Social Inequality in To Kill a Mockingbird Essay Example

Social Inequality in To Kill a Mockingbird Paper Social inequality is the existence of unequal opportunity for different social classes. Social inequality is found within every society and is based upon many different factors. Some of these factors include people’s level of education and their level of income. Harper Lee shows social inequality is largely influenced on the amount of education received in her book To Kill A Mockingbird. One of the main characters in To Kill A Mockingbird is Jem Finch. Jem Finch defines the social hierarchy of Maycomb, Alabama into four different categories. Jem puts people like his family, the Finches, at the top of the hierarchy. The Finches are a very educated, well off, white, family. Below the Finches Jem puts the Cunninghams. The Cunninghams are a poor, semi-educated, white family. Even though the Cunninghams are in some bad situations, they are still nice people. This is why they are above the next people: the Ewells. The Ewells are the second to last on Jem’s social hierarchy scale. The Ewells are what would be consider â€Å"white trash†. They are rude, filthy, poor, uneducated people. The only reason the Cunninghams and Ewells are not on the same level is because of how rude the Ewells are. The last on Jem’s scale is the blacks. The setting of To Kill A Mockingbird took place in the 1930’s, which is why the blacks We will write a custom essay sample on Social Inequality in To Kill a Mockingbird specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Social Inequality in To Kill a Mockingbird specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Social Inequality in To Kill a Mockingbird specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer are on the bottom. This also explains why the blacks were not allowed the same opportunities as everyone else was. Blacks were not given the same education opportunities as the whites. A majority of the citizens in this time period were extremely racist. As previously stated the Finches are the most financially stable and they have the most education out of everyone in the book. Their level of education is shown through the fact that Atticus, the father of Jem and Scout, is an attorney. Even in the 1930’s being an attorney was not easy to become; it required a lot of schooling. Atticus being an attorney is also why they a

