Gay Marriages And National Right Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Gay Marriages And National Right - Essay Example In his article of 26th June 2015 in the New York Times, Adam Liptak presents various issues highlighting the positive and negative impacts of the judicial move to legalize gay marriage. Justice Kennedy, argues that the ideas in any marriage, whether gay or not, are the most important values which every individual should be given legal access to. His argument further explains that denying them access to gay marriage also reduces both their self-worth and confidence. On the other hand, Justice John G Robert claims that much as the plaintiffs celebrate their victory, they need to acknowledge that it is not in any way associated with their constitutional rights as citizens but rather a fulfillment of their desire (Liptak 7). Supporting John G. Roberts, Justice Scalia claimed that gay marriage is a self-centered interest of the few. Moreover, he stated that support of gay marriage has been championed through the use of appealing phrases which are baseless. Justice Kennedy’s view is that social change is inevitable and it comes as we gain more knowledge and experience in life. His point is premised on the fact that the proponents of constitutional rights did not have a complete understanding of all human rights and their dimensions and therefore, their proposition much as it is helpful is at times prone to changes. He further argues that the essence of marriage is to raise children. According to Kennedy, this obligation will be hampered if gay marriage is not legalized (Liptak 4).

African American Oral Tradition Essay Example for Free

African American Oral Tradition Essay Modern African American Literature was formed under a stressful time for Africans, slavery. The only way the stories of the indigenous people of Africa were passed down was through oral recollections, or stories of the events. In America this was especially difficult for the slaves because of laws preventing them from learning English. By not being allowed to learn English, the slaves had to learn English solely on auditory purposes. This essentially made the slaves illiterate. When the slaves transferred the language that they heard to paper, a new style of language was formed which was referred to as dialect. Dialect is what the slaves thought they heard and the correct spelling of those words, not standard English. Dunbar, who wrote fluently in both standard English and dialect was praised by white critics only for his dialect poems, and not praised for his poems in standard English. His literacy works are still alive today, however the dialect works were attached with a stigma. Usually whites despised the African’s dialect. Therefore, the slaves would not try to publish any type of work with dialect because the slaves did not want to be associated with the stigma. In all, by creating a unique dialect gave the slaves a bilingual type of style. By not being able to write, slaves also made Genres such as, spiritual, folk songs and gospels. Songs such as these were ways of passing down stories to the next generation. These songs also contained secret messages. These messages may have contained information about escape routes or even the underground- railroad. However most of the songs were spiritual in nature. The songs also progressed through the years. The originals slave folk songs, spirituals, and gospels are now prevalent in modern day jazz and the blues. Martin even gives the example of Hayden, who mixes his song ideas with the ideas of Bessie Smith. Even though African are allowed to read and write, this is a form how their culture is still expressed today. Martin made the emphasis that the oral tradition is part of the African Americans distinct culture.

