Studying abroad or in home country Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Studying abroad or in home country - Essay Example Studying abroad someone is in a position to take advantage of multiple programs such as scholarships and to become better members of society as they are able to relate better with the different ethnic and cultural worldviews. Students studying abroad are able to experience new cultures. There is no better way of finding out about another culture than immersing oneself in it and studying in another country offers students that opportunity. Once one is working, holidays and experiences overseas may be limited to a short time but school offers a long enough period to gain different cultural experiences while acquiring new skills. Students studying in their home country only get to experience that of their own and miss out on how different experiences broaden one’s mind. Students studying abroad are able to make friends from different parts of the world and this gives them international connections to get jobs and funds in case they are interested in starting charitable organizations back in their home countries. There is likelihood that the universities chosen have students from the localities as well as others from all over the globe. A student who takes this to their advantage can graduate having established many lasting friendships with people from different backgrounds that can be great for networking and even future trips. The feeling of being internationally connected is a dream of many people around the globe and the best way possible to achieve this is through studying abroad. Being a part of an internationally diverse community even academic wise can enhance the quality of learning by providing a wide spectrum of opinions and expertise. Key job skills such as adaptability, global understanding and opinions, tolerance and leadership as well as independence are directly learnt by learning and living abroad. The job market today is highly competitive and it is likely to continue to so be and so students have to

Christmas tree Essay Example for Free

Christmas tree Essay Art is an object or piece of work that brings one pleasure. Art is also something you see or feel and you cannot even begin to describe the ways you like it or how it makes you feel. Art is something that portrays beauty and happiness. Art lets you see the world through another person’s perspective. Most art seems to tell a story about where a person has been and the things they have encountered along the way. It lets you connect with the artist and see things through their eyes. Art is a way of expressing one’s self without words. When I think of art, I think of paintings, portraits, sketches, and sculptures. I know there are many other forms of art, but my favorite form is painting. I normally respond first to the mood of the art and the idea it brings to mind. I like art that makes me feel happy. Second I would say I respond to the colors in the art. I like warm and soothing colors. I prefer scenery in art work. I like paintings of autumn, filled with warm oranges and yellows in the trees, country roads covered with fallen leaves. Those kinds of paintings make me feel warm and happy. One of my favorite autumn scenes is by Robert A Tino, a local artist in Sevierville, TN. It is called Autumn Psalm. It is a small country church setting just off of a country road lined with trees. The trees in the painting are almost bare, and the beautiful autumn leaves are scattered on the ground. This painting gives me a sense of peace and happiness. The content of art is not quite as important to me as the way it makes me feel. I love works of art that portray a place that I have been or know. It is nice to see something you are familiar with from another person’s perspective. For instance, Harrisburg Holiday, another great work of art by Robert A Tino. It is a painting of a covered bridge that I am very familiar with, but he has painted it as he saw it in 1975. It is a beautiful winter scene. He paints the roads covered with snow and an old red Chevy truck hauling a Christmas tree. The scene has two snowmen at the entrance to the covered bridge. It fills your heart with warmth and holiday spirit just to look at it. Portraits to me are art in a different sense. Some of my favorite portraits are by Martin Waugh. It is what he calls Liquid Sculpture. He uses high speed photography to capture drops of liquid as the splash into lakes and other bodies of water. To me there is just something so soothing about his work. It is amazing how a tiny drop of liquid can create such a beautiful work of art. His work impresses me, because I never really thought of liquid as art before I saw one of his photos. The formal qualities of art work are somewhat important. I like paintings that flow smoothly with very fine brush strokes. I think some of the most beautiful art work is produced with a combination of canvas and oil paints. I like portraits that capture images I normally could not see otherwise. Portraits that capture the colors you can see when light reflects on a ripple of water amaze me. I do not know a great deal about art, but art seems to be much more opinion than fact.

