Friday, September 6, 2019

War Letters Essay Example for Free

War Letters Essay The war letters, written in different years, not only revealed different emotions of the writers but also gave some hints of what circumstances and danger, they were facing during those times. These letters also expressed their dreams, motivations, purposes, beliefs and the things that they stand or fight for. The war letters, no matter in what time frames they were written, possess many themes in common such as: love, longing, pride, anxiety, hope and encouragement. Also, the people who wrote the letters were really proud and were always willing to sacrifice their lives for the country. They have been serving their country with honor, pride and dignity from the past up to present. However, still each letter is different from one another. They express different degrees of patriotism, affection, and different beliefs or stands and purpose. First, we will cite the similarities among the letters, their common themes and emotions expressed. Afterwards, we will differentiate each letter from one another in terms of their degrees in expression of patriotism, affection and other ideas. Lastly, we will compare three examples of war letters from the War on Terror. The letters were written by the family to the men in uniform who were deployed to certain places to engage with military activities to protect their nation and those written by the soldiers themselves for their family whom they have left, shared common themes. Affection, hope and love are the most common subject that these letters have (Gilderlehrman. org, 2006). The letters usually start with the lines about missing and longing for each other. These are one of the major conflicts and problems that they all deal with. Like what was said from the letter from Tonya Stives to his husband Army Master Sgt. Rahamon Phillips who has been in uniform for 16 years: â€Å"I just can’t figure out how not to miss you every day, all day. Nothing can prepare me for not missing you (militarycity. com). † The letters were also full of inspiring words and that expressing affection. They encourage and boost the self-esteem of the officers by telling them how proud they are of the soldiers. For example, Harman wrote a letter to his Uncle Albert to praise the bravery and dedication of his cousin, Thomas Garber during the Civil war on September 17, 1862 (virginia. edu). The messages from the family to the soldiers often made use of the term â€Å"hero† to refer to the recipients. Furthermore, they put more importance on the military work and duty than on their desire to be together. The family gave their full support for the soldiers. Moreover, all of them were martyrs who took the sacrifices optimistically. The families want the soldiers to stay safe and focus on their missions. Also, they thought and look at this separation in a positive way. For instance, they looked at it as a way to strengthen their relationship. The family who wrote the letters chose their words properly as not to hurt the feelings and not to make the soldiers worry in any case. Like for example, one of the letters from Holly to her husband Army Staff Sgt. Edward Nicorvo, described the disadvantages of not having her husband in their home but in a lighter way just as to put some humor on the letter (militarycity. com). The feeling of anxiety by the families left behind was never gone in the letters. They are always worried for their beloved heroes because they don’t have any idea to where he or she is right now and under what situations. Furthermore, of course, the letters won’t end without expressing the excitement for the return of the officer. The other common purposes of the war letters are: to reminisce over moments together or moments right before they parted ways; to show that the recipient is remembered and to provide comfort; to assure him or her that he is not alone in that fight and that their prayers are always with him. We can observe in the letters in some aspects that time stands still. The year or decades when the letters were written were irrelevant upon looking at the basic messages of the letters. From the past up to the recent wars in America, the letters still revolved around the basic themes and still have the purposes stated above. They all expressed patriotism. The family expressed it in the way of showing support and understanding the soldiers in this fight. The soldiers, on the other hand, willingly sacrifice their time with their families and their very own lives. This reflects on the letter of Sullivan Balou to his wife expressing his fear about death and how he might not be able to spend time with their sons (civil-war. net). The soldiers have a common goal: They all fight to protect the freedom of the future generation. This is a very interesting passage which illustrates this: â€Å"I listened to an audio book on the way here, â€Å"No End Save Victory,† a collection of letters and stories from WW II. It got me thinking that this situation, and the people in it, is not that much different. They were citizen-soldiers, too. They didn’t want to leave home, but they did. They lived under difficult situations. But they felt a sense of obligation, of duty, so they did the job they had to do. And got it done. Then they went back to their homes and their lives. And built the world we live in today. The same thing is going to happen here. We’re not so different (Sandy D. , a mobilized Air Force Reserve officer from Lubbock, Texas,). † The letters, although alike in many ways, still have differed from each other. First, they differ in the intensity of affection. When the recipient and the sender have been together for quite a long period of time, the letters have less affectionate words. They focus on updating the one deployed. Maybe this is because they are used of the separation. They also differ on the passion of the men in uniform to serve their country. Some soldiers’ letter expressed less patriotic thoughts and focused more on the comforts that they missed at home. While some letters revealed many enthusiasms in serving the country. For example, is a letter from General Riedesel to his wife written in 1776 (Louise et al, 1867). He believed that God has placed him in his present calling. Second, only some of the letters have great sense of hope. Like that one written by Sgt. Gary Teal recently deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan (militarycity. com). Some of the letters are not fully patriotic and are more concerned with themselves and personal worries: â€Å"How do I steel myself against the uncertainty that each day brings? How do I ensure that, when I fall asleep, sweet dreams of my loving wife await me instead of the conflict raging around me? How do I fill the hole in my heart caused by not being there to watch my son grow and experience the wonders of life? How do I pass to my son the values of honor and selfless service you gave me? (Army Capt. Clark C. Hatch for his father)† Next, only some of the letters stated affirmative words about the troop they have been working together. How wonderful the people they are with and what great family they have built together. I also noticed that gender role somehow, evolved from the 1860’s in comparison to the present. Before, male soldiers are more prominent and common. There were rarely or almost no female participants in the war. Like what we can see in the letters written by Thomas Lucas and family during the civil war (Sauerburger and Bayard, 2007). Nevertheless, six years ago (in 2003), there were many women in uniform deployed to Afghanistan and many participated in the Operation Enduring Freedom. Like the three daughters of Laurie Pocsi, a single mom and certified public accountant in Wayne, N. J (militarycity. com). Those are some of the similarities and differences of the war letters from different years. Now, I have read three different war letters during the War on terror or War on Terrorism (militarycity. com). One is from Marine Sgt. Tony Watkins who deployed in early November 2001 for Operation Enduring Freedom. The next one is from Marine Corps Reserve Lt. Col. Tom D. Barna for his son. Moreover, the last letter was from Lance Cpl. Joshua Phillips, who was based in Kandahar, Afghanistan, during Operation Enduring Freedom, for his family. These three letters have similarities and differences as well. They are similar to each other and to the other letters before if we are to consider the main message and common themes implied in the letters. These letters stated some things about longing for loved ones, affection, patriotism and updates. They differ in the fact that some letters are more dramatic and expressed love of the country more convincingly. Also, they differ on their implied purposes of fighting against the terrorists. As illustrations let me share some of the significant lines from the three letters. This one is from Tony Watkins: â€Å"The emotions of seeing this large symbol of what we are here for was almost more than I could hold down. This flag made of simple cloth re-emphasized to all who saw it that they were here in this desert hole for a reason. Not to exact revenge but to enforce justice (militarycity. com). † We can see here the deep desire of Tony to enforce justice. To seek for those who were responsible for the September 11 attack. Maybe his driving force is the thousands of lives that were lost from the attacks of the terrorists. This second letter was from Tom for his son: â€Å"I will be honest with you: Nothing in my life is greater than serving the Corps, God and country. Even so, I am here for another reason, too — a reason that personally motivates me. I am here so you won’t one day have to come back and finish something we didn’t take care of here and now. † Now we witnessed here a more personal purpose of the father fighting in the war. The third letter from Joshua was just a typical letter for his messages for his family. War letters denote some information regarding the social history of the United States (Blight, 2002). From the past decades up to the present moment, we can see that American citizens haven’t changed that much especially when it comes to patriotism. They are still all the ever protective and ever willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of future generations. We are all still united. The soldiers didnt fight alone; they have their family behind them making them stronger. This sense of unity was born before and is still living up to these days.I believe that this will continue up to the future. References: Blight, B. W. (2002). Beyond the Battlefield: Race, Memory the American Civil War. Univ of Massachusetts Press. Civil-war. net. (2009). Letters and Diaries. Retrieved on February 5, 2009, from http://www. civil-war. net/searchlinks. asp? searchlinks=Letters%20and%20Diaries Gilderlehrman. org. (2006). Battle Lines: Letters from America’s wars. Retrieved on February 4, 2009 from http://www. gilderlehrman. org/collection/battlelines/index_good. html Luise, F. C. , Riedesel, A. R. and Stone, W. L. (1867). â€Å"Letters and Journals Relating to the War of the American Revolution, and the Capture of the German Troops at Saratoga†. J. Munsell. Miltarycity. com. Letters. Retrieved on February 3, 2009 from http://www. militarycity. com/letters/1-729599. html Sauerburger, D. B. and Bayard, T. L. (2007). â€Å"I Seat Myself to Write you a Few Lines: Civil War and Homestead Letters from Thomas Lucas and Family, VOLUME 2†. Heritage Books Virginia. edu. Letters from: Harman to his Uncle Albert 1862. Retrieved on February 2, 2009, from http://etext. lib. virginia. edu/etcbin/civwarlett-browse? id=A0808

