Blind Essay -- essays research papers

Have you ever been completely oblivious to a situation that is taking place right behind your back? You think that everything is going just fine in your perfect little world. You have everything planned out and it seems to be working out right on track. Then all of a sudden you discover something so devastating that it changes your whole life, and everything you worked at for nearly a year. This is exactly how I felt when I found out that my girlfriend had been cheating on me. I felt like everything I had worked so hard to establish had been gone, and that I was all alone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My life was going along perfectly. I was in the middle of soccer season. My team was destined for the District Championship, and already claimed the Laurel Highlands Championship. I had an amazing girlfriend, who I cared for a lot, and thought she cared about me. She was a junior at Westmont, and also played soccer. She was slightly shorter than me with long blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. I constantly spending time with her, despite all of my time spent practicing for soccer. My life was focused on her and keeping our relationship a happy one. There was not a day that went by that I did not take the time to at least talk to her for a while, no matter what I had to do.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It was the happiest time of my life. I was a totally different person. I was nicer to everyone, and cared a lot more about what was going on around me. Before my girlfriend I was just a quiet shy kid that did not really talk to anyone. She really helped me to come out and talk to people and be a lot nicer person. I was almost certain I finally had a relationship that I thought would last more than just a couple of months. Maybe this would even be the one person I would spend my life with. That’s how strong our relationship was. I was trying my hardest to make sure that this would be true.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For nearly a year, our relationship was amazing. Everything was working out perfectly. We had plenty of time to spend together and we were never really apart. I had just made the choice to come to UPJ meaning that I could be home and spend time with her. I would never make a choice that important, such as a college and my future based on another person, so that had nothing to do with it. Anyway, I would be staying here in the area so we would... ...blind to a situation. Before this had all happened I always used to think, wow, how stupid could someone be to not know that their girlfriend, or boyfriend, is cheating on them. Well, I guess I found out the hard way that it is not that easy to realize what is going on right behind your back.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Maybe I knew about it all along, maybe I am really not as blind as I think, maybe I was not clueless to it at all, and I just would not let myself believe that it was really true. How could someone that you care about so much, do something that heartless to you? It is almost unbelievable that a person can be that cruel. I spent a little over a year of my life caring and dedicating a great part of my life to this person. However, right behind me for nearly a month my life was drastically changing, and I had no idea of what was to come.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When my girlfriend cheated on me, I felt totally blind to the world. I was lost in my own world, and felt completely alone. The worst feeling I have ever experienced throughout my life was when this happened, and I hope I never have to go through anything like this again.

Coffee Ulbs Essay

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a distinct aroma and flavor from the roasted seeds of the coffea plant. Coffee comes in many types of colour such as dark brown,white,beige,black,light brown,and more. Coffee was first discovered in the northeast region of Ethopia. Cofee cultivation first took place in southern Arabia,appears in the middle of the 15th century in the Sufi shrines of Yemen. According to the ancient chronicle,Omar who was known for his ability to cure sick through prayer was once exiled from Mocha,Yemen to a desert cave near Ousab. Starving,Omar chewed berries from nearby shrubbery but found them to the bitter. He tried roasting the seeds to improve the flavor,but they become hard. He then tried boiling them to soften the seeds,which resulted in a fragrant brown liquid. Upon drinking the liquid,Omar was revitalized and sustained for days. As stories of this ‘miracle drug’ reached Mocha,Omar was asked to return and was made a saint. In production of coffee,it consist of many steps such as processing,roasting,grading the roasting seeds,decaffeination,stored,brewing and finally be served. When processing the coffee,the berries of coffee have been traditionally and selectively picked by hand,only the berries at the peak of ripeness would be selected. After that,green coffee is process by one of two methods. Whether by dry process method or wet process method. Then,it will be sorted by ripeness and colour. After that,the seeds are fermented to remove the slimy layer of mucilage still present on the seeds. When the fermentation is finished,the seeds are washed to remove the fermentation residue. Then,the seeds are dried. Finally,the coffee is sorted again and been labeled. The roasting process influences the taste of the beverage by changing the coffee seed both physically and chemically. During roasting,caramelization occurs as intense heat that breaks down starches,changing them to simple sugars that begin to brown,which alters the colour of seeds. Then the seeds will be grading depends on the colour of roasting seeds. It will be labeled as light,medium light,medium,medium dark,dark or very dark. The degree of roast has an effect upon coffee flavor and body. Many methods can remove the caffeine from coffee,but all involve either soaking the green seeds in hot water or steaming them and using a solvent to dissolve caffeine that containing oils. Once roasted,coffee seeds must be stored properly to preserve the fresh taste of the seeds. Coffee seeds must be ground and brewed to create a beverage. Almost all methods of preparing coffee require the seeds to be ground and mixed with hot water long enough to extract the flavor,but without overextraction that draws out bitter compounds. The roasted coffee may be ground at a roaster,in a grocery store or in the home. Then,the coffee may be brewed by several methods such as boiled,steeped,or pressurized. Once brewed,coffee may be served in a variety of ways. As an example,the white coffee was made into dairy product such as milk or cream or dairy substitute or as a black coffee with no such addition. It may be sweetened with sugar or artificial sweetener.