Effect of Parent Involvement in Education

Effect of Parent Involvement in Education This essay is going to investigate whether parental involvement within a childs education has a positive or negative impact on the child and their education. This will include looking at the parental involvement within education and how the government feel about it and how the government deal with parental involvement and what educational provisions have been set out for parental involvement for all those concerned. Parental Involvement has been on the Labour Governments agenda since they came into power in 1997. New Labour has not been short on appeals to return to family values, particularly when the issues of crime, parenting and education have been the topic of discussion (Mooney et al, 1999:6). In 1997, when New Labour came into power, there were suggestions to create parenting classes for those parents who need help with their childs behaviour, education and also to help themselves become better and more pro active parents within all aspects of their childs life. Jack Straw wants parenting classes to be accepted in the same way as ante natal classes, through such classes will involve compulsory counselling and guidance classes for parents who are struggling as parents and for parents ordered by the courts to receive help dealing with their children (Mooney et al, 1999:6). Jack Straws wishes are significant because when a child is in a happy and supportive home environment then the child i s more likely to enjoy school and be more successful in their education, which will lead to happier children. The importance of parents in the education of their children is not a new concept. Parents have been their childrens first educators since prehistoric times. The first formal parent education classes occurred in The United States in 1815, concerns about childrens development come from many levels including womens associations, colleges, parent cooperatives, government and schools (Berger, 1991:209). Education was used to enlighten middle income families as well as to help mainstream immigrants and the underclass parents. In recent times the focus on parental involvement emerged during the 1960s with provisions, such as Head Start, Home Start and Follow Through USA (Berger, 1991:209). This continued in the 1980s and 1990s, though there were still concerns, this time about poorly educated pupils, exclusion, truancy, teenage pregnancy and poverty. These issues emphasize that parental involvement within a childs education is essential in order to have pupils who are fully engaged in th eir education and schooling. In more recent times, there are different stereotypical versions of parents and families; there are single parent families, same sex families, the traditional families. There is also many ways in which parents and families can get financial support from the government, for example child tax credits, child benefits, CSA. As well as that, there are many different facilities for parents to use if they need to go back to work, such as childminders, family support and nurseries. There is also support and provisions available to benefit both children and parents. Parents can put their child into some type of education for example private nurseries or childminders from as young as 3 months, for parents who had to go back to work. When this happens then parents can apply for childcare vouchers to help them with childcare costs. From the age of 3 until the age of 4 children get 12.5 hours, these are provided by the Labour government and offered by the Local Authorities (LA) so again parents c an place their child in nursery or preschool from the age of 3 and give them a head start and get taster ready for school. In 2007, the government introduced the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provision, which was a combination of the Foundation Stage and Birth to Three Matters provisions. The EYFS began in September 2008. The EYFS is based around four themes, a unique child, positive relationships, enabling environments and learning and development. The positive relationship theme is to enable the children to become strong and independent, from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents (DFES, 2008). The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is also linked to a supporting programme called the Parents as Partners in Early Learning Project (PPEL). The Parents as Partners in Early Learning Project began in October 2006; the project team undertook an audit to review current provisions with an initial baseline audit of policies and practices across 150 LAs (Local Authorit ies) in England. (DCSF, 2007). From the age of 4 until the age of 16 or 17 for new secondary school pupils from September 2008, children have to by law either go to school or be in some type of full time education for example home schooling. If the child does not attend school or if they are not in some kind of full time education then the parents will be punished. This could be by a fine or it could even be imprisonment. According to the DCSF (2009) parents should support school by ensuring that their child attends school, if they do not then the parents can face fines between  £30 and  £150 and for those parents who continue to let their children miss school, the maximum possible is already  £1,000 per parent per child and they could also face up to three months imprisonment (DCSF, 2009). For many parents, they like to be involved with their childs education in some way. Parental involvement is when a childs parent or parents get involved with their childs education and also work in partnership with their childs school. According to some researchers like Desforges et al (2003:5) parental involvement did not have to be parents being in direct contact with their childs school, but could be a naturally occurring parental involvement like good parenting at home Parental involvement takes many forms including good parenting