Analysis of an Historian's Arguement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analysis of an Historian's Arguement - Essay Example The Rabbinites based a legal and religious system on the Talmud, which is a practice that continues to the modern day. It is the socio-cultural and political relationship between these two sects that Marina Rustow surveys in her in her historical work Heresy and the Politics of Community1. Her scholarship about marriage in particular shows that arranged-type marriages demonstrate a series of strategic maneuvers to accomplish the goals of families, regardless of religious affiliations. In many ways, and through many primary sources, Rustow shows the Jewish marriage practice at the time to be very much a business-like decision, with rights, legal proxies, and contracts2. Rustow’s extensive details of the marriages between members of the two communities demonstrates broad yet through historical scholarship, and will leave a lasting impact on how the historians view the relationship between the Rabbinites and Qaraites. Rustow’s conclusions give us reason to change our perception of the Rabbinites and Qaraites as socially competing or mutually exclusive. Marriage, a cohesive factor bringing people legally and spiritually together, seemed to soften the boundaries between â€Å"Rabbanite† and â€Å"Qaraite† such that the two categories were neither absolute nor mutually exclusive. She gives the example of Yosef who became a Rabbanite, to, as she says, â€Å"in order to facilitate his transition to the Jewish community in Fustat†3. This anecdote suggests that the lines between Qaraite, which is the community Yosef had grown up a part of, and Rabbanite, the community that he ultimately joins to transition into the Jewish community, were not as starkly opposed as is traditionally thought. In fact, it may be said that instead of treating each other as theological and political enemies, the two groups depended on each other financially and socially for support. In the chapter o n marriages, Rustow makes this clear by investigating and commenting on the extent to which

Lieducation in preliterate societies Essay Example for Free

Lieducation in preliterate societies Essay Education, History of, theories, methods, and administration of schools and other agencies of information from ancient times to the present. Education developed from the human struggle for survival and enlightenment. It may be formal or informal. Informal education refers to the general social process by which human beings acquire the knowledge and skills needed to function in their culture. Formal education refers to the process by which teachers instruct students in courses of study within institutions. Before the invention of reading and writing, people lived in an environment in which they struggled to survive against natural forces, animals, and other humans. To survive, preliterate people developed skills that grew into cultural and educational patterns. For a particular group’s culture to continue into the future, people had to transmit it, or pass it on, from adults to children. The earliest educational processes involved sharing information about gathering food and providing shelter; making weapons and other tools; learning language; and acquiring the values, behavior, and religious rites or practices of a given culture. Through direct, informal education, parents, elders, and priests taught children the skills and roles they would need as adults. These lessons eventually formed the moral codes that governed behavior. Since they lived before the invention of writing, preliterate people used an oral tradition, or story telling, to pass on their culture and history from one generation to the next. By using language, people learned to create and use symbols, words, or signs to express their ideas. When these symbols grew into pictographs and letters, human beings created a written language and made the great cultural leap to literacy. IIIEDUCATION IN ANCIENT AFRICA AND ASIA In ancient Egypt, which flourished from about 3000 BC to about 500 BC, priests in temple schools taught not only religion but also the principles of writing, the sciences, mathematics, and architecture. Similarly in India, priests conducted most of the formal education. Beginning in about 1200 BC Indian priests taught the principles of the Veda, the sacred texts of Hinduism, as well as science, grammar, and philosophy. Formal education in China dates to about 2000 BC, though it thrived particularly during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, from 770 to 256 BC (see China: The Eastern Zhou). The curriculum stressed philosophy, poetry, and religion, in accord with the teachings of Confucius, Laozi (Lao-tzu), and other philosophers. IVEDUCATION IN ANCIENT GREECE Historians have looked to ancient Greece as one of the origins of Western formal education. The Iliad and the Odyssey, epic poems attributed to Homer and written sometime in the 8th century BC, created a cultural tradition that gave the Greeks a sense of group identity. In their dramatic account of Greek struggles, Homer’s epics served important educational purposes. The legendary Greek warriors depicted in Homer’s work, such as Agamemnon, Odysseus, and Achilles, were heroes who served as models for the young Greeks. Ancient Greece was divided into small and often competing city-states, or poleis, such as Athens, Sparta, and Thebes. Athens emphasized a humane and democratic society and education, but only about one-third of the people in Athens were free citizens. Slaves and residents from other countries or city-states made up the rest of the population. Only the sons of free citizens attended school. The Athenians believed a free man should have a liberal education in order to perform his civic duties and for his own personal development. The education of women depended upon the customs of the particular Greek city-state. In Athens, where women had no legal or economic rights, most women did not attend school. Some girls, however, were educated at home by tutors. Slaves and other noncitizens had either no formal education or very little. Sparta, the chief political enemy of Athens, was a dictatorship that used education for military training and drill. In contrast to Athens, Spartan girls received more schooling but it was almost exclusively athletic training to prepare them to be healthy mothers of future Spartan soldiers. In the 400s BC, the Sophists, a group of wandering teachers, began to teach in Athens. The Sophists claimed that they could teach any subject or skill to anyone who wished to learn it. They specialized in teaching grammar, logic, and rhetoric, subjects that eventually formed the core of the liberal arts. The Sophists were more interested in preparing their students to argue persuasively and win  arguments than in teaching principles of truth and morality. Unlike the Sophists, the Greek philosopher Socrates sought to discover and teach universal principles of truth, beauty, and goodness. Socrates, who died in 399 BC, claimed that true knowledge existed within everyone and needed to be brought to consciousness. His educational method, called the Socratic method, consisted of asking probing questions that forced his students to think deeply about the meaning of life, truth, and justice. In 387 BC Plato, who had studied under Socrates, established a school in Athens called the Academy. Plato believed in an unchanging world of perfect ideas or universal concepts. He asserted that since true knowledge is the same in every place at every time, education, like truth, should be unchanging. Plato described his educational ideal in the Republic, one of the most notable works of Western philosophy. Plato’s Republic describes a model society, or republic, ruled by highly intelligent philosopher-kings. Warriors make up the republic’s second class of people. The lowest class, the workers, provide food and the other products for all the people of the republic. In Plato’s ideal educational system, each class would