Vouchers and School Choice More Effective than Affirmative Action Essay

School Choice More Effective than Affirmative Action If America is to become an equal society, then the direction of affirmative action must be changed. Rather than continuing to focus the brunt of our efforts on helping those individuals near the top succeed, we must implement policies designed to provide opportunities to those individuals at or near the bottom. Specifically, affirmative action must return to its original purpose--helping minorities move into the middle class through programs based upon equality of educational opportunity and job creation. Affirmative action is still needed, but its efforts must be redirected. The truth is that minorities poised to break through the glass ceiling will do so, based upon sheer ability, but minorities on the bottom rungs of society need help to break through the cellar ceiling. These are the individuals for whom affirmative action can do the most good, consequently, these are the people upon whom our efforts should be focused. When affirmative action was first instituted, the majority of Americans supported its goal of moving the poorest members of minority groups to an improved position in society. Over time, however, affirmative action proponents have lost sight of this goal. Affirmative action programs have ceased to function as a rising tide designed to lift all boats and have instead become preoccupied with helping those near the top. Too little attention has been paid to helping those at the bottom, as a result, the lives of minorities living in poverty have become increasingly bleak. Today, our inner-cities more closely resemble a war zone in Bosnia than they do an American suburb, and conditions continue to deteriorate. This is wrong, an... ...lem's economy would come to resemble Hong Kong's. True "opportunity zones" would attract the capital needed for job creation, and increased employment will be the engine that transforms our inner-cities from war zones back to hospitable places to live. Today, the need for affirmative action remains strong, but the current programs must be replaced with programs that help the poorest minorities. Affirmative action programs must return to their original purpose. Instead of advocating programs that benefit individuals already poised to succeed, proponents of affirmative action must fight for those individuals who are suffering the most. We, as Americans, have a responsibility to help our Nation's poorest minorities. Policies of school choice and "opportunity zones" will help us meet this responsibility by increasing educational and employment opportunities.

Things They Carried Essay: Strength in The Things They Carried

Strength in The Things They Carried  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Everybody has to deal with adversity at some point in their lives. The adversity that they go through varies from person to person. For First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, he had to make it through the Vietnam War alive. In the short story, "The Things They Carried," where Cross draws his strength from is somewhat unclear. He seems strong at the beginning of the story, but then again, he also seems to be gaining strength towards the end of the story. This paper shows two different points of view. It discusses whether Jimmy Cross is a stronger person at the beginning of the story or at the end of the story. One opinion is that First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross is stronger before he burns the pictures of Martha. His strength comes from his connections to the outside world. Martha is his link to life away from the war. This is why it is important that "Martha never mentioned the war, except to say, Jimmy, take care of yourself. She wasn't involved" (O'Brien 403-404). She symbolizes all that he left behind, and all that he hopes to someday return to: innocence, comfort, love, and hope. These hopes and dreams are the things that keep him sane; they keep him more human and less of a war machine. He shows his strength by attaching himself to these things and by keeping himself partly detached from the violence surrounding him. He has the amazing ability to admit to himself that, "he was just a kid at war, in love. He was twenty-two years old. He couldn't help it" (397). By having the strength to see this reality, he fights against war's power to consume a person's whole identity. However, by deciding that, "henceforth, when he thought about Martha, it would be only to think that she belonged... ...do, to a man who now realizes his job, and will make damn sure to get it done right. Both of the points of view are valid arguments. Both are well thought out and have good evidence to back them up. So which one is the right one? Well, that's the great thing about short stories like "The Things They Carried," they are open to interpretation. The reader is the one to decide what it means to them. The point of this paper was to present two different arguments from two different readers. These points of view were both able to answer the question, was Jimmy Cross stronger at the beginning of the story or at the end of the story, in their own way. Work Cited O'Brien, Tim. "The Things They Carried." Literature and Its Writers: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 2nd ed. Ed. Ann Charters and Samuel Charters. Boston: Bedford, 2001. Pg. 392-405.   

