Sociological imagination Essay Example

Sociological imagination Essay To give a definition for ‘sociological imagination’ we must first give a definition for sociology, which is the study of the human society and is the main component of sociological imagination. (Mills, 1959 )One of the fundamental contributors to the concept of sociological imagination is C. Wright Mills who had a unique approach to sociology. As per C. Wright Mills â€Å"Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both†.In his book The Sociological Imagination, Mills used the same famous phrase which is used in society today. Sociological imagination is a way of been able to ‘think ourselves away’ from our familiar routines of day to day living in order to look at them from a new perspective. Mills define Sociological Imagination as ‘the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society. ’ It is the ability to see things socially and how they interact a nd influence each other. To have a sociological imagination, a person must distance himself from the situation and look at it from a different point of view.Willis argued that sociology requires a particular type of imagination, sociological imagination; that sociology cannot be based purely on individual experiences but by linking ones individual and private experiences with a broader spectrum approach. Jureidini and Poole explained that sociologists studied the broad structural factors, the processes and practises that influences everyday life and vice versa. Mills describes the components of sociological imagination as the influences that connect lives (biographies) and history within society`s structure.To consider the sociological imagination, you must think of the relationship between biography, structure and history within society. The sociological imagination helps a person to understand why there are certain attitudes, behaviours and believes. It gives us ideas and theories on how to analyse what we see and read every day. So that we can evaluate social issues, and link them to our everyday lives and experiences. Mills considered aspects of both micro (private issues) and macro (public issues) approaches as influences to the study of society. Personal troubles are privately felt problems while public issues affect society as a whole†. To explain the distinction between a person or private issue and a public issue clearly I will use the following example: If a teenager abuses alcohol at home, this would be a very private issue creating much emotion and pain within the family unit. However, if forty five present of our youth abuses alcohol and there is a whole criminal subculture supporting the maintenance of alcohol abuse then it would be a public issue.This scenario must consider biographical and historical circumstances to evaluate the impact of such an issue. A private issue impacts society on a micro scale by adding to the problem and society contributes to each individual case because of the influences society can have on each person as an individual. The impact that alcohol abuse has on a family can be very bad but when seen through the eyes of the sociological imagination, the influence on society can be just as bad. Analysis of newspaper articles: ‘Tokyo denies physically abusing wife’Tokyo Sexwale was allegedly abusing his wife Judy while they were married. Domestic violence can be seen as a private issue, as it is something that happened between Tokyo and Judy in the privacy of their home and it influenced the individuals involved on a personal level. In a lot of these cases the people involve blame and justify their actions on factors influencing the couple`s relationship. It is normally viewed by the couple as an issue between themselves because it is their own personal relationship. This could also have been the reason why Judy only waited to reveal this issue until the divorce.The experience must also have been very personal and troubling to Judy as it damages ones whole sense of being and self-worth. What happens in the privacy of their home made them think what a lot of people think ‘what goes on in the home is behind closed doors and not talked about with outsiders’. All of the above factors show how this can be seen as a private issue. All of this then changed when Judy made it public that she was abused by her husband. As woman abuse is a very real issue in society and also a criminal offence makes this a public issue as well.It is said that social factors such as gender inequalities and patriarchal structures influences domestic violence. Hence C. Wright Mills’ concept of sociological imagination, â€Å"the quality of mind to see what is going on in the world and what may be happening within it selves,† can be applied to this situation for it can be distinguished as both a private issue and a public issue. ‘Coptic Christians claim tortu re in Libyan detention centre’ The Christians that were captured chose their religion and wanted to serve God. They also chose to wear the crosses on their wrists to sow that they were Christians.This makes this a private issue. It was their own private believes that made them decide to be Christian. It could also have been that their families were Christians and that they followed in their parents believes as they were raised in that manner. It is a very personal thing between you and God. However it was made a public issue by the militia who rounded people up in a market to see if they had crosses on their wrists and then arrested them in front of all to see. This is creating a fear in society and among all the Christians in eastern Libya.They are second guessing their religion and wearing the crosses. It is creating division in society and people are now fighting among each other to what is the right religion to follow instead of it being a private matter of personal convi ction. The detention centres is also said to have more violence issues than ever before. This issue can therefore also be seen as a private as well as a public issue. Sociological imagination is according to me a very helpful tool in accepting what happened to you and the choices that you made in live.It helps you to see why you’re live turned out as it did and how society sees and accepts you.