receive a different kind of instruction to prepare for their various roles in society. In 335 BC Plato’s student, Aristotle, founded his own school in Athens called the Lyceum. Believing that human beings are essentially rational, Aristotle thought people could discover natural laws that governed the universe and then follow these laws in their lives. He also concluded that educated people who used reason to make decisions would lead a life of moderation in which they avoided dangerous extremes. In the 4th century BC Greek orator Isocrates developed a method of education designed to prepare students to be competent orators who could serve as government officials. Isocrates’s students studied rhetoric, politics, ethics, and history. They examined model orations and practiced public speaking. Isocrates’s methods of education directly influenced such Roman educational theorists as Cicero and Quintilian. VEDUCATION IN ANCIENT ROME While the Greeks were developing their civilization in the areas surrounding the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Romans were gaining control of the Italian peninsula and areas of the western Mediterranean. The Greeks’ education focused on the study of philosophy. The Romans, on the other hand, were preoccupied with war, conquest, politics, and civil administration. As in Greece, only a minority of Romans attended school. Schooling was for those who had the money to pay tuition and the time to attend classes. While girls from wealthy families occasionally learned to read and write at home, boys attended a primary school, called aludus. In secondary schools boys studied Latin and Greek grammar taught by Greek slaves, called pedagogues. After primary and secondary school, wealthy young men often attended schools of rhetoric or oratory that prepared them to be leaders in government and administration. Cicero, a 1st century BC Roman senator, combined Greek and Roman ideas on how to educate orators in his book De Oratore. Like Isocrates, Cicero believed orators should be educated in liberal arts subjects such as grammar, rhetoric, logic, mathematics, and astronomy. He also asserted that they should study ethics, military science, natural science, geography, history, and law. Quintilian, an influential Roman educator who lived in the 1st century AD, wrote that education should be based on the stages of individual development from childhood to adulthood. Quintilian devised specific lessons for each stage. He also advised teachers to make their lessons suited to the student’s readiness and ability to learn new material. He urged teachers to motivate students by making learning interesting and attractive. VIANCIENT JEWISH EDUCATION Education among the Jewish people also had a profound influence on Western learning. The ancient Jews had great respect for the printed word and believed that God revealed truth to them in the Bible. Most information on ancient Jewish goals and methods of education comes from the Bible and the Talmud, a book of religious and civil law. Jewish religious leaders, known as rabbis, advised parents to teach their children religious beliefs, law, ethical practices, and vocational skills. Both boys and girls were introduced to religion by studying the Torah, the most sacred document of Judaism. Rabbis taught in schools within synagogues, places of worship and religious study. VIIMEDIEVAL EDUCATION During the Middle Ages, or the medieval period, which lasted roughly from the 5th to the 15th century, Western society and education were heavily shaped by Christianity, particularly the Roman Catholic Church. The Church operated parish, chapel, and monastery schools at the elementary level. Schools in monasteries and cathedrals offered secondary education. Much of the teaching in these schools was directed at learning Latin, the old Roman language used by the church in its ceremonies and teachings. The church provided some limited opportunities for the education of women in religious communities or convents. Convents had libraries and schools to help prepare nuns to follow the religious rules of their communities. Merchant and craft guilds also maintained some schools that provided basic education and training in specific crafts. Knights received training in military tactics and the code of chivalry. As in the Greek and Roman eras, only a minority of people went to school during the medieval period. Schools were attended primarily by persons planning to enter religious life such as priests, monks, or nuns. The vast majority of people were serfs who served as agricultural workers on the estates of feudal lords. The serfs, who did not attend school, were generally illiterate (see Serfdom). In the 10th and early 11th centuries, Arabic learning had a pronounced influence on Western education. From contact with Arab scholars in North Africa and Spain, Western educators learned new ways of thinking about mathematics, natural science, medicine, and philosophy. The Arabic number system was especially important, and became the foundation of Western arithmetic. Arab scholars also preserved and translated into Arabic the works of such influential Greek scholars as Aristotle, Euclid, Galen, and Ptolemy. Because many of these works had disappeared from Europe by the Middle Ages, they might have been lost forever if Arab scholars such as Avicenna and Averroes had not preserved them. In the 11th century medieval scholars developed Scholasticism, a philosophical and educational movement that used both human reason and revelations from the Bible. Upon encountering the works of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers from Arab scholars, the Scholastics attempted to reconcile Christian theology with Greek philosophy. Scholasticism reached its high point in the Summa Theologiae of Saint Thomas Aquinas, a 13th century Dominican theologian who taught at the University of Paris. Aquinas reconciled the authority of religious faith, represented by the Scriptures, with Greek reason, represented by Aristotle. Aquinas described the teacher’s vocation as one that combines faith, love, and learning. The work of Aquinas and other Scholastics took place in the medieval institutions of higher education, the universities. The famous European universities of Paris, Salerno, Bologna, Oxford, Cambridge, and Padua grew out of the Scholastics-led intellectual revival of the 12th and 13th centuries. The name university comes from the Latin word universitas, or associations, in reference to the associations that students and teachers organized to discuss academic issues. Medieval universities offered degrees in the liberal arts and in professional studies such as theology, law, and medicine. VIIIEDUCATION DURING THE RENAISSANCE The Renaissance, or rebirth of learning, began in Europe in the 14th century and reached its height in the 15th century. Scholars became more interested in the humanist features—that is, the secular or worldly rather than the religious aspects—of the Greek and Latin classics. Humanist educators found their models of literary style in the classics. The Renaissance was a particularly powerful force in Italy, most notably in art, literature, and architecture. In literature, the works of such Italian writers as Dante Aleghieri, Petrarch, and Giovanni Boccaccio became especially important. Humanist educators designed teaching methods to prepare well-rounded, liberally educated persons. Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus was particularly influential. Erasmus believed that understanding and conversing about the meaning of literature was more important than memorizing it, as had been required at many of the medieval religious schools. He advised teachers to study such fields as archaeology, astronomy, mythology, history, and Scripture. The invention of the printing press in the mid-15th century made books more widely available and increased literacy rates (see Printing). But school attendance did not increase greatly during the Renaissance. Elementary schools educated middle-class children while lower-class children received little, if any, formal schooling. Children of the nobility and upper classes attended humanist secondary schools. Educational opportunities for women improved slightly during the Renaissance, especially for the upper classes. Some girls from wealthy families attended schools of the royal court or received private lessons at home. The curriculum studied by young women was still based on the belief that only certain subjects, such as art, music, needlework, dancing, and poetry, were suited for females. For working-class girls, especially rural peasants, education was still limited to training in household duties such as cooking and sewing. IXEDUCATION DURING THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION The religious Reformation of the 16th century marked a decline in the authority of the Catholic Church and contributed to the emergence of the middle classes in Europe. Protestant religious reformers, such as John Calvin, Martin Luther, and Huldreich Zwingli, rejected the authority of the Catholic pope and created reformed Christian, or Protestant, churches. In their ardent determination to instruct followers to read the Bible in their native language, reformers extended literacy to the masses. They established vernacular primary schools that offered a basic curriculum of reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion for children in their own language. Vernacular schools in England, for example, used English to teach their pupils. As they argued with each other and with the Roman Catholics on religious matters, Protestant educators wrote catechisms—primary books that summarized their religious doctrine—in a question and answer format. While the vernacular schools educated both boys and girls at the primary level, upper-class boys attended preparatory and secondary schools that continued to emphasize Latin and Greek. The gymnasium in Germany, the Latin grammar school in England, and the lycee in France were preparatory schools that taught young men the classical languages of Latin and Greek required to enter universities. Martin Luther believed the state, family, and school, along with the church, were leaders of the Reformation. Since the family shaped children’s character, Luther encouraged parents to teach their children reading and religion. Each family should pray together, read the Bible, study the catechism, and practice a useful trade. Luther believed that government should assist schools in educating literate, productive, and religious citizens. One of Luther’s colleagues, German religious reformer Melanchthon, wrote the school code for the German region of Wurttemberg, which became a model for other regions of Germany and influenced education throughout Europe. According to this code, the government was responsible for supervising schools and licensing teachers. The Protestant reformers retained the dual-class school system that had developed in the Renaissance. Vernacular schools provided primary instruction for the lower classes, and the various classical humanist and Latin grammar schools prepared upper-class males for higher education. XEDUCATIONAL THEORY IN THE 17TH CENTURY Educators of the 17th century developed new ways of thinking about education. Czech education reformer Jan Komensky, known as Comenius, was particularly influential. A bishop of the Moravian Church, Comenius escaped religious persecution by taking refuge in Poland, Hungary, Sweden, and The Netherlands. He created a new educational philosophy called Pansophism, or universal knowledge, designed to bring about worldwide understanding and peace. Comenius advised teachers to use children’s senses rather than memorization in instruction. To make learning interesting for children, he wrote The Gate of Tongues Unlocked (1631), a book for teaching Latin in the student’s own language. He also wrote Orbis Sensualium Pictus (1658; The Visible World in Pictures, 1659) consisting of illustrations that labeled objects in both their Latin and vernacular names. It was one of the first illustrated books written especially for children. The work of English philosopher John Locke influenced education in Britain and North America. Locke examined how people acquire ideas in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690). He asserted that at birth the human mind is a blank slate, or tabula rasa, and empty of ideas. We acquire knowledge, he argued, from the information about the objects in the world that our senses bring to us. We begin with simple ideas and then combine them into more complex ones. Locke believed that individuals acquire knowledge most easily when they first consider simple ideas and then gradually combine them into more complex ones. In Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1697), Locke recommended practical learning to prepare people to manage their social, economic, and political affairs efficiently. He believed that a sound education began in early childhood and insisted that the teaching of reading, writing, and arithmetic be gradual and cumulative. Locke’s curriculum included conversational learning of foreign languages, especially French, mathematics, history, physical education, and games. XIEDUCATION DURING THE ENLIGHTENMENT The Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century produced important changes in education and educational theory. During the Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason, educators believed people could improve their lives and society by using their reason, their powers of critical thinking. The Enlightenment’s ideas had a significant impact on the American Revolution (1775-1783) and early educational policy in the United States. In particular, American philosopher and scientist Benjamin Franklin emphasized the value of utilitarian and scientific education in American schools. Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, stressed the importance of civic education to the citizens of a democratic nation. The Enlightenment principles that considered education as an instrument of social reform and improvement remain fundamental characteristics of American education policy. XIIEDUCATION IN THE 19TH CENTURY The foundations of modern education were established in the 19th century. Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, inspired by the work of French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau, developed an educational method based on the natural world and the senses. Pestalozzi established schools in Switzerland and Germany to educate children and train teachers. He affirmed that schools should resemble secure and loving homes. Like Locke and Rousseau, Pestalozzi believed that thought began with sensation and that teaching should use the senses. Holding that children should study the objects in their natural environment, Pestalozzi developed a so-called â€Å"object lesson† that involved exercises in learning form, number, and language. Pupils determined and traced an object’s form, counted objects, and named them. Students progressed from these lessons to exercises in drawing, writing, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, and reading. Pestalozzi employed the following principles in teaching: (1) begin with the concrete object before introducing abstract concepts; (2) begin with the immediate environment before dealing with what is distant and remote; (3) begin with easy exercises before introducing complex ones; and (4) always proceed gradually, cumulatively, and slowly. American educator Henry Barnard, the first U. S. Commissioner of Education, introduced Pestalozzi’s ideas to the United States in the late 19th century. Barnard also worked for the establishment of free public high schools for students of all classes of American society. German philosopher Johann Herbart emphasized moral education and designed a highly structured teaching technique. Maintaining that education’s primary goal is moral development, Herbart claimed good character rested on knowledge while misconduct resulted from an inadequate