The Mother by Gwendolyn Brooks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

The Mother by Gwendolyn Brooks - Essay Example The poem provides an insight into what a mother actually experiences after an abortion and the extent of love that a mother has for her children despite the fact that she never gave birth to them. Gwendolyn Brooks marks the theme of the poem in its very first line which states that an abortion for a mother is an experience of her life that she can never get over with. The first stanza deals with the emotions of the mother in which a mother is explaining about the things that she would never be able to do since she does not have children. The women is presenting with motherly activities that she is longing to perform but would never be able to do that. This can be seen in these lines, â€Å"You will never neglect or beat them, or silence or buy with a sweet.† She is clearly presenting that she would not be able to nurture children due to the abortion which includes looking after them, feeding them and being with them all the time. This shows her remorse over her incapability of performing all the activities with a child that is the desire of every mother. In the next stanza she explains that she understands that she has actually stolen away the rights of children who would have been like other beings in this world and performed all the worldly activities. They would have enjoyed this world and would have started their journey of life like other people which begins with being a helpless child till the time that he grows up and gets engaged in a relationship up to the end of his life when he reaches his deathbed. She knows that she has killed a human life which would have actually developed emotions, feelings and sensations if they had been given the chance to do so. But with all regret she tries to provide an explanation that at that point of her life she had no other choice. She justifies herself with these words, â€Å"Believe that even in my

