Journal entry Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Journal entry - Coursework Example 13). Many studies have determined the existence of a strong relationship between a child’s ability to read and the length of time the child spends reading (Armbruster, et al., n.d., p. 22). This evidence has long encouraged the teachers to promote the practice of voluntary reading in the classroom. Teachers need to hear, guide, and supervise the children as they read because there is no research evidence to support the improvement of reading fluency in children through independent, silent reading with minimal feedback and guidance from the teachers (Armbruster, et al., n.d., p. 22). Most students need nearly two years of phonics instruction. Starting phonics instruction early during kindergarten helps the teachers complete it near the first grade’s end. Accordingly, starting it early in the first grade implies that it should be completed at the second grade’s end (Armbruster, et al., n.d., p. 17). Evidence-based practice implies that teachers should use both prin t sources and firsthand experiences to enhance learning (Spencer and Guillaume, 2006, p. 208). Language and vocabulary are both of paramount importance for a child to learn to read. Children draw connection between the words they see in the text and the words they have heard and are stored in their memories to make sense of what they are reading. Vocabulary also plays an important role in reading comprehension. Children find it hard to understand what they read without knowing the meanings of the words they read. Teachers should try to make the children memorize meanings of new words as the class proceeds towards reading more advanced texts. â€Å"While a substantial amount of general vocabulary is acquired through wide reading, it is also important for teachers to address word learning directly† (Richek, 2005, p. 414). Scientific research on vocabulary instruction shows that for the most part, vocabulary learning is an indirect process, and that teachers must

Of Mice and Men Discuss in detail the lives of the itinerant ranch-hands in the novel Essay Example for Free

Of Mice and Men Discuss in detail the lives of the itinerant ranch-hands in the novel Essay Discuss in detail the lives of the itinerant ranch-hands in the novel. Why is the dream farm so important to the novel? Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is an emotional novel, set in the 1930s, where two friends try to achieve their dream in the cruel time of the great depression in California, America. The Wall Street crash was a massive set back in American industries, work was made very limited, so the men had to travel from job to job, to make a living. Lennie Small and George Milton like many men during this unprofitable time in the American economy roam from job to job. Men like these are called itinerant. As George stated, Guys like us that work on ranches are the loneliest guys in the world. This statement is true because these men never have a place called home, because they are always on the move. This also means they have no time to develop a family or friends. Real friendships are hard to come by, because most of the men that work on these ranches are secretive and try to keep their pasts private in case they reveal something that could get them canned (sacked). Meaning if they cant reveal their history because of fear, they will never be able to make true friends. On the ranch George and Lennie spend most of their spare time in the bunk house. Many of the men dont socialize they just keep themselves private, this also combines with the lack of woman company to create a lonely atmosphere on the ranch. Also the men are caught up in a never ending cycle of doing a months physical labour and spending most of their earnings releasing all their frustration at whore houses. So many men come to these ranches with this idea that they will work for a couple of months, save up money and get their own little piece of land but end up blowing all their money on drink and prostitutes. As Crooks said, I seen hunderds of men come by on the road an on the ranches, Hunderds of them an every damn one of ems got a little piece of land in his head. An never a God damn one of em ever gets it. From this you can see how common it was for men just like George and Lennie to depend on this dream, to give them this false hope that they might just escape this lifestyle one day. Crooks is so mocking of this dream farm because since he has never seen a man accomplish this feat, he doubts whether a man has enough determination to ever achieve it. In addition, ranch hands that are too old get canned. This makes Candy on edge because he feels that because he is seen as useless on the ranch since of the loss of his hand, his job is becoming more and more insecure the older he gets. On the ranch a lot of violence is shown to Crooks just because of the colour of his skin. The ranch hands also humiliate Crooks by making him sleep with the horses. George and Lennie are unlike most ranch hands as they travel together which is most unusual among ranch workers. As George says, I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That aint