The Cuban Missile Crisis Essay Example for Free

The Cuban Missile Crisis Essay The Cuban Missile Crisis on October 14, 1962, marked one of the highpoints of the Kennedy administration.   The scandal caused widespread panic and indignation to the American people due to the surrounding environmental factors brought about by the cold war.   It revolved around the building of Russian bases on Cuban soil and the staging of nuclear weapons from these said structures.   One such depiction of this event is the movie Thirteen Days which is a most ample goldmine of organizational communications beautifully recreated on the silver screen. The crisis is viewed from the eyes of one Kenny O’Donnell, a Special Assistant to the President, who begs, barters and steals the information he needs to keep his friend and superior abreast of the volatile situation while not selling out his own ethics in the process.   This film depicts an excellent display of organizational communications in one of the most important and influential social groups during a time of trial and tribulation which brings out the best and worst in people. Organizational communications stems from the fact that large companies need to coordinate efficiently in order to achieve the goals set out.   For example, if a firm with 10,000 employees had to go to the president for each of their issues with work, he or she would never be able to do the tasks set out on the institution of the company.   The president’s plate would always be full and it would keep piling up with the new problems which spring up during operations.   The key to solving this problem is delegation.   The leader gets people he can trust to get the job done and specifies which fields to focus on.   This paper will show examples as based on the movie Thirteen Days and will provide an example in today’s modern setting. Communications can be defined as the meaningful interaction of people exchanging knowledge.   Good communications in business is the flow of information from the lowest employee to the person with the highest position in order to achieve objectives and vice versa.   The head can address the company as a whole but not all the information from each worker goes straight to the top otherwise there would be an information overload. Information gathering techniques can be in the form of feedback or focused group discussions.   The movie showed this as a U2 spy plane flying over Cuba taking reconnaissance photos as part of America’s regular monitoring of the region. In the film, when Russian rockets are discovered in Cuba, the information is sent up the pipeline because it was deemed important enough.   If the intelligence was about how the Russian prime minister drank his tea or whether he lights a cigar the proper way, it would be filed under miscellaneous information which would be pulled up only when the need arose.   The CIA analysts forwarded the pictures and interpretations to their section chiefs who make the decision whether the buck stops with them or not who then forwards it to the Director of the CIA who makes the call if it should be sent up the chain of command.   This signifies efficient leader-member exchanges. To find a solution, both cognitive and affective conflicts often come into play.   Cognitive conflict focuses attention on assumptions that may underlie a particular issue and which are often ignored.1   It was done by Adlai Stevenson, ambassador to the United Nations, when he voiced an option to the president which all of them as advisors were thinking but would not voice out since it would be political suicide.   This type of conflict allows the decision makers to weigh all their options before coming to a decision.   Affective conflict on the other hand deals with input which is detrimental to the solution process.   It lowers effectiveness with the input of distrust and controversy. The joint chiefs of the military acted as such towards the president since he would not give permission to execute the action they deemed to be the â€Å"only† option.   Even when the generals knew that the commander-in-chief would never agree with them, they tried to box him in by aggravating the situation.   For example, they ordered a low level intelligence gathering mission which would attract an armed response from the Russians.   JFK could not hinder them without a valid reason but he did work around them by getting in contact with the pilot who was flying the mission and asking him to not do anything or report instances which would force America to a nuclear war. The contradiction to this crisis was that the US stationed Jupiter missiles in Turkey near the Soviet border.   If this had not been done, they could have prevented the predicament they were in.   There was also a lot of bargaining going on from the president asking his advisors for other options to the ultimate solution which was the compromise reached by both superpowers to end the escalating conflict. In my opinion this movie is a goldmine of organizational communications reference.   It concretely depicts what to do and what not to do when decisions need to be made during â€Å"crunch time†.   It might not characterize every scenario but with a little stretch of the imagination, we can get and expound new ideas which we can utilize in our daily operations. We can learn a lot from this movie and apply it to any organization especially an engineering services firm.   As an example let’s use the solid waste disposal department and that the dump trucks did not come on time.   The men loading the trucks or the foreman even notices this and decides to kick it to upper management since the whole timetable for the project was delayed.   Now the manager has to decide where to get the trucks.   He or she could either, call another company then penalize the contractors with the cost of hiring another firm plus damages and never work with them again or be lenient with the firm and just deduct the penalty from what was supposed to be paid out for the usage of the vehicles. Advisors are called in to weigh options before a decision can be made.   Now if the trucks were delayed within an allowable amount of time, this information can be sent up the ladder depending on the foreman’s judgment.   If it is still within his scope of responsibility, he can give a warning to the trucking company that tardiness would not be tolerated or send it to one of the manager’s advisors or his corresponding supervisor. The chain of command ideally should work this way to achieve goals but other factors come into play.   In some cases the information does not go to the right person or nothing is being done.   We may not have the perfect structure for organizational communications but we can strive and learn from past errors in order to make decisions which the organization can count every time. References: 1 http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1650/htmlcognitiveconflict.html last checked 08 March 2008

Comparison On Higher Education Between China And America Education Essay

Comparison On Higher Education Between China And America Education Essay The paper is set out to compare the difference of higher education between China and America from educational ideology. The author points out that the main differences of higher education between China and America from educational ideology are displayed in entrance selection system, teaching method, concept of private and public university, curriculums, evaluation criteria to students, and education on students personal characteristics and morality. In conclusion, the paper holds that both China and America have to adopt different reform measures to advance the quality of respective higher education. Moreover, the integration of these two different higher educations is also very necessary, especially for the perfection and improvement of higher education of China. Keywords: Higher Education, Difference, China, America 1 Introduction China, as one of the Brick Countries, has shocked the whole world by its rapid development in recent decades. America, as NO.1 super power since the end of the Cold War, has remained its hegemony in the world in terms of many aspects, including national politics, economy, science, technology, culture, higher education, etc. Since higher education is the symbol of national strength of one country and a vital way of cultivating its talents for the future, we Chinese ought to compare our higher education system with Americas from educational ideology and then take advantage of Americas strong points and close the gap. Higher education is the important source of power of social development on the ground that it cultivates talents and provides human resources for the social development. Therefore, only through continual improvement of higher education can China finally achieve the great rejuvenation of China. 2 Comparison of Higher Education Between China and America The difference of higher education between China and America can originate from their different historic and cultural background. 