Modernism and Postmodernism in Architecture

Modernism and Postmodernism in Architecture INTRODUCTION CONTEXT OF MODERNISM Modernism is a set of cultural or aesthetic styles which associates with the scientific and the artistic movement which started in the decade around the First World War and have dominated among several movement such as cubism, functionalism and surrealism. Sarup, M. (1993). However in architecture, modernism reacts to the dedication of addressing new buildings after the two World Wars such as mass housing of traditional forms and the potential for exploring new conditions of production such as new materials and technology. Le Corbusier and Mies van der Roche were the key influences of modern architecture; they took several cultures and tradition to formulate the notion of modern architecture. Curtis, W. J.R. (2001). Modernist have the idea that architecture should have a result as being functionalistic, positivistic, technocentric, and rationalistic with their building or urban planning. Harvey, D. (1990) page 35. In the World War II, Modernism became popular especially in the United State where it took on a new life by using different technologies such as steel frame and glass curtain walls for constructing skyscrapers and suburban office parks and shopping centers which were cost-effective. Ghirardo, D. (1996). CONTEXT OF POSTMODERNISM Postmodernism is very ambiguous to describe because it has certain elements that relates to modernism. The term originated within artists and critics in the United State in the 1960s and it was distributed in the European and other industrial nations in the 1970s. However postmodernism is an unstable concept of movement within an advance capitalist culture that argue the visual approaches in literary criticism of art, film, fashion and architecture within the political economic social conditions of the late 20th century. It also involves the new relationship between humankind and nature. Ghirardo, D. (1996). Postmodern notion of approaches to architecture derived from modernism ideology of architecture, and it even influences some postmodern architects, this is because of their knowledge from training and also their modern methods of constructions but they also add their new concept to their buildings. Jencks, C. (1988). There are three principles that Robert Sterns article portrays to describe the characteristics of postmodernism, the first characteristic is contextualism, this describes the individual building as always a fragment that represents its environment. The second is allusionism, which emphasise the building of its historical and cultural aspects, and the third is ornamentalism, and this suggests all the walls of the building to have an architectural meaning. (See the work of Robert Stern) Bertens, H. (1995) page 59. Postmodernism has also emerged the classical stage whereby it has influenced certain postmodern architects like Michael Graves, James Stirling, Norman Neuerburg and even Philip Johnsons ATT building (see figure 1). Jenks emphasise that the Free-Style Classicism determines some characteristics of postmodern architecture which started precisely from the 1980s. (See the work of Charles Jencks) Bertens, H. (1995) page 64. CRITICS OF POSTMODERNISM ON MODERNIST NOTION OF ARCHITECTURE David Harvey argues about if postmodernism, for example, represent a radical break with modernism, or is it simply a revolt within modernism against a form of high modernism. Harvey, D. (1990) page 42. This message is to question the architecture of the postmodern movement, Harvey then explains by emphasising that postmodernism has widely identify a break with the modernist conception that planning, designing and development should concentrate on the wide-scale, technologically rational and economically urban plan which should be strict on ideas of design with a functionalist perception of an international style. Harvey, D. (1990). The most influential critic on postmodernism and modernism is Charles Jenks, he portrayed architecture from a linguistic point of view as emphasises in his book The Language of Post-Modern Architecture. Jenks argues that postmodernism architecture is not a break of modernism but however its trying to overcome the ideology of its architecture not by dropping it but by extending the language to a different level into a vernacular and commercial but away from tradition. He listed all the old buildings as which had modern characteristics and named them as the ersatz, however he calls the new building as the social realism. Jencks, C. (1991) page 97. Furthermore he pinpoints the exact date for the death of modern architecture as he mention at 3:32 pm, July 15, 1972 when the Pruitt-Igoe housing project built in 1951 was demolished. Likewise Charles Jenks explores further the idea of the modernist idea within postmodernism architecture, he argues that postmodern architecture is double coded, this suggest that postmodernism is an eclectic mixture of traditional codes with modern ones this shows that modernism is always one of the codes that forms postmodernism so postmodern architecture has evolve from modernism but it must go beyond modern style. Therefore postmodernism is to break completely or drop modernist idea of architecture but has extended it into a different notion. Jenks explores Mies van de Roche who is a modern architect, he argues that the use of steel I- beams for buildings are nasty and brutal and has no purpose for its users or developers so therefore postmodernism has evolve to find solution of improving the upon modernism. Bertens, H. (1995). The indication that modernism architecture is rational and austere is because the restrictions and their influence on traditional forms and concepts which most postmodern architects see as passà ©, however when postmodern architect design they contravene to tradition also when they build their buildings they express it through a modern way by emphasising on a mixture of different styles. Likewise in the description of postmodern architecture Paolo Portoghesi who also criticise postmodernism argues that postmodern is any building that breaks modern constrains of historical styles with vernacular influences. Kolb, D. (1990) page 88. The restriction of modern architecture on historical influences is one of the main challenges of postmodernism. Jean-Francois Lyotard a postmodern critic explains that one characteristics of postmodernism is the transform nature understanding in scientific and computerised society, this has gave them