Night Book Report :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Eliezer is a 12-year-old Orthodox Jewish boy living with his family in the Transylvanian town of Sighet. Eliezer is the only son of the family, and his parents are shopkeepers. His father is a highly respected within Sighet’s Jewish community. Eliezer also 2 older sisters, Hilda and Bà ©a, and a younger sister named Tzipora. Eliezer is taught Jewish mysticism under Moshe, a local pauper. In 1944 German armies occupy Hungary, and soon move into Sighet. Jewish community leaders are arrested, valuables are confiscated, and all of the Jews are then forced to wear yellow stars. The Jews were all gathered into small ghettos, and soon after, the Germans began to deport them to Auschwitz. Eliezer’s family is among the last to leave Sighet and it is then Eliezer began his horrible experience as being apart of the Holocaust.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During this long and painful experience, Eliezer questioned his faith more than once. Before he and his family were forced onto the camps, Eliezer’s studies in Jewish mysticism taught him that if God is good and He is everywhere, than the whole world must therefore be good. But his faith in the world is broken by the cruelty and evil he witnesses during the Holocaust. He wonders how God would even let such an evil take place, he feels that if the world is so sick and cruel, than God must also be sick and cruel or not exist at all. Moshe is asked why he prays and replies, â€Å"I pray to the God within me that He will give me strength to ask him the right questions.† Meaning, questioning is a fundamental to the idea of faith in God. The horrible experiences of the Holocaust force Eliezer to ask questions about the nature of good and evil and about weather God exits or not. But the fact he asks these questions reflects his commitment to God.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Eliezer not only suffers from experiences Nazi persecution, but also cruelty he sees fellow prisoners inflict on each other, and becomes aware of the cruelty of which he himself is capable. Everything he experiences shows how horribly people can treat one another, which troubles him. The Nazis are the first insensible cruelty Eliezer experiences. Though, when they first appear, they do not seem terrible in any way shape or form. Eliezer recounts, â€Å"Our first impressions of the Germans were most reassuring. . . Their attitude toward their hosts was distant, but polite.

Shramik Bharti Essay --

Sharmik Bharti is a nonprofit organization registered on the 15th of Oct. 1986, under Societies Registration Act of 1860. It is situated in Vikas Nagar of Lakhanpur, Kanpur and works for both urban and rural communities. It believes in building a true democratic society. Eradication of poverty, empowerment of women, welfare of children and community’s capacity building are its main goals. The organization now has more than 90 full time professionals and 150 community based volunteers striving hard for the betterment of 125 slums and 11 blocks of Kanpur and Dehat districts of Kanpur. The early years of its inception were very genuinely spent in identifying the problems of the community and their root causes. Right from 1986, the organization was working along with the people and for the people to better understand their priorities and the needs of the community. Based on these findings, there emerged Self Help Groups for the empowerment of people. These groups became one of the core strengths of Shramik Bharti and worked for the slums of both rural and urban areas of Kanpur. Importance was given to the creation of sanitation infrastructure and the introduction of health care facilities in these areas. From then onwards, there is no look back for Shramik Bharati. It had taken up many useful activities for the betterment of the people and the community. To cite a few, reclamation of waste land for generation of livelihood, establishing partnerships with support organizations to cater to the needs of the society, respecting people’s choices and assisting them to improve upon those areas etc. To achieve their objectives and goals Shramik Bharti focuses on three core areas... ... This program of the Shramik Bharti is the charity based and is supported by Helpage. Under this project, till now more than 51 senior citizens who don’t have proper livelihood and shelter are taken care of. Shramik Bharti appointed a five member committee to support such people and fulfill their basic day today needs. Grassroot Democracy: Our country is still facing certain socio economic challenges. To overcome these, community based organizations need to go hand in hand with the public organizations both at rural and urban levels. Shramik Bharti strongly believes in this principle and working hard to attend the challenges at grass root level. Thus, Shramik Bharti as a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization is striving hard to build a strong community where there are no traces of poverty and women are empowered to handle their own lives with immense confidence.

