Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 6

Government - Essay Example 2012 Republican Party of Texas (2012), Republican Party mission is to promote conservative philosophy of government by promoting conservative principles and providing the infrastructure through which the people sharing conservative values participate in the political system (3-5). On the other hand, Texas Democrats believe in democratic government that serves all the citizens indiscriminately. Considering the issues of protecting life, the Republicans believe that human life begins from fertilization to natural death while Democratic party believe that the product of joined egg and sperm has no independent status or rights. Republican Party of Texas also supports the legal marriage and moral commitment between a natural man and a natural woman unlike the Democratic Party that is opposed to other attempts to deny the freedom of same sex marriage (Sevilla Web). Additionally, Republicans consider that America is a nation under God and founded on Judeo-Christian principle but the Democrats recognize that no Texan should not be forced to live under religious doctrines to which they do not subscribe. Moreover, by looking at the school choice, the Republicans encourage maximum freedom of choice in public, private, or parochial education while Democrats oppose private school vouchers in all forms and strengthen state oversight of homeschools (â€Å"2012 Texas Democratic Party† 3-6). Republicans also oppose sex education other than abstinence until marriage while Democrats support effective, comprehensive age appropriate sex education program. Regarding health care, Republicans urge the passage of a reform that results in a more affordable healthcare including tort reform and urges immediate appeal of the â€Å"Obamacare’ while Democrats believe that health care is a right and supports the right of women to acquire contraception. In addition, Parental Rights on Education shows differences in ideologies where the Republicans assert that parents have the right and

Culture, Technology, and Expansion Assignment Essay

Culture, Technology, and Expansion Assignment - Essay Example Structures and cultural elements such as, human creations have offered social relations organization tools, relations among social systems, and a connection of environment with the social systems. The science creating a reflection of the world expansion in terms of new technologies, information and dependence, has integrated the global socio-cultural systems through civilization (Fernandez-Armesto, 2001, p. 22). Technological benefits have initiated the worldwide expansion. Over historical models, technology has successfully served societal needs tremendously. The modern society in terms of durable institutions is as a result of technology. Technology has internationalized science in which students can easily access information to get the required skills in various educational fields. Widely accessed education decreases the gap within social classes. Economic development is stipulated through new technologies. Population enriched through education initiates growth within a nation. T hrough out history, technological dynamisms have improved economic set ups of many countries. For instance, industrialization has boosted the economy of many western countries (Targowski, 2008, p. 34). In worldwide expansion, the technological progress is cost oriented. In order to attain industrialization in a given country, i.e. shifting from traditional modes of production to the current ones, hiring of machinery and skilled labor is required. Such machinery and skilled labor are expensively acquired. Modern technology requires intensive training. Cost incurred and time for training workers makes global businesses decrease their production. New modes of technology are implemented in the global education system which makes education expensive to acquire (Fernandez-Armesto, 2001, p. 29). Current expansion is affected either positively or negatively by the technology. Positively, technology ensures effectiveness and efficiency in