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Strategies to Reduce Water Scarcity

Strategies to Reduce Water Scarcity Water Woes- how can you reduce fresh water scarcity in a country? Abstract The essay can be divided into three parts. First of all, it will introduce the fresh scarcity in Israel. secondly, it will discuss some questions and methods for the water scarcity in Israel. finally, I will give my own opinion and image what will the water scarcity be in the future in Israel. Introduction The essay is going to introduce that how to reduce fresh water scarcity in Israel. The water is very lacking in this country. Not only for human, but also for the animals and plants live this country. In the other hand, the government of Israel has tried many methods to reduce the fresh water scarcity. Even they had the war for the water. But still is powerless on this way. Per capita water for the people of Israel is only 150 MCM. But in fact the capita water they used have reached 290 MCM. Otherwise, because of the pollution from the industries, the water chemistry in local river is not good. At all, the best way to reduce the water scarcity in Israel is to combine many methods like artificial rainfall, the implementation of each person to save water with reward system, the use of recycled water to solve this problem. Methodology The plan for achieving research purpose for 3 stages. They are first collect all the methods that can reduce the fresh water scarcity. Next, compare these methods and get the finally few methods which are suitable for Israel. Finally, image to put these methods to Israel and compare the data from Israel. Check whether they are suitable for Israel. The most of the information I got was form Bing. Because this website is relatively large and reliable. Furthermore, I chose the resource as possible which has the author and the date of creation. In addition, I deliberately chose the information on the websites which have different data that I want to use as the sources I used. And I think the name of website which is socialistworker.org is the best website I found. Because it got a lot of useful information. For example, it introduces the terrain of Israel, the history of the methods which the government ever used before and so on. Findings There are two issues are serious about water scarcity in Israel. One issue is the per capita water for the people who lives in Israel uses too much. In the front of the essay, mentioned the per capita water for the people of Israel is only 150 MCM. But they did not save to use water. So the result of the usage amount is far beyond the standard. If Israel wants to reduce the fresh water scarcity. They must overcome this difficulty. I think that the government in Israel can give some policies. For example, if someone save to use water reach to some standard. He can get some money like this. Another issue is because of about 80% of water in Israel has already reused many times. The quality of the water is not good. In my opinion, Israel must find the other water resource. We all know, Israel face two seas. They can make full use of this condition. In my view, they need to vigorously develop the technology that can convert seawater into fresh water. Although the cost is very high. But if they solved the water scarcity problem, they can get more money return. Now the population of Israel is about 8 million 500 thousand. And the area of Israel is about 25740 square kilometers. Compare Israel with china. We all know that there are a lot of people in china and the per capita water for per Chinese is very low. But the per capita water for Israel people are only 1/4 of chinas per capita water. The chart shows the proportionof the water resources situation in Israel. The data came from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/brief/Water.html and http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/scarcity.html Discussion In this section, this essay will evaluate the findings in light of the hypothesis firstly. Secondly, discuss the proposed solution. I think the content I wrote in the findings section is more clearly provides the solution. Then, combine the pie graph in the findings section and think about my proposed solution that is find other water resource. Form the graph, we can know that most of the fresh water of Israel is from seawater. This means my proposed solution is working. On the other hand, the problem about the per capita water for the Israel people. This is the most important problem actually. In this issue, the government of Israel has ruled that 100 liters of water per capita per day on average for the people in Israel. Expect the Palestinians. They can only get 70 liters of water per capita per day on average. Furthermore, in some areas, the figure is as low as 20 liters per day for Palestinians. By contrast, Israelis consume up to 300 liters per capita per day. That is unfair. I n addition, the local people in Israel are using too much water. They still not pay attention to the importance of water conservation. Although the government always propagandas water conservation. we can do a calculation. Lets say one local people in Israel use 300 liters per day and expect the Palestinians firstly. There are about 8 million 500 thousand people. It is amount of 255 million liters. It is a big number for a country which is lacking of the water. Conclusions and Recommendations In conclusion, the proposed solution that the essay mentioned is suitable for Israel after the comparison of the data and in light of the background of Israel. but actually the government of Israel is doing the solution that the essay given. Just not enough for reach the point that can solve the water scarcity. So, whether can solve the water scarcity in Israel fundamentally is depend on the per capita water the Israel people using. On the other hand, if the government of Israel limits the consume of water for Israel people compulsory too much. They will be unhappy and remonstrant absolutely. So, government must give some other benefits to instead of this. Finally, according to my research, Israel also use many other methods to get fresh water. One of them is artificial rainfall. This is the easiest way. Israel is the famous country that has the lowest natural resources. So, in my opinion, they should use many methods at the same time for saving water. Like use artificial rainfall, t he implementation of each person to save water with reward system, the use of recycled water to solve this problem. Reference list       Sumaya Awad, Apartheid Israels war on water (2016). Available from: https://socialistworker.org/2016/07/28/apartheid-israels-war-on-water [Accessed 29 December 2016] Water Resources of Israel(online). Available from: http://www.gsi.gov.il/eng/?CategoryID=112ArticleID=159 [Accessed 29 December 2016] Water in Israel: Israels Chronic Water Problem (2016). Available from: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/scarcity.html [Accessed 29 December 2016] Arwa Aburawa. Water And Israel The Facts (2011). Available from: http://www.greenprophet.com/2011/08/water-and-israel-the-facts/ [Accessed 29 December 2016]   Ã‚  

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Immigration Policy Of America Politics Essay