no good. They dont have fun. From this you can tell that they have, unlike other ranch hands, someone they can confide in. This gives them a strength that the other men do not have. It is obvious that the dream farm means a lot to George and Lennie because it gives them some hope that they might escape this endless lifestyle. Also if they lived on their own ranch they would be free to do as they please and not listen to no one else but themselves. The farm symbolises freedom to George and Lennie, as they would be able to choose when they would like to work and who they wanted to employ, An live on the fatta the lan. Also it would be their own harvest they are harvesting, not someone elses. So it would be all their own profit. This idea of freedom appeals to Crooks and Candy because both of them are alienated on the ranch, Crooks because of the colour of his skin and Candy because of his age and disability. They see the dream farm as a chance to be equal workers. The dream farm is similar to the American Dream because the American Dream is people living by their own rules to get what they want in life. The farm is a perfect example of this because George and Lennie would live by their own rules to earn a living. Curleys wife had her vision of the American Dream. Hers was to be a Hollywood star, to be in the movies. This, whilst being an appealing and glamorous life, isnt what the dream was about. The life she wanted would not be lived by her rules, she would have had to work to deadlines and always under threat from other actresses taking her job. Unfortunately George and Lennie cannot grasp their dream because of Lennies ability to get himself into bad situations. Unluckily for Lennie this time it proved to be fatal for him. You cant keep a job and you lose me ever job I get. Jus keep me shovin all over the country all the time. An that aint the worst. You get in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out. Lennie, as George states has always preventing him from advancing upwards in the world, because he has always been too much of a responsibility for George who can never have faith that Lennie wont get in trouble again.

Debate on Victims Rights in Criminal Justice System

Debate on Victims Rights in Criminal Justice System â€Å"We need to re balance the system so that it delivers real justice for victims and the wider community† (David Blunkett, 2002). Critically assess the current debate regarding victims rights. INTRODUCTION CMS Funding was announced in June 1999 to â€Å"streamline the criminal justice system†(Chief Secretary, Alan Milburn, www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom, 1999), with a Ministerial Priority on Policing established (Rt Hon. Jack Straw, http://news.bbc.co.uk, 1999, March, 25). Following the publication of the Auld Report (www.criminal-courts-review.org.uk, 2001, September) a Government White Paper was published advocating a ‘joined up system’, echoing the â€Å"joined up Government in action† approach promoted by the Home Secretary in 1999 (Rt Hon. Jack Straw http://news.bbc.co.uk, 1999, March, 25). The remit of this White Paper was to identify a ‘clear focus on fighting and reducing crime’(Justice for All, HMSO, http://www.cjsonline.gov.uk, 2002, July). The rule of law should represent the ideal of a universal goodness exhibiting â€Å"no negative impact on any given society, and no negative characteristics that could apply to its nature’, likening it to Bentham’s ‘good in-and-of-itself’† according to Thompson (Thompson, 1975, Page 266). Unfortunately, it appears to be this concept that has swung too far in the favour of society’s miscreants to the detriment of their victims and the communities in which these offenders live, prompting the current debate on victims’ rights and David Blunkett’s intentions to re-address â€Å"the balance to deliver real justice to victims and the wider community† (Blunkett www.policesupers.com/police, 2002, July). DISCUSSION Whilst all people might be considered equal according to classicist precepts, with governments created by those individuals to protect the people’s rights through the recognition of a social contract (McCoubrey and White, 1999, Page 60 – 84), David Blunkett singles out a specific sector of society by suggesting that: â€Å"nearly three quarters of street crime offenders are under 17 and a hard core five per cent of juveniles are responsible for 60 per cent of offences for their age group† (Blunkett, www.publications.parliament.uk, 2002, November, 14) Clearly, despite the introduction of innumerable projects designed to re-integrate offenders back into their communities, the growth in lawless behaviour has not diminished. Many measures to restrain unacceptable behaviour are now available, amongst which are Youth Offending Teams, Final Warning Schemes, Detention and Training Orders, Acceptable Behaviour Programmes, Parenting Orders, Reparation Orders and Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (Blunkett, www.publications.parliament.uk, 2002, November, 14) although, retrospectively, little appears to have improved. In December 2003 Lord Falconer of Thoroton emphasised that this: â€Å"crime and anti-social behaviour corrupts