How Stable and Well Served Were the Tudor Monarchy free essay sample

After Henry VIII’s reign ended, many historians believe that there was a crisis because of a young King followed by a Queen however considering the details you can see that it was not a clear as first perceived. Many events in each monarch’s reign could show instability however all of the main rebellions that could have been considered a threat were overcome with quite small danger to the reigning monarch, if any. As none of the Tudor monarchs were successfully overthrown indisputably this shows their real ability to hold onto their position and control England, even if their popularity may have fluctuated through throughout their reign. Henry VIII’s reign was viewed by Witney Jones as one of the two Tudor ‘high noons’ however he had his own problems including many rivalry factions and rebellion which imply that his reign was not as stable as perceived when compared to Edward and Mary’s reigns. We will write a custom essay sample on How Stable and Well Served Were the Tudor Monarchy? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The struggle between the factions in his court is a key point when observing how well served Henry was. The two main competitors were created when Anne Boleyn became queen because of the introduction of the Protestant religion, which meant he could marry her. She was crowned on 1 June 1533 and by 11 July Pope Clement VII had excommunicated Henry. But her faction had many enemies such as Thomas Cromwell on a personal level and the Aragonese faction as religious conservatives and these, led by Thomas Cromwell, plotted her downfall by fabricating evidence of adultery and treason resulting in her death on 19 May 1536. Declaring Elizabeth a bastard and still refusing to legitimise Mary threw the succession into crisis with his bastard son dying in July 1536 as well. In addition to this, his cruel treatment of the Mary’s supporters helped fuel the Pilgrimage of Grace. His reign became unstable at this point as he had no legitimate heir in his eyes and no wife; because of the weakness the leaders of factions had the opportunity to act. Cromwell tried to advise him to marry Anne of Cleves so to create an ally with the German Protestants. This ended in annulment within six months and the Duke of Norfolk and other such as Gardiner convinced him Cromwell was a traitor, which led to his execution in 1540 and no resistance to the introduction of Catholic Catherine Howard. This was again followed by accusations toward the Duke of Norfolk in 1546 leading to his execution and once again there was no resistance to placing another girl in court for Henry to marry, Catherine Parr, a devoted Protestant, showing their eventual victory. This rivalry between the factions created an unsettled government and Henry seemed to have little actual control, the power being held by the rivalling factions with him as a figurehead, constantly being advised to follow differing paths by his advisers Also Henry started the Dissolution of the Monasteries, protest started in Lincolnshire in 1536 and even though it was stopped before it reached Yorkshire, a lawyer, Robert Aske took over the protest and it became the Pilgrimage of Grace, gathering around 35,000 protesters. It spread to York, Hull and Doncaster, where the Duke of Norfolk intercepted them and promised them pardons and that their complaints would be heard but when a further protest broke out, he backed out of the promise, captured the leaders and they were later executed. Although the protest seemed to be completely religiously based the pilgrims only tried to restore 16 of the 55 monasteries leading it to be thought that there was more economic reasons for the protest as well. These could have been the taxation measures or the two years of bad weather and harvests. Although Henry was quickly victorious over the uprising people he re-organised the Council of the North that shows that he clearly saw the North as a difficulty in controlling the country, being so far from London. He visibly felt threatened as he executed Robert Aske, Lord Darcy, Sir Thomas Percy and 177 supporters and surely if he thought himself well-served then why would such an act be required to keep control? However you could argue that if Henry felt that his position was threatened then when appointing men to run the Council of the North would he not appoint only high ranking men not a mere gentleman such as Sir William Eure to the position of Warden of the West March? Although this rebellion could be viewed as a counter to the idea of Henry being well served, it was the only rebellion large enough to worry Henry into action and even then Aske never wanted conflict and this lead to Henry’s distinct advantage as he invited him to discuss the feelings of the rebels. Aske returned to his followers and dismissed them but when another protest broke out in Cumberland; the Duke of Norfolk punished the rebel leaders and the rebellion fell easily. After Henry’s death, his son, Edward was crowned 1547; however being only nine years of age, the Duke of Somerset was appointed as his protector. On the king’s death, he and his ally Sir William Paget kept this fact secret for four days in order to rally support for Somerset, which quickly succeeded with Somerset being made Lord Protector with great power over the Privy Council by the end of February. Even though in Henry’s will it dictated Northumberland and Somerset should work together to rule the country Somerset seemed to claim the greater amount of power of the two. However it is quite clear that he didn’t greatly use this power as the government used the same methods to deal with rising problems and he did not introduce any new reforms. Somerset clearly didn’t have the will to become an effective leader and so in 1547 when rebels started to form armies he was reluctant to withdraw troops from Scotland and France to support the ruling elites subdue the rebellions. The Prayer Book Rebellion started in June 1549 with William Body tried to introduce religious reform, however because of his unpopularity caused by Protestant views and arrogance he was mobbed and run out of the county and murdered by local priests when he tried to return from London to impose the destruction of Catholic images. The main leaders of this rebellion were local clergy rather than gentry as they were unwilling to act against the government. It was Devon that caused the most difficulty for Somerset as it raise an army of 6000 at Exeter led by a prominent local gentleman, Humphrey Arundell who was a skilled and experienced strategist. In East Anglia in the same year another rebellion was forming, but this for different reasons, not religious based as the Prayer Book Rebellion was the Ket Rebellion was set out to stop the rising taxes and enclosure of land by the gentry. Led by local yeoman, Robert Ket gathered an army of 16,000 and set up camp on Mousehold Health and within a month was able to capture Norwich. The reason for this rebellion most likely lay within the strict organisation that Ket created, with every gentleman apprehended being brought before Ket and his council. However, as neither Lord Russell or John Dudley had the troops or resources to stop the rebellions, it was only when the Privy Council was able to grasp the significance of the rebellions and provide additional troops that Lord Russell and John Dudley were victorious over the rebels in the West country and East Anglia. These rebellions showed Somerset as a man unwilling to take a firm hand to leading the country and therefore the newly victorious Northumberland has no problem in arresting him in 1549. It could be perceived that these rebellions started because of the sense of weakness in the government, with a child monarch, people would see more chance of an easy victory; this did cause some considerable instability in the government with Somerset’s fall in 1549 however Edward was relatively untouched by this and remained well served throughout the transition from Somerset to Northumberland and their respective phase of power. Moving through to Northumberland’s rise to power, he increased the Privy Council to 33 members of whom he held trust, even releasing Somerset’s supporters of ability such as Paget and Cecil to increase his control over the government. As an extra precaution, taking Somerset’s fall into account, a perfectly reasonable one, he chose many men of military experience so he could be sure of immediate armed support in the event of more rebellions. Also in response of the religious rivalry plaguing the kingdom he attempted to change the succession with the support of Edward so that Mary would not take the throne, but rather Lady Jane Grey, a devout Protestant. Even though there were large rebellions against the government, it seems to be just that and not aimed at Edward in a direct attack and so it is hard to argue that he was not well served in this time; as the two Lord Protector’s Somerset and Northumberland took the blame for the problems that England encountered in his reign. His government might not have been the most stable of the Tudor monarchs however it does appear that he ever became unpopular with the people. In the change to Mary there were certainly complications to consider such as the Lady Jane Grey being forced onto the throne by Northumberland and her family and the rivalry between Protestantism and her own Catholicism in the country. However she was greatly received by the public and even though Northumberland did his upmost to secure Jane Grey as queen when she was crowned in July 1553, within nine days she was overthrown by Mary Tudor and sent to the Tower of London, later executed. Mary quickly arranged her Privy Council, however she was forced to use several members of her Royal household and this therefore resulted in a Privy Council too large to function at times reaching 43 and with few people in a position to support her, lacking in any political ability. She soon realised this was a problem and employed several of Northumberland’s supporters into her Council as councillors. Contrary to helping solve the problem, she had no faith in the councillors and even though they did have a vast supply of knowledge, the size of the Privy Council restricted how effective they could be with huge rivalry between the Protestants and the Catholics within the Council. These wo factions were led by Pager and Gardiner, who were able politicians but even though they did help to create a stable government Mary did not seem to have any faith in her Council and avoided collecting them if possible, preferring to confer with Renard, a Spanish ambassador, on decisions of state. However this was a problem in itself as the anti- Spanish feelings were growing stronger in the country with the word of the queen marrying Philip of Spain. This led to start of the Wyatt Rebellion that started in January 1554, led by Sir Thomas Wyatt, who supported her accession, Sir James Croft and Sir Peter Carew. Their plan was never to harm the queen ‘we seek no harm to the Queen, but better counsel and councillors. ’, but to convince her to stop the Spanish marriage as they feared that Philip would take control of England. Three rebellions started in Kent, the Midlands and the West Country causing the Queen to panic as there was also a French fleet blocking the English Channel. The proximity of the uprising made it the most dangerous of the Tudor rebellions, and Wyatt took full advantage of this, by raising an army of 3000 men of his own and then soon after the deserter troops of the Duke of Norfolk’s army. However Mary proved to be well served when appealing to the citizens of London to help defend the city as although Wyatt enjoyed some success, they were eventually trapped and defeated at Ludgate. Mary ignored the rebellions and continued to marry Philip of Spain though his proposed coronation was postponed as the anti-Spanish feelings rose again and he left after just a few months in England. Although her government became increasingly stable throughout her reign compared to the start as factions co-operated better and her council shrunk, her popularity dramatically dropped throughout her reign and her death in 1558 was as well received as her accession five years prior showing she was not well served in the sense of faith in her policies and views shown by the Wyatt Rebellion and continuous faction rivalry which she distanced herself from therefore becoming increasingly out of favour with her people. The crown was peacefully given to Mary’s half sister, Elizabeth, crowned in 1558. She had a powerful Council around her, full of wise and influential men, yet what won her the most respect was her strong yet humble personality, she kept the classes in line and never relinquished her power to her councillors. However this sometimes led to her disagreeing with majorities in the Council such as the Puritans, who never persuaded her to alter religious settlement in 1559 nd her deep suspicion stopped her joining with the Dutch against Spain despite a clear majority in Council. She also kept a strong hold on the government and her Council by refusing to name her successor for fear of men plotting treason against her. Still, her greatest challenge to power was by Mary, Queen of Scots, who after fleeing to England spent twenty years attempting to claim the English throne but the only plot that caused difficulty for Elizabeth was the Northern Rebellion of 1569. Within the first week of November the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland tried to change the Queen’s policies with their first demonstration holding Mass at Durham Cathedral and they soon moved to Bramham Moor with over 5000 men. Although their clear advantage over Sussex, they turned back to wait for help from Catholic nobles and the Spanish. They were defeated by the end of December, both of the leaders exiled to Scotland and Elizabeth eager for revenge, though many of the proposed 700 executions were commuted. Elizabeth was clearly well served as the rebellion was quickly disposed of and if she had felt threatened by Mary, then she would have imprisoned her or at least made a move toward stopping her create more plots against her. As for a stable government, her firm grip on her councillors and government showed her to have a very secure hold on her position for most of her reign only losing slight support in the last decade of her reign. Ultimately to make a judgement on how stable and well served a monarch was we must consider their reactions to events within their, how the people perceived them and how close they ever came to being overthrown. Considering the Tudor monarchs in their entirety, it is clear that there were obvious threats to their power such as others in the line of succession or rebellions of powerful nobles. Nevertheless each Tudor monarch quite easily overcame these difficulties and kept their government and Privy Council in order in their own way, which leads to show that even though there were obvious problems in all of their reigns, their stability was shown by them keeping their throne until their death and how well served they were by the fact that all had enough loyalty within their country to stop any rebellions that arose.