Strategies for Improving Sentences on SAT Writing

Strategies for Improving Sentences on SAT Writing SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Improving sentences is the biggest subsection in SAT Writing. There are 49 total multiple choice questions on the SAT Writing section, and 25 of those are improving sentences questions. Arming yourself with specific strategies to answer these questions will be extremely beneficial to you and your SAT Writing score. In this post, I’ll do the following: Offer a general approach to use for answering sentence improvement questions. Detail the most common errors and clues for locating them. Show you how to correct the most common grammar errors. Provide example questions. General Approach to Improving Sentences For each improving sentences question, you should follow the same general approach to help ensure that you have an efficient method to consistently select the correct answer. By following these steps, you'll become less likely to make careless mistakes and more likely to arrive at the right answer in a timely manner. #1: Read the Sentence and Try to Identify Any Specific Errors in the Underlined Portion When you first read through the sentence, attempt to locate specific errors based on your knowledge of the grammar rules that are tested on the SAT Writing section. #2: Eliminate Obvious Wrong Answer Choices Eliminate any choices that are clearly wrong. If an answer choice creates another grammatical error or does not address the error you identified in the original answer choice, then you can immediately eliminate that answer choice as an option. Don't eliminate an answer choice solely because it sounds wrong. For all of the multiple choice SAT Writing questions, rely primarily on your knowledge of grammatical rules. #3: If You Don't Notice Anything Wrong With the Original Sentence, Look at the Answer Choices to Determine if You Overlooked an Error Sometimes reading the answer choices will make the error in the original sentence more apparent. Also, if an answer choice is more concise than the underlined portion of the original sentence and grammatically correct, then that will be the right answer. #4: Plug the Phrase in the Answer Choice Back Into the Original Sentence If an answer choice looks like it could be right, plug the phrase back into the original sentence. Sometimes reading the whole sentence will allow you to more easily determine if an answer choice is correct or if it creates an additional error. Use this step to verify your selection or testan answer choice you're unsure about. #5: Go Through The Answer Choices Until You Locate the Correct Improvement or Determine that No Change is Needed Your work is done once you find the answer choice that fixes the error in the original sentence and does not create an additonal error. You can quickly look at the remaining choices to verify that you have selected the best answer. If, after looking through the answer choices, you determine that the original sentence is correct, then select answer choice A, which is always the same as the underlined portion of the original sentence. Keep in mind that answer choice A will be right about 10%-20% of the time. Now that we have a general approach for sentence improvement questions, we can look at the specific grammar errors that repeatedly appear in the sentences in this subsection. I'll let you know the clues for spotting these errors and how to improve sentences that contain them. Read below for all the grammar rules you need to know for improving sentences. The Specific Grammar Errors: Signs and Improvements I arranged these grammatical errors by how often they tend to appear in sentence improvement questions, with the more common errors first and the least common ones last. All of these errors have appeared on previous SATs, and you should be familiar with all of these rules. Wordiness If a sentence suffers from wordiness, it is not written in the most concise grammatically correct way. Here are some tips for how to locate a wordy sentence. Signals Wordy sentences often contain gerunds in the underlined portion. Also, these sentences tend to employ the commonly used wordy phrases referenced in the article on wordiness. Once you spot a wordy sentence, it can generally be corrected in the following ways. Improvements Remember that the most concise grammatically correct answer choice will be right. Refer to the article on wordiness for the typical corrections to the commonly used wordy phrases. Parallelism Parallelism refers to the grammar rule that requires you to use the same pattern of words for two or more words or ideas in a sentence. Errors in parallelism occur when items in a list or phrases before and after a conjunction are not written in the same grammatical form. Check out the clues for identifying a parallel structure question. Signals A sentence is likely testing your knowledge of parallelism if the underlined portion is part of an "x, y, and z" list construction. Additionally, if an underlined phrase follows a conjunction, it often includes a parallel structure error. Because they're more difficult, parallelism questions tend to be found near the end of the subsection. Improvements To correct parallelism errors, put items in a list or phrases before and after a conjunction in the same grammatical form. For example, if two items in a list are in the gerund form, then the third item should be in the gerund form as well. Faulty Modifiers Another common grammar error on the improving sentences subsection is the faulty modifier. The basic rule regarding modifiers is that they must be placed next to the word they're modifying. So, how do you spot a faulty modifier? Signals Almost all of the faulty modifier questions deal with dangling modifiers. When a sentence begins with a modifying phrase, the intro must be immediately followed by a comma and then the noun it's describing. If the underlined phrase follows an introductory clause and a comma, make sure that the noun being described comes right after the comma. Improvements Place modifiers next to the words they describe. For the common dangling modifier questions, the noun being described should be placed right after the comma. Pronoun Agreement On the SAT, pronoun agreement means that pronouns must always have a clear antecedent and agree with the nouns they replace. Signals If a pronoun is part of the underlined phrase, look for errors in pronoun agreement. You must be able to identify an antecedent and the pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number. Improvements Every pronoun on the SAT should have a clear antecedent. The antecedent is the noun that the pronoun refers to. If a pronoun doesn't have a clear antecedent, replace it with a noun or make sure that the improved sentence does give ita clear antecedent. Also, make sure to use singular nouns with singular antecedents and plural pronouns with plural antecedents. My favorite pronoun Idioms/Wrong Word For questions related to idioms or word choice, you have to know how to properly construct idiomatic expressions and how to properly use specific words. These questions often do not correspond with a grammar rule and are the only ones where you may have to rely on what sounds right to correctly answer the question. Signals The idioms on the SAT tend to involve prepositions, gerunds, and infinitives. If any of these parts of speech are underlined, make sure that any idiomatic expression in the phrase is properly constructed. If one word of a word pair is in the underlined phrase, that can also signal a wrong word error.Common word pairs include "not only...but also", "both...and", "either..or", and "neither...nor". Note that conjunctions or adverbs in the underlined phrase can signal a word choice error as well. Improvements Typically, an improperly constructed idiomatic expression can be fixed by changing the preposition or the verb form. Word pair errors can be corrected by replacing the word that doesn't belong in the word pair with the word that does. For example, change "either...and" to "either...or." Make sure that the words in the underlined phrase express the intended meaning of the sentence. If the sentence shows contrast, then there should be a word like "but", "despite", or "although" in the sentence that indicates contrast. Run-Ons A run-on sentence (coming soon) consists of two or more complete thoughts that are not separated by the proper punctuation. Signals Usually, you'll find a run-on sentence created by a comma splice. Two complete thoughts will be separated by a comma. Improvements You can fix the comma splice by changing the comma to a semicolon. Or, you can change the construction of the sentence so that the comma is no longer separating two complete thoughts. Fragments A sentence fragment (coming soon) doesn't express a complete thought. Signals Sentence fragments often have a gerund or relative pronoun in the underlined phrase. Occasionally, a participle will be in the underlined portion and the sentence won't have a verb. Improvements Get rid of the relative pronoun or replace gerunds and participles with verbs. Make sure the improved sentence has a verb and expresses a complete thought. Subject-Verb Agreement Subject-verb agreement is a rule that states that all subjects must agree with their verbs in number. Singular subjects take singular verbs. Plural subjects take plural verbs. Signals If a verb is underlined, especially if the answer choices have different present/present perfect tense conjugations, then you should check for a subject-verb agreement error. Improvements Change the verb from plural to singular or from singular to plural. Just a few more rules to go Verb Forms Verb form (coming soon) questions will test you on verb tenses, gerunds, and infinitives. You need to know which tense and verb form to use in a given sentence. Signals Verb form questions will have a verb, gerund, or infinitive in the underlined phrase. The answer choices will have different different verb forms. Improvements Follow consistency rules with verbs and make sure that all verb tenses are being used properly. In sentences with gerunds or infinitives, verify that all idiomatic expressions are constructed correctly. Relative Pronouns Relative pronouns (coming soon) are "who", "whom", "whose", "which", "where", "when", and "that". Relative pronouns must agree with the nouns they're replacing. For example, use "where" when referring to places and "when" when referring to a specific time. Signals If a relative pronoun is part of the underlined phrase, then there may be a relative pronoun error. Improvements Make sure you use the proper relative pronoun for the noun that is being replaced and that the pronoun has a clear antecedent. Occasionally, you will have to remove a relative pronoun to fix a sentence fragment. Illogical Comparisons The rule for illogical comparisons is that you can only compare equivalent things. Signals The underlined phrase will often follow a word in the comparative form. In every illogical comparison question, there will be a comparison in the sentence. Improvements Make sure the sentence is comparing like things. For example, you have to compare books to books and people to people. You can't compare a book to a person. Noun Agreement Noun agreement means that a singular person/thing can't be a plural noun and vice versa. Incorrect: John and Sarah want to become a doctor. Correct: John and Sarah want to become doctors. Signals Multiple nouns in a sentence, including one in the underlined phrase, can signal a noun agreement error. Improvements When necessary, make sure nouns agree in number. Now that we're familiar with all of the specific grammar rules covered on the improving sentences subsection, here are some more general rules to keep in mind. General Tips The Most Concise Answer is Often Right Underlined phrases in sentence improvement questions will often be awkward and wordy. Focus on selecting the clearest, most concise answer choice. Consistency is Key Many of the grammar errors have to do with inconsistency. Errors in parallelism, verb forms, and comparisons can often be fixed by focusing on consistency. Gerunds, Especially "Being", Often Signal an Error Sentence improvement questions tend to use gerunds to create fragments, wordiness, and idiom errors. If a gerund is part of an underlined phrase, make sure the gerund is being used correctly. Use these tips to answer actual questions from the SAT Writing section. Real SAT Examples We're going to use the grammar rules and strategies you've just learned to answer the followingsentence improvement question. First, let's try to identify any errors in the underlined portion of the sentence. The presence of the gerunds "tempting" and "straining" signals that there is likely a parallelism, fragment, or wordiness error. After reading the entire sentence, you should recognize that it lacks a main verb and is not expressing a complete thought. As such, this sentence is a fragment. One possible way to correct this error would be to change the gerunds to verbs, so let's keep that in the back of our minds as we go through the answer choices. Immediately, we can get rid of A and D because they keep "tempting" in the gerund form, and thusdon't fix the error. Answer choice B fixes the fragment by changing "tempting" to "tempt" but creates a word choice error. The correct word pair is "not only...but also" rather than "not only...but then." Upon first glance, answer choice C might look correct, but you should always make sure that every verb is in the proper form and tense. The subject of the sentence is "demands", which is plural. Therefore, the verb should be in the plural form. The verbs "tempts" and "strains" are in the singular form, so answer choice C creates an error in subect-verb agreement. We're left with answer choice E. The verbs "tempt" and "strain" are consistent and they agree with the subject. The resulting sentence is no longer a fragment and there is no additional error. The correct answer is E. We'll use the same process to answer another real SAT question from the improving sentences subsection. Again, we'll start by trying to find the error in the underlined portion. The first word "was" is a verb. Remember to make sure all underlined verbs are in the correct form and agree with their subjects. The subject of this sentence is "two", which is plural, but the verb is "was", which is in the singular form. There is an error in subject-verb agreement. After looking at the answer choices, we can get rid of A, B, and C right away since none of those choices correct the subject-verb agreement error. Those eliminations leave just choices D and E, both of which replace "was" with the correctly conjugated verb, "were." However, D also includes the exra word "the," so it is less clear and concise than E. Remember that the most concise grammatically correct answer choice will be correct. The answer is E. What's Next? Read this article to learn the big secret to SAT Writing. If you want more review on all of the grammar rules tested on the SAT Writing section, check out the complete guide to SAT Writing grammar and what's actually tested on SAT Writing. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Writing and grammar lesson, you'll love our program. Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