Behavioural and Cognitive Approaches to Learning

Behavioural and Cognitive Approaches to Learning Compare and contrast two perspectives in psychology and the ways in which they study learning. Illustrate you answer with specific research examples from Chapter 3 of Book 1. There are a number of perspectives regarding psychology that explore the nature of learning. However, for this assignment the two perspectives chosen are the behavioural approach to learning and the cognitive approach to learning. The behavioural approach to learning involves the observation of behaviour in conjunction to the environment. The behaviourist approach to category learning was introduced by Watson and expanded upon in principle by Pavlov‘s and later Skinner’s research. These formed the two general perspectives in conditioning. Classical conditioning was introduced by Pavlov (Miell et al, 2002). Pavlov observed that in relation to certain stimuli an animal’s behaviour could be manipulated through association. Using the animal’s typical response to hunger, it was indicated that there was a crucial relationship between a stimulus and a learned response. His work indicated that an animal’s natural reflex to hunger could be conditioned through an association to a manipulated neutral stimulus (Miell, 2002). This manipulated response was named the conditioned response. This relationship formed the basic premise to the concept of psychological learning from the perspective of classical conditioning. Operant conditioning introduced by Skinner suggested a notion of interactive learning rather than responsive learning. Using reinforcement, Skinner manipulated the environment of some Rats to see to what extent their behaviour could be shaped through conditioned learning which indicated levels of intelligence rather than that of pure responsive learning (Skinner, 1948/1990). The rats in his experiment changed their behaviours through techniques such as positive reinforcement. This provided evidence for the nature of learning as being one of interaction rather than purely adherence to responding to stimuli. From both of these perspectives that form the behavioural approach we can see that shaping and manipulation of the external environment as being paramount to the nature of learning. Although observable through behaviour this approach does not in any way attempt to incorporate the nature of the individual within the learning process. Contrastingly, the cognitive approach focuses entirely upon thought processes and the faculties associated with the conceptual mind to in an attempt to draw out and understand the nature of learning. The cognitive approach addresses the processes involved in categorising, generalising and conceptualising the external world and how these concepts form perspectives. The cognitive approach to learning typically concerns itself with the faculties of memory and categorisation and how they relate to perception (Miell, 2002). The role of perception with relation to memory and categorisation within learning formed the interest of the psychologist Bruner. He devised a test to measure and explore the nature by which people constructed categories. Vastly different to operant and classical conditioning, Bruner’s findings suggested that there was an intelligent procedure in operation during learning that performed by way of hypothesis testing. This was indicated as being understood through stages of either acceptance or rejection based upon an intelligent process of trial testing (Bruner et al, 1956). The experiment gave the subject a set of pictures each portraying a variety of shapes. These formed the different conditions to be measured. Some of these pictures shared the same number of shapes, some of them shared the same colour of shapes and others shared the same number of borders surrounding the shapes. In each condition the shapes were marginally different. From the findings of his experiment, Bruner suggested that there were two forms of learning that could be identified in the learning process. These were named successive and conservative scanning (Bruner et al, 1956). Successive scanning was the type of learning that used the trial process of attempting one hypothesis at a time before acceptance or rejection. Conservative scanning revealed a deeper form of learning process that categorised certain classes of type before carrying out the accepting or eliminat ing of hypotheses. The latter type of category learning is subsequently a much faster and more efficient process. However, not everyone within the field of the cognitive approach to learning accepts the notion of hypothesis testing. Many researchers and theorists related to the field have argued that categories are an innate factor and so hypothesis testing is not required in the learning process (Fodor Chomsky, 1980). The main implication in this idea is that empirical category learning may not be done with the rejection of hypothesis but with the rejection of the externally governed conceptualisation of the external world. In essence, it is suggested in this approach to cognitive learning that we may need a new conceptual model for cognitive learning theory rather than that have it depend upon the convenience of presuming hypothesis testing (Fodor Chomsky, 1980). This internal theoretic argument within the cognitive approach does strengthen the behavioural emphasis that is put on the limitations of the psychological investigation. Essentially, the conceptual structure of the mind is open to interpretation as subjectivity is so very difficult to measure. As the behaviourist approach only uses observable findings it can be said that it does not to suffer from the impracticalities of this vast theoretical debate. However, this debate regarding the operation of the mind with relation to the learning process is perhaps very worthy of investigation as ending it, and thus defining learning, as an observable behaviour is hugely reductive. In both of the approaches covered in this assignment we have seen that there is a fundamental difference in cognitive and behavioural based learning. The behavioural approaches are fundamentally interested in the nature of stimuli and how behaviour can be shaped through associative learning. Whereas the cognitive ap proach is fundamentally interested in how the conceptual mind comes to categorise the external world and thus learn from it. Although both approaches form contrasting view points both agree on the fundamental principle that learning is an essential part of psychological life that is formed in correlation to the external environment. Essentially, it can be said that both approaches are vastly different. However, it should also be said that both address the individual’s relationship to the physical world with regards to learning. Bibliography Bruner, J, S., Goodnow, J, J., and Austin, G, A., (1956) A Study of Thinking New York: John Wiley and Sons. Chomsky, N., and Fodor, J, A., (1980) Statement of the Paradox, in Piatelli Palmarini, M. (ed.). Miell, D., Phoenix, A. and Thomas, K. (2002) Mapping Psychology 1. Milton Keynes, Open University. Skinner, B, F., (1946/1990) Walden Two London: Collier Macmillan.

