A Knot in the Wood Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

A Knot in the Wood - Essay Example We sat in an old cafe in the West Village, an easy walk from NYU. Last week, an airline special caught his eye and I had to cancel my plans to accommodate his last minute trip. I was supposed to be in Vermont with my boyfriend Josh, who took his roommate instead. At first, I had felt ambushed, but then I remembered who my father was; or, rather, who he wasn’t: not spontaneous, impulsive, or effusive. Dad hadn’t been to New York since his honeymoon and he kept pointing to buildings to explain their architectural significance, starting sentences that trailed off like dust behind a car. He wouldn’t commit to anything, like seeing a play, walking through Central Park, or spending a day at the Met. All the tourist things my classmates did with their parents. People said grief aged you, but not my father, still handsome with a full head of salt and pepper hair. He looked too young to have a daughter in her mid-twenties; too young to be a widower. Hunched over his coffe e, he asked how school was going. â€Å"I’m taking a series of art history because there’s this program in Barcelona. I thought maybe I could spend a semester there.† â€Å"It’s far away.† He had said the same thing about my summer trip to Amsterdam. When I finally got around to sending him the package of souvenirs along with a stack of snapshots, he offered a terse thank you and said I looked too thin in the photos. Now here he was. I glanced around the cafe. We were upstairs in a window seat, and I took turns watching the customers downstairs and the pedestrians on the street. The weather turned last night, and that afternoon everyone was bundled in hats and scarves. Wind blew garbage and leaves down the street. Halloween decorations still hung in a few shop windows. Below, two men stood on a corner, both smiling. I could see their breath when they spoke. I felt that nagging guilt that I shouldn’t have chosen a school so far away. I had st ayed close for college, a two-hour drive away, so I could come home at least one weekend a month. It had been just the two of us from the start. I underestimated how hard it would be on him. â€Å"Is that why you came? You want me to transfer?† â€Å"No. Absolutely not. But you should come home for the holidays.† â€Å"I’ll be home for Christmas.† He closed his eyes for a moment as though he was in pain or trying to remember something. â€Å"Dad?† His eyes popped open and for the first time since he’d been in town, I felt like he was really looking at me. I watched as he took in my face. Even though he didn’t say it anymore, I knew he was thinking of how much I looked like my mother. It was difficult being a carbon copy of someone who was dead. His face relaxed and now it was I unable to meet his eyes. I rotated my cup, swishing my coffee to even out the sugar before taking a sip. Maybe I should have dyed my hair brown or red--anythin g but my mother’s blonde. â€Å"Do you want to take a walk?† he asked. I inventoried his clothes: a sweater but no jacket. I doubted he had packed gloves or a scarf. â€Å"It’s getting cold. You think you’ll be warm enough?† He nodded. â€Å"I can always buy something.† We rose from our chairs and shuffled our way down the stairs. My father held the door for me, ushering me into the cold. My hair whipped around my face and I wrestled on my hat, a pale green felt one my father had sent in a care package. He smiled. â€Å"I’ve always liked you in that color.† â€Å"Thanks. Let’

A Comparison of John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kants Ethical Theories :: Societal Order Universability

Compare Mill and Kant's ethical theories; which makes a better societal order? John Stuart Mill (1808-73) believed in an ethical theory known as utilitarianism. There are many formulation of this theory. One such is, "Everyone should act in such a way to bring the largest possibly balance of good over evil for everyone involved." However, good is a relative term. What is good? Utilitarians disagreed on this subject. Mill made a distinction between happiness and sheer sensual pleasure. He defines happiness in terms of higher order pleasure (i.e. social enjoyments, intellectual). In his Utilitarianism (1861), Mill described this principle as follows:According to the Greatest Happiness Principle †¦ The ultimate end, end, with reference to and for the sake of which all other things are desirable (whether we are considering our own good or that of other people), is an existence exempt as far as possible from pain, and as rich as possible enjoyments.Therefore, based on this statement, three ideas may be identified: (1) The goodness of an act may be determined by the consequences of that act. (2) Consequences are determined by the amount of happiness or unhappiness caused. (3) A "good" man is one who considers the other man's pleasure (or pain) as equally as his own. Each person's happiness is equally important.Mill believed that a free act is not an undetermined act. It is determined by the unconstrained choice of the person performing the act. Either external or internal forces compel an unfree act. Mill also determined that every situation depends on how you address the situation and that you are only responsible for your feelings and actions. You decide how you feel about what you think you saw.Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) had an interesting ethical system. It is based on a belief that the reason is the final authority for morality. Actions of any sort, he believed, must be undertaken from a sense of duty dictated by reason, and no action performed for expediency or solely in obedience to law or custom can be regarded as moral. A moral act is an act done for the "right" reasons. Kant would argue that to make a promise for the wrong reason is not moral - you might as well not make the promise. You must have a duty code inside of you or it will not come through in your actions otherwise. Our reasoning ability will always allow us to know what our duty is.