communities, eating away at the fabric of the way we all want to live our lives† (Lord Falconer, www.dca.gov.uk2003, December 3). An increasing lack of morality appears to be more prevalent within modern society, with Chief Superintendent of Greater Manchester Police describing these amoral youths as â€Å"feral† (The Times Newspaper, 2005, May, 18). Despite all the legislation at the disposal of the criminal justice system, however, the ‘yob culture’ appears to be endemic, with the vulnerable in society more at risk of becoming victims than ever before. The media report lurid headlines on a daily basis: â€Å"Beaten to death on his doorstep† (Daily Mail, 2005, May 21); â€Å"Beaten up on Video Phone† (Daily Mail, 20/05/05); â€Å"Hoody ban eases shoppers’ fear† (Daily Mail, 20/05/05, page 8). The edition on May 19th 2005 reported how ‘thugs attack a funeral car’ by launching an 8 foot length of wood through the windscreen of the car travelling immediately behind the hearse. It has been reported that â€Å"†¦some forces are not making good use of legislation and tackling the imitation firearm problem† (Green, Deputy Chief Constable, Greater Manchester in Daily Mail, 20/05/05, Page 8) when children, some as young as 13, routinely carry replica BB guns, which can cause serious injury to targets up to 30 yards away, around the streets. In 2002 the Home Secretary intended: â€Å"to deliver real justice to victims and the wider community and strike a fair balance between the rights of victims and the accused† (Blunkett, www.policesupers.com, July 17). Evidence of this can be seen in the introduction of Problem Orientated Policing which incorporates community initiatives, together with a number of other stakeholders within the criminal justice system and aims to introduce additional improvements to the youth justice system and establish â€Å"more effective justice for victims and the wider community† through â€Å"more effective punishment and rehabilitation..†.(Leigh, Read and Tilley, 1996). Protecting the community should be at â€Å"the heart of a stable and civilised society† and these changes to the criminal justice system should be in accordance to society’s needs and expectations (Lord Chancellor, www.policesupers.com, 2002, July, 17). An example of which can be seen in South Africa which incorporates the ethos of restorative justice [known as ‘Zwelethemba’] with the essence of maintaining peace in the community (Roche, 2004: 85). Money received from this programme is contributed back into the community to reduce poverty and unemployment and attempt to remove the need for ‘draconian repressive measures’ (Roche, 2004: 231). Blakemore suggests that social policy should evaluate how policies impact on peoples’ lives (Blakemore, 1998: 5). Acceptable behaviour is enforced through law and morality which is maintained through rules and principles: â€Å"the cement of society† (Devlin cited in Elliott and Quinn, 1998: 449). This ‘cement’ illustrates legal moralism that has been identified as ‘socially significant’ (Cotterrell, 1989: 1), providing an analysis of law’s conceptual structures (1989, Page 3) and emphasising the importance of shared values, ultimately influencing individuals’ behaviour (Pampel, 2000: 57) a decline, as the result of organic solidarity differentiating collective conscience, creating an environment for an increase in crime. This philosophy of inter-related support has been recognised as structural functionalism which, taken to extremes, acknowledges that poverty and crime are normal and natural functions within any healthy society ( Pampel, 2000, Page 75). The Legal Action Group, meanwhile, suggest that â€Å"victims’ and defendants’ rights are mutually incompatible† (Cape, 2004) and suggest that victims rights are not being catered for; their rights are neither acknowledged nor respected. However, they also ascertain that, in making it easier to convict defendants is not in the best interests of the victims. The fragility between rights to security and freedom and the obligation to protect communities, reflects a natural result of shared morality without which â€Å"rules would lack meaning† (Pampel, 2000, Page 67). This factor was clearly recognised by David Blunkett who acknowledged â€Å"†¦the public felt that the system had swung too far in favour of the accused† (Criminal Justice Conference, www.cjsonline.org.uk, 2002, June, 19). However, this intensely deep-rooted problem of lawlessness within communities cannot be solved by the police alone. Henham observes that this can only be achieved through: â€Å"disregard of formal legal controls which prove an obstacle to the production of a high conviction rate† although he acknowledges that â€Å"due process† maintains an â€Å"adherence to courtroom procedure and protection of the individual† (Henham, 1998, Page 592). Pampel observes that â€Å"the problems of society become most visible when change occurs, and recent decades have brought immense social and economic changes† (Pampel, 2000: 52). Durkheim, meanwhile, noted that society works best when it exercises control over individuals (Pampel, 2000: 72). Laws are intended to regulate relationships with the result that conflict is avoided, enabling government