Affliction Essays - English-language Films, Affliction, Films, Wade

Affliction The character Wade Whitehouse from the book Affliction by Russell Banks is very complex. To properly analyze his character one must take into account all aspects of his personality. We must search and break down any information we may find about, the character's background information, describe his personality, determine if any changes have occurred to his character during the novel, how he has affected fellow characters and finally the thematic significance that the author wishes to bring to the reader's attention through his character. Firstly we must look at the major factors that influence the character; background information surrounding the environmental factors of the town, the family relations and early life experiences that have dramatically affected the character. The town of Lawford is a rural community in New Hampshire having no natural resources for economic viability. Due to this poor flow of money the town lacks simple services and recreational facilities and therefore does not attract many tourists. Those who do visit the town are either merely city comers using their fathers cottage as a weekend getaway, or deer hunters profiting from the abundant wild life. The only successful local man is Gordon LaRiviere who owns a well drilling company and who employs Wade and many other men of this town. Affliction is set in a winter scenery and throughout the book the weather is gloomy ? the sky clear as black glass?(6), ?Winter approaches?arriving with such ferocity and stunning relentlessness of purpose that you could give yourself over to it completely and at once? and is a reflection of the attitudes possessed by the characters. Secondly we must discuss Wade's family background. His father is a severe alcoholic who regularly abused each family member. Once under the spell of the alcohol he becomes extremely violent and cannot control his anger. His mother although very loving could not protect the children for she herself feared her abusive husband. On many occasion she had also suffered the trauma of abuse and tried to avoid any confrontation at any cost. Wade had four siblings, two older brothers Elbourne and Charlie, who were both killed during the Vietnam War (specifically the Tet offensive). Wade also had one younger brother Rolfe, who left town for collegial studies, and a younger sister, Lena, who departed shortly after she realized she was pregnant. Elbourne and Charlie running to Vietnam, where they died, Lena to marriage with the Wonder Bread truck driver and obesity and charismatic Christianity and five squabbling children of her own, and I, Rolfe, whom the others regarded as the successful one, to the state university (96). Thirdly as a young child he had to watch Elbourn and Charlie being beaten by his drunken father. Until the age of ten he thought himself invincible sean as his father had not laid a hand on him but this false self- image was cruelly brought to an end. As he obeyed his mother instead of his father, Mr. Whitehouse became inraged and attacked his son, savagely beating him ?slapping him again and again, harder each time, although each time the boy felt it less, felt only the lava-like flow of heat that each blow left behind? (102). Wade has an extremely distinct and complicated personality that at times can be hard to fathom. As we familiarize ourselves better with this character we can easily distinguish certain traits and connect them with past life experiences. The most obvious trait is a lack of self-esteem which leads to an overabundant abuse of alcohol. His failed marriage to Lillian, the limited visitations allowed with his daughter and his monotonous job all lead him to believe that he is less of a man. Wade did not express his feelings openly instead kept them locked up inside which added to all the hardship already present in his life, ? Wade lived almost wholly out there on his skin, with no interior space for him to retreat to, even in a crisis or at a time of emotional stress or conflict? ( 215). All these aspects contributed to his abuse of alcohol which in turn led to his violence. Wade was a violent and destructive drunk that gravily harmed other citizens, he had a reputation around town as

Piaget Theories Essay

Piaget Theories Essay Free Online Research Papers People all over the world, through every generation, have watched in awe as infants that lack any real ability blossom into emotional, social, intelligent children. Many have wondered how it is that infants make this amazing transformation but few have moved past their wonder into a search for answers. Even fewer have found answers to these questions that are so profound that they have shaped how the world views childrens developmental processes. Jean Piaget is one of those few; he has shaped our understanding of the journey that children make. It is our desire to discover, explore, play with, and share Piagets theories in this essay. At the outset of researching Piaget, we hoped to gain knowledge of who he was as a person, but his work is so compelling that history remembers Jean Piagets work rather than Jean Piaget the man. The only item that we found regarding Piaget as a person was â€Å"The children favored being tested by Piaget in preference to anyone else, because he had an easy and informal manner, and really seemed interested in their responses. His behavior was a big change from the standard testing methods of that time, in which the answers were the only thing of importance. I believe that Piaget had strong inter-personal skills, as he was able to interact well with others and put them at ease.(www.users.muohio.edu) Without the benefit of obtaining personal knowledge regarding Piaget we will remand our information in this regard to historical fact. Piaget was born in 1896 in Neuchà ¢tel, Switzerland and in his childhood developed many scholarly interests including the study of mollusks, sea shells and animal life. Piaget pursued these interests in earnest, writing his first scientific paper at age 10 regarding his observations of an albino sparrow. Quite an impressive accomplishment! It was to be the first of hundreds of papers and over 60 books that Piaget would write on various fields of scientific study. These early interests in animal life proved to be a lifelong pursuit and led Piaget to obtain a degree in zoology from the University of Neuchà ¢tel in 1918 at the age of 22. Seeking to broaden his areas of study, Piaget moved to Zà ¼rich and under the tutelage of Carl Jung, explored the field of psychology. Having developed an interest in this field, Piaget once again moved; this time to Paris to study at the Sorbonne with Alfred Binet. It is all well and good to know the history of Piagets life but up to this point in his history there was nothing that would tie him to the study of children. Finally, we arrive at our destination, the question of why Piaget studied children. He found his impetus in work that he did evaluating the results of childrens intelligent tests and he was intrigued to find that children consistently failed at certain questions at certain ages. And that was that, he was hooked and shifted towards studying children in an effort to find the origins of knowledge, otherwise known as epistemology. People choose careers of interest everyday and in most cases; it is of little consequence to the world as a whole when they do so. Piagets career choice in contrast, was to have deep and lasting effects on what we know about how children learn. Through many years of observation and interaction with children Piaget formed theories that based childrens cognition on their interaction with the world at large. To us, this means play; because that is the main way in which children interact with the world. To say that Piagets major contribution to the world of child development is that they play would be an oversimplification and would do him a disservice so we will elaborate. According to the website Open Learn (http://openlearn.open.ac.uk) Piaget played a central role in the development of the view that play may be of crucial importance in childrens cognitive development. Piagets theories about learning emphasized the need for children to explore and experiment for themselves. For Piaget, play was a means by which children could develop and refine concepts before they had the ability to think in the abstract. Play was something that older children who have developed abstract thinking no longer needed. This gives us an overview of part of Piagets theory but we must explore the stages set forth in the theory to obtain a better understanding. Piaget observed various stages within a childs journey towards higher levels of cognition as follows: Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years): Child is purely a physical being and has no ability to understand or reason. All reactions that the child has are reflexive, meaning that there is no thought to them. Physical actions that occur naturally during this time expand the range of responses of the child through assimilation. Assimilation is a term that describes taking external stimulus and internalizing it and simplifying it to fit categories already developed in the childs head rather than creating new categories as necessary. During the latter part of the sensorimotor stage the child has learned that people and objects continue to exist outside of their line of sight, a concept called object permanence. This is demonstrated in the good old game of peek a boo. Children act surprised when a person disappears behind their hands and laugh when they reappear. Even as adults we would be quite entertained or frightened if we truly believed that a person had actually disappeared! As the book Theo ries of Childhood states â€Å"This is the first burst of the joy of learning† (pg. 65). As you can see, this explains the necessity of play as a tool of learning in the sensorimotor stage when children are purely physical beings and have no concept of anything abstract. Physical stimulation is the most valid form for children under two years of age to learn. Therefore, without play a child would not learn much in the first two years of life and their progression into other stages of cognitive development would be adversely affected. Preoperational Stage (2-7): The preoperational stage is so named because one of the major functions that a child is lacking it the ability to mentally â€Å"apply the operation of identity† (Martin Fabes 2009) which is to ascertain that a shape can be reversed back into its original shape. Through symbolic representation, children begin to be able to mentally assign representations to objects and people. Although the child can represent things mentally, they have yet to obtain the ability to form abstract thoughts. Children in this stage are egocentric and cant understand the world as others might see it. To prove egocentrism, Piaget developed a test in which children sat in a chair and looked at three mountains of progressively increasing heights with a stuffed animal sitting in a chair directly across from them. The child was then asked to view the mountains from the stuffed animals vantage point and to state which view the stuffed animal saw. The child would most often res pond that the view that the stuffed animal saw was that of their (the childs) original vantage point. Another key point in development comes when childrens understanding begins to expand through accommodation. Accommodation occurs when new information is taken in and existing ideas or categories are changed, accommodated, to fit that information. In previous stages of development children do not change their ideas to fit external information; they assimilate the information to meet preexisting categories. Concrete Operational Stage (7-11): Piaget theorized that in this stage children begin to use logic and reasoning. Abstract reasoning becomes possible which allows children to problem solve using an ever growing set of symbols. Children gain the ability to form concepts of their own accord and to accept concepts that demonstrate logic and reasoning. The ability to perform conservation tasks is formed. One of the methods that Piaget used to prove conservationism was to set out two rows of the same type of coins for children to explore. The rows of coins contained the same number of coins but one row was spaced differently, creating the illusion that it contained more coins. A child that has not reached the concrete operational stage when asked which row had more coins would respond that the row with the greater spacing has more coins. When a child reaches the concrete operational stage and understands conservationism would respond that both row had an equal number of coins. This type o f experiment aids in development by taking an abstract idea and making it real to the child. We propose that this would aid in bridging the gap from abstract theory by introducing symbolic play. Those coins act as symbols that a child can learn to understand which would eventually lead to children using symbols in their own mind to bring to life abstract ideas. Formal Operational Stage (12+): In this stage of cognition children come very close to the reasoning and logical abilities of an adult. Children do not require concrete symbols to form reasoning and instead use a process of deductive thinking, in which they use logic to deduce outcomes. Children are now able to think hypothetically and abstractly. In addition children can now think in terms of future developments, including their own future life possibilities. The information listed above is a broad overview of Piagets theories and explores some of the key elements and events of cognition in childhood. Piaget spent a good portion of his life dedicated to this study and made many more discoveries than we are able to mention here. One additional piece of information that should be considered in regard to the stages of cognition is that A chief tenet of Piagets theory is that these stages do not vary in order, cannot be skipped, and should not be rushed. (www.nndb.com). what a wonderful way to state that a child should progress in their own time without undue pressure to perform. Now that we have introduced Piagets theories of cognition we are free to explore how they interface with play and social and emotional development. To begin with we should note that â€Å"Play is NOT the same as learning; cognitive development requires both assimilation and adaptation, while play is assimilation without accommodation.† (www.uwgb.edu). While we agree that play is not learning, we would like to propose that it facilitates learning by guiding children through real life experiences which they can begin to use as symbolic representations of different scenarios. This is evidenced in the following quotes from Piaget regarding play: â€Å"It is primarily affective conflicts that appear in symbolic play. If there is a scene at lunch, for example, one can be sure that an hour or two afterward it will be recreated with dolls and will be brought to a happier solution. If the child has been frightened by a dog, in a symbolic game things will be arranged so that dogs will no longer be mean or children will become brave† (www.uwbg.edu) â€Å"Initially imbued with play symbolism but tend later to constitute genuine adaptations or solutions to problems and intelligent creations† ( www.uwbg.edu) In a module regarding Piaget, Weber State University (WSU) (www.weber.edu) sets forth some compelling demonstrations that endorse Piagets belief in play. Included in those demonstrations are that children use play to overcome egocentrism through repeated social interactions which allow the child to become conscious of others needs, interests and goals. In addition â€Å"assimilation and accommodation are both included in the interaction which unites the individual child to the environment and the childs reality. The give and take in play and imitation is one way that the child learns about the childs world.† Children can use play to understand symbols, a good example of this is dress up, when children play dress up they are using physical symbols to play out their inner world. In our view, one of the most important things that WSU sets forth is that play gives children first hand experiences and we believe that experience creates understanding beyond what can be spoken. The senses are attached to memory; touch, taste and smell in particular create lasting impressions and concrete memories for children, which they can use in the journey towards assimilation and accommodation. Anyone that has ever spent any length of time with a child knows that you can talk to them until you are blue in the face without transferring understanding; but show a child something and they will grab that new knowledge and run with it and build on it. The last subject that we have to explore is how Piagets theories addressed social and emotional development. We must remember Piagets background at this time and understand that cognition, particularly the origin of knowledge, was Piagets attraction to studying children. In this being Piagets focus, we find that he did not place any great emphasis on the topics of social and emotional development. There is some evidence that Piaget believed that social development was gained through the stages that he theorized. For example, the website Education.com states â€Å"Although Piaget (1962) felt that play has a primary role in the child’s development, he placed little emphasis on play as a factor in the child’s responses to the social environment. Nevertheless, he saw a role for peer interactions within play for social-cognitive development. More specifically, play interactions helped children understand that other players have perspectives different than their own. Play, f or Piaget, provides children with opportunities to develop social competence through ongoing interactions. (www.education.com) The absence of emphasis on social and emotional development has been cause for some to be critical of Piagets work. We must agree that to discount the emotional and social development of a child is to have only part of the story. We believe that analyzing children as whole beings would be greatly advantageous and may have enhanced Piagets theories. That being said, we recognize and respect that Piagets passion was the origin of knowledge, not of emotion or social relations and we are grateful that this passion compelled him to make advances in the field of child development that had not been explored previously. The lack of depth in these areas has given rise to some criticism of Piagets work. Indeed, there are several areas that modern research has found that Piaget may have improved upon, such as better distinguishing competence versus performance and further exploring the stages of development in relation to necessary milestones for development. In closing, we find that Piaget was a pioneer in child development studies and that his research has had profound and lasting effects on our understanding of children and on our interactions with them. Indeed, this is strongly stated in a quote from an anonymous scholar that stated â€Å"assessing the impact of Piaget on developmental psychology is like assessing the impact of Shakespeare on English literature or Aristotle on philosophy – impossible.† We have found that this sentiment is widely felt and we too, employ this as our view. Sources: users.muohio.edu/shermalw/honors_2001_fall/honors_papers_2000/duffey.html http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=397481section=1.2.3 Discovering Child Development; 2009, Carol Lynn Martin Richard Fabes nndb.com/people/359/000094077/ uwgb.edu/hughesf/Theories%20of%20Play.htm http://departments.weber.edu/chfam/4990a/Theoryplay.html education.com/reference/article/play-social-emotional-development/ Research Papers on Piaget Theories EssayEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenStandardized TestingInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseResearch Process Part OneThree Concepts of PsychodynamicGenetic EngineeringRelationship between Media Coverage and Social and

