Background and History: Race relations in the United States have undergone a profound transformation since the Emancipation Proclamation ended the embarrassing national spectacle of American Slavery that lasted for several centuries beforehand. In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, many southern states enacted laws intended to strip away many of the newly-granted freedoms from freed slaves and Jim Crow-type laws persisted well into the 20th century (Macionis 2003). Even after the Supreme Court struck down the last of these, a palpable racial social divide was perpetuated through overt racial bias for another half century only beginning to change on a large scale after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Between 1964 and the end of the 20th century, civil rights evolved into a national focus, prompting specific legislation prohibiting racial discrimination in many areas of American life, includi

1. There are arguments to support the claim that race is no longer an issue in America. The most salient of those arguments revolves around the legal equality that people of different races have in America. The United States Constitution specifically prohibits race-based discrimination. Moreover, several important Supreme Court decisions, most notably Brown v. Board of Education, have changed the legal landscape of the United States, making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race. However, even that argument is untenable. While some people may be legally guaranteed certain rights, the fact is that minorities are routinely denied those rights. Many urban areas still have de facto racial segregation in their school systems, neighborhoods, and in their law enforcement procedures. As a result, minorities continue to be discriminated against in a very oppressive manner, which makes it extremely unlikely that the majority of them will ever be in a position to take the steps n

In order to understand the concept of the "superior Man" as it is pertains to both Confucianism and Taoism, one has firstly to understand the essential and fundamental similarities and differences between the two religions. Confucianism was a way of thought that rose to prominence and acceptance in China in the sixth century B.C. (Braun, 2001) The value of Confucianism was recognized by the state and it was accepted as the religious ideology of the country. This religion is concerned with social and ethical aspects of the way that the individual relates to society. Therefore, the concept of the Superior Man in Confucianism is linked to the order and functioning of the larger society. "This religion centers on political orthodoxy and an ethical philosophy to guide the "superior man" (Braun,2001). To understand the philosophy behind Confucianism, one has to understand the context that is referred to. Many commentators view Confucianism more as a set of rules fo

1. Lao-tzu, in Tao Te Ching introduced, during a time of much political turmoil and strife in ancient China, the notion of Tao (the Way [of life]). Tao, simply defined is "non-activity". The implications however, are profound. Lao-tzu introduced the Chinese phrase wu-wei, which means "to do nothing at all." Lao-tzu proposed that inertia (resistance to activity) is inherent in nature; the only way to live harmoniously with nature is to let things be. For example, a wasp would not sting if it was not being crushed; or, things only slip from one's grasp when one is indulging in the activity of grabbing. Lao-tzu believed that to "yield is to be preserved whole" and deliberate intervention inevitably leads to failure. Living in the precepts of "The Way" is to live in harmony with nature and such a harmonious way of life is only possible if one let's nature take its own course. Indeed, then, one often sees the Tao represented by a circle in which

Plato believed in educating the upper class, because they are the ones who will be running the country. He also believed in educating women and children. But he did not believe that children should be kept in a family, but should be raised by the community, put in schools together for the good of their education. He did not believe that parents are suitable teachers for children. Plato believed that women were equal to men and that, though some women are smaller, some women are larger than some men and therefore should be allowed to learn the same skills that men do. Plato's Republic describes how male and female "guardians" receive the same education and be given the same duties in society. These guardians are the ones who will be in charge of the city-state which Plato envisioned for everyone, an ideal society, where philosophers are kings. In other words, thoughtful presidents who know how to think in terms of what is the good for all mankind and make their decisions based on that

What are the main goals of socialization in preparatory and boarding schools described in Preparing for Power: America's Elite Boarding Schools? The elite of a nation desire to perpetuate themselves, and their values, and the institutional codes of behavior that will enable them to stay in power from generation to generation. Preparatory boarding schools enable the children of the elite to become entirely immersed in such values, from a young age, with little exposure to other institutional values and ways of life. This is the central thesis of Preparing for Power: America's Elite Boarding Schools by Peter W. Cookson, Jr.; Caroline Hodges Persell (New York: Basic Books, 1985). Over the course of their study, the authors examined the role of private school preparation in a variety of national contexts, and based their conclusions on observations, interviews, questionnaires and statistical data from mostly American, but also some British, Cuban, and Israeli boarding schools. The p

