To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee :: To Kill a Mockingbird Essays

At the beginning of the novel, Scout is an innocent, good-hearted five-year-old child who has no experience with the evils of the world. As the novel progresses, Scout has her first contact with evil in the form of racial prejudice, and the basic development of her character is governed by the question of whether she will emerge from that contact with her conscience and optimism intact or whether she will be bruised, hurt, or destroyed like Boo Radley and Tom Robinson. Thanks to Atticus's wisdom, Scout learns that though humanity has a great capacity for evil, it also has a great capacity for good, and that the evil can often be mitigated if one approaches others with an outlook of sympathy and understanding. When he agrees to defend Tom Robinson, a black man charged with raping a white woman, he exposes himself and his family to the anger of the white community. Arthur "Boo" Radley - A recluse who never sets foot outside his house, Boo dominates the imaginations of Jem, Scout, and Dill. He is a powerful symbol of goodness swathed in an initial shroud of creepiness, leaving little presents for Scout and Jem and emerging at an opportune moment to save the children. An intelligent child emotionally damaged by his cruel father, Boo provides an example of the threat that evil poses to innocence and goodness. He is one of the novel's "mockingbirds," a good person injured by the evil of mankind. Bob Ewell - A drunken, permanently unemployed member of Maycomb's poorest family. In his knowingly wrongful accusation that Tom Robinson raped his daughter, Ewell represents the dark side of the South: ignorance, poverty, squalor, and hate-filled racial prejudice. One of the book's important subthemes involves the threat that hatred, prejudice, and ignorance pose to the innocent: people such as Tom Robinson and Boo Radley are not prepared for the evil that they encounter, and, as a result, they are destroyed. The relatively well-off Finches stand near the top of Maycomb's social hierarchy, with most of the townspeople beneath them. Ignorant country farmers like the Cunninghams lie below the townspeople, and the white trash Ewells rest below the Cunninghams. But the black community in Maycomb, despite its abundance of admirable qualities, squats below even the Ewells, enabling Bob Ewell to make up for his own lack of importance by persecuting Tom Robinson. These rigid social divisions that make up so much of the adult world are revealed in the book to be both irrational and destructive. Mockingbird - The title of To Kill a Mockingbird has very little literal connection to the plot, but it carries a great deal of

De Tocquevilles democracy In America Essay -- essays research papers

Alexis De Tocqueville’s Democracy in America delves deep into how the American States and the federal government would grow politically and socially under the umbrella of democracy. He sees the United States as a unique entity because of how and why it started as well as its geographical location. De Tocqueville explains that the foundations of the democratic process in America are completely different from anywhere else on the globe. The land was virginal and the colonies had almost complete sovereignty from England from the very beginning because they were separated by an ocean and financial troubles. The people who came to America were the oppressed and unhappy in England and all were trying to find a place where they could start anew and create a political structure that would facilitate an individual freedom unlike anything that they had previously experienced in Europe. De Tocqueville believed that the nature of democracy in the New World rested within the fact that all of the emigrants were basically from the same social strata, resulting in the first new country where there was no preliminary basis for an aristocracy. "Land is the basis of an aristocracy†¦and†¦ [in America] when the ground was prepared, its produce was found to be insufficient to enrich a proprietor and a farmer at the same t ime(41)." He saw that even the soil of America was opposed to the structure of an aristocracy. There were also outside influences lending unvoiced support for the creation of this new democracy. Being an ocean apart from its mother country, who at this time did not have the financial reserves to oversee its colonies, let the Americans govern themselves. If they had not had this sovereignty at the beginning America might have become something completely different than it is today, but that was not the case, so these emigrants now had a fertile place to plant their ideas of a country founded upon the many ideas of the Enlightenment. Another large influence was the lack of neighbors. America had no ... ...man responsible for herself. De Tocqueville has left no aspect of American society out of his publication. He rips the American body open and examines all the things that are inside right down to the bare bones. It is a little scary to read of ones’ own nation and its culture. To realize that one’s own life is not how he made it, but of how his ancestors have created society. Whether it be as to how Americans view their politics, or their social afflictions, de Tocqueville voices his opinions as to what is commendable, are conversely, what is wrong with every aspect of America. He sees America through the eyes of intelligent outsider who has no reason to make America sound anything other than it is. He has done a very thorough job, and his vision of nineteenth century America will surely help lead America into the twenty-first century with a better definition of itself.

