Racism and White Privilege in the Education System Essay -- Finding Fr

Many people in the United States society believe that people of all cultures, races, and ethnicities are now on an even playing field. People with this belief support their logic with the argument that since equal rights for people of color and women have been required by law for some time now, we are all inherently as equal as claimed in the Declaration of Independence. Many believe that race is no longer an issue, a viewpoint frequently referred to as color-blindness. National polling data indicated that a majority of whites now believe discrimination against racial minorities no longer exists. (Gallagher, 96) Color-blindness allows a white person to define himself or herself as politically and racially tolerant and then proclaim their adherence to a belief system that does not see or judge individuals by the â€Å"color of their skin.† (Gallagher, 98) Many Caucasians in particular are of the opinion that because they listen to hip-hop or cheer for their favorite black, prof essional sports player that they are not racist. Still others believe that because they have a black president, we see black people in the commercial of products we consume, or enjoy television shows with black people that they are actually acknowledging race. In order to examine and dismantle this series of misconceptions, we will turn to the work of various scholars of social justice and privilege, including Peggy McIntosh, Patricia Hinchey and Johnathon Kozol as well as the story of Patricia J Williams. Through a careful examination of these works with the support of some key statistics, it is the goal of this paper to demonstrate the existence of a privileged and unprivileged America, despite the color-blindness many may profess to have integrated into their p... ...hools. New York: Crown Pub. McIntosh, P. (1988). White Privilege and Male Privilege. Wellesley College Center for Research on Women: Working Paper No. 189, 1-20. SueN. (2011, Nov 10). Thom Hartmann Program. Retrieved from Transcript: Thom Hartmann: The Big Picture: A "Race Based" Bake Sale? 26 September '11: http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2011/11/transcript-thom-hartmann-big-picture-race-based-bake-sale-26-september-11 Wight, V. R., Chau, M., & Aratani, Y. (2010, Jan). National Center for Children in Poverty. Retrieved from Who are America’s Poor Children?: http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_912.html Williams, P. (2010). Of race and risk. In Race, Class, & Gender: An Anthology (7th ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth. Zinn, H. (2007). Why Students Should Study History. In W. e. Au, Rethinking Our Classrooms, Volume 1 (pp. 179-181). Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools.

No Love Lost Essay -- Literary Analysis, A Doll’s House

For a play about marriage A Doll’s House does not have much love in it. All of the characters claim to love each other, but are really concealing other emotions. The expectations of society have forced them into love that they do not feel. This false love is what causes them to fall apart in the end. The play is riddled with marriages that are born out of convenience or expectation rather than love. Every character only loves in ways that they are expected to, and only continue to love for convenience’s sake. There is no love in A Doll’s House. Torvald treats Nora as a child, not an equal; he is not really in love with her. The most glaring examples of this are his pet names for her. He likes to think of her as a small, delicate creature that needs saving and protecting. Although this may seem like normal fare for a loving marriage, he takes it too far. Nora is not the type of woman that appreciates this sort of treatment, so it turns from affectionate to demeaning. He thinks that demeaning his wife is not only acceptable, but normal for a relationship saying â€Å"I wouldn’t be a man if your feminine vulnerability didn’t make you doubly attractive to me†(82). This is not a good base for their relationship, as it prevents him from giving Nora the kind of attention that she needs. She does not need the kind of doting attention that he gives her, she wants to talk as an equal. She want to be â€Å"bothered †¦ with all sorts of problems [she] couldn’t possibly helped [him] to cope with† (84) as that would allow her to help her with his life, and give them the kind of relationship that Nora needs to survive. He does not love her, he loves treating her this way. As a matter of fact, Nora describes his relationship with her best, when she says... ... â€Å"[he’ll] be able to find a way to redeem [himself] in people’s eyes†(69). He does not love her, he needs the social support. They have found each other after having being lost for many years, but it is not a romantic reunion. It is a calculation on both of their parts for their own greater individual happiness. A Doll’s House contains many relationships, but all of them are bad. From convenience to infatuation, Ibsen’s work seems to be a manual on bad reasons to love someone. Every single character has some personalized version of love, and none of them seem to bear any resemblance to real love. Whether they find it convenient to love for respect or because love was their only choice at the time, none of them know real love. It is as though Ibsen wanted to show how some of the many reasons for love at the time were wrong and would lead to problems later in life.