advance knowledge and technology to overcoming and the rational and austere notion of modernism. Sarup, M. (1993). In favour of this, Joseph Fredrick who defended against the International Styles and his own idea of construction explains that modernism in architecture has various characters but its attack was on its style, which inevitably postmodernism has taking over. It is the austereness of modernisms traditional forms which postmodern took the advantage of scientific knowledge to break the historical influences and give freedom for architects to design their building. Larson, M, S. (1993). The division between modern and postmodern is that modern is restricted whereby postmodern has its freedom to design. Furthermore modernist notion of architecture as rational and austere to traditional restriction has not been negated by postmodern but it has interpreted and integrated modernist ideology. However Jencks argue that postmodernism has not become a break or dropped the idea of modernist architecture but it has evolve from modernism, and has notice the understanding of the development of its time so they change the direction and extended its characteristics to suit its era. Portoghesi, P. (1980). Therefore postmodernism is commonly known as the stylistic phenomenon. Ghirardo, D. (1996) page 8 Charles Jenks argues that postmodern buildings in general have made a positive impact in architecture, since the nineteenth century technological construction has made a vast improvement on buildings and has been overly-accurate as with the hand-crafted variety, this and other factors have become the main reason for its break from modernism. Likewise he argues that postmodernism has taking radically from the concept of how to knowledge building space where as modernist to see space as something to be shaped for social purposes, they interpret space as something independent, to be design according to creative aims but not to overreach its traditional influences. An example is Le Corbusiers Domino buildings (see figure 3) which started modernist development of space, however postmodernism reacted to this by looking for solutions to define place instead of abstract spaces and to establish the various ambiguity of spaces rather than the simple, predictable traditional building of moderni st architecture. Jenks, C. (1990). Le Corbusiers domino housing project There are certain features of modernism which have been developed by postmodernist architects, the spatial ideas such as layered and shallow simple spaces of Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. Postmodernist have developed these aspects into a more new kind of ambiguous space with various complex elements. Jenks, C. (1988). Charles Jencks points out that postmodern architecture have two reasons into significant technological change; the first is the contemporary communications have broken the strong modernist interest of the rational and austere spaces based on function and of social interest. The second is the advance technologies for example computer modelling which has broken away from traditional restraints and permitted the flexibility of designing and constructing. Jenks, C. (1990). Postmodernism has not dropped modernist notion of architecture but it has taking certain elements of it such as space and even some traditional aspects of building and developed it into a more complex style. However it has set freedom from modernist conception that architecture should be austere and reasonable. The advances scientific technology has aided postmodernism to evolve from modernism. Jenks, C. (1988). Michael Graves as a postmodernism architect. Michael Graves was part of the late-modern movement before he left the abstract conception approach to the New York Five in 1977; this group consisted of Peter Eisenman, Richard Meier, Michael Graves, and Charles Gwathmey. They introduce an advance technique of designing with figural element, and this has influenced postmodern architects. Schulz, N. (1990) page 7-8. He then left to join other architects such as Venturi, Moore, and Stern who were involve with the prototype for postmodernism in America. Ghirardo, D. (1996). Graves has become one of most influential architects in postmodernism, his concept of fragments have become significant to postmodernist architects to design their building in a complex and ambiguous style which contradicts the notion of modernism. Graves has also adapted postmodern classicism in architecture such as the Portland Building and the Humana Building (see figure 4 and 5). Grave has taking the traditional forms and styles of classicism and extended into a postmodern approach by introducing classical skyscrapers. Jenks, C. (1988). THE PORTLAND PUBLIC SERVICES BUILDING The Portland building (see figure 4) was a very significant municipal building within its era, which was begun in 1980 in Portland Oregon, this project provoked modernist architects because it was one of the most inspirational building in postmodernism. Powell, K. (1995). The public building is located in the middle of the area whereby it had to have a quality of postmodern landmark, but however his way out was to bring back figural forms to the building to portray the public nature of the context and urban and the internal program. He used the classical style of organisation by dividing the building into three parts; which is the base, body and the top. Bibliography Bauman, Z., 2004. Identity conversation with Benedetto Vecchi. London: Polity Press. KING, D. A., 2004. Spaces of Global Cultures Architecture Urbanism Identity. New York: Routledge. POWELL, K., 1994. Lloyds Building Richard Rogers Partnership ARCHITECTURE IN DETAILS. London: Phaidon. POWELL, K., 1999. Richard Rogers Complete Works Volume One. London: Phaidon. POWELL, K., 2001. Richard Rogers Complete Works Volume Two. London: Phaidon. SIEBERT, H., 2007. The World Economy A global analysis. 3rd edition. New York: Routledge. SILVER, N., 1997. The Making of Beaubourg: A Building Biography of the Centre Pompidou, Paris. (s.n.): MIT Press. SIMAI, M., 1990. GLOBAL POWER STRUCTURE, TECHNOLOGY AND WORLD ECONOMY IN THE LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY. London: Pinter publishers Limited. STRELITZ, Z., ed., 2005. Tall buildings a strategic design guide. London: RIBA Publishing. VALE, J. L., 2008. Architecture, Power, and National Identity. 2nd edition. New York: Routledge. WOODS, N., ed., 2000. The Political Economy of Globalisation. New York: Palgrave (ANON) Royal exchange luxury shopping and dining.