Christian conceptions Essay

Baldassare Castiglione’s work â€Å"The Courtier† has similar conceptions of grace and love when compared to with Christian conceptions. Baldassare Castiliogne characterizes the courtiers of Urbino as omini per virtu singulari† (IV, 2, 446: â€Å"men singular in worth†[286]), emphasizing their grace and virtue they were able to exhibit throughout the entire passage. This also reflects the ways they were able to entice the imagination of the readers and make their (readers) minds more creative. Castiglione writes about the Urbino court and its inhabitants as a kind of ideal place where grace and virtue was heavily practiced. Most of the courtiers and ladies in the court possess only minor character flaws and petty foibles. In his writing, he idealizes them as civilized and perfectly restrained individuals who are devoid of serious personal vices and defects. In a sense, Castiglione wants to present them as ideal types, as the â€Å"onorati esempi di virtu† (IV, 2, 448: â€Å"honored models of worthiness†[287]) as can be read from his prologues where moral fortitude, scholarship and genuine love should emulate and be exuded by the readers even after reading the entire piece. The following excerpt from â€Å"The Courtier† shows that Lord Guidobaldo has lived an exemplary life worth of emulation by the other inhabitants. â€Å"When lord Guidobaldo di Montefeltro, duke of Urbino, passed from this life, I together with several other knights who had served him remained in the service of duke Francesco Maria della Rovere, heir and successor to Guidobaldo’s state; and as in my mind there remained fresh the odor of duke Guido’s virtues and the satisfaction which I in those years had felt from the loving company of such excellent persons, as then frequented the court of Urbino†. (Letter, 1, 67-8) Castiglione’s goal in his work was to set his statements of praise for Urbino and its inhabitants in general and conventional terms. He did not cite the military exploits or civic triumphs of a character he praises, instead, he celebrates all of them for their virtu, (virtue) their ingegno, (ingenuity) their ottime qualit (high dignity). Instead, Castiliogne characterizes these exploits as a collective victory for the person he is giving life to. This also gives life to the colorful sceneries and animations to the story as this draws the attention of the readers. Castiliogne pursues the elevation of Urbino’s image to an exemplary moral excellence and its value for posterity. In his first two prologues, Castiglione highlights the superiority of Urbino’s inhabitants. In the prologue to Book III, Castiglione states that if Urbino’s pastimes convince him of its excellence, he should be able to imagine easily how much greater the courtiers’ virtuous actions were (III, 1, 336). In the last prologue, Castiglione praises the courtiers directly as â€Å"omini per virtu singulari† (IV, 2, 446: â€Å"men singular in worth†[286]). He viewed the court as a paragon of moral exempla (IV, 2, 448: â€Å"chiari ed onorati esempi di virtu†). The court is presented as an ethical model not only to other existing courts at that time but also to the succeeding generations to come. Moreover, Castiglione confesses in the third prologue that he wrote his text carefully to â€Å"faria vivere negli animi dei posteri† (III, 1, 336: â€Å"make it live in the mind of posterity†[202]). Finally, as his culture upholds classical antiquity, he projects that the young and upcoming generation will envy his time because of the exemplary Urbino court. (III, 1, 336: â€Å"forse per l’avvenire non manchera chi per questo ancor porti invidia al secol nostro†). Similarly, the virtues of grace and love which are present in Castiliogne’s work are also present in Christian morals and manners. Christian morals are a function of moral discernment and moral reasoning. For instance, James Gustafson stated that moral discernment refer to basic dispositions that are shaped in part by the faith and trust Christians have as they offer themselves up to God. Moreover, James Gustafson stated that the concept of moral discernment was related to moral reasoning. Gustafson explained that moral reasoning pertains to a character, or personal moral ability, which covers dispositions, traits, and actions of the moral agent. (Selnick, 1992). Castiliogne stated that the courtier is expected to serve and increase in favour with her Lady. He should instruct her in virtue and refrain from vice and dishonesty. He should speak truth all the time. This concern is evident in Christian morals and manners. According to Harring, the moral and religious value of our acts attains the peak level only when the fundamental option results in the conquest one’s energies and vision such that one’s motives and decisions come from the depth in which the Spirit moulds and guides. (Harring, 1978). Castiliogne exhorts the courtiers to be kind to their subordinates, to avoid flattery, to be wise in the relations with other states and to have good manners in speech and language. Moreover, the courtier must have â€Å"good utterance† and â€Å"sweet language† to the other personalities in the court and avoid offending other people. This exhortation finds a strong support in Christianity’s theological and ethical attention which has shifted away from the relations with the divine towards human relations to interpersonal human relations. (Post, 1990). This shift resulted in the sharp distinction between public activity and private relations. First, it highlighted the fact that the self’s relation with God does not necessarily impact on one’s neighbor. Second, it states that the divine intentions may not relate directly to an individual’s human flourishing. This re-evaluation of one’s faith highlights the moral dimensions of Christianity and renders faith as an essential and crucial aspect of living well. (Weaver, 2002) The old men then attack the change in customs in Urbino court which they perceive as reflective of moral decay. In response to this, Castiliogne countered that he is a judge who can state that there is no age, past or present that is either totally good or totally evil. Then in this excerpt, Castiliogne argued that it is the old men who have changed their behavior and not the courts. These old men lament their loss of youth, power, and vitality. This situation leads to nostalgia which distorts the truth about both past and present. This excerpt is as follows: ne dei passati piaceri riserva (l’animo) altro che una tenace memoria e la imagine di quel caro tempo della tenera eta, nella quale quando ci ritrovamo, ci pare che sempre il cielo e la terra ed ogni cosa faccia festa e rida intorno agli occhi nostri, e nel pensiero come in un delizioso e vago giardino fiorisca la dolce primavera d’allegrezza. (The Courtier II, 1, 188) . . . and [the mind] retains of past pleasures merely a lingering memory and the image of that precious time of tender youth in which (while we are enjoying it), wherever we look, heaven and earth and everything appear merry and smiling, and the sweet springtime of happiness seems to flower in our thoughts as in a delightful and lovely garden. (The Courtier II, 