About metals and minerals

1 IntroductionAsia plays an of import function in today ‘s excavation industry due to important resources of assorted metals and minerals, bring forthing about a 3rd of universe ‘s bauxite and gold, histories for a half of planetary Fe ore production, and for about 70 % of universe ‘s hydraulic cement ( USGS, 2009 ) . Within the part among the largest manufacturers of metals and minerals are China, India, and Indonesia. Despite the important importance of metals and minerals in modern economic system, excavation activities far excessively frequently lead to terrible environmental debasement, put local communities under force per unit area, cause societal jobs and sometimes go the cause of struggles. Grasberg mine in Indonesia is an expressed illustration of legion issues associated with big graduated table excavation. This paper gives a brief reappraisal of excavation in Grasberg from the construct the three pillars of sustainability, therefore analyzing economical, societal and particularly environmental impacts of this peculiar mine.2 Economic ImpactDue to the big graduated table of the operations, the Grasberg mine has a immense consequence on the economical state of affairs of Indonesia. Economic benefits include direct, such as revenue enhancement grosss and employment and other indirect and induced economic benefits. The unfastened cavity operations is expected to go on until 2015, than passag e will be made to to the full belowground production and the company ( which company, name? ? Need to present this mine company ) is expected to be profitable until 2041, which secures these benefits to Indonesia until that clip ( Freeport 2008 ) . The company is the largest revenue enhancement remunerator in Indonesia, merely in 2004 it provided $ 3 billion and between 1992-2004, $ 33 billion direct and indirect benefits, which is 2 % of the GDP of the state and 55 % of the GDP of Irian Jaya state, where the mine is located ( Perlez and Bonner 2005 ) . Along with economical state of affairs, it besides has a immense consequence on the employment. In 2008 the company had 29,300 employees and 10,700 contractors, about 18,000 people work at the mine which is operated by PT ( what is it? ) Freeport Indonesia ( Freeport 2009 ) . However, the employment impacts are more complex as the excavation activity have created societal tensenesss and wellness impacts such as AIDS and malaria in footings of in-migration, transmigration and urbanisation procedures. ( mention ) Besides direct effects Indonesia benefits from the indirect economic benefits, such as new airdrome, infirmaries and roads, nevertheless these were chiefly built to back up the substructure of the mine. In add-on, the company invested into malaria control and educational AIDSs. Induced effects include rewards, other benefits paid for the workers, purchases of goods and services, which are besides heightening economic development of the state. mention To decide bing societal and environmental issues the company has established a 1 % trust fund ( 1 % of the company ‘s gross one-year gross ) . Between its initiation in 1996 and 1999 it has been contributed $ 54.8 million and it is planned to go on over the following 10 old ages. In 1999, Freeport contributed US $ 14.4 million to the fund. In contrast in the same twelvemonth the CEO of Freeport, James Robert Moffet made US $ 41 million which is approximately three times of the compensation. Sing an independent survey it has became a new beginning of troubles and struggle ( Kennedy 1998 ) . To decide urbanisation issues and increase grosss and occupations within Papuan communities Freeport cooperates with the U.S. Agency for International Development and has launched the Papua Agribusiness Development Alliance. $ 2 million is allocated to develop agribusiness and agriculture, therefore advancing betterments in agriculture and fishing supports ( Freeport 2009 ) . Besides official payments the company provided side payments to the authorities functionaries, and spent $ 35 million on military substructure. Harmonizing to company paperss, $ 20- $ 30 million were given to the military and constabularies from 1998 to 2004 ( Perlez and Bonner 2005 ) . In malice of all these above mentioned benefits and investings, the environmental debasement, societal and wellness issues remain and can ne'er be to the full compensated by the company, but are enforcing immense cost on Indonesia. The cost of lost supports ( fishing, woods, biodiversity etc. ) and environmental harm are difficult to mensurate. Many of the wellness effects can non even be captured as they are chronic. Based on the above, Freeport Company evidently has a immense consequence on the Indonesian economic system but as it is a foreign investor it besides means that most of the gross is taken out from the state. Another chief issue is that most of its production is supplied as a Cu dressed ore for refinery to other states worldwide depriving Indonesia from related service based employment and induced benefits. Fortunately, due to societal and political force per unit area, governmental alterations and more demanding environmental outlooks and ordinances increase the force per unit area on Grasberg mine and easy driving the company towards more sustainable excavation patterns ( mention )2.1 Social ImpactSocial impact of Grasberg mine operation chiefly touches three major issues: demographical alterations, substructure development, and human rights misdemeanor. All of these issues address influence on the autochthonal people, Papuan folk. Some of the alterations which the Grasberg mine brought to the part could be considered as betterments in the life criterions such as substructure development. However about all of these alterations touch the inquiry of human rights maltreatments in many dimensions. ( mention ) Irian Jaya, the state where Grasberg mine is situated, is sing a rapid population growing as a consequence of the resettlement policies of the Indonesian authorities ( Wohl 2006 ) . The mine was opened in 1967 when there were no roads and fewer than 1000 people inhabited this country. Over clip the mine drew in 120 000 people from all over Indonesia and now it serves as about the lone one topographic point of employment for local people ( Hills and Welford 2006 ) . Although the mine operation in the state has lead to infrastructure development such as edifice of roads, an airdrome, a port at Amamapare ( what is it ) , a ropeway, infirmary, lodging, schools and other installations, presents there are a batch of jobs and struggles, peculiarly, in human rights abuses around the Grasberg mine. The enlargement of excavation caused a batch of protests among local population because the societal impact was chiefly connected with disturbing of the manner of life of autochthonal people, capturing their land, forestalling attempts to seek justness through the tribunals, bankrolling the constabulary and coercing them to resettle. These protests were the other portion of human rights maltreatments which showed up in military intercessions, colzas and slayings of dissenters etc. ( Hills and Welford 2006 ) . Indonesia ‘s National Commission on Human Rights concluded that clear and identifiable human rights misdemeanors had occurred in and around Freeport ‘s undertaking country, including indiscriminate violent deaths, anguish, inhumane or degrading intervention, improper apprehension, arbitrary detainment, disappearing, inordinate surveillance, and devastation of belongings. The committee noted that these misdemeanors are straight connected with protection for the excavation concern of PT Freeport Indonesia ( Whitmore 2006 ) . Additionally such environmental impacts as H2O and dirt pollution are the misdemeanor of the human right to adequate criterions of life and the right to wellness. ( How to link with old sentence? ) Local autochthonal landholders, the Kamoro and Amungme, have been the topic of coercion and bullying. Their land have been exploited, natural resources stolen and net incomes siphoned off by foreign shareholders and national elites ( Hills and Welford 2006 ) .3. Environmental ImpactThe environmental impact from the excavation activity of Grasberg mine arises chiefly due to two beginnings. These are,Untreated chasing disposal at the Aghawagon river ( IIED and WBCSD 2002 )Acid mine drainage ( Kennedy et al. 1998 ) from reeling sum of waste stone generated3.1 ShadowingsThe excavation operations at Grasberg started in 1972 ( Mealey 1996 ) . Riverine disposal of untreated shadowings has been practiced since so ( IIED and WBCSD 2002 ) . The IIED and WBCSD ( 2002 ) reference a 30 fold addition in the shadowings production from 1972 to 2000. As of 2002 about 230,000 dozenss of shadowings are disposed off day-to-day straight from the mine into the Aghanwagon River ( IIED and WBCSD 2002 ) . Fig 3 shows a satellite image of mine country along with the river system through which the shadowings are disposed of. The Aghanwagon is connected with the Ajkwa river system through Otomona river. Ajkwa river eventually meets the Arafura sea. A comparative analysis for selected parametric quantities with regard to mining outflowing criterions of US-EPA and Canada Fisheries Act and the Grasberg mine wastewater ( Annex 1 ) is presented in the tabular array 1 below ( IIED and WBCSD 2002 ) . Table 1. Comparison of shadowings featuresGrasberg MineUS EPA criterionCanada Fisheries Act criterionspH11.36-96-9.5Sum suspended solids ( mg/l )558,5842015As ( mg/l )3.94–0.5Cu ( mg/l )5360.150.3Hg ( mg/l )& lt ; 0.0030.001–A expression at the above tabular array would do to grok the monolithic pollution load caused by the direct riverine disposal of untreated shadowings in the environing riverine ecosystem. The negative environmental impacts are chiefly manifested through following two jobs.3.1.1 Problem of depositThe IIED and WBCSD ( 2002 ) estimation shadowings lending up to 93 % of the deposit loads in the river system. This has resulted in change of geo-morphology of the river system. ( Watson 1999 ) . Changes in the nearby river classs of Pika, Uamiau and Aimua as reported by Indonesian Ministry of Population and Environment ( Kennedy et al. 1998 ) further reinforce this claim. Watson ( 1999 ) has estimated that less than 5 % of the entire shadowings reach the Arafura Sea. The shadowing disposals have created an unreal inundation field in the Ajkwa riverine system ( Kennedy et al. 1998 ) . A obstruction of Ajkwa river in mid-1990s caused unreal inundation in the river field ( Watson 1999 ) . In response to the obstruction of the river the company have constructed levees to lodge and incorporate shadowings in the designated inundation field of the river, termed as Ajkwa Deposition Area ( ADA ) ( IIED and WBCSD 2002 ) . The levees are 40 kilometers long, constructed on both bank of the low prevarication inundation field of the Ajkwa river. This has resulted in the devastation of of 30 km2 of rain forest by 2002, and finally entire loss of rain forest in the ADA has been estimated to be 230 km2 ( IIED and WBCSD 2002 ) . In mid-1995 an American research worker have conducted trials of river deposits at Timika, which is the nearest human colony from the mine ( Kennedy et al.1998 ) . The consequences of these trials along with a comparing of Australia and New Zealand ‘s National Health and Medical Research Council ‘s ( NHMRC ) criterions for contaminated sites are presented below. Table 2. Selected heavy metal concentration at riverine deposits in Timika ( Kennedy et al. 1998 )Copper ( ppm )Zinc ( ppm )Lead ( ppm )Ajkwa river deposit229053.31.35( NHMRC ) guidelines for contaminated site60200300Noteworthy from the above tabular array is the inordinate sum of Copper taint. A more recent survey by Brunskill et Al ( 2004 ) has calculated the fluxes of Copper, Zinc and Lead in the Ajkwa river basin. The present fluxes as compared to the background fluxes ( before 1950 ) from the survey are presented below. Table 3. Fluxs of heavy metals at Ajkwa river basin ( Brunskill et al. 1998 )SiteCu flux ( mmol Cu m-2 yr -1 )Zn flux ( mmol Cu m-2 yr -1 )Pb flux ( mmol Cu m-2 yr -1 )3Background390.68Present137181.54Background7.8161.3Present204282.25Background6.6111.1Present129211.8These consequences are peculiarly dismaying for Copper. Since the addition in the background degree is every bit high as 40 times. This study besides shows that this rise in flux absolutely syncs with the rise in production degree of the mine. Sing these high flux rates of the selected metal, the concentration of these metals in the riverine deposits should be much higher now as compared to degrees indicated in Table 2.3.1.2 Impact on H2OThe impact of