Models of Teaching Essay Example for Free

Models of Teaching Essay This paper explores the experience of synectics, a teaching model that comes from the informational-processing family. This model is known as the art of enhancing creative thought and through our group experience it has given us proof. Creativity is a huge part of the model and its purpose is to bring out creativity from the students. Synectics brings all children the process of metaphoric thinking known as the foundation of creative thought. As my group and I continued to study the model we discovered great connections and outcomes from teaching a lesson through synectics in two different grade levels. This paper will serve as a reflection from my experience using the synectics model as well as my group experience. Synectics Model In the beginning, my group and I were very puzzled about the model because it was something we were unfamiliar with and it took a while for us to comprehend the book. So, our first thing we decided as a group was to go home and read the chapter and explore the model and do personal research that could benefit our understandings. When Amanda, Tessa, Doug and I met up again we shared what we learned, but once again we remained stuck. My group was still feeling fuzzy about the model because we understood the rational but we did not know how to put it into practice. The Models of Teaching by Joyce, Weil, and Calhoun provided great information and examples but we still had no clue on how and what we were going to conduct a lesson using the model. Amanda and I brought in some lessons that we found on the internet that could be helpful for our group. One of the lessons was called â€Å"Running the Mile† by Jennifer Hoffman and just by reviewing it on my own it clicked and I understood what we needed to do. I know Amanda had an idea but I was not sure about Tessa and Doug because they still seemed unsure. The day we met in class for the last time was when our group asked our instructor for guidance and what she did was read the Synectics part from the Models of Teaching out loud and our group’s light bulb lit up. It was very interesting on how that happened because right after our instructor left the table we began coming up with a plan and lessons. As we group we decided that we were going to carry out two lessons. Doug and Tessa worked together to create a lesson for juniors at Doug’s school while Amanda and I collaborated on lesson for her 6th graders. We decided to carry it this way so we could compare the different outcomes for out final reflection. Once we figured out the synectics model we quickly put together two lessons less than ten minutes and began scheduling dates to teach and observe in the actual classroom. Working with Amanda we talked about an appropriate lesson that could connect to her current theme in the classroom. She mentioned that they will be studying the Holocaust so from there we came up with a lesson that dealt with Adolf Hitler whereas Doug and Tessa created a lesson that involved the Great Depression. Both lessons seemed very interesting and exciting because using the synectics model to teach it had unlimited outcomes. On November 15, I arrived at Amanda’s classroom as an observer and began my note taking. When I got there Amanda shared with me that she taught the lesson to another class of hers and said that it went very well because she got them to compare Hitler to a computer as well as a shark. Synectics consists of six phases and is easy to get confused at first but when it is successfully carried out it offers a creative outcome. I will provide the lesson summary that we will use to conduct the lesson. Lesson Summary: Step One: Phase One- Provide background information over Hitler and the Holocaust. The main resource for this is: http://www. ushmm. org/museum/. This will provide a ton of information over the different groups that were targeted and it provides background information over the process of the Holocaust. Step Two: Significant Question: How is Hitler like a Machine? This will be written on the front board and students will be asked to complete their answers in their journals that are stored in class. This will be a warm up to the lesson that we will be doing. Step Three: As a class, we brainstorm different machines. Students decide on one machine to become. They are to then write what they would do as this machine. Step Four: Compressed Conflict- Write adjectives on the board that describe the machine. Then have a discussion over the antonyms and the adjectives that conflict with one another. Example: Violent versus Quiet. We will then choose these as a class to compare together and discuss. Step Five: Now pick and animal to compare the compressed conflict with. Ask students, how is this animal like the compressed analogy? Example, say we choose a lion. How is a lion both quiet and violent? Step Six: Going back to the Holocaust, how can we compare this animal to a machine? Why