Ideologies in the Characters of Small Island Essay Example

Ideologies in the Characters of Small Island Essay The  plot  of the great book seller Small Island (2004) is formed  around four  characters: Hortense, Queenie, Gilbert and Bernard. Each  character has a  different  past, identity, ideology, dreams and expectations. But they also have one thing in common: all of them change after the war. Although,  everyone experiments the war in a different way, all felt affected by it. At this point, all that they have experience before or what they believe in seems lost, with no sense (Gilroy, 2004). This war is not the only factor that makes them feel bizarre and strange. The England that all believe to know has also changed, it was not the England in which they believe in, in which they had trust once. In this essay I will compare the ideologies and expectations of all the characters before and after the war, making emphasis in the concept of identity related to other conceots such as’ race’ and ‘social class’. The characters can be easily divided in many different ways. One of them is their marital relations: Queenie is married with Bernard, and Hortense is married with Gilbert. Another division can be made by analyzing their origins. The first couple is from Jamaica while the second one is English. We will write a custom essay sample on Ideologies in the Characters of Small Island specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Ideologies in the Characters of Small Island specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Ideologies in the Characters of Small Island specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The third division could be separating them by their colour of skin: Queenie and Bernard are white and Gilbert and Hortense are black. Race is an important topic in the whole book and is expressed in the way of ‘color of skin’ (Cinkova, 2010). The colour of skin of the characters makes them ‘better’ or ‘worse’ in the atmosphere of the book. Britain and its ally France was beating against the fascist Germany. How can be possible then that Britain’s attitudes was racist? Why Britain makes differences between the race white and black and at the same time tried to suffocate the fire of fascism? The reason is simple, Great Britain was not used to the ‘aliens’ or ‘strangers’ before the war. Their imperialistic ideology could not see the pain and suffering that their colonies were living. For the British all the colonies were the same: colonies. They didn’t believe that ,in a way, their identities were linked. Here we find a double reality: the reality of the colonies and that one of the British. For the British, their superiority was evident because they had a ‘Great Empire’ formed by many colonies who had bowed their heads to Great Britain’s power. These colonies were not just weak, but also inferior. This inferiority is the same that the fascism was trying to end up with. Jews and black were persecuted by Germans while in England black were repudiated and treated as ‘foreigners’ and ‘inferior’. The ‘Emperialistic ideas’ were strongly based in the term of ‘nation’. The definition of Anderson of nation as ‘imagined political community’ helps to understand the situation in England. England lived a dream after the industrialization and her expansion in the other continents These two factors made England the first potency of the World. English people were very proud of their achievements and their ‘superiority’. However, all this disappear after the World War II, when England lost its position as a first potency to give way to the United States. Before the war, the Imperialistic ideals dominated in Great Britain while the reality of the colonies was quite the opposite. The colonized loved the ‘mother country’ and had expectations on her. Their dream was come to her one day and being welcome by her. Even if they ancestors had been colonized some time ago, the mother country had done lots of things for them. In the book this double reality is represented by the two couples. Bernard and Queenie represent the Emperialistic ideas while Hortense and Gilbert embody the colonies’ naive ideology before the World War II. However the reality changes after the war for all the characters. The ideology of a ‘Great Empire’ disappears because, even if Great Britain had won the war, England was not the same that they remembered, its prestige had vanished: the people from the colonies were migrating in mass to England; the whiteness was finished to give a way to ‘multiculturalism’ (Gilroy). In addition, Great Britain had lost its place at the first potent of the world to give way to the United States of America, which had been its colony once. The ideology of a welcoming ‘mother country’ had also finished and the reality after the war was not so beautiful and hopeful for the colonized. Their dreams disappeared and were replaced by a desperate desire being integrated and not repudiated. So, the situation in England was not easy for any of the characters and it supposed a psychological and an identity change for all of them. Hortense, the Jamaican woman of the novel, has been grown up in Jamaica by his uncle, who had a very good status in the country. We can appreciate in her words that she’s very proud of living with him even if she wouldn’t see her mother again. In addition, her father is for her an idol, someone who deserved her admiration but no words of admiration go out from her mouth when she talks about her poor mother. This is the first time when Hortense shows us how important money and social class is for her. Her education, in a school of ‘ladies’ with ‘white gloves’ and ‘hats’, also influence in the construction of her identity. She then becomes a presuntuous girl, with high expectations. The first time we see she has great expectations when she talks about her colour of her skin: ‘My complexion was as light as his, the colour of warm honey [†¦] With such a countenance, there was a chance of a golden life for I’. As we can appreciate, she links her future social status with her color of skin so, in a way she’s aware of the world in which she is living, not necessarily of the fascism in Europe or the nationalism in contries such as England, but maybe she has observate this distinctions of ‘more black’ or ‘less black’ in her own country. The experience of the war does not affect her in a direct way. However, it seems that Levy wanted to assure that all the characters suffered the experience of war. If it wasn’t that the case, Hortense could be the only one that was not affected by it because she was in Jamaica and didn’t come to England until the war was finished. Nevertheless, her companion of childhood, her cousin, who she profoundly admires, goes to the war and disappears of the map. One officer tells the family to think of him as dead and this breaks her heart and her expectations of a future with him. However, a Michael appears in the novel later on, and is the father of the new child of Queenie. If this Michael is the same that grows up with Hortense is impossible to know, as Levy does not clear it up. In a way, Hortense is a product of the environment in which she grows up. She comes to her conclusions by seing her environment and deducting it. Her identity is immovable and with a very fixed bases. Until the end of the book she doesn’t give a opportunity to Gilbert, her husband. Her prejudices carry on during the whole book, but at the end they give pass to some kind of humanity and acceptance. She discovers that a man of low class as Gilbert is as deserving of respect as those ‘ladies’ in her school. At the same time, she discovers that high class people, as Queenie and Bernard, can be as pathetic as any low class person. So, social class is not important anymore for her, she is a new Hortense. Gilbert, the character of the novel with a golden tooth, is almost the opposite of Hortense. He’s from a low social class, but he is full of moral values. He is aware of the situation in Jamaica and wants to change it. The first time he sees Hortense, he is attending a local discourse of the nonconformists of Jamaica. He feels attracted by her and at the same time he knows that she is not from his social class, and therefore she is unprotected in the atmosphere of rebellion. Gilbert, is not a person with prejudices and gives opportunities to everybody. He dreams of England and wants to help the ‘mother country’ when she’s in trouble. So, he decides to take part of the RAF in the war. He, had great expectations and thought that he would be welcome and thanked for helping England in the war. However, the reality falls on him. Black people were ignored and bad treated in the army. Curiously, it is his color of skin which helps him in the war because nobody thought him to be a danger. It is in the war when he first felt disenchanted with England. After the war, his