education. Knowledge, he said, should create an â€Å"apperceptive mass†Ã¢â‚¬â€a network of ideas—in a person’s mind to which new ideas can be added. He wanted to include history, geography, and literature in the school curriculum as well as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Based on his work, Herbart’s followers designed a five-step teaching method: (1) prepare the pupils to be ready for the new lesson, (2) present the new lesson, (3) associate the new lesson with ideas studied earlier, (4) use examples to illustrate the lesson’s major points, and (5) test pupils to ensure they had learned the new lesson. AKindergarten German educator Friedrich Froebel created the earliest kindergarten, a form of preschool education that literally means â€Å"child’s garden† in German. Froebel, who had an unhappy childhood, urged teachers to think back to their own childhoods to find insights they could use in their teaching. Froebel studied at Pestalozzi’s institute in Yverdon, Switzerland, from 1808 to 1810. While agreeing with Pestalozzi’s emphasis on the natural world, a kindly school atmosphere, and the object lesson, Froebel felt that Pestalozzi’s method was not philosophical enough. Froebel believed that every child’s inner self contained a spiritual essence—a spark of divine energy—that enabled a child to learn independently. In 1837 Froebel opened a kindergarten in Blankenburg with a curriculum that featured songs, stories, games, gifts, and occupations. The songs and stories stimulated the imaginations of children and introduced them to folk heroes and cultural values. Games developed children’s social and physical skills. By playing with each other, children learned to participate in a group. Froebel’s gifts, including such objects as spheres, cubes, and cylinders, were designed to enable the child to understand the concept that the object represented. Occupations consisted of materials children could use in building activities. For example, clay, sand, cardboard, and sticks could be used to build castles, cities, and mountains. Immigrants from Germany brought the kindergarten concept to the United States, where it became part of the American school system. Margarethe Meyer Schurz opened a German-language kindergarten in Watertown, Wisconsin, in 1855. Elizabeth Peabody established an English-language kindergarten and a training school for kindergarten teachers in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1860. William Torrey Harris, superintendent of schools in St. Louis, Missouri, and later a U. S. commissioner of education, made the kindergarten part of the American public school system. BSocial Darwinism British sociologist Herbert Spencer strongly influenced education in the mid-19th century with social theories based on the theory of evolution developed by British naturalist Charles Darwin. Spencer revised Darwin’s biological theory into social Darwinism, a body of ideas that applied the theory of evolution to society, politics, the economy, and education. Spencer maintained that in modern industrialized societies, as in earlier simpler societies, the â€Å"fittest† individuals of each generation survived because they were intelligent and adaptable. Competition caused the brightest and strongest individuals to climb to the top of the society. Urging unlimited competition, Spencer wanted government to restrict its activities to the bare minimum. He opposed public schools, claiming that they would create a monopoly for mediocrity by catering to students of low ability. He wanted private schools to compete against each other in trying to attract the brightest students and most capable teachers. Spencer’s social Darwinism became very popular in the last half of the 19th century when industrialization was changing American and Western European societies. Spencer believed that people in industrialized society needed scientific rather than classical education. Emphasizing education in practical skills, he advocated a curriculum featuring lessons in five basic human activities: (1) those needed for self-preservation such as health, diet, and exercise; (2) those needed to perform one’s occupation so that a person can earn a living, including the basic skills of reading, writing, computation, and knowledge of the sciences; (3) those needed for parenting, to raise children properly; (4) those needed to participate in society and politics; and (5) those needed for leisure and recreation. Spencer’s ideas on education were eagerly accepted in the United States. In 1918 the Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education, a report issued by the National Education Association, used Spencer’s list of activities in its recommendations for American education. XIIINATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION In the 19th century, governments in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and other European countries organized national systems of public education. The United States, Canada, Argentina, Uruguay, and other countries in North and South America also established national education systems based largely on European models. AIn the United Kingdom. The Church of England and other churches often operated primary schools in the United Kingdom, where students paid a small fee to study the Bible, catechism, reading, writing, and arithmetic. In 1833 the British Parliament passed a law that gave some government funds to these schools. In 1862 the United Kingdom established a school grant system, called payment by results, in which schools received funds based on their students’ performance on reading, writing, and arithmetic tests. The Education Act of 1870, called the Forster Act, authorized local government boards to establish public board schools. The United Kingdom then had two schools systems: board schools operated by the government and voluntary schools conducted by the churches and other private organizations. In 1878 the United Kingdom passed laws that limited child labor in factories and made it possible for more children to attend school. To make schooling available to working-class children, many schools with limited public and private funds used monitorial methods of instruction. Monitorial education, developed by British educators Joseph Lancaster and Andrew Bell, used student monitors to conduct lessons. It offered the fledgling public education system the advantage of allowing schools to hire fewer teachers to instruct the large number of new students. Schools featuring monitorial education used older boys, called monitors, who were more advanced in their studies, to teach younger children. Monitorial education concentrated on basic skills—reading, writing, and arithmetic—that were broken down into small parts or units. After a monitor had learned a unit—such as spelling words of two or three letters that began with the letter A—he would, under the master teacher’s supervision, teach this unit to a group of students. By the end of the 19th century, the monitorial system was abandoned in British schools because it provided a very limited education. BIn Russia Russian tsar Alexander II initiated education reforms leading to the Education Statute of 1864. This law created zemstvos, local government units, which operated primary schools. In addition to zemstvo schools, the Russian Orthodox Church conducted parish schools. While the number of children attending school slowly increased, most of Russia’s population remained illiterate. Peasants often refused to send their children to school so that they could work on the farms. More boys attended school than girls since many peasant parents considered female education unnecessary. Fearing that too much education would make people discontented with their lives, the tsar’s government provided only limited schooling to instill political loyalty and religious piety. CIn the United States Before the 19th century elementary and secondary education in the United States was organized on a local or regional level. Nearly all schools operated on private funds