Linguistics and Interjections Essay Example for Free

Linguistics and Interjections Essay In Western philosophy and linguistic theory, interjections—that is, words like oof, ouch, and bleah—have traditionally been understood to indicate emotional states. This article offers an account of interjections in Q’eqchi’ Maya that illuminates their social and discursive functions. In particular, it discusses the grammatical form of interjections, both in Q’eqchi’ and across languages, and characterizes the indexical objects and pragmatic functions of interjections in Q’eqchi’ in terms of a semiotic framework that may be generalized for other languages. With these grammatical forms, indexical objects, and pragmatic functions in hand, it details the various social and discursive ends that interjections serve in one Q’eqchi’ community, thereby shedding light on local values, norms, ontological classes, and social relations. In short, this article argues against interpretations of interjections that focus on internal emotional states by providing an account of their meanings in terms of situational, discursive, and social context. p a u l k o c k e l m a n is McKennan Post-Doctoral Fellow in Linguistic Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at Dartmouth College (Hanover, N.H. 03755, U.S.A. [[emailprotected]]). Born in 1970, he was educated at the University of California, Santa Cruz (B.A., 1992) and the University of Chicago (M.S., 1994; Ph.D., 2002). His publications include â€Å"The Collection of Copal among the Q’eqchi’-Maya† (Research in Economic Anthropology 20:163–94), â€Å"Factive and Counterfactive Clitics in Q’eqchi’-Maya: Stance, Status, and Subjectivity,† in Papers from the Thirty-eighth Annual Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society (Chicago: Linguistics Society, in press), and â€Å"The Interclausal Relations Hierarchy in Q’eqchi’ Maya† (International Journal of American Linguistics 69:25–48). The present paper was submitted 1 vi 01 and accepted 27 xii 02. 1. A longer version of this article was presented at the workshop â€Å"Semiotics: Culture in Context† at the University of Chicago in January 2001. Chris Ball, Anya Bernstein, John Lucy, and Michael Silverstein all provided very helpful commentary. This article also greatly beneï ¬ ted from suggestions made by Benjamin S. Orlove and several anonymous referees. Western philosophy and linguistic theory have traditionally considered interjections at the periphery of language and primordially related to emotion. For example, the Latin grammarian Priscian deï ¬ ned interjections as â€Å"a part of speech signifying an emotion by means of an unformed word† (Padley 1976:266). Muller (1862)  ¨ thought that interjections were at the limit of what might be called language. Sapir (1921:6–7) said that they were â€Å"the nearest of all language sounds to instinctive utterance.† Bloomï ¬ eld (1984[1933]:177) said that they â€Å"occur under a violent stimulus,† and Jakobson (1960: 354) considered them exemplars of the â€Å"purely emotive stratum of language.† While interjections are no longer considered peripheral to linguistics and are now carefully deï ¬ ned with respect to their grammatical form, their meanings remain vague and elusive. In particular, although interjections are no longer characterized pure ly in terms of emotion, they are still characterized in terms of â€Å"mental states.† For example, Wierzbicka (1992:164) characterizes interjections as â€Å"[referring] to the speaker’s current mental state or mental act.† Ameka (1992a:107) says that â€Å"from a pragmatic point of view, interjections may be deï ¬ ned as a subset of items that encode speaker attitudes and communicative intentions and are contextbound,† and Montes (1999:1289) notes that many interjections â€Å"[focus] on the internal reaction of affectedness of the speaker with respect to the referent.† Philosophers have offered similar interpretations. For example, Herder thought that interjections were the human equivalent of animal sounds, being both a â€Å"language of feeling† and a â€Å"law of nature† (1966:88), and Rousseau, pursuing the origins of language, theorized that protolanguage was â€Å"entirely interjectional† (1990:71). Indeed, such philosophers have posited a historical transition from interjections to language in which the latter allows us not only to index pain and express passion but also to denote values and exercise reason (D’Atri 1995).2 Thus interjections have been understood as a semiotic artifact of our natural origins and the most transparent index of our emotions. Such an understanding of interjections is deeply rooted in Western thought. Aristotle (1984), for example, posited a contrastive relationship between voice, proper only to humans as instantiated in language, and sound, shared by humans and animals as instantiated in cries. This contrastive relation was then compared with other analogous contrastive relations, in particular, value and pleasure/pain, polis and household, and bios (the good life, or political life proper to humans) and zoe (pure life, shared by all living things). Such a contrast is so pervasive that modern philosophers such as Agamben (1995) have devoted much of their scholarly work to the thinking out of this tradition and others built on it such as id versus ego in the Freudian paradigm. In short, the folk distinction made between interjections and language 2. D’Atri (1995:124) argues that, for Rousseau, â€Å"interjections . . . are sounds and not voices: they are passive registerings and as such do not presuppose the intervention of will, which is what characterizes human acts of speech.