How to get rid of depression

How to get rid of depression Learn the effective ways how to get rid of depression Very often it becomes harder for us to enjoy our lives and be satisfied with the current state of things and the things around us. The thoughts that that we are not satisfied with this or that come into our heads, bringing the feelings that everything is bad and there is no way to solve problem, if any. That is the state of depression and in such a situation it is very important not to let these feelings evolve and become stronger. Below you can find the ways and means how to get rid of depression and enjoy your life. Sports It has been proved a long time before that physical activity helps to keep mental and psychological condition of human’s body. Very often when you feel bad morally or mentally, it is a good means to improve your state by going in for sports. Doing physical exercises requires concentration and dedication, so you need to improve your thinking to do all this. And as a result you can clear up your head of bad thoughts or some irritation and develop your body at the same time. Sport can become your personal psychologist, who will take care of your wellbeing. Food Yes, this is right, food can help you improve your mental state and bring you joy. But at the same time it is very important to have the right approach to it. If you eat unhealthy food or a big amount of it – it will bring you no good. Though, eating something healthy, useful and, of course, tasteful can help you receive those pleasant feelings to conquer the depression and put it off. This can also help you develop new and right approach to nutrition as the means to support your health and physical shape. And this is an effective way to get rid of depression and to enjoy fine food. Travelling Finding out something new in one’s life is very useful to overcome the depression. And in such a situation why not discover some new places around and enjoy visiting them. Changing of surrounding is very effective for improving your mental condition. Also when travelling, you are able to meet new people or new cultures and by interacting with them, you can easily change your life and bring new positive emotions in it. New connections can make your life more interesting and absorbing. Self-education By learning something new we also get things to become better and to change our mindset. New information or skills can improve our thinking and moral condition. No matter if it is reading new books or studying some new disciplines or undergoing particular academic programs – it is very effective for you to become better and more sophisticated. When we conceive new information, we greatly improve our way of thinking and the ability to treat various things in a right manner. The learning process is a good means to obviate depression and make your life better. Right thinking No matter in what conditions we live, we can always be happy. Everything depends on the way we treat this or that thing. Some people have a lot of things in his or her life, or at least a lot more than others, though still thinking that it is not enough or all this is not so good. But pessimistic attitude will never result in anything good for you. The way how we treat everything around us greatly depends on the way of our thinking, so if you want to live a happy life, you should think in a positive way. Engaging in positive course of conduct will help in dealing your problems and bring you optimistic outcome. The above stated things can direct you in the right way to make your life more interesting and full of bright colors. When comprehending something new we evolve and improve ourselves. We hope that these clues will help you get rid of depressive thoughts once and for all.

Debate outline Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Debate outline - Research Paper Example The ethical dilemma for the medical profession and the family of the afflicted individual give rise to ongoing debates. Both sides present strong arguments for their side. II. Facts for Pro and Con side a. Pro side-Seven facts to support the Pro side of the debate In more ways, the aging group is more susceptible to developing clinical conditions that require extensive hospitalization, as most present protracted medical status; however, the exact pathophysiological path towards worsening condition remained indefinable (Kaufman, 2009). As such, clinical practitioners may try a number of treatment procedures with vague clinical presentation, possibly even during critical times in patient status, but these measures may remain in futile attempts as they do not target the exact cause of geriatric condition. In most cases, the education and vast clinical experiences that health professionals have acquired in academic and clinical settings do not assure that they are no longer liable to mak e clinical errors, especially on the side of the â€Å"omnipotent† physicians in predicting the outcomes of patients’ condition and course of disease process.

