Achieving Universal Primary Education

Achieving Universal Primary Education In 1998, the then government of Pakistan, accorded full recognition to the fundamental responsibility of restructuring of education system of Pakistan, by announcing the National education policy on 27th March 1998. The National Education Policy 1998 was devised with a sight to transform the Pakistani nation into an integrated, cohesive entity that can stand up and compete against future challenges by setting one of the main objectives of achieving universal primary education by providing the maximum opportunities for free access to every child. In 2000, world leaders from 189 nations voted to implement the MDGs.Pakistan was also one of them. This declaration set eight goals to achieve the unanimous vote to instill the Millennium Declaration may suggest that the political will to accomplish these targets is promising. The achievement of universal primary education was second goal set after eradicating poverty.The target set under this goal was that by 2015 universally children will b e able to complete full course of primary schooling.The indicators to achieve this target were completion/survival rate , net enrollment ratio and literacy rate of 15-24 years old men and women. However, critics of the MDGs are not sure about the likelihood of every nation attaining universal education by 2015. The critics of the MDGs suggest that greater focus should be placed on the overall progress rather than the final outcome as the evidence implies that the educational MDGs are not likely to be achieved in most countries. By concentrating primarily on the rates of progress over time, (Sahn, 2003) claim the results will be more beneficial in providing encouragement to countries, as failure to achieve the goals is not synonymous with failure to achieve social progress. So, greater attention should be placed on rates of progress towards completing these goals rather than the final outcome. As failing to achieve these goals by 2015 does not indicate a lack of improvement in Pakistan, it is more appropriate for policy analysts to focus on rates of progress. Since Pakistan has signed Millennium development declaration, it is facing major problems like war on terror, political instability, and earthquakes 2004 and floods 2009-10 which hindered its progress towards these goals. There are so many other factors that are obstructing Pakistan in achieving its millennium development educational goals. 2.2 Factors that affect the achievement of millennium development goals of primary education in Pakistan in light of previous researchers and critics. As this paper intends to provide the reasons for critical lag and gap in achieving primary educational millennium developments goals in Pakistan and how these goals may be achieved, I chose to focus on factors which are common and have greater influence on educational progress and aspects that government and other educational authorities in Pakistan can have a direct influence over through policy change. For the purposes of this research, the model that signifies the determinants of educational progress are completion survival rate, female teachers as percentage of total primary teachers, population aged between 0-14 as percentage of total population , poverty rate and literacy rate gap.But other variables that are considered and have an impact are net enrolment ratio, rural population, pupil-teacher ratio, public expenditure, gender parity index, and non-formal education (deeni madrassas), low birth weight babies. The debate that whether educational progress is more affected by personal back ground of students ( that includes rural population, poverty rate, public expenditure , gender parity index) or school quality factors ( that are pupil teacher ratio, trained teachers ,female teachers and non formal education) has been ongoing since the Coleman Report (Coleman et al. 1966). Coleman et al. (1966) found that family background of students, that is their parents socioeconomic status, parents education and occupations are more indicative of students educational progress than school-level factors. Since the publication of the Coleman Report, researchers have continued to examine and debate whether quality of education or home environment determines students academic achievements. Especially in regard to how national economic development affects which factors are more important on a global scale, policy makers continue to look for which factors may best explain educational progress. In this resea rch, I intend to observe whether economic or educational investment factors best explain progress towards the educational MDGs in Pakistan. In order to determine how Pakistan can use its resources most efficiently, I have used statistical data for different variables covered under socio economic status of students and educational quality and their effect to reduce literacy gap. Though 70% of population in Pakistan is still living in rural areas. But growth in rural areas is moving towards down and literacy rate is improving so we can see that social background of people has high impact on educational progress. (DR .P.A.Shami, 2005) in their study on basic education in Pakistan raised issues like lack of access to quality education in rural areas and unequal distribution of educational resources in rural and urban areas. These issues still prevail in society as a hindrance to achievement of MDGs for education. The Pakistan has The average literacy rate of Pakistan is 57 per cent with combination of 69 per cent for males and 45 per cent for females.The literacy rate in urban areas remains much higher than in rural parts of the country , 74 per cent and 48 per cent respectively The average provinicial literacy rate follows as Punjab and Sindh 59 per cent, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (50 per cent) and Balochistan (45 per cent) (Pakistan Economic Survey, 2009-2010). As I have taken population aged between (0-14) as percentage of total population as one of my variables and more than half of population in Pakistan lives in rural areas so it ultimately effects my determinant. As past research indicates that the effects of educational investment factors or school quality factors which include total educational expenditures and number of trained teachers for the universal enrolment MDG, pupil-teacher ratio and repetition rate for the universal completion MDG, and pupil-teacher ratios and number of female instructors for the gender parity goal may vary depending on the economic status of a nation (Heyneman Loxley, 1983). The educational investment factors are most indicative of educational progress in the worlds poorest countries, where as economic growth characteristics will best explain the progress of lower-middle income countries towards the educational MDGs. Economic growth may be viewed as more