† Proper maps onto a larger set of distinctions in Western thought: emotion and cognition, animality and humanity, nature and culture, female and male, passion and reason, bare life and the good life, pain and value, private and public, and so on (see, e.g., Lutz 1988, Strathern 1988). In this article I avoid such abstracting and dichotomizing traps by going straight to the heart of interjections: their everyday usage in actual discourse when seen in the context of local culture and grounded in a semiotic framework. I begin by characterizing the linguistic and ethnographic context in which I carried out my research and go on to relate interjections to other linguistic forms, showing how they are both similar to and distinct from other classes of words in natural languages. Next I provide and exemplify a semiotic framework, generalizable across languages, in terms of which the indexical objects and pragmatic functions of interjections can best be characterized. Then I detail the local usage of the 12 most commonly used interjections in Q’eqchi’ and show the way in which they are tied into all things cultural: values, norms, ontological classes, social relations, and so on. I conclude by discussing the relative frequency with which the various forms and functions of interjections are used. In short, I argue against interpretations of interjections that focus on emotional states by providing an account of their meanings in terms of situational, discursive, and social context. Linguistic and Ethnographic Context While I am attempting to provide as wide a theoretical account of interjections as I can, thereby providing a metalanguage for speaking about similar sign phenomena in other languages, I am also trying to capture the grammatical niceties of Q’eqchi’ Maya and the discursive and social particularities of one Q’eqchi’-speaking village in particular. Before I begin my analysis, then, I want to sketch the linguistic and ethnographic context in which I worked. Q’eqchi’ is a language in the Kichean branch of the Mayan family, spoken by some 360,000 speakers in Guatemala (in the departments of Alta Verapaz, Izabel, and Peten) and Belize (Kaufman 1974, Stewart 1980). 3 Lin ´ guistically, Q’eqchi’ is relatively well described: scholars such as Berinstein (1985), Sedat (1955), Stewart (1980), Stoll (1896), and Chen Cao et al. (1997) have discussed its syntax, morphology, phonology, and lexicon, and I have detailed various morphosyntactic forms (encoding grammatical categories such as mood, status, evidentiality, taxis, and inalienable possession) as they intersect with sociocultural values and contextual features and as they illuminate local modes of personhood (Kockelman 3. Typologically, Q’eqchi’ is a morphologically ergative, head-marking language. In Q’eqchi’, vowel length (signaled by doubling letters) is phonemic; /k/ and /q/ are velar and uvular plosives, respectively, and /x/ and /j/ are palato-alveolar and velar fricatives, respectively. All other phonemes have their standard IPA values. 2002, 2003a, b). This article is therefore part of a larger project in which I examine how intentional and evaluative stances are encoded in natural languages and the relations that such stances bear to local modes of subjectivity. Alta Verapaz, the original center of the Q’eqchi’-speaking people who still make up the majority of its population, has had a unusual history even by Guatemalan standards. In 1537, after the Spanish crown had failed to conquer the indigenous peoples living there, the Dominican Friar Bartolome de Las Casas was permitted to  ´ pacify the area through religious methods. Having succeeded, he changed the name of the area from Tezulutlan (Land of War) to Verapaz (True Peace), and the Dominicans were granted full control over the area—the state banning secular immigration, removing all military colonies, and nullifying previous land grants. In this way, for almost 300 years the area remained an isolated enclave, relatively protected by the paternalism of the church in comparison with other parts of Guatemala (King 1974, Sapper 1985). This ended abruptly in the late 1800s, however, with the advent of coffee growing, liberal reforms, and the inï ¬â€šux of Europeans (Cambranes 1985, Wagner 1996). Divested of their land and forced to work on coffee plantations, the Q’eqchi’ began migrating north into the unpopulated lowland forests of the Peten  ´ and Belize (Adams 1965, Carter 1969, Howard 1975, Kockelman 1999, Pedroni 1991, Saa Vidal 1979, Schwartz 1990, Wilk 1991). In the