is the Holocaust a quiet and violent lion, for example? Students will now gain an understanding of being able to connect Hitler/Holocaust to an animal that they are more familiar with. In the classroom this is what I observed. Phase One: Substantive Input- Teacher provides information on new topic which was carried out by Amanda the day before I came. She provided a PowerPoint about the Holocaust as well as information about Hitler. Phase Two: Direct Analogy- Teacher suggests direct analogy and asks students to describe the analogy. Amanda asks her 6th grade students to create a list of machines and gives them two minutes. These are the machines they came up with disposal, computer, microwave, car, oven, washer, lawn mower, shredder, copy machine, blender, toaster and vacuum. Phase Three: Personal Analogy- Teacher suggests students â€Å"become† the direct analogy. Amanda then tells her students to choose a machine and write about how it would be to be the machine. For example, a student chose a vacuum and this is what she wrote, â€Å"My owner always uses me to clean up stuff. In my point of view, I get fed. I am always sucking up all kinds of things like junk etc. Whenever they dump stuff out, I become hungry and it makes me feel like my whole stomach has been taken away. † Phase Four: Comparing Analogies- Students identify and explain the points of similarity between the new material and the direct analogy. Amanda then asks her students to vote on a machine as a class that they will use to compare Hitler with. The class voted on a shredder and came up with a simile. This is what one student wrote, â€Å"Hitler is like a shredder because he killed people and a shredder also kills paper. Also since a shredder sounds torturous, Hitler also tortured people. They are also both powerful. † The students came up with adjectives for the shredder such as hungry, happy, choking, short, powerful. Phase Five: Explaining differences- Students explain where the analogy does not fit. Amanda explained this step as the compressed conflict and had the student create a list of oxymoron from the adjectives in step four. This is what her class came up with†¦ Short vs. Powerful, Choking vs. Happy, Torturous vs. Happy, Choking vs. Hungry. Phase Six: Exploration- Students reexplore the original topic on its own terms. Amanda then gave her students 2 minutes to list some animals. The students listed zebra, tiger, lion, cheetah, pony, and bear. As a class they were told to choose one animal that matched their compressed conflict of being torturous vs. happy. Hence, they all agreed on a lion. Phase seven: Generating Analogies- Students provide their own direct analog y and explore the similarities and differences. Amanda then instructed her students to compare a lion to Hitler. Here are some of the responses her students gave. * â€Å"Hitler is like a lion because they are both like leaders and have followers. They also kill a lot and they are both smart. † * â€Å"Hitler is like a lion because they are both very powerful and vicious. They both kill things they don’t like and are both big leaders and have followers. † For the extension part we agreed that they could illustrate their outcomes if there was extra time available. Overall, the experience of using the model was a success because it brought so much creativity to the table and I was shocked that her class chose a lion for the animal to describe Hitler. I was shocked that no one brought up Lion King the Disney movie, because that movie makes a lot of reference to Hitler and dictatorship. It was very interesting how her students made a connection to it without thinking very hard. The rational of the model synectics gives students an opportunity to express their ideas creatively and make connections with the unknown. As students are prepared to start mixing analogies and similes together to create a connection, it gives students a chance to make a much more interesting connections in their daily writing and for the purpose of this assignment. Using the Holocaust as our main focus to teach about Hitler was an achievement because by overlooking what the students made connections with was obvious that they could express what Hitler felt and acted. In conclusion, this model at first seemed more challenging but after awhile it began to fall into place. It deals with thinking outside the box and for me being a creative person I enjoyed learning about the model and having to teach students to also think outside the box and not be afraid of the unknown outcomes. As a future educator, I feel that this model has been very beneficial and I look forward to utilizing again in my own classroom as writing warm ups to new stories or materials. This model helps students make connections with their background knowledge as well as concepts they are unfamiliar with and it also challenges them to bring their creativity out. Reference Joyce, B. , Weil, M. , amp; Calhoun, E. (2009). Models of teaching.