The effects of exercise benefits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The effects of exercise benefits - Essay Example This is so because exercise does not just improve physical stamina but also influences social and psychological aspects of one’s life. Engaging in physical activities can prove to be more beneficial than what people already expected and this is what will be discussed in detail below. Obviously, exercise benefits participants physically, building healthy habits in maintaining fit bodies and staying away from certain diseases. In fact, physical activities are being given a lot of importance that training children to become physically active is one of the objectives of many fitness scholars. Kenneth H. Cooper, for instance, encourages parents to become involved in engaging their children in physical activities for them to get used to it and for the parents to become good models for the children because as they grow older, there is the great tendency of becoming inactive. Girls are found to become inactive around age fourteen while boys at fifteen. This is so because of the change s which happen in the children’s body (Cooper, 15-16). However, the importance of physical exercise should be well-pointed out to them. First and foremost, exercise increases muscle size and builds muscle strength. Jogging, walking or aerobic exercises increase the supply of oxygen-rich blood available to skeletal muscles for aerobic cellular respiration. This helps the regulation of blood in the body maintain normal processes and prevent diseases. Engaging in such activities on a daily basis builds endurance for prolonged activities. Anaerobic activities on the other hand like weight lifting, increase muscle size and builds strength. One might say that strength and endurance are not actually needed in relation to work nevertheless, it should be noted that the more sedentary the lifestyle of a person is because of the nature of his job, the more one needs to do physical activities to stay healthy. Aerobic exercises for instance, increase the oxygen demand of the muscles, incr easing cardiac output and the rate of oxygen delivery to the tissues. Moreover, oxygen delivery also increases because more capillary networks are developed by skeletal muscles because of long term training (Tortora & Grabowski, 687). In contrast to an active lifestyle, being sedentary exposes a person to obesity, heart problems, depression and other related diseases. In addition to the physical benefits, people who exercise also enhance themselves psychologically. Studies show that exercise can help alleviate long term depression. James Blumenthal, PhD, a clinical psychologist at Duke University experimented on patients and he found out that those who did exercise had higher rates of remission comparable to those who did not exercise but were taking antidepressant. His conclusion about this observation is that, exercise is as effective as antidepressant for patients with major depressive disorder. He further adds that exercise â€Å"seems not only important in treating depression but also in preventing relapse† (Weir). More studies show and explain why exercise benefits people positively on the psychological aspect such as the fight or flight mechanism. Patients with heightened sensitivity to anxiety have been observed to be able to adjust to circumstances that may cause anxiety better than those who have no or less physical activitie

How It Feel to Be Colored Me and How to Tame a Wild Tongue Essay Example for Free

How It Feel to Be Colored Me and How to Tame a Wild Tongue Essay Sometimes we know who and what we are, but it’s impossible to wear an identity without becoming what we pretend to be or bullied into silence allowing ourselves to be made a victim to oppression. In this essay I’m comparing the authors of â€Å"How it Feel to Be Colored Me by Zora Hurston, and How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua. Gloria Anzaldua became a victim of oppression by accepting society expectations of the Chicano culture. Meanwhile, Zora Hurston accepted who she is despite who people perceived her as because of her skin color. These two authors defends their personal identities through their cultures in separate ways. In the story How to Tame a Wild Tongue, Gloria Anzaldua feels that the way someone is cannot be controlled it can only be erased; she states â€Å"Wild tongues can’t be tamed, they can only be cut out† (Page 31). Anzaldua was against losing her accent and had an issue with putting her first language as a second. She would rebel as a child when told not to speak Spanish, so she struggled with changing and adapting to the American culture. She believed her culture the â€Å"Chicano† culture needed to differ from others with a secret language they can be able to communicate amongst each other. â€Å"Chicano Spanish need to identify ourselves as a distinct people. We needed a language which we could communicate with ourselves, a secret language† (Page 32). By creating their own slang allows them to connect their identity and communicate reality, values, and things they have in common. Yet, Zora Hurston in the story â€Å"How it feels to be Colored Me† expresses the way she was created doesn’t bother her nor makes her sadden. â€Å"I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I don’t mind at all (Page 145).† Unlike other colored people she doesn’t hate herself for the color of her skin, she’s proud to be created as the person she is without regret. Although, she’s constantly reminded of her culture background it fails to bring her integrity down, because ancestors paid the price of her free start in society, and shouldn’t stop to reflect on choices that wasn’t hers. â€Å"Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the grand-daughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. I am off to a flying start and must I not halt to look back and weep. Slavery is the price I paid for civilization, and the choice was not with me† (Pages 145-146). Zora Hurston doesn’t consider herself a part of her culture who uses their skin color for a bad excuse for why they’re in negative life situations. â€Å"I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who holds that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are hurt about it (Page 145).

Inner-city Elementary After School Programs Essay examples -- Essay Pa

Inner-city Elementary After School Programs Inner-city elementary age kids face many challenges in and out of the classroom. These challenges range from education day in and day out, as well as, sometimes growing up in an impoverished family and community. Factors also include peers which these kids come into contact with at school, in the streets and at home. Kids today need more than ever an extra push of positive motivation from mentors. I believe that this constructive mentoring begins with after school programs. After school programs give kids the opportunity to work one on one with an adult to reinforce encouragement and teach more than just text education. Because I have participated as a volunteer at an after school program, I have seen first hand the positive impact such programs can generate among elementary aged kids involved. These after school programs are very important for the future of thousands of elementary aged kids. For those less fortunate kids that do not have supportive parents or appropriate supervision at home, after school programs give those children a chance to receive constructive attention from a mentor. Because I feel these programs are so beneficial, I am very interested in the further spread of after school programs among public schools nationwide. However, the progress of the elementary mentoring must begin one school district at a time. After school programs can potentially decide the direction of many elementary age students? futures, as well as the communities in which they live. After school programs serve a great advantage to inner city elementary age kids by allowing them the opportunity to interact in a supervised location with mentors, because these mentors do no not only te... ...EBSCO. DU Penrose Library, Denver. 21 Jan. 2005 . Reyes, Damaso. ?Urban Dove raises kids hopes.? The New York Amsterdam News 17 July 2003: 6. Roffman, Jennifer G, Maria E. Pagano, and Barton J. Hirsch. ?Youth Functioning and Experiences in Inner-City After-School Programs Among Age, Gender, and Race Groups.? Journal Of Child and Family Studies 10 (2001): 85-100. United States. Dept. of Education. Working for Children and Families: Safe and Smart After-School Programs. Washington GPO: 2000. (_ _.) Dept. of Education. What Works: Components of Exemplary After-School Programs. Washington: GPO, 2000. 13 Feb 2005 . (_ _.) Dept. of Education. 21st Century Community Learning Centers. Jessup, MD: GPO, 2000. 21 Feb 2005 .