past 40 years this migration has been fueled by a civil war that has ravaged the Guatemalan countryside, with the Q’eqchi’ ï ¬â€šeeing not just scarce resources and labor quotas but also their own nation’s soldiers—often forcibly conscripted speakers of other Mayan languages (Carmack 1988, IWGIA 1978, Wilson 1995). As a consequence, the past century has seen the Q’eqchi’ population spread from Alta Verapaz to the Peten and ï ¬ nally to Belize, Mexico, and even the  ´ United States. Indeed, although only the fourth largest of some 24 Mayan languages, Q’eqchi’ is thought to have the largest percentage of monolinguals, and the ethnic group is Guatemala’s fastest-growing and most geographically extensive (Kaufman 1974, Stewart 1980). The two key ethnographies of Q’eqchi’-speakers have been written by Wilk (1991) and Wilson (1995), the former treating household ecology in Belize and the latter upheavals in village life and identity at the height of the civil war in highland Guatemala during the 1980s. In addition to these monographs, there are also a number of dissertations and articles on the history (King 1974, Sapper 1985, Wagner 1996), ecology (Carter 1969, Secaira 1992, Wilson 1972), and migration (Adams 1965, Howard 1975, Pedroni 1991) of Q’eqchi’-speaking people. The data for this article are based on almost two years of ethnographic and linguistic ï ¬ eldwork among speakers of Q’eqchi’, most of it in Ch’inahab, a village of some 80 families (around 650 people) in the municipality of San Juan Chamelco, in the department of Alta Verapaz. At an altitude of approximately 2,400 m, Ch’inahab is one of the highest villages in this area, with an annual precipitation of more than 2,000 mm. It is also one of the most remote, access to the closest road requiring a three-hour hike down a steep and muddy single-track trail. Its relatively high altitude and remote location provide the perfect setting for cloud forest, and such a cloud forest provides the perfect setting for the resplendent quetzal, being home to what is thought to be the highest density of such birds in the world. Because of the existence of the quetzal and the cloud forest in which it makes its home, Ch’inahab has been the site of a successful eco-tourism project the conditions and consequences of which are detailed in my dissertation (Kockelman 2002). While the majority of villagers in Ch’inahab are monolingual speakers of Q’eqchi’, some men who have served time in the army or worked as itinerant traders speak some Spanish. All the villagers are Catholic. Ch’inahab is divided by a mountain peak with dwellings on both of its sides and in the surrounding valleys. It takes about 45 minutes to hike across the village. At one end there is a biological station kept by the eco-tourism project and used sporadically by European ecologists, and at the other there is a Catholic church and a cemetery. In the center there is a small store, a school for primary and secondary grades, and a soccer ï ¬ eld. The surrounding landscape is cloud forest giving way to scattered house sites, agricultural parcels, pasture, and ï ¬ elds now fallow. All villagers engage in corn-based, or milpa, agriculture, but very few have enough land to fulï ¬ ll all of their subsistence needs.4 For this reason, many women in the village are dedicated to chicken husbandry, most men in the village engage in seasonal labor on plantations (up to ï ¬ ve months a year in some cases), and many families engage in itinerant trade (women weaving baskets and textiles for the men to sell) and eco-tourism (the women hosting tourists and the men guiding them). Dwelling sites often contain a scattering of houses in which reside an older couple and their married sons, all of whom share a water source and a pasture. The individual families themselves often have two houses, a relatively traditional thatched-roof house in which the family cooks and sleeps and a relatively new house with a tin roof in which they host festivals and in which older children and ecotourists may sleep. Because of eco-tourism and the inï ¬â€šux of money and strangers that it brings, there has been an increase in the construction of such tin-roofed houses, and, as will be seen, many of my examples of interjections come from such construction contexts. My data on the use of interjections among villagers in Ch’inahab comes from 14 months of ï ¬ eldwork carried out between 1998 and 2001. The data collection con4. Before 1968, what is now Ch’inahab was owned by the owner of a plantation. Q’eqchi’-speakers who lived in the village of Popobaj (located to the south of and lower than Ch’inahab) were permitted to make their milpa in this area in exchange for two weeks of labor per month on the ï ¬ nca (Secaira 1992:20). Only in 1968, when a group of villagers got together to form a land acquisition committee, were some 15 caballerÄ ±as (678 ha) of land purchased from the owner  ´ for 4,200 quetzals (US$4,200). This land, while legally owned by the entire community, was divided among the original 33 villagers as a function of their original contributions.

