Benefits of Being Vegetarian Essay

In the last decade, we have witnessed an explosion of scientific knowledge that has made more information available to humanity than in all previously recorded history. Due to the dedicated research of scientists and doctors, we now understand more than ever before about our physical body and what measures promote good health. As more evidence is coming to light about the beneficial effects of maintaining a vegetarian diet, the number of vegetarians around the world is steadily on the rise. Throughout history, many great philosophers, mystics, saints, and enlightened thinkers have recognized the value of vegetarianism. It is only recently that science has confirmed the views on vegetarianism explained by these great people. More and more people are realizing that this diet can increase the health and well-being of our body, mind, soul, and the planet. Books, journals, magazines, and newspaper articles have published research on the health benefits of a vegetarian diet. Doctors and nutritionists widely recommend that people reduce their consumption of meat, high-fat foods, and eggs as a health measure. They encourage the increased use of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains in one’s diet to cut down on cholesterol in the body and to minimize the risks of heart attacks, high blood pressure, strokes, and cancer. The results of medical findings have already had a far-reaching impact on the food and restaurant industries. We find more foods are being produced without animal products. If we look back even twenty years, a vegetarian eating at a restaurant hardly had any choices offered on the menu. Today, we can find a variety of delicious vegetarian dishes at most restaurants. Natural food stores and vegetarian restaurants abound in most cities. Even large grocery chain stores carry a large variety of vegetarian foods. Those who carefully consider the advantages of vegetarianism will see that the quality of their life and health can be greatly improved on such a diet. Longtime vegetarians have testified to the changes they experienced when they gave up meat. Many have reported that they felt more energetic, not only physically, but also mentally. Animals that do not eat meat, such as the elephant, the horse, the mule, and the ox, are known for their great strength and endurance. Having more stamina, vegetarians tend to exhibit improved efficiency and concentration in their physical as well as intellectual work. There is an expression, â€Å"You are what you eat.† In countries of the East where vegetarianism has been the diet for thousands of years, people recognize that whatever they eat forms a part of their body and also influences their 1 thoughts. They believe that if they eat the flesh of an animal that the mental and emotional vibrations or characteristics of the animal will form a part of their own nature. Today, science is researching the effect that our own stress hormones have on our body and the damage that long-term stress does to our organs. Imagine eating animals whose last days or minutes of life on earth were drenched with the hormones released in their state of fear they were in when they were about to be slaughtered. Those who eat meat are ingesting not only the flesh, but all the hormones of stress that are released due to the animal’s fear as well. Thus, many people brought up in the traditions of the East prefer to live on plant foods, which are more conducive to mental equipoise. Many enlightened beings, saints, mystics, and spiritual teachers have traditionally advocated a vegetarian diet for spiritual and moral reasons. For those pursuing a spiritual path, a vegetarian diet is essential for several important reasons. First, spiritual teachers have always taught that we are more than just a body and a mind; we are also soul. They have also taught people the process of meditation to help rediscover our true nature as soul. To help gain proficiency in the spiritual practices, vegetarianism is a helping factor. To be able to concentrate in meditation, we need to be calm and collected. If we eat the flesh of dead animals, our own consciousness will be affected. In the East, vegetarianism has been considered essential to spiritual development. Spiritual teachers promote a life of nonviolence. Helping factors for spiritual growth include developing the ethical virtues of nonviolence, truthfulness, purity, humility, and selfless service. The vegetarian diet is a natural by-product of nonviolence, in which no harm is done to any living creature. That is why saints through the ages have recommended a vegetarian diet, avoiding meat, fish, fowl, and eggs. Vegetarianism also improves the health of the planet. Ecologists and environmentalists are concerned about protecting the living creatures on earth. Environmentalists have pointed out that one solution to the problem of food shortages is better utilization of our resources. For example, the amount of grain needed to feed one cow to provide meat for one person could feed many times that number of people. Ecologists have also shown that raising cattle and processing meat requires much more fuel, water, and energy than is used to produce grains and vegetables. Vegetarianism is one effective means of conserving our vital resources. People around the world are becoming more enlightened and concerned about obtaining the highest quality of life. They are more interested in solving the mysteries of the universe and more keen to find personal fulfillment and lasting happiness. We are simultaneously concerned about the welfare of our global community and the preservation of our planet. How we maintain the health of our body, mind, soul, and planet is a choice each has to make. A balanced vegetarian diet will result in improved health and fitness, greater mental equipoise, and higher spiritual attainment. Following the vegetarian diet can help us achieve the health and purity of our body, mind, soul, and planet. We will not only be contributing to peace for ourselves and all life, but we will also be doing our part toward making Planet Earth a haven of joy and peace. Being a vegetarian can help us attain a healthier body, mind, soul, and planet. Along with this, we can augment our well-being through meditation. Vegetarianism prepares the groundwork for the health of body, mind, and soul. Meditation can add to our overall health by reducing stress to our body and mind, and can put us in touch with the soul. If we sit in meditation we can take steps towards a healthier state of well-being.  © Copyright S.K. Publications For more information: www.sos.org 3

King Lear †Analytical Monologue Essay

LEAR: It may be so, my lord. Hear, Nature, hear, dear goddess, hear!Suspend thy purpose if thou didst intend 270To make this creature fruitful. Into her womb convey sterility. Dry up in her the organs of increase,And from her derogate body never springA babe to honor her. If she must teem, 275Create her child of spleen, that it may liveAnd be a thwart disnatured torment to her. Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth,With cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks,Turn all her mother’s pains and benefits 280To laughter and contempt, that she may feel-That she may feelHow sharper than a serpent’s tooth it isTo have a thankless child.-Away, away!In this particular monologue, it explores the theme, nature, immediately. Lear implores nature, to which he worships as a ‘goddess’ or deity to listen to his plea. He strongly believes that the god is capable of doing anything. For example, making her daughter sterile and drying up her womb so that no baby can come out. Before this monologue, Gonerill wishes that Lear would behave in an orderly manner and would listen to her. Lear then starts to question himself and he seems unable to believe that he is listening to his own daughter because he thinks he is their father and therefore should be able to do whatever he wants. â€Å"Are you our daughter?† Lear says. Later on, the Fool shows regret for Lear’s reduced status. Lear then becomes angry and declares he will go to Regan’s castle instead assuming she would welcome him. Lear attacks Gonerill’s ingratitude and defends his followers’ honour. After this, in rage, Lear curses Gonerill with no children and if she did have children, they would be disobedient and unloving. â€Å"Dry up in her the organs of increase, †¦ derogate body never spring †¦ Createher child of spleen, that it may live †¦ disnatured torment to her. Let it stamp wrinkles in her brow of youth†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Lear curses. Shakespeare’s King Lear is a play revolving around the themes of human nature, madness and childishness. In the beginning of this play, King Lear is involved in a childish incident where an old king decides to give away his kingdom to the child who loves him the most based on a speech. â€Å"Now, that we have divided in three our kingdom †¦ tell me, my daughters, which of you shall we say doth love us most, that we our largest bounty may extend†Realistically, who would be so foolish ask their children to show their love on some bluffed words and base his will on what they say? (rhetorical question)The words ‘nature’ appear many times in the play. Why is ‘nature’ so important in the play? One major reason is that it is a powerful means of controlling people. Lear along with other characters think that what is ‘natural’ is right. For example, for much of the play, Lear believes everything he does is natural and any person who frustrates him is unnatural, because it is natural that everyone should obey him without question because he is king. Nature herself is a goddess to whom he can talk to. â€Å"Hear, Nature, hear, dear goddess, hear!† As Lear begs. There are two different views of nature in Shakespeare’s play, a good or a bad way. Characters are classified as good or evil accordingly to their view of nature. In this monologue, Lear is ‘mad’ and has the evil nature in him at the moment. An example of when nature is evil is with the characters, Edmund, Gonerill and Regan. The evil nature in them feeds and motivates them and make them behave like ruthless predatorial animals. A major type of image used in the play is that of animals. These are used mainly to compare the character’s behaviours and nature with animals. Animals are seen in the play to be insignificant creatures. In the play, Shakespeare suggests that sometimes humans can be as cruel and insignificant  as animals are. He uses metaphors about serpents and fanged animals to compare with the evil character in the play. â€Å"How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is,† as Lear would say to curse Gonerill. â€Å"Kind Lear†, William Shakespeare

Brutus The Tragic Hero Essay Research Paper

Brutus The Tragic Hero Essay, Research Paper In the drama Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Brutus had many defects such as he trusted people, he had a scruples, and he had a lecherousness for power. Many times in the drama he made errors. He likely made more errors in the drama so any other character. Like other tragic heroes, Brutus had great promise and ability. One of the many ways Brutus was a tragic hero was that he trusted people excessively easy. The first clip he trusted anybody in the drama was when he joined the confederacy. He trusted the letters that were sent to him and so he trusted Cassius to take him in the right way. Then Brutus gave his trust to Antony to give a address and non state anything bad about the confederacy. Antony made the rabble angry and they went on a violent disorder. Brutus had a scruples. This is another defect. Brutus was an honest adult male and did some dishonourable things. After he acted dishonorably, he felt bad about it. For illustration he felt bad about killing Caesar. He had a guilty scruples about Caesar because he saw his shade. The shade was non truly at that place, it was Brutus? s scruples that made the shade appear. A good leader must non hold a scruples because it will acquire in the manner of what must be done. Brutus was power hungry. He ever had to hold the last word in a conversation and he wanted to be the leader. When Brutus joins the confederacy he became their leader. Then the plotters wanted Cicero to fall in, but Brutus did non desire it because he would lose power. When Brutus and Cassius were discoursing schemes, Brutus had the last word and they used his conflict tactics. Brutus had a lecherousness for power and wanted to be in charge invariably. Brutus was destroyed by his personal failing and hapless determinations. Brutus gave his trust to many people, had a scruples, and had a lecherousness for power. Those are many of the errors Brutus recognizes at the terminal of the drama. Brutus was one of the noblest work forces in the drama, if non the noblest. N/A