WHITNEY Surname Meaning and Family History

WHITNEY Surname Meaning and Family History The Whitney surname has several possible meanings: Dweller by or on the white island, from the Old English hwit, meaning white, and ea, meaning water, or ige, meaning island.One who came from a place named Whitney (such as parish of Whitney in Herefordshire, England), a place name meaning white island. First  mentioned in the  Domesday Book  as  Witenie.   Surname Origin: English Alternate Surname Spellings:  WITNEY, WHETNEY, WHITTENEY, WHITENEY, WYTNEY, WHITNY Famous People with the WHITNEY Surname Eli Whitney - American inventor; best known for inventing the cotton ginAmos Whitney - American mechanical engineer and inventorAsa Whitney  -  highly successful dry-goods merchant and  transcontinental railroad  promoterCarl Whitney  -  American Negro League baseball playerJohn Whitney  - founder of the prominent American Whitney  family- notable for their social prominence, wealth, businesses and philanthropy- who left   London, England, to settle in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1635.Mary Watson Whitney - American astronomer Where is the WHITNEY Surname Most Common? The Whitney surname, according to surname distribution information from Forebears, is the 10,104th most common surname in the world. It is most commonly found today in the United States, where it ranks 875th. It is also fairly prevalent in Australia and New Zealand, as well as England- especially in Northamptonshire and Herefordshire. WorldNames PublicProfiler indicates the Whitney surname is found in greatest numbers in the United States, with the greatest numbers living in the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Washington, Utah and Idaho. Genealogy Resources for the Surname WHITNEY Whitney Family Crest - Its Not What You ThinkContrary to what you may hear, there is no such thing as a Whitney family crest or coat of arms for the Whitney surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted. Whitney DNA ProjectMany individuals with the Whitney surname have joined this Y-DNA project to work together to use DNA testing along with traditional genealogy research to help determine Whitney origins and distinguish between various Whitney lines. WHITNEY Family Genealogy ForumThis free message board is focused on descendants of Whitney ancestors around the world. Search the forum for posts about your Whitney ancestors, or join the forum and post your own queries.   FamilySearch - WHITNEY GenealogyExplore over 820,000 results from digitized  historical records and lineage-linked family trees related to the Whitney surname on this free website hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. WHITNEY Surname Mailing ListFree mailing list for researchers of the Whitney surname and its variations includes subscription details and a searchable archives of past messages. GeneaNet - Whitney RecordsGeneaNet includes archival records, family trees, and other resources for individuals with the Whitney surname, with a concentration on records and families from France and other European countries. The Whitney Genealogy and Family Tree PageBrowse genealogy records and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the Whitney surname from the website of Genealogy Today. Ancestry.com: Whitney SurnameExplore over 2.7 million digitized records and database entries, including census records, passenger lists, military records, land deeds, probates, wills and other records for the Whitney surname on the subscription-based website, Ancestry.com - References: Surname Meanings Origins Cottle, Basil.  Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. Dorward, David.  Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition), 1998. Fucilla, Joseph.  Our Italian Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges.  A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick.  Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003. Reaney, P.H.  A Dictionary of English Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1997. Smith, Elsdon C.  American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997. Back to  Glossary of Surname Meanings Origins

