Muhammad Ibn Musa al

Muhammed Ibn Musa al Khwarizmi was a renowned mathematician, astronomer and geographer, who lived during the Abbasid Empire. He is known as the father of algebra.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Some historians believe, he was born in Chorasmia in the year 780 AD (Moore Mertens, 2011), and died in 850 AD. Others think that he was born in Qutrubbul, near Baghdad (Morony, 2006). He flourished as a great scholar in the ‘House of Wisdom’ in Bagdad, under the rule of Kalif al-Mamun. Bagdad brightened the world at that time with its brilliance, and the intellectual dominance of the Arab civilization influenced the Western Europe to a great extent (Riesler, 1995). Al Khwarizmi’s algebra reflected Arab’s superior civilization, and his new ideas and thoughts propelled Arab wisdom. His contributions to astronomy, geography, and mat hematics were unparalleled, and they became the landmarks in human history. Al Khwarizmi’s arithmetic defined the Indian numeration, and acquainted Europe with the Arabic numbers. The Western Europe became aware of the Arab numbering system, decimal points and numbers from his books. Al Khwarizmi used the word â€Å"Kasra† to clarify the fractions. His arithmetic work, Algorimus, was a Latin version of his previous work, and the word algorithm was derived from it. Another book written by him on astronomy dealt with calendars, zodiac positions, sine tables and tangents and calculation of eclipses. The Zij al-Sindhind is also a great work by him on astronomy.Advertising Looking for report on biography? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Al-Khwarizmi’s book titled Surat al-Ard is based on Ptolemy’s geographical findings. He prepared a new world map, which became the milestone in geography at that time. In addition, he reconstructed the sundials, the shadow square and the alidade for making angular observations. Thus, he spread new ideas and knowledge in the world, which exemplified the Arab civilization. It is through him that the entire Europe and other countries came to know about the Indian numerals, Arabic algebra and mathematics, without which the present day civilization and science would not have accomplished progress. Reference List Moore, C., Mertens, S. (2011). The Nature of Computation. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Morony, M. G. (2006). Iraq After the Muslim Conquest, NJ, USA: Gorgias Press. Riesler, J. C. (1955). La Civilization Arabe (Arab Civilization). Paris, France: Payot. This report on Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi was written and submitted by user Galilea L. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

We Are Our Mothers Daughters Essays - Cokie Roberts, Free Essays

We Are Our Mothers Daughters' Essays - Cokie Roberts, Free Essays We Are Our Mothers Daughters' Book Review We Are Our Mothers Daughters News correspondent Cokie Roberts, author of a meaningful book titled We are Our Mothers Daughters, published in 1998, call number 001-170, discusses significant issues facing women today in her book. She takes her readers on a personal and political journey, exploring the diverse roles women have played throughout American history and the connections and distinctions among different generations of women. On a personal level, each essay is an introduction to several of the fascination women Roberts has encountered during the course of her reporting career; she also relates powerful and moving life stories about the women in her life, like her mother former Congresswoman Lindy Boggs. Roberts style is unique. Roberts takes you through intimate stories of extraordinary women; these women become the beginning for more extensive discussions of womens position in politics, business, motherhood, and marriage, as well as other issues. Roberts examines the nature of womens roles, from mother to mechanic, sister to soldier, from her personal experience. Roberts is very sincere to her feelings in her writing in this book. I felt just as she was happy or sad. She begins her writing with the intense story of her sister, whom dies from cancer at a young age. The story of her mothers life as a politician next. Roberts also, wrote about an aunt of hers, a soldier, mechanic, friend, reporter, civil rights activist, wife, and an enterpriser. She concludes her book by her last chapter titled A Womens Place. She discusses all the important roles of the women she wrote about and how they tie together. A womens place is everywhere and anywhere in todays world. She worked her writing by writing about the women that were close to her and extended from there to other fascinating women she encountered in her career. Roberts dedicated a chapter to each women she wrote about. This book from my view is sensitive, strait forward, and perceptive. It also shows such a diversity of choices and perspectives available to women today and greatly affirms the bond of females powerful inter connection among all women, whatever their background. I would suggest anyone interested in where a women belong and the history of women should read this selection. Its just one of those bookes, where from start to end you might cry or laugh. I garuntee when you begin to read, you will not want to stop till you have read the entire book.

Strategic Information System Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Strategic Information System - Research Paper Example However, a good number of organizations continue to face great challenges in their attempts to integrate information technologies and in their efforts to improve on decision making and sharing of information. These challenges can be attributed to the fact that in the event of the design and implementation of the system, most companies lay more emphasis on the role and function of information system and less attention to the company’s structure and processes of the firm. It is worth noting that a greater percentage of information system failures arise not because of technology but because less concentration is paid on organizational aspects such as practises and processes. This paper seeks to review information theories and their significant role in understanding information systems in management of organisations. It will further seek a deeper understanding of laws governing information systems with particular attention to enforcement and use of the information systems in the U nited Kingdom. Finally, a reassessment on information system control will be conducted. To undertake this study, it is important to review various information theories. ... ciples and practices of a management in the daily activities of a business firm with a desire and passion to achieve set goals and with a mission to minimize expenses while maximizing returns and make huge returns for the company. â€Å"Business management theory entails the use of resources such as human labour financial technology and natural resources† (Hunter 2009). It is important to note that proper allocation of resources is vital in order to achieve utmost productivity for the business. Business management theory involves the analysis and evaluation of the business activities by the managerial authority with an objective of making an effective decision that will help contribute to the progress of the business. Decision making involves scheduling, organizing, setting course and controlling. The skills play a major role in the development and progress of a business. All these skills helps in the management and formulating new strategies that helps to achieve better goals together in addition to evaluation of performance to a set objective and supervision and control of resources such as workers in order to accomplish the business aim. Socio-technical systems theory â€Å"Social-technical systems theory views an organization as having a duty to perform a task whose objectives can best be achieved if the social, fiscal and technical aspects are mutually optimized† (porter 1998). Under this approach seven concepts are linked. Organizations should be viewed as co-dependent socio-technical structure. The theory utilizes interactive technical and social aspects; this implies that in drafting the structure of an organization both the technical and social aspects must be put into consideration. It is vital to note that where technology alone is put under consideration

To what extent, Salford University lecturers & under graduate students Essay

To what extent, Salford University lecturers & under graduate students adopt the idea of social network communication - Essay Example The important key factors of communication are accuracy, time consuming and readable content. â€Å"Most impotent factors when transferring data from one computer to another or telephone call are time – consuming, quality and connection † (Jordon & Churhill 1987). Digital communication is defined according to the free dictionary by Farlex â€Å"electronic transmission of information that has been encoded digitally† (www.thefreedictionary.com). Education organisation uses communications to build a strong relation between lectures and students. Student can gain maximum level of knowledge, improving their skills and get the kind of support they need from their lectures using the gate of communication. In the UK, Salford University the main communicate between students and lectures are Salford University website (Black Board) or university email account. However, as individual effort some lectures at Salford University are recently trying to use social network to com municate with student. â€Å"Social network defined as a â€Å"users can send messages to public or particular group in different form as text, media etc. In this case social network can communicate with one or multi members† (Price at al, 2009). For the last three years studying at Salford University I found many students checking their social network first before they start their main work. Also in my first academic year in business school I learned from emerging technology lectures the use of social network for the benefits of education. This observation gives me an idea of the research topic. Some education staff at different level of education round the word use social network for the benefit of education with a limitation due to the risk and lack of awareness. In the other hand social network in not used in Salford University by all lectures this is my main reason for my research which I will try to cover to what extend Salford University will adopt the idea by student s and lectures. 2. Aims My intention is to find out to what extend Lectures and under graduate students at Salford University are interested in social network communication during their academic year. 3. Objective 3.1. Primary objective a) Discussing the topic with my supervisor. b) Finding previous research reports, article, and books. The research framework c) Develop and run questionnaire d) Get in contact with lecturers using social network within Salford University for more knowledge. e) Data analysis with the help of math scope at Salford University. f) Final report. 3.2. Secondary objective a) Finding and study the method of an education organisation adopting the idea. b) Get in touch with lecturers using social network outside Salford University and discuss the concept. 4. Literature Review How social net work is used? â€Å"Today there is a lot of thematic social networks that are trying to get the attention of new visitors and members every day†. â€Å" Education i s an evolutionary realm; it has been changing and including new practices since its beginnings in order to support changes in society, from the most recent technologies one of the most popular are society networks especially among youngsters† (A. Mora-Soto, 2009). Many people use social network for different purposes. Table 1 below shows how many people use social network spicily above the age of 15 years. In table 2 shows a statistic figure of important cities in UK like Manchester using social netw

How Statistics has affected my daily life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

How Statistics has affected my daily life - Essay Example In addition, with the increasing number of people around the world suffering from heart diseases caused by cholesterol and sedentary lifestyle, I am also inclined to avoid some food and increase my activities. For example, when I read that even young people are suffering heart attacks and worse, they are also dying from it, I made it a point not to be counted in the statistics. Therefore, I further researched on the kinds of food that can cause heart attack and I try to avoid them. I also increased my food intake of those which help my heart work better to improve the flow of blood in my system. Furthermore, I exercise daily and this activity also includes a lot of statistical information. For example, when I jog, I have to complete a certain number of mileages to see if my strength and stamina are improving. To make sure that I will be in the best of health while I am physically active, I make sure that I am well-hydrated, gulping at least 2 liters of water during my entire workout. Numbers have an interesting way of affecting my mind and decisions everyday and I am thankful about

