Sympathy for the betrayers and the betrayed Essay Example for Free

Sympathy for the betrayers and the betrayed Essay More than would be imagined, it is sometimes more difficult to sympathise with the victims of infidelity; easier than we might have imagined to sympathise with the betrayers themselves. To what extent do you agree with this estimation in relation to the three texts chosen? In none of the three texts can it be said that the adulterers elicit or deserve greater sympathy than the victims of adultery. Despite this imbalance, it would unconsidered and possibly rather supercilious to simply judge the betrayers on their actions without meditating on the reasoning behind the actions and the circumstances in which the adulterers have found themselves. All the adulterers within the text (apart from Jerry in Betrayal (1978), and Rodolphe in Madame Bovary (1857)) merit a degree of sympathy, yet despite this, their actions cannot be wholly justified, and the characters cannot, therefore, be fully exonerated. The savage destruction of Emma Bovary by Flaubert, and Cresseids gruesome infliction of leprosy are certainly a cause for sympathy in both cases. Emma Bovarys death is a painfully drawn out event in which she turned whiter than the sheet at which her fingers kept clawing and soon began to vomit blood. Her limbs were contorted, her body covered with brown blotches. It is interesting to note the contrast between the description at the beginning of the novel in which Flaubert erotically describes the tip of her tongue poking between her beautiful teeth, delicately licking the bottom of the glass and the description post-arsenic in which her entire tongue protruded from her mouth; her rolling eyes dimmed like lamp globes as they fade into darkness. Notably, Flaubert focuses on the body and its indignities, which is in contrast to Madame Bovarys romanticism Similarly, in The Testament of Cresseid, Henryson depicts a disease so realistic and visceral that, as early as 1841, Sir J. A. Y. Si mpson was able to diagnose the exact type of disease Cresseid has. (1) Henrysons detailed description gave rise to at least one suggestion that he himself was a physician. The Gods marred her, declaring, Your eyes so bright and crystal I make bloodshot / Your voice so clear, unpleasing, grating, hoarse / Your healthy skin I blacken, blotch and spot / With livid lumps I cover your fair face. Cupids declaration of, Your mirth I hereby change to melancholy is one of a series of semantically opposite, yet alliterative words, which in this instance, are used to display the unfavourable contrast of Cresseids existence before her punishment and afterwards, whilst also augmenting the malicious and sadistic nature of the Gods. In Heaneys translation he writes, your high estate is in decline and fall. The is a reference to Edward Gibbons work The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, (1776) the literary allusion conveying the suddenness and inexplicability of Cresseids physical decline. The bleakness of her situation is summarised in the descri ption of her having to make do with a cup and clapper. They remain Her whole life has been reduced to this alliterative phrase, whilst the caesura indicates the sudden nature of her loss. Not only does Cresseid receive a gruesome affliction, the reader is also left with the feeling that her punishment is undeserved. The reason for her sentence is blasphemy, since whoever blasphemes all Gods offer insults. Betrayal is heavily frequented with profanities such as Good God, yet nothing results. In Madame Bovary, Charles addressed curses to the heavens, but not so much as a leaf quivered. The triviality of Cresseids offence in contrast to the magnitude of her chastisement displays an injustice in the name of justice, and this is borne true in the lack of consequence fastened to blasphemy in the other two texts. When Cupid retorts indignantly of Cresseids claim that I was the cause of her misfortune, one notes an irony given that all the Gods share an overwhelming involvement in all her actions and hence her misfortune. Cresseid is a puppet of the pagan Gods whims, and her lack of volition means that she should not be blamed. Fate is recurrently referred to, in for example, the lines, Cresseids most miserable and fated death (fatall destenie), Of Troy and Greece, how it could be your fate, and Fate is fickle when she plies the shears. This predestination is not a problem with which the adulterers in the other two texts must face. Further, the scornfully humorous description of the Gods, particularly Saturn who behaved in a churlish, rough, thick-witted manner, and had a rucked and wrinkled face, a lyre like lead and a steady nose run creates a further sympathy for Emma, since those that condemn her are rendered in an absurd, grotesque and humorous light. Henryson goes further when he describes Cupid as a boar that whets its tusks, he grinds and fumes, since it goes beyond anthromorphism to zoomorphism; and the description of Gods that raged, grimaced, rampaged and bawled and scoffed is a display of Gods that have unlimited power and limited judgement. Whilst Madame Bovary does not have to contend with predestination, her actions are still restricted by societys ambits and the limitations placed on women in the mid-nineteenth century. In societal terms, she has to live in the mediocrity of her provincial surroundings. It is important to note that the novels sub-title is Provincial Manners they frustrated Flaubert, and he used Emma Bovarys disgust with her class as a way of conveying his own hatred for the banality of the middle-classes. Madame Bovary shows how ridiculous the attitudes of the bourgeoisie can be. Homaiss haughtily flamboyant speeches are used by Flaubert to display the pretensions of the bourgeois. The less grandiose act by a woman who received a 25 franc award for 54 years of service giving it to our curà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ so he can say some masses for me leads the reader not to see this as remarkable, rather to see it as a sign of fanaticism, thus challenging fidelity as a certain good. Madame Bovary longs to be more ref ined and sophisticated than her environment allows her. Flauberts depiction of a black chalk drawing of the head of Minerva in the middle of a wall whose green paint was flaking from the damp is a visual metaphor for Emma Bovary, a Roman goddess amongst the banalities of life. A recurring leitmotif in the novel is that of Emma Bovary looking with her head against the window pane, gazing into the garden; it is a poignant allusion to her aspirations for a more interesting existence and also her locomotive desires, in which the garden has both a metaphorical and physically restrictive quality. Her affairs represent her both breaking out of an existence as humdrum and circumscribed as that of their hens and their dogs (2) and that she had no qualms about mistaking cul for coeur.'