Terrorist Attacks on the US Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Terrorist Attacks on the US - Research Paper Example Rather, they have left their undesirable harmful effects on a lot of countries around the world. In fact, it would not be an over exaggeration to say there is hardly any country that has not impacted by these attacks in one way or another. Pre September 11 Attacks: After the collapse of socialism and the remaining of capitalism as the only political and economic power in the world, several theories emerged in an attempt to predict the kind of conflict that may emerge in the future. The end of History and the clash of civilizations are among the various theories that tried to put a framework for international relationships in the future. Francis Fukuama was the first political analyst to coin the phrase "End of History," in his article that bore the same name and published in 1989. In that article, Fukuyama argued that there is a remarkable contemporary achievement concerning the legitimacy of liberal democracy, constituting a system of government. This system, which had emerged in th e eighties throughout the world, replaced all other known ideologies like hereditary monarchy, fascism. Accordingly, Fukuyama proposed that liberal democracy may constitute the "end point of mankind's ideological evolution." Thus, he explicitly introduced liberal democracy to be the final and most ideal form of human government, which human minds can not think of any better form of government. This leads him to think that this current status and ideologies marks the "end of history." That's because this form of government is free from any defects, unlike previous ideologies, which were characterized by various defects and irrationalities that led to their eventual collapse. Consequently, Francis Fukuyama argued that 1989 represented the triumph of market capitalism and liberal democratic ideology. Since then, market power was set to become the modernization project of choice for all countries of the world. So, the future of the international system, according to Fukuyama and many ot her political analysts, was to be characterized by the gradual democratization of market-democratic institutions, policies, values and culture. Liberal institutionalism would replace international anarchy by the international rule of law. Thus, it is believed that "the ‘End of History’ paradigm was upon us; the triumph of Western-style modernity was set to create one universal world civilization" (Herd, Graeme P. & Martin, Weber). In our contemporary world, it is obvious that the world market has fully dominated the role of the state in most countries of the world. There have been many economic and political analysts who believe that states are loosing their traditional roles in the face of the growing international market. An example of these economists is Herman M. Schwartz. Drawing on an assessment of the historical evolution of the world economy, Schwartz shows how the 21st century world has come to resemble the late 19th century, in which markets typically overwhel med state policies, more than the mid-20th century in which states were often able to control or contain markets (Strange). In that sense, globalization has been playing a major role in this transformation process from state-based markets into free ones. Schwartz shows that globalization is a much more complicated term and more multi-faceted phenomenon than its current protagonists generally argue. He also believes that globalization provides a clear account of the complex interdependence of modern states and

Modern Artist - Constantin Brancusi Research Paper

Modern Artist - Constantin Brancusi - Research Paper Example The paper "Modern Artist - Constantin Brancusi" investigates Constantin Brancusi's art. He was strongly influenced from the African and oriental art and most of this work pieces also reflect his admiration towards them. Some of his prominent works include Sleeping Muse (1908), The Kiss (1908), Prometheus (1911), Mademoiselle Pogany (1913), The Newborn (1915), Bird in Space (1919) and The Column of the Infinite that is commonly called with the name The Endless Column (1938).Keeping in view his interesting in wood carving, initially he got the training as a carpenter and stonemason. However, when he settled in Paris he recognized his great interest and capabilities in sculpture making. Brancusi has been regarded among the prominent central figures of the modern movements. He pioneered abstraction and paves the way towards the evolution of new genre in the field of art. Brancusi strived to make simple work pieced using few basic elements. He was also admired by the work of August Rodin however, he was most interested in searching for pure form and in the end he succeeded to convey the sense of gravity through his work pieces making from few basic elements. His art work is not only praised for the visual elegance but he also showed the sensitive use of material blended with direct peasant carving and Parisian Avant-grade. His style was based upon his non-conventional approach towards art and creation of art pieces. He believes that main purpose of art work in to reveal the hidden truth.

A report in the context of the audit of public companies listed on the Essay

A report in the context of the audit of public companies listed on the London Stock Exchange regarding the two issues that the committee decided against implementing - Essay Example auditor’s bringing a fresh perspective and greater skeptism that would be lacking in the long-standing auditor-client relationship, the opponents maintain that because the auditor’s lack of familiarity with the industry and client, audit quality would suffer under such a regime (AICPA 1992). In late 2001, the Enron debacle followed by its high-profile collapse now focuses attention on the profession’s effectiveness in protecting the interests of the public. Thus, Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 mandated the General Accounting Office (GAO) to conduct a research on the potential effects of mandatory audit rotation as required by law. The study concluded that mandatory audit rotation would not necessarily strengthen auditor independence (G.A.O. 2003). The arguments for and against mandatory audit firm rotation contend whether the auditing firm’s long-term client-customer relationship and the profitable desire to maintain the client adversely affects the public accounting firm’s independence during the auditing of a company’s financial statements. Furthermore, reservations about the likely effects of the audit firm rotation include the fear of losing company-specific information gathered by an audit firm over years of experience as an auditor, and whether the intended benefits are likely to outweigh the costs. Additionally, the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (as applied in the United States) has raised question as to its effectiveness of reforming the intended benefits of mandatory audit firm rotation. Furthermore, research studies and other publications specifically show that the advantages and disadvantages of mandatory audit firm rotation touch on auditor independence, audit quality, and increased costs. Interference with auditor independence or audit quality can result in failure and adversely affect the parties relying on the fair representation of the financial statements in conformity with established accounting standards. Proponents of audit