identity and perceptions starts to change. The Jamaica in which he’s grown up seems ‘small’ to him. The title of the book ‘Small island’ refers to the perception of the characters about her countries after the war. What they once thought ‘big’ seems smaller for them. Consequently, Gilbert, with no family to retain him, dreams of spreading, new things, new opportunities, developing, and England is the country who could fill his new necessities. His marriage with Hortense is the passage for both to England. She’d lent him money in order that he looks for a job in England for bringing her too. Once again in England, Gilbert starts to appreciate the rush after-war experience in England. Looking for a job and a house is very difficult even for a white man. He has no money and ,in addition, he is ‘black’. These two factors, linked very closely could have meant his end in the ‘melancholia’ (Gilroy, 2004) of the post-war England. British people had a discriminating attitude towards black people, whose slogan had become: No blacks, no Irish, no dogs,without considering that many of them have fought in the war. Gilbert, seing the British racist attitudes, takes the decision of adapting himself and takes the position of ‘passive resistance’. He’s forced to change his identity as a rebel and determinate man to survive in this racist atmosphere. Surviving is more important than defend the true and important causes such as ’equality’ or ‘respect’. This character is an example of inte rnal force, such as ‘Bartleby’ in the Herman’s Melville novel. Both characters ‘prefer not to’ say anything instead of reacting against the social environment in which they’re living, as they think they would lose the only chances of achieve better things that they have. Bernard is presented as a pathetic character at the beginning of the book. Through the words of Queenie we laugh at him. Bernard is not only unattractive and unexciting, as she reveals that her sexual relations with him are banal and not pleasant, but he’s also a coward. So, we know how the identity of Bernard is through the words of her wife. When the war starts, the first thought of the man is to stay in refuge to be protecting of bombing. But, suddenly, he seems to be full of pride and braveness and he joins the RAF. His experiences of war are the first narrations in first person of this character. We can know through his passages, that he’s a conservative character, who defends the Empire ideology and values. Curiously, he is sent to India, a colony of the Empire at that time. However, the situation in India awakes in him a sense of survival, as we have seen in Gilbert. The difference is that Gilbert, who belonged to a low class, was less reticent and has less ‘ego’ in words of survival. Bernard has not the spirit of rebellion that Gilbert has either. He thinks that rebellion in the colonies is not accurate, as he considers them inferior and unable to govern themselves. One irony of the book is when Bernard crosses an Indian who tells him that England has made a lot for them and confirms Bernard that the colonies are not able to be governed and ruled by themselves. In this passage we know that Bernard has acquired the Imperialistic values and at the same time that the Indian is naive and is not aware of the cruelty of the British in the colonies. However, the passage can also be interpreted as an humoristic one, who would show that the Indian is laughing at Bernard’s ideology and blindness of the reality of the colonies. In this interpretation, the Indian, reminds us of Gilbert, the character who uses humor to forget about the reality. After an incident with a prostitute, the cowardice invades Bernard again. He becomes paranoids when he thinks he’s got an incurable illness. However, after realising that it was not an illness, he comes back to England. The England he sees is different from the one he remembered. The national identity was suffering a perennial crisis (Gilroy, 2004). People from the colonies are everywhere, even in his house. In addition, her wife seems to have changed, she gets on well with the blacks. At first he is not able to say anything, traumatised by all he has gone through before arriving to England. However, when he talks at the end of the book, we see a different Bernard. This new Bernard does not matter about races or social classes anymore, this Bernard looks passing hrough the difficulties as better as possible. In a way, we can say that Bernard matures and faces the problems that he and her wife have. He is predisposed to accept the child and try to start a new life with the baby. He takes this decision even if he knows that they would be critisized by her neighbours. But the events change and Queenie implores Hortense and G ilbert to take the baby with them. Although we could not say that Bernard becames tolerant with black people, he matures and a kind of ‘acceptance’ of the reality starts to grow up in him. Gilroy’s ‘melancholia’ invades this character as he remembers how was England before and what it’s become. Queenie, whose real name is Victoria, as the other three characters suffers a methamorphosis. Her change, however, is more complicated to explain. Since she was young she felt interested by the whole Empire, as the passage in the festival of the Empire shows. She wants to know more about the colonies, about the people that live there. However, the people around her during her childhood and later his husband, Bernar, influence her way of thinking. She belongs to a middle-high class who is full of prejudices agains the people from the colonies. In a way she takes part of the Empirialistic ideology. However, she is more open-minded than the most of people of her social class. She is a caritative and empathic character, that can see far away from the Imperialistic ideology. During the war, she helps the people that have lost their belongings and their homes. However, this act of kindness could also be seen as a way to feel useless as her life seems not very exciting: having unpleasant sexual relations with her wife and expecting more of life than being married with him. During the war, she feels the necessity of renting the chambers of her house to black people. Nevertheless, her attitude towards them is not mean. The first black man she sees near is Michael, who becomes essential in Queenie’s transition. She, who always felt curiosity for black people, goes furhter when she has sexual relations with this black man. The sensations that she thought asleep, awake in her. Passion and desire invade her for the first time. These desires take form of a baby that she is very proud of. However, it is not until the end of the book that we know that she is pregnant, as she hides it to everyone. Surprisingly, when she gives birth to the baby she makes the decision of not wanting to look after him. To the wonder of all, she begs Hortense and Gilbert to take care of the baby, standing in her knees. On the one hand, Queenie becomes a realistic person that knows very well the problems that she will have to face if she and her husband take care of the baby. On the other hand, she could be considered a coward because she didn’t even want to face her problem and wants others to solve it. Another interpretation could be that Queenie regrets the infidelity to her husband. Queenie is a double face character. Two Queenies are represented in the book: the Queenie that loves black people and the Queenie that feels ashamed of her relationship with them. These two Queenies complement each other, one cannot be without the other. The racist Queenie is a product of her chilhood and family and the tolerant But, what are the reasons of Queenie ‘the tolerant’? An absent husband thought lost? A necessity of coexisting with black people for money? Or, a real change in Queenie’s mind? Does Queenie really realize that she and her society is racist? Does she wants to be different from all of them? We would feel inclinated to think that until she is by her own during the war she is not able or free to think by herself. Before the war, Queenie had always been oppressed, firstly, by her parents, later, by her aunt and ,finally, by her husband. When she has sex with Michael she feels free, new, the new Queenie has awakened. A Queenie that wants to feel free and want everybody to feel the same way. We could think that she helps the black people because they remind her of herselve before knowing Michael. Moreover, the return of her husband would mean for Queenie that her freedom would disappear. When she gives birth the baby, the new Queenie feels happy but the old one presses her to give the baby, reminding her the reality that she lives and has always lived: ‘England is not a tolerant country’. Consequently, the new Queenie comes back to her prison to never come back. Conclusion The four characters of Small Island have a marked and different identity. Each identity is a product of their experiences in the past. However, all the characters suffer a methamorphosis or a change. Their identity is in all of the cases forced to be changed because the circumstances have changed. In addition, according to Usha Mahadevan (2010) ‘the shocks of circumstance force the protagonists to face reality’. A new period starts in the lives of the characters, all of them start from zero. The most important thing is not the social class or the race anymore. The most essential thing is to survive and to be happy. All the characters are at the same level at the end of the book, the high class characters deserve the same consideration than the low class ones, as the important thing is to be brave morally and struggle until the end to achieve their goals. Andrea Levy has achieve to show all these values in a more than satisfactory way: four voices that converge, and four lives’ characters that converge in the same objective: to live. References Anderson, B. Imagined Communities, (1983) Cinkova, L. West Indian Experience in Britain in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century: Bittersweet Homecoming, (2010) Gilroy, P. After Empire: Melancholia or Convivial Culture? Abingdon: 2004 Mahadevan, U. England of Andrea Levy’s Small Island: Dreams and Realities, (2010)