2.1 Background of Higher Education 2.1.1 Historic Background The Chinese higher education of the ancient times is mainly based on Legalist and Confucian ideals. As a matter of fact, Confucius played an important role and has shaped the overall Chinese mindset for the past 2500 years. The mode of Chinese ancient higher education was The Unity of Higher Education and Politics-which reflects the combination of government and educational structure. From Han Dynasty, China carried out the rejecting the other schools of thought and respecting only Confucianism. Since ancient Chinese Empire regarded higher education as the foundation of empowering a country, Chinese held imperial examinations to select the talents regularly. In fact ¼Ã…’Imperial examination in Qing Dynasty has formed the integral and tightening system. The Burning of Opium Stocks in Humen in 1839 marked the eruption of The First Opium War and the opening of Chinese modern tines, which, however, ended with the failure of the Qing government and then made Chinese intellectuals disc over the numerous western advances in science and technology. This new information influenced the higher education system and curriculum a lot. It is widely accepted that the first modern Chinese university was established in 1895, right after the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), which shifted the dominant influence in Asia from China to Japan. Beiyang University (now Tianjin University) was established in the city of the same name in 1895, followed by Qiushi Academy (currently Zhejiang University) in 1897, and Jingshi University (now Beijing University) in 1898. By the time the Peoples Republic of China was founded, there were 227 higher institutions in China. The Chinese higher education of contemporary times has gone through enormous changes. From 1967 to 1976, Chinas Cultural Revolution took another toll on Chinese higher education, which was devastated more than any other sector of the country. The enrollment of postsecondary students can be used as example to illustrate the impacts. The number dropped from 674,400 to 47,800. The decline in educational quality was profound. In 1977, Deng Xiaoping made the decision of resuming the National Higher Education Entrance Examination (Gao Kao), having profound impact on Chinese higher education in history. From the 1980s on, Chinese higher education has undergone a series of reforms that have slowly brought improvement. The historic background of American higher education, however, is quiet diverse from that of China on account of its much shorter history (only 236 years). Puritanism was a religious reform movement that arose within the Church of England in the late sixteenth century. In the early 17th century, thousands of English Puritans settled in North America, mainly in New England. Puritans value the higher education very much. Thus, American higher education at that time was certainly the matrix of Puritan thinking. In 1636, Harvard was founded as the first university by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, making it the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. The Ivy League is an athletic conference composed of sports teams from eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States ,which includes Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. The Ivy League, ranks among the top universities in both USA and worldwide, is well known as the symbol of American higher education. American higher education has gone through a great expansion and democratization over the past several decades. In 1900, only four percent of high school graduates attended college. Nowadays, 75 percent of high school graduates will continue their educations in colleges. American higher education opened to women in 1836.Some of the men school handled a subsidiary of the Womens College, such as Barnard College of Columbia University (1889) and Radcliffe College of Harvard University (1894). The girls gradually entered Medical and Legal vocational schools. In 1969, the Supreme Court mandatorily canceled the black-and-white segregated schools. Congress allocated large sums of money to reward the schools of enrolling both the black and white, trying to change the racial discrimination in education in the past three hundred years. According to statistics, in 1976, the black youths of school age in colleges and universities accounted for about 20% and white youths accounted for about 25%. 2.1.2 Social Background and Culture Tradition There are three important factors which exert intense influence on American higher education: Individualism, pragmatism, creative humanities. American higher education system emphasizes the actual effect and encourages their university students to expose themselves to social practice, which accounts for the equal social position of white collars and blue collars in America. The American university has set the progress of economy, the research of science and improvement of life standard together as three targets of higher education. American universities only set up the curriculums and majors meeting the needs of society. Moreover, students influenced by American higher education boast full creative humanities spirit. For example, the rise of Information Technology marked by some famous corporations in silicon valley such as Microsoft, Facebook , Apple are prominent evidences of the good result of American higher education of creative humanities spirit because all of those entrepreneu rs went to American universities, receive the higher education and then establish the corporation by their extreme creativities. With all these factors contemplated, the American higher education, to some degree, has caused Americas fast development, high technology and economic level. Chinese Higher education, however, is more collectivism, formalism and Copinism compared with that of USA. American higher education seeks diversity and individuation while Chinese ones chase unity. Therefore, Chinese students intend to interpret cases according to standard answers while American ones adopt critical thinking. In China, the reputation of ones Alma Mater can cast a great influence on the social position, occupation, even marriage because the brand of university is closely bound to Chinese typical faceproblem, which easily explain the different social position of white collars and blue collars. Chinese higher education also emphasizes the reform and improvement of higher education to meet the needs of social, economic and scientific development, but it changes so little and blindly copies too much from Americas instead of forming a perfect system suitable for Chinese current condition. 2.2 Differences of Higher Education 2.2.1 Different Entrance Selection System America has no uniform examinations for enrolling students.The five major parts of admission are ACT/SAT scores, GPA, College Application, Essay, and Letters of Recommendation. Not all colleges require essays or letters of recommendation, though they are often proven to increase chances of acceptance. American students can choose their major according to their own hobbies and the plans of development; they may also continuously finish all curriculums in universities or choose to have some gap years outside the campus till they want to come back to school and precede their higher education. To be different from the entrance selection standard of China, America has more flexible and objective one. However, the competition of The Ivy League is very fierce which demands more to students and it is quite difficult to attain the degree of a good university. On the contrary, China has a uniform system of selecting students for higher institutions by National Higher Education Entrance Examination (Gao Kao),once described asà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ a powerful army single-plank bridgeà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾.However, once one step into the gate of a university, it is easy to be accessible to the degree. Being different from the individualism of American students, Chinese students tend to be more of collectivism-which means they would choose their major by the standard of common value of Chinese society in stead of their interest. Thats why some prevailing majors such as economics, finances, management require much higher score than other majors. 2.2.2 Different Teaching Method In US, teachers duty is not what they have taught the students, but to help them construct knowledge. The teaching process takes the students independent thoughts and encourages them to propose something new and different. In the teaching method, emphasizing indefinite teaching methods, teachers encourage the students to participate in the teaching process, and even encourage them to challenge the academic authority. In this kind of free and loose environment, students can be more positive on studies and initiative concretion, applying theory to the practice easily. But in China, many teachers still adopt force-feed type teaching method. They teach with sweat streaming, while the students hear drowsily. This kind of teaching method, not only has violated the original intention of teaching and studying, but leads students comprehensive quality and the lifelong study skills to sell at a discount greatly. Teachers sing the one-man show in the teaching process phenomenon, while in the Am erican university this phenomenon is extremely rare. Whether students can make great progress or not, the teaching method plays an important role. 2.2.3 Different Curriculums In the United States, liberal arts colleges are schools emphasizing undergraduate study in the liberal arts. After four years of full-time study in general, students earned either a Bachelor of Arts degree or a Bachelor of Science degree. Liberal Education is an approach to learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change. It provides students with broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g. science, culture, and society) as well as in-depth study in a specific area of interest. A liberal education aims to make students build up social