Chinas Cultural Revolution: Reforms in the Education System

Chinas Cultural Revolution: Reforms in the Education System The period of the Cultural Revolution in China (1966-1969) witnessed a massive effort by the Maoist leadership to engineer the socialist transformation of Chinese society, one of the area most radically affected by the Cultural Revolution was the Chinese educational system. The Great Leap Forward has brought about much economic instability and lack of agricultural production, leading to the great famine. The goals and policies imposed by the government during the Cultural Revolution greatly decentralized the educational system and shifted focus from an industrial intensive production to an agricultural production. Although many rural schools continued to function throughout this period, formal education virtually ceased in the urban areas. In this paper, we will first take a look at the three main objectives in the educational reforms. With this general background description of the program, we hope to explain some of the goals that the Communist partied hoped to achieve. The second section of this paper will discuss the means that China employed to carry out the three main objectives, analyzing the decentralized manner in the implementation process and the structural impact it had on the educational system. Finally, we will evaluate the repercussion and critiques these reforms had on students and the society as a whole. Educational Reforms The Cultural Revolution had three basic objectives in reforming the educational system. In terms of the content of education, the first objective was to intensify ideological education so as to raise the political consciousness of the students. The second objective was to integrate theory and practice in the educational process in order to make education more responsive to the immediate production needs of the country. In terms of the scope of the educational system, the third objective was to popularize education, especially in the rural areas of China.[1] Prior to the Cultural Revolution, it seems that there was a tendency in Chinese education to emphasize technological and professional training often at the expense of the socialist revolution as envisioned by Chairman Mao. In 1956, with the exception of the third year of senior middle school in which a section of the constitution class was held each week, it was reported that political classes were entirely cancelled. This trend was further reinforced after the Great Leap Forward when educational policy emphasized more study and less work and politics. This general educational policy seems to have led to the consolidation of an elite technocracy drawn largely from the educated bourgeois elements of the past. Thus, the most important goal of educational reform in the Cultural Revolution was to mobilize the students and raise to a higher level their awareness of class contradictions still existing in Chinese society. As Mao made clear, all work in school is for changing the thinking of the student.[2] This educational objective was part of the massive effort of the Cultural Revolution as a whole to revitalize the commitment of the country to the socialist transformation of society. The economic objectives of the educational reforms of the Cultural Revolution should be seen within the context of the overall strategy for economic development. The emphasis on integrating theory with practice, or education with production, was not new in itself. The Ministry of Education stated explicitly in 1950 that the purpose of institutions of higher learning in the Peoples Republic of China is to train high level specialists for national reconstruction in accordance with the principles of the Cultural and Educational policy included in the Common Program of the Peoples Political Consultative Conference of China, and using a method which combines theory and practice. These specialists will have advanced standards of culture, will master modern science and technology, and will have total dedication to serving the people.[3] However, the way in which theory was linked to practice was quite different from that which Mao had in mind for the Cultural Revolution. And the problem her e was not simply one of implementation but of basically different concepts of economic development. From 1949 to 1958, Chinas strategy for economic development essentially followed that of the Soviet model, which stressed the growth of heavy industry at the expense of light industry and agriculture. As bottlenecks began to form, China began searching for alternative developmental strategies. Thus, the Great Leap Forward was an attempt to mobilize the masses on a large and intensive scale to break the bottlenecks in the economy. While this strategy as a whole failed, it marked the point at which China changed from its previous strategy to one placing relatively more emphasis on rural development. This change in developmental strategy brought a basic change in the definition of what practice constituted in the educational process. In one case, it meant working in the industrial sector primarily in a technological capacity, while in the other, it meant working in the fields to increase rural production. Thus, in the former case, linking theory and practice meant training more highly s killed specialists to advance the technology for Chinas heavy industry, while in the latter, it meant training less-highly skilled generalists in less time to meet the local production needs of the rural sector. Thus, the economic objectives of the educational reforms were oriented primarily to the development of agriculture and light industry. Up until 1966, educational opportunities, particularly at the higher levels, remained unduly concentrated in the big cities. The rural areas, despite some improvements since 1949, did not benefit from educational expansion to nearly the same degree as the urban areas.[4] In fact, according to a Russian source, after initial success at popularization of educational opportunities between 1950 and 1958, the number of students at all levels of education decreased markedly from 1960 to 1965. It was also said that Liu Shaoqi admitted that in the 1965-66 school year approximately 30% of the children in China were not covered by a system of primary education.[5] This bleak picture was partially confirmed by the Peoples Daily report that in 1965, 30 million school-aged children were not in school, most of them being rural children.