shadowings disposal on H2O quality of the Ajkwa River is terrible. Ortman and Subra ( 2000 ) conducted field trials to measure extent of the pollution ( Annex I, table B ) . These informations are compared on two degrees. The first comparing has been made with regard to imb ibing H2O quality against World Health Organisation ( 2008 ) guideline values ( Table 4 ) . The 2nd comparing is made with regard to toxic effects on aquatic biology ( Table 5 ) . Table 4. Comparison of H2O quality with regard to WHO guideline valuesMill DischargeOtomona BridgeMid ADAWHO guideline valueAs ( mg/l )3.940.1260.0450.01Cadmium ( mg/l )0.240.0070.0010.003Cu ( mg/l )53613.134.652Hg ( mg/l )0.0030.0030.0030.006Se ( mg/l )0.2940.0020.0020.01The above comparing clearly demonstrates that the river H2O is rendered non-potable by the mine pollution. In fact in 1997, functionary of the local authorities warned local people against imbibing of the river H2O and gave it a â€Å"D† public heath evaluation ( Kennedy et al. 1998 ) . Table 5. Comparison of H2O quality with regard to toxicityMill DischargeOtomona BridgeMid ADAToxic degreeBeginningAs ( mg/l )3.940.1260.0451.85Tisler and Zagorc-Konean ( 2003 )Cadmium ( mg/l )0.240.0070.0010.01Mallett et Al. ( 1992 )Cu ( mg/l )53613.134.650.015Tisler and Zagorc-Konean ( 2003 )Hg ( mg/l )0.0030.0030.0030.000026Canadian Water Quality GuidelineSe ( mg/l )0.2940.0020.0020.002Lemly ( 1992 )Therefore, it can be seen from above that apart from quicksilver the concentrations of heavy metals at the factory discharge location is higher than the aquatic toxic degrees. Particularly for Cu, at all location the measured value is higher than the toxic degree. Locals have reported disappearing of many species of fish from the river ( Chatterjee 1996 ) . An fact-finding study by New York Times has stated the river to be virtually barren of any fish ( Perlez and Bonner 2005 ) .3.2 Acid Mine Drainage3.2.1 Beginning of Acid Mine DrainageIn the late phases of formation procedure of the G rasberg ore, native sulfur was deposited in fool's gold venas ( Friehauf 2002 ) . When oxidization takes topographic point in deposited shadowings of the ore, acidic conditions can bit by bit develop when Cu sulfide minerals are present ( IIED 2002 ) . Under acerb conditions, metals in the ore may be mobilized. This acerb H2O bearing heavy metals, if non decently treated, may do irreversible pollution of groundwater ( TCE 2008 ) . In 1993, it was reported for the first clip that sedimentation sites in Grasberg contained AMD ( Perlez and Bonner 2005 ) .Different types of Cu sulfide found in the ore can be illustrated by a sample ( Fig.4 ) . Taken from cardinal stockwork zone of the Grasberg ore, copper pyrites ( brasslike yellow-orange ) , bornite ( dark blue-purple ) , and covellite ( violet or light blue ) can be seen from the specimen. ( FCX 2004 ) . The mine waste incorporating these sulphide bearing minerals, particularly chalcopyrite and bornite, can exercise important environmental impacts in the part ( IIED 2002 ) .3.2.2 Environmental Impacts of Acid Mine DrainageThe Grasberg mine has three billion dozenss of waste stone and shadowings ( Kennedy et al.1998 ) . The local clime is every bit wet as holding 12 pess of rain a twelvemonth, which contributes to oxidization of the mine waste and shadowings ( Perlez and Bonner 2005 ) . In Freeport ‘s audit, AMD has been reported fluxing into nearby waterco urses ( Kennedy et al. 1998 ) . To cover with the job of AMD, neutralisation procedure is added to the concentration process of Cu ( Golder Associates 1994 ) . The company says that this drainage is treated by roll uping the overflow and neutralizing it with limestone ( Perlez and Bonner 2005 ) . In one study in congratulations of the mine, it is stated that the shadowing river and the deposition country meets Indonesian and US Environmental Protection Agency imbibing H2O criterions for dissolved metals ( IM 2009 ) . However, several independent surveies and audits have shown much less optimistic state of affairs. The impact on local H2O system is important. Neutralization capableness of limestone in the milieus is finite, so once it is depleted, big sum of toxic metals from the mine will leach into local rivers and H2O system ( Kennedy 1998 ) . It is disclosed that light-green springs could already be seen several stat mis off, which indicates the leach-out of Cu from the drainage has traveled a long distance ( Perlez and Bonner 2005 ) . For illustration, in the Wanagon H2O catchment basin, the acid leachate precipitates when neutralized with calcium hydroxide, and accretion has already started near the lake ( IIED 2002 ) , which may impact the deposit. Ajkwa Deposition Area and estuaries of the Arafura Sea may besides be affected by AMD ( Bryce 2005a ) . Groundwater taint has been detected in the Highlandss of Grasberg ( TCE 2008 ) , and in 1999, pollution of groundwater became important in Tim ika, a town lying below the mine ( Bryce 2005b ) . Furthermore, the Lorentz park is another focal point of concern, because the AMD has polluted the springs in the park and affected its ecological diverseness ( TCE 2008 ) . The Lorentz glaciers ( Figure 5 ) are besides at hazard ( McGinley 2008 ) . To sum up, the clime status in Grasberg aggravates the job of AMD, which has caused pollution to H2O systems including the shadowing river and deposition countries. The nearby World heritage site, Lorentz Park, is besides at hazard due to impact from AMD.DecisionAnnex ITable A. Tailings features ( IIED and WBCSD 2002 )Shadowings solids analysis mg/Kg ( dry footing )Plant discharge – slurry ( mg/l )DissolvedEntirepH––11.3Sum suspended solids––558,584Aluminum28,900––As49& lt ; 0.0023.94Cadmium0.33& lt ; 0.00020.24Copper6,6000.002536Fe56,600––Lead30––Manganese1,400––Mercury0.01& lt ; 0.0003& lt ; 0.0003Selenium3& lt ; 0.0020.294Zinc2000.06061.1Table B. Water quality at different points at the Ajkwa deposition country ( Ortman and Subra 2000 )Mill DischargeOtomona BridgeMid ADAUS EPA criterionANZECC criterionConcentration ( mg/l )DissolvedEntireDissolvedEntireDissolvedEntireSum suspended solids–558,58–12,81–4,968––Aluminum––––––––As& lt ; 0.0023.94& lt ; 0.0020.126& lt ; 0.0020.045––Cadmium& lt ; 0.00020.24& lt ; 0.00020.007& lt ; 0.00020.001––Copper0.0025360.01013.130.0114.650.00290.005Fe––––––––Lead––––––––Manganese––––––––Mercury& lt ; 0.0003& lt ; 0.0003& lt ; 0.0003& lt ; 0.0003& lt ; 0.0003& lt ; 0.0003––Selenium& lt ; 0.0020.294& lt ; 0.002& lt ; 0.002& lt ; 0.002& lt ; 0.002––Zinc0.06061.10.0021.80.0020.536MentionsBrunskill, G. J. , Zagorskis, I. , Pfitzner, J. , and Ellison, J. 2 004. Sediment and hint element depositional history from the Ajkwa River estuarine Rhizophora mangles of Irian Jaya ( West Papua ) , Indonesia. Continental Shelf Research 24: 2535-2551Bryce, R. 2005a. Freeport at Grasberg: ‘Devastated the river system ‘ . News, The Austin Chronicle September 23, 2005. Uniform resource locator: [ hypertext transfer protocol: //www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story? oid=oid % 3A292540. [ consulted 29 Jan 2010 ] .Bryce, R. 2005b. Written in Stone. News, The Austin Chronicle September 23, 2005. Uniform resource locator: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story? oid=oid % 3A292538. [ consulted 29 Jan 2010 ] .Chatterjee, P. 1996. A Cu mine of decease or misplaced incrimination? . Inter Press Service ( February ) . Cited in Kennedy, D. , Chatterjee, P. , and Moody, R. Risky concern the Grasberg gold mine, 16. Berkeley: Undertaking Underground, 1998Earth Observatory ( EO ) . NASA. Grasberg Mine, Indonesi a. Posted August 1, 2005. Uniform resource locator: hypertext transfer protocol: //earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php? id=5718. [ consultd 5 February 2010 ]Freeport-McMoran Copper & A ; Gold ( FCX ) . 2004. How stone comes to life: step-by-step through the excavation procedure. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.fcx.com/envir/wtsd/2004/copper.htm. [ consulted 29 Jan 2010 ]Freeport McMoran Copper & A ; Gold Inc. 2008. Core Assets, 2008 Annual Report Phoenix: Freeport McMoran Copper & A ; Gold Inc.URL: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.fcx.com/ir/AR/2008/FCX_AR_2008.pdf [ consulted 01 Feb 2010 ]Freeport McMoran Copper & A ; Gold Inc. 2009. Employee engagement Uniform resource locator: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.fcx.com/envir/emply_engag.htm [ consulted 01 Feb 2010 ]Freeport McMoran Copper & A ; Gold Inc. 2009. Economic Development URL: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.fcx.com/envir/eco_dev.htm # casestudy1 [ consulted 01 Feb 2010 ]International Institute for Environmen t and Development ( IIED ) 2002. Mining for the Future Appendix J: Grasberg Riverine Disposal Case StudyFriehauf, K. C. 2002. Grasberg Mine Area, Indonesian research and travels, â€Å"Research† . hypertext transfer protocol: //faculty.kutztown.edu/friehauf/indonesia/grasberg.html. [ consulted 29 Jan 2010 ] .Friends of the Earth Netherlands ( Milieudefensie ) 2009. Mining Matters. Unacceptable metal excavation in developing states and the duties of companies in the Netherlands Amsterdam: Friends of the Earth NetherlandsGolder Associates. 1994. Shadowings and River Management Plan Options Executive Summary, Submitted by Golder Associates to PT Freeport Indonesia, November 1994Hills, J. and Welford, R. 2006. Case Study: Auditing for Human Rights: Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold in Papua. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management 13: 108 – 114.International Institute for Environment and Development ( IIED ) and World Business Council for Sustainable De velopment ( WBCSD ) . 2002. Mining for the hereafter Appendix J: Grasberg riverine disposal instance survey. England: IIED and WBCSDInternational Institute for Environment and Development ( IIED ) . 2002. Mining for the Future. England: IIED.International Mining ( IM ) . 2009. The route to Grasberg. Great mines—Grasberg. International Mining 2009 ( Sep ) : 56-61.Kennedy, D. , Chatterjee, P. , and Moody, R. 1998. Hazardous concern the Grasberg gold mine, 16. Berkeley: Undertaking UndergroundLemly, A. D. 1992. Guidelines for measuring Selenium informations from aquatic monitoring and assessment surveies. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 28: 83-100Mallett, M.J. , Vine, S. , Murgatroyd, C. , Whitehouse, P. , Jerman, E. , Ashby-Crane, R.E. , Fleming, R. , Wwilson, K. and Sims, I. 1992. Toxicity of common pollutants to freshwater life. A reappraisal of the effects of ammonium hydroxide, arsenic, Cd, Cr, Cu, nitrile, Ni, phenol and Zn on autochthonal species. Bristol: Nationa l River Authority R & A ; D study Note 82.Mealey, G. A. , 1996. Grasberg. Los Angeles: Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold IncMcGinley, M. ( Topic Editor ) ; United Nations Environment Programme-World Conservation Monitoring Centre ( Content Partner ) . 2008. â€Å" Lorentz National Park, Indonesia. † In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland ( Washington, D.C. : Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment ) . [ First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth February 11, 2008 ; Last revised November 21, 2008 ; Retrieved February 5, 2010 ] . Uniform resource locator: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.eoearth.org/article/Lorentz_National_Park, _Indonesia. [ consulted 5 February 2010 ] .National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ) . 2003. Visible Earth a catalogue of NASA images and lifes of our place planet. Uniform resource locator: hypertext transfer protocol: //veimages.gsfc.nasa.gov//16923/landsat_carstenz_29may03_28 .5m.jpg [ consulted 5th February 2010 ]Ortman, D.E. , and Subra, W. 2000. Review of Freeport AuditPerlez, J. , and Bonner, R. 2005. Below a mountain of wealth a river of waste. New York Times ( New York ) , December 27.Tisler, T. , and Zagroc-Koncan, J. , 2003. Aquatic toxicity of selected chemicals as abasic standard for environmental categorization. Arh Hig Rada Tokiskol 54: 207-213The Council on Ethics ( TCE ) . 2008. To the Ministry of Finance – Recommendation of 15 February 2008. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php? a=8809. [ consulted Jan 29 2010 ] .Watson, M. 1999. External Environmental Audit, PT Freeport Indonesia operationsIrian Jaya, Indonesia. Steamboat Springs, CO, US.Whitmore, A. 2006. The emperor ‘s new apparels: Sustainable excavation? Journal of Cleaner Production 14: 309 – 314. ( beginning URL ) GalyaWohl, E. 2006. Human impacts to mountain watercourses. Geomorphology 79: 217 – 248.World Health Organisat ion ( WHO ) . 2008. Guidelines for imbibing H2O quality.