How humans activities are altering biogeochemistry and cycling in the water cycles Essay

Men have been involved into different activities that are aimed at the production of important goods and other products for his survival. Through the employment the diverse action towards production of goods and services, there are usually those by-products which perhaps are released as waste to our environment in which we live. Generally, any change in the earth’s chemical composition would have a potential changes in the biota and even the climatic conditions. It is believed that the composition of these wastes that are released to the various environments has fundamental impacts of altering the natural earth chemistry. The alteration of earth’s chemistry affects the cycles of nature like the water cycles which is by itself an integral part of the biogeochemistry. Due to the high impacts which may result from the chemical transition of the earth, it is paramount that the human activities are observed to known the methods in which mankind may contribute to these biogeochemistry changes. . (Hallock and Schlager, 1986) Agricultural sewage Man has always relied on agriculture for his satisfaction of food requirement. The increase in population has led to the intensification and extensive use of land. Due to the overpopulation, invasion of barren lands has been attempted to increase the physical land available for agricultural activities. The practice of the food and animal products in most of these areas call the application of either irrigation techniques or use of soil enriching nutrients. Most of these substances which are used in the soil enrich are fertilizers which are produced from agricultural industries. (Hallock and Schlager, 1986) The agricultural wastes are thus expected to contain traces of worn out particles and ions of iron from the plant manufacture. In addition to the presences of iron, other chemical materials required for the production of chemical fertilizers to some extent finds their way in the sewage wastes. This may includes certain chemical such as magnesium. Iron and magnesium in the earth’s soil may be influenced by the presence of other ions within the water and soils systems. The introduction of these impurities of iron and magnesium to the lakes greatly affects the composition of the chemical ions in the lake water systems. These ions of iron and magnesium react with other abundant ions within the water systems such as sulfate and nitrate forming new compounds altering the chemical compositions (Back, 1979) In the terrestrial land especially in those areas water catchments, sulfates and nitrate ions plays a very important role. They are believed to take part in the control of the level of these iron and magnesium. The excessive released of these iron and magnesium ions from agricultural wastes would usually alter the ability of control of such ions making them to accumulate to higher level where they can be termed as pollutants. The effect of iron and magnesium ions however various as their control level by the nitrate and sulfates ions of and also depend on the level of depth. This means that excessive release of these ions would also affect the nitrates and sulfate ions in the waters systems and soil. (Vollenweider, 1968) Addition of chemical fertilizers Man’s activity of soil enrichment to improve its fertility level is another ways in which the chemical compositions of the earth have been changed. Most of the farming lands have for long time been under cultivation leading to depletion and decrease of plant nutrients. The use chemical fertilizers have always been of prime use to the mitigation of soil fertility for high land productivity. Through the use of these chemical, some have been excessively used such that plant do not utilize them wholly. In most case they remain in the soils were they bind with water available for it to be dissolved. The kind of fertilizers which highly in used is the potassium and sodium nitrates and sulfates which can easily be dissolved. During high rainfalls that lead to flooding or the used of flood irrigation method, these chemical fertilizers are leaked to the water systems at the surrounding places hence there both a changes of the chemical composition in the terrestrial land and in the aquatic systems. (Hallock and Schlager, 1986) The release of these chemical ions to the water sources like lakes is of paramount importance of the aquatics lives. For instances, the enrichment of the water environment with nitrate ions leads to rapid sprouting and development of plant species. This quick growth of the plant displaces the water volume by reaching the maturity and decomposing to contribute to water particulate matter. Through the process of eutrophication, there is increased plant decay thus releasing enormous quantities of carbon dioxide to the atmospheres. (Bormann. and Likens, 1970) Sewage sludge Sewage has several material compositions other than the dissolved chemical substances. Most of the physical materials are eliminated through the sewage treatment processes. However, the separation of the organic and inorganic materials helps men to make manure or fertilizer from the organic portions. Though the materials are treated for safe handling by the human being as fertilizer materials, these manure leads to accumulation of the sewage sludge. The accumulation of the sludge in particular dumping site changes the soils chemical composition. These being mostly organic materials, it means that there high formation of carbon compounds which will be developed in such cite. However, there are other chemical compound which are produced by the natural decomposition especial nitrates and therefore highly in the soil chemical composition. There decomposition of the materials in the sludge releases other chemical such as calcium ions which are convertible to the various carbonates compounds. While the nitrates would enable rapids growth in plants, the presences of calcium ions in the soils accelerates the dissolving of the soil rock. (Bormann. and Likens, 1970) The increase in soil dissolution causes the rates of soils erosions to high. As soils erosion rates increases, there is relative increase in the silting process of the water sources such as rivers and lakes. This decrease the water source depth and therefore reduction of water volumes. The long term effects of the silting process in that elimination of the waters bodies is likely to take place. (Back, 1979) Conclusion Through the use of sewage loading to the lake has high impact to the water source. This is because there is a mass transfer of chemical substances directly and indirectly to the system. The practices of the sewage loading to the lakes has got the potentials of disturbing the water ecosystem through the formation of toxic blooms and the silting of the lake by erosions and decay process of the huge plants materials formed from heavy and rapid supply of necessary products. This shows that environment of the lake is likely to change and be comprising of plants as the major vegetation and living thing. The increase in CO2 gas due to plant decay processes would cause a major change in the environmental temperatures as this is a major green gas pollutant. In addition to increased CO2 gas release; there would be great reduction of the oxygen supply in the lakes due to plant cover over the water surface leading low support of aquatic organisms and animal (Vollenweider, 1968) Reference: Back, W. (1979), Geochemical significance of groundwater discharge and carbonate dissolution to the formation of Caleta Xel Ha, Mexico, Quintana Roo Bormann, F. and Likens, G. (1970), Nutrient Cycling Hallock, P. , and Schlager, W. (1986), Nutrient excess and the demise of coral reefs and