Quest for Meaning in Hostile and Oppressive Worlds Essay Example for Free

Quest for Meaning in Hostile and Oppressive Worlds Essay Dystopian literature often presents the individual’s quest for meaning in hostile and oppressive worlds.’ To what extent do the writers present their protagonists as successful in this quest in ‘1984’ by George Orwell, ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ by Oscar Wilde and ‘Woman at Point Zero’ by Nawal El Saadawi? The assertion that all three writers present their protagonist as having a quest for meaning in a dystopian world cannot be disputed. However, the extent to which these writers present their protagonist as successful in this quest varies greatly. Dystopian literature is merely an extension of the negative attributes of the society and context in which it is written. George Orwell’s dystopian world is a nightmarish conception of a Britain that has adopted the very worst traits of totalitarian regimes such as Nazi Germany and Socialist Russia; regimes which were at their height of power when the novel was written. Robert Evans defines dystopian literature as‘†¦a warning to the reader that something must and, by implication, can be done in the present to avoid the future,’ This didactic reading of ‘1984’ suggests that Orwell’s dystopian novel is a warning to the British public against excessive government intervention in their everyday lives. Dystopian literature thus warns the reader of the potential future of their society if they fail to protect their current freedom. El Saadawi’s ‘Woman at point Zero’ and Wilde’s ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ are slightly different from ‘1984’ in this respect as their dystopian worlds are based on real-life experiences. However, they remain didactic in nature by condemning existing oppression. El Saadawi’s semi-fictionalised account of a woman on death row is an artistic interpretation of reality for women in modern-day Egypt. The world remains dystopian in nature due to the oppression of women by men. Likewise, Wilde’s poetic portrayal of Reading Gaol is based on his personal experiences of imprisonment in this dystopian environment. The oppressive nature of the gaol is depicted by the dual-protagonist of the persona and the condemned guardsman. The extent to which the protagonists are successful in their quest for meaning is dependent on their ability to maintain freedom of thought and resist the oppressive nature such dystopian societies. All three writers present religion as an integral part of their protagonist’s quest for meaning in dystopian worlds. Wilde’s structure suggests that the persona undergoes a religious conversion as the ballad progresses and so successfully finds meaning through religion. However, Wilde also highlights the hypocrisy of the Church of England through the actions of the chaplain. Wilde’s persona therefore finds meaning through the underlying teachings of Christianity through Catholicism. Similarly, El Saadawi presents her protagonist Firdaus as a witness to the religious hypocrisy of men in her Islamic society. Unlike Wilde’s persona however, El Saadawi’s protagonist is not able to look past this hypocrisy and find meaning in the underlying messages of the Islamic faith. Like El Saadawi, Orwell presents his protagonist Winston as unsuccessful in his quest to find meaning through the pseudo-religion of Big Brother. However, Orwell’s protagonist does successfully find meaning through his memories of Christianity before the revolution. In the first half of the ballad, Wilde refers to himself and the other prisoners as ‘The Devil’s Own Brigade’; he believes that they are all condemned to hell simply for being criminals. Wilde uses hellish imagery to suggest that the prison itself is hell on earth. ‘I walked, with other souls in pain,/ Within another ring,’ These two lines are a reference to the hell presented in Dante’s Inferno, a hell with nine separate rings located at the centre of the earth, each ring a punishment for worsening sins. Similarly, Wilde locates his hell on earth through the prison itself. However, Wilde later rejects Dante’s gradation of sins by completely identifying himself with the guardsman. ‘A prison wall was round us both, / Two outcast men we were:’ The prison wall has become the single ring of hell which a ll sinners will go to. Dante’s influence on Wilde is also clear from the structure of the ballad as in both poems, ‘there is a dramatic movement toward intensity of horror’. Dante’s inferno builds up to the horror of the inner most circle of hell where the devil is to be found whilst Wilde’s ballad climaxes in the guardsman’s execution. It is clear however, that towards the end of the ballad, the persona has experienced a religious conversion to Catholicism. He now believes that through repentance, God will forgive the guardsman for his sins. Wilde utilises the colours red and white to symbolise sin and forgiveness respectively, ‘Out of his mouth a red, red rose! Out of his heart a white!’ These two lines present the persona’s belief that if the guardsman has confessed his sins to God before death, then he will be forgiven. Wilde’s use of plant imagery suggests that through forgiveness, there can now be new life in heaven. The persona’s conversion is clearly inspired by Wilde’s own time spent in Reading Gaol, where he was imprisoned after being found guilty of having a homosexual relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. Wilde converted to Catholicism after leaving prison and unsuccessfully attempted to join a monastic order. Andrew McCracken suggests that converting to Catholicism continued Wilde’s life of eccentricity because, ‘Roman Catholicism was to poetic souls a sort of aesthetic temptation, while to many proper Englishmen the Roman Church was still the whore of Babylon, the Anti-Christ.’ However, McCracken also suggests that this was not Wilde’s main motivation in converting to Catholicism because ‘†¦his time in prison brought Wilde †¦ face to face with the Catholic themes of sin and suffering. Now they were purged of any tinge of romanticism – they were facts of daily life.’ This idea that Wilde is attracted more by the themes of the Catholic faith than by the hierarchical structure of either the Catholic Church or the Church of England, is supported in the ballad by the way in which Wilde highlights the religious hypocrisy of the prison chaplain through the persona’s first person narration. Indeed, it may be the experience of an Anglican chaplain in Reading Gaol that led him towards Catholicism. ‘The Chaplain would not kneel to pray By his dishonoured grave: Nor mark it with that blessed Cross That Christ for sinners gave,’ Wilde’s scriptural imagery of the ‘blessed Cross’ highlights how the chaplain fails to practice the fundamental beliefs of the Christian tradition. The chaplain refuses to pray for the executed guardsman even though Jesus died specifically for sinners, so that they might repent and have eternal life. Thus in this sestet Wilde condemns the chaplain’s hypocrisy. The protagonist of the ballad successfully finds meaning in his dystopian world through the underlying themes of the Catholic faith but does not find meaning in the religious authority of the Church of England, personified by the prison chaplain. Similarly, El Saadawi’s protagonist Firdaus recognises the hypocrisy of those who practice the Islamic faith in her society but is unsuccessful in her quest to find meaning through religion because of this hypocrisy. Firdaus recognises religious hypocrisy among men of all social groups in Egyptian society. She first sees it as a child in the actions of her peasant father who knew ‘how to beat his wife and make her bite the dust each night.’ in spite of his discussions with other men that ‘†¦defaming the honour of a woman was a sin †¦ and beating another human being was a sin’ It is clear therefore that her father breaks the commandments of the ‘imam’ and beats his wife even though he knows it is a sinful action. Likewise, her uncle, a middle-class man, also beats his wife. The religious hypocrisy in Egyptian society is so deeply engrained, that even her uncle’s wife accepts being beaten and does not see it as conflicting with the Islamic faith, ‘She replied that it was precisely men well versed in their religion who beat their wives. The precepts of religion permitted such punishment.’ The use of the word ‘punishment’ suggests that women in this society feel that it is justified that they are beaten and that domestic violence cannot be criticised as simply abuse and random cruelty. Finally, Firdaus recognises religious hypocrisy amongst the male leaders of Egyptian society who use Islam as a way of persuading their people that they are respectable and morally sound. Looking at a newspaper picture of such a ruler at Friday morning prayers Firdaus states that, ‘I could see he was trying to deceive Allah in the same way as he deceived the people.’ Firdaus’ rejection of religion mirrors Saadawi’s own views of religion and holy books; that they have little to do with morality. ‘The Old Testament, the New Testament or the Qur’an, are, for her, political books. They speak about war, invasion of other people’s countries, of inheritance, of money, this, as a focus, for Nawal, has little to do with justice, morality, or spirituality.’ A didactic reading of the novel may be that El Saadawi exposes her criticisms of religion and the double standards of men when it comes to the Islamic faith. It is this deeply engrained religious hypocrisy practiced throughout her dystopian world that contributes to the futile nature of Firdaus’ search to find meaning in the Islamic religion of her society. Likewise, Orwell’s protagonist Winston is unsuccessful in finding meaning through the pseudo-religion of Big Brother. The idea of Big Brother being a pseudo-religion is supported by Karl Marx’s view that religion is ‘the opium of the people’ . This sociological reading suggests that, like a drug, the comforting figure of Big Brother oppresses the people by distracting them from their dismal reality. What’s more, the omniscient third-person narration used by Orwell throughout reflects the God-like status of Big Brother as an all-knowing and all-powerful force. Orwell’s protagonist does not find meaning in this pseudo-religion however because Winston views Big Brother as the personification of an oppressive regime, rather than as a comforter. This is demonstrated in the 2-minutes hate because ‘Winston’s hatred was not turned against Goldstein at all, but †¦ against Big Brother, the Party and the Thought Police;’ Having said this, Orwell presents his protagonist as successful in finding meaning through his memories of religion before the Ingsoc revolution. Mr Charrington’s rhyme about old London churches fascinates Orwell’s protagonist because ‘†¦when you said it to yourself you had the illusion of actually hearing bells, the bells of a lost London that still existed somewhere or other, disguised and forgotten.’ One reading of Orwell’s protagonist’s obsession is that the rhyme brings back vague memories of church bells, and thus of Christianity and a more loving and empathetic set of beliefs than that of Big Brother. Another way in which the writers present their protagonists as successful in their quest for meaning in dystopian worlds is through the freedom that comes with death. Death is a form of freedom in a dystopian world because the protagonist is released from the oppression of their environment, society or political regime. The guardsman in Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ successfully finds meaning and freedom in death. ‘His soul was resolute, and held No hiding-place for fear; He often said that he was glad The hangman’s hands were near.’ The guardsman has accepted death and does not fear it. The protagonist is glad that death is coming because it means an escape from the monotony of day-to-day prison life and from the relentless surveillance of the warders. Wilde’s use of the word ‘resolute’ to describe the guardsman’s soul suggests that the guardsman has repented his sins and therefore his soul will be saved when he dies. Wilde thus juxtaposes the dystopian and hell-like world that the murderer is leaving with the utopia of heaven where the man will go to once he has died. This eschatological reading gives added gravitas to the ultimate freedom that the guardsman will experience in death. In his letter to Lord Alfred Douglas, De Profundis, Wilde describes how on earth he has ‘found †¦ not merely the beauty of Heaven, but the horror of Hell, also’ , supporting the idea that the condemned man, through death, is escaping a hell-like existence in prison. Similarly, El Saadawi’s protagonist Firdaus also successfully finds meaning through the freedom of death. Like the guardsman, Firdaus is sentenced to death for the crime of murder. However, she is not repentant for this crime but is proud of her actions. The act of killing her pimp, Marzouk, is her final victory over the oppression she has felt her entire life by different men in her society. She realises that she has always been afraid of her oppressor and that, ‘The movement of my hand upwards and then downwards destroyed my fear.’ Thus Firdaus is proud of her punishment as an outward sign of her inner victory over her dystopian world. She embraces death like a martyr for the cause of enslaved and oppressed women. ‘This journey to an unknown destination, to a place unknown to all those who live on this earth, be they king or prince, or ruler, fills me with pride.’ Like Wilde’s condemned man, El Saadawi presents the idea that through death her protagonist will enter a utopian world or ‘an unknown destination’ where she is no longer oppressed by the society of the dystopian world she lived in. In contrast to these two protagonists, Orwell presents his protagonist Winston as unsuccessful in finding freedom through death. As a result of the brainwashing process he undergoes in the Ministry of Love, Winston truly loves Big Brother and the Party. Unlike Firdaus, Winston does not die as a martyr for his cause. Instead, he is completely converted before he is killed. His betrayal of Julia is a dismissal of his greatest rebellion against the Party: loving another person. He knowingly puts himself before Julia and wishes that she should endure his torture in his place because ‘†¦he had suddenly understood that in the whole world there was just one person to whom he could transfer his punishment – one body that he could thrust between himself and the rats.’ This psychological shift means that when Winston is killed by the Party, he truly loves Big Brother, the personification of a political regime ‘not interested in the good of others †¦ interested solely in power.’ Through the nature of his death, Orwell shows that Winston has lost this moral struggle and that the party have succeeded in oppressing him mentally, as well as physically. Typical of Orwell’s literary style, Winston paradoxically believes ‘He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.’ Winston does not, therefore, die free. In truth, Winston’s reintegration into the Ingsoc regime and ‘the annihilation of Winston’s difference is the restoration of the pure positivity of Big Brother.’ This Marxist reading stresses how the power of a totalitarian state rests on the destruction of any individuals who might rise up against it. The structure of ‘1984’ finishes with Winston’s proclama tion of love for Big Brother and thus highlights the cruel infallibility of the Ingsoc regime. All three writers present love and relationships with others as crucial to their protagonist’s search for meaning. In Wilde’s ballad, the sense of comradeship amongst prisoners that Wilde conveys, suggests that the persona of the ballad finds meaning in the shared nature of the prisoners’ dystopia. ‘We tore the tarry ropes to shreads With blunt and bleeding nails; We rubbed the doors, and scrubbed the floors, And cleaned the shining rails.’ The repetition of the pronoun ‘we’ emphasises the collective nature of the hard labour the men carry out, and how the persona of the ballad feels part of a team of men, going through the same painful and monotonous tasks together. The regular six-line stanza used throughout the ballad with alternate lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter reflects the relentless monotony of the painful physical labour of prison life. This relentless monotony is reinforced by the regular ABCBDB rhyming scheme throughout. The idea of comradeship through collective monotony is built upon further when the persona empathises completely with the condemned man and enters his ring of hell, showing that they are both sinners, ‘A prison wall was round us both,/ Two outcast men we were:’ Later in the ballad, the night before the guardsman’s execution, all the prisoners pray for the condemned man’s soul as the warders, ‘†¦wondered why men knelt to pray/ W ho never prayed before.’ This action shows a sense of solidarity between the men as well as a Christian conscience; they truly believe that the condemned man is capable of salvation. As Carol Rumens comments, ‘the central charge of the Ballad is sympathy, sympathy with the condemned man and his fellow inmates.’ , it is this sympathy that allows Wilde to ‘evoke collective feelings.’ This emotive reading suggests that as well as giving the persona’s life meaning, feelings of comradeship and sympathy for fellow prisoners were a significant catalyst for Wilde’s consequent zeal for penal reform. The ballad itself was published to highlight the injustice of the British penal system and conveys this didactic message throughout. Similarly, Orwell’s protagonist Winston successfully finds meaning through his relationships with others. Winston’s loving and sexual relationship with Julia is the complete antithesis of what the Party stands for because amongst women, ‘Chastity was as deeply ingrained in them as Party loyalty.’ The Party’s enforcement of chastity from a young age has a military function as ‘†¦sexual privation induced hysteria, which was desirable because it could be transformed into war-fever and leader-worship.’ Winston’s relationship with Julia starts simply because Winston wishes to rebel against the oppressive regime, he describes their first sexual encounter as ‘ a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act.’ However, Winston soon falls in love with Julia and finds a deeper meaning for living in his dystopian world. The fact that ‘She gave the tips of his fingers a quick squeeze that seemed to invite not desire but affection.’ suggests that their relationship has become more than just sexual desire for one another. The isolation of the individual within the Ingsoc regime removes the opportunity or inclination for such loving relationships. This isolation is shown through Winston’s account of ‘Katherine’s white body, frozen for ever by the hypnotic power of the Party.’ The use of the word ‘frozen’ suggests that the Party members are emotionally deadened by the chastity conventions they conform to under Ingsoc. Winston rebels from this emotional death when he successfully falls in love with Julia. Looking at Orwell’s wartime diaries, it is clear he feared that the atrocities which civilians witnessed during the Blitz, and the newspapers’ reports of RAF attacks on Germany, would cause the British public to loose the ability to feel emotion. In July 1942, Orwell wrote, ‘I remember saying to someone during the blitz, when the R.A.F. were hitting back as best they could, In a years time youll see the headlines in the Daily Express: Successful Raid on Berlin Orphanage. Babies Set on Fire. It hasnt come to that yet, but that is the direction we are going in. This historical reading of the dystopian novel suggests that Orwell has extended his contemporary fear to create a society of emotionless party members. Orwell’s protagonist notices how society has lost the ability to feel emotion because of his memories of relationships before the Ingsoc revolution. Orwell thus presents the past as a time when people had the freedom to feel emotion for one another and his protagonist Winston as successful in finding meaning through his memories of love before Ingsoc. Orwell suggests that the Ingsoc regime has removed the ability of individuals to feel unconditional love as the concept of ‘tragedy’, ‘belonged to the ancient time †¦ when the members of a family stood by one another without needing to know the reason.’ This is supported by the fact that Winston perceives the death of his own mother many years previously as, ‘†¦tragic and sorrowful in a way that was no longer possible.’ The emotional death and inability of party members to love unconditionally is brought about by the enforcement of chastity and isolation of the individual, both of which break down the family unit in Oceania. In contrast, El Saadawi’s protagonist Firdaus is unsuccessful in finding meaning through her relationships. Her confused and disjointed memories of her parents suggest that they were not a loving and supportive influence. When describing her childhood in a first person narrative, Firdaus questions, ‘Who was I? Who was my father?’. Her uncle is ultimately a poor guardian as he allows her to marry a much older man and refuses to send her to university because he does not believe that she should learn alongside men. ‘A respected Sheikh and man of religion like myself sending his niece off to mix in the company of men?!’ Firdaus’ life continues in a pattern where every man she becomes close to mistreats her and so she is unsuccessful in finding meaning through love. The repetitive nature of Firdaus’ misfortune in the novel reflects the Arabic oral tradition. Her hatred of men stems from her financial dependence upon them, which enslaves her. Before killing Marzouk she describes how she ‘hated him as only a woman can hate a man, as only a slave can hate his master.’ This hatred of men reaches a climax when she tears up the money given to her by the Arab prince as a rejection of this dependence. ‘It was as though I was destroying all the money I had ever held †¦ and at the same time destroying all the men I had ever known †¦ my uncle, my husband, my father, Marzouk and Bayoumi, Di’aa, Ibrahim,’ This rejection supports the idea that El Saadawi ‘†¦sheds new light on the power of women in resistance – against poverty, racism, fundamentalism, and inequality of all kinds.’ This feminist reading suggests that El Saadawi’s rejection of male financial support advocates the strength and equality of women. To conclude, Orwell and El Saadawi appear to have created protagonists that are completely juxtaposed in their success at finding meaning in dystopian worlds. Winston successfully finds meaning throughout his life and is able to resist the oppression of the Ingsoc regime psychologically through his loving relationship with Julia and memories of relationships and religion before the revolution. However, he is unable to maintain freedom of thought in death and ends his life devoted to Big Brother. Contrastingly, El Saadawi’s protagonist Firdaus fails to find any positive meaning in life due to the treatment she endures from men and the religious hypocrisy practiced by many in her society. El Saadawi does, however, present Firdaus as finding meaning in her death; the punishment is an acknowledgement of her triumph over male domination. Wilde’s dual-protagonist is the most successful at finding meaning in a dystopian world, as the persona of the ballad successfully finds meaning in life through comradeship and Catholic values, whilst the condemned guardsman successfully finds meaning through his acceptance of death and belief in a utopian world in heaven.

