Where Am I Now Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Where Am I Now - Essay Example Although college was challenging, I graduated from the University of Peru with a degree in Communication. Using my degree, I published a 400-page book of nonfiction about preserving nature: I called it The Dream of the Dolphins. After this, I found a job with IBM selling large, mainframe computers to banks. In 1999, I met and later married my husband who I met at an IBM advertising conference. We married six months after the conference and we moved to the United States. Currently, we live in a small, friendly, community in Norwich, Vermont. Our home is on a farm, and we have four horses, four dogs and four children. I am currently working full-time as a graphic designer at a very successful advertising agency in Woodstock, Vermont. In addition, during my free time, I enjoy reading a good book and working out in the gym. Some of my hobbies include skydiving, hiking and horseback riding. One challenging issue for me is the fact that English is my second language. This means that I ofte n have to use an editor in order to make sure that I am writing the words correctly. What many people do not realize is that students with English as their second language have to use other ways of learning English that natural English speakers. According to Yau-hau Tse (2011) â€Å"students used six dimensions of language learning strategies: cognitive, social, association, compensation, assistance and constructive strategies† (p. 33). ... I notice that I basically ask many questions in class to make sure that I understand what is going on. I learn best through hands on learning, face to face and lectures. These methods suggest that I am a visual, kinesthetic and auditory learner (Fleming, 2011). This means that I need to hear and see what I am learning on one level and if the course adds some type of hands on ability, it allows me to totally engage in the learning of that subject. I find that if I have more than one way to approach a subject I have a better understanding of what I need to do to be successful with that subject. Luu Trong (2011) states that understanding the learning styles is important in order to engage students into specific learning. He calls learning styles â€Å"a consistent way of functioning which reflects cultural behavior patterns †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (p. 291) which means that because learning styles are based within cultures, they also can be stretched to accommodate more styles as they are develo ped. I am not sure that I am developing new learning styles yet, but perhaps this will happen later. Barnes, Marateo and Ferris (2007) suggest that there are many different styles to consider when working with learners and students today are part of a generation that they call The Net Generation. They say that this generation is very interested in education and that they are brought up in education from a very young age. I see myself as part of this particular generation and I do believe that my education is very important to my future goals. As they state, I have been involved with the Internet for a very long time and have and I understand my learning style very well. As a teacher/counselor/mentor/leader, I

Children of Illegal Immigrants and Education Research Paper

Children of Illegal Immigrants and Education - Research Paper Example 5). In turn, this has placed them at a disadvantage especially in the job market. A greater percentage of the 62% is of children whose parents are legal immigrants. A survey of five counties in 2004 revealed that 45% of US born children had undocumented parents and the studies further revealed that the education levels of children of legal immigrants were much higher than that of children of illegal immigrants born in US (Caps et al. 6). This has been attributed to the fact that children of illegal immigrants born in US are likely to be faced with higher levels of poverty, which hinders their academic progress as most of them are forced to drop out of school to work. This study seeks to explore medical, psychological, emotional and economic factors contributing to a wide gap in education between children of illegal immigrants born in U.S.A and children of the natives, in order to equip the illegal immigrant parents with a better understanding of what challenges these children are goi ng through so that they can help in bridging the gap in education between their children and those of the natives. ... Sometimes children are forcefully obligated to drop out of school to work in order for them to cater for their basic needs. Undocumented parents may also be reluctant to approach organizations that can aid in financing their children’s education for fear of deportation as opposed to the legal immigrants who can freely ask for financial aid (Capps et al. 12). The other contributory factor is that majority of the illegal immigrant women are less likely to work and because most of them are in the child – bearing age, they are more likely to have more children as opposed to the working class women. As a result, the parents of these immigrant children may find it difficult to finance the education of their many children (Tanakshi 24). Poor educational background of parents of illegal immigrants children Most illegal immigrant parents have less formal education as compared to the native parent. Studies indicate that thirteen percent of parents of immigrant children have less than grade nine educations and a greater percentage lack a high school diploma. The spectrum of higher education also indicates that parents of native children are better educated than the immigrants (Fix and Jeffrey 36). Therefore, this implies that the children of the natives are more likely to be inspired by their parent’s achievements and follow their example or the parents may also be of great assistance especially if the children are having problems with their homework. The studies further indicate that six out of every ten parents of immigrant children are not proficient in English and that a quarter of the immigrant children have at least one of the parents who speaks another language apart from English at

