Write two short paragraphs for each topic__total up to 3 topics Assignment

Write two short paragraphs for each topic__total up to 3 topics - Assignment Example The French citizens redesigned the political landscape of their country in a bid to outdo obsolete institutions set up during the feudal and absolute monarchy system. Enlightenment ideals influenced the revolution. The French craved for the adoption of concepts of popular sovereignty and rights that were inalienable in the country. Reforms created a constitutional monarchy. Feudal codes and old regime taxes ended. The revolution shaped modern nations by depicting to the world the immense power in people’s wills. It occurred between the years 1956 and 1975. Nationalist forces struggled with the U.S. in an attempt to unify Vietnam under a government based on communist ideals. South Vietnamese aided the U.S. in preventing the spread of the communist state. The American citizens had stopped supporting the U.S. leaders. The United States forces withdrew from Vietnam in 1973 and the whole of Vietnam attained union under communism in 1975. The war had extensive consequences on the U.S. including recession in the country’s

Langston Hughes Masterpieces I, Too and A Dream Deferred Essay

Langston Hughes Masterpieces I, Too and A Dream Deferred - Essay Example The lines below show a steadfast refusal to accept the racial segregation. â€Å"Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed - I, too, am America.† The poet proudly and clearly declares, he too is an American and is not going to give up at any cost. â€Å"A deferred dream† was written long after the Harlem Renaissance. All the hopes and dreams expressed during that period hadn’t materialized even after two decades of waiting. The racial differences prevailed even during the 1950’s. The poem is an expression of the desperation of when the situation will finally change if at all. The first and last lines of the poem are extremely powerful. â€Å"What happens to a dream deferred?† â€Å"Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?† The poet laments with untold sadness when he asks whether his dreams will drop dead with him pressing his soul with a great burden. He immediately expresses his anger asking whether the dreams will explode causing another revolution. In short he urges his fellow brothers to start leading their dreams instead of waiting for them to happen at the mercy of someone else. Scanty Support from Non Black Poets The poet as a young representative of the Harlem renaissance hopes to change the world through his pen. Many of his African American colleagues had the same dream. But, not everybody was supportive. The modernist poets like Fearing and Davidman saw the Harlam Renaissance as a way of the black community to achieve dominance. Though they agreed racial discrimination should be kept in check, their views about the struggling of the black people were generally pessimistic (Smethurst, 1999). None of their works expressed the warm confidence and positive attitude as shown in these lines of â€Å"I, Too†. â€Å"But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes† In fact only a very few like Langston had this cheery spirit in the Harlem Renaissance group. But, sadly even his great warrior spirit gets wounded by time. Poets like Sterling Brown and Don West were also popular folk poets. But their poems usually kept â€Å"folk† out of the mass culture, catering the artistic side of educated people rather than the struggling blacks. The modern digital generation might find it hard to believe such inequalities were meted out to their fellow brothers with President Obama ruling the country now. But, the situation was much different a century before. The Repressed Anger The poem â€Å"A Deferred Dream† is like a continuation of the first poem â€Å"I, Too†. They record the changes expected with time and the disappointment of it not materializing as fast as expected. The author hopes he would be able to dine equally with the Whites in the future definitely. He cherishes the dream with his heart and soul. Twenty five years later, he is tired of still cherishing the same dream. He is tired to see his fellow brother being exploited still in terms of education, employment and several other fields. He watches them shed their roots and try to imitate the White people blindly. The poet is deeply hurt by this. On the other hand he also notices people with the true ‘black† spirit too who give him hope. He believes these people will fight for their rights better than the educated blacks. He warns the society about how the suppressed feelings of the black peop