Losing Common Sense in a Sea of Technology Essay

Technology has made miracles take place. Technology is an asset to our society. Things we could not do with our anatomical brains we can conjure up with a machine. With the answers to simple questions at fingertips with the availability of the internet, simple thought processes replaced with instant gratification. Critical thinking is almost extinct due to rapid response internet websites and databases. In today’s society, we depend on computers and technology to dictate schedules, lead meetings, and manage social lives. Therefore, ruing personal bonds, destroying critical and creative thinking, and losing common sense. The introduction of technology and computers on society has been beneficial in many areas, science having the biggest impact. For example, new radar technology will allow forecasters to see extreme weather, as will potential improvements to satellite technology, as well as computer models that run on powerful super computers. With these radars improved, more lives saved. â€Å"This will allow us to get to cover faster and be better prepared† (Lubchenco, Hayes 68). Another example of how technology has been beneficial to our society is in the medical field. Today many surgeries perform with the help of robots. Robotically assisted cardiac surgery presents less invasive than conventional surgery, with shortened hospital stays and faster return to daily activities (Krueger, Jones, Howell, etal. ) The largest benefit of technology is the easy and fast access that has come from the Internet. Almost any subject matter, research papers, and technical documents are available to anyone. Communication has also become much simpler using the Internet. Computers and the internet has become a staple in the American home. Not only are Americans conforming to an E-society, the rest of the world is too. This intention of this paper is not to discourage technology. Technology has done the unimaginable in societies here and abroad, perhaps technology has done too much. As we advance in the small gadgets and upgrade our systems to use the latest software, it is safe to say, we have become â€Å"addicted†. Because of this â€Å"addiction† or dependency on technology and computers, more and more people are flooding to their P. D. A’s or to their laptops to do simple everyday tasks; we should know how to do already. Anything from grocery shopping, booking a plane flight, depositing a paycheck, can be done over the internet from a personal computer, cell phone, or I Pad. Life as we know it is becoming a virtual reality within itself. We focus our addenda’s and our itineraries based around technology. Despite the positive impact technology has made on education, there are certainly areas that it poorly used. â€Å"The uncontrolled use of technology without examining its long-term benefits and potential problems is not something that should be allowed to happen in education. (Hodorowicz) For example, more and more often universities are moving toward â€Å"distant learning†, or online classes. â€Å"Nothing can replace the interactions between students and teachers. Once the process of learning from a fellow person has been automated to something mechanical many things will be lost† (Hodorowicz). Furthermore, automated grading loses the ability to see just where a student went wrong, or what the student was trying to achieve in an answer. Online courses remove the ability to deal with truly great teachers in a personal way, and it removes the ability to interact with other students. Automated education also hinders getting help when needed. It has been noted that with the use of computers and technology â€Å"education will no longer be an unpredictable and exciting adventure in human enlightenment, but an exercise in conformity and an apprenticeship to whatever gadgetry is useful in a technical world† (Schwarz). Technology has also been useful inside the home. yet, has been a key factor in the decline of stable, social relationships. Researchers are debating whether the Internet is improving or harming participation in community life and social relationships. This research examined the social and psychological impact of the Internet on 169 people in 73 households during their first 1 to 2 years on-line. We used longitudinal data to examine the effects of the Internet on social involvement and psychological well-being. In this sample, the Internet was used extensively for communication. Nonetheless, greater use of the Internet was associated with declines in participants’ communication with family members in the household, declines in the size of their social circle, and increases in their depression and loneliness (Kraut, Patterson,Keisler,etal. . Virtual communities are becoming an ever-growing normality. With the social networks like Facebook and twitter comes the anonymous predators. † The Internet is populated by people with false identities, people with inaccurate information, people who express themselves quickly and with little reflection or sense of accountability† (Schwarz). New frauds and ill opportunities to drain bank accounts emerge daily; just an example of how we are coming adapt to the cyber world with our eyes wide open. We are losing what it means to be human and the morals that were once instilled. As stated earlier in this paper, this is not a paper of whether technology in our world today is right or wrong. This is a paper proving how our ethical values and use of common knowledge are becoming extinct because we allow computers to think for us. We are losing creativity to think â€Å"outside the box† with our learning becoming more of a mathematical equation than an experience. Relying too much on technology is what will lead to the extinction of man, maybe not of a species, but of an individual, rather than random avitar. Works Cited Schwarz, Gretchen.

Critically Review a journal article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Critically Review a journal article - Essay Example but also looks towards studying the practices being innovated by small time entrepreneurs and managers of such firms so as to allow them to grow internationally. In order to gather information about the related research, the authors of the article have mentioned that the evidence presented within it have been sourced from an extensive research project, which has focused on studying the internationalization of smaller firms engaged in the retail sector. the authors have further cited the deficiency of enough literature that could support their efforts, which has thus forced them to undertake the study along an exploratory pattern thereby allowing them to make the required interpretations based on a pre-conceived research paradigm. The research has made extensive use of data analysis techniques, wherein the inductive procedures used have led to in-depth and conclusive insights in addition to providing for an organized description of several SMEs that have found significance during various parts of the research. Further, several case scenarios have been used to allow the interpretation of patterns among companies, thus eliminating the occurrenc e of chance associations. The companies that were included in the study from the retail SME sector were selected on the basis of specific criteria that allowed for companies only with  £25 million to be taken into consideration. Further, such companies also had to have a minimum form of business operations outside the UK, where the external existence could be through any valid form of operations ranging from franchises to licensed outlets. In addition, companies that were in the early stage of operation were given due consideration thereby leading to the set of 17 such firms out of which 9 were studied extensively owing to their acceptance to participate in the research. The study has shown that there was a pattern between the management cum decision making to encourage and nourish international expansion. However, given the

Falling Head Permeability Test Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Falling Head Permeability Test - Lab Report Example In the falling head test, the standpipe provides both the head of water and a means of measurement of the quantity of water flowing through the sample. The sample is connected to the standpipe whose diameter is most suited for it. The falling head principle is applied to the undisturbed sample that is in a sampling tube. The Falling Head Permeability test is done on soils whose permeability is less than 10-4 m/s. The coefficient of permeability, k, is the rate of discharge of a liquid and is directly proportional to the hydraulic gradient, i, and the cross-sectional area, a, of the sample (Mabrouk). The coefficient of permeability of the soil sample tested is k1= 5.41Ãâ€"10-5 m/s k2= 6.18Ãâ€"10-5 m/s. the mean Kmean = 5.795Ãâ€"10-5m/s. Based on the classification highlighted in step 9 of the experimental procedures, the soil sample can be defined to be of low permeability. Hence, the sample, which contains intermediate sized particles of and holds moistures, can be interpreted to be a silt clay. From these results, the general experiment of determining the coefficient of permeability of a soil sample can be described. Furthermore, the relationship between the coefficient of permeability and the pore size of the fine-grained soils has been established (Chiasson). This test was conducted for a single primary reason: to calculate the permeability of samples using the falling head permeability test. This test, which was conducted according to the laid down procedure found the coefficient of permeability to be valid.