Beowulf: Symbolisms of Masculinity and Heroism

Beowulf: Symbolisms of Masculinity and Heroism Germanic warrior culture replaced the Romans as the dominant force in Western Europe beginning in the fifth century AD. They deposed merely all roman traditions and customs, superseding them with their own beliefs. The whole empire was ruined by people, who most of all praised war, manhood, and dignity. Cultural peculiarities of those people are widely reflected in the archaic epos of Anglo-Saxons, written by an unknown poet around 700AD. Beowulf is an amazing unity of motives, topics, views of various ages merged in one integral masterpiece. We could find the elements of different epic genres: elegies, other heroic stories (song about Sigmund), religious epos (song about the creation of the world). The views of tribal society are combined with feudal ethics; heroic image of a warrior is combined with the image of wise and fair ruler. The action of the poem takes place before the great migration of Germanic tribes somewhere around 500AD. The descendant of famous ancient ruler Shield Sheafson king Hrothgar of Danemark suffers from the attack of a powerful and horrible demon named Grendel. For 12 years he has been killing noble and brave men in Heorot, a great mead-hall of Hrothgar, terrorizing Danes every night, giving them no chance to fight back. â€Å"Long was the time: Twelve winters time suffering endured The friend of the Scyldings, each one of woes, Of sorrows extreme† (Beowulf, 146-149) Eventually, help comes from Geatish warrior Beowulf, who sails to the land of Danes with a company of devoted men. His help is gladly accepted by Hrodgar and they happily celebrate till the night. In the night Beowulf fights Grendel unarmed and tears his arm off. Grendel creeps back to his swamp and dies there. His horrible mother wants to revenge but she is much weaker and kills only one man, who is the most respectful in Hrothgars kingdom. Beowulf volunteers to kill Grendels mother. â€Å"Arise, kingdoms guardian! Let us quickly go to view the track of Grendels kinsman.†(Beowulf 1390-91).He fights her in deep waters and in her lair. He kills her with a special sword, made not for ordinary humans, finds Grendel and takes his head off. When he returns, he is praised by everyone, given a lot of treasures and fame. Afterwards he returns to his land and gives all his treasures to his ruler. Beowulf becomes the co-ruler and after the death of king, he becomes the ruler for 50 years. A terrible dragon attacks his land, because one of his men robbed the treasury guarded by that dragon. Beowulf fights the dragon, kills him but gets mortally wounded. The dragons treasury is burned together with Beowulfs body. The era of wars comes to the land, when Beowulf cant unite the people anymore with his strength and wisdom. Beowulf is a treasury of historical information. It presents the major social characteristics of medieval warrior society; depict their beliefs, standards of living, relations with other nations, etc. Merely absolute domination of men in all the spheres of life was a characteristic feature of early medieval times. Women characters are mentioned only several times as wives or daughters of kings. Even strong and powerful queen Modthrytho, daughter of Herod obeys to her fathers command to marry King Offa. She tortured and killed people who she imagined were offending her. â€Å"Such is not queenly custom For a woman to practice, though she be peerless, That a peace-weaver of life should deprive, On account of fierce anger, any dear man†(Beowulf, 1940-43). After marriage her character improved. Thats why all the material and spiritual values of the medieval society represent men views upon the reality. Every man was a warrior. A good warrior should be strong, successful, respected, rich and lucky. The description of king Shield Shiefson is merely and ideal image of mans life. Being an infant he rose under the sky and became true warrior and king. He had decent life, decent deat h and his treasury was vast.â€Å"The earl caused terror since first he was found thus forlorn: gained he comfort for that, grew under the clouds, in honors throve, until each one of those dwelling around over the whale-road, him should obey, should tribute pay: that was a good king† (Beowulf, 6-11). King always should be honored and respected. The idea of ultimate loyalty is very strong in the hearts of medieval people. The desire to be praised by chieftain, lord or king is very strong, because for the society of warriors king is the strongest, wisest, most powerful and honored man. He generously gives prosperity to eminent warriors and judge inexorably dishonorable men. Beowulf comes home and gives merely all his treasures to his king. â€Å"To Hygelac was,in battle brave, his nephew devoted. And each to the other mindful of kindness† (Beowulf 2169-71). The leader provides all necessary things. Kinsmen have their own property, land and money. All that is given for good military service. Warriors feast in big halls, where they praise their ruler, theirselves, their achievements and famous battles and plan future war campaigns. â€Å"in time it befell Quickly with men, that it was all ready, The greatest of halls: Heort as name gave he it†(Beowulf 76-78) â€Å"the warriors were living in joys Happily then† (Beowulf, 99-100). Beowulf is an image of ideal hero, whose deeds are honored and praised. He has all features that are valued in medieval warrior society strength, courage, wisdom, loyalty, leader and military skills, dignity, self-sacrifice and devotion. He respects his comrades and treat them as equals, he is fair and zealous. â€Å"do not thou refuse me, defender of warriors, Dear friend of the people, now thus far am I come,- That I may alone and my band of earls, This company brave, Heorot cleanse. (Beowulf 429-32)   This prominence is leaded by inner qualities, the strength and beauty of the soul leads to prominent deeds. â€Å"Then the chief me by thine own life Adjured, sad in mind, that I in the seas flood Should do valiant deeds, should risk my life, Should honor gain; he promised reward† (Beowulf, 2131-2134). If a person is not active, successful or determined, he might not be respected. â€Å"Long he was despised, As him the Geats children did not reckon good, 2185Nor him at th e mead-bench as worthy of much†(Beowulf, 2183-86) One can be considered as a lucky and successful person, but this luck and success if always reached by hard work and inner aspiration. Religion also plays an important role in medieval society. In â€Å"Beowulf† a certain merge of religions is presented. From one hand, there are certain pagan beliefs of German tribes. From the other hand Christianity, that is revealed for example in the characterization of Grendel, who is named Cains son. â€Å"Upon Cains kin that crime avenged The Lord eternal, for that he slew Abel: Joyed he not in that feud, but him afar banishedFor that crime the Creator away from mankind: Thence evil demons all were produced† (Beowulf, 107-111). Endlessly violent, illiterate and rural culture of medieval Europe contrasted greatly with literary, politically specified urban culture of Athens. There was no place for philosophical thoughts or developed political intrigues Beowulf claims that an aggressive approach to vengeance is the real warriors response .and fundamental value of warrior culture are true love and loyalty. â€Å"It is better for each that his friend he avenge than that he mourn much† (Beowulf, 1384-85). Another obvious difference is attitude to religion. Beowulf and his nation praise God, he could give blessings and inspire people. They need to be brave and act with dignity for God to take them in better world. But the only thing that will remain after warriors death is his glory and this glory is fought for the whole life. â€Å"Each of us shall the end await of worldly life: let him who may gain honor ere death. That is for a warrior, when he is dead, afterwards best† (Beowulf, 1386-89). The artists of that period were illiterate bards, who sang the poems about ancient heroes and epic battles in vast and rich halls of noble men and in small and dirty wooden halls of leaders of small tribes. The whole situation of the nation was frightening constant fights for lands, money and military power, poor social and medical condition, low level of culture , but the ideas spoken about in those epic tales were inspiring for every man. Strength to be able to protect own land and family, dignity to behave a real warrior, personal swords and armory that protects him from death and play the role of   the most important warriors property and characteristic. Medieval times were not good-looking or pleasant. In the hard fight for new lands and freedom suffered a great number of people. The world was primitive but this unbearable spirit of manhood survived and built modern European society with its emphasis on personal liberty and the rule of law. Commentary on Luke 23:32-43 Commentary on Luke 23:32-43 SERMON COMMENTARY ON LUKE 23:32-43 Reflecting on the commentary of my sermon preached as a part of an assignment at Spurgeon College on 12 May 2014. I will be taking into account and reflecting on the hermeneutical and homiletically issues that came up both in the preparation and after the sermon. Taking a closer look at the preparation, the sermon and comments from both lecturers and fellow students, I will want to start with discussing how I came to decide on the title of sermon The three men on the cross at Calvary. As part of my commentary, I will be reflecting on how different Bible commentaries were access and utilized in the preparation for the sermon. In addition, I will be discussing on how I picked the particular structure I employed, in addition I will be reflecting on the delivery of the sermon and what I learnt from my delivery. Finally, I will reflect on what I might do differently in the future. Whenever I have the privilege of preaching to others either in a short sermon or to a large congregation, my aim as always been to be able to take my listener to a journey of connecting to the love of Christ and their rediscovery of the path that is lay before them; the path of perseverance, faith, mercy and kindness. Paul speaking to the Galatians summaries it like this, let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary[1] For an effective preaching, I believe it must come from the leading of the Holy Spirit who is also the Godhead. He inspires, teaches and guides us in the way of God the father. The aim of any preaching is to show the audience the mind of God as regarding his love and justice[2], which further passes on to the community then back to God in thanksgiving and adoration. HERMENEITICAL ISSUES The passage was to preach on was Luke 23:32-43, a very popular passage of the bible with very great event story. I took time to read the text from several other synoptic to help in understanding other writers view of the event. I took time to reflect carefully on all the other writers writings on the event. Ordinarily when looking at the passage, very strong topic will easily come to mind, which is about the sacrifice and suffering of Jesus but I believe that the Holy Spirit did not want me to take that route of preaching the sermon at this instance rather consider other importance of the event on the cross. Most of the sermons on this passage always focus on the Jesus death on cross, a very significant event that form the core of our faith but there are other lessons I believe God wants us to learn from the cross at Calvary.[3] These shape my reading in preparation for the sermon. Although the cross is the main centre of our Christianity, the cross is at the heart of the Christian faith. That is why it isthesymbol of the church. Buddhism has the lotus flower a symbol of beauty and harmony. Islam has a crescent an ancient symbol of sovereignty and power. Marxism had the hammer and sickle a symbol of industry and agriculture. Christianity has the cross. The bible is always interested in all other things of life but more important than beauty, power or the economy is the death (and then the resurrection) of Jesus. This is at the heart of everything.[4] However, God always wants to show us much more on his mysteries, he always want us to learn more about his readiness to answer our requests even at the heart of our storms and pain like the cross where three men with different situation were hanged hence the topic for the sermon, the three men on the cross at Calvary. I felt that speaking on this topic I would be more able to speak on something I am familiar with a nd a deep reflection of what I personally has experienced as relating to Gods love and answer to prayer in the face of deep pain and trials,[5] Robinson stated that the preacher cannot be separated from the message.[6] Finally, considering my audience in the instance of this sermon (fellow students and lecturers), I sensed that the topic will be relevant having listened to some of the students challenges and struggles during several of our pastoral group discussions. Clifford quoted Kelly saying, our present hope in the face of all challenges of life, suffering and death, is an effect of the resurrection[7] (the cross, death and resurrection of Jesus. He further said, if resurrection had not happened, hope would be best be a repressive optimism, or an accommodation to routine despair.