Facebook As A Learning Tool

Facebook As A Learning Tool Many teachers believe that students using laptops during class are not always taking notes or doing research related to their class discussion. If students are wondering then chances are they are using Facebook. Statistics show that students spend most of their time on Facebook. Most of the teachers believe that Facebook is a disturbance in the classroom, but Facebook has the potential to be a learning tool when it`s used strategically and creatively. I assert that Facebook can be a reliable and a popular medium through which both educators and students can interact appropriately. I will review findings by some researchers to understand the relationship between Facebook and education, and will show how it could be a reliable and popular mean to be used as a learning tool by focusing on three main points: (1) Facebook promotes knowledge and maintains effective and efficient student interaction with educators. (2) Facebook open doors to new opportunities for ubiquitous learning. (3) Fa cebook as a medium to develop communication skills and encourage participation and social commitment. Develop communication skills and encourage participation and social commitment: Communication through Facebook is different from traditional face-to-face communication. First, friendships through Facebook are explicit, where traditional friendships usually tend to be implicit. Secondly, conversations through Facebook are persistent. They are permanently stored and easily retrieved at any point in time. Finally, Facebook conversations share with all friends who can access someones profile (Siegle 15). Facebook is used as a primary communication activity through which young adults post, comment, and share information with each other. Facebook can provide a window into anyones life. Given that fact, it is the responsibility of the parents to monitor and provide guidelines to their children once they start using Facebook. The use of Facebook by students entails education-related interactions, while some use it to obtain information on a missed class, others may use Facebook to engage in humorous comments about their own and their teachers actions. No one can deny the fact that Facebook broke down the barriers between students and educators because the informal learning that occurs in the context of sharing media offers important opportunities for increased student involvement in formal learning settings (Fewkes and McCabe 2012). Fewkes and McCabe have argued that a learning community would perform its best if the characteristics of connectedness and trust have been established amongst the learners (Fewkes and McCabe 2012). For this reason, education remains one of the areas most heavily impacted by technology. Promotes knowledge and maintaining effective and efficient student interaction with educators: Various studies have been conducted on teachers, university professors, and young adults to understand and assess the usage of social networks in the light of education and its effect on students academic achievements as well as fulfilling the desire of promoting knowledge and maintaining effective and efficient student interaction with educators. Aaron M. Fewkes and Mike McCabe conducted a survey on a sample of students at Waterloo Regional District School Board after the latter had made a decision to embrace the growing popularity of Facebook to verify if their vision of using Facebook in schools aligns with the actual behavior of the students. The results show that 48% of students do log on to Facebook at least once during class time, moreover, the research exposed a possible disconnect between school board and students due to improper implementation of this policy. Educators who relied on Facebook to follow professional organizations were more knowledgeable than those who did not (Pilgrim and Bledsoe 38-39). We live in an age in which we are fully dependent on instant updates and information, the rationale behind using Facebook as a tool for professional learning adopts the idea that the internet is this generations defining technology for literacy (Pilgrim and Bledsoe 39). Facebook is indeed an important source of information for educators who seek to continue their learning. According to a study conducted on university instructors in Turkey, all instructors who participated in the survey somehow use Facebook in their courses; even the instructor with the lowest frequency had used Facebook to make announcements about the course by creating a group. The study concludes that instructors have adopted Facebook and they are using it intensively, with a greater tendency toward its use for educational purposes. According to my cited sources, the studies recognized Facebook as a reliable source for academicians because it is flexible and user friendly, in addition, the sources emphasized on the role of Facebook as a medium between students and instructors and argued that Facebook can neither be solely dependable for conducting courses nor can it be ignored. Open doors to new opportunities for ubiquitous learning: Educators respond the use of technology in their classrooms in five ways: (1) Ban it: This has been deemed ineffective due to the fact that technology is becoming a part of our life that we constantly use. Typical workarounds are hiding devices behind books and texting from pockets. (2) Do business as usual: I disagree with this behavior of educators as it is the educators responsibility to engage the students in their classrooms (3) limit the use of Technology: a clear guideline indicating what is to be tolerated and what would be unacceptable. (4) Enhance traditional practice: Technology is dependent on users. (5) Use the technology to restructure the educational process: encourage students to use technology for inquiry, problem solving and/or instruction. (Siegle ) If I was an instructor, my choice would be the fifth option, as it is the most effective and efficient according to the studies conducted by Pilgrim, Beldsoe, and Siegle, who all have concluded in their studies the importance of learning how to incorporate Facebook into the education process. The use of technology allows students to use social media websites like Facebook to engage in formal or informal discussions with their instructor as well as their fellow students. There are many ways educators and students can connect using Facebook. For instance, teachers can post comments for the students, students can post their final work for their peers to review and provide feedback, and also students can use the wall feature to ask questions and respond to each other. In addition, teachers set up a central page where all classroom mates can join to participate at any time of their choice to exchange knowledge and understanding of the subject being studied. Using social media should be, however, accompanied by some important precautions which educators should adhere to when using Facebook as a tool for educating students: (1) Teachers should consider setting up a separate Facebook account. (2) Educators should obtain signed parental consent prior to interacting with young students on Facebook. (3) Teachers should refrain from installing any applications on their page that would negatively affect their professional image. (4) Educators should remind students that they need to transfer the respectful tone teachers expect in class to their online interactions with them and ensure that students are aware that a teachers ethical responsibility will continue online. After I have explored the usage of Facebook by educators as well as students and identified the benefits of such usage by each party, I can say that Facebook is a reliable and a popular medium through which both educators and students can interact appropriately. In order for this medium of communication to work in its most effective and efficient way, students need to be trustful and self-regulated, that is, to refrain from the over- use of Facebook. In conclusion, Educators and students use Facebook; the education process should be focused on the interaction of each party with the other and not the technology itself. Facebook opens new doors to students and allows their knowledge to grow. Facebook also allows them to learn about themselves from their peers. It is my belief that social networks like Facebook will continue to evolve and optimize the education channels in the context of human communication. Educators should consider Facebook as a mean of enhanced communication that provides traceability to what has been discussed and a source of feedback and/or evaluation on whether the discussion has fulfilled what it is mandated for or not.