Analysis of the Term Victorian

Analysis of the Term Victorian How useful is the term ‘Victorian’? The era of Queen Victoria’s reign witnessed the passing of milestones in social, economic, and personal progress. It was the age of industrialisation, a time of travel, a battleground for the conflict between science and religion. Yet further to these great markers by which many of us recognise the nineteenth century, and indeed because of them, Victoria’s reign inspired change within the individual; a revaluation of what it meant to be a human being. The literary artists gave new form to the questions on the lips of the society around them: questions that were no longer so easily answered by Christianity. This essay will explore how the term ‘Victorian’ does or doesn’t fit into the context from which it supposedly arises. I will look at trends such as the development of literary criticism, pioneering scientific discoveries, the exploration into psychic phenomenon, the increasing independence of women, the mapping of the world, all of which contribu te to what we know and understand as ‘Victorian’, and have in some way shaped the work of authors such as Eliot, Conan Doyle, and H.G Wells. Using some close textual analysis I hope to identify the nature of the inspiration behind the literature of the time and whether or not such work transcends the limits of the term ‘Victorian.’ Many great literary minds of the time such as Arnold, Dickens, and Ruskin helped define the era in their critical attitudes towards it. (Davis 2002, p.10). Criticism appears to have become a form of exploration in an attempt to turn what concerned and worried the artist into something that questioned and reassured. Arnold, in his Essays in Criticism (Arnold, 1865, p.V) explains how he perceives the difference between logical and artistic thought The truth is I have never been able to ht it off happily with the logicians, and it would be mere affectation in me to give myself the airs of doing so. They imagine truth something to be proved, I something to be seen; they something to be manufactured, I as something to be found. It is this growing awareness of difference that was to become a defining feature of Victorian literature. Differences appeared in the very perception of things, which led to feelings of isolation, despair, alienation all prominent themes in nineteenth century work. In Arnold’s A Summer Night (Arnold 1913, p.167) we see the poetic mind struggling to find meaning on a moonlit street where the windows, like hostile faces, are ‘silent and white, unopening down’: And the calm moonlight seems to say Hast thou then still the old unquiet breast That neither deadens into rest Nor ever feels the fiery glow That whirls the spirit front itself away, 30 But fluctuates to and fro Never by passion quite possessd And never quite benumbd by the worlds sway? And I, I know not if to pray Still to be what I am, or yield, and be Like all the other men I see. Arnold recognises that the society around him is unfulfilled, that men are giving ‘their lives to some unmeaning taskwork’ and he questions whether he should be questioning at all. He is aware of a gap between the reality of working life and life outside of work; a difference that he strives to find explanation for. Arnold appears to be lost amidst the streets of his own mind afraid of not being able to define who he is, what he is. These feelings in part express what it meant to be a Victorian struggling to place thoughts and feelings which appear to no longer fit into society. The Victorian era contained much of what had past and much of what was still to come it cannot be seen as an isolated time, nor as an isolated term. It contained aspects of the Romantic period for instance in Arnold’s poem, The Buried Life, we see vestiges of Wordsworth’s legacy of Ode to Immortality. In both poems there is a sense of something lost an old passion or instinct that has gone with the passing of time yet Arnold, unlike Wordsworth, finds it more difficult to come to terms with this: ‘A longing to inquire / Into the mystery of this heart that beats / So wild, so deep in us, to know / Whence our thoughts come and where they go.’ (Arnold 1913, p.170). The language is more passionately discontent than the resolute tone of Wordsworth’s visionary acceptance: ‘We will grieve not, rather find/Strength in what remains behind.’ (Wordsworth 1928, p.136). The styles are obviously connected, but the trouble with defining the era usi ng literary terminology is that it is clearly neither a quirky extension of the Romantic’s vision, nor is it a straightforward path to the modernists. The 1870’s saw the maturation of authors such as Anthony Trollope who brought out his later novels, yet only twenty years later in 1896 these publications are sitting beside the considerably different form and subject matter of work such as H.G. Wellls’ The Time Machine and The Island of Dr. Moreau, with literary experiments with the modern such as Richard Jefferies’ The Story of My Heart occurring between in 1883. A growing concern in nineteenth century life was the potential loss of the Romantic link between human nature and the natural world, and the gap which sudden industrial progress highlighted between nature and mechanisation. As technology developed so did the notion of artificiality. It is worth noting J.S.Mill’s essay on Nature (Mill 1874, p.65) where he says that it is man’s nature to be artificial, to remedy nature by artificial pruning and intervention. Further to this, a contemporary of Mill’s Richard Jennings also drew a line between the ‘province of human nature’ and the ‘external world.’ (Lightman 1997, p.80). In the countryside more efficient methods of farming were employed (see the contrast between Henchard’s methods and Farfrae’s ‘ciphering and mensuration’ in Hardy’s Mayor of Casterbridge, (Hardy 1886, p.122)), and new machines introduced which no longer required the labour force to run the m, encouraging people to migrate to towns and cities. The urban reality was harsh in 1851 roughly four million people were employed in trade and manufacture and mining, leaving only one and a half million in agriculture. (Davis 2002, p.13). City life, as portrayed by Dickens, was a cruel, unhealthy and unwholesome existence for many (see Bleak House and Little Dorritt). However, much of his work was set in the period of his youth and childhood which was pre-Victorian. (Lawton (ed) 1995, p.xvi). Working conditions in cities were often cramped, unhygienic and poorly ventilated, and living conditions could be even worse. Mrs. Gaskell, living in Manchester, witnessed the appalling pressures that these conditions forced upon family life, and in North and South depicts the difficulties of urban living, offering that salvation for the working classes lay with themselves and their employers, working together. (see North and South 1855) However, city life was not all desolate based in cit ies, the development of the detective novel brought the city back to human scale (Lehan, p.84). Detectives pieced together and reconstructed past events through clues for example, the murder of Bartholomew Sholto in The Sign of Four by Conan Doyle: As far as we can learn, no actual traces of violence were found upon Mr Sholto’s person, but a valuable collection of Indian gems which the deceased gentleman had inherited from his father had been carried off. The discovery was first made by Mr Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson () Mr. Athelney Jones, the well-known member of the detective police force, happened to be at the Norwood police station () Mr Jones’ well-known technical knowledge and his powers of minute observation have enabled him to prove conclusively that the miscreants could not have entered by the door or by the window but must have made their way across the roof of the building, and so through a trapdoor into a room which communicated with that in which the body was found. (p.66) The city provided an exciting backdrop to crime scenes its labyrinthine streets similar to the mapping of the pathways of the human mind so that the two became inextricably linked. As Joseph McLaughlin says in Writing the Urban Jungle, ‘the urban jungle is a space that calls forth a pleasurable acquiescence to something greater, more powerful, and, indeed, sublime () also an imaginative domain that calls forth heroic action: exploring, conquering, enlightening, purifying, taming, besting.’ (McLaughlin 2000, p.3). Further to what McLaughlin suggests, the Victorians’ perception of time and space in the city and the countryside was changing radically from the medieval perceptions that still existed in the Romantic period. People saw the finished products in both manufacturing and farming no longer involving the long, drawn-out means to an end, instead the end result was being achieved faster and with more control. Here developed the root of modern industry which continues today in intensive farming and factory lines. Yet here too the beginnings of waste and excess. Richard Jefferies, a nineteenth century naturalist and mystic, known for his essays on nature, remarks on the abundance of food in the natural world in his essay Meadow Thoughts: The surface of the earth offers to us far more than we can consume the grains, the seeds, the fruits, the animals, the abounding products are beyond the power of all the human race to devour. They can, too, be multiplied a thousandfold. There is no natural lack. Whenever there is lack among us it is from artificial causes, which intelligence should remove. (Jefferies, 1994, p.26). Unfortunately there was plenty for those who could afford it but not enough to spare for the poorer lower classes. (Ritvo 1997, p.194). Trends of over production and wastage which became a worry in Victorian times are reflected in the literary concerns of Jefferies’ spiritual autobiography The Story of My Heart, and in his children’s story, Bevis, where words, despite their abundance, are in danger of becoming an insufficient medium of expression and not filling the metaphysical space on the page. In describing a sunrise and the thoughts and feelings associated with watching it, Jefferies struggles to articulate the beauty before him: The sun had not yet stood out from the orient, but his precedent light shone through the translucent blue. Yet it was not blue, nor is there any word, nor is a word possible to convey the feeling. (Jefferies 1881, p.391) We see too in James Thomson’s City