[8] In a setting like our school, a theological college, sometimes the concept of God can be very technical and distant through many lectures and lot of discussions. However, focusing on my topic on the God of love who answered in desperate situation if we will look up to him in our hours of needs can be of great encouragement to my hearers and remind they that all hope is not lost regardless of the cross they are bear ing in live, family or ministry. Reading couple of commentaries and books related to the cross, I was assure that going the path I was taking regarding the cross was a possibility and it will serve as either warming or encouragement to people. Howard Marshall writes, The story contrasts the two attitudes which lead to condemnation and salvation, although it is improbable that they are meant to mirror the attitudes of Jews and pagans respectively to Jesus.[9] Crysdale writes, there is a drama as it plays itself out in the life of Christians, who confronted with Jesus crucified, finds all the evil in crete for him in a man on the cross.[10] The central focuses of the sermon are the three men on the cross representing the Christian who is going through challenges because of the faith, the two criminals on the cross and the cross. Crysdale further explains that the process of acknowledging our own self-destruction, mediated through the crucified Jesus, leads to insights into how we are not only crucifiers but also the c rucified. The more we can see the ways in which we sabotage our own flourishing, the more we are able to see how we ourselves are victims, are objects of crucifixion.[11] Luke 23:32-43 highlights numerous themes such as Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary (Luke 23:32), the forgiving Saviour (Luke 23:34), the sinners advocate (Luke 23:34), the crucified king of the Jews (Luke 23:38), A prayer of remembrance on the cross (Luke 23:43) and many more. Due to the short time given, I felt it was appropriate to focus on one rather than several. However, I am aware that Jesus Christ went to the cross to redeem the world, as Paul puts it, He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him[12] (1 Cor 5:21). I felt that naturally everyone would expect a sermon on such a very crucial topic because that is the core of our faith. In preparation for the sermon, I came up with different titles for the sermon.[13] In the end I resolved to give a title that will help my audience to listen, carefully in order to discover what is the main theme of the sermon themselves. All through the process of the preparation, I regularly remind myself to make sure I do not give the wrong meaning to the passage.[14] Base on my understanding of the passage through consultation of commentaries, reading of scholarship articles, journals and books on Luke 23:32-43 in general, I felt very confident that choosing my topic for the sermon, and by speaking on it , I should do justice to the passage. HOMILETICAL ISSUES Having decided on what I am communicating across, I then reflected on how to deliver the sermon. I am very much aware that sermons are present in different ways.[15] My aim was that my hearers would take away God as a loving God who can answer prayers if we come to him regardless of the state and time of the challenge. (Luke 23:43). My aim is to filled them with ideas and images that paint a picture of God, that answers in desperate time and desperate situation if one looks up to him and not shift the blame on others.[16] This I do, using dramatic narrative preaching with some inductive method of sermon preaching.[17] I hoped achieve this by starting with the story of betrayer of friendship, ingratitude and the pain associated with it.[18] I tried to make my hearers to look at when they were letdown, the disappointment and pain they went through. This was to get to look at Jesus though God yet a man with all the emotions and disappointment of been letdown by friends and neighbours. T he motivation was that the sermon would be pastoral sermon that is communicating the essence of the subject effectively.[19] After brief introduction on Jesus journey to Calvary with the cross and pain, I went back to the main passage (Luke 23:32-43) to lay a foundation on historical context using contemporary description of the event. Brindley states that the pastor preacher moves from hearer to the Scripture.[20] Getting to the end of my sermon, I related the sermon to our contemporary day with additional illustration and description using Matthew 7:1-4 and Hebrew 12:2. I tried not to allow the sermon to be too pastoral in other to avoid making it individualistic, which could conflict with the passage itself. Luke 23:32-43 is a message for the church today and the text can be applicable to both corporate and individual setting both back to the day of the event and to our contemporary day. REFLECTION ON THE PROCESS From feedback from both lecturers and fellow students, I felt the preaching went well because the feedbacks were positive. I was confident that I will strive in the delivery but was less confident looking at the importance of the passage and the angle of approach. I know the passage was so important that the hearers would be expecting so much particularly relating to deity of Jesus Christ on the cross instead of his human nature. I know I could stay within my text but going by the time limit, I was not sure I could stay within the allocated time given for the message. As I did not want to be rushed or be in a hurry, I decided to cut down my sermon significantly. Reflecting on how I felt it went, the feedback of both the lecturers and students, I believe that the message was well communicated to the hearers. Based on the lectures of this module as well as this particular preaching opportunity, I have learned the importance of spending time in preparing myself considering the various preaching methods accessible to me as a preacher. Reflecting on who I am preaching the sermon to, I need to be more ready to give good exegesis to the congregation I speak to in order to make the message more applicable and relevant to them. Just as in this exercise of reflecting on the sermon I gave at Spurgeons College, I have learnt that giving time to reflect on every of my sermon preach is very important and essential. Doing this helps to improve my skill of preaching and communication. CONCLUSION: It is a wonderful speaking to lecturers and students who themselves are preachers. The experience I had strengthen my confidence especially speaking to a multicultural group of different denominations. The three men on the cross of Calvary is a very wonderful and passionate message that cut across all groups of people both in the church and in world at large. In conclusion, I hope to be able to apply what I learnt both in the module and the preaching exercise constantly to my regularly preaching in my ministry. BIBLIOGRAPHY Brindley David, Story, Song and Law: The Craft of Preaching in Todays Church, (Stonehill Green: England,Bible Societies/HarperCollins, 1996) Clifford Ross, Johnson Philip, The Cross is not Enough: Living as Witnesses to the Resurrection (Grand Rapids, Michigan: BakerBooks, 2012) Crysdale Cynthia S.W., Embracing Travail: Retrieving the cross Today (Continuum: New York, The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2001) Marshall I. Howard, The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Luke (Grands Rapid, Michigan: W.B.EErdmans Publisher, 1978) Robinson Haddon W., Expository Preaching (Leicester: IVP. 1986) Latham Steve, Preaching Practice, Lecture at Spurgeons College, week 8 28.04.2014 Holloway David, The Two Criminals, A Sermon Preached on Luke 23:39-42, Mar 29, 1998 at Jesmond Parish Church. P. 2 Luke 23: 32 43 The three men on the cross at Calvary 32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said,â€Å"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.†cAnd they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, â€Å"He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.† 36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, â€Å"If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.† 38 There was a written notice above him, which read:THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: â€Å"Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!† 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. â€Å"Don’t you fear God,† he said, â€Å"since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.† 42 Then he said, â€Å"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.† 43 Jesus answered him,â€Å"Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.† The book of Luke generally known as the Gospel according to Luke is one of the synoptic Gospel that account for Jesus birth, death, resurrection and ascension. Chapter 23:32-43 give account for the death of Jesus. Jesus after been betrayed by Judas Iscariot and concluded for crucifixion was hanged on the cross like a criminal with two thieves. The death of the cross to the Romans was a capital punishment for criminals and is likened to death sentence in today’s system. Jesus as God came to earth in form of man was subject to shameful death. 1 Peter 2: 22 said, He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. Paul further said in Phil 2:5a said He humbled Himself and lived among them, helped, fed and healed them yet he was chosen for condemnation and death instead of the criminal (Barabbas). Finally, on the cross were with Him two thieves, one on the right and the other on the left. Hence, I titled this message, The three men on the cross at Calvary. In this message, it is important to understand the role played by individual on the cross. First, Jesus knew no sin yet He went through shame and humiliation to the point of praying to the Father asking why the Father had abandoned Him. As a Christian, sometimes we feel abandoned by God especially when circumstances around us are like the cross Jesus was upon. We hardly think of the reward God might be having in mind for us in such situation, Jesus after death and resurrection is now seated at the right hand of the Father. We need to understand that every good thing have a price to pay. The Father (God), paid a price for wanting to restore man back to his rightful position and the only price was to sacrifice His only begotten son (Jesus). We all have needs and wants but do not want to pay any price. Life is not all about bed of roses, obstacles are there but the truth is these obstacles are stepping stone to success in life. See any successful man today you will realise that the road towards success is not any road, very narrow and full of discouragements but only the strong get through. Jesus was betrayed, denied, rejected and despised yet in all He brought salvation to mankind. Do you want to make it in life? You might be going through rejection by families, friends and even those that are in the same situation with you. Looking at the thief on the left hand side of the cross, it shows that people in the same situation as you can sometimes look for ways of mocking, challenging or prejudging you testing your faith instead of facing their situation. If these people will take moment to consider the fact that for every cross, there is glory if they will seek the king of glory who is the saviour regardless of their situation even if they were the cause of the situation like the thief on the right side. Gods love and kindness is always available. The thief on the right side of the cross realised that he deserved to be in the situation he found himself (to die) but saw a way of escape by grasping the opportunity of salvation without procrastination and he was saved. We might sometimes find ourselves in bad and terrible situation not because God is testing our faith but due to our sins, misdeeds or stupidity. If we will come to the redeeming grace like the thief on the right side on the cross, there is assurance of salvation, peace and joy overflowing. 1 John 1:9 says, Butif we confess our sinsto him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness Regardless of your state at the cross, God is doing something even if you do not see it. It is good you look carefully within your condition. Search why God is doing what is doing, or saying in the circumstance you are in now, stop looking for the spike from others eyes neglecting with the log on yours. Then you can be sure of a ray of light at the end of your tunnel for salvation and eternal rewards as the case of the criminal who cried to Jesus for salvation. 1 [1] Galatians 6:9 NASB [2] David Brindley, Story, Song and Law: The Craft of Preaching in Todays Church, (Stonehill Green: England, Bible Societies/HarperCollins, 1996), P.2 [3] Ross Clifford, Philip Johnson, The Cross is not Enough: Living as Witnesses to the Resurrection (Grand Rapids, Michigan: BakerBooks, 2012), P.20 [4] David Holloway, The Two Criminals, A Sermon Preached on Luke 23:39-42, Mar 29, 1998 at Jesmond Parish Church. P. 2 [5] Ross Clifford, Philip Johnson, The Cross is not Enough: Living as Witnesses to the Resurrection (Grand Rapids, Michigan: BakerBooks, 2012), P.85 [6] Haddon W. Robinson, Expository Preaching (Leicester: IVP. 1986), P.24 [7] Ross Clifford, Philip Johnson, P.29 [8] Ross Clifford, Philip Johnson, P.29 [9] I. Howard Marshall, The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Luke (Grands Rapid, Michigan: W.B.EErdmans Publisher, 1978), P.870 [10] Cynthia S.W. Crysdale, Embracing Travail: Retrieving the cross Today (Continuum: New York, The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2001), P.8 [11] Cynthia S.W. Crysdale, P.9 [12] New International Version Bible [13] Such as; This is the king of the Jews [14] Steve Latham, Preaching Practice, Lecture at Spurgeons College, week 8 28.04.2014 [15] David Brindley, P.52 [16] David Brindley, P.30 [17] David Brindley, P.52 [18] Cynthia S.W. Crysdale, P.11 [19] David Brindley, P.48 [20] David Brindley, P.63