Competency Criteria Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Competency Criteria - Essay Example Faculty evaluation also provides an opportunity for change in the process of teaching, handing of student diversity, curriculum development among other relevant areas incompetent instruction. Assessment 1. Facilitate learning This is the most important competency for all nurse educators. The faculty should be able to make the learning process possible by; A. (Task requirement: show enthusiasm by teaching). The faculty should make learning exciting to the learners by being enthusiastic about teaching. An enthusiastic teacher passionate about teaching and take pride in passing on information to their learners. An enthusiastic educator passes on his morale to his students who end up liking the learning process, and therefore, learning more. B. (Task requirement: Show an interest in a learner’s progress and activities). The faculty should also demonstrate an interest in the learner’s actions. The educator must be available to assist learners in their time of need and offer solutions to their problems. A learner should know that they can always get help in their educational and personal support from their faculty. C. (Task requirement: Show understanding to all learners). The faculty should be able to provide for their learner’s unique needs in terms of gender, experience, and multiculturalism among other differences. Every learner is different from the other in one way or the other, and the all should feel at home being a part of the nursing faculty without discrimination or abandonment. D. (Task requirement: Facilitate tutor and learner interaction). The faculty should increase cooperation between educators and the learner. Learning can only take place if there is information. This is facilitated by teacher learner communication as the educator will know the level of understanding of the learner and also identify individual differences in the learners through cooperation. 2. Facilitate learner development and socialization Nurse educators have the responsibility to help students develop to become professional nurses and integrate the values and performance required in the role of nursing (Meyer & Van, 2008). The faculty can do this by; A. (Task requirement: Show students demonstrations). Providing students with demonstrations and examples on just how they are required to do things as professional nurses. The faculty should ensure that the learners have the necessary skills needed to use resources to learn and improve themselves as potential nurses. B. (Task requirement: Meet individual learner needs). The faculty should use the required resources to diverse learners to enable them meet their unique needs. These can be in terms of extra tutorials for learners who are using English as a second language or have different programs to cater for a wide range of students, for example; those who need evening classes. C. (Task requirement: Encourage group discussions). The faculty should encourage learning through discussions as they create an opportunity for the learner to improve their communication and interpersonal skills as they interact with one another. Discussions can also be in the form of private talks with the educators where the students are offered a chance to set

Critically assess what, according to Richard Rorty, the pragmatist Essay

Critically assess what, according to Richard Rorty, the pragmatist says about truth - Essay Example In epistemology he opposes foundationalism, the view that all knowledge can be grounded, or justified, in a set of basic statements that do not themselves require justification. According to his â€Å"epistemological behaviorism,† Rorty holds that no statement is epistemologically more basic than any other, and no statement is ever justified â€Å"finally† but only relative to some circumscribed and contextually determined set of additional statements. In the philosophy of language Rorty rejects the idea that sentences or beliefs are â€Å"true† or â€Å"false† in any interesting sense other than being useful or successful within a broad social practice. He also opposes representationism, the view that the main function of language is to represent or picture pieces of an objectively existing reality. Finally, in metaphysics he rejects both realism and antirealism, or idealism, as products of mistaken representationalist assumptions about language. Richard Rorty was born in 1931 in New York City. He graduated from the Chicago of Rudolf Carnap in 1949, and has taught at Princeton, as well as the University of Virginia and Stanford. But he left the cautious world of analytical philosophy to go over to the enemy, thereby perfectly fitting the bill as lord of the dance to the subversives. He is also an example of a phenomenon common in France and Germany, but which exported to America better than to England, namely the public intellectual. In his case, it is a family tradition. Rorty, an only child, is the grandson of Walter Rauschenbusch, one of the founders of Americas social gospel movement, and both his parents were writers and active Trotskyites. "My parents were part of the anti-Stalinist left which centered on John Dewey," Rorty has said. Despite his own hostility to Marxism, he continues to place himself "wholeheartedly on the

