Differences among Korea, India, and China

Korea, China and India are the countries that have historical backgrounds that make each of them renowned all over the world. These countries have unique attributes that make them stand out to the whole world.  Korea is a divided country of eastern Asia. It occupies a peninsula, about 450 miles in length, between the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea. China and a tip of the Soviet Union border Korea on the north. The nearest Japanese islands are about 30 miles away, in the Korea Strait. Since 1945, Korea has been divided into two political units—the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). They are separated by a demilitarized zone, about 2  ½ miles in width, along the armistice line established in 1953 at the close of the Korea War. The total area (including the demilitarized zone) is 85,049 square miles. North Korea occupies 46,540 square miles and South Korea 38,025 square miles. Virtually all the inhabitants of the peninsula are Koreans. They are a Mongoloid people, who apparently migrated in prehistoric times from what is now Manchuria. The Korean language is believed to be unrelated to any known tongue. There is, however, a strong infusion of Chinese words in the vocabulary. A phonetic alphabet—originally 28, now 24 letters—has been in use since 1443. In South Korea offer a free education and compulsory through six years of primary school, which begins at age six. It is followed by three years of middle school and then three years of high school (Choi, 2003). The chief institution of higher learning is Seoul National University. In North Korea, education is free and compulsory through five years of primary school (which begins at age six), four years of middle school, and two years of high school. The major institution of higher learning is Kim II Sung University at Pyongyang. Technical education and the teaching of Communist ideology are stressed in North Korean education. On the other hand, India or Republic of India is a country in southern Asia and a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations. India is an English word derived from the Sanskrit sindhu, which means river and was originally applied to the part of the Indus River now in Pakistan. In Hindi, the official national language established by the Indian constitution, the nation is called Bharat. India has more than 800 languages and dialects. The constitution declares Hindi the national language, but English is also an official language in government and is widely used. The constitution establishes for use in government 14 other major languages. In addition, education is primarily the responsibility of the state governments. The union, or central, government coordinates facilities and standards in the states, administer education in the union territories, and controls four universities and certain special schools (Brown, 2005). While China or the People’s Republic of China is a country in eastern in eastern Asia. It is sometimes called Communist China or Mainland China to distinguish it from the Republic of China to distinguish it from the Republic of China, or Nationalist China, situated on the offshore island of Taiwan (Formosa). Both governments claim to be the rightful rulers of all China, but the Communists have been in firm control of the mainland since 1949 and since 1971 have been recognized by the United Nations as the legal rulers. Chinese, a Sino-Tibetan language, is spoken by most of the people in China. There are a large number of dialects, the chief being Cantonese, Fukienese, and Wu. The official language is the Mandarin dialect, officially called putonghua (common speech), which is understood by about 70 percent of people. Other languages include Tibetan, spoken in Tibet and parts of China Proper; Turkic, in Sinkiang; Mongol, in Inner Mongolia; and Thai, in parts of southern China (Barnett, 2006). With regards to its educational system, elementary education, depending on the program being pursued, lasts five or six years. Lower secondary education lasts three years; upper secondary education, depending upon the school, two or three years. China has an extensive adult-educational program, particularly to teach literacy. About one-fourth of the population is illiterate. Reference: Barnett, A.D. (2006). Modernizing China: Post-Mao Reform and Development (Westview Press). Brown, J.M. (2005). Modern India: the Origins of an Asian Democracy (Oxford University). Choi, Woonsang (2003). Korea: a Chronology and fact Book (Oceana).

Definition of Poetry Essay

According to W.H.Hudson we all have a sense of what poetry constitutes. There are innumerable definitions of poetry given by poets and critics of poetry and out of which Hudson chooses some famous definitions. They are given below: * Johnson : â€Å"Metrical composition† , it is â€Å"the art of uniting pleasure with truth by calling imagination to the help of reason† * Macaulay: â€Å"we mean the art of employing words in such a manner as to produce an illusion on the imagination, the art of doing by means of words what the painter does by means of colours† * Carlyle: â€Å"We will call Musical thought† * Shelley: â€Å"In a general sense may be defined as the expression of the imagination† * Hazlitt: â€Å"It is the language of the imagination and the passions† * Leigh Hunt: â€Å"The utterance of a passion for truth, beauty, and power, embodying and illustrating its conceptions by imagination and fancy, and modulating its language on the principle of variety in unity† * Coleridge: â€Å"Poetry is the antithesis of science, having for its immediate object pleasure, not truth† * Wordsworth: â€Å"It is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge and the impassioned expression which is in the countenance of all science† * Edgar Allan Poe: â€Å"It is the rhythmic creation of beauty† * Keble: â€Å"A vent for overcharged feeling or a full imagination† * Doyle: â€Å"It expresses our dissatisfaction with what is present and close at hand† * Ruskin: â€Å"The suggestion by the imagination, of noble grounds for the noble emotions† * Prof. Courthope: â€Å"The art of producing pleasure by the just expression of imaginative thought and feeling in metrical language† * Mr. Watts-Dunton: â€Å" The concrete and artistic expression of the human mind in emotional and rhythmical language† * Matthew Arnold: * â€Å"It is simply the most delightful and perfect form of utterance that human words can reach† * â€Å"It is nothing less than the most perfect speech of man that in which he comes nearest to being able to utter the truth† * â€Å"It is a criticism of life under the conditions fixed for such a criticism by the laws of poetic truth and poetic beauty† As Hudson state when we look at them critically, and compare them with one another, certain disturbing facts about them become clear. Commenting on these definitions Hudson concludes they are almost distracting in their variety because the subject is approached from many different points of view. Some, strictly speaking, fail to define, because they express rather what is poetical in general, wherever it may be found, than what is specifically poetry. Some, on the other hand, are too narrow and exclusive, because they recognize only the particular kind of poetry in which the writer happened to be personally interested.

Analysis of “Nuances of a Theme by Williams”

Analysis of â€Å"Nuances of a Theme by Williams† The title of Wallace Stevens’ poem â€Å"Nuances of a Theme by Williams† implies that he intends to comment on, possibly celebrate, and almost certainly explore the potential distinctions and variations available in the poem by William Carlos Williams titled â€Å"El Hombre.† Stevens includes â€Å"El Hombre,† in its entirety minus the title, in the opening four lines of his poem with the implication (again based on the, at worst, neutral title of Stevens’ poem as well as the seemingly tributary inclusion of â€Å"El Hombre†) that his re-workings and explorations of his colleague’s piece will maintain its essence and, presumably, not bear it much, if any, antipathy. The title, however, proves to be misleading and Stevens’ subsequent lines appear to be less of a nuanced exploration of Williams’ poem than a criticism of what he sees as its faults: namely the sentimentality, anthropomorphizing, and romantic detachedness of t he narrator that is present especially in the first two lines. It is particularly the first stanza of Williams’ poem that Stevens takes issue with and he does so, at least in part, by way of its second stanza. Stevens attaches himself to two phrases, â€Å"shine alone† (3) and â€Å"lend no part† (4), that bookend the second stanza of Williams’ poem and uses them as his access points to the poem. He quotes the two phrases directly, elevating them to the opening words of both of his subsequent stanzas, though in doing so he also very purposefully changes their meaning. The first line of Stevens’ composition, â€Å"Shine alone, shine nakedly, shine like bronze† (5) seems, appropriately, to satisfy the expectations of the title while also being characteristic of Stevens’ playful perspectivist aesthetic tendencies (reminiscent, perhaps, of â€Å"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird†); beginning with the two-word phrase taken directly from Williams’ piece, Stevens’ proceeds to stretch it into a richer, more textured imperative description of the same â€Å"ancient star† (2) addressed in Williams’ poem. Nonetheless, the succeeding two lines that make up the rest of Stevens’ first stanza diverge from mere variation into what seems to be an invective response to the opening lines of Williams’ poem: â€Å"It’s a strange courage/you give me, ancient star† (1-2). Stevens appears to be concerned with the fact that Williams sort of anthropomorphizes the star, which seems to be the rising sun, and instills it with the ability to give courage. He says of the sun that it must shine like something that â€Å"reflects neither [his] face nor any inner part/of [his] being† (6-7) and, ultimately, â€Å"like fire, that mirrors nothing† (7). Stevens’ deliberate dissociation with the sun (as a stand-in for nature) reflects his belief that one should apprehend nature without embellishing it; that the things of nature should not be used as means to access the triumphs or despairs of humanity. Where in Stevens’ â€Å"The Snowman† it is only with â€Å"a mind of winter† (1) that one can hear â€Å"the sound of the land† (10) without being distracted by â€Å"any misery in the sound of the wind† (8), so must Williams’ sun, in Stevens’ conception, mirror â€Å"nothing that is not there† (The Snowman, 15) if it is to be truly apprehended. With the entirety of Stevens’ first stanza in mind, the variations in his first line (that continues and concludes in the third with â€Å"shine like fire†) read less playfully and more like a slow, deliberate distancing from the humanness of the word â€Å"alone.† For â€Å"alone† is rarely used to describe the state of an inanimate object by itself, which wouldn’t require the recognition of being outside of a society of similar objects since society is limited to animate creatures. So Stevens re-forms the description as â€Å"nakedly.† That first step, though, is only a small step away from animation since it evokes the idea of being without clothes. But the adverb â€Å"nakedly† is, in fact, more commonly used to describe the nature of concepts or ideas, as in â€Å"plainly† or â€Å"blatantly,† and less the physical state of one’s dress. With the second transformation, â€Å"like bronze,† however, the le ss subtle split with animation begins. With â€Å"like bronze† Stevens has reformulated an idea of the sun as merely resembling something. Though it is a man-made something, which, therefore, maintains an inevitable if convoluted connection to the human realm. So, Stevens’ necessarily searches for one more angle, â€Å"like fire,† and the split with humanity is complete; the sun is reduced to something natural, independent of human existence, but, more importantly, it is reduced to precisely what it is. The sun is precisely something that in Stevens’ view should â€Å"lend no part to any humanity that suffuses/[the sun] in its own light† (8-9) as Williams does. For like Stevens declares in his later poem â€Å"Things of August†: â€Å"The rich earth, of its own self made rich,/Fertile of its own leaves† (51-52), so must the shining sun, of its own self shine. It appears that Stevens’ wishes to forget all human history of sun worship and mythology and relish the sun as it is perceived in the moment, in the present, by an individual person. Yet, in communicating his point, Stevens’ says that the sun should â€Å"be not chimera of the morning† (10). â€Å"Chimera† carries the meaning of â€Å"illusion† or â€Å"daydream† as if warning against being tricked into seeing the sun as more than it is, or as something that it is not. But â€Å"chimera† also carries the connotation of the mythical creature that was made of various animal parts and had an intelligence. So in this moment, while Stevens’ argument is ostensibly sustained, he undermines it slightly by constructing it around such a contradictory notion, even if only as a means to negate it. The final three lines of the poem continue in this vein of ridding the sun of any ancient residual meaning. He ironically says the star should â€Å"Be not an intelligence/Like a widow’s bird/Or and old horse† (12-15). These comparisons are ironic simply because Stevens would not grant intelligence to a bird or horse, but he knows that they are often thought of that way. A lonely widow gives more meaning and power to her avian companion and a farmer may attribute wisdom to a horse that has weathered much. Stevens slyly insults the romantic sentimentality of Williams’ poem by putting it on the same level as the foolish and uneducated figures suggested in his closing lines. It seems that Stevens sees Williams’ poem as weak and sentimental. Stevens’ poem is an exercise of his mind on Williams’ theme, enacted to deliberately and systematically gain control over the emotional preoccupations of the poem. I would suppose that, ultimately, Williams would not only have appreciated the criticisms of Stevens, but also would have agreed with them. I feel as though â€Å"El Hombre† is, at least on a basic level, an immature poem of Williams that would not have fit into his later, more distinctly formulated views.