The important elements of marketing plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The important elements of marketing plan - Essay Example Other important applications include informing the details of the company to the sales personnel, suppliers and others so that they become aware of company's goals and achievements. Feasibility study is an important phase in the development process. It enables the developer to have an assessment of the product being developed. It refers to the feasibility study of the product in terms of outcomes of the product, operational use and technical support required for implementing it. Economic Feasibility: It refers to the benefits or outcomes. We are deriving from the product as compared to the total cost we are spending for developing the product. If the benefits are more or less the same as the older system, then it is not feasible to develop the product. The development of the new product should greatly enhance the accuracy of the system and cuts short the delay in the processing of the product. The errors can be greatly reduced and at the same time providing great level of security. Hence, we do not need any additional equipment. Operational Feasibility: It refers to the feasibility of the product to be operational. Some products may work very well at design and implementation but may fall in the real time environment. It happens most of the time with feature films. It includes the study of additional human resources required and their technical expertise. Technical Feasibility: It refers to whether the product that is available in the market fully supports the present trend. It can be used to study the pros and cons of using particular kind of feature film for the development and it's feasibility. It also studies the additional training need to be given to the people to make the product work. A qualitative and quantitative research is must in developing an good feature film. Qualitative research is more of collecting data, conducting interviews, using documents and to understand and explain social phenomenon. Quantitative research involves is of development of natural sciences to study natural phenomenon. Survey methods, formal methods, econometrics, etc., are some of the examples of quantitative research. Qualitative research methods are more often used as it involves observation of data that helps in finding solutions to the problems. Qualitative research has been categorised into three categories named as positivist, interpretive and critical. Positivist research methods involves attempt to test theory that to understand the predictive element of the phenomena. It involves formal propositions, hypothesis testing, measuring of quantifiable variables, etc. In this type of research it is assumed that the objectives are given in reality and can be measured by their properties. Interpretive research method involves sharing of information and social constructions such as language. Interpretive method is used to understand the meaning of the given information that was assigned to the researchers. Critical research as the name implies concentrates more on the critical view of the subject. It highlights the critical viewpoint of the situation that has to be analysed. Implementation

Correlational Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Correlational - Research Paper Example able I choose from the study of our course while being able to make sound decisions at the workplace is the variable I choose as part of the workplace demands of a 20th century employee. I choose these two because both variables are interrelated. Having commitment in the workplace would allow one to have more ownership and a sense of responsibility towards his/her job which is a very important factor that will allow one to extract almost all possible solutions to a problem instead of jumping into the most convenient game plan that is available (Cognitive Demands of the Workplace, n.d.). On the other hand, a workplace that allows an employee to have a free hand in making decisions will increase the commitment an employee has of a company because he or she feels heard and treated as an asset that could do something beneficial to the business. Having seen the strong connection between both variables, applying the results of this survey in the workplace would definitely produce a generation of workers who would initiate breakthroughs instead of just going through the daily motions of delivering what is expected of them, would try hard to over deliver with or without a promise of an additional compensation, and lastly, would fight for any opportunity to close a deal like it was their own business even when most of the time a closed sale does not directly benefit an employee. Media, D. (n.d.). Factors Affecting Employee Performance | Chron.com. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved February 6, 2013, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/factors-affecting-employee-performance-978.html Cognitive Demands of the Workplace (n.d.). LDAO. Retrieved February 6, 2013, from

The Close Relationship Between Financial Leadership and Financial Goal Dissertation

The Close Relationship Between Financial Leadership and Financial Goal Setting of Top SMEs - Dissertation Example Generally, this requires a finance strategy (Bender & Ward, 2009) that seeks the maximisation of sales, market share, profits, earning per share, return on investment, growth, stock price and stockholders' well being (Bierman, 1999). Finance leadership is important in attaining good results for corporate entities. Financial leadership involves strategic thinking, innovation, management of business risks and change (Militello & Schwalber, 2000). Strategic thinking entails the use of structured and emergent systems to plan and attain results for the whole organisation over a long period of time. A leader has the responsibility of considering the internal organisational and external environmental factors in order to come up with a good strategy. When a strategy is in operation in an organisation, the leaders will have to identify inhibitors and other factors that can prevent them from attaining their objectives and solve them through a comprehensive risk management system. Innovation ha s to do with the continuous improvement of systems, processes and products of an organisation and it requires deep thinking and analysis to be attained. Financial management requires four things: Leadership, Ethics, Structures & Responsiveness (Blore et al, 2004). In other words, a financial leadership structure must be sensitive to the technical elements of leadership as well as the ethical concerns of leadership. It should also have structures of rules and regulations that would regulate activities throughout the organisation and be responsive to emergent matters and situations that would come up. The distribution of authority in organisations is done through a defined organisational structure which sets out the relationship between various units of the organisation (Stevens & Loudon, 2005). For the sake of accountability, there is the need for reporting to be done by subordinates to people in authority (Stevens & Loudon, 2005). Therefore people who have power delegated to them ha ve the duty of reporting to their leaders at regular intervals. Some of these reports include financial reports like management financial information from lower units which culminates in the creation of income and position statements that are used by various stakeholders for decision making. Problem Statement In practical terms, there is a questions about how these necessary qualities of financial leadership relate to businesses and their goals. For instance one would wonder why some companies are growing quickly financially whilst others are folding up in the UK. It is true that the global recession is making business difficult but how come some are growing fast and some are growing slowly? It therefore suggests that some businesses are getting some principles of finance right whilst others are not. What are the structures in financial systems and structures that affect financial goals of an organisatio

The Third Sector and Public Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Third Sector and Public Policy - Essay Example 375). According to Kendall and Knapp (2000, p. 12), the term the Third Sector can also be defined as the range of institutions that occupy the space between the private sector and the government or State; they are neither private sector nor public sector. The third Sector includes registered charities, trusts, social co-operatives and enterprises, voluntary groups, and the local community among others. Even though the Third Sector organizations exist in varying dimensions and entities, there are three main characteristics that unite the Third Sector (Alcock, 2010, p. 7). The first characteristic is that these organizations are value- driven; that is, certain desires motivate them to achieve social, economic and political goals such as the environment well- being, public welfare improvement, and economic well- being. It is noteworthy that this characteristic rarely seeks to distribute profit but seeks to improve the overall welfare of the society. The second characteristic is that the se organizations usually reinvest any generated surpluses in order to facilitate the pursuit of their goals. That is why they are considered not- for profit organizations. The last main characteristic of these organizations is that they are independent from the government explaining why they are mostly referred as non- governmental organizations (Keane, 2001, p. 18-19). The Third Sector differs from the state and the market in a number of ways. Anheier, et al (2001, p. 24) note, their differences arise fundamentally from how Third Sector organizations are formed, their values, the scope of their activities, source of funding, and their objectives. To begin with, this essay will focus on what distinguishes the Third Sector from the State. The first distinction between the two entities is in regard to their range of provision; the state has a wide range of provisions while the Third Sector organizations have limited range of service provisions. For instance, whereas the state can offe r numerous public services, the Third Sector organizations can offer specific services such as social housing and personal social care. It should also be noted that in some cases, the services offered by the Third Sector organizations are usually outsourced to them by the state. The state seeks to provide more space to the Third Sector so as to increase the Sector’s capacity to provide services that were previously provided by the public sector (Kramer, 2000, p. 20). Towards this end, the Third Sector is seen to have potential in making contribution in the following areas; social and health care services, educational services, children services, and correctional services among others. The second distinguishing factor between the Third Sector and the state is the scale of funding. It is an undisputable fact that the state has far much funding for its services compared to the Third Sector. This can be attributed to the fact that the state collects revenues in form of taxes whic h is usually in large amounts which help it to fund its expenditure in regard to provision of services (Anheier et al, 2001, p. 13). This is totally different from the scale of funding that the Third Sector has; the Sector has small amount of financial resources to provide the required services. This problem is heightened by the fact that the Third Sector is not- for- profit organizations hence limiting their amount of revenues.

Sales Management&The Salesman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sales Management&The Salesman - Essay Example They are explained below. Any manager or a person who is an essential part of a company will want maximum utility of their product. When the salesman sold the most expensive and top-of-the-range software to a 2-man antique shop then the product was way beyond their needs since they needed a simple accounting software and people have a habit of talking bad about a product when it is of no use to them. Since word of mouth is a very string advertising technique that decides the success or failure of a company. It can turn a star product into a useless dog if let loose or not used effectively. Since there is no coming back in this technique because once the company's image goes down the drain the effects are fatal. Another reason can be the irresponsibility of the salesman. A good salesman must think out of the box and it is their duty to help the customer find the best product. If the salesman is able to attract the customer with his skills then the next step is influencing the customer enough to create brand loyalty. Further brand loyalty can be cashed at every step of the selling process. But the salesman in this case, being a star salesman for some reason failed to fulfil this requirement. Lastly, such blunders can spoil the brand image of the company.

