Gender Roles essays

Gender Roles essays If I could hear myself speak in an age where gender seems to be two lines merging and immerging, I wouldnt think of myself as a product of this or that. Ive always thought that greatness or depravity was not a trait of what we had or did not have, but how we handled that lack or abundance. Perhaps its because I was born into this decade and not the earlier or the next; perhaps its because the worlds changing views have insinuated a pandemonium of ideas. All anybody had to do was pluck them out of stasis. There is much to learn in an assertion posed subtlety as a hypothetical situation. Also, there is much to question. In the process of maturing, weve been given a certain set of rules not only imposed upon us by the mere whim of parents (and perhaps their ignorance?) but also of cultures dictation; its sublime tradition. Then, the world has its complaints about that. And its a handful. Should we think it unfair that tradition and physical attributes limit the deeds and actions of women and men? Does society implement a rule for little girls to play with dolls and little boys with robots? Does it come, perhaps, when the majority clings to certain, unique aspects of their race (male or female)? Honestly, I cant relate much with the way I was raised when it concerns toys. I gawked at swords and inadvertently shot an arrow at my nephews eye. I didnt even know tea parties existed until my sister bought us all a plastic house. I ended up being the father when we played house. However, I can tell you that my mother frustrated herself in forcing me to wear dresses, sitting with both legs tied together, splendidly being more courteous to guests than men in our family ever had the right or nerve to be. I was forever at a loss on why my nephews could drive huge tractors and I couldnt; why they were coddled and exempt from housework ti...

Fiscal Policy in the 1960s and 1970s

Fiscal Policy in the 1960s and 1970s By the 1960s, policy-makers seemed wedded to Keynesian theories. But in retrospect, most Americans agree, the government then made a series of mistakes in the economic policy arena that eventually led to a reexamination of fiscal policy. After enacting a tax cut in 1964 to stimulate economic growth and reduce unemployment, President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969) and Congress launched a series of expensive domestic spending programs designed to alleviate poverty. Johnson also increased military spending to pay for American involvement in the Vietnam War. These large government programs, combined with strong consumer spending, pushed the demand for goods and services beyond what the economy could produce. Wages and prices started rising. Soon, rising wages and prices fed each other in an ever-rising cycle. Such an overall increase in prices is known as inflation. Keynes had argued that during such periods of excess demand, the government should reduce spending or raise taxes to avert inflation. But anti-inflation fiscal policies are difficult to sell politically, and the government resisted shifting to them. Then, in the early 1970s, the nation was hit by a sharp rise in the international oil and food prices. This posed an acute dilemma for policy-makers. The conventional anti-inflation strategy would be to restrain demand by cutting federal spending or raising taxes. But this would have drained income from an economy already suffering from higher oil prices. The result would have been a sharp rise in unemployment. If policy-makers chose to counter the loss of income caused by rising oil prices, however, they would have had to increase spending or cut taxes. Since neither policy could increase the supply of oil or food, however, boosting demand without changing supply would merely mean higher prices. The President Carter Era President Jimmy Carter (1976 - 1980) sought to resolve the dilemma with a two-pronged strategy. He geared fiscal policy toward fighting unemployment, allowing the federal deficit to swell and establishing countercyclical jobs programs for the unemployed. To fight inflation, he established a program of voluntary wage and price controls. Neither element of this strategy worked well. By the end of the 1970s, the nation suffered both high unemployment and high inflation. While many Americans saw this stagflation as evidence that Keynesian economics did not work, another factor further reduced the governments ability to use fiscal policy to manage the economy. Deficits now seemed to be a permanent part of the fiscal scene. Deficits had emerged as a concern during the stagnant 1970s. Then, in the 1980s, they grew further as President Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) pursued a program of tax cuts and increased military spending. By 1986, the deficit had swelled to $221,000 million, or more than 22 percent of total federal spending. Now, even if the government wanted to pursue spending or tax policies to bolster demand, the deficit made such a strategy unthinkable. Note This article is adapted from the book Outline of the U.S. Economy by Conte and Carr and has been adapted with permission from the U.S. Department of State.