significant at the national level in lower-middle income nations because these countries are closer to being seen as legitimate economic partners by industrialized nations than low income nations. Alternatively, educational investment factors will likely be mor e significant in low income nations because improvements in these in these countries are more immediately perceived at the individual level than changes in national economic growth. (Gupta et al, 2002) found in his research that economic growth has been major determinant of educational progress. This is in line with my determinant of poverty rate. As economic growth of country directly links to the welfare of its citizens. The growth in economy can lead to educational growth if net enrollment rates do not rise at much faster rates than GNP per capita is recognized by Colclough Al-Samarrai (2000) in his research. This finding suggests as more children reach the school going age, fewer public resources will be available to allocate to a nations educational system. Thus economic growth is linked to greater funding on education as more resources are available to spend on education. This trend may occur for several reasons. First, as the economy of nation develops more spending is done on education, even though the total proportion of the GNP spent on education decreases (Coclough Al-Samarrai, 2000) and secondly, increasing rates of economic growth signify a higher quality of living for a nations citizens. As financial resources become more readily available at the individual level, the perceived costs of education may not be as great. Increasing employment rates may enhance citizens opinions towards education because prolonged unemployment can lead to disinterest in investing in further schooling (World Bank;2010). However (Mellinium developemnt goals, 2010) shows budgetary allocations are not sufficient enough to implement the desired projects to achieve universal primary education by 2015. Budget for education still remains at about 2% of GDP, out of which major amount is spent on administrative issues like salaries, leaving very minimal amount to spend on new initiatives. (Pakistan Economic Survey, 2009-2010) In South Asia, Pakistan falls in one of those countries who contribute lowest public expenditure on education , as a proportion of their GDP. According to figures, Pakistan allocated to the education sector 2.5 % of the GDP in 2006-07, 2.47% in 2007-08, 2.1% in 2008-09 and 2 % in 2009-10. This factor also directly affect the poverty rate.As if public expenditure is increased , there will be more cheaper education facilities thus making poor people accessible to basic education. A study by Qureshi and Arif (2001) conducted on the Profile of Poverty in Pakistan demonstrates that poverty has been increasing drastically throughout the decade starting 1990s. More rural household were dragged to poverty and approximately a quarter of the urban households were also living below the poverty line by the end of 1998-99. They conclude by shedding light on the fact that acquisition of education is one of the most significant determinants of the incidence of poverty. It is imperative that education should be taken into account during policy formulation and implementation. A very important idea has been put forward in the article which states that education can have a positive impact of poverty alleviation strategies. The acquisition of an individual will have a positive effect on his or her earnings and productivity and furthermore also impact any individual that interacts with the educated. (Qureshi and Arif, 2001). I have taken the literacy rate gap (target-actual) as my dependant variable for this study as it is inversly proportional to maximum achievement of primary education and studied the effect of other independent variables on education. Despite the general assumption that more funding in education leads to achieve higher degree of educational attainment and enrolment, previous researches on the impact of public spending on education for improving educational progress is same. Gallagher (1993) claims in his work that while educational expenditures positively affect enrolment rates, further attention is needed to assess the quality of how public expenditures are spent in education. The total public education expenditures may not be the most accurate determinant of observing how a government is financially supporting its educational system, but other research indicates that educational funding at the national level can vary significantly. Colclough Al-Samarrai (2000) mentioned in his rese arch that South Asian countries spend a higher proportion of their total GNP on education and subsequently have higher enrollment rates. As total educational expenditures vary significantly based on certain national characteristics, more research is needed to determine how influential a nations total financial support for education is on enrolment rates. For instance, the school-aged population in Sub-Saharan Africa is proportionately larger than the school-aged population in South Asia (Colclough Al-Samarrai, 2000) indicating that total education expenditures would need to be greater in these countries to allow for funding to be similarly allocated. Additionally, in terms of educational funding, the majority of finances are spent on teacher salaries and other administrative works (MDG Report, 2004 MDG, Report 2010) ,Dr PA Shami Development of education in Pakistan (2005).Though public expenditure on education is taken as variable in my regression model but it ultimately effects t wo of my variables completion rate and female teachers.As if there will more public expenditures on education it will provide more resources and facilities to education sectors thus making education more easily achievable ending up in students successfully completing their primary education.Similarly it can increase number of female teachers in education sector by giving them good pay incentives. A nation with a higher school-aged population will likely have greater pupil-teacher ratios which in turn may lead to a lower quality education. Pupil-teacher ratio is a significant determinant for its potential effects on educational progress, specifically in terms of school completion rates, though researchers are in agreement about its significance. Dr PA Shami in his paper Access and Equity in Basic education also raised this issue that in Pakistan the very high pupil teacher ratio in most of schools especially rural areas has worse effects on its educational progress. As teachers cannot accommodate to give attention to a class of 40 to 50 students so it aversely affects the progress. The amount of time a teacher can commit to each student is reduced by large class sizes, but the gender of the teacher may also affect how likely girls are to obtain an education. In many places like Baluchistan, Sindh and Pakhtunistan parental attitude towards girls education is very conservative. This situation is more intense in rural areas which cover more than 70-80% of total population in Pakistan. In rural areas due to poor quality of life and less exposure and awareness and illiterate parents both socially and academically, long distant schools and lack of female teachers, children are not sent to schools and especially girls.