Eddie Lee :: Essays Papers

Eddie Lee The book I chose was â€Å" Be Good to Eddie Lee† written by Virginia Fleming. The book is based on a little boy who has Down’s syndrome. The three main characters are Christy, Eddie Lee who has Down’s syndrome and JimBud. The story is about a hot summer day and a quest to find frog eggs in the lake that they all live near. Christy was taught by her mother to be nice to Eddie Lee even though he is different. JimBud on the other hand, is unkind to Eddie Lee because he thinks he is a dummy. After reading this book I found that many of the six values of teaching were touched upon. The first value that I noticed was the one called â€Å"Envisioning Great Expectations†. This little boy Eddie Lee was allowed to play and go about as a normal child. There were no restrictions placed upon him based on his exceptionality. He was free to play down by the pond and walk in the woods just like the other kids. The second value that was also used in this book was â€Å"Enhancing Positive Contributions†. This was shown when Eddie Lee took Christy to the pond he had found deep in the woods and showed her the frog eggs. Christy was really surprised by this because she and JimBud had been looking themselves and couldn’t find any. This made Christy realize that Eddie Lee was just as capable of finding things as Jimbud was, even though Eddie Lee was different. The third value that I saw being used in this book was â€Å"Building on Strengths†. I found this when Eddie Lee was standing on the edge of the lake with JimBud and Christy screaming â€Å"BEE-U-TI-FUL.† This is when Christy realizes for the first time that there was more to the lake than just frog eggs. She sees what Eddie Lee is seeing and understands that some people see things different than others. She was to busy looking for frogs eggs that she didn’t even notice how beautiful the lake was and if it wasn’t for Eddie Lee she might not ever have. The fourth value that I found being used in this book was â€Å"Acting on Choice† Even though Eddie was told to stay home by both Christy and JimBud he chose to follow them. After eavesdropping on there conversation, Eddie Lee takes the initiative and grabs Christy’s hand and takes her to where she can really see some frogs eggs.

A child centred society Essay

Present British society is certainly more child centred than it ever was. Some may argue Britain is a totally child centred society focusing on the needs and protection of children. However this hasn’t always been the case, back to as recent as just before the 20th century children were regarded as ‘little adults’ who could be hanged or punished for crimes, work and behave just the same as adults. However there was a major change in attitudes starting with the 1870 education act giving children from the ages 5-13 an opportunity for education. As the ‘little adults’ were now attending school rather than being an economic asset to the family-by going out to work- they became a financial responsibility, more of an investment for the parents, a view reinforced by recent statistics showing an average child costs i 155. 60 a week in the UK. Other social policies devised by the government include the factory acts such as the factory and workshop act of 1901 raising minimum working age to 12 and then consequently up to 16. the 1889 prevention of cruelty to children act was another policy, all these with the combination of recent laws restricting the use of drugs, alcohol, smoking and sex to for under 16s and 18s have sent out the message that children were not the same as adults, needed to be treated differently and above all needed protection. These, along with welfare provisions such as social services, child benefits and higher standard of living and medical knowledge ensure better attachment to the children have led to a massive change of attitude where the difference between children and adults is concerned, and ensure children stay healthy and safe being protected. However some may argue that Britain is far from being the rosy happy child centred society it may be portrayed as, Neil Postmans view is that if Britain was indeed a completely child centered society there would be no threat to children whatsoever. This is no the case with 17,727 cases of sexual crimes against children being reported in 2010/11 within England and whales. Along with 1 in 9 young adults reporting experiences of physical violence committed by adults in there childhood means although the majority of children are protected its not all. Neil Postman also argues childhood is disappearing due to the increasing integration of children and adults life accessed via the media, exposing children to adult issues and behaviour through tv programmes such as soaps are bringing the lives of children and adults closer. This is also reflected in the increasing similarity of dress ode between young children and their adult counterparts. To conclude I would say Britain is, at the moment mainly a child centered society, we do not have an economy dependant by 20% on children unlike India so it is definitely better than most. However it cannot be said that Britain is totally a child centered society although it has improved greatly not all children do experience the protection they needed and do come across violence and abuse in their childhood.