responsibility, strong and transferable intellectual practical skills. Students could also grasp communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in working. American Universitys courses are made up of general education courses, professional foundation courses and elective courses. General education courses take up about 35% -50% and elective courses almost 1/3 among the whole courses, which aims to strengthen general education and endeavor to cultivate the comprehensive knowledge and skills to solve practical problems. Nevertheless, Chinas higher education, due to the limitation of economic and scientific level, focuses on implementing so-called the professional educationin other words, the employment education. It aims to affect ones value as a tool. Though the structure of course is close, the content and quality are far behind. General education courses or, we say public courses, including Politics, ideological and Moral class, Military Theory and P.E in Chinese university, are compulsory to whole students with a unified standard, accounting for about 18-24 credits; the applied foundation courses are mainly in English, Computers, Advanced Mathematics, and Chinese, accounting for about 20-26 credits. It is obvious implied that the proportion of general education courses is too low, the novelty is not enough and the system is so messy. Selective courses are neglected or regarded as something unimportant in China, whereas they are necessary and essential in American universities as an approach to getting exposure with other knowledge of other fields or majors. For want of basic attainment and general knowledge, Chinese graduates tend to become workers but not creators. China is globally well known as World Factory because Chinese higher education focuses the cultivation of labor skills. If China wants to trans fer from World Factory to world Designer, there will be a long way to go for the reforms and improvement of curriculums. 2.2.4 Different Concept of Public and Private University America boasts more than 1500 public universities and the number of private ones is up to 1600. Chinese public higher institutions take up 87 ¹Ã‚ ª, whereas the private ones is as low as 13 ¹Ã‚ ª. In USA, the most prestigious schools are almost private ones such as Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, the University of Chicago, Duke University and Stanford University. China underestimates the position of private universities because the enrollment mark is comparatively low. However, for want of high qualified private universities, China confronts intense obstacles in the path of the strategy of strengthening the country by education on the ground that private universities possess the flexible management, sufficient funds, free academic surroundings and excellent faculties which are exactly the shortage of public universities. The income of America private universities is mainly form four channels: the tuition, the government funding, the sponsorship of alumni and the sales and service of patent. The sufficient fund and free academic surrounding make it easy for American private universities to support scientific research, establish the new subjects and attractive great masters in each field. Moreover, private universities are not only successful educational institutions but also the cores of industries. The rise of Silicon Valley depending on Stanford University and the boom of high-tech industry around Boston attributed to IMF can be illustrated as two good examples. 2.2.5 Different Evaluation Criteria to Students The standard of inspecting the students of American high institutions is the capability to analyze and solve the problems, but not the ability of mechanical memorizing, which means American students do not need to cram up before final examinations. Chinese universities, however, adhere to the principle of learning everything by rote, especially for preparation of final examination. What is far worse is that high score becomes the one and only standard of evaluating students in China. It can be predicted that this kind of one-sided evaluation criteria has written off lots of students creativities, enthusiasm and desire to do better. American students are allowed to take some pieces of cards in the fixed size recording intricate expressions and theories to attend the final examinations. The aim of examination is very clear in American universities: it is practice but not memorizing. Some expressions would even be listed on the paper because reciting of expressions is not required, which is so incredible in China. As long as students work out the questions correctly, they would attain the due score. In China, the situation turns out to be opposite. As a matter of fact, the examination emphasizing mechanical memorizing has seriously ruined the students enthusiasm of studies, leading to excessive attention to pure theory and neglect the real practice of knowledge. The score of final examination accounts for different proportion in GPA between Chinese universities and American ones .GPA stands for Grade Point Average and it is a standard method of measuring academic achievement. The way of calculating GPA in American universities is distinct from that of China. The GPA of American universities are made up of many parts and the final examination is just one of it. One wouldnt get low GPA even though he or she plays below par as long as the assignments have been finished perfectly according to the teachers requirements, because the score of final examination only occupies 35% in the calculation of GPA, however, which closes to 70% in most Chinese universities. The standard of American universities is more objective and fair as the evaluation to students. It is high time that China abandoned the old and ossified evaluation criteria to students. There is still a long way to go before rote learning and test-taking turn into innovation by far. 2.2.6 Different Education on Students Personal Characteristics and Morality In America, volunteering and community service are two important standards of measuring ones personal characteristics and morality. Though technically not a requirement, many colleges make community service an unofficial requirement for acceptance. However, some colleges prefer work experience over community service, and some require that their students also continue community service for some specific number of hours to graduate. American universities encourage students to participate in the social and through which raise their citizen consciousness. Volunteering is also an essential part while enterprises employing new staffs, so American students are very willing to be volunteers. Certain academic honor societies such as Delta Epsilon Sigma have rejected 4.0 GPA students that lacked community service experiences on their applications because they honor community service so much. In China, volunteering and community service are not as important as in America. Chinese universities have never set the time of volunteering and community as one of the requirements of getting the diploma. However, the awareness of volunteering and community has increased by leaps and bounds. For example, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and 2010 Shanghai World Expo has witnessed the function of volunteers, and most of them are university students. In order to continue the volunteering sprit of 2010 Shanghai World Expo, Shanghai has set up many city volunteers service stations in the tourist attractions to provide the service for tourists, which offer a good opportunity to university students. Rare as social activities are in China, Chinese university has endeavored to improve the personal characteristics and morality by making more volunteering chances. 3 Prospective of Chinese and American Higher Education 3.1 Reform Measures for Chinese Higher Education Education reform in China has reached a new and crucial stage. The driving force is the need to produce an increasingly knowledgeable workforce equipped to handle the challenges of an economy that is not only growing extremely rapidly, but also becoming increasingly diversified and sophisticated. The latest reforms are outlined in a comprehensive plan formally called State Guidelines for Medium-to-Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan between 2010 and 2020, otherwise known as the Development Plan.1 A second round of national discussion of the Development Plan has just been completed, and more than 30,000 suggestions were collected, reflecting national involvement in such an important issue. This plan is enormous and comprehensive, and is based on studies of various educational models. Two aspects for higher education reform are key: a relaxation of central control, and opening up of the college admission process. The Development Plan specifically calls for the government to release central control, give universities autonomy, and allow presidents and faculty to run their schools. The Development Plan states that it will change from the one-exam-decides-all method to a thorough evaluation of a student as a whole person using multiple tests and factors. The plan is divided into four sections. Each section covers several chapters and each chapter includes numerous issues. Section One describes the plans overall strategy. Section Two lays out missions to accomplish and goals to achieve. Section Three outlines the reform of the educational infrastructure. Section Four provides measurements to ensure implementation. Six chapters are devoted to specific measures, which include the following: strengthening the quality