Home School or School House Essay Example for Free

Home School or School House Essay What do George Washington and the Hanson brothers have in common? Do you give up? Well, the answer is that both of them were educated in their homes. Queen Elizabeth, Thomas Edison, and Theodore Roosevelt were also educated at home. According to the Home Education Research Institute, 1. 5 million students are staying home for class today. This number is five times more than ten years ago (Kantrow and Wingert 66). This trend leads to many questions. Does home school education work? Do students receive a proper education? How does a home school students education compare to that of public school student? Does home schooling isolate a child socially? These questions are concerns of parents, educators, and politicians alike. The future of America rests on the academic and social education of our youth, and home school education should be considered as an effective alternative to public school education. In the past, parents mainly chose to educate their children at home because of religious preference. These parents viewed the public school system as a source of negative influence on children. Violence, sex, drugs, and peer pressure were influences these parents sought to avoid. However, today parents have other reasons for home school education, which primarily all point to a lackluster public school system. Other reasons include a desire to build a strong family closeness, safety, and a handful of parents chose home school for their children because of special needs such as disabilities or special talents. However, no matter how good the reasons, the home school education system must prove to be an acceptable alternative to public schools. There are many advantages to giving a student a home school education. First, parents can make direct decisions concerning what their children are taught. According to the Home School Statistics and Reports in 1997, written by founder and President Dr. Brian D. Ray, seventy-one percent of the parents who educate their children hand pick the curriculum from a variety of books, videos, and educational manuals. Another twenty-three percent order entire cirriculum packages (Ray 14). With the technology of today, parents have an unlimited source for information via the Internet, which can be easily integrated in home school education. The study also shows the education level of the parent supervising and administering the curriculum has little or no effect on the  quality of education received by a student. Home-educated students whose parents did not have college degrees scored equally high on tests compared to students whose parents had college degrees(Ray 56). In addition to students own parents teaching them, groups are formed among home school families. These groups allow students to be taught a variety of subjects by different parents that have a better understanding of subjects such as algebra, chemistry, and biology. These groups also take field trips, participate in sports, and do volunteer projects together. Another advantage of home schooling is the quality of education received by the student. How do home school students compare with public school students? This is a very important question to answer, but the answer can never be a concrete one. However all of the research I did shows that students educated in their homes have an equal or higher level of academic skills compared to the public school students. In the 1997 and 1998 ACT test scores, home school students averaged a score of 23; meanwhile the public school students averaged a score of 21(Farris 8). Also, on nationally standardized achievement exams home students again outscored public school students by at least thirty percentile points(Ray 7). While these numbers cant truly reflect the comparison, an equal percentage of students from both groups seek college education(Ray 9). The government on all levels faces problems concerning the public school system. Funding for schools tops the problem list; local school boards and city governments are continuously fighting for tax proposals, meanwhile students in the schools suffer because of poor facilities and low salaries for teachers. The cost for taxpayers to send one student to a public school for one year is approximately $5325, while a home school student costs a parent $546 per year (Ray 11). Could an increase in home schools cut taxes? Could the money allotted for education now be used more effectively if there were fewer students? Maybe or maybe not, but if fewer students were in public schools, the chances of giving the public school student a better educational environment would increase. Many people who oppose home school programs claim interactions with other children at school are vital to their education. However, this argument usually does not work because parents who home school do not want to release their children into the negative influences that infect the public school system. After an interview with Beverly Decateau, a mother who taught her children at home for over seven years; I found that home school students participate in equally as many or more activities than public school students do. Her children and many others she knew of were active in church groups, Four-H groups, sports teams, and dance squads. All of these activities can be considered social interactions. I dont believe the public school system has a responsibility to socialize students; that job belongs to parents. In a public school system, some students can be pinpointed and teased, and these images can damage children for life. Despite the several advantages of the home school system, many people still oppose home schooling. Home school students may not miss interactions with other students, but they will miss the experience. Certain experiences at school are considered an important part of the American way of life. Public school students will never forget experiencing homeroom parties, pep rallies, and finding classes on the first day of high school. Can a home school students experience compare? Probably not, but to what importance these experiences play in the education and socialization skills of a student depends on each individual student. Home school education can cause problems among children and parents. Children who have parents constantly looking over their shoulders may have difficulty breaking away from home to attend college or enter the workplace. Children might also have trouble respecting their own parent as an educator, and this lack of respect may have a negative effect on the students education. In order for home school education to work, the parents must be willing to sacrifice time and patience above and beyond the average parents. The parents must also be willing to give up their own careers for the future of their children. Furthermore, not all children can be successful home school students. The children must be able to make friends in informal settings, and see home school education as a way of exploring different avenues of learning. Not everyone can educate their children at home, but the more students who can receive a solid education at home would improve the education given to students at public schools. Fewer students would lead to smaller classrooms where higher paid teachers could give more attention to public school students. Funds and taxes could be used more effectively because there would be fewer students to accommodate. In the future we should support home school programs and public school education to interact with each other for the benefit of all students. Regardless of where the education of Americas youth takes place, it is vital that parents have a major role in the education of their children in order to build strong families and a strong America. WORKS CITED Decateau, Beverly. Personal interview. 2 NOV 1998. Farris, Micheal. Home Schooling Today. The Washington Times 27 OCT 1998: E8. Kantrowitz, Barbara, and Pat Wingert. Learning At Home: Does It Pass The Test? Newsweek 5 OCT. 1998: 64-70. Ray, Brian D. Home School Statistics and Reports Home School Legal Defense HomePage. Dec 1997 http://www. hsdla. org//.