in the home, including the provision of a secure and stable environment, intellectual stimulation, parent-child discussion, good models of constructive social and educational values and high aspirations relating to personal fulfillment and good citizenship; contact with schools to share information; participation in school events; participation in the work of the school; and participation in school governance. (Desforges et al, 2003:5) According to Mackinnon et al (1995:26) the 1967 Plowden Report based on extensive research, it concluded that parents; attitudes to education were of supreme importance in influencing childrens educational success more so than the parents educational or occupational status, than material circumstances at home and at schools themselves. Mackinnon et al (1995:26) continues the concept of greater parental involvement was favourably received and this involvement has increased in the year since Plowden. This shows that parental attitude whether negative or positive has an impact on their childs education, because if a parent has a negative impact on education because they had a poor, unsuccessful or appalling experience of education, then they are more likely to show a negative or very little interested in their childs education, which in retrospect their child will more than likely have a negative attitude towards education. It is also shown that children perform better when a parent s hows interest in their child education according to research carried out on the attainment in Secondary Schools by Feinstein et al (1999) found that children of parents showing high levels of interest in their schooling can progress between 15-17% more in maths and reading between the ages of 11 and 16 as compared to pupils whose parents showed no interest. There are many different policies and legislations on parental involvement, which start from around the 1980s. Most of these legislation and policies are mainly in favour of parents as consumers of education and parents as partners in education, these policies and legislation are; The 1980 Education Act, this Act gave the Parents the right to choose the school they wanted their child to go to, although the LEA could refuse on the grounds of inefficient use of resources (and parents could appeal), parents were given the right to be represented on school governing bodies, parents on such matters as criteria for admission, exam results, curriculum, discipline and organisation. (Mackinnon et al, 1995:59). When Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minster, she created these labels as schools are producers and parents are consumers, because as parents you look at what school is best for your child or best in the league table is that area, and something parents actually move to an area of a school t hat they want their child to go to in order to be inside the school boundaries. This is the same as if you were going shopping clothes, etc when youre shopping you tend to look for the best quality, price, etc and the shops that you buy from are the producers as they are providing that item you. Same with school, they try to sell their schools to parents by prospectuses, open evenings, league tables and Ofsted. The 1988 Education Reform Act gave the parents more power, Parents may send their children to any school that has room for them, provided that it caters for their age and aptitude. Parents could vote in a secret ballot to opt out of the school from the LEA finance and control and be given grant maintained status (Mackinnon et al, 1995:62) and finally the 1991 Parents Charter give even more choice for parents, in this charter parents were promised five key documents. These documents were a report on their childs progress at least once a year, regular reports on their childs school from independent inspectors, performances tables for local schools and finally an annual report from the school governors. The most important policy for parents was the 2005 White paper; this is an important paper because it puts parents and their child at the heart of the school. The White Paper suggested that parents receive regular, meaningful reports during the school year about how their child is doing, with opportunities to discuss their childs progress with their teachers; parents have the chance to form Parent Councils to influence school decisions on issues such as school meals, uniform and discipline, such Councils will be required in Trust schools (DCSF, 2005:9). There are many ways in which parents can be involved with their childs education from before they even start school, by choosing the right school for them to go too, and once the child is at school, their parent or parents can be involved in many different ways with their childs education. Ball (1998) came up with seven different ways of parental involvement; these varied from decision making and management of school parents and community representatives participate in school governing bodies, parent/teacher associations and advisory committees, to school support for learning at home schools may help families to develop learning at home to help in turn the childs learning in school (Ball, 1998). There are two main ways of involvement, in which a parent can be involved in their childs education; these are formal involvement and informal involvement. The more formal ways of involvement are for parents to be involved in Parent Teacher Association (PTA) which promotes partnership between pupils, parents and teachers and local authorities and encourages parents to support their childrens education. Also being a parent governor at a childs school is also a formal involvement, because as a parent governor, they can make a valuable contribution to the running of their childs school. The informal ways of a parent being involved in their childs education, are by attending awards evenings/days, attending parents, career and option evenings, also meeting with their childs teacher(s) and also