Quantitative Easing within the Eurozone

Quantitative Easing within the Eurozone Inflation is one of those things where the situation determines whether it is good or bad. Central Banks (CBs) are able to steer the inflation rate. Before the financial crisis of 08-09, they managed them by interest rate adjustment. The interest rate at which a bank borrows overnight would be reduced to prevent an economic fall, or increased if spending and credit would get out of hand (The Economist, 2015). When the CBs lowered their overnight interest rates during the financial crisis, even cutting the rates to almost zero did not manage to cause an economic recovery. Therefore, CBs started to experiment with alternative methods to encourage banks to pump money in the economy. Quantitative Easing (QE) is one of those alternative tools (The Economist, 2015). The current president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, announced in January 2015 that he was going to employ QE within the Eurozone (Stewart, 2015). QE is an unconventional method in which a CB creates money and buys financial assets, such as bonds (Bank of England, n.d.). The use of QE has been popular since the financial crisis. In Europe, the ECB stated in 2009 that they would focus on buying a form of corporate debt, covered bonds, with an initial value of  £60bn (Duncan, 2009). In 2015 this eventually became  £60bn/month of bonds which would be bought from European institutions, agencies and central governments (Stewart, 2015). In 2016 they also included corporate bonds under their QE program. QE advantages In the recent crises interest rates had already been reduced to sub-zero levels, when there was still a need to prevent an economic downturn. Therefore CBs had no probable course of action anymore. With QE however, CBs could still influence the economy. QE increases the money supply, which causes competition between lenders due to excess money and therefore lower interest rates. This means that the CBs do not have to lower the interest rates, as they will automatically go down. QE also limits the increase in unemployment as result of a crisis, since it prevents in short-term a huge economic fall. The fact that QE shows immediate results, can be used to buy and therefore remove toxic assets, and that the government is in control of the outcomes, make it an interesting alternative to the classic conventional method. With QE CBs know the exact amount of money that they are implementing in the marketplace (MSG, 2017). QE disadvantages One of the CBs its main tasks is to monitor and control inflation. The inflation target in the EU is just under 2% (European Central Bank, 2017). QE causes a high inflation, due to the fact that money is created to buy the bonds. In the short-term a rise in inflation is a good thing, since shows economic improvement. In the long-term; however, high inflation is a problem. There is no long term data available since QE is a recent phenomenon, but it is a possibility that it could create long term inflation problems (Management Study Guide, 2017). QE also causes fluctuation in the interest rates, since the higher inflation over time will also make the interest rates rise. This is against the goal of the CB to keep them at a stable level. QE gives improvements in the economy in the short-term, however; in the long-term it could destabilize the economy (Management Study Guide, 2017). ECBs decision to choose QE In June of 2014, the ECB lowered their interest rates to a negative number (CÃ…â€Å"urà ©, 2016). The method to decrease interest rates was therefore not really implementable anymore. The ECB had to search for an alternative method to influence the economy. Other CBs were using QE, and there was also an example where QE had worked (UK, 2009[3]). The need to increase spending combined with the other possible motives could be the reason which pushed the ECB towards QE. The question now is where the need to increase spending came from. The core of the problems in the Eurozone is a spending crisis. One persons spending is another persons income. John Maynard Keynes[4]. In the aftermath of the 08 crisis, too much debt and poor growth prospects sacrificed spending in the private sector. New banking regulations combined with oversized balance sheets caused unwillingness to expand lending in banks. This combined resulted in dramatic decreases in private sector spending (van Lerven, 2016). [5] Graph 1 Due to the recession government its social security expenditures increased after they had bailed out banks. The decrease in spending mentioned above meant less tax revenue. These two events combined caused an expansion in government budget deficits, as is clearly visible in the graph above (Eurostat, 2017). This meant that governments also started to cut in their spending, which resulted in lower incomes for households, and therefore lower goods and services demands (van Lerven, 2016). To be able to give a recommendation to Mario Draghi, it is important to look at the results of their QE program are so far. In the first three months, there was a small increase in prices. However, in the following five months the inflation rate declined progressively and even reached a negative number in September 2015. After this it shows a few rises and falls, but all nowhere near the goal the ECB wanted to achieve with QE (van Lerven, 2016). The inflation was far from just under two percent. However, there is no long term information available, and QE has worked before. Currently QE aims to stimulate spending indirectly. The ECB does not give money to governments or the normal people, but puts it into financial markets. They then hope that the private sector changes their behaviour when it comes to borrowing and spending. The unfortunate truth is however, that investigation shows that QE has weak results in the transmissions in which it is supposed to work. Assets prices have increased, but there is no noticeable increase in spending in the Eurozone. The results the ECB wanted have not been achieved (van Lerven, 2016). Recommendation The current QE program has been here for a couple of years now, and with significant size. The goals the ECB hoped to achieve were not achieved, and therefore it is unlikely that increasing the length or size will lead to the spending they desperately want. As member of the board of governors I would suggest the use of more direct ways to increase the spending in the economy. References Bank of England, n.d. What is quantitative easing?. [Online] Available at: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetarypolicy/pages/qe/default.aspx[Accessed 15 February 2017]. CÃ…â€Å"urà ©, B., 2016. Assessing the implications of negative interest rates. [Online] Available at: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2016/html/sp160728.en.html[Accessed 28 February 2017]. Coy, P., 2014. Why John Maynard Keynes is just the economist we need to get the worlds economy humming again. [Online] Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-10-30/why-john-maynard-keyness-theories-can-fix-the-world-economy[Accessed 28 February 2017]. Duncan, G., 2009. ECB opts for quantitative easing to lift the eurozone. The Times, 8 May, p. 53. European Central Bank, 2017. Monetary Policy. [Online] Available at: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/mopo/html/index.en.html[Accessed 23 February 2017]. Eurostat, 2017. General Government gross debt annual data. [Art] (Eurostat). Management Study Guide, 2017. Disadvantages of Quantitative Easing. [Online] Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/disadvantages-of-quantitative-easing.htm[Accessed 28 February 2017]. MSG, 2017. Advantages of Quantitative Easing. [Online] Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/advantages-of-quantitative-easing.htm[Accessed 28 February 2017]. Stewart, H., 2015. ECB unveils  £1.1tn QE plan to stimulate eurozone economy. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/22/ecb-unveils-1-trillion-qe-plan-stimulate-eurozoen-economy[Accessed 12 February 2017]. The Economist, 2015. What is quantitative easing?. [Online] Available at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/03/economist-explains-5[Accessed 23 February 2017]. TransferWise Ltd., 2015. What Is Quantitative Easing And Why Is It Used?. [Online] Available at: https://transferwise.com/gb/blog/what-is-quantitative-easing-why-is-it-used[Accessed 28 February 2017]. van Lerven, F., 2016. Quantitative Easing in the Eurozone: a One-Year Assessment. Intereconomics, 51(4), pp. 237-242. Zewald, S. B. J., 2017. Euros op tafel gevallen. [Art] (University of Bradford). Zewald, S. B. J., 2017. Money Printing. [Art] (University of Bradford).    [1] (Zewald, 2017) [2] (Zewald, 2017) [3] (TransferWise Ltd., 2015) [4] (Coy, 2014) [5] (Eurostat, 2017)