Office Space and Marx’s Conflict theory Essay

Communism, as understood today, refers to a system associated with collective ownership of the means of production, central economic planning and rule of a single political party. Communism basically means communal ownership of property. Karl Marx was a German economist, philosopher and revolutionist whose writings form the basis of the body of ideas known as Marxism. His theories are the basis for modern communism. He had a lot of theories which made an impact on the world, namely the conflict theory, labor theory of value, theory of historical materialism, theory of rent, alienation and more (Mandel, 1995). However, the primary focus of this paper will be the most basic of his theories from which most of his other theories stem from, the Conflict theory. Karl Marx was an advocate of the conflict theory which stresses the link between stratification and the ongoing struggle among competing groups and classes over a limited supply of reward and resources. According to him, capitalist society is torn by a fundamental conflict of interest between capitalists and workers. He contends that institutions such as the educational system and other forms of communication are employed by the capitalist class to foster a false consciousness among the masses (Mandel, 1995). These institutions seek to legitimize social inequality by propagating an ideology that says existing arrangements are right and reasonable. They also foster the worker’s hope for upward social mobility. As a result, workers are socialized in tradition and this contributes to passivity and compliance. In the Communist Manifesto, a forty page booklet he produced with Freidrich Engels, he applied the term communism to a final stage of socialism in which all class differences would disappear and humankind would live in harmony (Karl Marx, 2002). Karl Marx believed that all of history has been a story of class conflict over material privilege and power. Social customs and institutions are arranged to perpetuate class distinctions. Child-rearing practices vary by social class and affect the life chances of those being socialized. Children are treated differently from different social classes, thereby perpetuating the dominion of one social class over another in a subtle and powerful way – by subjecting children to it before they are old enough to know what is happening to them (Mandel, 1995). One group, the exploiters, strives to maintain its advantage over subordinate groups, the exploited. In a capitalist society, the struggle takes place between those who own the means of production – the capitalists or bourgeoisie, and those who sell their labor – the workers or proletariat. According to Karl Marx, the bourgeoisie maintain their position of domination by controlling the economic life of the population and even dictate the social standard of a certain society. Just as the feudal system had given away to capitalism, so in time capitalism would give way to socialism. The struggle would end, according to Marx, in the socialist revolution which was observed in countries like China, Russia, and Vietnam and partly in the Philippines. The socialist revolution is a way for the achievement of full communism (Karl Marx, 2002). In his book Sociology and Anthropology, Dr. Epistacio Palispis mentioned how Marx saw the nation or state as an instrument of oppression, religion as a method of diverting and controlling the masses, and the family as a device of keeping wealth and education in the hands of the few. Marx was basically a materialist. He argued and pointed out that the populace, the proletariat is controlled by materials and needs, and that their lives are centered in how they deal with these things. Because of the perceived the essential role of material, he also theorized that material conditions (the lack and the need for it, will be the core of class conflict. The key issue is how wealth is distributed among the people. The 1999 film Office Space, directed by Mike Judge, starring Ron Livingston and Jennifer Aniston, depicts the transparency of Marx’s conflict theory even in ordinary corporate life. The film is about ordinary employees of a fictional computer programming company, Initech, going through their daily work and the complications they meet along the way. The main character of the movie, Peter Gibbons, played by the actor Ron Livingston, finds himself dragging his feet to work going through the same routine of everyday corporate life. He answers to eight different bosses who drone about TPS reports, coversheets, memos and the like. As a mere employee, he is subject to their authority. Peter and his fellow officemates Michael Bolton, Samir and Milton represent the proletariat and his Porsche-driving, overbearing boss William Lumbergh (Gary Cole) represents the bourgeoisie of Marx’s conflict theory. The hierarchy of offices portrayed in the film shows how society has glorified individual achievements and the pleasure of consumption that capitalism brings. The film shows how the employees comply blindly with the patronizing orders made by Lumbergh just because he is their boss. This situation