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Summary - Essay Example Ordinarily, the aim of the justice system is to curb crime. For youth offenders, the phrase nip at the bud is more appropriate. However, when these youth offenders go through adult courts and end up in adult prisons the result does not reflect curbing crime. Schiraldi and Ziedenberg report that minors tried in the adult courts tend to regress back to crime compared to those tried by juvenile courts. Studies also show that; all states that allow state prosecutors the discretion to send youth to adult court have higher juvenile crime rates than those that do not. For instance, Florida’s juvenile crime rate is 48% higher than the national average (Hickey, 2012). This crime rates are high because the process of rehabilitation as reported by Schiraldi and Ziedenberg is not adequate. Studies further show that youth sent to juvenile facilities felt that the experience mitigated their onset of criminal life. This is because, in juvenile facilities, the youth offenders feel that they c an change, and this eases rehabilitation. Also, they viewed the facilities personal as understanding which helped them change their attitudes. On the other hand, youths sent to adult prison reported learning more negative behavior such as how to commit new, more aggressive crimes. In such a scenario, one can conclusively say that prison cultivates ground for future crimes. Secondly, the adult prison personal was not as understanding, and they make inmates feel doomed to a life in prison (Hickey, 2012). In addition to these systemic shortcomings of prisons, there are other dangers that the youth experience while in prison. One of the most common dangers is prison rape. Because of their vulnerable state, youth convicts are subject to sexual abuse by older convicts and even the prison personnel. This sexual abuse leads to psychological trauma and self loathing which is not a favorable environment for positive change. The young offenders also face risks such as attacks with weapons that cause injury or death. The result of the attacks is that the individual becomes aggressive and, thereby, resistant to change. The frustrations the youth experience in prison at such a tender age lead to despair. As such, the suicide rate of youths in prison is 7.7 % higher than in juvenile detention centers (Hickey, 2012). Granted, there are crimes that are gruesome and the prosecution got no choice rather than to refer them to adult courts. However, the studies reported by Schiraldi and Ziedenberg indicate that the crimes sent to adult court are so minor they qualify to be misdemeanors. Most of the suspects have no priors, do not commit violence and acknowledge their wrong doings. An excellent example is the case against Anthony Laster, in Florida. Anthony went through wrenching court proceedings for a one time non violent crime because the prosecution referred him to an adult court. Critiques argue that in other states, his issue was a Principals office matter and not even a juve nile offence (Hickey, 2012). As such, utilizing adult justice system on a delinquent in most instances is like shooting a mosquito with a shot gun! Ryder (2011) views juvenile delinquency as a social problem. He argues that, in the wake of the 21st century, parents and the community want to contribute to the rehabilitation of the

Employee Health Insurance Plans Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Employee Health Insurance Plans - Assignment Example The first factor that was considered is the issue of price and the financial implications that each of the four plans would have on both the company and the employees. Of all the four plans, Empire health plan was the cheapest in the individual category at $ 4,217. The family package for Empire health plan was relatively expensive compared to Metroplus although the difference was insignificant (Morrisey, 2008). Regardless, the main emphasis was put on the individual plan cost because employees had the right to opt out of the family plan. For maximum benefits and to attract the backing of the employees, Empire health plan was considered the ideal plan in this front. Another factor that was important in coming up with the decision was the performance measure of each of the four health plans. In particular, aspects to do with adult health and children care were considered and analyzed against state averages. In this aspect, Empire still stood out beating the other three health plans by a big margin. Empire had better scores in all the measures of adult health except in managing medications where it came in second. For instance, in managing cardiovascular conditions empire was the only plan that had all the measures at par with the statewide averages. Aetna on the other hand, had lesser averages in controlling high blood pressure and cholesterol management. The same was true for Oxford and Metroplus health plans. Empire excelled in the other performance measures as well. For example, in managing preventive care, it had the best averages in all the measures. Despite having lesser than statewide average score in adult BMI assessment, its score was relatively better than all the others. The same trend was reflected in the other variables such as managing acute illnesses, respiratory conditions and diabetes. All these variables are important considerations in both female and male adult employees and

Environmental Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Environmental Analysis - Essay Example These have been analyzed in the following paragraphs: The Business Dictionary.com, (accessed on 16th June, 2008,) defines remote environment as "Ecological, political, social, and technological factors or forces that affect a form's decision making abilities and freedom, but are beyond its control or influence." With reference to the University of Phoenix, the remote environment would include the ecological, political, social and technological factors that would influence the University's decision-making abilities. The University of Phoenix is committed to the cause of the environment. It already has an agenda set to ensure that its students learn about and respect the environment. "Go Green" is an initiative taken by the University to familiarize the students with environment issues. In future, not only would the University have to sustain its efforts in this direction, but it would also have to scale them up. A change in the political leadership of the country would lead to changes in the way the University is governed. Compliance to new and changed rules and regulations for Universities might be necessary. The grants/subsidies given by the government for various courses (if any) might be subject to change with a change in the political situation in the country. A definite shift in people's income levels and social standing might have a direct influence on the number of students enrolling in a particular course. There might be more number of people enrolling for advanced courses over the next ten years as compared to the enrollment in basic courses. With advances in technology and global connectivity, students might prefer more online courses as compared to classroom courses. The University would be required to take into consideration the changes in technology being brought about everyday. The teachers and lecturers would have to be trained in the latest trends in research and referencing. While online classes might become popular in the next ten years, the University would have to scout for collaborators in the local regions/classes where practical classes could be conducted. Industry Environment According to the website of University of Phoenix, (accessed on 16thJune, 2008) "The mission of University of Phoenix is to provide access to higher education opportunities that enable students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve their professional goals, improve the productivity of their organizations, and provide leadership and service to their communities." As in any other industry, when there is a shift in the needs/tastes of the students, there will be a need to change the content of the courses at the University. The knowledge and skill sets required to achieve professional goals generally undergo a periodic change. What is relevant today will be obsolete in a few years. Thus, the University needs to research the market, identify the latest trends and major shifts in education and adapt their courses accordingly. Operating Environments Operating environment in a University's context could refer to the way libraries and reference materials are used. It could also mean how the way the courses are conducted: ie. online or classroom. With advances in technology and connectivity getting simpler everyday, there will certainly be a huge demand for online courses in the near future. The way teaching is carried out might

Meuse-Argonne Offensive Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Meuse-Argonne Offensive - Research Paper Example The battle led to the stronghold of Allies with a loss of German’s on the Western front.   The European states vied together for power and military alliance. Britain, France and Russia from Asia formed a strong block. It was now a must for Germany to find a suitable alliance that could eliminate the danger of its extermination. Austria and Turkey were there for her. Then an incident, in the city of Sarajevo, made the European nations face a situation that the western philosophers feared for years. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie led to hostilities between Serbia and Austria. The involvement of Russia and Germany on the side of Serbia and Austria, respectively, made the situation worse. Things became uncontrollable, as more and more countries began to get involved in the matter. On August 4, 1914, the German army marched into Belgium. As the war got fierce, more and more war fronts opened for Germany. With the beginning of revolution in Russia in 1 918, Germany deployed its freed troops on the western front. Using remarkable tactics of long wars, Germany gained many achievements and the French armies were then in retreat. The Germans had to face mines and military of the American Expeditionary Force at Belleau Wood, which slowed down its advancement. Meanwhile, the French army reformed its front, together with the British army. The whole area from the Meuse River to the top of the Mountains of Argonne was under a stronghold of the Germans. The presence of mines, camouflaged trenches, heavy artillery and a large number of German troops made this area a difficult battlefield for the Allies. The Argonne forest provided a good shelter to the Germans, where they could rest without the risk of being attacked. It was so because the area was lined by guns, mines and trenches and supported by artillery fire. There was no place, on the western front where the German army could think itself more safe and sound than the Argonne forest. Th is was probably the reason, for the Allies, to think the battle at this field as a decisive one. With a fresh American army on the southern flank of the western front, the Allies could now think of an offensive on the German troops in the Argonne forests. At 5:30 on the afternoon of September 26th, the American 1st Army jumped off with the French holding their flanks. The U.S. Army and the French 4th Army shared the Meuse-Argonne offensive which proved to be the biggest and the deadliest one for the American Expeditionary Force in the World War I. The French General Mariano Goybet, commanding the 157 Red Hand Division, indulged in the Meuse-Argonne offensive on 28th September. (â€Å"Meuse-Argonne Offensive†) 371 and 372 were two of his African American regiments. During the first nine days, the 372 regiment progressed through 4.8 miles of enemy defense. They captured 600 prisoners, 15 heavy guns, 20 Minenwerfers and about 150 machine guns. (â€Å"Meuse-Argonne Offensiveâ₠¬ ) The 372 regiment’s part was very important in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The regiment suffered total casualties of 500 men.