parents coming into schools to help with reading time or fund raising events. Parents can be directly involved with their childs education by helping their child with their homework every day or by talking to their childs teacher on a regular basis. Parents can also be involved by volunteering to help out with activities such as fundraising, school events, or even being a part of the actual classroom by helping out with any reading schemes available in a childs school. Parents can also be on their childs school governing board as a parent governor. The government and LEAs have also funded different opportunities for parental involvement and parent school interaction; examples of these are The Home School Agreement. Home-school agreements can raise standards and contribute to school effectiveness by enhancing partnerships between parents and teachers. The processes involved in introducing and reviewing the agreement will clarify what the school is trying to achieve, and the agreement will set out the role of the school, parents and pupils in this vital partnership. Providing that staff, pupils and parents have been consulted effectively when drawing together the agreement, it should successfully build on existing working relationships between home and school. The partnership promoted by an agreement should result in; better home-school communication, parents and teachers working together on issues of concern, parents supporting and helping their childrens learning at home more effectively, the identification of issues that need to be addressed through the School Development Plan. The clarification of roles and responsibilities in a home-school agreement, supported by effective home-school policy and practice, should generate high expectations, parental encouragement and support, and strong home-school links (DCSF 2008). Parental involvement does not just benefit the child, but it can also benefit the school and the parents. The ways in which parental involvement can benefit the school are; that it reduces workload and pressure of the teachers and management staff, more enrichment activities can be provided which can boost the curriculum and the school. Parent/school interaction. The benefits for the parents are; reduced barriers between parents and the school, parents can feel and achieved self confidence and self worth, parent involvement may encourage parents to go back to education themselves, parents can monitor the work level in which their child is at, parents can also develop the feel for the school community and life and finally parents can get to spend some quality time with their child without even know they have. The issues of parental involvement are because of many factors. Parental involvement is mainly voluntary you cannot always rely on the parents, parents can or may cause problems for the teacher, parental volunteers may need to get CRB checks done on them because of the Ofsteds rules on safeguarding children in educational settings, which may make offended some parents, there is also a lot of paper work involved for the school, and CRB checks can take as long as six weeks to process. The most important issue of parental involvement is that not all parents can help or support their child as they may not have the skills, this can make some parents who want to be involved within their childs school inadequate. Even though many parents want to be involved in their childs education, they do not for a variety of reasons or because of boundaries, the many four main issues for parents not to be involved in their childs education are skills, class, gender and ethnicity. Skills, Knowledge and understanding is one of the main four boundaries because of the poor levels of educational achievement and skills development of some parents, resulting in mistrust of education and difficulties in engaging with the education process on behalf of their children. A knowledge defect in some groups of parents, for example, little knowledge of the importance of childrens games, nursery rhymes and traditional stories in developing childrens learning and the lack of knowledge of the local educational opportunities available for them and their children. Another boundary is social class. The words Social Class are used to describe how different segments of the population may be grouped together. These groups are considered to share roughly the same level of resources and similar styles of living. Class membership is generally indicated by the use of the Registrar Generals (RG) Scale of five social or occupational categories, though other systems of classification of socio economic groups are used. The main dividing line is between manual (working class) and non manual (middle class) occupations, although it should be noted that the range of lifestyles and material wealth within these two groups can vary considerably. There are four main groups that define social class, these are; upper class made up of between 5 and 10 per cent of the population, including company directors, financiers, senior civil servants. As a group the upper class own a substantial part of the nations wealth. The upper middle class, these are made up if 25 -3 0 per cent of the population, including professionals, senior managers and those running small businesses. The groups are sometimes referred to as the professional managerial class. Lower middle class, is made up of 35 40 per cent of the population, including white collar workers who are employed in shops and offices. This group may be referred to as the personal service class and the final class is the working class, this is made up of 35 40 cent of the population, including manual workers who may be skilled or unskilled, working in heavy industry, manufacturing, transport or agriculture (Trowler 1995:139). Social class has a huge influence on which school a parent chooses to send the children and also shapes the relationship between parent and school. In the 1959 Crowther Report