of Dreadful Night (Thomson 1892, p.2) the desperateness of trying to articulate thoughts and feelings: Because a cold rage seizes one at whiles To show the bitter old and wrinkled truth Stripped naked of all vesture that beguiles, False dreams, false hopes, false masks and modes of youth; Because it gives some sense of power and passion In helpless impotence to try to fashion Our woe in living words howeer uncouth. In both passages there is a sense of trying to convey so much more than the words will allow. And that is the essence of the problem of defining the era with a word which the era itself selected ‘Victorian’ like the authors of its time struggles to convey the enormity and the condensed nature of its changing environment. Victorian literature is thus perhaps best studied between the lines of its texts rather than for what it offers at face value. Thomson’s words ‘to try to fashion our woe in living words’ although appearing dismal could actually withhold a more positive message: it deals with the notion of perseverance that by creating words, however difficult, the author is refusing to give in to despair by trying to transform it into creative energy. There is a sense of crisis in the work of Thomson, just as there is to be found in Jefferies futuristic After London where the lone explorer Felix discovers the land after humanity has overreached itself to sociological disaster and has lost the harmonious relationship between mankind and nature. London becomes no more than a crystallised ruin in a ground oozing with poison ‘unctuous and slimy, like a thick oil.’ (Jefferies 1885, p.205). Through work like this we see that ‘Victorian’ was an era of possibility where visions of the future suddenly became tangible concerns and possible realities, and where contemporary conceptions of language and life might no longer hold up to the pressures of the time. In H.G. Wells’ the Time Machine, the time traveller discovers a land in the year 802,701: The air was free from gnats, the earth from weeds or fungi; everywhere were fruits and sweet and delightful flowers; brilliant butterflies flew hither and thither. The ideal of preventative medicine was attained. diseases had been stamped out. I saw no evidence of any contagious diseases during all my stay. And i shall have to tell you later that even the processes of putrefaction and decay had been profoundly affected by these changes. (Wells 1995, p.28) In this description of a futuristic age the Victorian imagination still retains the idea of a paradise a place full of ‘butterflies’ and ‘flowers.‘ This Christian concept is a literary hangover from Milton’s Paradise Lost, and remains an important theme for the moderns such as D.H. Lawrence. (see The Rainbow). The Victorian age suffered from a dualistic split between a bright future on the one hand promised by leaps in technology, education and economical success and an increasingly alienated, confused society on the other. There were those writers like Huxley who believed that by human intervention within a political and economic framework humans could evolve out of their condition seeing ‘no limit to the extent to which intelligence and will () may modify the conditions of existence’ (Huxley 1911, p.149), and there were those like Hardy whose characters were destined to fail because they were not emotionally fitted into the cosmos ou t of which they evolved. (see Tess and Jude the Obscure). It was the nineteenth century spiritual crisis which precipitated the literary shift into the new genre of the realist novel. By the mid-nineteenth century, society had begun to grow away from the idea of atonement for sin within an omnipotent religion, where judgement would come solely in heaven, and towards the more humanistic idea of God as in-dwelling, so that salvation could be achieved on earth: We have now come to regard the world not as a machine, but as an organism, a system in which, while the parts contribute to the growth of the whole, the whole also reacts upon the development of the parts; and whose primary purpose is its own perfection, something that is contained within and not outside itself, an internal end: while in their turn the myriad parts of this universal organism are also lesser organisms, ends in and for themselves, pursuing each its lonely ideal of individual completeness. (Gore (ed) 1890, p.211) A spiritual lack created a need to define, order and categorise a world that suddenly appeared chaotic. When Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859 he raised issues of public concern as to the truth of the bible and the essence of Christianity. However, it’s content and its methodology were seriously criticised (Appleman 2001, p.200). It was a difficult work to accept as it caused the public to rethink and redefine their history that they were a product of evolution and not a tailor made being came as a shock. The future of thought and literature was suddenly changed as people tried to sew together the threads of the past. Natural Science became a national obsession exotic flora and fauna from across the world were brought into London daily, to be displayed in the British Museum or Kew Gardens (Lightman, 1997 p.1). In literature, we see the author begin to play the part of evolutionist: Eliot’s Middlemarch although concerned with the evolving character of D orothea Brooke follows the threads of sub-plots and the successes and failures of other characters which form a pattern of development. As Gillian Beer says: There is not one primitive tissue, just as there is not one key to all mythologies () emphasis upon plurality, rather than upon singleness, is crucial to the developing argument of Middlemarch. (Beer 2000, p.143). Gone is the tradition of the valiant hero or heroine singularly conquering their environment (a trend set by classics such as Homer’s The Odyssey) and in its place a landscape upon which the author grafts and nurtures developing shoots of life. It is this sort of growth that is in danger of remaining unseen to the contemporary historian or critic as it can become shrouded by generalising concepts which are so often prescribed to the term ‘Victorian’ concepts such as ‘repression‘, ‘old-fashioned’ and ‘prudish.’ (http://www.victorianweb.org/vn/victor4.html). These sort of terms restrict the individual’s perception of the era when it was a time when growth was encouraged rather than restricted. Authors used the metaphor of pruning and nurturing plant life to symbolise the development of the self for example in North and South Gaskell discusses the problem of the working individual who struggles to reach his or her potent ial when the manufacturers are ‘unsparingly cutting away all off-shoots in the direction of literature or high mental cultivation, in hopes of throwing the whole strength and vigour of the plant into commerce.’ (Gaskell 1865, p.69). For Gaskell, it is through the everyday interaction between people that such difficulties are given the chance to be overcome. And this was the essence of the realist novel set amidst a world which had witnessed such alteration to transform the lostness felt by society into a seeing of the smaller things in life which could withhold qualities of greater spiritual value. As Philip Davis says, ‘the realist novel was the holding ground, the meeting point, for the overlapping of common life.’ (Davis 2002, p.144). And it was within this common life that a more calm acceptance of the new state could be achieved. Gillian Beer suggests that through her novel’s organisation Eliot creates order and understanding of the evolving process of novel-writing. In Middlemarch, the naming of Casaubon‘s books ‘Waiting for Death, Two Temptations, Three Love Problems draws attention to the book’s organisation by emphasising categorisation: But the process of reading leads into divergence and variability. Even while we are observing how closely human beings conform in the taxonomy of events we learn how differently they feel and think. For Dorothea and Casaubon waiting for death means something very different from what it means for Mary Garth and Featherstone. The relations are different. The distances between people are different. Lydgate, here at one with the project of the book, longed to demonstrate the more intimate relations of living structure (1:15:225). In this double emphasis on conformity and variability George Eliot intensifies older literary organisations by means of recent scientific theory. In Darwinian theory, variability is the creative principle, but the type makes it possible for us to track common ancestry and common kinship. (Beer 2000, pp.143-4) Writing itself was becoming an almost divine representation, an inner order of a chaotic external world. The idea that humans had evolved from primates meant that the boundaries between what was one thing and what was another were no longer so clearly defined. There developed a fear of the animate and a fear of the inanimate, and efforts were sought to understand them. As Harriet Ritvo says in The Platypus and the Mermaid: Depending on the beholder, an anomaly might be viewed as embodying a challenge to the established order, whether social, natural, or divine; the containment of that challenge; the incomprehensibility of the creation by human intelligence; or simply the endless and diverting variety of the world. And beholders who agreed on the content of the representation could still disagree strongly about its moral valence whether it was good or bad, entrancing or disgusting. (Ritvo 1997, p.148). In a world where categorisation was important but not so easily achievable, the novel too became neither one thing nor another; realism became a melting pot for ideas, a sort of hybrid of styles. In Eliot’s The Lifted Veil realism is used as a vehicle for the exploration of her ideas into psychology and psychic phenomena. Latimers clairvoyance forces him to endure a painful insight into the minds of the people around him: I began to be aware of a phase in my abnormal sensibility, to which, from the languid and slight nature of my intercourse with others since my illness, I had not been alive before. This was the obtrusion on my mind of the mental process going forward in first one person, and then another, with whom I happened to be in contact: the vagrant, frivolous ideas and emotions of some uninteresting acquaintanceMrs Filmore, for examplewould force themselves on my consciousness like an importunate, ill-played musical instrument, or the loud activity of an imprisoned insect. But this superadded consciousness, wearying and annoying enough when it urged on me the trivial experience of indifferent people, became an intense pain and grief when it seemed to be opening to me the souls of those who were in a close relation to me when the rational talk, the graceful attentions, the wittily-turned phrases, and the kindly deeds, which used to make the web of their characters, were seen as if thrust asund er by a microscopic vision, that showed all the intermediate frivolities, all the suppressed egoism, all the struggling chaos of puerilities, meanness, vague capricious memories, and indolent make-shift thoughts, from which human words and deeds emerge like leaflets covering a fermenting heap.