Issues of Adverse and Moral Selection

Issues of Adverse and Moral Selection MUKHTAR MUHAMMAD AHMAD DISTINGUISH BETWEEN ADVERSE AND MORAL SELECTION, AND HOW A FIRM MIGHT OVERCOME EACH PROBLEM Adverse selection can be said as the process that occurs when seller valued goods more highly than the buyer does, because the seller has the full information and understanding about the good. Due to this information known by the seller, the seller is unwilling to part with the goods for any price lower than the value the seller knowns it has. On the other hand, the buyer who has no any information about how good the product is, is unwilling to pay more than expected of the good, which take into account the possibility of getting a bad piece. It is the Asymmetry information prior to the transaction that prevent the transaction from happening. If both the seller and the buyer were not sure of the quality, they would be willing to trade based on its actual value. Moral hazard, is usually seen as services such as insurance and warranties. In this case, when the deal is done, one of the party involved in the deal (in this case, the person purchasing the insurance) may be less careful because he/she has the insurance, thus is not expected to the full cost the losses insured. Example, a person with an insurance against theft may not border about closing all what is necessary when leaving the house, here, it is not the prior information that either party has ,but due to lack of information that the insurance company has in providing and controlling the risk taking behavior that can leads to the market failure. Lets look into adverse selection in details especially in the case of insurance. Adverse selection; can also be said as the selection originally used in insurance. Its describe a situation where in an individuals demand for insurance (The propensity to insurance and quantity purchased) is possibly the individuals risk of loss (higher risk buy more insurance), and the insurer is unable to allow for this correlation in the price of insurance. This may be because of an information known only to the individuals. (Information Asymmetry), or because of regulation or social Norms which prevent the insurer from using certain categories of known information to set price (For example, gender, genetic, test or pre existing medical conditions. The last of which amount to a 100% risk of losses associated with the treatment of the condition).The letter scenario is sometimes referred to as regulatory adverse selection. The potential adverse nature of the phenomenon can be described as the link between the smoking status and mortality of those not smoking, on the average, are more likely to live longer, while smokers on average are more likely to die younger. If the insurer did not distinguish the prices for life insurance according to the smoking status, life insurance would be better buy for smokers than does not smoking. In this case, the smokers may be more willingly to buy insurance or may tent to buy larger amount of the insurance than the does not smoking, there by raising the average mortality of the combined policy holder group above that of the general population. From the insurers view point, the higher mortality of the group which select to buy insurance is adverse. The insurer raises the prices the insurance accordingly and as a consequences, does not smoking may be less likely to buy insurance (Or may buy smaller amounts) than they would buy at a lower prices reflectively to their lowe r risk. The reduction in the insurance purchases by does not smoking is also adverse from the insurers view point, and may be also from public policy view points. Furthermore, if there is a range of increasing risk categories in the population, the raise in the insurance prices because of adverse selection may leads to the lowest remaining risk to cancel or not renew their insurance. This promote a further raise in price, and so on. Eventually this adverse selection death spiral might in theory leads to the collapse of the insurance market. SOLUTION TO ADVERSE SELECTION PROBLEM Alternative solution to the effects of adverse selection to the insurers (to the extent that law permit) ask a randomely question requesting medical or other reports on individual who apply to buy insurance so that the price quoted can be varied accordingly, and any unreasonable highly or unpredictable risk rejected. This risk selection method is known underwriting in many nations, insurance law incorperate as utmost good faith doctorine. Which requires potential customers to answer any underwriting question asked by the insurer fully and honesty; if they fail to do so, the insurance may refused to pay the claim. While adverse selection in theory seems a clear and inevitable consequences of economic incentives, empirical is mixed. Several studies investigating correlations between risk and insurance purchased has fail to show the predicted possible correlation of life insurance. On the other hand, positive test result in adverse selection have been reported in health, long term care and annuity market. These possible result tent to be based on demonstrating more subtle relationship between risk and purchasing behavior (such as between mortality and whether the customer chooses a life annuity which is fixed or inflation linked), rather than simple correlations of risk and quantity purchased. MORAL HAZARD Moral Hazard is a situation in which a party is more likely risk because the cost that could be result which not be borne by the party taking the risk. In other words, it is a tendency to be more willing to take the risk, knowing that the potential borden of taking such risk will be born in whole or in potentially by others, A moral Hazard may occur where the actions of one party may changes to Sthe detriment of another after the financial transaction has taken place. Moral Hazard arises because an individual or institution does not take the full consequences and responsibility of its actions, and therefore, has a tendency to act less careful than its otherwise would leaving another party to hold some responsibility for the consequences of those action. Economists explain Moral hazard as a special case of information asymmetry, a situation in which one party has a wider information than the other in particular moral hazard may occur if the one that is been cheated from the risk has more information about the action and intention than the one paying for the negative consequences of the risk, more broadly, moral hazard occurs when the one with more knowledge about its action or intention has a tendency or incentive to behave inappropriately from the perspective of the one with less information. Moral Hazard is also arises in a principal Agents problem, where one party, called an agent acts on behave of another individual called principal. Usually have the knowledge about his action than the principal agents does due to the principal. Usually can not completely monitor the agents. The agents may have incentive to act inappropriate way. (From the view point of the principal) if the interest of the agents are the principal are not alligned. SOLUTION TO MORAL HAZARD Alternative way a firm can solve a problem of Moral hazard is the major aspect of the insurance deals with the effect of the availability of insurance on the level of care exercised by the insured to reduced the probability of loss. When an insured policy is not available like in the case of theft, an economic agent could devoted time to watch his property. At the extreemed, he could insure that the probability of losses was zero, but the cost of such strategy would likely be prohibitive. For example, the optimal action is to be expand on effect less than that require to reduce. The probability of theft to zero and hence, to bear the some risk. If we assumed the economic agents are risk averse, they would be willing to pay for transferred of risk to another Agents thereby enhancing their welfare. This transferred of risk is obtained through the purchase of an insurance policy. In conclusion, Adverse selection is the selection before the deal or transaction is done in which the person with the product or selling, valued and worth the good than the buyer in the sense, the seller has the better understanding and knowledge about the good and buyer who with less information about the good, would just purchase it based on his own assumption of the quality of the goods. and here, to counter such problem, the seller would have to emphasize more of his products and try to study the consumer behavior before getting into any transaction. while Moral hazard on the other hand, is the situation that occurs when the transaction is done that is, when the deal is done. One of the party in the transaction. here, the person taking the risk is more likely to be the one with the full information in the transaction and acted less carefully knowing that he would not bear the full losses alone thereby, affecting the one with less information about the transaction without his cons ents. To solve such problem, the insurer has to have an agreement on the facts that, the one that acted carelessly would likely be the one to bear more losses. That would make the one with more information to be more serious in the deal and avoiding any lapses that would occur after the deal is done.