[6] Thus, one of the major objectives of the educational reforms was to correct this situation by increasing the number of schools in the rural areas and initiating a large scale recruitment of peasants and workers into the existing educational system. Means of the Reforms The implementation of educational reforms was carried out via a decentralized process, as most schools were placed under local management. In fact, it was reported in 1973 that each school had its own Revolution in Education Committee responsible not only for implementing reforms but also for part of the planning process within its own institution.[7] So it would seem that local experimentation within the general framework of the new educational policies was encouraged. Experimentation was seen as necessary primarily because of the emphasis on adopting flexible methods to meet the diverse needs of different schools and regions. We will identify below the major guidelines regarding the implementation of the educational reforms, as well as describe some of the different ways the reforms were implemented. In order to elevate the political consciousness of the students, the curriculum was heavily stocked with political education courses. The major texts used were drawn from the works of Mao. Aside from increasing the number of political course, other courses also drew upon Maos thoughts to explain various approaches to the analysis of whatever phenomenon was involved.[8] This reliance on Maos thoughts was essentially the concept of putting politics in command of knowledge. At the same time, revolutionary mass criticism and class struggles were actively promoted to bring into sharp relief the various contradictions in society from a more personal perspective. The principal means of linking theory and practice in the educational process were to make production labor a major part of the students curriculum and to direct research to meet local needs. These methods were based on the concept of practical training, although their implementation in China seems to have gone far beyond that prac ticed by other countries. In the rural areas, students would spend much of their time working in the fields and learning from the peasants. The training of the students included clearing marginal lands, planting and harvesting, working on the construction of water conservation projects and irrigation systems and so on. [9]Research in turn was directed towards increasing the crop yield and the mechanization of the local production units. What the specific tasks would be depended on the particular needs of a given locality. As for the urban sector, secondary and higher learning institutions were reported to have set up local factories within the schools not only to train students in practical work, but also to engage in significant production work. In other cases, factories and schools established ties with one another so as to direct the research of the latter to the needs of the former, making possible the immediate application of new findings. At the same time, veteran workers were often brought to the schoo ls to teach in certain areas and students worked at the factories for practical training. Some factories even established schools of their own, although this method seems to have more or less faded out. In brief, the educational reforms designed to attain the economic objectives basically gave the students more practical training and actual work in production than did the previous educational system. It was said that prior to the Cultural Revolution, peasants and workers had much difficulty attending schools because of such obstacles as high entrance examination standards (primarily for colleges and universities), high costs and expenses, inaccessibility since most schools were located in the cities, conflict of class schedules with local production time tables, and the lack of direct and immediate relevance of the courses offered to local production needs. As a result, educational opportunities were still not extended to many in the country living in the rural areas. During the Cultural Revolution, many of the reforms were implemented specifically to erase such barriers to education. Some of the broad guidelines for popularizing education were: 1) lowering educational standards, thus making possible the large scale recruitment of peasants and workers into the existing educational system, and especially to higher learning institutions; 2) lowering educational fees and expenses; 3) shortening the number of years for a basic education, usually from a 6-3-3 to a 5-2-2 system, while higher education was usually reduced from four or five years to two or three years (this allowed more to enter the educational system since less time would be taken off needed production work and the school population would be reduced for a given amount of students going through); 4) promoting popularly-sponsored schools-this expansion occurred mainly in the rural areas and was limited basically to the primary school level; 5) adapting curriculum and schedules to local req uirements; and 6) simplifying teaching materials.[10] Within these reform guidelines, however, schools at all levels could experiment with different ways of implementing the reforms. For example, Peking University with its more carefully selected students continued to have higher standards of education than many other colleges and universities. However, an attempt was made to lessen the gap.[11] Or with regard to popularly sponsored schools, there arose mobile schools, spare-time schools, half-work, half-study schools and so on. Furthermore, the specific curriculum of each school, except perhaps for the political education courses, varied according to the needs of the particular region. Thus, the popularization of education was carried out under a flexible and decentralized educational system. Repercussion of the Reforms While the drastic educational reform measures have given peasants opportunities to attain basic education in rural areas, as well as agricultural production and political gains, it naturally came with lasting negative impacts that promoted many post-modernists critiques. In the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, values like collaboration, diligence, modesty, and respect for elders and teachers were discarded as a result of the purge of the old Chinese cultures and traditions. Many have failed to retain the virtues during the revolution. Second, due to political struggle and line drawn between working classes and intellectuals, as well as political and violent nature of the social revolution, substantial innocent teachers and professionals were subjected to personal attacks and humiliation, some even executed. Third, specific strategies of the reformed curriculum and examination system proved to be misguided and wasted the schooling of many young people. The disconnection between a cademic achievement and students future career, the emphasis on political correctness over academic achievement, and the neglecting of theory learning and over-emphasis on hands-on experiences were all examples of poor decisions. Fourth, the Cultural Revolution both liberated students and dominated them. It liberated students and people because it opened their eyes to the inequality existing in education and society; However, it imposed political control and dominated them because it did not allow real democratic, independent and critical thinking ability.