and education to progress. With the intention of better justice through more consistent sentencing, the White Paper preceding the Criminal Justice Act 1991 suggested that â€Å"convicted criminals get their just deserts† (HMSO, 1990, Cm 965; Worrall, 1995). Restorative justice, however, is identified through mediation, conferencing, circles and reparative boards such as the utilisation of victim/offender mediation with the intention of reconciliation as opposed to merely conciliation, reflecting how restorative justice can fit into the existing criminal justice system and the identity of a modern definition of community, followed by the ethos of forgiveness. Whilst this concept has relevance in today’s society, human rights’ issues and society’s concepts of punishment’s role create a rhetoric which still needs to be resolved. The National Victim Support Programme was considered a way forward with respect to society’s acceptance of restorative justice but: â€Å"both of the major political parties have pursued half formed and in many ways half hearted policies in relation to victims of crime. There is little indication of change in this area† (Newburn and Crawford, 2003 117). Restorative justice is viewed with suspicion due to concern amongst the community in relation to appropriateness of restorative justice for cases of violence and the appropriate punishment in such cases. Added to this, the managerialism and financial control have impacted on the restorative justice movement. Where there is no precedent, the focus of control is balanced between local and central government, with penal reform likely to be forced into the background as: â€Å"the front bench Home Affairs spokesmen of both the major parties battling to out-tough each other, there appears little prospect of coherent and forward-thinking policy-making† (Newburn and Crawford, 2003:178). Individual and collective morality would assume that offenders should be punished to maintain the stability of the community and maintain their safety. A collective conscience ensures that the majority accept the rule of law and accept that deviance needs to be punished. Many organisations have highlighted the growth in recorded crime despite these measures in place to punish the offender. Punishment falls into various areas from incapacitation to retribution, deterrence to rehabilitation. Psychologically, restorative justice is assumed to invoke aesthetic sentiment of forgiveness for miscreants and release for victims. What it fails to do is provide society with assurances that their safety and integrity will be maintained in an atmosphere where the offenders’ rights appear to be upheld in variance with those of the victim, or the fundamental rights the victim is entitled to expect. Conformity through inner positive motivation exemplifies the theory of rehabilitation, although it has been criticised for disparity in proportionality. The concept is not based on the degree of offence committed or focused on the criminal’s past, but on future rehabilitation to preclude re-offending through changes of circumstances. An equally important part of restorative justice must be in measures to prevent crimes being committed. Funding of  £6 million has been invested in a Government programme to reduce crime. Some of these measures include restorative justice, enforcement of financial penalties, CCTV initiatives, treatment of offenders, youth inclusion initiatives, targeting policies and intervention work in schools (www.crimeredution.gov.uk). CONCLUSION Meanwhile, three years after it was recognised that real justice for victims and the wider community might be lacking, many changes to the criminal justice system have been introduced. In terms of victims rights, the criminal justice system is now expected to provide a ‘Victims’ Charter’ that sets out how victims might expect to be treated by the criminal justice system, certain vulnerable victims may be supported by the Victims Support network, and victims of sexual crimes may expect to be advised in advance of the offender being released. Within the terms of the criminal justice system itself these concessions are minimal when correlated with the cost in terms of anguish already experienced by the victims of crime. However, in the wider community even fewer safeguards actually exist to prevent innocent individuals from becoming unwilling victims of an increasingly degenerate society, with those innocent citizens unfairly penalised by the very organisation they would expect to provide them with support in the event of their retaliating and attempting to defend themselves, clearly evidenced in the recent reports in the media, i.e. â€Å"The justice system must be forced to protect the innocent including those pushed through desperation to act extremely† (The Times, 2005, May 5). One of the most topical stories in the media is the evolving ‘happy slapping’ craze with both the victims and the wider community now more vulnerable than they ever have been. When it comes to the death of an elderly pensioner innocently walking home and attacked by teenagers, and a plank of wood hurled at a funeral procession it is more than apparent that David Blunkett needs to