Honey Bees and Economics Essay Example

Honey Bees and Economics Essay Example Honey Bees and Economics Essay Honey Bees and Economics Essay are among the most well-known and economically of import insects ( Delaplane 2006 ) . There are 20 six recognized races around the universe, supplying honey and wax merchandises, and functioning every bit of import pollinators for harvests and wild vegetations ( Thomas 2002 ) . The tropically-adapted African honey bee races, Apis mellifera scutellata ( once adansonii ) , was introduced to Brazil in the 1950s to crossbreed with antecedently introduced European honey bee races in order to better honey production in the Neotropics ( Schneider et al. 2003 ) . While hybridisation between these races was expected, and sought in the genteelness plan for which the African races was introduced, cistron flow between the races is asymmetrical and the European traits are mostly displaced by the African traits over clip ( Schneider et al. 2003 ) . These African traits tend to be characters that make the Africanized honey bee an efficient encroacher and coloniser, as evidenced in its scope enlarg ement throughout South and Central America and the invasion of a figure of southwesterly States in the U.S. ( Schneider et al. 2003 ) . This scope enlargement could take to a figure of social, economic, and ecological jobs since the Africanized honey bee can be really aggressive, has high generative capacity, and may interfere with native pollinators and established European settlements, therefore interrupting their pollenation services ( Fewell and Bertram 2002 ) . This paper investigates the properties of A.m. scutellata that enabled this races ( but non European honey races ) , to go an invasive species, effects of its invasion, and direction issues associated with it. History of the Africanized Honey Bee Honey bees are non native to North, Central, and South America, jointly known as the New World, but became widely established after holding been brought by European colonists in the 1600s ( Delaplane 2006 ) . The natural biogeographical scope of Apis mellifera spans from northern Europe to southern Africa and from the British Isles to the Arabian Peninsula ( Schneider et al. 2004 ) . There are four geographic line of descents that correspond to populations in East and West Europe, Africa, and the Middle East ( or Asian ) which probably exhibited allopatric distribution before worlds began transporting and blending populations on a big graduated table ( Schneider et al. 2004 and Zayed and Whitfield 2008 ) . At least eight of the 20 six honey bee races have been intentionally introduced to the Americas and the European races Apis mellifera ligustica Spinola, A.m. caucasica Gorbatschev, and A.m. carnica Pollman, provided the familial stock of the U.S. domestic honey bee ( Thomas 2002 ) . From the 16th to 18th century, Apis mellifera mellifera, of the West European line of descent, dominated debuts to the New World but the three races that comprised the U.S. honey bee, all of the East European Lineage, dominated subsequent debuts ( Schneider et al. 2004 ) . Geographic isolation can take to familial distinction of populations into races due to local choice force per unit areas and familial impetus ( Clarke et al. 2002 ) . This phenomenon is apparent in the honey bee races from Europe and Africa. The European races are well-suited to temperate climes in that much of their energy goes into bring forthing and hive awaying honey that is needed to last drawn-out periods when resources are absent, such as winter ( Sanford and Hall 2005 and Delaplane 2006 ) . In contrast, the African races exhibits a composite of behaviours and physiological features that make it well-suited to tropical environments, such as high generative rates and coevals of droves to replace settlements that are often lost to predation ( Sanford and Hall 2005 ) . African and European honey bee races had been geographically separated for about 10,000 old ages, developing separating features to last in their corresponding environments, before human-assisted debuts caused blen ding between big populations ( Clarke et al. 2002 ) . While most of North America was able to prolong both managed and wild honey bee populations of European decent, the European honey bee was non every bit good adapted to the tropical and semitropical environments of Central and South America where they could merely be maintained with punctilious attention ( Delapane 2006 ) . It was the insufficiency of European races to win in this clime that led research workers in Sao Paulo, Brazil to present one of the tropical African honey bee races, Apis mellifera scutellata, in an effort to develop a better tropically-adapted domestic honey bee ( Thomas 2002 ) . It s deserving adverting that North African bees had been introduced antecedently to North America and that ferine populations exhibited low frequences of African DNA prior to the spread of the African bee from Latin America but did non ensue in an invasive species as seen with A.m. scutellata ( Schneider et al. 2004 ) . The purpose of conveying the African races to Brazil was to present familial stuff from these tropically-adapted honey bees into the resident European honey bees in order to develop better honey manufacturers in the tropical clime of this part ( Sanford and Hall 2005 ) . The genteelness plan, organized by insect geneticist Warwick Kerr, used South African Queenss paired with docile Italian drones and employed dual queen excluders to forestall flight ( Thomas 2002 ) . The queen excluder keeps the queen in the brood nest and is used as a safeguard against settlement flight since the hive will non go forth without the queen. Unaware of this intent, in 1956 a sing apiarist removed the excluders and hence, 26 of the Africanized urtications escaped with their Queenss ( Thomas 2002 ) . The African stock became established in the ferine population around Sao Paulo and spread quickly throughout Brazil and the Neotropics, displacing and/or crossbreeding with the resident races of honey bee ( Spivak et al. 1991 ) . It s of import to observe that the term Africanized is controversial and that the term Neotropical African is likely better terminology for the honey bee with traits of both European and African descent ( Spivak 1992 ) . Africanized, African-derived, and Neotropical African entail different familial procedures in footings of cistron flow between European and African populations such that Africanized refers to settlements that result from European Queenss and African drones bring forthing a hybridized population ( Schneider et al. 2004 ) . Although it was assumed that the African and European races would crossbreed and give rise to the Africanized honey bee and significant hybridisation has so occurred, over clip the European features are displaced by the African traits since cistron flow between the races is asymmetrical, prefering the loss of European traits ( Schneider et al. 2003 ) . In fact, recent genetic sciences research has revealed that some wild Africanized honey bee populations consist of unbroken African female parent lines that extend all the manner back to the original Queenss that were introduced to Brazil in the 1950s ( Sanford and Hall 2005 ) . Interestingly, European honey bee Queenss mate disproportionately with African drones, a phenomenon that contributes to displacing European cistrons in a settlement with African ( Kaplan 2004 ) . Additionally, there is grounds that the intercrossed exhibits reduced fittingness when compared to either