(2) The Emma of Betrayal has a greater degree of freedom than the other two protagonists, she, after all is running a gallery. Nevertheless, it could be argued that she is a player in amongst Jerry and Roberts game of one-upmanship; their self-absorbed competitiveness being encapsulated in their games of squash (note the punning effect with the verb squash and Rodolphes remark that he will squash him (Charles) like a fly in Madame Bovary). This remark of Rodolphes shows that he also gets enjoyment from stamping on other mens power, which is backed up in the imagery of Rodolphes Mounted stags heads in his study he gets a thrill from male conquest as well as female conquest. Harold Pinter himself commented that Betrayal is a play about two close friends perhaps Emma is simply within Jerry and Roberts story, a victim of psychological determinism, rather than Madame Bovarys societal determinism and Cresseids cosmic determinism. Both Emma Bovary and Cresseid share an existence in a patriarchal world, which Emma from Betrayal is not a part of. Madame Bovary, for example, is blessed with artistic gifts that cause Charles to proudly display her work to whoever chooses to visit his abode. However, given the restrictions placed on women during the period, the Bovary households wall would be the only dwelling for any art she may happen to create; this can be contrasted to Betrayals Emma who actually owns her own art gallery and who also has the benefit of the possibility of travelling anywhere she wants (the film notes her possession of a car: making her an agent of mobility), and is not confined to the ennui of a rustic Rouen. Madame Bovarys gender-founded restrictions are expressed in the structure of the novel. The novel initiates with a depiction of Charles schooldays, and indeed, starts with the nous form, thus centralising Charless character. At the end of the novel, Homais becomes the centre of attention, as his mounting successes are described by Flaubert, finally climaxing in Il vient de recevoir la croix dhonneur (he has been given the Legion of Honour). Emmas story is therefore trapped between Charles and Homais; the structure of the novel is mimetic of her entrapment in a male-dominated world, and these restrictions should evoke sympathy in the reader. Similarly, Cresseid is subject to male authority, which is made clear in the line Yet whatever men may think or say contemptuously, and the traditionally accepted belief of her as being merely a lustfully encumbered individual is challenged by the way in which her punishment is portrayed as having resulted from blasphemy. The popular portrayal of Cresseid in both Chaucers Troilus and Cresseid (C. 1380) and Shakespeares Troilus and Cressida is challenged by the Testament of Cresseid (1475) and evoke sympathy in the reader. Madame Bovary and Emma are mutually unique from Cresseid in that their adulterous other halves are base to a level which subtracts from the potential criticism of the primary adulterers themselves. Jerry is emotionally detached from Emma, yet still has a vulgar, sexual interest in her, as indicated in the final (yet chronologically foremost) scene in which he declares, I should have had you, in your white, before the wedding, I should have blackened you, in your white wedding dress. He later articulates, youre banishing me to, a state of catatonia, and frequently proclaims youre beautiful, youre incredible etc. However, earlier in the play, he makes short remarks and responses to Emmas questions an indication that he has no real emotional interest in her. Jerry also fails to recall with accuracy certain events relating to their relationship. For example when Jerry recalls throwing Emmas daughter in the air he believed it to be in Emmas kitchen, to which she replied, it was your kitchen. When Jerry calls her darling she responds, dont say that, because she knows that this term of endearment is not meant by Jerry. Emma puts in a lot of effort into the affair, as indicated by her yearning for a continuation of their romantic escapades: you see, in the past, we were inventive, we were determined, Jerrys disinterested response is, It would not matter how much we wanted it if youre not free in the afternoons and Im in America. This is extremely similar to Rodolphes remark Youre mad, you really are! How could we do that?, when Emma puts forward the idea of a sojourn in Paris, and is indicative of the contrasting levels of commitment between the adulterer and the adulteress. When they finally decide on their trip to Paris, Madame Bovary asks, I am counting the days. Arent you? There is also a link between that and Emmas question will we ever go to Venice? She answers her own question in Betrayal in Madame Bovary, nothing is said at all. Emmas desire for something more in their relationship is indicated in her wish for a shared home with Jerry. She is saddened by the fact that the crockery and the curtains and the bedspread have been left for so long. She later says to Jerry you didnt ever see it as a home in any sense did you?, to which Jerry replied, no, I saw it as a flat you know. Emma correctly acknowledges Jerrys desires when she finishes off his sentence with the words for fucking, despite Jerrys protestation of for loving. Emmas inability to let go of the relationship is indicated in the scene where she struggles to take her ring from her keyring and ends up throwing it to Jerry to take it off Jerry would be happy to end the relationship. Rodolphe is an even more heinous character, as indicated in his objectification of Emma: This one had seemed pretty to him, the word one rather than she makes her merely one of his many inamoratas. Even more striking is when he says, how to get rid of it afterwards (admittedly, the French elle can mean both she and it, but Margaret Mauldons Oxford translation, unlike that of the Penguin edition uses the wholly unkind it, which is much more effective in making Rodolphe appear objectionable). In both cases, the deplorable adulterers create sympathy when scrutinising the adulteresses and this is not a factor that exists in The Testament of Cresseid. If one were to be overtly cynical, it could be argued that Jerry and Rodolphe are partly correct in their views on the affair. Is an affair really all that romantic, after all? Vargas Llosa would be quick to point out the dangers of equating lust with love. Perhaps the two Emmas are looking for too much in the relationship, and are making it out to be more than it really is. Emmas amorous adventures activate an abundance of lies, yet Stephen Heath empathizes with her fabrications. He states that Emma lies, but everything lies'(3), he talks of how the narrating voice enters to state a distance from her, but Flaubert also cuts such statements, reduces their number(3). At times, the narration drifts into sympathy with Emma, at other times it condemns her. The use of a style indirect libre causes the narration to be ambiguous, and the truth of description becomes indistinguishable from the subjectivity of opinion. A characteristic example of this is when Flaubert talks about Rodolphe in the 3rd person Rodolphe had heard these things so many times that they had nothing original for him. He then reverts into Rodolphes mind: one has to make allowances, he thought, exaggerated declarations masking mediocre affection. One gets the impression that Flaubert reverts back to the narrative in the ending lines human language is like a cracked cauldron on which we beat out tunes to make a bear dance when we would move the stars to pity, however, this is just an assumption the non-use of quotation marks means the reader can never know when a characters thoughts have ended, and one gets the impression that the narrator imparts some of his own reflections into the characters thoughts. This free and indirect style not only creates a sympathy with regards to her fallaciousness, it is also creates a benignancy by virtue of the way the narration supports her own views. An example of this is when the narration wafts from she wondered if by some other workings of chance it might not have been possible for her to meet another man to a sort of agreement from the narrator in the line he might have been handsome, witty, distinguished, attractive. Heath describes this free and indirect style as a way in which the the writer and the reader become Emma, are taken up in her reverie, her imaginings. The novel, therefore, often cultivates its own sympathy by virtue of its style, which causes the writer and reader to become one with the protagonist and to experience Madame Bovarys own feelings. This can be paralleled to Henrysons voice of sympathy The Testament of Cresseid. Henryson is so derisory of the unreasonable nature of the Gods ruling that