[12] As Freire (1970) put it, If teachers help students from oppressed communities to read the word but do not also teach them to read the world, students might become literate in a technical sense but will remain passive objects of history rather than active subjects.[13] Conclusion The Cultural Revolution opened peoples eyes but imposed the governments intentions on the people and dictated their thinking. Thus, people were forced to follow the governments ideology. In accordance with the three objectives set forth by the Communist Party, strategies were carried out in a decentralized manner that placed significant amount of decision making on local management. To raise political awareness, much of the curriculum were inspired by Maos thinking. His principles such as practice training were also preached to the students, which compliments well with the second objective; to integrate theory and practice while increasing agricultural production. At the time, schools and factories were tightly assimilated, as much of the students from urban areas were organized to work in rural areas, in order to experience the real China and raise consciousness on the large class segregation that existed. Lastly, with adjustments to the curriculum schedules, time commitment, academ ic and financial requirements, the barriers to entry were significantly reduced for many rural youths. Basic education was finally attainable by peasants and popularized in the rural area. However, this caused a reduction of higher education and development of specialized skilled workers in the urban area, in accordance with the focus on agricultural production rather than industrial production. The extremist nature of the reforms achieved by China was unlike what other countries could have accomplish. While political agendas and production goals were met, it came at a great cost to students that lasted through the generation. Connections to their ancestors culture and virtues were cut in favor of Maos thinking and the way of the new China. This led to activities that post-modernists could consider contradictive to the development of humanity, which was evident in the case of innocent individuals who retained the old culture or decided against Maos thinking were humiliated or executed. Students freedom of critical thinking was taken away, replaced by political correctness and over-emphasis on hand-on experiences, ultimately hindering their theoretical knowledge and future career development. Bibliography Seybolt, Peter. Editors Introduction, 1971 Huey, Alison B. The Revolutionary Committee of Peking Middle School #31, 1970 Gardner and Idema, Chinas Educational Revolution, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1973 Klepikoy, V. Z. The Fate of Public Education in China, Sovetskaia Pedagoka #8, 1968, translated by J.ÂÂ   Barry Eliot, CE 1 Peoples Daily, Chinas Educational Revolution, 1965 McCormick, Robert. Revolution in Education Committees, The China Quarterly #57, 1974 Wuyuan Rev. Comm. et al., A New Type of School That Combines. Theory with Practice, 1968 Yu-lin Special Region Rev. Comm. and Kuei-ping Rev. Comm, Train Workers to Have Socialist Consciousness and Culture, 1970, Wan, Guofang. The Educational Reforms in the Cultural Revolution in China: A Postmodern Critique, 1998. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED427419 Lankshear, C. and Mclaren, P.L. Critical Literacy, New York: State University of New York Press, 1993 Shor, I. Empowering Education, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992. [1] Peter Seybolt, Editors Introduction, 1971, p. 4. [2] Alison B. Huey, The Revolutionary Committee of Peking Middle School #31, 1970, p. 206. [3] Seybolt, p. 4. [4] Gardner and Idema, Chinas Educational Revolution, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1973, p. 257 [5] V. Z. Klepikoy, The Fate of Public Education in China, Sovetskaia Pedagoka #8, 1968, trans, J. Barry Eliot, CE 1, p. 42. [6] Peoples Daily, Chinas Educational Revolution, 1965, p. 258. [7] Robert McCormick, Revolution in Education Committees, The China Quarterly #57,1974, p. 133. [8] Wuyuan Rev. Comm. et al., A New Type of School That Combines. Theory with Practice, 1968, p. 24-31 [9] Yu-lin Special Region Rev. Comm. and Kuei-ping Rev. Comm, Train Workers to Have Socialist Consciousness and Culture, 1970, p. 40-45 [10] Gardner and Idema, p. 279-280. [11] Ibid., p. 286. [12] Wan, Guofang. The Educational Reforms in the Cultural Revolution in China: A Postmodern Critique, 1998. [13] Lankshear, C. and Mclaren, P.L., Critical Literacy, New York: State University of New York Press., 1993

The Gifted and Talented Essay -- Essays Papers

The Gifted and Talented The term â€Å"gifted† can mean many things. Up until recently it was the word used to describe people with profoundly high intelligence. Now, adding the words â€Å"creative† and â€Å"talented†, the category of giftedness has been extended to include not only exceptionally intelligent people, but also people with extraordinary ability in other areas, not just with IQ tests (Drew, Egan, & Hardman, 2002). The identification and definition of giftedness have been controversial for many, many decades. Originally, IQ test scores were the only way of determining giftedness. An IQ test would be given and some number score, such as 12-, would be the point of cut-off (Cook, Elliott, Kratochwill, & Travers, 2000). More recently, intellectual giftedness is usually identified and defined by the specific school systems’ ideas and perspectives. There is no generally accepted definition of giftedness, but the Javits Gifted and Talented Education Act defines it as: â€Å"Children and youth with outstanding