(Dr P A Shami Access and equity in basic education 2005) MDG Report 2010. Consequently, girls may need for female teachers to be present in order to decide that obtaining an education is worthwhile. Additionally, as girls tend to receive less attention from instructors than boys, a lack of female instructors can reduce the amount of learning time for girls (Benavot Gad, 2004), thus reducing the likelihood of girls attaining an education. In addition to affecting the gender parity ratio, the presence of women in the educational system may influence enrolment and completion rates. The higher participation of women in the workforce is often viewed as indicative of a nation becoming modern; more women in the educational system may lead to higher enrolment and completion rates. Female teachers in schools tend to have higher levels of certification than their male counterparts. Consequently, literacy rate gap will be lower in areas with a higher percentage of female teachers because the female teachers are more qualified, easy going and trustworthy to teach. (DR .P.A.Shami, 2005)in their study point out insufficient and imbalanced educational infrastructure, high poverty rate, incompetent, untrained and non availability of teachers, illiteracy of parents and economically weak families give rise to low completion/survival rate of primary education , which ultimately negatively effect literacy rate gap. These factors are also seen in (Mellinium developemnt goals, 2010). Completion survival rate is taken in my research as independent variables to assess its impact on literacy rate gap which ultimately targets achievement of Millennium-Development-Goals for primary education in Pakistan. (Mellinium development goals, 2010)raised issue of net enrollment ratio and completion/ survival rate that has also mentioned by (DR .P.A.Shami, 2005).Though net enrolment ratio has increased in primary education to 57% in 2009 from 42 % in 2002 but we are still lagging behind a lot to catch 100% by 2015. And the children who manage to complete their primary school that is to complete studies from grade 1 to grade 5 is only 54.6% in 2009 which has been decreased from 57.3% in 2002. 2.3 Discussion of various projects and programmes running in Pakistan to achieve MDGs for primary education According to Pakistan Millennium-Development-Goals Report (Mellinium development goals, 2004) by the GoP (Government of Pakistan), a fair assessment of the status and trends relating to Goal 2 is difficult owing to a number of reasons.MDG Report 2005 highlighted that major discrepancies arise due to data collection by different methods, the use of different definitions of variables, and the time lag between data collection and publication. MDG Report 2004 states that discrepancies are sometimes significant, for example, between the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) and the Pakistan Integrated Household Survey (PIHS). There is greater consistency, however, in the rates of change implied by these sources as indicated in (MDG Report 2005 pakistan world fit for children report , 1989).The programs and projects introduced to achieve the MDGs are run by different organizations and NGOs. The programs and projects running at provincial level are independent and have n o interference from federal government. Therefore monitoring and evaluation of these programs is difficult at federal level making the analysis of such interventions are more complicated for researchers and policy makers. An education sector reforms (ESR) specific programme was provided Rs732 million which was spent on the provision of missing facilities in primary and middle schools, restoring and reestablisihing of science education at secondary level and establishment of polytechnic institute at district level (Balochistan, Khanozi,Turbat Gilgit).The national education foundation intends to establish community schools in the country at the places where primary school are not available within a reachable distance and skill based literacy centers. Rs 1 billion were expanded under Canadian Debt Swap Project for capacity building of teachers training institution and training of teachers. Child Friendly School model (CFS), which is a framework for all children to enroll in schools and learn effectively has been expanded in the country to over 2700 schools. (Pakistan Millenim development goals report, 2010) .In time of natural disasters like earthquakes and floods UNICEF provides help to organize mass b ack-to-school campaign, being to resume quality education activities, encouraged to rebuilt schools and infrastructure, aided to improve, speedup and adapt learning strategies for children who have missed schooling, female education and generating public support to raise awareness about importance of education. Further it provides help to schools, providing with safe water and sanitation. (Goal: Achieve universal Primary eduction). Schools are also trying to decrease the dropout rate of students which is about 50% at the moment by engaging children in co-curriculum activities, such as sports and other play activities to develop their interest in schools and increase the retention rate at school. 2.4 Analysis of gaps and lags The achievement of MDGs so far is not remarkable and the reasons other than one described above are also earthquakes in 2004, war on terror and recent massive destruction in floods 2010. Pakistan has currently net enrolment ratio less than 80%, which is unlikely to reach 95% by 2015.Net primary enrolment ratio was 52% in 2004-5 rose to 56% in 2006-7 and then 57% in 2008-9.There are significant variations in NER among the four provinces .The NER is highest in Punjab with a slight improvement in other provinces by 1%.Gender disparity in NER is reduced. Especially in Pakhtunkhwa it has improved by 4% in last few years. Trend towards private schooling is increasing in urban as well as rural areas, with primary enrolment increased from 18% to 20% in the later. There has been significant decline in completion/survival rate to grade during the last five years. The rate decreased from72.1 to 54.7 to 52.3 to 54.6 in 2005-6 to 2006-7 to 2007-8 to 2008-9 respectively.But it has been improved dr astically in 2010 reaching to 69.9%. One of the main reasons of escalating this rate may be shift in the number of students from public to private schools due to unavailability of teachers, better infrastructure and standard quality of tuition in