Barney Vs. Sesame Street :: essays research papers

Barney Vs. Sesame Street Sesame Street and Barney The Dinosaur are two popular educational shows for children. Are they really teaching kids with the right techniques? Are they teaching kids anything at all? It's a battle to see which is better: Barney or Sesame Street. Sesame Street and Barney have totally different teaching techniques. Sesame Street captivates the audience with high joltage and fast scenes. The child barely understands what is going on and when they understand that scene, it's over and the next scene is almost done. The child does not learn well under these circumstances. Barney does not have the same JPM as Sesame Street but it still attracts the audiences' attention. The show is slower and more understandable than Sesame Street. Barney focuses on one topic for every show. The one that I watched, entitled "Up We Go", was about flying. You learn about kites, birds, planes and more. You get more out of the show than if it was about many topics like Sesame Street. The one we saw had many topics like eating healthy, dental hygiene, the airport and more. The child can have an overload of ideas for one day and get all mixed up. Both Barney and Sesame Street have songs in them. I found that Barney had many more songs than Sesame Street. The songs are used as jolts and they work well in getting the attention of the child. I found that the Barney songs were much catchier than the Sesame Street songs. They were slower, and other than the dancing, there was not much else happening. On Sesame Street, the background was changing, things were flying and colors were jumping. The attention was not put on the song by the kids, it was put on the actions on the screen. Barney, like Sesame Park, showed minimal biases regarding sex and race. The cast consisted of three boys and three girls. One boy was disabled but was as able as the other kids. The races on the show were mixed. They consisted of a Latino boy, a Chinese girl, an African-American girl and more. On Sesame Street there was less of a mix of races. They just had the primary races of the United States like African-Americans and Latinos. While watching Barney, I noticed that a main focus was imagination and

Discovering Books :: essays research papers

Richard Selzer / Discuss how reading books changes my life Richard Wright, in his essay â€Å"Discovering Books,† explains how reading books changed his outlook on life and eventually his life itself. The first book that widened his horizons was an overtly controversial book by H. L. Mencken. I have a story not so dissimilar from his. Coming out of High School, I had in my possession the perspective that I knew everything. So I started, straight off the bat, working in a variety of menial jobs, which would have lead me to a dead end, for as the good jobs in today’s society required college degrees. So, after working for two years with a white-collar full of frustration, I decided it was time to take matters into my own ink-stained, carpal tunnel syndrome-stricken hands. I immediately gave my two-weeks notice, and pontificated about going to college. Headed along the yellow brick road towards the registration office, I was intercepted by my malevolent manager, the â€Å"Ineffable John† as he was called by my fellow co-workers, and he said unto me, â€Å"Michael, you don’t want to go to college, stay here and you shall have bestowed upon your unworthy head all which you need to know. Here, fill up my coffee cup.† With his words still echoing in my mind, I wanted to sprint down the hallway, pole-vault over the cubicle prisons, hurdle the water ration cooler, and dive through the double-paned sliding glass doors. This spectacular display of athletic ability would have been terrific, but the ball and chain still shackled to my ankles would have slightly hindered my escape. One week after my pre-resignation notice and John’s wise words of discouragement, my manager’s secretary, Mary, who just had a baby earlier that day but wouldn’t take unpaid sick leave, approached me and said, â€Å"Don’t listen to John, college is a sure ticket to get out of this galley, otherwise you’ll end up having a baby and coming to work on the same day because this company doesn’t provide maternity leave.† A week later I was walking out the double-paned sliding glass doors and into college life. In the counselor’s office, my counselor advised me towards taking a psychology class, seeing as it is a requirement for an AA degree, and because I did not know what sort of degree I wanted at the point. So, I agreed to take the class. Bob Rice was the eccentric instructor of this introduction to the wonderful religion of psychology.