Thomas Edison Essay -- essays research papers

Thomas Alva Edison is considered one of the greatest inventors in history. He was born in Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847 and died in 1931. During his life he patented 1,093 inventions. Many of these inventions are in use today and changed the world forever. Some of his inventions include telegraphy, phonography, electric lighting and photography. His most famous inventions were the phonograph and the incandescent light bulb. Edison did some of his greatest work at Menlo Park. While experimenting on an underwater cable for the automatic telegraph, he found that the electrical resistance and conductivity of carbon varied accordingly to the pressure it was under. This was a major theoretical discovery, which enabled Edison to invent a "pressure relay" using carbon rather than magnets, which was the usual way to vary and balance electrical currents. In February of 1877 Edison began experiments designed to produce a pressure relay that would amplify and improve the audibility of the telephone, a device that Edison and others had studied but which Alexander Graham Bell was the first to patent, in 1876. By the end of 1877 Edison had developed the carbon-button transmitter that is still used today in telephone speakers and microphones. Many of Thomas Edison’s inventions including the carbon transmitter were in response to demands for new products and improvements. In 1877, he achieved his most unique discovery, the phonograph. During the summer of 1877 Edison was attempting to devise for the automatic telegraph a machine that would transcribe a signals as they were received into a form of the human voice so that they could then be delivered as telegraph messages. Some researchers had theorized that each sound, if it could be graphically recorded, would produce a distinct shape resembling short hand, or phonography, as it was known then. Edison hoped to make this concept real by employing a stylus-tipped carbon transmitter to make impressions on a strip of paraffined paper. To his amazement, the barley visible indentations generated a vague sound when the paper was pulled back beneath the stylus. In December 1877 Edison unveiled the tinfoil phonograph, which replaced the strip of paper wrapped in tinfoil. Many people would not believe what they were hearing including a leading French scientist who declared it to be a trick device of a ventri... ...ed whether something might be done, only how. Edison’s career, the fulfillment of the American dream of rags-to-riches through hard work and intelligence, made him a folk hero to his countrymen. In temperament he was an uninhibited egotist, at once a tyrant to his employees and their most entertaining companion, so that there was never a dull moment with him. He was charismatic and courted publicity, but he had difficulty socializing and neglected his family. His shafts at the expense of the "long-haired" fraternity of theorists sometimes led formally trained scientists to depreciate him as anti-intellectual; yet he employed as his aides, at various times a number of eminent mathematical physicists, such as Nicole Tesla and A.E. Kennelly. The contradictory nature of his forceful personality, as well as such eccentricities as his ability to catnap anywhere, contributed to his legendary status. By the time he was in his middle 30s Edison was said to be the best-known American in the world. When he died he was the venerated and mourned as the man who, more than any other, had laid the basis for the technological and social revolution of the modern electrical world.