he impulsively breaks into the se cond person when he declares: Your doom is hard and too malicious, thus interrupting the sentencing and displaying contempt of court Cresseid and Madame Bovary are dissimilar to Emma in so far as they experience a development as a result of their infidelity, the former explicitly and the latter implicitly. Cresseid talks about herself in the second person when she says, Where is your chambers cushioned chair and screen / And handsome bed and hand-embroidered linen? The wine and spice, the supper that you supped on. The use of the second person is suggestive of self-derision rather than self-lamentation. She understands her situation and she profoundly remarks, All wealth on earth is wind that flits and veers. She also criticised herself: I myself will be my own accuser. This development from Cresseid makes her worthy of not so much sympathy but respect. Madame Bovarys development happens in a moment, which makes it more like an epiphany, thus lacking the cognitively prolonged nature of Cresseids development. It is also a very implicit moment in which she began to laugh, a ghastly, frenzied, despairing laugh after hearing the voice of the blind beggar. At this point, she realises the meaning of the beggars words love is unseeing (thus rendering the beggar as an representation of Cupid. Whilst Cresseid and Madame Bovary cannot be justified in their actions, their realisations do rouse respect from the reader. The Emma of Betrayal experiences no such development. An aspect of the equation still wants, namely the victims. It is certainly true that the adulterers garner a notable degree of sympathy, yet it would be very mean-spirited to identify more with them than the victims. In the Testament of Cresseid, the affected person is Troilus. Although there are only 2 paragraphs focusing on Cresseids betrayal of Troilus, they themselves being sped along by the use of enjambment, this is done more out a desire not to repeat a story successfully written by Chaucer, but also to alleviate the readers judgment of Cresseid. Later in the poem, Henryson writes of Troilus in glowing terms, describing him as having beaten down, by war and jeopardy, / The Grecian knights, and in a moment of great largesse past where Cresseid with lepers made abode and A girdle he took out, / A purse of gold and many shining gemstones / and threw them down into Cresseids dress. Troilus certainly elicits a huge amount of sympathy from the reader, especially after he for grief a lmost fell down when recalling Cresseids physical deformations. In both Madame Bovary and Betrayal, the victims of adultery are children. Jerrys lack of concern over his children is encapsulated in his gnomic description of his son Sam: Hes tall. Quite tall. Does a lot of running. Hes a long distance runner. Wants to be a zoologist. The waiter in the restaurant scene is similarly an innocent bystander who is subjected to Roberts frustrations: wheres our lunch. This place is going to pot. Same glass. Wheres our lunch? Richard Martin, in his letter to The Times Literary Supplement argued that he sees not just displaced emotion in Roberts aggression towards the waiter but the waiter himself as a displaced version of Judith: for she is the hapless, indeed dumb, waiter (4). Judith, the children, and the waiter, are all correlated because they are all affected onlookers, but they know not what by. It is interesting to note that the children do not feature physically in the play, but in the 1983 film (by David Jones), the children feature in negative-co nsequences of the characters adultery-borne vented frustrations; for example, when Jerry hollers at his son for playing music too loudly. This is paralleled in Madame Bovary, where her daughter is a victim of her infidelity. This is evidenced in the scene where Madame Bovary says to Berthe Oh, for heavens sake, leave me alone, shoving her away with her elbow. As a result, Berthe fell against the foot of the chest of draws, cutting her cheek on the brass fitting. At the end of the novel, Berthe makes her keep at a cotton mill. The chief victim of infidelity in the three texts is Charles Bovary. Despite being unsophisticated, dim-witted and a frighteningly bad doctor (his operation on Hippolytes club foot, resulting in amputation, as an example), he is still one of the novels most moral and sincere characters and he genuinely loved Emma whilst she was having licentious liaisons. Emma is often very unkind to Charles, for example, when she says; he carries a knife in his pocket like a peasant. I cannot help but parallel this to the narrator in Robert Frosts poem Mending Wall who describes his neighbour as Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top / In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed. It is a particularly significant line, since Rodolphe wields a knife at one point, and this fails to elicit the same response from Emma. One strikingly poignant scene is when Charles finally sees all the letters from Emmas lovers: his deep despondency caused general amazement. He no longer went out, he saw no one, he even refused to visit his patients. People began saying that he shut himself off to drink. The final description of him is as a long-bearded, wild-looking man in filthy clothes who paced up and down noisily. For all Charles faults, it seems unthinkable to sympathise more with Emma than Charles. In all three cases, the victims garner more sympathy than the b etrayers. One should not nonchalantly accept the three primary adulterers actions as morally reprehensible; but we should acknowledge that their actions are borne out of something more complex than it would at first appear. The greatest sympathy should be given to Cresseid because her life was subject to fate; she lacked all volition owing to Henrysons depiction of the all-encompassing control of the Gods. I say Henrysons depiction because Chaucers original has been manipulated by Henryson such that it rapidly avoids the issue of her affair whilst also removing all her volition. Madame Bovary represents the repressed sensuality within us, and the reader can certainly feel for her more than the prudish and monotonous environment she inhabits (ironically, it was a puritanical society that condemned Flauberts novel for being too sympathetic to an adulteress). It is difficult to sympathise with Betrayals Emma. It is true that she longed for a more meaningful relationship with Jerry, but her dedication to Jerry is severely questioned given the initiation of her additional affair with Casey. One would have to question the disposition of any individual who sympathises with the adulterers more than the victims of adultery, as any reader of Madame Bovary would attest to. 1. http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/testaint.htm 2. The Perpetual Orgy (Vargas Llosa) 3. Madame Bovary (Stephen Heath) 4. Letter from the Times Literary Supplement Word count with quotes: 3720 Word Count without quotes: 2895

The rationale of ICT in schools