Multicultural Education Means Mediocre Education :: miscellaneous

Multicultural Education Means Mediocre Education Let me begin this essay by stating that I am a retired English teacher of 34 years experience and believe that I have treated all of my students fairly and equitably. Three times I had been named into â€Å"Who’s Who Among American Teachers† and two of those nominations have been by minority students, one black and one Hispanic. Those students realized that my classroom standards were just as tough on them as they were on the majority Caucasian students and that I gave them no favoritism, slack or handicap for their minority-status ethnicity. I had always refused to â€Å"dumb down† my curriculum (Grammar, Vocabulary, Literature, Writing Skills) to accommodate students that lacked motivation, desire, curiosity, cooperation, respect for teacher authority and a willingness to learn. A year before I retired in 1999 my Middle School’s English Department had a special curriculum meeting and the Administration and my Department Supervisor wanted to change and modernize the English curriculum’s literature textbooks. The choice eventually narrowed down to two distinct textbook series (grades six-to-eight) and my school’s nine English teachers voted on which company’s series to incorporate into the school’s English curriculum. Obviously administrative fiat (and pressure and trends from the State Department of Education) was more important than teacher democratic input and the English Department’s overwhelmingly selected first choice was abruptly discarded because the other more â€Å"politically correct† literature textbook series from the administratively preferred company happened to have â€Å"more cultural diversity† and subsequently was more â€Å"multicultural.† For thirty-four years I had loved teaching imaginative literature featuring such accomplished authors as Edgar Allan Poe, Jack London, Alexander Dumas, Charles Dickens, H.G. Wells, Washington Irving, Jules Verne, Mark Twain, S.E. Hinton, George Eliot, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Victor Hugo, William Shakespeare, George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut, O. Henry and James Thurber. Apparently the fact that all of the aforementioned authors were â€Å"white† was a major problem because most of them had been effectively excluded in the newly acquired literature texts. The old literature texts and program were too white-oriented and were not consistent with New Jersey and USA politically correct trends in â€Å"multicultural education.† The new eighth grade literature textbook featured on its cover a painting of Sam Adoquei’s Portrait of Rockney C. A statement inside the text indicated that Sam Adoquei was born in the West African country of Ghana and that Adoquei was a contemporary artist that loved painting landscapes.