(Eliot 1859, pp.13-14) Latimer is no longer caught up in the ‘web’ of people’s characters. Eliot plays with the idea that his consciousness has the ability to transcend the mundane the ’rational talk’, the ’kindly deeds’ in order to gain insight into an alternative and not so rosy vision of the mechanics of the human mind where thoughts are ‘make-shift’ and ‘chaotic.’ The nineteenth century saw the acceptance of the concept of otherworldly phenomena into the working classes. Robert Owen, a social reformer, who influenced the British Labor movement (Oppenheim 1985, p.40) encouraged many working class ‘Owenites’ to ‘follow him into the spiritualist fold, where they enthusiastically continued their ongoing search for the ‘new moral world.’’ Interests such as spiritualism and psychology which had previously been more underground pursuits, were brought out into the open. The concept of telepathy, a term coined by Frederic Myers in 1882 (Luckhurst 2002, p.1) even helped to ‘theorize the uneasy cross-cultural encounters at the colonial frontier.’ (Luckhurst 2002, p.3) These developments suggest that the Victorians felt imbued with the power of their age they felt confident of their ability to communicate on different planes of consciousness. So it could be argued that ‘Victorian’ was not simply a time devoted to the discovery of the self and the workings of the inner mind, but a time that also focused on the projection of ideas and thoughts outside of the self; ideas which themselves stand outside of the category ‘Victorian.’ In 1869 the Spiritualist Newspaper began selling first as a fortnightly, then as a weekly publication. (Oppenheim 1985, p.45). This draws the discussion to the point of representation the social nature of Victorians seems to suggest that they enjoyed the focus being on themselves. Self-obsession is an aspect of the time which the term ‘Victorian’ usefully represents: by specifically referring to the rule of the Queen the term draws attention to the importance of the individual. The era saw the development of many different styles of fashion and the use of photography. As part of the Freudian influence great importance was placed on childhood and it was during the nineteenth century that the first laws concerning child welfare were passed. (Mavor quoted from Brown (ed) 2001, p.i) The focus on the central, the ego, was paramount. As Mavor says, it was as if the camera had to be invented in order to document what would soon be lost, childhood itself; and childhood had to be invented in order for the camera to document childhood (a fantasy of innocence) as real. (Brown (ed) 2001, p.27). Perhaps because of society’s awareness of change there seems to have been a necessity to record and keep track of the world around. Discovery took place on a much grander scale in the exploration of the world. The British Empire was global, yet as Patrick Brantlinger suggests in Rule of Darkness, (Brantlinger 1988, p.4) imperialism was not generally reflected in the literature of the time. What we do see evidence of however is the mapping of new worlds and territories (see Robert Louis Stevenson‘s Treasure Island and Richard Jefferies’ Bevis). The development of the adventure story suggests that Victorians desired to explore what lay outside of what they knew and in this respect the term ‘Victorian’ which people can think of as representing a society closed within in itself is misleading. The rise of imperialism began to shape the ideological dimensions of subjects studied in school (Bristow 1991, p.20) and so through literature the Victorian child was offered an exciting world of sophisticated representation and ideas with the knowledge that the world was theirs to explore. Does the term then encourage us to think of the society as a class of people set apart from the rest of the world? In The Island of Dr. Moreau it is not just the future of science that is explored but the concept of a new territory and its effects on the mind. For example, when the protagonist first sees the beast-servant on board the ship he is immediately frightened: I did not know then that a reddish luminosity, at least, is not uncommon in human eyes. The figure, with its eyes of fire, struck down through all my adult thoughts and feelings, and for a moment the forgotten horrors of childhood came back to my mind. Then the effect passed as it had come. An uncouth black figure of a man, a figure of no particular import, hung over the taffrail, against the starlight. (Wells 1997, p.31). The circumstances of being at sea is disorientating and causes the imagination to play tricks so that the man is first one thing ‘a figure with its eyes of fire’ and then suddenly becomes an ‘uncouth black figure of a man.’ The effect is that the protagonist suddenly regresses to the ’forgotten horrors of childhood.’ This sudden fluctuation is important as it represents the fluidity of the era and how change and discovery on a global scale, although empowering, also caused instability within the individual. Therefore, when considering the age in the context of its name we can understand that the term was perhaps created out of both the desire to represent achievement but also out of a need to belong. This desire to belong which manifested itself during an age ruled by one woman placed great importance on the role of the female in society. It was a time when women began to travel and write without the necessity of using a pseudonym (see Cheryl McEwan on Kingsley in West Africa, (2000, p.73)). In books such as Hardy’s Tess the idea of the fallen woman is tested: Tess attempts to rediscover paradise at Talbothays but ultimately a life with her lover is denied. The nineteenth century began to be more explicit concerning issues of gender: for example, the relationship between Arthur Munby and Hannah Cullwick (see McClintock 1995, pp.132-138) where Cullwick is photographed cross-dressed as a farm worker. A ‘Victorian’ man however appears to have had more stigma attached to him and in this context the term is commonly associated with heroism and English valour (Ridley/Dawson 1994, p.110). There is less flexibility surrounding the notion of Victorian men -as if the te rm somehow threatened their masculinity. However, this did not seem to affect the male authors of the time. Lewis Carroll captured the public imagination through Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which although following the story of a little girl, depicts many male characters. (see Carroll 2000). In conclusion, the term ‘Victorian’ although useful to refer to a specific time period in history, does however encourage us to make sweeping generalisations without investigating how diverse the era was. In terms of the subject matter of Victorian Literature there is no clear cut distinction between early, middle and late Victorian for example, Bulwer-Lytton (see Zanoni and A Strange Story) attempts at the beginning of the century what Richard Jefferies does at the end the difference is in style and form. Within that time frame there was condensed an incredible diversity of styles, tastes and attitudes, yet the term suffers from being associated with prejudices and assumptions about Victorians. However, it is worth bearing in mind that prejudices were indeed a part of Victorian society. When the Victorians explored the rest of the world they made generalisations and assumptions based on what they found (eg: The Island of Dr. Moreau) where experience and the nature of what is discovered defines behaviour. As a critic in 1858 wrote ‘we are living in an age of transition’ (quoted from Houghton 1957, p.1); therefore when considering the Victorian age we should remember that values and trends were evolving it was not a static time governed by repression or old fashioned values. From the research carried out for this essay it appears that through the gaining of knowledge, Victorians also realised how little they knew and how much more there was to discover. As Arnold says in The Buried Life: How fair a lot to fill / Is left to each man still. (Arnold 1913, p.168). In this context the term ‘Victorian’ can be dualistically representative: discoveries of the time, although revolutionary, were often rudimentary in nature, and it was humbling for the individual to consider how much further knowledge and discovery had yet to go. On the other hand, the term suffers too from being inadequate: a single word is too smaller term for the vast wealth and diversity of discovery, and it could be argued that the era is better realised if seen as a second revolution. Like the Victorian authors themselves we are left with no suitable words to convey the entirety of an era as John Lawton says in his introduction to The Time Machine (1995, p.xxvi) ‘the term ‘Victorian’ is used too loosely to encompass a sequence of eras, the diverse reign of a woman who lent her name to objects as diverse as a railway terminus and a plum.’ When studying Victorian Literature it is worth bearing in mind the fluidity of the time and the changeability which arose out of living on the cusp between the passing away of old values and the unknown territory of the new. Realism recognised the gaps which were forming in society such as the distancing of the self from religion and offered to paper the cracks through its vision of bringing people together on a mundane level. It’s territory stretched to include the darkest recesses of the mind to the smallest of everyday events, celebrating the grey area between extremes as we now know as ‘Victorian.’ Bibliography Arnold, M., 1913, The Poems of Matthew Arnold, 1840-1867. Oxford: Oxford University Press Appleman, P, 2001, Darwin. London: Norton Beer, G., 2000, Darwin’s Plots. Cambridge: Cambridge University Pr