The rationale of ICT in schools ICT does not influence academic achievement. 1.0 Introduction From the first periods when computers were marketable existed, they could be discovered in use in educational association. Teachers had quarreled that computers should be used to support learning. Initially computers were used to teach computer programming but the growth of the microprocessor in the early 1970s saw the introduction of affordable microcomputers into schools at a fast rate. Computers and products of technology became more enveloping in society which then led to a interest about the need for computing skills in everyday life. As public awareness grew, this need for computer literacy became more powerful and many schools bought computers based on this principle. In 1990s was the year of computer communications and information access, particularly with the popularity and accessibility of internet-based services such as electronic mail and the World Wide Web. At the same time the CD-ROM became the standard for sharing packaged software. Until now, the development of computers still ongoing process becoming more advances every day. Today computers in schools are both a focus of study in technology education and a support for learning and teaching process. In Malaysia education, ICT known as Information Communication Technology was first established starting in year 2001 as Ministry of Education sees ICT as a process, not limited to the end itself. So, all attempts are focused in developing the new medium as items in the service of affluent curriculum, to improve teaching skills, more efficient organisational structures in schools, stronger link between schools and public, and the empowerment of deprived students. The Ministry trusts that suitably planned and implemented computing and communications have the latent to revolutionise education and improve learning as profoundly as information technology has transformed medicine, finance, manufacturing and numerous other sectors of society. Technology is not seen as a supplement whose mere existence in schools can speed up better educational results. Technology is also not seen as simply another subject in the curriculum, suited primarily for teaching students to use tools they may encounter as mature. The idea of ICT in education, as seen by the Ministry of Education, comprises a system that allows information gathering, organisation, handling, access, and communication in various forms. 1.1 ICT Policies in Malaysia Mevarech Light (1992) had discussed that when the potential use of computers in schools was first established, the main idea of the public was that students would be taught by computers and many of them offended this idea of teaching. They thought it was considered that the computer would take over the teachers job in much the same way as a robot may take over a mechanics job at the factory. In Malaysia as seen by Ministry of Education, they have implemented three policies related to the using of ICT in teaching and learning process especially in schools and universities. They currently have invented three main policies for ICT in education starting in the year 2001. The first policy is that of ICT for all students, significance that ICT is used as a medium to decrease the digital chasm between the schools. The second policy stresses on the role and function of ICT in education as a teaching and learning tool, as part of a subject, and as a subject by itself. Other than radio and television as a teaching and learning instrument, this policy highlights the use of the computer for accessing information, communication, and as a productivity tool. ICT as part of a subject directs to the applied of software in subjects such as Invention and Engineering Drawing. Information Technology and Computerisation are the subjects that referred to the ICT have been introduced in the sch ool timetable. The third policy highlights the using ICT to increase production, efficiency and effectiveness of the management system. ICT will be broadly used to mechanise work processes such as the processing of official forms, timetable, running of information systems, lesson preparation, financial draft and the care of account. 1.3 The Rationale of ICT in Schools It is needed to develop a very detailed rationale before beginning to use computers in schools and classrooms. There is no meaning in providing computers in schools unless such a rationale has been done. With the increasing availability of computer hardware, it is very crucial that teachers do not become involved in the machine but focus rather on their main role as teachers. Teachers need to widen their imaginations with the awareness that as developments in computer technology occur they will be able to achieve more of their objectives in teaching the students. Collis (1989) had described that these view of students sitting behind computer for much of the day have largely not occurred in mainstream schools, and most would not like this to be realised. Since the 1960s the computer has been established they had seen the computers as the solution to many problems in education. With this, many early computer scientists saw the possibility of the computer replacing teachers in schools. There are three main rationales for ICT in schools, one concerns the organisational productivity of the school, and the other two focus on the needs of students which are technological literacy and support for their learning. The two rationales are assisted by the Australian report Raising the Standards (DEST, 2002, p. 38) The need for ICT competent teachers stems from the need for ICT competent studentsand for ICT-rich learning environments that enhance students learning across the curriculum. Becker et al (1999) have said that despite from in a few excellent schools, computers had only a minimum effect on what happens in classrooms in the 20th century. There has been much argue over the purposes for this difference between the potential and what is realised. The computer is one of a type of technologies now available to teachers and students. In these cases a large amount of money was spent on these resources which some would argue would have been better spent on other resources. It is important that rare resources to support learning in schools are not wasted and therefore care needs to be taken in choosing to use computers to support learning. Historically, technology has been developed to answer problems, develop living standards. Therefore, it is reasonable that we should expect educational technology to be developed with similar objectives that is to increase the productivity and solve problems in teaching and learning syllabus. 2.0 Educational Technology Solves Problems Actually, computers are the best medium in resolving the problems that the teachers and students encounter. If the computer is a problem-solving machine then it must be applied to normal school problems such as those concerning student learning, teacher instruction, and school administration. Educational Technology should be selected on the source that it has the better features for the achievement of the curriculum. This subject should be used efficiently or better not used it at all as these involves the problem in the implementation of the curriculum, teachers who know how to use the technology effectively and teachers together with students who know how to work with the technology. There are many possible functions for computers in the learning process. In some conditions changes in related business makes computer use in schools necessary. For example, to provide courses in technical drawing, music, statistics, and business which do not incorporate computer use reduces the relevancy of the courses to the real world. Any reasons for the use of computers in the large section of schooling dedicated to basic education, such as mathematics, social science, science, communication and language, which are required more crucial examination. By considering the mathematics teaching area and the problems related with student learning. Mathematics has tended to be very abstract which they cannot see while most students are likely to work on a solid level. Using concrete materials in some teaching is practical but often not suitable. The computer can give experiences with virtual solid materials. In advancing the problems associated with curative and increase of students, computer can be use to provide appropriate material and overcome classroom management problems. However, a computer solution is not necessarily the best solution. The problems associated with student learning are most often discipline and even teacher specific. Therefore each teacher needs to think the problems associated with student learning in his/her subject area and be aware of the computer solutions. 