The Genius of Alexander the Great Book Review Essay Example for Free

The Genius of Alexander the Great Book Review Essay Alexander III of Macedon, widely known as Alexander the Great, is opinioned by some people to have been a ruthless man who only had a thirst for conquest , but according to others he was a man of intellect and â€Å"statesmanlike vision† (Hammond Preface). In N.G.L. Hammond’s book The Genius of Alexander the Great, as stated in the preface, he tries to refrain from writing based on his own opinion of Alexander, and instead analyzes the few surviving narratives on Alexander’s achievements in an unbiased manner. He portrays the conquests, struggles, and greatest achievements of Alexander’s career, such as the building of his empire that stretched from the eastern Mediterranean coast through Asia Minor and the Indus Valley (Hammond Preface). Hammond’s main goal is to evaluate the life of Alexander and to write an account of him which is as close to the true facts of his profession as one can achieve. Hammond claims that Alexander did more than any other individual to shape the history of civilization, which led to the title of his book. (Hammond preface) But what was it that made Alexander the Great so ‘great’? In the early years of his life, he wanted to achieve glory and excellence, and that dream stuck with him until his death. His ability to establish his positions and to forge an empire like no other led to the creation of his legendary name. Alexander overcame hardships, such as nationalism and racism, to build his kingdom using intellect and personality. Even at a young age he showed independence and courage when he tamed the wild stallion Bucephalus (Hammond 2). And that was only the beginning of him proving his worth and his leadership qualities. He was an admirable public speaker (Hammond 27), and he showed great amounts of courage and independence in his life time. At his first battle, the battle of the river Granicus, the Persians placed â€Å"their excellent cavalry 20,000 strong on the level ground facing the river and their 20,000 Greek mercenary infantry on the hillside above the level ground† (Hammond 65) as a defense mechanism that could not be turned on either side (Hammond 66). This battle proved his characteristic speed and courage when he formed a line for frontal attack which included Greek Calvary, Thracian cavalry, archers, Paeonian cavalry, the lancers, and the Hypaspists (Hammond 66) and attacked the Persians, prevailing due to his â€Å"strength, experience, and lances of cornelwood against javelines† (Hammond 67). He was a military genius, and it was because of this that he was victorious at that first battle. In Hammond’s opinion, Alexander’s â€Å"immediate grasp of the tactical situation, his coordination of all arms in a coordinated attack, and his ingenuity in combining the initial assault with the extension of his line upstream to the right were all brilliant† (Hammond 68). But how had he learned to become so ‘brilliant’ when it came to military? According to the text, he became educated in his military matters when he turned fourteen and attended the School of Royal Pages in 342 B.C.E. (Hammond 4). He took a four year course where he learned liberal arts, horsemanship, and basic subjects of school until he graduated on his eighteenth birthday (Hammond 5). It is because of this education that he received the start of his admirable career. Hammond provides multiple points in his book that show Alexander’s ‘greatness’, such as the Balkan campaign, where he broke through the Haemus Pass, crossed the Danube, and led his army through Wolf’s Pass without losing a single man (Hammond 39); the revolt and capture of Thebes, where his march into Thebes was â€Å"so swift that the Thebans did not know of his approach† (Hammond 44); and the battle of Gaugamela, where he defeated Darius III Codomannus and afterwards was acclaimed ‘King of Asia’ by the Macedonians (Hammond 110). During 340 B.C.E., Alexander commanded the Macedonian forces and defeated the Maedi in the Strymon Valley (Hammond 6). He captured their city and renamed it ‘Alexandropolis’. This was the beginning of his conquering and renaming of cities after himself, adding to his empire. He was liked by many people due to his great gift of friendship (Hammond 5), allowing him to become admired and respected as a leader. There were many events that lead to the death of Alexander, one including the passing of his best friend Hephaestion, which caused Alexander to fast and lay in grief for two days (Hammond 196). Before he died, he believed that if he gave thanks to the gods and prayed, they would hear his thoughts and grant him salvation. Because of this, he did not arrange a transition of power (Hammond 200). However, Alexander did not have the gods on his side as much as he thought he did because on June 10th, 323 B.C.E. he died at the age of thirty-two (Hammond 198). He had obtained a fever and later lost his power of speech (Hammond 197). Soldiers came into his room and â€Å"as the men filed past he was unable to speak but greeted them with his eyes† (Hammond 198). It was suggested that he died of malaria tropica, and other reports said he died of poisoning or alcoholism (Hammond 198). Nicolas Geoffrey Lemprià ¨re Hammond, otherwise known as N.G.L. Hammond, was a professor of Greek University of Cambridge (N.G.L. Hammond: Professor†¦). He was born on November 15th, 1907 and died March 21st, 2001 (N.G.L. Hammond Bio†¦). He has written multiple books including his first book A History of Greece to 322 B.C.E., Alexander the Great: King, Commander, and Statesman and a three-volume collection titled History of Macedonia. He attended Fettes College and Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge (N.G.L. Hammond Bio†¦). In 1954, he became headmaster at Clifton College, and in 1962 he was appointed professor of Greek at Bristol University (N.G.L. Hammond Bio†¦). He was mainly recognized for his writing of books on Alexander’s life until his retirement in 1973 (N.G.L. Hammond: Professor†¦). Hammond’s works cited page was limited to books only in English and included Vergina: the Royal Tombs and the Ancient City by M. Andronicos, Coquest and Empire: the Reign of Alexander the Great by A.B. Bosworth, Alexander the Great by R. Lane Fox, and Alexander the Great and the Greeks of Asia Minor by A.G. Heisserer. He incorporated many of the books he himself wrote, such as The Macedonian State. Many of his secondary sources came from London and Oxford. He also used ancient narratives that dated between three and five centuries after Alexander’s career (Hammond preface). Hammond used writings from Arrian, whom received his information from Ptolemy and Aristobulus. They campaigned with Alexander and were considered to be trustworthy sources according to Hammond (Hammond preface). Hammond also obtained information from Plutarch’s reports, but Plutarch relied on accounts of information from Cleitarchus, a contemporary, which were considered to be untrustworthy because his books contained many errors (Hammond preface). In his opening paragraph, Hammond used an excerpt from Marsyas Macedon’s book The Upbringing of Alexander. Macedon was a contemporary of Alexander and an eyewitness to Alexander’s taming of the horse Bucephalus. One of his sources, Coins of the Macedonians by M.J. Price, was found in a British museum from 1974, and all of his English sources were created throughout the 1900s. His book includes an appendix in the back which allows the reader to access certain points of information in the text in an efficient way. Hammond does not cite his sources within his text, nor does his book contain any footnotes. He also refrained from using full dates, leaving out B.C.E. and instead just writing dates such as â€Å"342.† The author achieved his goal of presenting the evidence that supported Alexander’s goals and exposing his success. In the beginning of the book, as stated in the preface and in the introduction of this paper, Hammond wrote that he wished to not use bias against Alexander, but instead analyze the narratives. In the book, it appeared that Hammond thought very highly of Alexander, as evident by the title of the book The Genius of Alexander the Great. According to Hammond, Alexander is a genius in the ways he built his empire and fought his battles. He often used the word ‘brilliant’ to describe Alexander’s actions, such as the â€Å"brilliant victory† against the Scythians (Hammond 146) and the way he set up his army to win the battle of the river Granicus stating it was â€Å"all brilliant† (Hammond 68). Hammond cites all his sources and provides a well written book filled with a great amount of detail and description on Alexander’s life, his battles, his teachings, what he learned, and how he overcame his biggest challenges. He plays out his text in a fashion that is understandable and interesting. He does not drone on about a certain subject, but stays right to the point. Hammond does not display his evidence in a chaotic and confusing manner, but instead exhibits the information in a consecutive way. The book begins with his childhood and ends with his death. He labels each section with a title. For example: The Campaign and the battle of Gaugamela (Hammond 103) and Coinage and culture in 336-335 (Hammond 53). There are also illustrations in the text available to the reader such as maps – map of the Alexander city at Ai Khanoum (Hammond 158), sculptures, paintings, and gold medallions. All his pictures are cited on their own citation page (Hammond xii). Hammond provides multiple examples of his text, giving great detail of the actions Alexander partook in. For example, the revolt of Thebes, The war at sea and the siege of Halicarnassus, The crossing of the Oxus, the Branchidae and the failure of Bessus (Hammond 44, 73, 140). Paul Cartledge is a fan of Alexander, which led him to compose the book Alexander the Great. He starts his book out by saying, â€Å"He [Alexander] is one of those very few genuinely iconic figures, who have both remade the world they knew and constantly inspire us to remake our own worlds, both personal and more global† (Cartledge preface). Both Hammond and Cartledge present Alexander as a legendary figure. Cartledge states that â€Å"Alexander was in various countries and at various times a hero . . . but he was most famous of all as a conqueror† (Cartledge 1). Hammond agrees with the statement that Alexander was a conqueror by depicting his many battles and many victories as ‘geniuses’. Norman F. Cantor, author of Alexander the Great: Journey to the End of the Earth, also writes Alexander to be a â€Å"great figure in the ancient world† (Cantor). Both these men believe Alexander’s conquests shaped the world in a positive manner. Like Hammond, Cantor wanted to only write a critical assessment of Alexander and his world (Cantor). To all three of these authors, Alexander deserved his title ‘Alexander the Great’ because he had â€Å"extraordinary achievements† (Cartlidge), was a â€Å"hero of antiquity [that] led an army of Macedonians and Greeks on a route through the Middle East and Central Asia† (Cantor), and had â€Å"intellectual brilliance and statesmanlike vision† (Hammond). In an article written by Brooke Allen titled â€Å"Alexander the Great – or the Terrible?†, Brooke states that â€Å"though he has gone down in history as ‘the Great,’ he might just as easily have been known as ‘the Terrible’† (Allen). Allen talks about how Alexander was known by the Europeans as â€Å"the best in the west† because he helped the spread of Hel lenic culture, but to the Asians he was â€Å"a dispenser of death and destruction† (Allen). While Hammond describes Alexander as a successful, brilliant conqueror, Allen brings insight into the dark sides of Alexander the Great. According to her, his destruction of Thebes, where he killed all the men and captured the women and children for slavery, was an â€Å"atrocity† (Allen). In Hammond’s book, when it came to the death of Alexander’s father Philip, Hammond made Alexander out to be a victim. Hammond wrote that there was more than one intended victim and that â€Å"Alexander would surely have been one† (Hammond 29). But in Allen’s article she writes â€Å"Many contemporary sources believed Alexander to have been, if not the author of the crime, at least complicit in it† (Allen). All the battles that Alexander won and the people he had to killed were classified by Hammond as great and powerful, but Allen talks about how these were crimes, such as his massacre of the Branchidae or his execution of the governor of Gaza Batis, where he tied him to a chariot and dragged him around the city’s walls until he was dead (Allen). But whether or not Alexander was a ‘great’ or a ‘terrible’ man depends on who is classifying him. To any student wanting to compose a review or essay on Alexander the Great, this is a highly recommended book. It has a copious amount of information on Alexander (i.e. his first battle, how and where he learned, his childhood, his adulthood, and his death). Alexander was not just a man who fought in battles; he was a legendary figure whose name can be found as the title of many books and articles. Although he died at the age of thirty-two (Hammond 198), he managed to do more in those thirty-two years than most people could in eighty. He is the only man to conqueror most of the known Western world and his name will continue to live on for many centuries to come. Works Cited Allen, Brook. â€Å"Alexander the Great—or the Terrible?† Hudson Review; (2005), Vol. 58 Issue 2, p220-230, 11. Cantor, Norman F. Alexander the Great: the Journey to the End of the Earth. HarperCollins Publishers, 2005. Print. Cartledge, Paul. Alexander the Great. The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc. 2004. Print. Hammond, N.G.L. The Genius of Alexander the Great. General Duckworth and Co. Ltd, 1997. Print. N.G.L. Hammond Bio. www.in.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov 2012.