To Hell With Dying as an Autobiography Essays -- Hell With Dying Essay

To Hell With Dying as an Autobiography  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   When reading fiction, one can begin to wonder how much of a gap there is between the story the narrator is telling and the actual events that occurred to make the author decide to write the story. In Alice Walker’s "To Hell With Dying," one could say that this story is basically auto- biographical. Although some people may have thought that "To Hell With Dying" was completely fiction, evidence from the story and other sources suggest otherwise. The love the narrator feels towards Mr. Sweet parallels with actual events that took place in Alice Walker’s life. In the preface of Donna Haisty Winchell’s book Alice Walker, it is revealed that Alice Walker was "blinded in one eye at age eight by a careless shot from a brother’s BB gun" (ix). The shot left a scar that bothered Walker immensely. Winchell also writes that because of the BB shot wound Walker was "feeling ugly and outcast" (ix). This description of Walker’s accident creates the image of a young girl who has no feeling of self worth. In the story, however, Mr. Sweet is very fond of the narrator. He used to call her "his princess," and "he made [her feel] simply outrageously devastating at the blazing age of eight and a half" (1144). Perhaps this description of how Mr. Sweet makes the narrator feel pretty symbolizes the way Alice Walker felt about Mr. Sweet in real life. Alice Walker was eight when she got shot with the BB gun, and the narrator is eight and a half when Mr. Sweet is telling her how pretty she is. Although Alice Walker only has vague memories of th e real Mr. Sweet, she does remember that he never stopped talking about the things that upset him. Mr. Sweet’s talking and singing made Walker feel good. In Walker... ...e an artist as well. Walker explains in Alice Walker. "The love happened, and that is the essence of the story" (qtd. in Winchell, 12). Walker wrote "To Hell With Dying" in order to thank Mr. Sweet for what he contributed to her life. Winchell acknowledges that "the story is her [Walker’s] wish that she could have returned the favor" (13). Works Cited Walker, Alice. "Remembering Mr. Sweet." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. Walker, Alice. "To Hell With Dying." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991. Winchell, Donna Haisty. Alice Walker. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992. Works Consulted Short Story Criticisms. Vol. 5. Detroit: Gale Publishers, 1990. Contemporary Literary Criticisms. Vols. 46, 58. Detroit: Gale Publishers, 1990.      