Immigration Policy Of America Politics Essay Immigration has been part of legislation since the founding of the nation. In 1790, Congress established a process saying ones that are born in the United States become citizens automatically. The first federal law was passed in 1875 limiting immigration qualification in order to prohibit the entry of criminals and prostitutes. Currently, there are two forms of immigration: permanent admission and temporary admission. The ones that are allowed permanent admission are granted permanent resident and a green card. Permanent residents are allow working in the United States and are able to file for citizenship. In 2004, there were about 946,000 people that were admitted to the United States as a permanent resident. Temporary admission is for foreigners who want entry to the United States for a limited of time on behalf of a specific purpose such as visiting families, tourism, temporary work, or school. These people are classified as nonimmigrants. Temporary admissions are not allowed to a pply for United States citizenship. If they want to apply for citizenship through naturalization, they need to submit an additional application for permanent resident before they can do so. In 2004, 5 million people were granted temporary admission. Immigration policy in the United States reflects many goals. First, it serves to reunite many families by admitting family members from foreign countries. Second, due to labor shortage, United States can admit ones with a specific skill to fill up positions in occupations. Third, it provides a shelter for people that face the risk of political or religious persecution from their own country. Lastly, by letting people from foreign countries immigrate to United States, it allows us to become a more diverse nation. Even though United States has goals for immigrations, there are still many rules and regulations involved; not anyone can just enter United States and become permanent or temporary residents. United States may deny visas or admission on either the temporary admission or permanent admission for many reasons. Some reasons may be because of criminal records, health records, or terrorism concerns. Immediate family members of a United States citizens are allow immigrating to the U nited States without many limitations. Citizens of the United States are allowed to sponsor relatives for permanent residents under the family-sponsored preference program. According to Garnett Hardin in his paper called Lifeboat Ethnics: The Case against Helping the Poor, he thinks that United States should simply not provide aid to people in the poor countries. Hardin started out his essay with a metaphor comparing the earth to a grand spaceship. Hardin said, Since we all share life on this planetà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ no single person or institution has the right to destroy, waste, or use more than a fair share of its resources (402). Hardin is more practical rather than liberal. He imagined United States as a lifeboat and the people that are out in the ocean are the ones that want to immigrate to United States. Hardin says, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦we must recognize the limited capacity of any lifeboat. A nations land has a limited capacity to support a population and as the current energy crisis has shown us, in some ways we have already exceeded the carrying capacity of our land (403). The way that Hardin think is correct. United States have more people being born each day then people dying; if United States accepts anyone as an immigrant, the nation would not have enough land to support them. Furthermore, there are many lazy people in this world. As what Hardin was saying, lets assume that we have a fifty people capacity on our lifeboat. To be generous, we can make room for ten more making the total capacity of sixty people. If we can make room for ten more, then we would need to make room for the rest of them also. Pretty soon, the lifeboat is going to overfill and everyone can possibly drown. To make that short, if we take one person into the nation, we would need to take the rest. There is no point letting them into our nation if they are not going to make any contributions. I believe that United States should only take immigrants that can contribute to the nation. Currently, there are many permanent residents in this nation that does not make any contribution whatsoever. Many immigrants have the mentality that if their relatives in the United States are able to sponsor them to come over, then they can sponsor them for the rest of their lives. In my opinion, ones that have an education, have a specific reason to come over to the United States, and ones that can help out the nation are allow becoming permanent residents in the United States. In John Tierneys paper, Angels in America, he believes that the United States immigration policy is too strict causing many immigrants to come illegally. Tierney used his grandfather and an illegal immigrant, Angel Espinoza, as examples. Tierney thinks it is unfair that Espinoza is not allowed to apply for citizenship while others can. Tierney continued onto explaining Espinozas situation. Espinoza left farm just like Tierneys grandfather and came illegally to the United States with little education. Later, he married an American descendant from his native country just like what Tierneys grandfather did. Tierneys grandfather applied for United States citizenship afterward and got approved while Espinoza did not. Espinoza was once caught at the border and violated the law which made him ineligible for a green card and permanent residency. Tierney goes on to explaining how Espinoza and his grandfather both worked hard, chasing the Americans dream, to support their families. Espinoza ha d to go to work every day with the fear of being departed from the United States for working illegally but his grandfather did not had to go through that. Tierney believes that if one is willing to work to achieve their goals then they should be treated equally. Tierney said, Id like to see Republicans on Capitol Hill explain to Espinoza why hes less deserving than their immigrant ancestors, but thats probably too much to expect. Espinoza has a simpler wish: I would like them to tell my American daughter why her father cant stay with her' (704). I personally disagree with Tierneys idea of immigration. Just because one is hard working does not necessarily mean they deserve to be a United States citizen. I believe that in order to become a United States citizen, one must have a moral character, knowledge of the United States history and government, and willingness to support the United States politically and militarily. Because Espinoza was caught at the border at one point in time, h e does not have the moral character. Tierney stated, Its been argued that Mexicans are different from past immigrants because theyre closer to home and less likely to assimilate. Compared with other immigrants today, theyre less educated, and their children are more likely to get poor grades and drop out of school (703). As I stated before, if one does not have an education, they are less likely able to contribute to the United States and have knowledge of the history and government. There are over a million immigrants that enter the United States legally or illegally each year. Having immigrants allow employers to have cheap labor but in the meantime, as David Masci stated, American workers suffer because the newcomers take jobs and suppress wage levels. Many people also argued that native-born people are unwilling to do low-wage jobs but that has been proven wrong. According to Mark Krikorian, an executive director of the Center of Immigration Studies, said in the article Debate Over Immigration, In parts of the country with few immigrants, low-wage jobs still get done, and by native-born people. Americans are not unwilling to do such jobs, but we prefer not to do so. If these immigrants did not take these low-wage positions, native-born Americans will be forced to take these types of jobs. Krikorian also said, Employers could find Americans to do these jobs if they wanted to, but theyd have to provide training and raise wages to do so. It is just easier to all ow immigrants to take these positions. There are also arguments stating that immigrants are over-crowding the United States and preventing immigrants already here from assimilating into American society (Masci). Masci also said that immigrants came to United States in the past because they want to be here, but currently, immigrants immigrate here for job opportunities and the concept of freedom. A lot of immigrants from foreign countries have the mentality that if they come to the United States and not able to find a job then they can get governmental aid such as Welfare. I believe that these are the type of people that are not allowed to immigrate to the United States. They do not truly love the country, but instead they want to come here for the freedom and for a better environment. In conclusion, immigration is a problem in the United States. People from foreign countries want to come to the United States for freedom and job opportunities. With all these people coming over and taking jobs from the current Americans, it causes the citizens to suffer. The extra people that are immigrating to the United States are overcrowding the nation. It is making it harder for new immigrants to adapt to and experience the American society when there are so many new immigrants coming into the nation each year. United States need a more strict immigration policy in order to keep out all the criminals and prevent terrorism. I highly agree with Garnett Hardins view of immigration where we should keep out as many immigrants as possible, and I strongly disagree with Tierneys view of immigration. He thinks that the policy right now is too strict causing people to come illegally. Without a strict policy, our nation would be in more danger due to criminals and terrorism.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