Global Studies Class-Gloabal Diasporas and Cultural Change-the Sikhs Research Paper

Global Studies Class-Gloabal Diasporas and Cultural Change-the Sikhs in the United States - Research Paper Example The cartographers used colors to show this trend; there was a huge red spot from Japan to China indicating Buddhists, then there was a huge dark green spot all over the Middle East, and there was blue over most of Europe and America (Juergensmeyer 3). The point is religious density and demographics do not remain the same. Times change and so do the demographics, people move to different places. Now the dark colors of cartographers are turning light due to the mingling of other religious followers (Juergensmeyer 3). The world has truly turned into a global village. The immigration and migration has seen a tremendous increase over the past 50 years. Traveling has become so easy and people are moving out of their comfort zones for better opportunities. This demographic intermingling of religions is healthy because it has given more understanding to people about others religions. The migration is so prevalent that Los Angeles is the second biggest in terms of population of Iranians and Filipinos (Juergensmeyer 4). The US is a multicultural place. Since the time of Columbuss discovery of the United States, there has been an influx of immigrants from all over the world. Suddenly everyone wanted to migrate to the land of opportunities. The Indian subcontinent has many fertile lands situated alongside ancient rivers. One of these most ancient civilizations on earth are found in North India, more commonly known as the Harappa Mohenjo-Daro. In the region of Punjab when it was not divided between India and Pakistan, there was strong minority of Sikh population. Compared to the huge population of Hindus and Muslims in India, the population of the Sikhs was not as much. They were and still are in minority. The world is known for the globalization of trade and economy but not many people pay attention to the globalization of religion. Religion is a global tool in the sense that it propels people to engage in global