Individual vs. Social Consciousness

Individual vs. Social Consciousness Free Online Research Papers Individual vs. Social Consciousness in Hobbes, Madison, Hegel, and Marx Hobbes and Madison derive their concept of politics in the liberal tradition of individualism, sketching out an ahistorical notion of human nature. By contrast, Hegel and Marx view the political as a social construction understood as dialectic. From this dialectic arises a progressive self consciousness. This is a historical process. Hobbes approach towards the nature of man is viewed from a mechanistic and ontological perspective: a vision rooted in a fixed state of being. Hobbes defines this as the â€Å"state of nature.† Through his liberalism, he conceptualizes all individuals as equals: â€Å"Nature hath made men†¦ equal in the faculties of body and mind† (74). He views the state of man without government as a constant struggle and competition over limited resources. This results in a life that is â€Å"solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short† (76). The solution to this problem is found through the â€Å"Leviathan.† This is the collective body of mankind united as the commonwealth. In Hobbes words: â€Å"the multitude so united in one person is called a COMMONWEALTH, in Latin CIVITAS. This is the generation of that great LEVIATHAN, or rather (to speak more reverently) of that Mortal God to which we owe, under the Immortal God, our peace and defense† (109). The Leviathan ensures mankind’s security against the state of nature in exchange for submission to it, and is therefore merely a contract that does not change mankind’s essential nature. The allegiance to the Leviathan lies in the Hobbesian choice: life or death. It is a system built on lowest-common-denominator politics. There is no teleological or transcendental goal or finis ultimus (57). It is a conservative rather than a progressive approach, in which the object is only to maintain peace and security amidst the constant threat of anarchy. Hobbes crudely defines a rational subject as one who seeks his own survival at the cost of his freedom. The desire for self-preservation remains constant and so self-consciousness will always be the same. Thus the conception of politics derived from Hobbes’ theory of human nature is ahistorical. There is no way for man’s self consciousness to evolve or change over time because the state of nature in which he exists is static. Man cannot escape his natural propensity towards violence. As in Hobbes, Madison conceives of a static, inescapable condition of mankind. He provides a similar ontological view towards man and his natural tendency towards violence and factionalism: â€Å"The latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man† (Federalist No. 10, 2). Unlike Hobbes however, Madison allows for some historical thinking, because he believes politics and behavior to be influenced by society. He writes, â€Å"we see [factions] everywhere brought into different degrees of activity, according to the different circumstances of civil society† (2). Nevertheless the essential core of human nature remains unchanged. Madison posits a more pragmatic approach to human nature and its susceptibility to its passions. His preferred method for confronting the spirit of factions is the federalist system of government. The goal of federalism is to channel human nature, not create a model of absolute tyranny, as we’ve seen in Hobbes. Madison favors republicanism and describes it as a cure to direct democracy, which causes the tyranny of majority rule. The federalist republican system â€Å"promises the cure for which we are seeking† (4). It is characterized by the following three features: (1) place as much of the government as possible beyond the direct control of the majority (2) divide the powers of the different institutions (3) construct a system of checks and balances. The federalist system corrects the natural factionalism of human nature; it checks rather then reforms the soul. â€Å"It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?† (Federalist No. 51, 7-8). Hobbes and Madison have a individualist view of self consciousness and politics. This ahistorical formation of mankind is limited to a single unit of consciousness, as it exists independent of another. Both the Leviathan and federalist papers describe social contracts, external forces that serve only to govern individual consciousness rather then create, form or alter them. In contrast Hegel and Marx characterize a dialectical formation of consciousness. In Hegel the Self is created only through recognition by the Other. In Marx self consciousness is determined through class struggle. These conceptions of consciousness are historical for they conceive of people in relation to one another. Therefore these relationships can shift, evolve and change as they are subject to historical contingency. Hegel imagines consciousness as defined through the dialectic. This means two beings are in correspondence with another yet each can only fully exist in their recognition by one another. Hegel writes â€Å"Self consciousness exists in and for itself when, and by the fact that, it so exists for another; that is it exists only in being acknowledged† (111). Only in being recognized by another can we conceive of ourselves. This relationship is caste by Hegel in the form of the lord/bondsman dialectic. Upon the meeting of the self and the other, the first instinct of the self is to attain primacy by destroying the other but the self then realizes without the other there is no recognition of its mastery and therefore will cease to exist. The master must enslave the other in order to continue to be recognized as master. Therefore master exists in relation to slave and slave in relation to his master. The slave endures the oppression of his master and can only understand himself through service to the master: â€Å"Through work however, the bondsman becomes conscious of what he truly is.† This process evolves over time as it gains a heightened awareness of itself. It is thus a historical changing idea of human nature. Hegel gestures toward an understanding of mental progression culminating in an ideal self consciousness. This is the finis ultimus that Hobbes does not allow for in his political visi on. Marx maintains the Hegelian dialectic but changes the idealism to historical materialism. In contrast to Hegel’s idealist philosophy, by which material reality is created by consciousness, Marx claims that material reality creates consciousness and the realm of knowledge. Marx plays out the dialectic along, material, economic and historical lines: Freeman and slave, patrician and plebian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary re-construction of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes (473-474). This represents the historical realization of the master/slave dialectic, or dialectical materialism. The relationship between master/slave as seen in Hegel is equivalent to the Bourgeoisie/proletariat relationship in Marx. The abstract relationship is converted to an economic relationship. The Bourgeoisie understands itself in relation to the Proletariat and vice versa. This is what Marx called class consciousness. The understanding of class consciousness as a reciprocal process of recognition serves to empower and liberate the Proletariat struggle against the Bourgeoisie. In his manifesto Marx writes: â€Å"The Bourgeoisie itself, therefore, supplies the proletariat with its own elements of political and general education, in other words, it furnishes the proletariat with weapons for fighting the bourgeoisie†¦.these also supply the proletariat with fresh elements of enlightenment and progress.† (481) The working class gains heightened social consciousness through the understanding of the Bourgeoisie’s need for recognition. Marx posits a forward moving theory of change as history is propelled by the material dialectic of the stratified class system. This is an interactive process of becoming. Marx describes a change in subjectivity due to the capitalist mode of production: â€Å"the modern bourgeoisie is itself the product of a long course of development, of a series of revolutions in the modes of production and exchange† (475). For Marx material forces determine self consciousness. Desires are constantly informed and outlawed; the self is commoditized and transformed into an object of exchange. Marx would call this alienation, caused by the capitalist directive. Both the philosophies of Hobbes’ and Hegel are embodied in Marx’ political thought. His manifesto unites the materialism of Hobbes’ and Hegel’s idea of a socially formed consciousness to produce a doctrine of dialectic materialism. Unlike Hegel however, Marx destination was not an absolute or ideal self consciousness, but rather the end to the class based struggle in which capital overwhelms all human subjectivity. The central difference in the ahistorical verses the historical shaping of the political for these thinkers is rooted in the individualist means for survival. Through the ahistorical lens offered by Hobbes and Madison the nature of man is implied and the goal of life is not in reaching a transcendental state but, merely in staffing off the chaos inherent in nature. In contrast, Hegel and Marx envision an ultimate end, a progressive consciousness illustrated through dialecticism. Hegel gestures towards this understanding through recognition of the self by another, with the purpose of spiritual enlightenment in mind. These goals are actualized in Marx through the realization of social consciousness and the resolution of the stratified society. Bibliography Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. â€Å"The Communist Manifesto.† The Marx-Engels Reader. Ed. Robert C. Tucker. New Hegel, G. W. F. Phenomenology of Spirit. Tr. A. V. Miller. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977. Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. Ed. Edwin Curley. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1994. Madison, James. The Federalist No. 10 No. 51. Yale: Avalon Project. HYPERLINK yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed.htm www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed.htm York: Norton, 1978. 473-500. Research Papers on Individual vs. Social ConsciousnessComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoUnreasonable Searches and SeizuresRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andCapital PunishmentEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenQuebec and Canada19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraGenetic EngineeringThe Spring and AutumnOpen Architechture a white paper