End of Life Care

Nurses’ Perceptions of End-of-Life Care After Multiple Interventions for Improvement Lissi Hansen, Teresa T. Goodell, Josi DeHaven and MaryDenise Smith Am J Crit Care. 2009;18: 263-271 doi: 10. 4037/ajcc2009727  © 2009 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Published online http://www. ajcconline. org Personal use only. For copyright permission information: http://ajcc. aacnjournals. org/cgi/external_ref? link_type=PERMISSIONDIRECT Subscription information http://ajcc. aacnjournals. org/subscriptions Information for authors http://ajcc. acnjournals. org/misc/ifora. shtml Submit a manuscript http://www. editorialmanager. com/ajcc Email alerts http://ajcc. aacnjournals. org/subscriptions/etoc. shtml AJCC, the American Journal of Critical Care, is the official peer-reviewed research journal of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), published bimonthly by The InnoVision Group, 101 Columbia, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656. Telephone: (800) 899-1712, (949) 362-2050, ext. 532. Fax: (949) 362-2049. Copyright  © 2009 by AACN. All rights reserved. Downloaded from ajcc. aacnjournals. org by on February 11, 2010 Nursing Education in Critical Care PERCEPTIONS OF END-OF-LIFE CARE AFTER MULTIPLE INTERVENTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT By Lissi Hansen, RN, PhD, Teresa T. Goodell, RN, PhD, CNS, CCRN, ACNS-BC, Josi DeHaven, RN, MPH, CCRN, and MaryDenise Smith, RN, CNS, ACHPN Background Nurses working in intensive care units may lack knowledge and skills in end-of-life care, find caring for dying patients and the patients’ families stressful, and lack support to provide this care. Objectives To describe nurses’ perceptions of (1) knowledge and ability, (2) work environment, (3) support for staff, (4) support for patients and patients’ families, and (5) stress related to specific work situations in the context of end-of-life care before (phase 1) and after (phase 2) implementation of approaches to improve end-of-life care. The approaches were a nurse-developed bereavement program for patients’ families, use of a palliative medicine and comfort care team, preprinted orders for the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, hiring of a mental health clinical nurse specialist, and staff education in end-of-life care. Methods Nurses in 4 intensive care units at a university medical center reported their perceptions of end-of-life care by using a 5-subscale tool consisting of 30 items scored on a 4-point Likert scale. The tool was completed by 91 nurses in phase 1 and 127 in phase 2. Results Improvements in overall mean scores on the 5 subscales indicated that the approaches succeeded in improving nurses’ perceptions. In phase 2, most of the subscale overall mean scores were higher than a desired criterion (

Could the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet happen today? Essay