public schools. Data of the public school does not show whether students have left school or gone to private schools. In the last ten years there is overall improvement in literacy rate with respect to individual sectors of male, female, urban and rural areas. Though there is increase of 3% points in urban areas and 1% point in rural areas. Literacy rate is higher in urban areas 74% compared to 48% in rural areas in 2008-9.The individual provincial literacy rates are as follows: Punjab Sindh 59%, Khyber- 50%, Baluchistan 45%.The literacy rate 2008-9 is higher among men 69% compared to women 45% which is increased from 66% and 43% in 2006-7 respectively. (Mellinium developemnt goals, 2010 (Australian Aid Programme to Pakistan, 2010). Social status between men and women, contraceptive use, fertility rates decline, the relationship between child and maternal mortality is a good established. The most powerful donors reduction of child mortality is the mother of a literacy, which in itself is an education system to ensure that his pioneering development of the book as a free universal access to education for the poor, including girls and boys.There should be emphasis on education among these women, social status and overall health of children and pregnant women, he made two basic features that make life meaningful and free possible.The social status of women through education, enjoyment and economic relationship between education and health opportunities is, therefore, is to achieve the Millennium-Development-Goals and to ensure that the basic premise of sustainable development. It is obvious that Pakistan lagged behind in this respect the pain behind. In general, Pakistan faces multiple and interrelated problems, with a view to achieving the Millennium-Development-Goals call. Some of these issues relate directly to health care, while others refer to economic,social and cultural. Nevertheless, macro-political environment is also a source of problems. Pakistan history suspicious of democracy. The country was under an actual or de facto military regime, history and deprived the majority of people the fundamental freedoms. There is no sense of democracy, promotion of civic awareness, a strong sense of human rights and freedoms will be difficult if not impossible, to achieve the Millennium-Development-Goals in Pakistan.

It is Impossible to Accurately Imagine What is it like to be a Bat Essa

It is Impossible to Accurately Imagine What is it like to be a Bat Insofar as I can imagine this (which is not very far), it tells me only what it would be like for me to behave as a bat behaves. But that is not the question. I want to know what it is like for a bat to be a bat... - Thomas Nagel In order to take the above request seriously, one must assume that bats have experience and consciousness. Assuming so, one must then imagine the consciousness that a bat must live with. Its brain is "designed to correlate outgoing impulses with subsequent echoes, and the information thus acquired enables the bat to make precise discriminations of distance, size, shape, motion, and texture comparable to those we make by vision." (Whereas we humans rely on sight to create our vision of the universe, bats rely on sound.) Because any argument of any creature's existence must be based on the human epistemology, the question is now not how bats perceive the universe, but how a bat's perception compares to the human perception. Such a comparison may never be genuine or correct, but by...

Femme Fatale in Victorian Literature Essay

INTRODUCTION Victorian Era was the big step in the overall cultural development of England. Many, presently famous novels and poems came to light during this period. Mainly writers, who (in their style of writing) openly manifested their opposition to the strict moral law which was significant those days. Universal etiquette of behavior, wealth and the family name in the social hierarchy ladder were very important to be perceived as aristocracy. Class division within the society was clearly marked. The pattern of a female character in Victorian novel which gained popularity very fast that time was Femme Fatale pattern which is also known as deadly woman. I have chosen such topic, because I am of opinion that femme fatale type of character is the most interesting of all female identity types. Furthermore, Victorian period is a time of a changing role of the women in the British society, which gives us very contrastive background, in which behavior of such woman was something immoral, controversial but also brave. Charles Dickens is widely perceived as the greatest novelist of the Victorian Era. He is the creator of fictional characters, which are known all over the world and are used as universal patterns through centuries till now. Ch. Dickens in his work described in a perfect way English Victorian society as well as its rules. Dickens, through his life experienced many difficulties, which shaped his identity and had immense influence on his own, specific style of writing. His thirteenth novel Great Expectations was one of the greatest among Victorian Era works. The main character Pip, is growing and developing through the whole story which is why the novel belongs to the Bildungsroman genre. What is more, Great Expectations novel was firstly published in the serial form in weekly magazine All the Year Round so it can be also defined as serialized novel. The plot of this story is quite complicated, bringing the reader much of surprise because of unexpected turns of action and character, like the most significant change in the story is when the main hero suddenly becomes rich person and his life has been rapidly changed. But it is not main hero on whom I am going to focus in the first chapter of my diploma paper. It will be the woman of his dreams. The woman, who was unable to return a feeling back to him, as well as to anybody else. Her name is Estella Havisham and she is the first example which I am going to analyze in my work. The second writer from Victorian era whose fictional character I am going to analyze is William Thackeray. William Thackeray, the next one of the greatest writers in Victoria Era, was born into British high society in 1811. He experienced mostly comfortable and easy life until he reached 22 years old. Till that time he managed to squander most of his fortune. The main reasons which led to that situation were gambling and the Indian Banking Crisis. We can say that during his life he experienced on his own what is like to be rich and poor. That is why he could objectively depict the view of British society of his times. This is exactly what he had done in his famous work entitled Vanity Fair. In 1847 He started publishing short stories in Punch Magazine, which means that similarly to Great Expectations, it was also serialized novel. Although first chapters of this novel were written