Drug, Crime, Prohibition Essay -- essays research papers

Drugs, Crime and Prohibition Do drugs really cause crime, or is it our governments way of controlling the communities? Many people blame drugs for every problem in our society, but is it the true evil in our society? No one person can answer that question. There are only opinions and supposed theories on this issue. We have been taught over the years that drugs were bad and that they only affected the poor and less fortunate, and turned them into crazy criminals, but this isn’t true to any extent. The laws controlling and prohibiting drugs are the true reasons. Would our crime levels decline if drugs were legalized to some extent, or would we just increase the destruction of our country? Over the past fifty years, prohibition has been proven to actually increase crime and drug use instead of its intended purpose, which was to extinguish the use of illicit drugs in the United States. We constantly here of prison over crowding, and why is that? Most of our prisons are filled with drug offenders, ranging fro m use to distribution of supposed illicit drugs. What is our country coming to? The purpose of this research paper is to view the advantages and disadvantages of the legalization of illicit drugs in the United States. I will examine each side of this major problem plaguing our fine country from past to present. People wake everyday to their normal and monotonous life without even thinking about what they are doing. They do not realize that they have been conditioned by the government and its laws to obey and follow the supposed norm of society. What is the norms of society, and who set the guidelines for them? No one can explain how these norms came about, they only know that they must follow them, or they could get in trouble with the law. We are going into the twenty first century, and we still follow laws that were passed hundreds of years ago. Why is this? We are a highly advanced country, but we spend time, lives and money on abiding by laws that were around before the automobi le was even invented. I will begin with the history of our drug control policies, which have failed miserably, and examine the drug-crime connection. Policy History Drugs have been in this country since the beginning of time in some shape or form, which was used for personal and medicinal use. Usage of marijuana has been reported to date back to the founding of Jamestown (1). Ge... ...ugh a drug epidemic. Drug related murders and violent assaults are on the rise, but this isn’t caused by drugs, rather by the laws that prohibit them. By prohibiting drugs, we are only causing the prices of drug to rise, which means addicts must cause crimes to support their habit. The illicit drug trade market is the second largest business in the world, bringing in over 500 billion dollars a year. Opposers of legalization argue that tobacco and alcohol kill more because of its legality and availability(3 ). The solution in their eyes is in education and early prevention. Drug use among America’s children in on the rise, and education is a perfect logical way of lowering their usage. Children need to be taught the effects and dangers of drugs when they are young. Children are the future drug abusers if something isn’t done. Violence and drugs are thought to be one in the same in most peoples eyes, but is this true. Drugs do not turn people into monsters, but rather bring out their criminal tendencies. No one argues that legalization would end violence that is associated with drugs, but it would simply end the violence associated with the black market. Many dealers become dealers

Wordsmith and The Gold Mountain Coat

The poem â€Å"Wordsmith† is talking about a boys father who is constantly working on their house. To perfect it. It mentions how he â€Å" he fills and smooths and sands as filling in all of the empty crevices. † While the boy is watching though I can sense some sadness, maybe for the fact that his father spends more time on the house rather than with him. He might feel as if the imperfections of the house are more important then him. The short story â€Å"The Gold Mountain Coat† is about a father named Sam sing. Sam has an rugged appearance it states that he rarely smiled or even talked for the matter. Sam has two sons Ken and john. He was proud of the fact that when he was unable to look after the chines restaurant anymore he would have to sons to take over. Sam seems very unfriendly. He never visited the other family with his son. His life seemed to be devoted to the restaurant rather that to his family. The similarities between the fathers in the â€Å"Wordsmith† and â€Å"The Gold Mountain Coat† would have to be that they both work very hard. I think that they do it for their families. To show that they care deeply and want to provide a nice place to live and help sustain a good life. In â€Å"Wordsmith† is says that the fathers â€Å"love keeps him moving from room to room†, meaning that he does it out of love although it may come off as if he doesn’t care. In â€Å"The Gold Mountain Coat† it shows that he actually has a lot of love for his family and works hard to provide for them even though it may not seem as it and that the sons are afraid of him. When john asked for a second coat for him and his brother and that his son could grow into it Sam said yes. I think that shows a lot of love. Both fathers are very caring and both do everything out of love.