provide a more effective means of delivering real justice for victims and the wider community, not just re-balancing the system, but completely re-evaluating the whole ethos of a citizen’s right to defend themselves without the additional fear of retribution from a criminal justice system that has more empathy with the offender than it does for the victim of crime. Total Word Count (excluding bibliography) 2,000 words BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS: Blakemore, Ken (1998): Social Policy: an Introduction: Buckingham, UK:  Open University Press, Page 5 Cotterrell, Roger (1989): The Politics of Jurisprudence: a Critical Introduction to  Legal Philosophy: London, UK: Butterworths Devlin cited in Elliott, C Quinn, F (1998): English Legal System (2nd edition):  Essex, UK, Addison Wesley Longman Ltd: 449 Leigh, A; Read, T; and Tilley, N (1996): Home Office Problem-orientated Policing:  Published in Brit POP [Foreword]. In Police Research Group Paper [75]. London: HMSO Newburn, Tim and Crawford, Adam (2003) Youth Offending and Restorative  Justice: implementing reform in Youth Justice. Cullompton: Willan Publishers Pampel, Fred (2000): Sociological Lives and Ideas: Basinstoke, UK: Macmillan  Roche, Declan (2004): Accountability in Restorative Justice. Oxford: Oxford  University Press Thompson, E.P. (1975). Whigs and Hunters. NY Pantheon ARTICLES: Henham, Ralph (1998): Human Rights, due process and sentencing.  In British Journal of Criminology, Issue 38, Page 592 Daily Mail Newspaper, 2005, May 19: Thugs attack a funeral car   Daily Mail Newspaper, 2005, May 20: Green, Deputy Chief Constable,  Greater Manchester, Page 8 Daily Mail Newspaper, 2005, May 20: Beaten up on Video Phone, Front Page Daily Mail Newspaper, 2005, May 20: Hoody ban eases shoppers’ fear, Page 8 Daily Mail Newspaper, 2005, May 21: Beaten to death on his doorstep, Front Page The Times, 2005, May 5: The justice system must be forced to protect the innocent  including those pushed through desperation to act extremely   ONLINE RESOURCES (All Sites visited 24/05/05. Hyperlinks functioning) Blunkett, David (2002, June, 19): Balance of rights essential to effective justice.  Speaking at the Metropolitan Police Modernising Criminal Justice Conference http://www.cjsonline.org.uk/news/2002/june/balance_of_rights.html Blunkett, David (2002, July 17): Justice for All Radical reform of the Criminal  Justice System unveiled. Criminal justice reforms unveiled. Announcement from Home Secretary to the Police Superintendents Association of England and Wales http://www.policesupers.com/police-supers-news.asp?news_id=139 Blunkett, David (2002, November, 14):  http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmvote/21114v01.htm   Blunkett, David, introducing the publication of the new White Paper, ‘Justice for all’,  2002, November 14: speaking at 3.30pm at the Youth Justice Board Annual   Cape, Ed (2004): Reconcilable Rights: analysing the tension between victims and defendants. Legal Action Group, 2004. http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:FHPdMNH7Xw0J:www.rethinking.org.uk/informed/lagbriefing.pdf+current+debate+regarding+victims%27+rightshl=en Cape, Ed (2004): Reconcilable Rights: analysing the tension between victims and defendants, Legal Action Group, 2004. In Victims’ and defendants’ rights:  can they be reconciled?. Rethinking Crime Punishment, 2005, April, http://www.rethinking.org.uk/informed/lagbriefing.pdf Convention at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre, Westminster.  http://www.youth-justice-board.gov.uk/NR/exeres/73CB0429-624C-4CB5-98E2-EBBC8EF6E88C.htm Chief Secretary, Alan Milburn: (1999, June, 10):  £30 MILLION INVESTMENT TO  STREAMLINE THE JUSTICE SYSTEM. HM Treasury Press Release, Available at: http://www.hm-reasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/press/1999/press_93_99.cfm Criminal Justice Conference, (2002, June, 19): Balance of Rights Essential to  Effective Justice. London: HMSO http://www.cjsonline.org.uk/news/2002/june/balance_of_rights.html HMSO, (1990): Crime, Justice and Protecting the Public. Cm 965. London: HMSO.  http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:n-zy-8yFCIEJ:webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/1996/issue3/rtf/henham3.rtf+HMSO%2BCrime,+Justice+and+Protecting+the+Publichl=en Home Secretary Rt Hon. Jack Straw, 1999, March, 25:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/303474.stm Home Secretary Rt Hon. Jack Straw speech in full (1999, September 30): the full  text of Home Secretary Jack Straws speech to the Labour Party conference. UK Politics http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/461967.stm Justice for All (2002, July), London: HMSO.  http://www.cjsonline.gov.uk/downloads/application/pdf/CJS%20White%20Paper%20-%20Justice%20For%20All.pdf Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine (2002, July 17): Justice for All Radical reform of the  Criminal Justice System unveiled. Criminal justice reforms unveiled. Announcement from Home Secretary to the Police Superintendents Association of England and Wales http://www.policesupers.com/police-supers-news.asp?news_id=139). Lord Falconer of Thoroton, 2003, December 3, DCA: Justice, Rights and  Democracy http://www.dca.gov.uk/speeches/2003/lc031203.htm Right Honourable Lord Justice Auld (2001, September): A Review of the Criminal  Courts of England and Wales. http://www.criminal-courts-review.org.uk/ Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer of  Thoroton (2003, December 3): DCA: Justice, Rights and Democracy. Speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research, http://www.dca.gov.uk/speeches/2003/lc031203.htm Worrall, Anne (1995): Real Punishment for Real Criminals? Community Sentences  and the Gendering of Punishment. http://www.britsoccrim.org/bccsp/vol01/VOL01_10.HTM