Human and Aquinas Theories on God

Human and Aquinas Theories on God Can anything of God be known from our knowledge of the world? Answer with reference to Aquinas and/or Hume. Hume concludes in his writings that Gods existence cannot be proved, however he does not explicitly say that God does not exist he merely draws into question the reasons as to why people believe it so. He shows that we can know only discrete facts but not universal necessities. He linked causation to assurance based on the discovery of that relationship between cause and effect but adding that even if two events show a relatively contiguity and succession (Hume, 1739) that is not in itself enough for a causal connection. Therefore by denying that a fundamental feature of reality can be described by the causality principle he rejects a key element purported for the existence of God. Due to the lack of empirical evidence Hume shows his disdain for the cosmological argument. With regard to the creation of the universe he states that there is no direct evidence although in the Bible it states for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made (Rom 1:20, KJV). Hume felt that it was impossible to prove the existence of something that was unknowable. We can look at the vastness of the universe with its billions of stars and galaxies or peer through a microscope into the minute world of atoms and cells and in both cases we see order, yet the fact that order is seen within the universe is also not enough for Hume to prove Gods existence. There are of course many who claim that such order must have a source in line with the order that we ourselves set in place, and therefore conclude that God must possess similar yet far superior properties. Hume counters that order must come directly from design if this argument is true; and even if there is such design, how can we know the designer?  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   In addition Hume feels that design alone does not explain an omniscient, omnipotent and benevolent God due to the evil we see around us in the world. Though theologians would explain that evil is only temporary due to mans fall and the influence of the Devil whose time is limited. The Bible states; for every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God (Hebrews 3:4, KJV) leading many to understandable feel that if a house needs a designer and a builder then surely something as small but vastly more complex such as a human cell also needs a designer and a builder for the alternative would be that a cell came about due to the blind operation of forces bequeathed from some unintelligent, inanimate matter. Yet no scientist has been able to make something from nothing. The laws of physics state that existing materials can only be transformed giving rise to the conclusion of the Bible writer Isaiah; when using an analogy of a potter and his clay he said, for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? (Isaiah 29:16, KJV). We see a beautiful painting hanging in an art gallery and inwardly marvel at the artists skill; we read a book and recognise that it had an author. When we stop at a red traffic light we understand that a law has be en set forth. We may not understand why certain laws are there, we may not understand what the artist or author was trying to portray in their works yet we do not use that lack of understanding to doubt that they exist. Hume considers that same Bible text in Hebrews 3:4 when he has Philo tell Cleanthes, If we see a house, Cleanthes, we conclude, with the greatest certainty, that it had an architect or builder (D 2.8), yet for Hume the analogy fails arguing that we would need experience in the creation of a material world to justify an a posteriori claim as to the cause of any particular material world. Lacking such experience we therefore lack the needed justification for claiming that the material universe must have an intelligent cause. His argument fails however as we do not need to see a house being built to know that it was constructed by builders following a blueprint given to them by the architect. He further argues that even if the inference is justified between the similarities of the universe and say, a house, it would not therefore follow that there is a perfect God that created it. It may well have been a number of gods for likewise a house takes a number of people to build (D 5.8), nor would the inference justify the conclusion that this God would need to be perfectly intelligent or good. Hume held that the existence of God and other such metaphysical issues should stand up to the same examination as any investigation involving physical sciences. That one cannot assume the existence of God based only the existence of the universe. In his dialogues Hume uses the character of Cleanthes to posit an illustration of a machine that is divided into lesser and lesser machines to prove the existence of a deity yet Demea believes that rather than attesting to a creator the analogy in fact gives rein to the atheists by departing in the least, from the similarity of the cases is so doing he said you diminish proportionably the evidence (D 2.7). Hume feels that the cases of the universe and a house are too dissimilar to support such an inference citing the example of steps on a staircase and human legs that can climb as a certain and infallible inference. Then why not make the house and universe or to a greater extent the Earth itself more comparable as the similarities go way bey ond the fact that both needed a designer and builder. When puzzling over the purpose of the Earth one need look no further than the purpose of a house; somewhere to live that provides light, heat, protection with a source of food and water. Our houses have a plumbing system the earth has the water cycle. Or look no further than a birds nest; these intricate complex structures we see high in trees do not get there by the random collection of twigs that are blown about by the wind. Yet if the nest didnt come about by chance then what of the bird that built it. Can anything of God be known from our knowledge of the world? If were left with any doubt at all then one need look no further than life itself. The principle of uniformity is in effect the same as the analogy criterion. Therefore the past theories that have been postulated invoke similar causes to those we now have, in line with what Hume called uniform experience. Looking at the origins of life what is our uniform experience? It is that information in all its forms is generated by an intelligent agent. Where in the body is a plethora of information stored? In ones DNA. Therefore it is reasonable to conclude that there must have been an intelligent cause for the first, the original DNA code. Whether we are looking at written language as in the example of the book earlier, or at a DNA strand, both exhibit the property and quality of specified complexity. We know of course that there is an intelligent cause for written language subsequently engendering a legitimate reason to posit an intelligent cause as the source of DNA and by extension life itself. David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (1896 ed.) [1739]