The story of the â€Å"star crossed lovers† is a true tragedy as there was so much potential for the relationship to work. The feelings that the couple from â€Å"two houses alike in dignity† were so immense that they ended up dying for each other. If it wasn’t for fate, their dedication would have allowed them to grow old together, and not end up dying at such a young age. Fate is a continuous factor throughout the play and leads to much of the tragedy. A good example of this is the Capulet party. It is quite ironic that Peter, the Capulets servant can’t read the list of people invited to the Capulets party. So he approaches Benvolio. This leads to Mercutio asking Romeo to come with them the party, which happens to be a masked ball, so they would not be identified as Montagues. In Act 1, Scene 4, Romeo says â€Å"some consequence, yet hanging in the stars, shall bitterly begin this fearful date† Even before he had met Juliet, Romeo has predicted that something will start that night of the party but would lead to disaster and heartache- which it eventually does. Perhaps the largest part of that fate plays in the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is in Act 2, Scene 3, where friar Lawrence is established as a herbalist. This gives him the knowledge to make the concoction that makes Juliet appear dead. If Juliet had not appeared dead, then Romeo would have not have committed suicide. Thus ending with them still alive, but by chance they both had visited Friar Lawrence and not a different religious representative. The relationship between the parents and children makes the suicides truly sad, as Romeo and Juliet were two children who would be missed. Montague and Lady Montague were both concerned for Romeo when he is acting differently because of Rosalyn’s rejection. Lady Montague asks Benvolio, Romeo’s cousin, â€Å"O where is Romeo? † because she is concerned. Montague then goes on to say â€Å"Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow, we would as willingly give cure as know. † He is basically saying – I would give anything to know what troubles my son, and to make it right. Capulet only wants the best for his daughter and at the beginning of the story Capulet tells Paris, Juliet is too young to marry. â€Å"Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she. † Meaning, Juliet is Capulets only surviving child. â€Å"She is the hopeful lady of my earth. † He wants things to go right for his much loved daughter. The death of Tybalt causes Capulet to realise life is short and that Juliet should marry Paris to make her secure in life. Juliet refuses Paris as a husband so Capulet threatens to throw Juliet out because she is disgracing Capulet. He says, â€Å"You shall not house with me. † â€Å"And you be not hang, beg, starve, die in the streets! † Although he did not do this to be horrible, he just wanted the best for his daughter and he considered the best to be Paris; a â€Å"lovely gentleman† Juliet appears to have a formal relationship with her mother, Lady Capulet. Juliet has not been raised by her Mother, but by her nurse. There is a lack of emotion between the mother and daughter. Throughout the play there is very little conversation between the two, and Lady Capulet only seems to deliver messages, and do as Capulet tells her. She seems to have no power or place in Juliet’s life. The nurse has raised Juliet and Capulet makes all the important decisions. Juliet’s nurse takes messages between Romeo and Juliet making the relationship easier for them. â€Å"As I told you, my lady bade me inquire you out. † -The nurse speaking to Romeo. When Romeo tells the nurse of the marriage, the nurse replies â€Å"This afternoon sir? Well, she shall be there. † The nurse can travel freely around Verona and suspicions are not raised when she speaks to Romeo, unlike Juliet, who would rarely be allowed out of the Capulets mansion, let alone to speak to a male and a family enemy. Friar Lawrence’s plan to â€Å"Turn your households rancour to pure love. † was a good idea but misguided. If he had refused to marry the couple then perhaps their dedication to each other would not have been so strong. If Benvolio had not persuaded Romeo to come to the party then he would never have seen Juliet and a relationship would not have started. Juliet would probably have ended up marrying Paris and would have found another lover to idolise. Courtly love is a part of both Romeo and Juliet’s lives, although not involved in their relationship together. Romeo at first wishes to court Rosalyn but she is not interested. The love Paris had got for Juliet is courtly. When Paris speaks to Capulet he says, â€Å"Now my lord, what say you to my suit. † and â€Å"Younger than she are happy mothers made. † There is no reference to how much he loves Juliet but that he wants to make Juliet a happy mother. There is no romance between the two. Paris arranged the marriage through Capulet. Juliet appears to have no affection towards Paris, as she barely knows him. After Tybalts Death, the marriage to Paris is forced upon Juliet. When Romeo and Juliet first met there was a fascination between them that continues throughout the entire play, although it is far more obvious at the