Change Essay Research Paper ChangeModernization reform and

Change Essay, Research Paper ChangeModernization, reform and rebellion are the edifice blocks to the alteration of a society. During the bend of the century many states experienced extremist alterations in there societal construction and in there traditional imposts. China holding its traditions and imposts fundamentally remaining unchanged for centuries was highly immune to alter, patterned advance, new thoughts and engineerings. One fresh Family by Pa Chin depicted the battle of Chinese pupils seeking to reform there school systems and to contend against the unfairnesss that the armed forces was enforcing. Though the book centres around two brothers it depicts many characters that are related to them in some manner. From the lowly servant miss to the highest female senior, each has a feeling of entrapment and wants to interrupt free. Yet each Acts of the Apostless as they are told by the senior of them and the firstborn is frequently is so set in the old ways that it is close impossible to travel against him. Chinese households are set upon award and regard. Each household member has a topographic point and responsibilities harmonizing to the place in the household. Often the eldest boy is reared to go the maestro of the house clasp. He normally has no pick in what his business is or even who his married woman will be, everything is planned out by his male parent or gramps. The younger boies are given a little more freedom with what they can make and who they will get married but it is frequently deiced by the older brother one time he becomes maestro of the family. They were allowed to go to schools and were the basic edifice blocks of most of the revolutions. The adult females of the family are expected to larn all the traditional functions of a Chinese adult female and in modern times to larn to read and compose from coachs or in rare instances attended all misss school. Basically the full construction of household life dependant on age, gender and regard. The new thoughts of reform and extremist alteration were based in several periodicals and magazines that immature heads read. These periodicals contained essays and narratives of new thoughts, alteration in authorities were devoured by immature heads eager to larn and show at that place intelligence. They read of other rebellions and presentations and were inspired to stand up for there basic human rights every bit good as for the right to go educated. Change, everything comes down to that one construct. China underwent extremist alteration in one century over traditions that had been established for 1000s of old ages. These alterations were able to take topographic point because of new innovations and technologies the printing imperativeness, mass production, and electricity all helped to fuel the over motion to a new society. by Dick @ aol.com

Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics Essay - 3

Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics - Essay Example In its effort to ensure the entrusted corporate social responsibility a modern day corporate must ensure fulfillment of its duties towards the social, moral and environmental aspects of its surroundings. The chances of a possible gas disaster at Bhopal that ultimately broke out during December the 2nd and 3rd 1984 were rooted long back in the early half of the 1970s. In those eras India was a country dying for foreign investment as with its infrastructure of that time it managed little of it and that mostly owing to Soviet Friendship. To attain this much-awaited foreign investment goal the Indian government approached Union Carbide to set a plant at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh that will be producing pesticides such as Sevin. Sevin was certainly to have an intermediate product Methyl Isocyanide (MIC) that was immensely toxic. The possibility of a disaster owing to the production of such a toxic material was overlooked. The Union Carbide considered two potentials of the place, cheap labor and lands the most helpful input a chemical company can hope for to start with. What the eminent strategists of the concerned company overlooked was whether the place is ready enough for such a plant. The answer to this question was a certain no and that owing to a couple of factors. First of all cheap labor does not always translate to skilled labor rather mostly stands for the opposite and Madhya Pradesh was one of the backward states of India in terms of technical know how. Both of these together had sown a seed that eventually became a poisonous tree; swallowing millions of lives. In simple terms, corporate balance sheet emerged victorious over the social accounts and that one-day yielded poisonous gas in a huge amount that shocked millions of innocent inhabitants of Bhopal and almost no one was held accountable for that. 1) Mr. Warren Anderson: the puppet master.  When a business body unleashes a catastrophe then the topmost officials or authorities are bound to be held responsible. This was no exception for Union Carbide as well.