The Rate Law for Chemical Reaction Among Hydrogen Peroxide, Iodide, and

The Rate Law for Chemical Reaction Among Hydrogen Peroxide, Iodide, and Acid To determine the rate law for a chemical reaction among hydrogen peroxide, iodide and acid, specifically by observing how changing each of the concentrations Experiment 3 Chemical Kinetics Objectives 1. To determine the rate law for a chemical reaction among hydrogen peroxide, iodide and acid, specifically by observing how changing each of the concentrations of H2O2, and H+ affects the rate of reaction. 2. To observe the effects of temperature and catalyst on the rate of reaction. Introduction Generally, two important questions may be asked about a chemical reaction: (1)How far do the reactants interact to yield products, and (2) how fast is the reaction? â€Å"How far?† is a question of chemical equilibrium which is the realm of chemical thermodynamics. â€Å"How fast?† is the realm of chemical kinetics, the subject of this experiment. In this experiment we will study the rate of oxidation of iodide ion by hydrogen peroxide which proceeds according to the following reaction: H2O2 (aq) + 2 I-(aq) + 2H+(aq) I2(aq) + 2H2O(l) By varying the concentrations of each of the three reactants (H2O2, I- and H+), we will be able to determine the order of the reaction with respect to each reactant and the rate law of the reaction, which is of the form: Rate = k [H2O2]x[I-]y[H+]z By knowing the reaction times († t) and the concentrations of H2O2 of two separate reaction mixtures (mixtures A & B), the reaction order of H2O2, x, can be calculated. x = log(† t2/ † t1) / log ( [H2O2]1/[H2O2]2 ) The same method is used to obtain the reaction order with respect to I- (mixtures A & C) and H+ (mixtures A & D). Procedures Part I) Standardization of H2O2 Solution 1. A stand, a burette clamp and a white tile were collected to construct a titration set-up. 2. A burette was rinsed with deionized water and then with 0.05 M Na2S2O3 solution. 3. The stopcock of the burette was closed and the sodium thiosulphate solution was pour into it until the liquid level was near the zero mark. The stopcock of the burette was opened to allow the titrant to fill up the tip and then the liquid level was adjusted near zero. 4. The initial burette reading was recorded in Table 1. 5. 1.00 cm3 of the ~0.8 M H2O2 solution was pipetted into a clean 125 ... ...te of a reaction by providing an alternative pathway for the reaction, usually with a pathway of lower activation energy than that of the uncatalyzed reaction. There are some improvements in this experiment. First, hydrogen peroxide is unstable, it decomposes to water and oxygen by time. Therefore do the titration as quick as possible. 2H2O2(aq) 2H2O(I) + O2(g) Second, the concentration of iodine increase is due to the iodide can be oxidized by oxygen which promoted by acids. Therefore do the titration as quick as possible. 4I-(aq) + O2(g) + 4H+(aq) 2I2(aq) + 2H2O(aq) Third, as for the human error, the problem can be minimized by performing the titration by the same person. So, the reading can be taken by the same person and the color change can be observed by the same person. Conclusion In the experiment, the reaction was found to be zero order respect to (H+), it is first order respect to iodide, (I-) , it is first order respect to hydrogen peroxide, (H2O2). Hence the rate law is Rate = k[H2O2][I-]. The rate of reaction is increase when the temperature is increase and the rate is increase when a positive catalyst is added to the reaction.