inferno :: essays research papers

Is there still time...   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alakhai, at the young age of 27, is a very respected and very wealthy stock broker. He has a loving wife and 2 kids which he truly adores. He met his wife five years ago when he was in his last year of college. She fell completely head over heals for him the minute she met him. At first she was a little hesitant to marry him when he asked because he really did not believe in God, and she was a devout Christian. She told him that before he married her, he had to go to church and Sunday school for two month. Well after about five weeks he had a â€Å"spiritual breakthrough.† He, realizing she would never marry him if he was not a Christian, accepted Christ when the invitation is given at the end of the Sunday school course. She was thrilled, and they were married four months later. He now lives each day saying that he is a Christian and pretending to be, but if you were able to look into his soul, you would find a heart completely cold to the Word. Then one d ay he awakes in a dark forest surrounded by nothing but trees. After a few hours, he hears a voice coming from the what seems to be every direction....   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Hello Alakhai. My name is Surealla. I am here to take you on a journey in the hope that you will see the Truth. Please do not ask questions, for we do not have much time. We must go before it is too late.† As I look before me, a young girl appears, dressed in a white robe and caring a book. Upon further observation I see that the book is actually the Bible. â€Å"Please take my hand and follow me. I want to show you something.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As we walked, it seemed like the woods were growing thicker and darker. I could smell a very faint odor that resembled that of a wet dog. As I looked ahead of me, I saw a very large door. It looked very heavy to open. It was clearly black, but it seemed to have some red tint to it. As we moved closer to it, I could see that the door was covered in...in blood? At that point I turned to run away, and behind me was a sight so frightening that I almost fainted.

Fashion Branding

Dry. Hang Fashion brands in the Market place The Market place of MAC was solely built on the networking and the relationships the previous owners Frank Token, and Frank Angelo had with people in the fashion industry. The owners were tired of seeing makeup products that couldn't sustain the abuse of studio lights so they decided to make a quality makeup company. Frank Token was the idea behind the original project making formulas with his brother-in- law Victor Casual who was also a chemist (Evelyn, 2009).Frank Angelo came along to kind of help with the entrepreneurship aspect of the company, and they hit it off after that. Since both of the franks were already in the makeup, and hair industry they knew a lot of people that they could network their new makeup products too. Like I also mentioned before they were the first cosmetic line to offer a wide range of color lipsticks, most companies were mainly focused on skincare and facial products.MAC cosmetics were originally made for peop le in the high fashion industry, and were later pushed towards any and everybody in the fashion and keep industry (Evelyn, 2009). In 1986 MAC was styling fashion looks one being the concept of bald brides in Toronto fashion shows (Upgraded). In 1988 Henry Bended in New York was the first department store picking MAC's cosmetics , followed by a 1994 campaign of â€Å"Who is the M. A. C girl† starring Our Paul nearly raising $1 million for their M. A. C AIDS fund.All this leads to MAC's participation in their first New York fashion week with fashion designer Amateurs (Upgraded). MAC was also featured in one of the biggest fashion magazines Vogue in 1994 for the first time. That first New York fashion week runway then lead to MAC sponsoring over 850 shows, spread across 47 New York fashion week by 2012. By 2007 MAC's AIDS fund raised over 236 million dollars with the help of celebrities such as Mary J. Bilge, Ill Kim, Nick Mina], Lady Gaga, and Rick Martin. We love the idea of b eing able to champion and solidify a strong point of view for the next generation,† says an Est ©e Lauder executive. â€Å"We're a makeup-artist brand, and we're inspired by the runway?it's very organic. † said Esteem' Lauder executive (Upgraded). One of MAC's biggest introduction of endorsements were led by the likes of Pamela Anderson, Boy George, Debbie Harry, and other big stars in the ass's this led to the company's growth in the industry and marketplace (Evelyn,2009).