talent perform or show the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared with others of their age, experience, or environment. These children and youth exhibit high performance capability in intellectual, creative, and/or artistic areas, possess an unusual leadership capacity, or excel in specific academic fields. They require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the schools. Outstanding talents are present in children and youth from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor† (Drew et al., 2002). It is obvious there is practically no limit on who can be gifted. The problems lie in the wide range of definitions and the acce... ...fted education. Retrieved March 4, 2004, from http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content4/ legal.rights.gifted.ed.html Magnet/center and special programs. (n.d). Retrieved March 4, 2004, from http:// www.mcps.k12.md.us/departments/eii/eiispecialprogramspage.html#The%20Program Parke, B. (n.d.). Challenging gifted students in the regular classroom. Retrieved March 1, 2004, from http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content/Challenging_gifted _kids.html Shaunessy, E. (2003). State policies regarding gifted education. Gifted Child Today Magazine, 26. Retrieved March 7, 2004, from http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=10445176&db=f5h Winebrenner, S. (2003). Teaching strategies for twice-exceptional students [Electronic version]. Intervention in School and Clinic, 38. Retrieved March 4, 2004, from http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=EJ659359&db=eric

Characters with The Miserable Life in Les Miserable Essay examples --

Les Miserable Have you ever known a person whose life was very miserable? Maybe you have. In the novel Les Miserable many of the characters show a miserable life due to circumstances that happened in their past. These characters are like put into a ring of fire in which every event that happens in Les Miserable. These characters are Eponine, Jean Valjean, Cossette, Gavrouche, Marius,and Fantine. other characters such as Thernardier are characters who are the antagonist of the story who do robbery and many other bad deeds throughout the whole story. These characters have exemplified a miserable life due to circumstances that had happened in their past lives. Courage, bravery, and patience are what many of the characters show throughout the story. One character that explefied a miserable life was Eponine. Eponine was born in an evil family called the Thernardiers'. She had to work very hard and was fed very little food. It was cold and her parents led her to the wrong road in life. As she grew up she involved with her parents in robbing and thievery. She was in the wrong path to destruction. When Marius came into her life everything changed. Through Marius’s love and redemption she had changed, but when she found out that Marius loved Cossette the miserable life came back again to her. She helped Marius find Cossette. She loved Marius a lot but ... ...ity, but they also take every opportunity to make her circumstances even more desperate. Fantine was a women who was a honest and hard working women. Many people such as Thernardier deceived because she was not smart and was to easy to take advantage of. She suffered a lot and in the end died of shock and depression. Many of these characters such as Fantine and those others talked about in Les Miserable are all portrayed as miserable people. This does not mean that these characters have misery in their life, it means that their life has problems due to circumstances such as Fantine who was being deceived by people which caused problems in her life. One important message that Les Miserable displays is that love is one of the most precious items that Is given to another person.

Eating Disorders And Substance Abuse Essay -- Weight Loss Health Essay

Eating Disorders And Substance Abuse Common Eating Disorders: The two most common eating disorders are bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. Both disorders, primarily affect young women, therefore the majority of the research on eating disorders has been done with women subjects. The onset of bulimia is between adolescence and early adulthood while the onset of anorexia is between early and late adolescence. Not only is the onset different but the disorders are unique. Bulimia nervosa is characterized by loss of control over eating which leads to food binges. These episodes are interspersed with episodes of purging, such as vomiting or laxative abuse, to keep weight down. The goal of anorexia is also to keep weight down , but to a more severe extent. Anorexia nervosa is marked by "a relentless pursuit of thinness, intense fears of becoming fat, and a distorted body image" (Lilenfeld 1996). There is a substantial weight loss and amenorrhea. These changes occur by either restriction of food intake which is labeled restrictive anorexia, or starvat ion with bouts of purging which is labeled binge eating/purging anorexia. Studies of Eating Disordered Individuals And Substance Abuse: The causes and issues underlying eating disorders still remain, for the most part, a mystery. For this reason much investigation has gone into any issues which may be related to eating disorders. The topic which will be analyzed in this paper is the comorbidity of eating disorders and drug/alcohol abuse. In a review of fifty-one studies by Lilenfeld and Kaye, rates of alcohol/drug abuse were found to differ significantly among restricting anorexics, binge eating/purging anorexics and bulimics. "Depending on the study analyzed, the rates of... ...of dual diagnosis. Therefore different and varied treatment programs are used in hopes of improving this problem. In essence, treatment of dual diagnosis is still a guessing game. Works Cited: Lilenfeld, L. & Kaye, W. (1996). The Link Between Alcoholism and Eating Disorders. Alcohol Health and Research World, 20, 94- . Schuckit, M. , Tipp, J. , Anthenelli, R. & Bucholz. K. (1996). Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa in Alcohol Dependent Men and Women and their Relatives. The American Journal of Psychiatrity, 153, 75- . Strober, M. , Freeman, R. ,Bower, S. ,& Rigali, J. (1996). Binge Eating in Anorexia Nervosa Predicts Later Onset of Substance Use Disorder. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 25, 519- . Varner, l. (1995). Dual diagnosis: Patients with Eating and Subatance Related Disorders. Journal of the American Dietic Association, 95, 224- .