Investigating the effect of varying concentration on the reaction betwe

Investigating the effect of varying concentration on the reaction between magnesium ribbon and hydrochloric acid Aim It is to tell how the reaction between magnesium and hydrochloric acid will be effected if we change the concentration of hydrochloric acid. Introduction In the experiment the magnesium reacts with the hydrochloric acid to create magnesium chloride and hydrogen. The balanced formula for this is: Mg(s) + 2HCL(aq) MgCl2(aq) + H2(g) Magnesium + hydrochloric acid Magnesium Chloride + Hydrogen Magnesium will react with hydrochloric acid, because it is higher in the reactivity series than hydrogen. The magnesium displaces the hydrogen in the acid, so it forms magnesium chloride and hydrogen gas. Magnesium strip Hydrochloric acid particles There are many variables that I can change, which are the temperature and concentration of the hydrochloric acid, and the mass and the surface area of the magnesium strip. This is all true because they all link to the collision theory of particles colliding with enough energy to make a reaction. It is based on the idea that for a chemical reaction to take place, the reacting particles have to hit each other hard enough to break or form new bonds. This is called a successful collision. When particles get stimulated or increased in number, the reaction will increase in rate because faster collisions will take place making more successful collisions. This diagram shows five solutions hydrochloric acid and magnesium ribbon that are reacting. The arrows represent a simplified way to show how many successful collisions occur each second; therefore the more arrows there are, the faster the rate of reaction. They show how different factors can affect the rate of reaction against t... ...at are very hard to keep constant so it would have been helpful to repeat the experiment again or even more. The syringe could have stuck on the barrel around it giving me lower readings on curtain points or when the reaction stopped. I should have put some lubricant around it to stop this from possibly happening. Further Work I could test the concentrations for the ones in between like 0.25 and 0.75 to see how the rate of reaction changes. I could also change the acid reactant to sulphuric acid or phosphoric acid to see and compare the results with different molecular make-ups. The other reactant that I could change is the type of metal I use. Using the less reactive metals like zinc, aluminium, iron or lead enables me to test the higher concentrations like 3M or 4M because the reaction will go slower so I will be able to read the results off the syringe properly.

What Is Criminal Justice

A crime is committed when a person has violated the law by the state, federal government and local jurisdiction system and cannot be justified. Crime can be categorized in several types of ways; felonies, misdemeanors, offenses, treason and espionage and inchoate offenses. Felonies are considered to be major crimes which could cost an offender jail time, probation and confiscated property. The two most common models of how society determines whether a crime has been committed are criminal law and criminal justice. Criminal law relates to crime and punishment.In contrast, criminal justice focus is geared towards the right and wrong doing in situations. There is no separation between social and criminal justice because justice is portrayed by our nation’s criminal court. The law is a set of guidelines that has been applied through public establishment to regulate behavior wherever possible. Criminal law has two essential parts which are substantive criminal law that identifies c rimes and punishment the offender may face and procedural law is a method use to enforce substantive law.The government structure that applies to the criminal justice system is connected by the federal, state and local level. The government has three branches to help avert and manage crime the legislature, judiciary and the executive. The legislature division determines what is right and wrong and how congress passes laws. The executive branch enforces the law and judiciary system interprets the law. Criminological theory is an explanation of the causes of crime and how it is connected within the criminal justice system.Understanding the criminal is significant to first understand how civilization thinks and determine what acts are considering a crime. A thought based on classical and neoclassical of criminology is a choice theory. Conscious choices created by choice theory are a basic belief of criminality. To understand choice theory, it is important to first address the basic ass umptions use by classical theorist.Schmalleger (2009) stated, â€Å"Crime is caused by the individual exercise of free will. Human beings are fundamentally rational, and most human behavior is the result of free will coupled with rational choice† (pp. 83-84). Early theorist of the classical school believed that pain and pleasure were the dominate traits that governed human behavior. These early rational were replaced with a more modern rational choice theory. Scott (2000) stated, â€Å"What distinguishes ational choice theory form other forms of theory is that it denies the existence of any kinds of action other than purely rational and calculative. All social action can be seen as rationally motivated, as instrumental actions, however much it may appear to be irrational or non-rational† (p. 2). The concept of personal choice is rooted in the analysis of human behavior developed by Ceasar Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham. Bentham essentially said that an individual would co mmit a crime as long as the reward outweighed the consequences.