1, 188) Similarly, Christian morality has shown interest in one’s personal ethical development. The flourishing of the self encompassing virtue ethics and spirituality reveals a post modern reassessment of the classical concepts and tools for reflecting on the self’s good. (Naussbam, 1994). Baldassare Castiliogne characterizes the courtiers of Urbino as omini per virtu singulari† (IV, 2, 446: â€Å"men singular in worth†[286]), emphasizing their grace and virtue. Similarly, Christian morals and manners show the importance of all the human virtues required of the courtiers during the time of the Urbino court. The courtiers’ excellent speech, manners and deportment to their equals and subordinates exhibit a vivid example of their faith and their excellent human manners. Alongside the traditions and practices that the courtiers’ have shown, the author have clearly emphasized on the human manners that there should be equality among all others and in order to achieve a specific and unified goal, there should be subordination so that in the long run, there will be authority to be followed and rules are set on such manners. Works Cited: Castiglione, Baldassare. The Book of the Courtier. New york: Scribner’s Son, 1901. 7-439. James M. Gustafson, â€Å"Moral Discernment in the Christian Life†, in Gene H. Outka and Paul Ramsey, Norm and Context in Christian Ethics. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1968, p. 31. Haring, Bernard. Free and Faithful in Christ. New York: Seabury Press: A Crossroads Book, 1978, p. 85. Kolsky, Stephen D. â€Å"Old Men in a New World: Morello da Ortona in the Cortegiano. † Italica 75 (1998): 336-448. Long, Edward Leroy. A Survey of Recent Christian Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982. Martha Nussbaum. The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994. Post, Stephen. A Theory of Agape: On the Meaning of Christian Love. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1990. Selnick, Philip. The Moral Commonwealth: Social Theory and the Promise of Community. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992, p. 361. Weaver, Darlene. Self Love and Christian Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Webhorn, Wayne. Courtly Performances Masking and Festivity in Castiglione’s Book in the Courtier. University of Texas at Austin, 1978.

Change in Male Role in the Home: 1960-Present

Change in Male Role in the Home: 1960-Present Traditionally the United States, along with the majority of the world has been a patriarchal society. The customary male role, specifically in relation to the home, has been the head of the household, the protector, and the provider. A male’s duty was unquestionably embodied in these three ideas, until the 1970’s. The growing feminist movement of that time began to question and displace these roles as solely belonging to a man, and the male role in society slowly began to shift.Instead of being the sole breadwinner for his home, families with two working parents have become increasingly more common. Women in the workforce have allowed father’s to spend more time at home with their children and helping out around the house. Over the last 50 years the male role has changed drastically, and while not all of the changes that have taken place are bad, the overall effect of these changes on society has been a negative one, creating a generation of fatherlessness, increased crime, and a general lack of respect for authority in any form.For generations it has been a man’s responsibility to provide for his family. Women were rarely even accepted into the workforce until after WWII. However, government encouragement for women to enter the labor force during the war, in combination with the rising feminist movement started a tidal wave movement of women pursuing higher education and careers. Women currently make up the majority of the workforce and 60% of all college graduates (Rosin). Donnalyn Pompper, a professor at Temple University, expands on this further in her article about the masculine gender role conflict theory.She explains that that after WWII, the increased female presence in the labor force â€Å"destabilized the breadwinner role as a basis for male identity, and now men must accept working wives and a more active parental role† (Pompper). And while it is true that the shift to equal opportunity in the workforce is almost universally agreed upon as a positive change, the balance and delicateness of the male psyche and ego are seldom taken into consideration. For many men, the ability to provide for one’s family is an integral part of the definition of masculinity.In interviews conducted by Dr. Pompper, when asked to individually define masculinity, a reoccurring theme in both the younger and older men interviewed was the ability to provide for one’s family. One of the young men interviewed said, â€Å"Being masculine means you are able to look at your wife and say ‘I got this’. To be able to look at your kids and say ‘I’ve got you’. That to me is the epitome of masculinity†¦being able, at the end of the day, to look at your family and say, ‘get on my back, I’ve got you the rest of the way’. Another man expressed similar feelings and said, â€Å"I think that every guy feels like itâ⠂¬â„¢s his place not to be the stay home Dad† (Pompper). Even in today’s forward thinking society, men are wired to be the provider. To take that role completely away is emasculating to him and leaves him feeling like he is unnecessary in the home. Although a family where, either both parents, or just the mother provide financially may be a little tough on the male ego, it is not detrimental. Provider is not the only established male role, protector and ‘head of the house’ are equally important to the equation.The traditional man of the 1960’s was indisputably the head of his home. There was a clear hierarchy, and while the husband and wife still often worked as a team, the culture of the time dictated that a man was undeniably in charge of his home, and his family. In many ways, this has been one of the most distinct changes between the 1960’s and 2012. Because men are no longer the sole breadwinner for their home, they are required to spend a larger portion of their time taking an active role in the home. No longer is the kitchen and house exclusively a woman’s domain, but rather shared by both parties.Men are expected to help out around the house and with the children, as much as women are. The idea of â€Å"team parenting† has evolved and taken root in today’s society, and has had excellent outcomes. Research has shown that children who are raised by two parents (a mother and a father specifically) have greater cognitive ability and success rates than children whose fathers are absent or uninvolved (Hofferth). This style of parents working together as a team to raise their children has been a great strategy, but looking at the big picture, it is shown that â€Å"Team parenting† has also unknowingly created some problems.Studies have shown that a child’s success throughout their life is largely dependent on the structure of their childhood (Hofferth). Given that men’s taking a more proactive role in the home and in the