Sex Ed Reduces Teen Pregnancy

We have all heard it, parents, teachers, and students, gossiping about the latest young girl to become pregnant in high school. They make comments like, â€Å"What was she thinking† or â€Å"Her parents must be so disappointed. † Did anyone question if she had been properly educated on the risks of sexual activity or if she had been provided with medically correct information? No one stops to think about the big picture; instead they choose to be judgmental and critical of other’s decision-making skills, or lack thereof. That’s where sexual education comes in. Teenage pregnancy, along with sex education continues to be a highly controversial subject, especially with regards to when and where it should be taught. Much of the debate comes from the two types of education, abstinence-only or comprehensive, also known as abstinence-plus. Abstinence-only education promotes sexual abstinence until marriage, leaving out crucial topics like birth control and condoms. A comprehensive curriculum includes education on the use of contraceptives while maintaining a basis of abstinence. Although there has been a steady decline in the United States teen birth rate, it remains higher than many other developed countries. Statistics show that sexually active teens in the United States are less likely to use varying forms of contraception and are more likely to become pregnant, than those of other equal nations (Rubin). Partially to blame is the United States government, which supports the abstinence-only approach; therefore, most schools are not required to teach subject matter that surpasses that concept (Stanger). Media, although equally controversial, can play a vital role in opening the door for parents to engage in conversation with their children. According to Rachel Canter, executive director of Mississippi First, â€Å"An effective, comprehensive sex education program starts with a base of abstinence but includes medically accurate information about contraception and health† (Pettus). The research is proven; comprehensive sex education reduces teenage pregnancy. Not only are most schools lacking in the information that is covered in their curriculums, some are providing medically incorrect information to students. A recent report revealed that 30% of schools instruct that birth control does not prevent pregnancy (Rubin). In 2009, a lawsuit was filed against a Fresno county school district in California for violating state law by only teaching about abstinence, and for using textbooks that were not in compliance with that law, which requires medically accurate information be taught, along with methods to prevent pregnancy and diseases. With one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in California, parents were compelled to do something to protect their children (Watanabe). According to a recent survey, more than half of adults questioned feel that federally funded programs should offer more education about contraception and three-quarters of those wish education included information about both abstinence and contraception (Teens). If statistics prove that abstinence education is ineffective at preventing pregnancy and most adults are on board with a more comprehensive approach, maybe lawmakers should take that information into account when developing policies about sex education. A step in that direction would be requiring that curriculums include a more comprehensive style. Abstinence-only programs tend to leave out valuable information such as contraception, which some believe sends the wrong message to students (Stanger). Although abstinence programs play an important role in comprehensive education, there is little evidence to support that these curriculum alone help reduce teenage pregnancy. According to Lisa Wirthman, a Denver journalist, â€Å"By trying to scare and shame kids and withholding critical health information, abstinence-only programs treat teens like toddlers† (Wirthman). A report released this year by the Centers for Disease Control reveals that nearly 50% of pregnant teenagers denied using contraception. Furthermore, 30% were under the impression that they could not get pregnant, while others simply â€Å"misunderstood how one gets pregnant and the risk of becoming pregnant after unprotected intercourse† (Brakman). Therefore, it can be concluded that many young people are under informed about their sexual health and lack proper decision making skills regarding their sexual behaviors. Studies show that states that support the abstinence-only approach to sex education tend to have higher teenage pregnancy and birth rates as compared to those who support a more comprehensive approach. Nevada, having one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the nation, does not mandate that contraceptive methods and condom use be included in their curriculum (Stanger). Likely, if it is not required, most schools will not cover such aspects in its studies. The majority of supporters of these programs do not acknowledge that many students will become sexually active during their teenage years. It is inevitable that teenagers are going to have sex, choosing to ignore that fact by not teaching them the proper methods to protect themselves is negligent. Abstinence-only education fails at teaching students many important aspects of sexual health. Those included are, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy prevention and contraception. Much of the information provided in these programs is misleading and medically inaccurate, leaving students uninformed and at risk (Watanabe). The typical abstinence curriculum lectures that the only way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases is to â€Å"abstain† from such behaviors that may result in either of the two. While this is truthful, little to no information is provided to students about how to protect themselves if they choose to participate in these activities, leaving them at high risk for unplanned pregnancy. . According to Congress, it was found that abstinence-only programs provide misconceptions of reproductive health and a lack of proper decision-making tools, therefore, promoting irresponsible behavior (Stanger). A study by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy shows that nearly 8 out of 10 teenagers believe they are properly informed on how to prevent pregnancy, yet confess to knowing hardly anything at all about contraception and condoms (Teens). As statistics like this show, young people are, in general, naive about many aspects of their sexual health and require a more all-encompassing education to be able to make appropriate decisions regarding their sexual wellbeing. A common misconception about ‘sex-ed’ is that it only includes information about sexual intercourse; however, it incorporates a variety of topics. These include, but are not