International Trade and Finance Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Trade and Finance Law - Essay Example This paper is a critical analysis of the Bali Agreement. According to Baldwin, Kawai and Wignaraja (2014), the Bali Agreement forged a consensus on the following issues: a development program for Least Development Countries (LDCs), more Agricultural production and Trade facilitation. First, the LDC program was the least contentious of the three areas of negotiation, principally because the letter and spirit of these programs are best attempts to improve the economic status of the underdeveloped world rather than prompting the member states to agree to binding commitments. King (2013) noted that WTO members restated their determination to eliminating unfavourable trade tariffs, quota freedom and better market access for the LDCs. However, the real developmental benefits continue to be questionable. A limited export opportunity for LDCs implies anything less than absolute coverage will be immaterial in practice. Regardless, tariffs are declining rapidly, so the benefits of Duty-free and quota-free (DFQF) regimes are following the same trend. In Amoco Oil Company v The United States, United States Court of Appeals [1984] 749 F.2d 1576, for instance, the court used the platform provided by the case to eliminate trade barriers in its decision that tax duties on imports should not be calculated based on the content of the shipments (Baldwin, Kawai, & Wignaraja, 2014). As such, improvements of regulations in countries of origin for products and non-duty hindrances would have generated better outcomes to LDCs, considering that these are the hindrances to free market access. After one-decade-and a half of service waiver occasioned by WTO members providing preferential market opportunities on service business to the underdeveloped world without having to affect the position of their developed partners was passed in 2011 by WTO Ministerial

534 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

534 - Essay Example Literature as the second tool helps a lot in the classroom through use of big books, environmental print and even showing illustrations to put across important information. Boards that work with felt pens on them help a lot in displaying some image in the classroom. Other features used include picture dictionaries and symbols. These two major strategies help in displaying of pictures and visual images for visual literacy. Visuals play a vital role in learning because they help the students in understanding and memorizing the lesson learned in class. When teachers use pictures to help students learn, the images sticks in the children’s minds and helps them in memorizing the lesson. Younger children are also more conversant with pictures that words, therefore, introducing visuals in learning increases their level of understanding the subject matter, increases their interest and motivation, helps in critical thinking and also in improving their comprehension. Advantages of visuals include the involvement of visual literacy within classrooms that offer help to students in terms of organizing their thoughts and understanding of information. Student using maps and timelines gain more information for the identification of certain areas that perhaps they need to explore. Putting information in form of a diagram makes it easier with the understanding of the factual statements, other than using theories for explanations. Visuals have enabled all these and therefore made the students work easier (Smaldino, Lowther and Russell, 2012). There are disadvantages of visual literacy and some disadvantages come with visual literacy; the number of respondents that are participating in the survey may fail to show up making the target number to decrease below average. The survey normally has a problem, as most respondents do not give full information, resulting into an incomplete data analysis, that generally disqualifies the survey process, and therefore making it a waste