lives of their children is a good thing, the way that it has been approached has been problematic because it has undermined the hierarchy of the home. Similar to a man’s need to be the provider is the need to be the protector of his home. In addition, a man is not the only one who craves a distinctive hierarchy in the home, so do the children. According to Dr. David Bjorklund and Dr.Anthony Pellegrini, children need a clear authority figure. Often times by approaching parenting as a team and as equals, the mother and father undermine each other’s authority (Bjorklund, Pellegrini). Furthermore, without a specific and defined role, the position of father has been diminished as unimportant. For generations men have been noted as head of the house, and hailed for that important position. However, without that distinct role to play, it begins to seem like they’re participation is unnecessary as their wife is obviously much better suited to caring for and developing relationship with a child.These personal misgivings in combination with the media reinforcing the idea that the father role is superfluous, are huge contributors to why more and more fatherlessness is becoming the social epidemic of the generation (Pompper). This is an important issue that needs to be addressed, because Fathers are vital to the family unit. In their article about the role of fathers in children’s development, Amanda Quesenberry M. Ed. , Michaelene M. Ostrosky Ph. D. , and Robert Corso Ph. D. , note â€Å"Fathers are critical members of the family system who influence their children and their families in unique ways† (Quesenberry, Ostrosky, Corso).The article states that even in today’s society, father’s hold a huge amount of influence over society, enough that their presence and involvement is necessary to not only the success of the family as a unit, but also to the individual children. However, since the importance of fathers and fatherhood has not been stressed, and in fact the opposite has been emphasized, approximately one out of every 3 children does not have an active father or father figure in their lives (Hofferth). Acceptance and affection from a father or father figure is vital to a child’s cognitive development, and recent statistics how that behavioral problems among children, adolescents, and young adults with no active father in their lives are far greater than those of children living with both a father and a mother (Quesenberry, Ostrosky, Corso), and also tend to deal with one or more of the following issues: personality and psychological adjustment problems, behavioral problems (including aggression towards people and animals, property destruction, deceitfulness, and theft), delinquency, and psychopathology (substance abuse, depression) (Rohner).The rate of violent crimes have gone up roughly 300% since the 1960’s, and of the juveniles who ha ve been incarcerated for serious crimes 70% of them have been raised with no real father figure. In addition, 70% of all girls who become pregnant were raised without fathers (Lykken). These alarming numbers demonstrate the profound effect a father can have on the development, and therefore future of a child. The final issue that has come out of male’s displacement from his traditional roles is a generation with no respect for authority. Teachers are having increasing difficulties with classroom control.Students no longer have it ingrained in them to respect their elders, and as a result don’t care what the teacher or the principal say. Because school is no longer a priority to students like this, the drop out rate has increased significantly, with just over half of all dropouts being fatherless (Lykken). In today’s economy, it is next to impossible to find a job without at least a high school diploma, and employers no longer have to put up with any employee who cannot do what they are told, because there is someone who would be happy to take their place who most likely has more experience or education and can do what they are told.To conclude, while equal opportunity is beneficial and has helped to move our society forward, it has also drastically changed the traditional male role. And while some of these changes are good ones, they unfortunately have had negative effects due to people’s ignorance of the possible consequences. For example, it is good that women have been able to pursue their goals and passions in the workforce, and it is good that men are able to help out more at home. However, what is not good is that men have become completely displaced from many of the roles that, to them, define them as men.The way their roles have changed has slowly and subconsciously emasculated and caused them to doubt their importance and purpose in the family unit, which in turn has led to a growing number of fatherless children, increased crime rate, and a lack of respect for any kind of authority. Works Cited Bjorklund, David F, and Anthony D. Pellegrini. â€Å"Child Development and Evolutionary Psychology. † Child Development. 71. 6 (2000): 1687-708. Print. 05 Mar. 2012 Hofferth, Sandra L. â€Å"Residential Father Family Type and Child Well-Being: Investment Versus Selection. † Demography. 43. 1 (2006): 53-77. Print. 03 Mar. 2012. Pompper, Donnalyn. Masculinities, the Metrosexual, and Media Images: Across Dimensions of Age and Ethnicity. † Sex Roles. 63 (2010): 9-10. Print. 05 Mar. 2012. Quesenberry, Amanda, Michaelene Ostrosky, and Robert Corso. â€Å"Skilled and Knowledgeable Caregivers: the Role of Fathers in Supporting Young Children's Development. † Young Exceptional Children. 10. 4 (2007): 11-19. Print. 05 Mar. 2012. Rohner, Ronald P. â€Å"Father Love and Child Development: History and Current Evidence. † Current Directions in Psychological Science. 7. 5 (1998): 157-161. Pr int. 03 Mar. 2012. Rosin, Hanna. â€Å"The End of Men. † July-Aug. 2010. The Atlantic. Web. 03 Mar. 2012. Change in Male Role in the Home: 1960-Present Change in Male Role in the Home: 1960-Present Traditionally the United States, along with the majority of the world has been a patriarchal society. The customary male role, specifically in relation to the home, has been the head of the household, the protector, and the provider. A male’s duty was unquestionably embodied in these three ideas, until the 1970’s. The growing feminist movement of that time began to question and displace these roles as solely belonging to a man, and the male role in society slowly began to shift.Instead of being the sole breadwinner for his home, families with two working parents have become increasingly more common. Women in the workforce have allowed father’s to spend more time at home with their children and helping out around the house. Over the last 50 years the male role has changed drastically, and while not all of the changes that have taken place are bad, the overall effect of these changes on society has been a negative one, creating a generation of fatherlessness, increased crime, and a general lack of respect for authority in any form.For generations it has been a man’s responsibility to provide for his family. Women were rarely even accepted into the workforce until after WWII. However, government encouragement