Research professional associations specific to your career field or Assignment

Research professional associations specific to your career field or industry - Assignment Example For the nearly two and a half years I have been associated to this group, we have been meeting 2-3 times a month mostly on Saturdays. Every meeting has a structured format, which also runs between 3-3 hours, with a number of members taking part in the diverse roles, in the meetings. We are normally 39 members at our club. Membership is open to every individual above the age of 18 and hoping to enhance their leadership and communications skills. This organization has helped me a lot enhance my veterinary technician career. I learned through the organization that people who have better communication skills stand a good chance of getting better jobs compared to people who have the required academic qualifications, but poor communication skills. My days at this organization have greatly shaped my communication skills. At least I can stand in front of a group of people and offer a clear presentation and they understand. Two years back this was merely impossible. We are located in California State, Rancho Santa Margarita, and you can reach us at 1-646-558-5908. You can also visit our website @

ADR Processes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ADR Processes - Essay Example rstly, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is said to be â€Å"the techniques or procedures for resolving disputes short of trial in the public† (Grossman, et al. 2009, p.1). There has been an growing interest in ADR mainly because it was said to be less costly, faster, less threatening, more receptive to the concerns of disputants, and â€Å"more responsive to the underlying problems† (Grenig & Davies, Alternative Dispute Resolution  § 1:1). Arbitration and mediation are just among the methods of alternative dispute resolution (Grossman, et al. 2009, p.1). However, there is still a need to evaluate if indeed resort to alternative dispute resolution methods is appropriate in a particular case. As commented by Gail M. Valentine-Rutledge, these methods are not always the cure for every dispute or case that is presented (Valentine-Rutledge, 57 Am. Jur. Trials 555 (Originally published in 1995). She adds that there are cases where litigation is better suited, which may either be due to â€Å"the facts of the case, the personality or desires of the client or the personality of opposing counsel† (57 Am. Jur. Trials 555 (Originally published in 1995). Thus, to ascertain as to whether mediation will be beneficial in a specific situation, would now depend upon the factors of each specific case (Valentine-Rutledge, 1995). Mediation or arbitration as a mode of resolving disputes, may not always be successful, hence, it is important to determine if those cases subject for mediation or arbitration have â€Å"the highest likelihood of fair and reasonable settlement† through such a process (Valentine-Rutledge, 1995). The decision on whether mediation should be chosen as a mode of dispute resolution, should be on a â€Å"case-by-case basis† bearing in mind all the important factors (Valentine-Rutledge, 1995).Thus, it is important to take into consideration â€Å"the nature of a particular case and the underlying dispute† to determine if such case is appropriate for mediation

Effects of social media on juveniles and how that impact has changed Essay

Effects of social media on juveniles and how that impact has changed the way bullying is addressed - Essay Example Others are sentiments that are meant to bring someone down. This is the most modern way of bullying called cyber-bullying. Other social media that are equally to blame are television stations that air programs which bear characters with intimidating traits especially in a school setting where kids will use such people as their role models and may want to imitate them. These behaviors will then be taken to school and they will be portrayed as some violence and rude action at cafeteria, in the field and even in the hostels. Hence it has become a big problem (Roberts & Springer, 2007). To control bullying, all the people that mingle with juveniles must be involved .These include parents, teachers and the community as a whole. The three parties are supposed to take actions in these environments by fostering positive traits that build resilience and that promotes healthy development of successful learning. Teachers are supposed to punish or correct any form of bullying noted in school and the culprit reported to parents immediately before the bully becomes self-absorbed and like the attention. And become unbearable. This is the only long term solution to addressing bullying and other risky childhood behaviors (Hinduja & Patchin,

Pluralism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Pluralism - Essay Example de Silva, in his article 'Elements of Sound Industrial System', published in International Labour Organisation, ACT/EMP, says "A sound industrial relations system is one in which relationships between management and employees (and their representatives) on the one hand, and between them and the State on the other, are more harmonious and cooperative than conflictual and creates an environment conducive to economic efficiency and the motivation, productivity and development of the employee and generates employee loyalty and mutual trust.1" Industrial relations were not static, but altered with social, economical and political changes and went through many phases. The first one came under the guise of Communism, initiated by Karl Marx, practised by communist countries and it focussed on totalitarianism, not pluralism. After many decades of absolute success in all communist countries, it spread to other democratic and capitalistic countries, in the form of unions, who could negotiate on behalf of workers, depending on the circumstantial influences. In his paper 'The Changing Focus of Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management, presented at ILO Workshop on employers' Organisations, in April 1997, Sriyan de Silva says "Industrial relations in countries, sub-regions and regions, have been influenced by a variety of circumstances and actors such as political philosophies, economic imperatives, the role of the State in determining the direction of economic and social development, the influence of unions and the business community, as well as the legacies of colonial governments2." In non-communist countries, it slowly evolved into pluralism, worker's democracy, according to the prevailing ideologies of the land, as totalitarianism could not survive in free societies. With the collapse of Communism in USSR, totalitarianism anyway came to an end and unions lost their ultimate power. Even in erstwhile communist countries, unions now are practising more of pluralism today, because capitalist countries have won the ideological war, and these countries are trying to walk towards democracy and freedom. Unions, in their heydays, were not always easy to deal with and all their demands could not be termed as fair and logical. They were more feared than respected. They forced the government intervention on many occasions. "They had the potential to do serious damage to industry and the economy if the need arose, one reason why the government could not remain aloof from industrial relations, especially later in the period," Aldcroft and Oliver (2000, p.9). One of the greatest achievements in industries in the last four decades is the introduction of Human Resource Development, which, to some extent, obliterated pluralism by overtaking the union role. S.R. de Silva, in his paper 'Elements of a Sound Industrial Relations System' published in International Labour Publications, reiterates, "The present trend in labour relations and human resource management is to place greater emphasis on employee involvement, harmonious employer - employee relations and mechanisms, and on practices which promote them. One of the important consequences of globalization and intense competition has been the pressure on firms to be flexible3." After ruling for almost three decades, pluralism and industrial democracy, with the advancement of globalisation and multi national companies, have become quite irrelevant today and this was predicted by

Awareness of Identity Theft among Mature Students Essay

Awareness of Identity Theft among Mature Students - Essay Example They can then max out credit cards or take out loans using information they could have asked you for, taken from documents, or stolen from transactions online. This can lead to horrible problems for the person's identity whose is stole, as it can be a tedious task to try to track down the person who is pretending to be you. As student based marketing and research expands, so do the opportunities for people to steal all kinds of information from students who may not even know they are being tricked. Cases are especially springing up among college students, who fill out loads of paperwork and are also on their feet for the first time in their lives. The problem of identity theft is getting so bad that the "The United States Federal Trade Commission says that identity theft is America's largest consumer complaint" (http://www.scambusters.org/identitytheft/collegestudentsguide.html. These college students offer a prime target for the identity theft schemes. Students who are looking for loans, new credit cards, or are simply unaware of how to protect their personal information make for an easy candidate to get their identity stolen. Students also often do not know that identity theft can affect "your credit rating, criminal record, future borrowing possibilities, as well as your job opportunities (http://www.scambusters.org/identitytheft/collegestudentsguide.html). College st... 1. "Living on campus in dorms or with roommates. 2. Ordering clothes, books, movies, lava lamps, ping pong balls, or any other merchandise over the Internet. 3. Throwing away credit card offers without shredding them into a million pieces. 4. Being careless with student loan pin numbers and documentation. 5. Using cell phones to talk about things that might be useful for an identity thief to hear."( http://www.scambusters.org/identitytheft/collegestudentsguide.html. All of these seemingly innocent acts however leave students wide open for an invasion of privacy which may lead to the theft of their identity. This is why students are targeted by criminal organizations as prime targets for their schemes to steal people's identities. Only by understanding identity theft, and learning about it, can students hope to protect themselves from having their own identity stolen. Identity Theft Among Students I. Introduction to Identity Theft a. Definition of Identity Theft b. Kinds of Identity Theft c. Who is affected II. Identity Theft Among Students a. High School Students b. College Students III. How Identity Theft Works a. How thieves can steal your information b. Information they want to take from you IV. Way to Avoid Identity Theft a. How to protect your personal information b. How to know if your identity has been stolen V. What to do if your identity has been stolen a. First Response for identity Theft b. Don't Panic-You can get yourself back VI. Identity Theft-Inform others a. Other groups at risk b. How wide spread is identity Theft VII.