Educating Rita By Willy Russell and The Social, Historical And Cultural Context Of Britain In The Late 1970s :: Educating Rita russell Essays

"Educating Rita" By Willy Russell and The Social, Historical And Cultural Context Of Britain In The Late 1970's 'Educating Rita' by 'Willy Russell relates to the social, historical and cultural context of Britain in the late 1970's throughout the play and this extremely strong and believable reference to these three subjects contribute to a good piece of drama. 'Willy Russell' makes these references in everything, from the smallest detail, Rita's hair colour to the extreme stereotyping of each of the two classes. These experiences are based on 'Russell's' own life and the character of 'Rita' is a mirror of him, because of this it is a strong and realistic account of the 1970's. 'Rita' has shared the same experiences as 'Russell' in both school and work, they were both under pier pressure not to do well and school and would be singled out if they studied. Rita: "But studyin' was just for wimps, wasn't it? See, if I'd started takin' school seriously I would have become different from me mates, an' that's not allowed." Because of this attitude to school, or the attitude school gave them, both 'Rita' and 'Russell' ended up in a dead end hairdressing job, but both of them decided they would change there life and both began to break away. I think that because so much reference is realistic due to the above, an audience of 1979 or 1980 when they play was shown would have been able to relate so well to the characters, especially people in there twenties or forties now because they would be able to remember what it was like for them when they went to school or university and they would be filled with past memories and emotions, a sign of good drama, something that can evoke emotions. During the play the characters of 'Rita' and 'Frank are the biggest demonstration of cultural difference. Rita represents the working class culture and stands for what they were, a class who strived to escape their dead end jobs and make a better life for themselves, Frank, on the other hand is the representation of the working class. Although some might say he is a disgrace to his culture he is a perfect example of the middle classes, someone who has it handed to them on a plate and they take it for granted. These differences are first noticed at the beginning of the play, in 'Rita's' opening scenes. She misses the ends off of her sentences that are usually grammatically in correct; she speaks in restricted code. Frank, the middle class man speaks in grammatically correct sentences and also uses, elaborate code.

Monday, September 2, 2019

Did the Liberal Welfare Reforms Lay the Foundations of the Welfare State?