Contemporary Research on Parenting

Contemporary Research on Parenting: The case for Nature and Nurture W. Andrew Collins, Eleanor E. Maccoby, Laurence Steinberg, E. Mavis Hetherington and Marc. Bornstein Current findings on parental influences provide more sophisticated and less deterministic explanations than did earlier theory and research on parenting.Contemporary research approaches include: (a) behavior-genetic designs, augmented with direct measures of potential environmental influences; (b) studies distinguishing among children with different genetically influenced predispositions in terms of their responses to different environmental conditions; (c) experimental and quasi-experimental studies of change in children’s behavior as a result of their exposure to parents’ behavior, after controlling for children’s initial characteristics; and (d) research on interactions between parenting and nonfamilial environmental influences and contexts, illustrating contemporary concern with influences bey ond the parent-child dyad.These approaches indicate that parental influences on child development are neither as unambiguous as earlier researchers suggested nor as insubstantial as current critics claim. Although the use of donor sperm to enable couples with an infertile male partner to have children has been practiced for many years, it is only since 1983, following advances in reproductive technology, that infertile women have been able to conceive a child using a donated egg (Lutjen et al. , 1984; Trousin, Leeton, Beasanka, Wood, & Conti, 1983). This procedure involves fertilization of the donated egg with the father’s sperm in the laboratory, followed by the transfer of the resulting embryo to the mother’s uterus. Thus, it is now possible for children to be born to, and raised by, mothers with whom they have no genetic link.A number of concerns have been expressed regarding the potential negative consequences of gamete donation for children’s psychological well being, the most common of which is that the practice of keeping information about genetic origin secret from the child may have and adverse effect on the quality of parent-child relationships and consequently on the child (Daniels & Taylor, 1993; Schaffer & Diamond, 1993). As few children are told that a donated sperm of egg had been used in their conception, the large majority grow up not knowing that their father or mother is genetically unrelated to them. Findings suggestive of an association between secrecy about genetic parentage and negative outcomes for children have come from research on adoption.It has been demonstrated that adopted children benefit from knowledge about their biological parents, and that children who are not given such information may become confused about their identity and ar risk for emotional problems ( Hoopes, 1990; Sants, 1964; Schechter & Bertocci, 1990; Triseliotis, 1973). In the field of assisted reproduction, parallels have been drawn with th e adoptive situation and it has been suggested that lack of knowledge of, or information about, the donor may be harmful for the child (Clamar, 1989; Snowden. 1990; Snowden, Mitchell, & Snowden, 1983). From a family therapy perspective, secrets are believed to be detrimental to family functioning because they create boundaries between those who know and those who do not, and cause anxiety when topics related to the secret are discussed (Karpel, 1980).In examining the particular case of parents keeping secrets from their children, Papp (1993) argued that children can sense when information is being withheld due to the taboo that surrounds the discussion of certain topics, and that they may become confused and anxious, or even develop symptoms of psychological disorder, as a result. A further concern raised by the use of gamete donation is that parents may feel or behave less positively toward a nongenetic than a genetic child. It has been argued that the child may not be fully accept ed as part of the family, and that the absence of a genetic tie to one or both parents may have an undermining effect on the child’s sense of identity (Burns, 1987). It has also been suggested that whether or not gamete donation has been used in thechild’s conception, the stress of infertility may lead to dysfunctional patterns of parenting, which may result in negative outcomes for the child (Burns, 1990).In spite of the expectations that children conceived by gamete donation may be at risk for psychological problems, a previous study of assisted reproduction families by the present authors (Golombok, Cook, Bish, & Murray, 1995) foud a greater involvement in parentiong aoun donor insemination parents than among a control group of parents with a naturally conceived child, with no differences in the quality of parent-child relationships between donor insemination parents and either adoptive parents or parents with a genetically related child conceived by in vitro fertil ization. The children in these different family types were functioning well and did not differ with respect to their emothions, behavior, or relationships. It was concluded that a strong desire for parenthood seemed to be more importand than genetic relatedness for fosteringtive outcomes may be expected in families where the child and the father are genetically unrelated compared with families where genetic link exists between the father and the child.