See uploaded question paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

See uploaded question paper - Essay Example These provisions are fundamentally categorized as Consumer Protection Acts which further constitute of Sale of Goods Act 1979 and Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 in the European Union (EU) legislation1. With reference to the case situation witnessed by Greg when dealing with his supplier Sprewfit, this study will aim at recommending the consumer (i.e. Greg) with certain remedial measures to suffice his losses with the application of Sale of Goods Act 1979 and Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. As observed in the case scenario, Greg was working on a new project of renovating a home and estate of â€Å"Downly Abbey†, in the village named Downly. The required materials for the renovation project were supplied to him by Sprewfit. The company also took the contract that to serve with the required amount of plaster which would be used in the interiors of the home and estate of â€Å"Downly Abbey†. After certain period of time, Greg noticed that the materials that were provided to him were of low quality, and certainly incompetent to suffice his requirements for a Grade II home and estate renovation project. ... There are certain specific contracts to which this particular act has been applicable. One of the most crucial norms of this law is that it is applicable only to the contract of the sales of goods that took place on or after the 1st of January 1884. It has been learnt that a sales contract is a contract where the seller agrees to transfer the possession of the goods or any other property in exchange of money which can also be referred as the price of the property or goods delivered. The goods sold may be of existing goods, owned or possessed by the seller or it may also be goods or property which would have to be manufactured after the contract is made. These types of goods are referred as called ‘future goods’. As per the provisions mentioned in the act, the goods are sold under a certain terms and conditions that must be agreed by the seller as well as the buyer prior to the validation of the agreement. Notably, if the conditions are not satisfied by the seller which r esults to the losses suffered by the buyers, the entire issue would be termed as a breach of contract. Consequently, the buyer could claim for compensation or damage if such situations indicating breach of contract arises2. Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 set to enforce additional limits on the level to which civil accountability for breach of contract on the basis of the inattention towards the liabilities, obligations and of duties of the sellers can be shunned by means of contract terms and otherwise. It has often been witnessed that companies focus on applying terms and conditions explicitly in their agreement offered to the customers mentioning certain aspects which might hinder the interests of the

Write a letter to a friend what it was like being a 19th century Essay

Write a letter to a friend what it was like being a 19th century worker. involving karl max and Robert Owen odeas - Essay Example As many factories began to emerge, people started to work at factories instead of at farms as it was before industrialization. Children started working for many of factories, Mines, and shops that needed help, and there were not enough men or women to meet the increasing labor demands. Children were seen as cheap, plentiful, and easy to control labor. Orphanages and even parents would give up their children to the cotton mills owners and other operators in exchange for sustenance. As young Children, we had to do the most dangerous and difficult jobs like coal mining, and fixing broken machinery. The coal mines were the worst because young children had to travel through the mines with poor lighting, and often carrying loads. Working from six in the morning to nine at night with no meals and a long distance from home the children suffered. If late for work, the children were often beaten, and if we worked slowly, or fell asleep at the machines, the supervisors could hit us using a strap. Women and children offered cheap labor and could work for less than a man would accept. Spending so many hours a day over factory machines often left us with bowed legs and poorly developed limbs and muscles. If one of us not "lucky" enough to be employed in these mines, he had the unpleasant option of living on the streets, which was accompanied with raw sewage, rotting animals, vegetable wastes, rats, disease, and putrid water. They also had to find food and a place to stay in when it is rainy and cold. Karl Marx was an idealist. He envisaged the cruelties and injustices that children, endured during the period of the industrial revolution. It was from the events that Marx developed the communist idea. Karl Marx was one of those reformers proposing and arguing for the reforms through the Communist Manifesto. His goals of the communist party were to end the exploitation of the working class and create a society with equality and no social classes. Marx has helped

A REPORT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

A REPORT - Essay Example he present study discusses about the multinational firm and FMCG giant Nestle which has been among the pioneers in its product category and has a large number of Billion dollar worth brands under its umbrella. The present study would discuss the strategies that have been adopted by the firm to maintain its profitability in the industry. The study would also analyse the cross business strategies that have been employed at the firm. According to Knoll, Synergy is defined as â€Å"the effect that the combined return of the whole is greater than the sum of the returns from the individual parts†. In corporate world cross business synergy is achieved when the net returns of the combined entity formed by aggregating the different departments and units exceeds the net returns that is generated by a single entity taken as a standalone unit within the organization (Knoll, p.14, 18). The most important strategy of Nestle with regards to corporate synergy was its strategy of integrating the different departments across the organization. This strategy was named as GLOBE (Global Business Excellence) in which the different departments and the suppliers were brought together on a single common platform. This enabled real time information sharing among the different departments as well as the stakeholders that helped in generating greater efficiencies which has resulted in competitive advantage for the firm. All the 23 Research and development (popularly referred as Product Technology Centres) centres of the world were brought together on a single common platform which helped in generating greater innovations in the product line of the firm. The top management of the firm was of the strong belief that in order to sustain profitability the firm needed to continuously innovate its products line and would have to expand much beyond their borders considering the fact that Switzerland offered little potential of being a good market for the firm in terms of market size. Under their