it states that the extensive research that was commissioned confirmed earlier findings about the relationship between fathers occupational status and pupil educational attainment. The higher the father s status, the greater the childs chance of attending a grammar rather than a secondary modern school, though the occupational group skilled manual workers was so large that their children were by far the largest single group in all types of school. It was argued that there was considerable wastage of talent and much attention was paid to the neglected educational territory of pupil who left school at 15 to follow craft or technical, rather than an academic career. Mackinnon et al (1995:23). Parents social class has become a boundary within parental involvement within a childs education, it is believed by some that if you are in a lower social class, you are more likely to fail, drop out and underachieve because thats what is expected of them, also some parents from lower social class may feel intimidated by those parents from a higher social class. According to Douglas (1964) working class parents do not value education. Parents who are most interested in their childrens education c ome mainly from the middle classes. Parents from a lower social background may not have received a good education so they do not have the skills to help their children. Also parents from a lower social class may not be able to afford to take time of work to help out, as they need the money to live and provide for their children Another boundary is gender. The words Gender refers to the differences between men and women. Gender has been a big issue within education for many of years, in the 17th and 18th centuries education for girls was at a fairly low standard, but increased in the mid 19th century when all children has the right to attend school.. In the 17th and 118th centuries, education was only aimed for rich boys and young men and they were the only children allowed to go to school, while the girls and young women had to stay at home with their mother and do housework and look after their family. When females were allowed to attend school, females were not allowed to do many subjects from the curriculum. They had to learn needlework, etc. The males on the other hand got to learn subjects such as metalwork and engineering and also languages such as Greek. Since the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act both male and females can do the same subjects. This Act prohibited sex discrimination in admission to schools, appointment of teachers (with exceptions for single sex schools) and careers advice and stipulated that neither girls nor boys should be refused access to any course, facilities or other benefits provided solely on the grounds of their sex. (Mackinnon et al, 1995:57). Todays boys are the students who are underachieving, twice as many boys as girls achieve below level 3 in English in Key Stage 2 (DCSF, 1994). Gender is an issue when it comes to parental involvement because it is mainly the female parent or the guardians who looks after those children who gets involved with their childs education. Currently there is considerably lower participation by fathers than by mothers in schools and in family learning initiatives (C lawley et al, 2004:3). This could be for a number of reasons, it could because they are a single parent family, it is also possible that the father may have to work or cannot take time off work, it is much harder for men to be involved with volunteering at schools because they may be ask to have a CBR check done, even through both males and females have to have them done now. The final boundary is ethnicity. What is meant by the term, ethnicity refers to the sense of shared cultural identify which binds a community together. It is used to distinguish one community from another and can be the basis for collective action by and conflict between communities. Ethnicity is an issue within education because many of the pupils from ethnic groups are underachieving, and most of them are boys. Figures shows that on entry into preschool, children of White UK heritage have the highest mean score in cognitive skills (verbal and non verbal), with the lowest scores being recorded for Pakistani children. Difference in scores between ethnic groups are reduced when the factors of parents educational and occupational status is taken into account. Bangladeshi, Black and Pakistani pupils perform less well than other pupils in the early key stages. Pupils for these three ethnic groups also tend to achieve significantly less well by the end of compulsory education and the per cent of these ethnic groups completing further/higher education such as college and university is even lower. Only thirty seven per cent of ethnic minority students get a first or upper second degree compared with 53 per cent of white graduates. (National Statistics, 2001) Students from ethnic groups are underachieving because they are at a disadvantage when it comes to learning because they may not speak or only speak very little English. Students from ethnic groups may have a different type of learning and their culture may be different to the culture in England also the way of teaching in England. There are a number of policies and legislations in force such as the 1981 Rampton report, which states the main requirement, as they see it, was for a change in attitude in the community at large towards acceptance of ethnic minorities. In specifically education matters, stress was laid on both initial and in service training of teacher to attune them to the needs of ethnic minority groups and to improve their understanding of multicultural approach to education (Mackinnon et al 1995:37), the Rampton Report was then replaced with the 1985 Swann Education for all Report, this report was almost eight time longer than Rampton and it also included the above (from Rampton Report) and more such as the effectiveness of racism awareness