Love in a Time of Cholera Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Love in a Time of Cholera - Essay Example ts epidemics of cholera, and to the final riverboat scene where a flag warns that there are cholera victims on board when in fact two pensioners are enjoying their delayed honeymoon. The novel opens with a suicide. Jeremiah de Saint Amour could not bear the idea of ageing; he suffered from â€Å"gerontophobia† and had sworn â€Å"I will never grow old†. This hypnotic novel explores the dilemmas of ageing through a plot of unrequited love; a man, Florentino Ariza, waiting fifty-one years, nine months and four days for his rival to die in order to reaffirm his love for his sweetheart, Fermina Daza. The novelty of this theme is striking, almost implausible. Florentino Arizas head is filled with the illusions read of in sentimental poems. His patience is rewarded at the end when he finally beds his aged beloved in a riverboat. Due to the suggestive prose, the reader tends to read the novel as a romance, a tale of timeless love that transcends age and time, a love that emerges victorious in the end. â€Å"However, disguised beneath the surface of the melodramatic plot lies a critical, sometimes satiric examination of many of the elements that appear to contribute to the novels charm, but actually undercut much of its romanticism and sentimentality.† (Jeffrey M. Lilburn.  Love in the Time of Cholera: Deep Themes of the Popular Conceptions of Love.) Despite counterpointing of characters and themes, Garcia Marquez, a friend of Fidel Castro, refuses to judge his characters or condemn them. He is far more subtle, and generous. The way he situates his protagonist is exemplified when the patient Florentino Ariza finally climbs into a riverboat bed with his beloved and receives a telegram saying that his god-daughter has killed herself. He seduced America Vicufia as a child, and they became lovers. He then broke off the relationship without ever realizing how much in love with him, despite his age, the school-girl was. She had found his secret love letters to Fermina Daza, and

Slackness and more slackness Essay Example for Free

Slackness and more slackness Essay Bob Marleys One Love is heralded as the song of the 20th century. Jamaicans are jubilant about this. We boast of the impact of such songs as Redemption Song in encouraging the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. Millions across the world identify with the message in Bob Marleys songs. We agree that music has tremendous power and effect. Isnt this evident in how Jamaica has become known worldwide because of Bob Marleys music? How is it then that the same voices that acknowledge the powerful effect of Marleys music now seek to deny the effect of dancehall artistes such as Vybz Kartels lyrics on the minds and subsequent behaviour of those who listen to them? Dancehall has moved from the space that reggae occupies, in its promotion of social and political consciousness, to the elevation and advancement of slackness. This affects our youth in a negative fashion. Dancehall is not just the music, but it is a culture which impacts dress, fashion and body language; it influences attitude. Dancehall dress leaves little of the womens bodies to the imagination. It is this mindset that is now affecting so many of our young people in school. They are following the dancehall culture of badmanism, hottie girls, nuff girls, nuff skin and body parts exposed, nuff slackness, public wining and grinding, bling and more bling, and every thing else that the culture promotes. PARENTS ALSO MORE DULGING There are parents who are indulging in this dancehall lifestyle and who, therefore, cannot guide their children to lead moral, self-disciplined lives. The children and the parents are now both indulging in the dancehall slackness. We see the effect of this in our schools. We see it when little children are taken to Passa Passa and adults delight in watching them wining and grinding their undeveloped hips in imitation of their slackness. Before these children can begin to know what innocence is, they have lost it. Their innocence has been aborted. This exposure to unbridled slackness from an early age has ensured that we produce a generation whose morality has been warped from the beginning. They will now believe that this slack and loose behaviour is the norm. WOMEN AS SEX OBJECTS We add slackness to slackness when the songs played on the sound systems and the images portrayed in the music videos all promote women as sex machines. These women represent themselves merely as objects of sex as is made clear by how they dress and by the sex-simulating gyrations they indulge in, which are termed dancing, with bottoms bouncing and going round like gigs and pelvic thrusts emphasising their genital areas. With such a constant diet being fed to the senses of the young, how can their consciousness develop in an innocent, childlike way? Add to these stimuli, the images of upstanding Jamaicans wining and grinding on the roads during carnival; women sandwiched by men from behind and before; women and men of all shapes and sizes, some totally unknown to each other, wearing the barest of coverings, indulging in unrestrained sexual conduct on the streets with the media promoting and covering it, with hordes of police (including high-ranking police officers) guiding the train. What are we saying to our young? We are saying that slackness is acceptable, that sexual behaviour is not a private matter; that sex can be practised publicly with societys approval. Why, then, are we shocked when our schoolchildren display this same type of behaviour on the streets, at the transportation hubs, on the buses, on the school grounds? Why are we shocked when they want their sex acts to be video-taped and published? Children live what they learn. They have simply taken a step further what they have been taught by the big people, the adults, around them. We are simply reaping what we have sown. This is what some young teenagers say about the impact of dancehall on their behaviour: It makes me break out of my little shell. I am an innocent girl and dancehall music breaks that barrier. It makes you feel all gangsterish and cool. And the music teaches you how to dress. The lyrics are influential. They tell you to walk roun, smoke weed and buss gun. Many people, children in particular, look up to some of the artistes who feature these lyrics in their songs and they actually do some of these things because they feel that if their favourite artiste is doing it and they are hip and admired, then why not do it too. Hence, dancehall music is influential, not only to me, but to the wider society. I have stopped listening to dancehall music now and thats good because it had such a negative influence on me. At one point, I found myself acting in the way that the songs portray a hot girl should be.