Review Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Review Questions - Assignment Example The remainder is uncollectible. The following are the budgeted sales: 3) Micro Company plans to sell 12,000 units during August. If the company has 2,500 units on hand at the start of the month, and plans to have 2,000 units on hand at the end of the month, how many units must be produced during the month? Four pounds of raw materials are required for each unit produced. Raw materials on hand at the start of the year total 4,000 pounds. The raw materials inventory at the end of each quarter should equal 10% of the next quarter’s production needs. Budgeted purchases of raw materials in the third quarter would be: 5) The Broom Corporation is working on its direct labor budget for the next two months. Each unit of output requires 0.05 direct-labor hours. The direct labor rate is $7.50 per direct labor hour. The production budget calls for producing 9,100 units in May and 8,800 units in June. If the direct labor work force is fully adjusted to the total direct labor hours needed each month, what would be the total combined direct labor cost for the two months? 6) MRI bases its manufacturing overhead budget on budgeted direct labor hours. The direct labor budget indicates that 5400 direct labor hours will be required in January. The variable overhead rate is $4.40 per direct labor hour. The company’s budgeted fixed manufacturing overhead is $77,220 per month, which includes depreciation of $9,720. All other fixed manufacturing overhead costs represent current cash flows. The January cash disbursements for manufacturing overhead on the manufacturing overhead budget should be: 7) The manufacturing overhead budget for Fanasta Company is based on budgeted direct labor hours. The direct labor budget indicates that 1,600 direct labor hours will be required in December. The variable overhead rate is $4.40 per direct labor hour. The company’s budgeted fixed manufacturing overhead is $25,120 per month, which includes appreciation of

In ashort essay Essay Example for Free

In ashort essay Essay The world is now a global village. As such, there is an existing symbiotic relationship between the population and countries of differing traditions, beliefs and cultures. The importance of realizing how to deal with these differences is further enhanced by the way business is done these days. The Internet has made it possible for businesses to be run on an international scale even from the comfort of your mother country. This is the main reason why any businessman must be familiar with international laws or laws governing businesses run in countries overseas. A businessman who bothers to research and understand the laws governing business ventures in foreign lands will come to the realization that world wide business laws, although seemingly senseless when first read, is actually a law that has an important impact on the way business is done in that country. Therefore, similar business laws of various lands may be implemented in various ways with the same outcome. Understanding the different legal systems of the world that govern businesses will help an international business person understand how to accomplish tasks relating to his ventures in his specific country of transaction. It is a known fact among businessmen and lawyers alike that laws governing business vary from country to country and have a different outcome each time that law or laws are applied to the specific business settings. Therefore, no two-business laws of two countries are ever alike in implementation and meaning. In short, international businessmen need this knowledge and understanding in order to make sure that they understand exactly what rules are governing their overseas ventures and that they have not violated any legal or religious laws of the land in the running of their business. This is the only way to insure the smooth running and success of international business ventures. Work Cited Williams, David Russell 1998. Cross- Cultural Currents in International Law. Global Business Languages. Retrieved March 2, 2007 from http://www. mgmt. purdue. edu/centers/ciber/publications/gbl/GBL%20-%201998/c3. Russell%20David%20Williams. doc.