Leadership :: essays research papers

Webster's Dictionary defines leadership as the position or guidance of a person or thing that leads, directing, commanding, or guiding head, as of a group or activity. However Leadership has not one single definition, but many. Leadership is often an intangible factor that makes one group more effective than another. It exists at different levels within organizations and should be woven throughout the entire organization. Different organizations use different ways in effectively teaching or molding their employees how to be an effective leader. One such company is the R.E. Brown Company and Associates, who have developed a yearlong program that is strictly used as a program to teach their employees how to become a more effective leader. They use what they believe as the Nine Behaviors of leaders. This program doesn't directly start off with the introduction of the nine behaviors, but of little tasks given to the participants. They are broken into small groups where they interact with each other, summarize common threads, and then present their findings to the larger group. Then once this has taken place they develop specific action plans to take back to their groups and from there on they work coherently together as a team. This develops a bond, and creates a model of team leadership, sharing, and reflection. Once this has happened then the teams are introduced to the nine behaviors of leadership where they discuss each one and try to use the information that they have gathered to take back to their own jobs were they can become even more successful then they have ever been before. The Nine Behaviors that develop exception leaders are: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Motivating others through adaptive leadership, who knows when to direct, coach, facilitate, or delegate, depending on the task and person. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Empowering others, which is a sort of delegation that will help you as a leader to control the situation with the help of others. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Encouraging teamwork, which is balancing results, process, and relationships. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Preparing people for change allowing you to understand their psychological responses and helping them to create a positive change with force-field analysis. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Vision/Mission, which establishes guidelines for accomplishing a specific goal. 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Using multiple options by allowing you to see different strategic possibilities and being open to more day-to-day options. 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Taking intelligent risks, relating decision-making to risks and getting consensus. 8.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stretching personal creativity that renews personal resources. 9.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Showing passion for work by demonstrating presence, inspiration, and energy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Each company has their own way of developing programs that center on ones ability to become an effective leader; this was just one aspect that I was able to find.

Perception Toward Commit Suicide Among Utar Students Essay

Abstract This research is about the â€Å"Perception toward commit suicide among UTAR students†. We want to understand how the UTAR students think about suicide with carry different opinion from different races and gender. We will distribute 100 sheets of the questionnaire to UTAR students based on their races and gender. In this assignment, we will distribute 50 sheets of survey question to male students and 50 sheets for female students. In this questionnaire we also ask about UTAR student’s opinion which is â€Å"does suicide makes soreness disappear†? Most of the students answer no, because they think commit suicide cannot help them solve the problem, it just a way to deny from the problem. So they should think positively and find the solution because all problem have their own solution, just see how we view the issues. If we try to commit suicide it just make some trouble to our family because they will to face the society, maybe your neighbor will talk bad word abou t your family. Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Literature Review After our searching for whole week, we had found at least 5 academic journals with online source from not only Malaysia, but in other country in Asia too. From these journals and report, we able to have more understanding on suicide rate among several countries in Asia and Malaysia, the pattern, or the frequently used method, and even some of the reason for suicide. Two of the journals published by same organization, which is National Suicide Registry Malaysia, are about the research on Malaysia. One of them is explaining objective and the data collection method for research in NSRM, while another journal explain about what they found, example like stated out the high risk group, and the factor cause suicide, based on the data they collect so far. Another journal we found is not provided by NSRM, but also related to Malaysia. In this research, they concentrate about the race suicide method, and age group of suicide victim, this provide us helpful information that able us to see a mor e clear picture about suicide in Malaysia. Other two journals is talking about the research in other countries of Asia, one of them is a research conducted by World health Organization in 2008 regarding the suicide case among countries, while another is a old research that had conduct a similar research, which also the 48 countries, published by University of North Carolina Press in 1965. According to one of the journal we found (Quinney, 1965) even though there was no research conducted in Malaysia that time, but still, it enables us to know that a country economic development level will also affect the suicide rate. The other journals, which we found, had found a similar age group that has high frequency to suicide compared to other age group. The high risk group of suicide is 20-30, which is young adult stage (Hayati & Khairul, 2008; Nadesan, 1999; Hendin et al., 2008). These were also two journals, which is research on Malaysia, found out that the most common method people use to suicide is hanging, poisoning and jumping from height (Hayati & Khairul, 2008, Nadesan, 1999). The method of jumping off from height and by poisoning themselves cases had been increased, meanwhile hanging themselves has been decreased compared to two decade ago (Hayati & Khairul, 2008). In order to know more about suicide case in Malaysia, it was necessary to do more research within Malaysia for the factor of suicide, since we cannot deny the fact that media influence nowadays has slowly become one of the most influencing factor that increased suicide, example poisoning case had increased since Indian movie had introduced the way of suicide by consuming seed kernel of yellow oleander plant (Nadesan, 1999). 