training should be investigated, Its further recommended that greater effort should be made to employ and promote teachers from ethnic minority groups, though without positive discrimination or lowering of standards (Mackinnon et al, 1995:39). There was also the 1976 Race Relation Act this act prohibited discrimination on the grounds of race in admission to schools, appointment of teachers, careers advice, access to facilities and the award of discretionary grants. Positive discrimination in favour of disadvantages racial groups (ethnic groups) neither is nor normally allowed e.g. in recruitment or promotion. In some closely defined circumstances, however, where it can be shown that a particular racial group has a special need with regard to education or training access to facilities may be restricted or allocated first to its members, this act was amended in 2000. The reason why ethnicity is an issue when it comes to parental involvement is quite simply the same issues as why children from ethnic groups are underachieving. Parents from ethnic groups may not want to or cannot get involved with their childs education because of language problems, lack of skills i.e. poor English, reading maths, ICT skills. Parents may feel threatened by the school or teacher and especially other parents from other ethnic groups. Parents may not be able to afford to take time off work or may have other younger children to look after. The government is doing to overcome the above boundaries and many other boundaries There are many different initiatives that the government, LEAs Schools, local communities and university have set up in order to overcome these boundaries that parent may have when it comes to parent involvement in their childs education. The department of Education have supported and sponsored many different parental involvement initiatives like the Home School Agreement. The Millennium Commission set up Clubs called the Clutch Club, these clubs are set up to help parents learn Information and Communication Technology (computer skills). Set up by the Millennium Commission one of the National lottery good causes, the Millennium Awards, these are grants to help individuals develop their interests whilst at the same time putting something back into their local community. The Open University and Living Achieve Awards Scheme aims to encourage and to enable parents of school children to gain new skills in I CT and an understanding of their use for teaching in their childrens schools. It has already involved around 300 parents with children at school in and around Milton Keynes (DCSF, 2008). In Nottingham there has been a project set up to help parents from ethnic group, called AMBER, which stands for Adult Minorities Breaking Educational Restrictions, helps families from ethnic minorities gain a better understanding of the education system within the UK and provides guidance for them. The project, launched in 1995, began by working mainly with Asian and African-Caribbean parents but has since been expanded to include other groups in the City and County of Nottingham who have been at a disadvantage when it comes to participating in school life. The project aims, to allow and support parents to become involved in their childrens education, to provide the opportunity for school-based adult learning and to train parent support workers to facilitate these aims. AMBER works with parents who participate informally through fundraising and general school support activities, social events, etc. and more formally through in-class help, governorship and parent consultations. (DCSF, 2006). If programs like these continue to develop all over the UK and achieve the goals they want and need to achieve the boundaries that are stopping the parents from being involved within their childrens education, will no longer be a huge boundary stopping them. Some researchers who believe that some parents use the fact that there are boundaries such as social class to hide behind but in fact they are not really interested or have time to be involved in their childs education. The researchers in question are Douglas (1964) and Newson (1989). Douglas (1964) argued that working class parents do not value education. Newson (1989) continues by suggesting that middle class parents are measurably more child centred than working class. However figures show that 80 per cent of working class parents in Nottingham were actively helping their children with reading (Newson 1989). Other researchers would argue that parents do not hide behind risks and barriers when it comes to parental involvement. Blackstone et al (2004) argued that working class parents do care as much as middle class parents, but working class parents felt less confident about dealing with schools. It is important for parents to be involved in their childs education, as it shows them how interested they are in what the child is doing and learning at school, which builds up self esteem. However much time a parent puts into their child and their education all count towards being involved, from volunteering at their childs school on a regular basis, to helping them with their homework when they ask for help, to most importantly to ask them what they have done at school each day, because this shows the child that the parent are showing an interest within their education. Even though there are boundaries that some parents need to overcome, these can be overcome with the help and support of the government and the childs school. Also additional research needs to be carried out in order to address how educational initiatives and policies impact on parental involvement and pupils. On a more local level the importance of effective communication needs to be addressed. Its improvement woul d be a great benefit to parents, education professionals and especially the pupils, as this will help with the pupils educational engagement, knowing that they have support at all angles from school to home.

