Duke Universitys Talent Identification Program

A lot of colleges and institutions offer programs and opportunities for young kids with bright futures, especially during the summer. John Hopkins, Harvard, Stanford – the list goes on. At a young age, even saying the name of these universities gave me chills. Each of these prestigious universities houses the buildings that have seen the passing of Presidents and Nobel Peace Prize winners, walkways that have been treaded on by the most powerful men and women of our age and ages past. When Duke University first approached me in the form of a crisp, white envelope folded in with bills and advertisements, I was only in seventh grade. If high school still seemed like a hazy fever dream, college was only a myth, a fable. To apply to Duke University’s Talent Identification Program (TIP), I took the SAT beside students many years my seniors, brow pinched as I scribbled in answers to questions over materials I’d yet to learn. Somehow I managed to qualify for their summer program. Spending three weeks of my warm summer days in college dorms, taking a rigorous college-level course was, actually, my idea of an awesome vacation. I would learn philosophy, neuropsychology, the resonating effects of the Cold War, live on my own (sort of) in a college dorm! What I didn’t expect was that I’d have so much fun. I had neglected to think about the friends I’d make: other nerdy kids who finally understood me. It was living, sleeping, learning with these new peers, whispered conversations in quiet dorm rooms after lights-out, muffling hysteric laughter into pillows that made the 3 weeks so worthwhile. Want to know more about Duke University? Unlock this package of Duke students to learn more! We refused to say goodbye, because we were going to see each other again the next year. For the next three years, no matter what we did the rest of the year, we would always come back for those three weeks. What had seemed like an innocuous opportunity to expand my academic horizons ended up being something that shaped me into the person I am today. I made friends when I was eleven that I talk to daily today, friends who fly across states, drive for hours for a few days spent together, a reminder of the summers we had that changed us irrevocably. Duke TIP was something I’ll always remember, a part of me I would never give up. It’s an experience I wish everyone could have, and one I whole-heartedly recommend to everyone who can afford it. It shaped me into a person I can be proud of, let me delve into a world of academia I could only dream of before, and allowed me to meet the future leaders of the world, people I am honored to call my friends. Interested in Dukes TIP program? For more information, you can check out the programs they offer to students in your grade. If you are still looking for summer school opportunities, you can also refer to our list of competitive summer programs.Written by an Intern.

Legality Of Same-Sex Marriages Essays - Baehr V. Miike, Free Essays

Legality Of Same-Sex Marriages Essays - Baehr V. Miike, Free Essays Legality of Same-Sex Marriages The proposed legalization of same-sex marriage is one of the most significant issues in contemporary American family law. Presently, it is one of the most vigorously advocated reforms discussed in law reviews, one of the most explosive political questions facing lawmakers, and one of the most provocative issues emerging before American courts. If same-sex marriage is legalized, it could be one of the most revolutionary policy decisions in the history of American family law. The potential consequences, positive or negative, for children, parents, same-sex couples, families, social structure public health, and the status of women are enormous. Given the importance of the issue, the value of comprehensive debate of the reasons for and against legalizing same-sex marriage should be obvious. Marriage is much more than merely a commitment to love one another. Aside from societal and religious conventions, marriage entails legally imposed financial responsibility and legally authorized financial benefits. Marriage provides automatic legal protections for the spouse, including medical visitation, succession of a deceased spouse's property, as well as pension and other rights. When two adults desire to "contract" in the eyes of the law, as well a perhaps promise in the eyes of the Lord and their friends and family, to be responsible for the obligations of marriage as well as to enjoy its benefits, should the law prohibit their request merely because they are of the same gender? I intend to prove that because of Article IV of the United States Constitution, there is no reason why the federal government nor any state government should restrict marriage to a predefined heterosexual relationship. Marriage has changed throughout the years. In Western law, wives are now equal rather than subordinate partners; interracial marriage is now widely accepted, both in statute and in society; and marital failure itself, rather than the fault of one partner, may be grounds for a divorce. Societal change have been felt in marriages over the past 25 years as divorce rates have increased and have been integrated into even upper class families. Proposals to legalize same-sex marriage or to enact broad domestic partnership laws are currently being promoted by gay and lesbian activists, especially in Europe and North America. The trend in western European nations during the past decade has been to increase legal aid to homosexual relations and has included marriage benefits to some same-sex couples. For example, within the past six years, three Scandinavian countries have enacted domestic partnership laws allowing same-sex couples in which at least one partner is a citizen of the specified country therefore allowing many benefits that heterosexual marriages are given. In the Netherlands, the Parliament is considering domestic partnership status for same-sex couples, all major political parties favor recognizing same-sex relations, and more than a dozen towns have already done so. Finland provides governmental social benefits to same-sex partners. Belgium allows gay prisoners the right to have conjugal visits from same-sex partners. An overwhelming majority of European nations have granted partial legal status to homosexual relationships. The European Parliament also has passed a resolution calling for equal rights for gays and lesbians. In the United States, efforts to legalize same-sex domestic partnership have had some, limited success. The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. reported that by mid-1995, thirty-six municipalities, eight counties, three states, five state agencies, and two federal agencies extended some benefits to, or registered for some official purposes, same-sex domestic partnerships. In 1994, the California legislature passed a domestic partnership bill that provided official state registration of same-sex couples and provided limited marital rights and privileges relating to hospital visitation, wills and estates, and powers of attorney. While California's Governor Wilson eventually vetoed the bill, its passage by the legislature represented a notable political achievement for advocates of same-sex marriage. The most significant prospects for legalizing same-sex marriage in the near future are in Hawaii, where advocates of same-sex marriage have won a major judicial victory that could lead to the judicial legalization of same-sex marriage or to legislation authorizing same-sex domestic partnership in that state. In 1993, the Hawaii Supreme Court, in Baehr v. Lewin, vacated a state circuit court judgment dismissing same-sex marriage claims and ruled that Hawaii's marriage law allowing