Cognitive Behavioral Intervention Approach Essay

Designed for students diagnosed with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) there are a numerous amount of intervention strategies and methods that can be used to implement and help students build their self-management skills. These intervention strategies are used with the intention of students ultimately learning how to control their behaviors in and out of school. Consequently, self-sufficient intervention approaches are a supported and efficient method of delivering pertinent and significant supports to students with EBD. Advocates of cognitive behavioral intervention (CBI) substantiate the communal correlation amid views and behaviors as a central credence of their method. Students engross in self-management methods when utilizing CBIs. Strategies included in CBIs are self-instruction, self-monitoring, self-reinforcement, self-control, and self-evaluation (Yell, Meadows, Drasgow, & Shriner, 2009). Procedures of Cognitive Behavioral Intervention Cognitive behavioral interventions educate students on ways to govern their personal feelings and behaviors through reinforcing instruction strategies that encourage appropriate actions. Through the implementation of CBIs, students are engrossed in self-reflection, recounting and reinforcement. In most cases of behavioral management strategies, educators are made responsible for observing students, collecting data and reinforcing appropriate behaviors. During the course of CBI, students may accomplish three procedures, thus stimulating their independence, self-management, and an accountability for their actions (Yell, Meadows, Drasgow, & Shriner, 2009). When CBI is introduced, students must document the frequency of the specific target behavior/s that are occurring. Researchers have found that self-monitoring behavior is an exceedingly sufficient way of endorsing constructive exchanges amid an assortment of learners (Stonecipher, 2012). Students must know how to identify the occurring behavior(s) in order to effectually record it on a data sheet, journal, or organizer. Often times, inappropriate behaviors will begin to decrease instantaneously once students become cognizant of the behavior and how often it occurs (Stonecipher, 2012). Students must first be capable of self-monitoring their behaviors before effectual self-evaluation may begin. In addition, educators must impart a rating scale; a criterion for students to measure their performance in contrast to. The rating scale should be used during all classroom related activities (Robinson, 2007). Using the rating scale as a rubric of sorts, students can compare the rate of their performance in contrast to the teacher’s criteria. Once comparisons are made, students should reflect upon their results. Students can successfully self-evaluate their behaviors in a myriad of ways, including through the use of evaluation charts that coincide with the student’s daily class schedule (Yell, Meadows, Drasgow, & Shriner, 2009). Self-reinforcement, similar to instructor directed reinforcement, is delivered succeeding the achievement of a goal, in this circumstance, fitting behavior. Likewise, self-reinforcement should be applied steadily and systematically (Smith, 2002). Self-reinforcement, can be either externally or internally given. In addition, through self-reinforcement, students are given the opportunity to choose their own reward. Through collaboration, educators and students work together to define the precise criterion that students must met before being reinforced. It is significant to observe that with self-reinforcement and all processes of self-management, the teacher is responsible for directing the student on how to effectually manage the stages, as well as monitor them throughout the preliminary steps of self-management to certify that efficient practices are being utilized (Yell, Meadows, Drasgow, & Shriner, 2009). Lastly, teachers and students need to effectively communicate with one another concerning the attainment of self-management and ultimately diminish or reduce self-reinforcement (Yell, Meadows, Drasgow, & Shriner, 2009). Emotions, Thoughts, and Behaviors Emotions, thoughts, and behaviors share a communal correlation; thoughts can produce emotional responses; emotional responses can then produce positive and negative behaviors. As a result, a student’s emotions and behaviors have a direct correlation to their thoughts and vice versa (Stonecipher, 2012).  In instances where a student is unable to self-manage their behaviors while presented with an issue, a probable outcome would be that the student will then act out inappropriately. As a result, cognitive behavioral interventions often encompass problem solving and anger management strategies (Robinson, 2007). Conducive to effectually self-managing behavior, students must be trained to exercise constructive thinking and reduce the pervasiveness of participating in destructive behavior acquired from an emotional response. Students may obtain this by acknowledging the problem, defining it, producing and assessing resolutions, applying a plan and lastly observing the resolution (Yell, Meadows, Drasgow, & Shriner, 2009). Students should also learn to recognize specific elements including triggers, reminders, and reducers, while trying to self-manage. Teachers must retain patience during this process as students must build these skills up before positive results transpire (Yell, Meadows, Drasgow, & Shriner, 2009). Effectiveness and Limitations of Cognitive Behavior Interventions CBI has been verified as an effective technique in behavior management for students with EBD. When accurately implemented, CBIs can aide students in decreasing inappropriate behaviors that interfere in their academic and personal lives and make students responsible for the management of their own behaviors within these areas as well. CBIs do not come without limitations as well. Students who are reluctant or apathetic to changing their behaviors would result in its ineffectiveness. It is equally significant for educators to contemplate the validity of student recorded behavioral data. During student behavioral