Adolescent Suicide Essay Example for Free

Adolescent Suicide Essay As children group up they are eager to reach adolescence. From middle childhood they look forward to all the newfound freedoms that are typically associated with their teenage years, yearning to be more adult-like. However, while the child is looking forward to the freedom, he/she most often does not realize that adolescence also brings about many changes that can be emotionally taxing even to the most mature or intelligent child. During this time the child’s relationship with the family may become complicated, the child will be introduced to new issues and academic pressure will increase. While many children will be able to make the transition from middle childhood to adolescence seamlessly and do quite well handling the new, more complex adult-like issues that they will face, there are some who will not fare as well. Parental relationships may become strained, peer pressure may become too great, and academics may become overwhelming, culminating in negative life events; there are many issues such as these that can bring about depleted self-esteem and depression in an adolescent which can then lead to larger issues such as substance use/abuse and even suicide. Within, the issues of self-esteem, depression, substance buse, and suicide will be discussed along with what roles parents play in the equation of these issues which leave a trail of devastation and destruction. Suicide Suicide is the third leading cause of death amongst youths between the ages of 15 and 24. Youth between this age group have an alarming high rate of suicide attempts. For every 100 to 200 attempts made there is one suicide that actually takes place (Caruso, K. , 2005). In 2004, there were 29,251 suicides committed amongst Caucasians, yet only 3,188 for other races combined; 2,019 for African-Americans and 1,169 for Others, giving a combined total of 32,439 (Caruso, K. 2005). According to statistics gathered from suicide. org (Caruso, K. , 2005) 4,316 youth between the ages of 15-24 committed suicide in 2004, which equals one adolescent dying approximately every 122 minutes, or two hours, at their own hands. Of these 4,316 were: 3,610 Caucasians, 465 African-Americans, and 241 Other percentages of 83. 6, 10. 7, and 5. 6 respectively. However, the gap between African-Americans and Caucasians may begin to narrow as African-American adolescents are increasing the number of serious attempts made (Brenner, Krug, Simon, 2000). When negative things increase in an adolescent’s life and they feel that there is no way out, the thought of dying may enter the adolescent’s mind. Adolescents who have low self-esteem and suffer from depression may have an increase with the suicidal ideations. When an adolescent has thoughts of suicide they may not really want to die. They want the pain that they are experiencing to go away. If the adolescent does not reach out to someone for help these thoughts could turn into actual suicide attempts. Generally when a person attempts suicide they cut themselves or take pills. Usually they are in a place where they can be found by someone. In cases such as this the person is crying out for help. The person may want help but just be afraid to talk to someone about what is actually going on. Most people who have suicidal ideations never actually make suicide attempts. Unless there is some type of intervention put in place the adolescent who actually attempted suicide and was unsuccessful may make other attempts. This person will most likely need to be hospitalized for safety. Teenagers who consider suicide are looking for a means to an end. Suicide is a way to end all the troubles and pain that the teen may be facing. These thoughts of suicide generally don’t just happen overnight. The teen usually has experienced some type of depression or traumatic event. These are risk factors that could cause the teen to contemplate suicide. Risk factors are pressures or stressors that can cause the teen to act upon their feelings. Teenagers can be vulnerable to the risk factors when they are going through a hard time. The teenagers are still developing and may be uncertain about a lot of things. The teen may have faced many disappointments and have no sense of direction for their life. Suicide is a very serious problem for adolescents today. When looking at the girl-boy factor, girls attempt suicide three times more than boys. Boys are four times more likely to complete the act of suicide. Boys generally have more lethal means of death including using hand guns or hanging themselves. Girls generally use methods such as overdosing on medication or cutting themselves. It is important that adolescents have at least one person that they are able to talk to when they are having any type of problems. When a child is silently suffering through pain it may cause them to have all kinds of negative thoughts. When they have someone that they can talk the problems out with the chances of them attempting suicide would most likely decrease. Parents should pay close attention to their adolescent’s moods and behaviors. If something seems to be off with the way they are behaving the parents need to try to find out what is going on. There could be some things going on that the parents may not be aware of. It is important that parents establish open communication with their children. The child needs to know that they can speak up when there is a problem that they may not be able to handle on their own. For single parents it is extremely important to have constant open communication because they may already have a challenge due to the other parent being absent. The child may feel additional stress because they don’t have the other parent there. Self-Esteem Self-esteem is the way that a person views themselves. This view can be in a positive or negative way. The NASE(National Association for Self-Esteem) defines self-esteem as â€Å"The experience of being capable of meeting life’s challenges and being worthy of happiness† (Reasoner, 2004); the keywords being capable and worthy. There are a number of determining factors of self-esteem. These factors seem to change throughout life. Generally females have lower self-esteem than males. Family relationships seem to be the cause of lower self-esteem in both males and females. When children reach the age of adolescence they still want attention from their parents. Most children want their parents to be involved with things in their life. Despite some of the things most adolescence may say around their peers, they want their parents to discipline them and make them a better person. This writer works with various adolescents and has witnessed firsthand the need and desire for their parents to be involved. One particular adolescent male would do anything to get the attention of his mother. He just wanted her to notice him more. The only time he seemed to get attention from his mother was when he was getting in trouble. He was already having issues of low self-esteem because his father was absent from the family and he felt that maybe he was responsible for his father not being there. This caused him to act out in the home as well as in school. When parents take the time to talk to their children and teach them how to make better decisions, this gives the child some reassurance that they care. Even when the child does something wrong the parents should take the time to explain to the child why their actions may have been wrong. Genuine care and concern shown by parents has been linked to higher self-esteem (Parker Benson, 2004), but when adolescents do not receive the love and support desired, the result is lowered self-esteem. For most females appearance is another factor that causes low self-esteem. Many adolescent girls wan to look like the models that are on the cover of magazines. They want to have the perfect body image. This can cause other problems with the adolescent girls when they think that they are larger than they should be. They compare themselves to these images they see in the magazines and don’t feel that they are attractive unless they are thin. Some of these girls will do whatever is necessary to achieve that look no matter what the dangers may be. For most males delay in physical development tends to be a cause of lower self-esteem. Many males feel that if there is a delay in their development they may not be able to play a certain sport in school. This will make the male feel that he is inadequate in comparison to his peers. The male also may feel that he will have trouble getting dates because he may not appear to be mature in comparison to his peers (Feldman, 2006). Another source of low self-esteem for males as well as females includes academic achievement. If a student is not excelling in their academics it causes some adolescents feel that they are inadequate. They feel that they have to be competitive with their peers in order to make better grades. When an adolescent has academic problems in school some of them tend to want to give up because they feel that they will not be able to keep up with the peers in the class who may be doing well. When self-esteem is left untreated it may cause other serious issues. Low self-esteem can cause a person to develop depression. It can also lead a person to substance se and/or abuse. Adolescents have a higher level of self-esteem when they have parental support. When adolescents only receive support from their parents they may begin to use alcohol and other drugs such as marijuana (Parker Benson, 2004). Adolescents who have low self-esteem are at greater risk for poor physical health, mental health and reduced economic prospects (Tresniwski et al, 2006). These adolescents were adolescents were also more likely to be involved in the legal system regardless of gender, economic status, and mental status (Tresniewski et al, 2006). Depression seems to be a common link to low self-esteem with males and females. Depression There are several different things that could cause a teenager to take their life. The most common factor is depression. Feelings of hopelessness and anxiety, along with feelings of being trapped in a lie that they can’t handle on all contributors to the adolescent wanting to commit suicide. Most of them feel that suicide is the only way to solve the problem and they are looking for a way to escape. Depression is more than just feeling down for one day. Generally when depression begins it seems as though the person is having down days for years. Depression can affect many aspects of your life including sleep, eating, thinking patterns and activities that the person normally would do. There are many different types of depression. The most common types of depression prevents a person from being able to function normally. In order for a person to be diagnosed with major depression the symptoms should be present daily for most of the day or the entire day for at least two weeks. Dysthymia is also known as chronic depression is characterized by long term depressed moods for two years or more. A person is usually not disabling by this type of depression and it is less severe than major depression. There are various symptoms of depression that include feelings of hopelessness, persistent sadness, loss of interest in hobbies, fatigue, irritability, insomnia and problems with making decisions. The adolescent may begin to isolate themselves from others. When the child comes home they may begin to go to their room and close the door and stay there for hours without coming out. Their eating patterns may change which could consist of them not eating at all or compulsively overeating. There could also be a sudden drop in their grades, they may begin to withdraw from their friends or being to stay awake and night and then wan to sleep during the day. When a teen is suffering from depression it often makes problems seem overwhelming and unbearable. Often times the root of the adolescent wanting to commit suicide is due to depression. The adolescent becomes desperate and think that there is no other way out. When an adolescent has discord within the home that could contribute to the adolescent being depressed. There could be problems with the parents arguing and the child as to be the mediator between the parents. This could put a great amount of stress on the adolescent. The teen may begin thinking that they are the blame for the problems that are going on in the home. When parents are dealing with their problems they are less likely to pay attention to what is going on with the child. There are many warning signs of suicide with teens who are depressed. The teen may express feelings of hopelessness for their future, talk like no one cares; they may begin got give away favorite possessions or even just make the statement that they are going to kill themselves. If a child displays any of these signs medical attention should be taken right away. This is a very serious matter and should be taken very seriously. When an adolescent suffers from depression they are at a high risk of suicide. Depression can be caused by genetics. There was an 18% increase of adolescents at risk of major depressive disorder in a study that compared to parents who suffer from an affective disorder and those who don’t (Hoffman, Baldwin, Cerbone, 2003). Major Depression constitutes a greater risk for attempted suicide than issues within the home or substance abuse; however these issues along with substance abuse were found as significant factors (Kelly, Lynch, Donovan, Clark, 2001). Substance Use Adolescents who are depressed and have low self-esteem are at risk for developing issues with alcohol and drugs. The adolescent may feel that they are escaping the problems they may be facing by numbing themselves with alcohol and with drugs. Most teens start out using marijuana and drinking alcohol. Some are able to experiment and stop or continue to occasionally use without significant problems. There are others who will develop a dependency and possibly begin using more dangerous drugs. Some physical warning signs of teenage alcohol and drug use include red glazed eyes, fatigue and a cough that last for a long period of time. Emotional signs include sudden change in their mood, depression, low self-esteem and no interest in anything. The youth may start arguments with their family and begin breaking rules at home. In school they may have a lot of absents from school, have a negative attitude about school and begin getting lower grades. The adolescent may begin having problems with the law and start hanging around different crowd of friends. Conclusion Adolescence is a period that most children look forward to. It is also a time when a lot of changes occur. Many adolescents go through a period where they are pressured by their peers. They want to fit in with their peer group so sometimes they may do things just to fit in with the group. No child wants to go through ridicule by their peers and be considered the outsider. During this transition period the adolescents are going through so many different changes. They are trying to find out who there are and want to be. That can be difficult for the adolescent when they are also trying to fit in with their peers. Adolescence is a serious problem that is taking the lives of many children. All children want to feel that they are wanted and loved. Parents have to be aware of what is going on with their children. The love and support should start at home. There should be an open line of communication between the parents and the children. Most mistakes are made when the adolescent is confused and tries to make decisions on their own without proper guidance. Most children want the approval of the parents. An adolescent is more likely to develop low self-esteem and depression when there is no support from the parents. Once a child begins to develop lows self-esteem and depression the door is open for various things to happen. It is imperative that the parents take on a more active role in noticing what is going on with the adolescent. There are sometimes many signs that the adolescent may be displaying but because the parent is not noticing what is going on with the child they may not pick up on those signs. Parenting teens can be challenging for many parents. An important thing for parents to remember when they discipline their children is to give them a consequence that is appropriate for the behavior displayed. They should also give the child positive reinforcement for good behaviors. When a child gets punished and never gets any praise for the good things they do it can make the child feel worthless and inadequate. Parents should also not force the child to follow a path that they wanted to follow. They should not try to relive their teenage years through their children. If the parent ever suspects that the child is depressed about something they should listen to the concerns.