Motivations for Mobile Phone Use in Rural and Urban Areas

Motivations for Mobile Phone Use in Rural and Urban Areas Acknowledgement I would first and foremost like to acknowledge the generosity of the villagers of Telav, Shela, Kaneti(Gujarat) and Amgachia(WB) who in spite of their busy life took time to let me understand their lives. I am also deeply indebted to Prof. Rajat Iyer and Prof. Arbind Sinha, Faculty MICA,for being a thesis guide in every sense of the word. I would also like to thank Mr Shailesh Yagnik, Librarian MICA, and all the library staff for their immense cooperation without which this might not have been possible. I would also like to thank Prof. Rajneesh Krishna for clarifying my doubts about various Market research tools and methodologies despite his busy scheduleand engagements. I would also like to thank Mr. Raj Kumar Jha,OM Outreach who shared with us valuable inputs in Rural marketing and inspired me to work on this topic. I would like to thank my parents who have been a constant source of inspiration for me and have held me through ups and downs in my life. I would also like to thank all my friends for helping me organise my thoughts,constant encouragement, sleepless nights and chota breaks. Thanks guys for giving me confidence to submit this document. Executive summary Today Mobile phones have made their presence felt not just in urban India but also in rural areas. This phenomenon has increased the scope of branding which most company considered a tough turf in rural India. Though it may seem a far-fetched idea currently but considering the giant leap the economies of developing nations like India is making, tapping of rural markets building brands for this market make sense. Innovative use of Mobile application is helping war torn Afghanistan fight corruption and elevate the standard of living of its people. Similarly in developing nations, application developed for local needs like M-Pesa in South Africa, Pesapal in Kenya are finding consumers and helping the brands make an impact. Study in the past conducted in various geographies have developed model for either urban consumer or directly generalized model for mobile marketing. From the literature review few factors were derived for mobile advertising like (1) utility, (2) context, (3) control, (4) sacrifice, and (5) trust. My study aims to works on these parameters, but specifically on rural India to find out attitude and behavioral implication of mobile advertising. The study also includes technology barriers advancement in India and barriers related to social implication in rural areas like language and cultural difference. For the purpose of the study a qualitative research has been commissioned across two regions – Gujarat and West Bengal. This was a contrasting study to find out the motivation underlying the use of mobile phones and the prospect of mobile marketing across two extreme geographies since West Bengal is one of the least mobile savvy state whereas Gujarat has one of the highest mobile phone users. Focus group discussion depth interviews with the help of projective techniques revealed the underlying motivation for using mobile marketing. It mainly reinforced the fact that while rural consumer do not want intrusion in their life they are willing to open up the space for better living standards. Hence the desire to gain knowledge and make money to elevate the living standards was of prime importance. The study also reveals certain limitation to mobile advertising which has to be kept in mind while designing any mobile marketing campaigns. Finally the study proposes a framework to facilitate acceptance of mobile marketing message among consumer and maximize marketing objective of brands, which outlined as follow 1. Collaborate with Service providers It is a win-win situation for the service providers as well as the marketers and not to forget the consumer, if the contextual targeting of advertising is maintained. 2. Precision targeting It is rewarding for advertiser since they are able to overcome the challenge of predicting whos on the other side of a product or service purchase and target them with brands according to the demographics 3. Develop content relevant for the consumers in collaboration with Media agencies Develop content of significant importance by understanding the day to day life of rural consumer e.g. the language assistance application which has the potential to become a way of life for the consumer and then only can a brand reach the stage of resonance in the mind of rural consumer As a concluding note, this conceptual study offers to provide a discussion on how mobile advertising might subsidize wireless infrastructure growth among underprivileged societies and allow marketers to target more specifically the consumer in media dark region. Also with the collaboration of private partners the social development in rural areas with the help of mobile communication will be faster. Marketers can increase their consumer base by targeting the huge potential at the bottom of pyramid and hence increase their bottom line significantly as well as deliver to their promise of corporate social responsibility. Introduction C. K. Prahlad in his book â€Å"The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid† says, â€Å"If we stop thinking of the poor as victims or as a burden and start recognizing them as resilient and creative entrepreneurs and value-conscious consumers, a whole new world of opportunity will open up†. This statement has been taken to like a gospel truth by marketers in India and many are now trying hard to target this untapped potential. India is a country of 1.13 billion, out of which 70% of the people are living in the rural India. The marketers all around the world interested in India are becoming more curious to explore the rural potential. With 128 million households, the rural population is 3 times the urban. As a result of rural affluence, fuelled by good monsoon and the increase in agriculture to 200 million tones, the rural India has large consuming class of 41% of middle class and8 58% of the total disposable income. The Census of India defines Rural India as anything which is not urban. Village is defined as a basic unit for the rural areas is the revenue village, might comprise several hamlets demarcated by physical boundaries. Thus a Rural is defined when it meets the following criteria Minimum Population Population density 25% of the male population engaged in agricultural activity Reserve Bank of India defines rural as ‘Locations with population up to 10,000 will be considered as rural and 10,000 to 100,000 as semi-urban. Similarly NABARD, Planning Commission, Sahara also define the villages on population criteria. As mentioned in The Rural Marketing Book, Pradeep Kashyap and Siddhartha Raut (ed.2008), the rural economy has seen tremendous growth since 1990s because of thirteen consecutive good monsoons. This various radical changes in rural market has been testimonial to this development, some of them are as follows; There has been a 600% increase in the outlay of rural development programmes in the five year plans from Eighth to Tenth Five year plan. 41 million Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) has been issued since the inception of the scheme amounting to a total of Rs. 97,700 crore of cumulative credit. The number of KCC issued is more than the 40 million credit-plus-debit cards issued in urban India. Also a 230% increase in the flow of institutional credit for agriculture from 1997-98 to 2004-05 has been registered. Today Mobile phones are ubiquitous not just in urban India but also in rural areas. This phenomenon has increased the scope of branding which most company considered a tough turf in rural India. Though it may seem a far-fetched idea currently but considering the giant leap the economies of developing nations like India is making, tapping of rural markets building brands for this market make sense. There is virtually no branding effort in these areas so a scope for brand salience resonance doesnt increase. Mostly brands in these areas right now are competing on price points which will cease to exist as differentiator as customer becomes more evolved bestowed with financial prowess. But there seem to be branding efforts from the marketers viewpoint and also there is some franchise on factors other than price from the consumer view. A lot of work in the field of mobile telephony has been going around e.g. A team of MIT Media Labs Next Billion Network participants next generation of tech movers and shakers- who are building technologies to help people in the developing nation to raise their incomes, learn to read, get where theyre going, and diagnose their health. (david-chandler, july-2-2009) Innovative use of Mobile application is helping war torn Afghanistan fight corruption and elevate the standard of living of its people as depicted in the following new report. (Loyn, 2009) Nokia have also felt the rural potential and developed product consumer in those regions. Even their communication for the Model 1100 has been specifically targeted at the rural audience fully portraying the need in the rural settings. (Banerjee Sangameshwaran, 2009) Also the value of VAS industry is estimated to be Rs.16500 crores by 2010 according to a research by RNCOS, with expansion into rural markets where more services in banking, gaming data and TV segment will be seen. (Mobile VAS to Drive Telecom Growth, 2009). Thus the future of mobile marketing looks optimistic and with rural economies building into a sustainable model, marketers have to no longer think about the return on marketing investment. Literature review In the following literature review, I have reviewed the various published articles white papers from journals, books Reports. First I have looked into the knowledge created on rural marketing it implication, in this domain a lot of work has been done with a global perspective and quite a few with the Indian market in viewpoint. Rural Marketing its Implication Some of the studies are regularly published in the Journal of Rural Marketing by RMAAI to help marketers keep track of updates in rural market. A study on evolution of rural consumerism conducted by Hansa Research reveals the rural consumption pattern over a period of five years i.e. 2000 to 2005. The study has data on three levels i.e. exposure in terms of communication and education, consumption of several categories of products and distribution of these products. According to the report shampoo consumption in rural India has increased from 13.9 % in 2000 to 31.9 % in 2005. (The Rural Marketing Journal of RMAAI, 2007) Dr. Vinod Kumar Bishnoi and Bharti of Haryana School of Business have done a research paper on Awareness Consumption Pattern of Rural Consumers towards home and personal care products. The paper contains details on awareness and usage of brands in rural areas. It also tries to find out the motives and factors behind brand choice, the sources of information and to measure any association between demographics and brand choice. Regarding motives and factors behind brand choice, Bishnoi and Bharti say that rural consumers purchase a product mostly for its utilitarian value rather than the peripheral values. Consumers tend to stick to the brand once they are satisfied with it. The brand loyalty in this case is unusually high even though consumers switch FMCG brands very frequently. The rural consumer is also very quality conscious. Advertising and retailers advice play a major role in decision making. The consumer is also a little cautious with price levels. The study also reveals that there is clear association between income level and expenditure habits in these products. The primary source of information about brands is television. Retailer, newspaper and radio are other prominent sources. As Bishnoi and Bharti highlighted in their paper some very interesting aspects, that whatever is the leading brand in all the products that remains leading irrespective of any demographic variable be it income, education , age or gender. This might be explained by the fact that the family structure in rural India is such that that several people of various education and age group stay together. The contemporary media scenario in India is marked by a frenetic proliferation of television channels, FM radio stations, daily newspapers, mobile telephony and digital media. Despite this situation, as the following article argues, the poor while highly visible almost everywhere in urban and rural India remain, ‘invisible in the nations mass media. (Kumar, Jan 2008) To successfully market products in rural areas, distribution is a critical barrier which needs to be overcome. An understanding of the structure of distribution in rural areas would help in the development of an efficient distribution system. The paper after a thorough literature review proposes a conceptual framework which identifies the drivers of the structure of distribution in rural areas. (Rajesh L. K., January June, 2005) The paper discusses the need for strengthening marketing efforts in rural India. The author mentions about the rural network, whose basic objective is to try and get clients who are looking for a national strategy in rural marketing and provide help in implementing such plans across different regions with the local expertise. The paper also deals with instances on how marketers aiming to target their brand commercials to both urban and rural audiences are required to do well to pre-test the spots and that the spots communicate what is intended for the targeted viewers, thus providing the basis that there is a huge difference in rural urban consumer and they have to be dealt with differently (Rajan, 2005) The second stage of my literature reviews knowledge on the mobile telephony- the development with respect to marketing, the intention in developing VAS, user perception of mobile marketing, the obstacle barriers to mobile marketing. Carter in the journal of Mobile marketing defines mobile telephony as a set of buzz words like Mobile marketing, mobile advertising and m-commerce. He examines the Generation Y, the generational cohort born between 1979 and 1994, which researchers think will change the marketing landscape forever. This paper addresses some of the many issues and opportunities that may affect marketers abilities to reach Generation Y African-American mobile consumers. (Carter, June 2008) Another journal in mobile marketing reveals that empirical studies have been limited to exploring consumer justifications for accepting or rejecting cell phone advertising on either a speculative basis among possible mobile marketing users, or a post hoc basis among those who had already chosen to receive cell phone advertising. This research explored consumer justifications in the context of a field test, in which mobile phone users were offered subscriptions to a mobile phone text based advertising program. Thus found out that among acceptors information benefits of cell phone advertising was prime due to positive attitude towards information entertainment. While for the rejecters the perception of having to pay for advertising was enough to discourage participation. (Newell Meier, Dec 2007) This journal examines the drivers of consumer acceptance of SMS-based mobile advertising. A conceptual model and hypotheses are tested with a sample of 4,062 Finnish mobile phone users. Structural equation modeling is used to test five drivers of mobile advertising acceptance: (1) utility, (2) context, (3) control, (4) sacrifice, and (5) trust. The results show that utility and context are the strongest positive drivers, while sacrifice is negatively related to the acceptance of mobile advertising. Thus marketers should pay particular attention to the utility and relevancy of mobile advertising messages. (Merisavo, Kajalo, Karjaluoto, Virtanen, Salmenkivi) Mobile Marketing I have reviewed the various application of mobile telephony and the consumer perception towards mobile marketing in particular and mobile application in general. Also innovation from companies for rural consumer were of considerable significance as firms like Nokia had earlier launched a basic handset with a torch (large parts of rural India dont have electricity) and an alarm clock. In another paper, an instrument for measuring attitudes toward mobile advertising is developed. The results of a survey indicate that (1) consumers generally have negative attitudes toward mobile advertising unless they have specifically consented to it, and (2) there is a direct relationship between consumer attitudes and consumer behavior. Hence concluded that it is not a good idea to send SMS advertisements to potential customers without permission. Their attitudes were favorable if advertisements were sent with permission. This implies that permission-based advertising may become a major mechanism in the mobile environment in the future. The research notably points out relationship between attitude, intention and acceptability of Mobile advertising through empirical study. The respondents were more willing to accept incentive based mobile advertising. Finally, intention significantly affected how and when the respondents read the message. (M. Tsang, Ho, Ting-Peng, 2004) Although mobile phones have been shown to be highly effective as education content delivery mechanisms, underlying handset and subscription costs have limited their usefulness in many underprivileged countries. Thus the author proposes a model where education content can be subsidized by mobile advertising and a business model is developed where sellers is able to communicate to buyers in their native tongue and vice-versa in order to close transactions. The paper touches on many key issues that are determining the mobile marketing sector. The mobile dam is about to burst and marketers have to be prepared for this through well developed and formulated ethical strategies. Customers will have to be gently cajoled and locked into useful market applications. (Ranchhod, June 2007) Impact of Technology in Marketing The article â€Å"The Missing link-Why mobile marketing is different† is rich with illustrations, examples and detailed footnotes, includes a thorough discussion on how marketing, technology, and business practices and models have matured and converged over time to make the medium what it is today. He discusses the impact network migration from 2G to 3G, globalization, the changes in marketing practices, and the value system have had on mobile marketing practices. He suggests that we need to focus on developing successful revenue models, create favorable conditions for relationship marketing and long term-dialog amongst the players in the industry, and that we must have a global mindset and to put aside any not-invent-here mentalities. (Steinbock, June 2006) Again in the paper stresses on the increasingly complex and demanding customers as ICT developments becomes rapid and marketers start coping with highly demanding customer who require extraordinary experiences and highly user-friendly service interfaces particularly in technology services, such as mobile marketing (as illustrated in the Figure below). (Steinbock, June 2006) Rationale/Information Gap The rural market works on 4 As i.e. Accessibility, Affordability, Acceptability and Awareness and the traditional four Ps of marketing cease to exist in this scenario. There is a presence of huge potential in rural India but at the same time there is a lot of obstacle faced venturing into these markets. Low per capita disposable incomes, large number of daily wage earners, acute dependence on vagaries of monsoon, seasonal consumption linked to harvest festivals and special occasion, poor roads power problems and inaccessibility of conventional advertising media. As much as there is potential, there is also a good amount of ambiguity on how to create brand salience in these markets. In such situation marketers who see huge potential in rural market with around 700 million consumers, everyone would like to take its brand to the next level of brand salience resonance. Hence with increased penetration of mobile phones there has been more chance of mobile communication entering the media dark region. It may seem farfetched as an idea to brand product for rural consumer when presently we think that rural consumer stress on affordability. Much has been written about rural marketing, the consumption patterns, attitudes behavior of rural consumer in India and Mobile marketing in isolation but the whole perspective of mobile marketing for rural India is not covered in the literatures. Therefore this study aims to look at the future prospects of mobile telephony as a means to communicate brand promotion and create a brand resonance with the rural consumer. Research Objectives Objectives are as follows; To find out the present usage of mobile telephony among rural users and their perception of brands using mobile marketing To find out the technology/language barriers in implementing branding activities in the rural environment The objectives will aim to find out what are the technology barriers, governments policies and technological advances for the implementation development of mobile application to facilitate interactive marketing. It also aims to understand the acceptability of technology in the rural environment and the language barrier, since most of the rural India has lower literacy rate and use local languages as means of communication is prevalent. The second objective aims to find out the acceptability of mobile marketing in the rural context and how will it affect a brand. We intend to discover whether the consumer reacts to marketing communication over mobile phone in positive manner and how will it affect the purchase intention of the brand. Approach Secondary Research: Present and future platforms/technology which makes mobile telephony ubiquitous for Rural India Studying the branding marketing efforts of companies for rural India, the number of companies interested in marketing branding their products for rural India Primary Research: Qualitative research is applied to understand the consumer perception in rural India while using mobile telephony. This is done in two stages; Focus group discussion with rural respondents Depth interviews with rural respondents Depth Interviews with marketers after the FGDs/DIs The TG of the study is defined as: Age: above 15 SEC RI, R2, R3 Location: West Bengal, Gujarat Gender: Males Females Presumption is that the decision makers in rural India are generally the head of the family, who is the male member. Also the same holds true for mobile users, though a considerable amount of women these days are using mobile phones too. So I have conducted FGDs across all age group for the male sample size. Each FGD had people from the same caste same gender to maintain cohesion focus in the discussion. West Bengal has the least mobile phone user whereas Gujarat is one of the highest mobile phone users. Hence its a contrasting study to find out the motivation underlying the use of mobile phones and the prospect of mobile marketing. The following table represents the No. of users in Gujarat and West Bengal. 2 focus group discussion in each location i.e. Gujarat and West Bengal Five depth interviews in each location Interviews with marketers after the FGDs Profile of respondents: All respondent must be using mobile telephones in daily basis Should be literate with primary school education Secondary research From being charged for incoming calls to getting paid for calls you receive and then a pay per second regime, Indian wireless telephony has come a long way. India has one of the biggest telecom markets in the world. It has the third-largest telecom network in the world and second-largest among the emerging economies. The Indian telecom industry generated revenues of approximately US$ 32 billion in 2007–08 with a growth rate of 60 per cent over 2006–07. It witnessed a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 29 per cent from 2002–03 to 2007–08. Total telecom subscribers – 545.05 million (January 2010) Teledensity – 43.50 (September 2009) Addition of mobile subscribers (July–August 2009) – 15.08 million Annual growth rate of telecom subscribers (June 2008–June 2009) – 42.68 per cent Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for GSM (as on 30 June 2009) – US$ 3.80 The wireless subscriber base increased from 535.15 million in December 2009 to 545.05 million at the end of January this year for a monthly growth rate of 3.79 per cent. The wireless density in the country now stands at 46.37. It grew at a CAGR of 45.21 per cent from June 2004 to June 2009. The handset market in India, consisting of mobile and fixed handsets, registered an overall growth of 5.8 percent from 2007-08 to 2008-09. (India, 2009) The value added service (VAS) market in India has a great potential for growth and revenue from this growth potential is expected to reach above INR 250 billion by the year 2009-10 and more than 30% of the revenue of the telecom access service providers in the next 5-7 years. The VAS industry in India generated revenue of US$ 1.2 billion in 2007–08 and is expected to reach US$ 4.0 billion by 2015. Top 11 Wireless Operators in the country: (September 2009) (India, 2009) Among the wireless service providers, Tata had a 14.97 % share of the net additions during January, followed by Bharti Airtel with 14.31 %, Reliance 14.08 %, Vodafone 13.78 %, Idea 11.42 %, BSNL 11.29 %, Aircel 10.10 %, Uninor 6.68 %, Stel 1.83 %, Sistema 1.07 %, Loop 0.26 % and MTNL 0.23 %. Market share of top 12 operators: Bharti Airtel had a market share of 22.33 per cent, followed by Reliance with 17.72 %, Vodafone 17.27 %, BSNL 11.95 %, Tata 11.07 %, Idea 10.99 %, Aircel 6.06 %, MTNL 0.90 %, Sistema 0.60 %, Loop 0.50 %, Uninor 0.47 %, Stel 0.09 % and HFCL 0.06 %. Present technology in India GSM has a market share of ~75% out of the 500 million wireless subscribers Reliance has registered a 6.73 % market share which is quite impressive for service which was launched only 6 months ago. CDMA subscribers are at 94.5 million and here is how they are split: Tata Teleservices which launched its GSM operations under brand name Tata DoCoMo will be another player to look out for in the next few quarters. Unitech Wireless has launched its services in 2009 and has a subscriber base of 2.5 million as of Jan 2010. New entrant S Tel added 0.22 million subscribers to take its subscriber base to 0.36 million. Reliance rules CDMA followed by Tata Teleservices (Tata Indicom). Shyam telelink has rebranded to MTS India has a subscriber base of 3.5 million (as of Jan 2010). CDMA doesnt look as much over-crowded as GSM but when put together the overall picture of Indian telecom looks crowded with 12 operators and 3 waiting in the wings. Reliance and Tata are the 2 companies to watch out for with the dual play of GSM and CDMA operations. The average revenue per user of CDMA is 99 rupees and that of GSM is 205 rupees. With 3 new players coming in for GSM the ARPUs will come down. CDMA which is supposed to be a better network for data access can use this opportunity to increase the ARPUs and subscribers. It just has to sort out the handset availability issue. (India, 2009) Penetration in Rural India As on 31st September 2009, out of the total 500 million subscribers, the rural subscribers contribute 151.8 million, comprising of 10.13 million wireline and 141 million wireless. The Rural teledensity as on September 2009 was 18.46% as compared to 9.20% during the previous year in March08. Subscription in Urban Areas grew from 328.55 Million in Jun-09 to 357.22 Million in Sep-09, taking the urban Teledensity to 102.79. Rural subscription increased from 136.27 Million to 151.81 Million, taking the Rural Teledensity from 16.61 in Jun-09 to 18.46 at the end of Sep-09. Total Wireless (GSM + CDMA) subscriber base increased from 427.29 Million at the end of June-09 to 471.73 Million at the end of Sept-09, thereby showing a growth of 10.4%. During this quarter 44.43 million subscribers were added. Wireless Teledensity increased from 36.64 at the end of June-09 to 40.31 at the end of Sept-09. Rural subscription (12.5%) has been growing at a faster rate than Urban (9.5%). The share of rural wireless subscription is 30% in total wireless subscription. Overall rate of growth of Wireless Subscription in QE Sept-09 (10.40%) is higher as compared to previous quarter (9.07%). Higher growth rate could mainly be attributed to the launch of GSM services by Tata Teleservices Limited across service areas. Future Developments Technologies in India WiMax stand for â€Å"Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access† is a standard-based wireless technology that allows broadband connections over long distances. The Economic Times, citing a study by US market research firm Strategy Analytics, reports that India will become the largest WiMAX market in the Asia-Pacific by 2013. The study forecasts that consumer subscriptions in the developing Asian countries will grow at a compound rate of 132% through 2013, with the subscriber base reaching almost 27 million in that year.Most emerging markets WiMAX providers will launch their initial services in major urban areas, to take advantage of concentrations of existing Internet users with purchasing power. However, over the longer term the most rapid growth is expected to be in second-tier cities and in rural areas, where there is substantially less competition from incumbent broadband suppliers.(Study Predicts India to be Largest WiMAX market in Asia Pacific by 2013, 2010) BSNL, HCL Infosystems Ltd and Intel Corp. have started a series of wide-reaching initiatives to spur economic and educational opportunities in India by expanding access to wireless broadband Internet and affordable computers. This is in support of the India governments Bharat Nirman rural development agenda. Intel and BSNL will jointly propagate wireless broadband Internet in what is intended to ultimately become a nationwide mobile WiMAX network. BSNL will also work with the two to make available in rural India WiMAX-capable nettop computers designed by the two companies and made in India by HCL using the Intel atom processor. Despite spectrum auction delays and other bureaucracy, India is set to be the biggest base on earth for WiMAX by 2012, and state-owned carrier BSNL, which has pre-auction access to its spectrum, has gone live with the countrys first Mobile WiMAX network. BSNL has two parallel projects, one for rural areas and one for metro networks kicked started by Minister Sachin Pilot. BSNL intends to usher in a new era of growth in rural areas by offering a broadband speed of 7Mbps at a distance of 15 kilometers. WiMax plans to bring to the underserved communities several key applications to meet the Indian governments target to reduce the countrys woeful levels of broadband penetration. Some of them will include; Utility bill payments Issue of official