years before, they were not available for the wide audience. The whole story was completed and published as a book in 1848. That time also it received the subtitle A Novel Without a Hero. Very soon it became successful. CHAPTER ONE: FEMME FATALE AND VICTORIAN SOCIETY 1Victorian Period – Overall information The period 1837-1901 is named Victorian after Queen Victoria who ruled English country that time. It was a time of a big change when English Victorian Society was divided into three main classes: upper, middle and lower which was also called working class. Each class is characterized by various occupations, ways of life and etiquette. The upper class consisted of the nobility, such as dukes, earls, and viscounts. They were often related to the royal families of Britain and Europe, and their society was distinct and separate to the other two classes – certain expectations had to be met by everybody. Most of these ‘aristocrats’ did not have a profession, as their families had sufficient funds to live in affluence. However, many were captains of industry, especially mining or ship building. The middle class consisted of rich families who were respectable, but lacked a â€Å"title†, and often had skilled professions, such as a doctor, or a teacher. At the beginning of the Victorian times, they were a small proportion of the population. However, the effects of the Industrial Revolution meant that more people could be defined as ‘middle class’, because of improvements in education and more opportunities of leveling from the lower class to upper one. The lower class (working class) were made up of the rural and urban poor, who had often low skilled, dangerous, dirty and boring jobs (often all four) that they had to take because of the lack of education. A handful could actually be defined as ‘lower middle class’, but because they often lived in terraced housing areas, they were defined as working class. There was also a class below the working class – paupers. They lived in extreme poverty, often because of old age, unemployment, illness or strained resources. Sally Mitchel in her book clearly points out that Most working people earned just enough to stay alive, and could be thrown into poverty by illness, layoffs, or a sudden misfortune such as a factory fire that caused even short-term unemployment. People in unskilled and semiskilled jobs generally needed additional income from several members of the family. (Mitchel 19) Etiquette was one of the most significant thing that time. Education of the woman would not be completed without teaching rules of proper behavior. Not only women but also men had to obey this set of rules during many daily activities even the simplest one. What kind of jewelry as well as when and where one should wear, who to walk with, who to dance with, how and when to speak to a stranger, were all very critical knowledge. For men, there were rules about bowing, where to sit and next to whom, even about the circumstances in which it was appropriate or not to smoke or drink in front of ladies. Running a house without servants was almost impossible. The number of servants one could afford was a sign of one’s wealth. The bigger house, the more servants were hired. They were usually divided into two groups: indoor (butler, housekeeper, maids) and outdoor: (coachman, groom, a gardener). Being a servant wasn’t well-paid job but thanks to tips, a servant could earn extra money. Next, very significant thing which was obligatory mainly in upper class society was dance. It was the essence of every ball which was one of the greatest entertainment that time in English society. Balls were organized on many occasions and created opportunity to know noble men and women from upper class. In Victorian Britain the ideology of separate private sphere to the woman and sphere of business and politics to the man was clearly marked. The home was regarded as a haven from the busy and chaotic public world of politics and business, and from the harsh life of the factory. In Victorian times, you could travel one of three ways: by train, by horse, or by foot. The most common means of transportation was by far the horse. It was used by rich and poor. The rich owned fancy coaches that had every accessory one could ever need for living on the road, and the poor would go about town on the cheap omnibuses that carried twenty people at a time. 2Femme Fatale The term femme fatale comes from French and it states mainly in the opposition to another popular image of a Victorian woman called Angel in the House. ‘Femme Fatale is a woman who is sexually attractive but cruel and dangerous to men who have a relationship with her’ (Macmillan Dictionary, Femme Fatale definition). There were many famous female characters in the history who suit very well to this image even before the term Femme Fatale has been created. To the most famous examples belong: The femme fatale has always been a well-known archetype in literature, art and movies. The tradition of the femme fatale is long and versatile and can be traced back as far as ancient Egypt, with its iconic Cleopatra. Especially in the fine arts, the femme fatale has been portrayed in many metaphorical ways: as a vampire, nymph, fallen angel or sorceress. She flourished in the 1940’s century film noir, where the combination of aggressiveness and sensuality in women was a central topic (Place, 1998: 57). We can find many examples not only in written form but also in movies, where tempting and lethal women can be found as well: Sharon Stone in BASIC INSTINCT (1992), the Bond Girls or Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones in CHICAGO (2002) were all very seductive, but dangerous. Hence, based on van Dijkstra’s extensive historiography, the femme fatale can be defined as a woman who is mysteriously seductive and uses this quality to outsmart men. Her resistance against male domination exists of beauty, charm and sexual allure: she tempts the male target and drives him crazy by denying him her affection. (1986, 237) To summarize: key aspects of the femme fatale are mystery, beauty, seduction and, most importantly, danger. The most conventional image of the perfect Victorian woman who states in opposition to Femme Fatale woman can be found in the title of a long poem written by Coventry Patmore: The Angel in the House. The pure woman’s life was supposed to be entirely centered on the home. She preserved the higher moral values, guarded her husband’s conscience, guided her children’s training, and helped regenerate society through her daily display of Christianity in action. If she successfully made the home a place of perfect peace, her husband and sons would not want to leave it for an evening’s (morally suspect) entertainment elsewhere. (Mitchell 266) 3 William Makepeace Thackeray – Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray was born in Calcutta, India, in 