Development Of Modern Capitalism History Essay

Development Of Modern Capitalism History Essay Weber viewed that the protestant ethic spawned encouraged the spirit of capitalism. He was it more than simply a capitalistic activity. According to him it was the essence which underlies the economic system. During the sixteenth century, this spirit embodied in the societies of the Europe provided the impetus for capitalism to emerge as the dominant economic system of the world. He saw capitalism more than simply an accumulation of wealth. It had its roots in rationality. He insisted that the capitalism was the triumph of rationality over tradition .Explicit in his views of capitalism was a disciplined labour force and the regularized investment of capital. He asserted that this combination took place only in Europe most strongly in protestant nations such as England, Holland Germany To specify the distinctive characteristics of modern capitalism in the protestant ethic, weber first of all separation off capitalistic enterprise from the pursuit of gain such as.The desire for wealth has existed desire in most times nations in itself nothing to do with capitalistic action, which involves a regular orientation to the achievement of profit through economic exchange. Capitalism thus defined in the mercantilist operations for instance has existed in various forms of society; in Babylon Ancient Egypt, China, India Europe. But only in the west capitalistic activity become associated with the rational organisation of formally free labour. By rational organisation of free labour means its routinized calculated administration with in continuously functioning enterprises. A rationalised capitalistic enterprise implies two things-a disciplined labour force the regulated investment of capital. Each contrasts profoundly with traditional types of economic activity. It is associated with an outlook of very specific kind-the continual accumulation of wealth for its own sake, rather than for the material rewards than it can serve to bring. Man is dominated by the making of money, by acquisition as the ultimate purpose of his life. Economic acquisition is no longer subordinate to man as the means of stratification of his material needs. This according to weber was the essence of the spirit of modern capitalism. The notion of calling accords to weber did not existed either in Antiquity or in Catholic theology; it was introduced by the Reformation. It refers basically to the idea that the highest form of moral obligation of the individual is to fulfil his duty in worldly affairs. This project religious behaviour into the day-day world stands in contrast to the catholic ideal of the monastic life, whose object is to transcend the demands of mundane existence.Moreover,the moral responsibility of the Protestant was cumulative i.e. the cycle of sin, repentance forgiveness, renewed throughout the life of the Catholicism was absent in Protestantism. The idea of calling was already present in Luthers doctrine but it became more rigorously developed in the various sects; Calvinism, Methodism, Pietism and Baptism .The weber was mostly concentrated on the Calvinism. Calvinism was the faith over which the great political cultural struggles of the sixteenth seventeenth centuries were fought in the most highly developed countries, the Netherland, England France. The four tenets of Calvinism were (a) God is all powerful and transcendent. One can never reach or understand God. (b)Doctrine of pre-destination: God has already preselected who will be saved and who shall be condemned. (c)Disworldly Asceticism: Do worldly things but in a balanced manner. Accumulated wealth but not to spend luxuriously. In fact re-invest. (d)The notion of calling: that all people have a calling. And to pursue this calling means doing God will. It views grace as irresistible, has a rigid doctrine of predestination, and originally had a theocratic view of the state. Calvinist doctrines look on Gods will as sovereign, and church should not be subject to the state (although it did not frown on a church dominated society). The doctrine of predestination was of utmost important, stressing the absolute sovereignty of Gods will, held that only those whom God specifically elects are saved, that this election is irresistible, and that man can do nothing to effect this salvation. Weber noted that Calvins interest was solely in God, and people existed only for the sake of God. Only a few are chosen and the rest are damned. Human merit or guilt plays no role in whether or not one is elect. This doctrine produced unprecedented inner loneliness of the single individual. (Protestant, p. 104). The individual Calvinists connection with God was carried on in deep spiritual isolation. (Protestant, p. 107) e.g. Pilgrim in Pilgrims Progress. Weber viewed this as pessimistically disillusioned type of individualism rather than the spirit of enlightenment. No one could save the individual, no priest, not the Church, no sacraments. This, the complete elimination of salvation through the Church and the sacraments was what formed the absolutely decisive difference from Catholicism. (Protestant, p. 105). Weber regards this as the logical conclusion of the elimination of magic, that is, a rational development in religion. For Calvin, people are on earth only to glorify God. The duty of the Christian was to show Gods glory in a calling. This meant doing ones daily tasks, and this often means fulfilling the job in a rational organization. The elected Christian is in the world only to increase this glory of God by fulfilling His commandments to the best of his ability. Brotherly love is expressed in the first place in the fulfilment of the daily tasks given. This makes labour in the service of impersonal social usefulness appear to promote the glory of God and hence to be willed by him. (Protestant, pp. 108-9). The Calvinist Christian was concerned with the question of whether he or she was one of the elect. Since this caused suffering on the part of the individual, two forms of pastoral advice were given. See quote 12 on predestination. First, it was an absolute duty to consider oneself chosen, and to combat all doubts as temptations of the devil, since lack of self-confidence is the result of insufficient faith, hence of imperfect grace. a duty to attain certainty of ones own election and justification in the daily struggle of life. (Protestant, p. 111). Second, in order to attain that self-confidence intense worldly activity is recommended as the most suitable means. It and it alone disperses religious doubts and gives the certainty of grace. (Protestant, p. 112). This contrasts with Lutheranism, whereby God promises grace to those who trust in God. Faith was thus identified with the type of Christian conduct which glorifies God. Works were not a means of purchasing salvation, but of getting rid of the fear of damnation. In practice this means that God helps those who help themselves. (Protestant, p. 115). But this is not done through occasional good works, or a gradual accumulation of points toward salvation, but rather in a systematic self-control which at every moment stands before the inexorable alternative, chosen or damned. (Protestant, p. 115). This means that the Christian must have a life of good works; there is no room for the very human Catholic cycle of sin, repentance, atonement, release. Of the elements in Calvinism that which seeks special attention was the doctrine of predestination-that only some human beings are chosen to be saved from damnation, the choice being predetermined by god. In its extreme inhumanity, he comments this doctrine must above all have had one consequence for the life of a generation which surrendered to its magnificent consistencyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a feeling of unprecedent loneliness. From this torment, weber holds that the capitalistic spirit was born .He talked about the two developments at the pastoral level-it became obligatory to regard oneself as chosen, lack of certainty being indicative of insufficient faith; the performance of good works in worldly activity became accepted as the medium whereby such surety could be demonstrated. Success in a calling eventually came to be regarded as a sign never a means of being one of the elect. The accumulation of wealth was morally sanctioned in so far as it was combined with a sober, industrious career; wealth was condemned only if employed to support a life of idle luxury or self-indulgence. Calvinism supplied the moral energy drive of the capitalistic entrepreneur.weber speaks of its doctrine as having an iron consistency in the bleak discipline which it demands of its adherent. The elements of ascetic self-control in worldly affairs was certainly there in the other puritan sects but they lack the dynamism of calvanism.Their impact was mainly upon the formation of moral outlook enhancing labour discipline with n the lower middle levels of capitalistic economic organisation. Such as the virtues favoured by pietism were those of the faithful official, clerk, labourer or domestic worker. The protestant ethic acc. To weber traces only one side of the casual chain i.e.-the connection of the spirit of modern economic life with the rational ethics of ascetic puritanism. He specifies a number of fundamental socio-economic factors institutional bases which played major role distinguished the European experience that of India china. These included (a)The separation of productive enterprise from the household which, prior to the development of industrial capitalism was much more advanced in the west (b) the development of the Western city, with a trading structure independent of the surrounding rural areas(c) Western law, including the separation of corporate and personal property; (iv) the nation state, with a bureaucracy that could take care of necessary state activities; an organized territory under unified control of a single ruler or government, so that there was a unified framework within which commerce and capitalism could develop; (v) double entry book-keeping, al lowing business to keep track of all items and determine a balance; allowing rational calculation of all the inflows and outflows, leading to an analysis of where the profit or loss occurs, and what is the source of profit; (vi) the rational capitalistic organization of (formally) free labour. A lot of critique has been laid on the webers work said that webers characterisation of Protestantism was faulty. The major critique directed to webers treatment of the reformation, his interpretation of the puritan sects in general the Calvinism particularly. (a)It has been held that weber mistakenly supposed that Luther introduced the concept of calling which differ from anything previously available in scriptural exegesis; that Calvinistic ethics were anti-capitalistic rather than sanctioning the accumulation of wealth (b) Weber misinterpreted catholic doctrine. Critics have pointed out that weber apparently did not study Catholicism in any detail, although he talked about the difference between the Catholicism Protestantism in respect of economically relevant values. It has been held that post-medieval Catholicism involves elements positively favourable to the capitalist spirit that the Reformation was seen as a reaction against the latter rather than as a clearing ground fo r its subsequent emergence (c) The connectivity between puritanism modern capitalism was based upon unsatisfactory empirical materials. Fischer Rachfahl has echoed about this in several forms.Weber only study the numerical analysis of the economic studies of Catholics Protestants in baden,1895.They argued that webers source was mainly Anglo-Saxon claimed that research into economic development in the Rhineland, the Netherland Switzerland, in the sixteenth seventeenth centuries didnt reveal any close association between Calvinism capitalistic enterprise. One of the criticisms of Weber is that he misunderstood what Franklin was saying. In their article, In Search of the Spirit of Capitalism: Webers Misinterpretation of Franklin, Tony Dickson and Hugh McLachlan disagree with Weber that Franklin was talking about an ethic in the selection quoted above. Far from demonstrating a commitment to the spirit of capitalism and the accumulation of wealth as an end in itself and moral duty, Franklins writings is in fact evidence against the existence of such a spirit. Dickson and McLachlan point out that the title of the work from which Weber quoted is Necessary Hints to Those That Would Be Rich. They assert, This suggests that what Franklin is offering is prudential advice, rather than insisting on a moral imperative. The gist of Dicksons and McLachlans argument is that Weber misinterpreted Franklins writings as moral ends when they were simply virtues to be practiced because of the benefits they will bring to those who practice them. They deny that Franklin was preaching a Protestant work ethic and assert that all Franklin was saying was that if a person is interested in being successful in life and commerce, here are some virtues to follow. Dickson and McLachlan conclude with a clear statement of their criticism of Webers hypothesis: It seems clear that Weber misinterpreted Franklin and that the latter was not imbued with the ethos which Weber attributes to him. It is not in dispute that a methodological lifestyle is conducive to the accumulation of wealth. What is at issue concerning Webers Protestant Ethic thesis is the impetus for such a lifestyle. Webers misinterpretation of Franklin does not in itself invalidate his methodology or his Protestant Ethic thesis. Nonetheless, it does suggest a rather cavalier attitude towards evidence, particularly as the writings of Franklin are the only evidence that he presents in his original essays to demonstrate the existence of the spirit of capitalism. H. M. Robertson, in A Criticism of Max Weber and His School asserted that the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Churches stressed the same precepts in the 16th and 17th centuries. He states that Webers assertion that the concept of the calling was novel to Luther and Protestantism was not established in Webers writings. He supported his thesis by quoting Aquinas: There seems to be no essential difference between the doctrine of the Catholics and the Puritans on the point of the calling. Amintore Fanfani, an economic historian, shared Robertson criticism of Weber but from a different aspect. In his article Catholicism, Protestantism, and Capitalism, Fanfani disagrees with Weber concerning the role that Protestantism played in the development of a capitalist spirit in Europe. In the first paragraph, he states his argument: . . . that Europe was acquainted with capitalism before the Protestant revolt. For at least century capitalism had been an ever growing collective force. Not only isolated individuals, but whole social groups, inspired with the new spirit, struggled with a society that was not yet permeated with it. Once we have ruled out that Protestantism could have produced a phenomenon that already existed, it still remains for us to enquire whether capitalism was encouraged or opposed by Protestantism. Fanfani argued that it was not the Protestant Ethic which encouraged the growth of capitalism but the fact was that many Protestants were forced to leave Catholic countries to escape persecution which fosters in the emigrants an internationalism that is no small element in capitalist mentality. He further says that many early Protestant leaders opposed capitalism, including Luther and Calvin: Luthers conservatism in economic matters, to which his patriarchal ideas on trade and his decided aversion to interest bear witness. Even Calvin . . . condemns as unlawful all gain obtained at a neighbours expense, and the amassing of wealth. The Huguenots and Dutch Reformers also preached against various aspects of capitalism: . . . through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a continual repetition of the prohibitions of usury were issued by the synods of the Huguenots and by those of the Dutch Reformers, whose ethical code also condemned even excessive labour, as robbing time and energy fr om the service of God, and held action born of desire for gain to be a sign of madness. Fanfani agrees with Weber that capitalism flourished after the Reformation, but he parts ways with Weber as to the causes. Fanfani argues that capitalism as we know it today was born in the Italian merchant states under the religious umbrella of Catholicism, but he discounts the effect that religion of any kind had on the growth of capitalism as the major world economic system. He concludes his article by stating, The creation of a new mentality in the economic field cannot therefore be considered as the work of Protestantism, or rather of any one religion, but it is a manifestation of that general revolution of thought that characterizes the period of the Renaissance and the Reformation, by which in art, philosophy, morals, and economy, the individual emancipates . . . himself from the bonds imposed on him during the Middle Ages. Malcolm H. MacKinnon, bases his disagreements with Weber on the idea that Weber misinterpreted what the Calvinists were saying about the concept of the calling and good works. He states early on in his article, There are two fundamental theological flaws in Webers line of reasoning, flaws that mean that Calvinism did not give a divine stamp of approval to earthly toil: (1) There is no crisis of proof in the Westminster Confession of Faith, the dogmatic culmination of seventeenth-century Calvinism upon which Weber so heavily relies, and (2) in Christianity generally and Calvinism in particular, works have nothing to do with mundane activities. As soteriologically conceived in relation to salvation, works are spiritual activities that call for obedience to the Law. MacKinnon goes on to explain that Webers major failure is his misunderstanding of the Calvinist meaning of the calling. Using the Westminster Confession as his primary source, MacKinnon explains what the term calling meant to the Calvinists: There is a heavenly calling and an earthly calling or callings, the latter disqualified from making a positive contribution to our deliver ance. . . Above all else, the devout must ensure that their mundane callings in no way impede the prosecution of the greatest good of all: their heavenly calling. Believers are sanctioned to choose that employment or calling in which you may be most serviceable to God. Choose not that in which you may be most honorable in the world; but that which you may do most good and best escape sinning. MacKinnon concludes by stating that it was Webers misfortune to choose part of the Calvinist philosophy which, upon close examination, not only fails to support Webers thesis but in fact undermines it. Again, the significant point here is that temporal obligations are at best indifferent and at worst sinful; they cannot make a contribution to the realization of celestial paradise. It is a grim twist of irony that Weber would choose such a spiritually worthless vehicle to realize his causal ambitions. R. H. Tawney, Webers most famous critic, agreed with Weber that capitalism and Protestantism were connected. However, Tawney saw the connection going in the opposite direction from that which Weber postulated. Tawney, in his 1926 work, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, states that Protestantism adopted the risk-taking, profit-making ethic of capitalism, not the other way around. Tawney claims, with some good measure: There was plenty of capitalist spirit in fifteenth century Venice and Florence, or in south Germany and Flanders, for the simple reason that these areas were the greatest commercial and financial centers of the age. The development of capitalism in Holland and England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were due, not to the fact that they were Protestant powers but to large economic movements, in particular the Discoveries and the results which flowed from them. The strongest connection that Tawney saw between capitalism and Protestantism was rationality. Protestantism was a revolt against traditionalism and as such advocated rationality as an approach to life and business. Tawney proposed that the rationality inherent in capitalism became a tenet of Protestantism because rationality was diametrically opposed to the traditionalism of Catholicism. Early Protestant leaders recognized that hard work and rational organization of time were capitalist virtues which fit very nicely into the concept of living ones life in the service of God. Tawney saw the capitalist concepts of division of labor and planned accumulation as being reflected in the dogma of Protestantism which urged its followers to use ones calling on earth for the greater glory of God. According to Tawney, capitalist precepts and Protestant dogma fit hand in glove. As an historian, Tawney did not see a linear relationship between capitalism and Protestantism. He thought that Webers thesis a little too simplistic to explain historical events. History tends to be non-linear, and attempts to draw straight casual lines between events are shaky at best. As Tawney put it, The Protestant ethic, with its insistence on hard work, thrift, etc., had contributed to the rise of capitalism, but at the same time Protestantism itself was being influenced by an increasingly capitalistic society. The last critic I will cite in this paper is an economic historian, Jacob Viner, who used pre-eighteenth century Scotland as a case study to demonstrate that where Calvinism was a state religion, it tended to have a restraining rather than a freeing effect on economic development. He quotes a letter from John Keats in support of his thesis: . . . the ecclesiastical supervision of the life of the individual, which, as it was practised in the Calvinistic State Churches almost amounted to an inquisition, might even retard that liberation of individual powers which was conditioned by the rational ascetic pursuit of salvation, and in some cases actually did so. Viner points out that until well into the eighteenth century, Scotland was a desperately poor country. Contemporary commentators often remarked on the lack of economic initiative and ambition and on the general lack of enterprise and economic discipline of the population. Several of these reporters attributed Scotlands economic backwardness in large part to the deadening effect of Calvinist doctrine as forcibly applied by both Church and State. Viner quotes Henry T. Buckle who, in his 1857 treatise Introduction to the History of Civilization in England, wrote concerning the economic teachings of Scottish Calvinists in the seventeenth century as follows: To wish for more than was necessary to keep oneself alive was a sin as well as a folly and was a violation of the subjection we owe to God. That it was contrary to His desire was moreover evident from the fact that He bestowed wealth liberally upon misers and covetous men; a remarkable circumstance, which, in the opinion of Scotch divines, proved that He was no lover of riches, otherwise He would not give them to such base and sordid persons. To be poor, dirty, and hungry, to pass through life in misery, and to leave it with fear, to be plagued with boils, and sores, and diseases of every kind, to be always sighing and groaning, . . . in a word [sic], to suffer constant affliction, and to be tormented in all possible ways; to undergo these things was deemed proof of good ness, just as the contrary was a proof of evil. The opposition of Scottish Calvinism to capitalism was so well known in Europe that some English commentators such as Roger LEstrange urged English businessmen to look at the record of the Scottish Presbyterians in interfering with commerce and industry for religious reasons before supporting Cromwells cause. In conclusion, the critics of Webers Protestantism/capitalism theory have reasonable and logical criticisms. As a historian, I find the Tawney non-linear argument to be very compelling. There is no doubt that capitalism in various forms existed in Europe prior to the Reformation. The Italian merchants and the Dutch clothiers operated under a rational economic system. Double-entry bookkeeping was invented in Italy and adopted by other merchants throughout Europe. I think it is obvious that several factors were at work in Europe during the long sixteenth century, which led to the growth and dominance of capitalism. All of this taken into consideration, Webers thesis still stands. His thesis is not perfect; it has all the flaws pointed out by the above critics. However, none of the critics I have read managed to destroy the basic premise by which Weber sought to explain the growth of capitalism. Something happened in the long sixteenth century which saw an explosion of capitalist economic activity, free thought, and religious rebellion. Whether the relationship among these is causal or coincidental will be grounds for conjecture for years to come. History shows us that in fact those nations which were predominantly Protestant showed economic growth much greater than those which were predominantly Catholic. Even Jacob Viners argument that the repressive nature of Scottish Calvinism does not damage Weber, since he acknowledged that once a religion becomes a creature of the state it then tends to oppress people rather than free them.