Industrialization And Environmental Challenge In China Environmental Sciences Essay

Industrialization And Environmental Challenge In China Environmental Sciences Essay China has experienced the worlds fastest economic development over the past decades. At the same time, it has faced environmental degradation, and growing barriers against development. Chinas most productive city Shanghai has taken a particularly major role in Chinas economic and political development. However, the city could not avoid confrontation with environmental challenges, especially water pollution. The rapid economic growth and industrialisation have generated high pressure on the citys environment. Although Shanghai is a coastal economic city with abundant water sources from various rivers such as Yangtze River and Changjiang River, the city has suffered from polluted water and water shortage. The first reason is water pollution. According to Shanghai Water Authority (Shanghai Municipal Oceanic Bureau, SWA), majority of surface water in the city has been polluted and the water quality does not meet the drinking water quality standards  [1]  . Also, only 2.3 per cent of the Huangpu River, Shanghais main water supplies, met the grade 1-2 of water quality and 23.0 per cent attained grade 3. The rest 73.8 per cent was rated as grade 4-5 (China Water Risk Report 2010). Second, Shanghais water infrastructure provides 56.1% of the total water supply to its industry sector, which includes power plants and coal-fired factories, 14.3% to agriculture, and 10.1% to 23 million residents of its greater municipality (UNEP, 2010)  [2]  . This research argues that the Shanghai government has made improvements to solve the water pollution problem, but these havent been sufficient to resolve the persistent water pollution in the city. The Shanghai authority insists that it is aware of the deterioration of the environment, and it has promoted more balanced patterns of development using concepts such as harmonious society and scientific development. For instance, the municipal government launched $586 billion economic stimulus package in late 2008, and it invested majorly in environment conservation projects, especially, water pollution projects. Also the government implemented the Plan of Underground Water Pollution Prevention and Control(2010-2011) which cost about %5.4 billion(IBIS, 2012)  [3]  . However, some research conducted by scholars such as Thomas Johnson (2009) and the Chinese Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy (2006) raised skepticism on the Shanghai governments environmental governance si nce there hasnt been a noticeable improvement. Also some empirical data show that the emissions of major water pollutants from the industrial sector is still considered serious, and the amount of wastewater discharged from the industrial and household sectors continues to increase. First, this research assumes that the Shanghai governments governance has been experiencing difficulties in controlling water pollution because of the weak legal instrument in restricting pollutants emission. In regard with water protection, the government has several legal measures such as Environmental impact assessment system(EIA), The Three Simultaneity System, Pollution levy system, Pollution discharge reporting system, Emission permit system, Total emission control system, Enforcement of pollution abatement for noncompliance, and Enforcement of shutting down, merging and transferring system(Xin, 2009). Nonetheless, the law enforcement and penalty imposition have not been effective in practice, which caused the failure in restricting pollutants emission. For example, the amount of three major pollutant emissions SO2, COD and soot has not been successfully decreased. In SO2s case, the amount of industrial emission even increased during 1990-2006 (Wen, 2007)  [4]  . Research Question 1. Does the Shanghai government have sufficient legal measures in restricting water pollutant emission? 2. If not, what are the causes of the problem? Second, the Shanghai government does not seem to be fully motivated to implement water protection policies. Since the state governments major concern is economic growth under the GDP-  based development  system, the municipal governments, including Shanghai, inevitably have been economic growth-oriented affected by the state governments regime. As indicated above, more than half of the water supplies in Shanghai have been allocated in the industry sector. Also, the environment department of the government has suffered from securing sufficient technical human resources because of its budget limit, which means the government has put its high priority to the industrialization and economic growth. Research Question 1. Has the water pollution issue been high on the Shanghai governments priorities? Third, this research presumes that the accessibility the accurate information and data and the inactive public participation have detracted from the Shanghai governments effectiveness in implementing the environmental governance. Although accurate information and its accessibility and active public participation could take a major role in the governments environmental governance, the rate of public participation is rather low and the accessibility of the accurate information is still limited in comparison with other developed countries. The public should be able to access the accurate information and data, and be involved in the monitoring and evaluation system. For example, NGOs could be a substitute for the expensive technical human resources. Research Question 1. Does the Shanghai government have the easy accessibility for the public to accurate environmental information and data? The Shanghai governments governance regarding water pollution issues has not been sufficient. Since the government is driven by the economic growth-oriented regime of the centre government, the law enforcement in restricting water pollutant emissions have been ineffective despite several legal measures. Also the public does not have easy accessibility of the accurate information and data. These three factors have not successfully improved the water quality in Shanghai, which will cause a serious water shortage. The water shortage will have repercussion for the whole country. It will directly affect the citizens well being and hinder China from sustainable development.