Defining the Humaniities Paper Essay

Humanities consist of humans and their ways of life starting from prehistoric to current cultural events. When one learns from past generations or civilizations one is better able to make wise decisions for the future. According to Georgia Humanities Council (2009-2013), â€Å"The humanities are stories passed from generation to generation to transmit culture. These stories are also known as our history, literature, laws, ethics, religion, philosophy, anthropology etc† (Why the Humanities Matter). This paper will be a discussion of humanities and give an insight of what humanities means as it is defined by various sources. I have chosen a cultural event from my life in which I will elaborate on to inform the reader of its importance in my own life and the culture around me. I will also show how this expression of culture and its relevant to what I know about the humanities, art, style, genius, and culture of the time period it represents. Last to be discussed is how the chosen expression of culture compares with other forms from the same time period. Humanities Defined  According to Humanities Council of Washington D. C. (n. d. ), † The Humanities are the disciplines that help us understand and define cultures, and human experience, including history, anthropology, literature, art history, ethics, philosophy and jurisprudence † (Humanities Council of Washington, D. C. – Functional Humanities). Humanities can help promote a culture or civilization’s heritage and history as well as its literature. Humanities also serve a vital role in community issues and help to promote one’s understanding of human values, traditions, issues faced by society. The term humanities according to The Congressional Act establishing the National Endowment for the Humanities includes the study as well as one’s interpretation of modern and classical languages, literature, linguistics, history, archeology, philosophy, ethics, religions, and the history, and theory of the arts (Humanities Council of Washington D. C. , n. d. ). Humanities cover a wide array of areas and time frames. Cajun Music I chose Cajun music because I have a rich cultural tie to Cajun music growing up around this musical type. I find Cajun music has a little bit of several types of music played because of its rhythms and lyrics. The first Cajun records came out in 1928, but it was not until the 1960s that the genre became well known beyond Louisiana (National Geographic Society, 1996-2012). Cajuns are known for their love of dancing, including two-stepping, and waltzing. Cajun songs with its deep emotion and rhythms that make an individual want to get up and dance goes hand-in-hand to tailor to these cultural inclinations. According to National Geographic Society (1996-2012), † Many of the songs have their origins in old Acadian and French songs, but Creole, Celtic, African, Anglo-Saxon and Amerindian influences were also picked up along the way † (Cajun Music). Many Cajun songs have lyrics in French-Acadian and include a fiddle and accordion, which gives the music its unique sound. My experiences with Cajun music stems from listening to my grandfather play the fiddle and sing in French. I was not always aware of what was said but by traditions and my culture I have learned to embrace the music and rich cultural beliefs my ancestors have laid out for me to learn from. How Cajun music tailors to my knowledge of humanities, art, style, genius, and culture of the time period it represents. When I evaluate what humanities means, I can better understand how Cajun music fits in because this type of music, which was once more localized to it its origins in Louisiana but now has a mass appeal and has become popular throughout North America and abroad. Humanities are about the arts and one’s culture. The style of modern day Cajun music displays its sounds anywhere from gospel, jazz, to rock-in-roll. Where it was once more primitive style of music and sung acapella, nowadays includes instruments, and a mixture between French and English wording. The genius of Cajun music originates from Cajun’s telling their story and intergrading their culture into the music. The cultural time period Cajun music represents would coincide with the movement from more classical music to rhythm and blues, rock-and roll, country, bluegrass, gospel, and jazz. Cajun music is a music transcending time and has evolved like all the previously mentioned styles of music. How Cajun music compares with other forms of culture from the same  time period. The evolution of Cajun music compares well to other styles of music but lack the use of technology instrumentally mostly. This type of music displays historic and modern day Cajun cultural beliefs and makes an individual want to dance. As in any art one’s location has much to do with it cultural styles. Conclusion Humanities are instrumental in understanding a civilization’s culture and learning from history to help an individual make wise decision for the future. Cajun music is the cultural even I chose because I have lived it all of my life, and it is part of my culture. References Georgia Humanities Council. (2009-2013). Georgia Humanities Council. Retrieved from http://www. georgiahumanities. org/about-us Humanities Council of Washington D. C.. (n. d. ). Defining the Humanities. Retrieved from http://www. wdchumanities. org/docs/defininghumanities. pdf National Geographic Society. (1996-2012). Nat Geo Music. Retrieved from http://worldmusic. nationalgeographic. com/view/page. basic/genre/content. genre/cajun_700.