Statement of Educational Goals and Philosophy :: My Philosophy of Education

Statement of Educational Goals and Philosophy Why do I want to become a teacher? When I think about that question, I’m sure a few of my answers would be like some of the others in the class: I love being around people, the pay isn’t too bad, you get holidays, summers, even weekends off, and I don’t even mind grading papers! On the other hand, I do have another reason I’d like to become a teacher that’s probably a little different than others. Let me explain. It was January and colder that ever. The weather didn’t seem to faze me at all as I got off the bus and rushed up my hill. The few steps from the end of the driveway to my front porch seemed like miles. I opened the door only to find an empty house. No one was there like I expected. I was going to be an aunt for the first time and I was looking forward to finding out it was going to boy or a girl. It seemed as though the whole day went by until I saw our car in the driveway. I rushed to the door anxious and excited, only to find tears dropping from my mom’s eyes, and my sister-in-law Holly sadder than I’d ever seen anyone. My mom took me in the bedroom and explained to me the ultra sound showed some serious problems with the baby. He had spina-bifida and severe fluid on his brain. She explained that the doctors said my nephew had little to no chance of living, but if some miracle would happen and my nephew would live, he would live a very short life and be a complete vegetable. A month and a half went by and on May 14,1993 Terry Paul Daniels was born. His little head was the size of a basketball and he had a hole in the lower part of his back. Within the first three days of Terry’s life he had four surgeries, rode in a helicopter, and faced death a number of times. Since then, Terry’s had four more surgeries, been in a complete body cast, and went through his parents getting a horrible divorce. Through all of this something that happened to him when he was in kindergarten sticks out to me the most.

Colonialism and Imperialism in Nectar in a Sieve Essay -- Nectar Sieve

Imperialism in Nectar in a Sieve  Ã‚      The characters in the book Nectar in a Sieve had to deal with Western imperialism and they had to adapt to the changing ideas associated with Western imperialism. Throughout the book Rukmani had to struggle with her beliefs and how to cope with these changes. From the beginning Rukmani coped with these changes, from culture to her way of life, until the end of the book where even then her life was not through being changed. In the first instance Rukmani had to deal with a husband that was several castes below her. Usually if the woman was below the man she could probably do the work that he does, being used to the labor that is. Yet in Rukmani’s instance the man was below her, which meant that she was not used to hard labor. â€Å"A man is indeed fortunate if he does not marry above him, for if he does he gets a wife who is no help . . . what patience indeed my husband must have had† (14). Rukmani was fortunate to marry a kind husband, and though she had no farming experience, she became quit good at it, and made profit from her vegetable goods. At first, traditional urban life continued as it always had, but then Western imperialistic ideas began to come into their midst. It started when a tannery was established in their small village town, then white men begin building, and prostitution became a menace to their lifestyles. The tannery had been a source for income during difficult times when famine struck their livelihood. After awhile Western imperialistic ideas began to manifest themselves in her sons lives, as when they became aware of the idea of union type strikes. This occurred when the white owners were cheating them of their proper earnings. â€Å"Then one day they di... ...s. People who live in rural communities often get lost and taken advantage of in big cities, but sometimes they do manage to survive. In the case of technology and medicine the natives of the land are always suspicious and unsure if these new ideas are safe. Rukmani’s move to the city was a bad idea, because she had no idea if her son could even afford to take care of them. They should have stayed in the small town, especially since her husband was sickly and this move would, and did, kill him at the end of the book. Eventually Rukmani had to move back to her small town because of his death. Western imperialism had a negative impact on non-Western cultures at first. Nevertheless, later when the rural communities accepted Western ideas they began to adapt to them. Overall most non-western communities prospered, and grew into industrialized lands.      