1811. He was son of Richmond Thackeray, an Indian Civil Servant, and his wife Anne. Just a few years later his father died, his mother remarried, and the shy and young William was sent to England where he would deal with the harsh realities of isolation at Charterhouse, a private school in London. He then went on to attend Trinity College, Cambridge. Thackeray abandoned his studies without taking a degree, having lost some of his inheritance of twenty thousand pounds through gambling. During 1831-33 Thackeray studied law at the Middle Temple, London, but had little enthusiasm to continue his studies. Soon after He went to Paris to unsuccessfully try his hand at painting. It was in Paris that he met and married Isabella Shawe (1816–1893) in 1836, with whom he would have two surviving daughters, Anne Isabella and Harriet Marian. Back in England he suffered massive financial losses, which is why he had to start writing articles, reviews, essays and sketches as a journalist. Travel articles about France such as his Paris Sketch Book (1840) and The Yellowplush Correspondence (1841) were among his first efforts appearing in various magazines and journals including Fraser’s, Punch, and The Times. He also illustrated many of his own works. After the birth of Harriet, Isabella started on what was to be, until her death, numerous bouts of depression, an extensive search for a cure, and ultimately a slow spiral to insanity. She would live apart from William, rarely seeing him or her daughters. Thackeray remained close to his daughters all his life. Anne was his secretary for a while and they both lived with him at his house in London before marrying. The disintegration of his marriage however would have a profound effect on his life and was reflected in the characters of his novels, including the loveless marriage between Rachel and Frank Castlewood in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. (1852) and its sequel The Virginians (1857). Haunting the Literary Clubs of London including the Garrick Club, Thackeray also travelled the Mediterranean, A Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo (1846) the result. Book of Snobs (1848) and Vanity Fair (1848) followed soon after, but it was not until The History of Pendennis (1850), his semi-autobiographical novel that Thackeray’s success as a humorist was confirmed. He then embarked on a series of lectures published as English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century (1851) and Four Georges (1860), based on the Hanoverian Kings, from his tours of the United States in 1852-53 and 1855-56. In 1860 Thackeray became editor of the monthly literary journal Cornhill Magazine, but died suddenly three years later, in 1863, at the age of fifty two. He lies buried beside his mother in the Victorian Garden cemetery Kensal Green in London, England. Charles Dickens wrote a glowing tribute to him in Cornhill Magazine. William Thackeray is mostly known for his great novel â€Å"Vanity Fair†. The novel was written in 1848. The book brought Thackeray prosperity and made him an established author and popular lecturer in Europe and in the United States. Vanity Fair with its second title A Novel without a Hero is a novel published in 1847–48, satirizing society in early 19th-century Britain. The book’s title comes from John Bunyan’s allegorical story The Pilgrim’s Progress, first published in 1678 and still widely read at the time of Thackeray’s novel. â€Å"Vanity Fair† refers to a stop along the pilgrim’s progress: a never-ending fair held in a town called Vanity, which is meant to represent man’s sinful attachment to worldly things. The novel is now considered a classic, and has inspired several film adaptations, the most recent being the 2004 film starring Reese Witherspoon. In 2003, Vanity Fair was listed on the BBC’s The Big Read poll of the UK’s â€Å"best-loved novel†.[1] 4 Charles Dickens – Great Expectations Charles Dickens is widely perceived as the greatest novelist of the Victorian Era. He is the creator of fictional characters, which are known all over the world and are used as universal patterns through centuries till now. Ch. Dickens in his work describes in a perfect way English Victorian society as well as its rules. Dickens, through his life experienced many difficulties, which shaped his identity and had immense influence on his own, specific style of writing. Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 1812 in Portsmouth. He was son of John and Elizabeth Dickens. Until he finished 11 years he and his family moved two times. He was very clever boy. When he was young, he read many novels, especially the picaresque novels of Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding. From the early stages he took private lessons, first in dame school, and then at a school run by William Giles, a dissenter, in Chatham. In 1822, the Dickens family moved to Camden Town, a poor neighborhood in London. By then the family’s financial situation had grown dire, as John Dickens had a dangerous habit of living beyond the family’s means. Eventually, John was sent to prison for debt in 1824, when Charles was just 12 years old. In 1860 Dickens started to publish short stories for the weekly magazine â€Å"All The Year Round†. Although intended for weekly publication, Great Expectations was divided into nine monthly sections, with new pagination for each. At the beginning, his serialized story was not so famous as A Day’s Ride by Charles Lever, which was published in the same magazine but soon lose favor with the public. Dickens, during one year of publication (1860-1861), wrote thirty six episodes. The novel gained title Great Expectation and became very successful among works of Victorian era, showing simultaneously Dickens’ peak and maturity as an author. Nowadays, novel is regarded as very important and is taught in many English classes. The main character Pip, is growing and developing through the whole story which is why the novel belongs to the Bildungsroman genre. In many respects, it contains themes and emotions directly related to the author’s experience. For instance, the description of Pip’s childhood has some affinity with Dickens own life. Also, Estella seems directly inspired from Maria Beadwell, a lady whom Dickens loved; Beadwell snubbed him coldly because of his low social status. The plot of story is complicated, bringing the reader much of surprise because of unexpected turns of action as the most significant change in the story when the main hero suddenly becomes rich person and his life has been rapidly changed. But it is not main hero on whom I am going to focus in the first chapter of my diploma paper. It will be the woman of his dreams. The woman, who was unable to return a feeling back to him, as well as to anybody else. Her name is Estella Havisham and she is the first example which I am going to analyze in my work.