Growth of LGBT Images in Popular Culture

Growth of LGBT Images in Popular Culture Recent years have witnessed a proliferation of images of LGBT people in popular culture. Discuss this growth in visibility with reference to queer theory. In recent years we have witnessed a proliferation of images of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people (LGBT) in popular culture. An indication of why this has occurred can be found in the historical context from which modern homo-viability arose. Furthermore I will look at how this increased homo-visibility has challenged heteronormativity thus producing social changes through collective social action and innovation, furthermore I will look at examples of LGBT images in television and film and gay representation. After mapping changes I consider the positive and negative implications associated with the increase in images of LGBT people in popular culture and the effects of modern homo-visual representations with reference to Queer Theory. After mapping changes I consider whether Queer Theory offers an adequate account of changes or whether [other theories] give a more comprehensive analysis of why these developments occurred and whether they explain the positive and negative implications of the increase of visibility. Societal attitudes towards same-sex relationships vary over time and place; according to constructionists the meanings of sexual acts are historically, culturally and contextually specific. This is demonstrated when observing historical social changes in sexual orientation. Constructionists hold that sexual orientation is fluid and dynamic, and that sexuality is constructed by social factors and influenced by social changes. In some ancient societies sexual orientation was not subjected to the binary constraints that are used to define categorize and segregate those of difference in more recent times, therefore sexuality was ambiguous. Historically we have witnessed the regulation of sexual orientation through formal societal controls enforced through law and judicial mechanisms, demonstrated historically by the sodomy laws prohibited homosexuality and made a capital offence in Britain in 1810. Even today homosexuality is illegal and punishable by death in some countries. This essay will look primarily at western societies and the historical context in which recognition of LGBT has become apparent. In modern western cultures, gay and lesbian people have been subjected to frequent prejudice and discrimination. This oppression often caused LGBT people to repress their true identities and sexual preference. 1973 was an important year for the LGBT community as the American Psychiatric Association removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders their definition of homosexuality. As a result homosexuality was no longer classed as a clinical mental disorder as something abnormal that needed medical treatment. Homosexual acts were decriminalized in the Western world by the 1970s but it was not until the mid-1970s that the LGBT community became visible because of active protest to gain social recognition, which was vital for the minority to fight for their civil rights. The Stonewall Riots in 1969 contributed to the increase in LGBT visibility. The Stonewall Riots were a series of violent conflicts between the LGBT community and New York City police officers. These riots lasted several days and were centered at the Stonewall Inn New York. These riots were widely recognized at the catalyst for the modern-day movement towards LGBT rights never before have the LGBT community acted collectively to forcibly resist police harassment. The activist movements of the 1960s and 70s inspired events such as pride parades and dyke marches, it also caused large numbers of gay men and lesbians to protest against repression, police entrapment, and other forms of discrimination. Howvever this was transformed by the AIDS epidemic that struck the gay community so devastatingly in the 1980s. The AIDS epidemic affected both heterosexuals and homosexuals; however it was largely portrayed in media representations and pubic spheres as a homosexual disease and attempts were made by homophobes to restrict media representations of homosexuality, the only representations of the LGBT community were negative and reinforced this negative stigma. Due to the homophobic past LGBT individuals were particularly vulnerable to the AIDS virus. Due to inadequate education LGBT individuals were not as aware of the precautions needed for safe sex in same-sex relations, and due to homo-invisibility only heterosexual safe-sex advice and education was available in schools. However, this horrific epidemic did provide the LGBT community with a public voice, increasing public visibility. Through collective action they struggled against this discrimination and organized campaigns to promote efforts in AIDS education, prevention, research, patient support, and community outreach. One important influential figure in AIDS activism through art is American pioneer Gran Fury. He formed a gay activist group called ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) This group aimed to inform a broad public and provoke direct action to end the AIDS crisis. His works include, the street-spanning banner announcing that All people with AIDS are innocent, The collectives image of three interracial homosexual and heterosexual couples kissing above the caption Kissing Doesnt Kill: Greed and Indifference Do In addition to the work of Gran Fury, caused several other significant public projects to arise in response to the AIDS crisis including SILENCE=DEATH Project and the Red Ribbon Project. This collective effort transformed the AIDS epidemic from a syndrome that many were reluctant to speak about to a subject that could be raised sympathetically in popular news magazines and on television programs. Old stereotypes were seen to be inappropriate and, while much coverage of the epidemic was homophobic, some ignorance was dispelled and as a result, AIDS awareness has now spread into the mainstream, creating its own sphere of community-based organizations, charitable institutions, and even magazines for those who are HIV-positive. During the 1980s and 1990s the LGBT community gained some legal protection and public recognition thorough collective action and protest. Laws decriminalizing homosexual behavior and prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing, and services were introduced. These were all positive achievements essential for the LGBT battle for equality and social acceptance; however, due to the increase in public visibility the LGBT community were affected by increased homophobia; LGBT individuals were victims of servere discrimination and hate crimes. Coming out still involved courage, indicating that negative implications of increased visibility persisted. Historically LGBT have had to face many struggles in order to become visible but due to collective action of the LGBT community, however their struggles have had both positive and negative consequences, today the gay community are visible in public, political domains, this increased visibility has allowed the gay community to express their gay culture through gay prides, rainbow flags, LGBT events and gaining increased visibility in many areas of visual popular culture including, magazines film, music and television The prevalence of LGBT representations in cinematic art and media representations prevailing in western culture has had positive contributions in challenging the dominance of heteronormativity through the increasing awareness of LGBT community. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have been have been slowly gaining recognition by through collective action they have challenged and helped reconfigure notions of what had been compulsive normative homosexual representations. This challenge has changed peoples perception of categories of difference (masculinity and femininity) and (homosexuality and heterosexuality). However not all gay representations are a positive, some media representation of LGBT individuals are distorted stereotypes. Typical media representations portrayals of gay men are sometimes negative, gay men are portrayed as ill from aids as demonstrated by the media representations of Freddy Mercury Effeminate These forms of stereotypes can cause negative implications for young gay men because they could see these representations as an ideal type. Lesbians are often portrayed in the media as butch man haters, or over feminized â€Å"lip-stick lesbians† these representations similarly to gay men are stereotypes and does typically not apply to all lesbians. Controversially lesbian visual representations are usually a fictional account distorted through a heteronormative lens of heterosexual males and capitalists self interest this is demonstrated in the picture below The power and dominance of heteronormative ideals has caused many past gay and lesbian film actors to feel the need to conceal their true sexual identity. Some feel they need to conform to heteronormative ideals in order to fulfil the fantasies of the heterosexual mainstream audience. Many gay actors wish to remain closeted, for example Rock Hudson Hudson said he would rather die before fans discovered he was gay he even misled magazines by posing with glamorous female stars. In 1985 that Hudson had AIDS, and a brief lover publicly outed him to the media. For most film stars open homosexuality, or even rumours of homosexuality, could end their careers. Therefore, it is not surprising that some gay and lesbian actors disguise their sexuality. However contemporary modern western societies we are slowly seeing changes in societal altitude, due to the fragmented nature of modern societal structure people no longer share common norms and values, this is due to the break down of social solidarity, this has caused people to fight the restrictive nature of heteronormativity. The British actor Rupert Everett came out publicly in 1989. Rather than ruining his career his openness of his sexual identity seems only to have made him more interesting to audiences. After his success in My Best Friends Wedding (1997), in which, however, he played a gay character, he landed a very big role as the voice of the heterosexual character prince charming in the famous film series of Shrek. Challenging this normative heterosexuality by broadening the range of identities and desires represented through the visual media has been a central concern in works created by independent lesbian/gay/ bisexual/transgender television and film makers, these films aim to centre and normalize homosexual identity. Many people see the success of Queer as Folk as evidence that TV shows can still be enormously popular and profitable due to the growing demand in the market for an un-distorted true representation of LGBT individuals lives. I have mapped out the historical context which has explained some of the social changes that have occurred that could have contributed to the proliferation of images of (LGBT) people in popular culture. I will now look at the views of Queer Theorists and their position and influence on the increase of LGBT images in popular culture. Queer theory was developed a response to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, which promoted a renewal of radical activism. This theory contested against the increased homophobia brought about