1. Immigration to California Ever since it was discovered, the American land has not yet ceased to attract populations from all corners of the globe, coming here in search for a better life. From 2000 up to 2007, a total of 7.9 million foreign individuals became immigrants to the U.S. Out of these people, next to two million (an estimate of 1.81) established their homes in California. "Few issues are hotter right now in California [...] than the huge inflow of immigrants, especially illegals."2 And the reason why this is such a major problem is given by the negative effects it has upon the region's population, their incomes and jobs, the natural resources of California, the businesses it operates, its education and crime rates, as well as the housing opportunities or the public transportation. All these features, alongside with others that influence the life of the Californian community are organized into the modern term of urban economics. Here is a list of the majo

By referring what has been studied and learned about aggression, it can be understood that children or even adults will show aggression when they feel threatened. Children from divorced homes have issues with low self-esteem and social competence because they are left out from one or both parents due to that they are usually self-absorbed from their own emotional pain. It is clear that children and adults become very withdrawn even though they do attempt express their emotional pain to others. It is apparent that when children and adults do not have the attention that they need at home, they show aggression in a negative way. Fromm (1973) has argued that we must distinguish in man two entirely different kinds of aggression. The first kind, which he shares with all animals, is a phylogenetically programmed impulse to attack (or to flee) when vital interests are threatened. This 'defensive' or 'benign' aggression is in the service of the survival of the indiv

Introduction Italians are the largest number of Europeans to have immigrated to the United States. They were part of one group of many people who left their homeland to seek a better life in the United States of America. America was known to be the land of opportunity so they decided to seek their luck there. A lot of people from other European Nations had also immigrated to the United States so that they could start new lives there. Due to the sad economic state of Italy, lots of Italians immigrated to America. Despite their common skin and color, the Italians found it hard to assimilate amongst the American society. The Americans discriminated them against. Oscar Handlin, in his 1951 Pulitzer Prize winning study "the Uprooted" wrote, "...the history of immigration is a history of alienation and its consequences". In line with this theme, he emphasizes the isolation and loneliness of the immigrant, "the broken homes, and interruptions of a familiar life,

The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the book "The Golden Compass" by Phillip Pullman. Specifically it will discuss Lyra and her actions in the novel. Pullman's novel creates an alternative fantasy world where Lyra attempts to save her friend and learn the secret of the Dust her father guards so closely. Pullman creates a world that is critical of organized religion, and yet celebrates Lyra as a new Eve. Lyra acts against authority, and yet seems to act out of some sense of morality. Her morality is a strong element of her personality, and it indicates she is adventurous, unafraid, and yet always attempting to make the right and moral choices throughout her adventures. Early in the book, Lyra gives a clue to her morality. She has a conscience, and she knows the difference between right and wrong in her own mind, so she will try to make the right choices and follow her own conscience to create her own morality. Pullman writes, "'But now I've seen wha

1. The main arguments David Gelernter makes related to the issue of capital punishment are focused in fact on the idea of strict justice and absolute equality between deeds. In this sense, he is the supporter of a certain sense of divine justice which at times must be made with a human hand. However, he questions the validity of the the actual act of the death penalty taking into account the fact that this punishment is in fact an arbitrary solution. In this sense, he asks himself in relation to a particular situation, but in fact under a general tone "Why did we execute the penitent and spare the impenitent?" (Gelernter, 1998). Therefore, he sets the question in relation to the actual fairness of the decisions taken when the issue of capital punishment is discussed. More precisely, he argues that indeed, the idea of divine justice is the actual engine which should drive the behavior of the individuals. At the same time however, there are situations in which mistakes are made

1. Discuss the Confucian Five Virtues: ren li, shu, xiao, and wen. Define each one succinctly and answer the question: Ren has been translated as compassion, or simply goodness. It is the central virtue of Confucianism that makes us human. A more empathic translation might be "human heartedness, " and is certainly tied to true Confucian wisdom. Ren has two aspects: loyalty and reciprocity. Loyalty is considered a commitment to the Way, while reciprocity means "not inflicting on others that which you do not want yourself." Wisdom has several aspects, including being a good judge of the character of others. It affirms that in all humans there are the qualities of benevolence, humanity and love and that it is the duty of governments, parents and teachers to cultivate Ren in all its aspects in the citizens. Li is customarily defined as proprietary rites or good manners. It supports Ren in that it is the ceremonial application of the benevolence of human nature. Con