Ethical Issues in Management Essay

Every so often we hear the phrase â€Å"Business is business and a cup of tea is a cup of tea†. The contemporary business managers think quite on the contrary. Morals and ethics are the new paradigm and have taken the driving seat in the day to day working of the Management. Ethics contains code of conduct for a person to blend with others keeping in view the righteousness and goodness of the trade; whereas, morals are not primarily written but acted upon by most of society with rectitude. The modern manager faces several issues on the moral and ethical front as more teamwork is required to accomplish collective goals. Fraud, discrimination, nepotism, false marketing in advertorial manner is the name of the game for unethical pseudo professionals and to cope with them always remain a challenge for the socially and ethically responsible manager. The moral values of a professional lie deep within, starting with the core communications between his superiors, peers and subordinates. The levelheaded working style of a manager speaks volume of not only his good ethical behavior but also keen sense of judgment and ability to lead his subordinates in a fair and square manner. An ethically responsible manager not only tells people what to do but shows them how to do it. A Manager must be the role model to other employees of the company; therefore, he is accountable for the training and guidance of his coworkers and associates. The management must device an ethical education management and assessment of behavioral integrity of the employees to extract more productivity (Wankel, 2011). It is rightly said that â€Å"Charity begins at home†, the same is applied to morals of the management. Ethically responsible management practices enforced by a company ensure that the company declines any shady business practices and eventually fraudulent functioning of the employees. The old business model has drastically changed over the years as accountability and transparency have become norms of progressive business (Carroll, 2012). In this context, the burden on the shoulders of whistles blowers have increased radically. They should be encouraged to report organizational misconduct in any form or manifestation. It is the responsibility of the management to encourage its employees to report any fraud or delinquency. Fortification of the whistle blower from coworkers is the responsibility of the company also which in return shall endorse the trust of the employees on the management. There are many example of ethical dilemma which arises due to the fact that the people in power not realize the repercussion of their decisions. Although society gives so much for the business to prosper, mostly none is returned to the society. A classical example would be the industrial waste coming out of a process industry which gravely affects the flora and fauna of the milieu. The decision of the management to spill industrial drainage without treatment is a solemn ethical breach. The environmental agencies have formalized various codes and standards like OSHAS which should have been followed prior to any drainage of detrimental waste water. Ethically responsible management practices and social issues bear close rapport. Hence the management must always have an insight to resolve these issues as they are always involved in dealing with the community directly or indirectly related to the business. The managers may have to take stern decisions to alleviate unethical demeanor yet it is bound to return back in folds.