Harry Harlow

Compare and contrast research by Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth on understanding attachment This essay is looking at the similarities of two researchers into attachment. The aim is to present their work so as to compare and contrast the different approaches and techniques used by both Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth. Even though they both had their different techniques in carrying out their experiments, the conclusion of their findings was very similar and this essay will be showing these findings by contrast.Both psychologists wanted to find out the underlying mechanics of attachment of mothers and their young. Firstly an American psychologist namely Harry Harlow who almost by accident started the most influential work in understanding attachment, fortunately discovered he was unable to carry out his original study regarding intelligence in rats, so he turned to the abilities of monkeys after seeing strange behaviour portrayed by the monkeys as he cleaned their cages. Subsequently he realised the fuss was being made from the extraction of the soft sanitary towels that were used in lining their cages.With this in mind he set out to prove the affection these monkey had for the sanitary towels was in fact â€Å"contact comfort† seeing as all their other needs were catered for and there was only adverse behaviour on the removal of the towels. He used rhesus macaques a medium sized monkey, which shares 94% DNA with humans â€Å"yet one must not be very careful how one interprets this genetic similarity. We share 50 per cent of our DNA with a banana†(Discovering Psychology, p. 204,2010). Harlow constructed two surrogate mothers for these babies to show affection or need. wire cylinder that provided milk, also in the cage was a structure made of wood covered in foam with a layer of towelling(also known as terry cloth in America). On viewing the action of the baby monkeys Harry Harlow confirmed his theory of â€Å"contact comfort†. He witnessed t he baby clinging on to the terry cloth mother for comfort and only reaching for the wire surrogate for food then returning back to the terry cloth mother. â€Å"In another experiment he showed that the babies treated the terry cloth mother as a â€Å"safe base† (Discovering psychology, p. 07,2010) On displacement of the mothers the only distressing reaction came about on removal of the terry cloth mother with no reaction to the removal of the wire mother which produced food. Upon this observation â€Å"Harlow hypothesised that the tactile qualities of stimuli were more important for infant monkeys bonding then the provision of food†(Discovering psychology, p202,2010) So the previous assumption of the cupboard love theory was superseded by Harlows observation of contact comfort.However this conclusion was reach in monkeys and does not automatically prove the same in humans but does give a basis for the t In looking at Marry Ainswoth's work on attachment it is seen ther e is a great difference in the subject and in the condition surrounding the research. Unlike Harlow who conducted his experiments in the controlled conditions of a laboratory, Ainsworth observed young babies from Ugandan families where she moved with her husband in 1953. Through the observation of the babies over â€Å"two hours every fortnight over a period of nine month†(Discovering Psychology, p. 16,2010) She witnessed that upon the mothers showing comfort to their young, the affection that was shown calmed them and stopped them crying, Ainsworth arrived at the conclusion similar to Harlow that the babies needed tactile stimuli or â€Å"contact comfort† the findings she reached coincided with the work of Harlow. She discovered that the displays witnessed and the validation of contact comfort showed infants became more confident to explore as long as the mothers were present, acting as a safe base in the same way the monkeys reacted to the terry cloth mother.This was shown through Harlows placing the monkey in an unfamiliar playroom, using both surrogate mothers. The positive reaction only came when the terry cloth mother was present, acting as a safe base â€Å"allowing infants to go off and explore or play, but also to rush back to if they felt threatened† (Discovering psychology,p. 207,2010) In comparison to Harlow's work Ainsworth because of ethics could not separate the baby from its mother due to the damage to their emotional and psychological well being.So upon which she used the technique of observation to seemingly reach the same result as Harlow in that attachment is based on â€Å"contact comfort†. Also realising in her study the importance of a â€Å"safe base† to infants, as in the observation research carried out on the Uganda families â€Å"if the mothers were unresponsive and emotionally detached, their infants seem to cry a lot more and often seemed clingy or insecure†(Discovering psychology, p. 216, 2010). We see the advantages of Ainsworh's study in wanting to find out about attachment in humans, by studying humans.As well as showing more credibility into the mechanics of human attachment it also provided Ainsworth with the opportunity to develop a highly influential procedure called the strange situation because of the complexity of humans. This procedure consisted of a series of seven episodes involving three participants, namely mother, baby and a stranger. Page 3 personal identifier: C3257246On completion of the procedure in the highly controlled environment (which limited the amount of emotional upset to the child on encountering and being left alone with the stranger that was constructed in one of the episodes) Ainsworth identified four different types of attachment in the infants used in the observation. While benefiting from the conclusion reached it was only on the basis of a single observation and did not take into account important factors such as the mood of the in fants and how well they slept.The study also produced a further problem when the research was carried out in different countries revealing a great difference in the four types of attachment witnessed in her strange situation. This begs the question of ecological validity and how a controlled observation with a set of episodes is not the same for mothers and infants where these circumstances never arise, as in Japan the strange situation procedure never took place as it seemed to be inappropriate since â€Å"those mothers never left their babies in a room alone with a stranger† (Discovering psychology, p. 20,2010). However Harlow had his advantages too. The behaviour in non-human animals that Harlow used can be easier to interpret and to explain the results as unequivocal. Like Ainsworth Harlow carried out further experiments to strengthen the theory of a safe base now that contact comfort was established. In one of the further experiments â€Å"Harlow found that when the bab ies were placed in a large room full of toys they would curl up in a terrified ball if there was no mother or just the wire surrogate present†(Discovering Psychology, p. 07,2010) So even though we cannot be sure of the degree of findings on non humans and how applicable they are to humans, we see that the findings of at least â€Å"contact comfort† are shared with the observations of Mary Ainsworth. In contrast to the different approaches taken by both the physiologists we understand that ethics plays a major role. In the case of Mary Ainsworth we see the question of ethics need not be approached, even In her later research the strange situation. ll necessary procedures were put in place so not to cause suffering to the infants. The view on ethics taken by Harlow was quite inadequate and became cruel and inhumane which was not a surprising as Harlow did not have too much love for animals. He once said that all he cared about was â€Å"whether a monkey will turn out pro perly I can publish. I don't have any love for them. I never have† (Discovering Psychology, p. 212, 2010)unlike Ainsworth who morally complied and stopped her experiment immediately when the infant showed any sign of distress.Although there was not any ethical guidelines in place upon Harlow carrying out his research, the British psychological society states that â€Å"psychologists must be able to demonstrate that the benefits of a study justify the cost to the animal in terms of suffering†(Discovering Psychology, p. 211,2010) So the influential work carried out by Harlow could be argued â€Å"the suffering was justified because human society benefits greatly from the knowledge†. (Discovering Psychology, p. 212,2010)In conclusion this essay has shown the different approaches both psychologists took, By doing so the essay showed the similarity and differences of both studies. The essay showed that the main underlying issue in the two studies was of ethics and bec ause of this the approaches were very different. However the influential work of Harry Harlow proved that â€Å"contact comfort† was the mechanism for attachment by showing systematically â€Å"that contact comfort was more important than food in the formation of attachment†. Discovering Psychology, p. 206, 2010) This essay also found the similarity in Mary Ainsworth's studies without approaching the question of ethics, and like Harlow came to a similar conclusion of â€Å"contact comfort†,Also appreciating the safe base theory Finally this essay appreciates the discoveries made by both Harry Harlow and Mary Ainsworth on producing relevant information through there respective studies. Word count 1518 References: Brace, n. and Byford, j. (eds)Discovering Psycology(2010), Milton Keynes, The Open University. *