data collection, there can be occurrences of students noting the specific behavior(s) at a reduced frequency than which they truly transpire (Smith, 2002). Social Skills Instruction Social skills and academic performance directly correlate with one another. Social skills instruction consists of educating students on what interactions are appropriate between both adults and peers and can be easily combined within the curriculum through projects, small group discussions, etc. (Smith, 2002). For students with EBD, social skills instruction is more accurate when directed as a fragment of an overall management plan. When students implement CBIs problem solving and self-controlling approaches,  students learn to identify issues and establish effective results that are considered socially adequate and are particularly pertinent to the management of EBD students (Smith, 2002). Developing Curriculum, Approaches, and Assessment As a means of being appropriately implemented, CBIs must transpire within the framework of a behavioral management plan or curriculum and should identify a student’s behavior, as well as what processes will used to implement the intervention and the assessment. Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) signifies a method for assembling information about problematic conduct in order to understand and identify the reasons behind them (Yell, Meadows, Drasgow, & Shriner, 2009). The behavioral management curriculum cannot progress without the administration of an FBA, which explicitly classifies and labels specific behaviors of EBD students. Likewise, the FBA overtly specifies the underlying issues behind the behavior, which in turn aides in the development of preparing effective and pertinent interventions. The FBA will result in the behavioral intervention plan (BIP) where CBI strategies can be utilized. There are a varied amount of methods that can be utilized to implement CBI into the management curriculum including student kept data, self-evaluation, graphic organizers, observations, achievement tests, norm-referenced tests, and criterion tests (Yell, Meadows, Drasgow, & Shriner, 2009). Reflection on Cognitive Behavioral Approach CBI is a recognized and efficient approach to managing undesirable behaviors for students with EBD. As a means of effectively executing CBI, educators must design thorough strategies and intervention that can be incorporated within the behavior intervention plan. Additionally, in order to maintain validity, teachers must survey the student’s development to certify that proper self-management measures are being adhered to. References Smith, W. (2002). Applying Cognitive Behavioral Techniques to Social Skills Instruction. ERIC/OSEP Digest (#E630). Retrieved from http://www.cec.sped.org/Content/NavigationMenu/AboutCEC/International/StepbyS

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 2

Chapter 2 The angel wants me to convey more of Joshua's grace. Grace? I'm trying to write about a six-year-old, for Christ's sakes, how much grace could he have? It's not like Joshua walked around professing that he was the Son of God every day of the week. He was a pretty normal kid, for the most part. There was the trick he did with the lizards, and once we found a dead meadowlark and he brought it back to life, and there was the time, when we were eight, when he healed his brother Judah's fractured skull after a game of â€Å"stone the adulteress† got out of hand. (Judah could never get the knack of being an adulteress. He'd stand there stiff as Lot's wife. You can't do that. An adulteress has to be wily and nimble-footed.) The miracles Joshua performed were small and quiet, as miracles tend to be, once you get used to them. But trouble came from the miracles that happened around him, without his volition, as it were. Bread and serpents come to mind. It was a few days before the Passover feast, and many of the families of Nazareth were not making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem that year. There had been little rain through our winter season, so it was going to be a hard year. Many farmers could not afford the time away from their fields to travel to and from the holy city. My father and Joshua's were both working in Sepphoris, and the Romans wouldn't give them time off work beyond the actual feast days. My mother had been making the unleavened bread when I came in from playing in the square. She held a dozen sheets of the flatbread before her and she looked as if she was going to dash it to the floor any second. â€Å"Biff, where is your friend Joshua?† My little brothers grinned at me from behind her skirts. â€Å"At home, I suppose. I just left him.† â€Å"What have you boys been doing?† â€Å"Nothing.† I tried to remember if I had done anything that should make her this angry, but nothing came to mind. It was a rare day and I'd made no trouble. Both my little brothers were unscathed as far as I knew. â€Å"What have you done to cause this?† She held out a sheet of the flatbread, and there, in crispy brown relief on the golden crust, was the image of my friend Joshua's face. She snatched up another sheet of bread, and there, again, was my friend Josh. Graven images – big sin. Josh was smiling. Mother frowned on smiling. â€Å"Well? Do I need to go to Joshua's house and ask his poor, insane mother?† â€Å"I did this. I put Joshua's face on the bread.† I just hoped that she didn't ask me how I had done it. â€Å"Your father will punish you when he comes home this evening. Now go, get out of here.† I could hear my little brother's giggling as I slunk out the door, but once outside, things worsened. Women were coming away from their baking stones, and each held a sheet of unleavened bread, and each was muttering some variation of â€Å"Hey, there's a kid on my bread.† I ran to Joshua's house and stormed in without knocking. Joshua and his brothers were at the table eating. Mary was nursing Joshua's newest little sister, Miriam. â€Å"You are in big trouble,† I whispered in Josh's ear with enough force to blow out an eardrum. Joshua held up the flatbread he was eating and grinned, just like the face on his bread. â€Å"It's a miracle.