New Believers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

New Believers - Essay Example This paper will share these insights. As a new believer, the Bible and its teachings offers a lot of insight to many challenges. The Bible is the believers’ reference as it defines how we should live and what God promises us as believers. Indeed, the Biblical teachings address almost all problems that believers may experience. As such, when I face challenges in life, I find encouragement from the Bible since the Bible asserts that everything happens to the glory of God and that God cannot subject us to challenges that we cannot overcome. Indeed, my assurance relies on the promises of God (North American Mission Board, 1993). Most assuredly, the Bible reckons that as believers, we are overcomers. Indeed, God wants us to know that believers have eternal life based on the facts found in the Bible (North American Mission Board, 1993). Therefore, anytime I read the Bible, I draw a lot of encouragement well knowing that even Jesus Christ faced major challenges despite being the son of God. Nevertheless, just as Jesus o vercame, the Bible teaches me that as a believer, I will overcome. Advice from my spiritual leader also acts as an insight in my life. Indeed, it has always been encouraging to share spiritual challenges with spiritual person. My spiritual offers me encouraging advice based on Godly teachings. Indeed, his advice relies on Biblical interpretations. As a new believer, I have limited knowledge on Biblical interpretations and hence I seek the counsel of my spiritual leader. Moreover, he prays for me and preaches to me with a view of helping me understand human challenges in the spiritual life. Indeed, he acts as my confidante as I tell him anything that is disturbing me. In many occasions, my spiritual leader has helped me to address spiritual and human challenges. Ultimately, guidance from my mother acts as an insight in my life. Ideally, a parent acts as the earthily God who is very significant in child

Managing in a global society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Managing in a global society - Essay Example In this scenario, strategies are adopted in taking into account different layers of parameters with the first being culture of the host nation, and subsequently situational as well as strategies pertaining to the process of centralization or decentralization. Understanding and adopting culture of the foreign subsidiary nations, current global industrial trends, pertinent values, and important principles are the contributing factors for the successful global commercial venture. Conventionally economic and management factors are considered while framing strategies for developing international business relations however research and studies have found tremendous impact of culture on establishing strong foreign relations in the form of joint ventures as well as fully owned subsidiaries. Some of the studies suggest joint venture as the most adequate strategically motivated move with the nations having vast cultural differences or vice-versa. However to achieve success, trustworthiness and reliability should be taken into consideration while reducing risks for any opportunistic tendencies. As different cultures have different levels of trustworthiness, it is equally important to weigh all the possible outcomes, opportunities as well as obstacles before forging international relations. ... ould forge a new relationship with the host nation having vast cultural differences by fully utilizing its extensive knowledge (Lee, Bang, Ha & Lee, p. 3). As a CEO of UK firm, I need to take into consideration various cultural parameters if subsidiary in USA and Japan has to enter into success. There is no doubt a fact that in both the USA and UK, language is same and United Kingdom would need little of adjustment while dealing with Americans in contrast to Japan, yet for Americans this assumption puts them in the most difficult situation and less productive. As Craig Storti suggests, â€Å"Because we speak the same language, Americans think they’re not going to have any communication problems with the English,† (Doke 2004, p. 1) but in reality there is a vast difference as the language that appears to be same but have different phrases, unfamiliar terms and meanings. George Bernard Shaw, 20th century Irish playwright and a political strategist, once claimed that Unite d States and England are the two nations having same language still they are divided. It is quite true that the major difference is in English language and its usage can cause many problems and obstacles for the Britons and Americans who are working together as for instance Americans make use of the sports metaphors quite often while having business talks which can be very difficult for us to understand. On the other hand, Britons are habitual in speaking more but with fewer words and this often become the most ordeal task for the Americans to understand (Doke 2004, p. 1). According to Doke, â€Å"Unfamiliar nuances and British attitudes about work, personal ambition, individualism, efficiency, business meetings and communications may run counter to your employees’ experiences and expectations† (2004,

Impact of Movies in Generating Social Awareness

Impact of Movies in Generating Social Awareness INTRODUCTION Movies are rollercoaster ride that have the tremendous power to entertain and to teach. They can be a powerful tool to bring about effective social change true or false? It seems intuitive and logical that a well made film- especially one with a compelling narrative and well-crafted outreach plan would serve as a catalyst to change minds, encourage viewers to change entrenched behaviors, and start inform or reenergize social movements (Diana Barrett and Sheila Leddy, Assessing Creative Medias Social Impact, Fledging Fund, Dec08). But another group of people believe that it can be surprisingly difficult to make a firm connection between the power of a film and social change so the social impact of movies needs to be better understood and documented although it is important to note that not all films are intended to be agents of social change, nor should they be. Some are simply lovely moving stories whose primary purpose is to entertain and share a compelling story. Researchers also believe that even if movies do not intend to contribute to the formation of values, they most assuredly do. By virtue of its interactive nature and arousing content, movies are influencing our values and expectation of reality, regardless of our willingness to be influenced. Although the learning is unintentional, it is just as effective as intentional learning and influences our thoughts and behavior. The impulse to celebrate the impact of movies is understandable-all that glamour, glitzy visibility and cultural panache (G. Kendrick MacDowell, Yes, movies affect us, but). Movies can be seen as a source of diversion in peoples everyday lives. They are loved by one and all, irrespective of gender and age. It cannot be out rightly denied that movies influence us