A Brief History of Courtship and Dating in America

A Brief History of Courtship and Dating in America, Part 1 [pic]by The Rev'd Skip Burzumato [pic] Whenever possible, I love to use the word â€Å"courtship† in everyday conversation with young and old alike. It's one of those words with which most people are familiar, but have vastly differing opinions of what it means. For many, courtship is an old-fashioned word. It summons visions of men wooing women with small tokens of affection and asking their hand in marriage on bended knee. For social scientists, studies of courtship usually look at the process of â€Å"mate selection. (Social scientists, among whom I number myself from time to time, will never be accused of being romantics. ) For the purpose of this article the preparation for and proposal of marriage is what makes the act qualify as courtship. As cultural historians Alan Carlson and Beth Bailey put it in the Mars Hill Audio Report, Wandering Toward the Altar: The Decline of American Courtship, prior to the early 20 th century, courtship involved one man and one woman spending intentional time together in order to get to know each other with the expressed purpose of evaluating the other as a potential husband or wife. The man and the woman usually were members of the same community, and the courting usually was done in the woman's home in the presence (and under the watchful eye) of her family, most often Mom and brothers. However, between the late 1800s and the first few decades of the 1900s the new system of â€Å"dating† added new stages to courtship. One of the most obvious changes was that it multiplied the number of partners (from serious to casual) an individual was likely to have before marriage. So, one important point to understand right up front (and about which many inside and outside the church are confused) is that we have not moved from a courtship system to a dating system, but instead, we have added a dating system into our courtship system. Since most young adults will marry, the process employed in finding a husband and wife is still considered courtship. However, an extra layer, what we call â€Å"dating,† has been added to the process of courting. If you are familiar with computer programming terminology, you can liken dating to a sub-routine that has been added to the system of courtship. Over the course of this two-part article, I would like to trace how this change occurred, especially concentrating on the origin of this dating â€Å"subroutine. † Let me begin by briefly suggesting four cultural forces that assisted in moving mate selection from, as Alan Carlson puts it, the more predictable cultural script that existed for several centuries, to the multi-layered system and (I think most would agree) the more ambiguous courtship system that includes â€Å"the date. The first, and probably most important change we find in courtship practices in the West occurred in the early 20th century when courtship moved from public acts conducted in private spaces (for instance, the family porch or parlor) to private or individual acts conducted in public spaces, located primarily in the entertainment world, as Beth Bailey argues in her book, From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth Century America. Bailey observes that by the 1930s and 40s, with the advent of the â€Å"date† (which we will look at more fully in the next installment) courtship increasingly took place in public spaces such as movie theaters and dance halls, removed by distance and by anonymity from the sheltering and controlling contexts of the home and local community. Keeping company in the family parlor was replaced by dining and dancing, movies, and â€Å"parking. † A second cultural force that influenced the older courtship system was the rise of â€Å"public advice† literature as well as the rise of an â€Å"expert† class of advisers — psychologists, sociologists, statisticians, etc. At the same time that the public entertainment culture was on the rise in the early 20th century, a proliferation of magazine articles and books began offering advice about courtship, marriage, and the relationship between the sexes. As Ken Myers says in Wandering Toward the Altar, from the late 1930s on, young people knew, down to the percentage point, what their peers throughout the country thought and did. They knew what was â€Å"normal. † Prior to the 20th century, â€Å"normal† was determined within families and local communities, but now a â€Å"higher authority,† with wide-spread circulation and readership, began to form a national consciousness. Thirdly, we see a change in sexual norms in the West. With the onset of the sexual revolution the question arose, â€Å"Why would a man court and woo a woman when he could gain a chief benefit of marriage, namely sexual gratification, for free with no commitment? † (Friendship â€Å"with benefits† is a contemporary example. ) Closely related to this is the invention of birth control. There is too much that could be said here, so I'll be brief. Simply put, with the onset of the idespread use of chemical and other means of birth control, the language of procreation — of having children — was separated from the language of marriage. As U. of Chicago ethicist Leon Kass argues in his chapter on courtship in Building a Healthy Culture: Strategies for an American Renaissance, under the old system of courtship, marriage and bringing a child into the world were inextricably linked. But no longer. With the ever decreasing risk of pregnancy, having sex and being marr ied were no longer tied together. Fourthly, we find a change in the models and metaphors used to describe the home and family. Prior to the 20th century, when we talked about courtship we used language and metaphors of home and family: â€Å"He'd be a good father,† â€Å"They could have such a happy home together,† etc. The new system of courtship that played itself out in the entertainment culture and public square largely was understood and described by the advice and â€Å"expert† class with metaphors taken from modern industrial capitalism. It's as if those who wrote and commented on male-female relationship had stopped reading the Song of Solomon and Jane Austen in favor of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes. The new courtship system gave importance to competition (and worried about how to control it); it valued consumption; it presented an economic model of scarcity and abundance of men and women as a guide to personal affairs — There aren't that many good men left, so you better get one while the gettin' is good! This new language of courtship had great symbolic importance and continues to shape the way we think, speak and act concerning relationships to this day. Have you ever known a girl who went out with a guy who was a complete dolt but who could help her get ahead socially? (And not to pick on women, it just as easily happens in reverse. Those decisions are based more on economic theory of the 19th and 20th centuries than on any sort of biblical notion of desire for the opposite sex. So, these are four important cultural forces in the early part of the 20th century that assisted in moving our culture from the older courtship system that existed prior to the late 19th centur y, to a courtship system that includes â€Å"dating,† which, I will argue in the next article, is much more ambiguous and confusing. I will also talk about dating itself (including the origination of the word â€Å"date†), and how it has changed over time. ttp://www. boundless. org/2005/articles/a0001456. cfm Filipino Custom and Tradition: Courtship Although they have dated for a while here in the United States, my brother in law has to continue to court not only his fiancee but her family as well. Courtship is one that is still being practiced among the strictest of the Filipino families. This is performed by the male (who is the suitor since it is wrong to do it the opposite way) visiting the home of the female. In the olden days, courtship doesn't start until the male suitor had obtained permission from the parents. This was done with the male suitor being accompanied by another respectable elder and approaching either the father or the mother of the female and obtaining permissions days in advanced to visit at a particular day and time. Nowadays this form of getting the parent's permission is still being practiced in the provinces, however, due to western influences, there are some variations more adaptable to the modern times. One alternative is to make a phone call, asking for the parents' or guardian's permission through an elder to schedule a visit. Another way is for the suitor to approach the parents in a public place, and informally asking for permission to visit. Either way, it is to show proper respect to ask for permission prior to the formal visit. Properly greeting the parents by placing the back of the right hand of the parents to the suitor's forehead is practiced to show respect. This is called pagmamano in Tagalog. When the permission has been granted, the suitor whether accompanied by a friend or an elder will visit the girl's home and offers gifts. Gift bags or boxes of goodies or Filipino snacks purchased from a local store and flowers are generally given. The snacks or other goods are offered to the family of the girl then the flowers and special sweets (like chocolate or candies) are given to the girl. In a strict Filipino home, during courtship, the parents are present during the first visit. This is the opportunity to get to know each other. This is sometimes called courting the parents first and winning their hearts and approval then letting the boy or suitor court the girl. Subsequent visits are then scheduled if all went well during the first visit nd, depending on how long the courtship will last, the answer is given by the girl with the parents' knowledge as well. Since my brother in law and his fiancee have already dated and gone through a bit of courtship here in the United States, what he would do in his visit is to court or meet her family. He brought some pasalubong (gifts) from America which he will give to each family member. Other culture may call this as dowry but in the Filipino culture it is just plain gift-giving. No suitor should go to a girl's home without bearing gifts at least during the first visit. Then he will be introduced formally to her mother since her dad had passed away and also meet her younger siblings. His fiancee and her family would prepare a special meal and he will partake in them whole-heartedly. http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/397501/filipino_customs_and_traditions_courtship. html The Filipino way of courtship is probably among the most romantic in the world. TRADITION Courting under Filipino tradition gives very big importance on the value of respecting the woman and her family and strictly adhering with proper rules set by society for pursuing a lady. This practice which dates back to the Spanish times prohibits men to be very aggressive or becoming even when they want the lady very much. One cannot just talk and approach a lady in the street and ask her number or address. If a young man sees a lady he likes he should seek out the help of a go-between, usually a common friend of both family, to ask the permission of the girls father whether he can visit them in their house. This is the gentlemanly thing to do so the parents will most likely approve unless of course the lady is just a child. When the approval is obtained, the suitor can then come to the house with the go-between who will initiate the introductions to the family. The parents in turn will introduce their daughter to the gentleman. In this stage, the suitor is expected to bring â€Å"pasalubong† or gifts to the family and a special one to the girl he likes. This he will have to do everytime he visits the girl’s house. In the Philippines, when you court a lady, you have to court her whole family as well. In this first visit, the couple will not be left alone on their own to get to know each other. It will just be an informal chatting and introduction and getting-to-know stage between the suitor and the family and making clear of the suitor’s intention to pursue the host’s daughter. After the initial visit, the suitor is then expected to woo  the girl by showing up in her house more often and establish rapport with the her family. This is the stage where he does the â€Å"paninilbihan† or servitude. He serves the girls family in any way that he can to show to them and to the girl of his sincere intentions and love for her, be it by chopping firewood, fetching water from the well, etc. It is a way of saying â€Å"I will do anything to prove my love for you†. At night, he will sing â€Å"harana† or love songs outside the girls house by the window with a guitar and his friends serving as back ups. They will sing and wait until the lady finally opens the window and invites them into the house. They will then be served with light snacks and they can talk in the presence of the girls parents and the man’s friends. Note that in most times, the couple will be with either friends or families. It is considered inappropriate to leave an unmarried couple unsupervised in those times no matter what their ages are. The process of courting a Filipina in the traditional sense is a long and arduous process. It is expected that a Filipina will play hard-to-get when court because that is the norm. No matter how much she likes the man, she has to show utmost restraint and disinterest. Girls are made to believe that men will value them more if they are made to work hard before letting them have what they want. So after a long period of paninilbihan and a series of haranas, the girl can finally accept the suitor’s love. At this stage, the couple can now start dating in public but always in the company of a chaperon. The man will still continue to come to the house and help out. When the time comes when he feels he is ready to get married, he and his parent’s will have to come to the girl’s house and the parents of the boy will have to formally ask the hand of the hand of the girl in marriage to their son. This stage is called â€Å"Pamamanhikan† or â€Å"Paghingi ng Kamay†. In doing this, they will have to bring with them, lots of food and presents as well as the dowry that they can present to the girls parents. In the Philippines, dowry is given by the boy’s family, not by the girl’s family. This is because we give high value to the women in our society and giving them away is not easy. When the two families have come to an agreement as to the dowry, the wedding date is set, a ring is presented to the girl and the couple is said to be betrothed. A small feast is then held with the food brought by the boy’s family. MODERN Although a lot of our traditional wedding practice is still being observed these days there are modifications and â€Å"evolutions† that has been introduced to it that gives it a more modern version. Modern Filipino courtship revolves more on the liberalism of Filipino youth. If Filipinos of opposite sex were not allowed to mingle in public in the old days, these days that is already possible. These has allowed courtship to be a little more lenient on youngsters. You can now meet a girl you like through a common friend or on a party but never on a street as the same is still regarded as inappropriate. Most parents would still want their children to be courted inside the house though some modern and liberal-minded Filipinas don’t do this anymore and prefers to meet up somewhere else instead, a clear disregard of tradition and parental respect. Modern courtship does not really have a pattern. It could start from a group date where friends would pair friends up and tease them. Friends could play cupid and set a couple up and leave them on their own to talk then before you know it they are going out on a date. With the influence of western television, modern courtship these days are going fast although it doesn’t necessarily have the emotional baggage attached with immediately going to bed. It would take a lot longer time for Filipinos to trust each other to get to that point. It stems on the virtues rooted from the olden days. Modern Filipina ladies are also decisive on their choices. Those who do not really want their suitors would not hesitate on letting them know of this fact. A refused suitor is called â€Å"basted†. These modern Filipinas are only a tip of the iceberg as most Filipinas especially the ones in the province still adheres to the traditional way of courtship. Most families still observes the rituals connected to panliligaw, pamamanhikan or paghingi ng kamay, dowry etc. Gone were the days of paninilbihan and haranas. These days, it is enough that a man shows up in a lady’s house and bonds with the woman’s family. He is not expected to chop wood or fetch water but at least show the girl’s family that he is worthy enough of her love. It is important though to note whether it be traditional or modern, to show your sincere intention of courting by introducing yourself to the family and impressing the girls family in any way that you can. ONLINE We know how hard it is to try and court a Filipina online, believe use, we’ve been there. Here are some helpful tips to go through with it: 1. Try to be as gentleman as possible. A Filipino male sets his best foot forward in courting a girl. That’s how the game is played. 2. Keep communication lines open. Filipinas love to talk on email, on skype, etc. They just want to feel and hear you love them all the time. This is their way of bridging the distance. Filipinas have a lot of insecurities, if you forget to call them they will immediately feel bad or suspicious you’re up to something. That’s true to most Pinays. Constant communication helps. 3. Filipinas love surprises 4. Make good all of your promises. When you say you are coming on a certain date make sure you come on that date. Sincerity to Filipinos is measured not by saying what is right but by doing what is right. http://www. western-asian. com/index. php/archives/30