“Back to China”: the Reverse Brain Drain in China

â€Å"Back to China†: the Reverse Brain Drain in China Every autumn, American students are busy with applying for undergraduate or graduate schools, so are an increasing number of Chinese students. Chinese get to realize the significance of being transnational. â€Å"Transnational† means involving in many countries. Now, human capital, especially those who have international experience, is significant to the development of a country in the internationalized world. However, plenty of overseas students from developing country tend to stay abroad for a better future, which is a great loss of developing countries.But, recently, more and more Chinese students go back to China after they complete their study, which is a good news to China. Looking through this new trend, there are three main factors that may drive overseas scholars to come back to China: the growth of economy in China, the support from the government to overseas scholars, and the bond between overseas scholar s and home land. Reverse brain drain is a term of migration. The definition of this term is the phenomenon that talented people who once studied or worked in developed country go to a less developed country which is developing in high pace.Recently, this has been common in developing countries, such as India, Brazil, and China (Llana, Ford, Marquand, Pflanz, & Ibukun, 2012). Conversely, in the past, People’s Republic of China (PRC) was not as open as it is now. PRC even ceased the communication in education with other countries once because of the Chinese Culture Revolution which lasted from 1966 to 1976 (Liu, & Li, 2010). Not until 1978 when China renewed the policy of international academic communication did China send students to go abroad (Yao, 2004).As China’s policy became looser, â€Å"outgoing tide† and â€Å"incoming tide† appeared (Zhang, 1997). â€Å"Outgoing tide† is a description of the phenomenon that plenty of students go abroad and the â€Å"incoming tide† means those students go back. Since 1978, according to China statistical yearbook 2011, more than 632,000 Chinese, or 33 percent of those who studied abroad, have returned home and both the rate of increase of overseas Chinese students and the rate of increase of returning Chinese scholars have grown sharply in recent years. For instance, in 1989, 3,329 went abroad to study.In 1990, the number of students who went abroad even decreased to 2,950 , only 1,593 scholars went back to China. In contrast, the total of students who studied abroad in 2010 increased to 284,700. In the same year, 134,800 students return after their study in foreign country, up 24. 7 percent from 2009 (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2011, 20-10). Statistics show that the reverse brain drain to China has already begun. In the past, the reason why the majority of overseas scholars chose staying abroad instead of returning was that they found there were obstacles blocking t heir way back to China.Those scholars were concerned about the factors linked with money, especially the living condition and career. Compared with working in China, it would be easier for scholars to have convenient places to live and earn relatively high salary when working abroad (Li, 1998). As for career, in China, when some young scholars applied for research funds, they were not able to get funded, which means they could only be assisted by institutions and companies abroad or study further overseas. Ruizhang Guan is one of the scholars who went abroad because of lack of fund.He did not have a Ph. D. at that time. He said, â€Å"It was difficult to get any funds without a Ph. D. , and without funding it was very hard to produce any results† (Yan, 1998, p. 59). Furthermore, Zweig, the chair professor of Social Science of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology who is known for his research on Chinese politics and political economy, pointed out in his paper â⠂¬Å"Competing for talent† (2006) that the economy of China was in poor condition, most of the institutes and research centers did not have enough money to update the facilities.Then scholars believed that they could not develop further in their fields with the deficient equipment in Chinese institutes. To have promising future, these scholars were willing to develop their careers in developed countries. It is undoubtedly true that there were many factors motivating the migration of scholar in that period. However, two decades have passed, and the living and working environment in China has changed dramatically, owing to the development in economy. The growing economy has given China opportunities to improve Chinese people’s living condition.And now when scholars consider the question whether to stay abroad or to go back to homeland, better living condition there can make life abroad less attractive. To illustrate the changes in living condition, Engel's coefficient is o ne of the index numbers. Engel's coefficient means the proportion of spending on food in total spending. A decreasing Engel's coefficient shows the average income has increased and life is getting better for a population. According to China statistical yearbook 2011 (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2011), Engel's coefficient there dropped from 54. in urban areas and 58. 8 in rural areas to 35. 7 and 41. 1 relatively (10-1). Also, the housing condition has been improved, for the rates of population with access to tap water and gas have increased to nearly 100% respectively and the per capita living space has been enlarged (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2011, 10-1). Although the living condition in China is still not comparable to that in developed countries, it is much better than what it was 20 years ago, and this is acceptable to returnees.When compared with the rapid growth of China’s economy, the financial crisis in other parts of the world has disappoint ed overseas students recently, in terms of employment and advancement opportunities. In developed countries, scholars’ work and life seemed the same as before, and hardly can the pattern of life and work be changed. Whereas, China usually presented a better appearance to overseas scholars every time they came back to China (Liu & Li, 2010). Usually, opportunities appear in changes. Therefore, scholars believe there are better and more opportunities in their career in China.For example, in the report on October 21st, 2012, Sophie Tao, an ex-fund manager in New York who went back to China to promote her career further, states, â€Å"China is one of the few bright spots in the world economy† (Ford, 2012). In China, many academic fields have not been explored enough yet, and some are even virgin lands. For this reason, those returnees, equipped with the experience and knowledge gained from abroad, can lay foundations in their own field in China. The possibility of success attracts scholar to do research in China (Engardio, & Engardio, 2009).In fact, the 2008-2009 financial crisis tested the economic stability worldwide and the harm caused by the global economic crisis still affects the economics of the rich nations (Llana et al. , 2012). Moreover, it increased the unemployment rate of immigrants in developed countries and it became difficult for overseas students to find a job there. According to Stephen Castle, a Research Chair at the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Sydney, the unemployment rate for immigrants increased by 3. 4% in the European Union in 2008. And that rate in the USA has increased by 4. % (2012, p1847). Chinese students found out that it was difficult for them to find a suitable job overseas. Then, they started to think about whether the developed countries were their only choice of destination, or whether their homeland would be a feasible choice. And China did not disappoint them. China entered World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. And in 2002-2009 international companies have invested 683. 5 billion in China (Wang, 2012). The main method of their investment is to start their branch offices in China. Furthermore, China had to compete with other countries in the world.As a consequence, the â€Å"golden time† for overseas students to go back to China began (Ye, 2000, p. 20). Returnees believe that they can have their own contribution to the development of China. Ma Jianghe, who gained his doctorate of Law in the United States, chose to develop his career in China after the agreement on China’s accession to WTO was signed. He believed: â€Å"After China joins the WTO, I will have a big advantage in China’s law service market. My good understanding of Chinese and American laws will convince businessmen from both countries to trust me. † ( Ye, 2000, p. 1) As Ma said, the abilities that returnees possess are what a country or a company needs to succeed i n international competition. Their multi-cultural background, their communication skills and their ability of adaptation in their own field make them outstanding among employees. Besides the economic factors, in the past, another reason that would stop overseas scholars from returning was the strict control of scholars made by the government. Because of the control, the most violent issue happened in 4 June 1989. Students died, for their political status went against the government.Scholars were afraid of being deprived of freedom, both physically and politically (Zweig, 2006). They thought once they went back to China, they could never go abroad again and hardly could they communicate with international scholars. Considering of the life in future, many scholars refused to return home. Indeed, policies at that time were not open enough. Chinese government noticed that China was confronted with a serious problem that plenty of overseas talents chose to stay abroad. Only 20% of Chines e overseas scholars thought they might go back home according to Zweig’s survey which was done in 1993 (Zweig, 2006).Facing this obstacle, the authorities decided to support overseas scholars to come back to home and began to create friendly environment to welcome scholars. To encourage returning, the government has provides financial support to scholars through plenty of programs in recent 20 years. To illustrate how those programs work, the â€Å"thousand talents program† that was launched in 2008 is an appropriate example. The aim of this plan is to lure overseas scholars to go back to China and help their homeland to â€Å"raise its global competitiveness† and become â€Å"an innovative society† (Ford, 2012, para. 0). The Chinese government launched it to bring top scientists and high-tech entrepreneurs back home in the next five to 10 years. In this plan, the government is going to grant 1 million Yuan (about $146,000) per person as salary and resear ch fund. Then the government offers them insurance, housing and pensions, too. Thanks to this plan, over 2000 experts in varied field have gone back to China to start a new career during the last three years(Zhang, 2012,para. 1).The financial supports make the returnees’ road back to China easier. Not only the central government but also the local government attempts to attract overseas scholars. â€Å"Enterprise incubators† have been set up to offer opportunity to returnees to start their own business since 1994 (Zweig, 2006, & Liu, & Li, 2010). An â€Å"Enterprise incubator† is a special zone that provides preferential policies and service for overseas entrepreneurs, which makes it an appropriate zone for overseas scholars to begin from.According to the statistics cited in â€Å"Zhongguo liu xue tong shi† (The history of Chinese student studying abroad, Liu, & Li, 2010), in 2003, there were over 110 such zones in China, more than 6000 companies were fou nded in those zones, and over 15,000 overseas entrepreneurs were attracted to those zones. The annual output value of 2003 was 32. 7 billion Yuan (about $5. 24 billion). The success in these enterprise incubators may lure more overseas scholars to go home. Cultural binding with homeland also lures overseas scholars to go back to China.In a foreign country, it is probable for someone to suffer from nostalgia, discrimination, and other problems. And they would miss home and return to their familiar culture to avoid those problems. Family is an essential part of one’s cultural background. As a consequence, it acts as a firm bond between overseas scholars and their homeland. First, Kellogg, a researcher working on international migration at UCLA, did a survey on the future plans of Chinese students in America in 2012. According to the survey, the top one reason why they want to return home is family (Kellogg, 2012).It is suffering to stay far away from relatives and friends for a long period of time. Furthermore, because of one-child policy, the only child is what parents can rely on except for the welfare and pension when parents get old. In Chinese traditional convention, children should take care of the elder family members (Smith, 1973). So parents and children would like to live together, at least live nearby each other (Settles, Sheng, Zang, & Zhao, 2008). This will lead to an increasing number of overseas students to come back to China.Moreover, China, a familiar environment, may comfort these scholars and give them confidence in their career, which is an attraction to scholars who stays abroad. Integration into the local society is a troublesome problem to Chinese students. In a survey done by a website named deyi which is a popular website among Chinese students in Germany (2007) about the students’ situation in the local society, only seven percent of students assert that they have no problem to join the main stream. Others encountered prob lems more or less (as cited in Liu & Li, 2010, p. 88-491) To evade this, some of them tend to limit their social contact to a small group of Chinese people and confine their career to lab when they graduate, which lead to the result that they have less communication with the main stream and it becomes more