European or African settlements. Hybrid workers have been rep orted to hold lower metabolic capacity for flight and dispersion and less efficient scrounging ability, two factors that accordingly result in lessened endurance of intercrossed settlements ( Schneider et al. 2003 ) . Indeed, intercrossed settlements have been observed to vanish over clip unless actively managed and maintained by worlds ( Schneider et al. 2003 ) . Spread of the Africanized Honey Bee A ; Barriers to Range Expansion The spread of the Africanized honey bee is one of the most impressive biological invasions that have been documented, colonising most of the Americas in less than 50 old ages ( Schneider et al. 2004 ) . Factors that have facilitated the constitution and enlargement of Africanized honey bees include the inclination of African settlements to turn faster than those of European races, familial mutual exclusivenesss between European and African races that favor keeping of African over European traits, and the greater ability of African bees to set up nests in a broader assortment of locations ( National Research Council 2007 ) . Besides, African droves will assume European settlements, intending they invade and replace the occupant queen with their ain, a phenomenon which loses both maternal and paternal lines of the European honey bee ( Kaplan 2004 and Schneider et Al. 2004 ) . The African honey bee produces big Numberss of offspring that form many generative droves and absconds more readily than European races, which abscond and drove less often ( Schneider 1990 and Sanford and Hall 2005 ) . This is important because honey bee population growing is influenced by settlement growing and generative rates in that the greater the generative rate, the faster the settlement growing, the more rapidly a settlement becomes overcrowded, and the more frequent the demand to split the settlement ( Fewell and Bertram 2002 and Kaplan 2004 ) . Hence, since the African honey bee produces greater Numberss of offspring, African settlements drove and disperse to organize new settlements more often than European honey bees. In the Neotropics, a 16-fold addition can be seen in African settlements, taking to a rapid addition in African honey bee population denseness, whereas a mere three to sextuple addition is seen for European settlements in temperate parts ( Schneider et al. 2 004 ) . While high generative rates that lead to frequent teeming give the African honey bee an built-in capacity for rapid population growing, bolting may or may non lend to its colonisation and enlargement ability. Absconding, abandoning the nest and traveling elsewhere, may increase the opportunities of endurance merely if the settlement is able nest in a more favourable country or coalesce with another drove ( Spivak 1992 ) . Therefore, the increased inclination of African bees to bolt is advantageous, and therefore a conducive factor to their scope enlargement, merely when they are able to successfully relocate to an country with suited conditions and appropriate resources. A figure of differences in diet and foraging schemes may explicate the generative and survival capacity of the African honey bee that give it a competitory advantage. Competition for flowered resources frequently involves a figure of factors that differ between consumers, such as strength of usage, resource defence, and resource penchant, and successful invasive species are frequently able to out-compete occupant species by working more resources ( Villannueva-Gutierrez and Roubik 2004 ) . This appears to keep true in the instance of the African honey bee, which is able to use a greater diverseness of dietetic resources ( Villanueva-Gutierrez and Roubik 2004 ) , and harvest pollen more intensively than European settlements in the same home ground ( Fewell and Bertram 2002 ) . They are besides less selective about the nectar beginnings that they consume and will roll up less-concentrated nectar from a greater assortment of flowered resources than European honey bees which are selectiv e in the quality of nectar for honey production and endurance intents ( Pankiw 2003 ) . These characters, in combination with the inclination of the African honey bee to readily drove and colonise new countries, make it a really successful encroacher. It has steadily colonized lowland woods of South America since 1957 ( Roubik et al. 1986 ) and, spread outing at a rate of 80-500 kilometres per twelvemonth, it reached Central America by the 1980s and North America by 1990 ( Thomas 2002 ) . Today, all of Latin America, with the exclusion of Chile, has established populations and in North America, subsequent scope enlargement since the first natural settlement was discovered in Hidalgo, Texas has occurred chiefly in a westbound mode, bit by bit covering most of the southwesterly U.S. ( Delaplane 2006 ) . By 2005, nevertheless, populations of Africanized bees were found in the more eastern States of Louisiana and Florida ( Delaplane 2006 ) and have besides been reported in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico ( Kaplan 2004 ) . There are now confirmed populations in south ern California and Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, the bulk of Texas, Oklahoma, and a few counties of southern Louisiana and southern Florida ( National Research Council 2007 ) . There have besides been a few stray droves in southern Utah ( Sanford and Hall 2005 ) . The invasion of the southern United States by A. m. scutellata may hold been significantly influenced by the devastation of European settlements in the U.S. by a parasite. Range enlargement into North America coincides with heavy harm to European settlements due to infestation by the varroa touch, Varroa destructor ( once jacobsoni ) , an invasive honey bee parasite from Asia that was discovered in U.S. populations in 1987 ( Kaplan 2004 ) . The touchs readily transferred from the native host, the Asian honey bee, Apis cerana, to European honey bees when European bees were brought to Asia in the 1950s and so shipped to South America in the 1970s ( Lindquist 1989 ) . The touchs reached Mexico by the mid 1980s ( Lindquist 1989 ) and as the infestation spread, the ensuing decimation to the resident European population in the southern U.S. may hold provided an ecological vacancy that the Africanized bees were coincidently able to make full. The northbound scope enlargement has non been every bit terrible as that experienced in Central and South America and there may be a figure of effectual barriers that prevent extended invasion of temperate parts of the United States and Canada by A. m. scutellata. Certain features of the tropically-adapted African races, those that enabled it to displace resident European settlements in tropical parts of the Americas, may non be suited to lasting in temperate parts where winter conditions require a life history scheme closer to that of European honey bee races ( Sanford and Hall 2005 ) . Since settlement behaviours mediate choice of settlement phenotypes and hence drive version in societal insects, the enlargement of honey bees into temperate parts was probably facilitated by choice for honey billboard and ability to organize a winter bunch ( Zayed and Whitfield 2008 ) . The European bees exhibit these characters, using more energy bring forthing and hive awaying honey that is used t o last predictable dearth seasons and less energy into bring forthing big Numberss of offspring ( Thomas 2002 and Sanford and Hall 2005 ) . In contrast, the African honey bee is adapted to an environment in which menaces, such as predation, are more localised and far less predictable than the widespread, seasonal alterations in temperate parts, ensuing in the version of defensive behaviour and inclination to bolt and teem ( Villa et al. 1987 and Thomas 2002 ) . In other words, the African races are suited for dispersion and colonisation whereas the European races are better suited for keeping the settlement. Evidence that African honey bee scope enlargement may be limited by environmental conditions, and hence implicates that these bees may non last in the temperate parts of North America, can be seen in Argentina where the regional laterality of the European or African parental genotypes of established populations corresponds to the environment that resembles those in which the different races evolved ( Spivak 1992 ) . The tropically-adapted Africanized bees are established in the tropical North of the state which exhibits conditions to which they are well-suited, whereas the temperately-adapted European bees dominate the temperate South ( Clarke et al. 2002 ) . A similar distribution is observed in the Andean Highlandss of Peru where African bees are non found above 2300 metres altitude but European honey bees are common, a likely effect of alterations in climatic conditions with height instead than latitude ( Spivak 1992 ) . In short, the tropical versions of the Africanized bees are less advantageous in temperate parts and cold conditions may efficaciously restrict overwintering capacity as to forestall farther scope enlargement ( Delaplane 2006 ) . It s of import to observe that a passage zone between tropical and temperate parts, where the scopes of African and European honey bees overlap and the races interbreed, will hold bees with changing grades of African and European traits. In the U.S. , where African traits will probably rule in southern parts and northern parts are more likely to keep European traits, a big passage country may develop ( Delaplane 2006 ) . While loanblends may be transported with seasonal motion of bundles, Queenss, and apiarists serving harvests, enabling impermanent scope enlargement in some northern venues, African and Africanized bees are non likely to last in temperate climes without sufficient energy shops to last the winter months ( National Research Council 2007 ) . Besides, although the northern spread of Africanized bees may be limited by clime, one ground that the Africanized bee has non spread into Canada is that the boundary line between the U.S. and Canada has been closed to honey bee tra de and conveyance since tracheal touchs infested U.S. honey bee populations ( National Research Council 2007 ) . If the lodger was reopened to these activities and Africanized bees were imported, their scope enlargement would likely be impermanent since they are non as well-suited to temperate parts as European races. There besides appears to be a important correlativity between the sum and distribution of rainfall and the spread of the Africanized honey bee. For case, rainfall greater than 55 inches distributed equally throughout the twelvemonth reflects the conditions at the border of their eastern enlargement ( Kaplan 2004 ) . This evident barrier may be a effect of the African honey bee being better adapted to arid home grounds, as they seem unable to colonise even in southwesterly parts of the U.S. where the temperatures are appropriate for tropical races but the sum and distribution of rainfall differs from other parts where they ve successfully established ( Schneider et al. 2004 ) . Finally, the northbound scope enlargement of the African honey bee may be limited by differences in twenty-four hours length between tropical and temperate parts. The seasonal forms of settlement growing and reproduction for European honey bees closely correlates to photoperiod whereas African honey bees are ad apted to tropical climes where one-year alterations in rainfall and flowered copiousness are more of import than photoperiod ( Schneider et al. 2004 ) . Economical, Social, and Ecological Consequences of African and Africanized Honey Bees There are several honey bee characters that are of import to people. These include disposition, the inclination to teem and bolt, honey production, and manageableness for apiarists ( Kaplan 2004 ) . Because of differences in these characters between the African and European races, the spread of Africanized honey bees may hold several of import economic impacts on the honey industry and has possible to impact public safety. As an foreigner species to the Americas, the African bee and its loanblends could besides act upon pollenation ecology of natural and agricultural landscapes ( Roubik et al. 1986 ) . The inclination of Africanized settlements to bolt makes them hard to maintain and their heightened defensive behaviour makes them hard and inconvenient to pull off ( Hackett, 2004 ) . While the invasion of Africanized bees ab initio resulted in apiarists abandoning the pattern and doing the honey industry to endure in Central and South America, apiarists in these parts have adjusted good ( NRC 2007 ) . Fewer urtications are kept in any one location and are spaced farther apart, protective vesture and tobacco users are ever used, and the urtications are non worked as often throughout the twelvemonth to forestall absconding, with some apiarists preferring to work their urtications at dark ( Thomas 2002 ) . While bettering honey production was, after all, the purpose of presenting African bees to South America since the European races could merely be maintained in the Torrid Zones with great attention, early comparings of honey production in African and European settlements gave assorted consequences. For illustration, Spivak et Al. ( 1989 ) found no important difference in honey production between races in settlements in Costa Rica although studies from Brazil were systematically higher for African bees and comparable to or lower than European bees in other countries of South and Central America. Even sing these disagreements between studies in different parts, the part of the African honey bee to honey production in Brazil can non be ignored. After the debut of African bees, Brazil s one-year honey production increased nonuple, from 5,000 metric dozenss to 45,000 metric dozenss ( Thomas 2002 ) . However, beekeeping patterns in the Neotropics are basically different from those in the U .S. and Canada and hence, the effects of the African honey bee in these parts may non be an ideal theoretical account for foretelling the impact of Africanization in the apiculture and honey industry of North America ( NRC 2007 ) . Early anticipations of challenges that U.S. agriculturists would confront with the invasion of the African honey bee from Latin America included breaks of both beekeeping patterns and harvest pollenation ( Rinderer et al. 1991 ) , ensuing in increased costs of bee-pollinated nutrient merchandises ( Collins et Al. 1982 ) . Indeed, keeping European urtications while surrounded by African settlements has been a major challenge for U.S. apiarists in the sou-west. They must requeen on a regular basis, utilizing Queenss that have been pre-mated to European drones in African-free zones , to protect against hive trespass by African droves, a pattern that is clip devouring and expensive, particularly for commercial apiarists with 1000s of urtications to keep ( Kaplan 2004 ) . Sing that the apiculture industry was already threatened by important jobs, such as parasitic touchs and disease-causing bacteriums, before and during the African invasion, a farther decrease in the net income border fro m beekeeping was an expected effect of the increased costs incurred from frequent requeening and labour-intensive direction and monitoring of urtications to keep European lines ( Sanford and Hall 2005 ) . For harvest pollenation, nevertheless, differences in scrounging scheme between European and African honey bees may be advantageous in some harvests. For illustration, Basualdo et Al. ( 2000 ) study that Africanized bees collected significantly more pollen from helianthus in intercrossed seed production systems of Argentina, proposing that the tropical races may be a more efficient commercial pollinator. The Africanized bee has received considerable ill fame for its defensive behaviour toward perceived menaces to the settlement which has resulted in a figure of negative social effects. They rapidly recruit 100s to 1000s of settlement members to drive off interlopers and although the toxicity and sum of venom delivered per sting does non differ from European races, the big figure of stings incurred during a mass onslaught and the drawn-out continuance of onslaught has led to the deceases of pets, people, and farm animal ( Rabe et al. 2005 ) . The inclination of Africanized honey bee droves to settle in topographic points near worlds airss increased wellness jeopardies ( NRC 2007 ) and therefore, constabularies, fire sections, and other authorities bureaus have adopted preparation and processs to cover with incidents affecting these bees ( Rabe et al. 2005 ) . Indeed, the frequence of onslaughts dramatically increased when the Africanized bees escaped and spread throughout South and Central America, but as people learned to avoid nesting bees the figure of onslaughts declined ( Thomas 2002 ) . It s deserving adverting that while the aggressive behaviour of Africanized bees poses a really existent menace, public sentiment of the true danger of Africanized bees has been distracted by overdone studies from popular media and Hollywood that use the catch-phrase killer bees ( Lindquist 1989 and Thomas 2002 ) . This widespread public fright has frequently caused apiarists to lose many of the locations that they rent to maintain urtications, even if such locations are considerable distances from known Africanized bee zones ( Hackett 2004 ) . This loss of apiary locations has farther contributed to the decreased net income border of apiculture ( Sanford and Hall 2005 ) . Even so, the early anticipations of the economic impacts of African bees on U. S. agribusiness have therefore far overestimated the existent harm, due possibly to a combination of