Pakistan Earthquake

On October 8, 2005 the history of Pakistan turned a new page when a massive earthquake hit the northern part of the country. It was said to be the most powerful quake in the last 100 years. It had a magnitude of 7. 6 and was accompanied by more than 60 aftershocks. It killed and injured more than thousands of people and caused massive destruction in the northern part. It was early in the morning when the earth shattering quake jolted the residents out of their beds. Those who were already up and about ready to go, or were at work and school rushed out of their buildings into the open air as the earth shook violently beneath them. They started praying. Still many were trapped as the buildings come down on them. Most of the students lost their lives, as they were completely unaware that they would be buried alive under the ruins of their school building. My family and I had moved to Islamabad (northern part of the country) just two days ago. Our part of the city was not as affected compared to the other parts and because of that we felt lucky. The Margalla Towers, an apartment complex collapsed and killed most of the residents living there. Many of our relatives and family friends lived in that area. Mom tried to call them but the communication systems were disrupted by the quake. This added to the anxiety of the people who could not call their relatives in the affected areas. Many of them were injured and lost most of their family members to the quake. However the most disturbing news was that my aunt lost her husband and her six months old son. The quake affected millions of people directly and indirectly. The official death toll was 87,000 and more than 100,000 people were injured. Many dead bodies were pulled, from the rubble with missing limbs or completely crushed by the rescue teams. But also there had been a handful of incredible stories of survival. Rescue teams worked against insurmountable odd, and succeeded in pulling victims alive from the rubble. A six year old boy became one of the last to be pulled alive from the earthquake’s devastation. After 200 hours, Ahmad had remained conscious but trapped eneath the layers of rubble, which was all that remained of his family’s apartment. â€Å"I was playing with my truck, then I fell†, he said, recounting what had happened. The rest of the family was not as lucky. There were other amazing stories, a ninety year old woman was found alive while other members of her family were lying dead around her, with exception of her three year old grandson. She was left to raise him at this old age. A mother was recovered de ad and she was shielding two children under her. One had died but the other lived. The quake affected millions of people, ordinary people come in thousands to help in relief efforts. Volunteers answered the calls for blood donations and brought food, water and other goods for the victims. Muzaffarabad and its surrounding areas were badly affected. Most of the villages were completely wiped out, and roads were blocked by heavy rocks from the Himalaya Mountains. The Pakistan Air Force helicopters that were well equipped to perform relief activities waved their way through the mountains and flew over the affected areas. But landing in some areas was impossible. The clock ticked by, and despite the hard work of the rescue teams, many bodies were trapped inside the heavy rubble, with an acute smell of human flesh coming from them. Nature continued to be needlessly cruel. There was rain and hail, many people without shelter died. In less than two months, the Himalaya Mountains got their first snowfall and the temperature was below zero. Aid came from around the world. But still it’s too little and often the wrong kind. There were not enough tents, blankets and warm clothe to go around. Hundreds of tents had been provided but thousands of families remain out under the sky. They face rain and hail with dread in their hearts. They have lost everything even their hope to live. Imagine yourself buried under the heavy rubble alive, with no food, no water and constantly bleeding and weighting for your only killer†¦ â€Å"time†. The devastating earthquake shocked the nation, but brought out the best as they rose up to the occasion to help the victims.