Prohibition is Destroying America Essay -- Drugs

The war on drugs began with good intentions, but it is becoming clear that this battle is a failure. Not only do drug laws violate American’s freedoms, but they further complicate the lives of drug users. These laws have inadvertently been responsible for the deaths of thousands through bad drug deals and dirty drugs, which leads one to ask the question, â€Å"Is this a war on drugs or a war on drug users?† Body bags and HIV are becoming the most widely known side effects of drug prohibition. Contrary to what many may think, drug use will never be eliminated. Only through legalization and strict state-controlled regulations will the violent and deadly consequences of drug laws be controlled. By making these substances available, the drugs themselves will be safer and cheaper, government spending and prison population will decrease, and most importantly, Americans will be freer. In 1920, the federal government outlawed a substance they felt was destroying America, alcohol. Millions of Americans would shutter at the idea of not attending mid-week â€Å"happy hour† after a long day of work. But, the right to drink alcohol was stripped away from Americans by the federal government under the Volstead Act of 1920 (Behr). Over the next thirteen years, over $733 million, of today’s money, was spent putting Americans behind bars for minimal delinquencies, such as having a martini at a local speakeasy (Barbour). Since alcohol was no longer manufactured by trusted companies like Anheuser-Busch, it was now in the hands of black market racketeers, like Al Capone (Behr). Due to the diminishing availability of alcohol, more potent forms, like moonshine, became wildly popular and in New York in 1926, â€Å"bad liquor† claimed the lives of 750 people (Behr). ... ...on. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc. 2000. Print. Barnett, Randy E. â€Å"The Harmful Side Effects of Drug Prohibition.† Utah Law Review 2009.1 (2009): 11-34. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. Behr, Edward. Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1996. Print. Gerdes, Louise I., ed. At Issue: Legalizing Drugs. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc. 2001. Print. Miron, Jeffrey A. and Katherine Waldock. â€Å"The Budgetary Impact of Ending Drug Prohibition†. CATO Institute. CATO Institute, 27 Sept. 2010. Web. 22 Mar 2012. Rogers, Douglas. â€Å"The Fiasco of Prohibition.† Freeman: Ideas on Liberty 61.1 (2011): 25. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. United States. Dept. of Justice. Office of Justice. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Drug and Crime Facts. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Dept. of Justice, Mar. 2012. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. Prohibition is Destroying America Essay -- Drugs The war on drugs began with good intentions, but it is becoming clear that this battle is a failure. Not only do drug laws violate American’s freedoms, but they further complicate the lives of drug users. These laws have inadvertently been responsible for the deaths of thousands through bad drug deals and dirty drugs, which leads one to ask the question, â€Å"Is this a war on drugs or a war on drug users?† Body bags and HIV are becoming the most widely known side effects of drug prohibition. Contrary to what many may think, drug use will never be eliminated. Only through legalization and strict state-controlled regulations will the violent and deadly consequences of drug laws be controlled. By making these substances available, the drugs themselves will be safer and cheaper, government spending and prison population will decrease, and most importantly, Americans will be freer. In 1920, the federal government outlawed a substance they felt was destroying America, alcohol. Millions of Americans would shutter at the idea of not attending mid-week â€Å"happy hour† after a long day of work. But, the right to drink alcohol was stripped away from Americans by the federal government under the Volstead Act of 1920 (Behr). Over the next thirteen years, over $733 million, of today’s money, was spent putting Americans behind bars for minimal delinquencies, such as having a martini at a local speakeasy (Barbour). Since alcohol was no longer manufactured by trusted companies like Anheuser-Busch, it was now in the hands of black market racketeers, like Al Capone (Behr). Due to the diminishing availability of alcohol, more potent forms, like moonshine, became wildly popular and in New York in 1926, â€Å"bad liquor† claimed the lives of 750 people (Behr). ... ...on. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc. 2000. Print. Barnett, Randy E. â€Å"The Harmful Side Effects of Drug Prohibition.† Utah Law Review 2009.1 (2009): 11-34. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. Behr, Edward. Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1996. Print. Gerdes, Louise I., ed. At Issue: Legalizing Drugs. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc. 2001. Print. Miron, Jeffrey A. and Katherine Waldock. â€Å"The Budgetary Impact of Ending Drug Prohibition†. CATO Institute. CATO Institute, 27 Sept. 2010. Web. 22 Mar 2012. Rogers, Douglas. â€Å"The Fiasco of Prohibition.† Freeman: Ideas on Liberty 61.1 (2011): 25. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. United States. Dept. of Justice. Office of Justice. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Drug and Crime Facts. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Dept. of Justice, Mar. 2012. Web. 22 Mar. 2012.