The Physics of Cross-Country Skiing :: physics sport sports cross country ski

Missing Figures Cross-country skiing is as much of a competitive sport, as it is a back country one. Cross-country skiing is enjoyed by people of all ages, and can be relatively inexpensive. There is no need for lift tickets and with a little maintenance equipment can last for decades. As a result of its broad audience, many people don't realize that physics plays a large role in cross-country skiing. This web page was designed to briefly describe some of the concepts behind the physics of skiing, and give a basic understanding of both the sport and the science. Friction is obviously an important factor of cross country skiing. On one hand, friction is necessary because without it a skier wouldn't be able to ski up hill or even move on flat surfaces. However, when racing, skiers prefer to have the smallest friction force working on them possible. In order to reduce the frictional forces which would slow them down, skiers wax the bottom of their skis. The types of wax which they apply to their skis have different functions. The hot wax which is applied to the entire ski reduces the friction between the ski and the snow. This allows the ski to glide on the snow and gives the skier more distance for each stride. Another type of wax is applied to the "kicker". The kicker is the area under the bindings. In other words the kicker is the area where most of the gravitational force of the skier is applied. Skiers apply a type of wax to the kicker that will cause the friction coefficient to increase. This allows skiers to be able to push off and ski uphill. In order to begin their outdoor adventure, a skier must first face the forces of static friction. Static friction is the force that keeps the skier at rest. As the skier overcomes the static friction there is a point where the coefficient of friction is greater than that of the kinetic friction that resists the skiers motion. It is clear to see this concept in the figure below. From the figure above, it is also easy to see that the kinetic friction remains almost constant for a range of speeds. This kinetic friction is the force which slows the skiers down after they start moving.

Children of the Sea by Roger Michell Essay

In â€Å"Children of the Sea†, there is a lot of pain, suffering, mischief, and sometimes happiness. Throughout the story there are many internal and external conflicts. It has to do with a lot of mixed emotions and full of lessons learned, where a boy and a girl in love write letters to each other. The main conflict in this story has to do with the Militia’s and the Radio Six Youth Group. The Militia’s were people or soldiers who were trying to take over Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Radio Six Youth Group was young adults or teenagers who went against the Militia’s and expressed themselves through the radio. The boy in one of his letters he claimed that â€Å"It was nice to have a radio like that for a while, where we could talk about what we wanted from government, what we wanted for the future of our country.† He said this because he believed that the Macoutes were dirty mean people. Therefore the Macoutes did not like this and so they would kill an yone who was against them. In addition to this conflict, Madan Roger; Port-Au-Prince resident, the girls’ neighbor, had a son that was part of the Radio Six Youth Group. One day the Macoutes killed him and only returned his head to Madan Roger. Madan Roger was in so much agony, she was also very furious with those filthy Macoutes and so she started yelling mean and nasty things to them. The Macoutes had this thing to barge into people’s homes and make the mother and son, and the father and daughters have sexual intercourse. One afternoon the Macoutes went into Madan Rogers’ house looking for her son, but Madan Roger started yelling and screaming â€Å"You already killed him, do you want to kill him twice? Go ahead and kill me you already did the worst thing possible to me, kill me!† They started to pound on her, you can hear the guns coming down on her head, and Manman (The Mother) whispered to Papa (The Father) You can’t just let them kill her, go and give them some money like you did for your daughter Papa said that the only money he has left is to get them out of Port-Au-Prince tomorrow morning. He can’t just give up on they’re future that he has planned out for them in Ville Rose. The next day after Madan Roger was beat to death, the girl, her father and mother were finally going to leave Port-Au-Prince. â€Å"Papa did not want to go in Madan Rogers’ house and check on her before we left; he thought the soldiers might still be in there.† The girl and her mother were very sad about what happened to their neighbor, and so to show how much they care they both wrapped black cloth around their heads. Reading â€Å"Children of the Sea† made me realize that not only I have been through some difficulties in life, but so can other people; and maybe even worse. Throughout this story, I learned to appreciate more people and things in life, that you should not take anything for granted and that we should be thankful for who and what we have in our lives each and everyday.