substantiates Marx’s claim that those who owned and controlled the means of production were the oppressors and those who owned nothing but their labor were the oppressed. One day, a team of experts is brought in to enact large-scale layoffs. The character Michael Bolton, protests how he dedicated five solid years to the company, only to be one of those to be fired. Karl Marx in his Labor Theory of Value, emphasized that workers must have the highest share of goods and subsidies as opposed to what happened in the film where an employee has little job security, a typical scenario in capitalist economies. When this happened, Peter Gibbons gets discouraged and simply stops trying and adopts an attitude of total disinterest. His only interest lies on putting in place a devilish scheme for some corporate payback, along with his office pals as his accomplices. They hack the computer system of the company and programmed it to place a fraction of every daily money transaction into their personal bank accounts, which will eventually pile up to huge sums of easy money. This scene in the movie demonstrates Marx’s notion that the conflicting interests of the two groups of classes, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, would inevitably lead the oppressed to overthrow their oppressors. Although Gibbon’s scheme did not go according to plan, the company Initech still met its end from another employee, Milton, who set the building on fire as a sort of revenge when the company stopped giving him his paychecks as a way to make him voluntarily resign from his post. In a way, Karl Marx’s conflict theory sort of explains why there is a need for competition. His idea about communal ownership of property, in others words, perfect equality, is obviously unrealistic. It is merely good in theory, perfect for utopian idealism but in real life, one cannot simply live in perfect equality. If there was equality in everything, people would lose their motivation to strive for something better, to make room for improvement. It is human nature to be insatiable. If we take away people’s motivation, mediocrity will reek in all aspects of life (Communism, 2002). There is also the issue of equity. In the movie, some of those who were fired deserved to be laid off, while there were those who weren’t. Another very important issue pressed in an imperialist world is inequality. Since social status and wealth distribution came up as a result of specialization, often inequality is justified when specialization is absent in a society’s structure. Example, a person who took up a Ph. D would ultimately rank higher and thus will have a higher income that a person who is simply a college graduate. Communism entails that wealth is distributed â€Å"to each according to need†. In this kind of system, the basic economic needs of all people are satisfied. These needs include food, housing, medical care and education. Excessive material possessions and acquisition are not basic needs and are therefore not allowed to exits in this system. Communism therefore, to put it simply, is the eradication of any social standards and setting anyone at a default stage for the equal distribution of resources in order o avoid mass conflicts. Since people are generally motivated by self-interest, most societies prefer wealth to be distributed â€Å"to each according to what is earned†. People who live in this system become themselves the source of their own wealth. If they earn a great deal of money, then they will be able to acquire things beyond their needs. If they earn little, they must do without. The problem with communism in this side of the argument is that a society cannot control the interest of the people without cutting off their freedom and rights in certain aspects. Communism is only good when it ensures that the basic needs of the people are met and when it prevents greed from seeding in the hearts of the masses, since everything is controlled by a central planning agency. However, the major problem of communism, as well as in capitalism, is abuse of power. No matter how perfect an ideology is, there will always be an anomaly because the primary instigators of such ideologies are people. Human beings are prone to irrationalities including greed, selfishness and self-glory. History has taught us that too much power in the hands of a few corrupts the minds of these leaders. Take the movie character, William Lumbergh, as an example. With his high profile status as the CEO of the company, he has bullied Milton to do as he pleases, leaving Milton no choice but to comply out of fear of losing his job. In conclusion, the movie Office Space exemplifies important points in Marx’s conflict theory such as the continuing conflict between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, as well as how group conflict is a basic ingredient of society. Works Cited Communism. Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge. 2002 Edition. Washington : USA, 2002 Karl Marx. Microsoft Encarta 2002 (available in CD-ROM) Mandel, E. Karl Marx. International Viewpoint. 1995. Palispis, E. S. Introduction to Sociology and Anthropology. Manila: Rex Publishing Inc. 2006.