Cómo probar dureza extrema para perdón migratorio

Cà ³mo probar dureza extrema para perdà ³n migratorio Demostrar la existencia de dureza extrema es uno de los requisitos para obtener el perdà ³n I-601A o el I-601A–conocido como waiver provisional– que permiten a los migrantes regresar a Estados Unidos o regularizar su situacià ³n. En este artà ­culo se informa sobre los tipos de perdà ³n migratorio para los que la dureza extrema es uno de sus requisitos, quà © entiende el Servicio de Inmigracià ³n y Ciudadanà ­a (USCIS, por sus siglas en inglà ©s) por sufrimiento extremo, cà ³mo se prueba y cul debe ser el contenido de la carta en la que se alega dicha dureza. Tipos de perdones migratorios para los que la dureza extrema es uno de los requisitos Los perdones migratorios ms comunes para los que se exige probar dureza extrema son los siguientes: Perdà ³n I-601 para regresar a EE.UU. En estos casos de solicitud de perdà ³n I-601, el migrante se encuentra fuera de EE.UU. en el momento de presentar los papeles para pedir el perdà ³n. Su problema es que no puede ingresar a EE.UU. por alguna de las siguientes razones: estuvo ilegalmente en EE.UU., utilizà ³ documentos falsos para obtener un beneficio migratorio, mintià ³ a un oficial o fue condenado por ciertos delitos. Perdà ³n provisional por presencia ilegal En estos casos el migrante que solicita el perdà ³n conocido como I-601A est en EE.UU. y no puede arreglar sus papeles porque ingresà ³ ilegalmente a Estados Unidos. Necesita obtener su aprobacià ³n antes de salir del paà ­s para presentarse en un consulado de EE.UU. para la entrevista para obtener una visa de inmigrante y no sufrir el castigo de los tres y de los 10 aà ±os. Tanto para el caso del perdà ³n I-601 como el del I-601A la persona que sufrirà ­a la dureza extrema si no se aprueba la solicitud debe ser un familiar del migrante y no el propio migrante. Es lo que se conoce en inglà ©s como qualifying relative. Adems, dicho familiar debe ser el cà ³nyuge o el padre o la madre del migrante y debe tener estatus de ciudadano estadounidense o residente permanente legal. Una excepcià ³n importante son los casos de los migrantes indocumentados que solicitan los papeles por violencia domà ©stica en aplicacià ³n de WAVA y el problema por el que no pueden obtenerlos es porque cometieron un fraude migratorio previamente. En estos casos, el perdà ³n podrà ­a aprobase si la dureza extrema afecta al propio migrante.  ¿Quà © es el requisito de dureza extrema para solicitar un perdà ³n migratorio? La ley no especifica en quà © constituye exactamente la dureza extrema, pero se entiende que va ms all que los problemas ordinarios causados por la separacià ³n familiar fruto de una deportacià ³n, expulsià ³n inmediata o por tener un castigo que impide a un migrante ingresar legalmente a Estados Unidos. Asà ­, se considera como dureza ordinaria y que, por lo tanto, no calificarà ­a para un perdà ³n migratorio cualquiera de las siguientes situaciones consideradas por sà ­ mismas e individualmente: Pà ©rdida ordinaria de ingresos econà ³micos.Separacià ³n familiar.Choque cultural y de ajuste a un nuevo paà ­s. Requisitos para situacià ³n de dureza extrema: USCIS considera que para calificar una situacià ³n como de dureza extrema tiene en consideracià ³n las siguientes situaciones: Edad Se tiene en cuenta, por un lado, cuntos aà ±os tiene el migrante en el momento de solicitar el perdà ³n y tambià ©n la que tenà ­a en el momento en que ingresà ³ a EE.UU. Tambià ©n se tiene en cuenta la edad de los hijos del migrante asà ­ como cuntos son y cul es su estatus migratorio. Tambià ©n se tiene en cuenta su capacidad de hablar el idioma del paà ­s del padre/madre migrante, para el caso de nià ±os que han crecido en EE.UU. y que acompaà ±arà ­an a sus padres migrantes a otro paà ­s si estos no pudieran residir en EE.UU. Tiempo de residencia en Estados Unidos Se tiene en consideracià ³n cuntos aà ±os el migrante ha vivido en EE.UU. Salud Otro factor a tener en cuenta es la salud del migrante y de su cà ³nyuge. En algunos tipos de perdà ³n se tiene tambià ©n en consideracià ³n la salud de otros miembros de la familia como padres e hijos del migrante. Tambià ©n se evalà ºa la calidad de la asistencia sanitaria que recibirà ­an dichas personas fuera de los Estados Unidos y el impacto psicolà ³gico que puede tener en el migrante un castigo de deportacià ³n o remocià ³n o la imposibilidad de obtener una visa de inmigrante para regresar. Và ­nculos en Estados Unidos USCIS tiene en consideracià ³n si el migrante tiene familiares en EE.UU. en situacià ³n migratoria legal o en proceso de obtenerla. Tambià ©n tiene en cuenta los và ­nculos del migrante con la comunidad en la que vive y el grado de integracià ³n en el paà ­s. Economà ­a y Educacià ³n Otro factor a tener en cuenta por USCIS es la capacidad del migrante para obtener empleo fuera de los EE.UU., el impacto en sus financias si tiene que abandonar el paà ­s o se le impide regresar y tambià ©n si las posibilidades de mejorar acadà ©micamente pueden verse negativamente afectadas. Situacià ³n en el paà ­s del migrante USCIS tiene en cuenta la situacià ³n polà ­tica y econà ³mica en el paà ­s del migrante asà ­ como si el migrante tiene và ­nculos familiares en su paà ­s de origen. Otras razones En todo caso, pueden alegarse otras razones siempre que causen extrema dureza. En ocasiones, uno solo de esos factores es tan fuerte que puede calificar como dureza extrema. Pero en la mayorà ­a de los casos ninguno es determinante por sà ­ solo y USCIS decide teniendo en cuenta todos o parte de ellos. Por à ºltimo, cabe destacar que no todos los factores mencionados son igual de importantes. Asà ­, USCIS da ms relevancia a las situaciones que afectan a la salud o a la seguridad que a los posibles perjuicios econà ³micos y a las dificultades de adaptarse a una nueva vida fuera de Estados Unidos.  ¿Cà ³mo se prueba una situacià ³n de dureza extrema? En este punto es muy importante leer con detenimiento las indicaciones especà ­ficas segà ºn el tipo de waiver que se solicita. Pero, en general, se admite como prueba para demostrar una situacià ³n de dureza extrema lo siguiente: Evidencia de empleo o de negocio, como tax returns o nà ³minasExtractos bancarios y recibos financierosEvaluaciones y tests de salud fà ­sica y mental realizados por profesionales mà ©dicosCertificados de nacimiento, matrimonio, adopcià ³n, etc.Fotografà ­as, reportes en perià ³dicos y declaraciones de expertos sobre la situacià ³n de un determinado paà ­s.Rà ©cords de membresà ­a en organizaciones comunitarias, culturales o de voluntariadoDeclaraciones juradas y testimonios personalesCualquier otra evidencia que pueda servir para probar dureza extrema Carta de sufrimiento o dureza extrema A la hora de preparar el paquete para solicitar el perdà ³n debe incluirse una explicacià ³n en forma de carta en inglà ©s en la que se mencionan los argumentos para alegar sufrimiento extremo. A la hora de escribirla es importante tener en cuenta las siguientes directrices. En primer lugar, no debe ahogarse al oficial que va a decidir el caso con un montà ³n de argumentos dà ©biles. Se recomienda elegir entre tres y cinco razones por las que se argumenta dureza extrema. En segundo lugar, es recomendable comenzar con el argumento ms fuerte. Es muy comà ºn que està © relacionado con la salud pero no es obligatorio. En tercer lugar, todo lo que se alega debe tener su evidencia correspondiente. Por ejemplo, si se alega que se tiene una profesià ³n que requiere una habilidad poco comà ºn, presentar tambià ©n una carta del empleador. O por ejemplo, si se alega que se tiene un hijo con una ex pareja y que ha anunciado que prohibir a dicho infante salir de EE.UU. para visitar a su padre o madre migrante, incluir una declaracià ³n de dicha ex pareja en la que explica su decisià ³n. Si se alega que el cà ³nyuge del migrante no puede abandonar EE.UU. porque est cuidando de un familiar, enviar documentacià ³n que pruebe que efectivamente est prestando ese cuidado. Si se alega una enfermedad, incluir una declaracià ³n del mà ©dico que la est tratando, etc. En el foro i2us.net existen cartas reales redactadas en inglà ©s de migrantes y sus familias que aplicaron por un perdà ³n y alegaron con à ©xito dureza extrema. Es recomendable consultarlas pero nunca plagiarlas, ya que la alegacià ³n de cada migrante debe ajustarse a su caso real. Por à ºltimo, cabe destacar que estos casos son difà ­ciles y pueden ser complicados. Deberà ­a considerarse muy seriamente consultar o contratar un abogado de inmigracià ³n especialista en estos casos. Dureza Extrema Probar dureza extrema es uno de los requisitos para que USCIS apruebe las solicitudes de perdà ³n I-601 e I-601A.Para determinar que existe dureza extrema se tiene en consideracià ³n diversos factores, como salud, economà ­a, situacià ³n polà ­tica y social en paà ­s de origen, presencia de familiares en EE.UU. o en otro paà ­s e integracià ³n en la comunidad.En la mayorà ­a de los casos, la ley exige que la dureza extrema la sufra un familiar cualificado del migrante y no el propio migrante. Como regla general se consideran como familiares que reà ºnen esos requisitos los cà ³nyuges, padres y madres de los migrantes que, adems, deben ser ciudadanos estadounidenses o residentes permanentes legales.Las decisiones en las que USCIS niega un perdà ³n porque no se prueba la dureza extrema no pueden apelarse. Sin embargo, es posible presentar una nueva aplicacià ³n. Fuentes: â€Å"Immigration and Nationality Act.†Ã‚  USCIS, 10 Sept. 2013, www.uscis.gov/legal-resources/immigration-and-nationality-act. Este es un artà ­culo informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal.