Langston Hughes’ “Montage of a Dream Deferred” Essay

Published in 1951, Langston Hughes’ â€Å"Montage of a Dream Deferred† is a collection of poetry which explores the theme of racism and utilizes rhythm to make the pieces almost musical. The work â€Å"Harlem† quickly became one of the most popular of the anthology. Later the title was changed to â€Å"Dream Deferred†, but in analyzing the poem, it is easier to understand in context of its original title. Although the poem was popular with Hughes’ fans, who continued to appreciate the outpourings from this writer closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance, there are those who critically examined the work and found it to be too ambiguous and lacking in real poetic structure. The poem itself is comprised of a list of rhetorical questions which answer themselves. The answers are written as similes, such as â€Å"raisin in the sun† and in the last stanza, â€Å"like a heavy load† (Grimes). These similes appeal to all the senses: visual – â€Å"dry up† and â€Å"crust†¦over†, feel – â€Å"sags† and â€Å"heavy load†, auditory – â€Å"explode†, olfactory – â€Å"stink† and â€Å"fester† and â€Å"rotten meat† – and the sense of taste, as well – â€Å"syrupy sweet† and â€Å"raisin†, (Hansen). The last line â€Å"does it explode?† is a metaphor referring to the way a dream can be like a time bomb – it must be used before the time when it will detonate inside a person. Hughes employs the use of rhyme, as well, such as â€Å"sun† and â€Å"run† and â€Å"meat† and sweet†. In this way, the poem has a somewhat musical tone when spoken aloud and the short stanzas provide an easy structure. Hughes uses imagery, as well, to give the reader a clearer picture of his intent. â€Å"Raisin in the sun† is particularly evocative of an item withering away while â€Å"fester like a sore† gives the reader a grim visual and denotes the bitterness of the writer. In interpreting â€Å"Dream Deferred†, it must be taken into account that Hughes was well-noted for his scant use of words to convey the issues and circumstances most affecting Black Americans of the time period. In this case he is asking a question which means more than just its surface meaning. â€Å"What happens to a dream deferred† is referencing the dreams, the goals, the visions, most particularly of Blacks, who have been denied many of the privileges of their White counterparts. Hughes answers the question with several lines evoking imagery. â€Å"Like a raisin in the sun† is a reminder of skin, both in its dark color and wrinkled image, and could even reference days spent toiling in the sun by migrant workers working in the fields. That fact that the dream dries up could also refer to it becoming less valuable, or less viable (Grimes). During the time Hughes grew up, he could very well view a lofty dream as being impossible to attain due to his race and thus the issue of racism is once again addressed by Hughes in this poem. â€Å"Dream Deferred† also answers the question by stating the result of ignoring a dream may be for it to â€Å"fester like a sore† and â€Å"then run†. In this case, the dream, if not tended to, may become â€Å"infected† by a lack of motivation, or opportunity, or circumstance. The reference to the stink of rotten meat refers to the nurturance required to make a dream reality. Without proper preservation, a dream â€Å"may decay because it dies† (Grimes). When Hughes uses the terms of crusting over and syrupy sweet to describe a dream deferred, he makes an analogy to something which started out as a treat but becomes unusable if it is, again, not properly cared for. A dream which once held hope â€Å"hardens into an unusable substance† (Grimes). The deterioration depicted can be further assumed to be referring to the state of the Black population and Harlem itself. Hughes was worried about the â€Å"widespread poverty, drugs, and crime of the 1950s† (Mueller) and felt the society he was most familiar with was experiencing a general