and affect our behavior in some way or another. The impact can be either good or bad. The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between films and coordinated outreach efforts as change agents. i.e. whether an individual would actually change his opinion after seeing a movie. If yes, then movies are a very powerful medium to fight against the perils of the society. RESEARCH AVAILABLE Early studies on impact of movies on people In 1920s movie exploded as mainstream entertainment as there were no radio or TV set during that period. A lot of researchers believed that movies had impact on attitude and behaviours of people and they launched a series of studies focusing on effect of films. There were 13 studies conducted primarily by Edgar Dale. He studied film content and categorized them into 10 groups. An observation which came out was more than 75% fall into crime, love and sex categories. Interestingly same kind of trend can also probably been seen today. Edgar Dale used census, survey, questionnaires, case studies and personal interviews in his study. It was observed movies caused attitude, emotions, behavioural change in people who were the part of the study. Herbert Blumer conducted questionnaires and interviews with people to study how watching movies affected their behaviour. Most of the people who were studied believed that they had been influenced by movies in some way (A brief History of Media Effects Research). In one of the study, Andrew Butler of Washington University decided to simulate a classroom where films were used as a teaching tool. The accurate version of an historical event was taught to the students and they were also made to watch a movie associated with that event. The movie that was shown contained both accurate and inaccurate information about the historical incidents they depicted. The idea was to see which method led to the most accurate comprehension of the events: teaching or watching a movie. The results were really interesting, when the information in the film and the reading were contradictory that is, when the film was inaccurate the students were more likely to recall the films distorted version and were very confident in their memories, even though they were wrong (Herbert, Wray, I Learned It at the Movies, Scientific American Mind). In the last ten years, however, outreach strategies, have become a central component of movies, spurred by a new generation of producers (Whiteman, David , The evolving impact of documentary film: sacrifice and the rise of issue-centered outreach (1)). Thus at the societal level, movies are assumed to play a role in transmitting, maintaining, and reinforcing the societal and cultural consensus. They cultivate images of society by interpreting the world in terms of what is what is important what is right' and what is related to what else. In other words, movies generally show a view of reality (Kane, Harrison D., Taub, Gordon E., Hayes, B. Grant, Interactive Media and Its Contribution to the Construction and Destruction of Values and Character). Films affect perceptions that people hold about the world at large and its inhabitants in particular. Even though some people may like to disregard cinema as only a frivolous means of entertainment and nothing beyond that, one cannot ignore the fact that there have been film makers who have managed to lift veil on a hidden plight. It might be about an injustice to a minority, or the courageous story of change by a single individual, but either way it raises awareness about the issue at hand (Robert Oakes, Movies Promoting Social Change). One of the most popular papers on this topic considers the following factors to be important for a movie to make an impact: Quality of the movie The movie should have a compelling narrative that can not only engage the viewers but also illustrate complex problems in a lucid manner. Ability of the film to create awareness about an issue- Awareness is the first step to any kind of social change. Care should be taken to see whether the film could reach people beyond those who already knew and cared about the issue illustrated in the movie. Public engagement This implies not only being aware of the issue to taking action on it. To evaluate a films success in this regard one can look at participation in response to facilitated dialogues, blogs, activity on various social networking sites and participation level in various Actions campaigns that are organized around that issue. The ultimate objective is the social change. It is a long and complex process, however, in some cases there are key indicators of success. These can be in the form of legislative or policy changes or a shift in public dialogue or how issues are framed and discussed. A lot of film makers are making full use of the social power of the internet to drive their social campaigns. Not only are viewers being encouraged to visit and discuss the movie on online forums after having viewed it ,but, a lot of filmmakers are also using websites to create a community before the film has been released. This is slowly becoming a critical strategy to deepen the reach and impact of films. Engaging a pre release audience increases their investment in the film and logically increases the likelihood that they will see the film and take some action. The film makers are expanding their digital reach to the likes of Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and Twitter to draw in new and diverse audiences who generally may not have been interested in a movie of that particular genre or issue. (Diana Barrett and Sheila Leddy, Assessing Creative Medias Social Impact, Fledging Fund, Dec08) RESEARCH GAP The current research available is mainly based on the movies being an effective teaching tool but little research is available on role of movies and their influence on values of an individual to generate social awareness. The little research that is available is based on impact of Hollywood movies (English) which become rather irrelevant as majority of people in India primarily watch Bollywood movies. We came across no article that measures the change in social behaviour of people vis-Ã  -vis a Bollywood movie. This is a research gap which we would like to address by trying to analyze the effect certain Hindi movies had on changing the perception of masses pertaining to particular social issues. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The purpose of the paper is to understand and analyze the extent to which movies influence peoples perception about various social issues. Contributions of factors such as the movie characteristics, movie success in making a movie an effective instrument for generating social awareness will also be analyzed. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS Hypothesis 1: Movies have a favorable impact in generating social awareness. Hypothesis 2: Box office success of a movie is the most effective factor in generating social awareness. The variables and the metrics for measurement can be listed as: Concept Variable Instruments Respondents attributes Age Gender Questionnaire (closed questions) Movie Characteristics Storyline Questionnaire Interviews (Rating Scale Likert Scale) Popularity of director Questionnaire Interviews (Rating Scale Likert Scale) Popularity of the star cast Questionnaire Interviews (Rating Scale Likert Scale) Promotion Done Questionnaire Interviews (Rating Scale) Success of the movie Critical Acclaim Secondary Data Box Office Success Secondary Data Awards Won Secondary Data Action Pre- Post Questionnaire Impact Pre- Post Questionnaire Media publicity Secondary data Pre- Post Questionnaire to gauge the level of participation (Rating Scale) MODEL The model links the movie characteristics and success of the movies to the overall social awareness generated. Respondents attributes consisting of gender acts as the mediator for this model. The constructs decided for the research are: Movie Characteristics: This construct consists of variables such as the storyline of the movie, popularity of the director star cast and the promotion done for the movie Success of the Movie: This construct consists of variables such as critical acclaim, the movies box office success and the various awards won by the movie Social Awareness Generated: This construct consists of certain variables such as the action taken, the impact generated and the media publicity generated due to the movie Respondents age and gender are taken as the mediator to analyze whether they have any influence on the success of the movie and consequently the impact generated by it. Both primary and secondary data will be used to measure the various variables used in this research. For the primary data, an online questionnaire will be given to people across different age groups. We plan to survey as many people as possible who are regular movie watchers, regular readers of newspapers, magazines and people who watch television are exposed to the internet. We will also go through relevant articles and journals from EBSCO and other web sources to carry out a literature review, which would consist of the secondary data. The issues we would be addressing are patriotism, religious tolerance and women empowerment. We would take 2 movies per issue and study the impact they had. The movies chosen would be differentiated on the basis of the variables we define. Movie Characteristics Success of the Movie Social Awareness Generated The variables will be measured with the help of the survey floated to the respondents. The variables will be measured with the help of : Primary data gathered through a survey floated to the respondents Secondary data in the form of online research and literature review The variables will be measured with the help of : Primary data gathered through a survey floated to the respondents Secondary data in the form of online research and literature review Model Parameters Movie Characteristics: This parameter consist the characteristics of the movie, various components which define the movie Storyline This component indicates how well the issue has been depicted through the movies script. The film should have a compelling narrative that can not only engage the viewers but also illustrate complex problems in a lucid manner. Popularity of the Director Star Cast The popularity of the director has a major impact on the pre release success and ratings a movie. The more the popularity and fame of the director and the star cast the more will be people talk about it. Promotion Done This component will incorporate the promotional activities undertaken before the release of the movie. The pre-release promotion and publicity of the movie plays a significant role in the revenue generated. Through our research we will try to analyze how these variables impact the success of a movie and the social awareness generated by it. Success of the Movie: Different people have different criteria while measuring the success of a movie. For some it is the revenue generated by the movie, for others it comprises of the number of awards the movie has won. The various components which represent a movies success are listed below. Critical Acclaim Movies are often judged by the reviews from the critics. Many people go to watch a movie only if it has a good critical rating. Word of mouth is usually perceived as more credible and trustworthy, and it is more readily accessible through social networks (Banerjee 1992; Brown and Reingen 1987; Murray 1991). Box Office Success This component refers to the box office revenue generated by a movie. This directly depends on the ticket sales and the number of people who come to watch the movie. Many people associate the success of a movie with the revenue generated by it. Awards Won The success of a movie also depends on the number of awards won by it. Movies like Ben Hur, Titanic and Lord of The Rings are considered to be one of the most successful movies and each of them won 11 awards at Oscars. Social Awareness Generated: The ultimate objective is the social change. It is a long and complex process, however, in some cases there are key indicators of success. These can be in the form of legislative or policy changes or a shift in public dialogue or how issues are framed and discussed. One needs to be clear about the kind of social issue that a movie addresses and accordingly set reasonable expectations in respect of impact generated. In this paper we intend to evaluate the social change in the society by the following three variables: Action- Under this we look at the short term effect i.e. in terms of the immediate actions taken by the respondents as result of the impact caused by the movie in question. Impact- This variable looks at a more long term effect caused by the movie in terms of changes in peoples perception, attitude and behavior towards a particular issue or cause. Media Publicity- The social awareness generated by the movie can be assessed by the publicity generated in the media about the issue addressed in the movie in terms of talk shows dedicated to it, stars who endorse the issue, forum dedicated for it on social networking sites and articles or papers published in the print media. In this research paper we intend to study these variables via pre-post questionnaire, where in we will try and gauge the change in the level of activity under all these variables before the respondents saw the movie and after they saw the movie. Literature Review Diana Barrett and Sheila Leddy in their paper Assessing Creative Medias Social Impact (Fledging Fund, Dec08) stated that while looking at a movie as having the potential for social impact it is important to move beyond the box office success and look at the overall impact generated. While one looks at the number for people who saw the film, whats more important is how many people understood the issue for which it was made. It is not reasonable to expect broad social change if there is little awareness of the fact that a problem exists. In some cases, just getting the audience to watch the film and better understand the issue is sufficient. Creating awareness is of prime importance while trying to bring a social change. According to this study the films promotion and outreach activities play an important role in not only increasing the size of the audience and sales but to use films as vehicles of social change. The core dimension of impact remains the quality of the film. This basically means that the film should have a compelling narrative that can not only engage the viewers but also illustrate complex problems in a lucid manner. For this measure researchers look at a lot of dimensions such as festival acceptance, theatrical success, online buzz, international and national DVD sales as well as traditional film reviews and awards. The next is the ability of the film to create awareness about an