† â€Å"Tastes good too,† said James, crunching a corner off of his brother's head. â€Å"It's all over town, Joshua. Not just your house. Everyone's bread has your face on it.† â€Å"He is truly the Son of God,† Mary said with a beatific smile. â€Å"Oh, jeez, Mother,† James said. â€Å"Yeah, jeez Mom,† said Judah. â€Å"His mug is all over the Passover feast. We have to do something.† They didn't seem to get the gravity of the situation. I was already in trouble, and my mother didn't even suspect anything supernatural. â€Å"We have to cut your hair.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"We cannot cut his hair,† Mary said. She had always let Joshua wear his hair long, like an Essene, saying that he was a Nazarite like Samson. It was just another reason why many of the townspeople thought her mad. The rest of us wore our hair cut short, like the Greeks who had ruled our country since the time of Alexander, and the Romans after them. â€Å"If we cut his hair he looks like the rest of us. We can say it's someone else on the bread.† â€Å"Moses,† Mary said. â€Å"Young Moses.† â€Å"Yes!† â€Å"I'll get a knife.† â€Å"James, Judah, come with me,† I said. â€Å"We have to tell the town that the face of Moses has come to visit us for the Passover feast.† Mary pulled Miriam from her breast, bent, and kissed me on the forehead. â€Å"You are a good friend, Biff.† I almost melted in my sandals, but I caught Joshua frowning at me. â€Å"It's not the truth,† he said. â€Å"It will keep the Pharisees from judging you.† â€Å"I'm not afraid of them,† said the nine-year-old. â€Å"I didn't do this to the bread.† â€Å"Then why take the blame and the punishment for it?† â€Å"I don't know, seems like I should, doesn't it?† â€Å"Sit still so your mother can cut your hair.† I dashed out the door, Judah and James on my heels, the three of us bleating like spring lambs. â€Å"Behold! Moses has put his face on the bread for Passover! Behold!† Miracles. She kissed me. Holy Moses on a matzo! She kissed me. The miracle of the serpent? It was an omen, in a way, although I can only say that because of what happened between Joshua and the Pharisees later on. At the time, Joshua thought it was the fulfillment of a prophecy, or that's how we tried to sell it to his mother and father. It was late summer and we were playing in a wheat field outside of town when Joshua found the nest of vipers. â€Å"A nest of vipers,† Joshua shouted. The wheat was so tall I couldn't see where he was calling from. â€Å"A pox on your family,† I replied. â€Å"No, there's a nest of vipers over here. Really.† â€Å"Oh, I thought you were taunting me. Sorry, a pox off of your family.† â€Å"Come, see.† I crashed through the wheat to find Joshua standing by a pile of stones a farmer had used to mark the boundary of his field. I screamed and backpedaled so quickly that I lost my balance and fell. A knot of snakes writhed at Joshua's feet, skating over his sandals and wrapping themselves around his ankles. â€Å"Joshua, get away from there.† â€Å"They won't hurt me. It says so in Isaiah.† â€Å"Just in case they haven't read the Prophets†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Joshua stepped aside, sending the snakes scattering, and there, behind him, was the biggest cobra I had ever seen. It reared up until it was taller than my friend, spreading a hood like a cloak. â€Å"Run, Joshua.† He smiled. â€Å"I'm going to call her Sarah, after Abraham's wife. These are her children.† â€Å"No kidding? Say good-bye now, Josh.† â€Å"I want to show Mother. She loves prophecy.† With that, he was off toward the village, the giant serpent following him like a shadow. The baby snakes stayed in the nest and I backed slowly away before running after my friend. I once brought a frog home, hoping to keep him as a pet. Not a large frog, a one-handed frog, quiet and well mannered. My mother made me release him, then cleanse myself in the immersion pool (the mikveh) at the synagogue. Still she wouldn't let me in the house until after sunset because I was unclean. Joshua led a fourteen-foot-long cobra into his house and his mother squealed with joy. My mother never squealed. Mary slung the baby to her hip, kneeled in front of her son, and quoted Isaiah: â€Å"‘The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den.'† James, Judah, and Elizabeth cowered in the corner, too frightened to cry. I stood outside the doorway watching. The snake swayed behind Joshua as if preparing to strike. â€Å"Her name is Sarah.† â€Å"They were cobras, not asps,† I said. â€Å"A whole pile of cobras.† â€Å"Can we keep her?† Joshua asked. â€Å"I'll catch rats for her, and make a bed for her next to Elizabeth's.† â€Å"Definitely not asps. I'd know an asp if I saw one. Probably not a cockatrice either. I'd say a cobra.† (Actually, I didn't know an asp from a hole in the ground.) â€Å"Shush, Biff,† Mary said. My heart broke with the harshness in my love's voice. Just then Joseph rounded the corner and went through the door before I could catch him. No worry, he was back outside in an instant. â€Å"Jumpin' Jehoshaphat!† I checked to see if Joseph's heart had failed, having quickly decided that once Mary and I were married the snake would have to go, or at least sleep outside, but the burly carpenter seemed only shaken, and a little dusty from his backward dive through the door. â€Å"Not an asp, right?† I asked. â€Å"Asps are made small to fit the breasts of Egyptian queens, right?† Joseph ignored me. â€Å"Back away slowly, son. I'll get a knife from my workshop.† â€Å"She won't hurt us,† Joshua said. â€Å"Her name is Sarah. She's from Isaiah.† â€Å"It is in the prophecy, Joseph,† Mary said. I could see Joseph searching his memory for the passage. Although only a layman, he knew his scripture as well as anyone. â€Å"I don't remember the part about Sarah.† â€Å"I don't think it's prophecy,† I offered. â€Å"It says asps, and that is definitely not an asp. I'd say she's going to bite Joshua's ass off if you don't grab her, Joseph.† (A guy has to try.) â€Å"Can I keep her?† Joshua asked. Joseph had regained his composure by now. Evidently, once you accept that your wife slept with God, extraordinary events seem sort of commonplace. â€Å"Take her back where you found her, Joshua, the prophecy has been fulfilled now.