exclusively. However, beginning in the 1830s and 1840s, American educators such as Henry Barnard and Horace Mann argued for the creation of a school system operated by individual states that would provide an equal education for all American children. In 1852 Massachusetts passed the first laws calling for free public education, and by 1918 all U. S. states had passed compulsory school attendance laws. See Public Education in the United States. XIVEDUCATION IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY At the beginning of the 20th century, the writings of Swedish feminist and educator Ellen Key influenced education around the world. Key’s book Barnets arhundrade (1900; The Century of the Child,1909) was translated into many languages and inspired so-called progressive educators in various countries. Progressive education was a system of teaching that emphasized the needs and potentials of the child, rather than the needs of society or the principles of religion. Among the influential progressive educators were Hermann Lietz and Georg Michael Kerschensteiner of Germany, Bertrand Russell of England, and Maria Montessori of Italy. AMontessori Montessori’s methods of early childhood education have become internationally popular. Trained in medicine, Montessori worked with developmentally disabled children early in her career. The results of her work were so effective that she believed her teaching methods could be used to educate all children. In 1907 Montessori established a children’s school, the Casa dei Bambini (Children’s House), for poor children from the San Lorenzo district of Rome. Here she developed a specially prepared environment that featured materials and activities based on her observations of children. She found that children enjoy mastering specific skills, prefer work to play, and can sustain concentration. She also believed that children have a power to learn independently if provided a properly stimulating environment. Montessori’s curriculum emphasized three major classes of activity: (1) practical, (2) sensory, and (3) formal skills and studies. It introduced children to such practical activities as setting the table, serving a meal, washing dishes, tying and buttoning clothing, and practicing basic social manners. Repetitive exercises developed sensory and muscular coordination. Formal skills and subjects included reading, writing, and arithmetic. Montessori designed special teaching materials to develop these skills, including laces, buttons, weights, and materials identifiable by their sound or smell. Instructors provided the materials for the children and demonstrated the lessons but allowed each child to independently learn the particular skill or behavior. In 1913 Montessori lectured in the United States on her educational method.

The definition, history and importance of environmental auditing

The definition, history and importance of environmental auditing Introduction Environmental auditing is defined by the international chamber of commerce as the systematic examination of the interactions between any business operation and its surroundings. This includes all emissions to air, land, and water; legal constraints; the effects on the neighbouring community, landscape and ecology; and the publics perception of the operating company in the local area. An environmental audit does not stop at compliance with legislation. Nor is it a green-washing public relations exercise. Rather it is a total strategic approach to the organisations activities (International chamber of commerce, 1991). All businesses use resources and produce waste; as such they have an effect be it direct or indirect on the environment. Thus, environmental auditing is in place to monitor and regulate an organisations impact on the environment. This element of corporate social responsibility has attracted the most attention in recent years (Clarke, 1998) and this is a reflection of the growing importance society place on environmental issues. This essay will introduce environmental auditing in further detail before moving on to discuss the key trends and the key stages which took place in the development of external auditing. Furthermore, Tesco and Shell will be used to highlight how environmental auditing has affected these organisations strategies and business models before finally drawing conclusions as to the future of the issue. Before discussing the development of environmental auditing since the 1970s, it is first important to clarify what is meant by environmental auditing. The term auditing is one which is used far more widely than just the verification of accounts, and therefore it is important to determine what is meant by auditing in the specific case of environmental auditing (Gray, 2000). An environmental audit report will identify the forms and classes of waste produced by an organisation. This may be completed privately by an external auditor, or may be the result of pressure from activist groups in which such an audit is demanded. Either way, often the result is a self reporting by the organisation detailing their waste disposal and future goals regarding environmental issues. The objectives of this report are focused on trace the development of environment auditing over last several years. In chapter two, I will analyze the history of environmental auditing, changes, trends and developments. And then chapter three and chapter four will move on to discuss how environmental auditing has affected the practices of two large multinationals: Shell and Tesco. The case studies will cover the adoption process of environmental auditing, how companies have had to change their practices to meet changes in legislation over time, and, a review of any action which has been taken against companies, due to the neglect of environmental practices. Finally, chapter five will synthesise the ideas of this paper to draw conclusions as to the likely direction environmental auditing will take in the future. CHAPTER TWO The history of environmental auditing, changes, trends and developments This essay will now discuss the history of environmental auditing since the 1970s. This period of time has been covered because it contains some of the most prominent events that have been fundamental in the determination of more current trends that can be observed within the last ten years. Although environmental auditing is not a recent phenomenon, and is one which can be traced back to the beginning of the twentieth century, it was in the 1970s in which the situation gained prominence (Owen, 2003 p.6) when the clean air act was first legislated. The clean air act can be seen as the birth of environmental awareness, in which the US government took action to reduce air pollution in order to enhance air quality. Businesses in the US were made to comply with the legislation, and this could often involve the implementation of costly preventative measures in order to reduce pollution, especially for those organisations involved in high waste sectors (Hess, 2000). This legislation reflec ted a growing concern throughout developed nations in the 1970s regarding environmental quality, which was seen at the time as a pressing political concern. Earth day, a momentous event in 1970 acted as a national catharsis in which society pushed for change regarding environmental issues. Great pressure was put on manufacturing industries and, increasing media attention was given to those firms which were seen to be having a detrimental effect on the environment (Environmental protection agency, 2010). The clean air act of 1970 was followed by the clean water act in 1972. The development of acts relating to environmental issues was slowly picking up pace which was causing increasing concern to firms, which were largely the only opposition to such acts. Perhaps the most salient development in this period was the event which saw Allied Chemical indicted on account of 1094 pollution violations and forced to set up a system which monitored environmental risk (Groves and Pearce, 2005). The move to punish companies for