Laurels and What One Does With Them

Laurels and What One Does With Them Laurels and What One Does With Them Laurels and What One Does With Them By Maeve Maddox I heard a newscastersports I thinksay that someone was waiting on the laurels of someone. Sometimes I feel like an ancient Roman watching Latin turn into French. What did the newscaster mean? He had a vague recollection of having heard something about laurels and an -ing verb. The expression he was reaching for is resting on ones laurels. To rest upon ones laurels is to expend less effort, to give up striving for new victories, to rely on past success to cover up current failures. In classical times, winners of athletic contests and poetry slams were crowned with laurel wreaths because the laurel wreath was an attribute of the god Apollo, deity of music, poetry, and the arts. NOTE: art didnt mean the same to the ancients as it does in modern usage. For the Greeks, athletics belonged to the category of art. To the major arts, according to Cicero, belonged political and military arts; to the second class belonged purely intellectual arts, i.e., sciences, but also poetry and eloquence; to the third class belonged painting, sculpture, music, acting, athletics. Dictionary of the History of Ideas From this custom of crowning the best poets with a laurel wreath comes the term poet laureate, an official versifier appointed by a government to write poems for special occasions. Roman custom extended the use of the laurel wreath to crown victorious generals. During the Roman Republic, the second highest military honor was the Civic Crown, a wreath made of oak leaves. It was awarded to a Roman who had saved the life of fellow citizens by slaying an enemy on a spot not further held by the enemy that same day. Wikipedia The highest military honor was the Grass Crown, awarded to a general who broke a blockade around a threatened legion or army, saving it from annihilation. This one wasnt awarded too often. The association of oak leaves with military achievement survives to modern times. Certain miltary decorations make use of oakleaf clusters. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Masters Degree or Master's Degree?35 Genres and Other Varieties of FictionHow to Write a Proposal

All The Presidents Men Critic essays

All The Presidents Men Critic essays All The Presidents Men Critic All the Presidents Men is the story of the role of the press and Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in the Watergate scandal that forced Richard Nixon from his Presidential office. In the run-up to the 1972 election, Bob Woodward covers what at first appears to be a third rate break-in at the Democratic Party National headquarters located in the Watergate Complex. Five men in business suits, four of whom were Cubans, were caught attempting to electronically bug the office of Mr. OBrien, a Democrat. He is surprised to find top lawyers already on the defense case, and the discovery of names and addresses of Republican fund organizers in the address book belonging to one of the burglars further arouses his suspicions. The editor of the Post, Benjamin C. Bradlee, is prepared to run with the story and assigns Woodward and Carl Bernstein to work on the developments together. The two begin making phone calls and discover that there was a secret security fund collect ed in Maurice H. Stans safe for the purpose of illegal activities by the Committee to Re-elect the President. Woodwards anonymous high-level source called Deep Throat would meet him in a dark parking garage in the middle of the night, and through him, the reporters find the trail leading higher and higher in the Republican Party, and eventually into the White House itself. The ruthless committee hired hundreds of people to sabotage democratic activities and even go as far as ruining the campaign of Edmund Muskie through the Canuck Letter, written by the Deputy Director of Communications in the White House, Kenneth W. Clawson. The reporters attempted to interview the Grand Jury from the previous trials with Liddy and McCord but the members had alerted prosecutors so Judge Sirica called them to court and anonymously condemned their actions and gave them a speech o...