Dostoevsky’s Notes from Undergound - Reactions to an Overdeterministic

Dostoevsky’s Notes from Undergound - Reactions to an Overdeterministic Existence Some of the works cited are missing Dostoevsky presents his Notes from Undergound as the fragmented ramblings of an unnamed narrator. On the surface, the character’s narration appears disjointed and reaches no conclusive end ing until the author intercedes to end the book. However, a close examination of the underground man’s language reveals a progression in his collected ravings. After expressing dissatisfaction with the notion of determinism, the underground man perceives the irony of his ultra-deterministic reality. Through his narrative, the underground man discovers the truth about his predestined, fictional existence. Dostoevsky’s work is divided into two sections; throughout the first section, â€Å"Underground,† the narrator discusses and resists determinism. The underground man compares deterministic life to a mathematical formula, two times two equals four. He suggests that, according to the deterministic model, life conforms to a set of predestined events and actions, and its outcome is inevitable. The underground man condemns the formula, asserting, â€Å"After all, two times two is no longer life, gentlemen, but the beginning of death†(24). In his essay Narrative and Freedom, critic Gary Saul Morson elaborates upon the narrator’s statement, adding, â€Å"For life to be meaningful and for work to be more than robotic, there must be something not just unknown but still undecided† (Morson 196-7). According to the underground man, the pre-existence of the solution implies that no other conclusion may be reached; once one embarks on life, one cannot escape the inevitable outcome of death. Morson emphasizes the underground man’s res... ...nd man initially believes that by identifying the cause of his defectiveness, he will be able to correct his seemingly doomed life. Instead, he discovers that his real defect, his existence as fiction, prevents him from ever altering his circumstances. After heralding self-awareness as the key to controlling his own life, he finds that self-awareness only allows him to perceive how little control he could ever have. Works Cited and Consulted Berger, Peter L. The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion. New York: Anchor Books, 1990. Escher, M.C. â€Å"Drawing Hands.† Cover of Norton edition of Notes from Underground. Katz, Michael R., ed. Notes from Underground. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. Chernyshevsky, Nikolai. â€Å"What Is to Be Done?† Katz 104-123. Dostoevsky, Fyodor. â€Å"Notes from Underground.† Katz 3-91 Morson Todorov

The End of the Cold War and the New Threats to Global Security

1.Introduction The end of the Cold War marked a new beginning for the international security agenda, and the demise of the simple bipolarity brought forward a revised agenda for human rights, international peace and cooperation and stability. The end of the Cold War triggered the rise of new threats and challenges to international security, and the advance of globalization led to the redistribution of power in the international system (Baylis & Smith, 2007; Brown, 2005). In the context of globalization, the capacity of the state was undermined and as a result state-to-state relations dramatically changed (Strange, 2002). Classic wars were gradually transformed into â€Å"modern wars† (Kaldor, 1999; Smith, 2006; Shaw, 2005). In this different political environment, the security challenges were no longer existent on a state-to-state level, because of the growing importance of sub-state actors. This essay will focus on the reorganization of the international system after the end of the Cold War, and will discuss the new challenges to global security, posed by the demise of the bipolar regime. The essay will support the view that with the end of the Cold War, the world became a more dangerous place, because of the multiplicity of actors on the international scene and the changed perceptions of military force, war and security. Changing perceptions of military force and war The end of the Cold War brought forward the change of the perceptions of military force in several different aspects. The impact of these changed perceptions upon the international security agenda has been undisputed, and will be discussed in detail. For clarity, the author has chosen to focus only on the most important security-related transformations following the Cold War – the new sources of threat such as nuclear weapons and terrorism, and the changing notions of war in the context of globalization. Their features will be discussed in the context of the changed dynamics of the international system.2.1 New sources of security threatThe end of the Cold War led to new security challenges, because of changing notions of military force and the new sources of security threat (Smith, 2006; Shaw, 2005). The first one is related to the rise of nuclear power. With the demise of the USSR, the simple bipolarity of the Cold War world was replaced by a multipolar world, where the centr ality of power was no longer clearly defined (Brown, 2005; Jackson & Sorensen, 2003). The rise of the Asian economic powers, the advance of nuclear and biological weapons in countries such as Iran, Israel and Iraq challenged the stability of the mutual deterrence principle, comfortably sustained during the Cold War (Hammes, 2005). Another source of security threat after the Cold War was related to terrorism, and the rise of sub-state actors (Smith, 2006). The War on terror, embedded in the Bush doctrine, was a clear demonstration of the changing nature of war, and the elusive image of the new enemy (Shaw, 2005). After 9/11 it became clear that terrorism was not a war against an enemy, but against tactics (Baylis & Smith, 2007). Its manifestations and capacity to destroy were as much the result of political construction, as of historically embedded perceptions about the East and the West and their manipulation by mass media and policy-makers. After the end of the Cold War non-state actors such as Al Qaeda and Hamas, became a new source of security threat because of their ability to operate internationally but at the same time to exist inside the state (Shaw, 2005). Also, the controversies, around states labelled as rogue and unable to comply with the international standards for peace and democracy such as Afgha nistan, Iraq, North Korea, Libya and Syria necessitated new means for meeting the challenges to threat and security. They will be discussed in section 3.2.2 Changing notions of war in a global worldHere it is important to mention globalization as a factor, which led to re-examination of the capacity of the state to observe human security and human rights (Strange, 2002). In the context of a borderless world, the international human rights agenda is inevitably revisited, and the main carriers of legal standards are no longer represented solely by state actors, but by the global civil society, comprising of International non-governmental organizations (INGOs). Because of these inevitable transformations, the very perception of security, threat and war changed in several important aspects. As Mary Kaldor famously observes, the end of the Cold War saw the rise of the modern wars, which lack time and space, because they are based on non-quantifiable demands often related to ideology, eth nicity, religion and the social construction of history (1999). The old wars were pushed away by new types of threats and conflicts, such as organized crime, and religious and civil wars. The early 1990s saw the bloody demise of former Yugoslavia, and a series of conflicts in Rwanda, Congo, Sudan and Somalia, triggered by the redefinition of political borders, the struggle over economic resources and ethnic and religious factionalism. In the context of globalization, the modern wars are interstate conflicts, executed by sub-state actors. In this sense, it is important to mention that the growing presence of the sub-state actors has posed new challenges to the classic perceptions of security, because of non-tangible variables such as perceptions, as opposed to old-time military ambitions related to territorial invasion and economic gain. Meeting the new security challenges: a revised agenda for peace In order to meet the new security challenges, identified earlier, the international community had to devise a new agenda in the post-Cold war era. First, humanitarian intervention became important, and triggered as an effect of the revised agenda, where the security of foreign nationals, whose human rights have been violated by their home state became important (Jackson & Sorensen, 2003). Despite the ongoing political debate about the legality and legitimacy of humanitarian intervention, a norm of intervention was authorized by the UN Security Council in the 1990s, which was followed by operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1996 and Kosovo in 1999 (Baylis & Smith, 2007). Despite the criticisms that humanitarian intervention might stop the immediate killing of civilians but is not a reliable strategy for long-term piece, it reveals a shifted emphasis from military to human security in the years following the end of the Cold War. In this relation, another trend in dealing with conflicts became prominent – the imposition of economic sanctions for the purpose of exerting political, rather than military pressure u pon non-compliant states and communities. The post-Cold War agenda for peace also involved the reorganization of military forces, where the deviation from the Clausewitzian concept of war was obvious in the attempt to ameliorate and contain, rather than destroy or simply conquer (Smith, 2006). Examples of such wars of containment are the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, the role of the global civil society and the growing influence of INGOs as advocates of peace and human rights deserve a mention. The importance of international non-governmental organizations in global policy-making has been undisputed because of the more complicated security agenda in the post-Cold War era. Also, because of the multiplicity of actors in the international system, and the new security needs, states and intergovernmental organizations are unable to deal with international crises without the development programmes and research, provided by the INGOs. Although their political success remains disputed, their role as independent observers and proponents of policy change is growing. Conclusion This essay has attempted to show the changing nature of the international system after the end of the Cold War. Today the international community faces different security threats based on a new perception of military force. Terrorism and the spread of nuclear power have shunned classic state-to-state conflicts, and as a result a new security agenda for peace and cooperation has been embraced. In the era of globalization, the transition towards collective security as a model of global governance, remains a challenge but also a prerequisite for peace. Bibliography: Baylis, J. & Smith, S. (2007) eds, The Globalization of World Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press Brown, C., (2005) Understanding International Relations, Palgrave: Macmillan, Ch. 6, pp. 106-123 Clausewitz, C. (1977) ‘What is War?’, On War, Princeton: Princeton University Press Hammes, T.X (2005) ‘War evolves into the fourth generation’, Contemporary Security Policy, Vol.26, No.2pp.189–221. Jervis, R. (1991/1992) ‘The Future of World Politics: Will It Resemble the Past?’ International Security 16, no. 3 Jackson, R. & Sorensen, G. (2003) Introduction to International Relations, Oxford: Oxford University Press Kaldor, M. (1999) New and Old Wars: Organized Violence in a Global Era. Cambridge: Polity Press Shaw, M. (2005) The New Western Way of War: Risk Transfer war and its Crisis in Iraq Cambridge: Polity Press Smith, R. (2006) The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World London: Penguin Strange, S. (2002) The Declining Authority of States, in The Global Transformations Reader: an Introduction to the Globalization Debate, 2nd edition, Held and MacGrew (eds) Cambridge: Polity Press, pp.127-134 Van Creveld, M. (1991) The Transformation Of War NY: Free Press