bad environmental practice was a key development in environmental auditing and saw the beginning of a series of fines for those companies failing to comply with safe environmental practices. This is something which has become commonplace over the last ten years with a trend of increasing stringency regarding the governmental measurement of a firms environmental impact and, the appropriate measures of control. During the 1980s there was an increasing awareness of environmental issues politically, which led to the organisation of a professional auditing team to discuss environmental auditing in 1981. This was the first time in which environmental auditing had been discussed by an accountancy team, and by 1983, firms were already beginning to implement environmental audits. By 1986 the EPA had published an official policy report regarding environmental auditing; this could be seen as a call out to all other firms to follow safe environmental practices. The particular focus on this initial report being, that environmental auditing would help health and safety around the workplace. Meanwhile, in academic literature, the concept of environmental auditing was beginning to receive attention. This led to an increase in academic awareness of the subject which resulted in the conceptualisation and clarification of the topic (Cahill and Kane, 1984). During the last decade, there has been an increasin g amount of publications surrounding the topic of environmental auditing, and this has led to a greater understanding of what it constitutes. Furthermore, there have been an increasing number of regulatory bodies ensuring that strict regulations are in place and that firms activities are closely monitored (Porter Linde, 1999). It can also be noted that, since this period, where accountants were first consulted on the matter, there has been a recent trend within the last ten years whereby more and more intangible activities have been allocated quantifiable tangible costs, such that firms can be taxed and charged (Bovenberg Mooji, 1997). It is noted that throughout history, environmental auditing has been driven by catastrophic events that have caused significant environmental damage. It has been events such as these that have created pressure, which has been put on companies such as Shell, to implement preventative measures rather than measures which are responsive. The Union Carbide incident in India in 1984 caused many companies to sit up and pay attention to environmental concerns. The pesticide factory had failed to take appropriate actions to safeguard the disposal of waste gas and, during an evening in 1984, 3400 people were killed and 50,000 were made invalid due to a poisonous gas leak. The report that followed the incident highlighted how the company had known there were problems with the pipe and that this could cause such an event, however, the company had chosen to ignore it as a way of cutting (short term) costs (Long, 2008). Other major events during the 1980s included the Exon Valdez oil spill (Maki, 1991) and the Chernobyl nuclear leak. During the last ten years there has been a notable reduction in the amount of environmental disasters caused by neglect or incompetence on the part of firms. This is due to the influence of modern day environmental auditing which has caused companies to direct their focus towards tighter preventative measures rather than face potentially substantial costs. The 1990s saw the development of legislation regarding environmental concerns. Furthermore, companies began to introduce more sophisticated environmental auditing systems (Siniscalco et al, 2000). In the last decade, there has been a remarkable growth in the number of companies that report on various aspects of both their environmental and social policy (Owen, 2003). Such a rise in environmental auditing has continued consistently and remains to do so. Presently there has been a growth in the amount of companies focused on environmental auditing. Furthermore, in the last ten years there has been a rise in the amount of self auditing which is occurring within companies. The EPA has introduced a scheme in which companies can audit their own practices. This involves, the company in question, being able to report problems and even criminal violations without punishment, the caveat being that such problems are fixed. This therefore reflects a development from environmental auditing being viewed as merely the checklist of the 1980s and 1990s to one which is more focused on managerial processes (Hiemstra, 2007). CHAPTER THREE Shell and environmental auditing The Shell Oil Corporation is no stranger to environmental fines. Most recently, the company were forced to pay $19.5million in environmental fines due to violations at gas stations in the state of California (ABC news, 2009). The company have a long history of environmental fines, and, most noticeable is the $1.5 billion dollars the company had to pay due to oil spills in Nigeria (Baker, 2006). Increasingly stringent legislation has caused the firm to face up to their actions, with negative effects on the companys bottom line profits. No longer can the company get away with negative environmental actions and both governments and regulatory bodies will continue to punish the corporation until preventative measures are taken. Thus, it could be argued that the development of environmental auditing has had a negative effect on the firm. In response to such changes in environmental auditing, the company are taking increasing preventative measures in order to avoid the burden of large fine s, and, to promote a greener image to clients. This is reflected through the companys website in which a section highlights their commitment to the environment (Shell, 2010). Over the last ten years Shell have put an increasing amount of public prevention plans into place, thus highlighting how the company have responded to changes in environmental auditing by taking preventative rather than responsive measures. However, despite greater reporting of their environmental practices, the company have come under scrutiny regarding their independent environmental audits. In 2008, the company were accused of manipulating an environmental audit report so as to gain financial support for a new oil and gas project. It was shown through various reports that the company were attempting to downplay and edit environmental criticism (Environmental Leader, 2008 p.1) . This therefore presents an inherent problem with environmental auditing, that those firms with something to hide will often try to cover up reports of damages by manipulating external auditors. It can therefore be observed that, despite attempts to appear greener and offer preventative methods, Shell Oil Corporation still have a long way to go before they comply with all EPA regulations, and, until then, the company will continue to be fined for activities causing damage to the surrounding environment. CHAPTER FOUR Tescos and environmental auditing Tescos provide a prime example of the recent changes and trends that have occurred and developed over the last ten years, particularly the increasing trend of companies using environmental auditing as a marketing tool and as a means of competing with rivalling supermarkets such as Morrisons, MS, Sainsburys and Waitrose. In 2006, Sainsburys announced the launch of its ethical business drive in order to win back the green moral high ground from Tesco (Mesure, 2006). This followed Tescos high profile green initiatives whereby less plastic bags were used and carbon emissions were decreased. Sainsburys had in fact implement green stores 7 years previous to this, however, due to Tescos actions being more visible to the public through superior marketing, this was not sufficiently effective on a competitive level. This perfectly encapsulates the current trends by which companies have moved from preventative measures of environmental problems, as a result of environmental auditing, towards th e use of environmental auditing for the purpose of marketing the business