The Chrysler Building Essay -- Architecture Structure Building Essays

Today technology allows us to construct structures that we would never have been able to make in the past. Some of the creations are impressive based on what they accomplish but others are masterpieces in themselves. Man’s capability to build such tall buildings, as the skyscrapers we are familiar with covering our cities today, is a major expression of the advancements we have made as a culture. The power necessary to build such tall structures inspired competition between architects to see who could build the tallest one. One skyscraper that has inspired many and served as a model, for high rise buildings that were created after, is the Chrysler Building. The Chrysler Building serves as an identifying mark to anyone that views the New York City skyline. The history surrounding the Chrysler Building is almost as intricate as the artwork and engineering of the building itself. Today it elicits a reaction from anyone who passes by just as it did when it was f irst created. The term skyscrapers has become the term used for tall, multi-storied buildings that have a height of at least 152 meters or 500 feet. The term was originally used to refer to a tall mast on a sailing vessel. Skyscrapers were first introduced in the 19th century. Prior to the 19th century a high rise building was thought of as unrealistic because it was irrational to have people walk up multiple flights of stairs. There was also the problem of providing the top floors with water pressure. Early on they only had the technology to provide water up to 50 feet or 15 meters. These problems were soon rectified by the invention of the elevator and also with the development of a water pumps that were made of steel and reinforced w... ...i-bin/articles/partners/cbs/search.cgi>. 3. Chrysler Building- SkyscraperPage.com. 2004. SkyscraperPage.com. 7 Nov. 2014 . 4. Chrysler Building and 42nd Street: New York History. 7 Nov. 2014 . 5. Chrysler Building, New York City. 2004. 7 Nov. 2014 . 6. Icon of the Modern. 7 Nov. 2014 . 7. Skyscraper. 7 Nov. 2014 . 8. The Chrysler Building. 2003. Daniel's Manhattan Architecture. 7 Nov. 2014 . 9. The Midtown Book- The Chrysler Building. The City Review. 7 Nov. 2014 .