Relationship between Development and Democracy

The rapid political transformation that exemplified the last decade of the past century in various countries of the world encouraged a renewed interest in the relationship between development and democracy (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 55). The argument in the 1960s had been that democracy was positively interrelated to the level of modernization, and then viewed as the equivalence of development. The two succeeding decades were much more cautious about any such relationship. It was only the turbulent years following the fall of communism and the attempts to move away from dictatorial modes of rule that encouraged comparative politics students to revisit the development – democracy nexus (Chan, 2002, p. 89).The students of Latin American politics had already started to respond to reform efforts embarked on in their region in the early 1980s. It was in the 1990s that issues of democratization reentered the mainstream of comparative politics. The re-orientation in the field of compara tive politics has already resulted in a wide range of publications.Mapping the Major ApproachesDevelopment and democracy are both very complicated concepts as they tend to mean different things to different people. For example, conceptions of development have varied over time in the last five decades from being the equivalence of modernization to being concerned with overcoming social inequities and on to providing opportunities for individuals in the marketplace and institutional improvements in the name of good governance. The definition of democracy has been the subject of much debate as to whether it should be a minimalist concept useful for analytical functions (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 57).I suggest that it may be helpful to follow a distinction along 2 axes. The first is methodological and epistemological where the two endpoints are agency and structure. The second is substantive in nature which differentiates between a focus on elite or mass level. The structuralist approaches typically adopt a historical standpoint in explaining the success or failure of democratization.The development and democracy also varies in terms of its focus on elites or the mass of the population. Those who are concerned with providing prescriptive advice tend to be focusing on the privileged because they are the ones directly concerned with making policy. Political scientists have amassed enough knowledge about democratization process that we can tell the political elite what traps to keep away from and what opportunities to take hold of. This remains the ultimate goal of political science as most people in the discipline are likely to adopt a more humble position, realizing that our knowledge of democratization is still very general and fragmented (Chan, 2002, p. 144).The University of Michigan administered a survey which has contributed to an understanding of how human values and preferences shift in response to changes in material circumstances. Associations also count in t his type of political studies. The long term positive outcome comes from people working together in small scale groups.Structuralist studiesStructuralist studies have evolved over the past 40 years and it has been proved that this is a fruitful area of research. Three issues have crystallized as being of special interest:(1)  Ã‚   Does location in the global economic order matter?(2)  Ã‚   Does class or social structure matter? and(3)  Ã‚   Do value changes caused by structural factors matter?I shall discuss these issues in turn before focusing on some of the methodological challenges associated with this approach.Location in the global economic orderStudies in this area have a long pedigree with many other well-known political sociologists and political economists having made contributions. The original finding was that the more prosperous a nation, the greater the chances that it will maintain democracy (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 68). It was not the location in the global econo mic order that was important, but the ability of a country to adopt the structural and cultural features associated with modern society, i.e. an urbanized and educated population as well as an industrialized economy.Using the regression type of statistical analysis, scholars have demonstrated that level of economic development consistently appears as a statistically and substantively significant influence on democracy (Haggard, 2003). The level of economic development alone accounts for more variance in democracy than all other independent variables taken altogether. Therefore, some students of development and democracy are ready to treat it as such a strong correlation that it must not to be in question.Even if it is a vigorous relationship, it raises questions about what in that association really matters, and what kind of conclusions to draw there from. The thing which matters is at least in part determined by how the dependent and independent variables are specified. It has been found that while being well-to-do matters at the level of cross national comparison; it is not necessarily the economic but the social factors, such as education literacy that are the more powerful explanatory variables (Chan, 2002, p. 123).Few scholars have questioned whether it is the rate of economic growth or the level of economic development that is more important. The prospects to become democratic countries are rather dim, not because most Third World nations have low average per capita incomes, but because the economic development is not fast enough or the rate of growth is slow. The potential importance of location in the global economic order is also a very significant variable. Economic development has a differential impact and it matters most in the industrialized countries, only half as much in the semi peripheral countries, and even less so for countries in the periphery (Haggard, 2003).Studies have also established a positive correlation between key variables but the y do not necessarily rein in everything that matters in the development – democracy equation. One may assume that the economic development matters the most in the core or the industrialized countries because it has been present there for a longer time period. It is not only the domestic environment of the countries in the periphery that counts but also their exterior environment. One of the gaps that need to be filled in the research on development and democracy is clearly what difference globalization makes. The relationship between globalization, socio-economic development and democracy is of prime importance (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 52).Economic crises and other performance problems in the non democratic regimes help promote a democratic transition. Using data for approximately 100 Third World nations with populations of at least one-million, it was proved that inflationary crises tended to inhibit democratization in 1950s and 1960s but seem to have facilitated the same pro cess in the late 1980s. Another proposition is that there is no relationship between per capita income level and the probability of democratic transition contrary to what was indicated earlier. One such reason may be growing international pressure to democratize (Johansson, 2002, p. 23).The Role of Class StructureThis type of study is useful for focusing on wide systematic causal processes that hold across space and time, but needs to be complemented by those that include more characteristic explanations that hold at certain times or in certain regions only (Chan, 2002, p. 24). The analysis of specific historical events or processes is often an unavoidable complement to statistical techniques, especially if the objective of the research is to concentrate on the occurrence of discrete events within their historical context.The capitalist economic development creates growing pressure for democratization by fostering the emergence of a middle-class has been very broadly accepted: †˜without a bourgeoisie, no democracy'. This sets the broader parameters for the development of democracy by liberalizing economic market forces and thereby, also individualizing both behaviors and choices. Comparing Germany and Japan, which adopted a fascist approach to rule, with the UK and USA, which chose a democratic path, the class is an extremely vital factor. The middle class or the bourgeoisie enjoys a degree of self-sufficiency by being able to shape the course of political development in any direction. It is not expected that the middle-class will choose a democratic path over a non democratic one. It all depends on how they manage the challenges that structural factors present in the economy (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 53).With economic liberalization being pushed around the world, one can hypothesize that class may grow in significance. Deeper social inequalities are reported from all regions of the world and Livelihoods are being threatened, quality of life is going down f or a bulk of people, more specifically in the Third World countries. The most immediate issue is how to make the concept of class operational. There is no universal accord about how that should be done. It is not easy at this point to arrive at any solid conclusions about the relationship between the class and the prospect of transition to democracy. In a first attempt to do so, it was found that class structure does not have an impact on the likelihood that a nation makes a transition to democracy (Chan, 2002, p. 67).It is a path breaking study that points to the need for many more studies in this area and the surveys that try to measure people's subjective perception of class. Survey data are available for industrialized nations but are yet to be collected in developing countries. Such data would significantly improve our ability to say something about the relationship between class and the probability of transition to democracy.Value ChangesChanges in the economy do not only crea te new forms of social stratification as they also influence our cultural values. Modernization and value change is the subject of several important studies in the field of comparative politics. Subjective aspirations reflect the nature of objective conditions, a point that is associated traditionally with Marxism but is also reflected in psychological theories (Doorenspleet, 2002, p. 58). The strengthening of human striving for self expression that follows from enlarging people's cognitive and physical resources (modernization) reduces constraints on the level of formal rules by generating negative and positive freedom rights (democratization). Using data from 63 societies, it was found that:(1)  Ã‚   Democratization originates in aspiration adjustments on individual level,(2)  Ã‚   Democracy does not flow directly from economic changes but through shifts in ethical values,(3)  Ã‚   This sequence has cross cultural validity, and,(4)  Ã‚   The sequence holds against rival in fluences, the transnational infusion of changes in traditionally connected societies.More research is needed to ascertain whether these findings hold if other data sets are used, the notion that democratization in a given society is the result of both ethical and material changes is important. It is suggested that the dynamics of social change is driven more by internal than external factors. We do not specifically address this issue here, but it is one that should be considered in the light of amplified global communications (Haggard, 2003).Methodological IssuesOne of the problems with research on democracy and development is that scholars using quantitative methods tend to ignore those using qualitative methods, and vice versa. The latter tend to use thick concepts which are applied to a very small number of cases, whereas the former tend to rely on thin concepts that are applied to a large number of cases. Due to the lack of dialogue between these two researcher groups, the task of knowing more about