† â€Å"But I want to keep her.† â€Å"No, Joshua.† â€Å"You're not the boss of me.† I suspected that Joseph had heard that before. â€Å"Just so,† he said, â€Å"please take Sarah back where you found her.† Joshua stormed out of the house, his snake following close behind. Joseph and I gave them a wide berth. â€Å"Try not to let anyone see you,† Joseph said. â€Å"They won't understand.† He was right, of course. On our way out of the village we ran into a gang of older boys, led by Jakan, the son of Iban the Pharisee. They did not understand. There were perhaps a dozen Pharisees in Nazareth: learned men, working-class teachers, who spent much of their time at the synagogue debating the Law. They were often hired as judges and scribes, and this gave them great influence over the people of the village. So much influence, in fact, that the Romans often used them as mouthpieces to our people. With influence comes power, with power, abuse. Jakan was only the son of a Pharisee. He was only two years older than Joshua and me, but he was well on his way to mastering cruelty. If there is a single joy in having everyone you have ever known two thousand years dead, it is that Jakan is one of them. May his fat crackle in the fires of hell for eternity! Joshua taught us that we should not hate – a lesson that I was never able to master, along with geometry. Blame Jakan for the former, Euclid for the latter. Joshua ran behind the houses and shops of the village, the snake behind him by ten steps, and me behind her ten steps more. As he rounded the corner by the smith's shop, Joshua ran into Jakan, knocking him to the ground. â€Å"You idiot!† Jakan shouted, rising and dusting himself off. His three friends laughed and he spun on them like an angry tiger. â€Å"This one needs to have his face washed in dung. Hold him.† The boys turned their focus on Joshua, two grabbing his arms while the third punched him in the stomach. Jakan turned to look for a pile to rub Joshua's face in. Sarah slithered around the corner and reared up behind Joshua, spreading her glorious hood wide above our heads. â€Å"Hey,† I called as I rounded the corner. â€Å"You guys think this is an asp?† My fear of the snake had changed into a sort of wary affection. She seemed to be smiling. I know I was. Sarah swayed from side to side like a wheat stalk in the wind. The boys dropped Joshua's arms and ran to Jakan, who had turned and slowly backed away. â€Å"Joshua was talking about asps,† I continued, â€Å"but I'd have to say that this here is a cobra.† Joshua was bent over, still trying to catch his breath, but he looked back at me and grinned. â€Å"Of course, I'm not the son of a Pharisee, but – â€Å" â€Å"He's in league with the serpent!† Jakan screamed. â€Å"He consorts with demons!† â€Å"Demons!† the other boys shouted, trying to crowd behind their fat friend. â€Å"I will tell my father of this and you'll be stoned.† A voice from behind Jakan said, â€Å"What is all this shouting?† And a sweet voice it was. She came out of the house by the smith's shop. Her skin shone like copper and she had the light blue eyes of the northern desert people. Wisps of reddish-brown hair showed at the edges of her purple shawl. She couldn't have been more than nine or ten, but there was something very old in her eyes. I stopped breathing when I saw her. Jakan puffed up like a toad. â€Å"Stay back. These two are consorting with a demon. I will tell the elders and they will be judged.† She spit at his feet. I had never seen a girl spit before. It was charming. â€Å"It looks like a cobra to me.† â€Å"See there, I told you.† She walked up to Sarah as if she were approaching a fig tree looking for fruit, not a hint of fear, only interest. â€Å"You think this is a demon?† she said, without looking back at Jakan. â€Å"Won't you be embarrassed when the elders find that you mistook a common snake of the field for a demon?† â€Å"It is a demon.† The girl reached her hand up, and the snake made as if to strike, then lowered its head until its forked tongue was brushing the girl's fingers. â€Å"This is definitely a cobra, little boy. And these two were probably leading it back to the fields where it would help the farmers by eating rats.† â€Å"Yep, that's what we were doing,† I said. â€Å"Absolutely,† Joshua said. The girl turned to Jakan and his friends. â€Å"A demon?† Jakan stomped like an angry donkey. â€Å"You are in league with them.† â€Å"Don't be silly, my family has only just arrived from Magdala, I've never seen these two before, but it's obvious what they were doing. We do it all the time in Magdala. But then, this is a backwater village.† â€Å"We do it here too,† Jakan said. â€Å"I was – well – these two make trouble.† â€Å"Trouble,† his friends said. â€Å"Why don't we let them get on with what they were doing.† Jakan, his eyes bouncing from the girl to the snake to the girl again, began to lead his friends away. â€Å"I will deal with you two another time.† As soon as they were around the corner, the girl jumped back from the snake and ran toward the door of her house. â€Å"Wait,† Joshua called. â€Å"I have to go.† â€Å"What is your name?† â€Å"I'm Mary of Magdala, daughter of Isaac,† she said. â€Å"Call me Maggie.† â€Å"Come with us, Maggie.† â€Å"I can't, I have to go.† â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Because I've peed myself.† She disappeared through the door. Miracles. Once we were back in the wheat field Sarah headed for her den. We watched from a distance as she slid down the hole. â€Å"Josh. How did you do that?† â€Å"I have no idea.† â€Å"Is this kind of thing going to keep happening?† â€Å"Probably.† â€Å"We are going to get into a lot of trouble, aren't we?† â€Å"What am I, a prophet?† â€Å"I asked you first.† Joshua stared into the sky like a man in a trance. â€Å"Did you see her? She's afraid of nothing.† â€Å"She's a giant snake, what's to be afraid of?† Joshua frowned. â€Å"Don't pretend to be simple, Biff. We were saved by a serpent and a girl, I don't know what to think about that.† â€Å"Why think about it at all? It just happened.† â€Å"Nothing happens but by God's will,† Joshua said. â€Å"It doesn't fit with the testament of Moses.† â€Å"Maybe it's a new testament,† I said. â€Å"You aren't pretending, are you?