Education: The Improvement of Humanity :: Education Essays

"Education in modern society is about power. To ask who is to be educated is to ask who is to rule."(Halls, vii) This same statement could also apply to the eighteenth century; the wealthier families could afford to send their children off to college to further their education to become doctors or lawyers. This form of education progressed until 1760 when the nationalization of the education system became a noticeable progression. They believed that through making education a national topic then they could in turn influence the students to create a better society. The church was even pressing for national education. "Education became an almost universal corrective to human and social ills."(Palmer, 3) While the children were in school this gave the educators an opportunity to install "virtues and desirable attitudes and habits." (Palmer, 3) However, not everyone believed that the only way to create a better society was to train the children from a young age to act a certain way. Many believed that a child is born with a set of morals and virtues to prevent them from doing something that should not be done. If a child is not born with these morals and virtues then even being trained from a young age to act a certain way is not going to prevent them from doing something that the soc iety sees as wrong. Colleges also played into the ideal of creating a better society. "The ideal French college in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was a place of salutary confinement, designed to shield growing boys from the evils of the outside world." (Palmer, 13) Prior to the eighteenth century "Northwestern France, England, and the Netherlands showed about the same rate of literacy and together formed the most literate zone in Europe, until overtaken by Scotland during the eighteenth century." (Palmer, 10) As important as education began to be it didn't change the fact that the best education that one could receive (whether peasant or other wise) was in the city rather than in the more rural areas. "Between the end of the seventeenth century and the revolution, the definitive breakthrough of the majority of peasants in the north into the world of writing and literacy was more common and schools more accessible, in the towns than in the country." (Palmer, 10) As a result, if the family lived in an area that was close to a good school, were above the poverty line, and did not need the children for labor, then each family could have, at the very least, one son that could receive an education. Education: The Improvement of Humanity :: Education Essays "Education in modern society is about power. To ask who is to be educated is to ask who is to rule."(Halls, vii) This same statement could also apply to the eighteenth century; the wealthier families could afford to send their children off to college to further their education to become doctors or lawyers. This form of education progressed until 1760 when the nationalization of the education system became a noticeable progression. They believed that through making education a national topic then they could in turn influence the students to create a better society. The church was even pressing for national education. "Education became an almost universal corrective to human and social ills."(Palmer, 3) While the children were in school this gave the educators an opportunity to install "virtues and desirable attitudes and habits." (Palmer, 3) However, not everyone believed that the only way to create a better society was to train the children from a young age to act a certain way. Many believed that a child is born with a set of morals and virtues to prevent them from doing something that should not be done. If a child is not born with these morals and virtues then even being trained from a young age to act a certain way is not going to prevent them from doing something that the soc iety sees as wrong. Colleges also played into the ideal of creating a better society. "The ideal French college in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was a place of salutary confinement, designed to shield growing boys from the evils of the outside world." (Palmer, 13) Prior to the eighteenth century "Northwestern France, England, and the Netherlands showed about the same rate of literacy and together formed the most literate zone in Europe, until overtaken by Scotland during the eighteenth century." (Palmer, 10) As important as education began to be it didn't change the fact that the best education that one could receive (whether peasant or other wise) was in the city rather than in the more rural areas. "Between the end of the seventeenth century and the revolution, the definitive breakthrough of the majority of peasants in the north into the world of writing and literacy was more common and schools more accessible, in the towns than in the country." (Palmer, 10) As a result, if the family lived in an area that was close to a good school, were above the poverty line, and did not need the children for labor, then each family could have, at the very least, one son that could receive an education.