Morality and God Essay

Morality only exists if we believe in God; therefore if God doesn’t exist there is no morality. There have been so many evil acts committed in the name of God that it is difficult to maintain that a belief in God equates to morality. There are situations that happen every day where decisions are made based off of human rights that contradict the word of God. Morality comes from within, it is an understanding of right versus wrong and the ability to choose what is right. Knowing all this a belief in God is not a requirement for a person to be moral. (Mosser, 2011) We are taught that morals are basically the difference between right and wrong. A child may be taught that stealing is wrong because it hurts the store owner and can ruin the child’s reputation. Or the child may be told that if they steal they will be punished because God is always watching. The child has learned the fundamental difference between right and wrong, even if the reasoning is different. This will allow the child to make moral decisions when they grow up whether it is based off of human compassion or fear of God. If we accept that the child understands right from wrong regardless of their reason, we accept that God is not a requirement to be a moral person. If a person observes an act of violence or torture, they are morally required to stop it. In biblical times these acts were not only accepted but encouraged by the bible. Today, a person would not ignore these things simply because they did not believe in God. There are human rights that we believe each person is entitled to and someone with good morals would help out another person in need because it is the right thing to do. If it turned out that God does not exist, violence and torture would not suddenly become acceptable. (Mosser, 2011) Mass acceptance of a belief does not make it right. Ancient religions that believed in numerous gods have been pushed aside as fairy tales, for the more widely accepted belief in a single God. During their time those gods were prayed to just as fervently as today’s God. What was accepted as true back then is now known as a fable, and the laws of the day have been wiped away and replaced with our modern laws. These laws were put in to place to punish people who do wrong to others. They have become the moral balance. If you do wrong you will be punished, if you continue to do what is right you will live unmolested and enjoy your freedoms. God is not a requirement for someone to act morally, because there are earthly punishments for crimes. There is no right or wrong without God because He determines what is right and wrong. Moral standards cannot be enforced without God to ensure that we are punished or rewarded for our acts. Someone who does not believe in God may change their morals to whatever suits them at the time. We have been given guidelines by God on what is morally acceptable, and informed of the punishment that comes with being immoral. When an individual does not believe in God they cannot be a moral person, because they have no moral standards. (Millard, A. 2000) The Ten Commandments give us a basic understanding of what is right and wrong. These Commandments along with various scriptures from the bible determine which acts are moral and which are immoral. An individual who witnesses a crime but does not believe in God can simply decide that they are not responsible for stopping the crime. This may lead one to believe that if a non-believer does something right that they have morals. This is not the case, because they could just as easily do wrong and their conscience would have been just as clear. They have no moral compass to tell them that this act is leading them astray from God. (Riskin, S. 2007) If one does not believe in God they cannot know right from wrong and cannot do what is right because they do not have the understanding. The lack of a belief in God means that rules do not have to be followed. If you do not fear the wrath of God, there is nothing to stop you from committing immoral acts, or any crimes for that matter. Any situation can be overlooked because there is no fear of punishment without a fear of God. Only a person with a firm belief in God can be considered moral because they fear His punishment and desire his reward. God is the only person great enough to enforce moral standards, without his guidance there can be no binding morals. Moral standards come from God and without Him a person cannot be moral. When we talk in absolutes we ignore possibilities that exist outside of our beliefs. There are many examples of individuals that believed in God who acted immorally, as well as examples of people who do not believe in God acting with good morals. Their beliefs do not determine their morality, their acts do. If we are to base morality solely on a belief in God then which believer do we follow? Do we follow the believer who commits crimes, or only the believer who is an upstanding member of society? Adolf Hitler was raised as a Catholic, and in his adult life spoke of his religious beliefs. He wanted to create a pure Germany, through a religion known as positive Christianity. Positive Christianity removed the Jewish elements from the standard Christianity doctrine and replaced them with Nazi philosophy. More than six million Jewish people were killed during the Holocaust in the ideal of positive Christianity. Bill Gates is noted as saying he does not know if there is a God or not, yet he donates billions of dollars to Charity every year. The foundation he formed with his wife to address extreme poverty and poor health in third world countries has brought attention and relief to millions of people across the globe. These acts were not done in the hopes that they would be rewarded, but instead to help the human condition. A general concern about the welfare of our neighbors is not exclusive to God. Not every action is based solely off of a person’s morals. There are many reasons people decide to do things and we cannot judge a person’s moral standing off of a single action. We do not look at Adolf Hitler and say that he is a great moral figure because he believed in God. On the same note we do not look at Bill Gates, a non-believer and say that he is immoral. We look at their actions over time and determine whether or not they acted morally. We know that killing millions of innocent people is immoral; just as we know that helping sick and injured people is moral. Which God you believe in determines what you consider to be moral. Muslims agree that polygamy is acceptable. Protestants and the Jewish believe divorce is acceptable if certain conditions are met. Catholics are strictly against both polygamy and divorce. Which God is morally right? All of these groups worship the same God, so perhaps it is the translation of the word of God that is in question. When we look at this we begin to have a better understanding that God’s contradictory words could bring the thought of what is moral crumbling down. There are many controversial moral endorsements in the bible that are accepted today. There are also commands given that are ignored because they are no longer socially accepted as truth. Exodus 20:13 says we must not kill. However, Leviticus 