† Joshua said. â€Å"You really are simple.† â€Å"I think she likes you better than she likes me,† I said. â€Å"The snake?† â€Å"Right, I'm the simple one.† I don't know if now, having lived and died the life of a man, I can write about little-boy love, but remembering it now, it seems the cleanest pain I've known. Love without desire, or conditions, or limits – a pure and radiant glow in the heart that could make me giddy and sad and glorious all at once. Where does it go? Why, in all their experiments, did the Magi never try to capture that purity in a bottle? Perhaps they couldn't. Perhaps it is lost to us when we become sexual creatures, and no magic can bring it back. Perhaps I only remember it because I spent so long trying to understand the love that Joshua felt for everyone. In the East they taught us that all suffering comes from desire, and that rough beast would stalk me through my life, but on that afternoon, and for a time after, I touched grace. At night I would lie awake, listening to my brothers' breathing against the silence of the house, and in my mind's eye I could see her eyes like blue fire in the dark. Exquisite torture. I wonder now if Joshua didn't make her whole life like that. Maggie, she was the strongest of us all. After the miracle of the serpent, Joshua and I made up excuses to pass by the smith's shop where we might run into Maggie. Every morning we would rise early and go to Joseph, volunteering to run to the smith for some nails or the repair of a tool. Poor Joseph took this as enthusiasm for carpentry. â€Å"Would you boys like to come to Sepphoris with me tomorrow?† Joseph asked us one day when we were badgering him about fetching nails. â€Å"Biff, would your father let you start learning the work of a carpenter?† I was mortified. At ten a boy was expected to start learning his father's trade, but that was a year away – forever when you're nine. â€Å"I?CI am still thinking about what I will do when I grow up,† I said. My own father had made a similar offer to Joshua the day before. â€Å"So you won't become a stonecutter?† â€Å"I was thinking about becoming the village idiot, if my father will allow it.† â€Å"He has a God-given talent,† Joshua said. â€Å"I've been talking to Bartholomew the idiot,† I said. â€Å"He's going to teach me to fling my own dung and run headlong into walls.† Joseph scowled at me. â€Å"Perhaps you two are yet too young. Next year.† â€Å"Yes,† Joshua said, â€Å"next year. May we go now, Joseph? Biff is meeting Bartholomew for his lesson.† Joseph nodded and we were off before he inflicted more kindness upon us. We actually had befriended Bartholomew, the village idiot. He was foul and drooled a lot, but he was large, and offered some protection against Jakan and his bullies. Bart also spent most of his time begging near the town square, where the women came to fetch water from the well. From time to time we caught a glimpse of Maggie as she passed, a water jar balanced on her head. â€Å"You know, we are going to have to start working soon,† Joshua said. â€Å"I won't see you, once I'm working with my father.† â€Å"Joshua, look around you, do you see any trees?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"And the trees we do have, olive trees – twisted, gnarly, knotty things, right?† â€Å"Right.† â€Å"But you're going to be a carpenter like your father?† â€Å"There's a chance of it.† â€Å"One word, Josh: rocks.† â€Å"Rocks?† â€Å"Look around. Rocks as far as the eye can see. Galilee is nothing but rocks, dirt, and more rocks. Be a stonemason like me and my father. We can build cities for the Romans.† â€Å"Actually, I was thinking about saving mankind.† â€Å"Forget that nonsense, Josh. Rocks, I tell you.†

High Quality Nursery Schools For Poor Children Essay

As we know, poverty is ubiquitous phenomenon all over the world. Some people continually complain that they are just getting the minimum salary, and the society does not help them to shake off poverty. In most of their life time, they have to face the reality to deal with the difficult situations that they find unfair. However, poverty affects children who have no abilities to get through it that is really unequal in the world. Children who live in poverty may lack confidence at school age because their outfit and house. These children also have no sufficient food to eat and less money to take the medicine during their illness. Therefore, the poor children may become weak and their health is threatened by ingesting less nutritious food. In addition, a poor family results in low parental education, which may affect children’s value in his whole life. All in all, the solution for these problems is high quality nursery schools should be set up to support poor families more in ter ms of raising the next generation for growing healthily. Living in poverty, when kids get to school age they are looked down and bullied by their classmates. So these kids obviously have less confidence to face their life. They also recognize that the material condition of their lives is so important to have an equality view. Randall Williams said â€Å"I was ashamed of where I lived. I had been ashamed for as long as I had been conscious of class.† (Randall Williams, Daddy tucked the blanket, 2000, Page 1) He lived in a poor family that frequently moved. For him, he had no courage to invite his friends to his house. Children growing up in poor families may lead to a pessimistic attitude for lives. They have no dare to show themselves even though their skills or talents are standout. Moreover, without confidence, these children do not allow themselves to pursue their dreams. For example, when I was at primary school, my parents also struggled in low-wage jobs. At that time, I was very interested in playing piano and it appeared in my brain over and over again. However, I had to give up my dream because my family could not afford to buy a piano and its lessons. I can clearly remember that piano played a dominant role in my childhood and I gave it up in despair. This experience generates the tragic view of life and losing the confidence of future. Therefore, impoverished children result in a negative impact of less-confidence. For this situation, I think the public child-care centre for poor children can be more helpful to them. All the kids come from similar families, and they are commonly communicating to each other without any prejudice. Children raised in household not in possession of a good fortune are conditioned that they cannot receive the healthy diet and medical treatment. They are restricted in terms of less food to eat because it costs money. Every so often their wishes go beyond their patents’ means, and they have to come to terms with the resulting sense of rejection. Charles Oberg said â€Å"It directly influences the abilities of families to meet their children’s basic needs and provide societal minimums such as shelter, nutrition, and health care.