of teaching faculty; increasing the government funding of education to 4% of GDP by 2012; completing education laws and regulations; and ensuring every step of the reform meets the laws and regulations. In order to accomplish these missions and goals, the Development Plan encourages educational institutions to design their own reform programs and policies. (Guo-hua Wang ,April 20,2010) 3.2 Reform Measures for American Higher Education In his State of the Union address, President Obama laid out a blueprint for an economy thats built to last an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values. As an important part of keeping the American promise alive, the President called for a comprehensive approach to tackling rising college costs. In todays global economy, a college education is no longer just a privilege for some, but rather a prerequisite for all. Reforming student aid to promote affordability and value: To keep tuition from spiraling too high and drive greater value, the President will propose reforms to federal campus-based air programs to shift aid away from colleges that fail to keep net tuition down, and toward those colleges and universities that do their fair share to keep tuition affordable, provide good value, and serve needy students well. These changes in federal aid to campuses will leverage $10 billion annually to keep tuition down. Creating a Race to the Top for college affordability and completion: The president will create incentives for states and colleges to keep costs under control through a $1billion investment in a new challenge to states to spur higher education reform focused on affordability and improved outcomes across state colleges and universities. A first in the World competition to model innovation and quality on college campuses: The president will invest $55 million in a new First in the World competition, to support the public and private colleges and non-profit organizations as they work to develop and test the next breakthrough strategy that will boost higher education attainment and student outcomes Better data for families choose the right college for them: The president will call for a College Scorecard for all degree-granting institutions, designed to provide the essential information about college costs, graduation rates, and potential earnings, all in an easy-to-read format that will help students and families choose a college that is well suited to their needs, priced affordably and consistent with their career and educational goals. Federal support to tackle college costs: The president has already made the biggest investments in student aid since the G.I Bill through increases to the Pell grant, and by shoring up the direct loan and income-based repayment programs. This reform will reward colleges that are succeeding in meeting the following principles: Setting responsible tuition policy, offering relatively lower net tuition prices and/or restraining tuition growth. Providing good value to students and families, offering quality education and training that prepares graduates to obtain employment and repay their loans. 3) Serving low-income students, enrolling and graduating relatively higher numbers of Pell-eligible students.( The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, January 27, 2012) 4 Integration of Chinese and American Higher Education China launched curriculum and teaching reform in the 1990s, resulting in great interest in studies of American university curriculum reforms and instructional systems. When China launched the 211 Project and 985 Project, this served as a great spur to Chinese studies of American research universities. New York and Duke University are building campuses in Shanghai, offering full-time programs to students there, and executive education courses are already a proven success, Harvards Senior Executive Program in Shanghai among them. There have been many joint venture programs with American colleges on the campuses of Chinese higher institutions; however, the trend toward larger-scale initiatives seems clear. In the mean time, America should also learn from China. America has always taken a laissez-faire approach to higher education-in many ways, with excellent results. But it may wish to consider whether new competition justifies a new approach. China may soon outpace the United States not only in the number of university graduates it produces, but also in the world-class universities it creates. From 1995 to 2000, levels of the Chinese government invested about $20-billion in select universities to improve their facilities and curricula. In the following years, 38 of those universities received additional money. For example, two top institutions, Peking University and Tsinghua University, each received $225-million from 1999 to 2003. American college leaders should prepare themselves psychologically for a world in which a key success factor will be partnerships with Asian universities. The good news is that Asian institutions welcome such new partnerships. 5. Conclusion Higher Education is the backbone of a country on the ground of sustaining its development through fostering talents. Without any shadow of doubt, both China and America lay great emphasis on higher education, by different form and method, though. China, as one of the emerging power in the Asian-Pacific region, ought to learn a lot from America, including higher education, in terms of entrance selection system, private universities, the position of higher educational function, evaluation criteria to students and the education to students personal characteristics and morality and campus culture .Both these two countries shoulder great responsibility to higher educational reform in the future to confront the fierce competition.

Child Friendly School Policies In Kenya Education Essay

Child Friendly School Policies In Kenya Education Essay The purpose of this essay is to explore what Child Friendly School policies could learn from Comparative and International Research. Reference to CFSs in Kenya will be made with emphasis on the background of CFSs, current practices and emerging critics, success stories, problems and pitfalls and what CIR can do to subjugate some of these challenges. I will start by examining the rationale for exploring CFSs, based on literature and my professional experience. Following this background will be literature surrounding the concepts of CIR and CFSs in relation to global agendas, exploring how CFSs came into existence and the driving forces behind it. I then go on to focus on a case study of CFS in Kenya, discussing the role of CIR in the Kenyas CFS, arguing that CIR is used as a political tool in creating educational policy, rather than a research method or an intellectual inquiry. I will further critically analyze challenges facing CFSs and how knowledge on CIR can contribute more effect ively to successful implementation of CFS policies. A conclusion based on the literature and authors experience will then be drawn. Throughout the essay, I build a case in favour of CIR arguing that CIR stimulates critical reflections about our educational systems by investigating commonalities and differences across national borders. Background and Rationale Comparative and international education is one of the main fields of education with many benefits, judged by the volume of studies reported in the literature. Central to this is that many countries around the world have formulated some of their educational policies based on knowledge and research from CIR. With the current wave of globalization, researchers and experts, especially in the field of education, are always trying to find ways of streamlining their educational policies with the global trends. According to Giddens (1990:64), globalization is the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distance localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. Global forces therefore have an impact on shaping local practices at grass root levels. In order to do this tactically and critically, comparative and internal research remains cutting edge in informing people about the realities, the challenges and the possible effects of uncritical transfer of ideas. One of the key developments in education has been the prioritisation of basic education as opposed to adult education or higher education. In Africa, this would be probably because, as Oketch (2004) points out, basic education yields higher rates of returns compared to higher education. This has subsequently influenced government and non-governmental organizations to focus more on improving the quality of basic education. Child-friendly schools (CFSs) in Kenya is an example of a initiative sponsored by UNICEF with the aim of not just providing children right to education but the right to the right education. In other words, CFSs are more concerned with the quality of basic education in addition to its access. The emergence of CFSs in Kenya was catapulted by the forces of agendas 1 and 2 of Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) which emphasizes on the provision of basic education. The World Education Forum (2000) agreed on six Education For All (EFA) goals. The sixth goal concerned Educa tion quality, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognised and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills. The term quality in education is dynamic because of the social, political and economic context at which it is used. Milligan (2011:276) adds that quality has, thus, been placed as an integral cog in the educational development machine although how