for women to enter the labor force during the war, in combination with the rising feminist movement started a tidal wave movement of women pursuing higher education and careers. Women currently make up the majority of the workforce and 60% of all college graduates (Rosin). Donnalyn Pompper, a professor at Temple University, expands on this further in her article about the masculine gender role conflict theory.She explains that that after WWII, the increased female presence in the labor force â€Å"destabilized the breadwinner role as a basis for male identity, and now men must accept working wives and a more active parental role† (Pompper). And while it is true that the shift to equal opportunity in the workforce is almost universally agreed upon as a positive change, the balance and delicateness of the male psyche and ego are seldom taken into consideration. For many men, the ability to provide for one’s family is an integral part of the definition of masculinity.In interviews conducted by Dr. Pompper, when asked to individually define masculinity, a reoccurring theme in both the younger and older men interviewed was the ability to provide for one’s family. One of the young men interviewed said, â€Å"Being masculine means you are able to look at your wife and say ‘I got this’. To be able to look at your kids and say ‘I’ve got you’. That to me is the epitome of masculinity†¦being able, at the end of the day, to look at your family and say, ‘get on my back, I’ve got you the rest of the way’. Another man expressed similar feelings and said, â€Å"I think that every guy feels like itâ⠂¬â„¢s his place not to be the stay home Dad† (Pompper). Even in today’s forward thinking society, men are wired to be the provider. To take that role completely away is emasculating to him and leaves him feeling like he is unnecessary in the home. Although a family where, either both parents, or just the mother provide financially may be a little tough on the male ego, it is not detrimental. Provider is not the only established male role, protector and ‘head of the house’ are equally important to the equation.The traditional man of the 1960’s was indisputably the head of his home. There was a clear hierarchy, and while the husband and wife still often worked as a team, the culture of the time dictated that a man was undeniably in charge of his home, and his family. In many ways, this has been one of the most distinct changes between the 1960’s and 2012. Because men are no longer the sole breadwinner for their home, they are required to spend a larger portion of their time taking an active role in the home. No longer is the kitchen and house exclusively a woman’s domain, but rather shared by both parties.Men are expected to help out around the house and with the children, as much as women are. The idea of â€Å"team parenting† has evolved and taken root in today’s society, and has had excellent outcomes. Research has shown that children who are raised by two parents (a mother and a father specifically) have greater cognitive ability and success rates than children whose fathers are absent or uninvolved (Hofferth). This style of parents working together as a team to raise their children has been a great strategy, but looking at the big picture, it is shown that â€Å"Team parenting† has also unknowingly created some problems.Studies have shown that a child’s success throughout their life is largely dependent on the structure of their childhood (Hofferth). Given that men’s taking a more proactive role in the home and in the lives of their children is a good thing, the way that it has been approached has been problematic because it has undermined the hierarchy of the home. Similar to a man’s need to be the provider is the need to be the protector of his home. In addition, a man is not the only one who craves a distinctive hierarchy in the home, so do the children. According to Dr. David Bjorklund and Dr.Anthony Pellegrini, children need a clear authority figure. Often times by approaching parenting as a team and as equals, the mother and father undermine each other’s authority (Bjorklund, Pellegrini). Furthermore, without a specific and defined role, the position of father has been diminished as unimportant. For generations men have been noted as head of the house, and hailed for that important position. However, without that distinct role to play, it begins to seem like they’re participation is unnecessary as their wife is obviously much better suited to caring for and developing relationship with a child.These personal misgivings in combination with the media reinforcing the idea that the father role is superfluous, are huge contributors to why more and more fatherlessness is becoming the social epidemic of the generation (Pompper). This is an important issue that needs to be addressed, because Fathers are vital to the family unit. In their article about the role of fathers in children’s development, Amanda Quesenberry M. Ed. , Michaelene M. Ostrosky Ph. D. , and Robert Corso Ph. D. , note â€Å"Fathers are critical members of the family system who influence their children and their families in unique ways† (Quesenberry, Ostrosky, Corso).The article states that even in today’s society, father’s hold a huge amount of influence over society, enough that their presence and involvement is necessary to not only the success of the family as a unit, but also to the individual children. However, since the importance of fathers and fatherhood has not been stressed, and in fact the opposite has been emphasized, approximately one out of every 3 children does not have an active father or father figure in their lives (Hofferth). Acceptance and affection from a father or father figure is vital to a child’s cognitive development, and recent statistics how that behavioral problems among children, adolescents, and young adults with no active father in their lives are far greater than those of children living with both a father and a mother (Quesenberry, Ostrosky, Corso), and also tend to deal with one or more of the following issues: personality and psychological adjustment problems, behavioral problems (including aggression towards people and animals, property destruction, deceitfulness, and theft), delinquency, and psychopathology (substance abuse, depression) (Rohner).The rate of violent crimes have gone up roughly 300% since the 1960’s, and of the juveniles who ha ve been incarcerated for serious crimes 70% of them have been raised with no real father figure. In addition, 70% of all girls who become pregnant were raised without fathers (Lykken). These alarming numbers demonstrate the profound effect a father can have on the development, and therefore future of a child. The final issue that has come out of male’s displacement from his traditional roles is a generation with no respect for authority. Teachers are having increasing difficulties with classroom control.Students no longer have it ingrained in them to respect their elders, and as a result don’t care what the teacher or the principal say. Because school is no longer a priority to students like this, the drop out rate has increased significantly, with just over half of all