1.2 Research Question Our purpose of conducting this research is have a better understanding in study 2 main category group of UTAR students towards suicide cases. We decided to focus in both gender and 3 main races and others. We would like to look into Gender differences as our first research question by setting the question â€Å"What are the perceptions in gender differences towards suicide cases in Malaysia?† due to the reason that different gender will have different perception on that particular cases and will able to get more opinion and feedback. Besides, we also choose to concentrate in Races which including Chinese, Malay, Indians and others. â€Å"What are the opinions of difference races towards suicide cases in Malaysia?† will be our second research question. In this question we would like to find out all the different perception from different races due to culture issue or family background issue to view on suicide cases. Chapter 2: Method 2.1 Respondent In this research, our population is on UTAR student’s and we will choose 100 student’s as our sample. From the 100 student’s we will divide into 2 part which are the gender and the races because we are using the stratified sampling method. The definition of stratified samping method is we will dividing the population into groups according to some characteristic (Allan,2009,p.12), for example we will distribute the questionnaire equally to the student’s which is 50 male student’s and 50 female student’s, from the gender we will divide it into difference races. We plan to distribute 50 questionnaire to Chinese student’s, 30 questionnaire to Indian student’s, 10 questionnaire to Malay student’s and other races student’s. After that from the races we will divide it into 2 part which is the gender. 2.2 Apparatus We will use survey question to collect our data because it is the simple instrument to help us gain some data, we create the question by ourselves which is after having group discussion. In this questionnaire, it contain 10 question which incude 9 opended question and 1 closed ended question. We forming the question based on the 4 type of measurement which are norminal, ordinal, interval and ratio(Allan, 2009, p. 7-8). In this survey question it contain 1 ratio question, 4 norminal questions, 3 interval questions and 2 ordinal questions. 2.3 Procedure Activities| Week (duration)| The tutor briefly discuss about how to do the assignment and APA format.| Week 1| We start to form a group which is 5 people in the group. We discuss a topic which we interested in and finally we plan to do a topic which is â€Å"The Perception among UTAR Student’s toward Suicide†. We also distribute some task among the group members and find some journals that are related with the topic.| Week 2| In week 3, we discuss again among the group members and start to create a questionnaire that is related with our topic. After discussing, we plan to create 10 questions which include open ended and closed ended question.| Week 3| After that, we type the questionnaire and consult with the tutor and let her checks whether the questions are reliable to use or not. At the same time, we also give her check the journal whether it can be used or not. On the consultation time, she guides and teaches us how to complete this assignment.| Week 4| In week 5, after the tutor agrees with our questionnaire, then we start to print 100 sheet of survey question and distribute it to the UTAR students based on our sample.| Week 5| This week is our critical period which we have to collect all the data and interpret it. We also have to summarize all the data and create a graph to show that we done the entire task.| Week 6| Finally, this week is coming and we should hang in our assignment. Luckily we can do it on time. Chapter 3: Results Question 1: Which gender is the highest possibility to commit suicide? Most of the male respondents think that man is common in commit suicide, while most of the female respondents think that woman is common in commit suicide. According to the bar graph, the Chinese and Malay respondents think that woman has the highest tendency to commit suicide; while vice versa for the Indian and other races respondents who think that man has the higher tendency to commit suicide. Question 2: Which is the majority races involve in suicide? The pie charts above show that for male respondents, Chinese has the highest chance to involve in suicide and is followed by Indian. The UTAR male students think that just 10% of Malay will commit suicide and 0% for other races. However, in female respondents’ opinion, they think that 52% of Chinese will involve in suicide cases and is followed by Indian which is 40%. Lastly, only 8% of female students think that Malay will involve in commit suicide and 0% for other races. From this 2 pie chart we can conclude that most of the students think that Chinese is the highest chances to involve in this case. The bar graph above shows that most of the UTAR students think that Chinese is the majority race that involved in suicide. Indian is the second highest chance to involve in suicide cases and is followed by the Malay. No students choose for the others races because there is only a small population of other races compared to the three major races in Malaysia, so they are not easily involved in suicide cases. Majority of the UTAR Chinese student’s think that Chinese are easily to involve in suicide because they think that Chinese are afraid to lose, so they scared to share their problem with their family members or their friends even though when they faced any problem. Question 3: Which shows the most common range of age in commit suicide in Malaysia? Both male and female respondents think that age range between 17 and 21 has the highest tendency to commit suicide, followed by 22-26, 27-31, and then other age range which will be above 31. Age range between 12 and 16 has the lowest vote from male respondents but none from female respondents. Age range between 17 and 21 has the highest vote from the Chinese and Indian respondents, followed by the age range of 22-26 and 27-31. Age ranges of 17-21, 22-26 and 27-31 get the equal votes from other races. The age range between 27-31 get the highest votes while 22-26 get the lowest votes among the Malay respondents. Others age ranges which are above 31 got the same votes from Chinese and Indian respondents only, but no vote for the age range between 12-16. Question 4: In which condition will caused people have the intension to commit suicide in Malaysia? Based on the pie charts above, we can conclude that most of the UTAR students will give their idea on people who tend to suicide are due to the relationship issue with a percentage of 34% of male student and 42% of the female student. Besides, it can also clearly show that people do not put the blame on the mass media factor. According to the report of Hayati and Kamarul from National Suicide Registry Malaysia (NSRM) (2008), they stated all the young male adults will tend to commit suicide due to the reason of