Informative Speech on Early Childhood Education Essay

â€Å"Whatever the mind can conceived, it can be achieved† – such is the immortal axiom of Dale Carnegie, which has become a universal motivational tool to enhance performance and uncover untapped potentials. But the validity of this maxim does not hold true only for adults, but for the young ones as well – even for the unborn, pulsating fetus in a mother’s womb. Would you believe that infants are like little computers? At the University of British Columbia, Canada, an experiment was conducted with the objective to gauge how the brain of an eight-month-old girl would react to words using small electrode capped to her head. And you know what have they found out? : study has deduced that infants, like little computers, learn by statistically analyzing the impressions they receive! It was further found out that even young babies could tell when there is a gap of only 16 milliseconds between the sounds! Can you imagine that brainpower of a baby! That is why advocates stressed that the impact of enhancing brain development right in the first five years, or even in the prenatal stage, is so great that you want to do it right from the very start. Timing is important but promptness is more relevant. And why is this so? – Simply because at age 0 to 5 years, development of human brain is greater than any other stages of his entire life. Earl Morrison shows how different body features changes over time. The most factual revelation of it is that Head Size and Brain weight develop almost completely at age 5 years compared to other body features, while all features attain full changes upon the age of 18. (Morrison) In short, 90% of brain’s physical development is happening at 0-5 years of human life, the early childhood stage, the critical stage when brain assimilations of information is great and prompt nurturing is timely right. Similar demand for physical nurturing holds true for fetus in the womb. Books, on human physiology reveals that infant nutrition really begins during fetal life. Most evidence indicates that the human fetus is entirely parasitic and will take nearly everything it requires for nutrition from the mother, even if this depletes her tissues! The food intake is proportionally higher in infancy and childhood than in adult life because basal metabolism is higher at this stage. (Arnow) Prenatal enrichment has been practiced for thousands of years, dating back to the ancient Chinese. A research of Dr. Brent Logan at the Educational Development Foundation, in cooperation with Gahanna Children’s College yields a unique prenatal stimulation using heartbeat-like sounds of increasing complexity as the most effective means of communicating with developing child. Other prenatal enrichment approaches that use music, reading or singing have been tried, however: the fluid surrounding the baby muffles all but the simplest of sounds, music is too random and complex, the spoken word is too hard to understand. Its use normally during the second trimester of mother’s pregnancy gives a wonderful bonding experience for baby and the rest of the family. Babies are born more relaxed with their eyes and hands open and crying little, nurse better, sleep better; reach developmental milestones more quickly, have advanced language, musical, and creative abilities; have enhanced curiosity and the ability to gather and process information very quickly. Prenatal enriched children demonstrate expanded cognitive abilities and higher than average IQs. Throughout life, this advantages would mean child’s ability to absorb and appreciate far more of his/her environment than one who did not receive prenatal enrichment It has been believe that, someday, its use will be as much a part of being pregnant as is taking prenatal vitamins. (Logan) Over the past 25 years, industrialized countries have experienced major changes in rearing arrangements for young children. This transformation stems, in part, from changes in the roles women now play in society – especially changes in maternal employment at an early stage in children’s lives. Increased reliance on paid childcare has fostered intense research on their positive and negative effects on children’s health, cognitive capacity, adjustment, and social relationships. One of the two studies conducted for ages 0-2 years revealed that children reared on child care exhibits the following behaviors: insecure attachments to their mothers, patterns of less harmonious mother-child interaction, higher levels of problem behavior, and teacher-reported social competence and poorer academic work habits. (Belsky) In the other study conducted for ages 2-5 inversely reveals more of advantages of good-quality care and its potential benefits for children. In particular, childcare offers more extensive social contacts opportunities opening extended social world for them. Positive childcare experiences also enhance later educational opportunities, such that those experiencing early non-parental care are better able to benefit from education, adjust to routines, and resist conflicts. (Ahnert L) Nevertheless, home remains the emotional center of children’s lives and it is important that supportive parent-child relationships need not be harmed by childcare experiences even when children spend considerable amounts of time in care. It is undeniably during these first five years of life, that we can most effectively impact and influence a child’s brain, stage when the brain is storing information and memories that will be the foundation for a lifetime of skills and potential. If this foundation is flawed, it can affect the entire life span of the individual. Advocates of early brain development and school readiness give the following 10 guidelines: Be warm, loving, and responsive; Respond to the child’s cues and clues; Enjoy talking, reading and singing to your child; Establish positive routines and rituals; Encourage child to play and explore safely; Make TV watching selective; Use discipline as an opportunity to teach; Accept the fact that each child is unique; Take care of yourself; and lastly Reach out and get some help. In finality, it is truly a wonderful opportunity to enrich the lives of our children and help them realize their full potential. â€Å"The first years truly last forever† but it will only be render possible and achievable, if and only if, as a parent, your mind has conceived it. References: Ahnert L, Lamb ME. . â€Å"Child Care and Its Impact on Young Children, 2-5†. Montreal, Quebec, 2004. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development [online]. Ed. Barr RG Tremblay RE, Peters RDeV, eds. : Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development. February 27 2007. < http://www. excellence-earlychildhood. ca/documents/Ahnert-LambANGxp. pdf. >. Arnow, Eagle Introduction to Physiology and Pathological Chemistry. 9th ed. Minnesota: The C. V. Mosley Co. , 1976. Belsky, J. . â€Å"Child Care and Its Impact on Young Children (0-2)†. Montreal, Quebec, 2005. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development [online]. Ed. Barr RG Tremblay RE, Peters RDeV. Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development. February 27 2007. . Logan, Brent â€Å"Learning before Birth: Every Child Deserves Giftedness†. 2006. February 28 2007.