Perception And Platos Theaetetus :: essays research papers

Plato discusses theories of knowledge throughout his famous dialogue, the Theaetetus. He discusses many different ways of learning and attempts to define knowledge. Plato does this through a conversation between a few characters: Socrates, the famous philosopher; Theodorus, an aged friend and philosopher of Socrates; and Theaetetus, a young man who is introduced to Socrates before a discussion. One aspect of knowledge which they review is perception. It is defined and explained by Socrates, to the young and innocent Theaetetus.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Perception is defined by Floyd H. Allport in his book, Theories of Perception and the Concept of Structure, as â€Å"the way things look to us, or the way they sound, feel, taste, or smell.† It is not the way things are exactly, but the way we see them; or because it involves all of the five senses, the way we perceive them. Perception is not restricted to sight only, the world has countless numbers of sounds, smells, and textures.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Perception is â€Å"the way things look to us† because even though something might seem to be one way, it is another. For example, the Muller-Lyer illusion makes people see two lines of different lengths, while the lines are the same size. This illustrates the fact that just because you perceive something to be a certain way does not mean that it is true. Truth and perception do not necessarily coincide. This is also true with belief. When seeing something that is too far fetched to be real, then you find it hard to believe. Perception is merely an â€Å"experience [which] is just a stage along the causal process leading to belief.† Perception is not truth or belief, but it is an important (however, not necessary) step to reaching them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Plato’s Theaetetus, the three characters in the conversation have a discussion on perception and how it relates to the world. Plato recounts Socrates telling the young Theaetetus how, contrary to his belief, perception is not knowledge. Perception is too varied, Socrates says. He gives the example of a breeze blowing; one man can be made cold from the wind, while the man next to him might not be cold at all. The blowing wind is the same temperature, but as defined above, perception is â€Å"the way things look to us. Perception And Plato's Theaetetus :: essays research papers Plato discusses theories of knowledge throughout his famous dialogue, the Theaetetus. He discusses many different ways of learning and attempts to define knowledge. Plato does this through a conversation between a few characters: Socrates, the famous philosopher; Theodorus, an aged friend and philosopher of Socrates; and Theaetetus, a young man who is introduced to Socrates before a discussion. One aspect of knowledge which they review is perception. It is defined and explained by Socrates, to the young and innocent Theaetetus.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Perception is defined by Floyd H. Allport in his book, Theories of Perception and the Concept of Structure, as â€Å"the way things look to us, or the way they sound, feel, taste, or smell.† It is not the way things are exactly, but the way we see them; or because it involves all of the five senses, the way we perceive them. Perception is not restricted to sight only, the world has countless numbers of sounds, smells, and textures.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Perception is â€Å"the way things look to us† because even though something might seem to be one way, it is another. For example, the Muller-Lyer illusion makes people see two lines of different lengths, while the lines are the same size. This illustrates the fact that just because you perceive something to be a certain way does not mean that it is true. Truth and perception do not necessarily coincide. This is also true with belief. When seeing something that is too far fetched to be real, then you find it hard to believe. Perception is merely an â€Å"experience [which] is just a stage along the causal process leading to belief.† Perception is not truth or belief, but it is an important (however, not necessary) step to reaching them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Plato’s Theaetetus, the three characters in the conversation have a discussion on perception and how it relates to the world. Plato recounts Socrates telling the young Theaetetus how, contrary to his belief, perception is not knowledge. Perception is too varied, Socrates says. He gives the example of a breeze blowing; one man can be made cold from the wind, while the man next to him might not be cold at all. The blowing wind is the same temperature, but as defined above, perception is â€Å"the way things look to us.

Relationship between Learning and Grading

To understand the relationship between evaluation and learning, we need to understand the evaluation pattern currently in use. Level 1, shows superficial concern on the work done by students. It takes for granted that the work done by students must be graded. Level 2 asks if traditional assessment or ‘authentic’ evaluation, which would delve deeper into students achievements? Level 3 enquires the need of evaluating students. The idea of wanting to know about the student performance itself is objectionable. Labeling students on the basis of performance often misjudges them. Student performance does not show any improvement on strict assessment. On the other hand, when it is easier to score, the learners do not put inferior work. Often the same teacher may put different grades to the same work when assessed at two different times. Thus the variation in score indicates subjective assessment .It makes learning incompatible. Motivation is an important aspect of assessment. If the motivation is inherent, then the student learns for his own sake, on the other hand, when the motivation is external, learning is for a purpose, the purpose being escaping a punishment or expecting a reward. Both are conflicting in nature. The findings reveal that student’s performance suffers and they exhibit lesser interest and focus on the task, if they know that they will be graded. Rote learning falls apart when the students know that they will be graded. Japanese students exhibit less interest in the subject and willingness to answer difficult questions, when they know they would be examined. Thus using grades to evaluate students made them lower interest, instill the fear of failure and disheartened their learning and creativity. (Butler and Nissan 1986, P.215). Some educators believe that providing feedback in form of grades is inadequate. It does not tell the student, where he or she went wrong, and the scope for improvement. Eric Schaps (1993) designed the ‘demand’ and ‘support’ models. The demand model highlights the student’s performance as ‘chosen’ and ‘earned’ making education an investment and preparation of a future worker. The ‘support ‘model is learner oriented making students responsible in the tasks they have chosen. It teaches that supportive and engaging environment is wanted more than improvement. The 5 main principles of assessment are – 1.In no way should evaluation stop curiosity or instill fear. 2. Interest sparked in students can be read by observation by experienced teachers. 3. School can become a caring place, making students feel free to discuss problems and seek help. 4. Assessment should be directly related to quality of curriculum. It is important to know if the student has received anything worthwhile from the curriculum.5 Students to play a decisive role in evaluation, to know that it is a learning experience. In case Grades are a must, it is important that they are supplemented by adequate comments. Gradation should not be done, while the students are still learning. A teacher should not mark students on a curve, saying only few are eligible for top marks. It is destructive to the self esteem of the student. Grades should never be given for effort, for it creates an opposite effect. Teachers need to keep an eye on the interest level of the curriculum too.