by public responses to AIDS. Queer theory became occupied in part with what effects put into circulation around the AIDS epidemic necessitated and nurtured new forms of political organization, education and theorizing in queer. Queer theory developed out of unexamined constraints in the traditional identity politics of recognition and self-identity. Queer identity, unlike the other categories labeled lesbian or gay, has no interest in consolidating or stabilizing itself. It maintains its critique of identity-focus by understanding the formation of its own coalition; this may result in exclusionary effects in excess of those intended. Queer theory challenges heteronormativity by providing recognition to a wide array of non-normative sexualities and sexual practices therefore not only applying to lesbian and gay men, but transsexual, bisexual, intersexual individuals. Queer theorists aim to challenge the cultural notions of straight ideology by the deconstruction the constraints of gender and sexual categorization, through challenging heteronormative ideals they wish to de-stigmatize those affected by segregation and repression. Queer theorists hold that sexuality is fluid and therefore should not be restrained by categorization. The fragmentation characteristic of modern societies that has occurred has caused a decline in social solidarity therefore people do not share the same cultural norms, beliefs, or sexual orientation many people in modern societies have multiple identities therefore cannot be homogenized for the purpose of categorization. They focus on the individual subjective nature of gender and sexual identity and respect the meanings of these identities are only valid in that particular space and time. This perspective contrasts the essentialists theory, essentialists hold that gender and sexuality is an essential part of an individuals biology which is determined at birth this notion is rejected by queer theorists. Hollywood film productions pursues the straight theme as being the dominant theme to outline what masculine is. This is particularly noticeable in gangster films, action films and westerns, which never have weak (read: homosexual) men playing the heroes, with the recent exception of the film Brokeback Mountain. Queer theory looks at destabilizing and shifting the boundaries of these cultural constructions. Queer theory was originally associated with radical gay politics of ACT UP, Outrage! and other groups which embraced queer as an identity label that pointed to a separatist, non-assimilationist politics.[5] Queer theory developed out of unexamined constraints in the traditional identity politics of recognition and self-identity. Queer identity, unlike the other categories labeled lesbian or gay, has no interest in consolidating or stabilizing itself. It maintains its critique of identity-focus by understanding the formation of its own coalition; this may result in exclusionary effects in excess of those intended. Foucault theories contributed to the formulation of queer theory in his publication The History of Sexuality, he follows the social fluidity of gender and sexual orientation and the categorization of those of difference. He demonstrates how labels are created through different discourses and power relations therefore meanings reflect the social attitudes of that particular context E.g. Sodomy and homosexuality. According to Foucault he term homosexual was created through the discourses of medicine and especially psychiatry. But the consequences of this discourse transformed a previously socially accepted form of sexual expression to a sinful, mental condition. Foucault holds that prior to the invention of these labels of difference people were just people. Queer culture in general is intertwining with the common normative culture, with people being exposed to the ideas of gay pride and becoming more educated about queer studies in schools and society. Queer theorists focus on problems in classifying every individual as either male or female, even on a strictly biological basis. For example, the sex chromosomes (X and Y) may exist in atypical combinations (as in Klinefelters syndrome [XXY]). This complicates the use of genotype as a means to define exactly two distinct genders. Intersexed individuals may for many different biological reasons have ambiguous sexual characteristics Conclusion By the middle of the second decade of the twentieth century, the conception of homosexuality as a distinct identity category, with implications of mental and physical illness, homosexuality was no longer defined as a mental disorder Although homosexuality would not be categorized as a distinct type of deviant personality until the beginning of the twentieth century, heterosexual values were effectively imposed throughout western society during the nineteenth century In the new millennium, gay activism has increasingly become less galvanized by the specter of AIDS and has seemingly splintered into dozens of micro-movementsfocusing on issues ranging from gays in the military to parenting, same-sex marriage, workplace fairness. Yet others raise questions about the stigmatization of the gay body in those media that treat AIDS as a sign of the perversion of gay sexual practices and reinforce prejudices and stereotypes that contribute to homophobia. Some represent the gay body in terms of its erotic and sensual power, while others, in the hope of raising awareness, inscribe it within the structure of their art as a positive model of affirmation and sexual liberation. In contemporary visual representations, the gay body manifests itself through the presentation of iconographic codes and semantic referents constituted in the objectification of sociosexual and cultural actions of the gay community. Whether active or passive participants in this community, gay artists express themselves by proposing their sexuality as a locus for learning and communicating real experience, all the while critiquing media-promulgated stereotypes which they dispute, reject or adopt. For more than two decades, precipitated by the feminist movement, the gay/lesbian liberation movement, and the AIDS crisis, discourses of gender, sexuality, and sexual identity have been central to visual representation. As closet doors protecting compulsory heterosexuality(6) are opened and the sight lines of those constrained within are expanded our system of difference/s is seen at every level to bear traces of coerced subordination. Bibliography Halperin, David (1990) in Jagose, Annamarie (1996) Queer Theory. An Introduction. New York University  Press. Original emphasis . Foucault, Michel (1981) The History of Sexuality, vol. 1, An Introduction. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Harry Benshoff and Sean Griffin, Queer Cinema: The Film Reader. New York and Oxford: Routledge.  (2004): 6. Thomas Waugh, The Fruit Machine: Twenty Years of Writings on Queer Cinema. Durham and London: Duke University Press. (2000): 239. Paul Lee, â€Å"Directors Notes,† CFMDC archives. Jim Hubbard, â€Å"Introduction: A Short, Personal History of Lesbian and Gay Experimental Film.† Millennium Film Journal On-line, 41 (2003). [Online]. Available: http://mfj-online.org/journalPages/MFJ41/hubbardpage.html Benshoff, H. and Griffin, S. Queer Cinema: The Film Reader. New York and Oxford: Routledge, 2004. Bruce, J. â€Å"Queer Cinema at the NFB: The ‘Strange Case of Forbidden Love.† In J. Leach and J. Sloniowski (Eds.). Candid Eyes: Essays on Canadian Documentaries. Toronto, Buffalo and London: University of Toronto Press. (2003): 164-180. Goldie, Terry. (Ed.). In a Queer Country. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2001. Waugh, Thomas. The Fruit Machine: Twenty Years of Writings on Queer Cinema. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2000. Andersson, Yvonne (2001) Dokusà ¥por en verklighet fà ¶r sig? Granskningsnà ¤mndens  rapportserie, Rapport nr 8. Butler, Judith (1993) Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. New York:  Routledge. Carlshamre, Staffan (1987) Language and Time: An Attempt to Arrest the Thought of Jacques  Derrida. Gà ¶teborg: Acta Universitatis. Castells, Manuel (1996, 1998, 2000) Informationsà ¥ldern. Ekonomi, samhà ¤lle och Kultur.  Band I III. Gà ¶teborg: Daidalos. Dyer, Richard (ed) (1977) Gays and Film, London: British Film Institute.   Foucault, Michel (1981) The History of Sexuality, vol. 1, An Introduction. Harmondsworth:  Penguin. Giddens Anthony (1997) Modernitet och sjà ¤lvidentitet. Sjà ¤lvet och samhà ¤llet i den senmoderna  epoken. Gà ¶teborg: Daidalos. Hall, Stuart (1990) Cultural Identity and Diaspora. In Woodward, Kathryn (ed) (1997)  Identity and Difference,. London: Sage. Hall, Stuart (ed) (1997) Representation. Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices.  London: Sage. Jagose, Annamarie (1996) Queer Theory. An Introduction. New York University Press. Mc Chesney, R W (2001) All makt à ¥t medierna. Eller ge folk vad folk vill ha?  Stockholm: Bokfà ¶rlaget DN. Moore, Henrietta (1994) Divided we stand. Sex, Gender and Sexual Difference. In Woodward,  Kathryn (ed) (1997) Identity and Difference. London: Sage. Ortner, Sherry B (1974) Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture? In Ortner, Sherry B (1996)  Making Gender. The Politics and Erotics of Culture. Boston: Beacon Press. Robins, Kevin (1997) Global Times: what in the world is going on? In du Gay, P (ed)  Production of Culture/Cultures of Production, London: Sage. Rosaldo, M (1974) Women, Culture and Society; a theorethical overview. In Rosaldo, M and Lamphere, L (eds) (1974) Women, Culture and Society.  Stanford: Stanford University Press. Woodward, Kathryn (ed) (1997) Identity and Difference. London: Sage

The Masque Of Red Death :: essays research papers

The Masque Of Red Death. A virus had come. It killed all that it touched. No one could survive, the red death. Nothing had ever been like it. Sharp pain dizziness and bleeding at the pores where its signs. When prince Prospero's town was half dead he called on 'a thousand hale and light hearted friends among the knights and dames of his court." He called them into a castle. Guarded with a metal gate. They stayed there for 6 months, Eluding the 'red death." They had every thing they need there. Entertainment, food and all other things needed to survive. It was at the end of the 5th or 6th month that he called for a masked ball or 'of the most unusual magnificence." Abstract art filled the room with beauty. The masque was held in a suite with 7 rooms. The rooms were most curios with turns at every corner and gothic windows. The colors of each room varied. The 7th chamber was all black. The only thing different about this room was that the windows did not match with every thing else. The pains where blood red, there was no light of any kind. In there stood giant ebony clock 'whose pendulum swung with a dull heavy activities clang." All activities ceased with the sound of each hour. Everything stooped as if dead. ' But when the echoes had full ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly…..'; The first 6 rooms crowed unlike the 7th, until the clock struck midnight. Everything ceased like before until the last echo of the clock sounded. Many people became aware of the masked figure. 'There arose a length from the whole company." First surprise then horror to this figure. When the eyes of Prince Prospero saw him he did not know what to do.