Local Area Networks :: essays research papers

LANs: Local Area Networks Local Area Networks also called LANs have been a major player in industrialization of computers. In the past 20 or so years the worlds industry has be invaded with new computer technology. It has made such an impact on the way we do business that it has become essential with an ever-growing need for improvement. LANs give an employer the ability to share information between computers with a simple relatively inexpensive system of network cards and software. It also lets the user or users share hardware such as Printers and scanners. The speed of access between the computers is lighting fast because the data has a short distance to cover. In most cases a LAN only occupies one or a group of buildings located next to each other. For larger area need there are several other types of networks such as the Internet.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  LANs systems can be defined and connected in many different ways. This is the reason for the standardization for every one can have a common ground to start from. â€Å"The LANs described Herein are distinguished from other types of data networks in that they are optimized for a moderate size geographic area such as a single office building, warehouse, or a campus. The IEEE 802 LAN is a shared medium peer-to-peer communications network that broadcasts information for all stations to receive. As a consequence, it does not inherently provide privacy. The LAN enables stations to communicate directly using a common physical medium on a point-to-point basis without any intermediate switching node being required. There is always need for an access sublayer in order to arbitrate to access to the shared medium. The network is generally owned, used, and operated by a single organization. This is in contrast to Wide Area Networks (WANs) that interconnect communication faci lities in different parts of a country or are used as a public utility. These LANs are also different from networks, such as backplane buses, that are optimized for the interconnection of devices on a desk top or components within a single piece of equipment.†(IEEE 802 Standard 1990) That is the standard definition for LANs by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer committee 802. They are the committee used to set the standard in workmanship and operations for technicians that set-up and perform maintenance on LANs systems. And through all the technical words what they are trying to say is a LAN is a small area network that distributes information among computer in a small work environment unlike WANs that distribute information across global areas.

Energy :: essays research papers

-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The pump found in the tropical oceans is responsible for the movement of air and the surface ocean over most of the globe. The energy source that drives this pump is solar radiation from the sun. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second pump is the deep ocean circulation which is also driven by the sun. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The third pump is the heating of the earth’s interior by radioactive decay and radiation of heat causes plate tectonics and continents to move. This long term pump has ceased in Mars. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The winds and ocean currents redistribute the energy received from the Sun -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Air moves from high pressure areas to low pressure areas horizontally due to horizontal differences in pressure. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As a parcel of air warms up it becomes more buoyant and the air rises. Warmer air has less density. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pressure differences among air masses are typically related to the distribution of surface temperatures -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The radiation reaching the Earth is spread over larger and larger areas as we move from the equator to the poles. You get more light per unit area at the equator than at high latitudes. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The incoming solar radiation varies with latitude and seasons, whereas the outgoing terrestrial radiation depends on the temperature at the surface and atmosphere. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Primary causes for temperature distribution on earth are because it’s warmer at the equator and colder at higher latitudes. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The solar radiation absorbed at the surface varies with cloud cover and atmospheric absorption. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Heated air rises at the equator causing air to move towards the equator. This converging air makes up the intertropical convergence zone. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rising air cools which causes it to loose its water in the form of rain. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Areas of rising air cause low pressures. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The warmer stratosphere acts as a barrier to the rising warm air causing it to spread out and diverge. As the air diverges it becomes more and more cooler and it sinks at 30 degrees N/S of the equator (Hadley Cell) -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most of the earth’s deserts are located at about 30 degrees N/S of the equator. Descending air causes an area of high pressure at this 30 degrees N/S -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hadley Cell: the convergence occurring in the tropics and divergence some 30 degrees N/S of it is called the Hadley Cell. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Hadley Cell and the ITCZ are not continuous around the globe. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The equatorward-moving cold air meets the warm air moving poleward from the subtropics producing a zone of steep temperature gradients called the polar front zone at approximately 60 degrees N/S latitude.