being stressed up with the transition to adult roles and relationship issues. It is also the timing in a higher risk of getting mental disorder, or easily access to alcohol and drugs to overcome their current issue. As the lowest possibility to the influences toward commit suicide is mass media where may be down to the reason that people may tend to learn from the drama or movie with related to suicide cases. The bar graph above shows that, all the races do agree with the point of view that most of the people who commit suicide are because of relationship issue. Current flow that showing a very obvious example of committing suicide caused by relationship issue which is the case of Alviss Kong. Before he commits suicide, he leaved the last message stated that his failure in love relationship with his girlfriend. He felt that he had nothing else to give him motivation to continue to stay alive. Most of the suicidal that because of relationship issue will tend to look in their relationship as a very important factor to stay alive. In another point of view for all the suicide among seniors in suggested risk factors such as including unemployment, isolation, poor health, pain, depression, alcoholism, low self-esteem, feeling rejected a history of mental illness, and previous suicide attempts (NSRM, 2008). As a result, most of the late middle-age people will face the financial problem due to unemployment and lack of self confidence. Question 5: Generally how Malaysian commits suicide? In this question, we ask the participants to rank the method of commit suicide from the most frequently used to the most rarely used based on their opinions.   First, we will look for the data by different opinion between both genders. According to the data we collect, both genders, which are male and female, got the same opinion that the Malaysians will always use jumping from height to suicide, then followed by wrist cutting. The participants from both genders also ranked that self-immolation is the most rarely method use in suicide in Malaysia. Then we collect the data and divide it based on the races. We found out that, in most participants, no matter what race they are, also think that jumping from height is the most frequently used method to suicide in Malaysia. Many of Chinese participants chose to believe that the second frequently used method to suicide is by overdose on medicine, which is a totally different from other race, which they think this method is rare method among Malaysian. Except for Indian participant, other race think that the self immolation method still is the rarest method that used in Malaysia. Most of the participant, regarding of their race and gender, also think that jumping from height is the most common used method to suicide in Malaysia. From our searching, we found out that the jumping from height method is the second frequently used method besides hanging (National Suicide Registry Malaysia, 2007). This maybe is because the media influence, which the newspaper always got report or news that people suicide and died, for example Alviss Kong case which the method he used is exactly jumping from height, this somehow influence participant got deep impression in it. Chinese participants mostly chose the taking of overdose on medicine is the second frequently used method for suicide in Malaysia, which we interpret that is because the Chinese normally will try the most relaxing or less painful way to suicide when compared to other races. Question 6: How to prevent people from commit suicide in Malaysia? Based on the chart, the highest respond comes towards the best way to prevent from commit suicide is share a problem with friends. 42 people support towards share a problem with a friend as the best way to prevent from commit suicide. It includes 15 males and 27 females. The second highest way rank to 40 people who sound off that meet a counselor is the best way. 23 males and 17 females give a respond towards it. The least response agreed with mass media is 7 people which are 5 males and 2 females. Based from the graph, we can conclude that, the races that support the most towards the way by meeting a counselor as the best way to prevent from commit suicide is Chinese and Indians. Both showing 15 peoples and followed by Malay and others with the same value or amount of people that is 5 people. Most of the Chinese support towards share a problem with a friends as the best way to prevents from commit suicide and followed by Indian who more to meet a counselor as the best way. It show 50% of them support towards it. Less people supported that mass media is the best way to prevent commit suicide. It shows the range of 4 Chinese, 2 Indians, 4 Malays and 1 from other races. Question 7: Do you think euthanasia is considered as commit suicide? The pie chart above show that, 40% of the male students and 24% of female students think that euthanasia is considered as commit suicide. However, 60% of male students and 76% of female students think that euthanasia is not considered as commit suicide. From this pie chart, we can say that most of the students do not agree that euthanasia is considered as commit suicide. It is because they think euthanasia is ways to help those patients that are suffer from the pain to feel relief. The graph shows that most of the UTAR students from different races think that euthanasia is not considered as commit suicide. The graph also shows that just few of the students think that euthanasia is considered as commit suicide. There have 16 Chinese students, 9 Indian students, 4 Malay students and 7 other races students think that euthanasia is considered as commit suicide. Chapter 4: Discussion The findings on this topic are based on the genders and the races among adolescents and adults in Malaysia. The surveys done among UTAR students show that woman has the highest probability among gender while Chinese has the highest risks among races in exposure to commit suicide, while age range between 17-26 has higher rate compared to others. The conditions that caused people have the intensity to commit suicide are mostly related to the relationship issue and financial problem and the common ways used to commit suicide are jumping from the height and wrist cutting. The ways that suggested by the respondents are to share their problems with friends or family, and refer to psychiatrist or counselor. Most of the participants do not think that euthanasia is considered as commit suicide. They also agreed that people who commit suicide have low Emotional Quotient (EQ) and agreed that most of the suicidal who want to commit suicide are because of feeling helpless or hopeless. Most of the results show similarities to our research except for the gender, races and age in which we found out that most of the research showed that man (gender) and Indian (races) have the highest tendency to commit suicide. And some research also showed that middle-aged and elderly persons have the high suicide rate. (Hayati & Kamarul, 2008) The problems that we faced during the research are mostly due to the time