Humanistic Theory According To Abraham Maslow Education Essay

Humanistic Theory According To Abraham Maslow Education Essay This is the psychological perspective popularized by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow that emphasizes the human capacity for choice and growth. The overriding assumption is that humans have free will and are not simply fated to behave in specific ways or are zombies blindly reacting to their environment. The humanists stated that the subject matter or psychology is the human subjective experience of the world how human experience things, why they experience things, etc. Humanistic psychologists look at human behavior not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving. Humanistic psychologists believe that an individuals behavior is connected to his inner feelings and self-image. Unlike the behaviorists, humanistic psychologists believe that humans are not solely the product of their environment. Rather humanistic psychologists study human meanings, understandings, and experiences involved in growing, teaching and learning. They emphasize characteristics that are shared by all human beings such as love, grief, caring and self worth. Humanistic psychologists study how people are influenced by their self-perceptions and the person meanings attached to their experiences. Humanistic psychologists are not primarily concerned with instinctual drives, responses to external stimuli, or past experiences. Rather, they consider conscious choices, responses to internal needs, and current circumstances to be important in shaping human behavior. Humanistic theory is based upon the idea that everyone has the potential to make a contribution to society and be a good and likeable person if their needs are fulfilled. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers led the humanistic theory movement and it was Maslow who developed the pyramid of needs. Maslow believed that fulfilling the needs in the correct order would allow individuals to become self actualised, fully able persons. So only after the basic physiological needs such as food, shelter, warmth are met can individuals move on to the next stages; the need to feel secure, to be loved and accepted etc. Maslow developed his theory not by studying mentally ill patients, which is where much psychological knowledge had derived from up to that point, but by studying healthy, productive, creative individuals lives and careers. He concluded that there were common characteristics which were shared by successful individuals including self acceptance, openness and respect for other individuals. Carl Rogers felt that, in addition to Maslows hierarchical needs, in order for a person to develop fully that they needed to be in an environment which would provide them with genuineness, acceptance and empathy and that without such a nourishing environment healthy personalities and relationships would be unable to flourish. Humanistic theory is basically about the development of the individual. It was very popular in the 1970s but seems to be slightly out of favour today as Western nations have generally moved slightly towards the political right and there is more emphasis on conforming and contributing to, a slightly more conservative society. Of course, whilst humanistic theory does have a very strong focus on the individual, it is based upon the belief that well developed, successful individuals are best placed to make a positive contribution to society. Humanistic theory suggests that the achievement of happiness is frequently dependent upon achieving, or giving yourself the licence to, investigate and pursue your own deepest interests and desires. Humanistic Theory according to Abraham Maslow Abraham Maslow has been considered the Father of Humanistic Psychology. Maslows theory is based on the notion that experience is the primary phenomenon in the study of human learning and behavior. He placed emphasis on choice, creativity, values, self-realization, all distinctively human qualities, and believed that meaningfulness and subjectivity were more important than objectivity. For Maslow, development of human potential, dignity and worth are ultimate concerns. Maslow rejected behaviorist views and Freuds theories on the basis of their reductionistic approaches. He felt Freuds view of human nature was negative, and he valued goodness, nobility and reason. Also, Freud concentrated on the mentally ill, and Maslow was interested in healthy human psychology. Maslow and his colleagues came to refer to their movement as third force psychology, the first two being psychoanalysis and behaviorism. The third force is based on philosophies of existentialism and humanism. He is famous for proposing that human motivation is based on a hierarchy of needs. The lowest level of needs are physiological and survival needs such as hunger and thirst. Further levels include belonging and love, self-esteem, and self-actualization. From Maslows perspective, the drive to learn is intrinsic. The purpose of learning is to bring about self-actualization, and the goals of educators should include this process. Learning contributes to psychological health. Maslow proposed other goals of learning, including discovery of ones vocation or destiny; knowledge of values; realization of life as precious, acquisition of peak experiences, sense of accomplishment, satisfaction of psychological needs, awareness of beauty and wonder in life, impulse control, developing choice, and grappling with the critical existential problems of life. Maslows theory of learning highlighted the differences between experiential knowledge and spectator knowledge. He regarded spectator, or scientific, knowledge to be inferior to experiential. Properties of experiential learning include: immersion in the experience without awareness of the flow of time momentarily not being self-conscious transcending time, place, history, and society by being beyond and unaffected by them merging with that which is being experienced being innocently receptive, as a child, uncritical suspending temporarily evaluation of the experience in terms of its importance or unimportance lack of inhibition, subsiding of selfishness, fear, defensiveness experience unfolds naturally without striving or effort suspending criticism, validation, and evaluation of the experience trusting experience by passively letting it happen; letting go of preconceived notions disengaging from logical, analytical, and rational activities Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Physiological Needs They consist of needs for oxygen, food, water, and a relatively constant body temperature. They are the strongest needs because if a person were deprived of all needs, the physiological ones would come first in the persons search for satisfaction. We need these for basic survival. Maslows theory said that you need to satisfy first the basic needs like Physiological needs and Safety needs, to get motivation to truly attain the higher-level needs like social needs and esteem. Safety Needs When all physiological needs are satisfied and no longer dominating our thoughts and behaviors, we progress to safety needs. A persons attention turns to safety and security for himself/ herself to be free from the threat of physical and emotional harm. Such needs might be fulfilled by: Living in a safe area Medical insurance Job security Financial reserves These include the need for security. We often have little awareness of these, except in times of emergency disorganization in social structure (war time, terrorist acts, domestic violence, natural disasters). Maslows hierarchy said that, if a person feels that he or she is in harms way, higher needs would not be attained that quickly. Belongingness Love needs When a person has attained the lower level like Physiological and Safety needs, higher level needs become important, the first of which are social needs. Social needs are those related to interaction with other people like: Need for friends Need for belonging Need to give and receive love When safety and physiological needs are met, we desire, to be loved by others and to belong. Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness alienation. This involves both giving receiving love, affection the sense of belonging (family, friends, social groups). Esteem Needs After the first 3 classes of needs are met, the needs for esteem can become dominant. These involve needs for both self-esteem for the esteem a person gets from others. Esteem needs may be classified as internal or external. Self respect and achievement are some examples of Internal esteem needs. Social status and recognition are some examples of External esteem needs. Some esteem needs are: Self-respect Achievement Attention Recognition Reputation Humans have a need for a stable, firmly based, high level of self-respect, respect from others. When these needs are satisfied, the person feels self-confident valuable as a person in the world. When these needs are frustrated, the person feels inferior, weak, helpless worthless. Need for Self-Actualization When all of the foregoing needs are satisfied, then only then are the needs for self-actualization activated. The last necessity is the Self Actualization or Fulfillment Needs. This includes purposed, personal growth, and the full realization of ones potentials. This is the point where people start becoming fully functional, acting purely on their own volition, and having a healthy personality. Maslow describes self-actualization as a persons need to be do that which the person was born to do. A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write. These needs make themselves felt in signs of restlessness (person feels edgy, tense, lacking something, restless.) The person must be true to his or her own nature, be what you are meant to be. Maslow believed that very few people reach the state of self-actualization. Although we all have the need to move toward the goal of reaching our full potential, other needs may get in the way. Misconceptions about Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Maslow himself agreed that his 5-level need hierarchy oversimplifies the relationship between needs behavior. The order of needs makes sense for most of us, though there may be some notable exceptions (e.g., some people need to satisfy their needs for self-esteem respect before they can enter a love relationship). We may so desire fulfilling a need that we sacrifice others below it. For example, a person with a passion for acting might sacrifice his or her hunger, which is one of physiological needs, to pursue a career in acting even though the payment is barely enough and struggling to live while trying to make a name for themselves in the business. Maslow was interested in studying people who are psychologically healthy. These were people who had become self-actualized. He interviewed these people to see how they were able to satisfy all of the needs on the hierarchy. He conducted what he called a holistic analysis in which he sought general impressions from his efforts to understand these people in depth. What are Self-Actualized People Like? They tend to accept themselves for what they are. They freely admit their weaknesses, but do make attempts to improve. They dont worry excessively over the mistakes they have made, but instead focus on improving. They respect feel good about themselves. However, this self love is healthy not narcissistic. They are less restricted by cultural norms than the average person. They feel free to express their desires, even if contrary to the popular view. These people have frequent peak experiences, in which time place are transcended, anxieties are lost, a unity of self with the universe is obtained (birth of a child, marriage, deciding to go to school). Humanistic Theory according to Carl Rogers Carl Rogers was a central figure in the humanistic movement of personality psychology. He lived from 1902 till 1987. In the span of his life, he was an instrumental figure in the understanding of the individual as a central point of the study of human potential. He believed that within each individual lies an innate desire and motivation to learn in order to progress to a higher level of achievement and self-development. Both Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers work became popularly known in the mid-1980s as the human potential movement. This categorization of their work became the ground where psychologists used their conceptual framework to study the impact on ones personality as well as in the field of education, among others. One of his famous quotes epitomized his conceptual framework, The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change. This quotation reflected his theoretical conception that people must be able to create a learning curve that will enable them to change towards a new chapter in their self-development. According to Rogers (1951), people can be tuned to learn to unlock themselves from an environment that constricts their potential because of preconceived notions of how they should be. Rogers believed that people who are restricted by their perception of the environment in which they exist in have a debilitating effect on how they may view their potential. However, if an individual is able to overcome the faulty perception(s) of the environment, and learn to acknowledge the potential to grow, then the individual may initiate steps as well as processes towards this end. Rogers strongly advocated that a growing individual is on where he or she is aware of a progress of ongoing internal change, and an acceptance of oneself. Rogers further emphasized that individuals will inevitably experience positive development if they are exposed to supportive environmental condition. By his understanding of supportive environmental condition, Rogers believed that social factors contribute to positive development. Rogers (1982), quoted by Pfaffenberger. A, 2007, p 508, emphatically stated that in his opinion, all humans will display compassion and cooperation if they are provided with the appropriate environmental supports. Therefore, Rogers was of the view that learning in a supportive environmental condition was crucial to the development of oneself. In a much later publication, Rogers (1982) also placed emphasis on growth-enhancing relationships that facilitate inner awareness and congruence which allowed motivation of effort towards a certain objective. Rogers postulated that relationships that provide for an awareness of oneself in differing situations can lead to personal growth. For example, if a child learns that he or she is nurtured in a caring family and with acceptance (relationship factor), he or she is more adapted to see situational variables (such as studies, or skill based acquisition) as motivation towards achieving objectives. However, it is notable that this presumption of Rogers may be faulty because it is argued that situational variables can also work to the detriment of the individual. In contrast, Abraham Maslow (1968) explicitly acknowledged that difficult circumstances can also be growth-enhancing. Much research had been conducted to investigate how growth-enhancing relationships and situational variables may trigger different affect. One of the more definitive studies was conducted by L. King (2001), (quoted by Pfaffenberger. A, 2007, p 510). In this study, King investigated the influence of challenging and limiting life events on personality development as measured by Loevingers (1976) SCT Sentence Completion Test. The study concluded that cognitive