Did the liberal Welfare Reforms lay the foundations of the Welfare State? This essay will assess how far reaching the liberal Welfare Reforms were and how far they can be said to represent the foundations of the Welfare State. The Welfare State is when the Government takes care of the health and well-being of all its citizens from â€Å"cradle to grave†. The liberal Welfare Reforms did represent a move away from â€Å"laissez-faire† towards a programme of social reform. The liberal reforms concentrated on five main groups. These were the young, introducing school meals and medical inspections with the Education Act 1906 and 1907, the old with the Old Age Pensions Act 1908, and the sick who were helped with the first part of the National Health Act 1911. The employed were given compensation for injuries sustained at work with the Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1906 and other things such as an eight hour day for miners due to the Coal Mines Act 1908. A half day off was also given to shop assistants following the Shops Act 1911 and there was a minimum wage for â€Å"sweated industry† workers with the Trade Boards Act of 1909. The unemployed were given help to find work with the Labour Exchanges Act 1909 and unemployment insurance which was brought in with the second part of the National Insurance Act 1911. The first social reforms to be carried out by the Liberals were concerned with children and dealt with the provision of school meals and the medical inspection of all pupils. Now that education was compulsory it was made clear that many children were often coming to school hungry, dirty or suffering from ill health. A study carried out in a poor area of Dundee in 1905 showed that children were significantly underweight and under height when compared with the national average. The report said â€Å"†¦ a large number of children who should be under medical supervision† and â€Å"†¦ they cannot apply their minds to lessons while their stomachs are empty†. The Boer War in 1899 had highlighted the problem that Britain had with the physical condition of its citizens. When recruiting soldiers to fight in the war, the height requirement had to be dropped from 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 2 inches so that Britain would have enough soldiers. The leader of the Social Democratic Foundation (SDF) claimed at the time that 50% of the working-class recruits from towns and cities had been unfit to fight due to their poor physical condition. To bring Britain back to a good physical state, the Government decided it was best to start with children and did this with the Education (Provision of Meals) Act, 1906. Much of the credit for this Bill lies outside the Liberal Party. There was a lot of public concern created by reports carried out in the wake of the Boer War. One of these was a report carried out by The Royal Commission of Physical Condition in Scotland and the other was carried out by The Interdepartmental Committee on Physical Deterioration. A labour backbencher called William Wilson introduced the school meals proposal which was so popular that the Liberals decided to give it a chance; this was then called the Education (Provision of Meals) Act. The act allowed local authorities to take steps as they saw fit to provide school meals for children either through voluntary work or using the local authority money. Parents were to pay for school meals if they could afford it, however, if they could not the local authority could pay a halfpenny. The number of school meals provided by the Government started at 3 million in 1906 and eventually rose to 14 million in 1914. Within a short period of time a Government funded Welfare system was beginning to replace many of the efforts made by charities. There was still a long way to go though as in 1912, over half of the local authorities had not set up a school meals service. In 1907 there was another Bill passed in order to take care of the health of school pupils. This was the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act which was not popular with the Liberal Government at first as they knew that health inspection in schools would lead to public demand for government funded medical treatment for everyone and the Liberals did not think that they could afford to do this. However, Robert L Morant, the Permanent Secretary of the Education Board during 1906 had been convinced about the need for school medical inspections through contact with a woman called Margaret Macmillan. She said â€Å"for the good of the children and the public, what subjects are taught and how much they are taught do not matter anything like so much nowadays as attention to the physical condition of the scholars†. In 1912 the Board of Education started to give grants to local authorities to set up school clinics to provide all pupils with healthcare. Although this was a huge step towards a Welfare State it was not a foundation as these acts would not have been passed had Elementary education not been made compulsory in previous years. The Old Age Pensions Act in 1908 was the conclusion of over 20 years of debate surrounding the subject of poverty amongst the elderly. Lloyd George the new Chancellor of the Exchequer in April 1908 made it his job to get the Old Age Pensions Bill through the House of Commons and although it passed through the House of Commons with very little opposition. However, the House of Lords was slightly more difficult to tackle as the majority of Lords still believed in â€Å"laissez-faire†. When eventually the Bill passed through all of its stages, it became law in 1908 and came into effect in January 1909. The Act entitled people over the age of 70 to between 1 shilling (5p) a week and 5 shillings (25p) a week of pension. However, this amount of money still fell below what Rowntree considered to be the poverty line by 2 shillings (10p) a week. There were also a few exceptions. Any 70-year-old was entitled to the pension as long as they were British and had been a resident in the UK for over 20 years, they had avoided imprisonment in the past previous 10 years to receiving their pension and they had not regularly avoided work. The Government had miscalculated how many of the public would need a pension as they estimated that there would only be around 500,000 but by 1914 there were 1 million pensioners in Britain. This made