Hotel Rwanda Essay

The movie â€Å"Hotel Rwanda† is a pathetic story of perhaps the most recent large-scale genocide that should act as a constant reminder to humanity. The atrocities of the Hutu tribesmen relentlessly wiping out the alien Tutsi tribe impress anyone with a heart for human suffering. However, the film is also a tale of human courage and will, in particular the qualities demonstrated by the hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina. This character skilfully portrayed by Don Cheadle leaves an indelible impression on the viewers, showing them how a person can transform from an ordinary selfless man into a leader capable of protecting people from the terror reigning outside. Paul Rusesabagina starts out with the desire to protect his family. He remains sympathetic but passive when he sees a neighbour taken by the Hutu police just because he is a Tutsi. However, with his own wife being of the Tutsi ethnicity, he can no longer remain aside from what is going on in the nation. The Hutu police clamp down on Tutsis, chasing and killing them throughout the country. In days, there are corpses all around and the nation is reverberating with horror. Faced with this terror, Paul is also confronted with the challenge of a thousand of Tutsi refugees in his luxurious hotel. The most upscale hotel in the nation becomes home to a thousand of helpless poor people unable to protect themselves. A different man could have driven them out, but Paul is not the one: he risks incurring the displeasure of the Hutu police. When things get wrong, and the Hutus are raiding his hotel, he hangs on to the only link to survival he has, the phone connection to Belgium. Through what seems almost a miracle, the danger retreats, and Paul and his â€Å"guests† remain in the same suspended position. In this little accident, he acts like a real leader. His leadership does not arise from a commanding posture; instead, he leads people with his vision and ability to be human. Paul clearly shows that he is ready to endanger his personal fate to save others, and people are even more encouraged to trust. This is a very courageous step as, being a Hutu and the manager of a top-notch hotel, he could have been able to save not only himself, but perhaps also his wife and kids. This would become even more realistic if he had kept a low profile. This is not what he was going to do when his hotel housed numerous Tutsis desperately clinging to him as their only way to salvation. This realisation that people depend on him has led him to give up the opportunity to rescue when the UN contingent was taking people to planes and out of the hotel. At the very last moment, Paul screams to his wife that he was not going to join the rest as they were going on their way to salvation. Paul is also the one to house the survivors when it turns out that they cannot make it to the planes. Paul, with his courage and will to counteract the terror that reigns outside, remains the only support for his â€Å"dependents†. The world including the NATO peacekeeping force refuses to interfere. The Colonel of the â€Å"Blue Helmets† feels shamed and dismayed telling Paul that they have abandoned him. Yet Paul does not give up, nor does he flee; he stays in his place, attending to the daunting task of harbouring the people. He even has the wisdom to tell his people that they should call all the influential people they know all over the world and create the pathetic image as if they are holding their hand. Letting this hand loose would mean that Rwandans die – and this could act as inspiration for these important people to act for the sake of the remote African country. Paul Rusesabagina acts like a strong man whose strength stems from his love of people. His appreciation of human life, its intrinsic value, and humane character make him an outstanding example of the art of being human. Displaying unwavering courage and will power in the face of life-threatening savages, the manager of Hotel Rwanda has won himself fame of a selfless and powerful man. Bibliography Hotel Rwanda. Dir. Terry George. With Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo. WGA, 2004. Hotel Rwanda. Official Website. 11 Mar. 06 .