troublesome for them to integrate into the society (Miller, 1992 & Liu & Li, 2010). On the other hand, their situation in China is different from that abroad. An overseas scholar has both a native knowledge of his or her homeland and the ability to use Chinese fluently.That is the basis of overseas scholars’ confidence. When they strike root in their homeland, they gain confidence. Chaoyang Zhang, the CEO of sohu (Sohu is one of the most successful Internet companies in China. )and a returnee, shares his experience: â€Å" When I was an official at MIT, I met Zhangliang Chen (He is a famous experts of tropical botany in China and he studied in Washington University in St. Louis. ) once. From his expression and the look in his eyes, I could see the authority and firmness that he gained during the years when he was in China.His confidence and pride are what overseas students and successful overseas scholars do not have. That is result of striking root in homeland. The difference is so enormous to make me shocked, which strengthen my determination to go back to China. † ( Liu & Li, 2010, p. 587) The confidence based on living in homeland cannot usually be gained elsewhere. On the other hand, the cultural binding with homeland may be a disadvantage of Chinese scholars when they live abroad. Chinese scholars and those who have already mmigrated to foreign country may experience discrimination from others. The glass ceiling exists, which according to Joseph Tsien, a American neuroscientist from China, is â€Å"an unspoken truth† (Mervis, 2005, p. 607). A glass ceiling means that a certain barrier blocks the advancement to a relatively high pos ition faced by minority in a society. Because of culture gap and language barrier, most of the scholars from China find they can not totally understand the foreign culture (Liu, & Li, 2010).As a result, many of them can have fame and achievement in their own field as scientists but only a few of them can get a job of senior management in their field (Mervis, 2005). Alice Huang, a successful virologist who came from mainland China to America when she was 10 years old, encountered the barrier in her application to a high- level job in New York University in 1991. During her interview, she found out that what the committee was searching for is a WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) candidate and the committee set barriers to make Huang give up that position. In the end, she lost that position (Miller, 1992).Since evaluation, which may be subjective, is a key step in process of promotion, one, not belonging to the main stream, may be afraid of the unequal judgment done by the evaluating committee which consists of the majority. Scholars want to prove their value and be accepted by the society. But the existed barriers prevent scholars from getting higher positions and realize their plans. Under this condition, scholars would believe that they will be minority and nearly impossible to be integrated to mainstream, which may hurt scholars and drive them to go home (Liu, & Li, 2010).However, the racial discrimination to those overseas scholars will be eliminated in their homeland. They will be honored in China. Experiences of studying and working abroad are called â€Å"paint a little gold† (du jin) in Chinese (Zweig, Chen, & Rosen, 2004, p. 736), which means returnees are regarded precious in China. To conclude, the three keys to Chinese reverse brain drain are dramatic growth in the economics, proper policies that encourage overseas scholars to return and a cultural environment that can give returnees a sense of belonging.Through the success of China’s alluring scholars back, power plays a significant role. To encourage more overseas scholars to go back, the authorities should concentrate on developing the economy to gain more hard power. Moreover, an open political environment is necessary, for overseas scholars have experienced freedom in political status. Furthermore, for moving the trend of returning further, the government should not only concentrate on the quantity of the returnees but also the quality of the returnees. Reference: Alsop, R. (2007). TRACK: More Chinese Graduates Return Home.The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 14, 2012 from http://online. wsj. com/article/SB11737448221373 4773. html Castles, S. (2012). Cosmopolitanism and freedom? Lessons of the global economic crisis. Ethnic & Racial Studies, 35(11), 1843-1852. doi:10. 1080/01419870. 2012. 715662 Confucius, C. (2006). â€Å"Lun yu† ming yan =: Aphorisms From LUNYU. Di 1 ban. Jinan: Qi lu shu she. Engardio, P. ,& Engardio, P. (2009). China's Rev erse Brain Drain. BloomberBusinessweek. Retrieved November 14, 2012 from http://www. businessweek. com/magazine/content/ 09_48/b4157058821350. tm Ford, P. (2012). Reverse brain drain: China engineers incentives for â€Å"brain gain†. Christian Science Monitor, Retrieved from http://www. csmonitor. com/World/Global-Issues /2012/1021/Reverse-brain-drain-China-engineers-incentives-for-brain-gain International Rankings and Chinese Higher Education Reform. (2006). World Education News and Reviews. Retrieved November 14, 2012 from http://www. wes. org/ ewenr/06oct/ practical. htm. Jianshu, Z. (2000). Students Returned from Abroad in the 1990s. Chinese Education & Society, 33(5), 8. Kellogg, R. (2012).China's Brain Gain? : Attitudes and Future Plans of Overseas Chinese Students in the US. Journal Of Chinese Overseas, 8(1), 83-104. doi:10. 1163/179325412X634319 Liu, J. , & Li, X. (2010). Zhongguo liu xue tong shi: Zhongguo liuxue tongshi. Di 1 ban. Guangzhou: Guangdong jiao yu chu ba n she Llana, S. , Ford, P. , Marquand, R. , Pflanz, M. , & Ibukun, Y. (2012). Reverse brain drain: Economic shifts lure migrants home. Christian Science Monitor, N. PAG. National Bureau of Statistics of China. (2011). China statistical yearbook 2011. Beijing: China Statistics Press.Settles, B. , Sheng, X. , Zang, Y. & Zhao, J. (2008). The one child policy and its impacts on Chinese families. Research Committee on Family, 12-13. Smith, D. (1973). Confucius. London: Temple Smith. Wang, Z. (2012). Ten years of international companies since China entered WTO. International Financing. Retrieved November 14, 2012 from http://www. zcom. com/ article/51886/ Yan, J. (1998). My heart turns toward the homeland. Chinese Education & Society,31(2), 57. Ye, L. (2000). Overseas students coming back at a golden time. Beijing Review, 43(6/7), 20. Zhang, Y. (2012).Thousand Talent Program brings more pros. China Daily, Retrieved from http://www. chinadaily. com. cn/bizchina/2012-04/28/content_15168335. htm. Zweig, D. , Changgui, C. , & Rosen, S. (2004). Globalization and transnational human capital: Overseas and returnee scholars to china. The China Quarterly, 735-757. Zweig, D. (2006). Competing for talent: China's strategies to reverse the brain drain. International Labour Review,145(1), 65-0_6. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com. ezproxy. library. wisc. edu/docview/224008850? accountid=465 ———————– 1 â€Å"Back to China†: the Reverse Brain Drain in China â€Å"Back to China†: the Reverse Brain Drain in China Every autumn, American students are busy with applying for undergraduate or graduate schools, so are an increasing number of Chinese students. Chinese get to realize the significance of being transnational. â€Å"Transnational† means involving in many countries. Now, human capital, especially those who have international experience, is significant to the development of a country in the internationalized world. However, plenty of overseas students from developing country tend to stay abroad for a better future, which is a great loss of developing countries.But, recently, more and more Chinese students go back to China after they complete their study, which is a good news to China. Looking through this new trend, there are three main factors that may drive overseas scholars to come back to China: the growth of economy in China, the support from the government to overseas scholars, and the bond between overseas scholar s and home land. Reverse brain drain is a term of migration. The definition of this term is the phenomenon that talented people who once studied or worked in developed country go to a less developed country which is developing in high pace.Recently, this has been common in developing countries, such as India, Brazil, and China (Llana, Ford, Marquand, Pflanz, & Ibukun, 2012). Conversely, in the past, People’s Republic of China (PRC) was not as open as it is now. PRC even ceased the communication in education with other countries once because of the Chinese Culture Revolution which lasted from 1966 to 1976 (Liu, & Li, 2010). Not until 1978 when China renewed the policy of international academic communication did China send students to go abroad (Yao, 2004).As China’s policy became looser, â€Å"outgoing tide† and â€Å"incoming tide† appeared (Zhang, 1997). â€Å"Outgoing tide† is a description of the phenomenon that plenty of students go abroad and the â€Å"incoming tide† means those students go back. Since 1978, according to China statistical yearbook 2011, more than 632,000 Chinese, or 33 percent of those who studied abroad, have returned home and both the rate of increase of overseas Chinese students and the rate of increase of returning Chinese scholars have grown sharply in recent years. For instance, in 1989, 3,329 went abroad to study.In 1990, the number of students who went abroad even decreased to 2,950 , only 1,593 scholars went back to China. In contrast, the total of students who studied abroad in 2010 increased to 284,700. In the same year, 134,800 students return after their study in foreign country, up 24. 7 percent from 2009 (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2011, 20-10). Statistics show that the reverse brain drain to China has already begun. In the past, the reason why the majority of overseas scholars chose staying abroad instead of returning was that they found there were obstacles blocking t heir way back to China.Those scholars were concerned about the factors linked with money, especially the living condition and career. Compared with working in China, it would be easier for scholars to have convenient places to live and earn relatively high salary when working abroad (Li, 1998). As for career, in China, when some young scholars applied for research funds, they were not able to get funded, which means they could only be assisted by institutions and companies abroad or study further overseas. Ruizhang Guan is one of the scholars who went abroad because of lack of fund.He did not have a Ph. D. at that time. He said, â€Å"It was difficult to get any funds without a Ph. D. , and without funding it was very hard to produce any results† (Yan, 1998, p. 59). Furthermore, Zweig, the chair professor of Social Science of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology who is known for his research on Chinese politics and political economy, pointed out in his paper â⠂¬Å"Competing for talent† (2006) that the economy of China was in poor condition, most of the institutes and research centers did not have enough money to update the facilities.Then scholars believed that they could not develop further in their fields with the deficient equipment in Chinese institutes. To have promising future, these scholars were willing to develop their careers in developed countries. It is undoubtedly true that there were many factors motivating the migration of scholar in that period. However, two decades have passed, and the living and working environment in China has changed dramatically, owing to the development in economy. The growing economy has given China opportunities to improve Chinese people’s living condition.And now when scholars consider the question whether to stay abroad or to go back to homeland, better living condition there can make life abroad less attractive. To illustrate the changes in living condition, Engel's coefficient is o ne of the index numbers. Engel's coefficient means the proportion of spending on food in total spending. A decreasing Engel's coefficient shows the average income has increased and life is getting better for a population. According to China statistical yearbook 2011 (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2011), Engel's coefficient there dropped from 54. in urban areas and 58. 8 in rural areas to 35. 7 and 41. 1 relatively (10-1). Also, the housing condition has been improved, for the rates of population with access to tap water and gas have increased to nearly 100% respectively and the per capita living space has been enlarged (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2011, 10-1). Although the living condition in China is still not comparable to that in developed countries, it is much better than what it was 20 years ago, and this is acceptable to returnees.When compared with the rapid growth of China’s economy, the financial crisis in other parts of the world has disappoint ed overseas students recently, in terms of employment and advancement opportunities. In developed countries, scholars’ work and life seemed the same as before, and hardly can the pattern of life and work be changed. Whereas, China usually presented a better appearance to overseas scholars every time they came back to China (Liu & Li, 2010). Usually, opportunities appear in changes. Therefore, scholars believe there are better and more opportunities in their career in China.For example, in the report on October 21st, 2012, Sophie Tao, an ex-fund manager in New York who went back to China to promote her career further, states, â€Å"China is one of the few bright spots in the world economy† (Ford, 2012). In China, many academic fields have not been explored enough yet, and some are even virgin lands. For this reason, those returnees, equipped with the experience and knowledge gained from abroad, can lay foundations in their own field in China. The possibility of success attracts scholar to do research in China (Engardio, & Engardio, 2009).In fact, the 2008-2009 financial crisis tested the economic stability worldwide and the harm caused by the global economic crisis still affects the economics of the rich nations (Llana et al. , 2012). Moreover, it increased the unemployment rate of immigrants in developed countries and it became difficult for overseas students to find a job there. According to Stephen Castle, a Research Chair at the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Sydney, the unemployment rate for immigrants increased by 3. 