decay. Instead of continuing to answer the question, the second stanza gives a set of possibilities: maybe it sags, maybe it becomes a heavy load, maybe it just explodes. If working toward the dream seems impossible, it can deflate, become a burden, or perhaps it causes the dreamer to erupt due to the unrealized end to his goal. The burden can be an expression of depression, or the loss of will to make a dream come true. The explosion could occur in the form of death – not necessarily a literal death, but the death of a person’s soul, or motivations, or hope to change his life. This explosion and death also analogizes the life of Black Americans at the time. According to Hansen, â€Å"Its disintegration mirrors the continuing failure of American society to achieve harmonious integration of blacks and whites†. For so long, the race had been oppressed and the pent-up frustrations and anger of Hughes’ fellow Blacks, could very well one day explode in a burst of violence (as if often did). Hansen criticizes the unity of â€Å"Dream Deferred† by referring to it as a mass of â€Å"unresolved conflict†. According to Hansen, its elements, form, and structure are all at odds with themselves and do not follow that often prescribed for poetry of the period. He states that most of the answers Hughes gives to the question â€Å"What happens to a dream deferred?† are not declarative and the only one which is, â€Å"maybe it just sags† loses its significance because it is written without force and does not provide a conclusive answer (Hansen). Hansen also decries Hughes’ usage of stanza breaks. The middle five lines are indented, giving more weight to the first line (the question), and the last (the answer), although Hansen feels the middle lines are much more dramatic and should have been given the emphasis. As well, Hansen criticizes the structure in that the rhyming lines are not placed in logical order and thereby lose their musical resonance and the importance of the pairing of oppositions. Hansen sums up the contradictory nature of the poem and its ideas by reiterating the lack of forceful answers, the final answer which is tentative in its assertion, the division of stanzas which remove the importance of pairing opposites, and a failed rhyme scheme in â€Å"Dream Deferred†. While Hansen’s criticism of the work has its merits, there is still an important message regarding racism within Hughes’ poem, one which the author reiterated in many ways. Through the use of imagery, metaphor, and similes, many of which are uncomfortable, Hughes airs his frustrations regarding race separations. Often Hughes employed a sardonic tone to get his point across and educate the general public about the effects of racism (Mueller). Even as he began to achieve some fame and acclaim for his literary works, Hughes wanted to be known as one of the more common folk and let others of his race know that he, too, experienced their frustrations and anger. To this end, Hughes was quite successful. He, as well as his peers, had all experienced the emotions accompanying a dream which seemed impossible. Although â€Å"Dream Deferred† couches his message in rather repugnant phraseology, it is effective in bringing forth a natural fighting instinct to rail against the dictates of a racist society and this is exactly what Hughes desired to do. Works Cited Hansen, Tom. â€Å"On ‘Harlem’†. Modern American Poetry. Retrieved March 27, 2008 from the Modern American Poetry Website: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/hughes/harlem.htm. Mueller, Michael E. â€Å"Black Biography: Langston Hughes†. From Answers.com. Retrieved March 28, 2008 from the Answers.com Website: http://www.answers.com/topic/langston-hughes-poet-writer Grimes, Linda Sue. â€Å"Hughes ‘Harlem: A Dream Deferred’: Analysis and Commentary†. Suite 101. February 1, 2007. Retrieved March 28, 2008 from the Suite 101 Website: http://poetry.suite101.com/article.cfm/hughes___harlem__a_dream_deferred_.