issue, as awareness is the first step to any kind of social change. Here the researchers have considered both the audience size as well as the diversity of the audience. It makes an attempt to see whether the film could reach people beyond those who already knew and cared about the issue illustrated in the movie. A regularly debated question is whether the presence of stars critical to the success of a movie? The industry is full of actors and actresses but it is the ones who are on the top of the pyramid who command the highest payments. There is a lot of academic literature on whether the presence of stars affects the performance of a movie, however, the results have been mixed. Direct and absolute causal relationship has not been established. Movies are complex creative goods that are the results of teams of creative people working together (Caves 2000). A popular star as a part of a movie is like a source of free advertising for the movie. He/she can help the film maker to garner valuable resources (in this case the audience) for him/her to be able to reach out to the masses to make the presence of his movie felt (Anita Elberse , The Power of Stars: Do Star Actors Drive the Success of Movies?). In the arena of new product development, word of mouth (WOM) plays significant roles because building consumer awareness is of vital importance, and consumers need information when deciding whether to purchase a product they do not know well (Mahajan, Muller, and Kerin 1984). Word of mouth is supposed to be more credible and trustworthy, and it is more readily accessible through social networks (Banerjee 1992; Brown and Reingen 1987; Murray 1991). A McKinsey Company study found that 67% of the sales of consumer goods are based on WOM (Taylor 2003). EXPECTED FINDINGS This research aims to analyze whether movies have a favorable impact in generating social awareness. The literature review shows that people are influence by movies and their behavior and thought process is shaped by what they see on celluloid. Through this paper we want to study how peoples thought process, perceptions, attitude and actions change if the movie is successful in generating awareness about a particular social cause. In addition to this we would also be studying the various factors that determine the success of a movie as contributors to the social impact generated by the movie. In this category our primary focus would lie on finding out whether box office success of a movie is the most effective factor in generating social awareness or not. This is because the box office result of the movie is the most widely known and acknowledge parameter to establish its success. LIKELY IMPLICATIONS Likely implications of this research is that if movies can be established as an instrument for creating social change, then they can be used effectively in the future for generating awareness about various social issues and mobilizing the masses for the same. Some of the benefits that are likely to arise as a result of this study are: Understand the extent to which the various determinants of success factor influence the social impact generated Influence and impact of the star cast, directive and narrative in facilitating the reach of the movie and the issue involved to the audiences in various strata of society Analyzing the sustainability of the awareness created among the people LIMITATIONS Limitations of this research study would be as follows: The respondents personal bias towards the movie or its related characteristics such as star cast et al. may distort the responses obtained There is scope for recency error to occur when respondents are asked to recollect details about the movie characteristics The sample taken for study is very small and may not be much diversified as compared to the actual population that watches movies FUTURE RESEARCH Further research may be carried out on a more extensive scale to determine exactly what factors influence the impact of a movie on the people and accordingly an appropriate mix of these factors can be designed to make a movie more effective. Specific research may be carried out to determine those issues where movies as a medium of social change are most effective.

Power of Men in William Shakespeares The Winters Tale Essay -- Europ

Power of Men in William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale It has been said that in "The Winter's Tale" Shakespeare dramatises the contemporary struggle between masculine and feminine power. In light of this comment, examine the presentation of the relationships between men and women. Despite their many differences, contemporary society is now only beginning to realise their equal and respective roles in society. Since the beginning of time a contemporary struggle for equality has been present between masculine and feminine powers. The biblical stories of creation have often been used as an excuse to mistreat women. The mythical story of "The Garden of Eden" has been used to display women being easily seduced into wrong doing "The woman saw how beautiful the tree was and how good the fruit would be to eat... so then she took some of the fruit and ate it", how women corrupt men into wrong doing "Then she gave some (the fruit) to her husband, and he also ate it," illustrating women being dependant on men and men as dominant leaders going out to hunt for food "made him cultivate the soil from which he had been formed". Also because the male was created first "God took some soil from the ground and formed man out of it" he is often thought as being the perfection of c reation, where as the female is a helper "he formed woman out of the rob (Adam's.)" Â  Even after the Women's Social and Political Movement (WSPU), the work that the women assured responibility for during the World Wars and the feminist movement of the 1960's for women to be equal to men politically, economically and socially, inequality still exists today. The search for equality between sexes began in the early twentieth century with the WSPU and continues to the tw... ...nist Criticism and Shakespeare." London: Cornell Univ. Press, 1985. Mackey Sally and Simon Copper "Drama and theatre studies." Stanley Thornes Neeley, Carol Thomas. "The Winter's Tale: Women and Issue" (1985). Reprinted in the Signet Classic Edition of The Winter's Tale. New York: Penguin, 1988. Pyle, Fitzroy. The Winter's Tale: A Commentary on the Structure. New York: Routledge & Paul, 1969. Richards, Adam and Gerald Gould "Into Shakespeare: a introduction to Shakespeare through drama." London: Warlock Educational publishers (1977) Tillyard E.M, "Shakespeare's last plays." Chatto and Windus Wilson, Dover "Life om Shakespeares England" Cambridge University Press Folger Shakespeare Libary: www.folger.edu/ Internet public Libary- Shakespeare bookshelf: www.ipl.org/div/shakespeare/shakespeare.html Absolute Shakespeare- absoluteshakespeare.com/

Catholic Church In Ireland Essay