20:13 tells us that if a man lies with another man he must be put to death. There are many debates and arguments over whether homosexuality is moral, but we overlook the second part of the scripture because it is no longer held as a valid punishment. The times have changed and we cannot murder or we will go to jail. Leviticus 19:19 says it is a sin to wear clothes made from two different types of material. You will be hard pressed to find anyone backing up this claim today. (King James Bible) Many religious people have chosen scripture from the bible to suit their lifestyles over the years, but ignore things that are no longer socially accepted as immoral. They hold others to strict standards on matters that they do not agree on and use verses from the bible to support their viewpoint. If everyone used the internal right versus wrong approach to morality there would be less confusion on which standards we held each other to. It is unfair to condemn someone for something using half of a statement from the bible, and then ignore the rest of the statement because it does not agree with current beliefs. Our faith, lessons from our parents or even witnessing other people’s actions are different reasons to decide what we believe is moral. All three have flaws that can lead to differing views on the same subject. However, at the end of the day there are certain things that everyone accepts as morally right, or morally wrong. These are situations where it does not matter how you learned it, you just know it. Biblical teachings tell us that certain things are acceptable, while others are punishable by death. But in the legal society of America acting on the acceptable things will land you in prison, and the immoral sins are inalienable rights. Every day decisions are made across the world without having to consider if we will be punished by a higher being. These things prove that a person does not have to believe in God to act morally. A moral person is someone who not only understands the difference between right and wrong, but also does what is right. The lack of God in someone’s life doesn’t make a person immoral just as the presence of God does not make someone moral. Morality is not proven by a belief in God. References King James Bible Millard, A. (2000). How reliable is exodus? Biblical Archaeology Review, 26(4), 50-57. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/214908737? accountid=32521 Mosser, K. (2011). Logic an introduction. San Diego: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Riskin, S. (2007). Ten commandments audience? Washington Jewish Week. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/220857354? accountid=32521.

With Reference to Your Own Research?

With reference to your own research to what extent do you think that acting in a socially responsible way is now  essential for businesses? Social responsible allows business to create a positive relationship with the community and also then environment within their operation. Companies that use socially responsible are Marks and Spencer. They have done this by creating an operation call Plan A where they are able to generate ? 85 million from just reducing costs. Saving this amount of money they are given the opportunity to expand the M&S brand, this is one of their main objectives where they want to have a M&S store within a 30 minutes radius of each customer. With M&S saving ? 185 million they have been able to a positive relationship with the community that they are in.What they have also done is that they have been cleaning out the community’s lakes and rivers this is very good as they will be looking to show that they are caring about the environment, being social resp onsible is a very good marketing strategy as they will be gaining publicity, and this will lead to more people becoming more aware that M&S are looking after the environment and people will be willing to support the idea. They will be doing this through shopping at M&S. The disadvantages of social responsible for companies such as M&S are that they will have lost an opportunity cost as they have been able to save ? 85 million they will have to choose whether they want to continue supporting the local community or increase their market share. As M&S want to increase their market share they will not be able miss opportunities like this, but they have to have a good relationship with the local community. M&S are now supporting fair trade and organic food, this very risky as this is asking customer whether they want to pay more for food or go to one of M&S’s competitors and start shopping with them as both fair trade and organic will cost more than any other food.By being social responsible M&S will have problems going in to emerging markets such as Brazil an d China. With China being able to take 600 million people out of poverty M&S will have lost the perfect chance to exploit that. Brazil have got big events happening in the next 3 years with the world cup in 2014 and the Rio Olympics in 2016, investing a new store within this area will help them increase both market size and also brand awareness M&S operating profits have fallen . by 1. 8%, this is not good for companies such s M&S trying to become more social responsible, with this decrease in profits they will have less money to spend on their Plan A project. With employees being told that they will have to clean up rivers and lakes M&S will have to be able to motivate their workers enough, this could cost M&S a large amount of money just to get employees to do this. One of social responsibility is to look after employees, making them clean a lake or rivers could make them feel as if they are not bein g used to their full potential and could result in them taking industrial action.M&S have been very good at reducing their amount of carbon emission being released and this is shown as they have been able to save 28% more energy compared to the amount of energy used in 2007. Being social responsible can help many companies such as M&S financially as they will not need to pay so much for their pollution tax this can result in them being able to increase their profit margin and helping them supports the community more.Problems that M&S can also face is that some of their customers may not believe that they will be helping their community and may think that they are just a marketing gimmick, this is important that M&S show those people that they are really helping the community and to do this they could publish the amount of money they have got and show them what they want to spend it on. Overall social responsibility is now essential for business to do as they can help the stores loca l community and business. With them saving ? 85 million they have got to choose whether they want to exercuite their Plan A effectively or try and open more M&S stores within developing countries such as Brazil and China. Especially where there are two of the worlds’s biggest events happening in Brazil within 2 years of each other. To make full use of their Plan A M&S will have to plan and exercuite it well enough that the community can feel like as if they have made a huge impact within their community. But with cost reduction occurring their profit will increase.