abilities and personality structures interact with life circumstances, and that the nature of this interaction is relevant to whether growth occurs (p, 511). This study also supports Rollo Mays (1958) theory of existential therapy, where clients are taught to constructively work with their limitations and to create freedom so that they can choose values, meanings, and their levels of commitment. Theoretical orientations of Rogers humanistic concept: The humanistic orientation of Rogers theory can be essentially encapsulated using two (2) theories. The two (2) theories are the person-centred personality theory and the self-determination theory. Person-centred theory For almost fifty (50) years since his earlier publication of A Theory of Therapy, Personality and Interpersonal Relationships, developed under the Client-centred Framework, Rogers (1959), the person-centred movement and client-centred approach towards counselling and psycho-therapy are also generalized to other fields of knowledge. The crux of the person-centred personality theory is the assumption that human beings have an inherent tendency towards growth, development, and optimal functioning. According to Rogers (1959), quoted by Patterson and Joseph, 2007, p 120, the person-centred approach offers a dynamic, process-focused account of personality development and functioning,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ What this means is that, every human is born with an innate motivational drive, known as the actualizing tendency. Actualizing tendency is defined by Rogers (1959) as, the inherent tendency of the organism to develop all of its capacities in ways which serve to maintain or enhance the organismà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦development towards autonomy and away from heteronomy, or control by external forces. (p 196) (Quoted by Patterson and Joseph, 2007, p 120) Every individual possesses some capacity that allows him or her to realize the inherent potential within. One of the key implications of Rogers actualizing tendency lies in how individuals undertake to bring out the potential. According to Rogers, the impact of the environmental conditions is a determining factor. Under favourable social-environmental conditions, Rogers proposed that the individuals self-concept actualizes in accordance with his or her organismic valuing process (OVP). The OVP refers to the evaluation of experiences in a manner consistent with ones intrinsic needs: Rogers summed it by declaring that, the human infant is seen as having an inherent motivational system and a regulatory system (the valuing process) which by its feedback keeps the organism on the beam of satisfying his motivational needs. (Rogers, 1959, p 222). Even from young, every individual is keen to fulfil some of his or her intrinsic needs; those that are not dependent on externalities or due to any prior learning. An example is how children recognize the importance of exploration whilst learning and/or playing. In the process, children discover more about themselves, about the environment, about others and about life in general. As children learn to correlate these experiences into their organization of self-concept, they begin to instil a sense of their OVP learning to evaluate the experiences based on their intrinsic needs. The concept of OVP is important to the central theme of Rogers theoretical framework. Important to Rogers understanding is his (1957) terminology of a fully functioning person an ideal of autonomous psychological functioning that occurs when self-actualization is organismically congruent. This concept is similar to Maslow (1970) and presupposes that individuals must firstly satisfy their most fundamental needs. In his later works, Rogers (1963 and 1964) proposed that the attitudes and behaviours of more fully functioning individuals are consistent with certain internally generated value directions. The value directions include moving toward increasingly socialized goals, where sensitivity to others and acceptance of others is positively valued and where deep relationships are positively valued, and moving in the direction of greater openness to experience, where the person comes to value an openness to all of his or her inner and outer experience ( Rogers, 1964, p 166). Rogers acknowledged that conditions or the social-environmental factors are not always ideal for the emergence of a fully functioning person. Situations like this give rise to a state of incongruence. There is a state of tension and internal confusion. When an unfavourable social environment is present, the actualizing tendency is thwarted, Rogers (1959). The actualizing tendency is compromised by the conditions of worth. Conditions of worth are conceptualized as the values that are introjected by the individual from his or her social interactions and that stem from the developing infants need for positive regard from significant others in his or her social environment. In this respect, if an infant receives positive regard that is conditional, then he or she learns to evaluate experiences according to whether or not they satisfy the externally imposed conditions. As the child develops, the conditions of worth are introjected, meaning that they act as an internalized social order and replacing organismic valuing as the principle governing the individuals attitudes and behaviour. Self-Determination Theory This is a contemporary organismic theory formulated by Deci, E.L and Ryan, R. M, (1985, 1991, 2000) that focused on motivation and personality functioning that emphasizes the central rule of the individuals inner resources for personality development and behavioural self-regulation. This theory is similar to the person-centred theory in that self-determination theory views the individual as an active growth-oriented organism, attempting to actualize his or her potentialities within the environment in which he or she functions. A summary of the self-determination theory carries the following elements: Human beings are inherently proactive; have potential to act on and master both the inner forces and the external, Human beings, as self-organizing systems, have an inherent tendency toward growth, development, and integrated functioning, For people to actualize their inherent nature and potentials, people require nutrients from the social environment. Adapted from Deci and Vansteenkiste, 2004, pp 23-24, (quoted by Patterson and Joseph, 2007, p 124) In self-determination theory, one of the major sources of motivation and/or OVP is the recognition whether the behaviour is intrinsically or extrinsically motivated. Intrinsic motivation/regulation is equivalent to acting in accordance with OVP. At the same time, there are three (3) subcategories of extrinsic motivation that may account for extrinsic regulations. Perceived locus of causality/ Locus of evaluation describe the individuals perception as to whether the motivation is located internally or externally = person-centred construct of locus of evaluation (Rogers, 1959), Basic needs/ Necessary and Sufficient conditions need for competence, relatedness, and autonomy; essential for facilitating psychological growth and integration, social development, and personal well-being. Competence refers to our need to control outcomes, and to be efficacious in our environment, autonomy refers to the individuals attempts to be a self-determining agent of his or her own attitudes and behaviour, while relatedness describes the urge to be in relationship with others, caring for others, and being cared for by others. Self-determination theory hypothesized that, for the individual to experience an ongoing sense of integrity and well-being, each of these three basic needs must be met throughout the life-span. This hypothesis supports the contention that certain, social-environmental conditions nurture self-regulation based on organismic valuing and lead to a process of growth and change in the direction of healthy functioning and psychological well-being. Contingent Self-Esteem/Conditional Self-Regard refers to the influence of people viewed as significant others (Deci Ryan, 1995; Ryan Brown, 2003). This is similar to the person-centred view of conditional self-regard. There exists a great amount of similarities between the person-centred and the self-determination theory. Both theories postulate that the path to psychological well-being involves following an innate guidance mechanism. This understanding is important to the field of learning because each individual has a different subset of characteristics that may promote and/or hinder learning. In this respect, knowing what triggers effective learning, providing conducive environment, taking into account an individuals OVP, social factors, as well as structuring the curriculum are necessary to enhance the optimal level of learning. Humanistic theory proposed understanding humans as a state of being, a dynamic and ever-changing situation where each individual is seen as always striving to fulfil the potential within. APPLICATION IN EDUCATION In the field of education, humanistic theory grants educators important conceptual understanding about the role of learners. From Maslow and Rogers, educators have a better insight into the elements of learners style and dimensions of absorption of knowledge and utilization of skills and abilities. In his paper, Humanistic Self-Instruction, the author, R. Craig Hogan (1978) suggested that instructors/educators should demonstrate their appreciation and value of the individual learners by viewing them as objects that have unique and specific needs. The negative implications of treating the learners as empty jars or blank slates is that many instructors/educators feel that learners are passive receivers only; filling the learners as the instructors/educators wish. This negative implications are serious to warrant attention as instructors/educators may force learners to be receptive and have no obligation whatsoever to consider his or her individuality and autonomy in learning. According to Chris Argyris, in his book, Intervention Theory and Method: A Behavioural Science View, 1970, pp 15-16, we see them (learners) and they see themselves as autonomous, responsible individuals committed to the direction the intervention is taking, making free choices based on sufficient valid information about the means and ends. It is a common error that most instructors/educators as well as educational institutions assume that learners need to be instructed as to their learning. This assumption works on the premise that effective learning must follow certain syllabus, instructional method(s) and assessment grading. The education system in most countries is mostly rigid; built along the tried and tested formula of the existing structure of instructed teaching. In cases such as these, the classroom may contain students of varying levels of interest, self-management skill, independence versus dependent minded, industrious versus sluggard and bright as well as lesser bright ones. The methodology of teaching would be uniform across all All are fed the same the same fare at the same rate in the same way. The classroom atmosphere suppresses individuality, autonomy, and freedom by stifling students initiative to manage their own learning at every level of responsibility. Self-directed learning is minimized (Hogan, 1978, pp 262-263) Combination of group contingencies and cooperative learning in adopting humanistic principles The conceptual understanding of group contingencies is that it is primarily derived from behavioural learning theory (Bandura, 1969). The theory behind group contingencies is that a group is rewarded if it collectively meets some standard; and the members of the group apply social sanctions to one another to encourage group members to do what is necessary to ensure that the group will be successful (Slavin 1987). Group contingencies are also workable if the reward/sanction is used in tangent to the efforts of individual member of the group. This creates a situation where each individual makes him or herself liable and responsible for the success of the group. In this, the humanist tendencies are activated in each of the individual. Cooperative learning refers to a set of instructional methods in which students are encouraged or required to work together on academic tasks. Cooperative learning methods may be as simple as having students sit together to discuss or help one another with classroom tasks. Rewards may be offered; as in group contingencies but are not essential (Slavin, 1987, p 31). An aspect of cooperative learning that is vital is the element of peer interaction. The quality of the peer interaction determines the extent of the learning and the success of the completion of tasks. The effectiveness of cooperative learning is best seen in two (2) studies (Hulten DeVries, 1976; Slavin, 1980) which found that providing recognition to student teams based on the sum of their individual learning increased student achievement even if students were not permitted to interact in class. In the same vein, a German study, (Huber, Bogatzki, Winter, 1982) found that providing students an opportunity to study together did not increase their achievement, but adding group rewards based on individual learning did lead to enhanced achievement. (Slavin, 1987, p 33) Therefore, the researches listed above clearly supports the position that cooperative reward structures, or group contingencies, based on individual learning of group members are necessary for the success of these methods in improving student achievement. Peer interaction is also found to be important to the success of cooperative strategies. [Webb, (1985), Peterson Janicki, (1979)] Students are motivated to engage in elaborated, cognitively involving explanations and discussions if the learning of their group mates is made important by the provision of group rewards based on individual learning performances (Slavin, 1983). One of the important findings of Slavins study has found positive effects of cooperative learning non race relations, attitudes, self-esteem and other non-academic outcomes (1983). Humanistic understanding of education is not specifically confined to the individual per se but rather emphasizes on how learners/students are able to gain the right concept of themselves and pursue towards growth. In this, cooperative learning has a major role if the outcomes point to similar outcomes. Humanistic theory and learning in Adult Education Humanistic application is most seen in adult learning. For most adults, the adage of more is caught than taught is true. According to a paper presentation by Jackson, Sanetta. George, Cooks, Alyce; Hackney, Darwyn; Stevens, Claude; and Zumwait, Dave, (2002), this adage refers to the informal and incidental learning that takes place on a daily basis and in most situations. In these situations, the learning revolves around human relationships. It is common knowledge that the psychological learning environment of adults and non-adults are significantly different. By virtue of adults ability to make decisions regarding their personal growth and development; especially in learning, humanistic theory provides for a deeper insight into understanding the psychological learning environment of adults. The psychological learning environment is defined as creating a climate in which both learners and teachers are able to engage in genuine exchange. (Jackson, et.al) For teachers, this means that learners need to feel a sense of welcome and at ease, attending to the fears and doubts that adult