Candide Response

Arthur Johnson Western Letters – Professor Fayard Response Essay 2 10/29/12 Arthur Johnson Western Letters – Fayard 10/29/12 Response Essay #2 Francois-Marie Arouet De Voltaire shows in many instances in Candide that he does not buy into the idea of the Enlightenment. With Voltaire’s simple mockery of the idea of a perfect world with a perfectly good God, it is evident that he does not appreciate the idea that everything happens for a reason.Despite Voltaire holding these extremely negative views on whether or not there is a good God, if there is a God at all, he puts in place a character in Candide that arguably contradicts his hateful and pessimistic views on the idea that everything happens for a reason. Voltaire places an old lady in Candide, whom clearly suffers greatly, but continues to get out of her tragedies and makes the decision to continue on living life because living is worth every bit of pain and suffering that comes.This old lady contradicts Volta ire’s negative views on the idea that everything happens for a reason because she continually escapes from her tragic experiences. The old lady continues to reinforce the idea that there is a purpose for everything and that good will eventually come out from even the most evil of situations and scenarios. The old lady not only contradicts Voltaire’s hateful outlook on the idea that everything happens for a reason, but she to an extent revamps and matures Pangloss’ outlook on optimism.Instead of thinking that everything is great and perfectly good, the old lady believes that there are some horrible things in life, but living is worth every bit of struggle that comes along with it. In theory it would be safe to come to a conclusion that would suggest that the old lady believes that despite of all the horrific and brutal events that come with living, there are greater things in life that make suffering a worthwhile price. This idea would also fall into the idea tha t everything does indeed happen for a reason.The old lady used to live a promising life as the daughter of the pope and a princess, who was once seen by many as one of the most beautiful people women ever, a woman who had a body as beautiful as â€Å"the Venus of Medici†. For a better graphic, the Venus of Medici was a Hellenistic life-size classical statue, much like the Venus de Milo, that was a depiction of the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. The old lady was at one point in her life a modern day celebrity, but all of what she had going for her was stolen, and yet she continued to live.The old lady while in conversation with Candide and Cunegonde says â€Å"Imagine my situation, the daughter of a pope, only fifteen years old, who in the space of three months had been exposed to poverty and slavery, been raped almost daily, had seen her mother torn to pieces, had endured war and famine, and who is now dying of the plague in Algiers. As it happens, I didn't die† (Vo ltaire). Voltaire also makes a strong emphasis on the old lady losing one of her buttocks, but despite that she continues to get on her horse, and ride it with just one of her buttocks.The old lady has clearly suffered tremendously. She has been through more hardships and trials than Candide and Cunegonde ever have, even though they seemed to have suffered a lot themselves. Despite all of the pains and sufferings that this old woman has been through, she consistently chose not to loathe in self-pity, and also chose life over death one hundred out of one hundred times. If this old woman did not sincerely believe that there was a reason to live and suffer, then why in Heaven’s mind would she ever decide to continue to live a life full of painful and tragic events?Simply putting it, she would not be in her right mind to continue on living a life of pain and suffering if there was no greater payout or at least a small reason for her pains and sufferings. The old woman’s re ason for living, the old woman’s payout for all of her pains and sufferings, and the old woman’s reason for not loathing in self-pity and ending her life was because she enjoyed living life too much. The old lady says to Candide and Cunegonde, â€Å"a hundred times I wanted to kill myself, but always I loved life more† (Voltaire).On the contrary the old lady also mentioned that the notion of loving life while it is miserable is equivalent to holding on to existence in horror, but still clinging on to it or to fondle a serpent that devours until it has eaten our hearts away. The old lady labeled this notion that she carries and that many others carry as ridiculous, extremely weak, and one of human’s worst instincts. Yet, she still decided to endure the hardships, live in her self-labeled â€Å"weakness†, and continued on living a life that pays her with reasons in wanting to live out her life.There is never a crystal clear glimpse of why the old wom an loves living so much, but she does defy Voltaire once more at the end of Candide. While in conversation with Candide in the final chapter, the old lady says to Candide â€Å"I should like to know which is worse, being raped a hundred times by negro pirates, having a buttock cut off, running the gauntlet in the Bulgar army, being flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, being dissected and rowing in the galleys—experiencing, in a word, all the miseries through which we have passed—or else just sitting here and doing nothing? (Voltaire). Voltaire places Candide’s garden in Candide as another form of mockery to the idea that everything happens for a reason and their world is the best of all possible worlds. Despite Voltaire inputting the garden as a mockery to Candide’s â€Å"ignorant and ridiculous† philosophy on life, the old lady was not any happier than she was when she was being raped, flogged, beaten, or hung. The old lady was just as â€Å"mis erable† as she was during all of her actual tragedies and hardships she faced, and yet she still continued to love living life and not loathe in her self-pity.The old lady’s life is a testament to there being a reason to the events and tragedies that occur in life. All of the hardships, pains, and sufferings that enter the lives of people happen so that people can grasp and understand the greatness and love for living life. Much like the old lady, people have to endure the pains and sufferings of life because living and experiencing life is worth every ounce of lost blood, sweat, and tears.

Does Divorce of Parents Harm Children?