heightened readiness based on the Latin American experience, apparent reduced fittingness in temperate climes, and a slower-than-predicted enlargement rate ( Schneider et al. 2004 ) . The invasion of Africanized honey bees may hold of import ecological deductions as good. In the tropical Americas, even the earliest surveies showed grounds that African bee settlements can displace native pollinators from flowers, a effect that can be attributed to their superior ability to turn up and reap flowered resources ( Roubik et al. 1986 ) . An of import illustration involves societal stingless bees of the genera Melipona and Trigona. Early experiments with species of these genera showed that big forager size, big settlement size, and ability to pass on the distance and way of a nutrient beginning are all characters that conferred a competitory advantage of the African honey bee over native stingless bees ( Roubik 1980 ) . In a survey of bee population tendencies and distribution in Mexico, Cairns et Al. ( 2005 ) study that the Africanized honey bee had adopted new behaviours to vie better with native pollinators that include physically assailing native stingless bees. Furt hermore, the African honey bee may hold an advantage over both societal stingless bees and European honey bees in footings of nesting sites. While the stingless and European settlements may be limited by the handiness of preferable nesting sites, the African honey bee is timeserving and utilizes a assortment of sites that the others would non busy ( Roubik 1980 ) . Some would reason that since the European honey bee races neer performed good in the Neotropics, the African honey bee can non be said to hold displaced the European honey bee by competition in these parts, even though the invasion has resulted in an about complete replacing of local European populations ( Fewell and Bertram 2002 ) . However, Villanueava-Gutierrez and Roubik ( 2004 ) study that competition with the African honey bee for locally-adapted pollen beginnings in Mexico appears to do resident European honey bees to abandon former resources, usage fewer resources intensively, and use other taxa as resources, thereby doing competitory supplanting. While the European bees used more resource species in this survey, the African bee used more to a important grade, probably ensuing in less pollen income on norm for the European honey bee ( Villanueava-Gutierrez and Roubik 2004 ) . Therefore, the ecological laterality of the African honey bee may non merely affect certain native be es but besides European honey bees. This consequence may be minor in the Torrid Zones where the European bees have historically had small success, but there may be major deductions for North America where they ve performed good ( Fewell and Bertram 2002 ) . Current and Future Management of Africanized Bees Presently, no agencies of eliminating Africanized honey bees exists since anything that negatively affects the African-derived populations will besides impact the European populations, and perchance wild bee populations ( Hackett 2004 and Hackett 2007 ) . The European honey bee is already in diminution due to disease and parasites in the U.S. so extra force per unit area is unwise. Alternatively, certain African traits can be considered good and hence, engendering plans may seek to pull off African honey bees for selected features. For illustration, the Africanized honey bee seems to be more immune to the varroa touch, Varroa destructor, which has been decimating honey bee settlements across the New World, a trait that could be valuable to the apiculture and honey industry ( Rabe et al. 2005 ) . Although the harm to European settlements caused by the varroa touch may hold contributed to the successful invasion of the U.S. by the African honey bee, its opposition may be merely what th e apiculture and honey industries need. The Asiatic honey bee, Apis cerana, exhibits behavioural mechanisms, often referred to as hygienic behaviour, by which it is able to defy infestation, such as remotion of dead or infested brood and training, and so does Apis mellifera scutellata ( Lindquist 1989 and Ibrahim et Al. 2007 ) . The African honey bee besides has shorter brood rhythms and this may lend to resistance in that the touch may non be able to finish development before the brood emerges ( Kaplan 2007 ) . Furthermore, there appears to be some unknown mechanism that influences the touch s generative capacity in African urtications ( Carneiro et al. 2007 ) . While opposition to varroa touchs is surely a good feature, the less desirable African characters, such as disposition and endurance in temperate climes, may be of import sing beekeeping patterns of temperate parts of North America. The inclination to bolt when disturbed, for illustration, makes African bees hapless campaigners for migratory apiculture operations ( Schneider et al. 2004 ) . Furthermore, Carneiro et Al. ( 2007 ) reported alterations in generative capacity of V. destructor in Brazilian African honey bee settlements ; they are get downing to get the better of generative barriers. Therefore, utilizing A.m. scutellata for opposition may no longer be a feasible option. However, honey bees from far-eastern Russia exhibit both opposition and tolerance to varroa touchs ( Rinderer et al. 2001 ) . Engendering with these bees alternatively would avoid unwanted African traits and jobs associated with enlargement restrictions in temperate climes. While research continues, apiarists and the general populace can larn to populate with Africanized bees and follow certain patterns as a agency of incorporating the job. These include look intoing for bee nests before runing machinery such as lawnmowers, as the quivers may upset the settlement ; sealing clefts and gaps in edifices, as these are attractive to a drove in hunt of a nesting site ; and apiarists can where more protective vesture, nevertheless inconvenient, when sing urtications and working around their bees ( Hackett 2004 ) . Cheap pheromone traps are besides used, particularly around schools, airdromes, golf classs and other high traffic countries, to do swarm remotion easy and incidence of onslaught less likely ( Kaplan 2004 ) . In the southern and coastal U.S. parts where commercial queen production takes topographic point, Danka et Al. ( 1994 ) suggest pin downing African droves as a agency of keeping the unity of European traits in their genteelness operations for th e U.S. apiculture industry. In the interim, the ARS of the USDA, the primary monitoring bureau for Africanized bees, provides legion updates that inform research workers and the general populace on the position of this invasive species ( Kaplan 2004 ) . Decisions The African honey bee is an efficient encroacher and coloniser and its scope enlargement can hold a figure of social, economic, and ecological effects. This tropically-adapted races was able to displace resident European bees in the Neotropics through competitory advantages attributed to reproductive capacity, superior resource development, and familial mutual exclusivenesss with European races. While de

The Closing Stock Market Price of Caffe Nero Research Paper

The Closing Stock Market Price of Caffe Nero - Research Paper Example When the stocks of companies are offered in the stock exchanges, like in this case of Caffe Nero, people will be encouraged to invest or sell stocks there. The potential investors of Caffe Nero will refer to the financial statements in deciding to invest in Caffe Nero. The financial statement is a big factor that will entice prospective investors to invest in Caffe Nero because of its 2005 net income of 1,719,000 pounds and 2004 net income is 1,684,000. Bankruptcy news can bring down the company’s stock price. News of a merger or acquisition by one big company of another big or small company will generate another round of huge investments in the new company. The prospective investors can artificially cause the stock market price of Caffe Nero to go up. The stock market price for a single stock of Caffe Nero has increased because many investors want to put their money in the income generating Caffe Nero. The closing price of Caffe Nero stock is very high due to its aggressive m arketing strategy. According to Allegra Strategies, the United Kingdom coffee industry will rise by more than 10% annually for the next few years. Stock market listing of the stocks of Caffe Nero and other companies will generate funds for their business. The stock market price is based on the basic economic principle of supply and demand principle. But if there are more people offering to dispose of their stock market shares in a company, like the Caffe Nero located in picturesque England than there are buyers, then the tendency is for the stock market price to go down. In the case of Caffe Nero, the market price just remained the same for the past years.