beginning of the story. When they first met there was lots of flirting and Romeo plays words and refers to â€Å"blushing pilgrims† (his lips) and â€Å"a shrine† (her hands). After this meeting the feelings that they have for each other becomes deeper. â€Å"Juliet is the sun, arise fair sun and kill the envious moon. † Romeo is so in love with Juliet, he is comparing her to the goddess of the moon and saying that Juliet is far more beautiful. â€Å"Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, having some business, do entreat her eyes. † Again Romeo is comparing her spiritual representations. He is almost saying she is more than human. Juliet is what all mankind look up to with the urge to explore, and yet not quite understanding what is attracting them to her. Romeo’s love soon turns to lust – â€Å"O whilt though leave me so unsatisfied? † (Act 2, Scene 2). Romeo is basically asking Juliet if she is going to make love to him. Her reply is that she will only make love to him if they are married. At this point their relationship enters a new level of commitment, and once married, a more mature relationship is established. Once Romeo is banished foe killing Tybalt, it becomes clear how dedicated Juliet really is. If the plan had gone right, Juliet would have given up her family and security to live with Romeo and to be his wife forever. Upon hearing about Romeo being banished for her cousin’s death, Juliet says, â€Å"I’ll go to my wedding bed, and death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead. † (Act 3, Scene 2) – She would rather die a virgin that night, than live without Romeo. But because the plan went wrong, we see Juliet has all consuming feelings of love for Romeo and their relationship. When discovering Juliet’s â€Å"death†, Romeo asks Balthasar â€Å"Hast thou no letters to me from the friar? † the Friar’s letter had not been delivered to Romeo and so he is unaware that Juliet is just under the Friar’s concoction. However, unaware of the circumstances, Romeo heads back to Juliet. On seeing her body he swears they will live forever and he swallows the poison. â€Å"Seal with a righteous kiss a dateless bargain to engrossing death. † Meaning that he and Juliet will be together forever in death (Act 5, Scene 3). When Juliet awakes she is shocked to see Romeo’s dead body lying next to her. She cannot live without Romeo so she stabs herself with Romeo’s dagger and as she does so she says, â€Å"O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rest and let me die! † She would rather be dead than live without her one true love. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet could still happen in today’s society as the amount of control that Capulet had over Juliet still exists today although perhaps not to such a high degree. It could cause a teenager to rebel against their parents and go with the person their parents would disapprove of most. Juliet has quite a remote and emotionless relationship with her mother and a girl today may well seek the attention and â€Å"love† of an older male to replace the affection that she doesn’t receive at home. People today still have arranged marriages, either as a part of religion or tradition. If they could not support themselves without their parents, then they may marry so they don’t end up on the streets. There are still people committing suicide because of â€Å"love†. Some people can be so deeply in love that they are willing to die if their partner died because they see no point in living without them. Friends loyalties are, generally, to their friends and not to their parents. This could lead to messages and rumours being passed between the two partners form their friends. Also Love at first sight is not a common occurrence but it does happen. There are factors though, that makes the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet happening in today very unrealistic. In today’s society, children would not necessarily have to marry someone they don’t want to. Most parents don’t want their children to rush into marriage at that age. Parents today are more comfortable with their children â€Å"dating† and family feuds still occur but are far less common. Marriage is no longer a lifetime commitment. Divorce is a common practise between couples who no longer want to be together for whatever reason. This means there is no real reason to commit suicide to escape a relationship you don’t want to be in. Several of the key events, which make Romeo and Juliet a true tragedy, come back down to fate. It would be extremely difficult, or nearly impossible to find a drug that would make you appear dead. Even if you could, communication is much easier now than it was in Shakespeare’s time and an e-mail, phone call or text message could have been sent instead. Also it is now quite rare to find someone who can’t read. This would mean that the party would not have been known. But this is today so the news of someone having a party would not stay a secret for long and the word would spread quickly. I personally believe that the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet could still happen in today’s society but it would not be on the same scale as the story of Romeo and Juliet.