Active Intellect in Aristotle Essay Example for Free

Active Intellect in Aristotle Essay All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight. This is the foundation of human knowledge Aristotle presents us with in Book Alpha of the Metaphysics. The next question which we must naturally ask ourselves is, How? How is it that we can have any knowledge at all? We by our very nature desire to know and we love the senses in themselves but what is the relationship between the two and by what faculty are we able to call anything knowledge once sense perception has occurred? Aristotle sets up as his faculty for knowledge both the active and the passive intellects. We begin to have knowledge through sense experience. We cannot know without sense experienceand it is from sense experience that all knowledge is therefore generated. Knowledge for Aristotle is a knowledge of universals, that is, a knowledge of Essences. Thought is thus the faculty by which we come to comprehend universals. And since material objects are a composite unity of essence and existence, it naturally follows that we grasp the universal through our encounter with the particular. What follows is a series of events which leads to knowledge. The passive intellect receives the image from the sense data and it is stamped upon the passive intellect from the material impression. From this stamp the active intellect is to draw out of it and somehow make a universal concept from this particular experience. But there is something more at work here. There is something in the mind ( more specifically in the soul) that somehow comprehends and makes universals intelligible. Various theories have been postulated concerning this but we shall concentrate on Aristotle and leave the other philosophies for now. What is at work in man is a divine reason immanent in mans soul. Somehow man is connected to and shares in divine reason. A distinction must be made here. We are not saying that the human souls capacity to grasp universals is in some way a maker or shares in the pure act of God, but that without this divine reason at work in the souls of men no understanding of universals could take place at all. The mind works on the material given to it, that is its potential, and from this material it moves to actuality. An example of this is the man who is without music becoming musical. His potential to be musical always existed in him but it wasnt until he studied the particulars of music that he became a musical  man. Aristotle refers in his Meteorology (1072, b14) that we can live a life like that of a God, a time of reason being broken down where we become aware of the oneness with the principles, whose knowledge is always actual and always complete. The active intellect does not in any way act strictly on material that was already there but undisclosed, it does act on material given to it in sense experience and illuminated by mans reason and divine reason as well. We share in the reason of God Aristotle believed. The philosopher God is a God of pure act, in other words Thought thinking Thought. This is the goal of man, to achieve a similar state of being in contemplation and reflection. And it is only through the active intellect that man is able to come to universals. The active intellect acts on the passive intellect the way an artist acts on stone to create an image. The artist impresses the form of a knowable object into the stone and the active intellect impresses a knowable object onto the passive intellect. We must not make the mistake here of understanding the active intellect as a medium between the passive intellect and the object to be known. Knowledge for Aristotle is a direct and not mediated relationship. The relationship of active to passive intellect is that of illumination shared in divine reason whereby man is able to see the universal in the particular and understand or grasp the idea of universal. This I liken to the statue made by the artist. By sharing in divine reason and the reason in his own soul (which I understand to be an imperfect representation of Gods) the artist is able to take a universal image in his soul and craft a particular. This particular statue thus becomes a representation of the universals we can synthesize through sense experience. Aquinas furthered this theory of the active intellect not as a maker but as an abstraction. This abstraction is taking the impressed species and expressing it through the faculty of the active or agent intellect. The material image is given in sense experience and then expressed as a universal to the mind by the very nature of the active intellect which is abstraction. This abstraction is how for Aquinas that we come to know universals. Gods pure act is translated here to fallen man by which he can begin his ascent to a higher existence. The active intellect in Aristotle is not a reason which creates out of nothing. It works on a material given to it, which it promotes from potentiality into actuality. The one reason is analogous