Reading Adam Smith in the 21st Century Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Reading Adam Smith in the 21st Century - Essay Example Adam Smith was born in 1723 in a village called Kirkcaldy in Scotland. His family was influential; his father the elder Adam Smith held several important positions at the time of his death in 1723. At the age of fourteen Smith entered Glasgow College where his teachers included among other famous men, the great Frances Hutcheson. Smith was to discover and foster his talents and abilities in this college. John Rae (1895) in his biography of Smith titled The Life of Adam Smith stated that it was Hutcheson and later Hume who seem to have had the most influence on Smith. Hutcheson was an engaging and powerful speaker who animated Smith's mind. Hutcheson was one of a new breed of philosophers who were perceived to be radical in their thoughts and beliefs by the theological conservatives. In fact Rae credited Hutcheson with the development of Smith's ideas on natural liberty, the value of labor as the source of wealth etc. Soon after on a Snell scholarship Smith left for Oxford in 1740. In a strong contrast to Glasgow, the atmosphere at Oxford was lax and lackadaisical. Smith found that Oxford, being wealthy through endowments had become inept as a result. Lecturers had no incentive to perform and the students were pretty much left to themselves to learn on their own. However in the six years he spent there he kept himself busy mainly by reading the ancient Greek and Latin classics. After graduating, Smith went back to Scotland. In 1750 he was appointed Professor of Logic at Glasgow College and a short while later shifted to the Chair of Moral Philosophy. It was while he was Professor of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow College that he wrote The Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1759, the book that he himself considered to be his finest accomplishment. The Theory of Moral Sentiments grounds sympathy as the basis of social relationships and in the larger sense of society itself. The book is believed to share Smith's own belief in Stoicism as well as the influence of Hutcheson. The Theory of Moral Sentiments demonstrates that Stoicism was an important part of the mental make-up of Smith. Smith basically combined the stoic precept of self command with the Christian idea of benevolence. Much like the Stoics, Smith too prefigured the social bond among humans in terms of "sympathy" while the Stoic idea of world citizenship and self-command portend the role of Smith's impartial spectator (p.10). The Theory of Moral Sentiments tries to understand the function of moral behavior in society. Smith departed from Hutcheson and other philosophers in that tradition like Shaftesbury and Hume by defining motive as an essential element of moral behavior. Hutcheson had rejected that motive had anything to do with morality and instead claimed that man possessed a certain innate sense that propelled him to be moral. Smith makes motive an integral part of moral behavior arguing that people often look to the motives of a benefactor before bestowing their approval of a beneficent action. An act of kindness performed unknowingly without the motive to do good to anyone does not bring the same admiration and esteem that result when it is deemed that the action was performed with the knowledge that it would

Upsides to Social Networking Essay Example for Free

Upsides to Social Networking Essay Within recent years, internet users have taken to social networking for their various personal needs. Social networks have become much more prominent in our increasingly technological world and the number of users using them are increasing. In Karen Goldberg Goff’s article, â€Å"Social Networking Benefits Validated,† she argues that Social Networking has various benefits for its users that will be essential throughout life. While social networks may show signs of danger to some people, the benefits do outweigh the potential dangers. Not only do social networks provide an online community, they provide users with many benefits and skills they may then use in their lives. Social networks provide great opportunities for socialization. As Monica Villa, founder of theonlinemom.com says, social networking â€Å"is allowing a lot of dialogue among people who may not otherwise have a chance for a lot of dialogue† (Goff). For those who want to be able to communicate with others, social networking is there to help them combat their shyness or there social isolationism by allowing them to connect with other people they can talk to. For those with disabilities, social networking is a useful means of communication to put their â€Å"personality at the forefront† while lessening the focus on the actual disability so that only the words, not the disability, are seen (Holmquist). In a report by the nonprofit child advocacy group Common Sense Media, â€Å"one in five teens said social media makes them feel more confident† (Wallace). It was also reported that more than twenty nine percent of teens report that social networking makes them less shy while twenty eight percent reported feeling more outgoing as a result of communicating through social networks. Twenty percent of the teens reported feeling more confident through social networking (fifty three percent of teens identified themselves as somewhat shy or really shy in general). Not all youths happen to be socially adept and social network provide them with a great virtual place to make friends, speak to friends, and be as vocal as they truly want to be (Social Networking). As for the socialization with friends already made, over half of the teens (fifty two percent) in the report from Common Sense Media said social networking made their relationships better as opposed to the four percent who said that  social networking has negatively affected their relationships (Wallace). With social networks, users can extend friendships and meet others with similar interests. Lisa Tripp, an assistant professor at Florida State University, says that â€Å"technology, including YouTube, iPods and podcasting, creates avenues for extending one’s circle of friends, boosts self-directed learning and fosters independence† (Goff). While many people go on social networking sites to talk to friends they may already know, these sites can also be used to find like-minded people with similar hobbies and interests (Goff). Teens can use social networking to expand their social circle and meet people who they would enjoy speaking too. Before social networking was available to communicate with people across the world, a fan of a certain character or film or even an idea might find himself isolated if there was not a person with the similar interest. In today’s world with social networking being so popular, the once isolated kid can now find himself speaking to m any other people just like him and may come to know that he can go out and seek peers to talk to (Goff). In the study by Common Sense Media, sixty nine percent of the teens said that they were able to know the students at their school better through social networking sites and fifty seven percent of the teens reported that they used social networking sites to make new friends (Social Networking). With the interactions with other people, users using social networks can build up their self-confidence as they share pictures and statuses about themselves and in return receiving positive feedback from their peers (Wallace). A way that one’s social network can be especially useful in the long run is when finding a job. Deborah Leuchovious, coordinator of PACER’s TATRA Project has stated, â€Å"Drawing on one’s own personal networks is one of the most effective strategies for finding employment (Holmquist). Through social networking, various helpful skills can be learned and practiced. The researchers from the Digital Youth Project, conducted at the University of Southern California and the University of California at Berkeley, found that â€Å"the constant communication that social networking provides is encouraging useful skills† (Goff). The study looked at thousands of hours of online observation and concluded that new opportunities are  created, as a result of social networking, for young people to deal with social norms, explore interests, work on ways to express themselves, and develop technical skills (Goff). For adolescents using social networking, they can develop skills needed to become independent, working adults in society as they will make a lot of decisions for themselves while online (Holmquist). The majority of skills learned online would be social skills. These skills give teens the ability to start thinking before they say things and to think about who they are while becoming more independent so that they can form their own personal identity (Holmquist). Other important skills learned would be technological skills that will be â€Å"essential to the digital economy,† as Monica Villa has stated (Goff). Not only will the technological skills be useful when communicating, they will also be of use when making the transition from high school to college and when making the transition of being an adolescent to being a competent citizen. By using social networking websites, one may have a place to go to for help when dealing with life’s problems. Although the place will be a virtual social network, there will still be a greater number of people who will actually show sympathy and provide help or guidance. Not all people will want to speak of personal problems verbally and social network provide a place to seek encouragement from fellow peers. An example of a situation where social networking helped to save a life happened recently when an eighteen year old posted on his Facebook page that he was thinking about jumping off the George Washington Bridge, which connects New York and New Jersey. After seeing his post, Port Authority officers contacted him and encouraged him to not go through with what he wanted to do and to go receive help (Wallace). Social networking can also have positive effects on one’s health. By providing an individual with a large social group, that individual will have an â€Å"impr oved life satisfaction, stroke recovery, memory retention, and an overall well-being† (Social Networking). The friends that one has on a social network also may serve as encouragement when dealing with health related issues such as exercise, dieting, and smoking (Social Networking). There are opportunities to learn about events and even personal interests  through social networking. For teens, social networking sites are second only to newspapers for their top news source and are able to spread information faster than any other source of media (Social Networking). Over fifty percent of the people in the study by Common Sense Media reported that they learned about breaking news from social media (Social Networking). Social networking even plays a large role in politics. Over a quarter of US voters that were younger than thirty reported to have obtained information about the 2008 Presidential campaign from social media (Social Networking). Aside from just learning about events, people can learn about how they can be involved in the world around them. By becoming aware of the world around them, adolescents will also learn about how they may also become involved and what they can do for social good. Social media sites can empower individuals to create meaningful, positive change (Wallace). Groups like Grow Global Citizens use social networks to increase teens’ awareness of the world around them and to allow them to become more â€Å"innovative about how they can get involved† (Wallace). Social media strategist, Elena Sonnino has stated that now teens can do much more in regards to their involvement aside from things like book drives and canned food drives (Wallace). When speaking of social networking, more concerns rather than benefits are mentioned. Since the benefits are not as mentioned as the possible dangers, people tend to believe that social networking may have harmful effects but this is not true. Most of what is told by news outlets is the negatives of social networking, such as how cyberbullying can turn tragic (Wallace). News outlets focus on the negatives without taking into account that â€Å"for every heartbreaking case of cyberbullying, there are many stories of teens using social media for good† (Wallace). Other negatives mentioned about social networking is that it causes teens to be lazy and that what they do online may not be safe. Mizuko Ito, from the Digital Youth Project, has stated that spending time online is essential for young people to acquire social and technical skills that are needed to be competent citizens in the digital age (Goff). Even though there may be risks that may be encountered online by some peopl e, youth who engage in risky behaviors in other parts of their lives are the most at risk (Holmquist). Parents may also become involved with their kids’ social network. They can view their  page at any time and even have their password to see what their kid is doing (Goff). To lessen the dangers of social networking even more, users also have the option to change their privacy settings so that certain details are hidden to others and even so that only people they know may contact them. The benefits of social networking have shown themselves to be useful and helpful in the increasing digital world. Not only do users gain skills of socialization, they also learn more about themselves and the world around them. Social networks are a great place to seek friends with similar interests, news, and also help. Although there may be possible dangers with social networking, they may be taken care of and do not seem great enough compared to the upsides of social networking. The benefits that social networks bring will become useful for other aspects of life. Social networking has achieved a way for users to not only gain essential benefits and skills in their everyday lives, but also throughout their lives. Works Cited Goff, Karen Goldberg. Social Networking Benefits Validated. Washington Times. The Washington Times, 28 Jan. 2009. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. Holmquist, Julie. Social Networking Sites: Consider the Benefits, Concerns for Your Teenager. Impact Newsletter. Institute on Community Integration, University of Minnesota, Fall 2009. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. Social Networking. ProCon. ProCon.org, 12 Dec. 2012. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. Wallace, Kelly. The Upside of Selfies: Social Media Isnt All Bad for Kids. CNN. Cable News Network, 22 Nov. 2013. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.