Online retailing or E-tailing (Electronic retailing)

Online retailing or E-tailing (Electronic retailing) or direct marketing are now gaining in tremendous awareness by the businesses and the customers at large. This concept is normally termed as a B2C (business to consumer) transaction. There have been many categories or channels, which corporate adopt in order to distribute and reach its target customers.But involving and interfering with channels of a company having a multi-channel distribution system poses a great challenge. Online marketing could be done in several categories. The prominent of which are ? pure click – where in the firms sell their total products on the web based domain space or the virtual space. ? Click and Brick – They are the business which use both online and offline channel structure.Brick and Mortar – firms, which sell their entire product, line by using a physical space system. Each of these channels have their respective advantages and disadvantages, but the firm should be wise and con scious about the different channel system they are adopting as there are chances of conflicts which could arise with reference to tapping the same customer base or the same territory or having goal incompatibility.In the case mentioned, if was given a chance to be in-charge of a direct marketing system, there would be certain strategies, which I would implement, in-order to stabilize and maintain a good relation with all the other channel partners. Since there are greater chances of having conflicts between the online and offline retailers, to gain acceptance from intermediaries I would pacify or satisfy my channel partners by test marketing the following strategies and tactics.First – offer a different mix of product line or different brands on the web based system than their offline channel partners or retail partners. Second – provide better and higher discounts and commissions for its retail partner to improve the negative impact on sales and to increase the profit s. Third – Allow the customers to register their orders on the online system, but appoint retailers to deliver and collect payment where in the retailers are also cushioning on a ready-made customer base.Fourth – Give a choice to the customers if they require a work on their purchase with a financial advisor, if yes their information will be routed to an advisor. Fifth – each of the retail partners could have their own website to avoid competition of the company’s web based system. Sixth – the customers who purchase online could be allowed to accept the online coupons and redeem their amount in its stores. These are some of the ways by which I will convince my retail partners for the launch of the direct marketing campaign.