the Government very quickly aware of the poverty that the elderly people in the country were facing. Although the Old Age Pensions Act 1908 was a significant step towards the Welfare State, this was not part of the foundations as things such as Friendly Societies had been there before to help the Elderly. The sick created another task for the Liberal Government. On returning from Germany, Lloyd George immediately started work in setting up a way to help people who couldn’t earn money on their own as they suffered from illness. However, he again came up against opposition from friendly societies but also came up against Trade Unions and Doctors. As Lloyd George was Chancellor of the Exchequer he was also very aware of the cost of bringing in National insurance. In order to pay for the National insurance scheme, income tax was made more progressive in that the more money you earned, the more money you paid in tax. Lloyd George had to account for all of this in the 1909 budget, however, this was rejected by the House of Lords and the Parliament Act 1911 had to be passed to limit the power of the Lords. The Peoples Budget was passed in 1910 which meant that the Government now had the money to start its social welfare programme. The health insurance scheme was contained in part 1 of the National Insurance Act 1911, this was a compromised Act and there was a lot of work still to be done to help those at a disadvantage in society. To stop the opposition to the Act from Trade Unions, Lloyd George decided to include them in the system along with Friendly Societies who would help him with his new system. When Lloyd George came out with his proposals, the British Medical Group had very strong objections to them. They did not want what existed between the Doctors and the Friendly Societies on a national scale where the Doctors felt they were being paid too little money to treat working-class patients. When Lloyd George went to meet with the Doctors he had to tell them that Friendly Societies were too powerful for him but offered the Doctors a higher contract fee of 4 shillings (20p) per patient and 2 shillings (10p) to cover any drugs costs, this was much more than the Friendly Societies had been willing to give and therefore, when the Act was passed, many of the poorer Doctors joined and were able to double their income quickly. Although this was a better way of helping the sick, it was not one of the founding principles of the Welfare State as there were Friendly Societies there before who did almost the same thing. Unemployment was still believed to be the fault of the individual who was unemployed up until the 1900s as many people wouldn’t accept that if a worker was unemployed it may be due to circumstances out with their control. The causes of unemployment were hidden by the belief in Samuel Smiles book on ‘Self-help’ which basically said that if a person was unemployed it was there own fault and they had to get themselves out of unemployment by hard work and belief that they could get a job. This was believed for a long time as nobody had accurate information on how bad the problem actually was. Part 2 of the National Insurance Act covered the unemployed. This was a contributory insurance scheme where workers paid 2? d, the employer paid 2? d and the Government paid 3d per week. Insurance was compulsory for trades such as Shipbuilding, building construction and sawmilling as these were seasonal trades which had a repeated pattern of unemployment. Labour Exchanges had two roles, the first was to allow the unemployed to find work and the second was to pay out unemployment benefit to those who were insured. In order to receive unemployment insurance the worker had to go to the Labour Exchanges and register as unemployed, he would then go back there to collect his money. On a weekly basis he would receive 7 shillings (35p) a week for up to 15 weeks of the year. However, if the worker had been dismissed from work following unsatisfactory work or bad conduct then he would not be entitled to any benefit as it was his fault that he was unemployed. Within 2 years of unemployment insurance starting 2. 3 million workers were insured, however, this was still only a small number of the working-class population. Although this was not part of the foundations of the Welfare State as the Conservative Government had passed the Unemployed Workmen’s Act before it left office in 1905, this was seen as a much better way of dealing with the problem of unemployment in Britain. The Liberal Government passed four laws which wanted to improve the conditions of workers. These provided compensation for injuries that happened at work. Shorter hours were given to people who worked in dangerous and difficult jobs such as coal mining. This was a good turning point as miners had been campaigning for this for over 40 years. Minimum wages were given to female workers who were exploited and worked in ‘sweated trades’ such as tailoring, a total of 200,000 workers were affected by The Trade Boards Act of 1909. There was also a half day off and a decent amount of time for meals given to shop assistants who mostly did not have trade unions behind them. The Workmen’s Compensation Act was built on previous Acts of 1897 and 1900, showing that helping the people who were employed had started before the Liberal Government came to power showing that they did not set the foundations of the Welfare State. In conclusion, the Liberal Government did take a lot of steps towards making Britain a Welfare State such as setting up a national insurance system, a pension system for the elderly when they couldn’t work anymore and tried to tackle social issues with Government intervention. However, they did not stop poverty, medical inspections and school meals were not compulsory for local authorities so education was not up to the standard that it should have been, the workhouses were still there although not as widely used and there was no system of family allowance in place. Although some historians think that you can see the origins of the Welfare State in the Liberal Reforms, others believe that the Liberal Reforms failed to deal adequately with the welfare of Britain and were not the origins of the Welfare State. The Liberal Welfare reforms did not lay the foundations of the Welfare State but did improve on measures that were already in place.