Activity Intended for Enhancing a Skill Essay

This paper examines the effectiveness of the activity that is carried out in order to enhance a particular skill. The activity of turning letters into words is selected and carried out as a game between the members of an identified group with the main objective being attainment of improved group performance and development. The paper examines the degree of response achieved in the skill with the help of the intended activity. The game of Turning Letters into Words is an activity that is chosen to improve the development and performance of a group and is a great tool to develop knowledge abilities and skills through participation. Dividing the whole group into smaller teams helps in building a structured approach towards shared group objective. This activity creates a stimulating learning environment for each member and hones their behavioral skills to maximize the team’s performance and development. All the members participate fully in terms giving individual contribution as well as working together with others. Being an integral part of the team and having the responsibility of making the maximum words possible with the provided letters, gives a boost to the team spirit. Each member is then supposed to question oneself about whether the letters contributed by him/her helped or restricted the team members in making the most of the needed long words. This brings out the feeling of cohesiveness and suppresses the individualistic approach, which helps in rapid increase in performance levels. The collective act of choosing the letters and making maximum words not just brings the members together, but also promotes the feeling of trust, cooperation and the winning streak. The feeling of competing at the group level helps he members to cope with the distinct behaviors and perspectives, without getting into the blame game. Each member strives to achieve the maximum number of words by unknowingly working towards the strengths and weaknesses of their own teams and articulating the team’s vision. The activity of forming words as a team helps in establishing clear team guidelines, objectives and a well thought out team orientation process. The process of mapping the individual performance with the team’s overall performance while working at a high capacity in the present role augments the group development to accomplish the maximum performance. However, a close scrutiny of the team members’ reaction reveals that the age group is a significant factor in defining the individual’s response to such skill enhancing activities. The different set of values and attitude characterize the way the older generation is not so rapid with coming up with new words. The newer generation however responds more quickly to such skill grinding activities. Therefore, it can be concluded that strategically designed activities can surely be used to facilitate requisite skills such as yielding performance metrics, provided the management is well knowledgeable about the degree of responsiveness. References http://www. teambuildingportal. com/games/turning-letters-words. php