dropouts being fatherless (Lykken). In today’s economy, it is next to impossible to find a job without at least a high school diploma, and employers no longer have to put up with any employee who cannot do what they are told, because there is someone who would be happy to take their place who most likely has more experience or education and can do what they are told.To conclude, while equal opportunity is beneficial and has helped to move our society forward, it has also drastically changed the traditional male role. And while some of these changes are good ones, they unfortunately have had negative effects due to people’s ignorance of the possible consequences. For example, it is good that women have been able to pursue their goals and passions in the workforce, and it is good that men are able to help out more at home. However, what is not good is that men have become completely displaced from many of the roles that, to them, define them as men.The way their roles have changed has slowly and subconsciously emasculated and caused them to doubt their importance and purpose in the family unit, which in turn has led to a growing number of fatherless children, increased crime rate, and a lack of respect for any kind of authority. Works Cited Bjorklund, David F, and Anthony D. Pellegrini. â€Å"Child Development and Evolutionary Psychology. † Child Development. 71. 6 (2000): 1687-708. Print. 05 Mar. 2012 Hofferth, Sandra L. â€Å"Residential Father Family Type and Child Well-Being: Investment Versus Selection. † Demography. 43. 1 (2006): 53-77. Print. 03 Mar. 2012. Pompper, Donnalyn. Masculinities, the Metrosexual, and Media Images: Across Dimensions of Age and Ethnicity. † Sex Roles. 63 (2010): 9-10. Print. 05 Mar. 2012. Quesenberry, Amanda, Michaelene Ostrosky, and Robert Corso. â€Å"Skilled and Knowledgeable Caregivers: the Role of Fathers in Supporting Young Children's Development. † Young Exceptional Children. 10. 4 (2007): 11-19. Print. 05 Mar. 2012. Rohner, Ronald P. â€Å"Father Love and Child Development: History and Current Evidence. † Current Directions in Psychological Science. 7. 5 (1998): 157-161. Pr int. 03 Mar. 2012. Rosin, Hanna. â€Å"The End of Men. † July-Aug. 2010. The Atlantic. Web. 03 Mar. 2012.

The Better Self in Ourselves

The influx of self-help books in today’s ultra-modern world is by no means an accident. They are by-products of a world that has become more complicated and complex as the ways in which it has to be lived in. This complexity coincides with the development of more complex thought processes that seek to find meanings in life and how everyone fits into that life. That search for meaning and the process of meaning-making involve attempts to make sense of the existence of one’s self as a tiny spot relative to the vastness of the cosmic universe.This has led many social scientists to develop theories that attempt to explain ways through which the self can be understood in its multi-faceted contexts. John Locke underscored the importance of the â€Å"continuity of consciousness† through an enabled memory and imagination (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2007). He believed that a person can understand his/her self by examining the past and imagining the future. Jean- Jacques Rousseau, on the other hand, stressed the significance of the society as a necessary and yet corruptible element in understanding one’s self (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2008).The former emphasizes the objective self-examination while the latter stresses the subjective self-expression. Sigmund Freud believed that human beings have irrational, primitive and animalistic instincts that should be repressed for the betterment of one’s self and the society at large (Curtis, 2002); while Wilhelm Reich claimed that it is the repression of the society of the â€Å"original† forces and emotions within human beings that makes human beings irrational (The Wilhelm Reich Museum).And quite contemporarily, Ian Hacking advances the practice of disciplinary psychology as a means to define selfhood in its socio-cultural contexts (Hacking, 2002). It has offered individuals the tools through which they can take a deeper look at their inner selves in relation to the society and the world they live in. Towards a Better Understanding of the Self in Ourselves All the psychological theories and practices cited thus far have only one aim: to make us understand ourselves more than how we understand ourselves now.They provide us tools so we can acquire skills to help us learn more about ourselves and to nurture that self within ourselves for a better us. Their primary objective is to illuminate the existence of one’s self and give us enlightenment to enable us to view that self in new and better perspectives and vantage points with the hope that we can be better for ourselves, the people around us and the society we live in. Disciplinary psychology posits that if we could understand our psychological self better, we can understand the kind of person that we are.Doing so, we can be that person we aspire to be. We can be astronauts, airline pilots, NBA superstars, forensic scientists, geologists, etc. There are infinite possibilities of being who we want to be if we just indeed are able to understand ourselves better. Truly, while there are infinite possibilities of being ourselves, there are also infinite questions that needed to be answered about ourselves. As time changes and as the world becomes more modernized, the concepts of personhood and selfhood become even more complicated.Questions about humanity become more apparent. When we question why we are driven by this desire to succeed and gain more material wealth, we turn to become pseudo-psychoanalysts in trying to understand this desire and how it can manipulate us if not tempered with reason. And as our consciousness is feed with the commercialism we see around us, engendered by the consumerism in the media, we are guided by the fact that advertisements use psychoanalysis to manipulate human minds to become infatuated with manufactured desires.We are reminded of the â€Å"police within our heads that needs to be destroyed† (Curtis, 2002). When we question ou r temperaments and attitudes towards love, life and work, we may turn to looking back at how we were brought up, the environment we grew up with and the kind of upbringing that we had. Disciplinary psychology guides us to look back and look forward and struggle to find meanings in those acts. Indeed, while disciplinary psychology offers us tools to gain better understanding of ourselves, the synthesis depends on our own willingness to analyze.While it can provide us maps to where we could finally go, the choices of directions we take remain our own pre-occupation. And while it gives us patterns through which we could build our own conceptions about ourselves, our self-concept remains our own decision. In the final analysis, disciplinary psychology can provide us proper guidance, but the path towards better understanding of one’s self depends on our own will to tread that path forcefully and purposefully. And as always, that willingness can be questioned psychologically.