Influence of Digital Media on Education

A great man once said, â€Å"If we teach today’s students as we did yesterdays, we are robbing them of tomorrow. † His name was John Dewey. He was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. This man is the inspiration for many enthusiastic educators, who wish to evolve education as the world around us changes, especially with the rapid reforms bestowed upon the education world through this monster that we call digital media. There is no running away from the fact that digital media has already changed the world.It’s not going to stop altering the world it was created in anytime soon. So human beings have taken advantage of this fact. Since digital media reaches every corner of the globe, man has learned how to influence tremendous amounts of people through digital advertisements, expressed opinions on blogs, massive video sharing (Youtube), Internet radios (Pandora, Spotify), un iversal shopping outlets (Amazon, Ebay) and even extremely localized seller/buyer ran websites such as Craigslist. The list is never ending. Digital media has grabbed our society by the horns.For this project I have chosen to analyze the impact of Digital media on education. Numerous communications technologies have been, and will continue to connect the expertise of professional educators. Digital media and the numerous communications technologies are connecting millions of people to: 1. Increase opportunities for a quality education. 2. Increase audience networks to jumpstart a synergistic routine for online/afterschool studies. 3. Easily develop effective studying techniques in younger children, which ultimately set children up for success.Education on Digital Media 4. Construct interactive communication for peer-to-peer studies. 5. Give parents a chance to provide their children with an excellent structured education. 6. Develop online programs that are extremely user friendly, for parents and children. 7. Learning everywhere. 8. Introduce children to the safest possible online interactions for educational purposes. 9. Allow children to become adaptive to the changing technologies involving digital media. 10. Discover a student’s strength and weaknesses through computer-generated statistics, graphs and tables.These tables will be available to parents and children, at the discretion of the parents. Also, this will be available for regular adult students, hence online college portals (UMUC’s Webtycho). The incorporation of digital media into traditional education allows convenient learning alternatives, rather than the tradition textbook, notebook and highlighter approach. â€Å"Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach. † (Prensky, 2001) These days’ students use tablets and laptop computers, with wireless Internet to their advantage.Digital m edia offers students of all education levels an enormous treasure chest of social practices, methodologies and even hands on assignments. Expert educators have become readily available to students virtually anywhere in the world (where and internet connection can be found. ) Of course, only digital immigrants who are adept to the use of digital media themselves will be afforded the opportunity to share their teaching skills globally. A learning application on your IPhone will never replace a quality teacher, who truly has a passion for teaching.However, over the past several years, multiple online platforms have given students the opportunity to take the initiative on learning. â€Å"Tools will never outshine a brilliant teacher, but over the past fifteen years many tools, services, and platforms have become easier to adapt for learning purposes, to help command and hold the attention of learners for whom email is no more than an easy way to talk to â€Å"the man. †Ã¢â‚¬  ( Scholz, 2011) A website I have used in the past has helped me pass CLEP (College Level Entry Program) exams, which count for 3 college credits.You can earn these credits simply by passing the examinations, which are usually more difficult than easy. The CLEP system allows students to basically take the final exam of an entry-level college course, without ever having to take the course. This website I utilized and came to appreciate is www. instantcert. com. You have to pay a monthly subscription, which is totally worth it if you apply yourself. There is no instructor for the study guides and test samples provided by the websites creators. It’s simply you and the books. Raw learning at its finest.Of course, there are also online tutoring programs, which provide private tutors for virtually all-academic subjects. Live online courses (much like CMST 301) are available to students of all ages. I would like to point out the difference between an online college course, and an onlin e tutoring program. UMUC’s online program is the perfect example of an online college, where students earn actual college credits that apply towards an official college degree. Then there’s academic tutoring programs, such as Instantcert. com, which I mentioned previously.Another fine example of an online tutoring program is the princetonreview. com. The Princeton review does not offer college credits; it simply aids motivated students in their understanding of whatever subject matter they are pursuing. The concept of â€Å"learning everywhere† has