causal relations has been stifled.The assumption being that qualitative researchers play a key role in opening up novel areas of inquiry, while the quantitatively oriented can determine the extent to which findings can be generalized. In short, the study of development and democracy requires both approaches since both of them are complementary to each other (Johansson, 2002, p. 23).There are many troubles with the existing state of knowledge in this field that stem from methodological inadequacies. The first concern is the quality of the data available. There has been a heavy reliance on the Freedom House Index (FHI) of Civil Liberties and Political Rights. With few other data sets available, it is quite understandable that many researchers have found the FHI handy.There are at least two problems with that Index. The first is that it relies on the evaluative input of a panel of experts rather than primary data collected in survey form. The scores in the Index, while not entirely invalid, nonetheless suffer from lack of representativeness of opinions in individual nations (Johansson, 2002, p. 213). The second problem is that the cumulative scores provided for each indicator and country tends to be rather rough. This lack of differentiation is also obvious in many studies that use other data.Most researchers have to settle for a sub-optimal choice, because it is extremely difficult to identify a singular manifestation. Reliability refers to the prospect that the same data collection process would produce the same data. Duplication prevails whenever other scholars are able to reproduce the process through which data were generated.Structured contingencyIf the structuralist concern with the pre-requisites of democracy constitutes the first generation of studies on democratization, a distinct second generation has emerged in the past two decades that is more process oriented and focused on contingent choice. This innovative approach incorporat es institutional factors as explanatory variables (Haggard, 2003). Democratization is understood as a historical process with analytically distinct, if empirically overlapping, stages of consolidation and transition. A variety of actors with different followings, calculations, preferences, resources and time horizons come to the fore during these successive stages.These stages vary in terms of degree of uncertainty prevailing at each point. During regime transitions, interactions, and political calculations are highly uncertain, actors find it hard to know what their interests are, who their supporters are, and which groups will be their allies or opponents. The absence of predictable rules of the game during a regime transition expands the boundaries of contingent choice (Johansson, 2002, p. 88). A government is being consolidated whenever contending groups come to accept some set of rules, formal or informal, about who gets what, when and how from politics.Power-sharing arrangemen tsDemocratization often runs into grave difficulties because societies are divided vertically rather than horizontally. Resource conflicts are not interpreted in straight-forward social class terms but take on meaning only in the context of identity politics. Whether ethnicity, race or religion constitutes the line along which cleavages are defined, they pose a special problem for democratizing countries specifically because the issue of inclusion in regime is conflated with inclusion in the community. Strategic choices are socially or culturally embedded to such an amount that it becomes difficult to produce governance agreements that satisfy all parties to the conflict (Johansson, 2002, p. 56).The problems of exclusion and inclusion do not fade away when new institutions are being adopted and put into operation. Democratization itself may aggravate such problems precisely because it brings elements of openness and competition into the political progression. Conceptions of the scop e of the political community become more prominent as people interact with each other in the public realm and have to make choices about who is an insider and who is an outsider. One of the ironies of democratization is that, as the future is being planned, the past intrudes with escalating severity. There is no such thing as a fresh start in culturally plural societies; differences in historical depth are likely to matter.For example, where the notion of first-comers is deeply rooted, claims of political priority by virtue of indigenousness are typically made to confront those deemed to be immigrants (Haggard, 2003). Europe and Asia are particularly full of such claims. Sri Lankan Tamils really belong to South India. Chinese in Indonesia and Malaysia are immigrants and Bengalis are illegally in Assam. The Balkans, the Baltic and the Caucasus regions of the former USSR are other examples of places where such claims are being made. They are particularly hard to resolve because they a re frequently embedded in religious differences that reinforce the ethnic dimension and have a long history.Electoral modalitiesIn the 1990s, larger attention was paid to how different electoral rules may help promote inclusiveness. Such rules are the most specific manipulative instrument of politics. Africans realized this point at independence and many leaders proceeded to promote inclusiveness within a democratically designed single party system. Although the principle of competitive elections within a single party system was an interesting innovation, practical experience soon showed that sustaining the democratic element in such system became very hard (Chan, 2002, p. 345).Most of the conversation on what difference electoral systems or modalities make has focused on the comparative advantages of proportional representation and majority systems. The combination of parliamentary system with a proportional system of representation as the constitutional arrangement most likely to serve racially divided societies well. It is only in industrialist societies with a more dispersed population that proportional representation (PR) has the intended effects of enhancing the distribution of power among elites. Another study of electoral systems in southern Africa maintains that a mixed member proportional system (MMP), as used in Germany and New Zealand, may prove to be particularly relevant in countries such as South Africa where forms of power sharing have been considered vital to a successful democratic transition (Haggard, 2003).Legal SystemsOne of the more dominant arguments for the link between liberal democracy and capitalism rests on the premise that with the rise of a private property regime, the estate of the landlord is fully severed from the state, thus consolidating the separation between public and private spheres of power. Capitalist economic rule is no longer legitimated politically by reference to the performance of communal functions. Private power is stabilized to the extent that democratic principles of rule are successfully insulated within a public domain (Johansson, 2002, p. 98). This emphasis on human rights has also brought a renewed importance to concepts such as rule of law and by implication to the role of legal systems in democratization.Civil SocietyCivil society is a bothersome concept. It refers to all voluntary associations that have been created to mediate relations between the state and the family household. This excludes productive enterprises since their purpose is not to associate individuals to the state. Most students of civil society take a functional view of the society counting in all associations regardless of their normative stand on the democracy issue. Many nations that are attempting to consolidate democracy suffer from what is sometimes referred to as a civic deficit. This entails that society is short of the values that really help build democracy.This deficit often stems from disenchantment wit h the political leadership. The new democratic regime proves ineffective in various ways, such as not being able to curb corruption or to deliver tangible policy results. Once the transition from dictatorial rule has been made, it is more difficult to mobilize popular support for the measures that are necessary to keep the democratic process on the track. The civil society is most effective in the initial phase of the transition. It tends to lose its implication in the political process as it moves from transition to consolidation (Chan, 2002, p. 266).Social movements clearly energize civil society. They often lead major political transitions, but they also contribute to keeping civil society healthy at other times. Without such movements, the impact of civil society on democracy would be much less significant. Without implying that social movements always work for a civic or democratic cause (Johansson, 2002, p. 143). It seems a feasible proposition to state that a democratic chang e without the backing of a social movement is less likely to achieve something than one with such backing.ConclusionTo conclude, it may be worth making a few general observations on the studies of development and democracy. The first is that the difference between qualitative and quantitative studies is often exaggerated. There are substantive differences between the two, but they lie not in the criteria used to create and rationalize a particular research design but in the manner in which the former is executed (Haggard, 2003). It is primarily in the execution of research that quantitative statistical analyzes come to differ from qualitative forms of study. When it comes to designing research, considerable qualitative reasoning goes into designing quantitative studies.When choosing the unit of analysis, indicators for measurement and set of cases, qualitative criteria are being used to justify the design. The qualitative reasoning enters into the design in at least two ways: first, by differentiating between Europe and Latin America and the second, by bringing in the concept of stability, which does not even feature in the conceptual definition of democracy (Chan, 2002, p. 67). We should be alert to the fact that the distinction between qualitative and quantitative forms of reasoning is more blurred than many scholars would have us believe.The second observation is that the relationships between variables are not always linear in a causal sense. The study of the development – democracy nexus provides ample of evidence that the relations are often interactive; development, or dimensions thereof, influences democracy but scope of democracy may also affect development. Modernists and Marxists tend to assume that political democracy is the outcome of underlying changes in the socio-economic or cultural spheres.Those who essentially believe in human agency would argue that institutions and choices can be made to shape developmental outcomes. Much of the cur rent debate in the international development community focuses on the independent effects that good governance is expected to have on various aspects of development (Haggard, 2003).The third and final observation concerns the propensity to treat findings as universal or to generalize without taking into consideration the potential influence of contextual variables. Much knowledge that is acquired on the issues relating to development and democracy are both time and context specific. Changing either temporal or spatial dimensions may have significant influence on the results.Generalizations that hold across national and regional boundaries are typically at a high level of aggregation. The challenge that we often face in our research is not only to disaggregate or deconstruct these concepts and variables but also to continue testing how far these general findings still hold at lower levels of aggregation.In sum, whichever way we turn in the research exercise, there are challenges just around the corner (Haggard, 2003). The contributors to this essay are highlighting many of these challenges, thereby providing a sense of what comparative politics have achieved so far and also what remains to be done.