Artificial Intelligence :: essays research papers

The intellectual roots of AI, and the concept of intelligent machines, may be found in Greek mythology. Intelligent artifacts appear in literature since then, with real (and fraudulent) mechanical devices actually demonstrating behaviour with some degree of intelligence. After modern computers became available following World War II, it has become possible to create programs that perform difficult intellectual tasks. Even more importantly, general purpose methods and tools have been created that allow similar tasks to be performed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good Places to Start A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence. By Bruce Buchanan, University Professor Emeritus, University of Pittsburgh. A chronology of significant events in the history of AI, prepared for the Introduction to AI class at the University of Pittsburgh. [Note: We have begun to annotate his history by providing links to resources in AI TOPICS and elsewhere.] The Big Picture - A Short History of Robotics and Thinking Machines. Part of the teaching guide for the Scientific American Frontiers in the classroom series: ROBOTS ALIVE! AI's Greatest Trends and Controversies. Marti A. Hearst and Haym Hirsh, Editors. IEEE Intelligent Systems (January/February 2000). A timely and thought provoking collection of views from AI scholars and practitioners. (Also available in pdf.) A Proposal for the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence. J. McCarthy, M. L. Minsky, N. Rochester, and C.E. Shannon. August 31, 1955. "We propose that a 2 month, 10 man study of artificial intelligence be carried out during the summer of 1956 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The study is to proceed on the basis of the conjecture that every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it." And this marks the debut of the term "artificial intelligence." Also see this interview with John McCarthy. The very early days. An interview (available in PDF, Quicktime, and Realmedia) with Donald Michie, Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh, and currently a visitor at NSW University of Technology. "Interested in AI from 1942, Donald Michie conceived, founded and directed the UK's first AI laboratory at Edinburgh, and has since been active in AI projects around the World. ... His talk will cover the period from 1942, when Alan Turing was a colleague at Bletchley Park, up to 1965, when the Edinburgh AI laboratory was truly launched. He will cover the theories, the practice, the personalities and the politics, and on past form may be expected to do so without pulling any punches.

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court as a Dystopian Work Essay

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court as a Dystopian Work      Ã‚   For years, Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" has been primarily viewed as a work of simple satire. Twain, desiring to poke fun at a group of America's cultural critics, chief among them Matthew Arnold, who claimed that cultural life in the U.S. treaded on shallow soil, takes aim at the venerated institutions of Britain. The author attempts to show that his country's lack of romanticized social structures, meaning an absence of royalty, the Catholic church, and long-dead knights and princesses, was far from a cultural weakness. Twain explodes the myth around idealized chivalric society and proves it to be no match for the Nineteenth Century man.    The book follows Twain's protagonist Hank Morgan, a pragmatist and the author's model of self-made, turn-of-the-century industrialist, through a time travel jump that lands him in Sixth Century England, specifically at the fabled Camelot. Here Hank, through ingenuity and entrepreneurial vigor, quickly ascends to the top of the socio-political structure of King Arthur's Court. What's more, Twain takes great pains in ridiculing both the role of the church in England and the ignoble position and lack of intelligence of the ruling royalty. He also pokes fun at the romanticizing of English culture during this period by illustrating the prostrate and dependent nature of the British aristocratic system -- a system void of democratic mechanism.    As a work of social satire, the beginning of the novel is fairly successful. At the outset of the work, Twain accomplishes what must have been his original task.    "The opening chapters, the direct attack, the... ...mbolic of American innocence and the Morgan and his machines of destruction as symbols of capitalism and industrialization, the novel becomes not chaotic literary failure, but dystopian science fiction popularized in the Twentieth Century. Where Huxley and others predicted enslavement to technology, Twain asserts that innocence and naivetà © have no place in and will be wiped out by modern society. His final analysis is that they cannot coexist.    Works Cited Bellamy, Gladys Carmen. Mark Twain as a Literary Artist. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1950.   DeVoto, Benard. Mark Twain's America. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1935. Twain, Mark. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. New York: P.F. Collier and Son Company, 1889. Wagenknecht, Edward. Mark Twain: The Man and His Work. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1935.

Summerhill Education

SUMMERHILL EDUCATION Education is one of many elements, which create personalities of young people. We used to the fact that each school aims to teach, require and civilize. Most people think, that young do not know what is good for them, moreover, without appropriate mobilization, they cannot gain a success in future. 1. Alexander Sutherland Neill  (17 October 1883 – 23 September 1973) was a Scottish progressive educator, author and founder of  Summerhill school, which remains open and continues to follow his educational philosophy to this day. He is best known as an advocate of personal freedom for children.Neill believed that the happiness of the child should be the paramount consideration in decisions about the child's upbringing, and that this happiness grew from a sense of personal freedom. He felt that deprivation of this sense of freedom during childhood, and the consequent unhappiness experienced by the repressed child, was responsible for many of the psychologica l disorders of adulthood. Neill's ideas, which tried to help children achieve self-determination and encouraged critical thinking rather than blind obedience, were seen as backward, radical, or at best, controversial.Many of Neill's ideas are widely accepted today, although there are still many more â€Å"traditional† thinkers within the educational establishment who regard Neill's ideas as threatening the existing social order, and are therefore controversial. In 1921 Neill founded  Summerhill School  to demonstrate his educational theories in practice. These included a belief that children learn better when they are not compelled to attend lessons. The school is also managed democratically, with regular meetings to determine school rules.Pupils have equal voting rights with school staff. Neill's Summerhill School experience demonstrated that, free from the coercion of traditional schools, students tended to respond by developing self-motivation, rather than self-indulge nce. Externally imposed discipline, Neill felt, prevented internal, self-discipline from developing. He therefore considered that children who attended Summerhill were likely to emerge with better-developed critical thinking skills and greater self-discipline than children educated in compulsion-based schools.These tendencies were perhaps all the more remarkable considering that the children accepted by Summerhill were often from problematic backgrounds, where parental conflict or neglect had resulted in children arriving in a particularly unhappy state of mind. The therapeutic value of Summerhill's environment was demonstrated by the improvement of many children who had been rejected by conventional schools, yet flourished at Summerhill. Strongly influenced by the contemporary work of  Sigmund Freud  and  Wilhelm Reich, Neill was opposed to  sexual repression  and the imposition of the strict  Victorian values  of his childhood era.He stated clearly that to be anti-se x was to be anti-life. Naturally, these views made him unpopular with many establishment figures of the time. 2. CHARACTERISTIC Summerhill is a democratic, self-governing school providing boarding, day education and care for 78 pupils aged 5 – 17 years old. It is situated in the small market town of Leiston, within walking distance of the town centre. The school adopts an alternative philosophy to education based on the work of its founder, A S Neill. It is based on the notion that children should be free to decide for themselves how to spend their time in school.The proprietor, who is the daughter of A S Neill, continues to uphold these principles. The daily life of the school is governed by the school meetings, held three times a week, in which everybody has an equal vote. School meetings are used to create, confirm and amend all the school laws which form the structure of expectations for the community of staff and pupils, in which the adults and children have complete par ity of status. The school's philosophy is to allow freedom for the individual, each child being able to take their own path in life and find, through experience, the things that they want to do and the person they want to be.The school proposes that this leads to an inner selfconfidence and real acceptance of themselves as people. All of this is done within the structures of the school, through the meetings, self-government and the clear distinctions between freedom and licence, all elements which are at the very core of the school's philosophy and the day-to-day experiences of the pupils and staff. The school is part of a regional, national and international democratic network and reflects the extent of A S Neill’s continuing influence on the world.This is mirrored in the pupil intake. Approximately two thirds of pupils (mainly Dutch, German, Korean Japanese, and Taiwanese) speak English as an additional language. The principal and, from time to time other staff and children , go out from the school to speak to and work with other children and adults and to promote democratic education. A. S. Neill’s system is a radical approach to child rearing. In Summerhill School authority does not mask a system of manipulation. 3. THE PRINCIPLES ? Neill maintains a firm faith â€Å"in the goodness of the child. He believes that the average child is not born a cripple, a coward, or a soulless automaton, but has full potentialities to love life and to be interested in life. ? The aim of education-in fact the aim of life-is to work joyfully and to find happiness. Happiness, according to Neill, means being interested in life; or as I would put it, responding to life not just with one’s brain but with one’s whole personality. ? In education, intellectual development is not enough. Education must be both intellectual and emotional.In modern society we find an increasing separation between intellect and feeling. The experiences of man today are mainl y experiences of thought rather than an immediate grasp of what his hurt feels, his eyes see, and his ears hear. In fact, this separation between intellect and feeling has led modern man to a near schizoid state of mind in which he has become almost incapable of experiencing anything except in thought. ? Education must be geared to the psychic needs and capacities of the child. The child is not an altruist. He does not yet love in the sense of the mature love of an adult.It is an error to expect something from a child, which he can show only in a hypocritical way. Altruism develops after childhood. ? Discipline, dogmatically imposed, and punishment create fear; and fear creates hostility. This hostility may not be conscious and overt, but it nevertheless paralyzes endeavor and authenticity of feeling. The extensive disciplining of children is harmful and thwarts sound psychic development ? Freedom does not mean license. This very important principle, emphasized by Neill, is that res pect for the individual must be mutual.A teacher does not use force against a child, nor has a child the right to use force against a teacher. A child may not intrude upon an adult just because he is a child, nor may a child use pressure in the many ways in which a child can. ? Closely related to this principle is the need for true sincerity on the part of the teacher. The author says that never in the 40 years of his work in Summerhill has he lied to a child. Anyone who reads this book will be convinced that this statement, which might sound like boasting, is the simple truth. Healthy human development makes it necessary that a child eventually cut the primary ties which connect him with his father and mother, or with later substitutes in society, and that he become truly independent. He must learn to face the world as an individual. He must learn to find his security not in any symbiotic attachment, but in his capacity to grasp the world intellectually, emotionally, and artistical ly. He must use all his powers to find union with the world, rather than to find security through submission or domination. ? Summerhill School does not offer religious education.This, however, does not mean that Summerhill is not concerned with what might be loosely called the basic humanistic values. Neill puts it succinctly: â€Å"The battle is not between believers in theology and non-believers in theology; it is between believers in human freedom and believers in the suppression of human freedom. † The author continues, â€Å"Some day a new generation will not accept the obsolete religion and myths of today. When the new religion comes, it will refute the idea of man’s being born in sin. A new religion will praise God by making men happy. †