educational quality is defined is a matter of great contention. Because of differences in contexts, it is imperative that knowledge of comparative and international research be used in designing policies and pedagogy in CFSs that fit that particular context. Furthermore, with the fear that some countries may lag behind as others move forward, countries from sub-Sahara Africa are now engaging in various practices in order to achieve these educational goals, a race against the 2015 set deadline for attainment of EFA goals. As the clock ticks towards the year 2015, priority goals in education may change for post-2015 and the worry is further elevated. One of the efforts the government of Kenya is doing to improve the quality of education is by integrating CFS model into the basic education system. Two major questions arise here: First, how is CFS realistic considering myriad challenges facing the FPE policy in Kenya? Secondly, if integrating CFS model into basic education will help in improving the quality of education, what lessons can CFS policies learn from CIR? It is against this background that the purpose of this essay hinges. Literature Review In this section, I will look at the concepts of Comparative and International Research (CIR) and Child Friendly School (CFS) based on the literature and merge them with the global forces that influenced the emergence of CFS with an attempt to unveil the voices behind the introduction of CFS in Kenya. In addition, I will use an example of PRISM experience in Kenya to reinforce the understanding of the role of international bodies in promoting quality through well strategized and executed projects, arguing that lessons from PRISM experience can be used as insights to successful implementation of CFS policies. Concepts of Comparative and International Research (CIR) and Child Friendly School (CFS) CIR is a fusion of two broad areas of research: Comparative Research and International Research. To understand its full meaning, it is important we define the two areas of research separately. In his definition of comparative research, Mills et al (year) argue that: Comparative research is a broad term that includes both quantitative and qualitative comparison of social entities. Social entities may be based on many lines, such as geographical or political ones in the form of cross-national or regional comparisons. (p. 621) A similar perception was echoed by Noah and Eckstein (1969:127), who described comparative education as an intersection of the social sciences, education and cross-national study [which] attempts to use cross-national data to test propositions about the relationship between education and society and between teaching practices and learning outcomes. In light of this definition, comparative research in the context of education can be defined as a study of two or more entities or events (Crossley Watson, 2003) with the underlying goal of searching for similarity and variance. Cross-national or regional comparisons may include comparing educational policies, pedagogy, educational leadership and so on. According to Mills et al (2006: 621), the search for variance places more emphasis on context and difference in order to understand specificities. International education, on the other hand, can be defined as the application of descriptions, analyses and insights learned in one or more nations to the problems of developing educational systems and institutions in other countries (Wilson 2000a: 116). Thus, international research is concerned with research carried out across two or more countries, often with the purpose of comparing responses between them. This might be done in order to devise strategies that work well across both or all these cultures or to suggest local adjustments to a global strategy There is a close relationship between comparative and international education. Epstein (1994: 918) points out, that international educators use findings derived from comparative education to understand better the processes they examine, and thus, to enhance their ability to make policy. We can therefore draw from the above two definitions that CIR in education as a method of comparing both qualitative and quantitative entities in education across different countries, societies or cultures with the aim of identifying similarities and differences. It is however important to note that not all international research is comparative, and not all comparative research is international or cross-national. According to UNICEF (2007), a child-friendly school is both a child seeking school and a child-centred school: It is child seeking because it actively identifying excluded children to get them enrolled in school. It is a child-centred school because it acts in the best interests of the child leading to the realization of the childs full potential, is concerned about the whole child: her health, nutritional status, and well-being and concerned about what happens to children before they enter school and after they leave school. A CFS system recognizes and respects childrens right and responsibilities; it provides the enabling environment to realize childrens right not only in schools, but also in childrens home and their communities. These include children from conflict zones, street children and children with disabilities. The Child-Friendly Schools model (see fig 1) is based on simple, rights-based concepts that would have all schools be: Rights Based School: CFS proactively seeks out-of-school children and encourages them to enrol, irrespective of gender, race, ability, social status, etc. Gender Sensitive School: CFS promotes equality and equity in enrolment and achievement among girls and boys. Safe and Protective School: CFS ensures that all children can learn in a safe and inclusive environment. Community Engaged School: CFS encourages partnership among schools, communities, parents and children in all aspects of the education process. Academically Effective School: CFS provides children with relevant knowledge and skills for surviving and thriving in life. Health Promoting School: CFS promotes the physical and emotional health of children by meeting key nutritional and health care needs within schools. (UNICEF, 2007) Fig 1: Model of the Child-Friendly School Source: UNICEF, Global Education Strategy, 2007 The CFS model provides a framework for planning (and monitoring the effectiveness of) strategies for increasing access to quality basic education with the specific focus on the development of strategies to include those children hitherto excluded from education (UNICEF, Global Education Strategy, 2007). It is important to note that there is no one-way to make a school child-friendly. The model may differ from country to country depending on the context. International and Local Pressures and their influences to formation of CFS in Kenya Education in sub-Sahara Africa, and indeed in Kenya, is crafted from both influences by global trends in education and the legacies of colonialism. Chisholm and Leyenderker (2008) observe that: Since 1990, the goals and purpose of education in sub-Sahara Africa has been reshaped by four interconnected developments: globalisation, the changed focus of international aid agencies towards development assistance, the adaptation of sub-Sahara African countries to the new world order with its new political emphases, and the spilling over of new pedagogical ideas from the USA and Europe into sub-Sahara Africa. (p 198) Kenya is a signatory to a number of conventions in education, including the Convention to the Rights of the Child (1989), the World Declaration on Education for All (Jomtien, 1990), the Dakar accord and the Millenium Development Goals (2000). In achievement of education development goals, Kenya is bound to, among other things, quality education by MDGs. The Jomtien call for access for access, equity, quality and democracy in education appeared to promise both social and economic development (Chisholm and Leyenderker, 2008). Social and economic development, and continues to be believed, requires educational change and educational change is necessary for social and economic development (ibid:). Educational change, in turn, is perceived to depend on, amongst other things, the input from relevant development assistance projects. These projects, in the arena of education, are typically formulated with reference to internationally negotiated development agendas (like the MDGs) and priority (Crossley Watson, 2003). An example of these projects in Kenya is CFSs which are supported by United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF). The Education Section of UNICEFs Programme Division introduced the Child Friendly Schools (CFS) framework for schools that serve the whole child in 1999 (Chabbott, 2004). Rationale for introducing CFS framework in Kenya The increased reliance of foreign aid to support education reform in Kenya has been accompanied by a transition, from understanding education as a human right and the general good to viewing it primarily in terms of its contribution to national growth and well-being through the development of the knowledge and skills societies are deemed to need (Arnove Torres 2007:359). Occasional voices continue insisting that education is liberating, that learning is inherently developmental (ibid: 359). With the global concern that Sub-sahara Africa countries may not achieve Universal Primary Education (UPE) by 2015 unless the progress is accelerated (Carceles et al., 2001; Bennel, 2002), Kenya responded by introducing Free Primary Education (FPE) policy in 2003 with