4% in the European Union in 2008. And that rate in the USA has increased by 4. % (2012, p1847). Chinese students found out that it was difficult for them to find a suitable job overseas. Then, they started to think about whether the developed countries were their only choice of destination, or whether their homeland would be a feasible choice. And China did not disappoint them. China entered World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. And in 2002-2009 international companies have invested 683. 5 billion in China (Wang, 2012). The main method of their investment is to start their branch offices in China. Furthermore, China had to compete with other countries in the world.As a consequence, the â€Å"golden time† for overseas students to go back to China began (Ye, 2000, p. 20). Returnees believe that they can have their own contribution to the development of China. Ma Jianghe, who gained his doctorate of Law in the United States, chose to develop his career in China after the agreement on China’s accession to WTO was signed. He believed: â€Å"After China joins the WTO, I will have a big advantage in China’s law service market. My good understanding of Chinese and American laws will convince businessmen from both countries to trust me. † ( Ye, 2000, p. 1) As Ma said, the abilities that returnees possess are what a country or a company needs to succeed i n international competition. Their multi-cultural background, their communication skills and their ability of adaptation in their own field make them outstanding among employees. Besides the economic factors, in the past, another reason that would stop overseas scholars from returning was the strict control of scholars made by the government. Because of the control, the most violent issue happened in 4 June 1989. Students died, for their political status went against the government.Scholars were afraid of being deprived of freedom, both physically and politically (Zweig, 2006). They thought once they went back to China, they could never go abroad again and hardly could they communicate with international scholars. Considering of the life in future, many scholars refused to return home. Indeed, policies at that time were not open enough. Chinese government noticed that China was confronted with a serious problem that plenty of overseas talents chose to stay abroad. Only 20% of Chines e overseas scholars thought they might go back home according to Zweig’s survey which was done in 1993 (Zweig, 2006).Facing this obstacle, the authorities decided to support overseas scholars to come back to home and began to create friendly environment to welcome scholars. To encourage returning, the government has provides financial support to scholars through plenty of programs in recent 20 years. To illustrate how those programs work, the â€Å"thousand talents program† that was launched in 2008 is an appropriate example. The aim of this plan is to lure overseas scholars to go back to China and help their homeland to â€Å"raise its global competitiveness† and become â€Å"an innovative society† (Ford, 2012, para. 0). The Chinese government launched it to bring top scientists and high-tech entrepreneurs back home in the next five to 10 years. In this plan, the government is going to grant 1 million Yuan (about $146,000) per person as salary and resear ch fund. Then the government offers them insurance, housing and pensions, too. Thanks to this plan, over 2000 experts in varied field have gone back to China to start a new career during the last three years(Zhang, 2012,para. 1).The financial supports make the returnees’ road back to China easier. Not only the central government but also the local government attempts to attract overseas scholars. â€Å"Enterprise incubators† have been set up to offer opportunity to returnees to start their own business since 1994 (Zweig, 2006, & Liu, & Li, 2010). An â€Å"Enterprise incubator† is a special zone that provides preferential policies and service for overseas entrepreneurs, which makes it an appropriate zone for overseas scholars to begin from.According to the statistics cited in â€Å"Zhongguo liu xue tong shi† (The history of Chinese student studying abroad, Liu, & Li, 2010), in 2003, there were over 110 such zones in China, more than 6000 companies were fou nded in those zones, and over 15,000 overseas entrepreneurs were attracted to those zones. The annual output value of 2003 was 32. 7 billion Yuan (about $5. 24 billion). The success in these enterprise incubators may lure more overseas scholars to go home. Cultural binding with homeland also lures overseas scholars to go back to China.In a foreign country, it is probable for someone to suffer from nostalgia, discrimination, and other problems. And they would miss home and return to their familiar culture to avoid those problems. Family is an essential part of one’s cultural background. As a consequence, it acts as a firm bond between overseas scholars and their homeland. First, Kellogg, a researcher working on international migration at UCLA, did a survey on the future plans of Chinese students in America in 2012. According to the survey, the top one reason why they want to return home is family (Kellogg, 2012).It is suffering to stay far away from relatives and friends for a long period of time. Furthermore, because of one-child policy, the only child is what parents can rely on except for the welfare and pension when parents get old. In Chinese traditional convention, children should take care of the elder family members (Smith, 1973). So parents and children would like to live together, at least live nearby each other (Settles, Sheng, Zang, & Zhao, 2008). This will lead to an increasing number of overseas students to come back to China.Moreover, China, a familiar environment, may comfort these scholars and give them confidence in their career, which is an attraction to scholars who stays abroad. Integration into the local society is a troublesome problem to Chinese students. In a survey done by a website named deyi which is a popular website among Chinese students in Germany (2007) about the students’ situation in the local society, only seven percent of students assert that they have no problem to join the main stream. Others encountered prob lems more or less (as cited in Liu & Li, 2010, p. 88-491) To evade this, some of them tend to limit their social contact to a small group of Chinese people and confine their career to lab when they graduate, which lead to the result that they have less communication with the main stream and it becomes more troublesome for them to integrate into the society (Miller, 1992 & Liu & Li, 2010). On the other hand, their situation in China is different from that abroad. An overseas scholar has both a native knowledge of his or her homeland and the ability to use Chinese fluently.That is the basis of overseas scholars’ confidence. When they strike root in their homeland, they gain confidence. Chaoyang Zhang, the CEO of sohu (Sohu is one of the most successful Internet companies in China. )and a returnee, shares his experience: â€Å" When I was an official at MIT, I met Zhangliang Chen (He is a famous experts of tropical botany in China and he studied in Washington University in St. Louis. ) once. From his expression and the look in his eyes, I could see the authority and firmness that he gained during the years when he was in China.His confidence and pride are what overseas students and successful overseas scholars do not have. That is result of striking root in homeland. The difference is so enormous to make me shocked, which strengthen my determination to go back to China. † ( Liu & Li, 2010, p. 587) The confidence based on living in homeland cannot usually be gained elsewhere. On the other hand, the cultural binding with homeland may be a disadvantage of Chinese scholars when they live abroad. Chinese scholars and those who have already mmigrated to foreign country may experience discrimination from others. The glass ceiling exists, which according to Joseph Tsien, a American neuroscientist from China, is â€Å"an unspoken truth† (Mervis, 2005, p. 607). A glass ceiling means that a certain barrier blocks the advancement to a relatively high pos ition faced by minority in a society. Because of culture gap and language barrier, most of the scholars from China find they can not totally understand the foreign culture (Liu, & Li, 2010).As a result, many of them can have fame and achievement in their own field as scientists but only a few of them can get a job of senior management in their field (Mervis, 2005). Alice Huang, a successful virologist who came from mainland China to America when she was 10 years old, encountered the barrier in her application to a high- level job in New York University in 1991. During her interview, she found out that what the committee was searching for is a WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) candidate and the committee set barriers to make Huang give up that position. In the end, she lost that position (Miller, 1992).Since evaluation, which may be subjective, is a key step in process of promotion, one, not belonging to the main stream, may be afraid of the unequal judgment done by the evaluating committee which consists of the majority. Scholars want to prove their value and be accepted by the society. But the existed barriers prevent scholars from getting higher positions and realize their plans. Under this condition, scholars would believe that they will be minority and nearly impossible to be integrated to mainstream, which may hurt scholars and drive them to go home (Liu, & Li, 2010).However, the racial discrimination to those overseas scholars will be eliminated in their homeland. They will be honored in China. Experiences of studying and working abroad are called â€Å"paint a little gold† (du jin) in Chinese (Zweig, Chen, & Rosen, 2004, p. 736), which means returnees are regarded precious in China. To conclude, the three keys to Chinese reverse brain drain are dramatic growth in the economics, proper policies that encourage overseas scholars to return and a cultural environment that can give returnees a sense of belonging.Through the success of China’s alluring scholars back, power plays a significant role. To encourage more overseas scholars to go back, the authorities should concentrate on developing the economy to gain more hard power. Moreover, an open political environment is necessary, for overseas scholars have experienced freedom in political status. Furthermore, for moving the trend of returning further, the government should not only concentrate on the quantity of the returnees but also the quality of the returnees. Reference: Alsop, R. (2007). TRACK: More Chinese Graduates Return Home.The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 14, 2012 from http://online. wsj. com/article/SB11737448221373 4773. html Castles, S. (2012). Cosmopolitanism and freedom? Lessons of the global economic crisis. Ethnic & Racial Studies, 35(11), 1843-1852. doi:10. 1080/01419870. 2012. 715662 Confucius, C. (2006). â€Å"Lun yu† ming yan =: Aphorisms From LUNYU. Di 1 ban. Jinan: Qi lu shu she. Engardio, P. ,& Engardio, P. (2009). China's Rev erse Brain Drain. BloomberBusinessweek. Retrieved November 14, 2012 from http://www. businessweek. com/magazine/content/ 09_48/b4157058821350. tm Ford, P. (2012). Reverse brain drain: China engineers incentives for â€Å"brain gain†. Christian Science Monitor, Retrieved from http://www. csmonitor. com/World/Global-Issues /2012/1021/Reverse-brain-drain-China-engineers-incentives-for-brain-gain International Rankings and Chinese Higher Education Reform. (2006). World Education News and Reviews. Retrieved November 14, 2012 from http://www. wes. org/ ewenr/06oct/ practical. htm. Jianshu, Z. (2000). Students Returned from Abroad in the 1990s. Chinese Education & Society, 33(5), 8. Kellogg, R. (2012).China's Brain Gain? : Attitudes and Future Plans of Overseas Chinese Students in the US. Journal Of Chinese Overseas, 8(1), 83-104. doi:10. 1163/179325412X634319 Liu, J. , & Li, X. (2010). Zhongguo liu xue tong shi: Zhongguo liuxue tongshi. Di 1 ban. Guangzhou: Guangdong jiao yu chu ba n she Llana, S. , Ford, P. , Marquand, R. , Pflanz, M. , & Ibukun, Y. (2012). Reverse brain drain: Economic shifts lure migrants home. Christian Science Monitor, N. PAG. National Bureau of Statistics of China. (2011). China statistical yearbook 2011. Beijing: China Statistics Press.Settles, B. , Sheng, X. , Zang, Y. & Zhao, J. (2008). The one child policy and its impacts on Chinese families. Research Committee on Family, 12-13. Smith, D. (1973). Confucius. London: Temple Smith. Wang, Z. (2012). Ten years of international companies since China entered WTO. International Financing. Retrieved November 14, 2012 from http://www. zcom. com/ article/51886/ Yan, J. (1998). My heart turns toward the homeland. Chinese Education & Society,31(2), 57. Ye, L. (2000). Overseas students coming back at a golden time. Beijing Review, 43(6/7), 20. Zhang, Y. (2012).Thousand Talent Program brings more pros. China Daily, Retrieved from http://www. chinadaily. com. cn/bizchina/2012-04/28/content_15168335. htm. Zweig, D. , Changgui, C. , & Rosen, S. (2004). Globalization and transnational human capital: Overseas and returnee scholars to china. The China Quarterly, 735-757. Zweig, D. (2006). Competing for talent: China's strategies to reverse the brain drain. International Labour Review,145(1), 65-0_6. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com. ezproxy. library. wisc. edu/docview/224008850? accountid=465 ———————– 1