Data Prediction Strategy for ROSSMANN

Data Prediction Strategy for ROSSMANN Our task in this project is to predict 6 weeks daily sales for 1115 Rossmann stores located across Germany. Why is this important? This will help the stores maximize their profit by focusing on specific aspects to improve and help in inventory management to reduce operational costs. Missing data in Rossmann was identified initially. After fine tuning the data, we did some statistical analysis on it to explore the depth of data and find the major elements which are changing our values. We made sure that our results are not biased. Analysis such as Principle Component Analysis and Correlation Analysis has helped us know, in detail, about the data elements which are important to consider when predicting sales. We have validated the conclusions our group made in the previous presentation (exploratory analysis) about the data through the results of statistics. Many other conclusions can be drawn by just looking at the analysis in the following sections of this report. Furthermore, we did linear regression to see the relation between customers and sales. As expected sales increased linearly with the increase in the number of customers. However, it performed poorly for other variables due to the non-linearity of the data. In House Prices, there are a 79 factors over which we have to analyze the house prices. In order to first categorize the important factors influencing house prices, correlation analysis is done. Linear Regression and Step wise regression is also done to determine the important features for house prices in general, and in stepwise fashion. ANOVA was done for the neighborhood and house style to check whether the mean or individual house styles and neighborhoods was different or not. The standard hypothesis resulted false and it was displayed that individual neighborhoods and house-styles hold different average selling prices. The tests exhibited that 2.5 story houses were the priciest in house styles while 1 story houses were most popular. The NorthRidge neighborhood has the most expensive houses as per ANOVA, while North Ames comes out to be the most popular and one of the cheapest neighborhoods. Data prediction strategy for ROSSMANN (for next phase): To choose our prediction method for Rossmann we considered a number of factors. First being the size of the data. The Rossmann data is extremely dense with multiple variables. Second was which variables to use for prediction. For this we did a correlation analysis on minitab and found that customers, sales and promo were the most important hence we considered them. Third the data provides no customer information (just ids). Given the above factors we decided to use gradient boosting method for prediction (Jain, Menon, Chandra, n.d.). Although our model improves on accuracy the main tradeoffs are reduced speed and user interpretability. We will ignore the values for the days when the stores are closed to refine the prediction. Rossmann Data Statistical Analysis Strategy: Minitab was deployed to do statistical analysis such as Box Plot and Quantile Ranges, Histograms, Principle component analysis, Correlation analysis. Matlab was used to do linear regression of Sales Vs Customers. Statistical analysis was done to validate the hypothesis made in the Visualization Project and to explore the data in detail. House Price Data: Statistical Analysis Strategy: Minitab was used to do statistical analysis such as Stepwise Linear Regression, Correlation analysis, Residual Plots and Value Plots This report first covers the Rossmann Data exploration and then House Price exploration are presented. MISSING DATA: Table 1 shows the values of head to head analysis of data sets given in Rossmann. As shown, Store data in Test sheet is not covering the range of stores covered in Train. There are 11 records which does not give any information of whether those stores are open or they are closed. Figure 1 shows that there are clearly less number of days registered in year 2014 after the 27th week. The reason for this is the missing values of 180 store IDs from 27th week to 52nd week of 2014. Figure 1. Year wise trend of Data Registered Table 1 Head to Head Analysis of Data Sets Number of Unique Values Unique Values NA Value Quantity Field Name TRAIN TEST TRAIN TEST TRAIN TEST Store 1115 856 Day of Week 7 7 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 Date 942 48 Sales 21734 Customers 4086 Open 2 2 1, 0 1, 0, NA 11 Promo 2 2 1,0 0 State Holiday 5 2 0, a, b, c 0, a School Holiday 2 2 1,0 1,0 Missing data set is assumed to be unrelated to actual values and may not be important. The data size is also smaller than the original data set, so ignoring the missing data will not lead to a biased result. Therefore, we considered missing data to be missing at random (Sazontyev Lim, n.d.). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Quartile Ranges Customers Figure 2. Box Plot of Customers Sales Figure 3. Box Plot of Sales Histograms Figure 4 and Figure 5 shows that our data is slightly right skewed. The frequency of customers and frequency of sales are higher when their values are low. Figure 4. Histogram of Customers Figure 5. Histogram of Sales Principle Component Analysis Figure 6 shows the results of PCA in form of Scree Plot. We observe that the major effect on sales is due to customers (Component 1). Second influencing factor is the Number of stores which are open (Component 2). Promotions (Component 3) are influencing our sales but to a very low extent. We will also prove this via correlation analysis in coming sections. Figure 6. Scree plot of Train Data set Correlation Analysis Figure 7 shows the results of correlation analysis of the Rossmann Data. Cellular colors represent the intensity of correlations between the components. In the later sections, this correlation analysis is used to verify the results presented in visualization project. Following are the prominent correlations: Table 2 Major Correlation Results Positive Correlated Components Correlation Value Negative Correlated Components Correlation Value Customers Sales +0.895 Sales Days of week -0.462 Store Open Customers +0.617 Customers Days of week -0.386 Store Open Sales +0.678 Stores Open Days of Week -0.529 Promo Sales +0.452 Promo 2 Competition Distance -0.146 Promo Stores Open +0.295 Competition Distance Sales -0.027 Sales School Holidays +0.085 Promotions School Holidays -0.067 Correlation Matrices: VERIFICATION OF VISUALIZATION RESULTS: Claim 1: Sales decrease over the week. Statistics Confirmation: This claim is verified through the correlation analysis. Correlation results of Sales Vs Day of Week is -0.462 (Table 2 and Figure 7). Which clearly shows the negative correlation between these entities. Figure 8. Day wise sales trend Claim 2: Not much difference in sales when schools are open or close.Claim 3: There are more Promotions when schools are open. Statistical Confirmation: Correlation between Sales and School Holidays is +0.085 (Table 2 and Figure 7). As seen in Figure 9, sales when schools are closed is slightly greater than the sales when schools are open. This slight difference is proven by the small value of the correlation between these components. Also, there are more promotions when schools are open (Figure 9). This is confirmed by the negative correlation of -0.067 (Table 2 and Figure 7) between promotions and school holidays. Figure 9. Sales and Promo Comparison on School Holidays Claim 3: Sales increase with promotions but decreases with increase in competition distance. Statistical Confirmation: Promotions and Sales are positively correlated by +0.452 (Table 2 and Figure 7). This positive correlation can be seen in the claim we made in last project (Figure 10). Orange peaks are the sales when the promotions are there. And mostly they are above the blue peaks. However, from Figure 10, we also observe that with increase in competition distance, our sales decreases. And this is validated by the negative correlation of -0.027 between sales and competition distance. Figure 10. Sales Trend with Competition Distance Linear Regression Linear regression results in Figure 11 (obtained from Matlab) and Residual analysis results in Figure 12 (obtained from Minitab) show how sales is regressing with respect to the customers. The R2 value obtained is 0.8, which depicts that our linear regression is close to the data. Linear regression equation and regression coefficients is shown below: B1 = 8.5238 à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   regression coefficient/slope b1 = 1.077 and b2 = 0.0074 à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Regression Equation (y = 1.077 + 0.0074x) R2 = 0.8005 Figure 11. Linear Regression Figure 12. Residual Plot STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Regression Analysis à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Regression Equation SalePrice = -323176 200.5 MSSubClass 116.1 LotFrontage + 0.545 LotArea + 18697 OverallQual + 5227 OverallCond + 317.0 YearBuilt + 120.6 YearRemodAdd + 31.60 MasVnrArea + 17.39 BsmtFinSF1 + 8.36 BsmtFinSF2 + 5.01 BsmtUnfSF + 45.91 1stFlrSF + 46.68 2ndFlrSF + 34.2 LowQualFinSF + 8980 BsmtFullBath + 2490 BsmtHalfBath + 5390 FullBath 1119 HalfBath 10233 BedroomAbvGr 21931 KitchenAbvGr + 5440 TotRmsAbvGrd + 4375 Fireplaces 49.1 GarageYrBlt + 16788 GarageCars + 6.5 GarageArea + 21.5 WoodDeckSF 2.3 OpenPorchSF + 7.2 EnclosedPorch + 34.6 3SsnPorch + 58.0 ScreenPorch 61.3 PoolArea 3.85 MiscVal 224 MoSold 254 YrSold à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ · Regression Equation (STEPWISE) SalePrice = -714877 202.0 MSSubClass 106.7 LotFrontage + 0.545 LotArea + 18858 OverallQual + 6073 OverallCond + 326.0 YearBuilt + 31.29 MasVnrArea + 11.93 BsmtFinSF1 + 5.72 TotalBsmtSF + 46.77 GrLivArea + 9245 BsmtFullBath + 6171 FullBath 10759 BedroomAbvGr 22330 KitchenAbvGr + 5290 TotRmsAbvGrd + 4065 Fireplaces + 18107 GarageCars + 21.04 WoodDeckSF + 53.0 ScreenPorch 59.7 PoolArea Correlation Analysis SalePrice MSSubClass LotFrontage LotArea OverallQual MSSubClass -0.084 0.001 LotFrontage 0.352 -0.386 0.000 0.000 LotArea 0.264 -0.140 0.426 0.000 0.000 0.000 OverallQual 0.791 0.033 0.252 0.106 0.000 0.213 0.000 0.000 OverallCond -0.078 -0.059 -0.059 -0.006 -0.092 0.003 0.023 0.040 0.830 0.000 YearBuilt 0.523 0.028 0.123 0.014 0.572 0.000 0.288 0.000 0.587 0.000 YearRemodAdd 0.507 0.041 0.089 0.014 0.551 0.000 0.121 0.002 0.599 0.000 MasVnrArea 0.477 0.023 0.193 0.104 0.412 0.000 0.382 0.000 0.000 0.000 BsmtFinSF1 0.386 -0.070 0.234 0.214 0.240 0.000 0.008 0.000 0.000 0.000 BsmtFinSF2 -0.011 -0.066 0.050 0.111 -0.059 0.664 0.012 0.084 0.000 0.024 BsmtUnfSF 0.214 -0.141 0.133 -0.003 0.308 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.920 0.000 TotalBsmtSF 0.614 -0.239 0.392 0.261 0.538 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 1stFlrSF 0.606 -0.252 0.457 0.299 0.476 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 2ndFlrSF 0.319 0.308 0.080 0.051 0.295 0.000 0.000 0.005 0.051 0.000 LowQualFinSF -0.026 0.046 0.038 0.005 -0.030 0.328 0.076 0.183 0.855 0.245 GrLivArea 0.709 0.075 0.403 0.263 0.593 0.000 0.004 0.000 0.000 0.000 BsmtFullBath 0.227 0.003 0.101 0.158 0.111 0.000 0.894 0.000 0.000 0.000 BsmtHalfBath -0.017 -0.002 -0.007 0.048 -0.040 0.520 0.929 0.802 0.066 0.125 FullBath 0.561 0.132 0.199 0.126 0.551 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 HalfBath 0.284 0.177 0.054 0.014 0.273 0.000 0.000 0.064 0.586 0.000 BedroomAbvGr 0.168 -0.023 0.263 0.120 0.102 0.000 0.371 0.000 0.000 0.000 KitchenAbvGr -0.136 0.282 -0.006 -0.018 -0.184 0.000 0.000 0.834 0.497 0.000 TotRmsAbvGrd 0.534 0.040 0.352 0.190 0.427 0.000 0.123 0.000 0.000 0.000 Fireplaces 0.467 -0.046 0.267 0.271 0.397 0.000 0.082 0.000 0.000 0.000 GarageYrBlt 0.486 0.085 0.070 -0.025 0.548 0.000 0.002 0.018 0.355 0.000 GarageCars 0.640 -0.040 0.286 0.155 0.601 0.000 0.126 0.000 0.000 0.000 GarageArea 0.623 -0.099 0.345 0.180 0.562 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 WoodDeckSF 0.324 -0.013 0.089 0.172 0.239 0.000 0.631 0.002 0.000 0.000 OpenPorchSF 0.316 -0.006 0.152 0.085 0.309 0.000 0.816 0.000 0.001 0.000 EnclosedPorch -0.129 -0.012 0.011 -0.018 -0.114 0.000 0.646 0.711 0.484 0.000 3SsnPorch 0.045 -0.044 0.070 0.020 0.030 0.089 0.094 0.015 0.436 0.246 ScreenPorch 0.111 -0.026 0.041 0.043 0.065 0.000 0.320 0.152 0.099 0.013 PoolArea 0.092 0.008 0.206 0.078 0.065 0.000 0.752 0.000 0.003 0.013 MiscVal -0.021 -0.008 0.003 0.038 -0.031 0.418 0.769 0.907 0.146 0.230 MoSold

