me, Boston University is the perfect place, and I am eager to meet like-minded students from different parts of the country. to broaden my experience of American Academic landscape beyond Orange,NJ.