Types Of Driver By Age

There are many types of drivers that we all encounter on the road, and they are often classified by age. While the term â€Å" driver † can be applied to just about anyone behind the wheel, the way a person drives often changes with age. You can expect to find these drivers on the road near to you: teenage drivers, middle-aged drivers, and slow but steady elderly drivers. At the age of 16-20 years old, teens are more concerned with looking cool than with driving responsibly.Teenage drivers have lack of driving experience, and a distraction of using electronics. They want to be seen driving while on their cell phones and have the loudest stereos. Teenage tend to use electronics while driving, and they do no know that it is a huge distraction. They impress each other by driving recklessly and being faster than their friends. Therefore, teenagers are very dangerous on the road when they are driving. The second type of driver by age is the middle-aged driver.They tend to tailgate your car and also have a super speeding that will result in accidents. These drivers have the uncanny ability to squeeze through the smallest openings as they weave through every car that gets in their path. They always seem to be in the biggest hurry as they drive waiting for the opportunity to pass your car. They also have The third type of driver is the elderly or old age driver. Older drivers are more like to cause traffic citations and get into accidents as their driving abilities changes with age.They have also slower reflexes and poorer vision. Their reflexes are slower, thence, is very difficult to them to react quickly if they have to avoid any accident. Older drivers can also have any eye condition that can interfere with their ability to drive. In conclusion, drivers come in many different forms and each carry their own characteristics no matter how old they are. Therefore, each person must be responsible and careful when driving, regardless of the type of driver who is.

The Ferret essays

The Ferret essays Often the source of prejudice and ignorance, the ferret is one of the most loving, misunderstood animals there is. The general consensus seems to be that they are dangerous and could hurt children. However, these creatures do have very different personalities and attitudes and some could be mean. But, this is very uncommon and could be true of any creature. Each is separate and yet alike. Colors vary and can include: black, sable, chocolate, albino with red eyes, albino with black eyes, blaze, silver, etc. Also, their weights range from .75lb 3lbs. The females are almost always smaller than the males. Some are long like tubes, and others are shorter and quite plump and, of course, they can range anywhere in between. Their diet consists of fruits, specially formulated foods, high-quality cat food, some like milk, and each ferret has a taste for particular things that another might despise. They eat less than a cup a day of food. They drink large quantities of water. They are often seen playing together. They prefer playmates, because alone they become depressed. This can easily be determined if you notice they become less active or sleep more than they usually do. Observing these creatures it is noted that they seem to have a preference for plastic bags and fleece blankets. They often become fascinated by bags, and spend many an hour jumping about in them. They will jump with their backs arched and make a chuckling sound referred to as Dooking. After careful observations this is determined to be a way for them to express their happiness. On the other hand when they are frustrated, angry or just plain upset they will hiss and back up a lot. They let you know how they are feeling by expressing it vocally and with their movements. It is interesting to note that when one holds a ferret by the scruff of their neck, the ferret immediately relaxes and goes limp. Holding them this way doesnt hurt the...