Adolescence and Self-esteem Essay

Review Questions 1. In what areas do children and adolescents define their self-esteem? Children and adolescents generally define their self-esteem in terms of social, academic, physical, and moral factors. 2. What can a parent do, in the first two years of their child’s life, to help the child develop good self-esteem? The first is a sense of themselves as individuals. The second important concept a child develops during this time is a sense of trust and love that is built upon a solid bond between the child and his caregivers. 3. What are some things that have a negative effect on a child’s self-esteem? How are children affected by these factors? Some things that have a negative effect on a child’s self-esteem are their self-image, fitting in at school, poverty, abuse and fights at home. Children are affected by these factors by all the stress and they become depress. Critical Thinking Questions 1. Why is it difficult to define self-esteem? It’s difficult to define self-esteem because not everyone knows the exact meaning of it. 2. What are some ways that parents can help their children develop good social self-esteem? Some ways are making sure that the child has many social outlets and therefore plenty of opportunities to interact with peers and develop social skills. A parent can identify behaviors that other children are likely to be turned off by and coach the child to control those behaviors. A parent can improve a child’s social status by tutoring him in his academic subjects. Also by encouraging a child to develop his talents, a parent may help a child improve his standing within his peer group. 3. What are some ways that parents can help their children develop good academic self-esteem? Parents can encourage their children to set realistic goals. They can help their children find solutions to their problems in school and aid them in developing organizational skills. How does positive self-esteem affect children as they develop through their teen years? What are characteristics of people with high self-esteem? Low self-esteem? Positive self-esteem affects children as they develop through their teen years because when you’re a child you don’t worry about trying to fit in and you are not worrying about being judged. With high self-esteem teenagers learn to accept who they’re.

Telecommuting at IBM Indiana Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Telecommuting at IBM Indiana - Essay Example It was in the 19702 that the company enjoyed about 70% of the computer market share. The reputation that the company name was tagged with gave the company trusted reputation. Half of the company’s business volume was spread out worldwide. It was in the mid-1980s, however, that the company started to have problems. The profits of the company had started to plunge down. Analysts concluded that the reasons behind the downfall were not many but were strong enough to shaken an established company. They were: the bureaucratic and slow moving setup of the company, maintenance of old business strategies and reluctance to replace them with newer ones, incorrect assessment of business risks. As said by Ducker (1993), it is a business sin to sacrifice tomorrow’s opportunity on the altar of yesterday. This was precisely the reason why IBM got off-track its road to success. Though IBM did try to cope up with the growing trends of the market by introducing a PC in the market almost o vernight after Apple introduced the first PC in the mid-1970s but they could actually never get out of the MAINFRAME mask that they had put on themselves. Then the time came when IBM was being administered by JOHN AKERS who was a career IBMer in the ear 1985. Since the downfall of the company had already begun several steps were being taken by the administered in order to downsize the company. A summary of the downsizing of the company can be viewed in the attached table. Table 1: The IBM Timeline from 1970 to 1994. YEARS PROGRESS AT IBM. 1970s IBM owns about 70% of the computer market share. 1980s IBM continues to grow but at a slower rate. 1985 Profit margins begin to slip. 1985 – 1993 Downsizing resulted in employee number moving from 405,000 to 300,000. 1987 – 1992 Stocks dropped from $176 to $ 49. 1991-1992 Unprecedented losses. 1994 Employee number decreases to 225,000. The administered however resigned in the year when despite all his efforts the company continu ed to lose stocks and suffered major losses in year 1992.Louis V. Gerstner then replaced the former head of the company. Further downsizing of employees was then consented upon by the management of the company. THE PROPOSAL The establishment of the company’s office in the state of Indiana was an evident example of the problem the company was facing overall. The Indiana office reduced its number of employees to about 30% in the year 1992. The General Manager Operation s for the State of Indiana was foreseeing another cut in the number of employees. This step was extremely unaffordable as any further cut in the number of employees could have resulted in the deletion of key essential employees of the company that were required to run it. This could have put the company into further trouble. An alternative idea was proposed by the then operations manager of IBM Indiana Office in the year 1993. He proposed that instead of reducing the number of personnel working at the organizatio n furthermore the employees should be equipped with technological devices to assist them. This would in turn enable the employees to be able to work from home. The terminology commonly coined for such a task is Telecommuting. TELECOMMUTING While all the other offices of the IBM were trying their hands at downsizing the people at Indiana were eager to try something new. The first person to take up this change was none other than the executive Vice President of the Indiana Operations himself. It was decided that employees who spent more than half of their