1. Mussolini attacked many of the ideas promoted by Adam smith, recognized by many to lay the foundations of classic liberalism. In opposition to liberalism's ideals, Mussolini promotes the order and stability that, in his view, would result from a state-centered hierarchy. As such, he is opposed to leaders such as John Locke, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. For Mussolini, the traditions of centuries of feudalism are more naturally perpetuated via fascism than somethi

With continual advances in health, science, and technology, all aspects of a person's life are greatly improved. Once devastating diseases are now better understood and sometimes even treatable. With transportation advances, people easily hop on a jet and soar across the world in a matter of hours. Similarly, information is changing by the second, with the Internet providing immediate 24/7 access anywhere, anytime. Technology has even changed entertainment, as X-Box or online players vie worldwide. However, there are always trade-offs in life, and it is not any different from these medical, transportation and communication advances. During the 20th century and now into the 21st century there has been continuous progress in the health field. One of the most notable is the discovery of penicillin by bacteriologist Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928 when he observed colonies of a bacterium. This was the beginning of curing numerous illnesses with vaccines and antibiotics that greatly reduce

The fact that there is an obesity crisis in America is something that everyone seems to i¿½knowi¿½ but Mercedes R. Carnethon, Martha Gulati, and Philip Greenland (2005), attempted to quantify the toll that a low level of fitness can take upon the US population in their study published in the Journal of American Medicine entitled i¿½Prevalence and cardiovascular disease correlates of low cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescents and adults.i¿½ The subjects of the study were individuals aged 12 through 49 years. The purpose of the study was to see if low fitness correlated to other increased Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) risk factors, including obesity and high levels of i¿½badi¿½ cholesterol, in this very wide population sampling. The age selection was quite broad, so the study could control for other fitness factors relating to age impinging upon the results. But there is an obvious weakness in using such a large sampling. The population size is so diluted and generalized

The women in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby would likely face a difficult environment in today's modern society. Since the women, however, were the harbingers of today's worldly 'women about town' it could be an interesting conjecture as to whether they were the actual foundation and support for the development of today's women. Whether they thought of themselves in that respect is certainly food for thought, but the tone of the book does nothing to propagate that belief. Instead, most of the women in the book seem to be insipid little snipes that are more concerned with shopping, looking good and the next party or event they can attend in order to show off all the results of such shopping. Even such a mundane excursion as an afternoon spent in an apartment in New York with her lover and friends was cause for Mrs. Wilson to don elaborate afternoon wear. In the book we discover that Mrs. Wilson had changed into an "elaborate afternoon dress

Authors often use metaphors and symbols as techniques to make statements about characters. Character often lives parallel lives in novels and short stories and it is with great pleasure that we learn from them. Writers employ several different techniques to engage readers. Two stories that illustrate powerful symbolism are "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Each of these stories bring us into characters by allowing us see them change n a radical way. In "The Fall of the House of Usher," Poe uses the house as a metaphor for the narrator and Roderick's condition. The readers' attention is initially drawn to Roderick, whom we suspect might be mentally unstable. Through careful technique and xxx, Poe manages to illustrate how the fall of the house represents the fall of both the narrator and Roderick. In the same way, The Scarlet Letter demonstrates how one person can fall through another t

Jorge Amadoi¿½s i¿½Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamoni¿½ is a tale of occurrences within several months in the township if Ilhi¿½us, which is a province of the larger city of Bahai, situated in the northern Brazil. The foreword of the Portuguese translation of the book starts out with the first day of the several months in which the tale or several talei¿½s unfoldi¿½the murder of Sinhi¿½zinha Guedes Mendoni¿½a and her paramour Osmundo Pimentel, the dentist by the cuckolded husband Colonel Jesui¿½no Mendoni¿½a. The same foreword also starts out with the description of i¿½old Filomenai¿½ the cook of the local bar-owner, the Syrian-born Nacib. (1) One mistakenly begins to believe that the tale is about these two stories. Interestingly enough, the foreword, which often provides a teaser for what is to come bears no mention of the purported heroine of the story Gabrielai¿½if indeed she is the heroine (for this novel has plenty of heroes and heroines who play their h

Introduction When there is a cycle of violence going on, it is hard for a person leave because everyone becomes accustom to a certain way of living. This is because human beings are creatures of habit and are scared of change because it is a part of the unknown. However, there has to be a point people has to face the reality that the unhealthy environment cannot continue. "Human rights are rights that all human beings are entitled to, merely by virtue of being human. Such human rights do not have to be earned, nor are they dependent on any particular social status. Human rights include both civil/political and economic/social/cultural rights; they also now include "third generation" rights such as the right to self-determination and development" (Universal Human Rights). From there, Christians have taken a political stand for the gross human rights abuse for women and children who have been abused. The issue Christians fight for the gross human rights because