Pushing Kids to the Limit Essay -- Essays Papers

Pushing Kids to the Limit Children today seem to be involved in many activities outside of school. A number of children may play soccer, swim, play an instrument, and help out around the house while at the same time trying to succeed academically. In many cases, the vast number of sports played by these children is due to the parent’s encouragement, or enforcement. Some parents may enforce after school activities in order to keep their children away from the â€Å"evils of society†: drugs, alcohol, and simply loitering and causing trouble. Unfortunately, at times, the pressure from the parents can have negative effects on the children academically and/or socially. Some reasons that parents push their kids so much, could be the small possibility of a college scholarship or money for the child in the future, keeping their children off the street, or the chance that the parents are living vicariously through their child’s sports glory. Title IX is a law that requires high schools and colleges to give the same amount of money to both girls and boys sports in an attempt to make the genders equal. However, instead of simply equalizing the two sides, this law provides more scholarships for women because they are still competing in fewer sports than men. This will usually peak the parent’s interest, making them believe that there are plenty of scholarships out there for their daughters. Unfortunately this is not exactly true. As Lester Munson, an associate editor at Sports Illustrated, explains it (in an article by Brendan Tierney), â€Å"This is the theory that many parents have that if they start their child young enough, and work him or her hard enough, that he or she will get a college scholarship or become a professional athle... ...fast. Yes, get children involved in sports and activities. In the long run it will pay off, but please, keep it all in perspective. Works Cited - Shields, David Light. â€Å"Another View: The reality of Olympic dreams for children.† 2002. (November 5, 2002). - â€Å"Study show athletes among heaviest college drinkers.† May 7, 1998. Shawnee News Star. (November 16, 2002). - Tierney, Brendan. â€Å"How to Become a Better Sports Parent.† September 18, 2002. (November 3, 2002). - â€Å"Vacation or Training Day? Shanghai Parents Shaping Their Children.† July 23, 2002. Shanghai Star. (November 17, 2002).

Legacy of the Middle Ages in the West

Palm Beach Atlantic University Legacy of the Middle Ages in the west An Essay Submitted to Dr. Gary Poe Humanities II by Blake Nichol March 17, 2010 Legacy of the Middle Ages in the West Dear Friend, I read your argument recently about the Middle Ages and how you have the belief that it was a time of no cultural expression. Well, I’m writing to try to persuade you to think otherwise. After an extensive, semester long study on the Middle Ages and the events that took place, leaving a great mark in history, I would like to inform you of my studies.Through the research I have done I have found at least four major contributions to what is known as the legacy of the Middle Ages in the West. The first thing that I will point out to you is the technological advances during this time period, the second is the founding of the different major universities, the third is the great technique in various architectural structures, and the fourth and final contribution I will explain to you wi ll be the advancement of science and medicine.Hopefully, after reading this, if you’re not too bored, you will understand why the Middle Ages did not lack cultural expression, but instead, had a very great influence on the West. So, let’s get right down to business, shall we? The first thing I’d like to point out that was developed was the printing press. It was developed in the late middle ages by a German craftsman named Johannes Gutenberg. Now, where would we be without this invention? The printing press is a major invention and still in use today.Obviously, the ones we use today have been perfected to be more efficient and less expensive to produce maximum output but even so, it’s the same basic concept that started way back in the Middle Ages. Another set of technological advancements that came about during the Middle Ages were the different types of war methods that were developed. They developed the catapult, the metal crossbow, and most of all, gu npowder. The catapult is a great idea and I believe this is a concept that started to be perfected and continued being perfected until today and now it has turned into us launching missiles from an entire country away.Due to the invention of the catapult, we no longer even have to go with hand to hand combat anymore in modern warfare. Almost all of it can be done from a computer screen. Even the crossbow is still in use today. Not necessarily in warfare but I know hunters still use crossbows. The main thing developed to advance warfare was gunpowder. Can you imagine where we would be today without the development of gunpowder? I think that one is self explanatory. During this time period, we also have the development of about three major universities.These were three of the first Western schools for higher education since about the sixth century! The first is the University of Bologna, and no, it’s not a university for making sandwiches. It was actually the first place to stu dy law and the first place to teach anatomy. The second university is the University of Oxford. The University of Oxford, if I remember correctly, was founded in 1170 in England and taught philosophy and theology. The third, and probably most important of the three universities, is the University of Paris.The University of Paris offered a variety of degrees including civil and canon law, medicine, theology, and liberal arts, which was basically devoting to translating Aristotle. Other universities had a similar curriculum set up, but for some reason their professors