3.0 Impact of ICT in Learning While academic discussions can be put ahead to give a strong reason for the use of ICT, the only real reason is based on whether, in practice, it has a positive impact on learning, the students, and teachers. While it would be suitable to be able to make a direct relationship between the use of ICT and learning result, most reliable researchers today would agree that there will never be a direct link because learning is mediated through the learning environment and ICT is only one element of that environment. Studies that have tried to identify this mediated effect of ICT on learning have found it impossible to entirely remove the effects of other aspect of learning environment. There is small reason in attempting to evaluate the cognitive results when using computers and with the uses of a textbook or some other resource such as articles and journals. This view is supported by Salomon (1994) as he argued that it is impossible to study the effect of computer function in the deficiency of the other reason or to assume that the only a cause independently effected the results outcomes (p. 80). Meanwhile, De Corte (1990) said that the educational goal is to implement the computer assist in the learning atmosphere rather than trying to separate its effect on learning. Using computers in learning is affected with ways of using the technology to make environments and learning states. There have been many years of educational research, not necessarily related to using computers but also on which to basic choices about suitable applications of computers to be learned. Mevarech and Light (1992) had suggested that the links between students attribute, learning environments, manners and schooling outcomes are essential and need further research, yet there has been much research which has considered these relationships in other background than ICT. If the objective is to offer new learning opportunities or to improve the way in which current learning activities are implemented then the overall effectiveness of learning environments and parts is of main concern, not whether they are more helpful with or without computers. Therefore in implementing computer applications, it is required to begin by choosing what a student, teacher or school wants to gain. To get these results, teachers can then depend on long practises of educational idea, their own experience and knowledge of the educational situation for example the student attributes, to make decisions about what the learning environment should look like and what information into the learning process are needed. A report from the ImpaCT2 study (Becta, 2002, p. 3) conducted in the UK found that, There is no consistent relationship between the average amount of ICT use reported for any subject at a given key stage and its apparent effectiveness in raising standards. It therefore seems likely that the type of use is all important. While there is no direct link between using ICT and student learning as the mass of proof now clearly shows that indirectly there can be a significant positive impact. Schachter (1999) had discovered that students who learned computer-based instruction scored at least sixty four percent on tests of achievement compared to students in the control conditions without computers who scored only at fifty percent. Laferrià ¨re, Breuleux, Bracewell (1999) had found that if the students are given right situation for access and use, there will be a significance gained in students learning with ICT. While, Becta (2002) learned that there are very clear differences in achievement related to the uses of ICT in more than half of all differences made between studentss expected scores and actual scores. 4.0 Conclusion As the conclusion, ICT have both its rationales and the reasons why this component should be implemented in the schools and universities although there are some negative impacts that will occur if ICT does not being use wisely. These changes should also support better use of ICT to support learning and teaching processes when they are well implemented in schools. Therefore it is mainly at the school and individual teacher point that changes may be needed. For some schools this will be huge adjustment while for others much of the step has already occurred. Fundamentally any change is aimed at improving the educational opportunities for all students and not just to make use of ICT. At all times the focus must be on improved outcomes for students and not on how the technology is used. Obviously we cannot be assured with the current educational outcomes for Malaysian students and the evidence is rising that we can make significant improvements with the suitable use of ICT. Large savings have been made in ICT for schools and there is a need to take report of how effective that investment has been and where further investment should be made to extend the effect of ICT on learning results for students. 2000 words

Racism in Amistad, To Kill a Mocking Bird, and Telephone Conversation E

The texts To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee, Amistad directed by Steven Spielberg and Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka explore the issue of racism. These three texts focus on prejudice, discrimination, bias, behaviour and attitude revolving around the issue of discrimination because of the coulour of ones skin and the cultural and social attitudes past on from one generation to another. Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel set in the southern states of the USA in the 1930’s, a time that is â€Å"Post Abolitionist†, however a time where the culture and social structure is still entrenched with racist attitudes and laws. Lee explores these issues in this setting when Ton Robinson, an African American is accused of raping a young white girl in a small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Racial attitudes are exposed when a lawyer by the name of Atticus Finch is asked to defend to the alleged rapist. Telephone conversation by Wole Soyinka is a poem which uses dialogu e between two people, one in a public telephone box and the other in a public telephone box and the other in a home in London, England to reinforce racial tensions, attitudes and class values. An intelligent, articulate and well educated black man seeking rental accommodation responds to a woman’s advertisement and is challenged by her about the colour of his skin. The poet explores this racial tension with the use of satire and perceptive dialogue. Steven Spielberg directs the film Amistad, and chronicles an incredible journey of a group of enslaved Africans who mutiny an attempt of their capture in order to return to their homeland. Their ship is seized and the slaves are brought to the United States to be charged with murder. Spielberg ensures that the responder is confronte... ...rom the love of his life. This is captured through the music by changing the music from a sorrowful sound to loud powerful music. These techniques used by Spielberg represent how the Negroes are just as human as any other person even though they are black in skin colour. Racism can simply be a mans fear of anything different, a fear of something he doesn’t understand. This fear is embedded or can be embedded in the attitudes reaching from one generation to another. It can be reinforced by ones culture, community and personal experience. These texts have explored all of the above areas and the responder can also appreciate that behaviour is a response to attitudes and the suffering, humiliation and destructive treatment of other human beings can at times be lessened or illuminated by the courage of one man and his or her determination to do what they think is right.