Early Childhood Special Education Roots Essay

Early childhood special education that is practiced today has a varied and sometimes hard won history. Its roots are entangled in cultural, economic, and idealistic influences; each facet tinged by the colored lens of the times and adding a little glint to modern day practices. The conglomeration of historical theories and practices, political actions and enacted laws has paved the way to modern early childhood special education practices and programming. Just like a child learns and builds on his knowledge and understanding of his environment, so too does the practice of early childhood special education. In its infancy ECSE was not labeled as such, and in fact was simply teaching. Throughout history, many educators have had differing perspectives and opinions on how best to educate children. Many of those ideas and practices have popularly endured, and some have become very small portions of our current systems, or faded into obscurity altogether. One of the earliest models on early childhood education was the Montessori model. The Montessori methods and tools are prevalent in classrooms today, from individualized and sensory programming to didactic learning materials. Other early educators realized that even very young children benefit from instruction. Jean Piaget identified stages of development from birth to adolescence that still assist educators in identifying appropriate modes of teaching. Others like Robert Owen, John Locke and Lev Semenovich Vygotsky theorized that a child’s environment had a profound influence on his/her development and education, giving a foundation for current early intervention strategies in impoverished, urban areas. Vygotsky also gifted to forward generations the theories of the Zone of Proximal Development, scaffolding and ideas about special needs students working in least restrictive environments. All the way from these LRE’s, are the ideas of institutions. The residential school model however is still useful in some ways today. Samuel Gridley Howe and Dorothea Dix implemented supportive, residential schools for children with disabilities, but when the First World War had its grips on the country, the schools deteriorated into holding cells that pervaded until throughout the depression era. Politics and societal situations have always been instigators of change for education. Post World War II, many war veterans returned home with disabilities changing the attitudes and urgency in servicing individuals with special needs, spurring a profusion of financial and program support. Moving into the mid-20th Century, civil rights opened a consciousness about not only race, but also a socioeconomic dichotomy. Project Head Start was federally funded compensatory program, with a focus on aiding the impoverished; it would later evolve into a more comprehensive program for seeking and aiding special needs children and families. Many other programs and studies aimed at supporting young children with disabilities and their families began to appear, including Early Head Start, the Carolina Abecedarian Project and the Perry Preschool Project, among others. These programs and research studies aimed at aiding and reinforcing the importance of early intervention for at risk children. Supporting and preemptively averting the struggles brought on by environmental disadvantages made the transition to special education support logical. With the social climate changing and an awareness of human rights, legislation regarding special needs populations was ripe. Perhaps the greatest catalyst to change was the enactment of PL 94-142 the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975. The foundations of this public law and the following amendments are the backbone of all special education as we know it today. This law has 6 main areas of concern. First, the right to a free and appropriate public education is bestowed. Throughout the coming decades, interpretation of FAPE comes up in many court cases, each ruling setting precedence for the future. Second, children with disabilities are given the right to learn in the least restrictive environment (LRE) a practice from centuries prior, but with legal backing, changed the model of public schools in this country. An Individualized Education Plan was written into the body of the IDEA, giving specific protocol for supporting the learning of each individual student. This item is the true workhorse of special education classrooms, bringing the student’s goals, objectives and educational plan, the educators, parents and the other support staff together in one document. The fourth premise of the IDEA is the guarantee to guardians of procedural due process, retaining the guardian’s rights regarding notices, evaluations, placements and other educational plans. Unbiased and multiple assessment criteria is the 5th area addressed in the IDEA. Lastly, part of the legislation includes the parents of special needs students, by affording them access to related services that would benefit the student. Related services was and is an area for interpretation, and again, many court cases have been tried and decided creating standards for what qualifies as a related service. Aside from these six main points, the IDEA has outlined much more. IDEA has given us a universal structure for classifying disabilities, and in a 1991 amendment, ruled that an umbrella classification for preschool aged children was acceptable and malleable state to state. This meant that children would not have to be prematurely labeled or stigmatized, when proper assessment was yet to be exacted. This law gave rise to the term â€Å"developmentally delayed†. A preschooler and his/her family could receive services under the classification of developmentally delayed. IDEA has also given individual states the leeway to define and exact methods of determining what developmentally delayed means. While culturally and regionally more specific, this leaves a large range of differences in qualifications across the country. Since its inception, individuals with special needs have reaped many benefits from the laws and boundaries set by the IDEA, but it wasn’t until October 1986 that very young special needs children and their families could be guaranteed services. While grants and incentives for states to serve the preschool population were available, participation in those programs were completely voluntary. The Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments, or PL 99-457, passed in October 1986, mandated that all special needs preschoolers between the ages of three and five be provided with a FAPE . This law was enacted with the purpose of enabling early intervention and a cost effective preventative strategy to serving special populations. Part C of this law also makes services for infants, birth to age two voluntary. Adding preschoolers to the population of compulsory service made the use of IFSP or Individualized Family Service Plans prevalent. These plans are similar to IEP’s except that they comprehensively include the family and give leeway to assigning the role of the service provider, enabling professionals who are most capable of assisting each family to act. Unlike and IEP, the IFSP must be reviewed at least every 6 months, ensuring relevancy with a quickly growing and changing child. Related services including counseling and classes are now extended to family members. By sharing the process and improvement with the preschoolers’ guardians, we are able to see much greater progress with cooperative engagement. Along with the IFSP, PL 99-457 saw the requirement of an Individualized Transition Plan, aiding young adults in making the change into adulthood. Fast forward to 1997, and PL 105-17 made some important amendments to the IDEA. Related services are expanded, developmentally delayed category can be applied up until age nine, parameters and process around discipline is set. Functional Behavior Assessments or Behavior Intervention Plans must be enacted when providing discipline to special education children. Also, assessments for qualifying for special education are expanded, and Child Find reaches into private schools to deliver services to more children. Along with these changes also came a change in funding based on census data versus enrollment data. The percentages served translated to a fixed amount of funding, averting a glut of over qualifying students. Lack of English Language proficiency is excluded as an area of qualification for services. This is important with the rising populations of English language learners. With the number of children from non-english speaking families on the rise, achievement gaps were widening. The No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 was drawn to support impoverished, special needs and English language learners. This act is directly responsible for the Amendments to IDEA that came in 2004. One of the most important changes made was that of aligning the standards of highly qualified special education teachers to the standards of the No Child Left Behind Act. Inclusion of ECE teachers is yet to be enacted, however. The field and study of Early Childhood Special Education is a deeply diverse and ever evolving practice. Past experience has dictated that social climates, politics, events and laws all contribute to the programming of ECSE. The gains have been great, with dramatic increases in the numbers of children and families found and served, but as a nation, we certainly have some more distance to travel. With current legislation and social issues ranging from secure schools to better serving working families, subsidized healthcare, immigration policies or revamping teacher evaluations, the future of Early Childhood Education is unwritten and open to influence.