and cost. The time for us to do the research is too short because of the holidays, and some of the group members who came from STPM background have not expose to the introduction to psychology, the style of APA citation and the method to do an assignment. Hence, a lot of effort and time are used by the group members to understand the APA style and the way of doing assignment. Besides, we also faced the problems on transportation and the places of each members currently staying as some of the members stayed at different areas. The printing of the survey forms and the assignment cost a lot for students as they are not working and might be causing a burden for them especially for those that are from poor family. The other problem that we faced during the research is some of the participants may not serious when they were filling the survey form, fear to tell the truth, or do not have enough information about the t opic caused us could not get accurate results. One of the suggestion from the group members is the time to hand up the assignment can be delay until the end of the week (Friday) so that the members have enough time to gather around to discuss and make a summary together as the members can only meet at the campus to make discussion. Another suggestion is students should be exposed to the introduction to psychology and APA format for the Year One Semester One students as they are still new and do not have much information to this field. Besides that, two sets of questionnaire can be printed into one piece of A4 paper and cut into half. This method is not can save the cost, but also can reduce the number of paper used. Lastly, the students should be informed and advised to take the survey seriously as their opinions are very important and can affect the results of the survey. References Allan, G. (2009). Elementary statistics. McGraw-Hill Higher Education Chris, G. (n.d). Age, gender, and suicide: A cross-national analysis, 553-574. Retrieved February 12, 2011, from JSTOR online database Hayati and Aziz, (2008). National Suicide Registry Malaysia: preliminary report July-December 2007, 1-27. Retrieved February 7, 2011, from National Suicide Registry Malaysia (NSRM) Hayati and Kamarul, (2008). National Suicide Registry Malaysia, 50-54. Retrieved February 7, 2011, from National Suicide Registry Malaysia (NSRM) Murad, M. (2005). Suicide prevention and developing countries, 459-463. Retrieved February 8, 2011, from Journal of the royal society of medicine Quinney, (1963). Suicide, Homicide and economic development, 401-406. Retrieved February 12, 2011, from JSTOR online database

Our Babies, Ourselves Essay

Dependence during infancy is unique amongst hominids compared to other beings. However, different cultures in the world differ on how they cater to this dependency. For example, the American culture is influenced by individualism, therefore they tend to rear their children in such a way that they will grow up as an independent individual. On the other hand, Japanese are likely to be more affectionate in their child upbringing culture. And on both instances, infants who were reared up the American or Japanese way, their anticipated adult traits remain to be visible. As the article â€Å"Our Babies, Ourselves† suggests, the care given to an infant during his most dependent stage is reflected when the infant grows up and he develops his own sense of independence and survival skills. The rearing up process, whether an individual is being given over adequate attention or being least assisted during infancy is reflected by his developed reflexes and skills in his grown up stage. For the Gusii child-rearing practices, infants were held closer to their parents compared to other cultures. Here, infants develop a closer bond to their mothers, and later on towards other children to develop their interpersonal skills better. Moreover, apart from the physical and emotional aspects of development, neurological and genetic developments of infants are also being attributed to their rearing up practices. Thus, the uniqueness developed by an individual regarding his skills, competencies and survival instincts is defined by infant care that was rendered to him by his parents. However, the rearing up process is highly shaped and influenced by traditions within a culture, thus creating cross-cultural differences when it comes to child development across different nations and races.

Intellectual Power

Intellectual Power: How it is Measured, and its Effect on Learning Intellectual Power: How it is Measured, and its Effect on Learning Intellectual power, brainpower and mental capacity can all be defined as intelligence. According to The Developing Child, intelligence is a set of abilities defined in various ways by different psychologists but generally agreed to include the ability to reason abstractly, the ability to profit from experience, and the ability to adapt to varying environmental contexts (Bee & Boyd, 2012, p. 67). Basically, intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. The first modern intelligence measuring tests where created over one hundred years ago. These tests where designed to incorporate the same tasks the children were performing in school; math, reading comprehension, vocabulary etc. The results of these tests identified children who may have had some problems or difficulties in school (Bee & Boyd, 2012, p. 167).Since that period, the measuring of intelligence has drastically changed. The most widely accepted method of assessing intellectual power is a standardized test called the intelligent quotient, or IQ test. The IQ test is a performance test that ranks an individual’s intelligence based on a score generated from tests results. This score compares the individual to his or her peers. For children, the test scores are compared to his or her counterparts of the same chronological age group (Bee & Boyd, 2012, p. 67). Another type of intelligence testing is achievement testing. These types of tests assess what a child has been taught and learned in school. It is based on specific material such as vocabulary or algebra. Just like the IQ test, it is also a test based on performance (Bee & Boyd, 2012, p. 171). Intelligence testing has been amongst the most controversial topics in psychology and other professional arenas such as education as well as amongst the general public (Gottfredson & Saklofske, 2009, p . 