True Love

English 200 Poetry Explication: â€Å"True Love† by Wislawa Szymborska This paper is an essay is an analysis of Wislawa Szymborska’s poem â€Å"True Love. † When I first read the poem, I was struck by its sheer simplicity and passion at what Szymborska feels that it means for two people to be in love. However; upon further contemplation, I see how she uses the lovers to represent change in an otherwise boring and regimented world where all actions must be taken for the betterment and advancement of the state. True Love† is a powerful piece that is told through the persona of an anonymous authoritarian bureaucrat who questions the value of love when compared to the needs of the state. â€Å"True Love† was written at a time when Soviet control was strangling the Eastern Bloc countries, particularly Poland. In this situation, citizens were expected to devote their lives to the advancement of the State – personal needs were secondary. In light of this situation, Szymborska forces the reader to examine the poem on a number of levels including the socio/political level and also at the base level of two people brought together as one. I will discuss how Szymborska, very cleverly, uses the lovers to illustrate how individuals can make effect change from within a system when they are passionate about their beliefs. I will also discuss that love, the most primal of mans’ needs, can be so complex in its simplicity that it can overwhelm and frighten those who misunderstand it. The first stanza of the poem consists of four lines: â€Å"True love. Is it normal, is it serious, is it practical? What does the world get from two people Who exist is a world of their own? † (lines 1-4) Szymborska begins by asking questions about love; however, is she actually asking about love or is she questioning whether it is practical for a society to acknowledge love? As an emotional human being, one would be able to answer these questions in the affirmative that, yes, love is normal and serious and practical. When people are in love, they are happy and probably more productive because of their commitment to the other person. However, when one looks at these first four lines with the jaded eye of, say, an authoritative, repressive bureaucrat then, perhaps, love serves no purpose but to get in the way of serving the state. This person might answer these same questions by saying that, though love might be normal and serious, it is not practical because how can one dedicate his/her life to society if they are more concerned about the person that they love? To this person, the world (state) would get nothing from two people who exist is a world of their own so this should not be allowed to happen. In lines 5 – 13, Szymborska uses the persona of the bureaucrat to begin casting dispersions and snide comments about the audacity that two people would have to dare fall in love. â€Å"Placed on the same pedestal for no good reason, rawn randomly from millions, but convinced it had to happen this way – in reward for what? For nothing. † (lines 5-8) In these lines, the reader begins to understand that he is now hearing the voice of the faceless bureaucrat whose soul interest is the betterment of the state. Or, perhaps, we are hearing the words of someone who has suffered through bad relations hips in the past. I believe it to be the former. Szymborska wrote this poem in 1972 in a Poland that had been under the authoritarian rule of the Soviet Union since 1945. In the six years before the Soviets, Poland was ruled by the occupational forces of the Nazi Third Reich. I am convinced that the persona that we are hearing is the voice of an authoritarian government representative – a cold, uncaring Orwellian figure. This is the section of the poem where the jaded voice of the person rings through loud and clear when he states; â€Å"it had to happen this way – in reward for what? For nothing. † (line 7-8) Of course, the person in love would disagree vehemently with this for their reward is garnered each time they look into the eyes or feel the touch of the one they love – that is part of the reward, the reciprocal love shared between two lovers. They would answer; â€Å"yes, it did happen this way and here is my (our) reward. † The persona continues his lament when he states; â€Å"The light descends from nowhere. Why on these two and not on others? Doesn’t this outrage justice? Yes it does. Doesn’t it disrupt our painstakingly erected principles, and cast the moral from the peak? Yes on both accounts. † (lines 10-13) In these lines, not only does the persona question the value of two people being in love but he also questions the existence of a higher power (God); â€Å"The light descends from nowhere. And why on these two and not others? † (lines 10-11) The persona refuses to believe God or faith could play a role in determining who falls in love or why love happens but, then wonders why these two people have been chosen to be with each other. Seemingly taken aback for a moment, the persona then falls back into his numbing, bureaucratic role when he asks the questions, and then answers his own questions, in the affirmative, about how love how love would disrupt the â€Å"painstakingly erected principles† and would the moral be cast from the peaks. The persona typifies the cold, uncaring demagogues who reveled in the Soviet occupation of Eastern European countries, never questioning those in power and ensuring that all rules were followed. â€Å"Look at the happy couple. Couldn’t they at least try to hide it, fake a little depression for their friends’ sake! Listen to them laughing – it’s an insult. † (lines 14-18) With these lines, the persona is now drawing attention to the lovers, trying to castigate them and make the other citizens, presumably those who experience no love in their lives, hate the lovers as much as he does. The persona’s hate, though, does not stem from a true dislike but from fear – fear that if more people began to feel love then they would not be so beholden to the state and the power of the state would be diminished. The persona states that the lovers’ laughter is an insult, though to whom is the insult directed? It is an insult to the state because, through all of the dreariness that is their life, the lovers have found something that the state cannot control (their love for each other) and they relish that. Their laughing is not an insult; quite the contrary, they are laughing because in their world they are one and that makes their world an idyllic place. The third stanza ends with the line; â€Å"And their little celebrations, rituals, the elaborate mutual routines – it’s obviously a plot behind the human race’s back! † (lines 19 – 21) To any regime, the ultimate fear is that they lose control of the citizenry – the cogs in an unemotional machine. When the persona cannot explain (or accept) how love can occur, the only â€Å"logical† answer is that it must be a plot against the state (the human race. Why else would these disrespectful citizens waste their energy on each other rather than towards the advancement of the state? Stanza four finds the poem’s persona beginning to panic as he wonders what would happen if, God forbid, more citizens begin to follow the lovers’ example and experience love for themselves; â€Å"Itâ €™s hard to even guess how far things might go if people start to follow their example. What could religion and poetry count on? What would be remembered? What renounced? Who’d want to stay within bounds? † (lines 22-26) Historically, oppressive regimes have worked hard to strictly limit what people can read, see, hear or say. This repression of free expression, it was (is) thought, helped to keep the people in line. The government begins to take on the role of a strict parent, ensuring that their naive child remains ignorant of what takes place outside their home (borders. ) However, how can that same government oppress a population that is aware of basic human rights? Therein lays the rhetorical question; how ‘ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm? (after they've seen paree. ) The persona is pondering this very question and fearing the worst possible outcome that a bureaucrat could imagine; â€Å"Who’d want to stay within the bounds? (line 26) The fear of seeing two people in love, walking out of step from the rest of the automaton-like population, has pushed the state (our persona) to a point of hysteria. Rather than accept that love happens, that people are unique as individuals, the persona continues to present reason to reject love; â€Å"True love. Is it really necessary? Tact and common sense tell us to pass over it in silence, like a scandal in Life’s highest circles. It couldn’t populate the planet in a million years, it comes along so rarely. † (lines 27-32) Once again, the persona, having pondered the worst that can happen, deflects from acceptance of love and, instead, questions its relevance in a big-brother type society. â€Å". . . pass over it in silence, like a scandal. . . † (line 28), or â€Å"Perfectly good children are born without its help. † (line 29) direct the â€Å"good† citizens that love is an aberration. If they should ever encounter it (God forbid) they should hold their nose and walk past because it is no better than a scandal that would tear at the very fibre of the society that is looking after their needs. In fact, love is not ever required for the creation of â€Å"perfectly good† children. They state is the ultimate provider who will take care of all your needs from cradle to grave. Yes, to the poem’s persona, everything is for the advancement of the state even if that means the dehumanization of the state’s citizens. The poem ends with three chilling lines; â€Å"Let the people who never find true love keep saying there is no such thing. Their faith will make it easier for them to live and die. † (lines 33-35) According to the persona, ignorance is bliss. By continuing to march along to the state’s cadence, the â€Å"faithful† will have easy lives and nice, quiet, easy deaths. However, it is never â€Å"easy† for a thinking, rational human to simply go through the motions each day; living a meaningless life, existing only for the betterment of a faceless, emotionless entity; just another cog in the great machine. Will it have been worth it? For those who never knew that love existed, or chose to ignore love’s existence, then their lives would have been no different than those of a school of fish; simply going along to get along. For those who have experienced love and passion then their lives would have been lived to the fullest and their deaths mourned and celebrated by those whose lives they had touched with love. The â€Å"true love† mentioned in this poem is represents two principles; the first is the love that is found between two people and how, through that love, they can overcome obstacles in their lives. The power of faith and love can be powerful assets when two people are walking a path together through life. The second principle is that of social accountability that should be the responsibility of every compassionate and free thinking person. The era in which Szymborska wrote this powerful poem is testament to the poem’s social meaning. Soviet oppression was the norm and the â€Å"Big Brother† mentality among both bureaucrats and citizens alike encouraged both conformation to the rules and divulging the identities of those who would not conform. Szymborska’s poem forces the reader to identify which group he/she belonged(s) to and how their lives are affected by that decision. Works Cited Schlib, John and John Clifford, eds. Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. Print. True Love Alex True Love This is something that divides us as humans, with quite a lot of gray area in the middle. You will find people that swear to the truth of this and others that try to finally prove it false. Right now I see myself in the grey area, questioning. Does true love exist? Is it possible for everyone? I am not sure even what this is seeing as I have yet to be in love. I have often asked myself if there was a one true love for me and if someone somewhere was pulling the strings just right so that I would meet them or not. In recent years the divorce rate in America has gone up.Some say this is because women have become more independent and no longer feel the need to stay with a man in order to survive. I think that Americans have lost faith in an Ancient belief, true love. Or maybe the problem is that we are searching for something that doesn’t exist. Can true love scientifically be proven? Is there something in our body that tells us when we are in love? If we could fin d a way to prove that true love exists can we tell when two people are really in love? Do we really want to know? If someone that we love dies can we get married again?Love PoemCan there be more than one person in your life that you have loved, love, or will love? I want to look into why this is different for everyone. I expect to find what makes us believe in something when most of us can say we have never experienced it. How did this belief come about? Is it possible to fall in love no matter the appearance, gender, or race? I know we all have our prejudices but perhaps true love is the bridge over these barriers. Polygamists treat their wives like property but still say they love them. If you truly love someone how should you treat them?I think that scientific research will show that love does exist and that you can fall in love multiple times in a life. Fate is something that can’t really be proven. I also am hoping to find how the idea of a true love came about. I donâ⠂¬â„¢t think that an interview will help much because it varies so much from person to person. What I want to accomplish is to focus on three main points for my paper. First, can true love be scientifically proven? I also want to go into how it has proved the existence of love? (I believe they have)Second, why do we believe in true love in the first place?Third, has America lost sight of the idea of true love or are we focusing on it too much? There is a lot more I could go into but these are my main three. To begin, I first need to establish what true love is. While I am trying to figure out if this proposed phenomenon actually exists, for this section I will assume that it does. This basis will allow for proof or disproof. Getting everyone to agree on one definition is impossible, so I hope to highlight a couple. First, I wanted to find an article on the Christian view of how to find true love.Since most of the population in America is made up of Christians, I felt that it was imp ortant that this view was included. It begins with the famous verse from Corinthians, â€Å"Love is patient, love is kind†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This is a view that many people hold dear to their hearts. This article is more of a guide for Christians on how to find true love and tells that in order to find true love that we need to do three things. First, the article says to read the bible and find what to look for in love. Next, honesty is needed with ourselves and the one we love. Finally, to be ready to commit for a lifetime and understand what this commitment means.The view of this article is that love lasts forever and that unless you are looking for the right qualities that you won’t ever find it. While this is only one opinion, it is quite standard. The next definition needed comes from the opposite direction, science. This article from CNN states that researchers from Stony Brook University have proved the existence of lasting love. Their research focused on new lovers and co uples that have been together for around 20 years. They analyzed the chemical reactions when the person was shown a picture of their loved one.Old research had found that the chemical reaction in new lovers fade within 15 months and is gone after 10 years. Somehow, these scientists managed to find a few couples that defied these statistics. !0 percent of the couples that had been together for twice the amount of time that their love was supposed to fade by had reactions the same as a new couple. This definition of true love is based on time and fact but it is just as real as an immeasurable definition. This next source is called â€Å"7 Myths of Happily Ever After† by Blair Justice. This is an article about how Americans view perfect relationships (incorrectly).Instead of looking at a definition, this looks at common misconceptions. The first is about how all people look for that person to live happily ever after with. It states that we all are searching for that unconditiona l love, futilely. We shouldn’t have that unconditional love between us and our partner in order to have that â€Å"perfect relationship. † Then, that when there is true love between two people that they should not have to tell the other what they want. Third we search for someone with the same problems that we have and that will make both of our problems disappear.Maybe he/she will even understand and that will be enough. Fourth, don’t go to bed angry. An unhealthy relationship would be if you never slept away from your partner after an argument. As long as you are not running away and can try and put the heat of the argument behind you. Fifth, we never talk. We actually talk a lot but we need to learn how to communicate better. Sixth, he will change after we are married. We need to get rid of the illusion of changing our partner later. This entire article tells pretty much what Americans view as true love.The question that is brought up by all these wrong belie fs is, if we change how we think about love can we find it? What the focus needs to shift to is recognizing this love. When you fall in love you head in full force. You devote all of your attention to that one person and nothing else. The passion and heat takes over. This is not true love, though. True love is the kind that lasts; this heat we all feel in the beginning of a relationship will always fade. If there were a device to prolong this feeling, it would be coveted by all. How do we act when we are truly in love?In this article from Christian Answers gives a list on how to know when you are in love. The first step to having a true relationship is establishing that what you have is exclusive. By telling your partner that you want to be with them and only them shows that you are ready to commit fully. Next you say that this is the best relationship that you have had. It is like starting a new chapter in your life where you can only go forward. Then, once you are past the lets go anywhere stage and the stage where you stand up for yourself, this article says that you can accept the other person’s interests to partake in them sometimes as well.The article says that you must accept the other person’s beliefs enough to not oppose them. You also have to just be able to enjoy the other person’s company enough that doing nothing together is like a break from the rest of the world, even though you are with him/her. Lastly, it lists that you have to show that you are comfortable being yourself in front of them. Overall I believe that this is a good list of how to recognize true love. There are many people loosing the sight of true love and this can be represented by the amount of divorces in the United States. When two people get married, most say that they will be married forever.Some hold on to the view of happily ever after, while others are more realistic about their life after marriage. One thing that we have to accept is the ending of mar riage. While many people say that 50% of all marriages in America end in goodbye, this is not entirely correct, this article states. The facts do show that if the current trend continues that we may even surpass this number. We loose sight of the hope for true love for many reasons. The main reason in this short article is childlessness. â€Å"The absence of children leads to loneliness and weariness†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This last article is called â€Å"True Love?Forget it! † This article argues that true love does not exist. The author, Lynn Truss, says that we often use the non-existence of a perfect partner as an excuse to not find love at all. If someone was â€Å"just looking for the right person† they might pass up on several people that might not be perfect, but are perfect for them. The definition of love is given as what you do with what you’ve got. We often have unrealistic views of love and this is because of two things. First, love is deeply placed in hum an nature and we see love as something we find. Actually, he states, love is something we create, an achievement.So this article is saying that we make up true love to fill a void in our life that everyone has. Love is something we make not something we just bump into. To turn this last topic around I would like to highlight a girl that never gave up on love, even if it hurt. Nancy Rue says in her book, Coping with Dating Violence that abuse happens in many ways. Sometimes the guy doesn’t want to lose the girl and sometimes he has anger issues. What I was interested in was why women tend to stay with these men when they aren’t treating them right. This book states that women often blame themselves for the abuse.What I am interested in is the fact that some stay because, in the beginning, it was perfect and they were so in love. Was this true love that just went wrong or a facade from the beginning? When girls fall in love with this boy they are really falling in love w ith him, she states. When a girl is being abused by the â€Å"mental illness† that the boy has. During this process I learned a lot, but not as much as I wanted to. Next year I will have to write a ton of papers. While this project was interesting, I don’t see it preparing me for the future. I already know how to research, so hat was one of the easiest parts. The main thing that I learned from this project was MLA format. I have worked with many kinds of formats before so it was good to be able to focus on just this one. What I really liked about what I did was the quality of research although I wish that I had the time to get more. I also make summaries daily for other classes which made it easier to do the summaries in here. One thing that I really need to work on is my citations. Most of the times they need a little bit of tweaking, in order to be fully correct, there aren’t too many problems.What I learned in both this area and in MLA format will most certai nly help me in later projects. During this particular project I liked it simply because it was different. It is not like the typical high school paper. One thing it could have benefited from was a little less structure. We were able to pick out our own topic which was nice but turning in our summaries every due date was a little confining. I believe that more freedom would have also been more responsibility, so I understand the structure somewhat. I began this paper with an idea. Actually, I had many ideas but my main one was my favorite.This idea has become a growing question in my own life. Does true love exist? Some people believe they can answer this question with a yes or no. This is not the answer that I want. I want a reason, explanation, but most of all information. I’m not researching that feeling you get when you see that cute guy a couple rows over in class smiling at you. I am looking at actual, forever love. I was hungry for information and began searching from m any different angles. I found scientific evidence and put it right along side the religious. I read stories about terrible abuse and tales of enchanting love.The scientific evidence claimed its existence, if rare. Just by looking at divorce rates in America shows how wrong we can be about love. These are some of my favorite sources. My absolute favorite has to go to the book I read. This story speaks to me in a way that none of the articles could. One of the stories from this book tells of a girl that fought so hard for love, she almost died. The desperation that she feels is what makes this the best in my eyes. After all of this time I think I can finally say that I have an answer that makes sense to me.True love is out there for everyone somewhere. It is just up to you to find it and hold on tight. There will never be a world where everyone will find this connection but the first step is knowing what to look for. At the very least, you should know what to stay away from. This conc lusion has helped me with my own life, even if it never helps another person. I wish that I could not change my question but instead write a follow up piece. If I could it would be on the history of love, how it has evolved. That topic intrigues me but the one I wrote this paper on was just right for me. True Love Every moment we spent togetherHas touched our lives, our souls foreverThe things that we shared and learnedIs permanent growth that we've earned. The person that I have grown into todayDid not get there by chance, no wayI am who I am partly because of youAnd you are YOU because of me, tooThe changes I seeand what I have learned about meare a response to how we affected our livesand what we discover in each others eyes. It is uncertain if we have to part or one day live together Either way, we have touched our lives forever! No matter what the future will showNo matter what we are told.We are connected on such a deep levelsThat no one can remove that, not even the devil. Our feelings might be different a year from nowBut you are part of me forever somehowA part of me will always be you and a part of you will always be me. no matter what happens ,that much is certain our souls are one until life closes the curtain. I will love your foreverFor worse or for betterYou are tattooed in my h eart And nothing can tear our souls apart. Source: Forever Connected, True Love Poem http://www. familyfriendpoems. com/poem/forever-connected#ixzz2RErIYwFpwww. FamilyFriendPoems. om Every moment we spent togetherHas touched our lives, our souls foreverThe things that we shared and learnedIs permanent growth that we've earned. The person that I have grown into todayDid not get there by chance, no wayI am who I am partly because of youAnd you are YOU because of me, tooThe changes I seeand what I have learned about meare a response to how we affected our livesand what we discover in each others eyes. It is uncertain if we have to part or one day live together Either way, we have touched our lives forever! No matter what the future will showNo matter what we are told.We are connected on such a deep levelsThat no one can remove that, not even the devil. Our feelings might be different a year from nowBut you are part of me forever somehowA part of me will always be you and a part of you will always be me. no matter what happens ,that much is certain our souls are one until life closes the curtain. I will love your foreverFor worse or for betterYou are tattooed in my heart And nothing can tear our souls apart. Source: Forever Connected, True Love Poem http://www. familyfriendpoems. com/poem/forever-connected#ixzz2RErIYwFpwww. FamilyFriendPoems. om Every moment we spent togetherHas touched our lives, our souls foreverThe things that we shared and learnedIs permanent growth that we've earned. The person that I have grown into todayDid not get there by chance, no wayI am who I am partly because of youAnd you are YOU because of me, tooThe changes I seeand what I have learned about meare a response to how we affected our livesand what we discover in each others eyes. It is uncertain if we have to part or one day live together Either way, we have touched our lives forever! No matter what the future will showNo matter what we are told.We are connected on such a deep levels That no one can remove that, not even the devil. Our feelings might be different a year from nowBut you are part of me forever somehowA part of me will always be you and a part of you will always be me. no matter what happens ,that much is certain our souls are one until life closes the curtain. I will love your foreverFor worse or for betterYou are tattooed in my heart And nothing can tear our souls apart. Source: Forever Connected, True Love Poem http://www. familyfriendpoems. com/poem/forever-connected#ixzz2RErIYwFpwww. FamilyFriendPoems. com True loveMy first true love was Zachery Kyle Sutterfield I remember the day we met When I first met you, I felt like I had known you forever Both shy, but wanted to talk. Every moment we have spent together Has touched our lives and souls forever The things that we share and learn Is permanent growth that we earn. The person that I have grown into today Did not get there by chance, no way I am who I am partly because of you You are YOU becau se of me, too. The changes I see What I have learned about me A response to how we have affected out lives What we discover in each other eyes. We are connected on a such a deep level