Divorce has become prevalent, but what are its effects on children? Many researchers began studying this question in the 1970s, and they have learned a great deal about children and divorce. One thing researchers have learned is that we must distinguish between children's initial or short-term reactions to marital disruption and their long-term (more than two years) adjustment. Children's long-term reactions vary greatly, depending on how the parents respond to the child during and after the breakup. In particular, the most important factors that shape long-term adjustment are (1) the amount of parental conflict children are exposed to and (2) the quality of parenting or childrearing competence they receive. In addition to these two factors, children's reactions are affected by social or environmental factors such as living in a neighborhood with high crime and violence. Economic factors are an important aspect of divorce, as most single-parent mothers have more economic stress and can provide fewer resources and opportunities for their children following divorce. Economic stress leads to increasing family mobility and an unwanted decrease in kinship networks and family support systems. This becomes especially problematic when it deprives families of grandparents and other kin who can help parents cope in the aftermath of divorce. Yes: Judith S. Wallerstein, from â€Å"Growing up in the divorced family† Clinical Social Work Journal (Winter 2005) Clinical psychologist Judith Wallerstein argues not only that children are harmed when their parents’ divorce but also that these negative side effects continue into their adult lives. Wallerstein claims that adolescents of divorce families often become involved with drugs, alcohol, and sexual activity earlier than adolescents of intact families. And once they are adults, she claims that these children suffer from acute anxiety when attempting to love and form permanent relationships. Parent- Child relationships not only change at the breakup but continue to change during the years to follow. When this bond is broken by divorce, a wide range of passions spills over into all domains of the family. These emotions, as noted, have the power to derail parent-child relationships that were in place during the intact family. One immediate consequence of these chronic uncertainties in the post-divorce family is the eruption of persistent anxiety in the child, setting into motion a hyper vigilant tracking of each parent. They grow up insecure. They worry about another loss or sudden change in their family or household. They worry for many years about their parents’ well being. The central finding of our study is that, adulthood, the experience of having been through parental divorce as a child impacts detrimentally on the capacity to love and be loved within lasting, committed relationship. At young adulthood when love, sexual intimacy and commitment and marriage take center stage, children of divorce haunted by the ghosts of their parents’ divorce and terrified that the same fate awaits them. In addition to overcoming their fear of failure, they have a great deal to learn about the give and take of intimate living with another person, about how to deal with differences and how to resolve conflicts. Children recover, typically within a 2 year period, and then resume their normal developmental progress, if three conditions obtain: 1) the parents are able to settle their differences without fighting; 2) the financial arrangements are fair and; 3) the child has continued contact with both parents over the years that follow. Our findings are that where parents got along both maintained caring relationships with their children of the first marriage, undiminished by their post-divorce relationships, and where both parents were doing reasonably well in their personal lives, the childhood and adolescence of the children were better protected. Personal Evaluation: Are people just too selfish to make commitments or care about others anymore? Have people become too lazy or unwilling to work on the problems that exist in every relationship? I believe people still are capable of making mistakes. It's not that divorce is such a bad thing†¦ it's more that people are making the mistake of rushing into marriage for whatever reason and finally coming to grips with reality. Divorce is not questioned, in my opinion, when one of the spouses is abusive an adulterer, or other legally or morally wrong issues. I believe that divorce can harm children. However, I also believe that God can heal those wounds and He can teach them how to live healthy lives. In my opinion, divorce leaves a mark. Like the books says: â€Å"†¦ impacts detrimentally on the capacity to love and be loved within lasting, committed relationship. At young adulthood when love, sexual intimacy and commitment and marriage take center stage, children of divorce haunted by the ghosts of their parents’ divorce and terrified that the same fate awaits them. † I do agree with what the book says. I also come from a broken family and it’s been hard to come to the place where I know and believe in commitment of marriage and love. In my case, my adoptive family had to do a lot with my healing process and the role model they were to me. A loss of family identity often makes one feel inadequate, inferior or incomplete. And that’s how I felt at the beginning but the truth of the matter is; none of us are, whether we come from a broken home or not. Bibliography: Slife, Brent. Taking Sides- Clashing views on Psychological Issues. FIFTEENTH ed. Boston: McGraw Hill Companies, 2006. Newton, Lee. â€Å"Divorce is like a Death in the Family. † About. com. 1 Mar. 2009