Learning How to Read Essay -- Cognitive Process, Childhood, Reading

Learning to read is a complex cognitive process which progresses throughout childhood. In order to develop good reading and written skills, an individual requires both orthographic knowledge and phonological awareness (Waldie et al., 2013). Orthographic knowledge is the ability to use information stored in memory to represent spoken language in written form. On the other hand, phonological awareness refers to the ability to detect and understand sound structure and phonemes (the smallest units of distinct sound in a specific language). Models of reading such as the parallel distributed processing (PDP) models suggest that both orthographic and phonological systems work together to activate lexical semantics (Waldie et al., 2013). Some children have great difficulty in learning to read, and if this problem persists, may be assessed to identify whether or not they have a learning disability, such as dyslexia. In this essay a brief definition of dyslexia will be given followed by a shor t introduction of early research that points towards a biological basis for dyslexia. Specific neural pathways and brain regions will then be identified and findings discussed in relation to specific topographical areas of the brain investigated in dyslexics. There are many different definitions of dyslexia, but most studies characterize dyslexia as a neurobiological disorder resulting in reading impairment despite the intellectual aptitude, sociocultural opportunities, and motivation to read with accuracy and fluency (Lyon et al., 2003). It can also be characterised by difficulties in spelling, working memory and decoding abilities. Furthermore, dyslexia can be broadly categorised into two main types: developmental or acquired, although there are num... ...f Neurology, 7(1), pp. 35 - 46. Rumsey, J.M., Donohue, B.C., Brady, D.R., Nace, K., Giedd, J.N. & Andreason, P. (1997). A Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Planum Temporale Asymmetry in Men with Developmental Dyslexia. Archives of Neurology, 54(12), pp. 1481 - 1489. Schneider, P., Scherg, M., Dosch, H.G., Specht, H.J., Gutschalk, A. & Rupp, A. (2002). Morphology of Heschl's Gyrus Reflects Enhanced Activation in the Auditory Cortex of Musicians. Nature Neuroscience, 5(7), pp. 668 - 694. Waldie, K.E., Haigh, C.E., Badzakova-Trajkov, G., Buckley, J. & Kirk, I.J. (2013). Reading the Wrong Way with the Right Hemisphere. Brain Sciences, 3(1), pp. 1060 - 1075. Wernicke, C. (1874). Der aphasische Symptomenconplex: Eine psychologische Studies auf Anatomischer Basis (The Aphasia Symptom-Complex: A Psychological Study on an Anatomical Basis). Breslau: Cohn and Weigert.

The Human Genome Project :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Human Genome Project    With technology increasing daily in our modern society, we have to wonder what will come of all of the recent studies and large-scale research projects that have involved genetics. After recently reading two articles, I have been able to formulate some of my own predictions of what’s to come. In Lisa Sowle Cahill’s article, â€Å"The genome project: more than a medical milestone† she tells us in a concise manner, the history of the Human Genome Project. â€Å"The Human Genome (H.G. P.) began in 1990 as an international consortium of scientific terms. It planned to map systematically the entire human genome by the year 2005 on a budget of $3 billion. The major supporters of the H.G. P. are the Wellcome Trust, a large medical charity in the United Kingdom, and the U.S. federal government’s National Institute of Health. The H.G.P.’s leaders are the N.I.H.’s James D. Watson, his successor Francis S. Collins, and John. E Sulston, director of the Sanger Center in Cambridge, England. They have made it a point of seeking out international collaborators. These include experts in Germany, France, Japan, and China, all of whom have made important contributions to the recent success of the project.† A quick history it may be, but it is an extremely important one. As you can tell by the date of its beginning, the Human Genome Project is not very old by scientific standards, yet even though it may seem to be very young, the developments that have been made since its creation have been quite impressive. Personalized medicine is not very far away. This will mean that there will be drugs tailored to the individual genetic makeup of the patient, thus enhancing the effectiveness of treatments for ailments like cancer, heart disease and some forms of mental illness (Cahill). Someday, we will most likely be able to intervene in germ cell or embryos to remove or change a gene (Cahill). â€Å"Issues of confidentiality and social control take these questions a step further, into economic and political realms,† referring to whether or not genetic information will be completely private or available to others such as family members, insurance agencies, and even employers (Cahill) This last issue brings me to the next article that I read. In Jeffrey Kluger’s, â€Å"Who owns our genes?

Although Protestants

The end of 20th Century saw denominationalism crop up in the church which was eroding the traditions upon which the Christian faith was based. Although Protestants started a good thing, in the end it spurned out of control as many sought to have a denomination that could give them an identity and a sense of purpose in the carrying out the mission of Christianity.Denominationalism has been hailed as an evil thought but ironically it is replacing the religious practices. In the old times, it was associated with ethnic, racial or even class division but with modern times it has evolved to stratification through secularization and education.Sociological analysis is playing a part in disseminating this information because of the way the American society has become polarized especially when it comes to religion (Christianity).Many people have moved from the main stream churches and have found identities in the modern charismatic churches that do not so much revolve around traditions but ar e embracing modern ideologies and secularization. In the old times, people used to stick to one denomination (church) for a lifetime but now things have changed with people switching churches at least once in lifetime.The aspect of denominationalism is a new aspect to me which I thought was a normal thing but its interesting to know that it was based on ethnic or even racial differences in the early days of Christianity. In the advent of modernization, it has evolved to be discrimination based on education, and doctrinal bases and going world wide.Many people join churches without knowing what or why the churches are founded just to get a religious identity. Religion is something that is aimed at bringing and uniting people together and denominationalism may be doing that but the underlying reasons are wrong.The cropping of this practice rose as a result of difficult in maintaining the religious traditions mainly due to the liberal nature of people wanting to embrace their own ident ities and also the conservatives loosing their moral authority towards the 21st century.The important message that this article is putting through is that the divisions in Christianity should not be there in the first place because they contradict the tenets of Christianity. It is a noble idea but bringing people together does not involve segregation of others in order to give a sense of identity to a few people.ConclusionDenominationalism has been portrayed more negative than positive which I do not agree because as the article points out, it gives a sense of identity to different people and there is no way all people can fit in one denomination but that does not call for establishment of many denominations.People do not subscribe to the same doctrinal values and therefore whichever denomination they are comfortable in, it is their right to go there. The idea of denominationalism has been portrayed as a division in the Christianity faith which may be true but I do not agree with it .There is no such thing as the standard way of doing things but somehow things have to be done and as long as they are not contravening the law and are morally right, then they ought to be followed. According to me this is the basis of denominationalism where it is based on the way we perform different religious practices and rites like singing, praying and preaching.This article has merely aroused curiosity about denominationalism and it has not dug in deep to bring tangible evidence of what it has caused in the society and what can be done about it. The article has done it as an overview and therefore it should address the issue in depth and how modern Christians can cope with it in embracing their faith and keeping their identity intact.ReferenceNancy, T. (2000). New Life for Denominationalism. Retrieved   June 2, 2009 from,  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     