both local and global pressure. The rationale behind introducing FPE was (apart from the pressure from global and international agendas) to alleviate poverty attributed to lack of literacy skills. The success story behind implementation of FPE policy is the increased enrolment at primary schools by nearly 50%, from 5.9 million in 2003 to 9.38 million pupils according to the Kenya Economic Survey 2011. However, there are myriad challenges facing the implementation of FPE policy: there are not enough textbooks, classrooms are overcrowded and the infrastructure in many schools is inadequate for the numbers of pupils attending. Many of the schools do not have sanitation facilities. The teacher-pupil ratio is quite high: acc ording to UNESCO there are more than 40 pupils per teacher, on average. All of these factors militate against the provision of quality teaching. There is no magic wand for fixing this problem of quality in education. In response to this CFS were introduced in Kenya. According to UNICEF (2006:1): The challenge in education is not simply to get children into school, but also to improve the overall quality of schooling and address threats to participation. If both quality and access are tackled, children who are enrolled in primary school are likely to continue, complete the full cycle, and achieve expected learning outcomes and successfully transition to secondary school. The CFS framework (see appendix 3) aims at promoting child-seeking, child-centred, gender-sensitive, inclusive, community-involved, protective and healthy approaches to schooling and out-of-school education with a general goal of improving the quality of learning. Since CFSs are concerned with the quality of learning, it is important we look at the meaning of quality. The national examinations to obtain the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) at the end of primary cycle and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) at the end of secondary cycle are designed to evaluate the extent to which the primary and secondary graduates master the curriculum content. In other words, the national test scores are used as the indicators of quality. The limitation of this indicator is that it does not take into account the context at which learning takes place i.e. the learning environment, learners unique characteristics etc. There are many definitions of quality but one of the descriptions of quality which emphasizes on the context was by Tikly (2011:10) who argued that: A good quality education is one that enables all learners to realise the capabilities they require to become economically productive, develop sustainable livelihoods, contribute to peaceful and democratic societies and enhance wellbeing. The learning outcomes that are required vary according to context but at the end of the basic education cycle must include threshold levels of literacy and numeracy and life skills including awareness and prevention of disease. In his description, Tikly believes that a good quality education arises from interactions between three overlapping environments, namely the policy, the school and the home/community environments. In his perception of quality education, Tikly puts context into consideration i.e. needs of the learner, cultural and political contexts. In addition, he emphasizes on the relevance of what is taught and learned and how it fits the nature of particular learners in question. This encourages policy makers to take cognisance of changing national development needs, the kinds of schools that different learners attend and the forms of educational disadvantage faced by different groups of learners when considering policy options'(ibid:11). The fact that CFS emphasizes on learner-centered pedagogy and puts the child at the centre or focal point in the learning process raises the idea of what is regarded as valuable knowledge and how this knowledge is acquired in this particular context. This leads us to the inquiry on the school of thought or paradigm behind introducing a contextualized CFS framework. CFS as an approach to education is premised on constructivism, a theory of knowledge arguing that humans generate knowledge and meaning from interaction between ideas and real experiences. According to constructivists, the notions of reality and truth are socially constructed and in different context with the understanding that knowledge is subjective and embedded in multiple realities. Thus, quality of learning should be viewed in the context in which it is occurs. Towards Quality Basic Education In Kenya: Developing Research Capacity and Evaluation Before we acknowledge the contribution of CFS in providing quality education to the children at Primary school level, it will be prudent to review some of other contributions that has been made by international organizations in collaborations with the local government in promoting quality of education at grassroot levels in building research capacity. Kenya has had a history of benefiting from international assistance in its education sector. One of the programmes is the Primary Schools Management (PRISM), an initiative of DfID through the Ministry of Education, which places a lot of emphasis on participatory approaches and emphasis on mobilising community support, resource management and utilisation, supporting learning of pupils and developing action plans. It targeted teacher training and management and the impact of this is overall effectiveness of an education system which has a direct bearing on quality of education. According to Otieno Colclough (2009:26), PRISM is regarded as one of donor-funded programmes which had most positive impact on quality of basic education and CFS can learn from it. As Crossley et al ()notes, the main objective of PRISM was to improve the quality of primary education through the training and support of head teachers in practical management skills. Borrowing from the PRISM experience it is worthy learning that well planned and organized CFSs policies involving community participation at grass root level could help amplify local voices and lead to successful implementation of educational policies not only in Kenya but also other parts of African contexts. Challenges in implementing CFS in Kenya In this section I will explore common challenges associated with the CFSs with an aim of illuminating and critiquing the gap between policy and practice in CFSs. Access and Quality Dilemma: Which one should be first priority? As I mentioned earlier, one of the role of CFS in Kenya is to improve the quality of learning. But the access to education is still a challenge in Kenya and there is fear that Kenya will not have achieved EFA goals 1 and 2 by the year 2015. As we near the 2015 set deadline for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, at a time when hopes should be high, universal access to primary education in Kenya seems to be slipping away. Many comparative researchers argue that different countries have different educational problems and it is the countrys obligation to identify what should be the priority and why. Aksoy (2008: 218) observes that: While developed countries are mainly engaged in activities to increase the quality of education, or they practice and seek new techniques and methods of learning and teaching, developing countries struggle to provide equal opportunities for education, trying to increase the rate of participation of all citizens in basic education, which is actually compulsory. To deal with its educational problems, each country works out countrywide or local solutions, depending on the nature of the problem. The tone of such statement is more closely allied to the question of priority. Priority in one country may not be a priority in another. In Kenya, the major problem basic education is facing is of access while higher education is facing the problem of quality. CFS focus more on quality, but in the Kenyan context, access to education is still a problem in basic education even after the introduction of FPE. The CFS concept of quality can however suit very well in some small state commonwealth countries which have almost universal access to basic education. It has been noted that small sates have now shifted education priorities towards focus in school effectiveness, quality and inclusion (Crossley, 2002) after ensuring that all children have accessed basic education and CFSs in Kenya should learn from small states that the priority should now be on access to basic education before shifting to quality. Atomizing the child: is child-centred the solution to quality CFS? A key feature of a right-based, CFS system is that it is linked tightly to the child-centred learning process. CFS advocates for child-centred learning where a child is treated as a single entity or an atom in learning processes. The idea of atomizing a child has its drawbacks derived from child-centred learning. First, there is an oversight on early year development behaviour of the child. Psychologists believe children undergo various levels of development and their learning behaviours are different at each level. For instant, Vygotskys (1978) concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) implies that a child cannot ordinary create ZPD by himself; he needs the more expert individual to bridge the gap between his current development level and his proximal level of development. Secondly, a child-friendly, democratic learning environment may not work successful in overcrowded classrooms and school with limited resources like it is the case in Kenya. Thirdly, child-centred learning weakens the