limited to, anatomy, reproduction, body image, relationships, and safe sex practices. Comprehensive sex education, or abstinence-plus, includes a wide array of age-appropriate, evidence-based, medically accurate information to enable teenagers to make well-informed decisions about their overall health, while still advocating that abstinence is the only true method to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (Wirthman). Not only does comprehensive education provide insight to multiple sex-health topics, it also stresses the importance of delaying sexual behaviors. To the disbelief of abstinence-only supporters, studies show that students that are taught comprehensive sex education are no more likely to be infected with sexually transmitted diseases, than those taught only about abstinence. Also contrary to pro-abstinence belief, those that are taught a more comprehensive approach have a lower risk of becoming pregnant teenagers (Stanger). One study revealed that of those who are taught more comprehensively, 40% waited to have sex and more than 60% used protection (Wirthman). It is obvious that the more educated students are about the risks associated with sexual activity, the better decisions they make. A recent survey revealed that 38% of teenagers are more influenced by their parents regarding their decisions about sex (Teens). As stated by Emily Pettus, some legislators argue that sex education, including contraception and condoms, should be taught at home, not by the education system (Pettus). This is also where much of the debate is centered. However, teenagers typically do not open up to their parents about sexual activity and many parents tend to bury their heads in the sand and act like it is not happening with their children. Often times, parents and teenagers are unsure about how to discuss the somewhat awkward subject of sex, so they do not talk about it at all. Therefore, education is often left up to teenagers’ peers and other typically inaccurate sources. One study revealed that nearly 90% of young people think if they could have open conversations with their parents about sex, it would be easier to postpone sexual activity. Also, nearly 80% of parents wish their kids would talk to them about sex so that they can provide them with the proper resources to protect themselves (Teens). Kathrin Stanger, professor at the University of Georgia states, â€Å"If teens don’t learn about human reproduction, including safe sexual health practices to prevent unintended pregnancies and STDs, and how to plan their reproductive adult life in school, then when should they learn it, and from whom? † (Stanger). Parents, along with the education system, can provide accurate, age-appropriate information to teenagers to help empower them to make healthy, responsible choices; however, when both of these options fall short, teenagers often turn to the media as a source of education. Many critics often accuse the media of promoting teenage pregnancy, and even glamorizing it. However, little thought is given as to what the benefit of these shows might be. The more teens are watching, the more producers are showing. Nevertheless, there might be some advantages to the influence media has on its young viewers, especially regarding pregnancy (Suellentrop). Although some parents believe the media creates a false sense of reality by glorifying teenage pregnancy, they often fail to realize that such television shows can actually help bridge the conversation gap between them and their children. Two of the television shows popular amongst high school students are MTV’s Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant. Both are reality shows that follow several young girls and their daily struggles as pregnant teenagers and young parents. A recent study by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy revealed interesting results when they asked teenagers their thoughts about such shows. The results revealed a surprising 40% talked to a parent about the show after watching and most agreed that becoming teenage parents would have an overall negative impact on their lives (Suellentrop). If watching these episodes results in teenagers talking to their parents about sex, then ultimately it can be a positive influence, not only by seeing the struggles that young parents face, but by giving parents and teenagers an opportunity to openly discuss their views and opinions about sex and relationships. Research shows that episodes such as these can be used in a positive manner to teach young people about the risks of becoming pregnant and how their lives could change drastically. Also, it seems that teenagers are willing to discuss these shows with their parents, allowing the opportunity to engage in educational conversations with their teenagers. Clearly, the media influences its viewers; however, advantage can be taken to properly inform today’s youth of the risks of sexual behavior while presenting information in an alluring way (Suellentrop). Although there has been a steady decline in the U. S. een birth rate, it remains higher than many other countries. Students are more educated and are therefore making more informed decisions about sex (Kann).    How can we expect teenagers to make appropriate, well-informed decisions regarding their sexual health if we do not give them the proper education and factual information to do so? The statistics show that â€Å"evidence-based sex education works,† so why go against the grain? (Wirthman). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more teenagers are using birth control, which has help lead the way to a record low birthrate, and the numbers of hose using contraception keep rising. Also leading to the decline, is â€Å"more effective† sex education, according to Leslie Kantor, vice president of education for Planned Parenthood (Tulumello). Hopefully in the future, additional school districts will adopt a more comprehensive approach to their curriculums, as it is shown to be much more effective in reducing teenage pregnancy than abstinence-only education. Telling a teenager not to experiment is like a meteorologist saying there is a 50% chance of rain. Yo u hope it does not rain; however, you bring an umbrella just in case it does. As much as we would like to believe that teenagers will not have sex, it is likely that they will engage in some type of sexual behavior in high school and providing them with accurate, age-appropriate information is vital. Sexual education can come from many avenues, including parents, schools, and the media. Comprehensive sex education will not stop the occurrence of teenage pregnancy 100%, but by adequately educating teenagers on safe sex practices, and providing them with medically accurate information, today’s youth are able make healthy, well-informed decisions regarding their sexual well being.