Neil Postman: Amusing Ourselves to Death

Neil Postman was a special type of a man and considered that he was not an expert on anything, and yet he was ready to express his opinion on every subject under the sun. The person's mind was continuously working at jokes, headlines and different ideas. This infected an individual when he met Mr. Postman and that could be responded to only with humor, and even that was likely to bring out more ideas. There were a lot of people who knew him – in excess of a hundred thousand or so – had first met his humor. This was also reflected in the books that he wrote. Each of these is also a source of propaganda for his views and written like an essay. The first was â€Å"The Disappearance of Childhood† in 1982, and this was on the infantile nature of American culture. The next book was in 1985 and a satire on entertainment and was named â€Å"Amusing Ourselves to Death†. The last was in 1993 called â€Å"technopoly† and this criticized the fall of culture to technology. He had an excellent intellectual pose along with poise in public meetings and all this rode on the back of his capacity for humor. He always felt that he was the civilized man in a barbaric setting. This setting gradually changed into television and was concerned with the dots, and pursued him all his life. Now let us look at what is this television and how it connects with people. In the United States it first started transmission in New York and the British play, â€Å"The Man with the Flower in His Mouth† was broadcast there in July 1930. Thus one can say that television started off in the heart of United States and the television station was located in South Eastern New York at the mouth of the Hudson River. The station began broadcasting seven days a week on July 21, 1931. This was a television channel or station that broadcast on the terrestrial mode as that was the only mode available then. The bandwidth was then highly confined and this led to a high control by the government. Yet, from the beginning television has been highly used for advertising. Organizing the TV programs that are to be broadcast can be worked out either as a direct production by the manufacturers and then selling to the station that intends to buy it. Sometimes the production itself is paid for by the TV station that will show it. (Television) In other cases the station issues a license to the producers to produce the show for the channel. The show is sometimes carried on in other centers after the show is over on the main channel. In TV terminology this is called secondary programming usage. The secondary shows may be in the original country where the show was produced or in other countries from where the channels are interested in the show. The shows may be controlled by the original producer or not depending on the agreement. Sometimes a group of TV stations run some common programs in their own interest, or through an individual. This is called syndication and the show may be sold by the producers themselves or their agents. Yet with all this it has been seen that doctors recommend that children should only see TV for an hour or two at the maximum in the day. Excess of TV viewing is known to cause various diseases like ADD, excessive weight and heart problems. These may lead to diabetes or excess aggression. Thus it is clear that viewing of Television is not recommended in a high dosage for anybody, and the problem in our country is made worse by the situation of having a number of stations at every town or city due to the possibility of multiple channels being available now. These channels can also be seen on the set through a cable and the customer only has to pay a monthly fee. This is the problem that was envisaged by Postman quite a few years ago, and possibly he foresaw the worsening of the situation due to the advent of cable TV. The problem was also made clear by the decline of the family in the country and as a result the children are being left with only one parent. Most of the time, the single parent is working and is not able to attend to the child when the child comes back from school. These let the child free with the television and see any program of their choice. (Television) Neil Postman is an authority on children and has written many books about different subjects. These are mostly concentrated on education, as he was a teacher himself. He has written on the crisis in the schools, the effect of Television on our public and political life and the nature of modern childhood and education. He has taken the position of conscientiously objecting to whatever he saw being harmful to the society. In certain cases he has pointed out institutionalized mistakes or organizational stupidity and asked for their solution. Throughout the West, there has been the concept of three stages in life – infancy, childhood and adulthood. This had gone undisturbed for 350 years, but is now being questioned by a new element in the communicational facilities – television. This is seriously disturbing as the contents of life that would be normally faced by adults are now being made open to the children through this new medium. The children do not have to go through the portals of adulthood for reaching this information. Earlier this was being protected by the adults through certain secrets that are known to adults, but not revealed to children till they reached the appropriate age. These secrets are the social, political and sexual secrets that an adult must know. At the same time Television reveals all these secrets at once, and this makes it difficult to control the socialization of the young among themselves. This is making the young less discernible from adults. Stirring Up Trouble about Technology, Language, and Education) In the past there was a time when alcoholism was seen only among adults, and not at all among children. Today it is common to see child alcoholics. The same situation exists among children for drugs and it is quite common among children. The same situation exists for sex and sexual disease and this is seen from the total crime statistics. There are a number of figures that show the young being involved in crime today while this was not the situation even in 1959 as the figures for crime by people under the age of 18 shows. Thus it is clear that television is making the concept of childhood as being different from adulthood being different extremely difficult to sustain in North America, and childhood is disappearing from that region of the world. At the same time, there some parents who are well off and if they know what is happening to the child may still provide him or her with a childhood. This requires the parents to be very careful on the influences of the media on the child, among other factors. The problem is that not many parents can meet those conditions, and the influence of television among media is still rising. As mentioned earlier, there are many single parent houses in America and their difficulties have already been discussed. Even when there are two parents, both of them are working at the same time and that stops them from being able to give enough time to the children for socializing. This transfers the socializing exercise to the television set, and many of them are unable to control the channels that the children see or what films they see, or even know what records they have. These activities require the parents to have a lot of time for the child, and advise the child. Yet not many parents find the time for that. Thus for the children to have a childhood, the parents must spend a lot of time with the child. On the other hand many parents are too busy and there children get the required education from the advertising of NBC, CBS, Steven Spielberg, Coca-Cola and Proctor and Gamble. In certain countries television is being controlled – Denmark. They have now limited the extent of commercials that an advertiser supported station can have. These stations are not permitted to have advertisements on cigarettes, liquor, beer, banks, medicine, religious organizations, political organizations, or even advertisements aimed at children. Also, in Denmark, the television operates