role of the teacher. The idea that a child must be active in construction of knowledge is often understood to imply a diminishing role for the teacher in learning process who now becomes a coach or a facilitator. A call for paradigm renovation, from an exclusively child-centred learning to a combination of both child-centred learning and teacher-centred learning approach is important so that the weakness of one method is complemented by the other method. What Lessons can Kenya learn from other Countries in Implementing CFS? A Review on the Contribution of Comparative Research King (2007) emphasizes the need to explore the tension between the national and the international policy agendas in Kenya in order to make informed decisions when crafting educational policies. Clearly, this is a view that acknowledges the contribution of CIR researchers in bridging theories, policies and practices with both local and global minds (Crossley, 2000) in trying to identify betters grounds to critically reflect and determine appropriate course of action. Apparently, the term that is commonly used in Kenya and indeed many Africa countries in the initial processes of designing an educational policy is benchmarking. Essentially, this is usually a comparative study which is carried out locally and/or internationally in trying to compare different models of policy framework with the aim of critical adaption or adoption. Lessons are well learnt when a comparisons are made, and this underscores the strength and significance of comparative research. Moreover, since problems transcend national borders, it is prudent to seek possible solutions from a similar experience in another country, and this explains why international research is important. Kenya can learn from other countries that are either progressing or failing to implement CFS policies because lessons can either identify opportunities or gaps, based on comparative analysis. In these respect therefore, I have identified two key elements of CIR which could help implementation of CFS. The first element is on identification of the gap between policy and practice. Documenting the emerging good practices and lessons learned within the regions is useful in informing evidence based programming and advocacy to enable us to achieve better results. For example, a Global Evaluation Report published by UNICEF in 2009 on comparative studies of how to six countries (Guyana, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand) with different experiences implementing CFS, demonstrated the following: CFSs in varying contexts successfully apply the three key principles of CFS models-inclusiveness, child-centredness and democratic participation. Schools operating in very different national contexts, with different levels of resources and serving populations with different needs have succeeded in being child-centred, promoting democratic participation, and being inclusive. Schools that had high levels of family and community participation and use of child-centred pedagogical approaches had stronger conditions for learning, that is, students felt safer, supported and engaged, and believed that the adults in the school supported the inclusion and success of each student. (UNESCO, 2009) Kenya can use this success report to assist in providing a broader perspective on the ways in which CFSs can contribute to quality in the countrys unique context. The caution should however be that any steps taken should have hindsight of the current context in the country to avoid uncritical transfer of practice which may end up opening a Pandoras box. Secondly, through CIR, studies of educational systems that share similar problems can provide information for learning possible consequences. A recent comparative evaluation research conducted by UNESCO in Nigeria, Gunaya, Thailand and the Philippines on CFS pedagogy gave different findings. While teachers in Nigeria and Guyana mainly focused on meeting basic instructional material needs (textbooks, paper), many teachers in Thailand and the Philippines focused on having greater access to information and communication technology (UNESCO 2009). Kenya experiences the same challenge as Nigeria and Gunaya, and data from these countries can be used to learn how they coping with inadequate basic instructional material. The caution here should be, that common problems may prevail in different countries, but common model cannot be applied because each country has different culture/context (Crossley Watson, 2003:39). This provides invaluable information of what to adopt, modify or avoid. Conclusion It is worthy reiterating Crossley'(2003) emphasis that context matters and different countries have different needs and priorities even if they are faced with the same challenges. The value of CIR is studying foreign systems of education in order to become better fitted to study and understand our own (Sadler 1900, reprinted 1964:310) and CIR can be used as a lense to focus on adaptable or adoptable practices. UNICEF repeatedly emphasises that CFS is a pathway to educational quality rather than a blueprint and that it is counterproductive to regard the CFS model as rigid, with a present number of defining characteristics or key components (2009c, Ch. 1, p. 9). Thus, the essay sought to present an overview in favour of the contribution of CIR by highlighting what CFS policies in the Kenyan context could learn from CIR. As such, the essay acknowledges the role of CIR in stimulating critical thinking and reflections about CFSs system by evaluating its success and failures, strengths and weaknesses. This critical reflection facilitates self evaluation in our own context and the basis for determining appropriate courses of action. The essay also hints that CIR helps us understand global agendas and how they shape educational development projects from organizations and development agencies.

Ken Keseys One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest and the Movie Essay -- Film

Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest and the Movie The film version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, produced by Milos Forman, contains many similarities to the novel, however the differences are numerous to the extent that the story, written by Ken Kesey, is overlooked by anyone who only saw the film. Ken Kesey wrote the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, after experimenting with drugs and working on a psychiatric ward in 1960 and the novel was published in 1962. â€Å"Kesey became a night attendant on the Menlo Park Veterans Hospital psychiatric ward so that he could concentrate on his writing.† (Magill 1528) Kesey’s rebellious novel explores the world of mental patients struggling against authority and society through incredible imagery. He was able to describe this struggle because of his personal experiences. Kesey was â€Å"disturbed by the dehumanizing treatment of the patients† (Beetz 3089-3090), so he decided to write this novel about them. In his surrealistic life’s work, Ke n Kesey has managed to capture both the gloomy asylum atmosphere and the mental patients’ demented attitudes. Kesey’s novel proclaims a classic struggle between good and evil or the hero and the villain. This contemporary classic was brought to life through the film version in 1975 and is considered â€Å"one of the greatest American films of all time† (Dirks 1). It was the first film to receive all the major Oscar awards. These included Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. The same name as the novel was chosen so that it would appeal to contemporary audiences, which proved to be a big hit at the box office. â€Å"Its allegorical theme is set in the world of an authentic mental hospital, a place of rebellion by a wise-guy hero against institutional authority and attitudes.† (Dirks 1) The initial difference between the novel and the film is the main character. In the novel, the story is told through the eyes of the narrator, Chief Bromden. Chief Bromden is the main character and â€Å"the most fully developed character in the novel.† (Beetz 3089) The Chief is a supposedly deaf-mute, half-breed Indian who is a very large and powerful man. He is a paranoid-schizophrenic who has been a Chronic patient on the ward for fifteen years. He is known as â€Å"Chief Broom,† because he is constantly pushing a broom around the ward. From the beginning, the reader... ...o is stripped of his dignity, significance, and freedom.† (Magill 1531) The theme leads a person through a whole different world. A world where paranoia runs wild and chaos is second in command only to Nurse Ratched, or society and how powerful a single authority can be. Chapter by chapter and scene by scene, the plot unravels, separating truth and insanity to reveal an amazing war of the mind. The power of strict, systematic control, verses the power of rebellion is a strong issue of the 1960’s and this issue works well as the theme for the novel and film. A powerful story is told where everyone’s individualism is essential to life. A person must meet life on its own terms or lose their individuality, dignity, and freedom. Even though McMurphy died, his legend lives on. An individual can find criticism with the â€Å"nest† or psychiatric hospitals or an individual can see how all of us are trapped in a restrictive and maddening "nest† of our own making. Although there are similarities and differences between the novel and film, it is an enjoyable version of strange human interaction with a battle against authority. The story is universal and it can be found in all aspects of life.