Definition and Examples of Media in Communications

Definition and Examples of Media in Communications In the communication process, a medium is a channel or system of communication- the means by which  information (the message) is transmitted  between a speaker or writer (the sender) and an audience (the receiver). The plural form is  media, and its also known as a channel. The medium used to send a message may range from an individuals voice, writing, clothing, and body language to forms of mass communication such as newspapers, television, and the internet. Communication Media Changes Over Time Before the printing press, mass communication didnt exist, as books were hand-written and literacy wasnt widespread throughout all social classes. The invention of moveable type was a major communication innovation for the world. Author Paula S. Tompkins sums up the history of communication and change thusly: When a communication medium changes, our practices  and  experiences of communication also change. The technology of writing liberated human communication from the medium of face-to-face (f2f) interaction. This  change affected both the process and  experience of communication, as persons no longer needed to be physically present to communicate with one another. The technology of the printing press further promoted the medium of writing by  mechanizing the creation and distribution of the written word. This began the new communication form of mass communication in pamphlets, newspapers, and cheap books, in contrast to the medium of handwritten documents and books.  Most recently, the medium of digital technology  is again changing the process and experience of human communication.(Practicing Communication Ethics: Development, Discernment, and Decision-Making. Routledge, 2016) Television mass media used to distill the news into a nightly news hour. With the advent of 24-hour news channels on cable, people could check in hourly or at any point in the hour to find out the latest news. Now, with social media platforms and the ubiquitous smartphones in our pockets, we can check news and happenings- or be alerted of them- constantly throughout the day. This puts a lot more news up front just because its the most recent. News outlets and channels looking for peoples eyeballs on their content (and advertisers) have a lot of pressure to keep those updates coming to peoples feeds. The outrageous, shocking, and easily digestible gets shared more widely than something thats complex and nuanced. Something short gets read more widely than something long. Authors James W. Chesebro and Dale A. Bertelsen noted how modern messaging seems a lot more like marketing than discourse, and their observation has only been amplified with the advent of social media: [A] significant shift in the nature of communication has been reported for several decades. Increasingly, it has been noted that a shift from a content orientation- with its emphasis on the ideational or substantive dimension of  discourse- to a concern for form or  medium- with an emphasis on image, strategy, and patterns of discourse- has been identified as a central feature of the information age. (Analyzing Media: Communication Technologies as Symbolic and Cognitive Systems. Guilford Press, 1996) Is the Medium the Message? If the medium through which information is delivered via affects what people get out of it, that could have big implications for today. As people move away from the in-depth coverage of an issue they can receive in print media to getting more information from social media, they consume increasing amounts of their information in soundbites, shared snippets of news that may be slanted (or fake, i.e., completely invented with no basis in fact), or inaccurate. In the modern age of people will remember it if you repeat it often enough- it doesnt matter if its true, it takes deeper dives into the information by message receivers to find out the real story and any hidden motives behind the headlines. If the medium doesnt equate with the message, its still true that different formats carry different versions of the same story, such as in depth of information or in emphasis.

Images Of Vietnam Essays - Vietnam War, Free Essays, Term Papers

Images Of Vietnam Essays - Vietnam War, Free Essays, Term Papers Images Of Vietnam The United States of America prides itself as the self proclaimed leader of the free world. Since the end of World War II the United States has chosen to use force in order to insure this so called freedom of other less fortunate nations who do not have the ability to defend themselves. According to the United States these infieor nations freedom, has been in jeopardy since the beging of the cold war. Websters dictionary defines a democracy as a government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. Since the start of the cold war, the United States has undertaken the policy that if you are not a democracy than you are not truly free. *The government wants use to think that a democracy is pure and good where as a communist society is corrupt and harmful. The fact remains both a forms governments to control the inhabitants and to lead them so that their life might become better.* The United States gives its citizens the right to periodicly elect their leaders. When the United States entered Vietnam after the French lost the war in 1954, why did it feel, it was necessary to choose to fight the Ho Chi Men lead communists, without even allowing the Vietnamese people a chance to elect their own leader under a free parlimentory electoral system. The Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968 Robert McNamara saw the Vietnam conflict escalate from 100 American advisors in 1961 to over 275,000 troops during the time of his departure. Vietnam was caught in a revolution, not unlike the civil war, split in two, north versus south. The battle lines where drawn, the 17th parellel the boundry, the communist state split to the north and a democratic state to the south. However, Southeast Asia was considored one of the most sensitive places at this time durning the cold war. Therfore North Vietnams communist neighbors China and Russia, both supplied Ho Chi Men forces. While the south was backed by the United States(which had been funding the war effort since the French conflict). McNamaras memoirs In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam describes his powerful position in the Cabinet under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. According to McNamara, the United States policy towards Southeast Asia was defined when President Eise nhower delivered his now famous, and widely publized 1956 speech. In which he declared Loas to be the cornerstone to a free world in Southeast Asia. He continued on to explain to the American people if Loas fell to communism it would lead to a domino effect in the rest of Asia and soon onto the rest of world. At the time of this speech Loas political leadership was in turmoil and in danger of turning into a communist state. McNamara uses his memoir as a chance to explain to both the American people and himself what went wrong in Indochina. He starts his story with a brief explanation of where he came from and how he came about to become the Secretary of Defense. McNamara studies extend from University of California at Berkley then to the Harvard business school. He then went on to work for the Ford Motor company where he was selected to be one of the whiz kids, a group of men selected to keep pace and compete with the newly formed General Motors cooperation. McNamara only prvious service for his country came during his time at University of California in the Army ROTC program. Other than that McNamara had no political or public service record up to that point. In a meeting in early December 1960 President elect John F. Kennedy at his home in Georgetown, Whasington D.C. asked Robert McNamara to serve in his cabinet as Secretary of Defense. McNamara describes himself to be at least timid to accept such an important role in Cabinet, questioning Kennedy to find out why the President elect would want to select him. McNamara upon hearing the request tried to explain to the new president that he was not qualified for the

Individual Freedom Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Individual Freedom - Assignment Example Warrants should always be obtained when doing search and seizures. Keywords: Introduction 1500 words In the history of the people of the United States, before it was known as such, the British were a ruling force in the land. In dealings with the British, much as was found in the homeland of Britain, there have been seizures of private property and belongings of the people without benefit of reason. When the Bill of Rights was created, the Fourth Amendment was also created which guaranteed the right of people to be secure in their homes, and that all possessions in their home and about their person, would also be safe , unless due cause could be shown and sworn to by the appropriate person (Franklin, Jefferson, & Madison, 2013). Therefore, such items which are confiscated during a search, and the search of a premise itself, conducted without benefit of a warrant, are not considered permissible in a court of law and during a trial (Coyle, 2013). 1.Enforcement of the Fourth Amendment h as been upheld in a number of cases since that time, including Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961) and Massiah v. United States, 377 U.S. 201 (1964), which was guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, said that any statements of self-incrimination made by the defendant, without benefit of counsel being present, would be considered void (Coyle, 2013). Subsequently, the Supreme Court took a step further in the case of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 439 (1966), emphasized that a statement must be read to each person, notifying them of the right to remain silent, so as to not incriminate themselves, and that anything said after that, would then be considered a confession and self-incriminating, valid for use in court as evidence (Coyle, 2013). Justice Bradley stated in the case of Weeks v. U.S., 232 U.S. 383 (1914), that in Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616 (1886), the previous ruling made by Lord Camden in Entick v. Carrington, 19 Howell’s State Trials, 102 (1765), a British common law case concerning the liberties of people, declared that the defendants, who committed the trespass on John Entwick, were not guilty of trespassing when the king’s messengers broke into Entwick’s home and proceeded look through everything for four hours. They caused damage to the house and its contents, and also through removing possessions from the home in order to deliver them to Lord Halifax, who had issued that warrant. Yet it was shown by Justice Bradley, within the Weeks case, that on further review, Lord Halifax had no right to issue a warrant and therefore, the complaint by Entwick against Halifax, was sustained, based on English common laws (Findlaw, 2013). 2.Chief Justice John Marshall has stated that the founding fathers, in creating the Constitution, expected the people to observe the fundamental principles of freedom as set forth in the structure. People were to exhibit thoughtfulness and experience in giving meaning to these principles in an ever-changing w orld and yet, the Constitution must continue forward (Stone & Marshall, 2011). In the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution, these principles were put into place because of past abuses by higher powers in search and seizures of people without regard to their rights as free humans. When a rumor could instigate a search and seizure, then all people were at risk of their liberty and would have to live in fear. Therefore, it was important that

Whats wrong with school lunches Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Whats wrong with school lunches - Essay Example The situation has gone so bad that children born in the year 2000 are now likely to have diabetes in their lifetime. It would be one out of every three Caucasians,  one out of every two African-Americans and Hispanics. And unless we change the way we feed our children, this will just get worst. Anne Cooper’s talk is very much related to the documentary of James Brewer â€Å"Food Inc†. They have the same format of being shown in video and almost have the same argument except that Food Inc. included everybody in the equation and not just children. It talked about the shift in America’s eating habit and the way it is produced by big business is more disturbing that we think. The food that is now presented to us by big business is not produced the way that they are presented to us and borrowing from Kenner’s words â€Å"US does not jibe with the pastoral imagery often depicted on the packaging, but rather involves giant firms operating huge factories with brutal conditions† (Brewer, 2010). These brutal conditions meant that food are no longer grown the way they were but became industrialize that it can be likened to a factory. It was detailed in the Food Inc. documentary that chickens never saw daylight in their lifetime where cows are fed with corn and antibiotics standing all day in a cake of manure. The advent of this unhealthy food can be traced back to the idea of selling foods that are cheap, convenient and tasty to respond to the customer’s preference of a delicious and cheap food albeit unhealthy. This materialized when McDonald brothers had a very successful drive-in restaurant and decided to cut cost and simplify. They fired all their carshops and got rid of the things on the menu and mechanized the entire food preparation. This basically brought the factory in the restaurant kitchen and