Movie Paper Review

Michelle Jones Green block 3 1/28/13 Movie Paper Review: The Boy in Striped Pajamas The Boy in Striped Pajamas is a book that was made into a movie, set during World War Two and more specifically, the Holocaust. The book was written by John Boyne and when made into a movie was directed by Mark Herman and produced by David Heyman. The Boy in Striped Pajamas was made in 2006 and starred Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, and Vera Farmiga. I read the book, The Boy in Striped Pajamas in 8th grade and watched to movie very soon after.The Boy in Striped Pajamas is based on the horrors of a World War Two Nazi Extermination Camp. This movie is through the eyes of two 8 year old boys; one whose father is a Nazi camp commandant and the other is a Jewish inmate. Bruno, the son of the Nazi commandant and his family just recently moved from Berlin to the countryside; which happens to have a Nazi Extermination Camp right nearby. The adventurous Bruno finds an unguarded fence where he meets and befrien ds Shmuel, a Jewish boy. Bruno soon learns the horrors of the war and so does his mother.When Bruno's father announces that the young boy and his mother will be going to live with their aunt in Heidelberg, Bruno grabs a shovel and makes his way to the camp to meet up with his friend, leading the movie into an awful sequence of events. None of the characters in this movie were real people but they were all accurate depictions of the soldiers and everyone at that time. The movie very accurately showed the differences in living being a Jew and living in the camps compared to everyone else.It also shows a child’s innocence and how children sometimes see the world completely different than adults, sometimes even in a better way. Bruno never saw anything wrong or different about Jewish people but his older sister Gretchen was being influenced by her tutor and a younger soldier to believe things she couldn’t fully understand. The movie showed the terrible things being done to the people in the Nazi camps and how propaganda was used to make uninformed people believe things that weren’t true.The movie accurately shows how live was in that time. The beginning of The Boy in Striped Pajamas was set in Berlin in 1942 during World War Two, Bruno and his family are moving to the countryside because of his father’s work. The setting then is never specified but we know it is near a Nazi Extermination Camp. The props in this movie were all very accurate and the lighting and way the shooting was done portrayed the devastating times that were during the Holocaust.The Boy in Striped Pajamas is a very good movie and a very accurate movie too. The actors playing the young 8 year old boys did an awesome job playing those parts especially at such a young age. The soldiers also did well playing Nazi’s and being very stern people. Overall this movie is a very accurate representation or what life was like during World War Two while adding its own plot a nd I would recommend this movie to anyone who would like to see what it was like for Jewish people and families of the soldier’s during the Holocaust.

Analysis of Barbie Doll Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis of Barbie Doll - Essay Example These dolls are not only a thing that children like playing with but for girls it helps them imagine what they would look like when they grow up. The Barbie doll became the dream of many girls. The history of the Barbie doll started with the love story of a young boy and girl who fell in love and at that time in America there was a little tradition of girls going to college so they got married at a young age whose name are Ruth and Elliot Handler who had two children Barbie and Ken. They both owned a company in the 1940’s that used to make wooden frames. This is how their toy business started and after that both of them joined their close friend Harold Mattson to form a company which could create such a doll which would be famous all over the world and the company was named Mattel where Matt stands for Mattson and el for Elliot. This is how Barbie came into existence and Ruth hired Charlotte Johnson to do Barbie’s wardrobe and in 1958 the patent of Barbie was obtained. The Japanese were the first one to manufacture hand-stitched clothes of the first Barbie dolls. The Barbie doll was portrayed as a fashion model for the teenagers. From the time of its existence till today, the Barbie doll has taken on many professions like a doctor, dentist, paleontologist, firefighter and many others.