"The Sandlot" is a baseball film set in California, during the 1960s. The young Scotty moves to a new neighborhood with his mother and stepfather. Gradually, after some difficulties, he becomes accepted on a neighborhood baseball team. He befriends Benny, a much better baseball player than himself. The boys often play baseball during the hot summer, the only difficulty occurring when Benny hits homeruns over the fence, where the baseball occasionally lands in a nearby sandlot guarded by a vicious dog. D

Philip Roth's novel The Great American Novel is actually a novel within a novel. The narrator of the story, Word Smith, purports to tell us about the greatest cover-up in baseball history – and perhaps the history of the United States of America, as well. Smith narrates the story of the fictional third Major League, known as the Patriot League. This league was evidently dissolved in the year 1946 after being infiltrated by communists and thus threatening America's national security. This makes sense, as baseball has traditionally been seen as America's "national pastime," so what better way to infiltrate the country than through its favorite sport. Word Smith is ninety years old when the story begins. Before Smitty, as he is affectionately known, told us the story, no one knew about th

The 1988 romantic baseball comedy "Bull Durham" contains many of the oldest cliches typical of baseball films since the beginning of cinema. "Bull Durham" tells the tale of a young, upstart player, looking to supplant an older and more seasoned player on a minor league team called the Durham Bulls. The film examines how the power of baseball can bring men who love the game together, and how the love of women can drive even players on the same team apart. It even contains the stereotype that sex can deplete a good ballplayer's talent and energy before an important game, as well as other quirky superstitions of ballplayers on winning or losing streaks. Yet the film manages to transcend all of these cliches through sheer force of character, most notably in the unique persona of the brilliant, sensual English college teacher and baseball fan Annie Savoy. Annie Savoy is no typical sports fan or groupie. Rather, she is portrayed by Susan Sarandon as a strong, confident woman who is sure of her sexual power, and who cheers for the minor league team for her o

The story of Peter Pan is a tribute to the miracles and wonders of childhood. Childhood as presented in "Peter Pan" incorporates both sadness and happiness. This is a very important realistic element of Barrie's play. In order for children to appreciate happiness, and to fully experience it, they also need to become acquainted with sadness. The children in Neverland – the Lost Boys as they are referred to – are free, adventurous, and happy. However, at the same time, they are stranded, and do not have mothers. Although a fantasy world where children can escape to, Neverland is not an idealized place. Neverland incorporates both happiness and sadness in the same way that real life does. It is commonly accepted that with the passage of time, memories of childhood become less and less clear. This is what J.M. Barrie strives to achieve with his play: he wants to depict childhood in its entirety; in this sense, his projection of the three Darling children, as well as that of the Lost Boys is aimed at painting a complete picture of childhood for adults to remember and help them relate to their children. It is also important to note here that there

Australian has always been seen as a vibrant, progressive and economically stable country whose democratic principles serve as model for other countries. Even during the colonial times under the British Empire, Australia strived to impose egalitarianism not only in political governance but civic affairs as well. Its long history of democratic innovation, particularly in terms of electoral procedures (Reilly, 2004) can be traced back to an electoral system that has been in existence since the mid-1800s. Australia can indeed boast of several firsts in terms of electoral reforms that have been adopted by other nations throughout the decades (Farnsworth, 2007): The secret ballot (voter's choice is made secretly without coercion) was first introduced in the Australian colonies in 1856 and all adult men and women over the age of 21 had the vote by 1908; By the end of the twentieth century, Australia could boast an electoral system that ranks among the fairest in the world; The Federal P

Overview On March 15, 2008, New York Times writer Eric Lichtblau wrote an article, "House Votes to Reject Immunity for Phone Companies Involved in Wiretaps". The main focus of this article was the controversy surrounding the use of phone tapping, or the secret activity of monitoring telephone conversations without the people involved in the conversation being aware that they are being monitored. This was done, government officials claim, in the interest of national security. In a nation where the possibility of terrorist events is very real on a daily basis, the argument on the part of the officials was that phone calls of suspected terrorists must be allowed to be listened to without the delay of obtaining search warrants to do so (Lichtblau)