Lunch Time Essay

Lunch is the time where a lot of students can’t wait to see all of their friends and eat. Students come to get a good fulfilling meal in so they can continue to learn throughout the day on a full stomach. That just isn’t the case anymore; more students than ever are becoming obese and schools haven’t done anything about it till now. There is now a worldwide restriction on what and how much students can eat. Schools should improve the nutritional value of school lunches because significant increases in student’s health will lead to a host of benefits. The main reason why childhood obesity has become such a serious issue is because children now days live more sedentary lifestyles. Children now days are bombarded with television advertisements urging them to eat foods high in fat and calories while staying inside and playing video games or watching television. Childhood obesity does not only affect children in childhood but can cause a list of health issues in their adult lives also. When it comes to education regarding childhood obesity, the responsibility needs to be addressed by the parents, schools and the media. Children that are overweight are most common in developing countries. This is because they get food from other countries to try and decline the hunger rates, but all that it is doing is creating obesity rates to increase. Countries that are becoming more westernized with their food, drifting away from more traditional meals are showing the most increase in obesity rates. This causes huge controversy throughout those countries and what it is doing to the citizens. Some people may think problem solving for hunger within those countries will be solved by sending over westernized foods that are fatting, and in the long run will cause problems in those countries, causing obesity rates to increase where they never had to worry about being obese, especially children. The National School Lunch Program serves lunch to almost 30 million students – 60 percent of the total student population. Although a large fraction of school lunch participants get their lunch free (48 percent) or at a reduced price (9 percent), a substantial number (43 percent) pay full price. If school lunches are contributing to childhood overweight, making lunches healthier could possibly impact a large number of children from socio-economic Status, race, and geography boundaries. The government plays a large role in the school lunch program, providing $6. 1 billion in total cash payments to local schools. In addition, the government provides another 15. 75 cents per lunch served for fruit juices and peanut butter. The government’s bankrolling of the program might suggest that they are able to influence what is served as part of school lunches. According to Harvard School of Public Health â€Å"Globally, an estimated 43 million preschool children (under 5) were overweight or obese in 2010, a 60 percent increase since 1990. † Parents go through the struggle of finding and trying new things that might please their children’s eating habits. Some cases it is food that is totally unhealthy for the kid but they give it to them because they simply cannot say no to their child. At school you expect them to get a healthy and fulfilling lunch in to continue learning throughout the day. The article â€Å"Students, parents, educators displeased with new school lunch standards,† by Benjamin Wood talks about all of the things students are doing to get their word out there into the world and make a statement about the new â€Å"improved† lunches. â€Å"Viral Videos mocking the guidelines and reports of increased food waste have sprung up, and a bill being called the No Hungry Kids Act has been introduced in Congress in an attempt to reverse the Healthy Hunger- Free Kids Act that spawned the new guidelines. Lunch trays are going un-touched and the food is being thrown away. â€Å"Forty percent of the food in the U. S. goes uneaten, which means Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $165 billion worth of food each year. But that’s not all. Food waste, as it decays in landfills, also produces methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas† (â€Å"The Ugly Truth About Food Waste in America†). By kids wasting more and more food everyday they think it gives them an excuse to come home and eat whatever they want because lunch wasn’t satisfying. When kids are little they come home and get an afternoon snack after a long day at school, before it were ants on a log, apples and peanut butter, pretzels, fruit, and many more. Now it is fruit snacks, Cheetos, chips, candy, pizza, all things that are high in fat, sugar, cholesterol things that are factors of high obesity rates within children. Parents just don’t have the time to make their children snacks after school anymore. Either they put their kids in an after school program or they are still at work with they get home, so the children result to the next best thing junk food. If they eat badly at home what makes them not bring the unhealthy food to school and continue to eat unhealthy without anyone saying something or putting a stop to it. â€Å"A public school, Little Village Academy on Chicago’s west side students is not allowed to pack lunches from home. Unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria (â€Å"Chicago school bans some lunches from home†)†. This can be a good or bad thing to have within the school. In order for this to be good successful process all staff members have to be on board with it, and wanting to make an impact on the students and the school as well. Doing this, schools won’t feel the burden of needing to do more within the school and eventually will make an impact on student’s lives. Childhood obesity has decrease dramatically within Little Village Academy, and students are showing noticeable changes with academics and fitness. Eating habits are the hardest thing to change about a person. Once they like a type of food that is either high in fat, sugar, and salt it is very hard to change their opinion about that type of food. The top five signs for food addiction according to researchers at Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Science & Policy are: ending up eating more than planned when first started to eat, keep eating when full, eat to the point of feeling ill, worrying about no eating certain types of food or worry about cutting down on