Diluting the Bucket List

Diluting the Bucket List Diluting the Bucket List Diluting the Bucket List By Maeve Maddox The idiom â€Å"to kick the bucket,† meaning â€Å"to die,† has been used in English since the eighteenth century. The term â€Å"bucket list† makes its earliest appearance on the Ngram Viewer in 1962, forty-five years before it was popularized by the movie The Bucket List (2007). A â€Å"bucket list† is a list of things that a person hopes to experience or achieve before dying. In the movie, a character played by Morgan Freeman is diagnosed with lung cancer and makes such a list. Less than a decade has passed since the movie popularized the term, and already it has dwindled into a mere synonym for â€Å"to-do list.† A â€Å"to-do list† is a list of tasks that need to be completed during a period of time. A typical daily to-do list might look like this: 1. cut grass 2. pick up cleaning 3. take cat to vet 4. play basketball 5. renew library book An advertising campaign called â€Å"Summer Bucket List† alerted me to the fact that the term â€Å"bucket list† is being used as a synonym for â€Å"to-do list.† The ads show people drinking beer and engaging in ordinary summer activities. The â€Å"bucket list† in the context of the ads is simply a list of outdoor activities to be fitted into one’s schedule before the end of summer. The same day I saw one of the â€Å"summer bucket list† ads, I watched a rerun of Bones (television crime series) and heard two characters discuss goals to be achieved before the age of thirty as â€Å"a bucket list.† I suppose this use could be argued as being metaphoric: â€Å"life after thirty equals death.† Here are some examples in which â€Å"bucket list† seems to be overkill: But dont let high school pass you by- be sure to make the most of your last days before college by creating your own senior year bucket list full of things you want to do or accomplish by graduation day. - Huffington Post. Back when my hubby and I first got married almost 7 years ago, we had some fairly standard items on our â€Å"before baby† bucket list.  - Maternity advice blog. To help you take these last months [of college] by storm, we’ve compiled the ultimate bucket list of things you’ve been meaning to do since freshman year. - MTV site. Write yourself a marriage bucket list to ensure that you and your spouse’s first year together is one full of fun, love and laughter!- Wedding advice site. It was inevitable that â€Å"bucket list† would morph into â€Å"list of things to be done before a particular event- not necessarily dying- takes place.† To me, the use of â€Å"bucket list† in such contexts sounds creepy, especially when the terminal event is something joyous, like the birth of a baby. Related post: â€Å"Pushing Up Daisies† and Other Euphemisms for Death Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Dialogue Dos and Don'ts5 Brainstorming Strategies for Writers40 Idioms with First

The History of Japanese Ninjas

The History of Japanese Ninjas The ninja of movies and comic books- a stealthy assassin in black robes with magical abilities in the arts of concealment and murder- is very compelling, to be sure. But the historical reality of the ninja is somewhat different. In feudal Japan, ninjas were a lower class of warriors often recruited by samurai and governments to act as spies. Origins of the Ninja It is difficult to pin down the emergence of the first ninja, more properly called shinobi- after all, people around the world have always used spies and assassins. Japanese folklore states that the ninja descended from a demon that was half man and half crow. However, it seems more likely that the ninja slowly evolved as an opposing force to their upper-class contemporaries, the samurai, in early feudal Japan. Most sources indicate that the skills that became ninjutsu, the ninjas art of stealth, began to develop between 600 to 900. Prince Shotoku, who lived from 574 to 622, is said to have employed Otomono Sahito as a shinobi spy. By the year 907, the Tang Dynasty in China had fallen, plunging the country into 50 years of chaos and forcing Tang generals to escape over the sea to Japan where they brought new battle tactics and philosophies of war. Chinese monks also began to arrive in Japan in the 1020s, bringing new medicines and fighting philosophies of their own, with many of the ideas originating in India  and making their way across Tibet and China before turning up in Japan. The monks taught their methods to Japans warrior-monks, or yamabushi, as well as to members of the first ninja clans. The First Known Ninja School For a century or more, the blend of Chinese and native tactics that would become ninjutsu developed as a counter-culture, without rules. It was first formalized by Daisuke Togakure and Kain Doshi around the 12th century. Daisuke had been a samurai, but he was on the losing side in a regional battle and forced to forfeit his lands and his samurai title. Ordinarily, a samurai might commit seppuku under these circumstances, but Daisuke did not. Instead, in 1162, Daisuke wandered the mountains of southwest Honshu where he met Kain Doshi, a Chinese warrior-monk. Daisuke renounced his bushido code, and together the two developed a new theory of guerrilla warfare called ninjutsu. Daisukes descendants created the first ninja ryu, or school, the Togakureryu. Who Were the Ninja? Some of the ninja leaders, or jonin, were disgraced samurai like Daisuke Togakure that had lost in battle or had been renounced by their daimyo but fled rather than committing ritual suicide. However, most ordinary ninjas were not from the nobility. Instead, low-ranking ninjas were villagers and farmers who learned