never been easier, thanks to digital media. â€Å"Digital learning not only takes place online or in the university classroom but is also situated in high schools, museums, after school programs, home school living rooms, public libraries, and peer-to-peer universities.Learners do not learn exclusively in the university where â€Å"master-teachers† impart their insights under the tree of knowledge. † (Sc holz, 2011) I have found the usage of tourist-interactive digital media programs in museums to be quite useful and educational. Learning everywhere is already happening, in homeschools and public schools. One comparison I would like to make known, is the difference in computer usage regarding homeschool and public schools. There is a graph below that sums up some very useful percentages.The graph shows that the percentage of students utilizing computers at home increases, as their parent’s educational attainment increases, but that the percentage using computers at public school is more nearly equal across the levels of parental education. This proves that computer (Internet) usage for public education is on the rise. Some parents prefer their student’s education to remain traditional, hence the homeschooling. A traditional home school program, in the past has consisted of family bought textbooks and teaching material designed for the students parents.Today however, th ere are multiple programs offered to parents, so they may have access to quality home school programs. Some of these programs involve the use of the Internet, and some do not. Many home school programs make use of DVD’s. You may notice the higher education attainment for parents makes a slight difference between parents who have bachelor’s degree and a graduate education (regarding homeschool and public school). This was expected. What was not expected was the difference between parents with a high school education, compared to parents with a 4-year degree. 5% compared to 82% is a huge gap. I predict that digital media will shorten this gap. User friendly, affordable and independent home school online programs will be developed by digital immigrants, programmers and educators who have grown up in the tech-savvy generation. The gap will naturally shorten as education becomes readily incorporated into digital media. Another surprise (to me personally) was the fact that t he highest percentage for computer usage came from home school environments taught by parents with graduate educations.I expected this percentage to be lower, due to the fact that most traditional home school systems tend to fray away from computer usage. But then again, this graph was created in 2003. I can see digital media having a direct effect on education for all these categories. Reason being, as time goes on, digital media usage in nursery school and students in grades K-12 will increase. It will increase because digital media is only furthering its reach. The good news concerning this graph, the percentage of computer usage in public schools remained relatively close in proximity.Ranging from the lowest (78%) to the highest (84%), this shows that computer and digital media usage in public, private high schools and universities has already become very widely available. The graph above displays computer usage in households. The graph below displays the difference between comp uter usage and actual Internet usage by grade level from Nursery school through 12th grade. In 2003, it was easy to see the dramatic increase for computer and Internet usage ranging from nursery school all the way up to 10th grade.By the time students reached 10th grade, the Internet and computer usage tended to even out at a moderate rate. Basically what this graph is telling us is that students begin learning how to use a computer and Internet as soon as they enter the school systems. The percentage that surprised me the most, was the nursery school computer and Internet usage beginning in nursery school. Even though this graph was originated by the NCES (National Center for Education Statistics), I questioned the fact that computer usage/Internet usage begins in nursery school.It is happening today, and I predict this to be a growing trend. There are two major organizations, which exist today, whose sole mission is to safely incorporate digital media into preschool and kindergart en. The first major organization is the NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children). This organization is noticeably the largest, and well-funded organization for early educators in the United States. The 2nd is the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media organization.These two amazing organizations have conducted research, which supports the use of digital media technology in preschool and kinder garden. A very brave statement was released by both organizations. The statement regarded technology and small children up to 8 years old. â€Å"Though the groups discourage â€Å"passive screen technology† usage — like TV and DVDs — with children under two, they don't suggest a ban on screens for preschoolers or kindergartners as some child-advocacy groups have suggested.Nor do they say teachers should avoid using technology with young kids. Instead, the groups puts the onus on teachers to make smart decisions and use te chnology appropriately. † (Guernsey, 