University Study Skills

Students need to make a number of adjustments when starting university. Critically discuss some of these adjustments in terms of skills brought with them, and new skills that must be developed. Draw on relevant SSK12 material in your essay. ————————————————- In this essay it will be argued that even though students may bring with them such skills as competence in writing secondary school essays and reports, good comprehension and grammar and motivation to succeed with them to university, there are other skills they will need to develop as well as refine those they already possess.The main skills which any new student will need to develop in order to succeed at university are critical thinking, which also includes critical reading, reflective thinking, learning independently and adjusting to the concept of the university culture which has its own languages and behaviours. Ne w students are likely to experience a cultural clash as university possesses its own culture, and sub-cultures. Adjustments will have to be made with students needing to develop bicultural habits. As Kolb asserts, students entering higher education will have to engage in ‘learning how to learn’ (Kolb 1981).The lead-up to the first study period, as well as the first study period itself, of a student’s beginning in university can be a massive culture shock. Some students may develop the feeling of uncertainty as to whether they have made the right choice about pursuing higher education and whether they are even likely to succeed. This can be observed by reading some of the student comments on the SSK12 Facebook page during the first weeks of the first study period. In other cases we may see students that take on a particular discipline and after a period of time find that they no longer have a desire to pursue that discipline.There may be few opportunities for stud ents in these positions to change disciplines. This is primarily due to the fact each discipline has its own sub-culture within the greater university culture. As Kolb has discussed, there are many faculties within the university, each have their own conventions that are unique to themselves such as language, values, ideas and norms (Kolb 1981). This impending transition may be too much for a student who has already had to become acculturated and has potentially experienced a culture shock.The average individual can be affected by several cultures, for example and not necessarily restricted to, culture of family, culture of the workplace and culture of religion. The culture of university is but one of the cultures that can make a big impact on the individual. Students are faced with a new workload that may come with a pace of instruction that is probably faster and more intense than what they may be used to. There is a potential to feel overwhelmed at first and ways to overcome this may be to develop habits of early preparation, prioritising and time management.There is an expectation that students need to be self-motivated and independent. There will be some guidance available but the general expectation is that the individual should know their own deadlines and the amount of study that is required. This may take some adjustment for individuals as they may be reeling from the cultural demands that university has already begun to place upon them. If they are studying more than one subject in their first study period they will have already potentially experienced the distinction in sub-cultures.For example, Ballard and Clanchy have noted that each sub-culture will have its own language and values and the new student will have to navigate themselves through an unsteady transition between cultures (Ballard and Clanchy 1988). Individuals also need to develop critical thinking as it is a cornerstone of university studies. Warren contends that critical thinking is n ecessary to university studies as an individual cannot â€Å"process information, form reasoned opinions, evaluate beliefs, construct positions, or articulate a thesis without the use of critical thinking† (Warren 1995, 4).I can support this through my own experience as critical thinking has been an important component of my university studies to date. One may see, however, that some individuals may have difficulties bringing themselves around to this mode of thinking as critical thinking involves developing an impersonal approach and attempting to put aside any biases that the individual may possess about particular subjects. Critical thinking may also involve critical reading and this may also be a foreign concept to the new student.One needs to get into the habit of identifying theses in readings rather than just ‘reading’ – ‘sorting the wheat from the chaff’, as it were. Once the thesis has been identified the argument then needs to be ana lysed and criticised. Any evidence within the reading needs to be assessed. Any conclusions reached need to be examined as well as whether they are supported by evidence. Any other alternatives also need to be considered. In short, the individual will need to read more widely than what they may be used to and in a more analytical fashion. Reflective thinking is another skill that students must develop as it is a valuable tool.Reflection is integral to learning and assists in critical thinking as it starts with being self-critical in order to learn and improve. As Marshall and Rowland assert, ‘thinking about your own thinking, or metacognition, will give you insights into how you go about your learning, and is important if you want to change or adapt study behaviours’ (Marshall and Rowland 2006 9). Warren further asserts that ‘critical thinking is necessary to learning. One cannot process information, form reasoned opinions, evaluate beliefs, construct positions, o r articulate a thesis without the use of critical thinking.As such, the critical self is integral to learning itself’ (Warren 1995). Reflective thinking makes the individual ask themselves what may be working, what is not working and what may require improvement. Some students may already bring a form of this skill with them to university. I can support this through my personal experience in this area. I served in the police force for thirty years and the procedure in the police force was to conduct ‘debriefs’ of incidents that we were involved in. The police debrief was always framed in the format of discussing what went well and what could be done better.Every individual involved in that particular incident was expected to contribute. The expectation was that this process would lead to constant improvement in performance. It is a very similar process to reflection within university learning. One method of reflective thinking that students may learn a great deal from is through the keeping of a reflective journal, also known as a learning log. Pavlovich asserts that reflective journals are an invaluable aid in the development of self-awareness and inner leadership (Pavlovich 2007).The use of a reflective journal aids in developing the individual as a critical thinker as the very nature of its use forces the user to be critical of themselves and lead to change and improvement. Students will also need to develop the skill of speaking and writing in academic English. This is part of the acculturation to the university culture of which language is a major part. Students will have to learn very quickly to become bicultural. In their written work they will have to learn to avoid contractions and develop the passive voice over the active voice.Academic English is specific whereas informal English, that the student may be used, to is rather vague. Academic English is also often structured in a cautious manner whereas informal English is often stru ctured in a more definite manner. Using my own personal experience to add support to this, I thought I had a reasonable grasp of formal English having come from the police force where, for example, great care goes into compilation of files for the prosecutors to proceed with, but I have also had to make adjustments and become bicultural through working on my own understanding and application of academic English.The new student may bring skills with them to university but they will be confronted with the need to refine these skills and indeed develop new skills in order to survive at university. Skills that will need to be developed will include the need for critical and reflective thinking, critical reading and adjustment to independent learning. Students will also have to become acculturated to university which possesses its own culture and sub-cultures which are separate to what they may be used to. REFERENCES Avruch, Kevin. 2002. Culture and Conflict Resolution.Washington: United States Institute of Peace Press. Ballard, Brigid, and John Clanchy. 1988. Literacy in the university: An ‘anthropological’ approach. In Literacy by Degrees, ed G. Taylor, et al. , 7-23. Milton Keynes: The Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press. Beasley, Colin. 2012. Communicating at University. Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia. Bizzell, Patricia. 1986. What Happens When Basic Writers Come to College? College Composition and Communication. 37(3). Grant, Barbara. 1997.Disciplining Students: the construction of student subjectivities. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 18(1): 101-114. Hobson, Julia. 1996. â€Å"Concepts of the self: Different ways of knowing about the self†. SSK12 lecture transcript. Ed. Lorraine Marshall. Perth: Murdoch University. Kolb, David A. 1981. â€Å"Learning styles and disciplinary differences. † In The Modern American College. Ed. A. W. Chickerine & Associates, 232-235 and 251-252. S an Francisco: Jossey Bass. Marshall, Lorraine, and Frances Rowland. 2006. A guide to learning independently. th ed. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia. Pavlovich, Kathryn. 2007. The development of reflective practice through student journals. Higher Education Research and Development 26 (3): 281-295. Samovar, Larry A. , and Richard E. Porter. 2004. Communication Between Cultures. 5th ed. Belmont, California: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Vivekananda, Kitty, and Penny Shores. 1996. Uni is Easier When You Know How: Success Stories, Study Secrets, Strategies. Sydney: Hale and Iremonger. Warren, Karen. 1995. ‘The critical self’. Perth: Murdoch University.