for the full 24 hours in a day. But, it is not possible for this to happen in the United States as the Americans would feel it is very restrictive, apart from the ideology of the present day administration. The present day administration may even be called the extreme type of free market supporters. This has not started today and even Ronald Reagan was not conservative, and he was probably as oriented to the free market as is the present President Bush. They are all willing to get as much out of technology as possible in terms of gains of dollars. Thus there is no chance of any restriction being put on the hours of operation of the Television through any social policy. This attitude goes on in Americans well beyond the limits of television and is being applied by them even in the case of computer technology. The issue is not of one particular technology, but the general question of using technology for financial gain to extreme limits, or no limits. (Stirring Up Trouble about Technology, Language, and Education) It can be said that in the exploitation of technology, there are no limits in America and they generally do not have any concerns about the psychological and social effects. They are just interested in knowing what the new technology can do. They are not concerned about the effects of the new technology in changing the social or cultural behaviors of the citizens. This is reflected in Sesame Street which makes the children get more attached to television than school. The concerned program is well prepared and makes the maximum possible use of a visual image based medium. When the makers of the program say that the program will make the children like school it is only right in the sense that the children will like school if it is a show like Sesame Street. The show is probably helping the children learn the elements that are taught in school like the letters and the numbers, yet at the same time, it is also giving the children some built in impressions about school. This is teaching the children that school must be entertaining, and that images have to form the basic of learning. It also gives the children that feeling that learning is immediately rewarded by getting of rewards in some form or the other. The impressions which are built into the children turn out to be more important than the learning that they get, and that is the problem. The children learn the numbers and letters in other forms also, and that also happens within the expected time, but the normal learning process does not build in these difficulties. It is often said that these methods of education make the children more intelligent, but that is a moot question to answer as the differences in intelligence are hard to define and their benefits are also hard to judge. The question of intelligence is easy to be used, as nobody probably understands what we are trying to say, but it is much easier to understand when we say that a person is stupid. It is possible that the technology available in the computer will help the technology of printing to a large extent, and that would be a service. It also increases the thinking by the children as to program a computer the child has to think quite a lot. Yet the total effect that this would cause is rather difficult to guess. (Stirring Up Trouble about Technology, Language, and Education) Technological development has had a very big impact and much more so when the development has been on the matters of information and communication. They have great impacts in terms of socialization, ways of thinking and methods of learning. A lot of these changes have taken place in the latter part of the 20th century and this brings up the question of defining the new Child of the Information Age. Some people may be defining all the children of today as Children of the Information Generation with television, computer games and video games. This had also been the thinking of Neil Postman, and he believed that this made the child cross puberty physically but never reach maturity. Thus they loose their childhood but are then are lost to mankind. The phrase â€Å"technology development† normally refers to the development of tools and these are being developed from the time that men have started on the path to development. (Children of the Information Age: A Reversal of Roles) Until the seventeenth century, tools of a more primitive kind were being used by all civilizations. Not that all countries were using the same tools and some had only spears and cooking utensils available to them. On the other side, others had water mills, coal and horse power. At the same time, these tools were not intended to change the civilization which had brought them into existence, and they were not intended to attack. Thus the tools did not stop people from believing in their versions of god, politics, and methods of education or their methods of social organization. (Kaplan, 34) Some cultures and religions believe that television is intruding into their religion and the use of television is banned by some sections of believers in Islam in some parts of the world. In the world of today, children and adults see the same movies thanks to television and highlighted by Postman. They all get into telephone romances; get informed about the same pop music and the same computer games. These come through both the television and the computer. This results in the adults never growing up and becoming more childish as time goes on. The children become more mature as they are exposed to all matters of adulthood, or at least seem so. This adulthood is only superficial and not emotional, as the amount of information to be passed on to the child should be passed on in a controlled manner by the concerned adult, as otherwise, the concept of being a child will end. This gradually stops the clear line of demarcation between adults and children, and the sense of independence and responsibility also becomes unclear. This is highlighted by Postman who describes the present day children as living between illusion and realty. This has also made the adults loose most of their authority, and it is a world without borders. (Children of the Information Age: A Reversal of Roles) In truth these makes them totally dependent for all the time, and never grow up into adults. Yet the children of the present day differ a lot from the children of earlier years and they consist of a larger section of the people who come to the net regularly. This is quite understandable as the net is a part of their life which has never been the case with their parents. In studies it has been seen that as much as 73% of the American population between the ages of 12-17 use the Internet regularly and the study was in June 2001. These children also certainly have a care in the world for the world that they live in. One of their main contributions is through the creation of web sites for helping others. Jason Fernandez from Mumbai had built a site which supported children with learning disabilities along with their parents and teachers. This is a site for common good. The new facility of Internet has made it possible for everybody to publish his or her work. This is irrespective of age, gender, or education. The control is not with groups of people that existed in earlier generations where the work could only go out in the printed format. This change will also bring in other changes in the methods of learning, working and social structure. (Children of the Information Age: A Reversal of Roles) Postman had been concerned that the importance of all items was being reduced by television – be it politics, religion, news, athletic education or commerce. This was how we were amusing ourselves to death. It also showed that image was viewed as more important than content, and television was the master of images. (Neil Postman's amusing ourselves to Death) If Postman were to now concentrate on the newer developments he would write on the Internet. To be negative, the Internet contains a lot of false information, and this would hurt the beliefs of a normal human being. But this is also something that we learn while growing up into adults from childhood, and is not necessarily negative. (Final Project Paper: Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman) To conclude, one can thus say that while television makes the audience less responsible and childish, the Internet makes the audience more apparently mature. It is up to the audience to carry the work further, and not live for their own life, abandoning the responsibility of the children that they created.