2012) Conclusion: The digital media’s affect on education is more evident now than ever. If professional educators truly wish to reach their students in the world of pedagogy, I predict that these educators must become more adept to the way these new generations of students are accustomed to learning. Today, students learn on their own terms, with their own study methods.The sooner professional educators embrace technology and digital media fully, the sooner our students will reach their full potential. References Scholz, R. T. (2011, March 31). Learning Through Digital Media  » Introduction: Learning Through Digital Media. Learning Through Digital Media. Retrieved  February  23, 2013, from http://learningthroughdigitalmedia. net/introduction-learning-through-digital-media DaBell, M. , Chapman, C. , Spellings, M. , Whitehurst, G. , ; Schneider, M. U. S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2006).C omputer and internet use by students in 2003 (2006-065). Retrieved from Institute of Educational Sciences website: http://0-nces. ed. gov. opac. acc. msmc. edu/pubs2006/2006065. pdf Guernsey, L. (2012, March 7). Saying yes to digital media in preschool and kindergarten. Retrieved from http://www. huffingtonpost. com/lisa-guernsey/saying-yes-to-technology-_b_1325070. html Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6. Retrieved from http://www. marcprensky. com/writing/prensky – digital natives, digital immigrants – part1. pdf

The Crusades A War Of Defensive Reasons - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 560 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/07/30 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: Crusades Essay Did you like this example? By 1080, Europeans had heard of the losses of cities and mass executions of pilgrims that caused fear and anger.   It was now hard to ignore the creeping threat quickly approaching from Spain and Byzantium.  Ã‚   It took Pope Urban almost a year to gather men and soldiers to join him in the Crusade.  Ã‚   It was his hands-on approach which inspired more people, including Priests to believe in the crusade.   This campaign further advanced the motivation of crusading for a sacred cause over that of penance for massacres and aggression.   Pope Urbans primary motivation for the Crusades was to reclaim Jerusalem and help the Byzantines who had already lost more than half of their territory.   While the church at the time considered the Byzantines to be heretics, Urban must have thought it was better to share a border with heretics rather than Muslim heathens.  Ã‚  Ã‚  . Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Crusades: A War Of Defensive Reasons" essay for you Create order In addressing the question of determining if the First Crusade is representative of a Christian Worldview, my response is inconclusive.   On one hand to agree the Crusades is representative of a Christian Worldview would also be to also excuse the immoral and un-Christian acts committed by the Crusaders.   One would have to admit that the slaughter of all of Jerusalems inhabitants and forced conversions of Jews was a benefit to Christianity.   On the other hand, the Crusaders included men and women who sacrificed their lives trying to stop the spread of unwarranted Muslim aggression.   It also begs the question of is an eye for an eye always the best method.  Ã‚   Conversely, coming to the opposite conclusion that the First Crusade does not represent a Christian Worldview ignores the bloodshed and suffering that took place in Europe and Byzantium.   My answer to this question lies somewhere in the middle.   The First Crusade may have begun because of good intentions, but the persecutions, executions and massacres are difficult to overlook.   When you measure scripture against the Crusades, there is justification for war in Mathew 24: 6, And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but dont panic.   Yes, these things must take place, but the end wont follow immediately .   Even in Deuteronomy 20: 1, verse 4 states, For the Lord your God is going with you!   He will fight for you against your enemies .  Ã‚  Ã‚   Additionally, philosopher of the day, St. Augustine offered his theory on waging war and military practices with his Just War Theory.   The argument gave moral standards for war many of which were not followed during the Crusades, including the seventh theory that the killing of innocent citizens is never justified.   There should be no shame among Christians when discussing the First Crusade, or any of the Crusades for that matter.   Wrongs were committed by Crusaders and people today should not have to apologize for the actions of other people more than 900 years ago.   It is interesting to note that, Most Christians today feel an acute sense of shame over the Crusades, finding it hard to understand how a succession of Popes could encourage so much violence and bloodshed Christ in order to win the Holy Land back from the control of Islam.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Crusades was a war of defensive reasons which were to stop the spread of Islam and take back Jerusalem.   Many Christians sacrificed their lives to halt the invasion of Islam.   Perhaps these events should be a guide for us in understanding modern-day secularism and religious differences.