to matter because it becomes all things; the other is analogous to the efficient cause because it makes all things. The first statement points to the act of apprehending, the second to that of art. Art makes its objects by making the material become them. And if the analogy is meant to be an exact one the role of the active intellect must therefore be to make the passive intellect its object so this apprehension can occur. What is potentially comes to be actually. This implies that there is something similar to Platos world of Forms insofar as man is cut off to a pre-existing knowledge and with which we are not in communication. Where Plato called it the re-collection of forgotten forms I believe Aristotle to call it divine reason actuating itself in human reason. Because all men by nature to desire to know, and by knowing we share in the being of God.

The Story I Was Made To Tell :: Personal Narrative Depression Papers

The Story I Was Made To Tell This is the story that I am made to tell. I have written pages and pages of other tales, dancing legends and laughing mysteries, choking secrets that fell away from me the minute they dripped on to the page. But I have always, it seems, been working around this one core subject, the one that eludes me and presses in on me at the same time. You see, I think that in the end, we all have one true tale to tell, to tell well, to tell with all the truth and simplicity, honor and respect that it deserves. And that story will live inside of us forever, praying to be let out. But it isn’t easy to unravel the chapters of your one story. For me, it is still quite impossible, but it is time that I try. Nothing I will ever write can approach truth until this story is told. And perhaps it is my job to try. The story — it is my mother’s. And therefore, mine. It is built of nothing less than miracles and tragedy. It is nothing more than the story of one person. It is the only thing that makes me cry, in the deepest pocket of myself, because it is an untold, unfinished story of the highest importance. The story actually sings in me every time I breathe in, breathe out, every time my eyes lift to see the air and its tingly life, every time my hip aches or my hands sing, or my cheeks puff up in sickness or cold. But no matter its majestic significance, its indelible mark on my life, I still have never been able to tell it. That is the hole I am trying to fill. 1994, spring, a school day. My father, for some reason, drove me back from school one day. This was very unusual, since my father spent more than half his time in England during those years, and a great deal of time in other countries, as well, all as part of his job. He was rarely around, and when he was, he certainly wasn’t picking me up from school or anything else. Either way, he drove me home on this particular day, and as we approached the driveway, almost at our house, he told me an interesting piece of news. The Story I Was Made To Tell :: Personal Narrative Depression Papers The Story I Was Made To Tell This is the story that I am made to tell. I have written pages and pages of other tales, dancing legends and laughing mysteries, choking secrets that fell away from me the minute they dripped on to the page. But I have always, it seems, been working around this one core subject, the one that eludes me and presses in on me at the same time. You see, I think that in the end, we all have one true tale to tell, to tell well, to tell with all the truth and simplicity, honor and respect that it deserves. And that story will live inside of us forever, praying to be let out. But it isn’t easy to unravel the chapters of your one story. For me, it is still quite impossible, but it is time that I try. Nothing I will ever write can approach truth until this story is told. And perhaps it is my job to try. The story — it is my mother’s. And therefore, mine. It is built of nothing less than miracles and tragedy. It is nothing more than the story of one person. It is the only thing that makes me cry, in the deepest pocket of myself, because it is an untold, unfinished story of the highest importance. The story actually sings in me every time I breathe in, breathe out, every time my eyes lift to see the air and its tingly life, every time my hip aches or my hands sing, or my cheeks puff up in sickness or cold. But no matter its majestic significance, its indelible mark on my life, I still have never been able to tell it. That is the hole I am trying to fill. 1994, spring, a school day. My father, for some reason, drove me back from school one day. This was very unusual, since my father spent more than half his time in England during those years, and a great deal of time in other countries, as well, all as part of his job. He was rarely around, and when he was, he certainly wasn’t picking me up from school or anything else. Either way, he drove me home on this particular day, and as we approached the driveway, almost at our house, he told me an interesting piece of news.