† (Charles Oberg, The impact of childhood poverty on health and development, 2003, Page 2) What does he means? Children who live in poor family may not be provided the fundamental needs. So they have suffered from some diseases and starvation. These effects totally threat their young body which is growing up. However, the high quality nursery school can exactly solve this problem. For example, the Head Start program is very popular to help poor children in terms of healthcare and medical guidance. The research from Health Care Institute said that â€Å"Healthcare costs could be reduced annually by at least $554 per family when Head Start parents are given easy-to-understand healthcare guidance that increases their health literacy.† (Ariella Herman, Ph.D., HEALTH CARE INSTITUTE, March 2007) So if the nursery school could provide this program for the basic parental help, poor children would not only suffer less pain from any diseases, but also they would save money to buy more nutritious food. On the other hand, some people argue this kind of investment is too expensive to implement. But, according to the Health Care Institute, an average program investment is $60 per family, but the potential saving is getting 554.72. (Ariella Herman, Ph.D., HEALTH CARE INSTITUTE, March 2007) It is showed that this kind of investment is obviously worth, and more and more individuals benefit from this program. There is also an example from the Head Start program. One of the success stories was that Shae-Lynn almost died at 3 years old by seizures and medication. But her mother sent her to Benton Franklin Head Start. In the following year, she had almost cured and her study on longer was a problem. (Andrea Nelson, Benton-Franklin Head Start) The head Start totally changed her life. Moreover, every patents hope their children will have a reasonable environment to grow up rather than an unhealthy childhood, and the nursery school can figure it out. The most important impact of poverty is on parenting, which influence in their kids during whole life. Specifically, young couples not only pay less attention to their kids, but also they not have the time for this because of struggling for their work. Therefore, many kids cannot feel loved from their parents. It is cruel for them because their little heart is so easy to break and hard to fix. Otherwise, children who are lacking of parenting are allowed to behave as they please. For example, Jo Goodwin Parker said â€Å"Poverty is looking into a black future. Your children won’t play with my boys. They will turn to other boys who steal to get what they want. I can already see them behind the bars of their prison instead of behind of the bars of my poverty. Or they will turn to the freedom of alcohol or drugs, and find themselves enslaved.†(Jo Goodwin Parker, What is poverty, 1971) It is precisely that kids need a good parenting to bound their behavior and awareness of c ode of ethic. However, their parents entirely do not involve this recognition in terms of improving preprimary education and giving more attention. There is a statistics from the impact of childhood poverty on health and development that said â€Å"A 1988 study by Zill and Schoenborn found that children living in families with annual incomes below $10000 had a 25% higher rate of emotional and behavior problems than their counterparts from families with annual incomes over $40000.† (Charles Oberg, The impact of childhood poverty on health and development, 2003, Page 2) It is indicated that children who raise in poor family tend to be more misbehaved no matter the numbers may change up or down for now. Parenting should assume the responsibility for this tendency. They cannot offer a bit more material things, but they should spend more time focusing on their kids in emotional ways. Above all, I believe that parenting classes should be established in nursery school to help them to do this. The society should fund this kind of parental support, because this is no longer a problem for individual families, but for society as a whole. In short, firstly, I have to admit that the government has to allocate much money that comes from all society tax revenue to support poor children. Nevertheless, if children benefit from nursery schools, they who brought up by parents of low economic status usually grow up to be physically, mentally independent as same as the others and tend to be more confident, physical healthy and well-behaved. Throughout the whole childhood in nursery school they are tempered by the experiences of parent’s denial their requests and frugality is inculcated into their minds as a merit. They will have more confident to strive for their study and work with a strong body and good behavior. Therefore, if nursery schools could be established, the all society would benefit. Reference Herman, A. (2007). Healthy care institute. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation) http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/documents/areas/ctr/jandj/HCI_exec_report_06.pdf Nelson, A. (n.d.). benton-franklin head start. http://www.wsaheadstarteceap.com/success_stories.html Oberg, C. (2003). The impact of childhood poverty on health and development. Healthy Generations, 4(1), 12. http://www.epi.umn.edu/mch/resources/hg/hg_childpoverty.pdf Parker, J. G. (1971). What is poverty. America’s Other Children, p. 2. Williams, R. (2000). Daddy tucked the blanket.