An analysis of a student paper with unf writes rubrics

An analysis of a student paper with unf writes rubrics Analyzing papers with UNF Writes Rubrics set a very clear guideline for writing a paper. The rubrics include logic, mechanics(grammar,syntax, punctuation,and spelling), rhetorical awareness, and plain English style. After assessing a student paper based on these Rubrics it is apparent how well a paper or even how poorly a paper is written. The rubrics rate the essays on level of expertise, ranging from professional to unacceptable. Included in the levels are expert, skilled craftsperson, craftsperson and apprentice. This student paper,based on the UNF Writes Rubrics score, earns the grade of a C; the author reinforces the prompt and main idea but loses the audience in style and logic. The student essay prompt stated to relate an epigraph or short quotation from Dr. Kimball’s essay to the student reading of the text. This student emphasized the idea of â€Å"self-talk† and a quote by Judith Butler. By stating this quote in the first paragraph the student leads the audience to think this is the topic essay, but instead loses track of this idea by the end of the second paragraph. In the second and third paragraphs the author writes about how self talk forms and changes a persons personality while in the opening paragraph the main idea is the â€Å"I† and where it comes from. By opening up more topics to the reader the authors logic received a two out of four, or apprentice craftsperson on the UNF Writes Rubric scale. According to the Self-Talk Rubric:Logic (Logical Coherence and Development), the essay logically connects some of the ideas to the thesis and uses transitional words. The essay does logically connect back to the original thesis by r epeating the thought of the ‘I’ but the sentences are not cohesive with one another. The paper changes topics from sentence to sentence without bringing the old information back up. The lack of coherence and loss of focus equally decreased the writers grade on the logic portion. Using the prompt of the essay the author chose the epigraph from Judith Butler about the story of the â€Å"I† to relate to the entire article. Using this prompt the student should have written about this quote to explain to the audience how it relates, instead the student loses the prompt in the second and third paragraphs by writing about other short stories such as an infant crawling away turning into a person that loves to travel. By the author writing about other epigraphs off topic from the original, the audience is left confused on the main idea. The author receives a Rhetorical Awareness grade of a two out of four. A two out of four on the Self-Talk Rubric: Rhetorical Awareness states the writing addresses the assignment prompt and audience expectations with minor exceptions. By the end of the paper the audience knows about the ‘I’ and the idea of self-talk but not exactly how they relate or which one is the main idea. As for writing style in sentences, diction and tone the writer receives a UNF Writes Rubric score of two out of six, or apprentice craftsperson. This grade means the writing exhibits minor problems in sentences, diction and tone, and the language does not adhere to plain english standards. For example the student writes in first person throughout the paper, using words such as us, we, you and our. Along with the overuse of the first person the text has an unprofessional tone, using words such as ‘goes’ to explain what a quote said. In addition to the first person narrative and lack of professional tone the sentences are simplistic, all of these factors come together as work of an apprentice craftsperson. For the fourth rubric on mechanics, which includes grammar, syntax, punctuation and spelling, the writer maintained a three out of six or a craftsperson. This means the writer was able to only have around two mechanics error on the page. The errors found were the use of sentence fragments in the first paragraph and wrong use of punctuation in the last. These errors do not affect the grade as much as the other rubrics because mechanics is weighed the least. The author earned a C according to UNF Writes Rubrics on logic, rhetorical awareness, style and mechanics. The rubrics were weighed as the following: logic 30%, rhetorical awareness 30%, style 25% and mechanics 15%. From these weightings and the aforementioned level of expertise the student writes at a craftsperson level and received an average grade because of it.