The role of Catholic Church in the development of the education system in the nineteenth century Ireland.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Catholic Church in Ireland was known as Romans Catholic Churches. The church was headed by a pope. In Ireland the Catholic Church was organised in dioceses and parishes, which was headed by the archbishops, bishops and priests. The catholic church of Ireland had various religious orders among which were fathers of the Holy Ghost, Vincentians Capuchins, and Augustinians among others and all of their either participated in offering missions or teaching. In Ireland, there were priests’ societies and they were in various countries, with missionary society of St. Columbia being located in country math, and St. Patrick’s missionary sociated situated in country Wicklow.[1] In Ireland there was the freedom of religion, and this was after the redrafting of the Ireland constitution in 1937 and it was then when the special position which was kept aside specifically for religion was abolished. During this period, there were many churches in Ireland, and thus by considering catholic church, it does not mean that this was the only church. Other churches in Ireland included the Presbyterian, Eastern Orthodox, and Salvation Army among others. Ireland is one of the places with oldest history of churches and Christianity in general. Ireland had the first missionary from France in year 431 and he was known as palladius, because the Irish believed in Christ, the pope saw it necessary to send this missionary to the Ireland in order to continue spreading the gospel. The achievement of palladius was termed by some people as a failure but due to his ability to come up with some churches in laigin, others see that the palladius visit was a success because he was able to start his mission. EDUCATION IN IRELAND In Ireland, religion as well as the practices associated with religion are considered very important and are adhered to the dot. Ireland having the various Christian groups, the majority of the Irish population are known to be Catholics from Rome.[2] The Irish people are united and respect everyone’s religion. This is a very good consideration that promotes education, and lack of the respect can cause a lot of negative impact in the education system. In Ireland, and apart from Christians, there are also Bahais Islamic, Hindus, Buddhists, and people who had the Jewish faith, but all these people lived together as a society united by the respect they had for each other’s religion. This contributed a lot to the provision of education to the Irish people.[3]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Irish people liked being education, and traditionally the adored and honoured education. Despite their differences in terms of religion, they ensured that their children had access to education while still in his or her early childhood. This was enforced by all people and to facilitate education to all children, this was indicated in their constitution. To further enhance this, many education institutions provided free education to the Irish children in various education levels. The Irish education was divided into levels and to facilitate graduation from one level to another, the children were expected to have passed in their previous level. These levels started from the primary level, which admitted young children of about six years and then the secondary level which came as a result of passing the primary level. The third level was the level of higher education where the education attained in the first two levels was furthered, courses and technical training was offered in this level as well as the degrees and post graduate levels of education.   Ireland thus was among the countries which are recognised to have participated fully in education and with a high number of students enrolling and completing their education to even the higher education level. This has made their graduates to be recognised internationally with many countries and companies employing the graduates in their organisations and companies. This shows that the country produces high qualified and competent graduates. Catholic Church in the development of the education system in the nineteenth century. Catholic Church was of great implication in the development of education system in Ireland in the nineteenth century. Bearing in mind that in Ireland education is compulsory the Catholic Church played a big role in ensuring that this education was compulsory to al children despite their family’s financial status. The catholic churches came up with mass education system in Ireland. This was as a result of the contribution of the catholic missionaries in the valuing of the mass education. [4]They knew with this, many children could have access to the education with an equal provision of this education to all children considering nothing else, but just the need for the education to all.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Catholics constructed schools which were headed by Catholics leaders and teachers. Among these schools were the elementary schools where the head inspector was a catholic dean and local inspector a priest. The school also have committee and teachers who were Catholics. These types of schools never mixed students in terms of sexes and the children thus could be easily protected. The normal schools were headed by priest as the president and teachers had to be Catholics. These schools were involved with teaching and training teachers. These schools were very important in the development of the Irish education because they enhance qualified teachers available to educate the small children and the youths in their other schools.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Catholic Church saw the great need of religious education to both children and youth who live in the community[5]. They believed that children who get the religious education are at a better position in their society since the education guides the maturing child mind in a way which a child can know what is expected from him or her, in relating with other people in the society, and in the moral understanding. The catholic schools for children ensure that the children are taught and learn on how to have devotion and how to work. This is enhanced by creating time for devotions and time for communal work, thus ensuring that all children participates in these work and learning on how to do various works, in various situations and within a limited time. This helps the children to be able to have devotions in their future lives and also to fit in the society which requires industrious or rather hard and actively working individuals. The school’s equipped children with the knowledge and understanding inculcating obedience to parents and people in authority. This helped the children to understand the roles of the authority and what is expected from them by the parents and the people in authority. This enhanced respect to all people in the society in which the children lived. Children grew up being honest to all people in the society and intelligently. From this we can see that the catholic churches contributed a lot in the education during the nineteenth century since their schools were foundations which not only provided education which was compulsory, to all children, but also had the best for the children, facilitating easy relationship among the children, and also with other people in the society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The catholic churches had various teaching orders. They could use school, or even arrange for camps. All these were targeting at providing religious education and other form of education of children and youths. The catholic churches provided training for the youth concerning the religion principles. These principles gave the youth the best in regard to the religion. This helped the youth to have clear vision on what they are expected do in the society, and also training them to how to be morally upright. Ireland just like any other society had moral values and there was the standard which every Irish was expected to live in. The Catholic Church thus took the initiative to prepare the youths with these expectations, and this helped the youth to cope with life. The catholic churches gave this to the youth, by holding youth seminars, and youth discussions where many youths, were assembled and the catholic teachers and other catholic individuals were used to teach the youths.