and increasing its popularity among potential consumers within the market. This, however, potentially raises the presently salient issue of green washing, something that Tesco, in particular, have come under criticism for in recent years (Pierce, 2009). This usually involves the production and marketing of misleading reports regarding green standards, which raises issues of ethics in advertising. This has resulted in increasingly stringent environmental audits and more demanding standards that mean that it is becoming all the more difficult for companies such as Tesco to evade the associated penalties (Maltby, 1995). With this considered, and due to the often beneficial nature of sustainable practices on efficiency and popularity and, therefore, shareholder wealth, it would seem reasonable to predict that in the future, we will see less need for stringent external environmental auditing, as more companies will realise the long term financial and competitive benefits that are associated with lofty efficiency goals (Porter Linde, 1999). CHAPTER FIVE The future of environmental auditing From the above analyse conclusions can be drawn as to the future of environmental auditing. Firstly, there appears to be a current trend in the actions of companies moving from correction to preventative measures (Hiemstra, 2007). The Environmental protection agency, as mentioned, is encouraging a process of self auditing and this is likely to be an increasing trend for the future in which more and more firms become pro active towards such issues. Furthermore, in the future, there is likely to be a greater agreement that an emphasis on environmental practices can enhance bottom line profits. Such a trend is apparent now as firms such as Morrisons use environmental audits to promote a green image to their consumers which in turn could be said to be contributing to the company being voted retailer of the year. Another trend, as reflected in the example of Morrisons, is the increasing reporting of a companys carbon footprint. As evidence of the global climate crisis increases, more emphasis of such issues will be included in environmental audits, with the likelihood that this area will become a central project for many companies (Hiemstra, 2007). It can be concluded that the development of environmental auditing will increase, and it will develop into something which is no longer having to be imposed on firms, as firms begin to realise the benefits of good environmental practice and thus begin to self regulate. However, as shown in the cases of both Tescos and the Shell Oil Corporation, there are examples where such companies are shown to manipulate environmental audits, and thus, this calls for more stringent, stricter processes in the future in which firms truly do undertake independent audits which continue to be regulated to a high standard.

i hate fish sticks :: essays research papers

i hate fish sticks cuz there not real fish they are some weird shit. Yo, what’s up little pup. : You schmendrick, it’s not that hard to replace a muffler. Ooo, there is a problem with your catalytic converter. Use that Alpo can and some hose clamps damn it. : No, you ass you’ll eviscerate your self, choke up on the knife, turn it around and hold the blade like†¦ give it to me, like this. : How about your mom, no, how about we build that model with those bottle rockets. : Why the hell can’t you read a fuckin map! It is there! Shut up crack head. Oh, your right it isn’t there. Crap. Let’s just take i295. : I hate it when people speed up and slow down & speed up and slow down! Why does on one know how to drive? : let’s race. Junior mints, when you leave them near your heater, they get nice and gooey, that way when you throw them out the sun roof at oncoming cars they splat like the nastiest bug you have ever seen, and for a bird effect use the fifty cent fruit pies at night. ; their gonna be confused when they open they’re mail box and find all that KFC, or when in Canada PFK. ; Dude, that guy was holding poop in one hand and his pooch in the other with a really content expression on his face!? : You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose but you cant pick your friends nose. : What’s the difference between a truck load of bowling balls and a truck load of dead babies? You can unload one with a pitchfork. : Oh my, look at that chick in the car in front of us, she is going nuts. Way too much crack aye kid. Dude, she made my day. ; old guy! :That’s an awfully large green lady with some pretty bright head lights. She kinda van shaped. Oops he was just a mail box. ; Yes I have n ot herd Duran Duran since the 80’s. This tares! You ate my cheetos didn’t you! You ate my cheetos didn’t you! toast your fingers they orange! You ate my cheetos didn’t you! They orange toast, they orange. Iiow punch yu in da moouf, yu gonna bleed on your sewf and ouders. I’m comin after you.

Martin Luther King vs. Malcolm X Essay

Malcolm X Vs. MLK JR Extremist, or peace maker? That is the true difference between the beliefs, and ideals of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Both men were African-American civil rights activists during the 1950’s and 1960’s, and both wanted to be accepted for their race, but they wanted that acceptance in very different ways. The two men had very diverse beliefs, Malcolm being a devout Muslim and King being a Baptist clergyman, their religions played a big part in each of their views and how they went about achieving their goals. This is where their ideas differed, and why they wouldn’t technically be considered same, or â€Å"fighting for the same cause†. Malcolm X was considered an extremist for a few main reasons, one being that he wanted complete segregation from the white race. He believed that African Americans were so mistreated that they should be completely shut off from the white Americans. In his Declaration of Independence (1964), he states that the â€Å"best solution is complete separation, with our people going back home, to our own African homeland†. He wanted himself, and all other blacks to be sent to their ancestor’s land of Africa where they could live among other blacks, where they wouldn’t be thought of as a lower class, but as equals. Although Mr. X wanted equality for blacks and whites, he still believed that there should be segregation; he wanted both races to be â€Å"separate but equal†. In the sense of violence, X didn’t promote the use of violence, yet he did believe that man should be able to â€Å"defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks†. I n the end, Malcolm wanted a place of acceptance, and a place where he could be somewhat at peace with what he considered his own kind. Peace is what brought Martin Luther King power in his speeches to the people of America. Like extremist Malcolm X he wanted acceptance for himself, and all of as he’d put it â€Å"brothers, and sisters†. The King’s speeches were very motivational during their time, and so uplifting that it’s generally believed if not assassinated complete freedoms for African Americans would’ve been accomplished much sooner. King believed he could achieve his dreams and goals of having whites and black living together in harmony and peacefulness through nonviolent protesting and also by educating the public. Martin Luther King wanted acceptance just as Malcolm X did, but they wanted it in two very different ways. King wanted it through peace and unification with his fellow Americans, while Malcolm wanted it through rioting, and force of opposition. It might seem like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X fought for different things for the African American people, but in all reality it comes down to the simplest form of an idea. They wanted acceptance. Without acceptance both causes were completely lost, no matter the arguments made, and the battles fought. Till acceptance was granted, all was lost. That’s why the differences of Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s differences are what united them, giving them their ultimate similarity.