Existentialism is a Humanism Essay

In Existentialism is a Humanism, Sartre explains that in human beings, â€Å"existence precedes essence. † Meaning, humans are created without any purpose, but with growth and maturing they find their purpose. J. P. Sartre gives the example of the paper clip, noting that this inanimate object was created with the intent of a purpose. Therefore, that idea lead to it’s creation. He uses this example to demonstrate â€Å" essence precedes existence. † He states, â€Å" man is nothing else, but what he makes of himself. † Simply put, us as humans are first born than we create our own paths in our lives and who we shall be in life. This explains that through our actions and decisions we make in our lives, molds us into the beings we become. Further mentioning that we are the choices we make, are we responsible for who are as individuals because of that. Sartre goes on to say there are two kinds of existentialists. One of them being Christians, Catholics, or people who believe in God. As well as atheistic existentialists who do not believe in God such as himself. However, one thing they share is both groups believe in the idea of â€Å" existence precedes essence. † But, those who believe in God believes God was a superior power who created people with a purpose, which ties into the idea of the paper clip. With that being said, though men has diverse traits and characteristics, they share the same basic qualities because if human nature. On the other hand, the atheistic view believes God is nonexistent and a man starts as nothing and later defines himself. Therefore, Sartre states, â€Å"There is no determinism, man is free, man is freedom†¦. We have no values or commands to turn to which legitimize our conduct. † In other words, we have no excuses, and we are entirely responsible for our decisions. Therefore, there is no God to provide guidance on the proper way to live and we must find that out through our choices. He goes on the idea of subjectivism, saying that one man’s acts creates the image of every man as a whole. Which, develops the idea of what men ought to be as individuals. Sartre also replies that, â€Å"it is impossible for man to transcend human subjectivity. † He isn’t saying â€Å"I prefer subjectivity over objectivity,† he’s asking, â€Å"how can we possibly not be subjective? † Even the religious individual who believes that morality is absolute and comes from God must, at some point, choose to believe that this is the case. Our responsibility is a blessing and a curse. It leads us to feel things like anguish and despair. We experience anguish in the face of our subjectivity, because by choosing what we are to do, we â€Å"choose for everyone†. When you make a decision you are saying â€Å"this is how anyone ought to behave given these circumstances. † Many people don’t feel anguish, but this is because they are â€Å"fleeing from it. † If you don’t feel a sense of anxiety when you make decisions, it’s because you are forgetting about your â€Å"total and deep responsibility† toward yourself and all of humanity. Despair arises because we only have power to change things that are within our power to change, and there is a lot we cannot change. With that being said, reality is unbiased and out of our control, except for small aspects of it here and there. We despair because we can never have full control of the future. However, we are the rulers of our lives, we take the responsibility of our actions and ourselves in general. Regardless of what you believe, this cannot be any other way.

Introduction to Geography Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Introduction to Geography - Assignment Example Its objective is to provide updates about hazards, drought, monitoring and data products, monitoring and data index, and many other topics related to climate and weather. This website provides information about the weather conditions around the globe through weather observations, weather forecasts, and climatological information. Hence, the objective is to create a good world weather information service for the users. Title: Feeling the effects of climate change - Live Earth Video. This video talks about climate changes and its impacts upon Kenya communities. Kenyan people lost animals due to bad climate. There is no fertility and cultivation. The area is dry and barren. Climate change is the change in weather and climate conditions brought about by factors like global warming. Earth, today, is much warmer than it was 100 years ago. In warmer conditions, trees get thicker. Global warming increases the sea level. High sea level is dangerous for communities living at coastal line, because of fear of flooding. Rise in temperature results in melting of ice on the ice pole. These climate changes are expected to dry out the agricultural lands, which reduce the agricultural productivity. More storms and hurricanes are expected along with harsh weather changes with heat and cold waves. Southern Indian livelihoods get greatly affected by monsoon climate. The annual cycle of Indian monsoon starts from northern hemisphere, and moves toward southern hemisphere and back again. Although people in southern Indian livelihoods wait for monsoon to get enough waters for their crops, yet the scene has changed because of drastic effects of this monsoon brought about by severe climate changes. There have been weak monsoons bringing on diseases like dengue fever, and farmers pray for rain to collect water for their crops and yields. This also results in droughts, which eventually has bad effects on the overall Indian