Free Essays on Erin And Gwen

Erin and Gwen Jessica Hamilton â€Å"What did you just say?† Erin said with an exhausted tone. â€Å"I said,† Her co-pilot replied softly. â€Å"That we have to make a drop in Fiji. It’s not my idea so don’t get all pissy at me...† They both sighed lightly in the dim cockpit. The engines low murmur was the only thing piercing the deep silence that Erin and Gwen had been sitting in for 12 hours, only to have 6 more hours to look forward to due to their new ‘mission’. Erin and Gwen met in college as freshmen and have been best friends ever since. They went through air-flight school, the air force, and everything else together which was comforting, but sometimes they wondered how things would be if the other just wasn’t there. They sat and stared out the window. The ocean was black and seemed endlessly deep and far. Close to the dark horizon the moon was white and a quarter full. Thousands of stars seemed to light up the dark mottled blue sky that was clear except for a few lingering clouds on the horizon. â€Å"Gosh, it’s so pretty.† Gwen said in a dreamy tone. She’s always been a dreamer, wanting to travel and go adventure in exotic places. Before she started college, she didn’t even really have a career or life goal; other then partying and wondering about how leaves got their shape and color, and if God made clouds look like bunnies on purpose, or if it’s just one of those things that happen in nature. She didn’t know and didn’t really care to know; she just thought it was interesting to think about for a while. â€Å"I’m getting something to eat.† She said, â€Å"You want something or are you good? â€Å"I’m fine†¦ Oh yeah, can you get me a beer from our stash?† Erin asked with a smile. â€Å"Eh, yeah, I bet it wouldn’t hurt.† Gwen replied with a shrug and grabbed a sandwich she made for herself from the gray American Airlines duffle bag that was lying next to her foot. She rummaged th... Free Essays on Erin And Gwen Free Essays on Erin And Gwen Erin and Gwen Jessica Hamilton â€Å"What did you just say?† Erin said with an exhausted tone. â€Å"I said,† Her co-pilot replied softly. â€Å"That we have to make a drop in Fiji. It’s not my idea so don’t get all pissy at me...† They both sighed lightly in the dim cockpit. The engines low murmur was the only thing piercing the deep silence that Erin and Gwen had been sitting in for 12 hours, only to have 6 more hours to look forward to due to their new ‘mission’. Erin and Gwen met in college as freshmen and have been best friends ever since. They went through air-flight school, the air force, and everything else together which was comforting, but sometimes they wondered how things would be if the other just wasn’t there. They sat and stared out the window. The ocean was black and seemed endlessly deep and far. Close to the dark horizon the moon was white and a quarter full. Thousands of stars seemed to light up the dark mottled blue sky that was clear except for a few lingering clouds on the horizon. â€Å"Gosh, it’s so pretty.† Gwen said in a dreamy tone. She’s always been a dreamer, wanting to travel and go adventure in exotic places. Before she started college, she didn’t even really have a career or life goal; other then partying and wondering about how leaves got their shape and color, and if God made clouds look like bunnies on purpose, or if it’s just one of those things that happen in nature. She didn’t know and didn’t really care to know; she just thought it was interesting to think about for a while. â€Å"I’m getting something to eat.† She said, â€Å"You want something or are you good? â€Å"I’m fine†¦ Oh yeah, can you get me a beer from our stash?† Erin asked with a smile. â€Å"Eh, yeah, I bet it wouldn’t hurt.† Gwen replied with a shrug and grabbed a sandwich she made for herself from the gray American Airlines duffle bag that was lying next to her foot. She rummaged th...

Do privacy rights extend to sexual orientation Essay

Do privacy rights extend to sexual orientation - Essay Example Here, homosexuals are not ostracized and discriminated against. And the disclosure of this personal information to the other party is of little significance. (Habermas, 1989) One could argue that threats to privacy rights of homosexuals come from two sources. First is due to social stigma and taboo, as is the case in conservative/rustic regions. Second is government mandated laws that prohibit gay marriage and gay sexual activities (although some radical new developments are taking place in this area in recent years – the decision by a Massachusetts court allowing gay marriage was unprecedented). In both cases, the society and the government can be seen as intruding into what is essentially a private matter between two adults. Hence, privacy rights can be divided into positive rights. Positive privacy rights would translate as legitimately claiming the status and benefits accorded to a married couple irrespective of their orientation. Negative privacy rights, on the other hand , empowers individuals to withhold details of their sexual orientation from employers, landlords and government if it would prevent possible discrimination.

Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Abraham Lincoln's First Inaugural - Essay Example The nation was at the crossroads with the process of meeting the threat of secession and absorbing the shocks of the related challenges.Abraham Lincoln, the greatest American President, had to face the bitter critics for his style of functioning. In this connection, one important aspect related to his Presidency, is worth profound consideration. Wise people say desperate situations need desperate remedies. Lincoln was not a power hungry individual and he reached up to the office of the President by employing fair, democratic means. Those who accused Lincoln of â€Å"executive usurpation† need to bear in mind this trait of his personality. He acted and used the power of the Executive under extraordinary circumstances, when the nation was in the thick of Civil War. He took office as the President and then his executive branch consisted of a small number of staff but it had expanded substantially by the time his term was over. His critics leveled charges against and labeled him of being despotic for sidetracking a decision of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and for the suspension of habeas corpus. His actions were set as precedents by other Presidents at the time of war for increase of Executive authority. The discussion on the legal implications as for the power of the Executive was still at infancy when Lincoln assumed the office of the President. One of the examples quoted was, Lincoln waged war by raising armies but the Constitution directed the Congress to take action on those lines. Roy. P. Basler argues, â€Å"Now, it is insisted that Congress, and not the Executive, is vested with this power. But the Constitution itself is silent as to which or who is to exercise the power.†(601) Unity, integrity and security of the nation were of utmost importance. Actions of Lincoln needed to be judged from the angle of his conscience, and not in which legal frame they would fit into. In his address to the Congress in July 1861, he silenced his critics by stating categorically that he would do anything that he considered right in the interest of the nation in a state of rebellion. Basler substantiates this position and writes, â€Å"It was with the deepest regret that the Executive fo und the duty of employing the war power in defense of the Government forced upon him.†(609) Lincoln’s stand on the Emancipation Proclamation is liable to be interpreted both ways. That he was trying to usurp more powers for himself as the President of USA or was it the situational demand? That was a legal document written by Lincoln himself and it was drafted from defense view point. He did that as the Commander in Chief. He gradually expanded his powers as the President, like the horse that moves ahead, well-controlled by the jeans. That particular Executive decision was supported by indisputable legal stand. Under the umbrella of the legal provision Lincoln proceeded to act to abolish slavery and involuntary servitude. Even otherwise, Lincoln was a rebel against procedures, wherever they blocked national progress. Lincoln was a man of words and a man of action who delivered results to his country. Under any weak and wavering President, the unity of United States of Am erica would have been in peril and the country would have been torn into fragments. He was not inclined to over-reach for the sake of