Re-thinking History: Improving History Textbooks in America Essay

Since introducing his book with the notion that high school students hate history, Loewen (1996) devotes a considerable amount of his work debunking facts and theories taught in history classes in American schools. He appeals to the trust of the readers with his comparisons on what textbooks include and what they omit. He accomplishes this by recounting some sparse facts taught in most textbooks, appealing to the emotions of all former, current and future history students with his empathy on how boring most history textbook. Finally, he reaches the logic of his readers with heavily pocked paragraphs footnoted with his sources that presume his great understanding of the history itself. The scope and size of history textbooks is an issue Loewen tackles, pointing out how â€Å"textbook authors tend to include most of the trees and all too many twigs, they neglect to give the readers even a glimpse of what they might find memorable: the forests† (para 14). As he intertwines much of his ideas about history with Sociology and Social Studies, he notes that students rarely possess the ability to â€Å"think coherently about social life† (para 14) and returns to the concept that learning history reinforces sociology when he concludes his theory about textbook size preventing students from learning history. He describes how textbook covers use patriotic symbolism to represent the contents of the textbook material, complete with descriptive titles such as Rise of the American Nation (para 12). From this, he deducts that no other textbook cover takes as many liberties with the textbook title as do History textbooks. Loewen selects an iconic point, the First Thanksgiving, taught in some manner among nearly all grade levels and provides illuminating d... ...g buried items, he lists a footnote to accompany the passage. After observing 40 other footnotes in the previous 46 paragraphs, it’s likely that most readers would simply assume that the footnote leads to another reputable source. Discovering that this particular footnote relates to the fairytale of Goldilocks and not the journal’s author may lead one to believe that the footnote source is questionable. Loewen provides a convincing account of what he finds wrong with history textbooks used in schools around America. His appeal to readers influences their opinions on what textbook publishers should do to change this phenomenon. While history textbooks are boring, oversized and sometimes less detail oriented than Loewen would expect, high school courses simply do not teach and address the sort of sociological impacts that students in higher education expect to learn.

Gregor Samsa

Not only was he underrepresented by his undeserving family, but constantly taken advantage of. This awakening resulted in malnutrition and soon after death. The Metamorphosis is told from a third person limited perspective. Thus, a speaker Is never profoundly Introduced; however, the story heavily focuses on Gorge's perspective of events. Because a speaker Is not acknowledged It Is fairly difficult to assume any information, however, one can infer that the speaker comes from a higher middle class based on the characters lifestyle, such as the presence of a maid.Perhaps one can also assume the narrator is male due to. Of course, many would probably disagree with this assertion that a speaker is never clearly addressed, and thus may assume that that the speaker is Gregory himself. And though on one hand, I may agree that Gregory Is Indeed the speaker, I still Insist that the speaker Is simply a narrator. Why? I believe by making the speaker a narrator, It makes any argument or statemen t the speaker wishes to portray more credible. A third person perspective allows the audience to better understand all the characters, or at least feel as though they understand all the characters.The Metamorphosis may be written in third person perspective, but it tends to greatly focus on Gregory and his feelings causing the audience to feel great sympathy for Gregory instead of any other character. I'd Like to change the subject to something that not yet been addressed, the subject. The subject of the book seems to be the grand â€Å"metamorphosis† that is experienced. We as an audience not only experience the physical transformation from Gregory Same as a human to Gregory Same as a bug, but we get to see the aftermath and how it affects each of the characters directly.These â€Å"metamorphoses† are illustrated throughout the plot with the help of the third person limited perspective. Greet Same, Gorge's sister experiences her own transformation from being a girl at the beginning of the book to becoming a woman. She does not just grow physically, but she matures emotionally, but taking on adult duties not required of her before her brother's transformation. Gorge's father also undergoes his own transformation. He goes from a man with no pride or motivation to a man who takes great pride in his work and becomes heavily invested in money. Lastly, Gorge's family as a whole undergoes a separate transformation.At the beginning of the book, the Same family Is hopeless and feels as though their responsibility until completely free from, Gregory. Their separation from Gregory completes their metamorphosis allowing them to feel relieved, secure, and optimistic once again. The author, Franz Kafka articulates a nonchalant attitude about the transformation that has occurred. This attitude is expresses through the characterization used throughout the book. For example the Gorge's character can illustrate the nonchalant tone of the story through his percept ions of his current situation.When Gregory is first transformed into a bug he isn't very distraught or worried, but indifferent. He is only worried about being able to continue in his daily activities and as time continues, Gregory seems to slowly lose interest in becoming â€Å"normal† once again thus, expressing Franz Kava's feelings toward social acceptance and isolation. To a large extent, the entirety of the book appears to be extremely absurd and ironic in that Gorge's transformation though appears a great burden to al, helped released Gregory of all the pressures of daily life.The metamorphosis saved Gregory from his unwanted Job and forced Gregory to trade positions with his family in that they now where in charge of caring for him and everything else they owned. In conclusion, The Metamorphosis, does not simply tell the story of a naive man who turned into a bug, was betrayed by his family, and died. No. The Metamorphosis, I believe is a metaphor something other than Just transformation. I believe in plain context The Metamorphosis, tells the story of an average man, who soon wakes ups and finds he lives a life he is not proud of.This man now see the world in a new light and feels isolated from all those who once understood him. He no longer has the same motivation and feels as though he is a burden to all those he loves resulting in suicide. My point is this: The Metamorphosis entails the story of a typical depressed man. Because the book is told from a third person point of view we see the â€Å"burden† Gregory has caused. However, this idea is not necessarily certain. So it is fairly simple to assume that he was never truly a burden, but delusional as any clinically depressed person would be.

Morality, Knowledge, Religion, and America Essay

The founding fathers believed that morality, knowledge and religion went hand in hand when it came to shaping our country. For example, Thomas Jefferson was a man known to be of moral character, of great knowledge, and a man of God, all of these attributes made him a great leader. The founding fathers felt that this nation could be built on honor, integrity, and freedom because those attributes are what meant something at that time. Our founders strongly believed in the positive influence Christian principles had upon our nation’s governmental structure and institutions, and the overwhelming majority of them held a world view based on the Bible. † (Beliles, Anderson 2005) The Reverend Billy Graham speaks of what honesty means. â€Å"We are honest and trustworthy in all our dealings. People can trust our word, because we refuse to lie or shade the truth. † (Graham 2006). Would these same beliefs and principles be successful in the now religiously diverse America? Absolutely, the problem is that this nation has drifted away from the Biblical principles that the founding fathers based it upon. Even with a religiously diverse America, people still want leaders that are moral, knowledgeable, and have faith. When leaders show faith we as Americans feel better about their morality. Americans feel that there is a level of trust there that otherwise may not be there if faith was not in the picture. I know that I feel more secure with a leader that I feel is a Christian and will uphold Biblical principles. As Christians, we understand that â€Å"for those that love the Lord all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. † Romans 8:28 As our Founding fathers shaped our nation through the Constitution, we can truly see how God took control of the Convention and allowed his will to be done. After the Convention, Dr. Franklin wrote, â€Å"Our General Convention, when it formed the new Federal Constitution was influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent beneficent ruler in whom all live, and move, and have their being. (Beliles and Anderson, 2005) Franklin was not the only one to recognize the presence of a higher power, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Rush were among just a few. Our Nation is falling apart piece by piece because we have taken God out of every basis of our country and if we got back to the morality, knowledge, and religion that America was built on then we just might see a difference.