1959, The Year That Changed Jazz

1959, The Year That Changed Jazz The year 1959 was marked a monumental year in American music history. Many American jazz artists made recordings that influenced society profoundly and left a lasting impact that still is present to this day. Musical experimentation during this year is considered the apogee of American jazz achievement, and jazz reached new heights that were characterized by innovation, creativity, ingenuity, magnificence, groove, and much more. In essence, four major jazz albums were created that changed music forever: Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, Dave Brubeck’s Time Out, Charles Mingus’ Ah Um, and Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come. Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue has attracted more people to jazz than any other jazz recording, even after being released more than fifty years ago. The album developed a new, powerful, and grand jazz musical statement. The Kind of Blue album typifies a modal jazz style, which is music based on the extensive repetition of one or two chords or music based on modes instead of chord progression. Kind of Blue’s â€Å"So What† improvised, no time-referenced, and without a clear beat opening with the bass and the piano sets an unclear and cloudy idea in where the song was heading, with a grand riff setting the energy and Jimmy Cobb performing an incredible cymbal crash following the introduction. So what’s main characteristic is Miles’ hippy and haunting trumpet sound, which was unique and special and was developed from his playing during the bebop era with musicians such as Charlie Parker, the main alto saxophonist of the bebop era. Kind of Blue is so importa nt when it comes to American jazz history because it has exerted a prodigious influence on jazz music and on the legacy of its band members. Moreover, it opened up to a new direction in jazz music, along with a more thoughtful viewpoint on creating jazz compositions. Three interesting facts about Kind of Blue is that it is the biggest selling jazz album ever made, shifting over five million copies, it regularly tops best jazz album polls and is featured high in lists of greatest albums of any category, and that it took Miles and the group seven hours to record Kind of Blue, with all but one of the tracks being first takes. A funny story about Miles Davis and the quartet was that when they are recording Kind of Blue the first time, an engineer told Miles Davis and the band that the drums were making a surface noise, and Miles Davis hollered back at him and told him that it was a part of the album while recording. Dave Brubeck’s Time Out album is known for the rhythmic experimentation of pianist Dave Brubeck. The style of Time Out is cool jazz, in which the music was not as jagged, unpredictable, and sophisticated in comparison to bebop, and was subtler and incorporated classical harmonic devices in composition. Take Five, one of the tracks in the Time Out album, was composed in 5/4 time, and was written around a drum solo. Time Out is so important when it comes to American jazz history because it was so easily accessible to the average citizen because it was not too complicated and appealing as the group represented America’s middle class. Three interesting facts about Time Out is that each track is written in a different time signature and tempo, it rose up in the pop charts and became one of the bestselling jazz recording ever released, and that it took Dave Brubeck several years to build the line-up of his quartet that recorded the album Time Out. An interesting story about D ave Brubeck’s quartet is that when the quartet added African-American bassist Eugene Wright and were touring universities in the southern states of America, the president of a college the quartet visited was concerned because the students were getting wild and loud and asked Dave Brubeck to place Eugene Wright in the back of the stage to avoid being noticed. However, during the second tune, Dave Brubeck asked Eugene Wright to come play his solo in front of the stage, and Eugene Wright performed in front of the whole audience, unaware before heading to the front of the stage that Dave Brubeck was plotting this move. Charles Mingus’ Ah Um album is known as a grand jazz musical statement that was incredible and influential around America. Charles Mingus, a bass player and composer, believed that time was alive at the same moment and wanted freedom in playing, writing, and encouraging his musicians to improvise in any musical style, and did not view jazz as a development of new styles as the years passed by. The style of Ah Um is post-bop, where it incorporates a variety of styles such as modal jazz, avant-garde, free jazz, and hard bop all together. Several tracks in the Ah Um album include â€Å"Better Git It In Your Soul,† which is known as the incredible opening track of the Ah Um album and Self Portrait In Three Colors,† which is known as a composed, multi-faceted composition without any solos. While Charles Mingus was known to be a temperamental, aggressive, and demanding musician and composer, he was an extraordinary player and improviser, and used music to express emotio ns and feelings, such as passion, tenderness, spirituality, and much more. Ah Um is so important when it comes to American jazz history because it expressed socioracial struggles and other political beliefs that served as an influential message against racism in America, which helped create an atmosphere which led people to respect a person beyond the distinctions of color. Three interesting facts about Ah Um is that it was one of four albums Charles Mingus had made that year, Charles Mingus allowed for the other musicians to incorporated different musical elements during improvisation in a colorful and provocative way, and it featured the track â€Å"Fables of Faubus,† which was based on an event in 1957 in which Arkansas Governor Faubus ordered the National Guard to prevent African-American teenagers from entering Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, and did not want to allow integration, despite a court case being settled on in the Supreme Court. An interesting st ory about Charles Mingus and the group is that one night in a little club on West 4th Street in New York City, Charles Mingus got furious in an argument with the pianist and yelled â€Å"You’re not playing yourself, you’re playing notes,† and put his arm inside the piano and grabbed the strings and pulled them out with one fist. Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come is known as a spectacular and bold musical statement unlike any jazz album every recorded before. One of The Shape of Jazz to Come’s tracks, Lonely Woman, is considered one of the greatest jazz compositions every written, which blended and brought Ornette Coleman and the quartet together as one. The Shape of Jazz to Come album exemplifies a free-jazz, a classification of the avant-garde style, where the music contains improvised solos which are free of preset chord progressions, and sometimes also free of preset meter. Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come is so important when it comes to American jazz history is was influential in such that the way that people looked at jazz and interpreted the style and sound of jazz music changed. Three interesting facts about The Shape of Jazz to Come is that Ornette Coleman used his signature plastic saxophone when the quartet recorded the album, the quartet did not feature a chordal instrument such as a piano or guitar while recording the album, and it featured Ornette Coleman’s â€Å"harmolodic† philosophy, where the group simultaneously improvises around the melodic and rhythmic pattern in a tune, rather than one musician improvising on a underlying harmonic pattern while the other musicians play the accompaniment. An interesting story about Ornette Coleman is that he had trouble finding any musician who was interested in his unorthodox musical technique, and one day he entered a club by MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, and following that night, bassist Charlie Haden tracked Ornette Coleman down, which eventually led to the creation of the quartet that recorded The Shape of Jazz to Come. In conclusion, the year 1959 was a monumental year for jazz. The influential music played by some greatest jazz musicians in America reached all corners of the country and many parts of the global world. Each of the jazz musicians prominently helped shape the American society in many ways: the political statements made through Charles Mingus’ playing, the demand for respect by Miles Davis, the tour by Dave Brubeck as part a program of cultural dà ©tente to spread the word of American freedom in countries around of Soviet Russia such as Poland, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, and Iraq and how jazz serves as a voice of freedom despite how the chains of segregation had divided the American society, and how Ornette Coleman’s playing changed how people viewed and interpreted jazz, despite the paranoia in the nuclear age. Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue helped open up the horizon for jazz expression, Dave Brubeck’s Time Out was the acme for jazz innovatio n, Charles Mingus’s Ah Um spread his emotions about life and spread a message to always be yourself, and Ornette Coleman’s The Shape of Jazz to Come served as the foundation for new forms of jazz music and defied the status quo.

Developing a Interview Process from a Human Resource Perspective Essay

Developing a Interview Process from a Human Resource Perspective - Essay Example Planning helps in the learning of information of each candidate and at the same time avoids legal and pitfalls in the process. This assignment develops an interview and selection process for an entry level management position in the organization. It begins with making a job analysis for the position, creation of the interview outline, selecting the right candidates, which is followed by taking account of the legal restrictions in the process. Developing an Interview Process from a Human Resource Perspective Defining the job of a Human Resource Manager The overall job analysis of a Human Resource Manager includes conducting the conventional HR functions such as employee relations, administration of compensation and benefits in the organization, employment policies, personnel record keeping, safety issues of team members, training and development and finally ensuring compliance with the human resource laws and regulation (Columbia Association, 2006, p.1). Some other job responsibilitie s include professional work advising towards team leaders in the organization and team members with regards to the application of laws regarding workers compensation, employment and benefits and various employment policies applied in such aspects as discipline, hiring, termination of employees, training and development, benefits and compensation, leaves, equal opportunity etc. Desired profile of the ideal applicant The desired profile of the candidate includes; MBA degree from a reputed B-School with major in human resource management, Two to three years of experience in the HR discipline which includes employment policies, benefits, compensation, training and development, compensation, employee relations and conflict resolution, Excellent oral and written communication, Prior experience of working in a diverse workforce background and; Prior experience of working in a profit making organization (Columbia Association, 2006, p.3). Creating interview outline The process of filling up the vacant managerial position must begin with a team meeting where members from individual units and job categories must be participate. This committee must collectively decide on the desired profile of the candidates and this selection must be made against objective criteria and be job related. The actual mode of selection must also be settled at this stage. Generally a written exam followed by a technical round of interview and HRM interview is done. However, since in this case candidates reviewed have prior experience of two to three years in the relevant field, the written exam is not required. The candidate can be accessed through the technical round and HR interview round (AG Centre, 2005, p.1). Based on the ideal desired profile of the applicant the interview questions must also be settled. It is recommended that questions are objective and related to the job. Questions can also include both sets of open and close ended questions for making thorough analysis of the candidate ’s suitability for the position. The interview outline can provide a list of possible questions that can be asked to the candidates (AG Centre,