84). There are many that feel that standardized tests, like the IQ test, are not a sufficient indicator of intelligence. Howard Gardner, a developmental psychologist, believes that there are multiple types of intelligences. He broke them into seven categories: * Verbal/Linguistic intelligence – The ability to use words effectively * Logical/Mathematical Intelligence – The ability to use reasoning skills * Visual/Spatial Intelligence – The ability to ecreate one’s visual experiences * Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence – To establish harmony between body and mind * Musical/Rhythmic Intelligence – The ability to create/respond to a pattern of sounds * Interpersonal Intelligence – The ability to evaluate feelings of others * Intrapersonal Intelligence – To accurately evaluate one’s own feelings The seven intelligences enable the individual,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"to perform transformations and modifications of one’s perceptionsâ⠂¬  and â€Å"to recreate aspects of one's experiences† (Gardner 1983, p. 173). An additional intelligence, Naturalistic (nature), was added to Gardner’s theory in the 1990s.The IQ test and other standardized tests at present, do not measure all â€Å"eight† intelligences proposed in Gardner’s theory. Almost everyone agrees that intelligence is a product of nature and nurture, genetics and environment. The study of intelligence and how it affects learning has been ongoing for years. There are so many questions that don’t have exact answers which hinder the efforts of those trying to analyze the relationship between intelligence and learning: â€Å"How is intelligence measured? What method is used to assess learning? † For the majority, intelligence is directly related to learning.The more â€Å"intelligent† you are, the more capacity of learning can take place. References Bee, H. ; Boyd, D. (2012). The Developing Child (13th Edition) . Pearson Education Inc. Gardner,   H. (1993a). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences /10th  Anniversary Edition. New York: Basic Books. Retrieved from: http://www. intime. uni. edu/model/teacher/teac1summary. html Gottfredson L. ; Saklofske D. (2009). Intelligence: Foundations and Issues in Assessment. Canadian Psychology  © 2009 Canadian Psychological Association. Vol. 50, No. 3, 183–195

Problems and Issues in Philippine Education Essay

1. Colonial historiography. Most of the past and present teachers, book authors, and Social Studies consultants give heavier premium to the history of the colonizers in the Philippines, and not to the history of Filipinos. Mostly, this has been the case in the teaching of History subjects from the elementary to tertiary levels and will most likely perpetuate in the next generations to come. The history of the Filipino people and the colonial history of the Philippines are two different topics altogether. 2. Internationalization of the division of labor. To a certain extent, the Philippine educational system conditions its students to be skillful in arithmetic and computer literacy, fluent in foreign languages (specifically English and Nihonggo), and docile in order to serve as workers of the transnational businesses of the advanced, capitalist countries. Take the case of the call center phenomenon in the Philippines, India and other developing states. see more:k-12 advantages and disadvantages 3. Emasculation and demoralization of teachers. Teachers, more often than not, are victimized by the over-worked and under-paid policy of the system of the past and present dispensations. This leads to the emasculation and demoralization of their ranks. This probably explains why the teaching profession is not attracting the best and the brightest from the crop of students anymore. Expectedly, this will correspondingly result to the vicious cycle of mediocrity in education. 4. Fly-by-night educational institutions . By any measure, the proliferation of fly-by-night educational institutions is counter-productive. In the long run, it produces a pool of half-baked, unprepared, and incompetent graduates. Alarmingly, the country is having an over-supply already. Some would even consider them as liabilities than assets. This case is true for both undergraduate and graduate studies. 5. Culturally and gender insensitive educational system. Women, the common tao and the indigenous people are almost historically excluded from the Philippine historiography in favor of the men, heroes from Luzon and the power elite. Women are marginalized and trivialized even in language of education. Take the case of the terms female lawyer (as if lawyer as a profession is exclusive only to men) and manpower (which should have been human resources or human capital to be more politically correct). 6. State abandonment of education. In the name of imperialist globalization, the state—in an incremental fashion—is abandoning its role to subsidize public education particularly in the tertiary level. This comes in the form of matriculation, laboratory and miscellaneous fee increases in order to force state colleges and universities (SCUs) to generate their own sources of fund. Ironically, the bulk of the budget (in fact, more than one-third in the case of 2005 National Budget) goes to debt servicing. 7. Sub-standard textbooks. Some textbooks which are already circulation are both poorly written and haphazardly edited. Take the case of the Asya: Noon at Ngayon with an identified total number of more than 400 historical errors. Unfortunately, it is just one of the many other similar atrociously written textbooks which are yet to be identified and exposed. This is a classic case of profit-centeredness without regard to social accountability. 8. Widespread contractualization. In the name of profit, owners and administrators of several private schools commonly practice contractualization among their faculty members. Contractual employees unlike their regular/tenured counterparts are not entitled to fringe benefits which consequently reduces the over-all cost of their business operation. Job insecurity demeans the ranks of the faculty member 9. Undue disregard for specialization. Some colleges and universities encourage their faculty pool to be generalists (under the guise of multidisciplinary approach to learning) in order to be  able to handle various subjects all at once. But some faculty members have turned out to be objects of mockery and have lost their self-esteem since some of them were pushed to handle Technical Writing, General Psychology, Filipino, and Algebra at the same time. This is prevalent among some franchised academic institutions even if the subjects are already off-tangent their area of interest and specialization. 10. Copy-pasting culture. Over-dependence to the cyberspace has dramatically reduced the capability of students (even teachers) to undertake research. ‘Copy-pasting’ has even turned into a norm among some students whenever they are tasked to submit a research paper or even a film review. Needless to say, plagiarism has already transformed into a more sophisticated form in the context of today’s electronic age. 11. Mc Donaldized education. The system, methodology, and even content of education in the Philippines are mere haphazard transplantation from the West. It is therefore Eurocentric, culturally insensitive, and non-reflective of the local milieu. This is based on the xenocentric (foreign-centered) premise that other culture or system is far more superior than one’s own. 12.The problem of non-sustainability and non-continuity. Teachers, administrators and publishers are all left in limbo whenever the DepEd would come up with another totally different directive from what it used to have in a rather very sudden interval. Take the case of the grading system, timeframe allotted to various subjects, MAKABAYAN program, readiness test, and learning competencies. 