[6] This had great impact in the society, because the youth could learn a lot from these training on top of their classroom. The education which these catholic churches gave to children and youths also inhibited differentism, and Ireland being a large country with many people and of different religion, these children and youths could use the knowledge acquired from this training take each other in the society in a similar manner, and this helped a lot in maintaining unity and peace among the people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The catholic churches had a different way of contributing to the education of their country’s people. With this I mean the catholic churches ensured that education was free to all children by paying taxes. The tax income was used to manage and maintain the needs and requirements of the free education. This was because many children were getting their education in public schools as compared to the catholic schools, and with this high number of the children thus promoting the children’s education.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For the catholic schools, the catholic churches gave volunteer was as part of their contribution to their schools. By doing this, the financial requirements of the catholic schools were minimised and the money which they saved from the minimised use of finances was used to help the public schools. The volunteer work in their church schools was given to specifically approved schools, and these schools had a better chance of enrolling more students thus ensuring education to all children.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The catholic churches ensured that the books which were used by the catholic teachers to educate children were selected by the priest and also ensured that the books have what was good and right for the children. This was done to ensure that the children engaged in reading books which could enable them to develop good morals, and achieve the best knowledge. The catholic churches, volunteers were also willing to provide their personnel, materials and time for the sake of education of the children.[7] The manager of the catholic churches and catholic schools created a chance for interschool activities, whereby the pupils in the catholic schools could interact with pupils from protestant schools and other public schools. This played a big role in enhancing the pupils’ relationships and doing of field work in a joint manner. The pupils could be able to learn new ideas and get extra knowledge as a result of combining the new ideas with the ones they already had. From this joint fieldwork, the pupils were able to pick some challenges from other schools, and at the same time being in a state of learning their strength and weaknesses, which would help them in analysing and rectifying where they had the wrong move or ideas. This learning as a result of joint fieldwork was based on the pupils of both catholic schools and any other participating schools, thus from the wide range of participating schools, children got extra education. Catholic schools were looked upon by the society. The catholic churches were involved with practicing degree of control in civil society. The churches ensure that they practices what was up to their region and this is what they tried to put in the pupils minds. The catholic churches were one of the agents who participated in introduction of new integrated education, as they considered the involvement of children from different backgrounds in terms of religion to have impact on the learning of the pupils.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Later during the nineteenth century a philosophy requiring man to have equal supremacy with state was invented. This never discouraged the Catholic Church in its attempt to provide education to all children. Due to the development in industries, it happened that various machines were to be used in the industries.[8] To operate these machines, the operators were required to have training in all the machine operating procedures. This was based in the states’ side and this means the Catholic Church experienced challenges as quite large of the students had to shift in order to achieve this. The Catholic Church was the primary agent in provision of education and with this, the church aimed at providing the best not considering other factors. Many were times when the Catholic Church went short of funds to finance the education. This was usually a challenge but the Catholic Church never gave up, but rather went ahead to volunteering and offering whatever they could get. This was usually a challenge because other public schools used to get some funds from the government, unlike the Catholic Church, but they kept moving on in providing education despite all this.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Catholic Church teachers operated in teaching children in seasons. This was because during winters, the pupils were not usually in sessions.[9] The Catholic Church teachers ensured they provided education, by moving from one place to another either within one parish, or across many of them, and sometimes even from place to place, searching for pupils to teach once they got enough number of pupils to teach, they taught as long as their strength, willingness and time was being utilised in a way to benefit a pupil.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Many of the pupils came from poor backgrounds and despite the lack of money and buildings to use as a place to call a school, the Catholic Church teachers ensured they went along teaching pupils and making Ireland to have more educated people as when comparing to the bordering countries.[10]When the churches gave free catholic schools, and mostly in urban areas the pupils and teachers used the churches as the venue for their education and the teachers got salary from funds generated from parochial, and this ensured that they taught pupils without being harassed by the government.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Later a national education system was introduced after a debate in parliament. This ensured that pupil from poor backgrounds. This education focused on providing separating religious education and enhancing literacy and morals. This wanted to abolish the favours related to religions and all Christians without considering their denomination were considered when making the application to the schools. However some funds were required for maintenance of school the teaching staff’s salary and in order to buy books.