Information On Positive Parenting Strategies Education Essay

Childrens Services Central [ hypertext transfer protocol: //www.cscentral.org.au ] is an administration supplying professional development preparation and inclusion support for early childhood pedagogues in New South Wales. It is an enterprise funded by the Australian Government under the Inclusion and Professional Support Program. The end of this administration is to increase the accomplishments and knowledge base of the early childhood pedagogues in order promote, and to keep high quality early childhood services for the kids. They work in partnership with other taking administrations to supply quality preparation, resources and support for those who require. This site besides provides valuable information on National Quality Framework, Early old ages larning Frame work, Changes in Early Childhood Education and Care, and links to forums where early childhood professionals are able to take part and lend. Both sites demonstrate trustiness, authorization, truth, objectiveness, currency and coverage. The information on both sites managed by Government bureaus and early childhood professionals. The information online could be authored by and viewed by any single. Assorted sites are created holding different intent in head. The web sites are non subjected to any regulative boundaries and hence there is no monitoring of the contents or does non necessitate blessing to be published. Therefore, contents from any sites need to be treated with cautiousness and evaluated against its truth and credibleness. When working with Information and Communication Technologies, pedagogues need to be cognizant that there are multiple ways of presenting and pass oning information, and different accomplishments are needed for reading and construing informations online.A One needs to oppugn whether the contents credible? Whose sentiment is presented? A Can the information be trusted? A â€Å" resource that is believable is one which shows grounds of genuineness, dependability and credibility † [ URL ] ( An Educators ‘ Guide to Credibility and Web Evaluation, 1999 ) . A possible country for betterment on both sites would be to propose a site rating subdivision where readers can notice, propose or rate the information on the site. Such inputs would help in placing user outlooks, and to provide efficaciously for the intended audience. Both sites provide entree to of import and valuable information and links to a scope of sites at their finger tips. Using on-line resources to heighten leading: An organisaion ‘s workability finally depends on it reactivity to engineering and the environment within which it operates. Majority of the early childhood services are runing within a community of technologically advanced environment, and which requires the service suppliers to incorporate information and communicating engineering for effectual and dynamic instruction and disposal. It is suggested that the â€Å" usage of engineering, used suitably, is able to â€Å" heighten the quality of the service proviso † ( Ebbeck & A ; Wanniganayake 2003, p.51 ) . Leadership and teaching method inclusive of appropriate Integration of Information and communicating engineering, in the acquisition environments, are able to affect and prosecute the kids and the parents in a mode which was non possible in the past. Technology connects people, enhance and expedite procedures, create new possibilities, â€Å" widen interaction with local and planetary communities † ( MCEETYA. 2005 ) Children of today ‘s coevals are born into a universe full of technological environment. They are able to voyage technological tools with easiness and confident compared old coevalss. Social webs such as, face book, YouTube allows them to link and pass on with the universe around them. Xbox and drama Stationss are the drama tools of many preschool age kids. Families excessively are utilizing engineering for â€Å" acquisition, diversion, direction and communicating. Technologies are cheaper, more nomadic and able to be used by scholars of all ages † ( MCEETYA. 2005 ) . Within the early childhood services, â€Å" Early Old ages Learning Framework † , â€Å" The National Quality Framework † , â€Å" constructivism † stresses the importance of the relationships between the household, the context and the community. Communication enabled by the usage of ICT facilitates and heighten this relationship. It provides new chances for parents and households to prosecute with the pedagogues, larning plans and their kids ‘s advancement [ Uniform resource locator: Learning as a personal event ] . Pedagogical leading in an early childhood puting requires attending to ticket inside informations from assorted impact statements steering early childhood instruction and attention. Outcome four in the National Early Years Framework ( 2009 ) indicates that Children resource their ain acquisition through linking with people, topographic point, engineerings and natural and processed stuffs and this is apparent when the services allows kids to prosecute in larning experiences to ‘experiment with different engineerings ‘ and ‘use information and communicating engineerings ( ICT ) to look into and job solve ‘ . Educational environments inclusive of appropriate information and communicating engineerings non merely do direction procedures easier and faster, it besides fosters, encourages and influences interactions, cognition and linguistic communication development in kids ( Presnky 2008, instruction Hot topICT 2009 ) . Siemens ( 2004 ) proposes a â€Å" learning theory for the digital age † which clearly identifies the demand for the scholars to be able to prosecute with, place, and locate information through the usage of Information and Communication Technology. Early on childhood leaders need to be critical of their patterns and maintain up to day of the month with the germinating arguments on the pros and cons of incorporating ICT in educational scenes. Siemens ( 2004 ) provinces: â€Å" Our ability to larn what we need for tomorrow is more of import than what we know todayaˆÂ ¦ When cognition, nevertheless, is needed, but non known, the ability to stop up into beginnings to run into the demands becomes a critical accomplishment. ..As cognition continues to turn and germinate, entree to what is needed is more of import than what the scholar presently possesses. The field of instruction has been slow to acknowledge both the impact of new acquisition tools and the environmental alterations in what it means to larn † . Rodd suggest that the cyberspace within and beyond the administrations is a utile tool for larning and professional development, and accessing and sharing information. Early childhood services needs to link the people, the procedures and the technological tools every bit closely as possible in order to be effectual in a invariably altering environment. As pedagogues, it is expected that the kids are exposed to valuable acquisition environment where they are cherished, nourished and protected in so that they can boom in their development and growing.