Free Essays on Morals

What are morals? Does everyone have morals? If so, what morals are just and what morals are unjust? Is it just to kill someone even if your life is in danger? Is it just for a professional basketball player to play for the money and not for the love of the game? These are some questions that you should ask yourself when thinking about, what is morally right and what is morally wrong. Everyone has different morals, and beliefs about everything. My morals are doing what is best. If my life was in danger and it came down to killing someone, I would kill that person. I am not going to just stand there, and let that person kill me. If I had something to defend myself, like a gun, I would use it to the best of my ability to protect myself from any harm. Another strong belief that I have is about cheating. If I had the chance to cheat on a test I would not do it. I feel that I am in school to learn and to plan my future. Cheating off someone’s test would not help me or benefit my needs anymore than failing the test. I would learn more by failing the test, to see what I missed and what I needed to study more, than to cheat. There are four reasons why we should behave justly. 1) To avoid punishment. (Benko, notes) If we behave unjustly we will soon be punished for those acts and most human beings don’t like to be punished in any way. People will kill themselves to avoid punishment. 2) If we could get away with crimes, we would commit them. (Benko, notes) If we knew that we could get away with killing someone we would have a major decrease in population. Today so many people have so much hate for one another that if we could just go outside and kill someone, just because we didn’t like them, then we would. 3) The truly unjust person would have to be perceived as just. To be truly unjust, he or she would have to fool everyone into thinking, the... Free Essays on Morals Free Essays on Morals What are morals? Does everyone have morals? If so, what morals are just and what morals are unjust? Is it just to kill someone even if your life is in danger? Is it just for a professional basketball player to play for the money and not for the love of the game? These are some questions that you should ask yourself when thinking about, what is morally right and what is morally wrong. Everyone has different morals, and beliefs about everything. My morals are doing what is best. If my life was in danger and it came down to killing someone, I would kill that person. I am not going to just stand there, and let that person kill me. If I had something to defend myself, like a gun, I would use it to the best of my ability to protect myself from any harm. Another strong belief that I have is about cheating. If I had the chance to cheat on a test I would not do it. I feel that I am in school to learn and to plan my future. Cheating off someone’s test would not help me or benefit my needs anymore than failing the test. I would learn more by failing the test, to see what I missed and what I needed to study more, than to cheat. There are four reasons why we should behave justly. 1) To avoid punishment. (Benko, notes) If we behave unjustly we will soon be punished for those acts and most human beings don’t like to be punished in any way. People will kill themselves to avoid punishment. 2) If we could get away with crimes, we would commit them. (Benko, notes) If we knew that we could get away with killing someone we would have a major decrease in population. Today so many people have so much hate for one another that if we could just go outside and kill someone, just because we didn’t like them, then we would. 3) The truly unjust person would have to be perceived as just. To be truly unjust, he or she would have to fool everyone into thinking, the...

Teens Should have Birth Control essays

Teens Should have Birth Control essays Many teenagers now are very sexually active and take the risk that comes with sexual intercourse. There are many consequences that come with having sex. First of all, it can cause pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and emotional consequences too. (Edelson 50) That is why birth control is an important part a teenagers life today. Birth control can reduce pregnancy and STDs. Teens must be provided with a birth control method to protect themselves and also their futures. Providing teens with birth control will reduce teen birth rates, more teens would complete high school, and in addition prevent U.S. expenses on teen pregnancies. Over one million teens become pregnant each year. (Teen Pregnancy Facts t get pregnant the first time theyve had sex, assumed everyone is having sex, and as a matter of fact have unwanted sex. If teens decide to have sex, it means that they must also decide to take responsibility to protect themselves. Many teens do not have birth control to prevent the consequences that comes with sex. Teens need more Sexuality Education. By teens having this education and knowledge they will be aware of what contraceptive are available to them. This will for sure protect teens from HIV and STDs and unintended pregnancy. (Teen Pregnancy, The Case for Prevention) The U.S. government tries very hard to reduce the number of teen pregnancies in the United States. (Edelson 115) Teen pregnancy costs the United States at least $7 billion annually. (Teen Pregnancy Facts t afford to take care of a child many go on welfare. Teen pregnancy has a high cost on welfare and health care. About 80% of teen mothers do not complete high school. Wouldnt it be a great to have more teens rec...

Business process management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Business process management - Essay Example Mature organizations on the other hand, produce quality products or services effectively and there is no variation in efficiency and quality. 2b Describe a capability maturity model with which you are familiar. The model can be described in two ways . Mature organizations use objective and statistical basis of judging product quality and analysing problems with the product and process.Managers supervise process by monitoring the quality of the software products and the processes that produce them . Schedules and budgets s are forecasted making use of previous process data available. These forecasts produce realistic estimates of costs, schedules, functionality, product quality. There is not much variation in forecast and actual figures obtained. In general ,the mature organization follows well planned process because all employees understand the importance of quality and hence coordinate well. The second way is used to explain immature organisations.In immature organisation the produ ction process lacks coordination. Some employees produce high quality results and some do not which results in unsatisfactory results. On the other hand a mature is well coordinated and organised. Every employ puts is his best and produces high quality results.

Innovation through the next generation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Innovation through the next generation - Essay Example Initially their prices were not set or developed for the normal mobile phone user. Blackberry 8900 is still mainly targeted to the business class (BlackBerry Torch 9800 & 9810, 2011). The cell phone offers preloaded with the trial version of Microsoft Office and now provides the ability to edit, format and save the documents directly on mobile phone. The blackberry also focuses the elite business class with wireless connectivity option for faster, speedy paced Internet connections when the subscriber needs it the most. Blackberry has now been stimulated with the young generation capturing style and fashion. Along with multimedia, and camera, Blackberry has preloaded a series of applications and games such as facebook, twitter which is targeted directly to the youth and social networking groups. RIM has also offered a new software store namely Blackberry App World with thousands of applications that cater many kinds of audience. Impact of the Blackberry Billboard In the given photo, i t looks as if a dark side of a cell phone is displayed. This point is not understandable as why the theme of the advertisement of Blackberry is kept to be too much on the gloomy side. Reappearance and repetition of the work â€Å"Blackberry† poses a negative impact of dragging the potential customer on boredom and irritating side rather than programming and scripting the core features of Blackberry. â€Å"Blackberry app world† is advertised in a very small typeface size and at a top left corner where the possibility of being overlooked may arise. Viewer of this advertisement may not pay any attention to such an ignored piece of information (Mobile Phone Archive – Banana Kuwait Blog). Regardless of the age group, the overall theme of World of Innovation does not make any sense as the so called innovative features displayed in the advertise, are also offered by other cell phone manufacturers including Nokia, Apple etc. So what is innovative in this advertisement b illboard is just a matter of misleading the potential customer, as all the innovative features offered, are already in the knowledge of the potential customer. Since the younger generation is moving ahead of these upcoming features in the cellular phones, therefore by showing them facebook, twitter, gmail cannot attract them in a great deal. Whereas the elder class has distinct dispositions regarding the type of cell phones that they use. Elite business class prefer those cell phones which have the options of emails, documentations, spreadsheets and contact data bases etc, unfortunately, none of these features are marketed in this particular billboard advertisement. Rest of the elder class prefers to use simple, durable, reliable and economic cell phones but, yet here again, this Blackberry advertisement fails to fulfill their expectations. Impact of Colors in Blackberry Billboard Colors have a substantial emotional and psychological impact in advertising any brand or product. The p redominant colors used in the subject that I chose are strong and dark colors, comprising of black, navy blue and deep red colors. Deep and dark colors generally portray sentiments of power, evil, mystery and death. On the other hand, Black also gives a sentiment of elegancy, depth and feeling of perspective. According to Color Wheel Pro, black serves in gathering attention towards the advertisement. In my opinion, Black and other dark colors have been used in this advertise