certain types of foods, when certain foods aren’t available, and go out of way to get them. Just like any other addiction it is hard to stop once hooked on. Cooping Recess has always been that time to go out and play with friends that might not be in the same classes. Well there are many reasons that it is a good thing for kids and that it helps children learn more. According to Shape up America organization: â€Å"Studies show that taking a break after a period of concentrated instruction helps children process what they just learned and make them more attentive and productive in the classroom. Regular breaks from class work are beneficial for younger children and adolescents. † Over and under feeding is something that countries face every day because they do not have all of the resources that other countries can get so quickly. In upcoming countries such as Mexico and South Africa this is exactly what goes on within the country. While obesity hits lower and middle classes because it is affordable, upper class doesn’t have to worry about it because they can afford healthier food and don’t have to worry about the cost. In most upcoming countries is where childhood obesity is a major issue, because they get food from other countries to try and decline the hunger rates, but all that it is doing is creating obesity rates to increase because all of the food that is being shipped out to these countries are high in fat and sugar and unnatural preservatives that are really bad for you. Countries that are becoming more westernized with their food, drifting away from more traditional meals are showing the most increase in obesity rates. This causes huge controversy throughout those countries and what it is doing to the citizens. Some people may think problem solving for hunger within those countries will be solved by sending over westernized foods that are fatting, and in the long run will cause problems in those countries, causing obesity rates to increase where they never had to worry about being obese, especially children. The School Nutrition Dietary Assessment-III was sponsored by the U. S. Department of Agriculture in2005 in order to collect information regarding school meal policies and food programs, the content and quality of food o?  ered at schools, and children’s dietary habits. The survey includes ? ve groups: Children age 5 to 19 in grades 1 to 12, their parents, the principals of their schools, the food service managers at school, and the school food authority that governs their school. School food authorities (SFA) are the organizations responsible for overseeing all food related aspects-service, budget, management-of schools in a school district or county, and there are 130 SFA†™s in the SNDA-III (School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study). Approximately three schools (elementary, middle, high) in each SFA’s jurisdiction were selected to answer the principal and food service manager survey for a total of 398 schools. The principals of each school provided information about meal time policies (i. e. where children eat their meals, length of lunch period and which grades eat during each period) as well as information on the of vending machines, snack bars, and nutrition education. The food service managers are in charge of day-to-day food operations, and they provided information regarding kitchen characteristics and sta? , meal prices, participation in subsidized meal programs, and the type and quantity of a la carte items available during meals. From the 130 SFA’s and 398 schools, 94 SFA’s and 288 schools were selected to have their students receive the child and parent survey. An average of 8 students from each school were selected to participate in thesurvey, and these children and their parents provided information on the child’s eating and exercise habits at home and school like; regularly eat breakfast, times per week they buy their lunch or snacks at school, what types of food they eat at home, how often they exercise/play, and standard demographic and geographic characteristics of the child and parents. The ? nal component of the child’s survey included a 24 hour dietary diary where consumption over a random school day was recorded. In addition to these survey components, each child’s height and weight were measured by survey administrators and translated into a Body Mass Index.

Persuasive speech - why people shouldn't eat fast food Essay

Persuasive speech - why people shouldn't eat fast food - Essay Example Not only that, these foods simply do not just promise to help save time and cost, but they simply provide good taste too. These are the common reasons why fast food are widely consumed from different walks in today’s fast-paced life. Fast foods simply provide advantages that are tantamount to resuscitating an individual from a hectic schedule, financial and economic needs and preferences on foods. However, it is important to consider that together with these advantages, there are also corresponding disadvantages associated with eating fast food. These disadvantages are enough to stand as reasons why people should not eat fast food. These reasons are the following. According to Hales (149) many fast foods are high in salt, fats and calorie but with very low content of beneficial nutrients. Although a person’s body also requires salt, fats and calorie, there is only minimal amount of them which is needed by the body. For instance, the National Research Council (11) stated that the sodium requirement of the human body especially for adult ranges from 0.15 to 0.30 mg because the daily requirement per kilogram body weight is 0.002 to 0.004 mg. Fats and calories on the other hand are necessary for the right body functioning but they must be in small amounts too (Hart and Grossman 66). Let us now build the very foundation of this argument. Freedman (14) reported that there is a strong association between eating fast food and the likelihood of acquiring obesity. This is supported by the claim of Lusted (33) based on a case study in which the respondent was able to gain around 11 kg in a 30-day experiment of eating consecutively McDonald’s foods. Although this experiment would point out that obesity and fast food is a case of personal responsibility, it cannot be substantially denied that fast food can ultimately help a person gain considerable weight. After all, as stated earlier, fast foods