Degeneration of Kurtz, Colonialism, and Imperialism in Heart of Darknes

Degeneration of Kurtz and Colonialism in Heart of Darkness       Kurtz was a personal embodiment, a dramatization, of all that Conrad felt of futility, degradation, and horror in what the Europeans in the Congo called 'progress,' which meant the exploitation of the natives by every variety of cruelty and treachery known to greedy man. Kurtz was to Marlow, penetrating this country, a name, constantly recurring in people's talk, for cleverness and enterprise. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a portrait of the degeneration of the ideal of Kurtz symbolizing the degeneration of the ideal of colonialism as 'civilizing work'.    The fading of the idealist mirage of 'civilizing work' in Africa has to be one of the central themes of Heart of Darkness. This theme forms the background of the whole story, from beginning to end, before the character of Kurtz is even introduced.    The focus of Heart of Darkness is not on the direct effect of the colonial presence on the native population, but on the reflected effect on the colonial occupiers. Centrally, the whole story being told directly is the effect on Marlow of his colonial adventure. Marlow here reflects or represents his Western ideological origins coming to terms with the reality of the Congo. It was not merely the economic relations of commodity exchange which so often in the colonies, it was the respectability of society; it was the very identity of the occupying force and it was the emptiness of the western colonial myth of individualism. The degeneration of Kurtz is thus inseparable from the 'other' degeneration.    Marlow, on his return to civilization, learns from Kurtz's cousin that he was a "universal genius" (Conrad 71). What ... ...ause the heart of humanity does not lie in the individual, it lies outside, in society, in language, in active engagement with a human world. Kurtz was more capable than anyone else of conquering the world, but the world, and the savagery, conquered him.    Works Cited Adelman, Gary. Heart of Darkness: Search for the Unconscious. Boston: Little & Brown, 1987. Bradley, Candice. "Africa and Africans in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." (24 Jan. 1996). Online Internet. 3 October 1998. Available: http://www.lawrence.edu/~johnson/heart. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. 17th ed. New York: Norton, 1988. Rosmarin, Adena. "Darkening the Reader: Reader Response Criticism and Heart of Darkness." Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism. Ed. Ross C. Murfin. New York: St. Martin's, 1989.       Degeneration of Kurtz, Colonialism, and Imperialism in Heart of Darknes Degeneration of Kurtz and Colonialism in Heart of Darkness       Kurtz was a personal embodiment, a dramatization, of all that Conrad felt of futility, degradation, and horror in what the Europeans in the Congo called 'progress,' which meant the exploitation of the natives by every variety of cruelty and treachery known to greedy man. Kurtz was to Marlow, penetrating this country, a name, constantly recurring in people's talk, for cleverness and enterprise. Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is a portrait of the degeneration of the ideal of Kurtz symbolizing the degeneration of the ideal of colonialism as 'civilizing work'.    The fading of the idealist mirage of 'civilizing work' in Africa has to be one of the central themes of Heart of Darkness. This theme forms the background of the whole story, from beginning to end, before the character of Kurtz is even introduced.    The focus of Heart of Darkness is not on the direct effect of the colonial presence on the native population, but on the reflected effect on the colonial occupiers. Centrally, the whole story being told directly is the effect on Marlow of his colonial adventure. Marlow here reflects or represents his Western ideological origins coming to terms with the reality of the Congo. It was not merely the economic relations of commodity exchange which so often in the colonies, it was the respectability of society; it was the very identity of the occupying force and it was the emptiness of the western colonial myth of individualism. The degeneration of Kurtz is thus inseparable from the 'other' degeneration.    Marlow, on his return to civilization, learns from Kurtz's cousin that he was a "universal genius" (Conrad 71). What ... ...ause the heart of humanity does not lie in the individual, it lies outside, in society, in language, in active engagement with a human world. Kurtz was more capable than anyone else of conquering the world, but the world, and the savagery, conquered him.    Works Cited Adelman, Gary. Heart of Darkness: Search for the Unconscious. Boston: Little & Brown, 1987. Bradley, Candice. "Africa and Africans in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." (24 Jan. 1996). Online Internet. 3 October 1998. Available: http://www.lawrence.edu/~johnson/heart. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. Ed. Robert Kimbrough. 17th ed. New York: Norton, 1988. Rosmarin, Adena. "Darkening the Reader: Reader Response Criticism and Heart of Darkness." Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism. Ed. Ross C. Murfin. New York: St. Martin's, 1989.      