to fight by any means necessary for their own self-preservation, including the use of stealth and poison to carry out assassinations. As a result, the most famous ninja strongholds were the Iga and Koga Provinces, mostly known for their rural farmlands and quiet villages. Women also served in ninja combat. Female ninja, or kunoichi, infiltrated enemy castles in the guise of dancers, concubines, or servants who were highly successful spies and sometimes even acted as assassins as well. Samurai Use of the Ninja The samurai lords could not always prevail in open warfare, but they were constrained by bushido, so they often hired ninjas to do their dirty work. Secrets could be spied out, opponents assassinated, or misinformation planted, all without sullying a samurais honor. This system also transferred wealth to the lower classes, as the ninja were paid handsomely for their work. Of course, a samurais enemies could also hire ninja, and as a result, the samurai needed, despised, and feared the ninja- in equal measure. The ninja high man, or jonin, gave orders to the chunin  (middle man), who passed them on to the genin, or the ordinary ninja. This hierarchy was also, unfortunately, based on the class the ninja had come from before training, but it wasnt uncommon for a skilled ninja to ascend the ranks well beyond his or her social class. The Rise and Fall of the Ninja The ninja came into their own during the tumultuous era between 1336 and 1600. In an atmosphere of constant war, ninja skills were essential for all sides, and they played a key role in the Nanbukucho Wars (1336–1392), the Onin War (1460s), and the  Sengoku Jidai, or Warring States Period- where they aided samurai in their internal power struggles. The ninja were an important tool during the Sengoku Period (1467-1568), but also a destabilizing influence. When warlord Oda Nobunaga emerged as the strongest daimyo and began to reunite Japan in 1551–1582, he saw the ninja strongholds at Iga and Koga as a threat, but despite quickly defeating and co-opting the Koga ninja forces, Nobunaga had more trouble with Iga.​ In what would later be called the Iga Revolt or Iga No Run, Nobunaga attacked the ninja of Iga with an overwhelming force of more than 40,000 men. Nobunagas lightning-quick attack on Iga forced the ninja to fight open battles, and as a result, they were defeated and scattered to nearby provinces and the mountains of Kii. While their base was destroyed, the ninja did not vanish entirely. Some went into the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who became shogun in 1603, but the much-reduced ninja continued to serve on both sides in various struggles. In one famous incident from 1600, a ninja snuck through a group of Tokugawas defenders at Hataya castle and planted the flag of the besieging army high on the front gate. The Edo Period under the Tokugawa Shogunate  from 1603–1868 brought stability and peace to Japan, bringing the ninja story to a close. Ninja skills and legends survived, though, and were embellished to enliven the movies, games, and comic books of today.

Greenleaf by Flannery O'Connor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Greenleaf by Flannery O'Connor - Essay Example She is inwardly tormented by a world that is not of her making and outwardly by a wild bull that is eating away at what little peace she has left on earth. The Greenleaf sons were content with their modern dairy operation while Mr. Greenleaf and his wife, "... lived like the lilies of the field, off the fat that she struggled to put into the land". "Greenleaf" is a story of families and faith. . Mrs. May had hired the Greenleafs after her husband passed away and left the dairy farm to her and her two sons. When they were hired, Mr. Greenleaf and his two sons brought along Mrs. Greenleaf and 5 little girls. At this point in their history the families were not remarkably different. Mr. Greenfield's total possessions were little more than a "... pieced-together truck, his wife and five daughters". Mrs. May had inherited little more than that from her husband. Her friends were awestruck that she had gone "...practically penniless and with no experience, out to a rundown farm...". Still, Mrs. May viewed herself as a remarkable woman. The hired help were a necessary annoyance. The sons also grew in different directions. The Greenleaf boys, O.T. and E.T., spent a successful stint in the Army and returned with their new wives to set up a successful dairy business. Tormented by her own sons' failures, Mrs. May attributed E.T.'s and O.T.'s success to government handouts.

Disscus How ethics applies to police work. and how ethical decisions Essay

Disscus How ethics applies to police work. and how ethical decisions should be made by law enforcement - Essay Example They take vow of office, are anticipated to meet the terms with certified codes of ethics, and are subject to numerous rules, laws, and protocols. An officer matures his or her moral scope, ethical base, or character from cooperating with other characters and reviewing ethics. Ethics exercise for police authorities assistances them do the following: Surrounded by an agencys code of ethics are precise provisions endorsing the protection of lives and belongings, the meaning of escaping bias and the accepting that the badge is the representation of the public trust? To be brief, the code of ethics necessitates that officers are not only equipped to impose the law, but to shadow it. They are entitled to be illustrations to the public and to make evident the right way to perform, instead of the entitlement mentality they are so repeatedly reproached of exhibiting (Gleason,