Whooping Cough :: Whooping Cough Health Medical Essays

Whooping Cough These days whooping cough, also known as Pertussis, is not a serious disease because there are vaccinations available to prevent its occurrence. However, when I was five years old a vaccination was available but neither my siblings nor myself had been vaccinated against it and due to its highly contagious nature, I contracted whooping cough from my older sisters. Both of my older sisters had whooping cough, but they were lucky and managed to get well fairly quickly. Unfortunately, they passed it on to me and I suffered much more from it because I was a few years younger than them both. It started out as just a runny nose and a slight cough, which most people would attribute to the common cold or the flu. These symptoms persisted for about a ten days and my mom thought that I was getting better. After ten days she finally allowed me back outside to play with my friends even though I still wasn't feeling well. This unfortunately only made my whooping cough worse and that night I woke up coughing so hard I thought my lungs were going to explode. These coughing fits would only last for a few minutes but they were harsh and I was struggling to get enough air to breathe. My mom heard me coughing and came running from her bedroom to see what was going on. She comforted me for a few minutes until the coughing had subsided and I had finally fallen back asleep. However, an hour or so later I woke up again with another coughing fit, this one even worse than the first. My coughs were followed by a whooping noise in my lungs because I was struggling so hard to get enough oxygen into my lungs. After about three days of this my whooping cough was not getting any better and my parents started to get worried. My two older sisters had not suffered as much as I had and they decided to call my doctor. He came to our house that evening and as soon as he saw me and heard me cough he told my parents I needed to go to hospital that night. I was terrified. I had never been to a hospital; well not since I was born anyway.

How Media Influences Women Essay -- essays research papers

We, the American public are hit from every imaginable direction every waking moment of our lives by slick advertising agencies trying to coerce us into or tell us why we need to buy their products. Their products will make us happier or thinner, or prettier. The advertisers often use the picture of youth and vitality so that the public will associate that particular product or service with being young and beautiful. They do this because of course in our society youth and beauty are to be coveted. Everyone would like to be forever young and beautiful or for as long as they can anyway. So, everyone is trying to look younger or wants to look younger. The things that we can associate with youth are obvious. We see the picture of youth and beauty everywhere. Look in any magazine, Watch TV, see billboards, everywhere you turn we see young, beautiful people. Youth is synonymous with beauty so little wonder why when you read this bumper sticker â€Å"few women admit their age, few men act i t† a lot of women won’t divulge their age. To do so would be to admit they are perhaps older than they look or if we were to know their real age we might say something (hopefully to ourselves) like â€Å"jeez, she looks a lot older than that!†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The media is really the one at work that shapes a lot of our attitudes and beliefs. They might not necessarily be healthy attitudes and beliefs but they are the ones that have been shoved in front of our faces from the day we were born. Believe me, they know how powerful and influential they (the media) can be. The most disturbing thing to me about advertising is the ideal female body they use. It is absolutely tight, contained, bolted down. Being thin is not enough. Women need to be in shape as well. Obtaining that body becomes a matter of self-control. It illustrates to me that they are saying thin women are in control. They have mastered the discipline of dieting and exercise. It is the fat women who are not in control. Fat has become associated with laziness and lack of self-discipline. Of the statistics that I ran across while researching this topic said that eighty percent of girls between the ages of eight and twelve are on a diet. The number one wish of most women and girls is to loose weight. Media presents images that tell woman and girls that acceptance means being unnaturally thin. The average fashion model,... ...than among males. The ideals of female beauty have not always been inbodied in the figure of most of today’s â€Å"super models† whose bodies resemble that of a young boy, not a woman. Figures like that of Marilyn Monroe, which today are considered fat, were the ideals of the time thirty years ago. It seems difficult to dispute that the attainment of the slender ideal is very painful for many women. in light of the statistics given earlier (only five percent of women can achieve the ideal fashion model form), it is an impossible task for women to pursue. Women develop a highly damaging relationship with food that does very little except limit their lives. Advertising has served as a disciplinary force in the lives of women. Advertisers create images that dictate cultural trends indicative of the time. The dominating image of the painfully thin woman in advertising remains the ideal for the American women. The grim truth is that attaining the slender body of today is not realistic for most women. Their bodies are not naturally shaped like those of twelve-year old boys. Eating disorders are on the rise, and the relationship women have with food is becoming an increasingly dangerous one.

Malcolm X Essay -- Civil Rights African American Essays

Malcolm X   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Malcolm X was a man of strong words and beliefs. Some say that he was a man of hate and violence. Some also say that he was a smart man of hope and peace. Malcolm X‘s influence on people was felt more than it was alive rather than dead. Malcolm X was a major contributor to the black societies across the world. He fought for what he believed in and educated the young. Though his early life was full of up’s and downs he managed to, what some would say, â€Å"turn his life around†. In doing this he managed to gain the upper hand of the African American culture by giving them the hope that one day they would if not own be apart of, what he called, â€Å"white mans society†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska. Malcolm’s father was murdered by a white supremacists group while in Lancing, Michigan. His mother was declared legally insane and committed to the state mental hospital. Because of that Malcolm X had no parental guidance in his young adult life. Malcolm X also dropped out of school also after the murder of his father, and from then on Malcolm turned to the streets for guidance. On the street he was he known as a hustler. He earned money by stealing and selling it back to the community or by conning others in buying bad products from him. On the streets, he was also known as Detroit Red. When Malcolm was Twenty, Malcolm X was sentenced to eight to ten years in prison. He was sentenced to prison because of breaking and entering, carrying firearms, and Larceny.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Prison he was given the nick name Satan because of his foul mouth. While in prison Malcolm taught his self to read. So while incarcerated he studied the N.O.I which stands for the nation of Islam. He first learned about the Nation of Islam from letters, from his brother Reginald, in Jail he became an ordinary reader to the other prisoners about the Nation of Islam. During his jail time he received contact with the leader of the Nation of Islam, Elijah Muhammad. As their verbal contact continued, they began to write each other daily.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Malcolm was released from jail in 1952. When he left jail he went to Chicago to meet Elijah Muhammad. There in Chicago he changed his name from Malcolm Little to Malcolm â€Å"X†. Malcolm said that the â€Å"X† meant to tell the non-appreciation of his slave name. Also it was to symbolize the missing of an appropriate Muslim n... ...iving, people still hold on to the words that he spoke when he believed that minority’s deserved something better than equality. He began to see and realize that whites are not devils and in order for the world to grow and for blacks to prosper everyone must come together. Malcolm’s life and murder enraged a whole community to stand up and fight. He gave people faith, hope, and courage that one day things would get better. Yes he taught violence and he was willing to do anything for his people, to see them live a great life. But it was just for that reason so that people could see that everyone had a right to live a life that in that time the white man lived. He was seen as a racist, but all people had a problem with a person from a different color so he was just as racist as the next man. He finally realized that being together was the only way to get through and prosper, but in the days of him speaking this truth, he was murdered. He was never given the chance to become something like Dr. Martin L. King and preach about being as one, because of the fear that people had of him. He was changing once again like he did many times in his life, only this time his time ran short.