Educational Philosophy :: Philosophy of Education Teaching Essays

Educational Philosophy For some, it is an occupation – a means of earning a living. For others, it is a skill performed with great ability and proficiency. What is it? It is teaching. Teaching, as defined by Webster’s New World Dictionary, is to â€Å"show or help (a person) to learn (how) to do something; to provide with knowledge, insight, etc.†(Webster’s, p. 605). Since the beginning of civilization, teaching has encompassed people’s lives. Building on the knowledge learned from his beloved teacher, Socrates, Plato created his own school to encourage others in their pursuit of knowledge. Even though the styles and philosophies of teaching have changed greatly since 2000B.C., the concept of an ideal teacher remains the same. Excellent educators inspire their students to reach for the stars. Our public education system in West Virginia is due to the valiant efforts of our forefathers. Fighting for a training arrangement applicable to ALL students, these pioneers provided the groundwork from which we have expounded. Our ancestors appreciated the importance of an adequate education, and now, it is our responsibility as present and future educators to continue the tradition. Providing equal and superb instruction to all students should be the number one priority for us teachers. Public educators have the greatest opportunity – to touch a child’s life for the better. As a public school teacher, I would set the expectations for my students at ceiling level, but then provide them with the ladder and walk them through each wrung to ensure accomplishment. I want to instill in my students that each child has the capacity for success (keeping in mind that each person has his own definition for success) and a lifelong thirst for knowledge. Children are like clothing. Some are â€Å"ironed† and â€Å"clean† from a childhood of love and true nurturing. Some are â€Å"wrinkled† and â€Å"worn† from a childhood of abuse and neglect. Some appear â€Å"irregular† as a result of a handicap or disability. Sadly, many are â€Å"labeled†, whether positively or negatively, before they complete their years in school.

Are Video Games Good for Kids? Essay

Are video games bad for kids? Back in time in mid 90’s the best source of entertainment for kids was the television that have a great variety of cartoons for the kids to have good entertainment and learn good things. But now they have video games that right now are the top selling industry in the world according to Barbara Ortutay of MSNBC online â€Å"the selling of video games on July of this year went to $1. 19 billion with a 17 percent more than last year. But the only concern for the society is that kids are getting to much access to violent games and that makes the video games bad for them. As said by David Walsh, Ph. D. National Institute on Media and the Family he said in this report that â€Å"Children are more likely to imitate the actions of a character with whom they identify. In violent video games the player is often required to take the point of view of the shooter or perpetrator. Video games by their very nature require active participation rather than passive observation. Repetition increases learning. Video games involve a great deal of repetition. If the games are violent, then the effect is a behavioral rehearsal for violent activity. † He also said that â€Å"Exposure to violent games increases physiological arousal, increases aggressive thoughts, increases aggressive emotions and increases aggressive actions. † Video games should not be at the reach of any kid because more all less they all involve violence like for example Mario games that all of them involve killing enemies for success, or crash bandicoot that have the same type of game experience as Mario. Naturally there are always people that do not think the same way like ABC news. com that make a report of social critic Steven Johnson, author of the controversial new book, â€Å"Everything Bad Is Good for You. â€Å"he argues that video games — violent or not — are making children smarter. â€Å"You have to manage multiple objectives at the same time,† he said. â€Å"You have to manage all these different resources, and you have to make decisions every second of the game. † Video games typically require the player to complete a number of specific tasks to win. â€Å"Well we have to get the Jeep, we have to ride up a hill, kill the snipers, drive past the mountainside, go into another giant palace and activate the remote,† said one 10-year-old interviewed by ABC News while playing the Halo 2 video game, designed for the Microsoft Xbox gaming system. But children should not be exposed to that type of learning because they are going to be more aggressive and â€Å"less positive people toward life† according to David Walsh. ABC also site from Johnson that â€Å"Children who play such video games exhibit what experts call â€Å"fluid intelligence,† or problem solving. † â€Å"They have to discover the rules of the game and how to think strategically,† said James Paul Gee, a University of Wisconsin-Madison curriculum and instruction professor. â€Å"Like any problem solving that is good for your head, it makes you smarter. † â€Å"Intelligence test scores in the United States are rising faster than ever, experts say. One possible reason: Studies show video games make people more perceptive, training their brains to analyze things faster. † But the truth based on studies is that â€Å"Studies measuring cognitive responses to playing violent video games have shown that violent games increase aggressive thoughts. These findings have been found for males and females, children and adults, and in experimental and correlational studies. † Said David Walsh on his report. In conclusion violent video games should be restricted for kids in all the way possible because they will develop more aggressive actions, less caring and aggressive emotions in comparison with regular games that also have that responses and that also should be avoided for the raising of a kid. People can say that the help to problem solving and to fast response to other thing but the truth is that the make more damage than a helping. Works Cited Walsh, David. â€Å"Video Game Violence and Public Policy† culturalpolicy. edu. 2001. September 30, 2008. http://culturalpolicy. uchicago. edu/conf2001/papers/walsh. html. Ortutay, Barbara. â€Å"July video game sales jump 28 percent† MSNBC. com. August 14, 2008. September 30, 2008. http://www. msnbc. msn. com/id/26208654/ Argumentative essay Angel Bello 802-08-0724 October 1,2008.