13. Poor regard for liberal art/education. Liberal education is intended to form a holistic individual equipped with communication, critical thinking, mathematical, creative, inter-personal and intra-personal skills. This explains why we also have Philosophy, Languages, Humanities, Natural Science, Social Science, Physical Education and even Theology in our college curriculum, and not only our major subjects. The curriculum is specifically designed to produce a total person, and not only  a technical specialist. Unfortunately, the desired objective is not being met at all since liberal education is regarded only as a set of minor subjects. With the way these subjects are being handled (taking into account both content and methodology), students view the entire exercise as an unnecessary duplication of what they have already covered in high school. Equally alarming is the lack of enthusiasm and motivation exhibited by some professors to handle the subject especially if they believe that it has nothing to do with the course or area of specialization of their students (say, Art Appreciation for Accounting majors or Algebra for Creative Writing majors). 13. Education a purveyor of myth. Education has been very effective in mainstreaming and perpetuating the social myths in a subtle and indirect manner. Some of these myths are the perceived superiority of white, educated men, ‘official’ history as advanced by the western point of view, globalization as the only way to achieve economic development, and stereotypes against the minoritized and the disenfranchised. 14. Further marginalization of the undersubscribed courses. In the name of profit and as a response to the dictates of the market forces, colleges and universities prefer to offer more courses in line with the health sciences like nursing, medical transcription, and care-giving. This is done at the expense of the already undersubscribed yet relevant courses like Area Studies, Pilipinolohiya (Philippine Studies), Development Studies, Philippine Arts, Art Studies, Community Development, Social Work, Islamic Studies, Clothing Technology, and Ceramics Engineering. 15. Monolithic education. Some educators in the name of conservatism and for the sake of convenience, prefer the old-style teaching paradigm where they view themselves as the fountain of knowledge and their students as nothing but empty vessels to be filled up (banking method of education). Modern education has ushered in learner-centered approach to education (from being the sage in the stage to just a guide on the side). 16. Atrociously boring teachers. As I always underscore, there are no boring subjects, only boring teachers. But at least we should recognize them because they still serve a purpose. They serve as bad examples. 16. Brain drain Apart from the much debated political, social and psychological aspects, this ongoing mass emigration constitutes an unparalleled brain drain with serious economic implications.Arguably, the phenomenon also has an educational dimension, as the Philippine society is footing the bill for the education of millions of people, who then spend the better part of their productive years abroad. In effect, the poor Philippine educational system is indirectly subsidizing the affluent economies hosting the OFWs. With 95 per cent of all elementary students attending public schools, the educational crisis in the Philippines is basically a crisis of public education. The wealthy can easily send their offspring to private schools, many of which offer first-class education to the privileged class of pupils. Read more:  Current Issues in the Philippines Problems and Issues in K to 12 Curriculum Overview It is not that difficult to understand why, despite the additional costs the program would entail, the public generally appears to take President Benigno Aquino III’s K to 12 basic education program sitting down. That is if state-sponsored surveys are to be believed. The House Committee on Basic Education claims majority of the public surveyed during its consultations favored the K to 12 program, while separate consultations by theDepartment of Education (DepEd) showed 77 percent of the 1,417 people consulted nationwide supported Aquino’s flagship education program. For one, DepEd tried to make the lengthening of the basic education cycle palatable by saying the additional junior and senior high school levels would make students ready for the world of work when they graduate in high school. Even as public elementary and high school education continues to be free under the new system, other expenses such as transportation, allowance, food, school projects and other school expenses would still burden families and take up a significant portion of the family budget. However, what apparently makes parents willing to shoulder such costs is the empty promise of employability after their children receive their hard-earned diplomas. In  the present scheme of things, the function of education is already reduced to the individual’s mere employability. The K to 12 program reinforces this societal function of education. Society also continues to regard education as essential to social mobility, an â€Å"investment† worth undertaking as the â€Å"costs do not outweigh the benefits.† Owing to its highly commercialized character, tertiary education has also become inaccessible for many Filipinos. Dominated by the private sector, higher educational institutions charge students with sky-high tuition and miscellaneous fees that remain unregulated and unchecked. Even as college education gives the student an advantage in the vicious and highly-competitive search for job opportunities, many youths forgo college schooling simply because they cannot afford it. This makes the K to 12’s employability factor more appealing and acceptable to the parents, who are made to believe that under the new education system, college education is a path which is not for everyone to tread. Lastly, any educational reform almost always appeals to many especially since there is a general consensus that our present state of education is in disarray. The word â€Å"reform† is always easy for the public to swallow because any move to veer away from the present arrangement of things is viewed as a welcome development. Reaction/comment Government officials and other advocates who are so insistent in adding two more years in the school cycle should thus join the clamor for higher wages and the regulation of prices of basic commodities and services, push for the expansion and institutionalization of student financial support systems and scholarships, and more importantly, fight for greater state subsidy to education at all levels. Any education reform program that does not take into account economic and other social factors that affect a person’s schooling is bound to fail especially when its supposed beneficiaries cannot keep pace. The public should not take the K to 12 program as a bitter