Ideals of Love in Platos Symposium

Ideals of Love in Platos Symposium As much as our society has become involved in the advancement of feminism and the equality of the sexes, there is one fact that neither gender can ignore; none can survive without the other. Love and the want of a soul mate keeps each member of man and womankind in the constant search of the perfect person with whom to become one. Yet if this bond is a necessity of the human race then why has the meaning, purpose and pursuit of it eluded us for so many generations. There has yet to be a one universal explanation of love and there has yet to be one who understands its powers fully. As we see from Plato's Symposium, even to the wisest of men, in a time when the search for knowledge was seen as the pathway to enlightenment, love was still a concept that was not understood and unknown. Though many of their guidelines and characteristics of love are wise, some may not apply to modern society. Platos Symposium serves as a pamphlet that depicts some of the guidelines of love as the philosophers of Plato's time saw them. The intervention of the Gods in the speeches of the philosophers can be interpreted to mean the different aspects of love and their affects on people. It seemed as though in each of the lectures given, Plato put a message into each one. Each man brought up valid guidelines for dealing with love and each should be concentrated on. The speeches started with Phaedrus, who began to state many of the powers of love. He spoke about the honor between one and their beloved and how it was a great virtue in a relationship. The point that Phaedrus made was that a man of any nature would rather suffer humiliation in front of a great mass of people or all of mankind itself than to suffer the loss of respect or the loss of dignity in front of their lover. This point is definitely true, yet Phaedrus failed to make a definite cause as to why this was prevalent. It may pertain ...

International Law - UN, NATO Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

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Hobbes and Locke - Philosophy Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Hobbes and Locke - Philosophy Paper - Essay Example The "nature of state" is that this desire can only be kept under control by the supreme power of the sovereign. In Chapter X Hobbes describes that "the nature of state" cannot be applied to all situation of human behavior. Although Hobbes thought "the nature of state" could be limited in time or scope, when people authorize a sovereign to order, they make him their unlimited representative. Whatever the sovereign does is authorized and binds them; consequently every effective government represents. Thomas Hobbes described life in a state of nature as "solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short." (Hobbes), but certainty could be created artificially, if men agreed not to exercise their rights in the cases where it was uncontentiously obvious that they were already under attack, and to hand over the power of defending themselves to a sovereign, who would make the appropriate judgment about difficult cases. Hobbes sees people naturally impelled into the war of all against all. Each will be an enemy to all the rest, not because people are 'sinful' by nature - Hobbes insists that people are not - but because people are both timid and competitive. Fear impels people to strike down their competitors before they can strike humans. (2) Hobbes sees the emergence of "civil society" as a dramatic improvement, because it brings law and authority to people. "Civil society" is contrasted with paternal authority and the state of nature. These changes afforded comfort and decency to civilized and intelligent persons, and a law-abiding political order comprised a satisfactory and progressive state of human affairs. Government was necessary because people were often too short-sighted to realize that their interests were best served by adhering to the rules of justice. It arose less by deliberate decision than through people coming to see that it was to their advantage to support any authority that enforced the rules effectively. The limitation of "civil society" is inability to keep humans genuinely moral. Under morals Hobbes, meant: "mankind that concern their living together in peace and unity" (Hobbes, Chapter XI). It shows the people necessity for strong power, and the lengths at which a person will go to save his life. (3) In the "Letter Concerning Toleration", Lock's principle argument is the claim that religious belief, because it requires consistencies assent, cannot be subjected to effective external coercion; also, the contention that the proper function of the state was to maintain public order and security and that therefore religious toleration was justified only when necessary to achieve that end. Lock created a concept of a "church-society" explaining that all people are born free, but, on the other hand, they starts to share religious believes and values. The move from the state of nature to political society is seen as a response to problems of covetousness, conflict, and ethical uncertainty caused by the development of money and the growth of inequality. Though Locke presents a gradualist account of the actual development of political institutions, the process is described abstractly in terms of state-church relations.