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Real Gd Lit

(GANGSTER) In every city under the sun my name is the axis of the educational circle of crime and philosphy. Had it not been for me no prisons would have been built and no guns or bombs would have been created. I am the courge that creates resolution in man, I am the source that provokes orginalty of thought, I am the hand that moves mans hands. I am Gangster Everlasting! I am the Gangster that people fight in order to keep themselves alive. If they cease struggling against me slofullness will deaden their minds, hearts and souls in accordince with the weird penalties of their tremendous myth! I am Gangster Everlasting! I am the Gangster that creeps in the night to do the work of many. In fear of me they will travel to places of worship to condem me or places of vice to submit to my will. The woman who prays in the silence of the night to keep me from her bed is like the whore who invites me to her chamber! I am Gangster Everlasting! I am the builder of the CIA and FBI upon the foundation of fear. I am the insperation for falsehood, slander, treachery, decite, murder and mockery. And if these elements were to be removed from this earth, then the world would become like a deserted field in which naught would thrive but thorns of virtue. I am Gangster Everlasting. I am the heart of evil, I am the father and mother of all sin. I am Gangster Everlasting Eternal and Forevermore! dentifiers/symbols: six-point star Black Gangster Disciples the letters â€Å"BGD† raised pitchforks may sometimes use numbers to represent the alphabet; for example: 2=B, 7=G, and 4=D (BGD) Black Disciples dentifiers/symbols: six-point star initials â€Å"GD† initials â€Å"BOS† or â€Å"BOSS (Brothers of the Struggle or Brothers of the Strong Struggle) the number 6 raised pitchforks Gangster Disciples Identifiers/symbols: ix-point star initials â€Å"GD† initials â€Å"BOS† or â€Å"BOSS (Brothers of the Struggle or Brothers of the Strong Struggle) the number 6 raised pitchforks Imperial Gangsters Identifiers/symbols: crown with rounded edges initials â€Å"IG† raised pitchforks La Raza Identifiers/symbols: initials â€Å"LR† Folk Nation symbols Latin Eagles Identifiers/symbols: eagle in fligh t eagle's head Folk Nation symbols Latin Disciples Identifiers/symbols: heart with horns and devil's tail raised pitchforks Satan Disciples Identifiers/symbols: devil's horn devil's tail pitchfork