pill to swallow. It should not pass judgment on the program based solely on its glittery promise of honing the student for employability, and the additional costs that parents have to shoulder. The heavy financial burden that comes with the implementation of the program is just one of the many issues on the surface. Basic problems such as lack of teacher training and the failure of the government to address input gaps are also considerations that if left  unaddressed may imperil the full implementation of the program. But a fundamental flaw of the program that merits equal attention is its inability to address the problem of decreasing access to education. Aquino’s K to 12 is anchored on improving the competencies of in-school youths but fails to consider the situation of the growing number of out-of-school youths in the country who should enjoy the universally-acknowledged right of access to educational services. Furthermore, school survival rates are not merely influenced by the student’s mental and cognitive abilities. Poverty, the peace situation, and other societal factors all contribute to the increasing drop-out rates that cannot be remedied by mere curricular reforms and additional years of schooling. What use does a more â€Å"enjoyable† learning experience have when the student cannot even afford to go to school due to his or her financial woes? The K to 12 is marketed as a program wherein the student is given the option to pursue different paths upon graduation: employment, entrepreneurship, and higher education. This freedom of choice touted by the K to 12 proponents, however, is illusory since the student’s choice is actually limited by the reality that higher education has become a privilege and that the worsening economic conditions in the country are pushing Filipinos to seek jobs instead of pursuing higher education. The program’s objective to produce â€Å"globally competitive graduates† also run counter to the supposed freedom that the student possesses in choosing his or her career path. In reality, under the present economic set-up, the prescriptions of market dictates shape our choices and decisions, be it in the brands we purchase, the artists we subscribe to, the course we take in college, and even in the profession or occupation we wish to have. With the government systematically and aggressively promoting the export of labor and the dependence on external sources of jobs and economic growth through its economic policies, it can be expected that majority of the jobs and fields of learning that the students would be pursuing are those that are in tune with the demands of global market—call center jobs, technical-vocational jobs abroad, etc. It is contemptible, how at a young age people are told to pursue whatever dreams they have but education agencies would be coming up with a list of courses that are highly discouraged simply because they are not what the global market demands. Thus, the observation that the real motive behind the K to 12 education reform program is to further intensify  labor export by systematically targeting the country’s young labor force, and further service the demands of multinational firms is not without basis. As seen from the K to 12 curriculum, there is a noticeable focus given to technology and livelihood education (TLE) during high school, with the learner even obtaining a certificate of competency required by industries. In Grades 7 and 8, TLE subjects are exploratory, which means that the learner is given the opportunity to learn 5 basic competencies: 1) mensuration and calculation, 2) use of tools and equipment, 3) interpretation of plans/drawing 4) occupational health and safety in the workplace 5) maintenance of tools and equipment. In Grade 9, the learner chooses one course to specialize in from among the exploratory courses and in Grade 10, he/she pursues the TLE specialization that he/she has chosen in the previous grade in order for him/her to obtain at least a National Certificate Level I or Level II. There is completely nothing wrong with developing the technical and vocational skills of the citizens if these are oriented towards genuine economic development through national industrialization. However, the present economic orientation of the country shows that tech-voc courses supply either the demands abroad or the pool of skilled reserve labor servicing multinational firms which take advantage of the country’s cheap skilled labor. While the intentions seem laudable at first glance, the underlying context of the implementation of the K to 12 program could be best understood by looking at the government’s problematic general development framework that is the Philippine Development Plan, which seeks to reinforce the country’s adherence to the flawed development paradigm of neoliberal globalization. The K to 12 program’s thrust of producing â€Å"21st century graduates† is nothing but an affirmation and a reinforcement of the country’s role in the uneven world order where economies such are ours are molded according to the interests of the powers-that-be. Thus, the K to 12 education program can be considered a sine qua non for the fulfillment of the government’s agenda of trawling the path of the globalization project, which has only made the country vulnerable to the world economic crisis and has yielded the very crisis that plagues  Philippine education. Our country ha s gone through many changes and development for the past few years. The continuous process made great impacts in the lives of millions of Filipinos. Relatively, the changes have given us advantages not to mention the disadvantages it brought causing downfall to many people. There are numerous questions concerning the issues and problems existing in the Philippine Educational System as to how we can resolve it the best way we could to attain that kind of quality of education we have been searching and longing for. Where do we begin and how do we respond to such? Public schools are the building blocks of our societies. They can be considered our foundational instruments. Although these venues of learning play significant roles, they are unable to provide the best they can, due to their numerous flaws. As I’ve gone through different readings and researches, questions were arising in my mind as to what solutions are applicable in addressing the problems about the quality of education, affordability, budget, mismatch, integration of sex education in the curriculum, R.A. 9710 (Magna Carta for Women) and other concerns which are somehow related to it. I will always stand for what I believe in according to my observations that we have good guidelines and policies on education but what is lacking is the ability to implement such in accordance to the needs of every school, majority of which belong to the public education system. Generally, Philippine Education aims to provide quality and free education both for the elementary and secondary public schools but again this have not been observed and understood well causing it to be a burden most especially to the students and parents.