Impacts of Media Globalization in America Essay

Impacts of Media Globalization in America - Essay Example It is due to this support that the impacts of media globalization have been inevitable. The constituent view of which media globalization extended its effect from seamless imperialism to increasing cultural, economic, and national identity is duly undeniable (Barlow, & Mills, 2009:57). Well, while there is lack of consensus as to whether media globalization is a vital concept to portray national identity, let us focus on growing interdependence between media and all other key players in a country’s globalization. Recently, because of expansion of modernization of media globalization on a national scale, growth at cultural, political, and social levels is changing the national identity making the study of media globalization an important topic of study in communication. Media globalization is a result of new and advanced mass media and communication technology. It is also a prerequisite and a catalyst for all other forms of national globalization. Most Americans express a feeli ng that, they ought to enjoy the benefits of media globalization like global communication, rather than terrifying and attempting to evade the consequences that ironically include deterrence to freedom of expression and speech. Media globalization impacts will never cease. ... Mobile technology in this case is serving a great deal in moving the nation’s economy while reducing the cost of mobility and time at the same time. Media globalization has seen people use internet to improve their health or save lives. For example, a doctor in USA is able to send an x-ray to another more senior doctor in China or India for a second opinion and have it within a matter of hours. Therefore, media globalization is advancing health standards of American citizens. Increased global media interactions in America has and will continue assisting millions of American citizens to use Windows-powered PC in becoming authors of their own content in digital form meaning that they can share content widely and in far distances. Therefore, it is evident that media has the power to cross and bridge cultural gaps, bring people closer to one another and generally make our lives more convenient like never before. The presence of worldwide web provides us with endless quantities of information, knowledge, and ability to receive insights. Not before, accessing information readily does not imply that we are best informed! Media globalization has indeed positively influenced America as it has aided production and distribution. The rise of global media witnessed the formation of transnational corporations that led to effective cost and lucrative market force. This contributed to world trade that created market for media globalization through global capitalism using media to disburse messages to consumers globally. This helped America with money power through media globalization. While the interests of finance, most people regard media globalization in relation to culture and their systems. This has made it possible for United States to export media content

The Essential Husserl Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Essential Husserl - Essay Example Husserl in his work refers to the theory of species as being weak in one way or the other. The raised objections over the theory is concerned more about the context of the system that is very sensitive. Therefore, an indexical experience that relies on the content has to serve minor role of a secondary propositional duty. Thus, it may end up determining the object, which may be referred to earlier. According to Husserl, for two experiences that are indexical, they have to have one object in mind because the moments of issue for such a case can lead to the same matter that is ideal. Husserl differentiates between the words and their general meanings while on the other hand the respective meaning of that word (Welton 163). This theory does not actually help to differentiate between the two types of meanings. That is, if perfect matters are intentional contents and remains constant, then, propositional content will differ. He further feels that indexical experiences are at times singula r because they are involved in representing one object at a time or it may be a group of objects. For instance, a subject experienced at any given moment as in the real world as being special in all represented worlds that are possible. Thus, the potential or actual experiences can be attributed or subjected to the experiencing subjects. This is what Husserl refers to as intentional horizon that has an anticipated content. According to Husserl, all experiences that are encompassed in horizon have a common bond of identity in time course. He refers to this as label X and it applies to objects with similar subjects. The determinable X is an indexical experience that seeks to find out the earlier reference for the mentioned experience. This should not be the species ideal meaning alone. In order to come up with the dynamic theory, then we have to find out the intentional acts that are components of cognitive structures. In this state, the same object is represented through changing tim e. In his research, he refers to mental files as individual notions, which are open. We can therefore refer to Husserl as an early theorist and non-naive on intentional content (Welton 166). He further discusses the ‘epoche’ phenomenon. His theory on the content seems to coincide with the phenomenon of epoche. The theory of epoche was developed to radicalize constrains that are present in logical investigation. This has to carry out from the first person’s point of view. This is to have the experiences that the subject is exposed to and the intended results. The advantage of doing the experiment in the first person context is that no difference arises between non-veridical and veridical cases. Therefore, one cannot be a victim and at the same time become be in a position to detect any error that is perceived in his or her actions. Thus, it is from this point that Husserl derived phenomenological ideas that explains detailed existence of objects in the universe. I n summary, epoche demands that we focus on the represented objects. Husserl comes up with two different types of epoch; the universal and local (Welton 167). Husserl focused on local epoche using perceptual experiences as the foundation of one’s experience. In order to describe an experience in details, one has to be a participant in the experiment. That is performing an experiment from the first person point of view. In perceptual experi