Apush Dbq 2

During the Washington, Adams, and Jefferson administrations (from 1776 to 1807) neutrality was America’s main foreign policy. In determining that neutrality was the overall focus of American diplomacy, one must assess the deviations from, as well as the success, of neutrality. Neutrality was originally implemented by George Washington in order to maintain the young country’s best interests. However, lapses in neutrality occurred when the government was forced to favor one foreign power, either Great Britain or France, through treaties. Furthermore, commercial interests ultimately drove America’s decisions and thus influenced the effectiveness of neutrality. Despite such lapses in success, America’s number one foreign policy remained neutrality. Political leaders found involvement in European affairs to be irrelevant and detrimental to the young nation, thus neutrality was the primary focus of America. George Washington was a strong supporter of neutrality despite his highly opinionated cabinet (Hamilton was pro-British and Jefferson pro-French). In 1793, in response to King Louis XVI’s beheading in the French Revolution, Washington issued the Proclamation of Neutrality which stated that America would â€Å"adopt and pursue a conduct friendly and impartial toward the belligerent Powers†¦ † (D). Washington opted to remain neutral in order to avoid conflict with Britain and France, refusing to side with either one. Furthermore, Washington emphasized the necessity of neutrality in his farewell address in 1796. He explained that the â€Å"great rule of conduct for [Americans] in regard to foreign nations†¦ † was to have â€Å"†¦ s little political connection as possible† (J). Thus, Washington established the importance of neutrality which was also supported by John Adams. During the Revolutionary War (right after the Battle of Saratoga) the Americans formed the Franco-American alliance and gained French support from the king. However, John Adams wrote in his diary in 1775, â€Å"That We ought not to enter into any Alliance with her [France], which should entangle Us in any future Wars in Europe,† (A). Adams supported Washington’s push for neutrality and recognized the consequences of forming an alliance with France. Adams was right about the Franco-American Alliance, which later resulted in France seeking American aide against Britain after Louis XVI was beheaded. On the other hand, Adams approved Jay’s Treaty with Great Britain which upset the French who were at war with the British. Jay’s Treaty settled the return of confiscated goods and ships to the Americans and established that pre-Revolutionary War debts must be paid as stated in the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Americans had avoided these debts even though the Treaty of Paris stated that â€Å"creditors on either side shall meet†¦ o the recovery of the full value in sterling money of all bona fide debts heretofore contracted,† (E). During the Jefferson administration, foreign tensions rose and eventually lead to the War of 1812. Jefferson also enforced neutrality, claiming in his Inaugural Address in 1801 that the nation will maintain â€Å"honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none†¦ à ¢â‚¬  (K). Such ideas were evident in his response to the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair. In 1807, the British warship Leopard fired on an American warship, the Chesapeake, killing three Americans and impressing four others. Impressment was the act of forcing American sailors into the British navy as depicted in document M (M). Instead of declaring war as many American citizens wanted, Jefferson issued the Embargo Act, which cut off all American shipping to Europe in an attempt to cripple the British economy and prevent them from confiscating American goods and impressing their sailors. However, Jefferson’s attempt to maintain neutrality back-fired and crippled the American economy more than Europe’s. Conflicts between Great Britain and France often caused lapses in America’s focus on neutrality. Specifically, during the Washington’s administration and the French Revolution, â€Å"Citizen† Genet, the French minister to America, broke the typical rules of diplomacy by appealing directly to the American people. He called for American support of the French Revolution, pointing to the Franco-American Alliance which stated that the two nations shall â€Å"make all efforts in its Power, against their common enemy [Britain]†¦ † (C). Such support would directly violate America’s primary foreign policy, neutrality. Thus, Washington refused to support the French Revolution and make an enemy of Great Britain. This decision angered pro-French Americans who supported France’s aspiration to establish a republic. As a result, Thomas Jefferson, who was pro-French, resigned from his position of Secretary of State in disagreement with Washington’s Proclamation of Neutrality. The ratification of Jay’s Treaty with Great Britain further infuriated French supporters, failed to solve the issue of British impressment, and even promised that Americans would pay pre-Revolutionary War debt to Britain (F). Moreover, it caused the French to be outraged with the Americans and started French seizure of American ships. Political tensions between the three nations continued during John Adams’ presidency with the XYZ Affair in 1798. Three French agents, known only as X, Y, and Z, demanded a high fee from American delegates to enter negotiations for a treaty regarding the French seizure of American ships. This tested the young nation’s focus on neutrality as outraged Americans called for war with France. As a result, neutrality was pushed aside as the Quasi War, which was never officially declared, broke out. The public anger caused by the war strengthened the Federalist party, who used the power to pass the Alien, Sedition, and Naturalization Acts. These Acts limited Democratic-Republican power by: increasing the number of years required for immigrants to become citizens (Naturalization Act), by authorizing the president to deport aliens deemed a threat to the nation (Alien Act), and by making it illegal for newspaper editors to criticize the president or Congress (Sedition Act). The Convention of 1800 concluded the Quasi War, however impressment continued into Jefferson’s presidency during the Napoleonic Wars, making it more difficult for the young nation to maintain neutrality. Thus, conflicts between Great Britain and France often involved America despite the American focus on neutrality. Commercial interests often times caused disruptions of neutrality and competed as a priority of the young nation. Because commerce was of high importance to the growing nation, neutrality, in order to maintain trade, was necessary. Thomas Paine even stated, â€Å"Our plan is commerce,† and emphasized the importance of neutrality to the American economy by saying â€Å"we ought to form no political connection with any part of it [Europe],† (B). For instance, Jay’s Treaty negatively affected American commerce and political relations with France. Additionally, James Madison criticized the treaty as being â€Å"ready to sacrifice†¦ the dearest interests of our commerce†¦ † (G). The treaty not only affected political diplomacy with France, but also affected relations with Spain and their North American colonies. Spain saw the treaty as a sign that the Americans were building an alliance with Britain and felt a need to strengthen their American territories. This lead to Pinckney’s Treaty, in 1795, which set the boundary line between the United States and the Spanish territories, as well as allowed the use of the Mississippi River and the Louisiana sea port to both the Americans and the Spanish (H). Pinckney’s Treaty protected American commerce along the Mississippi and resulted in peaceful relations with Spain. Later, during Adams’ presidency, the seizure of American merchant ships by France raised tensions that resulted in the Quasi War. The disruption of American commerce forced the nation to disregard neutrality in order to protect their trading rights. The Convention of 1800 concluded the war and promised that â€Å"Property captured†¦ shall be mutually restored†¦ † (I). The Convention revealed the evident commercial intentions of the Quasi War and set the American economy as a priority equal to that of neutrality. However, Great Britain continued to seize American ships and impress American sailors. Instead of engaging in war, Jefferson opted to pass the Embargo Act of 1807 in an attempt to sustain neutrality. The Act prevented trade with any European nation, attempting to damage Britain’s economy and preclude impressment. Unfortunately, the plan backfired and devastated the American economy. Thus, Americans felt a greater need to deviate from neutrality in order to better their commerce. Although America faced disruptions in neutrality, ultimately, it remained the nations overall primary foreign policy. From 1776 to 1807, neutrality kept the young nation out of unnecessary European conflicts and served to maintain the country’s best interests.