The effects of arranged marriages on women in India Research Paper

The effects of arranged marriages on women in India - Research Paper Example Husband’s or in-laws’ expectations when not met in this regard often result in a never ending experience of physical and mental abuse for women. In addition to that, failure to give dowry also leads to delayed marriages which is also another social stigma experienced by Indian women. Where marriage provides an opportunity to a couple for satisfying their social, libidinal and emotional needs, lack of understanding, extreme differences in opinions and inability to compromise often results in marital problems. Since women spend more time in domestic settings, rate of depression and other psychological problems is more eminent in them due to lack of outlet of negative emotions. The situation tends to be more difficult for educated men and women who are habitual of having personal independence before marriage. Sexual encounters with unknown partners after wedding also tends to be a stigmatic experience for Indian women which can affect their approach towards men on long-ter m basis. Absence of long-term nurturing or general know-how of future husband’s nature, extra involvement of in-laws in decisions of couples and sacrificing one’s priorities unwilling i.e. career and education, can be triggers that may affect marital life in case of arranged marriages. Arranged marriage system also provides more dominance to men over their wives which further endanger welfare of women due to very foundation of this social system. Comparing advantages and disadvantages of arranged marriages in India, it is important to identify if demerits of arranged marriages for Indian women outweigh benefits offered by this social phenomenon. 2. Advantages of Arranged Marriages Matchmaking in Indian culture is a common social function performed by elders, extended family and friends and is considered as a source of references for acquiring eligible bachelor or bachelorette for daughters and sons of the family. With involvements of elders and dominant family figures in this search, the resultant is a social, economic, religious and cultural compatibility between two families which is also expected between spouses as well. This is precisely the reason why some non-resident Indian families also tend to seek partners for their sons and daughters from India (Kalpagam 207). It is also important to note that divorce rates are expected to be lower in arranged marriages due to presence of third parties and social support provided by family members for conflict resolution among a wife and husband (Bentley n.p; ‘Arranged/ Forced’ n.p). Furthermore, divorce is considered as stigma in Indian culture especially for women therefore arranged marriages provide more support against couples’ divorces which also saves their social stature in Indian culture. Also, strong family ties are an integral part of Asian and other ethnic cultures i.e. Indian, Chinese, Greek and Latina. In addition to that, ignoring personality differences, couples of ar ranged marriages are relatively less influenced by environmental factors i.e. financial or social dominance of one partner over other since they have been already considered, and discord with other family members hampering effectiveness of marital life. Lastly, arranged marriages began with little expectations since nature of partner is usually unknown for man and woman. Therefore, they are more likely to tolerate differences among them as compared to love marriages that may have

Cognitive Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Cognitive Psychology - Essay Example The crux of this interpretation of science, particularly the development of hypotheses about and models of hypothetical generative mechanisms of cognition is that, although unobserved by investigators, such mechanisms are necessary for the production of the observed phenomena (Fodor & Pylyshyn, 1988, 3-71). To find out the logical basis of these hypotheses about unobserved generative mechanisms, scientists have taken the help of the physical sciences. In physical sciences, the hypotheses are not the result of blind guesswork or the unfettered imagination. They are created by the invention of models or hypothetical representations of what such mechanisms may plausibly be in reality. The invention of adequate and plausible models is constrained by the requirement that the nature of what is proposed should conform to the basic type hierarchy that expresses the beliefs people have about the nature of the world. Hypotheses about cognition can be evaluated only by testing their predictions regarding the effects of various environmental manipulations on behaviour (McCloskey, 1991, 387-395). These theoretical entities are said to provide a functional characterization of the central nervous system. This is built on the assumption that the same cognitive process could be implemented or instantiat ed in a variety of different neuroanatomical structures or neurophysiological processes. In other words, this characterization of cognition is materialist, but it does not assume a simple one-to-one mapping between cognitive and neural states and processes. Thus the definition of the cognitive processes can further be modified into a process... There is a startling similarity with present day computational models where this has been a natural mode of computation for widely interconnected computer networks of active elements. The generalization of these ideas to the connectionist view of the brain and behavior is that all important encodings in the brain are represented in terms of relative strengths in the synaptic connections. Connectionism can explain this by assuming that individual neurons do not transmit a large amount of symbolic or representative information, instead, they compete by being appropriately connected to a large number of similar units, and the prevalent and conventional computer model fails to incorporate this in the present understanding of cognitive psychology. Conclusion: However, this realization is important in that connectionist theories of cognitive psychology may with adequate research come out with a newer, modified, and more sophisticated model that explains all or the computer scientist may cr eate a developed computer that can have a cognitive psychology of its own. There are, however, certain troubling questions that need to be answered before one venture into this area. Human cognition involves the management of meaningful signs according to standards of correctness. In developing a computer model according to connectionist theory, there is the probability that one might lose the two main features of human cognition, intentionality, the meaningfulness of signs, and normativity, conformity to standards.