Cause of Cyberbullying Essay

Cyber-bullying is when a person uses the Internet in order to deliberately cause repeated harm to another individual or to embarrass them. Cyber-bullying can include threats, sexual harassment or continued unwanted contact with a person via email, social networks, forums or instant messaging. Cyber-bullies have also been known to post personal information such as phone numbers, addresses and full names on forums or other websites. Almost half of American teens have experienced cyber-bullying. In a study conducted by iSafe. rg, 42 percent of kids have been bullied at least once while online. Twenty-five percent of those kids have had this happen multiple times. One in five kids has been threatened multiple times online. Over 20 percent of kids have received threatening emails. Fifty-eight percent of kids have not told anyone about their cyber-bullying experiences. Almost half of the kids who experienced cyber-bullying had no idea of their perpetrator’s identity. Many individuals choose to cyber-bully others online because they can hide their identity. Cyber-bullies often create fake screen names, social profiles, and email addresses in order to harass and bully their victim without being recognized. This allows the bully to be free of getting into real trouble for their behavior. There can be some serious effects on the victims of cyber-bullying. Many victims have increased suicidal thoughts, fear, worry, frustration, anger, depression, becoming paranoid and a decrease in self-esteem. Sometimes a victim may even begin avoiding their friends and normal activities due to their anger and frustration. Teens often begin to do worse in their classes due to their minds not being on their school work but on their cyber-bully. The effects of cyber-bullying can, in rare cases, cause a victim to commit suicide. There have been four cases of suicides due to cyber-bullying recorded in the United States. Cyber-bullying adult victims can cause the victim to lose earnings, reputation and employment opportunities. Cyber-bullies may post the victim’s name and make up various lies about the person, defaming them. Many employment companies do a web search on a person’s name before hiring them and this may be something that they find. Children and teenagers are becoming more technologically savvy and are looking to the Internet and their cell phones for entertainment, and to social networks to meet new people who share the same interests as them. It was only a matter of time before bullying made its way to the Internet, especially through modes like MySpace and Facebook. Cyber-bullies have been making news lately with the recent deaths of children across the nation who has perished because of online bullying campaigns. Some examples of cyber-bullying include sending threatening emails, text messages or comments to another person; tricking someone into revealing private or embarrassing information and sending it to others; breaking into someone’s email or social media account and sending false messages to others while posing as this person; and creating web pages to make fun of another person. Even though the bullying doesn’t take place on a one-on-one basis, Myspace cyber-bullying and other forms of cyber-bullying still show the same effects. Rather than just being bullied while in the classroom or playground, children can be the target of cyber-bullying 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Some of the more general effects of cyber bullying include poor performance at school, depression and low self-esteem. Because cyber-bullying can take place outside of the classroom and at a more frequent rate, the child may experience more extreme cases of these effects. Cyber-bullying also can happen accidentally. The impersonal nature of text messages, IMs, and emails make it very hard to detect the sender’s tone, one teen’s joke or sense of humor could be another’s devastating insult. Nevertheless, a repeated pattern of emails, text messages, and online posts is rarely accidental. Bullying has been around for many generations and some people would say that it is just a part of growing up. If your child experiences physical threats, report it to the owners of the websites or local officials and keep a log of the bullying. As the saying goes, â€Å"What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. † However in today’s technologically advanced age, the death of a child is never worth it.