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The mode of teaching was different from the teaching done in the catholic churches, because for this national education system, a week was divided in order to facilitate the teaching of literacy and moral and this was done in the five days of a week, and the other two days the religion education was taught. This ensured separate teaching of both the religion education and the moral and literacy education they later considered to offer religion advices every day after the normal moral and literacy classes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Several churches objected this form of education. The first to refuse were the Presbyterians who opted to have their children having their education based on their denomination. This brought some disputes and later it was passed that there was a freedom for the religious education to be taught on regular bases just like the moral and literacy education. For the children of the parents who felt their children needed it, and the freedom of parents who felt their children do not required the religious instructions to be picking their children before the instructions starts. The Catholic Church then joined in refusing and argued that their children needed religious education in equal proportions to moral and literacy education. The Catholics were not up to the claims which authorised established church to have the power to manage the schools, and the fact that bible scriptures were not to be included in the times when general instructions were being taught to children.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Catholic Church continued to give trial to its mode of education despite the fact that providing the building for the children being education was limited and the government who were against the idea. The financial status of the Irish people also kept giving the Catholic Church challenges since it was always poor to support their children’s education. The Catholics objected the national education system because the commissioners ensured that they benefited from the states funds without really caring about the many places with the fund deficiency and which can be helped by providing these funds. The Catholics felt very bad because of this. However they had nothing better to do than objecting from the public side because even the ratio of the Catholics representing them was very low, and due to this, they always have not voice in the commission. The ration contrasted with the actual ration of the catholic in the total population, because Catholics were the majority in entire Ireland population.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Catholics held their point that they needed their schools having the religious instructions available for their children. This was because some of the scriptures which appeared in text books used by the children and teachers in class were neither valid, nor recognised by the Catholics and their authorities and these books had a lot of the Ireland culture and tradition as the only reference.[11] The Catholics objected this arguing that a good education system need to provide knowledge and intelligence to a pupil, as well as giving the instruction concerning religion which enhanced moral development of children and better relationship of the children and other people in the society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to the proposal of the new education system, there was to be a school of teachers where training of the teachers who would teach the pupils was to be done. The proposal indicated that the institution would be the only recognised training institution, a teacher from any other training institution would be considered not qualified and not having competency in teaching, hence not allowed to teach in Ireland. This acted as a provocation to the Catholics who objected furiously and they were denied the request to have a catholic appointed to on behalf of the catholic teachers’ religious training. This resulted to very few Catholics enrolling in the training school, and the managers of the Catholic schools decided not to accept some few places which were being given to their teachers in the training college.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Most of the managers in the schools were not quality but the proposal insisted on training teachers specifically at the proposed training school, and most of the trainers of the trainees were not professionals, and they targeted on training about philosophy and theology since majority of them were priests. In Ireland the primary schools have higher population as compared to secondary schools and universities. Just as there are many issues left un sorted in primary education same case applies to secondary schools which have fewer population and thus less schools. Comparing the Catholic Church influence, there was a chance for Trinity College and two universities to be found, and this shows how the education system under the Catholic Church was more organised and with a focus compared to the National education system.[12] To conclude, the Catholic Church contributed a lot in the education development in Ireland in the nineteenth century and it’s good to credit the Catholics effort and devotion for the Irish people education. The catholic teachers and other Catholics individuals who committed themselves in generous provision of education to all children not considering their financial background. It’s through the hard struggle of the Catholic Church that the education of Irish people became a success.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   References Bruce F., Biever, Religion Culture Values, Ayer United State 1976. Christ, L, Sherry, E, American Catholism, Appleton-century-croft, London, 1961. Coolahan, J, Irish Education History and Structure. Institute of Public Administration United State, 1981. Hansard, C, Parliamentary debates, T.C Hansard, Great Britain, 1824. Herbermann G, Catholic Encyclopaedia, Encyclopaedia Press, United State, 1913. Lowe,R,History of education,Routledge,United States,2000. Maguire, F, Nineteenth-century Catholic Education, Library Ireland, 1868, Retrieved on 15 March 2008,http://www.libraryireland.com/Maguire/XXVI-1.php. MCDowell, B, Ireland church in 1869-1969, Routlege, United States, 1975. Murphy D, History of Irish Emigrant and Missionary Education, Four Courts Press, Ireland, 2000. Thomas A, Catholic Church and Secondary School Curriculum in Ireland. Peter Land, New York, 1999 vol 5 William B, History of Western Education. Black, United State, 1947 Wiseman, N, Dubling review, Burns and Oates, London, 1961 [1] Thomas A, Catholic Church and Secondary School Curriculum in Ireland. Peter Land, New York, 1999 vol 5 [2] Lowe, R, History of education, Routledge, United States, 2000. [3] William B, History of Western Education. Black, United State, 1947. [4] Murphy D, History of Irish Emigrant and Missionary Education, Four Courts Press, Ireland, 2000. [5] Maguire, F, Nineteenth-century Catholic Education, Library Ireland, 1868, Retrieved on 15 March 2008,http://www.libraryireland.com/Maguire/XXVI-1.php [6] McDowell, B, Ireland church in 1869-1969, Routlege, United States, 1975 [7]Herbermann G, Catholic Encyclopaedia, Encyclopaedia Press, United State, 1913 [8] Hansard, C, Parliamentary debates, T.C Hansard, Great Britain, 1824. [9] Coolahan, J, Irish Education History and Structure. Institute of Public Administration United State, 1981. [10] Christ, L, Sherry, E, American Catholism, Appleton-century-croft, London, 1961 [11] Wiseman, N, Dubling review, Burns and Oates, London, 1961 [12] Bruce F., Biever, Religion Culture Values, Ayer United State 1976.