Teaching of Ethics and Humanity in USA and Indonesia Essay

Teaching of Ethics and Humanity in USA and Indonesia - Essay Example This cultural value is highly evident in the education systems of the Universities in USA and Indonesia as they give very high emphasis to Human Values, Respect for others and Ethics in their education systems. Example, Seattle University practices the Jesuit Tradition which requires that the students should be made aware of the importance of what they need to do with the knowledge that they are in the process of acquiring. Similarly, Santa Clara University teaches moral thinking and decision making following the Utilitarian Approach, Rights Approach, Fairness Approach, Common-Good Approach, and the Virtue Approach. The Indonesian Universities teach Humanity, Respect for others and Ethics as well but the lessons imparted are more from the perspective of Religious teachings. As a matter of fact, Islamic and Buddhist education has prevailed quite strongly due to their strong influence on the society. Span and Quality of Education in USA is much better th... They prefer to expose their students to the real world challenges of the subject of choice. Example, the education in Finance & Accounting would not be limited to subject matter learning only but would also incorporate a number of surveys/researches required to be carried out by students even at the undergraduate level. When compared to education system in USA, the width & depth of education system in Indonesia is not comparable to the same in USA. Indonesia education system is based on improving subject matter expertise in technology whereby their applicability is sharply focused on the potentials of global competitive advantages that the country can derive out of such expertise. In this context, the teachers in Indonesia are definitely good experts but more focused towards the coverage of the subject than the applicability of the subject. Example, if the subject matter is networking the teachers would ensure that the entire concepts of network technologies are covered for the students at tremendous pace but fewer opportunities shall be opened to work on live networking projects. Expression of thoughts in USA is more freely allowed than in Indonesia (Thesis 3): USA believes in conversion of Tacit Knowledge into Explicit for the benefit of the future of Mankind. Hence, they tend to develop this culture in the educational system as well. The students in USA need to express their thoughts in class and in group discussions. Example, seniors discuss their internship experiences in open forums such that the juniors can avoid their mistakes when planning for their own internships. In addition to self expression, the Universities also give lot of emphasis in developing the writing skills of the

Remote Sensing - Design of a Spaceborne Sensor Essay

Remote Sensing - Design of a Spaceborne Sensor - Essay Example For these earthquakes prediction and monitoring, lots of works are being done and lots more are in progress. These include a wide range of technologies such as seismographs, accelerometers and satellite imagery. All provides information having vital importance depending on area and costs. The upcoming technologies are thought to have more significant features that hopefully are able to predict the earthquakes with more accuracy and vivid predictions that will help to mitigate the population even before the earthquake would have occurred. Earthquakes are occurred by the movement of ground due to insufficient stress and strain in the earth’s tectonic plates. It could cause devastating effect when it magnitudes are high and the duration of the earthquake is also high. The death toll could increase to thousands within seconds after the earthquake of high intensity has occurred. The devastating effect also depends on the quality of the infrastructure and more importantly the prepar edness for the disaster. In most cases, because of the rapid ground shaking without any warnings and early signs usually there is a lot of destruction because it is not easy to predict when the earthquake will occur. According to the EAS, The effect of earthquake includes landslides, shaking, tsunamis and liquefaction (EAS, 2011). Most of the death toll is due to the collapse of the infrastructure whereas other reasons also exist. The post traumatic stress disorder is also a reason for the death toll to rise even after the earthquake. Here are some pictures of earthquake destruction as follows There are different methods by which the earthquakes are determined. These methods includes the use of different wavelengths for predicting the change in the structures of the rock, the light that is reflected from the minerals present in the rocks and also the use of graphs that monitors different waves that are caused because of the movement of the tectonic plates. The different methods that are used are stated below that either monitor is used to predict the future earthquakes that are likely to happen. Space borne sensors:- The space borne sensors are used in many different fields and the one important filed is used to predict the earthquakes and study the behavior of rocks that are altered after the earthquakes. The land Sat satellite is used in different field that includes the field of the geologist. It travels in different directions and with the help of the earth’s revolving around the axis, with the help of electromagnetic waves it takes the snaps and are compared with previous data and experts by making calculations can predict where might the next earthquake could occur. The diagram below shows its behavior of working. With the help of geologic maps that are taken from the satellites, the seismologists evaluate the seismic activity and it helps them to predict the earthquake, though not utmost success but still helps to widen the knowledge. According t o NASA the magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck and these images were found very helpful in determining the earthquake destruction (NASA, 2007). Boeing Constant WC-135 Phoenix: - It is a military aircraft that is used by The United stated for determining the nuclear and seismic activity on the ground and it is found to be very helpful in determining the situations. In certain cases because of the nuclear activity is altered due to earthquakes because of