Meiosis and Genetic Diversity in the Model Organism

4 November 2013 Section 24 TA- Erik Ohlson Meiosis and Genetic Diversity in the Model Organism, Sordaria flmicola Introduction Research groups from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine and the Institute of Evolution at the University of Haifa have been studying the model organism, Sordaria fimicola, in regards to controlling cross over frequency in response to environmental pressures. Sordaria fimicola is a good model organism because it has a fast life cycle and elongated asci that are easily seen under a microscope.In addition, there are multiple different combinations of ascospore olors due to recombination during meiosis. Evolution Canyon is the research model for this experiment because of its exceedingly differing slopes. The South facing slope (SFS) receives high temperatures and droughts due to the high solar radiation. On the other hand, the North facing slope (NFS) exhibits shadier, cooler, and more humid climates. Asexual filaments were collected from e ither slope and grown in the lab.Wild type spores(black spores) were acquired from self-cross between the asexual filaments and spore color mutants (tan spores) were obtained from wild type trains that produced non-black spores that arose spontaneously within each population. They made crosses with wild type vs. tan spores from differing slopes (NFS-SFS) and found that cross over frequencies between the differing slopes was great (Hass and Ward, 2010). Contrary to previous belief, cellular mechanisms were influenced by environmental conditions; this tells us that differing environments can lead to different recombination frequencies.In our part of the experiment, we created a control where the spores were grown under the same optimal lab conditions. The combinations of ascospores we observed include, 4:4, 2:2:2:2, and 2:4:2. During meiosis, 4 ascospores are produced after crossing over occurs. Then the spores undergo a series of mitosis where 8 spores are then created. In a 4:4 reco mbination, there could either be 4 tan then 4 black or 4 black than 4 tan. In the 2:2:2:2, there could be tan, black, tan, black or vice versa. In the 2:4:2, there could be tan, black, tan and so on.Therefore, 6 different combinations asci classes can occur. Our goal for this experiment was to identify the different spores, cross over frequency, and mapping distance. However, there were challenges in preparing the squashes, and then identifying the different spores. Methods We divided the petri dish into four sections, where the wild black type samples were diagonal from each other and the tan type samples were also diagonal from each other hyphae side down onto mating agar to increase the possibility of crossing over to occur.After two weeks, using an inoculating loop, we scraped some perithecia from the center of the dividing lines where we believed crossing over occurred. We then placed them on slides with a drop of water to observe the crossing over requencies under a microscope . Pressure was applied to the coverslip in order to release the asci from within the perithecia in order to count the frequency of each asci type. To calculate cross over frequency and map distance, we used the formulas: 1. % Cross Over=( # of recombinant asci/ total # asci) x 100% 2.Map Distance= % cross over/ 2 *Note that map distance accounts for all spores, but in our experiment only half crossed over, we divide by 2. Results Table 1. Individual Data. This illustrates the number each recombination found within our picture we were provided. Non-recombinant Recombinant Total # of Asci Total # Recombant Asci (B+C) # of Type A Asci # of Type B Asci # of Type C Asci 8 5 3 4 Table 1 illustrates the number each recombination found within our picture we