The Influence of Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation on the Turnover Dissertation

The Influence of Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation on the Turnover Intent at Bourne Leisure Ltd - Dissertation Example While most of the intrinsic motivational factors (work content, working conditions, and managerial support) along with employee benefits brought about positive responses, mixed findings were acquired in relation to the amount of pay along with recognition. It has been recommended that the organization focuses on both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards for employee retention. Background of the Study Turnover of employees has become a persistent occurrence that has led to adverse consequences for organizations worldwide (Collins and Smith, 2006). The loss of competent and qualified workers has been associated with the decrease of quality, innovation, productivity and performance with regards to a company’s delivery of service. Consequently, client dissatisfaction can be expected as well (Lin and Chang, 2005). Furthermore, according to Abbasi, Hollman, and Hayes (2008), employee turnover requires a considerable amount of costs attributed to selection and recruitment along with the training of new employees. Therefore, employee turnover has been considered as one of the most critical managerial problems in the current workplace (Pfeffer and Sutton, 2006). Given such unfavorable outcomes, it has become common for studies to focus on identifying the factors that contribute to employee turnover (Holtom, Mitchell, Lee, and Eberly, 2008). These findings from research are highly r elevant for organizations and their managers for directing their efforts towards reducing the rate of voluntary turnover among their workers. A wide range of studies in various fields, including psychology and economics, have led to significant findings for understanding employee turnover that include demographic factors, the relationship between the employee and employer, satisfaction with one’s job or work-related stressors (Griffeth, Hom, and Gaertner, 2000; Kuvaas, 2008; Podsakoff, LePine, and LePine, 2007). However, despite the considerable number of studies that aimed to explore voluntary turnover among employees, the direction of their outcomes widely differ based on the population or a given situation, hence implying that employee turnover is influenced by a wide range of predictors. One

The history and evolution of Chinese women' rights Research Paper

The history and evolution of Chinese women' rights - Research Paper Example This created way for the formation of the communist government in the country under the name of the People’s Republic of China (Johnson 121). The new government committed to implementing social changes with the aim of uplifting the status of women in the society. The evolution of women’s rights in China has been a slow, painful but steady process discussed in the essay below. The growth and radical changes leading to the modern liberal Chinese society that embraces the gender equality has been slow and with myriad sacrifices, between 1966 and 1976 for example, the country experienced a massive cultural revolution as feminist movements sought the inclusion of women in the governance of the country. At the time of the formation of the new people’s republic of china, the country’s workforce had only seven percent of the women. The new communist government formulated and implemented new radical changes that with the view of increasing the status of women in th e new society but the male dominated society resisted most of such changes. By 1992, the percentage of the women in the country’s workforce had risen to thirty eight percent. Marriage in the traditional Chinese society was an arrangement between families. Young girls would be married off to men of the family’s choosing thus nurturing the women in order to befit specific requirements of the spouse’s family. Such arrangement denied women the right and privilege to fall in love and determine their lives. They simply married the men their families thought right for them. The male dominated society thought such to be effective ways of developing strong social ties but at the expense of the girl children. The great Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1976 sought to address the social vice that had threatened the development of effective cultures in the society. Prior to the revolution, the communist government had initiated policies that sought to address the vice. I n 1950, the government formulated the marriage law. The law provided for the revocation of all previous family arrangements thus setting women previously bound by their families free. The law was a result of effective government research on the effects of such marriages and family arrangement on the social development of the society. By revoking all such arrangements, the governments sought to formulate better and more ethical policies and systems of marriage in the country. The men in the Chinese society opposed the legislation but through concerted government efforts and the works of the numerous feminist movements in the country, the law successful laws. In 1980, the government formulated another family law that banned arranged and forced marriages in the country. By banning such marriages, the government set the children especially the female children free from the dominance of their parents who used benefited from such arrangements. The marriage law of 1950 further permitted wo men to instigate divorces in the society. This would provide disadvantaged women in the forced, arranged and even purchased marriages the freedom to break away and foster their own independent lifestyles. Prior to the legislation, the society only permitted a divorce if it befitted the man. Additionally, the society also permitted polygamy thus allowing men to marry as many women as they wanted. In fact, the number of women in a homestead symbolized wealth and influence in the society. While