Old Professor New Lessons Tuesdays with Morrie Essay -- Essays Papers

Old Professor New Lessons Tuesdays with Morrie Thesis: In the novel Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Aldom gains a new understanding on life's lessons taught by his old professor Morrie. Old Professor-New Lessons Mitch Albom attended many classes taught by Morrie Schwartz during his years at Brandeis University, but he does not attempt to learn the meaning of life until he is in his forties. The knowledge of his favorite professors illness forces Mitch to rekindle an old friendship. In the process of finding an old friend, Mitch acquires many life lessons that give him a new meaning to his existence. Mitch and Morrie meet on Tuesdays. On the second Tuesday, the topic of discussion is feeling sorry for oneself. On this day Mitch asks Morrie, "Do you feel sorry for yourself." (Albom 56) Morrie responds: Sometimes in the mornings, that's when I mourn. I mourn what I have lost. I mourn the slow, insidious way in which I'm dying. But then I stop mourning. I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I concentrate on all the good things in life. I don't allow myself any more self-pity than that. (Albom 57) Mitch is amazed how well Morrie takes his illness. People in Morrie's situation sit around and feel sorry for themselves. The idea of putting a daily limit on self-pity is a revolutionary idea for Mitch. This lesson shows Mitch that time on earth is precious and to find a ray of light in life's darkest days. On the forth Tuesday the l...

A Tale of Two Cities :: essays research papers

A Tale of Two Cities In the fictitious novel Tale of Two Cities, the author, Charles Dickens, lays out a brilliant plot. Charles Dickens was born in England on February 7, 1812 near the south coast. His family moved to London when he was ten years old and quickly went into debt. To help support himself, Charles went to work at a blacking warehouse when he was twelve. His father was soon imprisoned for debt and shortly thereafter the rest of the family split apart. Charles continued to work at the blacking warehouse even after his father inherited some money and got out of prison. When he was thirteen, Dickens went back to school for two years. He later learned shorthand and became a freelance court reporter. He started out as a journalist at the age of twenty and later wrote his first novel, The Pickwick Papers. He went on to write many other novels, including Tale of Two Cities in 1859. Tale of Two Cities takes place in France and England during the troubled times of the French Revolution. There are travels by the characters between the countries, but most of the action takes place in Paris, France. The wineshop in Paris is the hot spot for the French revolutionists, mostly because the wineshop owner, Ernest Defarge, and his wife, Madame Defarge, are key leaders and officials of the revolution. Action in the book is scattered out in many places; such as the Bastille, Tellson's Bank, the home of the Manettes, and largely, the streets of Paris. These places help to introduce many characters into the plot. One of the main characters, Madame Therese Defarge, is a major antagonist who seeks revenge, being a key revolutionist. She is very stubborn and unforgiving in her cunning scheme of revenge on the Evermonde family. Throughout the story, she knits shrouds for the intended victims of the revolution. Charles Darnay, one of whom Mrs. Defarge is seeking revenge, is constantly being put on the stand and wants no part of his own lineage. He is a languid protagonist and has a tendency to get arrested and must be bailed out several times during the story. Dr. Alexander Manette, a veteran prisoner of the Bastille and moderate protagonist, cannot escape the memory of being held and sometimes relapses to cobbling shoes. Dr. Manette is somewhat redundant as a character in the novel, but plays a very significant