lacked the renown internationally like the University of Paris professors had. A famous person that you might have heard of actually taught there. A guy by the name of Thomas Aquinas taught there off and on for about ten years.He was a Dominican friar. About six hundred years after his death, his thought was declared to be the basis of the Roman Catholic beliefs. So basically, through all of these universities developing and professors being heard, this is how we get the basis for one of the most wide spread, if not the most wide spread, religion in the world. I think that right there should be something enough to convince you, but if you still have doubts, let me give you a little more of what went on during the Middle Ages.The next thing that I’m going to tell you about is probably one of the most astounding things of all. It is the architectural developments during this time period. I mean, to be developed a thousand years ago, without the use of fancy machinery and computers, and still be standing today†¦that’s pretty impressive. Not only are they still standing, but they are also the most beautiful architectural structures in the world. People from all over the world still go to see them, so you can’t say that they don’t have an effect on modern day society.In these structures you will find that they use a lot of different techniques. They used huge stained gla ss windows, tall ceilings, and extremely fancy artistry. There were also different styles, such as Romanesque and Gothic styles. Inside these different styles of architectural structures were developments that are still heard of today. For example, in most churches today we still have a narthex. It is basically just the lobby area before you walk into the church. We also have a unique feature used in Gothic architecture that is still around today.Gargoyles were used in Gothic style architecture and even today you see a variety of different gargoyles. If they’re not on the top of a gated entrance to a fancy house or community, you might find a smaller version on your book shelf holding your books up. No matter what you find, the simple point that I’m trying to get across is that they are still in use today. The final thing I want to point out during this letter is the advancement of science and medicine during this time period.Thomas Acquinas, who was one of the greates t thinkers to ever live did a lot of studying of nature and the things of the earth. To him, everything was of God in nature, which is correct according to Biblical principles because God created everything and He is everything. As far as medicine goes, we see that people that were going to school to be doctors were now starting to dissect human bodies in order to identify certain disorders and diseases in order to effectively treat them.They were also beginning to build hospitals, which were the first places women could effectively work as nurses since they weren’t allowed into medical school. These are just some of the few things to do with the science and medicine industry to be done during the Middle Ages. I know I may not be the best writer and may not have gotten all my points across clearly, but I’m hoping that now you will be able to see that the Middle Ages was not just a time where no progress was made.In fact, the Middle Ages brought about so many different ways of looking at things from architecture to different diseases to advancements in warfare. All of these things have only furthered our progress in developing some of the most advanced technologies and inventions that the world has ever seen. Thank you for reading this and I hope I have changed your perspective of the Middle Ages. BIBLIOGRAPHY Matthews, Roy T. 2008. The Western Humanities. New York, NY. : McGraw-Hill. Pp. 261-291 BIBLIOGRAPHY/REFERENCES

Essay on Abortion in the United States

Essay on Abortion in the United States Essay on Abortion in the United States Essay on Abortion in the United StatesOne issue area that I want to investigate is the abortion conflict. Gathering information about the goals and proposals, in that issue area, of three political parties (the Democratic Party, the Republican Party and the third party Libertarian Party), I have found that each of the three parties has developed its specific policy goals in the issue area. The Republican Party has developed the â€Å"pro-life† policy on abortion, the Democratic Party has set the â€Å"pro-choice† policy goals, while the Libertarian Party demonstrates strong ideological commitment to liberty and libertarian ideas, promoting less control over social issues and support for abortion rights (Schubert et al., 2013).  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Comparing the parties’ goals in that area, it is necessary to evaluate each party’s goals from different perspectives. Based on my own political philosophy, values and ideology, I believe that â€Å"pro-choice† policy is the most appropriate for our society. Democrats are aimed at defending the dignity of American citizens, placing emphasis on the rights of women. Abortion should be legal. Each party’s goals are effective in mobilizing voters to support the party’s candidates on the national level. For example, the â€Å"republican strategists used the abortion debate as a wedge issue in state and national elections† (McBride, 2008, p. 71). From this perspective, it is necessary to refer to the factors which underlie the two-party system, highlighting the importance of each party’s ability to use its policy proposals to generate voter support. These platforms have a strong impact on public views, binding voters to vote in a particular way.In other words, the views on abortion shaped the identity of Democratic Party, the Republican Party and the third party, the Libertarian Party candidates. In addition, the democratic society needs two effective political parties, creating the two-party system, promoting competition in politics.